Friday, October 1, 2010

Longhand? Are you serious?


Geez, I hate handwriting. It was the bane of my elementary school existence, ruining my shot at the Straight A Honor Roll time after time. The thing that really broke me, though, was the reading journal I had to keep for one of my English classes in college. I kept up with the reading, no problem, but the journal wasn't due until the end of the semester, and I was kind of busy with shows. And possibly a *cough* fairly active social life. You know how it is.

But I had a good memory, so I was sure I'd have no trouble filling in daily entries ... eventually ... even if I waited to do them weeks, or even months, after I read the material.

Yeah. You try writing 4 months worth of journal entries in two days. OUCH.

(Yes, this was in the Dark Ages, when nobody had a personal computer. Assignments like this were expected to be written out in the dreaded longhand.)

I wrote for hours and hours over those two days, switching back and forth from blue to black ink (and even throwing in some purple and green, just to make it look like I was writing on different days. 

Before this experience, I always thought that writer's cramp was just a myth. Trust me, it's not.

I did finish it. A lot of the stuff in the middle was total BS, because I figured the teacher wasn't really going to sit there and read every entry in every journal. And apparently I was right, because I got an A-. But it was the hardest I ever worked (physically) for an A-, and I don't recommend anyone try same tactic, no matter how much of a procrastinator you are. It's SO not worth it.  

Anyway, the reason behind this rambling discourse on my poor time management skills in college is, Cynthia Reese tagged me for a blog handwriting game. Or challenge. Or double-dog-dare--whatever you want to call it. Thanks bunches, Cynthia! I love you too. (And I will think of a way to get back at you return the favor.)

GUIDELINES

Write down (by hand!) on a piece of paper the following:

1. Name, Blog Name
2. Right handed, left handed, or both?
3. Favorite letters to write
4. Least favorite letters to write
5. Write out "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"
6. Write in CAPS: BABOON, SPLENDOR, ONOMATOPOEIA, FLIP-FLOPS, HUZZAH!
7. Favorite song lyrics
8. Tag 7 people
9. Whatever else strikes your fancy. (Nothing much strikes my fancy when it comes to longhand, so I'm skipping this step.)

Let me say upfront, this assignment was incredibly difficult for me. I hardly ever write anything longhand anymore--I'm a keyboard kiddo all the way. A few stray notes, a shopping list...maybe. But that's it.

As a result, I lack practice. And skill. And legibility.

Also, I tend to randomly print in the middle of cursive, and vice-versa. I find this lack of consistency somewhat disturbing. Unless...yes, I'll just call it "quirky." 

Here's my sample:


What's that you say? You can't read it? Well, duh. I just told you it was illegible. But, anyway, if you're interested, the song lyrics are Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats," which I chose for no other reason than that it always makes me laugh.* (Yes, that's rather mean-spirited of me. What can I say? If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know I have a warped sense of humor.)

Also, who doesn't appreciate a good Take No Crap attitude?

Here's the whole song, if wanna hear it:




Now, I'm supposed to tag 7 people, but you know what? I'm not going to name names. If y'all want to expose yourself--I mean, your handwriting--on your own blog, go right ahead. Just tell me if you do, so I can go laugh...er, I mean, commiserate with you.

*No, it's not true that I was thinking about Cynthia's car as I watched this video. Much.

11 comments:

A. S. Boudreau said...

I will do this! I have a homecoming game tonight, so I'll do it after while waiting to pick my kid up from the dance. :)

abby mumford said...

i actually do quite a bit of handwritten stuff. i think the slow pace of writing everything out tends to work well with allowing the creative juices and the editorial mind work together before the pen hits the page (so the end result is only a small pile of crap, rather than a large one).

also, confession, carrie underwood's my favorite. not country music, mind you, just carrie underwood. that is all.

Anne Gallagher said...

I got A's in cursive in Catholic school (sorry). But I was a brown noser back then too so...

I was tagged last week and am going to try and post mine next week. Let's see what the nuns think of my handwriting now.

Kerry said...

My handwriting is horrendous - in grade school I was constantly having to rewrite things. I do keep a handwritten journal - but there are entire pages of it that I can't read. My kids are even worse - I can keep it neat if I work at it, but it's a mix of printing and writing.

Kelly Breakey said...

The good thing is when you head south to beat up Cynthia's car you will finally...finally get the fried chicken she has been promising you.

See there really is a silver lining here.

demery said...

Can I just bash some cars instead? It's been a bit of a crappy week. Okay I'll just think about it...
MwahahahahahHahahahahahahahahahhahahahah!!!!

Whew. Feel much better now.
Thanks, Linda!

Patty Blount said...

Hand write? *flees in horror*

kristina said...

Owww, sounds fun. But not for today because I have such a miserable migraine that my woeful penmanship is even worse so it wouldn't be a fair representation. How fun and thanks!

Linda G. said...

A.S. -- Have fun! :)

Abby -- I'll bet you don't wind up with crap piles at all, small OR large. Confession from me: I'm not a huge country music fan, either. But I do like Carrie Underwood's stuff.

P.W. -- A's? You got A's in cursive?? Gosh, I'd heard there were people like you, but I always suspected they were mythological. Like unicorns. (Wait...unicorns ARE mythological, aren't they?)

Kerry -- Another confession: I sometimes have trouble deciphering my grocery lists.

Kelly -- Hey, good point! Uh...maybe I better wait until AFTER I get the chicken to beat up her car. Otherwise, she might be tempted to poison it. ;)

Demery -- LOL! Glad to provide a cathartic experience for you. ;)

Patty -- I know! Horrible, isn't it?

Kristina -- Ugh. Migraines are miserable. Hope your head feels better!

Hallie said...

Just got into my Google Reader to see what I had missed lately and realized you had this post on longhand just recently! :)

My handwriting is atrocious as well and I hope I can read it when it's time to type it in computer.

Linda G. said...

Hallie -- It would be bad to figure out, after you've finished writing a whole novel longhand, that can't decipher what you've written. ;)