Eschew Obfuscation! and other rambling thoughts from another friday afternoon at work

I love words. Which is in no small part why I love books. Nothing makes my day better then using/reading/hearing a wellplaced obscure word. The more I learned German the more it seemed English was lacking. I would try and translate passages but found English lacked a concise match and often needed 3 or 4 words to make the same point. I can't think of any good examples at the moment but I think anyone who's learned much of another language knows what I'm talking about. Then I went to college and bought a new dictionary and began using it regularly. Amazing. What could be more satisfying then finding that one word, with all the right meanings and connotaions to perfectly complete your sentence. English is wonderful after all. Maybe this is why I love Shakespeare.... I love learning etymologies. I want to learn Latin for this reason alone.

I never claimed I was anything but a nerd. And this is even the nerd side people don't see very often. If you know me, you know about the Math, the patterns, the random and often useless facts, but it takes more time for the verbiage obsession to appear.

This is not to say I'm one of those people who runs around using big words needlessly in an attempt to prove that I'm well read and educated; no. If we're discussing Spanish Explorers in the 16th Century it is entirely appropriate to use the word Conquistador. Angie. One of my favorite phrases: Eschew Obfuscation. This of course has lead to all new problems, especially at my wonderful college prep high school with an English department that emphasized "showing" over "telling." Why use five words when one will do? because we say so. What if I can get my point across in three concise sentences, including supporting examples? too bad we still want it to be a three page paper. Do you live to torture me? yes it's called "preparing you for life after high school".

I think about the teachers I liked best in High School. Bad-ass Brian who called me on my bullshit essay about how I dislike normal english classes because we move too slowly dues to half the class being morons who can't discuss their own lives intelligently let alone the saitre of Jonathan Swift or the dystopian undertones of Huxley's Brave New World. But at the same time I refused to join the Advanced English track; mainly out of a desire to never write a 15 page essay on poetry. Or CLucas, who despite my petulant insistence that I only did math because I was good at it, told my parents at conferences "it's so wonderful to have a girl in the class who loves math." She was such a bitch, I hated her at the time. But one of these days I'm going to get back there and just say thank you. I'm graduating soon with a BS in mathematics. Who knew? She did. Damn I hate when other people are right like that. The teachers I like best are those willing to call me on my bullshit. hmmmm. That seems to be true with my friends too.

I'm one of those weird people who is quiet and reserved if I don't know you, but ask any of my friends and I'm definitely outgoing (see first post about the name). So I gravitate towards people who can, essentially, hold their own against me. I know who I am, do you know who you are? Colin once said that he was jealous because I was me and I had it all together, that I don't sweat the small stuff. But that's not true, I replied. I have God, and God has it all together. And I know that faith means there will be bumps and bruises and things I may never understand, but I will never lose His love. Matthew 6:33, 34 says seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these [Earthly] things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for God will take care of your tomorrow as well.

But this wasn't supposed to be about that. I was trying to write about my friends and my personality and how there's nothing more enjoyable then having a friendly arguement when I know I'm wrong but won't back down because it's more fun to argue and watch other people get worked up about it. The same way Twain and friends played dumb in "Innocents Abroad" in order to aggravate their tour guides. Example: I say Moose and Elk are essentially the same thing. I know this isn't true. I'm BSing again. I really need to learn to stop doing that. Most people wouldn't say anything, just smile and agree. Jess and Angie jump all over me. No they aren't. They have different antlers. Let me tell you it's pretty freaking hilarious to watch people try and demonstrate the differences between moose and elk antlers. They raged for 20 minutes, drawing everyone around us into the debate. I just sat back and laughed and enjoyed. Am I weird or what?