Twenty

"Miss Stacy took all us girls who are in our teens down to the brook last Wednesday, and talked to us about it. She said we couldn't be too careful what habits we formed and what ideals we acquired in our teens, because by the time we were twenty our characters would be developed and the foundation laid for our whole future life. And she said if the foundation was shaky we could never build anything really worth while on it. Diana and I talked the matter over coming home from school. We felt extremely solemn, Marilla. And we decided that we would try to be very careful indeed and form respectable habits and learn all we could and be as sensible as possible, so that by the time we were twenty our characters would be properly developed. It's perfectly appalling to think of being twenty, Marilla. It sounds so fearfully old and grown up."

"To think that this is my twentieth birthday, and that I've left my teens behind me forever," said Anne, who was curled up on the hearth-rug with Rusty in her lap, to Aunt Jamesina who was reading in her pet chair(...)
"I suppose you feel kind of, sorry" said Aunt Jamesina. "The teens are such a nice part of life. I'm glad I've never gone out of them myself."
Anne laughed.
"(...)Yes, I'm sorry, and a little dissatisfied as well. Miss Stacy told me long ago that by the time I was twenty my character would be formed, for good or evil. I don't feel that it's what it should be. It's full of flaws."
"So's everybody's," said Aunt Jamesina cheerfully. "Mine's cracked in a hundred places. Your Miss Stacy likely meant that when you are twenty your character would have got its permanent bent in one direction or 'tother, and would go on developing in that line. Don't worry over it, Anne. Do your duty by God and your neighbor and yourself, and have a good time. That's my philosophy and it's always worked pretty well."

Happy Birthday to Me! (and contest)

Head over to my other blog, gretascraftiness.blogspot.com and leave a comment to enter a drawing to win an original art piece.

My Very Unusual Class

Classes just started for me here at KSU, its my second day of classes, so professors are still introducing themselves and going over the syllabus. I had World Civilizations this morning. I found a spot near the front, and watched as people kept pouring in. Soon there were more people then seats. That's odd, I thought, but ignored it as I chatted with my neighbor. She mentioned looking forward to learning about political science, which startled me; but  knew I was in the right class, I had checked the room number this morning.

Then in walked a decidedly non-Asian professor (my history prof has an Asian name) and started writing Political Science 1101, Dr. McKelvy on the board. Soon we discovered that there were three classes all assigned to the same room at the same time: Political Science, Criminal Justice, and World Civilizations. One person facetiously suggested that we combine all three classes; which got a laugh out of the room, while the professors went to their department heads to figure out the mix-up.

We go the room, and as soon as the rest of the students had filed out, we started class, forty-five minutes late. Dr. Jhaung was explaining his grading policy when a strobe light flashed. Annoyed, I look around for the person with a camera. The it flashed again. Maybe the lights were flickering? In the quizzical hush that followed, I noticed the alarm strobes mounted on the wall near the Power Point screen. A canned voice issued obscure warnings as we filed past our resigned professor. Class had lasted five minutes.

National Anthem

I never have liked our national anthem. Maybe it was because I was still learning it during the '96 Olympics, and the tv stations loved to focus on then president Clinton who always had fake tears in his eyes. I never liked that president.

But I'm able to tolerate it better now that so many Americans are winning gold...

Setting the Record Straight

I'm sorry it sounded like I was trying to argue with my brother, but all I was trying to do was to reasonably explain how to build a blanket house. He was the one that went stomping off to his room. Why didn't you scold him instead of me?

No, I really wasn't trying to tattle (besides, I wasn't the tattler...someone else was), all I was trying to do was get recognition for my deduction skills. See, our game required that we place a stick where the front of our roller blades ended up, and the person closest to the wall won. David placed the stick right next to the wall trying to claim victory, but you see, he didn't account for a foot being there.

I know we never defined jacket, but I always assumed we were talking about a blazer. I don't like blazers, though you are certain you can find one I like. The jacket I tried on and liked was not a blazer. Ergo, you haven't won yet.



(P.S. This is a very tongue-in-cheek post.)