I mailed in my federal and state income taxes today. Yeah yeah, I know; everyone else here did theirs back in January. But anyway.
Being old fashioned and eccentric, I didn't do this electronically. I downloaded and printed out the forms, took out my file of tax stuff, and started filling out the federal one, using my Parker 51 and Pilot Blue-Black ink. I hadn't filled out more than a few lines before I realized that this wasn't going to be a good idea on my cheap printer paper. This pen leaves a nice fine-ish line in my Life Noble journal. It leaves a medium-ish line on the fairly good printer paper we have at work. But on this paper, it spread out to a broad, and there was a distracting amount of show through on the reverse.
I finished it anyway as my practice form, then did a neat copy using (sigh) a Jotter ballpoint. At least it had a pretty nice refill for a ballpoint, a black Dupont one that is really quite smooth. Then the same thing for the state form.
It's not actually a matter of principle to use a fountain pen, but it's a pretty strong preference. For those here who filed paper forms, how many used a fountain pen? Maybe if I'd had something with an extra fine nib inked up.
And the state form actually said to use blue or black ink only. Sheesh, my Sailor Jentle Shigure (purple) or Tokiwa-matsu (green) aren't good enough for them? Granted, I was going to use blue or black anyway, but still...
Being old fashioned and eccentric, I didn't do this electronically. I downloaded and printed out the forms, took out my file of tax stuff, and started filling out the federal one, using my Parker 51 and Pilot Blue-Black ink. I hadn't filled out more than a few lines before I realized that this wasn't going to be a good idea on my cheap printer paper. This pen leaves a nice fine-ish line in my Life Noble journal. It leaves a medium-ish line on the fairly good printer paper we have at work. But on this paper, it spread out to a broad, and there was a distracting amount of show through on the reverse.
I finished it anyway as my practice form, then did a neat copy using (sigh) a Jotter ballpoint. At least it had a pretty nice refill for a ballpoint, a black Dupont one that is really quite smooth. Then the same thing for the state form.
It's not actually a matter of principle to use a fountain pen, but it's a pretty strong preference. For those here who filed paper forms, how many used a fountain pen? Maybe if I'd had something with an extra fine nib inked up.
And the state form actually said to use blue or black ink only. Sheesh, my Sailor Jentle Shigure (purple) or Tokiwa-matsu (green) aren't good enough for them? Granted, I was going to use blue or black anyway, but still...
