Tuesday, January 31, 2006
When I took the SATs in high school...
...sometime in the late 1960's (I think it was my sophomore year, but it might have been my junior year) they included an essay. No, Virginia, the addition of an essay is not new; it's a reinstatement. I have no idea when they dropped that portion of the exam but they never should have. Anyway, we were given three subjects to write on in a limited amount of time and told to pick one. As it happened, all three of the subjects appealed to me. So, I began essays on all three and switched back and forth throughout the time limit. As I recall, I finished one, almost finished the second and was a good two thirds of the way through the third when time was called. I turned them all in. I assume, now, that they only "graded" the finished essay, but the proctor did bring to my attention, after the test, that I'd "done that part wrong"; to which I responded, "I don't care, I did it the way I wanted to do it."
I can't remember what I got on my SATs. Don't even remember if I scored high, although I assume I did; I was a bright, excellent student (although in that particular year I was rebelling against school and beginning to learn how to skip classes and pass with very low grades, which was hard for me). It's possible that I never looked at my scores, since I also decided some time later to steal my school records, burn them, meticulously replace the ashes in my folder and replace the folder in the counselor's office. My deed was discovered sometime in my senior year, at least a year later than when I did the deed.
The roundabout point is, this is the way I've always preferred to write: Having a couple of things going at the same time. There's a peculiar kind of transference I experience when I'm writing on diverse subjects in diverse styles that keeps me interested in everything I'm writing. That's what I've been doing over the last 36 hours with all those unfinished essays over at the essay site. Two of them are finished but not proofed. The others are well along. Some are short. Some are medium length. None is terribly long. But, that's why none have yet been published. They're all in various stages of being finished.
The experience has been exhilarating, but I've found that I've had much less time than I'd planned. It's not easy to grab time for myself while caring for Mom. I actually thought the last few days would afford me lots more time, but I was wrong. Mom's been up more and livelier than I expected. As well, I had yet another podcast that required a lot of editing and that took some time, as well.
The upshot is, I don't feel as though I've had any "Me" days. This time, though, I'm not in as bad a mood as I was when I decided to seek out some time "for myself". I'm not sure why. But, anyway, tax week is upon me. The last of the official documents arrived yesterday. My intention is to compile her medical expenses and get everything out by the end of this week. As well, I need to compile her blood glucose and blood pressure readings for the last month for her doctor so I can fax those in a timely manner after her blood is drawn on February 1st or 2nd, depending on how busy the lab is. So, there is yet another delay in finishing the waiting essays.
Yes, there's another podcast up. The actual interview lasted 1h17m. I edited out the thought pauses, repetition and "okay, uhms" and ended up with 42 minutes. It's not our best effort except that here and there throughout the interview Mom and I talk about the difficulty I'm having getting information from her. That part's pretty interesting. In essence, it's an example of how honest I am with her. I used the "descendents at your knee" technique and that didn't work well. But, we'll continue, at least for awhile. I'm seriously considering moving the computer around, turning on the mike surreptitiously and recording in order to catch some of our more involved conversations...see how that works. Anyway, the latest cast is the last listed under the podcast links over there to the upper right. Ignore or enjoy. You're choice.
Well, shit. It's late. Or early. Or something. I'm beat. I'm heading for bed.
Oh. Everything is caught up at The Dailies. Just thought I'd mention that.
Later.
I can't remember what I got on my SATs. Don't even remember if I scored high, although I assume I did; I was a bright, excellent student (although in that particular year I was rebelling against school and beginning to learn how to skip classes and pass with very low grades, which was hard for me). It's possible that I never looked at my scores, since I also decided some time later to steal my school records, burn them, meticulously replace the ashes in my folder and replace the folder in the counselor's office. My deed was discovered sometime in my senior year, at least a year later than when I did the deed.
The roundabout point is, this is the way I've always preferred to write: Having a couple of things going at the same time. There's a peculiar kind of transference I experience when I'm writing on diverse subjects in diverse styles that keeps me interested in everything I'm writing. That's what I've been doing over the last 36 hours with all those unfinished essays over at the essay site. Two of them are finished but not proofed. The others are well along. Some are short. Some are medium length. None is terribly long. But, that's why none have yet been published. They're all in various stages of being finished.
The experience has been exhilarating, but I've found that I've had much less time than I'd planned. It's not easy to grab time for myself while caring for Mom. I actually thought the last few days would afford me lots more time, but I was wrong. Mom's been up more and livelier than I expected. As well, I had yet another podcast that required a lot of editing and that took some time, as well.
The upshot is, I don't feel as though I've had any "Me" days. This time, though, I'm not in as bad a mood as I was when I decided to seek out some time "for myself". I'm not sure why. But, anyway, tax week is upon me. The last of the official documents arrived yesterday. My intention is to compile her medical expenses and get everything out by the end of this week. As well, I need to compile her blood glucose and blood pressure readings for the last month for her doctor so I can fax those in a timely manner after her blood is drawn on February 1st or 2nd, depending on how busy the lab is. So, there is yet another delay in finishing the waiting essays.
Yes, there's another podcast up. The actual interview lasted 1h17m. I edited out the thought pauses, repetition and "okay, uhms" and ended up with 42 minutes. It's not our best effort except that here and there throughout the interview Mom and I talk about the difficulty I'm having getting information from her. That part's pretty interesting. In essence, it's an example of how honest I am with her. I used the "descendents at your knee" technique and that didn't work well. But, we'll continue, at least for awhile. I'm seriously considering moving the computer around, turning on the mike surreptitiously and recording in order to catch some of our more involved conversations...see how that works. Anyway, the latest cast is the last listed under the podcast links over there to the upper right. Ignore or enjoy. You're choice.
Well, shit. It's late. Or early. Or something. I'm beat. I'm heading for bed.
Oh. Everything is caught up at The Dailies. Just thought I'd mention that.
Later.
