That spotting up? I always found Papermates did that to me, more than Bics. Go figure. Neither's anything like the blotch you get if you forget halfway through a word what you're trying to say with a fountain pen.

A friend at work used to bring me pens, when she found something wild that she thought I'd like. There's one with its own stand that has a wild head of fake yellow hair. Somebody gave me a cat pen that I think came from one of the museum stores, once. This same work friend also gave me a very cool lighted pen on a string, which I find rather handy in the dim-lit interiors of planes.

It's funny, too - I was so enthralled with the fairly small and ordinary range of "cool" colors available in Flairs when I was little. I never even imagined the ranges and effects that gel inks would open up. I think if they'd had something like Gelly Rolls when I was six, I'd've thought I'd died and gone to heaven.