Sunday Stealing: I'm in Rare Form Today ;-)

Evidently this is the second part of a 90-question meme; clearly I've been slacking on my Sunday Stealing. Enjoy!  

Do you read your horoscope?

Not usually.  I’m a Scorpio (no kidding, right ;-)?), so it’s usually pretty extreme and melodramatic.

31. Where was the last place you bought something?

McDonald’s.  Jeff and Ari are clearing the ground for the new pool (bought with many saved gift cards and Ari eschewing her allowance for several months).  The old pool was really pretty small, so we just put a tarp down under it.  This one is pretty big and quite deep (almost over Ari’s head), so they are bonding over the prepwork on Fathers Day, and they expressed an urge for McDonald’s.  I am supposed to be “resting”, but I figured hitting the McD’s drive-thru wasn’t terribly taxing, so I got Jeff a Big Mac meal and Ari and Mighty Kids Cheeseburger meal.  I didn’t get anything because, in addition to resting, I am supposed to focus on liquids. 

32. How do you feel about your hair right now?

My hair sucks.  The gray roots aren’t even roots anymore; I have a half and half thing going from the last time I had it colored.  Unfortunately, I’m on medical leave from work and won’t get paid until August, so my hair is not a financial priority when you have the mortgage to pay and children to feed and no income.

33. Do you bite your nails?

Nope.  If you think about where your nails go throughout the course of the day, even if you wash your hands a lot and/or use hand sanitizer, you’re playing with fire if you bite your nails. 

34. Do you have any expensive jewelry?

I have a few nice pieces, mostly from my grandfather and a diamond-cut gold bracelet that my stepdad gave to my mother that she gifted me with after he passed away.  My ex-husband gave me diamond earrings and a couple of other things.  Jeff got me a beautiful gold starfish necklace last Mother’s Day, but the chain was too short for me to wear it comfortably and we haven’t been able to afford a new chain, but I can’t wait until I can wear it.  My engagement ring is white gold and heart shaped … I love it!

35. Have you ever been told you speak fast?

Yup, sometimes I speak really quickly. 

36. Is your laugh usually hearty?

Haha, my laugh is memorable, but I don’t think anyone has ever referred to it as “hearty”.  Annoying, yes.  Loud, yup.  Even “nice”.  Never hearty.

37. How fast have you driven a car?

Oh goodness gracious, I don’t know.  Actually, I do … 120 on a highway at 2 or 3 in the morning.  Viva la college.

38. Have you ever smoked?

Yes, and I currently have fluid in my lungs, which isn’t the main focus of my health dramas but certainly doesn’t help.  I wish I had never smoked.  My beloved stepdad died from lung cancer caused by being a lifetime smoker.  For a long time, I would occasionally slip when I was out drinking with certain people or at certain places.   

39. What was your favorite subject in school?

English.  Duh. (Sorry, I’m an English teacher)

40. Do you have cell phone provider loyalty?

Yup, I’ve used Verizon Wireless from Day 1.  I think this is mostly because it’s what my parents used.  Also, I tend to have customer loyalty in general.

41. What type of boy or girl do you usually fall for?

The type that will get me in trouble.  I deviated from that with my ex-husband because he’s a math nerd and he seemed safe and boring following the drama surrounding the rape debacle (ironically, of course, he ended up being the most abusive guy I've ever been with, but that’s a story for another day).  My current husband, is also sort of an exception because he is such a nice man, but I’m pretty sure he used to be an asshole.  That’s what he says, anyway.

42. Do you have any hidden talents?

I can tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue.  It’s a great hit at parties.  And whilst flirting with cute guys at bars in my wayward youth.

43. Favorite Song?

“Wake Up” by Alanis Morissette

44. Do you like to sing at all?

I love to sing.  I used to be pretty good at it, too.  My main gig right now, though, is singing to Gabrielle when I’m rocking her to sleep at night J

45. Dream Job?

Writer.  I would love to be able to be home writing all the time, blogging regularly about compelling subjects and getting paid for it, working on novels, even doing research and writing about mysteries or conspiracy theories from my own perspective.  I WILL write a book about Charles Manson someday, by the way, for all of you aware with my bizarre fascination in terms of psychological control.

46. Where does most of your family live?

Actually, virtually all of them live within an hour.  It’s a wonderful treat!

47. Are you an only child or do you have siblings?

I have a sister, a brother, two half-sisters, a half-brother, a step-sister, and a step-brother.  I know a lot of interesting people just in my own family ;-)

48. Would you consider yourself to be spoiled?

In some ways I’m very spoiled.  My husband and kids try very hard to “keep Mama happy”, but that’s in terms of behavior and activities.  I virtually never spend money on myself; seeing my kids able to participate in activities and have nice clothes and such makes me much happier than buying myself stuff.  I do have an iPhone 5, but it’s my one extravagance.

49. What was the first thing you thought when you woke up?

“Oh, Gabby’s here … Jeff must have gotten her.  That was nice of him J. Wait ... is she passed out??”

50. Do you drink?

Well, I’m breastfeeding, so not much right now (although I do have a beer or two once in awhile).  I also have a messed up liver, so I shouldn’t drink at all period, but I do sometimes.  I almost never drink at home, though; it’s only when I go out, and since that almost never happens these days, I almost never drink.

51. Know any other languages?

ig-Pay atin-Lay.  But seriously, I studied Latin in both high school and college.  It’s the base for the Romance Languages (Italian, French, Spanish), so I guess theoretically I could pick up one of those pretty easily.  Latin itself is a dead language, but I learned more about grammar in Latin than I ever did in English class.

52. Ever write a coded message?

I’m sure. 

53. Have you ever been in someone else's wedding?

Yup, my sister’s.  Had to give a speech, too ;-)

54. Do you have any children?

I have three daughters.

Emily is 19, and a brilliant student, a gifted musician, a bit OCD about time, and in general the kind of kid ever parent dreams of having.

Ariel is 10, and a gymnast, a cheerleader (it kills me to write that, but she’s actually very talented), a free spirit, blonde in both the literal and idiomatic sense, and probably the funniest kid I’ve ever met.

Gabrielle is 6 months old.  The sky’s the limit with her, but I think we are in for it based on the sparkle in her eye …

Oh, and Howard, my boxador puppy, is almost a year old.  He is a fantastic dog, if a little crazy (less so since being neutered).  He drives us all a bit bananas at times, but he’s a very good boy and I love him very much.

55. Did you take a nap today?

Nope.  I am supposed to be “resting” (two ER visits in a row before we made any sort of progress), but I’m not good at resting, so I’m sitting up (because the idea of fluid in my lungs terrifies me in terms of lying down) and typing.  I couldn’t get Gabby to take a nap for the longest time, but she is finally asleep in her swing.  Maybe I’ll try to take a quick one when I’m done with this.

56. Who has the same birthday as you?

Hillary Clinton, Pat Sajak, and Keith Urban. 

57. Ever met anyone famous before?

Not anyone I’d brag about meeting ;-)

58. Do you want to be famous one day?

I would LOVE to be a bestselling novelist.  Or a famous blogger where people talk about what I write around the water cooler. 

59. Any Pet Peeves?

Too many to list.  Most are related to grammar (using apostrophes with an s to make a word plural is a big one) or sloppy spelling/are you really THAT… unaware? (“I love you so much I can’t breath when you’re near me” or “She lead the way into the restaurant”) or things like the word “supposedly” being said as “supposably”.  It makes my toes curl … Maybe I’ll have to do a blog post on this topic …

60. Are you multitasking right now?

No, I’m resting.  And writing.  So I guess that means yes.  J

The Prevalence of IM Language: Convenience or Another Sign of Laziness?

I take a lot of heat--a lot of heat--for using punctuation in text messages, Facebook and Twitter updates, and even e-mail. I've come to terms with the fact that commas and semi-colons are never going to be a part of "text talk", though, although I suspect I personally will always use them.

No, the thing that really drives me bananas is stuff like using "u" for "you". Would it really kill you to type an extra two letters? Would it change the course of your life trajectory to press two more keys?

What kind of message does it send (pun not intended, but it made me laugh so I'm leaving it) if you don't value the person you're sending a text to enough to write out a three-letter word?

When I received a text last night reading, "how r u", I did not respond. I just couldn't. It would have been a rant, and that's not nice.

I mean, texting back, "I am annoyed by people too lazy to use capital letters and question marks and to spell out the word 'you'. How are you?" would have been overkill.

I do get the concept of convenience, by the way. Abbreviations are one thing; why would someone take the time to write out et cetera when etc. is a universally accepted abbreviation? Oh, and I use "LOL" all the time, despite Addie telling me that it's become an overused and even outdated expression.

My other pet peeves, just to totally prove how strange I am, involve spelling the abbreviated term of affection honey as "hun", using apostrophes to make words plural, and when people scratch their toenails against their heels (it makes a noise like fingernails on a chalkboard ... *shiver*).

Okay, here's the thing. I'm an English teacher. Of course I'm going to be annoyed by a lack of correct grammar. It's kind of an occupational hazard (although grammar is by no means my specialty as an educator).

When I remove the English teacher anal-retention, though, I'm still left with a feeling of frustration based on the laziness that permeates much of our society. There is a disturbing tendency to find the path of least resistance and follow it, to search out the easiest shortcuts instead of giving life your all.

Okay, take the apostrophe thing, perhaps especially annoying to me since it's one of the few absolute consistencies in the English language.

If you have a singular noun that doesn't end in "s" and you want to show possession, you add 's. The cat's toy. The shoe's lace. The idiot's cell phone. If a singular noun ends in "s", you add an apostrophe after the "s". The glass' contents. Jess' sister. A bus' wheels.

When a plural noun ends in "s", you add an apostrophe after the "s" to show possession. The three sisters' bedroom was messy. The two dogs' water bowl was empty. And if a plural noun does not end in "s", you add 's to show possession. The children's playground. The mice's cages.

Apostrophes are not used to make a word plural--when I see "the lady's are really nice" or "I bought seven book's yesterday", I get very annoyed. While the rules for making a word plural are pretty complicated at times, one thing for sure is that adding an 's is not the way to do it ... yet this happens all the time.

Take the word "tornado", for example. If I want to make it plural, I have to look up in a dictionary whether it would be tornados or tornadoes ... but I know for a fact that it's not tornado's, which is the way many people would spell it.

I'll stop going on about grammar now (if you're still reading this, thank you ;-)).

I guess what frustrates me is the societal laziness exemplified by IM language. It might seem like a small thing, but it's one piece of a much larger problem.

So many people are settling for mediocrity; the concept of self-motivation has narrowed to the point where it's hard to encourage others to put 100% into anything they do ... or, even more frightening, to push yourself toward some sort of excellence when "good enough" is ... well, good enough.

Hun, I Have a Pet Peeve Here ...

I am the first to admit that I get irritated by really stupid and insignificant things. Among the stupidest and most insignificant of my pet peeves is the word "hun" as in, "Oh, don't worry, hun, it'll get better soon."

Does it matter in the great scheme of things if someone uses "hun" in written communication? Nope. Does it drive me freaking batshit? Uh ... YEAH!

I use the word "hon" (as in, short for "honey") all the time, both to my daughters and my students. I assume that this is the intent when people write "hun". According to Wikipedia, huns were "a group of nomadic pastoral people" who played a role in the collapse of the Roman Empire. The most famous, of course, was Attila the Hun, known for "cruelty and rapacity" through western Europe.

Yeah, that's a fabulous term of endearment. No, when I see "hun", it just screams out ignorance. Does that make me a linguistic snob?

Speaking of which, did you know that "funner" is in fact a word? One of my students used the word today, and I of course tried to correct him by saying, "No, hon, it's more fun." At this point, I was informed that "funner" is actually in the dictionary. I didn't believe him, of course, so I went running to look it up. It was there. Man, did I feel stupid :)

Anyway, here are a few other things related to the English language that bring out the worst in me:

1. Ect instead of Etc. (for et cetera, Latin for "and the rest")
2. When people pronounce the word supposedly so that it sounds like "supposably"

Okay, I feel much better now : )