Reading

Editor's note: the opening paragraph has little to do with the rest of the post.

There are many different types of reading.  I don't read many books.  I'm just not very good at it.  I tend to gravitate toward interpersonal interactions.  That's how i was made.  Get me to orate Shakespeare and i'll do more shaking than spearing (just ask anyone in Mrs. Dav's SPARK classes in high school...not a pretty picture).  I scored a 12 on the Reading Comprehension component on my ACT, which would translate to something like a 550 on the SAT.  (pause for lols). I mean, seriously, how could i enjoy something so much but be so terrible at it?  That's for me to deal with, sorry.  Good thing that the dignityof a human being inherent and not relative to his performance in an academic evaluation.

But like i've always said (mostly to help myself cope at not being good at books) reading consists of more than words on a page.

Y'all know Alison Zeik, right?  Well, if you don't, she's an outstanding young lady with an inquisitive mind who, on occasion, asks thoughtful questions and has a knack for saying the poignant.  The other day we were at a social gathering and talking about the future (the future, Conan? ...in the yeeaaaarrrr two thousaanndd...in the yeeearr two thou-saaaaaand) and how it (the future, not the year 2000) is yet to be determined.  So i says, "it's like what Natasha says, 'today is where your book begins. the rest is still unwritten.'"

(quick confession: i occasionally listen to girly pop music. In this case, specifically to "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield. I like to think it's my way of valiantly supporting the other sex...i like to think that because it's more embarassing than saying that i like it...some songs are so flippin' catchy!)

Anyway, i said what i said, and Ali playfully replied, "maybe it is written but we're just not reading it." >*explosion*<

hey, now. there's an idea.

Yeah.  Come to think of it, you're absolutely right, Ms. Zeik.  Maybe what we're supposed to do is already written.    Maybe there's an author out there that has composed for us a beautiful story and we're just not reading it.  And not only are so many of us not reading it, but we refuse to open the book! Maybe we don't have time to read.  Maybe we're too busy reading another book.  Maybe we're afraid we won't like it.  Maybe we write it off because we don't read well.  Maybe we're jealous of someone else's book.  Maybe we dismiss it because we think reading is a crutch for people who don't have original thought.  Maybe we give up altogether.  Maybe...we're just wrong and we make excuses because reading is tough and we don't want to deal with the struggle.

In case you didn't get the metaphor:
- by "reading" i mean praying
- by "what is written" i mean God's will in our lives
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(break in the metaphor) I read a lot when i was a child. My parents taught me how.  They helped me sound out big words. They were patient with me, helped me understand the plot and answered all my questions even if the answers weren't what i wanted to hear (goodness were there questions. my family affectionately called me the "what if..." kid).

(reinstatement of the metaphor) If you're having trouble reading, read your favorite children's stories. Read your little heart full. Read with someone who knows how to read.  Read every day.

Read what is written.

Peace,
Daytona

Le premier fois!

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name not smell as sweet." - Juliet
...
"By a name
I know not how to tell thee who I am:
My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,
Because it is an enemy to thee.
Had I it written, I would tear the word." - Romeo

I've wanted to start a blog for a while. The one thing that's kept me from going about it is that you have to come up with a name before you write anything. If you know me (which you probably do if you are taking time to read this) i tend to be a bit all over the place. That doesn't necessarily mean that i have organizational problems (i'm getting better, mom!), it just means that there are many, many things i intend to include. I thought and thought about what to name my blessed little seedling, (Pooyah, I tried and tried, cher!) but nothing fit the bill. I tried working in words like 'myriad', 'concise' and others that tend to have a recapitulative meaning, but i suppose they were not meant to be.

My only promise was that i wouldn't further commit the crime of abusing the words "random" or "awkward". They've fallen to the lowly "vocabulary crutch" position on the linguistic totem pole. Sad day. I consider it my duty to equate other's overuse of them by not EVER using them.

If you hear me commit said crime, you have permission to punch me.

So I ended up choosing Extrospective Retrospectives (isn't it obvious why?). For one, it sounds cool. For two...it sounds cool. For three, i'd like to think of it as a reflective view on things that are beyond or outside my "spective". Introspective is a well known word. It's done it's due diligence to the English language. It's important, nay, essential! In no way am i saying introspection is bad. I am saying, in a sense, that a well balanced equation has more than one element. If all there is to do is to be introspective, then how are we to look beyond ourselves? If i'm always looking to figure out the inside, how can i see the beauty of the outside?

So i guess that's a little set up to what i'm hoping for.

...alas, extrospective retrospectives is born.

peace,
DJL