Werewolf story finished, 6,000 words, except that (a.) it's turned into the first chapter of a novel on me and (b.) it's drivel. Utter damnable drivel.

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My aquarium has a new inhabitant, who was sold as a blue mystery snail, but who I believe is actually an apple snail, specifically a Pomacea bridgesii. The snail's name is Louise. (No, don't ask me, I don't know either. I put the snail in the tank, it opened its trapdoor to start looking around, and I thought, You go, Louise! You now know as much as I do. The fish, on the other hand, still does not have a name. He doesn't seem to require one.) Louise is fascinating and weirdly beautiful in a tentacled Lovecraftian way.

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Tomorrow the ninjas go in for their annual check-up. They would dread it more than I do if they knew, but they don't know, so I'm dreading it for all three of us.

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Piccadilly notebooks, while obviously Moleskine knock-offs, are (a.) cheaper, especially if you get them on clearance at Borders and (b.) use thicker paper, so--if you are a fountain pen user--there's less bleed-through than with Moleskine. Thus far, I certainly do not like them less.

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There was probably something else, but I've forgotten what it is.

Griffith Stadium pen here. SO GEEKED. (There's a funny little flaw in the wood that makes me believe this beautifully polished and glowing pen barrel really was once a seat in a baseball stadium.) I like Pelikan's Brilliant Green (that being the color of cartridge I chose, mostly at random), the pen is pleasingly heavy, and it writes nicely. WIKTORY.

Off in mere moments to meet oursin for lunch and show her some of Madison. SO GEEKED.

GEEKED, I tell you.

Fountain Pen Hopsital, who regularly send me pen pr0n, include in their latest catalogue, Historic Pen Editions' Stadium Seats Collection. You can get a pen made out of seats from Shea Stadium (N.Y. Mets, 1964), Dodger Stadium (L.A. Dodgers, 1962), Ebbets Field (Brooklyn Dodgers, 1913), Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox, 1912 and still going strong), Griffith Stadium (Washington Senators, 1911), Polo Grounds (N.Y. Giants, 1891), and Yankee Stadium (N.Y. Yankees, 1923). My fountain pen geekery, my baseball geekery, and my history geekery* have collided violently, and I WANT ONE.

Of course, I am not actually a fan of any of the teams whose stadium seats have been made into pens, but that hardly matters. (And we will not enter into the question of whether I need another fountain pen. Shut up.) I'm torn between Fenway Park, because it's STILL THERE, and Griffith Stadium, because it ISN'T still there, and neither is its baseball team--or teams, since the Wikipedia entry tells me it was also a part-time venue for a Negro League team called the Homestead Grays. Torn, I tell you!

Baseball! History! Fountain pens!

(This has been a public (dis)service announcement for anyone else who may find their geekeries colliding here, too.)

ETA: I went with Griffith Stadium.

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*Can I just say that I hope someday Major League Baseball is REALLY FUCKING SORRY that they've destroyed all their historic ballparks? Dodger Stadium is the third-oldest baseball stadium in America and it's ONLY FORTY-SEVEN YEARS OLD.

The saga of the Sheaffer continues.

Long-time Gentle Readers will remember my Sheaffer Legacy II, which has had as many perils as Pauline. Most recently, whilst the pen itself was in Fort Madison, Iowa, being repaired, I managed to lose its converter, whereupon ensued weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.

So last week I finally got around to ordering a new converter from Fountain Pen Hospital, who are a bunch of sly and cunning weasels. The converter's $6; the minimum order is $10. Having no willpower, I did the self-gratifying thing and went and looked at their Super Specials, and found a Cross ATX (scroll down: it's the Azurite Blue). That and a bottle of Noodler's Nightshade, and I'd gone well over $10. Tra la.

Today, my box from FPH arrives. (Fountain Pen Hospital: not too proud to pack with newspaper.) The pen is gorgeous, the ink is gorgeous, the converter ... is wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong, a thousand times wrong.

A brief double-check. Yes, that is the only Sheaffer converter FPH sells. A quick Google (blessed is the Google, may its shadow never grow thinner). Survey says:

The Legacy II is a freak.

It uses something called a touchdown filler, which in fact works exactly like a piston (instead of the twirly thing that fountain pen manufacturers pretend is a piston)--and thus my foolish gullibility in assuming that a piston converter was the same thing as, well, a piston at least can be defended as a logical mistake.

Sheaffer's quit using touchdown fillers. They've gone to "piston" converters like all the other kids use. So, while there are still places readily accessible via Google (praise!) that will sell me a Sheaffer Legacy II, finding a touchdown filler all on its lonesome is going to be a bit more of a challenge. (And no, before you ask, buying a second Legacy II in order to get the touchdown filler is not cost-effective. I got my Sheaffer at a quarter of its list price, and that's still the most money I've ever spent on a pen, and twice what I paid for either the Waterman or the Cross.)

I have emailed Sheaffer to fling myself upon their mercy.

Further bulletins as events warrant.