There was a time when I could remember everything. Maybe my life was simpler. Maybe my brain was less fractured and less overwhelmed. Maybe my nerves and synapses fired like the engine in a just-off-the-showroom-floor Lamborghini. Maybe all of those things were true.
After 50, things in the memory department got trickier. How cliché. Also, how true. And now here I am creeping up on 60. (Why do I still feel immature and unformed?!) Things are not so slick in the cranial region. That is to say, I forget things.
Like, did I take that pill? Where’d I put my phone/my keys/my notebook/my head? Where did I park? It’s an interesting time of life. There’s an inordinate amount of time spent looking under sofa cushions and piles of papers to find the thing that is needed but can’t be found. Like my brain. Suddenly, one must, if one is to navigate through even the most average of days, have a system to compensate for this predictable decline.
Here’s how this memory problem manifests itself in relation to my pens. I fill a pen. Then another. Then another. My brain likes to think it can remember what ink is in which pen. And for awhile it can. But then time elapses, and life interferes with its constant stream of large and small dilemmas, until all available RAM has been consumed. Then, come to find out, your brain has deleted all of that pen/ink knowledge to make room for a grocery list. A stupid grocery list.
Crap.
When this happens, there’s much puzzling over which brown ink is in that Edison, or which blue is in the Franklin-Christoph XIV. Gah…I don’t know! And worse yet, which pens are eyedropper filled? (We all recall the consequences of forgetting that vital piece of information, don’t we?!)
My brain may be older but it is also, thankfully, in some ways, wiser. In a moment of clarity, it wised up and ordered a few of Matt Armstrong’s Inky Fingers Currently Inked pocket notebooks. What a godsend.
Now, as soon as I ink a pen, I make a quick entry in the notebook, noting the pen, the nib, the ink, and the date the pen was inked. When the pen is cleaned out, I fill out that date as well. There’s also a designated space for an ink swatch. VERY useful. INCREDIBLY useful.
You might notice that I’ve also jotted down a little reminder about how the pen is filled—converter, cartridge, or eyedropper. No more carpet disasters thanks to this handy little record keeping tool.
Available in both Pocket (3.5″x5.5″) and Travellers (110 mm x 210 mm) formats, the Currently Inked notebooks feature 44 pages of 80 gsm wheat straw paper. As Matt explained on Episode 248 of the Pen Addict podcast, he took great pains to select just the right paper for these notebooks. It really is superb, with nice thickness and excellent dry times.
The pocket notebook has space for 132 inkings, while the Travellers size accommodates 176 inkings. That’s a lot of information in a very compact format.
There is an “oh no!” development that needs to be mentioned here. Matt’s supplier recently informed him that he’s no longer able to source the wheat straw paper that Matt so carefully selected, which means that Matt’s current stock is all he’ll have until the paper problem is sorted out. A quick check of his online store shows that, at the time of this post, he has the Traveller size Currently Inked notebooks available in both first-quality and factory seconds options, and the pocket format only as a factory second.
But have no fear. I purchased a few of the pocket versions, both first quality and factory seconds, and could see only the tiniest bit of difference between the two versions. Matt’s obviously a stickler for quality and detail, so what he calls a factory second is still extremely well made with minute cosmetic differences that I doubt you’ll even notice.
So while my forgetfulness remains an issue in other areas of my life, keeping track of my inked pens is not one of those issues, thanks to the Inky Fingers Currently Inked notebooks. The records I keep in my current notebook have already solved many a pen/ink riddle. They’re fantastic—well-made, with space for plenty of inkings, all at a great price.
Oh, happy brain.
I couldn’t “bear” it if these were no longer available. Keep us posted on the paper situation, okay, Matt?
From the Pen Cup 