weekly carry-around #8

(03/07/2023 - 09/07/2023)

My series on weekly carry pens, pencils and books marches onwards to a brand new week. A manageable 6 fountain pen rotation in a honey ochre Galen Leather pen case to be carried around or set on my desk, as sweet as it can be. 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.

Now, scratch that for a moment. Some things have changed around here, and they seem to stick better than my old carry for now. Let me introduce the newcomer: the Galen Leather A5 folio in Crazy Horse Brown. My planner situation changed mid-year, to the Hobonichi Cousin, so I needed a place to carry that and a few extra pens for colour coding tasks and events. The current rotation stands at a manageable 10 pens.

Pens

penmeester.be Urushi pen -F- Graf von Faber Castell Garnet Red: This pen has been out of regular rotation for a while, simply because it feels a little too fancy to haul around to school everyday. Now, I’m working mostly from home or from my favourite cafe, so one of the most comfortable pens I own is back for long writing tasks, accompanied by a matching dark red ink.

TWSBI Diamond Mini Grape -1.1 Stub- Troublemaker Foxglove: It seems like I’m on a fun purple streak, and this pair is no exception. Troublemaker inks can be a little on the drier side, but that is not the case here, the ink shading to a blue-purple around the edges of the letters and leaving a pink middle.

Sailor Pro Gear Slim Winter Sky -MF- Lamy Crystal Azurite: Even though it is one of my prettiest pens, this Pro Gear Slim doesn’t get much use as it never felt “right” with an ink, or a type of ink. Lamy Azurite is the same way too, so it’s worth trying them together to see how they will get along.

Sailor Pro Gear Wisteria -M- Akkerman #28 Hofkwartier Groen: No surprises here, just a well-behaving pen and a well-behaving ink. The brightness of the colours match well with each other, the bright green complementing an eye-catching purple.

Pilot Custom 823 -M- Vinta Sea Kelp Leyte: I like this pair, though vacuum fillers always lend themselves better to long writing sessions for me. Let’s see how will this green fare, at worst, I’m planning on filling it with a familiar bright blue.

Montblanc 146 -ground F- Diamine Earl Grey: This is my “business” pen, one that’s underwhelming enough for outsiders that nobody would look at it twice. Under the cap, this pen is alive, the beautiful nib lends itself to every task and the Earl Grey changes colour depending on the paper, showing up warmer and redder on some and greyer on others.

Pilot Custom Heritage 92 -F- Robert Oster Sodapop Blue: This is my primary planner pen, the fine and dryish nib lends itself well to scribbling in tiny squares and the bright ink jumps off of the page. A familiar, easygoing combination.

Pilot Custom 74 -M- Diamine Celadon Cat: A faded ink that’s closer to blue than green (at least to me) keeps my planner on theme. The nib is quite bold and smooth, lending itself well to writing out quotes from the books I read to my Hobonichi, because I’m that kind of person now.

TWSBI Diamond 580 ALR -F- Diamine Blue Black: This was one of the first pens and inks I ever bought, and still an ink & pen pairing that I come back to. A welcome familiarity when I’m trying to ease myself into a new planner style.

Opus 88 Minty Orange -F- Graf von Faber Castell Electric Pink: Why, do you ask, why would you buy a 75ml bottle of bright pink ink? To fill up this pen, over and over and over again.

Muji 0.7 Blue Ballpoint: My favourite book underlining pen at the moment.

Muji 0.38 Black Gel Pen: My second favourite book underlining pen, simply because there’s such a thing as too smooth a writing experience, especially on the coarse paper of Penguin paperbacks.

Pencil

Nothing to see here, moving on.

Typewriter

Triumph Tippa: A trooper of a typewriter, putting up with my every typing mistake and well-intended hammering. It didn’t see much use during the past weeks, but since the exams are over, it barely left my desk.

Videogames

Apico: Cute bees? Sign me up, I clocked in 20 hours in two days.

Sims 4: Steam’s Summer Sale is a dangerous opportunity to get some dlc’s that I didn’t have yet. Of course I got them a little later in the evening and played them through the night.

Minecraft: My boyfriend and I got Minecraft to play on Switch on the public transport. It’s easy to carry, easy to stop and start playing, and it doesn’t need wifi during multiplayer, what more can a person ask for?

Books

Book Lovers by Emily Henry: I’m really not a romcom person, but a very, very light hearted book (that’s about books as much as it is about love) is what I needed to kickstart my holiday.

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton: I hadn’t read a book by someone from New Zealand (maybe ever), so I thought this would be a fun start. Lady pirates in magical houses are the exact vibe I like in my library.

Thank you for reading! I’m back on track with writing and I can’t wait to tell you about this Saturday’s post…