Sunday Brunch II

"It's like deja vu all over again."

There's another new player on the block, except she's official. Everyone, give a big Blogger welcome to Erica of Moira's Little World. She's the new headmistress of The Sunday Brunch.

Like all good headmistresses, Erica is concerned that her charges get off on the right foot, so to speak. So this week's meme concerns your preferences for school supplies. Kinky!


School Supplies!

1) Do you prefer wide rule or college rule notebook paper? I like college rule paper, but lately my carpal tunnel syndrome has become so severe and painful that grasping a pen that hard to make the precise movements necessary to stay remotely within the designated line is literally beyond my grasp. So, like it or not, I'm working with fat pens and fatter lines.

2) What is your favorite writing instrument? My all-time favorite is a cartridge fountain pen. Messy, leak-prone, but the flow of the ink onto a page of quality coated paper is superb. The ability to vary the width of my line and thus the weight of my words - priceless. First runner-up is a gel ball point; second runner-up is a Pentel Number 5 (5mm) mechanical pencil.

3) What is the one office or school supply that you can’t live without? White-out.

4) Staples or paper clips? I like both, depending on the intended use. But my ultimate holder is the "binder clip", blue spring steel with wire bail handles. Able to hold an entire manuscript together, in the larger sizes. Available from the micro-mini to the truly gargantuan.

5) Describe the contents of the top of your desk. It's a pig sty, I tell you. Left to right, front to back, I have a stack of current mail, bills and projects. Behind is my secondary printer and stacked thereon is a 10-pack of 100MB zip discs, a stack of catalogs, a green enameled, cast iron string dispenser anchors the catalogs from the force of the air flowing from the fan. Moving to the right, there's a cell phone, a ziplock baggy of rechargeable batteries, an old Pringles can with a slot cut into the top, jammed full of coupons of the sides of Marlboro packs (so-called "Marlboro Miles"), a headband, a mini B/W TV/AM/FM/WX radio unit, a flat Rolodex file, a jar of chocolate chips with the original "chicken schmaltz" label, a 30 tier holder for zip disks and a 16 ounce red plastic beer cup filled with pens, pencils and culch.

Directly in front of me is a remote thermometer/hygrometer sending unit, an architect's scale, a 28.8 Courier Dual Standard modem, a six switch electrical unit, a handheld calculator or two, a couple of Epi-pens (expired), a box of lancets, a comb, a laser light I use for tormenting the dog and cat, an inkjet refill box, a small electric torch, a small sheath knife, a computer mike, an assortment of hair elastics depending from the microphone, a coffee cup made by my brother filled with pens and screwdrivers, a carved duck and loon in wood, painted, a soapstone whistle, a 35mm film canister with screws and miscellaneous hardware for the computer, a 19" monitor with a half dozen phone books stacked thereon, a very small analog clock (busted alarm) a dozen pill bottles filled with change, a stop watch, a pocket watch and a packet of pop-up index tabs, a drill sizer from the Handyman's Club of America, a wooden caterpillar pull toy and the speakers for my computer as well as the keyboard.

On the right we have an external tape back-up, a zip drive, an answering machine, an all-in-one printer/copier/scanner/fax, a box of Kleenex, a flatbed scanner, a stack of envelopes containing 35mm photo prints and negatives, a stack of post-it notes, about 100 3 1/2" floppy disks, a bunch of CD's and CDRW's, another couple of boxes of inkjet inks, a can of compressed air and a telephone.


There you have it. The second Sunday Brunch for this week. Enjoy the riches. We'll be back to pauper's repasts in a week or so.