Re-falling in Love

In high school I used a cheap cartridge fountain pen for my personal writing.  I loved it dearly, carefully rinsing the nib between colors and carrying it with me everywhere I went.  Somewhere I have notebooks upon notebooks filled with my scrawl, made slightly more tolerable by the beauty of the ink.

The fountain pen even made it to college... until I left it by a computer in the main library.  I ran back ten minutes later and it was gone.  After a period of mourning and fruitless ebay searches I gave up.

Fast forward - I'm an adult.  I can budget for and buy the things I like, even if they're a little expensive.  A couple weeks of frugality later and I have this:

Lamy Al-Star in Purple

An absolutely gorgeous fountain pen.  It's not one of those crazy $100+ dollar ones, but it cost enough to feel like a luxury.

And what a luxury!  I got a converter to go with it so I can use any color or brand of bottled ink I like.  I got plain ol' black to start but I'm eyeing this mysterious purple.

My "me" handwriting - I use better in my letters!

Writing to penpals will be even more fun!  Next up - handmade envelopes.  Bwahaha.

Incoming - 11th and 12th

I got my first incoming mail since getting back into this penpal thing, yea!  I sent a letter to Victoria after reading her ad on Penpal of the Week and she replied with this postcard.

The front was inked up a little by another postmark, boo.

It's very fitting as there are cranes in my neighborhood - I see them flying over the houses once in a while, or fishing in the river.

I also got some mail from the Cup - I won a prize for being third in Slytherin for Ravellenic Quiddy, woo!  (If that sentence made no sense to you there's a good chance it never will.)  Along with the most delicious laceweight was this card:

"There are no good girls gone wrong - just bad girls found out."  Mae West

Love.

In other news this week I've been studying like mad for an interpreting school entrance exam on Monday.  I know I'll be asked to interpret Japanese into English and vice versa so I've been working on that specifically.  There's also a chance they'll interview me or have me read a newspaper.  Scary!  If the article is about nuclear power or bullying I'm okay but politics = death.  There's too many names of people I don't know with hints about past events I know nothing about.  Give me radiation levels or a car wreck any day.

Next correspondence in the hopper - a looooong letter to my best friend from college.  Yes, that means you, E!  It's been too long.