Handwriting is civilization's casual encephalogram -Lance Morrow-
i think i wrote a week or so ago about my nightmare of an essay test. and i'm pretty sure i've said before that i love my laptop because i can sit in class and type my notes instead of laboriously writing them. well, i was sure i didn't do well on my essay test for two reasons: first, i pretty much bullet pointed everything because i didn't want to be bothered with writing whole sentences. secondly, i wrote in pencil which made what i did write very illegible because after about two minutes my hand started to hurt from me gripping the pencil so hard in concentration. i wish all tests could be taken on my laptop. i type fast and tend to think better when i have the soft *click, click* of keys as i'm typing.
i actually changed my pen grip lately, and switched up the handwriting style that i've been using since i started school a year ago. i was going with the small, all caps method, which took me a bit to get used to, but i liked how nice and even all my notes looked. sure, it was slow as hell, but i didn't mind. it got the job done. well, i started this semester doing the same thing and about two weeks in decided... i'm sick of all caps. the thing is, i'd been doing it for so long that it wasn't as nice and even as it used to be... in fact, i was getting kind of sloppy. since i take most class notes on my laptop, i really only was writing for one or two classes or making miscellaneous notes. so one day, on a whim, i started writing in my perfect, measured cursive. it looked so nice, i decided to keep doing it. in fact, i even adopted a new grip to keep it more controlled... started resting my pen on my middle finger instead of my ring finger. i've been resting my pen on my ring finger so long that my nail is actually flat on one side. needless to say, 30 minutes into an hour and 15 minute class, my middle finger starts to hurt. but as i said, it just looks so nice! so i'm keeping it, at least for the rest of this semester. who knows, maybe next semester i'll go all digital.
problem with all digital is that in most of my classes you can count the number of laptops on one hand... so i keep getting looks during class as my fingers are *click clicking* away. and then whenever i get distracted and start typing when everyone else is clearly zoning out, it is also very clear that i'm doing something not-class-related. having a laptop there in front of you all day is just such a BIG distraction. besides, i'm not an auditory learner... at all. as smart as i may be, and as good as my memory can be when it comes to tests, you can give me a list of things to do and 30 seconds later i'll have forgotten it (i think this is probably why i'm such a neurotic list taker). i have decided to attribute this short-term memory loss to two things. 1) i'm usually thinking of five other things when i'm being told what to do so i get it confused with the conversations i've already got running in my head and 2) i've got so much other information already in my head that it takes me a minute to make room for new stuff (so i usually forget stuff within that first minute)... now, if i write something down or actually take the time to say it out loud (such as explaining to someone else) then i've got it. you'd prolly laugh if you saw me studying... i sit with my headphones on and talk to myself a lot.
i'm completely off subject... i missed class where we got our essay test back, so i followed the teacher to his office today to get mine back. he handed it to me and i glanced around for a red grade, then flipped through it. then something caught my attention on the front page and my heart skipped a beat... i pointed to it and asked him "is that my grade??" he'd written in very small numbers in the middle of all the crap on the page... 100. first thing out of my mouth next was "holy shit". a bit embarrassing, but he laughed and told me to go home and frame it. yeah right, like i'm gonna frame it...
