Pen show and things I've missed
July 18th 2023
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So a little over a week ago I attended the PNW Pen
Show, a revival of an old event that used to
happen pre-pandemic. I don't think I've talked
about it here before but I'm a fountain pen
nerd. I wish I could say I constantly journaled
but it's more like a feast and famine thing.

I'll write through a 400pg a5 notebook in two
months and then take a year to finish the next
one. That's probably pretty normal, though, but
I'll say that I'm probably at my best in basically
every way when I'm journaling more. Is it
symptomatic or causal? I don't know.

But that's a digression: because I write a lot I
literally can't use ball-points or even pencils
without RSI. Fountain pens then started as a
purely practical interest because it meant I could
write without hurting my hand but over the last,
like, 7 years have become a more
hobbyist/aesthetic thing I love. I have a
relatively small number of nice pens, a bunch of
inks I share with my partner tor who is the one
who introduced me to fountain pens in the first
place, and a lot of nice thin papered notebooks I
use as my journals.

So this in-person pen show was the first time I've
been to such a thing, a place where writers,
collectors, and dealers all come together to be
total dweebs about stationery.

I actually had a chance to meet people in-person
who I'd only ever talked to online, vibe, and just
feel a little bit normal for the first time in
years. Even though I still was wearing a kn95
indoors and only eating and drinking outside it
was still the closest I've had yet to just "oh, right,
this is what life was like pre-2020".

So that was good and also kinda sad. I wish where
I am community transmission wasn't still just high
enough that I can't go back to just living my life
like normal, but there's no real point in whinging
about it because it's not like any tears or
frustration are going to fix anything.

It was, however, a very successful trip because I
got a new Opus 88 Jazz *on 30% sale* in the
gorgeous turquoise color and then was able to walk
over five feet to get it custom ground for me by a
very cool nibmeister, gena salorino.

With the custom grind, this pen manages to both
glide smoothly and yet feel very much in control
the whole time unlike my skatier pens like my
lamy2k or pilot 823. It's a really cool feeling
and is just effortless to use. Definitely one of
those sensory things where, like a nice keyboard,
it makes even the work you don't want to do feel a
little more pleasant.