Causality Disruption!

I was just standing there when a silver car whizzed past at high speed, pursued by two different flying saucers. Each one punched a glowing hole in reality and slipped out of this world, and I was drawn after them by the combined slipstream! It may have seemed like months to others, but subjectively it was…

Oh, look, I’m lying with my fingers again. Oh, wait, that’s a good thing! It means this devilish writing block must be lifting! HOORAY!

What, apart from fictional disruptions of spacetime, has kept me from my appointed rounds here? It started with a stumble in my personal calendar– for some reason, I mistook a Thursday for a Wednesday until the end of the writing window, which I enhanced by being entirely distracted from looking in on Friday. The fact that I managed to do almost exactly the same thing the following week.

Thereafter, I found I was in a profound motivational deficit. Work on any kind of writing? But… there’s an assortment of really dumb games on my phone that don’t require any braining! None at all!

I eventually noticed that this behaviour in a diagnosed and medicated depressive might represent something that needed stamping on. So, after a couple of more weeks of poking pixels for momentary positive sensations, I began to get on top of that. Of course, at that point, there’s the daunting prospect of admitting that I’ve let things slide.

TL;DR– Stupidity, bad head chemistry, and childish embarrassment. That’s three to one odds, without including the individual games! I’m lucky to have escaped that fight with all my teeth!

I probably would have avoided wrestling Embarrassment to the ground a while longer, except there’s some good news to share with the world. It appears that the communal delusion that COVID is no longer a problem and that monkeypox won’t become one is now sufficiently widespread that Pelikan Hubs are happening this year!

All hail the majestic approach/avoidance conflict!

I’m still not very happy with the thought of sitting in a closed space with a bunch of people, especially in November when the sniffle season will be well underway in this part of the woods… but I am happy at the thought of playing with a pile of unfamiliar pens among like-minded folks, and of the habitual loot-bags Pelikan provides the stuffings for.

Unfortunately, because (I assume) of the hiatus in hubs, Regina has lost its status as a place known to support a hub, so we have to get enough registrations in before 21 August. I thus want to urge anyone within the sound of my voice… or rather within the area code of my telephone, to rush to the Pelikan Hubs Registration Page and put in a request to attend an event not in one of the pre-loaded cities.

This comes after you get an email to confirm you exist

Of course, if you’re not in convenient driving distance of Regina, see if you can’t get a hub happening close to where you are. The more the merrier! This is not a zero-sum game, in which those who get do so at the expense of others!

I don’t promise an immediate return to consistent action here, but for the sake of my own inner mechanisms I’m going to be giving it a damn good try.

Today’s pen: Lamy 2000
Today’s ink: Diamine Oxford Blue

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Day	Pen	Ink
9 May 10 May 11 May 12 May	Pilot Elite 95S Sheaffer Targa Pelikan M600 TWSBI Classic	Edelstein Olivine Herbin Bleu Myosotis Diamine Syrah Diamine Honey Burst

In addition to The Stupid Project, I started working on what can only be called a fan fiction, although I can’t say I’m a fan of the original work. If I persist in it, I may post it on the other front.

Neither a Rock Nor an Island

I mentioned COVID yesterday. We should be free of it by now, but… well, nowhere near enough people were willing to do what it took to stamp on it*. We are, thanks to the economic and political events set in motion in the 1980s, in an era which does not lend itself to people putting aside their personal agenda to further the public interest. I’m pretty sure I was one of those who pointed out waaaaay back when this started that “If you are worried about getting sick, wear a mask; I’m not, so I won’t” enhances the likelihood of transmission, since masks are a lot better at keeping the sickness in a sickie than keeping it out of the uninfected.

This was a problem with the 1919 Influenza too, though, so I can’t (entirely) blame Reaganomics. Rugged individualism, on the other hand, has a lot to answer for.

*Vietnam did a pretty damn good job, with its emphasis on collective action. Just imagine where we’d be now if the rest of the world had shut down for long enough to do away with domestic transmission…

Today’s pen: Sheaffer Targa
Today’s ink: Herbin Bleu Myosotis

Day	Pen	Ink
25April 26 April 27 April 28 April	Hero 100 Pelikan M600 Pilot Elite 95S Parker Duofold AF	Namiki Blue Diamine Syrah Edelstein Olivine Pelikan blue-black

No clever alternatives to the current layout. I’ve been distracted by a new COVID outbreak at work, and by the nasal inflammation of stuffing the test swabs up my nose. Still negative, hoorah.

Also, hoera for 5 May– Liberation Day for the Netherlands.

Lunch Date

Smart and snappy dressers; what more could you want in dining companions?

There is a current phrase– “Go outside and touch some grass”. I believe, now that grass is visible locally, that I will do just that, with a small supply of cat food on hand, just in case…

Today’s pen: Pilot Elite 95S
Today’s ink: Edelstein Olivine

Day	Pen	Ink
25April 26 April 27 April 28 April	Pelikan M600 Hero 100 Parker Duofold AF Sheaffer Targa	Diamine Syrah Namiki Blue Pelikan blue-black Herbin Bleu Myosotis

I haven’t thought of anything clever to do with this progress report when progress is diffuse and mostly internal. There is progress of that sort, happily, although the fortress of United States tax requirements is not only unbreached but as yet unassaulted. I’ve realized that I can probably get some advice from the provincial Writers Guild and possibly even from the Horror Writers Association, as I’m a member of both.

I just have to… you know… do something that involves someone who isn’t me. After two years of glorious enforced stand-offishness, I’m rather out of practice with that stuff.

A Three Hour Tour

If you’re of a certain age, you now have a terrible TV comedy theme-song running in your head. I’m sorry. The combination of a tour and a nautical setting was irresistible.

I honestly have no idea how long the actual tour would be. I’d sure like to find out, though, even at the cost of constantly clobbering myself on the beams.

Sigh. Oh, to travel and smell the sea again (yes, I know that’s the stink of things thrown up on the shore rotting– it’s a different kind of rot to the local one).

Today’s pen: PenBBS 487
Today’s ink: TWSBI Royal Purple

Day	Pen	Ink
18 April 19 April 20 April 21 April	Parker Duofold AF Pilot Elite 95S Pelikan M600 Hero 100	Pelikan blue-black Edelstein Olivine Diamine Syrah Namiki Blue

That’s pretty blank. Maybe I’ll rethink this format change.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
11 April 12 April 13 April 14 April	Faffing about with my projected self-publishing foolishness.	A vast and endless stream, apparently	Montblanc 32 PenBBS 487 Pelikan M600 Pelikan 140	Montblanc Racing Green TWSBI Royal Purple Diamine Syrah Herbin Bleu Calanque

“Faffing about with my projected self-publishing foolishness” is, it appears, going to be the default setting for a while. Illustrations are being illustrated. I’ve set up a writer account on Kindle, Apple and a couple of others. I’m looking at local sourcing for the printing of physical copies.

So… the next few updates are likely to be down to three columns, just to avoid repetetive redundancy reiteration.

Also– day off tomorrow, and I need to relax, so there’s probably no film appearing after this.

We Are But Human

I’ve just realized last week’s film was a repeat. Whoopsie!

Speaking of human errors– what about leaving the tops off water-tight compartments? That’s quite the oversight!

Because I’m a slightly silly person, I’m likely to try at least one of the recipes in this playlist. Because I’m not a complete madcap, I probably won’t share the results. My presentation is frequently sub-par.

Today’s pen: Pelikan M600
Today’s ink: Diamine Syrah