So glad you fared well during Beryl, Chris. I’m in Florida and these hurricanes are so stressful. I was actually having empathy stress about Beryl as if it were heading this way. Prayers for all the people who were affected. Your videos are so thought provoking and i admire your courage in speaking out about personal topics that some people shy away from. Congratulations on your progress with Pen Fast. I agree that a lot of the obsessive buying is caused by all the advertising and I too have tried to stay away from all the adverts. It reminds me of Sunday morning tv when we were kids and every commercial was for a toy or doll that was geared to cause temptation. I’m feeling a strength in saying No, I don’t need that. Blessings and Love ❤️
Hi @YorkieMama222 - thank you - I do feel so much better two months in with the pen fast. At the same time I'm beginning to see my past buying behavior as quite wild and nuts ... so I'm trying to be forgiving of myself and just bring back a lot more common sense. :) I hope you are safe this hurricane season. I imagine it can be very challenging there in Florida with the evacuations too ... we just never know if where we go to may be under water. I find it very risky whether we stay or go. Local authorities have not always called it correctly either so I try to make up my own decision. :)
Hi Chris. As always, I so enjoyed your video and listening to all your news. I'm glad you and your dear ones are safe: I can't imagine how stressful hurricane season must be. Here in Ireland, all we have to deal with is some rain, not much sun this year, and cooler temperatures! It's trying times like you're going through that make our hobbies such a therapeutic way to deal. I'm only recently becoming aware of Stoicism and am going to investigate further. Thank you for the sense of companionship and support you give to our wonderful community. Love and best wishes.
Hi @wildwolf3343 Oh your weather sounds really good to me because we've had hot, humid and sunny weather for so long. I imagine it gets a bit tiresome if it goes on too long rainy, cool and grey skies. :)
Glad to hear you made it the hurricane. It's always difficult how to prepare for them. But better to be over prepared than under. But it's definitely very stressful. It's great to see you are having a good month with your pens. I really liked that Diamine rustic brown.
Chris, thank you for the update on your pens. I love that Diamine Wild Strawberry. I think thrash is on my wish list. You certainly have a great system for emergency situations. I find it interesting that you live a fractionally further away from the equator than I do in Brisbane Australia. Corpus Christie is at 27.8N and Brisbane is at 27.4S. Our weather seems to be the same however we miss out on the hurricanes/cyclones. Brisbane is on the water. We get cyclones forming in the Coral Sea but they don't usually come this far south. We normal get impacted by the tropical low pressure systems that result from a cyclone and our worst flooding events have resulted from there lows. I presume it is the warming of the air from the temperature effects of the Gulf Stream and the shape of the Gulf of Mexico. Good luck for the future.
Glad it missed you. We got a little more wind here in Beaumont and rain, but that was all. I like your method of use with multiple pens/inked differently for almost the same days entries. Keep up the good work.
Hi @JRDiaz-tn5kb ... thank you ... I'm glad you came out okay from the storm. We've got a lot of dust in the air right now. I'm looking forward to fall.
Hello Chris , when I lived in my previous house in York UK, every winter the road out would flood and the surrounding area so we would be cut off for a few days. It was nothing like the scale of disruption that you describe however every time the local water company would send out flood warnings like the world was going to end so I would rush back to York from work only to find that it was okay really and I could still get home ! So, eventually we stopped taking any notice of the alerts but instead actually went out to look at the water levels and calculated what would happen given the time and rainfall…… you can’t beat real facts . I am glad you are okay, I was wondering how you had got on.
Hi Anne -- it sure can be tricky when it comes to flood/waters .... I remember one time when I got trapped at work for 4 or 5 hours ... I couldn't drive home until the water subsided. I was just waiting all that time with whatever I had in my car and in my work bag. :) It sure was nice when I could get home!!!!!!
Glad you are okay down there, we hardly got any rain from it. The Jinhao 9019 is a good writer. I have not messed with the nib too much. The pen is a little too girthy for me. I went with a 9016 and it feels better.
I was late hearing about the storms in Texas and am just learning from this video that Vermont is being affected. Prayers that you guys, as well as your family in Vermont, are largely unaffected and stay safe!
Hi David - we all came out okay but it sure is hard to see neighboring cities and fellow Texans as well as Vermonters going thru the hardships they face rebuilding and getting homes, roads and everything liveable/useable. It's shocking actually.
Great report card. Have yet to try a Benu pen but they sound wonderful. Haven’t bought any new inks in a while, still trying to empty a few more bottles before I do that. Glad you guys are doing well weather wise and it’s always best to be prepared for anything!
LOL chocolate is important for sheltering in place ... I'm glad youre doing well I hope you got my letter I havnt heard from you in a minute I got worried but I'm glad to see you and the kitties and Manuel are doing well :)
Hi Marilyn - I got behind with my writing but now a letter is on the way. Oh yes, chocolate is an essential. LOL Whew, this summer is quite the rollercoaster.
when you have a craving for pens, put your ruby slippers on and click your heels 3 times, and repeat "There is no room for pens, there is no room for pens, there is no room for pens" . you will then feel a LOT better . :):):):)
I also love those 2 inks as well. I like Asa-Gao better than Kon-Peki. If you've not tried it, another wonderful ink is Robert Oster River of Fire, it's a Teal/Green.
Hi Chris, nice progress report. I have 3 of the inks you've been using. I got the Pilot Asa-gao, and Lake of Fire some time ago. The third one was a gift from my oldest son cause he made the mistake of getting 2 bottles of Diamine Moon Dust. That one is an interesting grey shimmer. There's one ink I seem to have issues with and that's Diamine Earl Grey. I love the color, but it doesn't seem to flow very well for me. I did find a solution. I found a set of 3 small 1 ounce plastic bottles and put 10 ml of Earl Grey in it. Previously I bought a bottle of Vanness White Lightning Ink Additive, and put a drop in with the ink. I shook it up a little then inked up one of my pens. It did wonders and the ink flows much better.
Hi @zeus52452 - oh that's a great outcome with the White Lightening ... I have some of that. I have yet to try it! Are you writing with Earl Grey in a Fine nib? I've been okay with it in Medium and up.
@@ChrisSaenz13 Yes, I've been using it in a pen with a fine hooded nib. The thing is, I'm not aware if Diamine Earl Grey is just a standard ink, or if it has sheen, shading, or both!! When you decide to finally use the White Lightning make sure you mix it in a separate bottle of 10 to 12 ml of ink and 1 or 2 drops. This is a case where more is not better!!
Hi Chris, I decided to read Seneca after watching your video. I own the Loeb Classical Library edition and it’s not in the same order as the one the book club is using (University of Chicago), but I just read an essay and write my thoughts on it. I’m following the idea of the book club but not reading the same essay with the book club. I like doing the exercise and using my fountain pens/inks writing down my thoughts. 😊
Hi @Cardenio2012 - I'm doing things more like you are except I'm going in order but the club is only doing one letter a week and although I'm not doing a separate letter each day it's more like 2 or 3 a week, I am going at a bit faster pace. But I like returning to a letter and my journal entry to see how I feel about it further down the line.
@@ChrisSaenz13 I do one essay a week and the first one was on Providence ("why, though there is a providence, some misfortunes befall good men"). I was surprised that it was difficult to stomach the message (bad things happen to good men to test them; good men should endure hardships with fortitude, etc.) this time in my life. Normally I'd gain strength from this type of message but now my question is, where is justice. Why do some people, especially people with power, get away with their wrongdoings when normal people face consequences. Why are some bad people above the law when many good people abide by law. So I write these in my notebook and I will read my entries later and see how I feel then. How I wish I could ask Seneca personally and argue with him!
Oh thank you for the warning Barbara - I'll do more research - so far I've used it only in a dip pen and rinsed it out immediately but that was tap water.
Still using the same pens and inks as before, though when I run my black Esterbrook J dry this time, switching to a Parker 21 for the Waterman Mysterious Blue (I seem to always have a need for the combination of an extra fine nib and a Waterman ink, anymore. 😉) For those not familiar with the 21, it's kinda the "daily driver" version of the Parker 51. Lower cost, stainless steel nib and a similar filling system as an Aerometric. Otherwise, it'll be still the same selection until I get the recent Wahl-Eversharp Skyline I've recently purchased working. Then, that'll get the Waterman Serenity Blue and the gray Esterbrook J gets a break. 😉 Great selection again, Chris! Glad you were safe during the hurricane! I do have a question for you: you've used a much broader selection of inks, so I'm hoping you can help me. Have you used Sheaffer Skrip Red fairly recently (enough to have a review? I seem to only find vintage version reviews, or no comparisons. ) Do you know of anything that's a close match? Most I've seen are either leaning pink or orange, or are darker. Really looking for that BIC multipen red that Sheaffer Skrip used to have (and in spite of rumors of it coming back, can't find anything newer than the 1960s, which tends to have faded towards pink.) Only true red I've seen is Diamine Red Dragon, otherwise, and it's significantly darker. Thanks in advance! I getcha about the potential FOMO. I have to keep reminding myself "You really don't need this exact one." Yet today I ended up getting 2 older red Esterbrook Js. Basically because I'd never seen one in as chatoyant a pattern, and 2 for $17, one with a fine nib and another 2968 broad. Feast or famine, for broad, apparently. (I'd only found 2, for years, but now 4 in as many months.) And there's a few more I'm keeping my eye on (and not all Esterbrook. 😁) One, I'm REALLY hoping slips through the cracks. It's listed as a no brand parts pen, but is a pre 1917 John Holland. One of the early big names in fountain pens... This is one I really don't want to pass on.
Hi Paul -- I'm wondering if the Sheaffer red cartridges I have are the red you're looking for .... I will empty one and make a tile to see how it comes out .... somewhere around here I also have a BIC multi pen lol. I'll need a little time but hopefully I can get a comparison tile going to that we can come up with a close match. :)
@@ChrisSaenz13 Should be the same red. Even when they moved production to eastern Europe, they still made the same color. Like Parker Quink and Waterman moving production to France. 😉 I'd be okay with vintage, but it's a color that gets variations with age. Almost always towards pink in Sheaffer. Waterman turns more mauve and burgundy, so did Parker Quink. (And Sanford turns a hideous salmon color. ) Looking for 1980s and newer. Tends to be the color I'm looking for. (Most European brands, it's leaning towards orange and pink, not a true, basic red like I'm hoping to get.
We do have general go bags and I have a backpack ready to put pen cases .... but it's so hard to say what pens I'd actually take if I had to "bug out" I think it depends on the scenario. They are certainly replaceable whereas my kitties are not.
Hi Chris, just a question, i don’t have a sceptor benu. It looks so “fat” I’m afraid it would be awkward to hold & write with. I’d like to know how you feel about it. Have a good week.
Hi Ann-Ingrid -- the Scepter pen has the same section as the Briolette and I find that it's comfortable to hold ... of course it can't be posted ... but I don't find the wider back part to be obstructive to my writing in any way! I hope this helps.
Hello Chris, I’m new to the hobby and have got some pens that are inked. I’m trying to finish up the ink of each before inking another one. I wonder if you manage to finish the ink on each of your pens at the end of the month and if not, what do you do? Do you storage the pen with the ink or do you clean the pen and dispose the ink?
So glad you fared well during Beryl, Chris. I’m in Florida and these hurricanes are so stressful. I was actually having empathy stress about Beryl as if it were heading this way. Prayers for all the people who were affected. Your videos are so thought provoking and i admire your courage in speaking out about personal topics that some people shy away from. Congratulations on your progress with Pen Fast. I agree that a lot of the obsessive buying is caused by all the advertising and I too have tried to stay away from all the adverts. It reminds me of Sunday morning tv when we were kids and every commercial was for a toy or doll that was geared to cause temptation. I’m feeling a strength in saying No, I don’t need that. Blessings and Love ❤️
Hi @YorkieMama222 - thank you - I do feel so much better two months in with the pen fast. At the same time I'm beginning to see my past buying behavior as quite wild and nuts ... so I'm trying to be forgiving of myself and just bring back a lot more common sense. :)
I hope you are safe this hurricane season. I imagine it can be very challenging there in Florida with the evacuations too ... we just never know if where we go to may be under water. I find it very risky whether we stay or go. Local authorities have not always called it correctly either so I try to make up my own decision. :)
So glad Beryl missed y'all. Texas flooding is not like flooding anywhere else.
Thank you! Yes, I've been heartsick over all the flooding in Houston. I can't even imagine how residents cope with that much flooding!
Glad you're safe Chris! Give Coco and the rest of the kitters extra pets for me!
Hi Chris. As always, I so enjoyed your video and listening to all your news. I'm glad you and your dear ones are safe: I can't imagine how stressful hurricane season must be. Here in Ireland, all we have to deal with is some rain, not much sun this year, and cooler temperatures! It's trying times like you're going through that make our hobbies such a therapeutic way to deal. I'm only recently becoming aware of Stoicism and am going to investigate further. Thank you for the sense of companionship and support you give to our wonderful community. Love and best wishes.
Hi @wildwolf3343 Oh your weather sounds really good to me because we've had hot, humid and sunny weather for so long. I imagine it gets a bit tiresome if it goes on too long rainy, cool and grey skies. :)
@@ChrisSaenz13 it sure does, but I’m trying to be Stoic about it: like the song says, “the sun’ll come out, tomorrow” 😂 ☀️
Glad to hear you made it the hurricane. It's always difficult how to prepare for them. But better to be over prepared than under. But it's definitely very stressful. It's great to see you are having a good month with your pens. I really liked that Diamine rustic brown.
Hi @christinemcgregor9970 - Rustic Brown sure is a flowy ink and it has such beauty when I use the water brush with it!!!!
Chris, thank you for the update on your pens. I love that Diamine Wild Strawberry. I think thrash is on my wish list.
You certainly have a great system for emergency situations. I find it interesting that you live a fractionally further away from the equator than I do in Brisbane Australia. Corpus Christie is at 27.8N and Brisbane is at 27.4S. Our weather seems to be the same however we miss out on the hurricanes/cyclones. Brisbane is on the water. We get cyclones forming in the Coral Sea but they don't usually come this far south. We normal get impacted by the tropical low pressure systems that result from a cyclone and our worst flooding events have resulted from there lows. I presume it is the warming of the air from the temperature effects of the Gulf Stream and the shape of the Gulf of Mexico. Good luck for the future.
Hi @raybuck - thank you and good luck to also ... flooding and fires and other natural disasters are so challenging across the globe these days!
Glad it missed you. We got a little more wind here in Beaumont and rain, but that was all. I like your method of use with multiple pens/inked differently for almost the same days entries. Keep up the good work.
Hi @JRDiaz-tn5kb ... thank you ... I'm glad you came out okay from the storm. We've got a lot of dust in the air right now. I'm looking forward to fall.
Hello Chris , when I lived in my previous house in York UK, every winter the road out would flood and the surrounding area so we would be cut off for a few days. It was nothing like the scale of disruption that you describe however every time the local water company would send out flood warnings like the world was going to end so I would rush back to York from work only to find that it was okay really and I could still get home ! So, eventually we stopped taking any notice of the alerts but instead actually went out to look at the water levels and calculated what would happen given the time and rainfall…… you can’t beat real facts . I am glad you are okay, I was wondering how you had got on.
Hi Anne -- it sure can be tricky when it comes to flood/waters .... I remember one time when I got trapped at work for 4 or 5 hours ... I couldn't drive home until the water subsided. I was just waiting all that time with whatever I had in my car and in my work bag. :) It sure was nice when I could get home!!!!!!
Glad you are okay down there, we hardly got any rain from it. The Jinhao 9019 is a good writer. I have not messed with the nib too much. The pen is a little too girthy for me. I went with a 9016 and it feels better.
I was late hearing about the storms in Texas and am just learning from this video that Vermont is being affected. Prayers that you guys, as well as your family in Vermont, are largely unaffected and stay safe!
Hi David - we all came out okay but it sure is hard to see neighboring cities and fellow Texans as well as Vermonters going thru the hardships they face rebuilding and getting homes, roads and everything liveable/useable. It's shocking actually.
Great report card. Have yet to try a Benu pen but they sound wonderful. Haven’t bought any new inks in a while, still trying to empty a few more bottles before I do that. Glad you guys are doing well weather wise and it’s always best to be prepared for anything!
Hi @lju5001
LOL chocolate is important for sheltering in place ... I'm glad youre doing well I hope you got my letter I havnt heard from you in a minute I got worried but I'm glad to see you and the kitties and Manuel are doing well :)
Hi Marilyn - I got behind with my writing but now a letter is on the way. Oh yes, chocolate is an essential. LOL Whew, this summer is quite the rollercoaster.
@@ChrisSaenz13 I totally understand I'm glad you are safe
when you have a craving for pens, put your ruby slippers on and click your heels 3 times, and repeat "There is no room for pens, there is no room for pens, there is no room for pens" . you will then feel a LOT better . :):):):)
ha ha
Prayers for a mild storm, if any, for you and your family 💙
If you love the Jinhao 9019, I suggest trying the 9016, smaller nib, but same converter. It is not as girthy. Christmas is coming
Asa-Gao is one of my favorite inks. (So is Fire and Ice). Thanks
I also love those 2 inks as well. I like Asa-Gao better than Kon-Peki. If you've not tried it, another wonderful ink is Robert Oster River of Fire, it's a Teal/Green.
Hi Chris, nice progress report. I have 3 of the inks you've been using. I got the Pilot Asa-gao, and Lake of Fire some time ago. The third one was a gift from my oldest son cause he made the mistake of getting 2 bottles of Diamine Moon Dust. That one is an interesting grey shimmer. There's one ink I seem to have issues with and that's Diamine Earl Grey. I love the color, but it doesn't seem to flow very well for me. I did find a solution. I found a set of 3 small 1 ounce plastic bottles and put 10 ml of Earl Grey in it. Previously I bought a bottle of Vanness White Lightning Ink Additive, and put a drop in with the ink. I shook it up a little then inked up one of my pens. It did wonders and the ink flows much better.
Hi @zeus52452 - oh that's a great outcome with the White Lightening ... I have some of that. I have yet to try it! Are you writing with Earl Grey in a Fine nib? I've been okay with it in Medium and up.
@@ChrisSaenz13 Yes, I've been using it in a pen with a fine hooded nib. The thing is, I'm not aware if Diamine Earl Grey is just a standard ink, or if it has sheen, shading, or both!! When you decide to finally use the White Lightning make sure you mix it in a separate bottle of 10 to 12 ml of ink and 1 or 2 drops. This is a case where more is not better!!
Hi Chris, I decided to read Seneca after watching your video. I own the Loeb Classical Library edition and it’s not in the same order as the one the book club is using (University of Chicago), but I just read an essay and write my thoughts on it. I’m following the idea of the book club but not reading the same essay with the book club. I like doing the exercise and using my fountain pens/inks writing down my thoughts. 😊
Hi @Cardenio2012 - I'm doing things more like you are except I'm going in order but the club is only doing one letter a week and although I'm not doing a separate letter each day it's more like 2 or 3 a week, I am going at a bit faster pace. But I like returning to a letter and my journal entry to see how I feel about it further down the line.
@@ChrisSaenz13 I do one essay a week and the first one was on Providence ("why, though there is a providence, some misfortunes befall good men"). I was surprised that it was difficult to stomach the message (bad things happen to good men to test them; good men should endure hardships with fortitude, etc.) this time in my life. Normally I'd gain strength from this type of message but now my question is, where is justice. Why do some people, especially people with power, get away with their wrongdoings when normal people face consequences. Why are some bad people above the law when many good people abide by law. So I write these in my notebook and I will read my entries later and see how I feel then. How I wish I could ask Seneca personally and argue with him!
Every time you show that red blue and gold benu it makes me think of Wonder Woman😂
Oh my gosh I had not thought about it until now but YES the pen is an exact color palette for her costume and golden lasso!!!!
@@ChrisSaenz13 it's SO pretty! And tempting 😜 I'm proud of your resolve concerning the pen fast!
Ha ha me too!😂
Chris-from Dromgoole’s-be really careful with that black ink-use ONLY distilled water or something about the ink crystallizes and can ruin your pen.
Oh thank you for the warning Barbara - I'll do more research - so far I've used it only in a dip pen and rinsed it out immediately but that was tap water.
Still using the same pens and inks as before, though when I run my black Esterbrook J dry this time, switching to a Parker 21 for the Waterman Mysterious Blue (I seem to always have a need for the combination of an extra fine nib and a Waterman ink, anymore. 😉) For those not familiar with the 21, it's kinda the "daily driver" version of the Parker 51. Lower cost, stainless steel nib and a similar filling system as an Aerometric.
Otherwise, it'll be still the same selection until I get the recent Wahl-Eversharp Skyline I've recently purchased working. Then, that'll get the Waterman Serenity Blue and the gray Esterbrook J gets a break. 😉
Great selection again, Chris! Glad you were safe during the hurricane!
I do have a question for you: you've used a much broader selection of inks, so I'm hoping you can help me. Have you used Sheaffer Skrip Red fairly recently (enough to have a review? I seem to only find vintage version reviews, or no comparisons. ) Do you know of anything that's a close match? Most I've seen are either leaning pink or orange, or are darker. Really looking for that BIC multipen red that Sheaffer Skrip used to have (and in spite of rumors of it coming back, can't find anything newer than the 1960s, which tends to have faded towards pink.) Only true red I've seen is Diamine Red Dragon, otherwise, and it's significantly darker. Thanks in advance!
I getcha about the potential FOMO. I have to keep reminding myself "You really don't need this exact one." Yet today I ended up getting 2 older red Esterbrook Js. Basically because I'd never seen one in as chatoyant a pattern, and 2 for $17, one with a fine nib and another 2968 broad. Feast or famine, for broad, apparently. (I'd only found 2, for years, but now 4 in as many months.)
And there's a few more I'm keeping my eye on (and not all Esterbrook. 😁) One, I'm REALLY hoping slips through the cracks. It's listed as a no brand parts pen, but is a pre 1917 John Holland. One of the early big names in fountain pens... This is one I really don't want to pass on.
Hi Paul -- I'm wondering if the Sheaffer red cartridges I have are the red you're looking for .... I will empty one and make a tile to see how it comes out .... somewhere around here I also have a BIC multi pen lol. I'll need a little time but hopefully I can get a comparison tile going to that we can come up with a close match. :)
@@ChrisSaenz13 Should be the same red. Even when they moved production to eastern Europe, they still made the same color. Like Parker Quink and Waterman moving production to France. 😉 I'd be okay with vintage, but it's a color that gets variations with age. Almost always towards pink in Sheaffer. Waterman turns more mauve and burgundy, so did Parker Quink. (And Sanford turns a hideous salmon color. ) Looking for 1980s and newer. Tends to be the color I'm looking for. (Most European brands, it's leaning towards orange and pink, not a true, basic red like I'm hoping to get.
do you have a fountain pen "go kit" that you could grab in case you need to bug out? You should have a personal one also :):)
We do have general go bags and I have a backpack ready to put pen cases .... but it's so hard to say what pens I'd actually take if I had to "bug out" I think it depends on the scenario. They are certainly replaceable whereas my kitties are not.
Hi Chris, just a question, i don’t have a sceptor benu. It looks so “fat” I’m afraid it would be awkward to hold & write with. I’d like to know how you feel about it. Have a good week.
Hi Ann-Ingrid -- the Scepter pen has the same section as the Briolette and I find that it's comfortable to hold ... of course it can't be posted ... but I don't find the wider back part to be obstructive to my writing in any way! I hope this helps.
Hello Chris, I’m new to the hobby and have got some pens that are inked. I’m trying to finish up the ink of each before inking another one. I wonder if you manage to finish the ink on each of your pens at the end of the month and if not, what do you do? Do you storage the pen with the ink or do you clean the pen and dispose the ink?