There's more to life: 2020 year end final haul

Greetings and salutations. What a year it has been. A challenging year to say the least. For some it was a year that took them from strength to strength. Others not so much. To submit up it was not the year of the Rat. It was the year of COVID 19.

I think Metallica said it best in No Leaf Clover (1999) -

Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel.

Is just a freight train coming your way

Some businesses thrived, some closed shop. But it thought the human spirit to perceiver and overcome adversity. To triumph over darkness.

Congratulations! It’s long overdue, to everyone.

As the year closes and we open the book to the next chapter, I share my year end final haul.

I must say that this haul was rather unplanned or more accurately was in the planning for quite some time. Strike when the iron is hot or the price is right.

Faber Castell e-motion wood dark brown, medium nib. It’s the same nib used by Loom.

The infamous Montblanc Meisterstuck 145.

How I began looking up to Montblanc pens in general is due to one of my ex bosses that I still hold dear and in high regards up to this day. He is a Montblanc purist. A collector and Montblanc connoisseur even back in the day, when we were busy whipping out our Stabilo pen to write reports, he just unleashes his Meisterstuck and jaws dropped and we were just at awe.

This is the 145. I initially intended to purchase the 146 but the sales person offered me a price that I could not resist, so be it. Janji Montblanc. Right.

A word of caution. Always have the attitude of buyer beware. Done assume that a sales person knows his stuff. They are just interested in sales. I was initially told that this was a 146 but luckily I had enough basic knowledge to know that the difference between the 145 and 146 is vast. Although the model varies by a single digit but its like night and day, 146 is bigger in size, piston filling system and transparent ink window. The 145 uses a cartridge or converter. The model number : 1056613 was a dead giveaway that it was a 145 and not 146.

So express caution when listening to “sales man talk”.

One thing to note is that the size of the montblanc snow cap logo is always the same, no matter how big the pen is.

Beautiful crisp engraving. The cigar shape is indeed classic and has been copied by countless pens, Sailor, Platinum and tons others

The converter

The first fountain pen on the first attempt the converter was fully filled to the brink. I have many other fountain pens that even on multiple attempts the converter does not fill to top

Beautiful nib but a bit scratchy

My piss poor writing sample

The Faber Castell is a real beauty. It may look big and bulky but trust me its not. Just nice to hold, especially for people with smaller hands.

There’s something about wood that amplifies the serenity and beauty of nature

The spring loaded clip is elegant and super easy to use

The nib is indeed a beauty. My crappy camera or the cameraman (me) fails to highlight its beauty

The nib writes effortlessly. Sorry bad choice for writing sample but I used this to cordon off a area in my house that needs some maintenance

My purchase with the sales person was rewarded by this rare 20 year old pen casing from Germany. The casing nowadays provided are a simple grey lackluster dull made in China case.

Morale of the story, be nice to everyone.

See what I mean. Isn’t this a beautiful and unique casing?

It even has a booklet included. The China ones don’t.

Traveller’s Company Regular Camel notebook. That is the standard clip and I tired so many pens to fit in. Unfortunately I could not get a comfortable and snug fit with most of my pens. I thought the Kaweco Brass pen or fountain pen would be a lovely pair but it just would not fit. My Lamy 2000 failed as well. I guess the clip is most suited for Traveller’s Company pen, which I do not won at the moment.

My Montblanc Rouge Et Noir or 145, fits it well but I doubt I would be carrying those pens that way attached to a Traveller’s Notebook. Finally I ended up with Faber Castell Black Writink.

The back. As you see it is bare at the moment. No charms and etc. Will add them soon.

This is the standard notebook provided

Will start writing this day or next

I purchased the watercolor paper. It is a bit more solid and denser compared to the normal writing paper

I also added dot print paper

As Brian Goulet said, 3 is just nice and probably the max the notebook can take without looking a mess. It feels sturdy now and like a sandwich just begging for a bite

On our recent family trip fully sponsored by my lovely wife, we stayed at Datai Langkawi. Our room had this lovely leather bounded resort booklet. Datai was kind enough to provide the creators contact details. However, on our final few days in Langkawi we shifted stay to Kunang Kunang and guess what they had it for sale. Albeit a smaller version. So I purchased it. Soft subtle beautifully smelling leather. Inside are brass clips

Purchased separately are also 2 sets of A4 size watercolor papers for my kids cmco and creative side endeavors

The watercolor paper is very different from the traveller’s notebook water color paper. This is more suited for watercolor

Also purchased ceramic water color pallet. You can check on th internet the difference between plastic, metal, enamel and ceramic water color pallets. In a nutshell the ceramic pallet is used mainly by watercolor artist as it the color does not bead, it holds the color well and easy to wash clean without leaving stains

And finally to share are the Faber Castell watercolor and graphite cleaning brush. I use it to clean the work table from dust and rubber shavings. It does a good job