Pens

I love pens. I especially like those with ornamental or novelty heads at the end. I have a few that are squishy for those moments when the pen is willing but the paper is blank. I can get inspired squishing the alligator's head so his cheeks and eyes bulge becomingly. Truthfully? It doesn't really inspire any great thought, just creates a bit of fun distraction. I also have a pen that, if you bash it against the palm of your hand, its green bulb flashes on and off. Another distraction for a few moments. My favourite had a goblin head but it fell off one day when I was writing like fury. The replacement pen with the squishy monkey head and pink rubberized hair wasn't quite the same. And the weight of the head made the pen feel top heavy so that writing was a chore. My bug-on-a-green-leaf is cool but it feels awkward when I write so I tuck it in my Snoopy pen cup, along with a few others. I have three different pen cups, all stuffed with pens of fine, medium and thick tips, markers, highliters of various colours, permanent pens for writing on tapes and dvd's. The list goes on.

I find pens are important. You can never have too many because when you need a pen in a hurry, there they are--ready when you are. And, have you noticed when someone lends you a pen, it somehow ends up in your pocket or purse? Or, vice-versa.

Recently, I bought a pack of regular pens--these were the Bic's ultra-round sticks with an easy glide. I like these pens because they start immediately--no scritching on scraps of paper to get the ink started. I've left several lying around but they seem to mysteriously disappear, so someone else must be enjoying them too.

Of course, with my collection of pens, I have to have my pads of many colours. Notepads not only come in a choice of lined or unlined pages but now comes in different motifs, colours and cute slogans or messages. I liked "Sex is Better Than Coffee But Chocolate is Best," or "Don't Tell the Boss, Send Him a Memo," or my favourite phone message pad with "Monkey Business Only." My stickly notepad has a message too.

The other day, I had this crazy inspiration and just had to write it down before I forgot it. I wrote the few lines on my lime-green sticky pad and tucked it in my purse. This morning at the bank, while searching for my bank card, my sticky pad fell on the teller's counter. Prominently across the top, in big black letters was "This is a Stick-up" and in much smaller letters, directly below, "Stick Me on Anything!" Thank goodness the teller didn't panic and had a sense of humour!

Okay--enough of these distractions--back to work. . .