Let's talk about brand loyalty...

So usually I don't care a bit if the stuff I'm using comes from one place or another. I'm too poor for moral scruples and I don't usually have the patience for department store sales.

But my pen - my pen is important to me.

So I was thinking - gosh, Katie, you're almost out of ink in your favorite pen!

That was darn right - I was almost out of ink in my favorite Pilot V5 Rollerball liquid ink Extra Fine Pink Pen.

Yes, pink.

So I'm looking around online and can't seem to find the cool 3-pak of pink, turquoise and violet that I bought before. Maybe it was just the office supply store I was looking at...

Tried another, nope.

And another.

Turns out that they don't actually sell these pens in the US (I learn via the Pilot pen website). The only place to get them is the UK, and that the fact that I got it in the first place was a total fluke.

Now I'm determined - I want my damn pens. So I look at UK office supply stores but overseas shipping costs are prohibitive - like 40GBP i.e. $74.58. Damn! For a split second I contemplate actually buying them - but that would be truly insane.
Art stores? No!
Specialty stationary stores? Shit, no!

And then I finally found an obscure auction of V5 pens on ebay, I just bought 14 pens for the delightful price of $10.75. I’m currently contemplating going and getting the other posted set.

After 3 hours of searching I breathed a sigh of relief. My pens are on their way. Some may think this to be perhaps a little odd, but think of how assiduously you search for that one sweater or that particular brand of hand moisturizer. Now, when the sweet, unblemished, pastel lines of my pens mark my students' papers; I know that both they and I am getting the best markings that writing implements can make.