As soon as I got home from school that life-changing day, I went online and googled "Fountain Pen." Fourteen billion results. Awesome. Well, that just wasn't going to do. I went to the next great search engine in the sky which, fortunately for me, can discriminate by cost: Amazon.com. Only 18,000 results this time. YAY! Now I was getting somewhere. Me being me, I clicked on the first in the long list of results:
Pilot Varsity Disposable Fountain Pen Assorted Ink 7-Pack Pouch (90029)
I scrolled down to the reviews first thing, of course. They were glowing! I thought, "Hey, I found a winner on the first click! How often does that happen?" After shopping around for awhile, I realized that fountain pens can be very, very expensive. My newbie self was intimidated by this brave new world's foreign lingo and shiny objects. Thus, I was drawn back to these Pilot pens, which also were affordable. I bought them and eagerly awaited their arrival. Seven agonizing days later, they arrived! I busted open that packaging and proceeded to write like a madwomen. But something wasn't quite right.
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| Top: Lamy 1.5mm italic. Bottom: Pilot Varsity |
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| Pilot Varsity Nib. Very round = round line. |
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| Lamy 1.5 mm Italic. Very flat = flat line. |
The luxurious line which had so enthralled me (top Egypt) was sorely lacking with my new arrival. The Pilot's line was, like, all the same (bottom Egypt). Babel-esque confusion overtook me as I pondered this dissonant thought. I took a close look at the tip of the fountain pen, aka the nib, and discovered the reason. The pilot nib was round! Victory! The pen I had used in my Econ class was not! Revelatory to me, nib shape affects line shape! Seemingly common sense, but I felt wholly intelligent after realizing this simple truth, much like the first man to use the wheel I imagine. Flat nib = flat line, round nib = round line. After discovering that my disappointment with line shape lied with the operator and not the writing implement, my dissatisfaction of my purchase was smothered. Live and learn I guess.
