I was rummaging around through some old boxes of my stuff that I was keeping at my parents house and I found my pen!!! It was in a box of stuff that I never unpacked from my years in Canada. I thought it was lost years ago!
I bought my Waterman Hemisphere in '99 or '00 (can’t remember which year) while I was living in Canada and was meeting with clients on a more formal level…i wanted a pen that looked classy, not too expensive, and would add a nice subtle proffessional touch to my meetings with clients.
One can come by the Hemisphere for about $50US now, but back then I think I remember paying about $160CAN for it.
It was my favorite pen for a long time, and since I’ve had several other Watermans…
Now can you tell me where my husband put his good watch? Or where my very first whistle is that I lost a couple of years ago? Or the table tennis set that my daughter wanted to play with this summer that we last saw in the spring???
"I knew a man named Waterman, invented a tube.
He was sad because it sprung a little leak.
He said, ‘When I hold my tube against a piece of paper,
the ink leaks out and makes a little stream.’
He said, ‘I gotta find a way to stop that leak,
I’ll start working on my leak-proof tube again.’
I said, ‘Waterman, you idiot! Don’t stop that leak!
You just invented a fountain pen!’
And that was good advice, good advice
Good advice costs nothing, and it’s worth the price
Everything you’re told will be 18karat gold,
If it’s good advice."
– Alan Sherman, “Good Advice”
(I can’t believe I was able to quote from such an obscure song twice
in 1 week! Seriously, if all you know of Alan Sherman is “Camp Grenada”
you should get a few of his old records. That stuff is priceless!)
Waterman only got one verse. The song is about Alan Sherman
taking credit for lots of great discoveries. It’s silly. Here’s another verse:
"I knew a man named Otis who invented a room
And his heart was filled with pride.
I said to Mr. Otis, ‘What does your room do?’
He said, ‘It goes from side to side.’
I said to Mr. Otis, ‘If you take my advice
You’ll be the richest man in town.
You gotta take that room
That goes from side to side
And make it go up and down!’
And that was good advice, good advice…
Good advice costs nothing, and it’s worth the price
Every word you hear is the message of the year,
That’s good advice."
"Christopher Columbus was a seaman second class
When I told him that the Indes could be found
By sailing to the west instead of sailing to the East.
I advised him that I thought the world was round.
Then I sent him down to ask good queen Isabella
To pawn her jewels for all their worth.
Next day he sat sail, and as everyone knows…
He fell off the edge of the Earth.
And that was bad advice, bad advice
Bad advice is just the same as good advice
Everybody makes… ocasional mistakes
And that was bad … ad- … vice."
