2012-366 Day 53 – Writing

Most of you who know me nowadays know me as the computer guy, working in IT, teaching Computer Science classes, occasionally creating websites, and owning a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Computer Science. Very little in my life has not been touched or defined by technology for a long time now, and I have little problem with it being that way. Those of you that knew me in high school, however, might have known that this wasn’t always the case.

My high school English career is actually the source of one of my favorite anecdotes. By the time I was a Senior I had established a reputation as an excellent English student, solidified by twice having gotten a perfect 800 on the English portion of the SATs (of course I had taken it twice in an attempt to improve my overall score, which I failed at since both times I also achieved identical scores of 640 on the Math portion). I was ahead of schedule with my classes which freed up an extra period in my schedule. I had originally intended to be the yearbook editor but, since that was an elected position, I had lost the race (proving there is a gap between liked and popular). Seeing as my schedule had a gap, it was suggested that I pursue an Independent Study course, one that would be defined between me and the school. It was decided that since I had excelled in English, I would grade the Freshman through Junior English papers. Looking back, it wasn’t a particularly exciting assignment, but it didn’t matter much as the gig only lasted for four weeks. Sadly, the person who had defeated me in the yearbook editor elections was forced to leave the school due to some allegations of misbehavior, and I was asked to step in and take his place. Not as yearbook editor though, since I had lost the race and all, I don’t even remember what my substitute title was. Maybe I’ll go home and look it up and insert it here later (). We got six week progress reports on our grades and I received the one and only report bearing my Independent Study two weeks later. The class names were limited in length (apparently to seventeen characters) as I received an ‘A’ in “Independent Stud.”

Unfortunately it is true that any ability not practiced begins to see atrophy, and all those years of computer work took a toll on my English abilities. That’s actually a major reason why I am undertaking this blog project this year, just to get myself back into the habit of writing again. That’s also why you’ll see a variety of styles over the course of the year, from short stories to poetry (although probably not a ton of poetry). Should you be wandering by and want to give feedback on my writing, please do, I would appreciate it.

I definitely do not consider myself to be an excellent writer, nor do I feel I have even the ability that I used to have in high school. Skills, however, can be reclaimed with use, and practice, as they say, makes perfect, so I will continue to practice here and hope that you will come along for the ride. I appreciate everyone who takes the time to read these posts, and look forward to making many more.

Tangentially related, I came into to work this morning and saw this headline on the Daily Sundial, our college newspaper:

Now, I have never been a huge fan of the campus paper (though I did have a couple letters and pictures published in my undergraduate time here), and my highest praise was that it was very absorbent when you needed to clean up spills. But really, Daily Sundial? You’re a college newspaper that needs to resort to headline tricks that would make the author of the sixth grade newsletter take pause?

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