I HAVE A PEN! I LIKE IT!

[ktron]

ok, quick background. you know milton, the guy from office space who's waaaaay too attached to his red swingline stapler? hate to say it, but i totally sympathize. i get pathetic over office supplies, and i agree that the swinglines are the best. but my big issue is pens. i can't stand most of the pens provided at the office. i was actually resorting to begging and pleading and trading with my co-workers when the spending freeze made us run out of the one kind i tolerate. i don't even have pretty handwriting, but i'm a freak about it.

anyways, i love fountain pens. i found this out in france, where they're plentiful and cheap. then i came back to the US... and, um, forget about it.

i still have my favorite, a plain metal fine-point one made by waterman. it still writes beautifully, it's got a nice weight to it. i paid about $8 for it.

unfortunately, most of the ones i've bought here in the states are leaky disasters. my dad found one that showed up in my xmas stocking last year that was fantastic for a while, but its nib's been feeling a bit under the weather here lately. other than that the best i've found in my price range are the disposable ones that pilot makes.

so delight quickly gave way to impulsiveness when i found a waterman fountain pen set including lots of ink cartridges and even a liquid ink converter in office max today. waterman! they who made the perfection that is my favorite pen! nearly $30, but dammit, if it doesn't leak it's worth it. and so far it's not leaking. and it's pretty -- all blue and gold detailing! and it doesn't skip!! medium-nibbed, but i suppose that i can forgive it.

boy, do i feel neurotic... but neurotically happy and pen-possessing!

Comments

::stands up::

[clear-bead.livejournal.com]

my name is jennifer, and i too have a pen problem.

i cannot walk past the pen aisle in wal-mart without "looking" at the "new" varieties. i sometimes make 'comparison pricing trips' for work that include a stop at office max...to see if they have the illustrious purple pen i want. i have 2 sections in my work bag with pens. one of cheap bics for client use; the other has mine... my pretty blue pilots, the blank energel (with the blue handle--thin point), the zebras...all mine. i don't even put my good pens on my desk at work. i know tish! she'd steal them!!!

so don't feel bad, kait.

the support group will meet...well, right after the Stop Procrastination...Now? meeting.

Re: ::stands up::

[ktron.livejournal.com]

yay! not alone!

(i hate to admit it openly... but i did switch some of my almost-empty uniball vision micros - the tolerable pens at work - for celine's nearly-full ones while she was on vacation. after all, the spending freeze was going to be over by the time she got back!)

actually,

[ohthecuteness.livejournal.com]

when I was in middle school... I loved fountain pens. I have no idea why I've stopped writing with them, but I loved them. This makes me want to buy a new one ;)

Re: actually,

[ktron.livejournal.com]

ooh, where did you obtain them?!? (always on the lookout for sources... even if they're in far-away knoxville...)

Re: actually,

[ohthecuteness.livejournal.com]

I actually bought them at rite aid... they were cheap, but hey! they worked.

Re: actually,

[ktron.livejournal.com]

whoa! i think i checked every pen selection in town... but we don't have a rite-aid in cookeville... do we?

up until sometime last year, wal-mart had some uber-cheap scheaffer ones that (unlike all other scheaffer fountain pens i've tried) didn't leak and came with lots of pretty ink colors. not very luxurious, but fun and practical. alas, they seem to have quit stocking them...

eee

[ohthecuteness.livejournal.com]

its been forever since I uused one. They always leaked on me... part of it being that I'm left handed and they're a bit more difficult to use, but I know for sure I used dispoable pilots a lot

Re: eee

[ktron.livejournal.com]

even if they're non-leaky, i usually end up with ink all over one side of my hand and a few smears on the page... but it's ever-so-much more manageable than when the pen itself is leaking all over everything!

ooh, and the other thing i miss - in france, you can get "erasable" blue ink cartridges. and then buy a special pen that turns that ink into basically invisible ink... the other end of the eraser pens is a small felt-tip pen with non-erasable ink so you can write in corrections. this makes it tons more practical to write with a fountain pen, eliminate all the blots, etc. plus, once your hands get all inky, if you can't get out of class to go wash them, you can sit there and erase the ink when it gets boring! alas, i guess the bic hit big here before that technology was developed? otherwise, i can't see why fountain pens are everywhere there and nowhere here...

[eviljeff.livejournal.com]

Okay, I will admit it...I, too, have had a pen problem. I look for them all over the place. And, while I have never actually owned a decent fountain pen, I have always wanted one.

So, when was that support group meeting, again?

[sexyhalibut.livejournal.com]

I think I have a pen fetish of a different variety. I've given up on nice pens. I always lose them or something. Instead, I end up carrying around like 4 writing utensils in my pocket, 3 in my folder, and several more stashed here and there at pretty much all times. Quantity vs. Quality, I guess.

BTW, I've never written with a fountain pen, but now you're making me want to go out and get one. If you all make ME addicted, I'll be real pissed... for about 43 seconds or so.... :-P

[snazzyokapi.livejournal.com]

ktron, that is by far the funniest thing i've read in weeks. i laughed harder than i have in a long time - partly b/c it was indeed funny, partly b/c i know how you are about pens... and partly b/c i too have the same problem. my thing is compounded though by the fact that i not only want to have nice new pretty-writing pens at all times, but i never throw them away. i have a sterilite container filled with damn near every inkpen i've owned since about 6th grade. unless it was tragically lost or stolen (probably by john - you know how his pockets are).

congratulations on you pen-having-ness!