Hi!
I've been lurking intermittently for a while and have seen a lot of usernames I recognise from the other place. I was fairly active over there, until a few years back, but then kind of dropped off the edge of the planet as far as the hobby is concerned; I'm still a very determined user of fountain pens, though, and don't actually own any ballpoints - life is too short for writer's cramp.
Over the years I've amassed a smallish collection - about 70 assorted pens and half that number of inks. Many of them are very rarely used these days - I think my tastes have evolved, as these things do, and some of the early acquisitions no longer suit me as they once may have done. One day when life slows down a bit, I may consider rationalising the collection.
Today's pens are: Parker '51' Flighter (fine, Sailor Kiwaguro); Parker '51' Aerometric in Navy (medium, Sailor Souboku); and a cherry pearl Esterbrook J (9668 firm medium, Iroshizuku Momiji). Mostly being used to write in my new Leuchtturm Bullet Journal today, but often exercised to draw diagrams when I visit the office.
On the personal front, I live with my partner of nearly 30 years and our mob of six dogs and about a dozen cats. We're about 300 yards from the Bristol Channel, and have lived here for about a quarter of a century. I've been working in IT since shortly after I met my other half, mostly in weird niche systems and strange and largely obsolete languages and environments. Currently I'm doing rights and royalties back office systems for a large media company, working mostly from home. Things have slowed down a bit over the last 18 months, following a very unexpected heart attack which happened the night before my 51st birthday. Five stents later, I'm still in the land of the living and still learning to cope with the "new normal"...
Aside from fountain pens, inks and (apparently) dogs and cats, I also collect vintage sunglasses, mostly mint or near-mint Oakleys from around the turn of the millennium plus a few pairs of even older Ray-Bans. Currently about 60 pairs of sunnies... Stuff newer than the Luxottica takeover of those two companies need not apply!
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