on pencils

had a random thought while trying to get to sleep last night. i bought some great notecards this weekend and was looking forward to writing some letters, and i just thought about how much i love pencils. i love the scratchy feeling of the lead against the paper, that you can feel yourself going against the grain. i love their erasibility, laying endless possibilities at your fingertips. when tom hanks said that he would send a "bouquet of freshly-sharpened pencils" to meg ryan in you've got mail, i thought it would be one of the best and most romantic gifts ever.