Say No to Stupid

Never in my life have I heard of creative spelling…ever. Fortunately I am able to say that I grew up in an elementary school that stressed the importance of strong spelling and reading skills. I’ve always thought of myself as a strong speller and I honestly cannot imagine someone allowing me to misspell stuff to avoid hurting my feelings. I’m not even a teacher and I find that insulting to society. Sometimes the amount of ignorance floating around in this world creates this ridiculous fear within me that it might someday become contagious. I hope in all honesty that some concerned parent or community member stands up and calls these people out. I find the whole concept of “creative spelling” utterly stupid.  And the last thing this world needs is more stupid people. I feel like there should be some kind of more rigorous and required list of content (vocabulary and reading skills) that needs to be enforced in primary schools. Without literacy our world would basically fall apart and I’m not sure that I am ok with that. And really, if GOOGLE even disagrees with the educational benefits of inventive spelling…maybe you should just stop. Just say no. Say no to stupid.  

Guilt Trips eh?

Oh guilt trips..they are unfortunately a journey I visit often. My tendency to speak before I think tends to get me into a lot of trouble. And sure, you hear about paternal guilt trips but I seem to screw up everywhere. My attitude and insomnia also seems to be a big contribution. I am known for occasionally and unknowingly taking out my stress on others. And I realize I have a problem and I am working on that by the way and am making steady progress. The article on guilt mentioned food guilt and I can honestly say that when it comes to food, there is no guilt. Yeah sure, that doughnut I had for breakfast was probably like a million and a half calories, but guess whose happy and full?! All the dieters can stick to their cardboard crackers, and I’ll take whatever they reject. Well, with the exception of 19 twinkies in a row. That seems to be a bit much. I feel like part of the issue in modern society is that everyone takes things too seriously. Lighten up, eat, drink and feel however you want. There’s no reason to be so taut. Like Mark Twain said, “Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”

So Much to Do, So Little Time

This week can’t be over quickly enough. My work schedule is not cooperating with my school schedule and the amount of work I have due in a couple of days is ridiculous. *sigh* Why can’t senior year be done and over with now? In other news, so far Beloved doesn't seem to be so great. I’m pretty bored with it as of now and it’s a little on the strange side. The odd mix of fantasy and realism is strange, something I've never encountered before in a reading. There are times that I feel like maybe there are just periodic earthquakes until the tables go flying at them. Then my opinion changes and I’m not quite sure what to think. The names of the characters (with the exception with a couple) are really odd and it makes the story kind of confusing at times. I’m seriously hoping that this novel starts getting a little more intriguing to me. If not, this is going to be a rough few weeks. The same goes for my second independent reading book. The summary made it seem interesting but the summary on my 1^st book was too. And no, just no.  Well, instead of blabbering on about nonsense I should probably start working on my reading journals for this week. That’s all folks. :)

Imagine

At the moment, my mind is almost completely void of thought. I’m tired. And yes I kind of want to go to bed at 8:00. Don’t judge too hard. Next week should be lovely considering the amount of work I need to get done by then. Not to mention I have to juggle work and a relationship in between that. Ah that divine transition to adulthood. It’s tiring but really does carry a sensation of fulfillment and independence that is rewarding to me. I honestly don’t have much to say. But I will digress and write about something somewhat entwined with literature. I’m not going to write much about The Road, mostly because that seems like the only thing anyone’s written about in their blogs (reading the same thing repeatedly has to be getting old).  Yeah it was depressing and gruesome and I loved it. I do think that’s sufficient opinion from me. My independent book however was another story. It wasn’t what I thought it’d be but I guess it represented my topic rather well. The troubles with closed minded upbringings, sexual defilements and constant racism really emphasized how corrupt society is. It’s kind of upsetting to me that I can say that with confidence. I feel like life shouldn’t be that way. I guess it’s not up to me though. Seems like we (society as a whole) definitely have some work to do. Just imagine how nice things would be if we all behaved like human beings instead of diseased animals. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRhq-yO1KN8

You Said What?

I’ve never been one to sit down and ponder about the evolution of vocabulary, but the article Mr. Mullins suggested about the etymology of the B- Word was rather intriguing to me. I didn’t think I could write enough about that single word so I did some further research and was blown away by what I found. Some of the phrases used in common dialogue are incredibly incorrect. I’m guilty of using some of them incorrectly myself, but I’ve never thought twice when I said them. It’s amazing to me that something as complex as language has the ability to change so easily. I encountered a website that examined the use of some very common sayings, one such saying being “spit and image.” When I first read that statement, I honestly had no idea what they were talking about. As I read through the paragraph, the author proceeded to explain that the phrase, “spitting image of…” is actually really incorrect. The phrase “spit and image” was introduced into English vocabulary in the 1820s and has managed to morph into a completely different set of terminology in a rather short amount of time. I won’t bother boring you with other phrase explanations but I think you get the idea. I wonder what the English language will be in later years. If phrases like YOLO and BFFL are all that’s ever said..I won’t want to live on this planet anymore. 

*sigh*

It feels like Christmas break was a year ago at this point, I’m tired and the 32 hour days seem to be getting longer. Didn’t they used to be 24 hours? Anyway, this blog is depleting the last bit of thought process that remains today. But I am happy to mention that I’ve almost finished The Road. And this news is actually bittersweet. I wish it just kept going forever. I love it. The quizzes in class have been all but enjoyable but I will admit that I feel like they help me analyze the book better. I would never have thought through some of the connections proposed on those pieces of paper. And although I usually always despise creative writing, I’ll admit that the Found Poetry idea was pretty great and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was kind of fun searching through passages and quotes to find and create my own twist on the story. Sharing my work didn’t seem as rough as usual either. Maybe the recent insomnia has implanted an “I don’t care anymore” affect on me. I complain a lot (sorry) because it makes me feel better, but in reality, this semester has been pretty smooth so far. :)

Back Again

It feels like it has been ages since I last had to write on this blog..oh wait, it has been ages. I honestly can’t say that I've missed it much. (Sorry Mr. Mullins) I guess I should start off by saying that I hope everyone’s holiday was as wonderful as possible and congrats, only 5 more months to go guys! So far 2^nd semester is going by a lot more quickly than the 1^st and I feel like I've been able to get a lot more completed. My independent reading book is unfortunately not what I thought it’d be, but I am only like 30 pages into it. The Road however, has turned out to be one of the best books I've ever been given the opportunity to read. It has an excellent plot and even though it is violent and grotesque, the story and characters (except for that kid) are likable  The only complaint associated with this novel that I have, is McCarthy’s style of writing dialogue pretty much sucks. However, I still absolutely love love love the story. I am truly sorry to those of you that are unable to appreciate the awesomness of this book. I think as I wrote this, that I might have just convinced myself to re-read this novel and maybe even read other works by McCarthy. It’s amazing how such a brief reflection can influence such a lovely epiphany. ;)