Mental Meanderings

A Notebook Obsession

Hi, My name is Rebecca and I'm an addict. I'm addicted to stationary. Ok, ok, I confess it already. I have a lunch box full of blue bic biros. They're my backups because I already have at least three in every room of my house. Yes, even the bathroom. I have even more pens in my purse and still more in my bag. With all of these pens however I'll STILL buy more if I see them on special in the shop.

I won't use any other kind of pen either. I hate them. They range in textures and grips and flow but I can't stand them. I have to have a blue bic biro. The hexagonal shafted kind. They're clear, I like to see how much ink I have left. The ball point is so smooth and it's a good grip for my little fingers. Why do people invent fancy pens? I've never seen the point of a fountain pen. The ink is expensive and they aren't as clean and smooth and easy to tote around as my biros.

I hoard notebooks too. I'm hooked on 100 page, 127 x 203 mm notebooks. They come in all colors and are spiral bound at the top. I usually have a half dozen of them going at a time, I have three open on my desk in front of me right now and two more on my bed and one in my bag. I have a draw full of blank ones. Again, if they're on special in the shop I'll buy even more of them.

Purple! I also collect any purple stationary at all. If stationary produces ever knew this they could focus their ranges entirely around me. Even if I don't have a use for it, if it's in purple I'll buy it. Purple highlighters, purple ring folders, purple mouse pads, purple pen holders, purple project holders, purple exercise books, purple journals, purple sketch books, purple pens, purple, purple, purple!!! I don't need any of them. I'll use them but don't really need them. And still, if they're in the shop and I'll buy MORE!!! When it comes to purple it doesn't even have to be on special unless I'm strapped for cash for me to buy it! Purple Stationary!!! MINE!!!

I sometimes buy pads of post-its that I never use. I don't, seriously. I keep thinking post-its are a good idea. I'm forever sticking bits of paper up around my workspace. But when I do it's never a post-it. I find the stick factor of a post-it note just isn't viable. I use heavy duty tape and random scratchings of paper instead. I'll rip up pages from my notebooks and sticky tape them to the edges of my screen or tape them hanging down from the shelf above my computer. But I still buy post-its that I know I won't use because "they're post-its"!

The last admission is compounded if I find PURPLE POST-ITS! If they're purple I'll buy the whole supply on the shelf in the store. They don't serve a purple, the sticky part means they're not even any good as a scratch pad because I can't collect piles of them together without them sticking to everything.

So, I confess, at last I confess. I have a problem. I'm a stationary addict and it affects my life. I can't leave the house without at least three blue bic biros and a notebook. I wake up at odd ours of the night and reach for a pen and my notebook. I can't walk past a stationary display in any store without slowing down to scan the shelves. I could spend hours in a newsagent if they'd let me just stay there touching all the stationary.

It's so bad I'm trying to come up with a way to waterproof paper so I can't keep notepads in the bathroom. I swear, the shower is one of my most prolifically creative places. If someone can invent waterproof notepads I'll buy shares in their company and arrange for regular delivery and a lifetime supply.

Now, I've admitted how horrendously obsessed with stationary I am. It's your turn. Time to come clean about some secret. What are you addicted to? Can you not avoid walking past a certain shelf in the store? Will you only ever write with a particular type of pen? Does a certain color send you into a frenzy? What is your secret?