Where wear were... in a word, confusing

I can't spell. 

It's an omission most that know me would not be surprised by - I'm sure even you, my lovely bloggers, have noticed a discord in my grammar abilities.  I can't hide it, even with spell check the arrangement of letters alludes me. It doesn't help that in a rush to get the words on paper I skip letters and occasionally entire words before I even get to more finite specifications such as their spelling.

So it may then come as no further surprise to know that my means for getting it write (sorry, right) grammatically, phonetically and punctuationality (yes I know it's not a word) have been somewhat unconventional. 

My first attempt - as instructed by my mum was to read. So I read (u-huh an example of spelling frustration) I read, and re-read . I read in bed. I read while I slept (ok so that was for purpose of making a nice rhyme) but if I could have read while sleeping I would have. I read so much I developed a stigmatism in my eye and had to get glasses… as well as bad headaches at night. I DIDN'T however get good at spelling. Instead I was merely opened to a world of new and fascinating words I couldn't use in a sentence… 

One of my school stories actually read...

"Tilly waked throo the bush and found a g___________ (its the word for reely big) tree" 

(teachers comment… did you mean great?")… how could she have known I meant gargantuan. 

I was 9… hardly young enough to say I couldn't have known better. My next attempt was to cheat - I tried to get permission to write everything on the computer so I could use spell check. Mum said I was being lazy and should instead make use of our countless dictionaries. Great, more reading. However I quickly discovered the dictionary didn't do much good when you didn't even know the letter the word started with - I mean really "knife" … just stupid. 

Finally I came across a method of success - singing! Words being spelled out in songs - I have an annoyingly good memory for song lyrics so when I came across ones that resembled a rhyming spelling bee I couldn't believe my luck! 

I still remember the night I heard L-O-V-E a POPular song of the 90's. I ran down to mum bursting with excitement. 

"MUM MUM MUM MUUUUUM …. (catching breath) guess what!!" 

"… whaaaat?"

"I know how to spell LOVE!" 

"Oh really that's lovely darling" 

"Can I spell it for you?" (practically dancing with the thought of the impending spelling related kudos)

"Sure" 

"hang on… I just have to get the tune…(mum looking perplexed)…(under my breath) hmmmhmmmhmm a wuurl tastes good now (loud as I could go)  L-O-V-E - LOVE!!" 

pause

"that's… fantastic darling.. now you just have to learn it without having to sing the song" 

Other children may have found this discouraging, but soaring on the success of getting a word right I couldn't care less about the hours I'd have to spend getting the tune out of my head. 

Well the end of the story is I still can't spell - what HAS changed is my attitude - my bad spelling defines me in some odd way - those christmas cards corrected in red the failed spelling tests (I'm still the only person to get 0 in the spelling test you have to take year 7 science… it's out of 20) I'm oddly proud of this little flaw in my design. Because at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter that I can't spell, I'd much rather talk anyway :) 

Stay safe everyone 

Lesley 

Oh and as always let me know your thoughts - is there something you're oddly proud of? 

I was brought up on cult videos...

well I know what you're thinking. it's about time! No?…. how about, thought something had happened to you!.. 

Well if it's the later shame on you for not attempting to see if I was ok!

I kid. I am indeed back for now, hoping very much to get back to my startling early year record of one entry a week. In my defence we all seem to drop the ball a bit mid year , right? I mean think back to that distant January first day (don't be shocked as you realise it was 6months ago). The day you decided to make that all important resolution… how's that going for you?  

That's right, I'm defending my laziness and dragging you down with me. On the plus side things have been busy. I've just finished a few big jobs that were (as well as being extremely fun and rewarding) a bit of a time suck. As I've said now to some random people I've caught up with recently where small talk was necessary I'm hoping to get to some of my own work in the coming months - especially with my big US trip getting so close (That's July 18th for those family members that can't seem to retain dates.. you know who you are). 

So yes, busy times, fun times blah blah blah. 

I've been trying to think of a story for this week - it seems an age since I've written one, and you faithful bloggers deserve more than just petty ramble (see above). So what can I tell you… hmmm 

Ok this one combines the old and new. I've been getting into a bad habit lately of putting things of… not procrastination as such - as this act involves the guilty remembering's of tasks not done… no I simply discover their existence then tell my self (very convincingly I might add) that I will get to them later and COMPLETELY forget about them.

Emails, Meal times, taking medicine, so many little tasks throughout the day that unless acted upon their first impulse never eventuate. So to combine the old. I've made a little mid year resolution to get myself back on track. DO IT RIGHT NOW. I can see my sister (who I'm not convinced reads this, but moving on) giggling to herself as she understands exactly where I derived the inspiration for this mantra from. 

You obviously can't take it too literally - if you're sitting on the loo and happen to remember that today was the day for calling your grandma… it can wait. It does however help to get things done. the idea came from a video my sister and I used to watch as kids. For some reason Mum doubted her ability to ensure the development of our basic manners and social skills. solution - the weirdest video I've ever seen in my life. 

From what I remember after numerous viewings, and laughing fits, it was a video about manners, family and God (keep in mind that neither of my parents are religious). Sung in amusing rhymes by very peppy kids who's ethnic variety resembled a Beniton add.

Among the tracks were 

- Helping hands - not as sinister as it sounds

- Do it Right now

- God is our sun … a difficult song to get out of your head which was unfortunate when hanging around my extremely atheist father. 

- My mummy is having a baby - fairly self explanatory.. 

- Try it, you just might like it - A song my mum still quotes to this day… 

- A song about kittens fighting… I never really did get that one… 

- AND our favourite H-A-P-P-Y which like L-O-V-E by a girl group in the 90's taught me how to spell. (more on that later) 

I've included some highlights below for your viewing pleasure. 

(do it right now) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1N02cwjM4k&feature=related

(Helping hands) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNqpmyoF3-E&feature=related

Well that's it for me this week. 

Hope you're all well and are now motivated on getting past goals on track or you know - maybe I just reminded you to call your grandma. 

Let me know if you have any stories about weird parental techniques, goals gone by or when not doing something straight away has cost you. 

Until next week ( I may write it now while I'm thinking about it ;) 

The illo this week comes from a comp I entered recently - if you want to vote for my design 

click on the link below - then click on a "appreciate" and finally 'like' ^_^ Thanks! 

http://www.footlockerartprize.com/entry/318668