Unanticipated OCD

[VertOlive]

After a month or so of diving into pens, I'm up to 8 pens with another on the way. At about pen#4, I started doing this thing:

It seems I must be sure where they all are before I go to bed. One cannot remain in my bag, it must be with the others in their cup.

This is normal for me with my dogs, but these are pens, fer crying' out loud.

Do you know where your fountain pens are right now?

:crazy:

[00Photo]

Yes. I check on mine several times a day. Less because of OCD and more because they cost a small fortune and I work in high crime areas.

[MisterBoll]

It all depends on how well you've trained them. Mine have to be tucked in at midnight - or suffer the consequences.

[fountainpenkid]

Lol. I certainly am very aware of where my pens are at all times, and look all around the second I notice one is missing, but I don't bring enough of my pens around with me to possibly misplace them.

[Jon Szanto]

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb204/EnvoyC/resource/ocd.jpg

[earthdawn]

LOL...

Mine are in the 2 cases I have, all face the same way and all are centered :wave:

[I like mango pudding]

yeah, that's a bit of ocd alright. Sometimes I have a bit of it but I never dwell on it. It is a quirk of mine, like having all the bills in my wallet facing the same direction, or the teeth on the keys in my keychain all facing the same direction, or having the zipper from my pen case close at the top of the case instead of the bottom, or having all my shoes lined up perfectly in the closet, or having the toilet paper unroll from the top only, or having . . . well, you know.

[Jeph]

Bah, I don't even know how many I am carrying with me. (It is 10, I just checked.) For that matter, I don't even know how many pens I own. Yesterday a pen showed up that I did not remember buying, although it did come back to me after I checked my records.

And the funny thing is that my office mates consider me to be CDO. That is OCD in alphabetical order, if you are wondering.

[snedwos]

I have that sort of incidental OCD, too. As in, I'll spend ages trying to work out how to cap my pens so the nib aligns with the clip. But then I'm a total slob.


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[MisterBoll]

After reading all these posts I am feeling good as I realize I don't have OCD but probably some form of OCD Jr.

For the rest of you - I would not feel bad as OCD is much better than having CRS.

[tandaina]

I have a puppy who can and will chew anything she can reach. So yes, all my pens must be in the pen chest, or in their wrap on top of the chest, well out of reach at all times I am not using them. I am obsessive about it cause I wouldn't forgive myself if I let her destroy one. (She wouldn't know any better!)


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[manoeuver]

in a cup?

my pens are all over the freaking house at all times.

[cwent2]

6960

Thanks for the laughs - I know where all my pens, quills, pads, paper and ink are. Now if I could only find my mind, I think I lost it!

[Laura N]

I am so far from OCD that I feel a little left out.

I am a good pen cleaner, though. :)

[Robert]

Mine are apt to be anywhere at any given time. Some go missing for a day or two, only to turn up again. (I guess it's a good thing I never had kids.)

[cwent2]

Mine are apt to be anywhere at any given time. Some go missing for a day or two, only to turn up again. (I guess it's a good thing I never had kids.)

So i assume you have to look in the mirror to find the guilty party?

[orfew]

I had to laugh at this one. I will walk by my pen display a few times per hour. If one is missing I will ask my wife if she has seen pen X. 99 times out of 100 she will say "How did you know it was missing, I just borrowed it from the rack 10 minutes ago". So yes, I keep a close eye on my pens. My wife puts up with the hobby because she loves to write out note cards for people and knows she will always have her choice of pens with which to do it.

[Goldfish]

I have some pens that I haven't seen since I moved two years ago. I know it's in one of those boxes in the crawl space...

[InvisibleMan]

I know exactly which house or car or office most of my pens probably are in. At all times.

[gentlyom]

I am quite guilty in this department. Yes, I am aware of all my pens whereabouts and would check my vintage pens at least twice a day to make sure they are getting some "fresh air". I also very keen to cleaning my pens completely inside and out, including the cap. :)

[MisterBoll]

Now..................who puts their pens in alphabetical order?

[cedargirl]

I hate losing anything, so I do keep close track of them. They live in my office - the ones in use in a pen cup on my messy desk and those not in use in pen cases. Though I do occasionally forget to take a few travelers out of my briefcase for a few days and my heart does a leap until I remember where they are.

Though I have noticed a few strange patterns creeping in lately. I have a couple of hinged pen cases that take 30/48 pens - the other day I rotated all of the pens in the top half so that their clips were angled 45 degrees to the left and all of the pens in the bottom had their clips facing 45 degrees to the right. I also have a couple of soft zipped cases that take 48 pens - and, like mango pudding, the zip has to close to the top.

And I keep my pens grouped in the cases by manufacturer; and was trying to keep the vintage pens in chronological order (on year of manufacture). Though my Parkers seem to prefer numeric order, then age order - oh, hang on,:redface: where I have multiples, I also sorted then from Fine to Broad running left to right. Hmmm, is OCD contagious? Can I catch it from my pens?

[VertOlive]

Well, perhaps this is not so much OCD as it is "Attention Surplus Disorder"......

Just realized my pens are in order by where they would appear on the color spectrum....yikes!

[Ally46]

I have absolutely no idea, apart from the fact that they are in one of several skips somewhere in the attic. I bring them out now and again and then have to check if they need any repairs since the last time I repaired or restored them. And the boxes have to be put back in the skip in order. The main consolation is that while I have no idea where a particular pen is, I usually have to look at my entire collection to find it. And of course, the pen knows where it is.:lazy2:

[DrChumley]

Now..................who puts their pens in alphabetical order?

Well, I switch back and forth between lining them up in the cases from longest to shortest or from favorite to least favorite. I haven't made it to alphabetical yet. Although I could see lining them up by color...

[JustDaveyB]

Pelikans, I sort by size M1000 --> M300 then by value to me within size. Bexleys by age, Waterman Prefaces by Alphabetic, Lamys, Sailors, Auroras and Pilots - random. But my pens either live in a Penvelope Six if they are inked ups\ or in one of four zipper cases if they are waiting for their next turn. I know exactly where my pens are at all times....

[kaisnowbird]

I keep most of my pens in their original boxes and stack them in a bigger box. There is no particular order of stacking, except the empty ones (whose pens are currently inked and in my daily carry) stay on top.

I do know where each of my pen is.

[79spitfire]

Darnit, Now I'm wondering where that Parker 45 is, it's not sitting here on the desk.....

Oh, and I have OCD and CRS... and yea it sucks...

[Paul-H]

It is an acknowledged fact that most collectors and I mean collectors of anything not just pens have OCD to some degree, that what makes them such good collectors.

And like all Mental Illnesses most sufferers will not acknowledge their illness.

Or you might just have an addictive personality ;)

All those who now claim they are not OCD will obviously Be OCD and everyone will now know who they are :)

Paul

[79spitfire]

I still can't find that Parker....

I think I lost it in the hardware store parking lot Friday, I wonder if I should drive back and look.... It's the ink as much as the pen, it had Parker Penman Sapphire in it!!

[cees achterberg]

I guess my wife is right when she says that OCD stands for fOuntainpen Collector Disorder ....

[steveH]

Now..................who puts their pens in alphabetical order?

Which alphabetical order?

By maker, or model name, or color/maker/model, color/model/maker, nib type/size, ink maker/color currently loaded, ... ?
Does a 1934 Sheaffer Balance with an Eversharp fine flex nib belong with Sheaffer, or Eversharp, or Frankenpens?

You need to be more specific.

[ndw76]

I don't have OCD, but none of my pens are ever allowed to come into contact with another pen. Each must be securely stored in its own space. And pens of the same manufacturer must be stored side by side. Otherwise they get lonely.

[kaisnowbird]

Well, given that my pens are totally in order, at best I have an OCO - obsessive compulsive order. Certainly not a disorder!

[VertOlive]

Oh! you'll hate this, ndw76: I took two pens to work today and put each of them in the finger of a thick glove for safer transport! They were touching a little, but at least I knew which pen was in what finger of the glove.

Time to buy a pen case....

[tandaina]

I group mine by brand, then geography (all the Germans are together) and within brand by model/size/color.

And it isn't OCD. It is CDO, in alphabetical order, the way it should be!

[ndw76]

Oh! you'll hate this, ndw76: I took two pens to work today and put each of them in the finger of a thick glove for safer transport! They were touching a little, but at least I knew which pen was in what finger of the glove.

Time to buy a pen case....

Oh the inhumanity!
I feel like I can't breath...
Need to buy something from eBay to make everything ok.




Ok, a Conway Stewart Dinkie 560 pen and pencil set are on their way here.
I feel better now.

[BikerBabe]

Now..................who puts their pens in alphabetical order?

I do.
My pen collection is stored in good sturdy plastic boxes in alphabetical order with labels on the box, that way I can easily find any pen I might need.
Same goes with my everyday pens in my carrying cigar case. :)

[jacksterp]

They are where I last left them. As long as I can remember that, I know where they are...

[I like mango pudding]

Now..................who puts their pens in alphabetical order?

not in alphabetical order but in numerical order. Starting with MB 144, then 145, 146, 149. I even have a space for the 147.

[inkstainedruth]

Mine are apt to be anywhere at any given time. Some go missing for a day or two, only to turn up again. (I guess it's a good thing I never had kids.)

I have one Parker Vector that has been christened "Perdita". Left it at my brother-in-law's house for a month a couple of years ago (thought I'd lost in a hotel on the way home at first, since when we checked with him and his wife we were told it -- and the journal -- weren't there; turned out it *was* but they only saw the ziploc bag with the book and didn't realize there was a pen in there as well. Got it back after a month. Then, just over a year ago, I flushed it out (right before leaving town for Christmas), then put it down... someplace. Tore the house apart, asked the cleaning lady and the cat sitter to watch out for it, etc. Found it in an open desk drawer months later (at least it was not sitting with ink in it for that long -- although given how well it wrote after the first time, it might not have been all that bad...).
Most of the time I try to put any inked pens I've been using back into the cannister when I go to bed, but I'm not always that good about remembering. And the currently un-inked pens are (mostly) in zipper cases at this point. Or close enough to the dresser. Well, the two yellow Arnolds (a combo pen/pencil and a teeny pen about 3-1/2" long capped) are still in the living room. At least they're where I can see them.
Not *entirely* sure about the three pens that my friend found (while clearing out her mom's house a while back) that she wanted me to research as to their value (and I said I'd take photos of them but left my camera at my sister-in-law's over Thanksgiving) so she can sell them on Ebay. I'm *fairly* sure I know where they all are....
Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[VertOlive]

Really, now I'm concerned about the two pens that are almost mine and are in the flow of being shipped to me. I tracked one to a nearby suburb and it should be delivered tonight. The other one coming from Japan, no tracking number yet. How am I supposed to sleep?

Perhaps I should leave symbolic spaces in the current lineup?

[ethernautrix]

My inked pens are grouped together and kept within reach almost always. I have to put them near my bed (if not in my bed) before I fall asleep - in case I snap out of sleep with a need to write something down. Yeah, that's rare (unfortunately, I think).

But my cheap inked pens (Pilot Parallels, et al.) are bunched together in a pencil bag and are considered a unit (one unit -- the pencil bag). My uninked pens are in leather cases kept in other containers.

The Lamy Joy I wore clipped to my collar to a party last night, I remember taking it off after dancing around so much (and sweating), and so that pen is still at my friend's apartment. But I knew it was there as soon as I came home and took off my shirt and noticed NO PEN!

I don't think it's OCD so much as simple caring.