Roger Allan Cleaves
Aug 18, 20182 min
I am bummed out to the 4th power. In case you are wondering the powers of being bummed out go all the way up to ten before you hit some new level of sadness. Bummed out to the tenth power would be finding a hair in the middle of your favorite burrito, but that’s a tale for another day. The here and now is that Kroger no longer stocks my favorite pen.
The Uni-ball vision elite is by far the best replaceable pen on the shelf. It cost a little more than most cheap pens, but it has archival ink which is also acid free and it rarely skips a beat. It’s really the only pen I’ve ever enjoyed writing or drawing with, and now, instead of reloading on food and sketching materials at the same time, I have to venture inside another establishment.
The only place I hate spending money more than I loathe Kroger is Walgreens or Office Max. The lines are always long, there is no self-checkout, and the cashier is obligated to sale you on signing up for some kind of rewards program. All you really want is your receipt for tax purposes and some change if you have any coming back.
It’s clear now that I have to become one of those organized people that purchases a box of their favorite items to avoid casual shopping. Kroger did attempt to replace my favorite pen with the Energel pen made by Pentel which is acid free and archival, but it skips and the ink looks flat. Besides those glaring flaws, the word Energel rubs me the wrong way like artist that use words like synergy.
What I’m saying is never forget to appreciate the small things in life. People change up on you, switch sides, and forget about you, sometimes your favorite burger gets served to you lukewarm or cold, but your art supplies are a model of consistency even when merchants fail your desires. Your favorite paint is what you love. Your favorite ink is what you need. Since in most instances you never know what you are going to get it’s a joy to reach for your favorite reliable art supplies.