Parking Hell

The only thing I hate about getting to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays are how busy the parking lot is when I arrive. I made sure to leave an hour early, just like last time. I managed to squeeze in the very back of the parking lot, like last time. It was filling up fast. Also, people are idiots. Just for the record.

However, I do enjoy the extra time I have in the morning. I woke up and did my English homework. I was the second one to turn it in. The person who submitted theirs before me was very illiterate. In fact, 90% of everyone who turned in their homework so far can't even make a functioning paragraph. What was the homework? A 250 word response to a 10 page article on cluttered writing. My response ended up being 370 words. I wasn't paying attention to the word count; I was just trying to say what I wanted to say. I was horrified when I submitted it and realized that I had repeated myself in one part, but (not trying to be arrogant) compared to what everyone else has dared to turn in as our first college English assignment... I'm feeling pretty good about it. I'll share it, just for fun. And I'll highlight that mistake I just mentioned for fun. Also, I accidentally said "informal" instead of "formal." Whatever.

" I agree that writing today (especially in the media) tends to be cluttered and more complex than necessary. The more I read, the more I became conscious of my own writing. Making my writing less cluttered and more simple will be a challenge, but Zinsser's many examples of confusing writing and communication in today's society has at least opened my eyes to the matter. It is obnoxious that writing today contains so many useless hedges, and it's unfortunate that I, along with so many others, don't know how to break the habit. 

 Despite that, however, I do not agree that every sentence must be stripped to its simplest form. While they should remain simple enough to understand without much effort, I see no problem with using more advanced synonyms and adjectives as long as they are used properly, and as long as the writer knows how to use the words correctly. 

 I believe that the reason writing today is so cluttered is because writers think it makes them sound more intelligent. They want to come off as important and knowledgeable to the average reader, so the reader will trust what they're talking about for no better reason than it sounds fancy. As long as it sounds informal, writers tend to think that nothing else matters.

 I agree that style is hard to find. I'm not even sure what my style is, and hope that it comes to me naturally and in a way that is recognizable. It would be more challenging to find my style with completely simplified sentences, but that doesn't mean it's impossible. 

 Honestly, I was relieved when I was told that this response would be written in first person. It's the easiest way for me to write, even though it was discouraged all through elementary and high school. I actually feel most comfortable when I get to write about my opinions. I found it so difficult in elementary and high school to rewrite an entire paper just because I used the words "I" or "my." I enjoyed reading Zinsser's opinion on using first person.

 Overall, I found the excerpts interesting and educational. It's definitely something to consider while writing essays throughout the rest of my college career. "

I wanted to die when I first saw my mistake, but I don't even care anymore. 

I got a netbook yesterday and did one of my psychology assignments during my break. And then math happened. Again, my class was being immature and talking while he was teaching and just being rude. I almost snapped at them because they were distracting me. I feel like I'm the only one in that class who wants to learn. We got out about 5 minutes early because we finished today's lesson. Because of the power outage yesterday, our quiz this week is a take home quiz... and not even due until Tuesday! Awesome! I'll do it tomorrow or this weekend. Psychology has some homework and some reading, but it will be more time consuming than difficult. The homework isn't due until Tuesday, but I'm going to do it earlier. We also have a "project" due Thursday, but it's super easy. Much better than what I was expecting. I'll be happy to do it.

The new Project Runway comes on tonight. Hopefully I'm not too tired to watch it! Well, that's really all that's gone on with me today... in general I'm just tired. I'm not behind in college yet, so that's good. I can't wait for tomorrow to be over! This week has been the longest week of my life. I can't wait to sleep in and wake up and not have to go anywhere.

I'm still being hassled by people to join a club or make friends or something. And, like before, I still don't want to. After class every day I'm going to go home and do nothing on the computer until I die.