ink swatches
fountain-pen, Homeschooling, Life, reviews

Musings While on A Sick Day – Also the Best Time to Swatch New Inks

I have a sore throat and a mild fever today. I also have body aches that only a massage from my personal therapist would have been able to fix, if only I were in Quezon City, near her. I usually get a massage twice a month, but the weather has been really bad over the… Continue reading Musings While on A Sick Day – Also the Best Time to Swatch New Inks

Boys in shirts on a gritty Philippine street
Homeschooling

Podcast Episode: The Children on the Jeepney

Pip: The Fabulous Scientist is where geology meets commuting, and this week the commute does the heavier lifting.Mara: fabulousgrass wrote one piece this episode โ€” a jeepney ride through Muntinlupa that opens into a meditation on poverty, childhood, and what it means to grow up too fast. Let's start with the children on the jeepney.The… Continue reading Podcast Episode: The Children on the Jeepney

Geology, Health, Homeschooling, Life, Local Travel, photography, research, reviews, Shopping, travel blog, Wellness Journey

The Camera I Almost Bought: How ChatGPT Saved Me โ‚ฑ12,000

Grass Padrique | The Fabulous Scientist I almost bought another camera. There. I said it. For someone who already owns a Fujifilm X-T20 and an Insta360 GO Ultra, not to mention two smartphones (never mind that one of them is old), this probably sounds like the beginning of a very familiar story among photographers: "I… Continue reading The Camera I Almost Bought: How ChatGPT Saved Me โ‚ฑ12,000

Homeschooling

Podcast Episode: Why Fountain Pens Matter in a Digital World

Pip: The Fabulous Scientist is a site run by someone who spends their days wrangling machine learning models and subsurface data โ€” and also, apparently, a growing collection of fountain pens.Mara: That's fabulousgrass, and today we're looking at a post that asks why analog tools are making a comeback in a world that has already… Continue reading Podcast Episode: Why Fountain Pens Matter in a Digital World

Geology, Homeschooling, fountain-pen, Geology Data Science, photography

Why Fountain Pens Matter in a Digital World

Grass Padrique | The Fabulous Scientist I work with data. I work with machine learning. I play around with AI and large language models. I spend a good portion of my working life staring at databases, spreadsheets, digital maps, subsurface data, and whatever other collection of zeros and ones has decided to make my day… Continue reading Why Fountain Pens Matter in a Digital World

Homeschooling

Podcast Episode: Quick Photowalk Along the 18th Century Taal Heritage Town

Pip: Most geologists visit Batangas and immediately start thinking about the volcano. fabulousgrass visited Batangas and ended up thinking about egg whites.Mara: That's actually a perfect entry point. This episode follows a photowalk through Taal Heritage Town โ€” colonial architecture, a record-breaking basilica, and the surprisingly durable science of old construction. Let's start with the… Continue reading Podcast Episode: Quick Photowalk Along the 18th Century Taal Heritage Town

Homeschooling

Podcast Episode: Uni-ball One F Review: The Perfect Gel Pen for On-the-Go Writers

Pip: The Fabulous Scientist is where stationery gets the same rigorous attention most people reserve for, say, laboratory equipment โ€” which, given the site, tracks completely.Mara: fabulousgrass brings that same careful eye to today's episode, where we're looking at a gel pen built for life outside the desk โ€” ink that stays on the surface,… Continue reading Podcast Episode: Uni-ball One F Review: The Perfect Gel Pen for On-the-Go Writers

Homeschooling

Podcast Episode: Jinhao Fountain Pen Reviews

Pip: The Fabulous Scientist is where you go when you need someone to tell you, with complete sincerity, that an eight-dollar pen should probably be illegal.Mara: fabulousgrass has been putting two Jinhao fountain pens through their paces, and the results are worth your attention. Today we're looking at what these budget giants actually deliver โ€”… Continue reading Podcast Episode: Jinhao Fountain Pen Reviews

Homeschooling

Podcast Episode: Passing the Microscope Forward

Pip: The Fabulous Scientist โ€” where the rocks talk, the data flows, and someone is quietly doing both at once.Mara: Today we're following fabulousgrass into the territory where mentorship meets mineralogy โ€” what it means to carry a tradition forward when the person who started it is gone, and why a polarizing microscope still feels… Continue reading Podcast Episode: Passing the Microscope Forward

Me and a polarizing light microscope
Coping with Depression, Geology, Geology Data Science, Health, Homeschooling, Life, research

Passing the Microscope Forward

Grass Padrique | The Fabulous Scientist For the past three years, I've had the privilege of helping fresh geology graduates prepare for their licensure examinations. It's an invitation I never take lightly. It's an honor, yesโ€”but it's also one born from a bittersweet reason. Four years ago, I lost my very first mentor in mineralogy,… Continue reading Passing the Microscope Forward