It finally happened: missing fountain pens
Jun. 2nd, 2024 05:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
onepageatatimeOne of my worries when I started with fountain pens is how easy a time I have had over the years in losing things… could I hold onto fountain pens long enough without losing them for it to be worth buying them? And, until this week, the only fountain pen I had ever lost was a disposable one. (And that mostly because I don't care enough about it.)
But that was until this week. Yesterday, I went to get ready for Homework Saturday (the weekly trip to Panera or some other place that's not home for breakfast and for H to work on schoolwork). I usually end up copying my calendar into my planner from Google (among other things), so I went to gather my bag of supplies and my purse and… my purse was unzipped. And my three-pen sleeve was not there. This has my favorite pens: two of my first pens and my most recent purchase.
Off and on throughout the day, I'd look around the room to see if I could find the pen sleeve. And so far, it has not yet turned up.
From my planner, it looks like the last time I used my pens was Memorial Day. What I can't remember is where: was it at home? Or was it when we went out that day? I have like half-memories of being home, but… vague enough that I'm not sure if they're real or I'm trying to will them to be true.
I just looked up our stops on Monday: Panera, Barnes & Noble, an attempt at a restaurant that wasn't open, an Arby's stop, and home. If I'd had more search time before we were there yesterday, I would have asked at Panera when we were there. I need to think about how we came back that day. Where would I have gone when we came home? Where would I have put the sleeve. One ofthose half-memories is me thinking "I need to be careful or I'll forget where I put that." Is it real or not? Who knows? But it's not detailed enough to aid in the search.
I have already done the "figure out replacement value." The two old favorites would be about $45 to replace. I am annoyed that the pen I bought only the weekend before the holiday weekend is among the missing. And I am less certain about replacing it. And if I do replace it, with what? The model I bought or the model I thought I was buying, even though it's not available in the same color. And, presumably if I buy it, I buy my preferred nib thickness, rather than the only one the store had in stock when I bought it.
I think it may also be a split-purchase situation. Replace the two cheaper ones if they don't turn up by the end of this week (perhaps with different colors of the same models, in case the originals show up after I replace them). And wait another two weeks before considering replacing the newer one, which is more expensive than the other two combined.
In the meantime: figure out whether I can drum up any memories of what happened to it
But that was until this week. Yesterday, I went to get ready for Homework Saturday (the weekly trip to Panera or some other place that's not home for breakfast and for H to work on schoolwork). I usually end up copying my calendar into my planner from Google (among other things), so I went to gather my bag of supplies and my purse and… my purse was unzipped. And my three-pen sleeve was not there. This has my favorite pens: two of my first pens and my most recent purchase.
Off and on throughout the day, I'd look around the room to see if I could find the pen sleeve. And so far, it has not yet turned up.
From my planner, it looks like the last time I used my pens was Memorial Day. What I can't remember is where: was it at home? Or was it when we went out that day? I have like half-memories of being home, but… vague enough that I'm not sure if they're real or I'm trying to will them to be true.
I just looked up our stops on Monday: Panera, Barnes & Noble, an attempt at a restaurant that wasn't open, an Arby's stop, and home. If I'd had more search time before we were there yesterday, I would have asked at Panera when we were there. I need to think about how we came back that day. Where would I have gone when we came home? Where would I have put the sleeve. One ofthose half-memories is me thinking "I need to be careful or I'll forget where I put that." Is it real or not? Who knows? But it's not detailed enough to aid in the search.
I have already done the "figure out replacement value." The two old favorites would be about $45 to replace. I am annoyed that the pen I bought only the weekend before the holiday weekend is among the missing. And I am less certain about replacing it. And if I do replace it, with what? The model I bought or the model I thought I was buying, even though it's not available in the same color. And, presumably if I buy it, I buy my preferred nib thickness, rather than the only one the store had in stock when I bought it.
I think it may also be a split-purchase situation. Replace the two cheaper ones if they don't turn up by the end of this week (perhaps with different colors of the same models, in case the originals show up after I replace them). And wait another two weeks before considering replacing the newer one, which is more expensive than the other two combined.
In the meantime: figure out whether I can drum up any memories of what happened to it