June 5, 2016

I was in hunter-gatherer mode and found all the pens and pencils I own and put them into one place.  My conclusion: I have too many.

I used to work retail, so people would always be leaving pens behind to become store pens. It was a great way to try out a variety of cheap pens. Let's be honest, most people are not walking around with expensive pens, and those that do tend to have the habits of keeping an eye on them, or putting them away as soon as they are done using them.

And promotional pens, there was always a collection of those. Like most promotional pens, they had less than a full load of ink. A lot of those ended in the trash fairly quickly.

But still, somehow, I have managed to accumulate what appears to be nearly a shoe box full of pens and pencils of various descriptions. If I am being truthful about it, most of those should have never made it this far in my life.

But there are some gems in there. I found my grandmother's Parker fountain pen. For some reason, there seems to be about ten fountain pens in total. Plus there are a lot of ballpoints, some gel pens, coloured pens and regular wooden pencils and some mechanical pencils.

I suppose they all live in a box together because they still serve their purpose. Which is to say they are all still capable of putting a line on paper. Too good to throw away, but worthless to keep. I have a suspicion that there are a great many things in people's homes that fit that description.

So, what to do?

My current solution is to take an old cup (a mug works too) and put it on a desk at work and keep it stocked with pens and pencils. It seems to be a universal truth that unattended pens at work will find a new home and never return to the nest. It should be interesting to see how long they last.