Calligraphy has always been one of my many favorite hobbies. One of many hobbies that I'm not very good at but enjoy nonetheless. My pursuit of Western calligraphy (with the roman alphabet) has faltered since my pen and tips disappeared. The ink stain on my floor at my parents' house persists, however :). A good friend of mine brought some brush-pens back from Japan on one of his trips, so I still practice every once in a while. I should probably invest in a real brush at some point, since the tips of the pens are not well suited to calligraphy, being quite small. These characters are all roughly 3cm tall, which is rather ridiculously small compared to how shodo (筆道) is usually practiced.