My name is Joe Pallozzi. I reached the AARP eligible age of 50 this year and am having a great time finding places that give discounts to us "old farts". I spent 20 years in the US Navy and retired from there in 1989. Since then, I have become an RN and work in geriatric psychiatric nursing. I am currently the Patient Care Director for The Colby Center for Geriatric Psychiatry at Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake, NY. I am in the final stage of finishing my Masters in Nursing as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner.
As far as my pen addiction goes, that started in the early 1970's. My handwriting got to the point that even I had a difficult time trying to decipher it so I bought a book titled "The Italic Way to Beautiful Handwriting" by Fred Eager. A Sheaffer No-Nonsense pen with italic nibs came with the book and from then on I was hooked. I spent about 20 years studying and doing Calligraphy semi-professionally but gave it up, for the most part, after I got married. During that time I studied under Abraham Lincoln (he is a direct descendant of the real one) and learned many of the formal calligraphic hands, as well as illumination and layout techniques. During that period I accumulated about 100 or so fountain and dip pens along with a variety of other writing materials, books, etc. From about 1990 to 1996, I used only a few modern fountain pens.
In 1996, I was introduced to my first vintage fountain pen and it's been an addiction since. I first began to collect anything vintage, but that got to be too difficult (and expensive). I am now focusing on Sheaffer flattop and Balance pens with the occasional "other" pen that catches my fancy. I think that I have about 200 or so vintage pens and about 30 modern pens now.
|