It’s exactly the opposite at my office. I’m currently stuck with a blue pen I’d like to swap for a black one.
To paraphrase from my somewhat vague memory which is probably based on the radio play rather than the book anyway:
[some guy I recall not the name of] became increasingly obsessed with the problem of what had happened to all his pens. He eventually came up with up a quaint little theory that quite caught the public imagination at the time, which was that along with all the planets inhabited by humanoids, insectoids, etc, somewhere out in space there is a planet that is home to biroids. It is to this planet that misplaced pens will make their way, quietly slipping through wormholes in space, until they arrive at their destination and can lead the biroid equivalent of the good life.
This was all well and good, until [some guy I recall not the name of] claimed to have found this planet, and spent a year there working as a limosine driver for a familly of cheap green retractables. He was immediately sent into tax exile and made to write a book about his experiences, which is the usual fate reserved for those determined to make a fool of themselves in public. When investigators went to the coordinates he claimed were the location of the biroid world, all they found was a small asteroid inhabited by a solitary old man who claimed that nothing was true, though he was later discovered to be lying.
In other words, no, you’re not totally off. 
(Apologies to other Hitch-Hiker’s nuts for the gross mistakes I’m sure I made.)
For daily use I carry a 14K Gold filled Mark Cross pen and mechanical pencil set. I prefer a medium blue ink fill for legal protection of signed documents. I also have other Cross implements in 10K Gold and chrome.
In my collection I have a burgundy Montblanc with a gold nib. It is a pain in the butt because it tends to come unscrewed while I use it. I’m sure this is due to me being left handed.
Long ago I used to be firmly addicted to Koh-I-Noor Rapidographs and have several of them for when I do fine line artwork or drafting. They remain one of my favorites because of the ability to completely disassemble them for cleaning or repair.
I still miss the high end 3mm and 5mm Pilot mechanical pencils that had the black plastic wood-textured barrels. They were one of the first mechanical pencils where the feed point retracted completely into the body.
A Wacom.
The sad truth is that fountain pens just weren’t made for lefties. I have a left-handed friend who has to keep his hand in the most ridiculous position to keep from smearing the ink. Thank God I’m right-handed.
I love pens. The ones I’m currently using are sparkly Gellyrolls, but that’s only for homework, notes, etc.
I’m also writing a story. It was a short story, it’s now 94 pages and counting. Anyway, I’m handwriting it (I know this is nuts, but I enjoy it) and the pens I’m using are gold ones. Doesn’t matter what brand, but they have to be gold. This is a new fetish, just started ten pages ago, but before that it was boring old Bic black pens and that started getting tedious. Gold is a happier color.
What’s sad is that I’ve spent over $25 on pens in the past few months…
I’m a uni-ball man.
in my arsenal I have a uni-ball micro and fine; uni-ball vision micro and fine; uni-ball vision exact fine, and uni-ball gel grip.
for variety I employ a sakura gelly roll and a waterman ball-point.
I also have a Lamy roller-ball which hasn’t seen much action lately because it’s inconsistent.
The Uni-ball deluxe micro (black) is my ‘standard’.
I couldn’t resist this one…
I stopped by Office Depot yesterday and couldn’t resist picking up a Staedtler 9117 Multi4.
This is nearly identical to the Rotring 4 in 1 in that it has a black and red pen, a pencil, and a highliter contained in one very well balanced and comfortable body. The big difference was the price, the Staedtler only cost me $17.00 and carries a lifetime warranty whereas a Rotring here runs about $55.00.
The only thing I did was to change the Staedtler black pen refill for a Zebra refill (they are identical) as the Zebra black ink is much smoother and darker.
With this I can carry just two pens and leave the rest in my briefcase. The multi or retro4 as it is called here and my trusty Parker fountain pen should be able to handle all my writing needs.
I am so in need of professional help.
Penmanship can be quite the issue for some of us.
Color, and width of line do convey various messages beyond the text.
Back in ought-six, an artistic type showed me the results from his Rapidograph pen.
Inked artwork, drafted velums, dashed off memos, hopefully solicitous love letters, all seem a bit more unique and personalized when a Rapidograph is used.
I enjoy using a drawing or painting program on a computer, but pen and ink gives me the same wonderful feeling as turning the pages of a good book.
Tactility can be wondrous.
Thanks to my friends the drug reps, I have not purchased a pen since this year began. The Diflucan people (it’s an anti-fungal) give out several great pens, but the #1 drug pen I’ve used so far is from Claritin. (Maxalt and Viagra make the best sticky-note pads, and I’m very fond of my Lipitor clipboard. The Zoloft guy brings the best lunches.)
I used to have a Sanford Ph.D. on one of those little springy plastic cords attached to my Swiss Army White Coat. Others held my keys and my penlight. People laughed, but I had the last laugh when they were asking around for a pen.
Dr. J
Waterman Expert II fountain pen, green marble color, with gold and black accents. Fits perfectly into my hand and I use a lovely medium-fine nib.
As for ink, I use Levenger amethyst or black.
I love my fountain pens. In high school I decided that I hated ballpoints; they leave globs of ink that never dry, and they look full even when they’re empty. As well, I hate to throw away so much plastic all the time. I got my first Parker fountain pen then, just a cheapo with a medium nib, and loved it. I keep it full of washable blue ink.
My next fountain pen (and the one I use most) is a Cross Townsend in a marbled green. It has a fine nib, and I keep it full of black ink. The interesting thing is that my handwriting changed immensely when I got this pen. I bought it because it has a large barrel and my hand doesn’t cramp up so quickly (I used it for taking notes in uni). I found, though, that I needed to use my whole arm to write because I didn’t want to press so hard and ruin the nib. Now my writing is large and flamboyant, with a whole lot more personality than it used to have. It is truly the handwriting of a person with a $300 pen.
I never, ever, lend them out. I guess that’s another good reason to own a fountain pen: people understand when you tell them that a gold nib should only be used by one person, because it conforms to their characteristics.
I have found that the fountain pens I use, which are no more than ten dollars in worth, should only be used on thicker paper, like the printer paper. Writing on regular ruled paper, the ink breaks through to the other side so that if I am to write on that side as well I will end up with a very noisy and messy situation. I see that quite a few posters here have written that they only use fountain pens or use fountain pens more often than others and I’d like to ask them if they also use certain kind of paper. Or is it that I have this problem because I write with a cheap version of a fountain pen? I am considering purchasing a more expensive fountain pen, but I’d like to sample a few beforehand to see what the difference is between the variously priced pens. Furthermore, as a lefty, I also wonder how many of you fountain penners are also blessed with this affliction (or is it afflicted with this blessing)? Whenever I use a fountain pen, I rarely have suffered the inconvenience of running my hand over a yet-to-dry streak of ink, staining my hand and smearing the words, but I guess this happening just once is once too many.
They can have my Sanford Uni-ball Micro when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers. Those fat, rubbery “PhDs” ought to be against the law.
Ironically, I have terrible penmanship.