They say that a pen is mightier than the sword: that words on paper could pierce through the soul, whereas a blade can only cut through flesh. The same is true, I guess, when you're severely addicted to writing implements. I have amassed a collection of 28 fountain pens since I started getting in the habit a year ago, and the collection just keeps on growing -- I have 4 more pens waiting for me in the mail, along with 2 more bottles of ink. What got me into these pens, you might wonder, is their ease of use, versatility, and discipline of usage. I have used ballpoint pens since grade school, and used only one ballpoint throughout high school (a Waterman that my grandfather gave me upon graduation from grade school). However, I discovered the
magic of using a fountain pen during one of my random bookstore scouring in Manila. And as the psychopathologist's diathesis-stress model, I succumbed to an incorrigible, expensive, yet auspicious addiction to fountain pens. And as of late, the addiction broadened to include dip pens.
As the diathesis-stress model indicates, I was predisposed to writing with fountain pens because of my light hand. I don't have an enormous pressure in my hand when writing, so the pen simply glides across the paper, hence writing with a fountain pen just makes it much easier for me to write. I could go on and compose 10 pages by hand without stopping from hand fatigue and strain. Now that is something one can't do with a ballpoint. Writing with a fountain simply precipitated the urge to write on and on, hence the clutter of sheets of paper around my room with random writing.
One can't simply write with a fountain pen and expect it to blend in the crowd: the pen-and-ink combination simply makes the pen stand out from the crowd of twirly-stroked ballpoints. The solid, definitive bold line of the fountain pen distinguishes itself from the rest. Ink is something unique to fountain pens: you cannot simply just shun it away; the slight undertones of upstrokes and the solid shading of minuscules cannot be replicated by a ballpoint. Fountain pen ink has a much wider array of colours, hues, tones and even scents that regular ballpoints just can't have. The fountain pen clearly wins on versatility: one can have an entire battalion of ink bottles and replace colours every time one feels like it. Changing inks, however, takes patience and scrutiny that goes well beyond the means of ballpoint-dom.
And that is why I enjoy writing with fountain pens so much: the regiment one endures, the patience it takes to get a pen writing is painstaking -- almost like rearing a child. Fountain pens require much more attention than regular ballpoints: the intricate capillary action that delicately channels ink from the reservoir to the nib's tip is so precisely made that even the simplest of mishaps could spell disaster. A misaligned tine, feed channels that get clogged by dried ink, and scuffs on the barrel are all dreaded by fountain pen writers. We pay close attention in maintaining our pens, hence we develop a little obsessive-compulsive cyclothymic deep inside of us. The rigorous discipline in maintaining these pens is a force to be reckoned with. Top it off with that awe-striking appeal when I bring out my pen while taking notes (and eventually getting the attention of that cute classmate sitting beside me), I know that have the best writing implement I can have.
Hahaha. Hey guys, I've been busy with school mostly. :( Sorry I haven't been around lately. 