(photo of art piece taken at "Art in the Park" in Salcedo Village, 2010)
I had a a number of meetings one week where all my corporate clients each had a mug full of finely sharpened pencils sitting on their desk, ready to be plucked and used at their disposal.The other half of my two person team at work also prefers to use a pencil.
I on the other hand, use a pencil maybe... never? Unless I am circumstantially forced to do so, I haven't actually used a pencil in goodness knows how many years. Tool of choice is always a pen. Come to think of it, I actually don't know why I prefer a pen over a pencil. To think I used to LOVE bringing back to Indonesia boxes of number 2 Mongol pencils! Though I also remember with equal fondness my love of pens. I can spend a lot of time rummaging through carousels of pens, testing each one (always with "hello my name is" over and over again!) until I find THE perfect pen that feels great in the hand and writes like a dream. And don't even get me started on fountain pens - my favorite writing tool growing up was this wonderful Body Shop fountain pen that came with this big tub of ink cartridges in all sorts of Care Bear colors.
Should anyone ever establish the evolution of man and his writing tool, I would say that the "pencil -> pen" movement is a natural progression, a shift that you naturally do without stopping to think about it or looking back. A pen was something you were lucky to use as a kid if you were ready and confident to go forth with your work and not make a mistake. As a kid, I remember doing drafts of work in pencil before I'd go over my answers in pen. Even in art, unless you're fabulous at free hand, pencil is always the first level of work you before you go over your work with a more permanent writing / coloring tool.
So I guess that kind of stuck. A pen feels and looks more professional, at least in my eyes. And doesn't ink last much longer than graphite? Doesn't pencil eventually get all smudgey? I like keeping my notebooks so I don't want to open my keepsakes years down the line only to find pages of unintelligible grayness. Accordingly to a friend though, he says pencils DON'T smudge and that yes, they do last. Dip a piece of paper in water, the pen runs but the pencil marks don't.
Regardless, I was curious to experience the sensation of writing with a pencil again. So today, I sharpened an old pencil lying around and brought it with me to a meeting along with a small white rubber (love new clean white erasers!).
And the verdict?
Well, I gotta say, it was strangley, a lovely and very freeing experience! As weird as it sounds, using a pencil seems to really lend itself to jolting the mind and getting those creative juices to flow. There is something delicious about feeling the soft crushing of the tip of a finely sharpened graphite as it glides across the paper- like it's working for you by also putting in the extra effort to document whatever it is you need to document. I may now permanently convert to using a pencil for note taking or brainstorming.
for writing purposes, i use a ball pen only because the ink is darker.
ReplyDeletebut when i do math, pencil is the choice instrument of writing. it's easier to erase the mistakes teehee
you do math?! for fun?!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, I loved to draw but never used pencils, derecho pen kaagad.
ReplyDeleteI like using mechanical pencils to write in my planner, it makes it easier to keep it clean when my schedule changes around. For my to-do list and most other things, I prefer to use a black pen, either Pilot signpens, gel pens or plain ballpens with very very dark ink. I like the ones Marlon makes *shooook* from his office hihihi.
I had a brief love affair with calligraphy pens in early college, something I might pick up again if I find ones that are easy to use.
PKF: shhhhh! ahahahaha
ReplyDeletelove pencils too.
ReplyDeletebut i once was obsessed with very fine-writing pens. the thinnest line the better. i was on pilot g4 for a long time, and i always ruin it whenever i drop it (the tip either gets bent or gets pushed inside). then i discovered the g3.
harder now though. at work, it's all about anything that looks nice for presentation and anything that's okay to misplace. clients seem to keep forgetting to return our pens (!!!!!)
and ya, eternal wanderer's a nerd. lol!
@ deepa: weren't you the one who loved those roller ball pens in college? forgot the name..
ReplyDelete@jonelski: they have "cheaper" versions of those pilot g4s. i use similar ones in my planner - i don't write in it unless i have a thin ballpen. otherwise.. i prefer ballpens that are a little thicker.
@EW: nerd ;)