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Monthly Archives: October 2013

Writing utensils

I like writing utensils.  Especially those of the pen variety.  It used to be a thing with me in college.  It was very dangerous for me to go into the university bookstore because I would almost assuredly walk out with some new writing instrument.  Generally a pen, but sometimes something else.

For the last several years, my main writing utensil has been a multi-function from Yafa because I didn’t want to carry 238912837912873 different writing utensils with me.  I started out using a Quad-point, went to a Quin-Tek, got another Quin-Tek because the first one broke, went back to a Quad-point (but a grippy kind) because a part went missing on the Quin-Tek I was using and made it annoying to use, and now…I have none.  Because my last Quad-point was inadvertently stolen by someone.  And my mom took my backup pen, which is fine.  She can have it if she really likes it.

Now, I really liked my Yafa pens.  I like the multi-functionness of the pens.  I really liked how smooth the pens would write.  I liked that you could replace the ink barrels.  I liked that I could have so many different colors including something that could function as a highlighter.  I even liked the weight of the Quin-tek, which was on the heavy side.

I also really liked the gravity feed feature of the pen.  It generally meant that no one understood how to use my pen and made it less susceptible to theft.  The fact that my last pen was stolen from me was at least equally my fault and really, the girl who took it had way bigger problems to deal with than remembering to return the pen to me.

But, I really didn’t like the pencil portion of the multi-function.  The tip was constantly working itself loose.  And the lead barrel of the Quad-points were never upgraded to be like the ones on the Quin-tek, where you could replace the pencil with another pen.  And customer service wasn’t really the greatest.  The tech that I spoke with way back in the day with my first Quin-tek broke was very pleasant and tried to help as best he could, but the corporation wasn’t really making it easy for him.

So now…I’m in the market for a multi-function pen again.  I’m not going with another Yafa because…well, they don’t really offer anything I really want anymore.  The Quin-tek is probably discontinued, even if they don’t actively say that it is.  The Quad-point can still be found in places like Fry’s and online, but I really don’t want to go into Fry’s.  It’s one of my least favorite stores ever.  EVAR.

I’m thinking maybe a Pilot or maybe a Uni.  But for the time being, I got myself a set of Papermate Ink Joys.  They write really nicely and there are lots of colors to choose from.  If only they made them as multi-functions…

And…this was a whole post on pens.

Random things: Grizzlicorn

The other day, I drew a this:

Grizzlicorn!

Grizzlicorn!

This isn’t from the list of 100 things to draw when you’re bored, in case you’re looking for it.  I ended up drawing a grizzlicorn because one of my coworkers asked for it.

Perhaps you are asking why would he ask for such a thing.  It’s because he saw me doodling during a meeting one time but he couldn’t quite see what I was drawing.  I was drawing a shark (of course).  For some reason, he thought I was drawing a butterfly.  And when it came out that he thought I was drawing a butterfly, he was ridiculed by our other coworkers and me.  He obviously doesn’t know me terribly well.

Later that day, I decided to draw him a shark with butterfly wings instead of fins.  And I did so.  On a post it.  Which is why I didn’t post it (hehehehe) first.  I have a photo of it, but I gave the post it to him so I can’t scan it.  Maybe I’ll draw a shark with butterfly wings some other time and post it (hahahahaha).

Now then, my coworker rather liked the shark with butterfly wings and asked if I could draw a grizzly with a unicorn horn.  He thought it would be ridiculous because grizzlies are fearsome animals and it would be funny to put a unicorn horn on one of them.  Little did he know that I was thinking more of a derpy grizzly as opposed to a fierce grizzly.

As for the name of this thing, my coworker kept calling it a grizzly-unicorn, which I thought was unwieldy.  So I shorted it to grizzlicorn, which he liked.  But later, a friend pointed out to me that a grizzlicorn would be something right out of one of my favorite indie comics, Axe Cop.  And then I realized that a unigrizzly would also fit in pretty well in Bearmaggedon, another one of my favorite indie comics.  OMG!  I NEED TO ASK IF MY COWORKER READS AXE COP AND BEARMAGGEDON!!