30 November 2005

A Very Philofaxy Holiday

I've returned from my Thanksgiving vacation. It was, as expected, full of unreasonably long and unpleasant drives, surreal family situations, and overconsumption of food and alcohol. I would not call it "relaxing," but it was reasonably okay.

My Filofax was barely touched during the break. I brought it with me, of course. But there wasn't much scheduling or data-consulting necessary. The one thing that I have kicked up to full speed in the Filofax is my Christmas gift planning page. Three columns: (1) Name; (2) Gift Ideas; (3) Gifts Purchased. Column 1 is full. Column 2 is about half-dull. Column 3 is almost completely empty.

I think I am fully onboard with the Pentel Sharp 0.5mm mechanical pencil. It fits well in my pen loop and makes adequately dark markings on the page. Also, it makes me feel like a professional draftsman, especially when I twirl it around my thumb absent-mindedly. It is one of the simpler mechanical pencils out there. I don't know whether it has changed substantially in decades. There is no gel cushioning; no "finger-clicking" lead advance system; no funky color scheme. It's an unabashed black plastic tool, thank you very much, and it will not be apologizing for that. Nor will I be apologizing for it, as it has become my friend.

P.S.: My boss referred to my Filofax as my "purse" again. This man must be stopped, or my already low self-esteem will be beaten into further submission.

6 comments:

  1. I hope people are not disappointed in their dull gifts. (sorry, couldn't resist)

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  2. Criminy, Henry. I do let the occasional typo through, but that one's bad. And I usually catch them pretty quickly.

    But I kind of like it, and thus will leave it.

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  3. "Purse?" Ridculous. Pocket book? Maybe. Seriously, though, its because of your moleskine blog entry on the old blog that I got one myself. It's important to remember...

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  4. wvn8v: Hmm. I think you just called my Cross model a purse.

    Just kidding. However, I think a planner that is small and chubby naturally looks somewhat feminine.

    I haven't discarded the option of moving up to A5.

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  5. I really like the "cool" factor of the Filofax that my Franklin never had. It's just that all of the Filofax/moleskine etc hacks that I've read about somehow mirror the big blank Franklin Classic second page. What to do?

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  6. The Pentel P205 has been around for ages. I probably stole my first one from my dad in 1980.

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