What a terrific idea! Would also be a great gift for someone who has just had a baby.

That’s a very clever idea. Congrats!

I do have one more ‘pro-tip’ re. gifts — not that I’m a pro, but I am feeling really clever right now.

If you can’t remember whether a friend wants/likes a certain thing, search your email correspondence for their name with the relevant term. I just looked for [friend’s name] and “pen” and found a long-forgotten discussion from a couple of years ago that answered my question.

heh. heh. heh.

Thanks so much for the additional ideas! I watched the video on bullet journaling you mentioned and it looks like such an interesting idea I think I’m going to try it. I encourage all my subscribers to take a few minutes to watch the video as well: http://bulletjournal.com/

Additional gift idea: Leuchtturm1917 notebooks.

The Leuchtturm1917 format is a true A5 giving a bit of extra width to the pages. The generic ‘medium’ (A5) Leuchtturm notebooks have two bookmark ribbons (they look to me like thin grosgrain ribbon) — one solid, one striped, and 249 acid-free, unobtrusively numbered pages, 3 preprinted ‘Contents’ pages at the front, and a pocket on the pastedown inside the back cover. It has a stitched binding, and the pages will lie flat if one wishes them to, so a project mind-map can occupy an entire A4 spread (A5 is exactly half the size of A4). My favorite is the dot-grid, which I think Moleskine now offers as well. I use mine as a bullet journal, which I carry with me at all times.

Leuchtturm1917 notebooks are available at Amazon, or from the manufacturer: https://www.leuchtturm1917.us/notebook-medium-a5-hardcover-249-numbered-pages.html

Bullet journaling, as many may know — because it’s a hot trend — is a hot trend at present. (heh) “The analog system for the digital age” : http://bulletjournal.com/ is a system of organization devised by a creative person for himself, then shared with the world. It’s a totally free, completely flexible, and do-able in any notebook at all, including Moleskine obviously. It can easily become an excuse to go a little wild with purchases of blank books and other supplies, so I recommend caution.

I am not affiliated with either thing.

No need to apologize. I think I was being a tortured reader! (Or, at least, a rather dim one.)

Tortured syntax, sorry…

I have a kettle in my office and make myself tea every morning but just as often I drink the hot water!

I’m using a blacking 602 and I find it fine but the Pearl sounds even better. How lovely to have a pencil that was designed especially for you!