How often do you dig and delve frantically in the dark pit of an overstuffed bag, trying desperately to come up with a pen before you forget what it was you wanted to write down, or the Very Interesting Person who wanted your phone number just begins to lose interest…
Way too often, is my answer. And hence my love-hate affair with writing implements in general, and pens in particular.
There are basically five kinds of pens in my world:
- leaky useless blotchy pens,
- pens that have run out of ink but for some reason get stuffed into a desk drawer instead of thrown away,
- free pens that only work for 10 minutes before turning into type 1 or type 2 pens,
- perfectly adequate pens that I buy in boxes of twenty but still can’t find when I want one, and
- someone else’s pen.
So much selection, so few actual writing implements coming to hand when I want one! But now I can add a number 6 to the list — very funky little flat pens!
Grippa Slip flat pens in bright plastic colors are skinny enough to use as a bookmark (h/t Lifehacker), while the new stainless steel Stingray FoldzFlat pen (h/t Cool Tool) is both flat and fold-up-able. (In fact, it folds up small enough to stick in that tiny coin pocket on tradition five-pocket jeans — bonus! because I’ve yet to find another good use for that pocket… )
So, in theory, there’s no excuse for not having a pen when you want to, oh, say, give someone your phone number. Could be a fun gift to slip into an envelope with a greeting card, too.