My stationery complex
2016-01-05
For a
professional teacher, part of my job is to design teaching programs, prepare lessons,
and grade papers and tests. There is never a moment when I could separate
myself from dealings with papers, pens, files, staplers, and other stationery. Over
the years, they have become my right-hand assistants that make my work go
smoothly and efficiently. Without doubt, years of schooling and teaching life combined
has transformed me into a typical intellectual who has no other hobbies other than
reading and writing. Even when I go out shopping or just for a walk, my
attention would be involuntarily arrested by some stationer’s that leaps to my
eye. Then I would step inside and take a leisurely stroll between racks of
collections of office supplies, checking and picking my favorites. In most
cases, I could always be fortunate enough to chance upon some novel gadgets,
like a fancy ballpoint pen or a lovely pencil sharpener. Believe it or not, I have
kept a whole set of exquisite notebooks with themes of cute animal cubs as well
as several drawers of writing material reserve. You can find whatever
stationery you need in my study. There are
mainly two reasons for my queer hobby. For one thing, collection itself is an
art in my eye. If you have a preference for a particular article, it’s a
treasure for you. For another, there is great practical use in keeping office
materials. When I am badly in need of something, I can always put on hands on some.
I couldn’t imagine what my life will be like without their company. In my
humble opinion, it’s a shameful thing if a family failed to provide a guest
with a pen and a sheet of paper to write some information on if he asks for
that. Stationery is part of a family culture, without which, the family might be
regarded as a vulgar hominids lacking in proper manners.
Tracing back to my origin, I was born into an
intellectual family. My father, a retired civil servant, was originally a middle
school teacher. On my four-year-old birthday, he brought home an exquisite small
wooden box filled with colored chalk as my birthday present. It’s the little
box that had opened my mind to a more exciting outside world. From that day on,
I began to use the magical chalk to paint my fantasy world, our walls being the
natural canvas which were thickly covered with graffiti of stick figures like rabbits,
ducklings, puppies, small kids and all sorts of lines and patterns. After
decades of rain and snow, those doodling and scrawling still remained, witnessing
my growing process as well as changes of circumstances.
Two years
later, when I began my primary school, I was introduced to a new type of
writing tool, pencils. In my Chinese lessons, I was taught to write Chinese
characters stroke by stroke. At that time, I had to get my pencil frequently
sharpened to ensure a fluent writing. One of the advantages of writing with a
pencil is that if I misspell some character, I could use an eraser to rub out
the pencil marks. It’s especially suitable for pupils under the age of 10 who
are more liable to make mistakes. Pencils and erasers became the most
remarkable symbols of my childhood memory. With those dumb but helpful friends,
I wrote, corrected and learned, building the foundation of infinite knowledge brick
by brick. For a pupil, picking and purchasing stationery is the most exciting
part of school life. On weekends, I always pestered my father to select the most
fashionable pencils, pencil-cases, rulers and school bags and our classroom
became the exhibition hall where varieties of stationery were displayed. However,
I was never a jealous girl to keep up with the Joneses. When I was in
the third grade, pencils seemed to become out of fashion because of its
limitations. Students were recommended to write with the pen, a more advanced
writing tool that makes writing more formal and smooth. Naturally, pencils exited
from our life; instead, we took up a more powerful weapon to record our growth
and represent our beautiful vision. Compared with pencils, pens are a more wonderful
tool with which we can write elegant Chinese characters. In a special sense, it’s
a nice substitute of the ancient Chinese writing brushes that represent the
true spirit of Chinese characters. With pen and ink, we began to adapt
ourselves to the standardized writing style of the adult world. Because it’s
impossible to obliterate the misspelled character, we had to be extremely
cautious not to ruin the whole page. Meanwhile, many of the fine qualities are
developed in the process of pen writing. The artistic activity helps shape
students into a glorious personality which combines patience with calmness,
perseverance with strength. That’s what makes us Chinese stand out on the world
stage.
Later, with the advent of
computer technology and the big data era, more convenient writing instruments
are invented. We gradually abandoned the traditional pens and pencils and turn
to other more convenient tools like ballpoint pens, sign pens and highlighter
pens. All these writing tools are products of human civilization. In this
fast-paced world, everything is changing and dying. New inventions come up and
propel us to move on to a more convenient future. They are the ascending ladder
of human progress.
So you can spend hours of fun in the Bali sun counting each and everyone one of those 56 million rupiah. Better buy an extra abacus just in case that first one goes to putty. ( And beware of loose electrical cables in Bali, I understand they're often quite shocking. )
You'd better be careful when the Chinese New Year's fireworks displays kick into gear. People could mistake the big bangs they hear for your exertions in the horizontal folkdancing department. Stay well clear of sparklers and don't go anywhere near bungers.
I got some Indonesian Rupiah yesterdya ready for my trip to Bali and got 56 million of them, instant millionaire, how much did I spend> A little over £300
At my age I still shoot straight and do not care if they are blank or live rounds as long as there is a bang
Do you go shopping at the stationary stationery or do you pick up things on the hop ?
Do you have space to accommodate any spelling or grammar texts in "one of the bookcase" (sic) ?
Well I never like to have it blunt, and have not yet sought to join the "I fire blanks club". Generally I am quite a straight shooter.
So that means you got to exactly 1 million with this quip ? Time to buy a lottery ticket and a new abacus.
One of my friends back at college was a huge fan of stationery. I like shopping at the stationery too, mostly because they are full of vivid colors and different cartoons. But here we don't have many good brands, and most stores are a little bit dull. It's hard for me to pick up a notebook I truly like.
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