Last Sem Reminders

-Never expect. And never assume.

-Always double check your schedule before making appointments.

-And your past suddenly comes back to you. Just deal with it.

-If you want to save money, you need to be resourceful by rummaging through your stuff or finding generous souls.

-It is best to start ahead and plan ahead.

-When crazy things happen, just go with the flow.
-Went you want something, make sure you pursue it.

-When you have something in mind, execute immediately.

-Sometimes, some teachers are either overrated or underrated.

Reflection: Maintaning a positive disposition amidst all the negativity

No matter how shitty your life sometimes can be, just be thankful of the little things.

Yes, it did surprise me to hear that even with people showing off their smiling, perky faces, lies behind a story of struggle. Their disposition in life is so good, you would not notice that they have problems to deal with.

Sometimes, it is the way you deal with things that would matter the most, and not dwelling on whataver shitty thing is happening to your life.

So yeah.

I would classify my family as being dysfunctional (with a bipolar father, overprotective and conservative grandparents, a mother with cancer, among other things), but thankfully we all manage to live together despite these differences. I was surprised to hear that some of my friends in CADS shared their stories of living with broken families with problems worse than what I am experiencing. At first, I was speechless to hear these stories considering they seemed to be happy with their life, yet deep inside they are struggling as well. What amazed me at them is that they still manage to have a positive disposition in life, something I really, really lacked to myself.

And aside from that aspect, I have been a whiner for practically the whole sembreak for all the shitty things that happened (from my grandmother's accident, my dad's accident leading to one of our cars getting wrecked, my sister getting sick before her performance, me getting hit by a virus badly, among other things), and again I got hit when one of them shared a story on how he almost died a few years back, and here he is, alive and kicking with energy, and on how a captain of a taekwondo team died during a competition, which left the rest of the team shocked. These were stories of struggle worse than what I have been whining about for the whole sembreak.

For one thing, even with what has happened, I should be still thankful for the little good things in my life.

And I woke up with a bright morning.

Pen fanatic.

Oftentimes, when asked about my hobbies, I would often mention that I collect pens. Yes, pens, specifically vintage Parker pens.

I may have a really strange hobby, but I am proud of it. Since grade school, when I was given a red Parker Jotter ballpen from the 1980s by my grandmother (after finding it in a closet and asked her out of curiosity on what kind of a pen is it), I have been collecting various Parker pens (of which I estimate to have probably around three dozen pens in my collection, some at home, while the more exotic ones are left in the bank vault).

At my early years of collecting them, I started by collecting the modern ones, ranging from Jotters to Vectors . . . well basically the "school" pen line of Parker. Later on, upon realizing how the older Parker pens have better aesthetics and build quality (after breaking a couple of these modern pens, AND after painfully losing some of them, such as my uncle's stainless steel/ gold trim Parker 45 ballpen), I started dwelling on the older era Pens. Among these pens I still remember (of which these four pens are hand-me-downs from my grandparents) are:

1) A Parker 180 Imperial (Imperial meaning it is 23k Gold Plated) ballpen given to me as a heirloom, in its immaculate, untouched, boxed condition,

2) A Parker Classic Imperial ballpen and pencil set (where I had to repair the ballpen due to its faulty mechanism, that comes along with age),

3) A Parker 75 ballpen in Sterling Silver / Gold trim (which I used for a while then kept it),

4) 2 Sets of Parker 45 Ballpen and fountain pen in Blue and Steel / Gold Trim cap (wherein in one set, the fountain pen was beyond repair, and used the ballpen as a daily user, while in the other set I destroyed the ballpen after using it for my trip to Europe while preserving the fountain pen in its immaculate, prestine condition), and

5) A Forest Green Parker 51 Custom (Custom meaning the cap is 12k Gold-Filled, and Gold-Filled ones command more value than Gold Plated ones) Fountain pen, of which seemed to be used barely (and is the only pen so far that I disassembled completely, cleaned it up, and put it back together . . . in short, it was the first pen that I actually restored)

Of these four hand-me-down pens, the most significant one is the Parker 51 (which is presently kept at a vault). Parker 51s have been known as a pen that is collected upon, and that it commands a high value (and because of my copy's hard to find color, pristine condition, and an uncommon cap design layout, these pens can command a price as high as $300 dollars, no joke). Upon realizing its collectors value, that's where I started to be more aggressive and more picky on hunting down vintage Parker pens.

It was during college that I came across with these pens:

6) A Parker 61 Insignia (Insignia meaning the whole pen is 12k Gold-Filled) ballpen (which became my everyday user pen for College),

7) An early production all-chrome Parker Sonnet Fountain pen (Not considered vintage, but considering how expensive Parker Sonnets can be, I got this at a price that is hard to resist),

8) A Parker 45 TX (An unusual Parker 45 consisting of a matte-blue body, but kept this since the finish is starting to chip off after purchasing it . . . well blame age for it),

9) A Parker Classic desk ballpen in Sterling Silver (which I gave to my grandfather and only God knows where my Grandfather kept it),

10) A black Parker 45 fountain pen desk pen set, complete with the desk pen base in mint condition (which is presently now an ornament in my room),

11) A mint condition Parker 180 Jasper Red Laque fountain pen (which is very memorable to me considering how much I actually paid for a pen in mint condition, complete with its box and original tags),

12) A mint condition Parker 45 Fountain pen in Black and steel / Gold trim cap (Parker 45s are easy to buy here in the Philippines, that's why in my collection, 5 of them are Parker 45 Fountain pens, and another 5 are Ballpen counterparts), and

13) A Gray Parker 61 Custom (which is a surprise buy because it was an early production Capillary based model, where ink filling was done by simply dipping the end of the pen and letting the ink go up via capillary action, and that when I got it, it was particularly pristine, save for a missing jewel on the end of the pen). This pen amused me so much, it made me go back into using fountain pens once again.

And that's just part of the collection. Being a collector of Vintage Parker Pens, I continue to search around places for these pens, given that I have the money for it. I go to places such as Quiapo, Cubao, and various antique shops looking for these exotic pens. And yes, I am presently hoping to get another Parker 51 to add to my collection.