OBSERBVING AN

UNFAMILIAR TOOL

English 2 (ENGL 0205)

Assignment 1

Ricky Wong Yii

0313785FNBE JAN 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2

Mechanical Pencil

For our first English assignment, we were required to observe a tool from our

kitchen, drawer or toolbox. Eventually I decided to choose a very simple stationary that I

could found in my pencil case which is an old mechanical pencil that my friend gifted it

to me during my birthday. Before I started my investigation towards the object, I thought

it was an easy task to describe my mechanical pencil because I had owned this

mechanical pencil for quite a long time. However I was surprised when I found it hard to

describe my mechanical pencil when I started to examine my mechanical pencil.

Firstly, I began my investigation towards my object through detailed observation.

My first observation was that the body of the mechanical pencil can be divided into two

parts which is the barrel assembly and the gripping assembly. The barrel assembly of

my mechanical pencil is covered with cheap yet stylish semi-transparent purple plastic

material and come with a removable eraser at the top of the mechanical pencil with a

transparent plastic cap covering on top. Besides that, there was also a white flexible

plastic champ attached to the barrel assembly of the mechanical pencil with blurred

writing printed on top of it. On the other hand, the gripping assembly consist of dark

purple rubber gripping-barrel and also a purple transparent cone cap at the tip of the

mechanical pencil. When I observe the cone cap of the mechanical pencil closely, I

found out that there was a cone shape lead rod outlet which made out of shiny metal at

the tip of the cone cap of the mechanical pencil.

FNBE JAN 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2

After observing the mechanical pencil for a long time, I was surprised and excited to

found out that the plastic material of the mechanical pencil was faintly iridescent. The

colour changed from when I viewed it from different angle. Moreover, the colour of the

mechanical pencil appeared differently when exposed to different light source. For

example, when the mechanical pencil was exposed to natural sunlight, the colour of the

plastic part of the mechanical pencil appeared to be dark and less attractive indigo

colour. Correspondingly, colour of the mechanical pencil appeared to be more attractive

vivid and vibrant purple when exposed to bright white ceiling light.

After observing the mechanical pencil for 10 minutes, I decided to continue my

investigation through sense of touch. When I first held my hands on the mechanical

pencil, I felt that the mechanical pencil is relatively light which allowed me to write in

great ease and bring it around conveniently. After that, I move my fingers towards the

rubber gripping-barrel and rubbed against it, I felt that the rubber gripping-barrel was

sticky and the temperature rises. While when I scratched my fingers roughly against the

rubber gripping-barrel, some rubber dust wear off from the surface of the rubber

gripping-barrel. After touching the gripping assembly of the mechanical pencil, I

eventually moved my fingers towards barrel assembly. The plastic body of the

mechanical pencil was smooth and solid. On the other hand the white plastic champ

was flimsy and gave me a feeling that it will broke any second if I applied more force on

it.

Then I remembered that I should smell the mechanical pencil. However I couldn’t

really detected any scent that I could describe except some strong old rubber smell

FNBE JAN 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2

picked up from the rubber gripping-barrel of my mechanical pencil. My mind went numb

after the last observation until I had another great idea. At first I gently shook the

mechanical pencil back and forth in the air and heard some peculiar “click” sound when

the lead hit against the plastic rode inside the assembly barrel of the mechanical pencil.

Then I tried hitting the mechanical pencil against the table and surprisingly it creates

some entertaining sound. Now I realised that why students like to tap their pen against

their table when they were bored during class.

That’s all from me on the description of my mechanical pencil. In a nutshell, this

assignment had indeed provide a great opportunity for us to observe and explore

objects around us. Throughout this assignment, I have learnt that I need to draw myself

to stay focus and be alert to any stimulus and objects around us because there was a

lot of things that I had overlooked in my daily life. Therefore starting from today, I will

start to explore things around me through different senses so that I could explore things

around me like a curious child I used to be.

FNBE JAN 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2