Pretty recently, I was reading a book on mountain biking at Borders. Close to the end, there was a page listing the bikes and equipment the authors of the books use. I’m not sure if its a subtle form of advertising or if its there another reason, but lists like these are practically everywhere; i’ve seen them with snowboarders, swimmers, basketball players, etc..
I figured if sports players and athletes do this stuff, I might as well; after all, being a student is a pretty competitive profession. Heh.
Pencil: Zebra M-301 Mechanical Pencil
Dang, I love this pencil. I started using these around November I suppose and I immediately fell in love with these. Not to mention the stylish looks, the protruding tip holds the lead firmly in place to allow for extremely precise and neat writing. I filled a 3×5 with 3 pages of chem notes using this sucker. Nonetheless, they are prohibitively expensive at $5 for 2 so you probably wouldn’t want to lose them or leave them lying around somewhere. They got me through the 2nd mp and they’re going strong into the 4th. I did have to repurchase another set because I lost one and broke the other by the end of January. If you take care of them though, they’ll last. I swear, I’ll never go back to normal pencils again, Ticonderoga be dammed.
Pen: Pilot G2 Retractable Gel Ink Rolling Ball
I remember first using this pen 4-5 years ago. Someone at church had left a G2 on the floor and of course after asking around if it belonged to anyone, I kept it. Ink quality is absolutely terrific; the gel ink comes out very smoothly and gives your writing a neat, professional feel. Originally, these smeared a bit if you brushed your hand over them but now, they dry rather quickly. They’re fairly comfortable to use and you can write quite a few essays before the ink in one runs out; then, you can just buy a replacement ink filler. These are well worth the cost (I think around 5-7 dollars for a 4 pack) and they’ll last the year if you don’t lose them.
Eraser: Pentel Clic Eraser
I first encountered this eraser on a school bench the beginning of sophomore year. Hmm, strange how I get introduced to these things by finding them lying around. That day, I think I missed my bus because it switched spots and me being a newbie to the sr. high school couldn’t deal. Anyhow, while walking around the empty school building, I found a white Clic on a wooden bench near the entrance. There was no one around, so I just kept it. I’m not a kleptomaniac or anything! I would have given it to whoever owned it if he/she was around. Plus, don’t tell me you wouldn’t keep a nice eraser such as this if it was lying around somewhere (with no owner to claim it of course). The pencil-style of the Clic makes it easy to erase the parts you don’t need without erasing everything around it, which seems to be one of the downsides to the huge pink erasers one typically carries. I also have to say, I have never seen a eraser that removes pencil marks as well as this one. Even after a frustrating essay, I usually can’t even tell where I made erasures afterwards because of the Clic’s effectiveness. I think it costed me 3-5 dollars for a pack of 3, a worthwhile investment indeed.
Backpack: Jansport Right Pack
Classic, yet fashionable. A simple design, but one that works well. Compact, but capacious. Theres a reason why so many people have this bag (or a similar version) and its not because (not entirely anyways) of conformity. While having only 2 large pockets as opposed to the common 3 or even 4, this bag fulfills its purpose of carrying books very well. My 3 binders and textbooks fit nicely in the main pouch and my calculator, cellphone, pencils, id, constitution (don’t ask), and mp3 all fit into the second one. Its lasted pretty well this school year and doesn’t show any signs of falling apart. Pretty good for a $30 bag (it was on sale, it was like $40-$50 originally I think).
