Heaven on earth. The basement of the BYU bookstore is an amazing place. It is a sweet and plentiful feast for pen and pencil lovers alike. I spend hours and money down there like it is my purpose. This sector of the universe makes me feel good about being alive. More importantly, it makes me excited to be using them. Seriously, don’t you deserve nice school supplies? I mean, don’t go overboard, but taking down notes in the JSB auditorium comes easily with a smooth-rolling pen. And you might enjoy that extra humanities reading with a highlighter that makes you smile. School supplies: I hope there is never a time when I don’t need/want/buy them.

My favorite purchases have been: .3 mm mechanical pencils, ice-cream colored pin striped highlighters, Pilot bp-s fine ball point pens, Pilot precise v7 (or v5) fine rolling ball pen, etc. I, along with many others I’ve observed over the past few weeks, have found something new: The Yasutomo and Company Hi-Glider gel stick highlighter. It’s the perfect combination of wax, gel and neon. If you wandered in the pen section of the bookstore recently, you probably encountered a nice salesperson cheerfully informing about a new product. I overhead a sales pitch and I, always on the lookout for something new, thought I’d give it a try. Well, I am quite pleased with the non-soaking, non-smudging, gliding machine. Works great on scriptures because it doesn’t bleed through, and you have to try really hard to get the fluorescent colors on your fingers and hands. My only criticisms are the lid doesn’t fit on the back of the pen, so it’s easy to lose or annoying to manage, and it takes careful aiming when highlighting specific or small areas. Overall, it is worth a try. You can buy it here or at the bookstore.