 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
Spending Xmas Money
I have, so far as I know, $100 to spend. I'm not thinking about Threadless shirts. I'm going to try to take pictures for STPs again, and I have . . . twenty-four shirts now. That would be $36, I think. That'll be good for a couple of shirts, and the two I want most right now aren't close to selling out. I was thinking about a television, but I can't seem to find a cheap CRT 19" or 20" television. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong place. Now that I have managed to get the game station once, I've been using the channel return button to switch between channel 3 and game. I still can't get cable on this TV without a receiver, but I haven't tried another television yet. If I don't get a TV, I can afford a region free DVD player. Then I could watch Moon Child again, and buy any DVD I want without having to wait for a US version. Not right away, though, because I wouldn't have much money left. Of course, what I'm currently using is a portable DVD player. It's not very forgiving of any little smudges or scratches. Even if I don't have lots of non-region 1 discs to play, a decent DVD player would be an improvement. I've been meaning to buy one for a few years. Of course, I could just buy a few video games, books, and CDs. The most tempting option of all is to go to the large, two building antique store down town, actually look at everything, and spend all or most of my money there. The problem is that I can't drive, so my mother has to drive me, and she's not really fond of antique stores. Or Asian grocery stores. Or book stores. Or video game stores. She can spend longer in a music store than I can, sometimes. Especially if it's got a cassette section. Hmm. As nice as buying video games and antique books and whatnot sounds, I think I really should get the DVD player. I always say I'm going to, and I always get distracted. Then, I'm trying to watch a disc that the cheap, portable player doesn't like, or I want to buy a DVD that doesn't and may never have a US version. If I have any money left, I should get two Sailor converters and a Parker converter, and maybe another bottle of Ziller ink. Maybe another bottle of fountain pen ink, too, if I've got the money. I think there's supposed to be a Waterman's blue that's good for cleaning out pens, and I have some vintage pens that I can't quite get clean. The worst is my Stratford. I have to run it under water to get it started every day. Parker Quink might be good for that, too. I'd also like a bulletproof Noodler's ink. El Lawrence is my favorite, but it's a bit expensive. I don't think I'll be able to afford that one right now. Ah, I could use the money on pen stuff. No! DVD player! I've got a couple of Parkers and Conway Stewarts I'd like to get repaired on day. The two Parkers I got really cheap on Ebay, so even with the repair costs, they were worth it. One Conway Stewart I got free with another pen, and I'd really like to be able to use it if possible. I broke the other Conway Stewart. Twice. When it first arrived, I was flushing it out in the kitchen sink. I put it on the counter beside the cat while I got more filtered water from the fridge. Beside the cat. Zoë, a young, playful cat. Even younger, then. She was around a year old at the time. And I set my brand new, forty or fifty dollar pen beside her, on a counter roughly three feet above a hard, tiled floor. Obviously, she batted it off the counter. The barrel broke and the tines got crossed. I fixed the tines and quickly glued the barrel together. It had an unattractive crack, but it was still usable, and that was all I cared about. After I was sure the glue was dry, I tried flushing it out again, but it had a lot of ink in it, so I decided to soak it. New to the world of fountain pens, I hadn't yet learned a very important fact about Conway Stewarts. From Vintage Conway Stewart Pens at Penspotters: Quote: Conway Stewart is known for having made barrels and caps from casein, a plastic derived from cow's milk. Casein absorbs water and can lose its shape, so soaking such a pen can destroy it.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
 Posted by: Aya Xu Sun Dec 23, 2007 @ 10:26pm
|
|
|
|
|
