The lucky pen

A long time ago when I was working on a grant application, the departmental administrator that helped me put my grant together stopped by my desk to have me sign the final forms. She had with her a funky purple pen, so I asked her if it was her lucky purple pen (or if she had another lucky pen) and she gave me a rather confused look so I snatched the purple pen out of her hand and used it to sign the forms, declaring it a lucky pen as I did so. It turned out, it was definitely a lucky pen because I scored better than I ever imagined I would on the grant.

A few weeks later we passed each other in the hall and she was carrying a familiar-looking stack of forms and her funky purple pen. She held it up and proclaimed "the lucky pen! I have everyone sign their grants with it now!" as she hustled by me.

Wow! I changed history.