Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure there were a few years of my life where I was known as the “pen girl.”
In middle school, I used to carry around this giant lunchbox-sized pencil case that had anything you could have ever wished for. I had washable markers, permanent markers, colored pencils, gel pens, ballpoint pens, Wite-Out, brush pens, mechanical pencils,
drawing pencils, regular pencils, and probably some more. I lugged this thing around with me every day from maybe sixth grade until early eighth grade, when I finally decided that carrying around that much stationery just wasn’t sustainable.
So, in eighth grade, I cut down on what I brought with me to school, and condensed it into a tiny plastic Muji pencil case. Here’s a deep dive into what that pencil case holds today:
PENCILS
1.) Muji Polycarbonate Mechanical Pencil 0.5 mm. I can’t find this pencil on the Muji website anymore, but they change up their stock a lot. This mechanical pencil is on the cheaper side, which makes me feel better when I use it because I’m not scared about breaking it. Most of the time, when I’m in school, you’ll see me using this pencil, because it’s so lightweight and I seriously just don’t care about it. But even so, it’s a great pencil. It’s comfortable enough to hold, sturdy, and I like that pretty much the whole thing is clear. The only problem I have is that it’s so old that it’s starting to yellow.
2.) Pentel GraphGear 1000 0.5 mm. This pencil is definitely the bougiest out of all of my mechanical pencils. It’s a drafting pencil with great features, including a tip that is retractable (so it won’t get damaged), a clip, a protected eraser, and a little mechanism to allow you to label what type of lead you have inside. It has a pretty good weight to it, so sometimes writing with it for long periods of time makes my hand hurt, but in general, the weight actually feels nice.
3.) uni Alpha-Gel Shaker Mechanical Pencil 0.5 mm. If I could only keep one pencil, it would be this one. The grip on this one is probably the squishiest that you can find, and you can extend the lead by shaking the pencil, which saves me a lot of time when I’m taking math tests. There honestly isn’t much to say about this one, because really, there isn’t much wrong with it.
If you couldn’t tell by now, I almost exclusively use pencils that have 0.5 mm lead. I own a pencil with 0.3 mm lead that I’ll use sometimes if I need to be really precise with my writing, but don’t even try to convince me to use 0.7 mm. And people who use 1.0 mm lead are literally psychopaths.
PENS
1.) Zebra Sarasa Select 5 Color Multi Pen – Limited Edition Disney. This pen is so old that the Mickey Mouse design on it is starting to rub off. There used to be a red band that said “Sarasa Select” on it, but that has pretty much disappeared entirely. Normally, I’m not a fan of multi-pens, but I realized that this is one of the only ways that I can keep colors with me that I don’t regularly use but still want access to. This one is customizable, so I have in it a red, blue, black, gold, and shiny pink. It’s good for color-coding notes or for adding a pop of color to a worksheet.
2.) Zebra Sarasa Clip Marble Color Gel Pen 0.5 mm – Limited Edition Disney – modified with a Pentel Energel Ink Refill. So originally, this pen had this crazy fun swirly ink inside that changes color as you write. However, I liked the body of it better than I liked the ink, so I replaced the ink with a Pentel Energel refill. Turns out, they are interchangeable! I totally could have put black Sarasa ink inside, but I found that as a lefty, the Pentel one is nicer because it dries faster. I also find that it skips a little less, and it has a needle tip. This is my go-to black pen that I use every day, and I go through approximately one refill every month.
3.) Tombow Mono Graph Lite Ballpoint Pen 0.5 mm. This is a ballpoint pen, but it doesn’t really feel like those normal, chunky ones. In case you didn’t know, ballpoint pens are water-resistant, so this is just handy to have!
4.) Zebra Sarasa Clip Gel Pen 0.5 mm – Brown. I found that sometimes I like writing in brown better because it’s a little less jarring on my eyes. I also keep this pen around because I really enjoy drawing with brown pens, so this one is almost exclusively used in my sketchbooks.
5.) Zebra Sarasa Clip Gel Pen 0.5 mm – Vintage Red Black. Yeah, I really like Zebra Sarasa pens. This one is part of their “Vintage Color” collection, which is just a bunch of pens that have muted colors and are in a slightly different pen body. I like having a red pen on me for my math notes and for doing corrections for my teachers, and this color isn’t too searing.
OTHER
1.) Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen – Hard Tip – Black. I didn’t really know where to categorize this, so I’m sticking it here. My favorite marker/pen/brush pen to ever exist. I use this for everything. It has a flexible tip so I can do calligraphy, but it’s stiff enough to where this can just be a black marker. I’ve gone through dozens of these in the last four years.
2.) Sun-Star Stickyle Scissors. These are a pair of pen-sized scissors that are easy to carry around, but they don’t really work all that well.
3.) Sakura Arch Foam Eraser. The best eraser I have ever come across. It will erase literally everything.
4.) Wite-Out. For when I make mistakes.
5.) Random papers. I have a lot of random papers in my pencil case, but
it just feels wrong to get rid of them. I have the “KNOW & COMMUNICATE YOUR Sexual Boundaries & Limits” sheet that Mrs. Nesci gave us in sophomore year health, three homework/rest passes for French class, a random slip of paper that says “24” on it, and a business card for the Senior Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions at WashU St. Louis. Do I ever look at any of these? No, not really. Do any of these serve a purpose? Besides the French tickets, I don’t think so. Am I going to keep them? Absolutely.
You have some interesting insights into the varied writing utensils that you carry. This was a surprisingly creative read. It kept my interest and I wanted to learn more. I think you hanging on to those random pieces of paper is awesome. And yes, you have to keep them. (hahaha) You have Mrs. Nesci’s card from sophomore year health. Too funny. She would be proud of you though. Thanks for sharing your pencil case with us.
Hi Kate! I’ve got to say that I’m a fan of your pencil case; it seems almost to be a part of you, and I can’t imagine you without it. For lack of a better word, it has a nice aesthetic. Unlike most pencil cases, which have a bulky shape and sharp edges, yours is nice and compact with rounded edges. Even though I don’t carry a pencil case with me anymore (I stopped once I got to high school), I like to think I am still organized, from my folders to my (singular) writing utensil. Because of this, it was satisfying to see how organized your pencil case is. Free from clutter, everything has a place and purpose. I think through these stressful times, everyone must have a constant. For you, it seems it is your pencil case. That said, I hope you continue to keep the same meticulousness with your pencil case that you have all these years. This way, I know I can always count on you to borrow a pencil.
Hi Kate, as a frequent borrower of the contents of your pencil case, I would like to provide my opinion on some of the tools you use. Before I knew you very well, you were definitely the “pen girl” to me, and I honestly don’t think that’s changed too much. That’s a good thing, by the way, because I always know who to bother when I want to write with something fancy.
Pentel GraphGear 1000 0.5 mm AKA Fancy Pencil: Definitely the most bougie pencil I have ever laid my hands on. Maybe a little too bougie? If I owned this pencil, I would live in constant fear of losing it. Still very cool for my infrequent loaning stints, though. 8/10.
uni Alpha-Gel Shaker Mechanical Pencil 0.5 mm AKA Squishy Pencil: My forever number one, my absolute favorite thing in your pencil case. Perfectly soft, writes perfectly smooth. Dare I say I like it more than I like you? Joke. 10/10, of course.
Zebra Sarasa Clip Marble Color Gel Pen 0.5 mm – Limited Edition Disney AKA What Color Is This One Again?: I always expect this pen to write with a light purple ink because of the pen body. It’s a bit deceptive, but I’ll give you a pass for introducing me to these pens. I may be a staunch supporter of 0.7 mm pencils, but I’m never going back to 0.7 pens. Just catching a glimpse of my Pokémon-themed Zebra Sarasas immediately improves my mood. Big fan, Squishy Pencil is still better. 9/10.
Sun-Star Stickyle Scissors AKA Why Isn’t It Working: The worst item on your list, by far. I’ve never seen these “scissors” working properly, and I don’t think I ever will. At least it’s an interesting concept. 2/10.
Sakura Arch Foam Eraser AKA Why is It So Small: This thing could probably erase the entirety of the human race if it tried hard enough, but why is it always so tiny? It seems like it’s stuck in an eternal state of being less than half an inch tall. My fingers would start cramping if I ever tried to grip it for longer than a few seconds. Great eraser, but would make for a terrible rock climbing hold. 6/10.
Fun post! And please keep lending me your things 🙏🙏🙏
Hi Kate,
While I’m sure it was a pain to carry around, I always thought your giant pen case in middle school was so cool! In my eyes, it was basically an encyclopedia of pens, holding every kind of writing utensil imaginable. You always had the perfect shade of a color, turning even the simplest coloring assignments into artistic masterpieces. As a fellow 0.5 mm enthusiast, I’m very appreciative of the times you let me borrow an extra piece of lead. Thank you very much for that haha.
I can also definitely relate to the random pieces of paper. While I don’t really seek to collect them, I somehow end up with lots of scraps that I find so hard to get rid of. I think I currently have two origami frogs, a bird that my sister drew, and a couple notecards.
Anyway, I enjoyed reading your breakdown of your current stationery supplies! It was very thorough and I will definitely have to check out some of these brands. Thanks for sharing!
I distinctly remember in middle school absolutely being fascinated by people’s collections of “flair pens” and how they would be brought into each class in an entirely separate pencil pouch. I was definitely a little jealous because I was never that put together with my writing utensils. That comment about the “giant lunchbox-sized pencil case” brought me straight back to 6th grade. I think that it’s incredibly smart that you have narrowed down your stock to a few favorite pens and pencils. I usually use whatever mechanical pencils I have until they run out of led then I move onto the next. I also really like how you carry around the green French tickets from “the bear”. Those green tickets feel like such a scam sometimes. It seems like whenever you go to redeem them, Madame will not let you.