Another story about pens

Sometimes, you schedule an interview. A long one, because the story that you're writing is very geeky and you need to interview someone who works for technical services.

Sometimes, that person is very accommodating, and sets aside an hour for you two to talk. And despite being rather nerdy and technical and awkward, he is actually interested and talking and gives you good information. Sometimes, he's even perfectly willing to be quoted. Sometimes, you're lucky.

But sometimes, at the beginning of this otherwise-unnaturally smooth meeting, you realize that you have no pencil. Or pen. So you dig frantically through the bottom of your bag and find an almost-dry green gel pen. And all of your notes are less ink and more SCRATCHED painfully into the paper.

Sometimes, after you thank the helpful person and get his business card, you leave. And when you're out of site, you destroy the pen and break it into one thousand splintered plastic shards and SLAM them into the garbage.

Sometimes, this is very satisfying.