(derekbaker)

Time, instead, for some serious materialism, I think

think, after that last, long blog post, I'll take a break here from too much that can inflame the emotions or even excite the intellect. (Not that I've ever managed to do those things effectively before, but I wasn't consciously avoiding it, either.)

So, instead, I plan to post more frequently here, but with far less in the way of emotional impact (for me, at least; you may indeed be moved to tears. Perhaps rage. We'll see.)

For one thing, I've often heard it said that you can't buy happiness, and this is true. I've also experienced buyer's remorse over some purchses. (My brother will be glad to tell you about a bottle of "Sun-In" some summer in...junior high? high school? some time in there...that turned my hair orange.)

But I think I've been far more likely to make a purchase and then be very, very glad I made it. My iPod is a good example of this. Actually, I am now on my second iPod, because I had more than 40GB of music on my hard drive (vast majority from CDs, plus a few things bought online), which wouldn't all fit on my old 'Pod. Then I managed to erase all my music while trying to recover from a PC hard drive crash, and I couldn't even update the 40GB iPod for over a year, which is how long it took me to get around to re-ripping all those CDs. Having done so, it seemed time to give the 40 gigs to Tom and get myself a brand-spanking-new 60GB video iPod. Very little video, but about 48GB of music. Oh, how sweet it is.

A few other things that just spring to mind that, I have to say, I still really like having around:

My space pen
Know ye the Fisher space pen? It's great. I have two, each about $15 bucks; one's silver(-colored) and the other is a black matte. The great thing about it is that the ink it's solid until you write with it. I think. Or maybe it's fed to the point with gas pressure that otherwise holds it in unless pressure is being applied to the point? Or the enclosed barrel keeps it from leaking or drying out? Whatever it is, I can put my space pen in my pocket, it barely takes up any room, and it never leaks. And, yes, it can write upside down, underwater, and across grease. Which means David Blaine could write with it on his scalp, I suppose, if he wanted to.

The other space pen I keep in a wallet in my back pocket that holds lined 3x5 cards for notes to myself. And I have another, even slimmer ballpoint that is in fold of the money clip/card case I keep in my front pocket. So, yes, I have 2 or 3 pens on me at all times. Just, you know, in case there a Declaration of Independence or a papal bull or something somebody wants me to sign.

My fountain pens
One of my favorites I didn't, in fact, buy -- it belonged to my grandfather, my mom's dad, and my brother found it in a box in a drawer of a writing desk that's now at his house. It's an Esterbrook, brown. Probably from the '50s. I bought another, nearly identical, but in gray, a few years ago. And before I came to possess either of these, I have an Esterbrook "Relief" pen, made in England in the 1920s. The Esterbrooks were never much collected until recently, because they were really just solid, well-produced, affordable pens. Which is why they hold up to this day, and such a great example of good mid-century product design.

But just last fall, I also bought a great, blue-with-white-polka-dots pen from Campo Marzio, in Rome.



And I have some others I love that I've bought over the years: a blue Eversharp Skyline. A matte stainless steel pen from Rebecca Moss. A green Namiki Vanishing Point. A Rotring. A green Schaeffer Snorkel.



You get the picture.

So next time, the most logical, favorite thing I could talk about? No, not ink. Stationery! MMMmmm!!

("Yes, he's apparently that shallow. And he's now too old to outgrow it.")

Labels: personal

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