Magic!

The long journey back to the brain mills of Oxon. begins tomorrow but my writing habit must be satiated. Unfortunately that does not promise an engaging blog entry, only a short update and some name-dropping for deserved peoples. Below rest notes on a pen, a book, and some short updates.

The Pen:
Ravens March Fountain Pens has worked his strange alchemy on a pen I was happy to part with back in September. I bought a very non-descript Waterman from what I think I can actually call a ‘regular’ stop in Paris (I have visited the place 4 times on 2 separate trips so that counts as ‘regular’ to me). I bought in mostly because it was there and reasonably priced. It’s also the only Waterman I have handled but it was a complete disappointment. It started poorly, it refused to write outside of very strict parameters of angle and pressure and it had an over-all ‘cheap’ feel which is forgivable in a decent writer but this couldn’t do anything right. I handed it over to Ravens March as a sort of experimental case. “Here you go, see what you can do, but feel no obligation to actually fix it or return it, it will not be missed.” And it was not missed. My Kaweco, Inoxcrom, and old-model Muji pens happily took up rotation over the first term in Oxford.

Yesterday I passed by domum Ravens March to drop of his very own Kawaco (medium nib) and a now redundant copy of Borges’ short stories. I received in return the once disowned Waterman which writes like a treat. Apparently, the poor performance was not an intentional design feature but a product of some twisting and other subtle mutilations to the nib, invisible under my natural 10x magnification but clear under x20. Now, it still has that cheap feel but no manner of skill can correct that but it is now forgivable thanks to Ravens March wizardry.

The Book:
In an attempt to help manipulate the mysterious metrics of Google and various search algorithms I feel compelled to mention an important book that all good people of learning souls purchase, at full price, and preferably from the publisher directly thus assuring the maximum profits for publisher and author.

While I have entirely legitimate professional reasons to respect and admire Klaassen’s work, I have an extra soft spot for him as an academic late-bloomer. Klaassen finished his undergrad a good 10 years before his Doctorate but he has caught up on lost time, securing tenure and establishing himself squarely and safely within his discipline. The same can be said for his partner who is working on her first book as we speak.

The People:
They will remain unnamed here but I was pleased to see the first legitimately critical review of a book I foolishly commented on back in August. I wait with keen anticipation for the resulting torrent of diverse and obscure invectives from the offended parties. This will certainly happen since the review is in the target audience.

That’s all for now. I need to finish packing and paint a small part of the kitchen before I go. Odds are I will have some energy to write a short update on Friday.