Every day I reach into my tin pencil case from the front pocket of my backpack and pull out the same item. I’m often asked what it is, my small red cylinder, with the blacktop missing. The bottom contains a hole, just about the size of the tip of my pencil. It sits on the corner of every desk I sit at, the foreign language written on the side staring back at me. I tend to buy “pointless” items frequently. I mindlessly scroll through pages and pages of random stuff, fighting the urge to add to my cart. I scroll for hours until I go back to see my damage, contained to my favorites tab. My favorite tab is where I must decide between my wants and needs. Some things are easy decision, some it takes longer to decide, but this was the easiest choice I had. From the second I saw that small, red cylinder, I knew I had to have it.
Now, this wasn’t some impulse decision, I had been in need of a pencil sharpener since I arrived at Florida Atlantic University. I had only been here a week, but somehow all my pencil tips were dull, and I was stuck using some cheap Five Below mechanical pencils. These are the worst pencils, and to this day I only use them in emergencies. They are the kind of pencils that create a screeching noise when pressed against the paper. These pencils were an impulse buy. They caught my attention because of their neutral colors- yellow, brown, pink, and orange. This color scheme happened to match my college dorm and felt like the perfect addition (at the time) to my collection. At the end of the day, I don’t want to waste my time boring you on the crappy pencils, instead, I want to talk about my favorite item once again- my fire hydrant pencil sharpener.
Now you may be wondering, fire hydrant? Really? Out of every design in the world, I chose a fire hydrant. The blacktop to the extinguisher broke during my Chemistry midterm. But everything happens for a reason, and I ended up getting a raw A on my exam. This could just be a mere coincidence, but I believe this sharpener Is my lucky tool for my academic career. It seems that every time I use my sharpener, I end up doing well and having a good day, whether it’s getting a good grade on a quiz or getting a compliment on my outfit. My pencil sharpener is lucky.
Now everything has its downfalls, and my sharpener has a few. Of course, the one I’ve mentioned is the black handle on top often falls off and the only solution would be to glue it back on. Another is its size. I know we always say size shouldn’t matter, but for this sharpener, it’s frustrating. It seems like every time I sharpen my pencil, I must dump out the shavings. This is only a huge problem when I spend my entire class period writing. At the end of the day, my sharpener is my most useful stationery item and I am entirely grateful for my small piece of red plastic.