Doing nothing is fun!

Like yesterday, I'm here in a computer room waiting for the freshmen and sophomores to finish taking their tests. We have even more time here today -- they're doing math -- so I decided I'd get my daily European history homework done. As I write this (not as of posting time) there are more than two hours to spare.

I kind of like English class. I think either I've just been lucky with the teachers I've gotten over the years, or it really is my best class. Yesterday, instead of having a vocabulary quiz, the teacher had us write something -- anything -- using at least 10 of our 50 vocabulary words. She said she would give extra credit for more words and particularly good pieces.

I labored for about 45 minutes on mine until it was time to go. I handed on her desk a three-stanza poem that filled only half the page. Each line except the last contained a vocabulary word we had learned. She said, "Thank you for saving me time in reading yours," and I said, "Yeah, well, it took me forever to write it in iambic pentameter." So here it is. Bonus points for you if you know what all the words mean.

(The teacher replied that it was very good. "And I'm not being cynical," she added.)

Now I shall answer those who Ask Jordon.

Yellow Chicken: In a day, how many times do you type in a login name and a password?

I hardly ever have to do the actual typing of the user names and passwords unless I'm on a computer other than my own (like right now). At home I have Firefox (and Thunderbird) remember most of my passwords. I estimate that if I had to type in all of my login information, I would do it probably 5 to 10 times a day, maybe more.

Crystal Jones: Do You Like Writting?

I don't like to Writ, but I like to write; I do enjoy correcting spelling and capitalization errors (sorry, Crystal!). You can probably see here that I am a prolific blogger. I could probably blog out my armpits if I had a few days to recharge in between. I also enjoy writing short, structured things like songs and poems. It's fiction that gets me. The novel I'm kind of working on will probably (if it's finished) have flat characters, boring dialogue, and a predictable plot. Creating extended works from the imagination is difficult like that.

Oh, and if you're the very same Crystal Jones who suggested this writing tip (get ideas from listening to your family), thanks for that; I'll have to try it sometime. And thanks for reading my blog, because one can never have enough 20-year-old female readers who are fascinated about one's life.

I'm not sure if this is a joke or not. It's fixr, supposedly a free service in which you tell them about a photo opportunity that you missed, and they recreate it for you and send you the picture. It appears to be targeted toward Flickr users, but apparently anyone can use it. I'll have to try it out and see what they come up with.