Guys,
 
Don't want to derail my thread, and had thought that no one would reply. So much wisdom however shared. Perspectives that tell me I'm no too far off the wall and others trending in the same direction.
 
About the pen collection...
 
I got too many pens, and have no idea how they got here. Don't have a clue as how or when they slipped into my pocket. Inspired me to however locate my two favorite pens. One is disturbingly missing in action. Initiated a holy Jihad to find where it is.
 
Found the "Affordable Burial and Cremation " pen.
 
What is missing is my favorite, "Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome Association" pen. Based somewhere in Wisconsin. If I can't find it, will ask them for a replacement.
 
Not an evil person, but just end up with every pen in my pocket going home from work. Some inspiring artifacts from banks and drug reps.
 
Years ago, hired on with Rite Aid Pharmacy and was given the pre hire questionnaire to see if I was of the moral calibre to work at a Rite Aid.
 
Was warned ahead about the company pen question. Answer it wrong and you are terminated before you start.
 
Question had 3 choices...
 
You have slammed down a 12 hour shift. You are sick and have just fought against one and a half hour rush hour nightmare getting home. You have to show up at 7 the next morning.
 
Pulling into your driveway and about to collapse, you look down and see that a Rite Aid company pen is in your pocket. What do you do?
 
One choce is that the company will never miss it and it is yours. Don't want to fill in that dot.
 
Second choice is to show up the next morning and return the pen on your shift.
 
Third choice is to go back, battle the rush hour traffic and return the pen. Go back home at some insane hour and show up for your 7 am shift.
 
If you answered anything but the third option, you were ineligible for hire. Got through the morality test and lasted there for a couple wretched years before quitting.
 
John
 
 
 

Never go back, John, never go back.

Rite Aid must have really good pens.

there are no Rite Aid pens on ebay.com  not one.  wooo weird.

sharke

ProjectM
 
I sat down almost two years ago and ended all my subscriptions to newsletters from software companies and roughly at the same time I found a new hobby to spend burning money on: Collecting Fountain Pens and inks

What's your motive for collecting fountain pens, is it collecting as a hobby in itself, or do you specifically look for older pens on the theory that they're better?

I'm a fan of dippy nibs and India ink, but have found no reason as of yet to progress past the cheapo Speedball nibs. Now paper is another story...

He he, I just like writing with them. I don't really care where they are from or how old they are. I usually just get new ones. But from liking to write with them I learned to apreciate the aestethics of them as well and ended up collecting them. I have som vintage as well that I got from eBay. And of course the inks with all their different properties that is different from pen to pen, from paper to paper, makes everything awesome. I have always written a lot by hand and this is something that have interested me since I was a kid. Writing is my Zen and using a fountain pen I slow down my mind as well ;)
 
Dip pens never really worked for me since I am left handed, but I have been playing around with that a little bit too. Wish I could use them because it looks pretty amazing what you can do with them!

yorolpal
You know as totally insane as it sounds it would not surprise me one bit if someday in the not too distant future kids were scouring junk heaps for old computers with floppy disks so they could run "vintage" 1rst edition midi and audio programs and video games. And if your hard drive was larger than 10 or 20 MEGABYTES you'd be considered an outcast.

Of course I also once predicted that teens would one day shave part of their full heads of hair in order to adopt and flaunt a "comb over". It could happen.

This actually happens right now! Well, sort of I suppose. There's a whole scene here in Oslo using commodore 64s and stuff to make music. Some use old Atari machines and old school sequencers with chips that make beeping sounds as sound generators. I have also seem people using old SoundBlaster soundcards where they mess with the soundfonts in them to design new sounds, triggered from old software like ProAudio 8, Fruity Loops and other obscure MIDI sequencers and such. The more inovative people use modern software to mix and do other things, but the hardcore ones do everything in these old boxes. It's really annoying to listen to, but very cool too ;)

How did this thread turn from instruments and VSTs to pens?
 
Anyway...I found that I just have way more VSTs than I really need.
Some of my VSTs I just don't use - some I've never used other than just initially checking them out.
And I have enough physical instruments as well. Even too many guitars, which I haven't bought any more of for 10 years now. I'm on my 13th piano and/or keyboard of some type.
 
I was about to consider the Nomad Factory - BlueTubes bundle for $89 recently but thankfully stopped myself right there. Plus I had another purchase lined up as well, that I decided against at the same time.  
 
In fact I had enough VSTs over a year ago, and could have stopped then.
 
Especially now that just a few months later, I find myself in a position where I have 'zero income' whatsoever.
 
So my GAS has been previously tempting, activated, experienced, exhausted and now retired.
 
So what have I become? Well I was once a GASaholic. Now I'm an ex-GASaholic.
 
Ah...it's like a breath of fresh air - like completing a 12 step program. 
 

I was cured of GAS this week. Insolvent as well.

Then Vastman comes through and trumpets Spitfire's Albion. I resisted with a brick wall. Until I crumbled.
Now I have Albion, a totally unplanned acquisition. Appears to be justified, but man....

I have no GAS left in me. I'm gasping for a break from offers. I'm not even going to look at offers until Black Friday.

MachineClaw
I have a wish list excel spreadsheet document.  if it's on the list and on sale then I might consider buying it. 
 
the list has gotten very short, not much new has been added to the list.  now sometimes even on sale I just don't pull the trigger.

I keep a list as well.  Most things never make the top.  A few years ago I started giving myself an annual budget to cover my music related hardware and software purchases.  I xfer the $$ from savings to another account on my birthday each year.  That's all I spend on music stuff for the year.  Period.
 
One exception I have rationalized for myself is PC hardware.  My audio interface comes from the above budget when needed, but the main machine does duty beyond DAW stuff.  I do keep these running as long as possible between machines.  This machine is on year 4.  The prior machine, an XP box, made it 6 or 7 years. 
 
This has worked for me for the last few years, forcing me to think about what I want most, making choices along the way.
 
The "Last Chance" sellers are getting more and more of my angst.  The odds that this is my last chance to buy X are no greater than than the odds that Jill Wagner will come home with me if I buy that new Lincoln ;)

Jill Wagner would probably have a higher upkeep cost than that Lincoln or your computer.