29 May 2010 Saturday

pens/writing/hands

I was very much a pencil kid, and for many years always carried multiple mechanical pencils. I’ve been a pen person for many years now (pen doesn’t smear and rub all over notebook pages like pencil lead does) so it’s an amusing surprise to be reminded of things like eraser lint. If I can figure how to deal with the eraser lint, I think (colored) erasable pens may be a solid way to go.

The question is: how well will the ink on the page hold up over decades?

Erasability and novelty, or reliable traditional permanency?

On another, somewhat similar, note..
I’ve known for several years now that the way I hold a pen is really not ideal for me in the long term. Granted it’s already been a rather long term, but I mean much longer term (S, despite my eating habits, and A, despite my prediction that I’ll die relatively young, I do expect to reach an age in which the way I hold a pen will make a notable difference).
Supposedly I hold pens the way my grandfather did. Everyone is bewildered by this similarity, since my grandfather passed away before I was born. I have good control with a pen, but I naturally press hard, and even if I don’t, all my fingers press hard into the pen, causing stress on my hand if I write for long periods. I imagine everyone’s hands get tired after writing a lot in one sitting, but based on how I hold mine, I’m sure I’m placing extra stress on my hand. I’ve tried holding a pen the way others do, but then it’s like trying to write with my left hand, where I have such little control and the writing comes out unbearably chaotic. But that’s how it is with training something that’s entirely new, isn’t it?

I keep aiming to practice holding and writing differently. It’s difficult; I’m so fluent with my current and clearly not-ideal method. It’s going to take more discipline and determination than I’ve afforded it so far if I really want to change my habit and self before it eventually possibly becomes cause for real concern.