Writing Machine Refuge

My violin and my pen are back!

So I picked up my violin from the luthier today. It turns out that my soundpost is, in his words, a piece of junk. So he replaced it. I could see what he meant when he showed it to me. It was whittled, and kind of chewed up looking (and how does a soundpost get chewed up?) and, he said, it fit kind of loosely. It was also very thin, thin enough that had I kept it in there it could have cracked the instrument. So he replaced it and gave me a $20 discount on it. Total bill (including recutting the bridge) $70.

Then I went to Ringler's Pub, partly on the off chance my pen might still be there, and partly because the food and beer are good and it was happy hour. I asked if they had it, and they did! So the server got a $10 tip. It was a $70 pen, so very much worth the tip getting it back.

So I'm happy.

I lost my pen, my driver's license, and my favorite violin is in the shop.

GAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!

My PEN. My pen is something I haven't talked about much on my journal. My pen is a purple waterman fountain pen I bought a year ago for $70. It is my favorite pen. I carry it with me everywhere. I FUCKING NEED THIS PEN. I write with it (duh) in my favorite notebook. I keep different types of INKS for it. I love it. It's like my security blanket and IT'S FUCKING MISSING!!!

I think I left it at Ringler's Pub when I went to have lunch there. I called them and no one's found it. I'm going to call them tomorrow if I can't find it at home, and then I'll probably drive over to find it. I am seriously almost in tears over this. I love that damn pen so much.

My DRIVERS LICENSE. Of less importance then my PEN, except that it means that if I want to buy alcohol (which I need because my PEN IS FUCKING MISSING) I'll have to dig up my passport. Phooey.

My VIOLIN. Yesterday my violin bridge collapsed and took my soundpost out with it. In theory I could have fucked around with it some more and maybe gotten them both up, but not before I probably damaged something. So I finally did the sensible thing and took it to a luthier (that's why I had lunch at Ringlers, heh). Goosman Fine Violins. Looks like a very nice shop. He said I can have it back Wednesday.

Interesting thing about my violin, he confirmed what I thought, that it was old (he didn't say how old, I was originally told about 100 years but with no maker's label who the hell really knows) and that it was refinished nicely. He also told me a few things I didn't know, like that the seam in the back had been opened at one point and then closed very neatly. And there were some open seams in the butt of the violin that were the result of age, basically the top and bottom had shrunk at different rates then the ribs so they no longer met. Basically the only thing I can with it is to keep an eye on it and whenever the gaps get big enough to slid a card through bring it in and get it reglued.

Oh, and the reason my bridge kept collapsing? Whoever put it on in the first place cut the feet wrong. So of course it was tilting forward and falling over all the time. So the feet have to be recut, which is going to cost me $35, and placing the soundpost properly (it has to be moved around to find the best sound) will cost $25-40. Which is why I'm crying about my pen, because if it is gone I can't afford to replace it for awhile.

So yeah. Here is me, screaming my fucking head off.