Sometimes things go out of style for no good reason. There’s a general consensus that said thing is pretty rad … and then one day, with no official meeting or memo even, we kinda all agree that said thing is out. And it simply vanishes without anyone even acknowledging it happened. Kind of like the younger sister on the show Family Matters. One show they had a little sister and the next they didn’t. They didn’t kill her off or send her to live with a relative. No explanation at all was given. They just stopped having a sister. Orwellian indeed.* I call it the Digable Planets Syndrome**. We have lost some very useful things and people to this syndrome.
To counter this unfair tossing away of things, I’m starting a campaign to bring things back that really never should have been exiled in the first place.
First up:
The four color pen! What a useful and awesome device. Four colors in one pen!! In fifth grade we all agreed that the four color pen was the key to unlocking our potential. The organizational implications were endless. And we all had a system. What was yours? Blue for math? Red for science? Or maybe you drew your color lines on time of day. Blue on Monday? Green on Wednesday? The sky was the limit. You and your 4 in 1 pen were going to change the world. But while you were dreaming, life was happening. We got PDA’s. We started dating. All of a sudden we felt silly having a fat pen in our hands in public. We stopped passing notes with heart dotted I’s.
QSN: Either they made the four color pen smaller or my hands got a lot bigger. As a kid I remember having to switch hands or use one hand to guide the other. But now I can write with the pen sans hand cramps.
My friends, the four color pen is back. And it’s not just for wide eyed kids anymore. I’m in a coffee shop right now proudly sporting my ink quartet. They still sell them at Staples and Office Depot. Grab one for yourself and one for the little ones in your life. This pen will change my life… if I could only remember what my system is.
ME: Was black for new jokes or blog ideas? Green is my things to do list...no…blue is my things to do list and green is movies to add to my N
etflix queue…maybe I’ll just use red for everything…
*Orwellian – refers to the world George Orwell created in his book 1984. Big brother was watching and could make people not only disappear but also erase them from history.
**Digable Planets – 90’s hip-hop outfit. That splashed on the scene with their hit “Cool Like That.” A ridiculously phat track but shortly after that we stopped messing with them. Maybe we can bring them back once we get the four color pen up on its legs.
QSN: Quick Side Note
To counter this unfair tossing away of things, I’m starting a campaign to bring things back that really never should have been exiled in the first place.
First up:
The four color pen! What a useful and awesome device. Four colors in one pen!! In fifth grade we all agreed that the four color pen was the key to unlocking our potential. The organizational implications were endless. And we all had a system. What was yours? Blue for math? Red for science? Or maybe you drew your color lines on time of day. Blue on Monday? Green on Wednesday? The sky was the limit. You and your 4 in 1 pen were going to change the world. But while you were dreaming, life was happening. We got PDA’s. We started dating. All of a sudden we felt silly having a fat pen in our hands in public. We stopped passing notes with heart dotted I’s.
QSN: Either they made the four color pen smaller or my hands got a lot bigger. As a kid I remember having to switch hands or use one hand to guide the other. But now I can write with the pen sans hand cramps.
My friends, the four color pen is back. And it’s not just for wide eyed kids anymore. I’m in a coffee shop right now proudly sporting my ink quartet. They still sell them at Staples and Office Depot. Grab one for yourself and one for the little ones in your life. This pen will change my life… if I could only remember what my system is.
ME: Was black for new jokes or blog ideas? Green is my things to do list...no…blue is my things to do list and green is movies to add to my N
etflix queue…maybe I’ll just use red for everything…*Orwellian – refers to the world George Orwell created in his book 1984. Big brother was watching and could make people not only disappear but also erase them from history.
**Digable Planets – 90’s hip-hop outfit. That splashed on the scene with their hit “Cool Like That.” A ridiculously phat track but shortly after that we stopped messing with them. Maybe we can bring them back once we get the four color pen up on its legs.
QSN: Quick Side Note
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