Christian the Lion

OK, this I gotta tell you.

My sister told me about a video of a lion which she watched recently on youtube and I was quite fascinated by her story and decided to check it out myself.

I did a search on youtube, putting in the words "lion video" and there were multiple results about "Christian the Lion" and "Reunion".

I clicked on one of the links and was just amazed by what I saw.

Basically, Christian the Lion's story is about how these 2 guys bought a lion cub from Harrods in London back in 1969. They saw this cute little lion cub and in a small cage and decided to buy it and take it home.
They kept him in their furniture shop in London and for exercise, a local church vicar allowed them to use the church grounds to let Christian run. The thing is he started growing too big for them and they eventually contacted George Adamson, the "Born Free" guy to release Christian back into the wild.
It was about a year later when they went back to look for Christian, but before going, they were told that he wouldn't be able to recognise them. They went anyway and just see what happens in the video link below. Its a link to the youtube clip with also features the 2 guys 35 years later. Amazing story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXEZ2T_o6eM

Here's a write up on Christian the Lion

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-452820/Christian-lion-lived-London-living-room.html

LAMY DEMONSTRATOR

Haven't added anything for some time now. I got really sick in May and then was a bit busy and I didn't buy any new pens! Had to take some time out from buying pens. Its an expensive hobby! I'm glad I took the time to save some money anyway. I had almost decided on buying a Pelikan M205 Demonstrator. Read some good reviews about it and I really liked some of the photos I saw on Flikr. I emailed my seller and almost ordered it but decided to hold off instead.

Anyway, it was a good decision. I just bought this Lamy Vista Demonstrator last week. Think its a Safari in the demonstrator form. I chose to buy a fine nib instead this time as all my other Lamys are in medium. I've got a Safari in black matt, Al star in lilac colour, ABC pen and a studio which I've given to my sister. The shop I bought it from also had a Pelikan M205 Demonstrator and I immediately asked to look at it. I must say I was thankful that I held off buying it as I don't like the screw on cap types for fountain pens. I prefer to just pull open and close. In my line of work where I need to write a lot and quickly and where there is a lot of picking up and putting down the pen, this screwing style just interferes with my work flow. By the same reasoning, I find the Pilot Vanishing Point the easiest to use for work.

I usually use the cartridge for my Safaris as I feel they hold more ink. But I decided to insert the converter for the demonstrator. The red end of the converter can be seen and it adds some colour to the pen.

I filled the pen up with Pelikan Blue Black which I haven't used for some time now. The nib feels exactly like how a steel nib on a Safari would feel. Its hard and a bit stiff, but control is good. The flow is very smooth. As smooth as the medium, but it just feels a bit "sharper" but not scratchy.

The clear plastic is an eye catcher and a few of my patients have noticed it. I'm always glad to talk about my pens. They're not expensive types and not too poser. I usaully let them try my Vanishing Point in medium nib after telling them not to press too hard. The buttery smooth feeling is just too good.

Oh well, gonna use this for a while but I really feel like collecting more colours. I want to get the Ocean Blue, Raspberry, Lime Green, White with silver clip, Black with silver clip.....oh no....too many.....

Here are some photos. Lighting wasn't great. Took the pics in the kitchen at night.

Ibride

Some time ago we bought a set of display plates for our home from France from Ibride. Ibride is a play of on the English word "hybrid". The plates are really very beautiful and unique and are crafted from a high pressure laminate with a wooden core. The techniques employed to produce the trays are from the turn-of the century. The trays feature a modern baroque style which is both whimsical and reminiscent of a by-gone era. The intricate lattice frame and the dreamy imagery are hallmarks of the Ibride design. All trays are produced by members of the same family in France. I've not seen any other similar display plates before! This line was also carried for a very short and limited period of time by the Paul Smith boutique in Singapore.

In our enthusiasm, we bought a few extra plates cos they were so beautiful and we wanted more of each. We've given away a few to some relatives, but have some extra ones. Here are some of the photos below....we are selling each plate at $120SGD. Email me at acs1886@yahoo.com if you're interested.

Squirrel


Stag

Doe

Owl


Huppe

Dian

Victor


Liu

Louise

LAMY 2000

Ok I just filled up my Lamy 2000 tonight. I've been putting off filling it up cos I wanted to keep it brand new. But tonight, I just felt like getting a feel of it and put in some of my Noodler's Blue Black ink.

First Impressions....

The pen looks very simple and normal. Its been described by many as understated and I can understand why. In fact I find that it even boring with the cap on.
Its not hard to imagine that this is a pen that has been around for a long time. In fact it hasn't changed much in 40 years. Apparently the pen is so good that they saw no need to change or improve on it.

The cap has a metal clip and it snaps on and off nicely from the body. There are 2 "ears" which help to keep the cap in place, but they don't interfere with me holding it to write.

Filling Mechanism

This is my first pen with a piston filler. There is no cartridge. The pen needs to be put into a bottle of ink and you need to twist the top of the pen to fill it up. I did a few rounds of twisting and started writing, but the ink ran out after a few lines. I repeated the process but I'm not too sure if I did it right. There is a small ink window and it appears clear. By right this should be darkened, but I'm not sure if I'm seeing it correctly.

Nib

Now I've read and heard about the difference in the Lamy 2000 nibs from the other Lamy pens. I use the Al Star for my daily work and I like it with the medium nib. I previously bought a Lamy studio in medium as well, but I found it a bit too fine although it is supposed to feel very much like the Al Star. Now for the Lamy 2000, I really like the feel of this medium nib. I'm not too sure if it is really thicker and broader than the Al Star medium, but it writes comfortably for me. I might buy the fine nib later on just for comparison, but so far, I think this 2000 might become my next work horse.

Ink flow is really smooth and easy to control. It seems to strike a nice balance between smooth flow and control. Its not as smooth as the Pilot Vanishing Point in medium nib, but feels much easier to control than the VP. Its kind of hard to explain. The Vanishing Point writes like butter and the ink feels slippery coming out of the pen. Now that is a nice feeling, but it takes some getting used to to keep your handwriting tidy. For the Lamy 2000, there is almost no issue with control for me and the ink flow is smooth enough to be just nice and comfortable.

Summary

This Lamy 2000 is looking promising and I'm going to bring it with me to work tomorrow. It feels nice and smooth. The ink refilling will take some getting used to though. I usually refill my cartridges with ink using a syringe and needle. For this one, I've got to have some tissue paper handy to clean the pen after refilling. Overall, compared to the Al Star, this definitely feels better but look factor wise, the Al Star beats it.

Fish!

Ok those of you who have been to our home would have seen our little goldfish. Basically Lynn came home with a small packet of 3 goldfish which she bought one day from work. Yes work!

They've got this Pasar thing that goes on there for the staff and I think they have sellers for all sorts of things. She usually comes home with fruit, but on one of those days, she came home with 3 goldfish in a little clear packet secured with rubber band. We didn't have a fish tank then, and I put the goldfish in a bucket! Yes one of those pails put into the toilet. It was green in colour.

Anyway, the next week I bought a goldfish bowl from the petshop near the Tampines 24hr clinic. It was one of those rounded bowls made of very very thin glass. Its the kind that you see on TV sometimes. Well, the fish were happy to be out of the bucket and into the bowl and they were doing fine for a time.

The thing is, when we bought the bowl, the guy at the shop did warn us to be extremely careful while washing it. He said it could break easily. I did heed his advice, but.......yes, accidents do happen. And they tend to happen when you're tired.

What happened was I came home from work one night and I needed to change the water. Now, my usual practice was to scoop out the fish with a plastic bowl and carry the bowl with 2 hands to the toilet and pour the water away, then wash and fill it up. Yes I know, I know, you fish enthusiast out there will notice that I fill it up with fresh water from the tap. Not dechlorinated and our bowl doesn't have a filter or oxygen pump.

Back to the point.

Well I was tired and it was late. Instead of using 2 hands, I just used my right hand to hold the bowl at the rim where it was curved over the top open end. And yes, the laws of physics applied and the glass shattered, cutting my 4th and 5th fingers of my right hand. Basically my working/writing hand. It was a nightmare. There was lots of blood all over the place and I couldn't stop the bleeding despite applying pressure. I knew I needed stitches, but the clinic I worked at was closed already.

Tampines 24hr Clinic came to mind and Lynn rushed me over. The nurse didn't recognize me intially cos I was wearing my army grey singlet. There was a locum at that time and it was pretty quiet. Now, I knew I needed stitches, but I wasn't keen on having myself stitched. It would have meant giving myself a digital block around my 2 fingers and for those of you who know me, I am very scared of pain. Yes I am.
Ok, I was hoping to get away with just using the tissue glue to glue up my 2 lacerations which were actually very nice and straight. But guess what!!!???!!! They had run out of tissue glue. Wah Lau! Just my luck man.

Anyway, I needed to work the next day and I needed to chop chop settle my problem. I decided to use Steri-strip which they thankfully had. The steri-strip managed to hold my wound together and I used Coban dressing to keep it tightly in place.

End of story is I managed to go to work the next day and still write. I did not use fountain pens for the next few days.

Ok here's the nicer part. Check out our fish. Photos aren't great, cos I'm no expert and can't seem to get sharp shots with the fish still swimming.






Our Ring Wraiths! Nazgul........




All of them together

Lynn's Room

Right, I managed to get some simple photos of Lynn's room. I had previously had problems getting the right lighting as the pics came out very grainy and my Sony Ericsson K750i just couldn't get nice enough shots to do the room justice. These here are just some close ups of her stuff. Pretty stuff that look nice.

Ink!

Ok took some photos of my new ink bottles. Managed to get my hands on a bottle of Noodler's Bulletproof Polar Black ink. Courtesy of my former schoolmate Peishan who was in Houston recently. Thanks again!

Basically I've been trying to get this ink for some time now. It wasn't available in Singapore previously but I happened to step into Aesthetic Bay a few weeks ago and they had Noodler's ink there. I bought a bottle of Blue-black which cost me $25! Thats even more expensive than my Namiki ink. The bulletproof one was selling for $30. I decided against buying it straight away cos I've heard mixed reviews. There have been reports of sluggish ink flow and having to wash the nib more frequently.

Anyway, as I mentioned, my schoolmate was in the US and I emailed her to keep an eye out for the ink. I didn't expect her to really buy it and was pleasantly surprised when i found out that she did. I think she had some trouble finding it at first as the first shop she went to had it only in non-black colours. Think she finally managed to ask someone else to help her to help me get it. A bit of a merry go round but thanks again Peishan!

Well, I filled up my Lamy Al Star a few days ago and I must say that it does feel a bit sluggish. It doesn't flow as nicely with the bulletproof ink, but then again, I didn't wash my nib before filling up the empty cartridge. I haven't tested it with water yet, but so far I haven't got any smudges yet. And believe me, a lot of my writing smudges with the usual inks. Its because i try to wash my hands after seeing every patient and I usually don't get to dry my hands fully.

Anyway, take a look below to see the ink and a sample of my writing. I've also taken some photos of my Lamy ABC pen. Lynn got it for me some time ago. Its a kids fountain pen and is really easy to write. Mine's the blue, but its got a sister which is red. Thinking of getting that too , but there's another pen which I want to get also. The Pelikan M205 demonstrator. Ok ok control control......spending too much!! I haven't even filled my Black Carbonesque and the Lamy 2000.

More Pens

Hahaha!!! I just got my BLACK CARBONESQUE VANISHING POINT!!! Also got my Lamy 2000! Both in medium nib.

Haven't managed to shoot some nice photos of the Lamy2000 yet. it looks kind of boring from the outside but its got a hooded nib! How cool is that? Plus it has a really great reputation. Apparently it hasn't changed in 40 years. Its been so good that they haven't had any reason to change or improve on it. Looking forward to filling it up and using it soon.

Anyway, I've taken some pics quickly of the Black Carbonesque VP and I've put it together with my Blue carbon and Silver VPs. There is a limited edition Red Carbonesque that is very nice, but you can't seem to get it anywhere. Take a look at the pics. Which do you prefer?



Seen here with all 3 of my collection. Blue in the middle. Notice that the pen clip is at the opposite end from that of usual pens. The clip is located at where the nib comes out from.



Pic with nibs

Pen Collection

Decided also to take some pictures of my fountain pens and put them up.

I only started using fountain pens about 2 years ago. I had seen the Lamy Al Star fountain pens being sold in Prints and wanted to buy one for some time. But the cost was something of a hindrance. I mean I usually use free pens from drug reps and I usually ask for the gel ones which are nicer to write. I just wasn't willing to spend like $50 on a pen. Anyway, I eventually bought one. The metallic blue Lamy Al Star in medium nib and loved it immediately.

But it was only when a doctor classmate of mine brought his baby to see me at the polyclinic one day that my interest in fountain pens picked up. He's a fountain pen guy too and recognized my Lamy immediately. We had a short chat and he took out his Pilot Vanishing Point. I think it was blue carbonesque. I tried it and it was so nice to write!

A few months later, I decided to spend the money and I bought a boring silver Vanishing Point. I had some problems with it at the start. It wouldn't work nicely with any of the inks I had. At that time I only had Lamy and Pelikan. I went on to buy Parker quink and Shaeffer as well. But they wouldn't flow properly in my pen. I eventually spent the money on a bottle of Namiki ink which worked.

Well, I've just recently acquired another Vanishing Point this time the Blue Carbonesque one. I got a fine nib one and I must say that its a bit "rougher" than the medium. I mean the medium writes like butter, but the fine is a bit "scratchy". I wish they had something in between. I'm using the cartridge provided for now. But recently, I bought Noodler's blue black in and filled it into my silver Vanishing Point and its flowing well. So obviously I'm very happy. It wasn't cheap though...

And oh, I was at Raffles City yesterday and went to this Japanese like stationary shop in the basement. Another doctor had told me through our forum that she bought the Pilot Petit1 pens there. I bought a set of red, blue and black. They only had green for individual ones.

Take a look at the pics!

Pilot Vanishing Point Blue Carbonesque







Pic of my 2 Vanishing Points - Silver and Blue Carbonesque together with my metallic blue Lamy Al Star.


The Pilot Petit1 fountain Pens. They're cute!




Will try to put up some pics of the way they write soon.

Well wanted to add some photos that I missed out the other day.


Interesting lamp with cute lampshade.


Sculpture which we imported.


Haha, my small set of Lord of the Rings miniatures from gamesworkshop. Painted these myself. Yes I know, the Ring Wraiths are super easy and you experts out there can tell I really messed it up. But hey, I still like them!