12 - The pencil is mightier than the sword
"Why do you use a pencil? Just don't make mistakes" - anonymous colleague
Welcome to my TED talk on mechanical pencils
Do you remember the pursuit and rush you felt when you had to get a pen license in Year 4, and you tried so so so hard to write so perfectly, and you'd JUST miss out and you'd obsess over these shitty Uniball pens that leaked everywhere but you just HAD to have them because WHY.
Conspiracy theory: pen licenses are backed by Big Pen, with shady lobbyists influencing teachers at schools ALL OVER the world to issue pen licenses.
Ugh.
But now, my friends, let me take you on the journey of my transcendence...beyond the pen license...to the world of mechanical pencils.
Most people will find pacers that looks like this - I'm sure I had a few like this too:
The lead sucks (it constantly breaks), the pacer feels cheap and plastic - I mean, did you really want to use it? I did like the different colours though - I had an orange one through all of Year 3 - 6, lost it, then got a blue one that I kept with me all that time.
Oh to be young and foolish.
I got into mechanical pencils because I loved maths when I was in high school, and you have to use pencil because otherwise it gets messy when you make mistakes. And I made a lot of them. But it made me even more frustrated when the lead would just. keep. BREAKING. And the pencils were just so bloody inferior.
And thus began my obsession.
When I got to uni and unlocked a bit of spending money...oh baby it was time for the disposable income to flowwww.
It all started with a friend of mine showing me the Uni Shaka Shaker he got from Japan - WHAT A CONCEPT. Shake your pencil and the lead comes out?! IS THIS THE FUTURE WE WERE PROMISED?
Look how fancy and cool it looks! Please also note the gel grip, which is spongy yet firm - a perfect fit for my stubby hands to clutch on to. This is called the Alpha Gel line of mechanical pencils from Uni, all with the same squishy grip.
Then came the Kuru Toga - the technical ingenuity that moves the lead around FOR you so that you always have a sharp pointed lead to write with.
I N N O V A T I O N I S R E A L
The easiest place to source these was in Hong Kong, where I went a few times to stock up on different leads and pencils. It opened up a whole new world for me - who knew mechanical pencils could be so...fascinating?!
At this point, I realised that blogs are a thing, and that someone out there probably has the same obsession that I do - and lo and behold - there was!
Meet Dave's Mechanical Pencils! For this post I went back to look and he's still doing the exact same format - a nice review, great photos, and always taking pictures with really cool backgrounds
This guy unlocked a whole new world of obsession for me - I spent ages trawling through his blog for mechanical pencils that looked good, and were highly rated. The Pentel Graphgear 1000 looks really cool (I got one in HK - look at the cool knurled grip and the binder clip!)
I also uncovered another Uni brand pencil called the Uni Shift Pipe Lock that was, at the time, a fascinating mechanism for hiding the tip of the pencil, so that it wouldn't get damaged. What an innovation! It was such a non-problem but once I saw it, I had to have it. Unfortunately I played with it too much so the mechanism is a bit looser now but it looks pretty fancy.
For the broke, young, uni student, though, finding out about the Rotring 600 - a german-engineered hexagonal-shaped full-metal body mechanical pencil - made the engineer in me fall in love instantly.
It was the pinnacle of my travels in the world of mechanical pencils.
I shelled out about $50 for it (it's subsequently dropped in price) and I have loved it every day since I have had it. It has a perfect weight, it's shaped super nicely for the hand, and I know I can knock it around a bit and it'll still survive. It's heavy, but it's well, balanced, and I love it!
I know this sounds like a super niche post, but at a broader level it speaks to the rabbit holes I jump into. I'm sure everyone has something like this - the pursuit and search for something that you've dived incredibly deeply into, and the joy of finding that one thing that you know is worth it.
It's just a fun little obsession that makes writing joyful.
Last protip: My favourite brand of lead is the Uni Nano-Dia - it says it uses 'nanometer' technology to keep the lead strong and rarely break, and in my experience it WORKS. I have no idea what the secret sauce of it is, but it does say 'Dia' so I'm gonna assume that it uses diamond dust.
No basis for it but their marketing 100% works on me
What are you obsessed with?
Chat soon :)
✔️ Real Life Recommendations
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Demon Slayer (manga) - a classic shonen manga, with demons, swords, monsters and crazy powers. I think it's become popular recently due to the release of the anime, but the manga itself is quite funny with great art!
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The Black Widowers by Isaac Asimov - this collection of stories is a departure from what Asimov was usually known for (sci-fi), but is just as compelling. The idea is that a group of men come and eat at a restaurant every month, ostensibly to solve a problem of some sort. They all try their hand at getting the right answer, but inevitably it is Henry, the waiter, who provides the key insight for them. Really fun short mystery stories :)
🚌 Adventures on the Information Super-Highway
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Let Children Get Bored Again - I mean, it's easy to agree with this headline, but it seems hard to put into practice? I wouldn't know, I'm not a parent - but I do remember that free time and being bored made me a lot more creative as I had to find things to create fun for myself, rather than have it be given to me on YouTube.
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Reshape the economics of the Web - Mozilla Foundation - an admirable offer to the world to try and get a different way (other than ads or sponsorships) to view the economics of how to pay for content online. I don't know how successful this will be if there are always free alternatives (though illegal) that people can access. The trend on Patreon and Twitch seems to be the personal connection / special treatment of the content that you pay for...who knows! Very interested to see who gets this 😄
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Postmortem - Every Frame a Painting - a sad but insightful look into why the YouTube channel "Every Frame a Painting" died off. The channel's still up, and was one of those super interesting film essay channels that I loved. Their pieces on How to Do Action Comedy and How to do Visual Comedy were fantastic! Highly recommended if you have a couple of hours to kill, or you're a film buff!