The importance of writing

So I type much faster than I write, and when I do put pen to paper, the pen had better be nice. This of course doesn't have anything directly to do with art, but surely, a nice pen can turn the simple act of writing into an art form.

A few weeks ago, I bought a couple disposable fountain pens and I like them a lot. They're by Pilot and called the Varsity. Here's what they look like. Cute, right?

Well, the first pen is almost already out of ink and I realized, much to my chagrin, that it was awfully wasteful to toss the entire pen once its empty. I mean, that's a piece of plastic that I'm contributing to a landfill that I'd just assume not throw in the trash. So that led to a rather exhaustive ebay search for a fountain pen of reasonable price with replaceable ink cartridges. I settled on one by Waterman, which was less than $40, stylish and refillable. It's called the Phileas Demonstrator and I chose to order it in clear, which I think is pretty sweet. I also ordered some chocolate brown ink: I might as well be stylish with my new, "earth friendly" pen. Anyhow, if you like a fountain pen and fancy being a bit old school, the pens come in lots of colors and the ink refills come in every color of the rainbow. Choose your own sylish combination and put all those stolen Bics back in the supply room at your office. Your notebooks - and the Earth - will thank you.

P.S. Here's my pen.