Handwriting

Much ado has been made lately over cursive writing.  Schools are saying we don't need to teach it any more, since everything is going to keyboards these days.  Old school people -- myself included -- believe it still needs to be taught.  Even Europe is butting into our argument, saying that cursive is faster than the way Americans write, with our square, blocky printing.

The irony here is that, even though I believe cursive should still be taught, I don't like to write in cursive myself.  I prefer to print.  I can write much faster, and more neatly, in print than in cursive.
In spite of my personal preference, however, I've come to the conclusion that I need to write more in cursive.  I feel that my skills have seriously deteriorated over the mmmfffmfmfmf years since I graduated high school.

When I was in the store last week, I bought a composition book in which to practice my cursive writing.

I started copying quotes I'd seen posted on Facebook into it.  Not a lot.  I don't want it to become such a burden that I give up in frustration and quit.  After a couple of days, I wanted to make sure I was still forming the letters correctly, so I went to Amazon to see what handwriting books they had there.  I came away with these two.

The Spencerian Penmanship book isn't what I thought it would be.  It's more like a teacher's guide and is meant to be used with some workbooks.  I guess I'll go back and get them later.  The other one is the kind I was looking for.  It's got the letters you trace, then space to write on your own.  I did the first page today, and as you can see, my cursive needs a lot of work.

I think I'm finding it difficult because the writing is really big.  I'm used to writing much smaller. Once I get my handwriting whipped into shape, I want to get a real, old fashioned fountain pen -- the kind you have to suck the ink up into with nibs and everything.  I've always had a thing for writing implements, ever since I was a kid.  But then, if you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you already know that.

Another thing I have a thing for is mugs.  I liked this one when Avon first came out with it, so I was thrilled to find it on clearance.

This shirt was not on clearance.  I bought it from TeeSpring.  I've never been quite satisfied with the quality of their products.  For the money they cost, I expect better quality.  But never mind that.  I really loved this design-- enough so that I was willing to take a chance on the shirt.

That's the back.  In real life, it's very hard to see the flag, so that was a bit disappointing.  Unless the light hits it just right, it looks like a shirt with just a fouled anchor on it.  The front has an anchor with no flag behind it.

I'm slowly working towards having nothing but American Flags or Navy themed shirts.

In other news, the other brazer from my line has moved to third shift, so they have someone else over there with me.  She's a good brazer, but boy howdy does she like to talk.

It was raining so hard when I got off work that water was ankle deep in the parking lot.  The good news is, I now know my work boots are waterproof.  My socks were the only dry article of clothing I had on by the time I got to my car.

The wasp stung ear is slowly getting better, but it's still swollen.  It's making it hard to sleep, and that's why your blog posts are so dull here lately.

Maybe something interesting will happen soon, so I'll have something interesting to write about.