I forgot to add something to my post today. It's a quote I came across the other day, completely by accident (or WAS IT?):
“Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” - Shel Silverstein
That one got me.
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Thyroidically and grammatically challenged
After the blood-sucking, day-walking vampires took more blood from me again the other day, I get a phone call today telling me I have hypothyroidism and must start medication for it immediately,if not sooner. Apparently the normal to high level is 4.something and mine was a 6.13. Huh. I've always thought the thyroid was one of those excuses women use to defend weight gain, but this DOES cause weight gain. FANTASTIC! Now I know it's not the ice cream, or the chocolate or the pizza three days a week, it's my thyroid! I now see why women use this as an excuse; it's great! It can also cause fatigue and dry skin - check and check. I thought nodding out on the couch every night between 9 and 10pm is normal but I guess not. Especially during 24 - did you SEE that last night?? Wow. And I wouldn't have noticed dryer skin than usual because I take it for granted that I'm a reptile this time of year and that there's not enough body butter in the world that can fix it.
Brian and company started cleaning out the house the evicted people lived in yesterday. I asked if he found any books in the house - no. I said, "These people had NOT ONE book in their house?" No. What the hell - even people who don't read have a couple of books lying around! No. He did find some notes in what looked to be a young teenager's bedroom. Knowing me like he does, he brought the notes home to show me. I was all excited; I used to LOVE writing and reading notes in school! The only thing better is reading other people's notes! Until I started reading these.
As someone who is bothered by bad spelling and grammar, these things kind of made my eyes bleed a little.
A verbatim sample (in other words, spelling and grammar is NOT MINE):
"Hey Ashley,
Whassup wat u doin? Girl im bored than ever. Up in Ms. Hart class you know all they doing is talking this week. Sit by me in the gym in the morning. Thiz junk sloppy but try to read it. What was you doin when you got kicked out of school and who you go with? When the last you talk 2 Kayla is both of yall still kool. I heard bout her & Quincy you know he tell me everything but I'm bout 2 go so if you get bored kall me or text me after 9."
There was many more where that came from and while I was going to share another one, one that was between two different girls, I can't force myself to type like that anymore. In summary, the two girls were talking about a boy ("boi") named Marcus who "think he all that" because he raps. How she "love him like a husband" and forgives him for cheating on her because she cheated on him too.
What the...
We figured out from the evidence provided that this comes from Middle School students and Brian knew which school it was based on where the house was located. It's a decent school, or so he thought. The notes were all dated and they were all written within the last month or two. So is this an accurate representation of how kids communicate these days? Are they receiving passing grades in English, or do they save this kind of writing for only social purposes? Am I so out of touch that this is acceptable now and I'm just holding on to the old fashioned way of writing and use of the English language?
Most importantly, if I ever have a kid, can we afford private school?
Because I DON'T THINK SO.
Brian and company started cleaning out the house the evicted people lived in yesterday. I asked if he found any books in the house - no. I said, "These people had NOT ONE book in their house?" No. What the hell - even people who don't read have a couple of books lying around! No. He did find some notes in what looked to be a young teenager's bedroom. Knowing me like he does, he brought the notes home to show me. I was all excited; I used to LOVE writing and reading notes in school! The only thing better is reading other people's notes! Until I started reading these.
As someone who is bothered by bad spelling and grammar, these things kind of made my eyes bleed a little.
A verbatim sample (in other words, spelling and grammar is NOT MINE):
"Hey Ashley,
Whassup wat u doin? Girl im bored than ever. Up in Ms. Hart class you know all they doing is talking this week. Sit by me in the gym in the morning. Thiz junk sloppy but try to read it. What was you doin when you got kicked out of school and who you go with? When the last you talk 2 Kayla is both of yall still kool. I heard bout her & Quincy you know he tell me everything but I'm bout 2 go so if you get bored kall me or text me after 9."
There was many more where that came from and while I was going to share another one, one that was between two different girls, I can't force myself to type like that anymore. In summary, the two girls were talking about a boy ("boi") named Marcus who "think he all that" because he raps. How she "love him like a husband" and forgives him for cheating on her because she cheated on him too.
What the...
We figured out from the evidence provided that this comes from Middle School students and Brian knew which school it was based on where the house was located. It's a decent school, or so he thought. The notes were all dated and they were all written within the last month or two. So is this an accurate representation of how kids communicate these days? Are they receiving passing grades in English, or do they save this kind of writing for only social purposes? Am I so out of touch that this is acceptable now and I'm just holding on to the old fashioned way of writing and use of the English language?
Most importantly, if I ever have a kid, can we afford private school?
Because I DON'T THINK SO.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Without Al Gore, none of this would be possible
Sometimes I forget what a wonderful thing the internet is. Like most people, I now take for granted that on any given day I can communicate with loved ones who are far away, Google something to win (or lose, as in most cases) a bet with Brian, get ideas about what to make for dinner, shop (Dangerous? definitely. Convenient? Life changingly so) and satisfy my inner voyeur every day by reading the minutae of other people's lives that they put on their blogs. It is that last thing I enjoy the most. Well, okay - it's a tie between that and keeping in touch with far-away loved ones. Duh. Didn't mean to dis my people for complete strangers there. Oops. You will excuse my mistake though, when I tell you I have a made a new friend and I am very excited about it. Her name is http://iamheatherjo.wordpress.com/>Heather and she lives in Indiana. Indiana is 800 miles away from me (yes, I checked). Had it not been for a mutual blog we read, <"http://snerkology.wordpress.com/">, I doubt we would've ever met otherwise. Well, we COULD have (see previous blog about fate and the butterfly effect) but the chances would've been cut down tremendously.
Heather is awesome, and in getting to know her, I know I've met one of those rare kindred souls. We've already exchanged real presents in the mail - I'll be getting mine from her in a few days and see her latest blog entry for what I sent her; it's hilarious and her emails brighten my day. I realize this is the technological version of pen pals, but I've always loved the idea of pen pals. I had one when I was a youngster - his name was James and he shared my love of Stephen King; which Heather does too, by the way. I guess what it all means is if you love Stephen King, you're all right by me.
I started reading blogs a few years back and I still read the first one I started with. Through hers, I've crawled through the intricate web, clicking on ones that piqued my interest; keeping the good ones and getting rid of the not good ones. It's frightening to know that I actually care about these people, people I may never meet; that when one of them has something going on in their real life and has to take a break from blogging I actually worry about them. But I think this is good. I'm not even close to an A-list blogger who goes to BlogHer and mingles with the in-crowd. I blog for myself and the fact that there are actual real people who read it and leave comments still amazes me.
One of my favorite bloggers,Whiskey, got it in her mind one day to mail people stuff. Just because. Just because she knows it's fun to get stuff in the mail. She just asked her readers for their addresses if they wanted a pressie, and she sent them stuff. I got an amazing hand-written card (which is proudly on display right here in my office) and the cutest owl pin ever (which is pinned to my denim jacket, where else). I mean, seriously - how fucking cool is that.
What's cool about blogging, whether you're an A-list Mommyblogger, making money from your site, all the way down to people like me, is that it is making a difference in that like-minded people ARE meeting each other, when otherwise they would not have. I've read plenty of incidents where bloggers get travel across the country to hang out with each other, both in groups and individually. Lifelong friends have been made. It's amazing, when you stop and think about it.
I did a Christmas card exchange last year one blogger organizes every year and it was cool getting cards from people all over - I thought I was cool with my homemade Whos in Whoville cards, but some people's creativity blew me away. I'm doing it again this year, but I'm also going to make it a point to send cards to my regular blog people as well. It might be lame, but I want them to know I appreciate what they've brought to my life on a daily basis. The only problem is, I'm going to have to be creative and sometimes that makes my head hurt. I'm also going to need to be quick about it, since hi, it's already the middle of November. Eeesh.
My point, and I do have one, is that this whole blogging thing - it's cool. When I was a wee lass, I never pictured communicating with people all over the world on a daily basis. I'm still waiting for flying bubble cars like the Jetsons had, but in the meantime this will do.
Heather is awesome, and in getting to know her, I know I've met one of those rare kindred souls. We've already exchanged real presents in the mail - I'll be getting mine from her in a few days and see her latest blog entry for what I sent her; it's hilarious and her emails brighten my day. I realize this is the technological version of pen pals, but I've always loved the idea of pen pals. I had one when I was a youngster - his name was James and he shared my love of Stephen King; which Heather does too, by the way. I guess what it all means is if you love Stephen King, you're all right by me.
I started reading blogs a few years back and I still read the first one I started with. Through hers, I've crawled through the intricate web, clicking on ones that piqued my interest; keeping the good ones and getting rid of the not good ones. It's frightening to know that I actually care about these people, people I may never meet; that when one of them has something going on in their real life and has to take a break from blogging I actually worry about them. But I think this is good. I'm not even close to an A-list blogger who goes to BlogHer and mingles with the in-crowd. I blog for myself and the fact that there are actual real people who read it and leave comments still amazes me.
One of my favorite bloggers,
What's cool about blogging, whether you're an A-list Mommyblogger, making money from your site, all the way down to people like me, is that it is making a difference in that like-minded people ARE meeting each other, when otherwise they would not have. I've read plenty of incidents where bloggers get travel across the country to hang out with each other, both in groups and individually. Lifelong friends have been made. It's amazing, when you stop and think about it.
I did a Christmas card exchange last year one blogger organizes every year and it was cool getting cards from people all over - I thought I was cool with my homemade Whos in Whoville cards, but some people's creativity blew me away. I'm doing it again this year, but I'm also going to make it a point to send cards to my regular blog people as well. It might be lame, but I want them to know I appreciate what they've brought to my life on a daily basis. The only problem is, I'm going to have to be creative and sometimes that makes my head hurt. I'm also going to need to be quick about it, since hi, it's already the middle of November. Eeesh.
My point, and I do have one, is that this whole blogging thing - it's cool. When I was a wee lass, I never pictured communicating with people all over the world on a daily basis. I'm still waiting for flying bubble cars like the Jetsons had, but in the meantime this will do.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Rainy days and Fridays
I was complaining about poopy weather two Fridays in a row, but actually when I'm not at work cold and rainy is pretty much my favorite right after cold and snowy. I know, I'm weird. But think about it - sunny weather is nice, but it gets boring after awhile and you feel pressure to be outside doing something productive or fun. This weather gives you the perfect excuse and setting to curl up on the couch under a blanket with a book (or TV if that's your thing), which for me usually ends up turning into a nap, but oh what a great nap it is when it is dark and wet outside. I should start a little fire even...but in writing that I just remembered all our fire wood is out by the side of the house. In the rain. DAMN IT.
Of course I did venture out in the yuck for a little while this morning, but I'm damn glad I did. I wanted to visit a Target that isn't my usual store to see if they had anything different than mine. They didn't, but the trip wasn't a waste, oh no. That Target is right next to Kohl's, so I figured it couldn't hurt to take a peek in there as well. Oh, momma! They were having the sale of the century (sucky economy, anyone?) and the shopping gods were with me and reminded me I've been looking for a new coat. The gods then smiled upon me and I found this beauty that is a chocolate brown courderoy pea coat on sale from $89 to $30. Fits? Perfectly. It has a hood! I bought it, took it out to my car and made out with it for a few minutes. I may or may not have it on still. I'm so glad I went out in the rain.
I've heard about this for a couple of years, but this morning Lani brought to my attention NaNoWriMo. Wha? What the hell are you talking about, Weirdo? Well if you stop being rude I'll tell you. It stands for National Novel Writing Month and that month is November. You join up on their website and the rule is you work on a 50,000 word novel from the 1st of the month through the 30th. It's a challenge by all means and one that I'm pissed at myself every time I don't do it. It basically forces you to write every day, which I try to do anyway, but doesn't allow time for second-guessing, erasing and all that other self-doubtful shit I always fall prey to. Lani's doing it. I'm doing it. You should do it too. Just think - by the end of the month we'll all have written a novel. How cool would that be. Thank you girl for putting that up on your blog today.
This past work week was fairly hellish, but yesterday I got an interesting proposition. My boss approached me with the question of would I be interested in working a conference out of town in a few weeks. They're short-handed and she wanted to ask me first, because I'm the sucker...no, because I'm such a valuable team player. I probably shouldn't have reacted by laughing and saying no at first. Oops. Once she told me the details though I started thinking it over and decided, duh. Why wouldn't I want to take that opportunity to:
A. Get out of the office for a few days
B. Get out of TOWN for a few days
C. Show that indeed I am the team player and wonderful worker you think I am
Plus after thinking about it for awhile I realized, hm. It's in Spartanburg, about an hour and a half north of here. Spartanburg is close to Greenville. Greenville has a great mall with an awesome Gap store in it, one which I haven't been to in years. That Gap gets a better selection of winter stuff than the ones around here because it gets colder there. Of COURSE I will go out of town! Career advancement and quality shopping, a trip I'd be retarded to not take. Now let's hope she forgot about my first reaction so I actually can go.
Happy weekend, Poppets!
Of course I did venture out in the yuck for a little while this morning, but I'm damn glad I did. I wanted to visit a Target that isn't my usual store to see if they had anything different than mine. They didn't, but the trip wasn't a waste, oh no. That Target is right next to Kohl's, so I figured it couldn't hurt to take a peek in there as well. Oh, momma! They were having the sale of the century (sucky economy, anyone?) and the shopping gods were with me and reminded me I've been looking for a new coat. The gods then smiled upon me and I found this beauty that is a chocolate brown courderoy pea coat on sale from $89 to $30. Fits? Perfectly. It has a hood! I bought it, took it out to my car and made out with it for a few minutes. I may or may not have it on still. I'm so glad I went out in the rain.
I've heard about this for a couple of years, but this morning Lani brought to my attention NaNoWriMo. Wha? What the hell are you talking about, Weirdo? Well if you stop being rude I'll tell you. It stands for National Novel Writing Month and that month is November. You join up on their website and the rule is you work on a 50,000 word novel from the 1st of the month through the 30th. It's a challenge by all means and one that I'm pissed at myself every time I don't do it. It basically forces you to write every day, which I try to do anyway, but doesn't allow time for second-guessing, erasing and all that other self-doubtful shit I always fall prey to. Lani's doing it. I'm doing it. You should do it too. Just think - by the end of the month we'll all have written a novel. How cool would that be. Thank you girl for putting that up on your blog today.
This past work week was fairly hellish, but yesterday I got an interesting proposition. My boss approached me with the question of would I be interested in working a conference out of town in a few weeks. They're short-handed and she wanted to ask me first, because I'm the sucker...no, because I'm such a valuable team player. I probably shouldn't have reacted by laughing and saying no at first. Oops. Once she told me the details though I started thinking it over and decided, duh. Why wouldn't I want to take that opportunity to:
A. Get out of the office for a few days
B. Get out of TOWN for a few days
C. Show that indeed I am the team player and wonderful worker you think I am
Plus after thinking about it for awhile I realized, hm. It's in Spartanburg, about an hour and a half north of here. Spartanburg is close to Greenville. Greenville has a great mall with an awesome Gap store in it, one which I haven't been to in years. That Gap gets a better selection of winter stuff than the ones around here because it gets colder there. Of COURSE I will go out of town! Career advancement and quality shopping, a trip I'd be retarded to not take. Now let's hope she forgot about my first reaction so I actually can go.
Happy weekend, Poppets!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
I'm gettin' honest-to-blog nervous
As I mentioned before, I don't know - this morning? That seems like such a long time ago. I think it was this morning. A lot's happened since then so I'm not sure. And I don't even know if it's important. It's probably not important.
So whatever. As I mentioned sometime before now I got the supremo honor of being asked to guest post on someone else's blog. I'm pretty sure I'll be doing it on Monday or some other day that falls within the parameters of next week.
Wow, I'm wordy tonight, aren't I? Might want to reign that in before writing for someone else.
Anyway, I've been going back through old blogs to try to get some idea of what I write about and which posts me and also other people have liked the best. It's been kind of fun, if you're the type of narcissist, I mean totally cool person, who likes to read their own writing. I do. But I'm having a hard time picking out any one topic. I think I'm actually funniest when I'm making fun of something or someone. That's been a sad realization. Here all along I thought I was a nice person. I'm totally not. I'm also totally lazy, which is why I'm going through old stuff instead of coming up with something completely cold to write about.
So here's what I'm asking. Whether it's on here or in a private message or email like it often is, will you tell me what you think I should write about on the other person's blog? You can even tell me to quit trying to be funny because it's useless - I don't care. (Except I really do and if you think that, kiss my no-ass) Either way I'm looking for some feedback here and I'm looking for it quickly. If you give me an idea I end up using, I'll totally give you credit for it on her blog, a bunch of strangers will read it and you'll become rich and famous.
You know you want to.
So whatever. As I mentioned sometime before now I got the supremo honor of being asked to guest post on someone else's blog. I'm pretty sure I'll be doing it on Monday or some other day that falls within the parameters of next week.
Wow, I'm wordy tonight, aren't I? Might want to reign that in before writing for someone else.
Anyway, I've been going back through old blogs to try to get some idea of what I write about and which posts me and also other people have liked the best. It's been kind of fun, if you're the type of narcissist, I mean totally cool person, who likes to read their own writing. I do. But I'm having a hard time picking out any one topic. I think I'm actually funniest when I'm making fun of something or someone. That's been a sad realization. Here all along I thought I was a nice person. I'm totally not. I'm also totally lazy, which is why I'm going through old stuff instead of coming up with something completely cold to write about.
So here's what I'm asking. Whether it's on here or in a private message or email like it often is, will you tell me what you think I should write about on the other person's blog? You can even tell me to quit trying to be funny because it's useless - I don't care. (Except I really do and if you think that, kiss my no-ass) Either way I'm looking for some feedback here and I'm looking for it quickly. If you give me an idea I end up using, I'll totally give you credit for it on her blog, a bunch of strangers will read it and you'll become rich and famous.
You know you want to.
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