gemini://noneun.com/gemlog/sailor-shikiori-chushu.gmi

We all have one or two items that we look at for no reason, even if we don't intend to buy them. Some people are glued to their cell phones and meticulously check the specs of each new model, some people are obsessed with their laptops and tablets, and some people are so attached to their cars that they change them several times in their lives. So there's probably a community of people like that.

I have one of those, and it's a keyboard and a fountain pen. I don't pay much attention to anything else, but if I hear a rumor about a nice keyboard, needless to say, I won't buy it, but I will look it over and make sure to read the reviews. Every time I do, my wife tells me to stop and buy one, and I throw up my hands.

Fountain pens are another favorite, though not as much as keyboards. I don't write every day. Of course, there's a difference in interest between fountain pens and keyboards, but there's a clear threshold for fountain pens that keyboards don't have. I only look at low- to medium-priced fountain pens. I've never used an expensive fountain pen, and I don't intend to. Expensive is nice, but to be honest, I'm the kind of person who can be happy with the cheapest fountain pen in a stationery store. Of course, I can't love a poorly made fountain pen that doesn't write well. I'm a little intimidated by fountain pens that cost hundreds of thousands of won, because I feel like the person using it has to wear a gold chain around their wrist and write big.

Someone asked me about water-based ballpoint pens, but I'm not really interested in them. I've experienced ballpoint pens that feel very similar to fountain pens, and I've had some very novel thoughts, but that's about it. A ballpoint pen is a ballpoint pen, not a fountain pen. Some may protest that this is discriminatory, but I can't help it. First of all, no matter how similar they are, there's no way to compare the feel of a ballpoint pen to the feel of a pen scratching against paper. I also love fountain pens for the process of refilling them when they run out of ink, and even the slight sense of urgency that comes with running out of ink in the middle of writing. There's something to be said for removing old ink, disassembling a fountain pen to wash it, and waiting for it to dry before filling it with new ink. Other people use ink cartridges a lot these days because of their convenience, and I keep one on hand for emergencies, but for the most part, I like to refill my own ink.

I had a great time meeting up with a friend a few days ago. I hadn't seen her in a long time, and we had a great time talking, which was comforting at the end of an unusually difficult year for me. As if that wasn't enough, on the way to our appointment, she took me to an ink shop and bought me some fountain pen ink. I was amazed when I walked into the store, I didn't know there were so many inks in the world, I had only ever known black and blue ink. Of course, I knew that there were various colored inks online, but I only knew about a handful of them, and they were all variations of the black and blue that we often use. But in the store, it was a whole other world.

The ink I chose is a color called SHIKIORI CHUSHU (仲秋) by SAILOR. It's literally an autumn color, and it's a dark grey ink with a purplish tinge. I've only ever used the basic colors mentioned above, but I've never come across an ink with such an authentic (?) name before. I thought for a while about which fountain pen to try the ink with, and then settled on my favorite, the Platinum Plaisir. It specializes in fine-tip writing, so it's great for note-taking and making quick notes in books. Anyway, when I tried it out, I thought it was too light at first, but the more I looked at it, the more I liked the color. I'm used to black, so I wondered if the grey ink was mixed with water to create this color. If it was just grey, it might have been a little boring, but with a hint of purple, it gives me a mysterious feeling. After writing it, I realized that the relationship between people is also like that. Even if we don't see each other often, I never thought we'd be able to see each other for so long, and like the ink, I hope that the longer I see someone, the better they are.