renovamen [renewal, regeneration]

Painfully, this is going to be the first blog post in...a long while. There's a small part of me that says "Just bury the blog, it's been so long since your last post that it's too late now!" But if I do that, then I won't have anywhere to put my long musings on the internet. (Long musings are terrible when put on Facebook. Nobody wants to read that novel.)

↑ Stuff that I wrote in January 2017 when I was thinking about picking it back up here.

Well, 2020, let's try this again.

I'm not sure if this is the best place to start writing online again. But I've been having the needling to start writing again for about a year and I'm finally gonna do it. I also opened up the blog after a long hiatus and looked at some of the old posts here and was surprised to find that I didn't hate them (you all know how reading old journal entries or old writing can be), so I guess it's still good enough. Who knows if this is where I'll keep writing long-term, but for now, some postings.

I've grown a lot since the blog's heyday. Most of the writing that happened before this was during my first year of University and a LOT of things have changed. I'm done with school now and my professional/career life is completely different than I thought it would be. I've learned different things about myself and the world. And hey, the world and I have both changed a lot. I've gotten married. Holy MOLY does actually having a long-term committed relationship change how you see life. I've changed some of my paradigms about how the internet works, and what it means to be a contributor on the internet, and what internet spaces and personas should be like.

But a lot has still remained the same. I still care deeply about a lot of the topics and issues I wrote about previously--perhaps even more deeply. I've spent time honing those thoughts over the years. I still like to be thoughtful (and I'm excited at the prospect of developing that thoughtfulness even more as I get back into writing more!). I still have many of the same hobbies (plus a few surprises I might tell you about). And I'll still probably blog about lots of different things.

So hold tight, friends. I'm excited about where this can go, and I'm honestly pretty excited to introduce some of my new friends (gosh I've made so many new friends since the early blog days--it's really pretty amazing to think of how many of my close friends are recent finds) to the blog. We can laugh at the old posts together. I'm sure there are some hilarious finds.

And if you feel like being engaged in the comments, please indulge yourself. I want the blog to be a place of conversation more than anything else.

So, thanks for the patience while my life took a trip around the block, and I'm excited to start writing here and sharing thoughts again!

10


PS--for any friends who are invested in this blog, or friends with long-term blogging experience: how much should I go back and fix up the old posts that have broken photo links and inscrutable titles that make sense when you read it but aren't good signposts for anything? Let the past be the past, or should I curate things a bit?

rescribo

I have been trying to organize a few ideas for weeks now, to the point that they're moderately publishable.  I mean, this blog isn't anything fancy, but we still have standards.  I end up starting to write about something that has some cool insights to it, and as I write it out, it develops more and more. I start seeing other sides or tributaries to whatever I'm trying to communicate, and then I sidewind my own argument into something different that is also cool and important, but the first thing still needs to be said...and then I have a really long, twisty post on my hands that is a little too convoluted for this format and I have to go all the way back to square one and decide where I even want to go with all this tumult of my own opinions.  I start trying to navigate and edit the run-on post that has erupted forth, and far too often these editing efforts make a less cohesive mess as I take out some tangents and add new ones for context...

So my blog drafts, of which I have too many right now to sort out, look like messes of ideas.  Some paragraphs are written out, followed immediately by another paragraph that is definitely related, but going in a different direction than the first one. I leave that to sort out later, then punch out a quick outline-list of related things that also need to be said, and that give context and buildup to the whole point of starting the post in the first place.  I'm just trying to say this one simple thing, but it has so many contributing factors and implications that I expand it into several themes and so many paragraphs that it overpowers the original idea.

Sometimes I then decide to split the ideas into two related posts.  And then I end up writing about something else entirely.

This is definitely not why I'm writing this post right now.  Except it totally is. X)  Hopefully I get those other ones worked out pretty soon.

Here's what will happen when they do get worked out: I will make decisions about what material to include.  I'll write it out and read through it and add some things, and take some things out.  I'll change words and rearrange a lot of things and end up with a lot of material that just gets deleted.

And then you get to see what actually made the cut.

The stuff that doesn't get posted isn't inherently worse than the stuff that actually does. Sometimes it's really good stuff, but it doesn't quite work out with the direction things are going. A lot of the time it's hard to take those things out. What's crazy though, is how much material is created when I'm trying to create something. How much writing goes on that you never see. How many thoughts are formed just as I'm trying to think through something. And in the end, you get a small sample of everything that has been going on. Hopefully by the time you get it, it's a refined, concise sample that represents the best of what was created.

Turns out this is a totally normal part of the creative process, and you can talk to authors and artists and designers and musicians and philosophers and developers and architects and engineers and carpenters and theoretical mathematicians and physicists and probably even God himself about all of the scrap material they go through before an actual creation comes forth.

Mostly, this is a cool thought.  It's important to recognize that you have to go back to the drawing board all the time when you're trying to make something.  And the more revision and refining you do, the more likely you are to have a better final product.

I'll refrain from any didactic conclusions and just say sorry for the long delay in posts.  They're still getting ready. :)

narro

I am being productive and writing things!

Mostly this is a brief public service announcement that even though the blog doesn't get the authorial attention it deserves, that doesn't mean that I'm not writing things.

Although those of you who know me know that I can get dreadfully behind on my writing...

Here is a quick poem because it's still National poetry month. It details how I actually write a lot of stuff without actually writing it.

Recording

For the most part I fail to record.
Which explains why so little reward
comes from poems I may put out,
whatever lyrics I may shout,
whatever reason or rhyme I am without.

communico

So, in case you're not already getting the vibe, I'll be posting less frequently than I formerly was here.
But hey, relative to the last 18 months, its a huge improvement!

Today we get a rare weekday post because I just finished a week full of tests and therefore have no homework due tomorrow. :D  Ah, the engineering life...

So in my momentary fit of freedom, I attended an event with the English department.

...
I guess we can all accept that I have English tendencies, seeing as I keep this blog (which was originally about writing) but I still felt like I had entered a whole different world.  I didn't really feel at home like I do in the engineering building, or in the shop.

It's probably just been a long time since I've embraced the side of me that wants to write things and break the rules.  Since there is far more rule-breaking done by English majors than by engineers.  And that is why your world operates safely.

Anyway, on my way home,  I decided to take the opportunity to reflect on my eye-opening experiences with the word nerds via some poetry.  Aww yeee.
Since I was walking at the time, it came out very raw, with no writing to interrupt or help its structure.
It came out a lot more honest that way, perhaps.
I liked it.  It reminded me of when I used to think in poetry, to some extent.

Here's a bit of a combo of what I didn't write on the way home, and what I did write a couple hours later.  Less raw, more polished, and....not quite as good.
I guess I should have recorded myself.
Ah well. Here it is.  First poem in a long while:


Communications


So, I came in late
which didn't quite help
to participate
or really get what was going on.

I took a seat at the back,
looked around at the pack
of strangers--
pens and paper at the ready,
scribbles across the pages,
and they were all prepared.

I really had nothing.
Woops.

But one by one
each had their turn
to rise to the front,
and open their mouth
--their world--
to the audience.

We began to communicate--
in a one-direction way--
as I sat and received
what began to illuminate
my rusty old mind.

It still isn't clear
but now that I'm here
don't y'all find it queer
to be here;
so many of you,
and just one engineer.

So I sit, look around
at this new world, new ground,
and wonder what makes you all think
in that way that is paper
and ink.

For me, it's all numbers,
diagrams, forces.
The bottom line is whether it works.

My head's made all different
and though I might share,
I don't think my math
will resonate
so you could appreciate
just how I communicate.

But be it in words or numbers,
diagrams, paintings, or graphs,
there's got to be some grand idea
that, no matter the head that you have,
gets those cogs turning.


It's a structural mess, I know (definitely not a structural engineer's ideal)...originally it was more rhythmically driven than anything else.  I think putting it on paper kindof botched it in a way.
But...if you liked any of it, say so.
If not, just go back to your regularly-scheduled life.  Wait for the next post, it will be better.

consigno [record]

Well, we're already more than a week into the realm of 2015 and some of us haven't put anything up on the internet aside from facebook posts and general complaints.  Definitely not the enlightening stuff that the internet is such a great forum for.

Maybe we'll just say that I've been busy accomplishing things such as new year's resolutions and doing homework like crazy.  You know, those things that take up your life.

There is always so much to do relative to the time that we have to do it in.

So here's the great paradox that I've been suffering under for the past couple months with regard to writing things down, be it in blog posts, journals, personal letters, or any other method of recording our lives:

It requires time to do those things. A fair amount of it. Especially if you get behind and need to catch up your thoughts and the important things and events that have been molding your existence.

So I often feel this desire to just spend a few days shut in with a pen and many papers and accomplish all the recording of my life and catch up on all the important memories and process all the thoughts. I feel that if I could spend the vast majority of my free time (and even my work time or sleep time) writing, then I wouldn't ever get behind.

The paradox is that I would also not have anything to write about.

For me, writing is a method of thinking.  And thinking is framed by our experiences.  Going out into the world and doing things that take up time you might prefer to use otherwise introduces you to new thoughts and ideas, new people and perspectives, things you didn't know before or had never even imagined. It's a very important part of being alive, I think. And a worthy investment of time.

So yeah, the one thing that prevents me from writing as much as I would like to is also the one thing that I need the most in order to write.

This is why sleep is such a lesser priority. X)

sentio

It's been a while. To be honest, I've had difficulty in writing things lately, hence the blogging hiatus.

And surprisingly, none of this has been due to writer's block or a lack of ideas or drive.
No, all those necessary elements have been quite present.  In abundance.

I've actually had difficulty in writing things lately because I have had too many thoughts that I wanted to develop into posts, and too many passions that I wanted to discuss.

If you frequent literature, you might know the feeling.

Anyway.  It's probably about time I make my public announcement on the blog.  I'm going to be leaving for a time.  18 months, to quantify it.  So there really won't be much new stuff to look at here.  I doubt I'll be able to get anything up here in the time I'll be away.  But if you insist on returning to read your favorite posts, please feel free.  I encourage you to start discussions in the comments with other readers.  (I will say that's one thing that's always bothered me about a blog.  It's very one-sided interaction.  I write things, you read them...the end.  I wish there were more comments and discussions made on blogs in general.  So if I come back to 18 months' worth of commentary, I really won't complain ;D)

That being said, I still have a week here on the blagoblag.  And in order to sort out some of the things happening here in the world and some of the thoughts going on here in my head, I'd like to go out with a bang and blog ALL of the days!  After all, I have so many things to write about that I simply can't write at all.  And the quantity and quality of things to be written continues to build.

And now that we've gotten through all the announcements and apologies, I'd like to move into a small thought that might begin to summarize the surplus of thought that has been surrounding me lately.

It is this:

Hearts break, and minds blow...open.

When your heart breaks, it breaks open.  And that allows new feelings and new love to slip inside that otherwise wouldn't have had that opportunity.

When your mind blows, it becomes more open and ideas can find a home that would have been locked out previously.

So don't be afraid of breaking your heart or blowing your mind.  Embrace all your experiences with no regrets and no reservations.  Feel things.  Feel all the things.

qualitas

Time for a confession:

Even though I really love this blog and enjoy making posts and writing things, I still sometimes feel silly for having a blog.

In my head, blogging is still a little bit frivolous. Perhaps because the majority of the blogs I am aware of are the cute little mommy blogs that seem to be so popular in my culture. And those do not interest me at all. I see people post things, and think "why do I care what you made for your "hubby's" birthday dinner?" or "believe it or not, I'm not really intrigued by the details of your toddler's potty-training". And so there are times that I'm a little bit ashamed to be in the same group of 'bloggers' as all those blogs that I think are a bit silly.

(but to those with mommy blogs: don't think I'm hating. Who knows if I'll change my mind in a decade or so when it's actually applicable to me...)

This is how it feels:

 

Sometimes I feel like the one on the left, and It's like, "Yes, the whole world should read this post.  It is a masterpiece".

And then there are those posts where I wonder, "Who would read this? This is definitely the worst post on the blog thus far".

Unfortunately the only thing I can really do about this is to keep writing.  And keep posting.  And hope that the frequency of fantastic posts will increase, thereby decreasing the occurrence of lackluster posts.

Any fellow bloggers feel like this sometimes, too?

educationem

Baaaaugh. I feel like it's been forever since I posted last (indeed, a whole week).  I've been having a small case of writer's block, really.

But that's ending today. Not because I have a good idea now, but because I'm sick of it. So I'm going to write stuff whether it's good or not.

Ha, whether it's good or not...
See, I used to be an avid writer.  Throughout most of middle school I thought I wanted to grow up and become an author.  So I would write stories all the time.  I had a particular preference for stuff set in medieval times and also science fiction.  Kindof a weird match, but true...I was really quite steampunky, looking back.
I was going through some old writings I found recently and was like "Woh, this was written forever ago!  I think I was a better writer five years ago than I am now..."
Which, when it comes to fictitious writing, may very well be true.

Once upon a time in ninth grade, I got sick of English.  I think part of it was that I got bored with the teacher and a little distracted by myriad other things, but I stopped enjoying writing assignments (and really, stopped doing them altogether) and since then I've been largely focused more on maths and sciences than writing.

It doesn't really help that my high school writing career largely involved analytical and technical writing.  I still enjoyed it and succeeded at it, but it wasn't as inventive and didn't always consist of a whole lot of myself.

So frankly, it's a bit strange to me that now I'm in university, studying mechanical engineering (where all my classes are math and science-based) I've kindof resurrected my former writing self.  Of all times to do so.

Perhaps it just goes to show that now I've finished all my required English and Art classes for the rest of my foreseeable educational journey, I have to get my fix some other (optional) way.

I just think it's interesting that when it comes to science versus art, the only ground seems to be middle ground.  You really can't have one without the other; even in individuals it's somewhat impossible to devote yourself to becoming entirely immersed in one while completely avoiding the other.

"Ohai, I'm Leonardo da Vinci, and I'm the boss of Art and Science."

It almost seems as if the further you delve into one area, the deeper you go in others as well.  Like the more you know about anatomy, the better you are at drawing people.  And the more experience you have with music, the easier it is to understand sound waves and sound interference. 

So I guess as long as you're learning something, you're gradually learning everything. Which is a pleasant thought to me.

archetypus

Have you ever gone to write a story, compose a song, draw a picture, or create something only to find that you're unable to make something novel?

What about romance novels?  If you've read one, you've read them all...same with listening to Taylor Swift songs.
(Please do not take the above statement and conclude that I am a reader of romance novels.  Or that I listen to Taylor Swift.  Because you would be sorely mistaken.)

But even good music and books and artwork isn't original.  No doubt you've been reading a book, and you've gotten to a certain point that has reminded you of another book you read once before.  I'm not saying that the entire book is unoriginal, but that there are pieces of it that are linked to pieces of other things.

Like a patchwork quilt.

Here is a scenario to illustrate this idea:

"I baked you a pie!"

"Oh boy, what flavor?"

"Universe flavor."

It's universe flavored because of this nifty quote I got from John Green: (not sure if he was quoting or not, though I think that is likely the case.)

"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe."

We're constantly playing off and building from other people's ideas, discoveries, passions, and work in general.

Basically, nothing I post is my own...nothing is original, and it's better that way.  Because it makes us realize just how dependent we are on other humans.  Not only Copernican theory and Beethoven's Seventh and the Cartesian plane, but also Grandma's recipes and what your parents did in college and the fact that your big sister plays soccer.  But this is nice because we aren't constantly reinventing the wheel, and it promotes the unity and progression of humanity in general.  Which I guess is a nice side effect.

So yeah, all this time you've been reading a blog full of other people's ideas.  I've put my twist on them and presented them to you, and now they're your ideas too, and they belong to you just as much as did to me, and as much as they did to person before. (Sharing is caring!) So take them and run! And by run, I don't mean "flee from the law now that you've stolen other people's ideas", I mean take them somewhere new.  Share the things that you love and that impress you with people whom you love and who impress you.  Add a little bit of you to them. 

Ultimately, we'll end up with one huge conglomeration of the same story over and over, and it will be lovely.  We'll have invented the universe.

metaphora

Metaphors can be as useful as a hole in the head.
They can also be as ambiguous as a hole in the head, because headholes could be bad (like  a mortal wounding) or good (like a mouth, into which bacon can be inserted).

Here are some examples, allegedly written by real life high school students.  So you know they're going to be good.

You can also tell that the individual who compiled these thought they were smarter than the high school students, when in reality, they called the following statements "analogies", which is not entirely untrue, but "metaphors" would have been a better choice.

It makes you wonder how much they paid attention in their high school English classes.

You are no doubt dumbstruck by the literary prowess of alleged high school students.  I find the ninth one there to be quite meaningful, for example.

(Actually, I love it.  It's hilariously demonstrative of her lack of vocabulary.  My love for number nine is not sarcastic.)

This reminds me of one of my favorite metaphors, from The Red Badge of Courage.  It goes something like this:
"The red sun was pasted like a wafer in the sky."

I'm going completely from memory there, so it might not be verbatim, but I find it hilarious.  HILARIOUS.

So I guess the lesson here is that metaphors are either effective, or hilarious.
And if you're Mark Twain, then perhaps your metaphors are both.

dixit

Once again, it's time to visit grade school English class and fix all the lies that you learned as a child.

Here is your teacher:

"Don't say 'said'."  

I was even provided with a list of other, much more exciting and descriptive words to use instead of the dreaded "said".  And perhaps while you're still learning to write and you're constructing paragraphs like a McDonald's employee, this is valuable advice because it forces you to actually think about what you're writing and to branch out into the realm of new words other than your limited colloquial vocabulary.

But, as any English-speaker knows, rules are made to be broken.

The problem with avoiding the word "said" just because you were told to do so once many years ago is that "said" is actually a very nice word.  

Here, let's do an experiment:  say your name.

"your name".

Very nice.  Now, tell me how you just did that.  Did you proclaim it?  Did you shout? Did you whisper? Did you command?

If you want, you can do further experimentation and say your name under those conditions.  Scream it.  Ask it.  Declare it.

Do you feel silly?

Now just say it again.  You still might feel a little silly, sitting in front of the computer, repeating your name aloud over and over...but certainly just saying your name is much less ridiculous than anything else.

See, given the situation, "said" is the best word.

"Said" is a nice little tool to use because it doesn't distract from what is sometimes more important.  Half the battle of creating anything that speaks to our insides (emotions, intelligence, soul, whatever it is you have in there...) is creating something that will resonate there, and the other half is to not distract from that resonance.

In music, this means staying in tune.

In art, this means coloring inside the lines.  (unless you're going for something more abstract...)

In dance, this means keeping your movements strong and fluid.

And in writing, it means letting those words (that you've chosen so carefully to carry the power that they have) stand alone.  Don't try to augment them with other words...let the best words and phrases steal the show, and don't be afraid to have words like 'said' in the chorus, where they can't upstage the important stuff.

That being said, just don't be lazy and put "said" for everything.  Use "said" just as carefully as you use everything else.

excellentia

Once upon a time, I wrote an essay for an English class.  I was a sophomore in high school, but I had taken sophomore English the year previous with a bunch of other freshmen, and as such I was in put in a class full of juniors when I changed schools.  This wasn't a huge deal (although in high school, it can't just be ignored, so all the juniors were well aware of the five or so sophomores in that class) but it was interesting.

This is how my essay writing attack plan went during that year of high school:

1) Read (most of) the book
2) Participate in class discussion of the book
3) Think about the book and my essay
4) The day the rough draft is due, show up about ten minutes early to class and write down some stuff about the book and what it means.  Usually this overlapped into the starter that we wrote every day, so I'd write the rough draft instead and write the starter later, since the rough draft was due more immediately.
5) Trade rough drafts with another student and edit theirs while they edit mine
6) Go home and forget about the book
7) The day the essay is due, wake up early in the morning
8) Completely disregard anything written in the rough draft and any of the peer feedback written on it.
9) Write the entire essay in one actual draft, one sitting, just over one hour.
10) Success!

I followed this plan of attack quite closely.  I went to school that day, armed with my last-minute essay on Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter entitled "Hester Prynne as a Protein Shake".  I was quite fond of it.

When the essays were handed back, I received mine and began flipping through it, reading the comments written in.  I got to the end and flipped it over to see my score.  Next to my "A" was a note that read something along the lines of, "This is quite possibly one of the best essays written by a high schooler that I have ever read".  This was high praise indeed, and I was pleased.  Some of the juniors were slightly less pleased, however, when they heard that a sophomore had written the best essay in the class.

Well, the semester continued and it came time to write another essay, this time on The Great Gatsby, one of my favorite literature classics.  But when it came time to write the essay, I was unusually nervous.  It's very unlikely that I would write another essay that was just as good if not better than one entitled "Hester Prynne as a Protein Shake".  You can't compare everyone to protein shakes, after all.  I was afraid that my Gatsby essay would be compared to the Hester essay and would be a disappointment.  My essays were always good, but it's intimidating when you have a standard to live up to...

I followed my usual attack plan and wrote the essay and turned it in.  I received high marks and everything was fine.

I still get intimidated by my writing, though.  Sometimes, I write something fantastic, and people love it, and happiness reigns.  And every time I write something after that, I'm afraid that people won't like it as much as the fantastic one.  It's like I'm Daisy Buchanan, and whoever reads my writing is Jay Gatsby, and yes, sometimes Daisy is fantastic and beautiful and just like Gatsby remembers/imagines her, but more often, Daisy can't possibly live up to that unrealistic expectation that Gatsby has envisioned and hoped for, and so she becomes disenchanting despite the fact that she's a remarkable person.

The only solution to this is for Gatsby to die.
Which means you, dear readers.

...I would actually prefer that you not die, though.  I have come to enjoy having people read the things that I put on the internet, and if you die, that might become more difficult for you to do.

Really, the best solution I can think of is for me to continue writing, and you to continue reading, and sometimes things will be fantastic (which I attribute chiefly to the topic of the writing...some things are easier to be fantastic with) and happiness will reign,  and the rest of the time, I'll be practicing writing (and you can be practicing reading!) and ideally getting better, to the point where fantastic stuff is produced more regularly. :)

agnominatio

I have tests this week.  Lovely.
But instead of studying for them, I'd rather write things on the internet. :)

And because this is a blog about writing, it's time I mention one of the important rules of writing:

Always avoid annoying alliteration.

Really.  Writers don't realize just how wrong it is to write and rewrite the same sounds so sadistically.  It's lame, and you look like a loser when it's overly obvious how much you love one little letter.  Is it a difficult decision to diversify?  Do us a favor and forget your feelings for that favorite letter, let it have a holiday.  Coax the other consonants out of your vast vocabulary, and allow all the alphabet admission.

Just a word to the wise.

Anyway, time to try to study...tons of tests...
I have physics on Phriday, and math on Monday!

lardo

Hey, remember that paragraph analogy from fifth grade, about how good paragraphs resemble hamburgers?  Because...there's a bun, and it's like the first sentence...and then some tomatoes...and onions and pickles to make it good, and the meat of the paragraph is the actual claim you're making...and then there's another bun, and some sesame seeds...

yeah.  you can tell that I remember it perfectly.

Well, first of all this paragraph analogy is flawed.  Nobody is going to remember it post-puberty because we'll all get distracted, imagining creating the perfect burger, and how many pickles it should have, and how juicy the meat will be, and how the mustard and the ketchup will blend beautifully and act as an adhesive to hold the burger together, since you overloaded it a bit with onions and tomatoes, because you can never have too many tomatoes...

Secondly, the hamburger is flawed because it lacks bacon.

Third, every analogy is flawed, because it is not bacon.

Forget the hamburger analogy, especially if it makes you think of clowns.  Hamburger paragraphs can't make a paper strong.  

Here is how a paragraph should be written, in a fashion resembling bacon:

• Paragraphs should be pleasant to listen to.  They must sizzle.
• Paragraphs should be crispy.  Not too much extra stuff because bacon needs no augmentation, but should be dripping in a little extra fat to make it extra good.
• Paragraphs should be an indulgence.  Readers should thoroughly enjoy the paragraph, and once they finish one paragraph, they must desire another.
• Paragraphs should have a nice oscillatory shape.  Sentences should flow with some short ones and some long ones.  
• If it's flat, it's not done.
• Paragraphs should be used with everything.  Writing about maple doughnuts? Use bacon. Salad? Use bacon. Animal rights? Use bacon.
• Sharing paragraphs should make you more popular and win you love.
• Just smelling the paragraph should make consuming it compulsory.

If your paragraph does not have these characteristics, you have some revision to do.

brevis

It is so difficult to write a short post.
As in...a post that you don't have to scroll in order to read it in its entirety.  Which...of course depends on the size of your screen. 

Perhaps I just feel like many of my posts are long.  Probably because the attention span of the internet is often no more than 140 characters.  Oh, internets...

Anyway.  In my AP Human Geography class, we wrote essays fairly often (about one every two weeks or so).  This may have been an awful experience, except that our teacher didn't give us a length requirement.  In fact, he hated it when we asked length questions. Here is a brief dialogue:

student: "How long should this essay be?"

Stucki: (gives them his signature "you continually surprise me at your capacity to be an idiot" look) "Did you really just ask a length question?

student: "ummm..."

He always told us (or had someone whom he thought to be less idiotic tell those deemed to be more idiotic) to let the length take care of itself.

So I had a friend who made it her personal goal to write every essay as concisely as possible in only about twelve sentences or so.  It was pretty great, really...everyone wrote pages.  Except her.

Anyway.  This post is now somewhat long, and it's about being short. :P  I suppose there's just so much to say and to explain and to explore (because really this process is just as much exploring for me as it is for you...perhaps even more) through writing, that I find it very difficult to focus things down to one concise, twelve-sentence post.  Which is not inherently bad...

palmari

Because this is a blog about writing, it would be appropriate to include some steps for how to write. 
And because I have a huge paper due in less than 24 hours, it would be inappropriate to be posting things on the internet right now, but I'm also hopelessly trying to distract myself and this is a much more worthwhile diversion than facebook is.

And since I'm currently experiencing the writing steps, I have experience in the field, and as such, I will share my excellent action plan for this paper.  Prepare to be enlightened:

Final Draft Action Plan

in order to make your paper thoroughly excellent and satisfy readers everywhere

1. Read through all previous drafts (in my case, I had two and a half)
1. analyze what's working and what's missing in each draft
2. Outline each draft (organize what you already have)
3. Outline your final draft
4. Quilt the final draft using the best elements from previous drafts
5. Submit final draft to friends and colleagues for editing/criticism
1. For me, I'm also going to focus on getting feedback from my intended audience (as my paper is of the persuasive nature)
6. Make any alterations necessary
7. Conduct a killer assessment of the final draft. 
1. Ensure all arguments are balanced 
2. Ensure all 2,000 words are quality words to make your grandmother proud
1. Some would say "reduce lard".  Yes, reduction of lard is important, but your paper will be trim and powerless if it doesn't have some Olympic-worthy  muscles.  
2. Feed your paper protein shakes.
3. Ensure that everything is amazing
4. Ask yourself if you could have done a better job on anything
8. Polish the final draft.  Transform it into a Masterpiece Draft
1. Use of gamma radiation is allowed
9. Submit the paper to the professor.
1. Or, since you've worked so hard on it, go ahead and just publish it to the world.  It's ready.
10. Success!
1. Notice how "Success" is step number ten?  It's very important that step ten always be "success".
2. Even if there are more than ten steps in a process.  You should have succeeded by step ten.

Now you all know how to create a Masterpiece Draft.

I find it appropriate that I'm doing this on Halloween.  I'm like Doctor Frankenstein, and my paper...is coming ALIVE....

affectu

Communication is changing all the time.  And with modes of communication going in and out of fashion (smoke signals and semaphore, written word and the pony express, the telephone, the cell phone, email and texting, videochat...) the way that we express ourselves and get our meaning across changes too.

Here's an invention that accompanied the development of email and texting:

:)

Adorable, really.

With communication more available and mindless than ever before, it's so much easier to insert simple faces in an attempt to illustrate tone than it is to spend time developing a caustic, sarcastic, or sincere tone through word choice and all that rhetoric.

And because it's so much easier to omit tonal clues in your writing, it's also becoming much more difficult to be able to pick up on them when they're there.

For example, internet sarcasm.  Unless you're a close friend of someone and you know exactly what they would and wouldn't say and mean, sarcasm is often taken to be sincere. 

Which is kindof hilarious in some instances...

But even so, it's become somewhat necessary to include an obvious pointer to one's sarcastic remarks.  Like so:

↓↓SARCASM↓↓

"I really wish that I had read the twilight books"

↑↑SARCASM↑↑

This is frustrating, that the general public with their fifth-grade reading level cannot detect any sort of satire unless it's pointed out to them.

Conversely, I'm quite fond of the development of emoticons.  I sometimes have problems reminding myself not to include them in my essays for school.

:P

I guess it all evens out.

scriptus

Alright.  Time to revisit the fact that I write a lot.

This is perhaps becoming more and more true, because I am finding myself much more prone to spending time writing blog posts than doing chemistry assignments (of which I have already missed...all of the assignments...)

Then again, I've also neglected to write in my book for quite some time...poor book.

That's right.  I have what most would call a "journal".  But for some reason, I have an aversion to it being called a "journal", and so instead, I have a "book".  And if people ask me, "oh, is that your journal?", I will instead tell them, "No, actually, this is my book".  And then they draw the conclusion that I am writing a book, presumably a fantasy romance teenage drama novel with dragons, because those are the kinds of books that people my age like to try to write.  And then hopefully they leave me alone, because obviously I am not writing stuff in my book in hopes that it will become a social activity.

So, why do I write so excessively?  To be honest, I don't know exactly why.  I write lots of different things, see.  A book.  A blog.  I used to keep a few different books that were each specifically for one topic.  Letters.  I used to write lots of letters...probably about half of which never actually reached their recipients.  I occasionally keep a bookmark on which I write phrases that I am particularly fond of from the book that I am reading.  My desk is cluttered with notebooks and small slips of paper, all containing excellent thoughts and realizations and words...I especially love words.

So my question is this: Why bother thinking if we can't write?  Or doing, or experiencing, or anythinging, for that matter.  I write lots of things to just remember them.  My book, yes, but also just notes.  Grocery lists.  How to take perform integration by parts.  Things to do today.  Something I thought of or remembered, and didn't want to lose.

I write a lot because there's so much to be written.

Not to discredit oral tradition or anything.  But written language is definitely a handy little invention.

iurare

Today, I received an interesting text message from a friend, requesting a list of several uncommon adjectives that were not more than two syllables.

Slightly excited, I returned the next 140 characters with the words:

quaint, portly, ruddy, pious, awry, verdant, virile, pudgy, bovine, fetal, queer, feral, hirsute, gaudy, sly, and crispy

K, crispy isn't that uncommon in the everyday vernacular, but it's a very good word nonetheless.

After sending such a heartfelt list, I was informed that my friend was in search of alternatives to swears in a book he's working on.  This amused me slightly, but also alarmed me, because I don't want "crispy" to be used as an expletive anytime soon.  I quickly advised him to just use "asinine" a lot because it conveys the same harshness of an actual swear, but it's such better word choice.  And it doesn't ruin words like "verdant" and "fetal".

But it brings up what is for some (especially those in Utah) a moral dilemma:  Should I write swear words in books?

hahahahahha....hahahhaahhaha

Sorry.  Immature moment there, as I realized that the way that question is posed makes it sound like you're running around the local library, ripping books of the shelves and writing "butthead" across the pages or something...and now the thought of it is making me giggle like an idiot, here in the middle of the library on campus.  I really hope other people are looking at me weirdly.

I digress.

Many writers who normally don't swear when they themselves are speaking object to it because they hate reading a great book and then coming upon an F-bomb that really didn't add to the quality of the writing.  It has destroyed many a book.

Others argue that it shouldn't be so objectionable because it adds realism to the story and characters.  After all, "$^%&^" sometimes carries a lot more than "He swore loudly".

Personally, I generally avoid swearing.  But there are some words that, although they are swears, are just so succinct, and no other word will really do.  The F-word is obviously not one of these, because it is used so widely, and as every part of speech.  Including a preposition, by some of the more talented swearers...

No, I'm talking about words with definite, consistent meanings.  And words that don't have a direct counterpart, like "crap" or "donkey". 

So really, that narrows down my favorite swear quite a lot.

Even so, I tend to go with a weaker word, depending on my audience.

Although it has been psychologically proven that, for someone who doesn't swear often, letting a cuss word out or two can actually reduce the amount of pain sensed.  It's apparently therapeutic in small amounts.

This hasn't really reached any sort of conclusion, but does every post have to reach a conclusion?  Maybe its open-endedness will invite commentary from any readers who care to participate.  Haha.

fabula

Every good story is a love story.

Now, I know this sounds gross, because love stories are so cliché and revolting, not to mention cliché...  But it's true.

And if you're someone who knows me personally, you may be wondering what kind of blog link I gave you, because this is certainly not me writing...But it is.

Here, allow me to tell you a loveless story.  It will be brief, in the interest of saving virtual paper.

Once upon a time, there was a girl who was bored with her life.  She didn't have a blog to fill her time, so she decided to embark on a journey and see what life had to offer.  She traveled across the country until she came to the sea.  There was nobody she wanted to say goodbye to, and nobody she was hoping to meet.  But she sailed away in a small boat, slightly curious about what she might encounter in her journeys.
The girl was indifferent toward the ocean, so the sight of land one day was neither a relief nor a pain.  She quickly found her way ashore and set out to explore her new location.  There were some interesting things there, but nothing too noteworthy, and nobody to write to about the curious discoveries she was making, so these discoveries are rather inconsequential.

Okay, that got really difficult really quickly.  Which is why there is no ending.  And really no middle...and not much of a beginning either.  The whole story sucks.  See, the story would be a lot better if there was some sort of love going on.  Naturally what comes to mind is that the girl either leaves a wonderful boy behind, or finds a new dark and handsome lad in the new land, or both.  And yes, even that would make the story much less dry of a read.

But any other kind of love would be welcome as well.

See, stories require love in order to connect with us.  Whether it's a love of a land (as in Far from Home...I'll just refer to that since we should all be familiar with it...), of a people, a culture, a sport, a mathematic principle, a small hedgehog....it all makes the story valuable.  Sure, people usually get involved as well, but that doesn't mean that there is only one kind of love story.

Now, I'm sure that some of you little devil's advocates are wondering "What about hate stories?  Those are passionate and emotionally involving just like love stories, but they are indeed loveless."  And to you, I say that you use the term "hate" just as loosely as people use the term "love".

"I love bacon" is not the same kind of love as "I love my dog".  While both are clearly desirable....actually, I'm pretty sure that bacon love is pretty deep stuff...

Take two:
"I love reading 'The Far Side' comics" is not the same kind of love as "I love my dog".  Obviously, most of us have a much deeper attachment to dogs than to comics, and this is largely because of the many good experiences we've had with our dogs that outweigh the good experiences we've had with Gary Larson.

Unless your dog is named Gary Larson.

Similarly, "I hate Justin Bieber" doesn't carry the same weight as "I hate celery", because I haven't had many experiences with Justin Bieber (thankfully), but I have had countless miserable experiences with celery.  Awful, stringy stuff...

True hate has to be rooted in the same place that sincere love is rooted.  You can only truly hate that which you have truly loved.  And you can only truly love something if you give it the power to break your heart.

See, my heart's been broken by soccer before.  And math, yes.  And by each of my closest friends.  (They take turns, but some of them take more than their fair share of turns...)  And by Marcus Mumford.
But not so much by bacon.  Or Boston Baked Beans.  Or the city of Boston.  Or even zebras.

Each person's love story is a little bit different.  I could tell you how I spent summers dedicated to soccer, and never made the team, and yes, it's a love story.  That's why it's worth telling.  If I had spent my summers training for the wrestling team and then didn't make the cut, that wouldn't have been a good story because it's completely passionless.

So, as we all go around making stories to tell, just remember that where you invest your love, you invest your life.