KCat ˆ it is a nickname I prefer ˆ not just a screen name. KC works too.

As of 4/2003 I am 39 years old, married to the man of my dreams, and have an empty nest unless you count the dog. Which I do.

This is my second marriage. My first was a disaster but for the birth of a beautiful girl who is now living 200 miles away which is a bit much for an overprotective mom. My husband and I live in a small but rapidly expanding town near Houston, TX. We have been here for 12 years. Though I was not born here I have spent all but a handful of years in Texas and consider it home.

Biology and writing have occupied my idle time since childhood and for some time I worked in an immunology research lab. It was a fulfilling and challenging job.

In the mid 90s I began experiencing a handful of health problems that were difficult and distracting but not debilitating. Toward the end of 1997 however, they became intolerable. I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease ˆ Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease. Since my symptoms and treatment are in line with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, it‚s easier just to say "Lupus" when discussing the illness.

I chose to leave lab work for the time, devoting myself to raising my daughter, my dog-ter, and to helping my husband get our home-based business off the ground. The business is going well, the daughter is raised, and the dog is a perpetual toddler. My symptoms are largely under control with medication and taking care of myself.

One symptom that recently surfaced and for which I can find no treatment, is the love of fountain pens. I‚ve always enjoyed different writing instruments and had inexpensive calligraphy sets over the years. But in ‚97 I purchased my first "real" fountain pen, a Waterman Phileas. I was fine for a while ˆ a year or so. I even had only one bottle of ink ˆ Waterman Violette. Then I started surfing the web and discovered just how many wonderful pens are out there. I‚ve since added several inexpensive pens to my "collection" and a handful of moderately-priced pens (my definition: 30-60 USD.) My favorites, as many now know, are my modern Pelikan M200s with custom nibs. I also love my Esterbrook Dollar pen, a pen my husband had stashed in his belongings that dates back to his days in junior high (he‚s a tad older than I am.) I love it mostly for the fact that he bothered to dig it out of a moldy old closet. But also because I have it fitted with a lovely extra-fine flexible nib.

In addition to the pens, I love playing with inks and spend a little time each week mixing inks to see if I can come up with interesting colours.*

That‚s about it really. Love pens, biology, music, dogs, my kid and of course, my wonderful hubby.

KCat

*I am American but much of my reading has been the work of British authors and many of my friends are in the UK and in Canada therefore some non-US spellings will appear in my posts and emails.