January 26, 2006

  • Something at work got me thinking about mechanical pencils.  They always bring a warm feeling to my heart.  Call me a nerd, but I love mechanical pencils.  They're so endearing.  I remember the constant search for the perfect one.  Some of them squeaked when you wrote.  Some of them jammed too often.  Some of them had a way of making your lead break too easily.  You had to make sure you had the right lead on hand to refill.  Either .7mm or .5mm.  Haha.  You gotta love it. 


    I also remember how there was a period of time when I wasn't sure if I could use them for scantron type tests because you know they tell you to get the #2's ready.  But once you figured out mechanical pencils work fine it was game... however, if you're not quick with the hands, you'll lose time filling in the circles since the lead is much thinner in a mechanical pencil.  The good thing about the thin lead is that it increases accuracy.  The other downside to the mechanical pencil is that the erasers at the tip are absolute crap because they last as long as the flavor of Korean gum.  That's the reason why you need the perfect companion... the clic eraser. 


    This train of thought led me to think about pencil cases.  Now that was a symbol of status.  You had to have a cute one.  The OG is the old long, thick plastic ones with the puffy plastic pads on both sides.  The "high tech" ones had the buttons that made the sweet extras pop out from every which way.  Ha ha... the good old elementary school days.  Then there were the metal ones with one or two tiers.  The dawn of the new age came with the invention of cloth material zipped cases.  I saw one at Coach the other day that made me think that if I were in junior high/high school right now, owning that one would be the shiz.  However I came to the conclusion that my glee would be fleeting because someone would have jacked it anyway.  That was the fate of most of my cute pencil cases. 


    Of course this was back in the days when the perfect writing utensil was absolutely crucial to your schoolwork.  Once you stopped caring, your supply of cool pencils/pens started to dwindle, and before you knew it, you walked to class with only a notebook and a trusty cheap pen in hand.


    Man, I could go on and on in this train of thought... I haven't even gotten to highlighters, rulers and the motherlode... pen white out. 

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