I didn't realize until a few years ago that I have an obsession with ballpoint pens. I expect this obsession stems from early childhood experiences.
When I was very young, my aunt gave me a Reynolds ballpoint pen, one of the earliest ever made, as a gift. My parents were quite excited for me, but I wasn't all that thrilled. What did I care, and what did I need with a pen? Besides, its ink was blotchy and smeary.
Several years later, pens that were quite cheap were available in the downtown five-and-dime stores for twenty-five cents. Twenty-five cents back then would be the equivalent of maybe $3 - $5 today. Those pens were retractable, but they were plastic and cheap-looking. Nevertheless, they were special, and my friends and I were thrilled whenever we had one (which was rarely). Ballpoint pens back then were comparatively expensive and were treasured.
Over the years, of course, pens have become outrageously inexpensive. Bic and similar stick pens are about a dollar a dozen (see this, for example). But for some reason, I still see pens as something very special, something even to be hoarded.
Because I grew up believing even the cheapest pens were of great value, when I was in a hotel or business, I would often walk off with the complimentary pens that were available. For the past decade or more, I have not bought a pen; I just use the pens that I have collected from various places.
In the past year or so, though, I became aware that I was accumulating far more pens than I could possibly use in the remaining 82 years of my lifetime. As a result, I stopped picking up stick pens in hotels and businesses. It was quite a wrench. Whenever I was in a hotel that had "free" stick pens, I had to fight the urge to take the pens as I left. But I conquered my obsession. Nowadays, I take only pens that are retractable.
Today I was cleaning out some desk drawers and boxes. So far I have collected over three dozen stick pens with various hotel and business logos on them. I don't want them, and I'm not keeping them.
It has been a long struggle, but I have conquered at least that portion of my obsession with ballpoint pens. These are going to some charity box. I hope they can use the pens.