Saturday, January 9, 2010

I'm chewed up.


Little known fact about me:

I am a huge pen-chewer. It is a totally unconscious bad habit; I truly have no idea that I am doing it.

This was quite embarrassing for me in college when I would ask a friendly girl next to me if I could borrow a pen to take notes during class. At the end of class, as I handed it back to her, I would suddenly realize...The shaft of that pen is now destroyed. Literally, destroyed. When I am concentrating, when I am stressed, I chomp pens down to nothing in a matter of minutes. Sometimes I actually bite off chunks of the plastic. It's probably bad for my teeth. (Sorry, Ry.)

My students occasionally ask to borrow pens during class. Without thinking, I say, "Sure, they're in the cup on my desk." Then I have to hear comments like, "Ewwww! I'm not touching that!" (To which I respond, "Get your own stinkin' pen then!") or "Mrs. Nielson, do you have a dog?" (To which I respond, puzzled, "No--why?" and then I realize.)

My closest friends often return my pens to me. They'll say things like, "I found this on my kitchen counter, and I knew exactly who it belonged to!" I guess I have a rather distinctive bite mark.

Anyway, I just finished a five-hour long grading session. It was painful.

I started with a brand new mechanical pencil. I ended with this:



I truly had no idea that I was chewing on anything as I graded. Crazy, huh?

10 comments:

  1. How funny! At least you're not chewing on your nails with out realizing it.

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  2. Thanks for that. That just made me gag. :) SICK! I chew too but not that bad!!!

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  3. I chew as well, but not like you. You're the WORST! Maybe you should buy a $2 thing of BIC pens and keep them in a separate thing for people to borrow that won't sick them out. :)

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  4. Nice... better than your fingernails! Could be worse! :)

    I love the calendar by the way!

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  5. Now what I want to know is, where did the rest of the red bit go? Does it digest? ;)

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  6. That's so funny because when I visited you in New York last May you borrowed my brand new pen for five minutes and when I got it back it was destroyed! I like to think of it as a souvenir from my trip to see Rachel :)

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  7. pretty impressive! haha...

    ps. The gym I joined id Golds on Wehrle.

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  8. Hahahaha! I DIED of laughter when I saw that pencil!! Hahaha! Amazing. So amazing.

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