Thoughts, ideas, tips, musings, and pontifications. . .not necessarily in that order.
By now I’m sure you have heard of the passing of Randy Pausch. I saw his lecture on youtube last October and passed the link on to as many people as I knew. I also told them to have tissues or a hankie nearby. If you have not seen the lecture, please do. If you have not read the book, please do.
Your life will change.
I received this as a spam email today. If anyone knows the author, please let me know. Yes I grew up with english, but I wonder what foreigners think when they undertake learning the language?
“We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes, One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese, You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice, If the plural of man is always called men, If I speak of my foot and show you my feet, If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth, Beware of heard, a dreadful word If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught? Reasons to be grateful if you grew up speaking English:
1) I did not object to the object. You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language And that is just the beginning
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
Why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the
same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
2) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
3) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
4) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
5) The farmer could produce produce.
in which your house can burn up as it burns down,
in which you fill in a form by filling it out,
and in which an alarm goes off by going on.
even though this is the end.”
Yeah, I know, it’s taking quite a while, but I finally got the blog working again. Changing the design and layout…it will eventually permeate throughout. I’ll be working on it and eventually get back to a consistent writing schedule. Thanks for your patience. 
Not only is choosing your words important, but the order you put them in makes a difference. Newspapers, in their quest to use as few words as possible in headlines, make the biggest blunders:
- Something Went Wrong in Plane Crash, Expert Says
- Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
- Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
- Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
- War Dims Hope for Peace
- Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges!
- Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
- Miner Refuses to Work after Death
- New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
- Local High School Dropouts Cut In Half
- Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
I haven’t read “A Million Little Pieces,” by James Frey yet. My wife is almost done with it and soon she will be handing it down to me. But, I have been keeping up with the brouhaha on whether it is fiction or non-fiction.
You see the author claims it is a memoir, a recollection of his life. Unfortunately, many of the situations he describes are not true. And now, because it may not be true, it is no longer such a good book. What the…?
It’s a story about a young tough guy with severe alcohol and crack addictions, whose rich parents pay for rehabilitation in a exclusive clinic. Since chemical/alcohol use can cause blackouts, I’m sure he had to take some literary license because he couldn’t remember what actually happened!! It comes down to marketing. I think it would be just as good a read if you called it a novel or a memoir. The bigger story may be how Oprah got duped
Not only is my brain tired but my fingers have calluses also! Now if I could only assemble the words in a way that would make more sense. Oh well.
NANOWRIMO…Oh yeah, I’m doing it again. Writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Two weeks in and I only have 18,000. I’m not sure how you spit out multiple books in a year. I’ve noticed that my writing this year sounds like what I did last year. At least my characters have different names
My first job was working in an orange juice factory, but I got canned … couldn’t concentrate.
Then I worked in the woods as a lumberjack, but I just couldn’t hack it, so they gave me the axe.
After that I tried to be a tailor, but I just wasn’t suited for it … mainly because it was a so-so job.
Next I tried working in a muffler factory but that was too exhausting.
Then I tried to be a chef — figured it would add a little spice too my life but I just didn’t have the thyme.
I attempted to be a deli worker, but any way I sliced it, I couldn’t cut the mustard.
My best job was being a musician, but eventually I found I wasn’t noteworthy.
I studied a long time to become a doctor, but I didn’t have any patience.
Next was a job in a shoe factory; I tried but I just didn’t fit in.
I became a professional fisherman, but discovered that I couldn’t live on my net income.
I managed to get a good job working for a pool maintenance company, but the work was just too draining.
So then I got a job in a workout center, but they said I wasn’t fit for the job.
After many years of trying to find steady work I finally got a job as a historian until I realized there was no future in it.
My last job was working at Starbucks, but I had to quit because it was always the same old grind.
I’m preparing a short presentation for the local chamber of commerce on time management. After putting it together and rehearsing a few times, I’m thinking I better practice what I preach.
Another suggestion is to combine several activities into one time spot. While preparing for today’s presentation, I have also come up with my next speech for my Toastmasters Club meeting and articles for my newsletter and weblog. You probably already multitask and don’t realize that you are: While showering you make a mental list of the things that need to be done; When you watch TV, laugh as you pay your bills. These are just examples of what you can do to combine your time, but there are many others. Above all be creative, and let it work for you.
So, out of one activity I have created a 20-minute presentation, written several entries into my business blog, written an article for my newsletter, prepared a 7-minute speech for completing my Competent Toastmaster award, and was the basis for this entry! Now if I could just pull that off with everything I do.
I started a new writing project recently. I was anxious to get it out and not lose any momentum. I started out strong, writing for a couple of hours, vowing to keep it up, cranking out the same number of words and spending the same number of hours writing every day. I wasn’t going to let anything stop me…
… Until something did. It happens every time, some other work or some phone call or something gets in my writing way. “No problem,” I say to myself, “I’ll make it up tomorrow.” And I do…until something else interrupts me. Before long, I’m in the hole for an impossible quota of words per hour, I’ve lost momentum and, I feel guilty that I’m not sticking to my writing schedule. Eventually, I lose all momentum. I feel like a failure because if I don’t get in at least a good portion of my words/hour every day, I end up not doing it at all. Then I’m on to my procrastination routine.
Oh I eventually will get it done, I always do. But why is it that I always have to go through the same routine? There’s gotta be a way of breaking the pattern. Oh well, back to what I started.