I Can Hardly Wait

Yesterday I ordered some pens from China. I know, I know, we have more than enough pens in Canada. I have a lot of pens in my house when it comes right down to it.

 

Whenever I am out for a walk and see a pen, I just have to pick it up. You might think that wouldn’t happen very often, but I regularly walk by a high school and there are pens on the ground daily. Sure, some of them are crushed or missing the top, or just generally defective in some way. I will pick them up and have a look and make the decision whether or not it will be worth keeping. I don’t really have much else to do except watch Buster sniff bushes and shit by the side of the road.

I always keep red pens. I don’t know why, because I never, ever, will use a red pen. I guess I just like the look of the ink. I saw a lot of red ink when I was in school so in a way it is like taking a walk down memory lane. I keep felt pens as well, but after you have ten or twenty of them it is kind of futile. Still, you just never know when you might get a job with the government and have to redact some sensitive documents and what with cost cutting at all levels of the government I could actually be the person protecting our countries secrets. Kind of makes me want to go out and get a flag.

 

Blue and black pens have to be pretty nice for me to keep them. Not just any old Tombow, Bic or Parker will do, I have plenty of the cheap kind. The trouble I am having now is that people don’t toss out nice pens and if they do, it is generally for a very good reason. I have had a leaky pen in my hands and pocket quite often lately. The smart guy would bring a plastic bag to put the pens in, but the only bags I carry with me are for Busters exclusive use. Winter isn’t really very good for finding pens what with the snow and all. That is another reason to look forward to spring.

Anyways, back to my Chinese pens. I think I mentioned that I have recently become infatuated with fountain pens. I don’t know why, but there you have it. While I was looking online for vintage pen nibs on eBay I kept running across ads for pens from China. One of the companies was pretty intriguing, The Shanghai Hero Pen Company. It has been in business since 1931 as the Huafu Pen Company but changed its name to the Hero Company in 1966. They make a wide range of pens from the very cheap to the crazy expensive. They sell fountain pens (the cheap ones) like our stores sell Bic ball point pens, in packs of ten. Who needs ten fountain pens? I flashed on an image of some guy blogging in China writing “Who needs ten ball point pens?”

So I ordered a three pack of cheap Chinese fountain pens. Who knows how long I will have to wait? They will come before I find one on the ground near the high school for sure. The cost was $6.87 and that includes shipping. I can hardly wait...

Bucket List

I have a friend that posed a question today on facebook. She asked what is on your/my bucket list. Pretty good question, but it seems to me that it is a rather personal question. I’m not even sure I would want to share my bucket list with my wife. I don’t have a bucket list honey, but if I did I would tell you…really!

I suppose there are things that I would like to accomplish before I die, but not one of them involves risking death or dismemberment. I have no desire to leap off of a bridge or a cliff with an over sized elastic band tied to my feet, trusting that the guy measured the length of the elastic properly. My idea of a leap of faith is that there might just be an all knowing, all seeing being watching over us. I’m not 100% on that one either.

 

I guess that there are mountains that would be fine to climb, if you happened to be a goat and that was the only place there was food. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XafAdkZIYKA

I would more than likely end up like the goat in the clip. I suppose that there are mountains and then there are MOUNTAINS. I can deal with smallish mountains like the one in the centre of Montreal, or some of them around Banff, but anything that requires sherpas or oxygen just seems a tad extreme for me. You go ahead though.

 

Some people want to go on a safari in Africa. The way I see it, yes it is a beautiful place with lots of wild animals and wonderful people but I can camp in Canada and see the same thing and not have flies walking all over my face. I am assuming that the reason you see people with flies walking on their faces is that they have given up trying to brush the flies away. That means there are so fucking many bugs it is just acceptable or they are too exhausted to do anything about it. That can go on your bucket list.

 

I guess that I am just not adventurous in the least. I am quite content to stay where I am and explore the tiny world around me. I know with an attitude like this, the universe is lining up all of its powers to drag me to places that I don’t want to go to. I will go and have a good time, but I won’t willingly go.

The only thing about a bucket list that would interest me is if I were on someone’s bucket list. I would be more than willing to visit with this person for hours and sign my name for him or her. I would be honoured of course, but also more than a little scared. What kind of mind would want to see me before they die? Do they plan on dying while they are with me? Is it possible that I am to be an honour guard for them in Hell? On second thought, I don’t really want to be on anyone’s bucket list.

I am reading a book called “Super Mind” and it says that lists are bad. By making a list you are telling your brain that it is forgetful, so really if you make a bucket list you are just setting yourself up to forget what you really want to do before you die. I’m putting making a bucket list on my list, so I don’t have to have a bucket list. I think…