My Little World

6/09/2015 I’ve been doing a little more writing today. I got to work about 15 minutes early so I spent the time writing in my book review journal about what I’m getting out of Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimmage. I’m using a Sanford Uni-Ball Onyx Micro roller ball pen and it’s such a nice way to write. It feels like a luxury pen compared to the generic ball point pens I usually use. Sometimes you just need to use the cheap pens in order to really appreciate the finer ones. I feel like I could write all day with the micro pen. I ended up spending some time in the morning exercising by walking around the HVAC room a few times. I spent the time drinking Dr. Pepper and asking my uncle what software he uses to draw with his iPad. It’s an app called Layers, and it’s only $5. I also looked up how much Uni-ball Onyx and Stick Micro pens cost. Looks like they are $12 a dozen for the Stick Micros and $6 for the Onyx Micro. I have plenty of them right now and I wouldn’t buy a dozen of them until I run out of Bic ball points and other pens I find laying around the house. But right now I’m indulging in using one of the Micros my dad brought me recently. They are definitely my favorite pen. The super fine tip makes them facier than other roller-ball pens, even though they cost more. During lunch I made an inventory of the number of notebooks I have around the office. I noticed that my old clean room lab notebooks were not completely filled. I will need to figure out when I might use them for an experiment here or there. I can’t bring them back into the clean room though. I remember using National brand lab notebooks as well for a while. I think I might have actually filled one of them completely. The other one might be in my office at home. I also noticed that I started using several of my new notebooks for different subjects and have forgotten about them. This is unfortunate because now I am using other notebooks to continue on those topics even though I already have a notebook devoted to it. In my office I have a notebook dedicated to machine learning, The Boy With Green Skin, Cloudskipper, and Chromatic Paradise. I am already using a green leatherette notebook for machine learning, and The Boy With Green Skin was originally started on a hardcover journal from Mexico. Oh well maybe TBWGS will be big enough to fill two notebooks some day. I don’t really have the time to fill it though. I want to use my typewriters to write to my uncle Ralph, who has been in prison for a number of years now. I got his mailing address recently from my mom, so now all I need to do is buy some stamps and write the man a letter saying hello and asking how he is doing and whether life in prison is ok. I might write a draft in my binder on loose leaf paper before committing it to the typer. That’s a nice application for a typewriter, especially if he writes back and we get some consistent correspondence going. It’s funny how the objects I own inspire me to do things, instead of the other way around. It’s like I have dozens of solutions waiting for the problem to come by. They typewriter I will most likely use will be the manual Smith Corona Model 88. That machine seems to be getting better looking with use. The oil from my fingers are making the keys shine now. And since I’m covering it when it is not in use the body is looking very clean as well. I hope my uncle is safer in prison than out in the streets. I would hate to hear that the people in prison are beating him up or anything like that. I also hope he writes back, and that we can maybe get some stories going between each other. He should write a book about his life. Maybe I can help him do it. And the typewriter will be helping us heal and grow.