Monday, May 28, 2007

Down to the Wire




Your Vocabulary Score: A



Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary!

You must be quite an erudite person.


OK, I have to admit that I cheated, kind of. My first score was an A- The only word I wasn't positively positive about was peruse, so I went back and changed my answer. I initially chose "to read quickly" as the answer, but their answer was "to read carefully." Huh. I just asked Russ, and he said "To kind of look it over." Paige also thought it was "like scanning something." I think we're right.

I have done very little knitting during my "blog" absence. I have also done less writing than I had planned. Two weeks ago I bragged that I thought I could be done by last Sunday afternoon with my thesis. That was my downfall. I've gotten a lot of gardening done though! I think I'm ready to finish for real this week, and I'm really not embarrassed that I've procrastinated. Writing isn't just something that you decide to do, and then everything falls into place. I can sit in front of the computer and produce nothing or I can recognize that I'm stuck and plant some flowers. I'll go with the flowers.

Here's a picture of Josie Kitty sitting on a pile of laundry. I don't fold laundry when I'm having writer's block either. Anyway, school is out in two days, so I'm starting to get happier and happier. I am teaching an inservice to a bunch of fellow teachers on webpage design and then three weeks of summer school, but I'm still feeling the stress fall away. My summer school class is an html class and only has six kids in it. It really shouldn't even fly, but people with the power seem to like me. Besides, they know that I'll work on our school's webpage with those kids, so it's a deal for them too.

I did knit one more bunny in the last couple of weeks. Russ has a "prize" box in his classroom for kids who read at home and bring back cards from their parents, and he used my other bunnies as prizes.He said the girls loved them. His school is in a really poor neighborhood, so I like that they got something special like a handknit rabbit. I'll try not to think about the fact that they'll probably be left out in a sandbox somewhere. At least they won't get rained on this time of year!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW--I got an a on the vocab quiz...guees I'm "smarter" than I thought I was--LOL! Fun! Ah, writer's block. Many people think writing is easy work, but it's not...Hang in there. You're wise to dip into other things in the meantime--really helps the block. Hope you enjoy the summer school...and the summer ahead. And love the sweet bunny Hsppy Days! :o)

Tracy Batchelder said...

Those bunnies are so cute. I bet they motivated a few girls to read that wouldn't have before.

Russell said...

Some thoughts on writing well

John Leo in City Journal:

So how should we write and restore the integrity of good English? Candor, clarity and sincerity are important keys. All of us are weary of writers who dance around their subjects, protecting friends, bending facts to push a cause. “The great enemy of clear language is insincerity,” Orwell wrote. “When there is a gap between one’s real and declared aims, one turns instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms.”

Further, our minds are clogged with the clichés, idioms, and rhythms of other people, and we have to work to avoid them. Paul Johnson says, “Most people when they write, including most professional writers, tend to slip into seeing events through the eyes of others because they inherit stale expressions and combinations of words, threadbare metaphors, clichés and literary conceits. This is particularly true of journalists.”

Kurt Vonnegut has said that a writer’s natural style will almost always be drawn from the speech he heard as a child. Vonnegut grew up in Indiana, where, he said, “common speech sounds like a band saw cutting galvanized tin.” He wrote: “I myself find I trust my own writing most and other people seem to trust it most, when I sound most like a person from Indianapolis, which is what I am.”


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Peg-woolinmysoup said...

Love the bunny! Where did you get that delightful pattern. I will certainly post a picture of my hedgehog when it is completed - don't hold your breath for a bit. I have two 'summer' sweaters on the needle at the moment.
I like Fibre Trends patterns too, but it has a lot of row changes - just a pattern to sit quietly and knit - sounds good to me!

Julie said...

I'm so glad you're almost through with your thesis! You will feel so relieved - forget grunting and pointing, it will be about pouring an alcoholic beverage and just sitting there and grinning! I'd love to read your work - email me at jap9963atyahoo.com. Cheers!

Anonymous said...

I love the bunny Quenby would too!!