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	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
31 January 1 February 2 February 3 February	First draft of “Golden Hour”. Some New Year arting. Buying yet more bird food. See Monday	Three manuscript pages. Below… 20 kg. The same	Pelikan P1 TWSBI Diamond 580 ALR Lamy 2000 Moonman M2	Pelikan blue-black Herbin Rouge Hematite Edelstein Topaz Diamine Writer’s Blood

On the subject of bird seed– it’s been below -25 the past three days (normal February stuff, here), and birds eat a lot to avoid turning to feathery lumps of ice. That bag may last a week.

The progress on the story seems slight, but compared to the whole of last year, I’m pretty happy about it. The deadline is not frightening me yet.

And finally– Merry Water Tiger, all. Tuesday’s pen and even more the ink was chosen specifically for the day, and I was taken with an urge to do a bit of art with them. I share, with the proviso that I make no claims to skill in graphic arts (that’s my brother’s department).

I am not a cat (a statement which is true in at least three separate ways)

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
24 January 25 January 26 January 27 January	A story outline for an anthology for which I was invited† to contribute. Collecting my van from its alternator surgery. “The cats are out of food.” The barest beginning on “Golden Hour”, the story mentioned above.	(What I think was†) an extremely persuasive 500 words or so. $600. Sigh. Three ravenous moggies.‡ Two manuscript pages	Pelikan M30  Parker 45 Moonman M2  Lamy 2000	Diamine Honey Burst Montblanc Royal Blue Diamine Writer’s Blood Edelstein Topaz

† Yes, I’m very excited about this. Also, the editor I sent the outline to seemed very enthusiastic about it, so my self-assessment may be accurate.

‡ The smallest of our cats is large. The biggest encroaches upon Maine Coon dimensions. It’s really in our own best interests to keep them in food.

“People are made of… it starts with an M… rhymes with ‘eat’?”

Yikes.

At some point, I’m going to return to the Thursday Update format. I hope.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
17 January 18 January 19 January 20 January	Napping† Discussing illustrations for my stupid collection idea† Driving van around trying to charge the battery. Making arrangements to have the van’s charging system fixed	Never enough Encouraging (damn it!). An armful Less than an eighth of a tank. No estimate yet.	Lamy 2000 Platinum PKB-3000 Moonman M2 Pelikan M30	Edelstein Topaz Herbin Poussière de Lune Diamine Writer’s Blood Diamine Honey Burst

Want to see something really scary? My wife, who spends a lot of time watching horror films (for professional reasons as well as fun), was amazed at how well suspense was established and maintained throughout this little delight.

My wife also grumbled about not having access to a space like this for her projects.

Today’s pen: Sheaffer Saratoga TM Snorkel
Today’s ink: Skrip Jet Black

†I worked a couple of days at the end of last year that NO ONE ELSE did, so the start of this week redressed that balance. I am now a strong advocate for a 20 hour work week.

Big Bird

I am going to have a film this week, following another not-much-progress report.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
10 January 11 January 12 January 13 January	Faffing about with getting the collection in train COVID booster Post-booster groggy See Monday	Much smoke, little fire. An armful My favourite colour of the alphabet is grape! See Monday	Pelikan M30 Moonman M2  Sheaffer Saratoga TM Snorkel Lamy 2000	Diamine Honey Burst Diamine Writer’s Blood Skrip Jet Black Edelstein Topaz

Now, with that out of the way, let’s have another moment of misty-eyed contemplation of a direction of technological development.

I don’t know about you, but I’d like to do my air travel in something that wasn’t just a big tube.

Although, like a lot of people, I’d also like to do my air travel at all, and in something that wasn’t wrecking the atmosphere.

Today’s pen: Platinum PKB-3000
Today’s ink: Herbin Poussière de Lune

Augurs Poorly

No film last week, no update yesterday– you might think something terrible had happened to me. Happily, it’s just a quantity of unpleasant distractions demanding that I use my time otherwise.

I won’t try to penetrate the veil of traumatic amnesia which obscures the New Year’s Eve duties that ate my lunch hour, but the thing that kept me from yesterday’s (lack-of-)progress report has some grim amusement in it which I’m willing to share.

My intent was to add some air to a tire that wasn’t holding air particularly well. This is a tire that has been giving me trouble for a long time, and that should have been a hint– the problem extended through switches between summer and winter tires.

[An aside– I may have said this previously, but if you live above 45ºN in the Americas, get winter tires if at all possible. I had taken all-season tires at their word for years, but having tried winter-specific tires, there’s such a difference in traction that I have to urge them]

I will at this point mention that the weather here has been… I don’t think “abominable” is too strong. Most of the last fortnight has had lows under -30C, and most of this week the highs have been below -30C. A tire looking a little squishy is to be expected, but this one was VERY squishy. Using the front end of the lunch period to run to the gas station for some air was sensible, and even more so when I applied my tire gauge to it– a mere 15PSI, less than half what it should be.

[Second aside; yes, I use Centigrade for outdoor temperature and PSI for tire pressure. I’m a GenX Canadian, and a lot of us are wired that way thanks to the fifteen year conversion of Canada to Metric with which we shared our school years]

I applied the air hose to the valve, the sound of inflation followed, and when the tire looked more itself, I removed the hose to check the pressure. The sound of rapid deflation followed.

That ain’t right.

Let me show you my tire valve.

More than usually portable…

The cold weather was probably the last straw for this little fitting, but as this is the second time I’ve had this happen. The previous event was explained to me as an exercise in cost-cutting by vehicle manufacturers. In earlier ages, the main element of the valve stem was made of brass. Now, with this vital part being an exterior manifestation of the pressure monitor system, brass is considered too expensive for OEM parts. What we have now is “pot metal”, which is the foundry version of “100% unknown fibres”. It is given to failure.

I’ll leave this to you to decide if this is a manifestation of the wickedness of capitalism.

Yesterday was thus devoted to swapping flat for spare at -31C while apologizing to the dozens of other people wanting to desquishify their own tires whose efforts I was obstructing.

So, with that as a foundation, let’s have a progress-free report for the week.

Day	Pen	Ink
3 January 4 January 5 January 6 January 7 January	Lamy 2000 Sheaffer Saratoga TM Snorkel Moonman M2  Platinum PKB-3000 Lamy 2000 (yes, I’m so distracted, I bookended a pen)	Edelstein Topaz Skrip Jet Black Diamine Writer’s Blood Herbin Poussière de Lune Edelstein Topaz

Now, as a final disappointment, I’ve run out of time for this session to select a film. Hopefully next week will see a restoration of normalcy. I’m also DESPERATELY hoping that this week is not a setting of tone for the year, because that would be pretty hard to take.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
13 December 14 December 15 December 16 December	Drove to work The same Taxi to work, ride from brother which included picking up a charge-pack. Drove to work	-28C -30C -32C -31C	Moonman M2  Pelikan 140 Conklin Cresent Filler Lamy 2000	Diamine Writer’s Blood Pelikan Blue-black  Herbin Lie de Thè Edelstein Topaz

I’ve given myself license to lounge, writing-wise, until the new year when I shall spring into action like a crowd of Harryhausen skeletons. Dealing with the still-air temperatures this week is enough creativity.

Negligent? Tuckered Out!

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
28 June 29 June 30 June	First draft of “Anne’s Big Day”.	Six manuscript pages (and probably three more to done).	Waterman Executive Platinum Curidas Lamy 27	Edelstein Olivine Platinum blue-black Diamine Writer’s Blood

Yeah… I kind of missed the film last week, didn’t I? A sign of how damn tired I am from The Regular Job’s demands, which over the past two weeks have been enhanced by a self-inflicted demand to make sure the people who are looking after my usual duties have an easy go of things.

I am, at least, taking a good long break– I don’t put rump to office chair again until 19 July. I also don’t have a lot of projects in mind for the vacation period other than writing and some personal pen-work, which is good, because that mass of killingly-hot air which has been afflicting the north-west coast of the continent will arrive here… sometime tomorrow.

Although it will have shed some heat along the way, for which I am extremely grateful.

Here’s two films because there wasn’t one last week: One jolly interesting and one quietly amusing.

I don’t expect to be making up any entertainment deficits when I return, because I know my limitations. See you in three weeks, everyone, unless I melt in the interim.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
21 June 22 June 23 June 24 June	First draft of “Anne’s Big Day”. The second jab. First draft of “Anne’s Big Day”.	Three manuscript pages. A tiny poke, and a period of normal immune response. Four manuscript pages.	Pilot Vanishing Point Lamy 27 Platinum Curidas Waterman Executive	Namiki Black Diamine Writer’s Blood Platinum blue-black Edelstein Olivine

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
22 March 23 March 24 March 25 March	Forward movement on the pen site, at least.	Enough for getting on.	Lamy 2000 Pelikan M600 Moonman M2 (no spectacle of self-destruction– sorry, ghouls) PenBBS 487	Edelstein Olivine Noodler’s Dumas Tulipe Noire Diamine Sargasso Sea Herbin Lie de Thé