Weekly carry-around: #1

(27/02/2023 – 05/03/2023)

I’ve decided to start a new series in the blog to track which pens (and pencils!) I’ve been using this week. I do have more pens inked for this first week, but my aim is to gradually reduce them into a manageable 7-pen rotation: 6 in a Galen Leather pen case to be carried around or set on my desk, one pen attached to my journal’s loop. Pencils, because I use them to scribble on margins. I’d like to mention the books I’m reading and the video game I played the most. The only way for me to track stuff is write it down, and well, that’s what I am doing. All of these are mostly in my bag at all times anyway, hence the carry-around.

Only one limit: I have to describe everything in 2 sentences.

Pens

Sailor Pro Gear Wisteria -HM- Diamine Aurora Borealis: This matching somehow hits the right spot for an ink that I couldn’t find the right pen for and a pen that I couldn’t find the right ink for. I think it’s because both Wisteria colour and Aurora Borealis are the same type of saturated pastel colours (Is that a thing? It is now?).

Sailor Pro Gear Realo -HF- Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-budo: I used to think I prefer softer nibs. No, I prefer a hard nib that’ll give me a sharp line and a wonderfully bright ink.

Aurora 88 -M- J. Herbin Rouge Grenat: The wet nib gives plenty of room for Rouge Grenat to shade from a beautiful blood red to an almost-black. One word only: perfection.

Pilot Custom 823 -M- Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo: This is the pen that made me think am I a medium-nib person? No, I’m a good nib person, and it doesn’t get much better than Pilot Custom 823.

Galen x Studyo Agackakan V1 -MI- Robert Oster Caffe Crema: The ink matches the browns in the resin nicely and the not-too-crisp italic lends itself to regular writing beautifully. It made itself into a staple in a week.

Jinhao 80 -F- Noodler’s Rome Burning: A pair that brings ethical dilemmas with both the ink and the pen choice. It has been living in my backpack for lectures/school, only because the nib is so comfortable.

TWSBI ECO Glow Green -F- Inkebara Deer Brown: I still love this ink so much that it’s my journalling buddy now. My dark green leather cover, sage Leuchtturm1917 notebook and glow green pen matches.

Pencils

Faber Castell Goldfaber 1221 2B pencil: These used to be the only pencils I used to use when I was learning drawing, because even though they’re a little chalky, they’re cheap to buy in bulk. Now, there are some leftovers in my extenders that I keep around.

Musgrave Tennessee Red pencil: Simply delightful. None of my pencil sharpeners seem to work properly with it though, so I can’t make a final decision on them without managing to sharpen one nicely.

Uni Kuru Toga 0.5 mechanical pencil & Tombow Ultra-polymer 2B lead: I like my 2B Tombow lead and I haven’t used any other lead in my entire life. Kuru Toga mechanism is fancy, though kind of gets forgotten when you’re not writing for very long.

Reading

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson (fiction): The printing of the book I have looks like 300 pages (is actually 600) and reads fast. I’m confused about the dimension-content ratio, though I only realize it when I forget that I’m supposed to be sleeping and drop the book on my face.

Various documents by Municipality of The Hague (non-fiction): The driest development plans I have ever read, thankfully they have pictures. Joking, joking; it’s actually interesting to read, though some plans and documents do get repetitive after a while, once you understand the point.

Videogame

Mario Kart on Nintendo Switch: I’ve been beating my boyfriend mercilessly, and I have no intention of stopping. The new tracks in mirror 150 makes my head spin a little too though.

Thank you for reading!