I used to take pens for granted. I used to straight-up take pens, period. There's a bit in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy where they speculate that ballpoint pens (called Biro's) are disappearing from people's lives because they get fed up and travel to their own home planet. I've taken promotional pens, hotel pens, pens from friends... I've viewed every office I've ever worked in as a pen supplier.
Nowadays, I can't use ballpoints at all. The amount of downward pressing involved feels awkward compared to the other pens I've begun spoiling myself with.
Fountain Pens
The pen on the far right is from Ferris Wheel Press, a Canadian Pen and Stationery business. They have an innovative design in their Carousel pen that lets you draw ink up into a reusable cartridge. They sell inks in various colours with and without sparkles. I use fountain pens for long-form journalling - where I write in cursive. I don't use my Carousel pen much because when it sits for too long I have to wash the tip and refill and that results in me getting ink on my fingers. More than once I've dripped excess ink onto my pages and resulted in unsightly blotches.
The second pen from the right is from a German company called Online. I love writing with this pen, and the refill cartridges (Combi) are easy to find. When I want to write prettily (at least by my standards), I use this one. Cursive writing comes into play for me when I journal long form, sometimes as a reflection, sometimes for Morning Pages.
RollerBall Pens
For entries in my bullet journal, I prefer rollerball pens. The maroon/burgundy pen second from the left is the Baronfig Squire. Between the sword logo on the side and the solid metal build, it gives me a real "the pen is mightier than the sword" vibe. It was always my go-to, and I've spent too much money on refills from Baronfig. I thought I lost it once, and was heartbroken (something that doesn't happen with cheap ballpoints, I'll admit).
But my absolute favourite is the black one on the left, the Lamy Safari. Writing always feels effortless with that one.
Stay tuned to this space - next time I'll be talking about ways to digitize the analog notebook experience.