[Pen/Pencil Review] Hedgehog Pencil Sharper
This is going to be a completely ridiculous post because it’s been a rough weekend and challenging day thus far. We lost a good friend unexpectedly on Saturday. The world seems a bit dimmer without Casey Sledge in it. So, to try to return a bit of a smile and light – I give you the Tokyo Pen Shop Hedgehog Pencil Sharpener.
Seriously? Except for the potential rudeness of where you put the pencil, how adorable is this? These sweet sharpeners have a dual sharpener – one for the slightly smaller (probably hex) wooden pencils, the other is the slightly wider round pencils. The blades are sharp, giving a good point without twisting the lead or breaking it off immediately. I also started with a brand new pencil and felt it pointed the lead quickly and easily. I’ve used some that feel like they take a third of the pencil to get to a point – this doesn’t do that. Nor did it over twist or break the lead.
The body of the hedgehog holds the shavings. It’s easy but not too easy to open the reservoir (can’t say break open the hedgehog) to empty the shavings, but the pieces are also secure. And it’s just so freakin’ cute! It comes in an array of colors and styles and is available across the internet.
These sharpeners run $2 on Tokyo Pen Shop – which is a decent price for a functional novelty that makes me smile every time I look at it.
The numbers:
1. How does it work? – 1 It’s one of those things that if you love wooden pencils and functionally adorable things you have to have
2. Grip and feel – 0.5 – The body is wide and it has lumps to simulate hedgehog spines, but it’s not awkward to use.
3. Material – 1 It’s strong quality plastic with decent metal-bladed sharpeners that seats securely.
4. Overall Design – 1 – It’s super cute and functions amazingly well.
5. Price Point – – It’s not outrageous. It’s $2 on Tokyo Pen Shop. That’s cool. Nothing to break the bank over if you also like cute. But it’s still a good price, and available elsewhere on the internet.
[Write the Story] Today at the Amusement Park
There’s a “time shift” in the dates stories are written in this and the next couple of stories – pages stuck together, but I wanted to keep the notebook in order. So…
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Prompt: Today at the Amusement Park
Words: Ferris wheel, revive, dinosaur, split, disk, assumption, exceed, narrow, snickerdoodle, join
Story
Flynn had no idea how he’d been talked into joining a group to the amusement park. The assumption was that he’d come and here he was munching a snickerdoodle in the Midway.
“Isn’t it great they managed to revive this place?” Diana threw her arms out so widely and so enthusiastically, Flynn thought she’d slip a disk in her back. “It’s the oldest known amusement park in the world.”
“Well, that explains the dinosaur running the Ferris wheel,” Flynn muttered.
“The dinosaur wasn’t at the Ferris wheel, silly, it was in the petting zoo.” Diana bumped him with a narrow elbow. “Come on. I want to go to the 19th Century Freak Show.”
“How is that PC?” Flynn followed Diana through the crowds, keeping a firm grip on her hand. He didn’t want to get split up in this hodgepodge of humanity that seemed to span centuries. He ducked and wove around large hats and wide skirts as well as mini skirts and skinny jeans.
“And we have to do the House of Mirrors.”
Flynn’s head spun with all the smells and sights. He’s swallowed a lot of horror with the oddities in the Freak Show, there was nothing else to call it, but his horror spiked in the House of Mirrors. The number of souls – all of whom he swore he’d seen in the Midway – exceeded his level of comprehension.
“Welcome to the Greatest Show on earth. Now you’re ours.”
Flynn bounced off a hard surface and he was no longer amused.
Word Count: 231
Written 3/10/17 – some pages of the journal stuck together so there are jumps in dates.
[Writer Post] Science as Entertainment
We had a highly “cultured” weekend this past weekend. Two cultural events made Monday a challenge, but it was awesome. And it got me to thinking…which may be a different kind of challenge.
First was Intergalactic Nemesis: Robot Planet Rising. This was the second installment of the Live Action Comic Book series that Jessica Reisman was part of developing. I love this because it’s like an old fashioned radio drama with multi-media elements – a great combo of Old and New technology. And come on, who doesn’t love a good melodrama?
Also got to know the sound guy, because our seats were RIGHT THERE. Networked a bit with him – as you do – because that kind of thing happens when you least expect it. May never hear from him again, or we might. Never know. But you don’t blow off opportunities something will happen when you least expect it.
The second thing was Brain Candy Live! at the Majestic Theatre. The show was beyond amazing and thought provoking. This is a science entertainment with Adam Savage (Mythbusters) and Michael Stevens (Vsauce). The line to get into the theater went half way around the building (thank goodness for assigned seats) for a sold out show.
Let that sink in. A SCIENCE SHOW was SOLD OUT. The audience was seriously all ages from 5-6 year olds to over 60 year olds amazed by AIR PRESSURE. And for the record, apparently there’s no such thing as SUCK – especially not in this show. Oh, and vortex cannons are SO AWESOME!
But that’s what got me thinking. Science as Entertainment. When did it really become a THING? I mean there were always kind of kids shows based on science (even before Bill Nye the Science Guy). But it wasn’t like THIS. Where did this come from? I actually said if I’d been able to experience this as a kid, maybe I would’ve been more interested in science.
I didn’t know there was a career called “science communicator” until I started listening to podcasts. Neil deGrasse Tyson is a pop culture ICON now. We have sitcoms about physicists with an actual Neuroscience PhD in it. One of my coworkers asked a question about SOMETHING I don’t remember but was something that MYTHBUSTERS did a segment on and could talk about.
And I know Tyson and Savage are not that much older than me. I know my generation was highly influenced by the Moon Landings as kids but there is and was a shift away from that. If there weren’t we wouldn’t be having STEM and STEAM pushes to get kids involved in science and “Maker” culture. But what turned MY generation into a set of people that decided to turn Science into Pop Culture? To make it ENTERTAINING? It’s FANTASTIC, but the part of my brain that asks questions wants to know WHEN, WHERE, HOW, WHY? Yup, journalistic/communicator/storyteller part of me always asks the questions. Anyone know? Sound off in the comments.
[Pen/Pencil Review] Adorable Stuff I Didn’t Need
Obviously I didn’t post yesterday. It’s a crazy week at work. Training and event planning and stuff – the blog suffered. However… I did do a teensy bit of shopping at Half Price Books this past weekend and got adorable stuff I did not need but had to have.
How adorable is this? I love these tiny notebooks with amazing artwork. But what’s better? The backs! Check them out…
The other purchase was a “notebook” of notepads, sticky notes and flags with a crappy gel ink pen. The selling point? The cheesy, hipster woodland creatures.
Seriously? How cute is this? I had to get both of them. The sticky on the notepads and flags could be stronger, but hey. It is what it is. Just join me in the AWWWWWW factor.
[Write the Story] Friends on the Town
This one was written over two day – interruptions happen – but you can tell sometimes when thoughts are interrupted. I found an incomplete sentence in typing…and left it, because that’s the point of some of these exercises. If I do something more with these, I’ll fix the errors, but for now, you get the raw.
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Prompt: Friends on the Town
Words: pizza, booth, college, restore, collection, rip, Buffalo wings, chiffon, butcher, display
Story
“Anyone else weirded out by the fact our booth has a view of the butcher shop across the street?” Jenny asked, picking pepperoni off her pizza.
“Any weirder than all of us wearing chiffon prom dresses while eating Buffalo wings?” Kathy giggled into her soda. “Hopefully all that means is that the food’s fresh.”
The four college friends celebrating a Bad Prom Party. They’d decided to stop at the pizza and wings place just for the irony. Jenny watched the room. Something seemed…off.
“I don’t know. I kind of feel on display…”
Kathy rolled her eyes, channeling her inner teenager. “Puh…leeze, since when do you give a rip about what people think?”
“Since the guy behind the counter started looking at us like a collection of cutlets from the store across the street.”
The collection of fancy-dress women turned to check out the scruffy man absently wiping down the bar and leering their direction. Another chill raced down Jenny’s back as she realized the four were alone in the restaurant with a creepy dude on a full moon night. Suddenly, three scruffy men appeared with cleavers.
“Okay, girls. I refuse to become a horror movie cliché. Let’s restore faith in womenkind. It’s time to go Buffy on these guys.”
Things were about to get messy.
Word Count: 215
Date Written: 2/21 – 2/22/17
[Writer Post] Snarky Humor and Personal Voice
So this is Wednesday. Whew… downhill slide of what’s turned out to be a (so far) busy week. I discovered one way to get a ton of movement on Twitter is to mention Neil deGrasse Tyson, Star Talk, and provide a visual pun – then have Star Talk retweet it. It’s not “celebrity” level, but it’s pretty awesome in my very, very low standards!
Been listening to quite a bit of @StarTalkRadio & @neiltyson on my commute – turn and see this. Um…yes. pic.twitter.com/TW9cZ3URS3
— Rhonda Eudaly (@reudaly) March 21, 2017
I’ve written stuff this past week – not a lot, but some over the weekend, so getting better (I hope). Day Job has been hopping because we’re getting SUPER close to an event I’m planning and stuff is happening and stuff has to be paid and STUFF, so of course people are out of town, changes are happening, and probably people calling me a pain in the butt or other choice words. But it is what it is and it’s getting bigger and badder and more AAARRRGGGHHH! (And not in a fun, Ludo-like Trollhunters way. So I may be turning into this person (like all my awesome data-driven friends).
I have this thing in which I like a type of writing that certain authors do but not others. For instance – and honest confession – I LOVE Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan books, but never got into the Chalion series. LOVE Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden, but not the CODEX books. Personal taste on my part. HOWEVER, it’s not universal, I’ve found – because I can’t get enough of Jim C. Hines (except the Fairy Tale books – but that’s because I have some similar stuff and it influences my voice too much). I will recommend the Libriomancer books all day long (it was a career goal to be mentioned in one – then I found out the series was done). So I hesitated to dive into the Goblin books – partly because I have the Legend of Jig Dragonslayer omnibus and it’s HUGE. But now I’m only a tiny way into Goblin Quest and I totally ready to beat up on anyone who messes with Jig.
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What’s the difference between these authors and my tastes? The only thing I can think of is Hines’s personal voice in these pieces. Even though there’s different styles, tropes, feels between urban fantasy and “high” fantasy – Hines doesn’t try to change HIS voice to meet them. There’s a high level of snarky humor to both styles. And yes, I’ve been listening to the Writing Excuses podcast where they talk about Voice (in the story and of the author). I respond well to snarky humor (SHOCK FACE!) when I read and in life (SHOCK FACE SQUARED!). That’s not to say that’s all HE writes or I read, but it’s why I think I can cross “genres” with some authors and not with others.
So there you have it. Some thinky thoughts about “literary” things like Voice. And now I should probably get back to the growing list of things to do.
[Pen/Pencil Review] Pentel EnerGel Multi-Function Pen
Today’s pen blog is a multi-function pen. I don’t do these often, but this one caught my eye. It’s the Pentel EnerGel Multi-Function Pen from Tokyo Pen Shop. This is one of the Japanese offerings, not necessarily found in the US, except through online portals like Tokyo Pen Shop.
This Pentel EnerGel multi-function pen surprised me a little. I’m used to multi-function/color pens being bulky and sometimes hard to handle. This one isn’t. For what it is, it’s quite sleek. It’s 5.5″ long with everything retracted, and about 5.75″ with a point extended. The barrel diameter is obviously wider than a “typical” standard single use pen or pencil, but not more so than some of the ergonomic grip pens. It’s not uncomfortably wide and does have have a ridged, rubber grip, but that helps with traction and doesn’t get in the way.
The 0.5mm needle-point pens are a rich red and black gel ink that flows well. The tips retract and extend by twisting the clip cap, and have clear marks just under the cap so you know if you’re getting the red, black or pencil – which is handy . The fine points to the ball points give a dark line and help keep the bulk down on the pen. The 0.5mm pencil is a good lead that doesn’t break easily. The lead advances by clicking the cap, which also houses the refillable eraser.
The eraser is under a forest green cap that molds into the clip, and the cap is tight. It takes some tugging to get the cap off to get to the white rubber eraser. The lead extends and retracts easily. It comes with two rather long leads – which is good because I’m still not altogether sure how to refill the lead. There’s no clear way to either put lead in through the cap or to have the metal lead barrel come out. Except I figured it out by looking at another similar multi-function pen. Pencil lead is refilled by removing the writing tip and inserting lead into the barrel. Weird by effective?
This pens are refillable. Tokyo Pen Shop has the ink refills. The refills are changed through the barrel and snapping the ink into place.
The numbers:
1. How does it work? – 1 – It works well. The rotary function of the points feels secure. You can leave lead advanced while having the point retracted. The lead and ink flow smoothly. The clip is secure.
2. Grip and feel – 1 – For a multi-function, it’s actually comfortable. There’s no taper, but the diameter is comfortable. There’s very little ridge between grip and barrel to be uncomfortable. It’s long enough to fit comfortably in the hand. I’m actually surprised by this.
3. Material – 1 – It is plastic and base metal…however with the nice inserts, and sturdy feel, it’s decent. The transparent plastic of the barrel lets you see ink levels. Some might think it’s expensive for plastic and base metal, but it’s environmentally conscious and three good quality writing instruments in one.
4. Overall Design – 0.5 – I am going to knock a half point off here just for the pencil refill. It’s not intuitive. I kept looking for the pencil refill to be through the cap, but it’s not. I had to find out how to do it by looking at another review and trying that and figuring it out.
5. Price Point – 0.5 – It’s not cheap, but it is useful. I used it a ton last week when I needed a pencil, and this is what I had. Tokyo Pen Shop has it on sale right now. It’s normally $7.00 which is okay, but right now it’s $5.25 on Tokyo Pen Shop. And though the price isn’t exorbitant, it’s an investment. However, if you travel or often need the multi-function, this is well worth it. I do find myself going to it when I might need pen/pencil back and forth options.
That’s 4 of 5 bronze pencils.
[Write the Story] The Year is 2563…
This week’s Write the Story story
Prompt: The Year is 2563…
Words: space station, knuckle, interview, horse, twenty-seven, lipstick, transformation, studio, distribution, assert
Story
“In a space station everyone can hear you scream.”
The interview seemed to come to a complete stand still. Did she have lipstick on her teeth? Cara resisted the urge to rub a knuckle across her incisors, but the recorder was still running. She had to do something.
“Did I say something wrong?” she asked to the empty studio. I answered the question.”
The unblinking red light on the reorder stared back at her. She hated these remote interviews where she couldn’t’ see faces. She could be talking to a horse for all she knew. Goodness knows she’d had stranger job interview in her twenty-seven years, but this one was unnerving. Should she assert herself more?
“I mean, you asked what my favorite misquote is. That’s it. And it’s true all around. Space stations are living microcosms with little real privacy and complete interdependence. Equitable distribution of resources is vital for the transformation of lifeless metal and circuits to a habitable environment – life is messy, painful, and something I want to be part of very much. So please, If I’m awarded this position, I will give everything.”
After another uncomfortable pause. “We shall see.”
Word: 194
Written: 2/6/17
[Writer Post] Gloomy with Patchy, Intermittent Doom
Today’s a weird day… it’s actually been an unsettled week. I’ve been questioning a few things and now a bunch of random…stuff…
I’m questioning whether or not I should continue posting the writing exercise stories. I’m afraid they’re not doing anything productive publicly. They’re still a good exercise. I’m going to still do them (I am stubborn that way) but if no one’s really reading them, or they’re getting lost in the blog and social media noise. If that’s the case, then maybe they just need to be in the notebook and left alone. Or maybe I can try selling some of them or something. See? Unsettled.
At the end of 2016 I walked with two co-workers. One left at the beginning of February for greener pastures. The other was let go yesterday for cause. Details are not important, but it leaves a hole. This co-worker was a younger professional who made some really stupid decisions. Decisions (are basically actions) have consequences. But now there’s kind of loss that’s being dealt with – along with certain logistics – and another co-worker complained that we were talking too much about it – when it’s been less than 24 hours and logistics are fresh. Um… even though it’s not like a death, it’s still a loss that needs grieving and emotionally dealing with. Thank you very much. There are going to be some other changes in the next couple of weeks which is also…distracting.
There’s some other stuff, too. Like feeling for friends who are feeling for friends dealing with the loss of a couple of shops at Scarborough Renaissance Festival due to a fire this week. We had people in and out of our house – and met new neighbors – over the weekend. And it’s the year anniversary of a couple of major losses from last year. The Kickstarter anthology I had a short story in the slush pile for isn’t ‘going to fund unless a miracle happens in the next few hours, so the only silver lining there is that I wrote a brand new story that’s going to be hard to sell.
So, basically, my writing this week is for crap and I’m behind on the ONE thing I have to do on staff for FenCon because I’m now dealing with swirling Brain Weasels – which amazingly enough – is a THING. Who knew? BUT… on the cool side. The weekend of the 24th we get all “culturefied” by seeing the 2nd installment of Intergalactic Nemesis THEN Brain Candy Live! And in August, we’re going to see ANIMANIACS LIVE! AND, AND, AND I signed contracts for a short story to be in SKELOS 3. So it’s not all gloom and doom. Just gloom with patchy, intermittent doom.
It’s going to be fine…eventually.
[Pen/Pencil Review] Pentel EnerGel Euro Rollergel – 0.35mm
This week’s pen review goes back to Pentel. It’s the EnerGel Euro Roller Gel Pen in 0.35mm black ink. I’ve been gravitating to Pentel a lot – and Jimmy now has a blog for his Pentel P200 mechanical pencil series. We’re turning into a Pentel “family”. I don’t know what the EURO means in the title – I got mine on JetPens.com.
This has ended up as a “go to†pen now that I’ve lost my aversion to needle-point pens. They’ve made them a lot more durably in the last years. I no longer feel like I’m going to bend/break needle-points. The pen has a great line and ink saturation for a 0.35mm. It’s dark like a 0.5mm but I’m able to get into smaller spaces like on my planner or for editing better. And the point is smooth, not scratchy like some conical points at this size can be. At least in black. I haven’t picked up blue or red – which are the only other two colors available in this size.
The EnerGel Euro is part of Pentel’s Recycology line – that means the barrel and mechanism is made of 84% recycled plastic. Yay. The pen runs about 5.4†capped and 5.9″ with the cap posted. The barrel is blue but with black accents for color identification. There’s enough of a grip to be fairly comfortable over long writing time. There are a few “pretty” accents on the cap, and the cap does post securely
This is a good “workhorse†pen. There are a few drawbacks: 1) it’s not refillable. This is a one and done pen. It’s still going to last a while, but you can’t make it last longer. 2) It only comes in 3 primary colors – red, blue, black. Meh. 3) For not being refillable, they’re not the least expensive thing out there.
The numbers:
1. How does it work? – 1 It’s decent, especially for the tip size. No frills. The ink is dark and the roller smooth. There can be some smearing, but it’s liquid ink. It happens.
2. Grip and feel – 1 – It’s an inexpensive, plastic, pen. It has a grip that’s pretty comfortable with a nod to ergonomics. The length and balance are good.
3. Material – 1 It’s recycled plastic, but it has a good mechanism and good ink. If you’re ecology conscious or just want to help keep plastic out of landfills, this is a good thing.
4. Overall Design – 1 -It’s a good, solid everyday stick pen with a very fine point (my favorite) with comfortable dimensions.
5. Price Point – 0.5 – It’s not the most economical Pentel Ener-Gel out there. It’s $2.50 – $2.75 for a single pen. No refills. Only three colors, no multipacks, and only available online.
4.5 out of 5 Bronze Pencils
