Have I mentioned it's the most dangerous time of the year?

You folks are a bad influence, as always. I'd kinda like one of the Scriptos Speculator mentioned eventually, but for the moment I settled for another classic: Office Depot had two-packs of Pentel Sharps on sale for four bucks--more than fifty percent off--so I grabbed some (actually in a couple different lead diameters...I am weak). This yellow one uses 0.9mm leads, so at least on the hefty side, if not as big as the old Scriptos. Compared to 0.5 and 0.7 lead diameters, these leads feel more like a woodcase pencil, for them what likes such things. And they're almost unbreakable.



The Sharps look like something out of the 70s or so, and for good reason: they've barely changed since they came out decades ago. At this point, they're well-established classics. I'm fond of the textured grip: it's nice to find a durable mechanical pencil that doesn't include a squishy rubber grip. Although squishy grips are fun to play with, in a lot of ways I'll be glad when that trend is over. Inevitably they go gooey, and the clear ones get discolored over time. Nothing like having what looks like (pardon me) a big gob o' dirty snot wrapped around your pen or pencil.... These feel very nice in the hand without such stuff.

Aside from the usual too-small eraser that nearly all mechanical pencils suffer from (I carry around a Mars Plastic eraser, so it doesn't bother me) the only other slight downside is the fixed lead sleeve, which is long (4mm) and rather pointy and could be an issue for folks who carry pens and pencils in a pocket. I don't, with the exception of the small and smooth Fisher Bullet Pen, so it's not so much of an issue for me.

I like it.