Custom Pencil Cases and a Blast of Nostalgia
I have to admit that my fountain pen fetish is actually part of a larger office
supply complex, not yet recognized by the DSM*.
be able to use the narrow- versus the wider-lined notebook paper. Or at least
remembering wondering. It’s the ephemeral remnant of what used to be a huge
back-to-school drama that, if memory serves, and it most decidedly does not,
lasted weeks and involved many trips to 5 and 10 cent stores. (TG&Y in Oklahoma
City. What was yours?) For a brief period at the beginning of adolescence, supply drama gave way to
clothes drama. But I gave up on clothes because I could never predict what all
the guys would be wearing. It generally took me till sometime after Christmas to
figure that out, and then I had to wait until the stuff went on sale for my
mother to buy it. I was a sartorial Neanderthal and that was that. But pens,
pencils, paper, notebooks, rulers, protractors, slide-rule…CUTTING EDGE! Not
that anyone cared. I was just the kid in last year’s jeans and the wrong socks
who carried around way too much paper, in every color and line-width. And too
many pens and pencils. Not that they were shy about borrowing. It is from this history that a nearly overwhelming blast of nostalgia emanated
when I got an email from ArtsCow, a firm that will print almost anything on
almost anything. They are always having sales. (Got a wonderful photo of my dog
printed on a big piece of canvas for about $16**.) Today’s special, the one that
turned the voice in my head back into that whine that I employed to extend the
simple word “Mom” into about 12 syllables, was this: http://www.artscow.com/Create/ShowProduct.aspx?ProductId=436 I no longer need a pencil case, I don’t even _know_ anyone who needs a pencil
case (although I suppose I could use it for my spare trifocals) but something
tells me I’ll be ordering one, just as soon as I can figure out what art to put
on it. Best, BG * Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV)
** Cost 10 times that to have it stretched and framed locally. Live and learn.
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