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Random Dozen 10.13.09

It’s that time again! Lidna over at 2nd Cup of Coffee has come up with 12 more questions. I just love her memes. They make me think!

1. I’ve always wondered why we were taught both printing and cursive. Do you prefer to print or write cursive? (Keyboard is not a choice.)
Teacher here — the printing press is the reason we were taught to read and write in both print and cursive. Mass communication is done in print, not cursive. In fact, there are some today who say we should do away with cursive all together.

2. Are you a dreamer or a realist?
Both — I like to dream, but I know where dreams and reality meet, and which is which — most days.

3. Billy Joel or Elton John?
It really depends on my mood, but more often then not, Billy Joel.

4. What is the scariest movie you’ve ever seen? Not limited to horror flicks but also includes ones where the tension or suspense is killer, for example, Flightplan (2005): A bereaved woman and her daughter are flying home from Berlin to America. At 30,000 feet the child vanishes and nobody admits she was ever on that plan.
I don’t do scary movies. I see no reason to feed the nightmares. However, I think the most terrifying movie I ever watched was Helter Skelter — because it was true. I was so engrossed in the movie, I didn’t hear the neighbor come in the house. He’d knocked. I didn’t respond, so he opened the door and asked if I was all right. I think my terrified scream answered him — and then neither of us were all right!

5. Now what is the scariest real-life moment you’ve had?
My greatest terror was turned to joy in an instant by God. You can read about it here.

6. What word do you misspell without fail?
Separate. I always put an E where the first A belongs. Always. Even though I know it’s incorrect.

7. Name something you like to do but are not really talented or good at.
Sing! I love to sing. Other people aren’t quite as thrilled to hear me.

8. Do you get your emotional/mental batteries recharged by being around people or by having alone time?
Yes. 😉 I need a good balance of both.

9. Have you ever been on TV?
Yes, I was on a children’s show as a child, and I have been on the news as an adult.

10. Apple or pumpkin pie? (Don’t be greedy.)
Pumpkin for me. Apple for Amoeba.

11. How many magazine subscriptions do you have?
One. Photography. The subscription came free with my camera.

12. What lesson do you have to keep re-learning?
Don’t put off until the last minute what could have been done and over a week ago.

51 Comments

  1. Quilly, as always, your answers are illuminating! What an extraordinary testimony…thank you for sharing it!

    And separate — I had a teacher once tell me that there’s “a rat’ in separating, and I’ve never misspelled it since. She also said stationAry is stAying. StationEry is for lEtters. I think I was about 2nd or 3rd grade.

    And there, their, they’re…we won’t go …

    1. Kelley — I have many such devices for helping me spell. Thank you for adding these.

      there = that place
      their = belongs to them
      they’re = they are

      I keep the above 3Ts on my writing board for my classroom students.

  2. Hi. I came over from Linda’s. I had totally forgotten about the movie Helter Skelter. That WAS scary!

    Seems a lot of us have chosen singing. Maybe we should start a support group. ha!

    Great answers.

  3. I started on the three word thing for tomorrow and noticed something odd. Two weeks ago the number was 31 but last week it was 30. Are we counting backwards on the three word things?

  4. Cursive is also good for artists. It can really be beautiful. My cursive has always looked like chicken scratching.
    Only one magazine. I would have thought you’d subscribe to writer’s digest.

  5. Quilly,

    I loved your answers. And your testimony was amazing. As I was reading, I could feel every word. wow!

    I forgot I was on a children’s show when I was young too…..they don’t have shows like that any more.

  6. What an amazing testimony! That was awesome to read…thanks for sharing.

    I loved your answer to #12…I recently did one of those 100 things about me posts and somewhere in there I mentioned that I procrastinate. It is a hard habit to break!

  8. Yea… that’s another lesson I need to re-learn too …. as I sit procrastinating getting in the shower so I can go meet KCinnova for lunch!

    Yours is one of the best testimonies I have ever read… and I read it again every time you point us to it. It’s just amazing and I LOVE it!

    Separate is another one … I make that same mistake too… but I’m catching it more often these days!!! 🙂

    1. Melli — the writing of that testimony is a bit of a miracle, too. I was moved to do it, but I really had no place to share it and no plan for doing so. After writing it I compulsively reread it over and over until I had it dang near memorized. It was weird and I was concerned for my mental health.

      Several days later I arrived for the opening ceremonies for our week-long church revival. As the Revival Committee chair I knew all was in order and as it should be — except our opening speaker — who was supposed to share his personal testimony — was at the hospital with his elderly, ailing mother. Pastor said, “Did you have a back up plan?” And I was able to look at her and tell her that I didn’t but apparently God did.

  9. I think it´s scary that almost everybody Nr. 12 is something I need to work on as well…. 🙂
    Going to read your real life scary moment now.

  10. That was a very scary moment for sure. I got goosebumps all over! But also a very powerful testimony and I´m so glad I read it. It was blessing to me, and a reminder not to take each day for granted!

  11. Interesting fact about printing and cursive.

    I never watched the movie Helter Skelter but I did read the book. I don’t do scary movies.

    Yes I would love to sing well too.!

    1. Susanne — I don’t care for scary movies, either. And my other half sings beautifully. I would so love to join him, but it’s not so beautiful when I do.

  13. Well the first comment got lost because it didn’t like my email address. I said though that I didn’t know how many words I couldn’t spell until I started reading everyone’s answers. Apparently I should have paid attention in grammer, gramer, gramar, whatever.

  14. I hope we never do away with cursive. Some people have such beautiful handwriting. Maybe it will be regarded like calligraphy one day.

    I don’t do scary movies any more, either.I think I may have seen a part of that one — I think I read a book about it — truly one of the most horrifying episodes in history.

    Wonderful testimony!

    Separate is one of my oft-misspelled words, too.

    And somehow I keep relearning that same lesson as well.

    1. Barbara — I completely agree. Cursive puts a personal a stamp on writing. The shape of the letters and strokes of the pen convey as much as the words being written.

  16. These questions were great, and so were your answers.

    I’d hate to lose cursive, though nobody can read mine. Isn’t it faster?

    LOL at number 4, and right there with you on 7 and 12.
    🙂

    1. Susan — why does it not surprise me that you laugh at terror? [shakes head]

      I have read claims that writing in cursive is faster than printing. I suppose that makes sense, but when I am writing in cursive I am generally being very careful for formal reasons. My every day “handwriting” is a jumble of cursive and print and I can write very quickly.

    1. Mrs E. — In Cold Blood did cross my mind, but I watched it in a room full of people. Helter Skelter scared me more because I was home alone, after dark in a big 6 bedroom Victorian house — and a disembodied voice spoke to me …..

  19. the few secods of my tv time almost lost me my job.
    (there was a union rally and i jut happened to find myself there. before i realised what was going on i had a microphone thrust in front ofme and was answering a journalist’s question. of course, the bastards took some stuff out of the context and showed it in prime time on a commercial tv. i was working on a sensitive project at the time and when this happened, i was put on ice for quite a while… no promotions, no perks…just crappy work)

    1. Polona — yikes! I was put on TV by my employer. The local news wanted to film a reading teacher in action and for some unknown reason, the school district picked ME! They also sent a coach who told me what to expect (generic) and 3 things not to say. I don’t remember the three things now, but I do recall they weren’t things I would have likely said anyway.

  20. Hi Quilly, I read your testimny, thank you a lot for sharing. It does help to understand you. I personally think God is pleased with you.
    My cursive is terrible, but what would you do with signatures on documents and even checks? 🙂
    ..
    BTW, things are slow here again today. It seems to update once a minute or some problem. I took my clock off and things got better. While it is updating all is on hold here.
    Sorry to have to break that news.
    ..

    1. Jim — I put the problem code in the footer of my blog. Even if it never fully loads, you should be able to read and comment.

    1. Bill — I think most people are procrastinators to some extent.

      P.S. Kid, Lidna is correct. Go read the header on her blog and her “about me” info.

      1. I stand corrected and ask you to forgive the rantings of an old fart. We can also call her Lid according to her profile. Hmmmm

  22. The story about you watching Helter Skelter and your neighbour coming in unheard made me LOL – it’s the sort of thing that happens to me!

    1. Akelamalu — I think he and I both lost a life that day! I can laugh now but I think it took a week for my heart to stop pounding!

  23. WONDERFUL testimony, Quilly!!! It brought tears to my eyes. Now I understand why you are so active in your church. Why did you pick the Methodist church? I was very active in the Catholic Church, but stopped because of the sex abuse by clergy on little boys. I am so disillusioned.

    1. Gigi — i did not pick the methodist church. It picked me. You can read about that here: Call to Serve.

      As to disillusioned — all humans are flawed. Some more than others. Put your faith in God and his word. Trust the words of people (me included) only with caution.

  24. #12 is a HUGE problem of mine… and Melli can attest to the truth of that! She had to wait for me because I was late in jumping into the shower to meet HER for lunch today! I never seem to leave enough travel time…

    You have an incredible testimony – what a gift God has given you! And a hair’s breadth… such a reminder that he knows the number of the hairs on your head. ♥

    I love this meme (I saw it at Melli’s this morning) but I don’t have time to do it right now. I might use it in the future. For now, I need to get some sleep and get up in the morning!

    1. Ah, see, this is where I don’t make any sense, because as much as I procrastinate, I won’t be late. I don’t like to make people wait for me, so I arrive early and wait for them!

  25. How is that I create the meme, and you get more responses???

    GREAT answers, Quilly, esp your testimony. You wrote it so well I felt I was there.

    Also, you need to write about the children’s show. That would make an interesting blog post.

    1. Linda, there are 51 comments, but since I answer each one personally, half of them are from me. If you count, only 21 visiters commented here, and three of them commented twice.

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