Can the type of paper you use have an effect on the quality of your work? Let's leave out, for the moment, the obvious cases of graph paper for graphs, etc. I've found that when I use certain types of paper, I am more careful, more attentive to handwriting and quality, than when using others. I do better, for instance, writing on e2 paper than on (american) standard 81/2 x 11. Things just ... feel better. The pen moves more smoothly, the writing looks more professional.

I'd been nearly two months behind in my Syntax homework. I figured I was doomed -- I'd squeak by with a C. Then I remembered -- it's all about the paper. A few pads of e2 later, and I was golden, scribbling away over the Thanksgiving weekend, catching up. The paper made it enjoyable.

(For the paper-deprived: e2 paper has nothing to do with Everything2. It's a type of paper with a grid on the back which shows faintly through to the front, allowing for neatness without photographic reproduction of the grid.)