I Before E?

I have to say, the repeal of the “I before E except after C” rule is lovely. My whole life I have been a crap speller. Without the invention of spellcheck, I can only imagine how crude my grades would have been. Actually, I know how crude they would have been from all of those handwritten essays required of us in our youth. I’m sure I got points deducted for spelling. But never more than I could make up in writing, but to be honest, that probably is a lie, I really am a crap speller.

Regardless, “I before E except after C” is one pneumonic device that never never helped me. Perhaps its complexity (I was taught a later version that said, “…or when sounded like a as in neighbor or weigh; and except seize and seizure and also leisure, weird, height, and either, forfeit, and neither.”), perhaps it was its confusing state (The Exceptions! ), or perhaps it was because of my general lack of grasp of grammar and sentence structure, but it NEVER helped me. I can’t imagine one time that little device made me understand more of what I was trying to convey to the page.

So, good riddance archaic rule! Albeit even if it is only gone from the weird foreign shores of dear old Britain and sadly still resides in our neighborhood.

A Year Older, A Minute Wiser

For my twenty-fourth birthday.
I asked for nothing.
I went to a marathon six hours of theatre.
I ate Thai food.
I aged in a big jumping way.

And now, I am 24. Its not an important age, as most agree age loses its importance once the big ones have passed: 16, 18, 21. Now you are just living it, barreling into the vast caged future that is adulthood.

After everything that has gone on in the last year (23 was quite eventful), I don't know what to expect for this next year. I don't even know what I want to occur.

Twenty-three was a whirlwind of moving, of indecisiveness, of trying to find a hold for the future. I thought it would be a year of big choices and firm decisions. I suppose I was half right. Though I can't help but evoke a Kerouac quote when I think of the last year: "I was suddenly left with nothing in my hands but a handful of crazy stars."

That was 23. Here's to 24.