Archive: November, 2007

Annually

birth[noun]1. The act or instance of being born <biology class will be showing a movie of the birth of kittens>

Synonyms: nativity

Related Words: creation, genesis, origination, rise; bearing, childbearing, labor, parturition; begetting, breeding, fathering, generation, mothering, reproduction, siring, spawning; fatherhood, maternity, motherhood, parenthood, paternity

Yep, it’s my birthday. And, see? I brought some cake.

Now, today seems the perfect time to do this meme that I came across over here yesterday:

41ctcolfynl_ss260_ The idea is to tell what I was doing 10 years ago, 20 years ago, and 30 years ago. She added 40 to this meme, so I played along with that, too. Feel free to join in and do this one as well, if you’re interested.

10 years ago: 1997. 31 years old. I had just finished taking swimming lessons for the first time in my life, and had a friend teach me to drive a stick shift (which I haven’t done since). I had figured I wanted to start that new decade off by checking a few things off my life list.

20 years ago. 1987. 21 years old. I was in London for the semester in college, my Junior year. And my actual, 21st birthday? I spent that actual day all alone in Trier, Germany, being stood up by a no-show pen-pal, while my camera broke, the batteries in my walkman died, and I couldn’t find a thing in English to read, and ended up having supper at McDonalds. Well, it was memorable!

30 years ago. 1977. 11 years old. Um . . . fifth grade. Chances are we were listening to the 1776 soundtrack in school. Honestly, I’ve got nothing.

40 years ago. 1967. 1 year old. That was obviously a big day, being my first birthday and all, but I have to tell you, I don’t remember much of it. I did, however, get my all-time-favorite doll, Buttons, that birthday. You can see her in this picture with little-bitty me. She spends her time in the guest room these days, but she’s still very much loved.

MM: Their, They’re, Now…

mangled2

Okay, a show of hands . . . how many people have seen the word “there,” “their,” or “they’re” misused in the last 24 hours?

All of you, right?

Let’s review:

  • There: A specific place. (”You can put that book over there.”)
    Also used as an interjection. (”There! It’s done!”)
  • Their: The possessive case of “they.” (”Then he stole all their gold and gave it to the poor.”)
  • They’re: A conjunction combining the words “they” and “are.” (”Hurray, they’re here!”)

Link Fest

There are lot of other great writing sites out there, you know. Here are just a few for you to look at, in alphabetical order….

Confident Writing

E-mail Etiquette Matters!

Kate Blogs About

Writing Clear and Simple

Writing Thoughts