Ernest Ortiz Writes Now

dumpster

Several months ago, I was taking out the trash to my condo dumpster. The area reeks but at least my poor sense of smell takes it down a notch. But the best thing about my dumpster is that you often find awesome stuff next to them, even though it’s against the rules.

I’ve seen refrigerators, stands, chairs, vacuums, luggages, baby toys, and more. Some of them I can clean and repair with the right tools and parts. But there’s not enough room to store and repair them and my wife won’t let me keep them.

One day, I found a white mug on top of the recycling bins. I had plenty of mugs but the contents popping out of it interested me more. And I couldn’t believe it.

A stack of wooden pencils.

All those pencils right in my grasp ready for sentences, paragraphs, and chapters. But I was also angry, if I hadn’t been there at the right place and time they would have been doomed to a recycling center. Or worse, a landfill. A crime against nature and humanity.

So I took the pencils home and cleaned them with alcohol wipes. Here were my findings:

  • 11 Blue Wharton University of Pennsylvania wooden pencils

  • 5 White with red maple leaves Canada wooden pencils

  • Black Ohlone College wooden pencil

  • Natural Palacic Duhau – Park Hyatt Buenos Aires wooden pencil with no ferrule and eraser

  • Yellow No. 2 Tru Red wooden pencil

  • Yellow No. 2 Dixon Ticonderoga wooden pencil

  • Black Pentel QE515 Twist-Erase 0.5 with no graphite and an empty eraser holder (not sure if I’ll ever use it, but will keep anyway)

If this isn’t a great find then I don’t know what is. If you ever find pencils use them, give them to your kids, or at the least donate them. Any pencil is a terrible thing to waste.

#writing #dumpster #pencils #treasure

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