Sunday, December 19, 2010

The Grammar Police

I'm currently having a real problem with poor writing. I'm talking about other people's posts, blogs, commentary, etc. that can be found on line. I could sit here and rattle off a whole list of what I've come across on this fine day, alone, but I'd just get myself all worked up.

I'm no professional writer. I don't claim to spew the kind of prose worthy of the next great American novel. But (groan) I'm self-aware, self-respecting, self... (what is it, exactly?) enough to check and make sure I don't come off as some illiterate and babbling fool if I'm going to send it out there for the world to see.

I get that bad grammar isn't an easy fix. If you haven't mastered the art of verbs in past tense ("I wish I had went with my friends") chances are it's already erroneously ingrained into your noggin and a lost cause. But there is such a thing as spell-check. Click the damned button and give us all a break.

There ought to be a law.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Like a Flash


Weekends are supposed to be all about the rest and recuperation. I'm EXHAUSTED.

I shouldn't complain. It's been a great weekend. It's just that now, at 8pm on Sunday, as I finally get a chance to regroup, it occurs to me that I'm worn out and need another couple of days just to rest from my days of rest.

There was nothing laborious about the two days, it was all really great, which is why I feel guilty even complaining. Saturday, after a growing pain in my left shoulder, and waking with a distinctly pinched nerve, I finally acknowledged that I had to do something about it and left the house in a mad dash to the nearest low-cost massage clinic. It's a Vietnamese set up, very no-fuss. None of this aromatherapy nonsense. You go in, they work on shoulders, neck, back, arms and legs with no need for changing out of your own clothes. What's more, they even put a bath towel over you so that there are actually two layers between you and the working hands.

After much pain and suffering, I was released, to find that the pinched nerve was completely gone, I was able to turn my head completely in both directions, and though I was tender to the touch, it was a different pain that the stiff and achy muscles and bones kind of pain I'd been enduring for far too long.

I then treated myself to pho. Specifically the liver variety. I'm trying to make sure I include more iron in my diet, and have to proactively make choices to remember this. Red meat is something that I just plain forget to eat with any kind of regularity.

I came home just in time to run a couple of loads of laundry before driving to LA for a birthday dinner. Not just any birthday dinner. Conveyor belt sushi. I'd always wanted to do this, so was looking forward, greatly. And it was a true hit. Terribly low cost, more than reasonable quality, and good company.

Dinner was followed by a mile-long trek to a local hole-in-the-wall bar. Not really about getting soused, the pilgramage was worth it nonetheless, if for no other reason than the anecdote that it will someday be combined with the chance to get to better know the others in the group.

Upon arriving at home at a relatively early hour (1am), I joined my parents in watching the last moments of the televised mass from the basilica of Mexico City in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe's birthday. Then crawled into bed to catch the last two episodes of the second season of Damages.

End of Saturday.

Sunday dawned with a lesser sense of planned activities. I had only one thing really defined: Mexican film with one of my Spanish students. I did, however, fail to recall that the festivities for the Virgin of Guadalupe were to continue throughout the day. Realizing that a trip with my parents into LA to the cathedral in her honor would conflict with the aforementioned movie plans, I quickly put a plan into action to right my oversight. First, I clipped some of the roses from the garden to sort of "tide her over" while I could put something more meaningful together. Then, I set up a little "altar" of sorts in the dining room and left to find a flower shop. My mom said to just clip more roses from the garden, but my view is that such a move would have been too easy. If the point is to thank her and show her appreciation for her love and support, then I could at least show some effort in my gratitude. I want her to see that she deserves my effort, my investment, and my attention.

I made it back from my errand just in time to place her deep red long-stemmed roses in front of her and get some candles ready for the evening. Then I was off to the movie which was just as enjoyable as the first time I'd seen it. We stopped for a coffee on our way out, and then called it an evening.

Still owing the Virgin of Guadalupe a visit, I headed to my church to see if I might catch a mass and also hoping I might find an open flower shop en route. No such luck with the flower shops, but I did arrive half way through a mass and joined it until it let out, not without stopping at her private chapel for a quick chat.

Then, it was time for some basic needs at the grocery store, and then the piece de resistance: close the day with an order of sushi take out.

I'm home now. Getting texts from another client about a tutoring lesson tomorrow and thinking about getting some budgeting done. I feel like I've done nothing productive, yet I've not really stopped to rest either.

Like I said, I need another couple of days.