How can a pen be worth $80,000 you ask? I figure I am actually being conservative, particularly when one factors in blood, sweat, tears, and loss of income. So ti’s probably worth about 5 times that if you wanted to get picky.
I spent about 12 years as a student at UBC. Two years plus a summer at the Bamfield Marine Station to finish my Bachelor’s degree, just shy of four years to finish my Master’s degree. And six years to complete my PhD.
I worked part time during my Bachelor’s and my Master’s degrees, but not my PhD. Did that one on full scholarship, although I did work Saturday’s to keep myself active outside of University.
12 years of paying the University for tuition, parking, textbooks. 12 years of blood, sweat and many, many tears. And the day I hand in my PhD thesis at the Faculty of Graduate Studies, they hand me a box and say “A token from the University” I open it and find a pen. 12 years of my life are represented by a pen. Sometimes I loathe that pen. But when I lost it a few months ago it was very upsetting!
I found the $80K pen yesterday…I think that’s a good thing…