The Wreck of the Bellerophon

Still at work, which means I’m not free to watch films. So, of course, I’m pining for films (rather than, let’s say for example, enough money to cover rent; I’m aware of the relative dimensions of this “problem”). I may indulge myself this weekend, though..

I’ve got a restored, full-length, seriously-widescreen Bluray of this movie, and it’s the very definition of eye-candy. It’s also, for those who like that sort of connection, clearly an influence on Star Trek.

Today’s pen: Majestic, model unknown (see below)
Today’s ink: Edelstein Topaz

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Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
20 April 21 April 22 April 23 April	First draft of “Ancestral Curse” (working title).	9 manuscript pages	Pilot Vanishing Point Sheaffer Craftsman TD Pelikan P1 Parker 180	TWSBI Blue-black Herbin Vert Empire Diamine Midnight Noodler’s Walnut

I can only imagine how much COVID is affecting others, when I, whose life has barely changed as a result of it (still at work, no fear of money running out, family waiting at home at day’s end), am having trouble stringing my entertaining lies onto a thread. I wish you all good health and mental fortitude.

Flat Isn’t Finished

I the part of Canada in which I live, we’re doing pretty well in the COVID department. We started closing stuff up early, we’ve got a ridiculously low population density, and it’s not a popular destination for world travellers. We have flattened the hell out of that menacing curve.

So, of course, there are some painfully silly people who think we can just press the big red STATUS QUO ANTE button and return to the way things were previously, with buffet restaurants and stadium crowds cheering on their sportings teams (the basketcurling scene has really suffered this last month). Not how it works, of course, although it’s a tempting folly.

Then, of course, there’s the pointedly silly people, who we can use as object lessons and a source of amusement.

Oddly, while I watch people like this who spent most of their time tying together the rhetorical shoe laces of flat Earth fanciers, YouTube never suggests I might like to see the flatlings themselves. I am strangely blessed.

Today’s pen: Pelikan P1
Today’s ink: Diamine Midnight

 

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
13 April 14 April 15 April 16 April	First draft of “Ancestral Curse” (working title).	9 manuscript pages	Sheaffer Craftsman TD Parker 180 Majestic, model unknown† Pilot Vanishing Point	Herbin Vert Empire Noodler’s Walnut Edelstein Topaz† TWSBI Blue-black

† I hadn’t realized that the pen was so humble that I hadn’t even put together a page for it or its n^th tier maker when I pulled it out of storage. I also hadn’t really meant to use this ink again so soon, but when the idea of putting a ridiculously expensive ink (free to me, but still) into a pen so cheap it was affordable during The Great Depression tickled me deeply.

I’ll try to edit in a picture of it later. Like a lot of really cheap pens, the celluloid is quite striking.

 

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
6 April 7 April 8 April 9 April	Not much.†	A whole bunch of it.	Pilot Vanishing Point Pelikan P1 Sheaffer Craftsman TD Parker 180	TWSBI Blue-black‡ Diamine Midnight Herbin Vert Empire Noodler’s Walnut

† It’s definitely the work-exhaustion that’s doing in my writing; I find I’m having to do things that I normally can see to between the regular duties of The Regular Job. Now, since I’m not shoved out of work like so many millions, I don’t want this construed as a complaint… although I am mightly happy that we are facing a long weekend. The prospects for a return to something more like my preferred level of work-effort are not certain, but there may be some relief next week. Mid-month is, generally speaking, slack time. All the same, I don’t feel wrong re-using this:

‡ I got a bottle of this as part of the social contract I perceive to be in place, which suggests that we who still have an income try to support local businesses. My favourite local place for pen and pen-proximate things, Paper Umbrella, has responded to the current plague by setting up a web-store. Locals like me can, on the way to collect vital groceries, pause to have stuff thrust out the door at us. So I did.

Sadly, you won’t see anything about the new ink on my own site, because my computer has finally noticed that it’s very very old and can no longer support running anything except its OS. I’d probable have started a Gofundme to seek the help of well-heeled but charitable folks, if not for the sudden explosion of people who are seeking the same money for more dire purposes– being able to maintain a site like mine is definitely not of the same importance as food and shelter.

I can, I think, manage my tax return without the computer, and because our household income is low, there’s a plague on, and we can expect a big fat rebate of the federal carbon tax, there’s some hope that tax refund can be turned into a new computer. Just like happened eleven years ago. Of course, I wouldn’t say no to a well-heeled passer-by throwing some money at me…

I should mention that I quite like the TWSBI blue-black. It’s only a little darker than Herbin Bleu Nuit, but it plays well on non-great paper, it’s reasonably water resistant, and it has a very inky scent. I’m sure there are some who would call that ink-stink, but I like it. It also comes in a whopping great 70ml bottle which has a plastic inner vessel to allow for low-ink filling, so the bottle will be a keeper even when it’s empty.

Long weekend, so no film tomorrow. I’m going to TRY to get some fiction out of me.

Don’t Try This At Home

It’s an injunction we hear all too often. And yet, people are trapped at home, somehow without sufficient entertainment when movies and books can be teleported into your very lap, and trying odd new hobbies. I saw a one-cat fashion show this morning. Today’s film will allow you to see a thing being done so you won’t have to try it.

I don’t know about you, but I hadn’t know that radon could be that dangerous.

Today’s pen: Pelikan P1
Today’s ink: Diamine Midnight

 

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
30 March 31 March 1 April 2 April	Second draft of “In Loco Parentis”. A nap Second draft of “In Loco Parentis”.	297 words typed. Sleave (sic) remains somewhat raveled. 446 more words.	Parker 180 Sheaffer Targa Pilot Short Faber-Castell e-motion	Noodler’s Walnut Edelstein Topaz Herbin Violet Penseé Diamine Evergreen

I hadn’t thought the COVID block which many writers are mentioning on Twitter was afflicting me, but it may be. It may also be the extra extra stress of being one of the few still at The Regular Job atop the previously-mentioned extra stress, the latter of which is even stressier at the transition from one month to the next. It’s almost certainly responsible for the torpor which overtook me on Tuesday, and yesterday it quite cut into my writing time.

Hopefully next week will see some lowering of pressure, and I certainly am aware that I’m neither as crushed as anyone in Healthcare, nor anything like as mentally burdened as those who find themselves out of work and weeks away from the various government assistance plans coming into effect… and who aren’t sure if those plans will actually include them.

On that last point– Canadians who are worried about such things should have a look at this chart, in which helpful people have translated from the various levels of government’s official mystical utterances into something which can be understood.