Pens

Music nib

I am using Sean's Sailor fountain pen with a music nib. The ink is Diamine Chrome. The nib transforms my ordinary handwriting into something calligraphic.  

Today is Tatay's death anniversay. It has been six years but there are days when I feel he is just right around the corner, napping in the other room.

Bic Cristal

I bought a few Bic Cristal pens abroad last year. I've been using one this past week. These pens are iconic. The design is simple and functional. 

Then I saw a video that calls it a pen that changed the world, significantly decreasing the cost of writing instruments through near-perfect design and engineering. The video is super cool and definitely worth your time. 

Transformed

I love the imagery of transformation to Christlikeness that the apostle Paul allows us to behold in 1 Corinthians 3:18. For such is the goal of the Christian life: to be more like Christ. The transformation is enabled by the Holy Spirit, who indwells every believer and pushes forward the process of sanctification. But there is another sense in which the believer must exercise spiritual disciplines, trusting in God for strength and wisdom, to reach that end. In this passage, Paul alludes to the fact of our incomplete knowledge of God's glory, as if saying, "God is infinitely more glorious that you can ever think or imagine." I love the translation of the New King James Version here that I had to rewrite it using a Blackwing Palomino (Pearl) that Sean and Hannah gave me. 

I therefore begin this Sunday by reminding you of the exciting prospect for God's children. We will behold His glory soon, and each day brings with it experiences, interactions, problems, and joys that will make us more Christ-like, through the enabling of the Spirit.

Lovely rainstorm

What I'm grateful for:



This phrase is taken from Rebecca Baumgartner's piece on gratitude. I love how the words are perfectly strung together here. A "lovely' rainstorm, the "breaking up" of the "scorching heat"—what a sight for the tired, parched soul living in the tropics.

In case you're wondering: that's the handcrafted Banwa pen inked with a Parker Quinck blue-black. The notebook (Shenshi stationary) was a giveaway, but the cream-colored pages soak the ink beautifully.

Fountain pen by an Ilonggo craftsman

Here's an elegant fountain pen handcrafted by Nonoy Vallejo, an Ilonggo craftsman who specializes in wood. His works were on display during an oncology convention. The pen has a medium iridium nib that writes smoothly. The body and cap are made from a 100-year old molave wood repurposed from an old house in the city. His charming wife is from Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat—which is almost an extension of Marbel. Kasimanwa ko. They lived for a few years in Davao. I fall for stories like those and bought pen right away. 

I asked Nonoy about his motivations for making fountain pens. His wife loved pens and calligraphy, but the pens manufactured abroad could be expensive. Why shouldn't he make one to please his wife? He was good with his hands and had a knack and interest in woodworking. He gradually learned the craft of fountain pen making. I suppose he made his wife happy and, figuring there was a market for these pens, decided to start a business. 

His pens, which bear artistry, history, and provenance, and which are really just good, working pens, could make great gifts. Some of his pens were sold out, but he's able to arrange for shipping. (You may purchase your pens from Nonoy, too. Visit his Facebook and Instagram and place your orders.)

More power to you, Nonoy!

The Return of the Prodigal Pen

First, a review of my fountain pen ordeal: the discovery of the hairline fracture in the barrel, my brief meditation on repairs, my purchase of a Wingsung 699 as possible replacement and the serendipitous discovery that it's a brilliant pen on its own terms. To conclude this saga, the title of this post is "The Return of the Prodigal Pen."

The transcript:

As promised, I'm writing an update about the repair of my Amber Pilot Custom 823. the pen arrived yesterday through courier. It is now working perfectly. It seems like this is an entirely different pen altogether. The cracks in the barrel and cap are no longer there. The nib writes smoothly. Many thanks to Lloyd from Cosmos Bazaar who helped me with the repair, who oversaw my pen's short trip to Japan for evaluation and minor surgery, and who made sure I received it. I'll be more extra careful now!

On my table (meaning, the dining table, which is where I do most of my work these days):

• A Midori Traveler's notebook (passport size) that I bring with me all the time. I love its exhausted look. 
• The Custom 823 pen. 
• Mandarin seedless orange given to me

See the dark blot of the nib's right lower corner? That's the Parker Quinck in blue-black, one of my favorites. I never have issues with the nurses and the hospital if I sign my orders with that ink. 

Blackwing Palomino Pearl

New pencil: Blackwing Palomino in Pearl!

Lefty

I'm enrolled in an online New Testament survey class which asks us to write paragraph titles for each book of the Bible. 1 and 2 Thessalonians were our assigned reading for the past two weeks. Here's a draft of my chapter title assignment, which I then encode in a Word file and post to the online learning portal. After I met a patient whose right arm had to be amputated because of a massive tumor, I've been practicing writing with my left hand. A Palomino Blackwing pencil is ideal for these writing assignments. 

Restoration

Repairs fascinate me. So do people who attempt them or make them possible. In his newest blog post, the writer of La Vie Graphite meditates on restoration. I read everything in this blog. I may disagree with his theology, but I love the elegance of his writing and the quietness of his life.

I’ve always admired restorers of objects, structures, and historic artifacts. Gratefully, my speed-dial numbers include my typewriter repairer, fountain pen restorer, camera technician, and auto mechanic. These individuals are also esteemed friends. When any of us talk shop, we’ll often note the parallels between their crafts and mine as a bookbinder and conservator. The purposes of our respective restorative work is to keep things in fine operational order. 

The part about pen repairs resonates me with me. 

Pens present their own forms of mechanical puzzles. While rinsing a much-loved Reynolds fountain pen from one of my many sojourns in France, I watched the ring from the nib section roll across the kitchen sink and irretrievably down the drain. As with the toolbox mentioned earlier, a study of the pen showed me how the ring was more than decorative trim- it actually provided the needed margin of space to allow the pen to be tightly capped by pushing the nib section into the mechanism that snaps it closed. I set the disabled pen on my desk, not sure what to do with it. One night, while writing and listening to the radio (a supply-line of culture itself), I stopped to look at the poor old Reynolds and an empty yoghurt cup I used for calligraphy. That curved rim got me thinking, and it occurred to me that perhaps if I could slice the plastic just right, I’d have a replacement part. Using my narrowest bookbinding mat knife, and masking tape to hold the container in place, I sliced thin strips of the plastic. It took a few tries, as I saw how exact the fit had to be, to get the pen to snap closed with the same click as it did before with its former metal ring. After getting the precise breadth and length, I sliced an extremely thin slice of archival plastic tape for the inside of the replacement ring. It worked perfectly, and I was able to use the pen as before- albeit sporting a white yoghurt container ring. 

I've had my own challenges with repairs. I sent my MacBook Air to Jeff for a battery replacement; it's working like it's fresh out of the store. Cosmos Bazaar, the official seller of Pilot products in the Philippines, reached out to me and gave me instructions to send back my Pilot Custom 823 in Amber. The pen has now been safely delivered to Manila, and will be brought to Japan, for repair. 

Ours is a broken world where material things are destined for eventual deterioration. 

Monogrammed pen case

The pens I take for the day—usually a fountain pen plus a ball-point or pencil—are housed in an elegant leather pencil case, monogrammed with my initials. The gracious and kind Nikki Gonzales-Ho, my co-faculty in Biochemistry, gave this to me. Many thanks to you, dear Nikki! 

Wingsung 699

I ordered a Wingsung 699 through Amazon, hoping some parts could be replacements for my Pilot Custom 823 Amber. The Chinese pen closely resembles the Japanese Pilot: the same size, feel, and elegance. The main difference lies in the nib quality: Custom 823's gold nib is superior to the 699's steel. But I was surprised how fantastic the Wingsung is. It's worth every peso! A wet writer that carries a substantial amount of ink, I've decided to use it as an everyday pen. The nib glides smoothly, albeit with minimal friction on rough hospital paper. I don't mind that, at all. 

Because Wingsung 699 is a great pen on its own right, I've decided against swapping its parts with the Custom 823. (If you're curious: swapping is possible.)

Pilot Philippines hasn't responded to any of my emails. If I happen to be in Manila, I might drop by Cosmos Bazaar to check if my Custom 823 can still be repaired.

Here's how I write. This is the first "writing video" I'm sharing.

Faber-Castell Loom

Grateful for the gift of my high school classmate Greggy Granado and his wife Joanne: a new fountain pen. It's Faber-Castell Loom, in medium nib. The piano black variant looks so elegant. 

It's a smooth writer, as most German pens are. The ink flow is perfect. I like how it fits perfectly in my hand. I'll include it in my every-day-pen rotation. 

(No response yet from Pilot regarding the Custom 823. I ordered a Wingsung 699 through Amazon. I'll try switching the barrels and see if Wingsung's can replacement the cracked 823 barrel.)

Hairline fracture

I refilled my Pilot Custom 823 (Amber) with ink early this morning, but I noted that the ink wasn't seeping through. On close inspection, there's a hairline fracture in the barrel, likely causing the problem with the piston-filling mechanism. I'm reaching out to Pilot Philippines for this. This is an on-going saga. I really love this pen and hope it gets repaired.

Sailor Shikiori Sakura-mori

I am absolutely loving my new ink—a Shikiori ink manufactured by Sailor. The color in Sakura-mori, evocative of the cherry blossoms in Japan.

I am fond of writing in pink. For some reason, my journals are in pink, as well as many unconvential colors, like moss green, oxblood, chrome, and gray.

Ephemeral

The rain began to leak into my soul

As I return to Paul Theroux's Riding the Iron Rooster on this cool Saturday morning, the feeling of calm-after-the-storm descends upon me. After a tiring week of my kind and gracious grandmother's passing away, I can go about my day without anything urgent floating in the air. I want to tell you more about Lola Ugól, of course. I can start with the story of why nobody—not even her children—knows why she was called Ugól when her real name was Trinidad Zamora Garcenila. But not today. Of course, there are patients to see and faculty work to be done, but those can wait until 10 am. 

For now, I want to savor this moment: the possibilities of a weekend. A quiet morning in the porch, the vanilla-smell of old book pages, the exquisite gray strokes of my Blackwing Palomino, the minimalistic design and engineering of my MacBook Air. These small things and habits allow me to both dwell on and forget about grief. The running joke in the family is that May is a particularly harrowing time of the year: it is when deaths and birthdays happen. 

Escape is not quite the word for what I want to do today. Perhaps, adventure might be appropriate. For the vicarious opportunity to travel distant lands, I am grateful for books, such as the one I'm holding.  In this memorable paragraph which appears in the chapter, The Shandong Express to Shanghai (p. 400), Paul Theroux writes about the pleasures of anonymity in a foreign land. 

I stayed in Shanghai a while longer. I bought an old goldfish bowl at the antique shop. I saw a truly terrible Chinese film: it was violent and thoroughly philistine. It rained. People talked about the power struggle in the inner party. They were not cynical or indifferent to such big changes—the expulsions and resignations—but since they could do nothing about them they had to accept them. The rain began to leak into my soul. I walked through the rat's maze of back-lanes near the cathedral, and got glimpses of ancient China in the drizzle. I was happiest those nights, trudging alone in the rain, glancing into windows, seeing people ironing and making noodles and pasting up the red banners for the Chinese New Year, watching people roistering in cheap steamy restaurants and strangling chickens. It was wonderful to be anonymous those dark nights in Shanghai, when no one could see my face, and I heard a mother scolding a child with 'Where have you been?'

More than sight-seeing, I like snooping around best in places where nobody recognizes me. Fulfilling this curiosity with a heightened sense of observation and note-taking amplifies the joy of travel; it also helps one forget, but also, eventually, remember. 

A Blackwing Pencil (Palomino)!

Snapshot of a page from my journal, currently a Midori Traveler's Notebook (Passport):



I turned 35 last April 22. I went on a short trip to visit my godmother. My aunt and Nanay were with me. I could tell you many stories, but the short of it is: we had a blessed time. During the tour, I found my grail pencil, something I've been meaning to buy but I never had the chance to—until this trip!

It's a Blackwing pencil (Palomino). This is the favorite writing instrument of Mary Norris, the New Yorker copy editor, and Austin Kleon, the book author and blogger. 

I adore the writing experience! Praise God for this blessing—and for 35 years of His goodness and faithfulness.

Notebooks and first chemo sessions

It's appropriate that my first entry in my new notebook is about my remarkable patient, a woman around my age, who gave it (and a few others) to me today. I love composition notebooks. In fact, I love notebooks in general. I use a Traveler's Notebook (passport size) for my personal journals. I use composition notebooks for my consultancy and faculty work. The wide lines are great for jotting down first drafts of my stories, many of which will never see the light of day. The pages are fountain pen friendly. See my writing sample below. I used a Pilot Custom 823 (Amber) with the classic blue Pilot ink owned by my brother Sean.

Diluted and beautiful

I'll fill the converter with distilled water for the meantime.