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Friday, June 29, 2012

I'm an English-loving weirdo

I think people may get the wrong impression of me when I tell them that I love English. They think that loving English is equivalent to loving to correct grammar.



In case you didn't know, English isn't just about grammar. If it were, I would probably suck at it, because I don't really like grammar all that much.


Don't get me wrong; grammar can be interesting and fun and lots of other adjectives people don't really believe. But I'm not interested in catching people in grammatical errors. Yes, I have pet peeves, like when people say the Bible uses Old English, or when people hypercorrect and say weird stuff like, "It was such a nice day for Jordan and I." Gross. But I would never call someone out on grammar stuff. Prescriptive grammar should be reserved for formal writing (and occasionally formal speech). The only time I'd correct someone would be to tease them, and only if they're secure in their English-using abilities. Like my smart, attractive, linguistically-gifted husband.


Anyway, I love English BECAUSE IT'S AWESOME. No, really. I know I can't persuade people on this, you included, but English really is freakin' awesome. It has a pretty interesting history, involving lots of countries with their own languages (this is part of why English seems totally messed up). We have gajillions of words, and a lot the words have synonyms, which provide shades of meaning. There are lots of dialects in English, and who doesn't like to hear a sweet Scottish/New Zealand/whatever-tickles-your-fancy accent? And I think it's fascinating that, not only do the sounds and their order in words influence the pronunciation, but the mechanics of our bodies do too, making everyone's English a little bit different. Plus, I just think it's flat-out interesting that English is structured in the way it is--we have pretty basic sentence structures, don't technically have to worry about cases, only have three moods, and don't have gendered nouns! Thank you, English!!


You probably aren't into English, even though you speak it and write it and think it and dream it. You're kinda weird for not liking your own language, but that's okay. That's why I majored in English Language and you didn't.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Take a gander at my hardcore skillz

Hello there, cool people. Since I'm an official BYU alumna now and I'm not working, I have gajillions of free time, all to myself. Aside from watching every tv show I can think of, I've been making lots of crafts.

Doesn't that sound lame? Crafts? What am I, a kindergartner? Seriously though, I like crafting, as the craft-savvy call it. Here's some of the stuff I've made:

I crocheted these slippers using this pattern. I had to do several practice rounds, but I'm pretty happy with the final result.


I made tiny books! I've always been interested in bookbinding, but never interested in spending a bunch of money to take a class/buy legit supplies, so I made up my own method.



Finally, I made this purse. No pattern, just made it up. The material is from an apron that I never wore. Aprons are weird.


Sunday, June 3, 2012

"The Facebook" and old people part two: TMI alert!

While geriatric Facebook blunders involving basic internet-ing knowledge are entertaining, some blunders are downright dangerous. Sometimes the eldery don't know where to draw the line between sharing socially-acceptable information and socially-horrifying information.

Old people love to talk about the state of their bodies: wrinkles and saggies, what's been ailing them this week, and bodily functions. Lots of bodily functions. This information seems more or less appropriate to be forced upon their family and friends in person, or doctors at the very least. But online for unsuspecting kids and kids-at-heart to see?...


...It's just disturbing. 

Even when the medical updates aren't inherently awkward, the fact that they're sharing the information with us can be off-putting.


Unfortunately, it seems that when they're not sharing gross stuff with us, they share personal information with third parties that would absolutely love to steal their identities and make their lives super lame. 





(Note to everyone: don't hand out your personal information like Halloween candy.)

And sometimes, their love affair of the like button reveals a little too much about their personal preferences.


P.S. While researching, we saw this. You're welcome.