Blog Fail?

Can't believe how I've neglected this blog. Haven't posted anything for six months! Just got it started and then abandoned the poor thing. And it's not that I've conquered my addiction to office supplies, diaries, planners, etc. -- far from it. No, it's just that the last few months have been really hectic around here, and I've had all I can handle just keeping up with my book blog.

But I didn't want the new year to get too far along without posting something here -- nothing earth-shaking, just a post to get me re-started. Maybe that will be the nudge I need.

So here's my latest haul from JetPens (it's becoming my favorite place to hang out):


Starting over on the far right, we have:

• 1 Uni-ball Jetstream Color Ink Series Ballpoint, 0.5mm, Blue Black Ink
• 1 Uni-ball Jetstream Ballpoint--Basic Series, 0.5mm, Blue Ink
• 1 Zebra Techno Line Limited Edition Ballpoint, Light Green Body, 0.4mm, Black Ink
  and:
  
• 3 Zebra Sarasa Push Clip Gel Ink Pens, all 0.4mm: Viridian Green; Cobalt Blue; and Blue Black
• 3 Uni Signo 207 Retractable Gel Ink Pens, all 0.38mm: Blue Body/Blue Ink; Light Blue Body/Light Blue Ink; and Black Body/Black Ink
  and finally:
  
• 1 Rotring Tikky Graphic Drawing Pen, 0.3mm, Black Pigment Ink

And here's a little writing sample/test (click on photo to get a little better view). Sorry the photo isn't as clear as it might be -- it was hard to get a good shot today because of the weather. Also sorry about that dotted "e" in Jetstream!


I went a little overboard on the ballpoints, I'm afraid. I don't really use ballpoints that much, but once in a while they do come in handy; and these looked so tempting. I ordered the Limited Edition Zebra Techno pen because it's tiny and I was looking for something small to carry in my handbag. It's not terribly easy to handle, but it writes an extra-fine line that I like a lot; and since I won't be doing a great deal of writing with it, I think it'll work. Of the three, I believe the Basic Series Jetstream is my favorite -- writes really smoothly, even on cheap paper, and seems not to blot or smear as much as the other two.

I've only recently discovered the Zebra Sarasa Push Clips. So far, I do like the feel of the pens and the variety of colors. Not sure they're going to replace my favorite Signo RT's, though. Lately, I've been using one of the 207s with light blue ink for just about all my everyday writing. I love that the pen is slightly chunky (good for arthritic fingers) and yet very lightweight (ditto), and the ink color is almost a turquoise (which is, of course, the loveliest shade of ink).

Not sure exactly why I thought I had to have the Tikky Graphic Drawing Pen. I'm not an artist and don't do a lot of drawing, so I'll probably end up using it as a marker pen more than an artist's tool. But it's definitely a great little drawing pen -- feels very solid and lays down a nice smooth, even, very black line. Doesn't seem to have that "sticky" feeling on the page that a lot of drawing pens have. Not much feathering that I can see, and only a slight amount of bleed-through on the back of the page; but I used a Levenger's Circa notebook for the test, and the paper is pretty thick. I was expecting the 0.3mm pen to provide a slightly finer line, but that's the only quibble I have with it. Maybe I need to order another one in a different size, hmmmm?