Best Pencil Ever

A co-worker and I were talking about mechanical pencils today. Turns out we have the same favorite, the Pentel Quicker Clicker. We also both prefer the early model to the later models. It was exceptionally well built, rugged, an innovative design developed on a solid foundation of quality mechanical pencils. Each of us still has the first one we ever had while having broken or lost several of the later models.

I still remember how I came into possession of my first one. In the summer of 1993 I went to the Walker Art Center with my friend David. We were there to view the Jeff Koons exhibition which my parents had assured me was fabulous. What we found there was an exhibit that was a piece of shit and an old school mate, who was quite the opposite, working security at the museum. The parking lot was one of those where you write your vehicle's plate number on an envelope and stick the parking fee inside before sliding the envelope into a drop slot. In the box containing the standard stubby #2 pencils and miniature manila envelopes was a clear green Pentel Quicker Clicker. Feeling a bit put out by all of the free parking stalls being taken, I nicked the pencil and put it in my bag. The day was fantastic. We made fun of the art in mock intellectual tones, caught up with an old friend who helped us to make fun of the art in mock intellectual tones, and I got the best mechanical pencil I have ever possessed. That pencil has traveled over many states, written many lines, and still serves me well.

Wasn't that all simply enthralling? Oh, certainly. I very much appreciated the juxtaposition of the in-eptitude of the contemporary artist with the utilitarian triumph of the lowly mechanical pencil. Oh, and did you notice the karmaic undertones of the cost of parking vis-à-vis the discovered treasure? Marvelous!