The Pen Addict Podcast: Episode #193 - Captain Happy Pants

A quiet moment in the ballroom

My whirlwind tour of the Los Angeles Pen Show is complete, and Myke and I break it all down. I'm no pen show expert, but each one seems to have the "best time EVAR!" thing going for it, and LA was no exception. We also discuss the recent Freakonomics podcast on handwriting and Myke tells us about a new favorite pen.

Show Notes & Download Links

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Uni Style Fit 3 Multi Pen Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

Just when I thought my curiosity with multi pens was at an end, I find another "need" to fill with a new pen. I've reviewed several multi pens in the past, and they're all pretty similar. Really, it comes down to personal preference. If you have a certain brand of pen or refill that you love, you can probably find it in a multi pen.

Personally, I really love Uni gel pens. I love the UM-151 and UM-138 for how well they write — they're both extremely smooth and dependable. But, they only write in one color unless you carry around several at a time. If only there was a solution for this specific problem...

My work has recently changed so that I'm working for two main clients, and I need to be able to track my time and so forth separately. There are many, many incredible tools online that can handle this modest task, but I'm already in the habit of tracking my day with pen and paper. Hence, the need for a pen that can write in at least two colors (for the two clients), and offer a smooth feel and tiny writing tip.

Enter the Uni Style Fit. This is a multi pen made by Uni, the same maker of the previously mentioned UM-151 and UM-138. In this case, the Uni Style Fit comes in a variety of colors, refill capacities, and materials. You can check out the entire selection at JetPens, but I settled on the Uni Style Fit 3 for my purposes. One color for Client A, another for Client B, and a third for non-work stuff.

Now, I know I own about 6 other multi-pens that fit the requirements for my "need," but I wanted to try the Uni version to see if the refills match up with their other gel pens. Luckily, they certainly do.

Aesthetics

On the outside, the Uni Style Fit doesn't look like much. I went with a silver version, which looks like any other cheap gel pen at first, but then you notice the weird top with three buttons and the clear barrel. The three refills are clearly visible through the barrel, and that's a dead giveaway.

The pen is extremely light, just like most other cheap multi-pens. It doesn't feel fantastic, but that's OK for my purposes. Uni offers other, more expensive models that probably feel better in the hand, but I didn't opt for those in my experiment.

Another thing that annoys me about every multi pen I've tried is the sound of the knock devices. They sound cheap an annoying, and I can never get past it. When I'm writing with the pen, it's fine, but once it's time to open or retract, I cringe a little at the sound.

I typically shy away from multi pens that hold more than 3 cartridges because I'm not a fan of the barrel size required to hold that many refills.

Overall, the pen doesn't feel fantastic, but it's also less than $4 for the body, so you shouldn't expect much.

Writing

I was very pleasantly surprised when I started writing with the pen — the refills I got are smooth and reliable, even at the 0.38mm size.

Each refill is sold separately, so you have the choice of size and color for your pen from the beginning. They don't ship with a boring black or blue cartridge that you have to store somewhere, which I find very appealing. Cartridges are less than $2 a piece, and there are many, many colors to choose from.

Installing the cartridges is a simple task, and once they snap in place, you're ready to write.

For the past year or so, I've been using a Leuchtturm 1917 notebook to track my work and time spent on projects. At the end of the week, this data gets added into a timesheet, which in turn gets me paid. But, once you add in a second timesheet requirement, things get complicated in a hurry.

To keep better track of what tasks go to what timesheet, I chose a bright blue and lime green refill. These contrast so well that I am delighted by how much easier my weekly timesheet task is. The third refill is a bright orange, and I use this for non-work notes or appointments.

The blue and green refills are fantastic — they're smooth, bold, and reliable. I can't tell a difference between these refills and the ones in a UM-151, although I'm sure some can.

The orange refill is a bit more rough, but only slightly so. I've had this problem before with light colored gel refills, and I'm assuming it has something to do with the ink properties for lighter colored inks. It still writes perfectly well, just not as smooth as the other two. Also, it could just be a fluke cartridge. I didn't buy two orange refills to test.

Wrapping up

At the end of my work day, I can look at a page of multi-colored notes that makes it simple to see where my time was spent through the day. I love this solution, and I'm very happy that I can use my favorite gel pens to do it. So far, the Uni Style Fit is my favorite multi pen. I wish they had some more attractive high end offerings (like Zebra), but that's not the case for now. At least they write like a dream, and pen aesthetics don't affect that.

If you like Uni gel pens, this is the multi pen for you.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Left-handedness And The Greatest Insult Of All

(Michelle Guo is a self-diagnosed pen addict ever since she charmed the Faber Castell stand at a stationery fair with her metallic ocean-scape at 9 years old. She ended up leaving with all their paraphernalia and now probably needs Hermione Granger's Undetectable Extension Charm for her pencil case. You can find Michelle on Twitter @misheyxxxooo.)

When I was at high school, I decided to enter a spoken word poetry competition. I loved the construction of a good poem; where the right word appeared at the right time, creating a melody of sounds and silences that are the poet’s gift to their audience as they show a side of themselves that is so deeply tied in with their own identity and perception of the world. During the workshops that were held prior to the competition, I was told to write what I know. As a 15 year old, I didn’t think there was much to me that was profound enough to turn into a poem. Spoken word poems tend to be loud and passionate, as if the words had jumped off the page and demanded to be heard. A good spoken word poem is must be personal enough so that it is uniquely yours, but broad enough to immerse your audience. Remember, I was 15 at the time, and I don’t think I or any of my peers had enough life experience to really appreciate and understand a poem on love, loss, legacy, death, the transience of life; the more common ideas found in most poems.

So I wrote about being left-handed.

Don’t get me wrong, handedness may seem like a petty and insignificant thing to write an entire poem on, but as a left-hander I do believe that it has an affect on the way I live my life; the way I hold things, the way I position myself in relation to others, the way I learn various activities that are led by right handed teachers. Apparently, left-handers make up 10% of the population, and I think that it is time that the other 90% get to know more about us and the way this trait can affect our lives. So from me to you, dear pen addict, let me share with you a part of me that was also once the greatest insult of all.

The Greatest Insult of All

Insults have boiled down to very shallow things recently
People get offended when you call them stupid, ugly, weird
But out of all physical qualities existing,
There is one that was once the ultimate insult
Which I embody

I am left-handed
Etymology tells me that I am awkward, tactless, weak and evil
In history I am a stigma of degeneracy
A sign of neurosis
The twin that would die in the womb
Unlucky, gay
I have not done anything wrong but I would have been burnt at the stake
Mistaken for the witch
As soon as I picked up a pen
With a palm ridden with scars from a whip left over from countless beatings
And fingers with newly cut wounds
 
This cursed hand turns compliments into insults
Toasts into curses of evil
Stripped me of my rights because my left-handedism has left me to take stand on my own
Ambidexterity has become a goal that I can never achieve
I will never be ambidextrous
Because I will never be right-handed on both sides
 
You may try to tell me that it doesn't matter anymore
That we have climbed right over the hurdle of handedism
And left it in the past
But try telling that to the smudges that are left on my page
From dragging my hand along it
My wrist, tired from its right angled position it takes to elevate my hand away from the whiteboard
So that my hand doesn't wipe off everything I have written
To the menacing binder on the left hand side
The non-existent computer with a left-handed mouse
To my body that has to twist awkwardly to reach anything on the right hand side
To that pair of scissors  that have been tailor made for people like you
But end up being left to people like me
And hinder my every move
Try explaining to my PE teacher,
That swinging the bat with my left hand
The way you do with your right hand just doesn't feel right
In fact
Nothing feels right
When I am trying to do something that I wasn't born to do
I am the ultimate victim of modern society
The only spot where I belong on a row of tables is at the end
I am the odd one out
 
People say that right-handers are always right
However
keep in mind that our brains work opposite to our bodies
So the truth is
We
left handers
are the only ones
in our right mind

I’d love to hear from fellow pen addicts about their experiences with or as a left-hander and the kind of stationery they find themselves gravitating towards because of it. I am always on the lookout for nifty tools and gadgets to make my life easier, although I must say I have adapted a lot already in their absence.