Pencil vs Pen? An early lesson in commitment
Until you enter high school.
You see, last year – in grade 8 – I was using a pencil. Now I’m talking it was a cadillac of mechanical pencils that always stayed sharp and used the 0.3 leads – sometimes the 0.5s – but definitely never the 0.7s – that’s just too thick of a line for my perfectly artistic penmanship – and I had a fancy white eraser that didn’t leave hordes of pink shavings all over your clothes. It was the level of commitment I was comfortable with. Pen was only used to trace something you were perfecting, like a drawing – or it was used to write the final version of your book report or essay. Never ever on the first go though – I wasn’t ready for that kind of permanence.
Now that we’re not in elementary school, supplies aren’t given to us anymore. Oh yeah kids, we started each school year with provided blank notebooks, graph books, pencils, an eraser, a wooden ruler, one blue pen and an agenda – and if your book was full or needed a pencil, you just asked your teacher, and she’d go to the magic closet and get one! All we had to bring were binders for each class, a pencil case (in my case it was a purple Le Kit box that I so lovingly used until my early 20s), lined paper and your new pack of sharpened Laurentian pencil crayons.
Coming to high school was now a bigger commitment. I’m talking mega for a 14-year-old who looooved her pencils – her super sharp, self-defence weapon-like pencils. My mom even had the ultimate "teacher" sharpener permanently drilled into a stud in the basement. I was always sharp. I couldn’t show the other kids that I was a bébé la-la with my pencil case full of school bus yellow HB pencils and a cadillac – I needed to look like I was a veteran at using a “gulp” pen.
Using pen was a breeze in the beginning – in fact, I liked it a lot because I didn’t have to get up to sharpen it, and there were oodles of colours and line weights to choose from. See, at a young age I subconsciously knew I would be a graphic designer. Sorry – pencil. My confidence was soaring now. I’m one day into my high school experience and rocking the permanence of ink on paper.
Until math class.
Mr. McArthur liked his students to use pen. He said it was more grown up. But I wasn’t ready to grow up, I was still a Toys ‘r Us kid. My confidence slowly shattered as my nervous hand was taking notes in pen in math class. I wanted so bad to be cool. The pen looked great on my graph paper, but when it came time to start executing what I learned, I chickened out and went back to my trusty mechanical pencil and eraser. It gave me comfort that I could make a mistake without everyone seeing the large amounts of crossed out equations on my page.
Over time, I learned to love my pen. All different weights, colours and inks. Gel, or ball point, fountain or calligraphic – the world was my oyster when it came to writing supplies. In 2017 I was even able to shop in the mecca of pen originators, Tokyo, Japan. I came home with so many pens. Like, it was obscene how many permanent and erasable pens I came home with (btw – those erasable pen are my gateway to a life of committing to ink, with the freedom of a pencil – Best. Pens. Ever.) #frixxion
The lesson here kids, is learn to be open to trying new things. A little apprehension keeps us on our toes and reminds us we're alive, and know that you always have a choice to go back if. But no matter how scary, you have to at least try before you allow yourself to get stuck in your ways. There’s plenty of time for that. #pencilsrule
Love,
Patricia
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