Holy shit! Today was an amazing day. For today, I used a mechanical pencil that I actually enjoyed. More than enjoyed...LOVED. For you see, I have hated the mechanical pencil for as long as I can remember.

I want to be a writer, but HATE the actual act of writing. Ironic, I know. I have so many thoughts that run through my head while in a creative fit that I can't get everything out in time, and, in turn, end up making a mess that looks anything but creative. The flow of a #2 pencil just plain sucks, and I can't stand writing with a pen b/c I can't erase. So, one day, it was suggested that I try a mechanical pencil.

Click, click, BREAK! Click, click, BREAK! This is the last memory I have of a mechanical pencil. It's completely irritating and incredibly frustrating. And filling it is even more tedious, although a good "pretending-that-my-mechanical-pencil-is-a-needle-joke" is always funny. The flow is impeccable, but I couldn't bare with the other attributes of it.

Imagine teaching 7 and 8 year-olds that use mechanical pencils. They spend about two hours a day refilling the damn thing because they think "it's cool." Eventually, disaster strikes...

"Mr. J, I don't have any more lead. What should I do?"

"How 'bout trying a normal fucking pencil."

Then the stealing of lead begins. I've caught students actually sneak into the classroom during lunch and steal it as if it were the one ring to rule them all.

This leads me to today. I was in a workshop, and of course, I wasn't paying attention. I did, however, get into such a creative fit that the urge to write was overwhelming. I usually just type when I write because I can actually keep up with the synapses firing away in my noggin, but to no avail, my laptop was not around to assist me. And as usual, I have no pen or pencil with me because the actual thought of writing make me want to shit.

In a last ditch effort of desperation, I ask a colleague for a writing utensil (and, yes, I actually said writing utensil so that I did not specify a preference between a pen or a pencil, pretty much because they both suck). And what does she hand me? A mechanical pencil. I cringed at the sight of it. I almost said, "No thank you and go to hell," but I accepted it because my brain was bursting with so much energy that it was about to become a very messy affair.

I began to write. And oh, the flow. Word after word kept effortlessly coming from my brain, through my fingers and into the pencil as if we were one. It was all too good to be true. I was waiting for the BREAK! when I something peculiar happened; I was out of lead. I wasn't completely out of lead, just out for the moment. Perplexed by the non-breakage, I went to click...and nothing happened. Hmmm...

After further examination of this new magic wand of mine, I noticed that this mechanical pencil did not click; it turned. At the tip of the pencil, you need to rotate the top in order for the lead to protrude out. Interesting. But that still does not explain the phenomenon known as the non-breakage miracle. So I turn the top of the pencil, and begin to write again, deciding to watch closely as I do so.

And oh, the technology! I began to realize that when you press the pencil to the paper, due to a spring inside of the it, that the lead slowly begins to retract and adjusts to the pressure so that it won't break. You can write, write, write and not have to worry about the click, click, BREAK! Click, click, BREAK!

My life is now complete.

P.S. I wrote this entire story with my new mechanical pencil, and then typed it. It was like a miracle. A non-clicking, non-breaking, easy-flowing miracle.