Pre-mortal Existence

[zil]

2 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

It was in the pen jar - you know, slumming with the ballpoints.

[NeuroTypical]

14 minutes ago, zil said:

No need to buy - IM me, we'll arrange a Christmas present for you.

Ok, Zil, sold.  My uncle the engineer gave me a fancy ball point when I graduated college, and I still use it 20 years later.  It's rugged, it writes upside-down, and it's still in one piece after being carted around in my bag all this time.  Maybe it's time to see how the elegant refined side of the fence lives.   I do indeed think about what I'm writing -with-, when I am writing something important.

Since you're basically trying to get me addicted here, I suggest a gift exchange.  Name your poison:
- My little Pony figure
- MLP fanmade artwork
- A thumb drive with public-domain MLP fanmade music, guaranteed to produce the feels.

(Fun fact: One of the characters in the show runs a "sofas and quills shop".)

Edited December 13, 2017 by NeuroTypical

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, zil said:

No need to buy - IM me, we'll arrange a Christmas present for you.

Yet another person on the list to the NSA.  We know you of old.

[Guest]

21 minutes ago, zil said:

Remember how I joked that your effort to fill the board with FP users was simply a ploy to document our names and addresses for the NSA?

[zil]

2 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

Ok, Zil, sold.  My uncle the engineer gave me a fancy ball point when I graduated college, and I still use it 20 years later.  It's rugged, it writes upside-down, and it's still in one piece after being carted around in my bag all this time.  Maybe it's time to see how the elegant refined side of the fence lives.   I do indeed think about what I'm writing -with-, when I am writing something important.

Since you're basically trying to get me addicted here, I suggest a gift exchange.  Name your poison:
- My little Pony figure
- MLP fanmade artwork
- A thumb drive with public-domain MLP fanmade music, guaranteed to produce the feels.

(Fun fact: One of the characters in the show runs a "sofas and quills shop".)

What's MLP?

NOTE: FPs use liquid ink, not pasty stuff like ballpoints - fling it around and gravity will do its thing and pull the ink right on out.  So while there are fountain pens that will take physical abuse and then write just fine afterwards, you may have to clean up splattered ink when you uncap.  So if you're wanting to continue casual abuse and pen-throwing practices, you may not be very happy with a fountain pen.  In a bag, nib up is best.  Otherwise, horizontal.  Nib down is to be avoided unless writing or it's a problem pen.

Technically, a fountain pen will write just fine upside down or in zero gravity, as long as the ink remains in contact with the feed - depending on your filling system, this is easy or impossible.  FPs work by capillary action, so as long as the ink in the barrel is touching the end of the feed, said action will pull it to the nib, and paper will pull it from the nib.  (A fountain pen is a controlled leak.)

What I send you will likely have cost me less than $10, and is wasting time and space in my desk drawer.  You're doing me a favor.

I'll need to know if you write big or small (writing samples are nice, preferably on lined paper), and what color(s) ink you want.

[zil]

2 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

Remember how I joked that your effort to fill the board with FP users was simply a ploy to document our names and addresses for the NSA?

No, but that sounds like something I'd say.  Probably from back in the days when my brother and I were making up a code intended to confuse the NSA.

[zil]

1 minute ago, zil said:

What's MLP?

Oh, "My Little Pony".  Just call me dense.  I'm going to have to ponder my choices for a while.

[zil]

32 minutes ago, zil said:

Oh, "My Little Pony".  Just call me dense.  I'm going to have to ponder my choices for a while.

OK, I have thunk.  I'll take the MLP figure (it's small, right, can sit on my desk  in front of the stationery and make me smile now and again)?  Or the artwork.  Feel free to surprise me.

[NeuroTypical]

Deal.  I get that fountain pens are to be handled with care.  PM'ing you now.  

[anatess2]

5 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

Deal.  I get that fountain pens are to be handled with care.  PM'ing you now.  

And so it begins.

Welcome to the madness.

[NeuroTypical]

My dad acted the same way when I told him a military recruiter had offered to buy me lunch.

[anatess2]

16 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

My dad acted the same way when I told him a military recruiter had offered to buy me lunch.

You underestimate the power of @zil.

[e-eye]

Back on topic and a couple experiences I have had.

When I went to the MTC we had a district of 12 Elders and were together for about 9 weeks.   Our district leader said that when his stake president set him apart as a missionary he would be with his best friends from the pre-existence in the MTC and he was to be the leader of all of us to help prepare us to go out and serve in the field.

Another experience I had was with my calling.  Serving in the bishopric I at times was kind of annoyed by the other counselor.  I really had done a poor job of allowing a friendship because our ideas and personalities were a little different.  I then had the prompting that we were good friends in the pre-existence.  Since then I have completely changed my attitude and feel as though we have become good friends.  

President Monson has said there are no such things as coincidences.  I believe many of the people we serve with, know and become friends with are for a reason.  I would guess we knew everyone to some degree in Heaven and many were our close friends.  I think of it like this - If I were to be planning a big trip, wouldn't I want to discuss things and get to know people I was going with?   

[Guest]

Since we're sharing:

EXPERIENCE 1

When I took a PoGP class, my professor challenged us to all consider and pray about what we did in the pre-existence.  Who were we then and how did that affect who we are now.

Well, I came back to class having thought and prayed about it.  I shared with the class the following:

I got the impression I was the teacher's aide. 

I explained that I tend to be able to process what a teacher says much more easily than others.  I can also discern when the teacher says something that they did not mean -- a slip of the tongue.  Afterwards, I've usually been the student in the class that other kids come to with questions.  I repeat and clarify what the teacher said in a way that students can understand it.

I felt like I filled that function in the pre-existence on some level.

After sharing, the teacher and the class laughed at me for taking the challenge seriously.  That was strange when he didn't say it in a sarcastic or jocular tone.  He said it very somberly and softly.  Oh well.  Serves me right for trying to see into the past.

EXPERIENCE 2

I've had one friend since college whom I still friend on Facebook.  But I haven't spoken to him personally in years.  It's like that with us.  We just don't talk much.  But we're still in contact.  It's like we're just always going to have a connection.  He was one person who I could say anything to.  An he always understands.  We joked that we were joined at the hip in the pre-existence.  But they got tired of our antics and decided "We've got to keep those two apart.  They'll destroy the Church if they get together.  So, we'll have them born a month apart on completely opposite sides of the earth.  That should do it."

Hee hee.  Little did they know I'd be adopted and we'd meet at BYU... 

I don't know if we even knew each other in the pre-existence.  On some level, I tend to think we all knew each other.  But it is pretty sure that we're two peas in a pod.  We just plain "get each other."

Edited December 13, 2017 by Guest

[Vort]

9 minutes ago, e-eye said:

Our district leader said that when his stake president set him apart as a missionary he would be with his best friends from the pre-existence in the MTC

 

[e-eye]

8 minutes ago, Vort said:

 

HAHA!  Seriously though.

I always liked the original where they were teaching the investigator and they did the slide show projection on the guys belly.  Good times!

[Vort]

Just now, e-eye said:

HAHA!  Seriously though.

I always liked the original where they were teaching the investigator and they did the slide show projection on the guys belly.  Good times!

Don't remember that part, but it did seem like Kesler's companion was always played by a chubby guy.

[zil]

8 hours ago, zil said:

Put them in envelopes so they're easier to keep and read again later.

Oh, and @NeuroTypical, write out the full date at the top of the letter, like Wednesday, 13 December 2017 (cuz 35 years later, they're just not gonna remember when it was, but they'll want to know).

[Sunday21]

@zilRules! Queen of Pens! Celestial in her progress! Converting the heathen to better penmanship. 

[wenglund]

On 12/13/2017 at 9:27 AM, anatess2 said:

@NeuroTypical, this is actually what she's saying... buy a fountain pen.

My main problem with inked pens of any sort, aside from blue stains on white shirt pockets, is they haven't a built in spell checker. 

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

[wenglund]

De;ete dup

Edited December 24, 2017 by wenglund

[zil]

8 hours ago, wenglund said:

My main problem with inked pens of any sort, aside from blue stains on white shirt pockets, is they haven't a built in spell checker. 

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

The pen doesn't need a spell checker when the neuro-computer sending signals to the pen-controller has one.

[SilentOne]

3 hours ago, zil said:

The pen doesn't need a spell checker when the neuro-computer sending signals to the pen-controller has one.

But when the spell-checker realizes a word is misspelled after it's written, it is a whole lot harder to cleanly erase and correct with a pen.

[zil]

40 minutes ago, SilentOne said:

But when the spell-checker realizes a word is misspelled after it's written, it is a whole lot harder to cleanly erase and correct with a pen.

Clean-schmean - there's a whole lot more interest and personality in a manual correction.  And erasing original data is a big fat no-no!  Per 21 CFR Part 58.130, "Any change in entries shall be made so as not to obscure the original entry, shall indicate the reason for such change, and shall be dated and signed or identified at the time of the change."  (Other parts require similar things, so it's best just to adopt a single change policy.)

[Guest]

14 hours ago, wenglund said:

De;ete dup

You were saying about a spell checker...?