Tuesday, May 17, 2011

A Diction Addiction

If my mind was a book, it would be old and leather-bound. The spine would be cracked and the pages worn and yellowed. It would be thicker than War and Peace with smaller print than the Bible. There would be an entire chapter devoted to the lyrics of Brand New, and another for every poem I wrote during my sophomore year of high school. You would find it shelved next to the encyclopedias, across the aisle from biographies of presidents and dead movie stars.
I’m addicted to words. Seriously, I eat them up. I could stay awake for days fueled by nothing but coffee and my love of language. I spend my free time pouring over books and blogs and lyrics. I have notebooks and Word files filled with my favorite lines. I quote Mean Girls and Juno daily and about 95% of my Facebook statuses are lyrics. I repeat Bible verses over and over in my head, and then I’ll write them on notecards and hang them up. I often find that the best way God reveals Himself for me is through short, powerful phrases. I want to work my way through a dictionary and memorize a thesaurus, and when all of those words run out, I want to make more.
                I live for conversations with my best friend over a slice of pie and a cup of coffee. I look forward to the day when I’ll be able to sit on the couch with my husband and just talk about the day. I sit in the dark, letting lyrics fill my head. In the summer, I will walk to the library and stay there until I have finished reading a novel.
                I see grace in margins and love in punctuation. I feel comfort in consonants and energy in vowels. I think there is something beautiful in putting words to emotion. It’s okay to feel something, but I can’t deal with it, can’t fix it, until I can describe it. I want to understand my life in some tangible way. I want to hear it whispered in prayers or see it scribbled in composition notebooks. So if you ever want to get to know me, all you have to do is ask and I’ll open up like a book. And my hope is that someday you’ll let me read you too.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

9 Things You Don't Want to Hear During Finals Week

*Submitted by real college students, studying for real finals, and suffering from real sleep deprivation.

1. We’re out of coffee. We have four more days of exams left and you’re telling me we’re out of coffee? How do you expect me to function? Next semester we’re rationing it off to make it last.
2. Your alarm. Didn’t I just get to sleep an hour ago? …5…more…minutes…
3. Stop procrastinating. Excuse me? You have no idea how fried my brain is right now. Add to that the fact that when the temperature went up, my motivation levels went down. So shut up and let me play CityVille.
4. Cumulative. Because testing us on stuff we don’t know just one time isn’t enough.
5. You look tired. It couldn’t be because I’ve been up until 4am for the last 3 nights writing papers and studying for exams, could it?
6. 50% of your grade. In other words, this one test could be the difference between passing and failing the class. No big deal.
7. Late-Night Waybright is cancelled. Noooooo! Where will I go when I want food at midnight?
8. Can I look at your notes? You haven’t been in class all year and you want to benefit from my hard work? Good joke.
9. I don’t believe in extra credit. That’s like your prof saying, “Yeah, I see you flailing your limbs as you drown, but I’m not going to throw you a life preserver.”