rohan ganapavarapu

My Stationary Stack

inspiration

I frequently lost pencils and never took notes for most of my academic career. Eventually I got to the point in my self-studying and in my learning were notes was necessary. I find that writing things down can 2-3x the amount of stuff I can hold in my head at once, while making it easier to reference, and makes me remember it for longer and quicker.

pencils

I prefer pencils to pens as I can erase pencil but not pen. I also enjoy the experience of using pencils more.

I have an arrangement of mechanical pencils with several different purposes. I have a rotring 600, a pentel orenz nero, a graphgear 1000, a zebra M-701, and a kuru toga metal advance. I use pentel ain stein lead in 2b, I find this darkness is a good middle ground for writing.

The rotring 600 and pentel orenz nero are both in 0.5 mm, perfect for every day writing. If I am doing math or writing to be shared I generally use the rotring 600 as I find it has a hard and precise nature. If I am going to write large amount I use the pentel orenz nero as I find it soft and gestural. These two are my favorites.

The graphgear 100 is in 0.3 mm, I use this for fine lines and graphs when I do math. The zebra M-701 is in 0.7 mm, I use this for thicker lines and this is the pencil I give to people if they ask for one (as it’s the cheapest and pretty heavy).

The kuru toga metal advanced I also use for writing large amounts of text, I find it to be sharp and light. I use this primarily when I am tired or bored. I mainly just got it because of the rotating pencil led gimmick.

I also have a few blackwing palominos (the new ones). They are decent and I sketch with it. I also have a set of koh-i-noor progresso woodless graphite pencils and a set of faber castell polychromos colored pencils I use for art.

other tools

I have two rulers, a really cool nvidia one I got at nvidia GTC, and a classic red digi-key ruler I got when I ordered something once. Both serve a similar purpose. For drawing I would recommend getting one that has a corked back so it’s less likely to move.

In total, I have 4 calculators:

  1. I have a numwork n0110, which is the best and most intuitive calculator I have ever used. Custom firmware is possible and (in the factory configuration) it is allowed on the SAT and AP tests.
  2. I have a TI-84 Plus CE Python, because some of my teachers are (rightfully) suspicious of my numworks. I also let people borrow this one, and use this if my numworks dies.
  3. I have a Casio fx-991ES which is my backup scientific calculator. This calculator I also let people borrow.
  4. I have a classic TI-30X IIS in pink. I use this as my main scientific calculator. The pink is a nice touch and it stands out so I don’t lose it among the classroom calculators. This is also the calculator I used to take the SAT and has unrelated personal memories. If I am feeling nice I let people borrow this one as my casio is somewhat difficult to figure out how to use.

I use a staedtler mars plastic eraser and a kneaded eraser I mainly use for drawing.

I use a blank 8 1/4" x 12 1/2" rhodia notepad. These are stapled like legal pads but white and blank. I use to use lined legal pads, but the lines and yellow color, along with subpar writing surface turned me to these rhodia notepads.

I like the extra length given by the notepad, and I find if I get dotted or lined pads, I tend to just ignore the lines or dots.

why?

I find that by taking pride in my tools, I tend to respect and enjoy using them more. I have not lost a single one of these items (except for one time where I lent my numworks to someone and they lost it…).

I also understand most of these things are expensive (relatively, anyways), but budget alternatives do exist and I recommend people to do their own research as it makes the process more personal.