Many years ago, when I was a little too podgy, too short, too… well, when I was a kid, I used to have a Shetland Pony.

One year, I spotted an advert for a horse race held at Iffezheim (Baden Baden) Racecourse, called the "Bauernrennen".
This raceday is pretty unique. It’s the day when the racecourse is handed over not to Thoroughbreds — but to any horse out there. Be they Heavy Horses, Warmbloods, or Shetland ponies, Arabians, or any other horse.
If I remember correctly, this is because some time in the past, the local farmers saved the racehorses stabled there from starvation, and in return the race club established a race day for them. (I could be wrong, but that’s how I remember it.)

So on a bright and cold morning some time in June (If I remember right) we rolled up in Iffezheim with my Shetland. I knew it was probably the last year I could ride him, I was simply getting too big for him.

We had a little trouble. He was a stallion and he behaved accordingly, so we had to keep him away from the other horses.
Then, later that day, the race was on. Despite my weight, my little childhood companion (who wasn’t the most friendly of shetlands) raced into 3rd place in amongst some 20 others.

I didn’t care about prizes, I was way too happy to have taken part, but my prize was a set of Parker Pens. The real prize for me was the memory of the day, but that’s something else.

I have had, and used, those pens for years. I still have the Ballpoint of the set, but somewhere during the years, I lost the fountain pen.

I was gutted. Then forgot about it, then remembered and searched again… only to be gutted again when I couldn’t find it. It is lost.

So a while ago, when I started to pick up my fountain pens again, I tried to track down which model this was. Well I found out, they were Parker P25′s. Black ones, which are relatively rare. The P25′s tend to be silver colored. My hopes of replacing my lost pen were… not very high.

PARKER P25

A kind member from the Fountain Pen Network spotted a black P25 on Ebay and messaged me, because I’d mentioned wanting one.

I put it on my watch list. I messaged the seller, because the only shipping option listed was the US.
Well we got that part cleared up, so now I had to wait for the auction.
I sat in front of the TV today when suddenly I thought "Hang on. I think that auction finishes today. Better go check."
To my complete horror, when I logged into Ebay, there were 30 seconds left to go on the auction.
I added a bid, hoping to snag the pen, when Ebay goes "Would you like to log in?"

ARRRRGHHHH!!!!

I got in with 2 seconds to spare, or thereabouts. LUCKILY my bid was high enough to win!

I am getting my beloved black Parker back! So yeah, I’m floating now.

And this time… I’m not going to lose it again!!

The Bugatti Veyron is the fastest production car in the world.

Faster than an F1 Racecar.

253 mp/h.
That’s 407 km/h
Hellish. Seriously hellish.

Damn it’s sexy!

(It’s also the world’s most expensive car £850,000 — and I didn’t get any zeroes into the wrong place. It really is over 3/4 million pounds.)

I was messing around on the web again (as you do) and I found the ULTIMATE geek icecube tray!

A Tetris Ice Cube maker. How cool is that?

I so want one. I do!

I like photography.

Since I will forget what I want to do, I will add it here, in the hopes I can remember I did this list!

England

Highgate Cemetery East – Thornton’s Grave (Piano) (Sadly the lid is missing now, apparently)
Highgate Cemetery West – Sleeping Angel, Liontamer grave and various others.
Highgate – Holly Village (Swains Lane)
(Holly Village, as this eclectic collection of nine cottages is known, was built in 1865 under the auspices of Angela Burdett-Coutts to provide homes for her retired servants.)

Spain

Parque Güell, or Guell Park, by Antoni Gaudi, 1900 to 1914, Barcelona
Casa Batlló, Barcelona

I will probably add more at a later date.

Well, as my critique partners have found out… I like fiddling with 3D Art.

When I’m not writing, I render. My gallery is linked here now, since people keep asking.
I am a self-taught “artist”. I put this in brackets because, frankly, I don’t really think of myself as an artist. I just play around until it looks right to me. There are people who are much, MUCH, better at this than I am. I can’t draw to save my life, but give me a decent figure, and I’ll texture it, stick it into contortions people can’t hope to survive, put clothes on them that are guaranteed to make any opponent faint, or um… in some cases no clothes at all.
Here’s hoping my mom never finds the site.

Anyway, I figured I’ll give a bit of a heads up what I get up to when I don’t write.

And if you want to check it out — http://www.digitalmagic.tv is the address of my online gallery.
I might even post up the girls I rendered some time… *cough*

So… as I said in a previous blog post, I always wanted a Parker P-51.
I started to hang out on Ebay and bid on a few, pulling out every time when they became too expensive.
Late on Sunday another one came up, I’d been eyeing it a while, but wasn’t sure.
In the end I thought oh what the hell, I’ll try. I’d made up my mind that I won’t pay more than £30, because… well I work only part time, money isn’t something I have plenty of.

I got it! I am now the proud owner of a 1950′s Parker 51.

Click if you want to see larger images.

I went shopping today.
I needed some decent sandals I can walk to work in and I hate shopping — especially for shoes.

So while I was in town (Most of the day) I obviously had to treat myself. I did. I bought a new fountain pen.
I love fountain pens, and calligraphy ones especially.
I’m actually appalled at how few fountain pens there are for sale now. Everything is a ball point or a gel pen. While gel pens are nice… nothing beats fountain pen and ink.
When I was about 14 or so, I persuaded my dad to let me ride a race. A horse race.
We came third and I won a nice Parker ballpoint pen and fountain pen.
Unfortunately I seem to have lost the fountain pen somewhere in the moves, but I still have the ball point and it’s my favorite pen, because it’s really good quality.
Naturally, I wanted a fountain pen again, and while I like the Parkers, I love the Cross ones more. They just have something… something. You know what I mean?
However… you cannot get one for love or money in this damn town. I settled for a nice Calligraphy Parker instead.
Naturally, I need something to write on, too. *whistle*
I picked a Paperblanks Charlotte Brontë wrap cover journal. Not my first choice, by far. I want the “Fragment of a Speech” one (Abe Lincoln) but no one bloody sells it in the UK and all the sources I found online don’t ship to the UK. ARGH.
Nevermind.
My other choice would have been the “Book of Kells” hand-stitched ones. I WILL eventually get them, but damn…
Also… I’m eyeing several Parker 51′s on Ebay. I’ve always wanted one. I WILL get one. Maybe.
I’m also eyeing a gorgeous Waterman Carene and a vintage Schaeffer…
*starts to drool*

Can you tell I love pens, paper and journals?

I know most writers love to write, but my handwriting has become appalling over the years, so I decided to keep a journal, with a decent fountain pen. Perhaps I can fix the atrocious hieroglyphics I use these days and turn them into pretty, flowing prose again.

My adult dragons:

And my current eggs:

All of them: http://dragcave.ath.cx/user/53176

This sky is protected. Yesterday marked the 50 year anniversary of the first lighting ordinance ever enacted, which restricted searchlight advertisements from sweeping the night skies above Flagstaff, Arizona, USA.

I thought this was too cool a photograph not to share it! Click the link if you want to see the full version

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