blogging

So many ways to take this theme. 

For me, in the past, thinking of ink would have made me look back to my time in newspapers and having the chance to see the press run. It was always a cool experience and I tried to go back and watch it every couple of months just because it seemed magical. 

If you’ve never seen a press run up close and personal, it’s truly amazing. 

But lately for me, ink is thought of in a different way, namely fountain pens. 

I’ve always been a fan of fountain pens and in recent years had a few disposable ones. But over the past year or so, I’ve gotten much more into the fountain pen world. 

Especially ink. 

It’s truly amazing what ink can do. There are so many color variations and the colors can do different things – such as shimmer, or glisten, or have sparkles, or have different looks as you write. 

It’s crazy cool. 

My fountain pen collection has grown quite a bit from my start and I have pens that have a wide range of price, including limited edition pens that are even cooler. 

Nibs on the pens also vary, so you can have an extra fine and range all the way to broad and flex nibs. Each one will write differently, with some inks coming out a lot faster than others based on that nib. That will give you a different look and feel as you write. 

It’s way cool. 

What’s even more with this is the aspect of actually writing again. It’s funny that as I am blogging about fountain pens and ink, I’m doing it on a computer. Our society goes a lot more in this direction now. So, I’ve tried to work more into actually writing (and improving my handwriting) once again. For one, I’m prepping to start a bullet journal in February (I will have a post about this), though I might not do much with the fountain pens in that – though I have other pens. 

One thing I do like doing is making sure I have swatches of all the inks I use. That gives me an idea of what I have and what the colors look like. Recently, I’ve also started a notebook where after I ink a pen, I write a bit in the notebook so I can see how things flow and look. 

It’s nice to document the colors. 

On Instagram lately, I’ve been looking at so many accounts of people who are back into writing letters. It seems February is “InCoWriMo.” Now, that confused me when I saw it at first, but it seems to stand for International Correspondence Writing Month. From its website, “ InCoWriMo challenges you to hand-write and mail/deliver one letter, card, note or postcard every day during the month of February.”

That’s a pretty hefty challenge and not one I’m likely up for this February, but maybe next year. What I like is seeing people out there reaching out to people looking to send letters and possibly become penpals. 

How cool is that?

The amount of time and effort and creativity people put into their letters and envelopes etc., is pretty wild. I’m impressed all around and am not sure I could be that creative. 

That being said… it’s fascinating that the art of writing is still there and I’ve noticed my own handwriting improving over the past year. I’ve dabbled with papers and many different inks and pens etc. It’s nice to see some things don’t lose their touch. 

How many of you are still ones who appreciate pens and writing in a nice way? I’m glad I found my way back to it and it also has me thinking about a project I wanted to do years ago that never got off the ground. I still have the items needed, so maybe I’ll revisit it sometime in the next few months to see if anybody would be willing to be part of it once again. 

Maybe even some of you!

This post is part of the 2020 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! 

20 Days of Chill: 2020 Day 15

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Have you ever thought about this?

If you had the chance to have one last meal before leaving this Earth … what would you select?

There’s always a big thing with those on death row – their final meal. And it’s often something crazy, such as a steak, potatoes, something else and like two pints of ice cream. 

But, I guess if it’s going to be the final one, you may as well gorge until you can’t. 

I tend to look at this question differently. I’m not looking at it like I’m on death row. Rather, it’s more of a … what would you do if you knew a meal was your last? 

Where would you have it? Who would it be with? What would you eat? 

And I’m not sure I could have a definitive answer with this. There are so many things I think I could eat. 

I know this much, I’d want it to be a feast with family and friends. And I’d probably want it to be multiple courses of some sort. 

Well, the beauty of this challenge is we can interpret. And though it says last meal … I’m going to build up to it. I think it would be a final day of food and festivities. Get me there and I can plan. 

This is all subject to change as it’s what’s on my mind at this point. 

That final day would be all about some fun and chatter. And the meals would be divine, at least in my eyes. 

Breakfast

This is easy. Eggs Benedict, some hash browns, toast (have to sop up all the extra hollandaise sauce!) and a side of scrapple (and bacon). 

Late morning snack

Cheese and fruit

Lunch

A ham and cheese sub on great bread. A side of chips and a few pickles. And a slice of pizza, just because. Maybe an apple to finish it off. 

Late afternoon appetizer

Poutine. Just because, I’d have to have one whopping serving of this somewhere with the final meals! 

Dinner

Around a nice large area with friends and family and enjoying the company of others. Several courses would have to be done. And I’m not saying this “menu” makes a lot of sense with  pairing, but hey… 

• New England clam chowder
• An excellent salad
• Steak and lobster with some roasted potatoes
• Corn on the cob
• Crème Brûlée

I’m sure I’m leaving some things out. I’d love to find a way to mix in some fish and chips and a few other favorites, but that is how things go. I’m sure if this theme came up later in the week, I’d have different thoughts. But for now, this is the way I’d look at it. 

How about you? What would your final meal look like?

This post is part of the 2020 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! 

20 Days of Chill: 2020 Day 13

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

For as long as I can remember, photography has been a part of my life. 

When I was younger and we visited my grandparents in Philadelphia, I remember going on a walk with my grandfather to those old-school Fotomat places so he could drop film off to be developed. The Fotomat places were those ones that used to be in parking lots. Small buildings that took the Kodak colors and were a drive-thru setup for film and developing.

Obviously, these are not needed anymore. 

Still, it’s a bit of nostalgia and whenever I see one of these, It brings back some memories. 

I even wonder what happened to all the photos my grandfather had developed there. And what they were of and all that goodness. 

Photography, as a whole has changed immensely over the years. 

One of my first jobs in the newspaper industry was at a local weekly paper and as part of my job, I got an extra stipend each week to be the “darkroom technician.” Basically, I developed everybody’s black-and-white film and made prints for the newspaper to use. 

If I think back enough, I can still smell the chemicals and think about the time spent in the darkroom with those red lights and all of that. It didn’t pay a lot, but it was a cool experience I’ll never forget. 

Nowadays, it’s all digital. Though every once in a while I think it’s fun to pop out an old camera and fire off a roll or two of film, it’s a pain. With phones and compact digital cameras and digital SLRS … there’s instant gratification of images. You can see your lighting and focus and correct things to make sure they are correct. Then you can edit – on your phone or computer with something like Photoshop – and make photos look incredible. 

I remember all the little tricks in the darkroom one could do to make sure things were darker or lighter in certain parts. It was almost like magic. 

Snapshots are definitely different now, though. 

A roll of film was 24 or 36 exposures. You had no idea what your images would look like until the film was developed. 

Imagine that? Those old Fotomats got your prints back in 24 hours. I’m not sure if today’s generation could handle that!  

I think of some of the photos I took with film in my early days of sports photography. One shot stands out. A local team made it to the state championship in girls soccer and I was there. It was bitter cold out and mounds of snow around the field, which was turf, if I remember right. That was much more rare in that era – 1995ish – for high schools to have. 

The team I was covering got a direct kick just outside the penalty box and it was on the side of the field where I was standing. I aimed and was ready and as the girl kicked, I snapped … and got the ball a few feet in front of her and her follow through. It was a good shot and even better was … the shot ended up as the winning goal for the state title. 

Needless to say, her parents requested several prints. 

If that was current days, I’d probably have about 50 consecutive images of the shot, trying to capture it at the perfect moment … and there’d probably be a dozen or so other people who have different angles and launch points of the shots. 

Times, they’ve changed. 

I still like the look and feel of old snapshots. They capture a moment in time that may never be duplicated. When you look at real old images, the moments are that much more precious because of how hard it was to capture these images and moments. 

And though I still love looking back and seeing great snapshots, I’ll stick with the digital world as we are in an instant gratification society. I’ll take the ability to see what I am doing to make corrections quickly and still be able to get most of the images that I’d like to capture. 

So what do you think of the snapshot world today as compared to yesteryear?

This post is part of the 2020 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! 

20 Days of Chill: 2020 Day 12

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

OK, I’m going to admit something here. 

I’m a bit of a popcorn junkie. I love popcorn and think it might be the perfect snack. It’s somewhat healthy. Of course, that all depends on how you make it and how much you eat, but it can be a somewhat healthy snack. 

For me, I don’t like a lot on it. Pop it in the right oil, and add a little bit of salt and I’m good to go. I don’t need it covered in butter and all that. I just need popcorn. 

For the longest time, I made popcorn on the stove top. I’m not a fan of microwave popcorn as I like the freshness that popping it yourself gives it. 

Over time, however, I got a bit away from popping it on the stove. Why?

Because I bought a bigger popcorn machine (like the kind you find in the movie theater, just not as big and industrial). 

I work out of two offices in my professional world. In the one where I spend three times per week, I actually bought a smaller machine like this. We have popcorn a few times a week and what’s nice is the amount it pops is perfect for two people. 

Popcorn is just where it’s at. 

I know many people still use microwave popcorn, but it’s just not the same as doing it one of these other ways. 

There’s so many things people can do to or put on popcorn etc. I do have a few flavor things (such as white cheddar) that I will use on occasion, but for the most part … it’s the corn, a little “butter spray” and then some popcorn salt. The spray basically allows things to mix up better. 

How about you? What’s your style of popcorn?

This post is part of the 2020 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! 

20 Days of Chill: 2020 Day 11

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

What’s in a dream?

I’m not sure how vivid and clear dreams are to many of you, but for me – not so much. 

Though there are times I will wake up and know what I was dreaming about; or I will be in that “sleep” that’s not really sleeping, but not really awake, and have some ideas of dreams. 

There are many people I know or I follow on social media/in the blogging world who seem to have strong memories of all their dreams. Well, at least a lot of them. 

Dreams are interesting, though, that’s for sure. 

While doing some dream research for this post, it seems dreams aren’t a continuous thing that happens throughout the night. I recall reading somewhere that dreams only last a few seconds and then move on. Not sure where I read that, but it appears to be wrong. 

Maybe I dreamed it. 

According to Wikipedia, dreams are most vivid and memorable when you have them and maybe wake up during your REM sleep phase. But a dream possibly could last for only a few seconds, but could go on upward of 20-30 minutes. 

It seems, to, we only have a few dreams per night. I always thought we had them non-stop from the time you drifted off to the time you wake up. It seems, though, that isn’t true. 

It all makes better sense now, too. 

I’ve had good and bad dreams in my life. Some are very lifelike and others are beyond reality. I’ve also gone nights where I wonder if I had a dream at all. 

Dreams are a crazy thing and if you Google it, you can read about dreams for hours. There are even tips on how to remember dreams – starting with a dream journal and telling yourself what you will dream about before going to bed. 

Does it all work? Who knows. 

All I know is I couldn’t tell you a dream I’ve had in the past week, though I do know I’ve had a few. 

Have you ever wondered, though, if everything we’re doing is one big dream? 

Something to dream about anyway …

This post is part of the 2020 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! 

20 Days of Chill: 2020 Day 10

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!