There are milestones and then there are milestones. This week marks a personal milestone with the most emphatic italic. The “partner purchase” is absolutely a laughing matter. A milestone one celebrates while laughing and pumping fists in the air. And — apparently — by sharing out on your blog. As one does.

I keep returning to whether there is a correct way to keep pens in a case. Is there a “right” way to put pens inside a case? How would we go about gauging the cost-benefit of different methods? Would the difference be appreciable enough to even matter? Is there an etiquette to pen cases?

One of my favorite facets of the stationery hobby is how granular folks can get about storing, sorting and choosing what they write with. I dig getting lost in the weeds with the systems folks create and participate in. Exploring electronic systems like Fountain Pen Companion and David’s algorithm over at Too Many Pelikans inspired me to create my own databases.

No plan survives the start of teaching. Or writing. Or contact with another person.

Changed plans turn into cross-outs, scrawling new writing over old writing, and migrating notes over and again. Life, and often being productive, is messy. I still struggle to embrace the mess.