Retrotalk : School Daze : Gratuitous trips to the pencil sharpener

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jupiter Member Since: April 2006 Contributions: 288 Gold Stars: 411 View User Posts	Gratuitous trips to the pencil sharpener Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 4:22 pm Central Time Reasons to take unnecessary trips to the wall mounted pencil sharpener 1) stretch your legs 2) interrupt the class with an overly long pencil grinding session 3) see if you could cop an answer off someone else's test What else?
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TexasRose Member Since: November 2005 Contributions: 1252 Gold Stars: 9 View User Posts	Re: Gratuitous trips to the pencil sharpener Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 4:59 pm Central Time Our pencil sharpener was mounted on the window sill. We'd like to take trips to the pencil sharpener to look out of the window, just to see what was going on or who might be out there!
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CairnTerrier Member Since: November 2005 Contributions: 1438 Gold Stars: 148 View User Posts	Re: Gratuitous trips to the pencil sharpener Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:31 pm Central Time 4) To compete with the kid sitting next to you to see who could get the sharpest lead point. 5) To see what would happen if you sharpened a ball-point pen. _________________
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Talkingfox Member Since: February 2006 Contributions: 2499 Gold Stars: 493 View User Posts	Re: Gratuitous trips to the pencil sharpener Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:47 pm Central Time 1.So you can pass a note to your friend who sits across the room 2.So you can do something on the way there to grab the attention of the person you like 3.To quell ADHD symptoms
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HardyGirl66 Member Since: November 2005 Contributions: 4041 Gold Stars: 550 View User Posts	Re: Gratuitous trips to the pencil sharpener Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:55 pm Central Time 1) So you'd have to get up in front of the class and show off that brand new JJ Dyn-O-Mite t-shirt and Pro-Keds sneakers you got over the weekend. 2)If the sharpener was mounted by the door (like all of our classrooms), you could look across the hall at the other classroom and see what they were doing. 3)To see how long it would take your teacher to realize you've been standing there sharpening your brand new No.2 pencil down to the eraser. _________________ Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional.
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Amberosia Member Since: February 2006 Contributions: 6361 Gold Stars: 201 View User Posts	Re: Gratuitous trips to the pencil sharpener Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 9:57 pm Central Time 1. Because you finished the test 20 minutes before everyone else and you're bored. 2. To talk to your best friend who just happens to sit next to the sharpener. 3. Because you're neurotic about having sharp pencils and every time you start to write you break the sharp point off the end.
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Gremashlo Member Since: March 2006 Contributions: 2343 Gold Stars: 208 View User Posts	Re: Gratuitous trips to the pencil sharpener Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 6:21 am Central Time Amberosia wrote: 1. Because you finished the test 20 minutes before everyone else and you're bored. 2. To talk to your best friend who just happens to sit next to the sharpener. 3. Because you're neurotic about having sharp pencils and every time you start to write you break the sharp point off the end. view Because you are a teacher, and you sit there dumbfounded as three students in three successive days ask, "Where's your pencil sharpener?" when they've been in school for five months and the sharpener is mounted RIGHT NEXT TO THE DOOR that they have walked through twice a day for those five months (afterwhich you ponder immediate career changes, and you understand why some animals eat their young)... _________________ How can you be two places at once when you've never been anywhere at all?--The Firesign Theatre
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jupiter Member Since: April 2006 Contributions: 288 Gold Stars: 411 View User Posts	Re: Gratuitous trips to the pencil sharpener Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 1:58 pm Central Time remember when the cover would come off and you could see the inside?
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LSPoorEeyorick Administrator Member Since: June 2005 Contributions: 1628 Gold Stars: 279 View User Posts	Re: Gratuitous trips to the pencil sharpener Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 2:58 pm Central Time You're leaving out a major reason: to gaze lovingly at the back (or the side, or the front, depending on where that sharpener was located) of your crush's head! I also remember having pencil shavings duty. It was better than eraser-clapping duty, because there was no related coughing, and the shavings just looked so cool.
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HardyGirl66 Member Since: November 2005 Contributions: 4041 Gold Stars: 550 View User Posts	Re: Gratuitous trips to the pencil sharpener Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 7:36 am Central Time They still make these. I have one in my classroom. _________________ Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional.
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Tony Member Since: July 2004 Contributions: 60 Gold Stars: 32 View User Posts	Re: Gratuitous trips to the pencil sharpener Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:01 pm Central Time the inside mechanism always reminds me of marcel duchamp's 'chocolate grinder' (1916-17).
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underachiever Member Since: November 2005 Contributions: 146 Gold Stars: 5 View User Posts	Re: Gratuitous trips to the pencil sharpener Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 12:26 am Central Time --to see of you really can sharpen a pretzel stick to a deadly point --to get a pile of shavings to extend over the chalkboard ledge and onto the floor --to see who's in the hallway and maybe talk to them while they're there --because you didn't believe the teacher when he said five minutes ago that it was broken --to try to start the parade of kids who suddenly need to go up and get things --because the stapler and the tape dispenser weighed down with sand are off limits --to try to create blisters on your hand --to make faces at the teacher where she may not be able to see you
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happykitty Member Since: July 2006 Contributions: 18 View User Posts	Re: Gratuitous trips to the pencil sharpener Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 3:23 pm Central Time underachiever wrote: --to see of you really can sharpen a pretzel stick to a deadly point --to get a pile of shavings to extend over the chalkboard ledge and onto the floor --to see who's in the hallway and maybe talk to them while they're there --because you didn't believe the teacher when he said five minutes ago that it was broken --to try to start the parade of kids who suddenly need to go up and get things --because the stapler and the tape dispenser weighed down with sand are off limits --to try to create blisters on your hand --to make faces at the teacher where she may not be able to see you view We had one at home. My father worked at a university in housekeeping, and he would bring stuff home that students left behind in the dorms after they left for the year. He mounted the pencil sharpener on one of the posts at the foot of the basement stairs. My bedroom was right next door to the stairwell. My sister would go downstairs either very early in the morning or very late at night to sharpen her pencils (She also thought that once the eraser was gone, the pencil was no good, even though there would be lots of pencil left.). Guess who wound up emptying the sharpener every time? Yours truly.
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Zoetrope11384EB Member Since: March 2006 Contributions: 322 Gold Stars: 67 View User Posts	Re: Gratuitous trips to the pencil sharpener Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 12:04 pm Central Time For me, these gratuitous trips were usually an ineffective way of trying to make time go faster than the glacial pace it did in public school. Along with gratuitous trips to the pencil sharpner, I remember... Gratuitous trips to the bathroom. Gratuitous trips to the water fountain. Gratuitous mental exercises to find out how many seconds were left in the school day. Gratuitous reading and rereading of stickers (usually Wacky Package Stickers) that were on notebooks, Pee Chee folders, etc. Gratuitous doodling. Monsters, cars and people with bionic prosthetics were my favorites to draw in elementary school. Gratuitous activities that involved the use of Elmer's Glue, cinnamon oil and toothpicks or sunflower seeds. Now that I'm an adult, I make gratuitous trips to retroland.com, where I daydream and write, when I shoud be doing my homework for graduate school.
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