TIFU by losing a pencil and spoiling my whole Christmas present

Submitted by ohlordwhyisthishere t3_zrdk2c in tifu

I have... strong preferences for stationary. Widths of writing utensils especially.

0.7 pencils and pens are horrible and awful and very very bad. Somehow, my handwriting never looks right in 0.7, and I can never quite get diagrams the way I want them.

This morning, I lost my last 0.5 mechanical pencil.

Tomorrow is the date of my most important final exam.

After frantically searching my bedroom for any replacement, and begging my parents to check their personal stationary caches, my dad finally brought out a giant, very luxurious stationary set.

"Try to look surprised at Christmas."

That set was something I've wanted for a really long time, and had spent months begging them for. Apparently it was a splurge for them, and my big Christmas present.

It also happened to contain the only 0.5 pencils in the house.

And they are really nice pencils.

Luckily for me, my mom doesn't know that I have it. As long as I keep the packaging pristine, I should hopefully be able to sneak the pencil back into the set tomorrow evening without her knowing I've seen it.

Hopefully.

TL : DR I lost a crucial stationary item the night before a big exam, and had to replace it with a piece of the big surprise Christmas present my parents had gotten for me.

Quick Update: Exam has been taken (and passed!), pencil has been returned to its box, gift has been re-wrapped and placed back under the tree. Iā€™d call this a successful Christmas. Happy holidays, folks.

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Comments

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Squigglepig52 t1_j14b8lt wrote

I find 0.5 and 0.7 pretty interchangable for what I do with them. By choice, though, I use a lead holder, and swap out leads depending on what I am working on.

Now, technical pens? Yeah, it matters a lot for me to have the right tip for the right job. And they stopped making technical pens, so I'm very careful with them.

Mind you, I can't find my damn ink!

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CanadianJenks t1_j14biax wrote

" I have... strong preferences for stationary. " lol strong start, wholesome ending. Can we know more about what "strong preferences" for stationary looks like?
ps. good luck on your exam!

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AsphaltEardrum t1_j14snpu wrote

Sounds like you have a lovely family. šŸ™‚

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plg94 t1_j155mbc wrote

Well, what pencil is it? As a subscriber to r/mechanicalpencils I'm curious.

Also did you try a 0.3 or 0.4 pencil yet (or even Pentel's 0.2 Orenz)? As someone who finds even 0.5 almost too wide for small writing (eg maths subscripts), 0.4 is my sweet spot.

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ohlordwhyisthishere OP t1_j160hlp wrote

Replying to plg94 (#998,213)

I got two Tactile Turn pencils, one in bronze and one in titanium.

I've tried 0.3 but found it too thin. I will definitely give 0.4 a try.

I had absolutely no clue that 0.2 exists outside of art pens! I can't even imagine how fragile that would be.

Thanks for the new subreddit recommendation.

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Orc_ChopsxX t1_j164tf1 wrote

As someone who hates to write with anything bigger than a 0.5 I relate to this post so much. I have two pens in my favorite size and probably about 50 replacement inks for them so I never run out!

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