The Journal Of Huck...

[tehnothing]

Ahhh, don't worry what others think. We all have "Unique" handwriting, and truth be told, if we take our time, most of our handwriting would be legible, which is all we need to be.

I think staying between the lines or dots or whatever is my biggest hurdle. I also can't decide if I want to write in cursive or script as I tend to mix the two. Maybe if I could find a free space in my apartment. When I left Germany after separating from my ex wife in 2012 I left most of my furniture there. I have a nice walnut reclaimed wood desk, but, most of the real estate is taken up by my 34" curved monitor and next to it my scanner/printer combo. I have a folding rectangular card table. Looks more like the wall paper table I used as a teenager. Thing is my Dining room is full of boxes of all manner of things to include the eight to ten shaving hoard boxes so there is no space for it either. Bachelor Life.

 

[cajunrph]

Bachelor Life

Has its advantages and disadvantages, I hear you brother, I was in your shoes a few years ago, then I met my current wife and she organized all the boxes. But sometimes, living small has its advantages also, do away with the clutter and keep what is only necessary.

I think staying between the lines or dots or whatever is my biggest hurdle.

Mine too, then I have to slow down and realize it's not a race. Years of taking scripts from doctors and nurses who tend to rattle it off with the speed of an auctioneer, has ingrained into me to write fast, even when I don't need it.

 

[tehnothing]

slow down and realize it's not a race. Years of taking scripts from doctors and nurses who tend to rattle it off with the speed of an auctioneer, has ingrained into me to write fast

I have never been able to take notes efficiently. It always seems I am halfway through writing a sentence or list and already everyone else has moved on. So I can understand you even if not the same thing. At any rate I have some nice pens and they get used maybe for an hour and a half every Monday, and, not much else. I seem to be getting more active this week so maybe that positive change will spread from more shaves to other areas of my life.

But sometimes, living small has its advantages also, do away with the clutter and keep what is only necessary.

For my first year and a half out of the army I was a government contract Mechanic at Camp Darby in Livorno, Italy working on army vehicles. I left four or five boxes in a friends closet in Germany, and, lived out of two army duffel bags and a roll away tool box and full size topper of tools. Even when I came back to the states after fifteen years overseas, all I had to show for it was two boxes a suitcase and my computer which I sent through the mail. I lived that way for again two years until I finally settled into having stuff again. I can do minimalism, but, I would rather have storage space at home for what I have. I need to sell some shaving gear, PIF some, and, throw some away that aren't worth giving away. I'll get to it eventually.

 

[Phoenixkh]

I can write like an Egyptian: in hieroglyphics. <eg>

 

[LRod]

I can write like an Egyptian: in hieroglyphics. <eg>

Sounds like me!
My handwriting's been bad my whole life. My mom would sit me down after school with penmanship books trying to correct it to no avail.
So I've been told that bad handwriting is directly related to a high IQ!
So that's what I choose to believe

 

[blethenstrom]

I'm too self conscious about my hand writing to post pics of it even though I have a nice collection of pens and notebooks/pads. Also clutter gets in my way of having a comfortable writing surface.

Do you find joy and peace in hand writing? Do you keep journal or do any regular writing? I find these things very therapeutic for me.

I used to never want to share my handwriting either, but writing makes your handwriting better. We can all get better too. I started four years ago when I was 48 to relearn cursive and you know we can all learn. It is a lot of fun actually...... hmm I do not recall being exactly fun when I learned writing as a lad though but times change.

 

[blethenstrom]

I can write like an Egyptian: in hieroglyphics. <eg>

I walk like an Egyptian...... errrr that is a song.

 

[LRod]

but writing makes your handwriting better. We can all get better too.

I know this post wasn't for me but I had to respond to this. I'm glad it's helped you get better but I've been doing it for half a century (like you) and my handwriting still looks as it did in the second grade.

 

[huck1680]

think staying between the lines or dots or whatever is my biggest hurdle. I also can't decide if I want to write in cursive or script as I tend to mix the two.

I favour colouring outside the lines myself and I tend to combine cursive and printing as well.

 

[blethenstrom]

I know this post wasn't for me but I had to respond to this. I'm glad it's helped you get better but I've been doing it for half a century (like you) and my handwriting still looks as it did in the second grade.

It is funny because I literally went online and found myself old school cursive practice sheets and used those. I'm not sure if you heard my story but in the middle of working on this I developed writers cramp in my left hand being a lefty. I could not write at all with my left.

My wife told me to try my right hand. I told her she was nuts. A few weeks later I way fluent right hand cursive writing. Now I wrote better cursive with my non dominant hand than I have ever done in my life. It is really strange.

 

[thombrogan]

Also a lefty that can write better with my right hand. Maybe not better, but the illegibility is more understandable.

 

[tehnothing]

When I first got back into pens a little over two years ago I kept a daily journal of mundane lists of my daily tasks like when I took meds so I wouldn’t forget to do that or eat or any other self care routine I had. I also kept a shaving journal that I would then post in my journal here. I was doing considerably better back then as I had been in an apartment that was roomy and actually unpacked. Then I moved from the comfortable apartment I had been in since 2018, to a smaller cheaper place that was mainly lived in, owned, and, maintained by foreigners from our southern neighbor and island folk. It was a mistake. The first month I lived there a maintenance man leaned his ladder against the glass of my bedroom window. Shattered it quick. They put plywood in the window and no further work was done. Then while they were working on the roof they poked a six inch gouge through my ceiling which leaked even after a shoddy patch job three months later. Neither of these things have been fixed to this day and I lived there for a year moving out in August, returning to the comfortable apartment complex I was living in before in the same size and layout I left trying to save money. The only difference being it is now $300 more a month than it was. The terrible complex still sends the maintenance reports to my email which is how I know they still haven’t done the work. Lesson learned. This is the first week in a couple of years that I have felt up to four shaves a week. I have been back in the nice complex since August, I have a lot of things I haven’t had the energy to unpack nor have I assembled my bed which is a relatively simple task, but, easier with two people. I don’t have it as bad as a lot of people. I have the VA for my health care and a civilian clinic for my other stuff. I have had my best week since I left this place originally. Fingers crossed that things remain in the positive. That is a whole lot of information to answer the question you asked. The short of it is I have in the past, and, have the tools to do so again. I had the cleaning lady in earlier this week which helps my mood tremendously. I shut her out of my office because that I really need to do myself, but, once that is done maybe I can try journaling again. Cheers.

 

[Guido75]

I have been using fountain pens for the better part of my life. Went with ball points for a few years and when I started working went back to fountain pens. I still have ball points obviously, but my brain writing gear is my Parker. I am also one of the dino’s in my company that a) I still write and b) I still write with a fountain pen and c) I carry a loose leaf binder - similar to a Filofax. I don’t care what others think, writing is part of my daily enjoyment.

I am a lefty so I learned to adjust my paper to ensure neatness (rather than my hand-never understood that).

Guido

Guido

 

[huck1680]

When I first got back into pens a little over two years ago I kept a daily journal of mundane lists of my daily tasks like when I took meds so I wouldn’t forget to do that or eat or any other self care routine I had. I also kept a shaving journal that I would then post in my journal here. I was doing considerably better back then as I had been in an apartment that was roomy and actually unpacked. Then I moved from the comfortable apartment I had been in since 2018, to a smaller cheaper place that was mainly lived in, owned, and, maintained by foreigners from our southern neighbor and island folk. It was a mistake. The first month I lived there a maintenance man leaned his ladder against the glass of my bedroom window. Shattered it quick. They put plywood in the window and no further work was done. Then while they were working on the roof they poked a six inch gouge through my ceiling which leaked even after a shoddy patch job three months later. Neither of these things have been fixed to this day and I lived there for a year moving out in August, returning to the comfortable apartment complex I was living in before in the same size and layout I left trying to save money. The only difference being it is now $300 more a month than it was. The terrible complex still sends the maintenance reports to my email which is how I know they still haven’t done the work. Lesson learned. This is the first week in a couple of years that I have felt up to four shaves a week. I have been back in the nice complex since August, I have a lot of things I haven’t had the energy to unpack nor have I assembled my bed which is a relatively simple task, but, easier with two people. I don’t have it as bad as a lot of people. I have the VA for my health care and a civilian clinic for my other stuff. I have had my best week since I left this place originally. Fingers crossed that things remain in the positive. That is a whole lot of information to answer the question you asked. The short of it is I have in the past, and, have the tools to do so again. I had the cleaning lady in earlier this week which helps my mood tremendously. I shut her out of my office because that I really need to do myself, but, once that is done maybe I can try journaling again. Cheers.

Interesting back story there. Glad you're doing things to help yourself out. Your home environment will definitely help the state of happiness/contentment with a pleasant place to be and relax. Take care and things hopefully continue to improve for you.

 

[huck1680]

Todays shave was pretty much a carbon copy of Saturdays. I changed up my brush for an AP synth and a warming scuttle but that was it. Shave 2 on the Predator and the Gem blade. if anything it was even better. Smooth, effortless and very efficient. this is a very good/great shaver...for me. I used to have several vintage Gem razors which were purged along with the rest of my vintage razor collection. Really glad I have this one though.
Also on the fountain pen front...I just purchased (on A****n.ca) a Lamy 2000 black fountain pen with a fine nib. Really looking forward to this. Great reviews etc and I had some points which I used to further reduce the price. All good. I think the purple ink will be the choice for this pen. So that makes in the Lamy line up...a Safari, an Aion, a Studio and soon the @000. I seem to like the Lamys. I also have the Faber Castel Ambition and the Traveler's Company pens. I think I'm set...snicker.

 

[LRod]

Todays shave was pretty much a carbon copy of Saturdays. I changed up my brush for an AP synth and a warming scuttle but that was it. Shave 2 on the Predator and the Gem blade. if anything it was even better. Smooth, effortless and very efficient. this is a very good/great shaver...for me. I used to have several vintage Gem razors which were purged along with the rest of my vintage razor collection. Really glad I have this one though.
Also on the fountain pen front...I just purchased (on A****n.ca) a Lamy 2000 black fountain pen with a fine nib. Really looking forward to this. Great reviews etc and I had some points which I used to further reduce the price. All good. I think the purple ink will be the choice for this pen. So that makes in the Lamy line up...a Safari, an Aion, a Studio and soon the @000. I seem to like the Lamys. I also have the Faber Castel Ambition and the Traveler's Company pens. I think I'm set...snicker.

I've yet to try the GEM stainless. I'll probably give it a go tonight. I've had the titanium so I'm guessing the extra weight will make it a tad more aggressive feeling due to the weight. The aluminum one feels identical to the titanium one.

 

[cajunrph]

Todays shave was pretty much a carbon copy of Saturdays. I changed up my brush for an AP synth and a warming scuttle but that was it. Shave 2 on the Predator and the Gem blade. if anything it was even better. Smooth, effortless and very efficient. this is a very good/great shaver...for me. I used to have several vintage Gem razors which were purged along with the rest of my vintage razor collection. Really glad I have this one though.
Also on the fountain pen front...I just purchased (on A****n.ca) a Lamy 2000 black fountain pen with a fine nib. Really looking forward to this. Great reviews etc and I had some points which I used to further reduce the price. All good. I think the purple ink will be the choice for this pen. So that makes in the Lamy line up...a Safari, an Aion, a Studio and soon the @000. I seem to like the Lamys. I also have the Faber Castel Ambition and the Traveler's Company pens. I think I'm set...snicker.

My LAMY and Faber Castells have become my favorite pens, along with the TWSBI 580. There is just something in the way the LAMY writes, it seems smoother, and the Faver Castells and TWSBIs are right there as well.

 

[LRod]

Todays shave was pretty much a carbon copy of Saturdays. I changed up my brush for an AP synth and a warming scuttle but that was it. Shave 2 on the Predator and the Gem blade. if anything it was even better. Smooth, effortless and very efficient. this is a very good/great shaver...for me. I used to have several vintage Gem razors which were purged along with the rest of my vintage razor collection. Really glad I have this one though.
Also on the fountain pen front...I just purchased (on A****n.ca) a Lamy 2000 black fountain pen with a fine nib. Really looking forward to this. Great reviews etc and I had some points which I used to further reduce the price. All good. I think the purple ink will be the choice for this pen. So that makes in the Lamy line up...a Safari, an Aion, a Studio and soon the @000. I seem to like the Lamys. I also have the Faber Castel Ambition and the Traveler's Company pens. I think I'm set...snicker.

I used the stainless Shield Predator GEM for the first time tonight.
Excellent razor, same results as you Huck!

Interestingly I found it better (smoother & less aggressive) than the titanium or aluminum ones.
I'm guessing it's due to the weight increase. I'm used to not pressing at all with heavy razors. I also
find the stainless finish to be smoother than the titanium's. I mentioned on my journal that the titanium
one was from early batches where the finish wasn't as refined. So I think those two changes make it better!
It actually felt just like the Blackland Sabre Level 2 which is weird since they've got different blade gaps
& blade exposures. The gap/exposure is higher on the Shield!

I don't know but as much as I like the Sabre (due to the machined finish and beautiful handle), the Shield is simply a better buy and the head design has better tolerances. The Sabre has some blade wiggle before tightening which means it requires a bit of fiddling when changing a blade. I already know how to quickly do it (I've learned how to hold it during a blade change) but it might be an issue for some. On the Shield, you drop the blade in and just tighten. It's pretty much perfect in that respect.
All in all I'm quite impressed with both the DE & GEM Shield's!

 

[blethenstrom]

Todays shave was pretty much a carbon copy of Saturdays. I changed up my brush for an AP synth and a warming scuttle but that was it. Shave 2 on the Predator and the Gem blade. if anything it was even better. Smooth, effortless and very efficient. this is a very good/great shaver...for me. I used to have several vintage Gem razors which were purged along with the rest of my vintage razor collection. Really glad I have this one though.
Also on the fountain pen front...I just purchased (on A****n.ca) a Lamy 2000 black fountain pen with a fine nib. Really looking forward to this. Great reviews etc and I had some points which I used to further reduce the price. All good. I think the purple ink will be the choice for this pen. So that makes in the Lamy line up...a Safari, an Aion, a Studio and soon the @000. I seem to like the Lamys. I also have the Faber Castel Ambition and the Traveler's Company pens. I think I'm set...snicker.

Ohhh yeah now we are talking!

 

[huck1680]

So I made it to Calgary with no issues...other than it snowed here. Sigh. Supposed to snow some more as well. Don't think it will affect the driving, the roads seem pretty clear. Going to my consultation tomorrow and then a lunch with my old friend who's suffering with Parkinsons. looking forward to tomorrow.
Had a great dinner with my mom and brother. Mom is forgetting stuff but she's also 94 so she gets a lot of slack.
My brother surprises me with a Batman#19 from 1943. I always liked Batman and collected the comics as well. But this...wow!
Cheers!