On the LAMY

Is there a simple thing in your life that is pure pleasure? Do you crave Dark Chocolate or a good glass of wine? What is it that makes your eyes flutter when nobody is looking? For me it is the feel of ink flowing across paper. And nothing makes me happier than using my LAMY Safari fountain pen in a Moleskine Notebook. I tend to use the Moleskine Pocket Squared Notebook.

When you buy a Moleskine, you are buying quality. There is a durability to the book and to each individual page. A density that sustains the liquidity of the ink that pools just a little bit before the paper gives itself fully to the saturation and dries. Of course other notebooks are cheaper or bigger or have gadgets built in, but this is the draw of the Moleskine. It is akin to Apple products, though you can never quite justify the cost in comparison to the swath of clones, you just want one.

The LAMY Safari is pure simplicity. No fancy swirls on the outside, just the solid slate color that goes nicely with the Moleskine. There is no heft of the fine expensive pens, no balanced weight, no slow twist-off, micrometer measured top. A simple pull-off top with a single clip and a smooth velvety ink that flows out nicely. And the cost of the LAMY is so affordable and yet high enough to make you take care. No clicking, no worrying that it will be stolen, it is silent and has the look of an inexpensive ballpoint. This pen stays around at the coffee shop and drops lightly into my pocket.

What do I use these delicious tools for? Well I hacked my Moleskine into a PigPog PDA for Getting Things Done. I also use the Notes section for capturing Haiku or other bits of poetry. Sometimes it's just a doodle (I knew about doodling for knowledge absorption long before the scientific studies).

Mostly, I use them just to feel good as the ink flows across the paper.