Traditions

Tomorrow will see the continuance of a tradition of mine. Shortly before 9 pm, as I prepare to head out the door, I will head to my desk, open the top drawer on the left, and remove a letter envelope. It bears this warning on it:

WARNING: IN CASE OF FINALS, OPEN ENVELOPE.

Inside the envelope is "The Finals Pen."

It started about this time last year. I needed a pen for my final exams, as I was in need of one, because all mine were either missing or out of ink. (I still have this problem. I've bought 4 new pens this semester, and all of them are AWOL. That is frickin' ridiculous. But back to the story.) So, I headed to LifeWay and purchased a pen for about one dollar and change. But it wasn't just any pen, it was a pen with a purpose. Lightening struck my brain: Why not use it for all my finals, and more then that, why not use it only for finals, and for every single final to come. That is what I have done.

The finals pen has chilled through two Draper blue books, two of T.J. Betts, Dr. Orrick's trumped up grammar quiz, the ease of Randy Smith, and the blessing of McClellan's not-from-hell final. It has uses beyond just exams though. If, in lieu of a final, we have a paper or assignment to turn in, it is used for that. It signed the honor pledge on the research paper I presented to Mr. Pierre, and it will fill out the forms I turn in to Dr. Payne this Tues.

After every completed final I go back to my room and open the catalog from the 03-04 academic year, the one I entered under, and the course listing to which I am bound. I take the pen and I draw a line through the class listing in the "Missions, Evangelism, and Church Growth" major, making me just that much closer to the cap and gown.

The moral of this story: Paul Butterworth is a bigger geek then you even imagined, and in the words of Han Solo, "I can imagine an awful lot."