... Actually, you were wondering, about the pen spinning trick

I have had hundreds of people everywhere I have lived ask me about how I spin the pen around my thumb. I learned 25 years ago in High School, senior year English class, Miss Covey. I was extremely bored. She had me pegged as a slacker of which I was not. But try to get out from under being pegged as something you are not! That is a lesson for another time and place. So, I was bored. The guy next to me was from Hong Kong. His friend in front of him was from Malaysia. They were spinning all the time. I watched and I tried; and failed. They laughed and said in their broken English, "You can't do!" Well, that was enough motivation for me, and the rest, as they say, is history (so was my "A" average in English too - I ended up with a "B"). You begin by spinning it around your thumb one way and then learn to do it back, then adding it all together. It takes a lot of time. Dale Carter of Michigan is the only one I know of that learned how to do it after watching myself and some others he knew spin. It's not easy.

Here's a video of some pen-spinning guys that make me look lame. I didn't know it was a whole culture out there (mostly in Asia) until Yahoo.com had an article on it this morning. Lots of people with more time on their hands than is useful to society. For me, now it is just a nervous habit.




(sorry about the music; definitely not my bag, but turn down the sound and watch these geeks go!)

Have a great day!