Writing along...

I just got a new pen yesterday from JetPens (http://www.jetpens.com/). It is a small pen, an Ohto FF-10T, Silver. It is made in such a way that when you put the cap on the end, it is held tight and makes the pen long, but when you take the cap off, it is pretty short and fits in your pocket easily. It is a thin pen, also, so it may be a little bit harder to hold than a thicker one. I don't know yet. I seem to squeeze my pens tighter than need be, which contributes to my hand cramping up sooner than most people. I always had a hard time doing essay tests in school. I found myself rubbing my hand, with my pace and my handwriting suffering towards the end of the test. I prefer typing for that reason, but I still value the look and feel of putting pen to paper.

Regardless, I may get one of Ohto's slightly bigger pens because this one is just too petite. Fountain pens are notoriously expensive, but the one I bought was only $20 and the other one I was looking at was also only $20. If you've never used a fountain pen, it may be hard to get used to, but this one seems to be so well made that it doesn't seem like it would be an issue.

I seem to like stationery, but maybe it's just a phase I'm going through. Merriam-Webster online defines stationery (http://www.meriam-webster.com/dictionary/stationery) as: materials (as paper, pens, and ink) for writing or typing as well as what most people think of when hearing the word: letter paper usually accompanied with matching envelopes. I'm talking the first definition. I like to use Moleskine (http://www.moleskine.com) for writing in and have bought a few. One for work notes, one for a personal journal, and a small one for writing down ideas. I just started using them a few months ago and they exude a feeling of luxury and personality.

Let's get this party started right.

The picture is one of the first that I took of Natalya, my girlfriend & fiancee. This was when we took a trip to Idar Oberstein in Jan. '05. It was fairly fun, but the castle/keep was closed and it was raining. Actually, it was only fun because she was there and so was a friend named Anel. We had a good time because we would have had a good time anywhere.

Now on to things in the very recent past. Yesterday, we were invited to a friend's place for a birthday party for Tatiana. We got a gift and a bottle of wine and headed out. We were asked to get some cheese for the party so we hit the Shell station that was pretty much on the way to the party. For some reason (unknown), it was everyone's idea at that moment to pick up some munchies for the evening. It seemed as if they conspired against us to make us wait the longest possible amount of time. I waited outside in the car, since I didn't need anything and Natalya jumped out to grab the cheese and hurry back inside. It was 10 or 15 minutes until she would return. There was an absent-minded lady that didn't know she should wait in a line, or had never before waited in a line, or had forgotten (or never understood) the concept, and there were also two girls that chose that time to consolidate their stamps they'd been collecting for gas to trade in for a pack of gum or some such and, of course, a slow checkout lady. Those are the highlights. I won't describe all the other people that went in and out.

Well, that just irritated the hell out of me. I don't know why. I shouldn't have let it get to me, but it did. Now, in this wonderful mood, we proceeded to the general area where the party was and drove around for an hour while looking for the street. We were told that it was "one building away" from a place we'd already been, near the EMBL 'campus', and which place (the place we'd already been) I found straight away. Turns out it wasn't (one building away, that is). It was actually a left, then the next right, then the next right again away from that location. Don't those directions read wonderfully? Why couldn't anyone tell me those directions? I don't know. Next time I go to an unknown location and have the address, I'll go to Google Earth and find it, no matter how easy a friend says it is to find. Shoulda, coulda, will next time.

When we showed up, the party literally hadn't started. There was lots of food on a table (snack/party food) and lots of alcohol (bottles of wine and various hard liquor) but none of it was open. Natalya was perfect and grabbed me a beer from somewhere; I think the fridge. There was no corkscrew for the wine. Boris (one of the participants) opened a bottle of wine by using something to push the cork down into the bottle. I'd heard that could be done, but I'd never seen it. Impressive. Anyway, I calmed down and started to enjoy myself.

I didn't want to stay long because I had been up since 0530 in the morning and had to be up by 0630 the next day and didn't want to be completely useless. I told Natalya I wanted to leave at 2300. The timeline ended up being something like this: 2105, left the apartment; 2110, arrived at Shell; 2125, left Shell; 2210, arrived at party; 2335, left the party. It's too bad we left. Natalya was having a good time and she was asked to stay, but she left at least partly because I wanted her to. She's the best! She's awesome. She could have stayed there on a couch or on somebody's bed or something, but I didn't know that that was an option before hand (if I had, I would have been more receptive to that idea) and I think she felt that and that she didn't want me feeling weird. She knew I was already frustrated because of the Shell and the Search and just being tired, and felt that I needed a friend. I did.

Initial post

This is the initial post. My name is Michael Klepzig, but I go by Mike. There aren't many Klepzigs out there, but I'm a Klepzig. Klepzig is not a common name. A friend of mine said that I really have no excuse for not having a web site, and I had to agree with him. Here it is. Oh, and that friend would be none other than Michael Dane Toguchi. Thanks, buddy. When I'm rich from all the profits that come from me starting this blog and all it spurred me on to do, then I'll think of you and give you a mental high-five! Right on.