5 is alive!

2?!? Hah! That throwback to spitwads and Trapper Keepers is as old as the french fries they served in grade school. Simple? Sure - just like TV before cable and computing before the mighty Commodore 64. You can keep your ceiling-tile-skewering simplicity and leave the elegant 5 for the deep thinkers in the room.

Ah yes, the .5mm mechanical pencil. Who hasn't been awed by its precision, seduced by its steady "click-click-click" of gratification? Sure, the erasers are usually a joke and the mechanism can get a little finicky, but like an indulgent Porsche owner, we suffer our 5s' foibles willingly. Besides, who hasn't derived some do-it-yourselfer pride from unjamming a 5 during mortal combat with a final exam?

Okay, okay - the lead is a little flimsy. 5s aren't made for OCD composers of power ballads or Speed-Sudoku nuts - they're meant for a steadier, more reflective hand. Trying to write down your entire list of things-to-do (dreamt up during a long car ride) before they vaporize in your short term memory is bound to result in shattered .5mm lead and curses aplenty. But if you've got the patience to wield this precision weapon of words, it will serve you well.

COMING SOON! - The 7: Lucky number or hopeless hybrid?