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Happy 50th, Baby
Nov. 16th, 2009 11:37 pmMy ballpoint pen is going to run out of ink sometime in the next month. (How soon depends on how much writing I do in my notebook versus my computer, which varies by project.) Quite reasonably, I decided to pick up a new pack of pens, so that I would be ready.
Let me tell you about the pen I use. It is called the Bic Cristal. It is extremely cheap. We're talking 12 cents a pen, max, tax included. It's one of those plastic jobs you can see through - the faceted kind, not the frosted round body. It is a beautiful pen. I own all kinds of fountain pens, dip pens, artist's pens, you name it. I use them to draw, or to write elegant letters. When I write, I pick up a Bic.
It is a perfect pen. It has never jammed on me, although I may be risking fate to say so. I typically write with one until it runs dry. It's never broken in my pocket or my bag. It doesn't smudge. It fits my hand and flows beautifully. I'm not a product loyalist in many areas, but Bic Cristal is my pen.
Unfortunately, getting a new packet turned out to be difficult. See, all the pharmacies, drug stores, and office supply companies in my area carry the Bic line, but not the Cristal - they sell the fancy stuff. For cheap pens, they go with Paper Mate. The problem with this is that Paper Mate is a shitty pen. Even when it isn't clogged, the nib is scratchy - less a ball point than a talon. I would rather write nothing at all than write with a Paper Mate. Presumably, other people also feel this way, and this is a ploy by the various chains to up-sell me.
Joke's on you, guys. I will absolutely pay seven dollars in gas, or shipping and handling charges eight times the cost of the pack of pens, to be able to write with the pen I like. I don't buy this pen out of cheapness. I buy it because it is the perfect tool. The perfect non-bleeding, light-fast, free-flowing ink in the perfect plastic body. The pen is cheap only because that is sometimes part of being the perfect tool. I finally found a packet in a Target on the Plano border. And do you know what it says on the package? That this year is the 50th anniversary of the Bic Cristal's arrival on American shores.
Happy anniversary, baby. Here's to another 50, in my hand and in my heart.
Let me tell you about the pen I use. It is called the Bic Cristal. It is extremely cheap. We're talking 12 cents a pen, max, tax included. It's one of those plastic jobs you can see through - the faceted kind, not the frosted round body. It is a beautiful pen. I own all kinds of fountain pens, dip pens, artist's pens, you name it. I use them to draw, or to write elegant letters. When I write, I pick up a Bic.
It is a perfect pen. It has never jammed on me, although I may be risking fate to say so. I typically write with one until it runs dry. It's never broken in my pocket or my bag. It doesn't smudge. It fits my hand and flows beautifully. I'm not a product loyalist in many areas, but Bic Cristal is my pen.
Unfortunately, getting a new packet turned out to be difficult. See, all the pharmacies, drug stores, and office supply companies in my area carry the Bic line, but not the Cristal - they sell the fancy stuff. For cheap pens, they go with Paper Mate. The problem with this is that Paper Mate is a shitty pen. Even when it isn't clogged, the nib is scratchy - less a ball point than a talon. I would rather write nothing at all than write with a Paper Mate. Presumably, other people also feel this way, and this is a ploy by the various chains to up-sell me.
Joke's on you, guys. I will absolutely pay seven dollars in gas, or shipping and handling charges eight times the cost of the pack of pens, to be able to write with the pen I like. I don't buy this pen out of cheapness. I buy it because it is the perfect tool. The perfect non-bleeding, light-fast, free-flowing ink in the perfect plastic body. The pen is cheap only because that is sometimes part of being the perfect tool. I finally found a packet in a Target on the Plano border. And do you know what it says on the package? That this year is the 50th anniversary of the Bic Cristal's arrival on American shores.
Happy anniversary, baby. Here's to another 50, in my hand and in my heart.
