I’m in the middle of marking final exams which means it’s a great time to deal with ink. In fact, today was a confluence of different events related to recent posts.

Not only am I marking final exams, but once again, I have some concerns about the listening test as the first listening I’d recorded at home had sound issues that earned comments from one of the test proctors. I was worried they’d affect the results, but thus far the scores have fallen in the usual spread.

The marking is being done with the MUJI fountain pen I gave my initial impressions of a couple posts ago. Although I like the nib, I can already sense a few issues that will make an eventual long term review–hints: thin, slippery, dry. It hasn’t made me reach for my old marking pen yet, though, but it’s still early in the process.

Then, in the middle of marking, the doorbell rang and three boxes of ink arrived. I’ve mentioned before my low margin, suddenly higher volume (barely enough to buy me a bottle of ink for myself) newly started side business but today it actually became a real thing. I’m now responsible for carefully packing and shipping things people have already paid for.

I also have to remember who ordered what and where they want it sent–I kind of wish I hadn’t written that all down in pencil–and get it to the post office without breaking anything. I then have to deal with the post office staff who think INK=WMD. I also have to decide if I want to continue this and how to make it a more organized thing. Then I have to do some math to see if the margin is merely low or actually negative.

Oh, and at some point I have to finish marking my exams. That is also rather low margin. And math is involved eventually.