Your Best Hobbies (other than Audio)

In response to your question, Mont Blanc is to the pen world (aside from a few of their Limited Editions, which can be nice) what Bose is to the audio world (more or less). Their basic pens are kind of an overpriced cliche for those who do not necessarily know better (like Bose as I am led to believe by this site). I am sure that I have offended some of those who like Mont Blanc's, but that is the closest analogy I could come up with for an audiophile chat board.

I personally like Italian pens (Omas, Montegrappa, Visconti, some of the nicer Stipula's) and am more into newer pens than the vintage thing.

I would strongly recommend at least a dalliance in fountain pen collecting to anyone who writes. It adds a little pleasure to what us usually a very mundane activity. Hobbies tend to be for consciously eschewing practicality in favor of more pleasurable arcana and pens, even at a simple introductory level, are a great way to do that.

Gheon-That's sort of the impression I was under, seeing as none of the pens you listed are available at Staples, where would someone find out about said pen(s)? seeing as I can't walk into staples and pick them up!! Thanks,
~Tim

A few basics options and ideas. The best option is if you live in a major city and can go to a nice pen store (I can give you recs for NYC if you live here or nearby) and, in audio parlance, demo a lot of pens. This is the best way to get a sense of what you like and works best with your needs, writing style, aesthetic, etc. Btw, pen people have a lot of the same break-in/burn in issues -- nibs get "accustomed" to your hand over time, etc.

If that is not a chance, you can answer some of the questions below and I can point you to some good web sites and a few personal recs (although be forewarned -- pen taste tends to be highly personal and somewhat ideosyncratic).

Regardless of your proximity to a pen store, other things to think are what you want out of it. Do you want a nice, very classy signature pen for more formal occasions? Do you want to try out a good workable (but not necessarily expensive) fountain pen to see if you want to make the transition to fountain pens for your everyday life? Do you want to try seeing what it is like to use a very nice fountain pen as your regular pen? Do you want to collect them? How much do you want to spend to dip your toe in the water? What do you like aesthetically?

This is not get to get into the whole series of writing questions that drive pen, nib and ink selection (although infinitely cheaper, ink selection is the interconnect/cable selection of the pen world). But that is for another day....

Make Tea

My life has changes signifcantly in the past few years. When I had time for hobbies (including this one) they included: Masters Swimming and Schutzhund with Riesenschnauzers. Swimming brought me a unique joy where intense concentration could bring me to a dream like state. Competition motivated me (my nemesis being my own times), but it was the practice I loved . Dog training was a joy in that it made me think in terms of my team mate's perspective first and then motivating that perspective to a mutual advantage. Both endeavors gave me a sense of being a small and yet integral part in the mechanics of the universe.