Oh boy...

did Anna ever stir up some comments on her blog.  Go look.... read the comments... making sure you stay tuned long enough for me to point out my own spelling mistake.  It happens, despite my best efforts.  

For me, who didn't feel in any way offended, it made me think about a few things.  I know I'm spelling challenged and have to depend on my use of proper English to get the grammar correct.  I am, seriously, a math brain person.  I know the obvious things.... don't say ain't, don't chew gum and walk.... oh! no, wait.....that's not grammar.  So, I guess that's the only one that comes to mind.  English class was like torture for me.  The minute you say the word.... preposition... I have mentally checked out. (Mad Libs?  I have to flip to the front constantly to remind myself of the definitions.) I remember one or two lessons on commas.  If the sentence can do without that statement... put commas around it.  I remember that after a colon you put in 2 spaces before starting the next word.  Maybe that's something I learned in typing class my senior year of high school.  So, for me, I just try not to have run on sentences by breaking it up with a few commas or .....s.  Kind of like how I talk.  Now, if you want to talk math... or accounting.. or tax law.... or V&T Law or even some Penal Law.... I'm your girl.   

It also made me think about why I blog and why I read other blogs.  I blog because, in my general world, I don't have an outlet for sharing my crafting.  I also have friends and family spread far and wide.  It's nice for them to see some things, including pictures of the kids.  I read blogs for the same reason. 

Back when we first got a computer and I first started IM'ing and emailing a friend, I used to (I looked that up 'used to' .... I'd been wondering if I'd been using that correctly.... see I'm not totally stupid, I knew it was a possibility, but thanks to Anna's link to the WVA school and their grammar tips I saw it's:  used to, not' use to')  Anyhow, my friend was a 4th grade teacher (Hi, Pam) and I used to say I was afraid of all the errors I made.  After all, she was a 4th grade teacher, one would think this type of stuff jumped right out at her causing her to wish for a red pen.  But, that wasn't the case.  She said that I shouldn't worry, EVER, about that.  She would just prefer to have the communication.  So, that's been my motto.  And, maybe, even the reason I let myself start a blog.... the thinking that people would rather read my written word than not.  

To further my efforts to not make grammatical mistakes, I don't use such stylistic phrases as:  I love me.... or the word 'skillz' just in case. For me,  it's just safer to stay away from that sort of thing in case I've made some real mistake.   Someone might misunderstand.

The spelling, however, I blame 100% on this....

 I sure hope you can see that.  It's my 1st grade class picture.  First of all, so you know I have a great memory.... That boy standing on the left is Mike, Lyle is in the gold shirt in front of him, then Lily, Lisa, Charles, and I think that other boy in yellow is another Mike or Bobby.  In the front row L-R is Julie, me, Vinny, Bobby, Karen and Julie.  The only person I sort of doubt is the Julie next to me.  I remember she was very quiet.  Oh, and Mrs. Lowry.  Not bad, given how many years ago that was..... 40.... AND we moved from that school after 3rd grade. 

But, what I really want you to notice is what's on the wall behind us.  That was the phonics program we were taught.  I can't even make some of the characters on the computer.  Look at that backward 'Z' next to Lily's shoulder.  WTF?  It's a wonder I'm not dyslexic, too.  That thing represented the 'z' sound in the middle of a word like scissors.  How about that combined a e thing... for a long a, or the sh combined letter.  Those things DON'T appear in any language! 

I lived in New York when I started kindergarten.  My teacher, Miss Milks (who retired the year I finished kindergarten), taught us to read out of a Dick and Jane reader.  I was the first student and only one of 2 who completed that book and got to move on to the next level of Dick and Jane.  Then we moved to PA and this bizarre phonics system.  So, I spent 1st grade unlearning how to read and learning this strange system. We then spent our entire 2nd grade year unlearning that and relearning the correct way to read and write.  Who wouldn't be screwed up after that?

So, while I have some pet peeves about some blogs, I'd rather read than not read and I'd rather write than not write.  But Anna, you go girl.  Put a voice to some of our frustrations.  And, really, I want a pair of crabbypants of my own.  I could love me some crabbypants.  (And just to note... I had to look up using 'than' instead of 'then'.  Will I remember to do it correctly next time?  Maybe, maybe not. Even after that I look at a previous sentence and question my understanding of what I just read.)  Such is life.  I sure can explain depreciation vs amortization, if anyone cares.