Category Archives: Other Stuff

I’m Sorry, Mr. Jenner

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgGF6x-CtUAI had been itching to see the Bruce Jenner interview since ABC announced it. Friday night I DVR’d it (ending at eleven is a little too late for me) and was looking forward to a complete train wreck. I love drama!

Mom and I watched it yesterday afternoon. It was windy and rainy: perfect weather for settling in for what I was positive would be pure entertainment.

Let me tell you how ashamed I am. Mr. Jenner, aside from being transgender, is just like me. A Christian Republican.

I’m ashamed for another reason, too. I was being such a hypocrite. I just assumed that his lifestyle was something he chose, which made him a freak. I learned, and the fact was also validated by a psychologist, that being transgender something to do with brain mechanics, not a choice. Just like my condition wasn’t something I chose. I absolutely hate how people make snap judgments about me, like just because I can’t talk, I can’t think for myself. Or that they need to talk s-l-o-w-l-y and deliberately. I was doing the same thing: judging.

Mr. Jenner said instead of staring, why don’t people just ask him, that he’s not shy. Exactly!

God doesn’t make mistakes. Whatever the reason, he is the way he is, just like I am the way I am.

Dead? Or Very Much Alive?

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I am uant-flay in ig-pay atlin-lay (I am fluent in pig Latin, for you non-speakers).

I love words, as I said in my About Me page. I could literally read the thesaurus as though it was a novel and I love coming up with other ways of saying things. Hot dog becomes sweltering canine, baby carrots, infant roots. There are more, but you get the idea. If I had the chance, I would study linguistics. Everything about the English language fascinates me, from synonyms to punctuation, even grammar.

Although it’s technically a dead language (another thing fascinating about language—how can an entire way of speaking just become extinct?), Latin is so interesting to me.

Courtesy myenglishkey.com

But I suppose it’s because we are surrounded by Latin. Maggie is a canine, which is from the word “canus,” which means dog.

Others include alter ego (alternative self), bona fide (genuine, sincere), circa (about), et cetera (and the rest), and alibi (elsewhere). There are many more where those came from!

I guess people need to check their facts: In English alone, Latin is alive and kicking!

150 Years Ago Today

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Courtesy successify.net

Who would you say had the best presidential accomplishment? Bush leading us through the dark days of 9/11 was the biggest one of my lifetime so far—I still remember very clearly that morning Mom coming into my room and telling me what happened. We were glued to the TV the rest of the day. It was so surreal. Over the next few days we saw how the country could put it’s differences aside and work together.

My elementary school was big on patriotism: at assemblies we sang songs like “America the Beautiful” and “My Country tis of Thee.” We also had memorization challenges: the Preamble to the Constitution and the Gettysburg Address. I did it because I had to, and didn’t really pay attention to what I was memorizing. Now, 20 years later, I kick myself. I was reciting some of the most important documents in American history!

Take the Gettysburg Address: Without it, America might be two countries, and who knows when slavery may have ended?

Today marks the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. I know even today America has its differences, but because of Lincoln we are ONE COUNTRY.

If You Can’t Beat It…

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It’s quite interesting–or ironic: I loathe technology, but without it I wouldn’t be able to communicate. I do use social media (Facebook and Pinterest) and actually just before starting this, I sent a Facebook message to someone in Kenya!

I guess you could say all communication is texting, and yet I do not own a cell phone. How is that possible? you ask.

I speak through an iPad. Actually my iPad is pretty much my lifeline. I have an app that is a qwerty keyboard, I type and it speaks what I’ve typed, and when I’ve spoken a word it remembers and puts the word in the prediction box. (Dad has had fun with this feature. Sometimes I type something, and the next word the program thinks I want to say is a curse word!)

I’ve also got an app so I can operate my bedroom lights and ceiling fan from my iPad.

Okay, all technology isn’t bad; I just wish I could grasp it as fast new stuff comes out!