Everyone has the right to be emo sometimes, right?
Thoughts | April 22, 2010
Lately, I’ve been feeling this overwhelming sense of failure.
It seems as if I can’t do anything right, I can’t effect any of the outcomes I want, all my applications for anything ricochet as rejections, and whatever I do, someone else does it so much better that they leave my pitiful little attempts in the dust.
Why don’t my applications bode well with selection committees? Why am I not finding any internships or research opportunities? Is it a deficiency in my personality? A lack of passion? Bad writing? An inability to accurately gauge what the committees want? An inability to gauge what I want, leading to a lack of enthusiasm?
Why am I not doing as well as I’d like in my classes? Am I not studying enough? Am I just not good at a particular subject? Do I just not like these classes enough because they’re what I think I should be doing and what my mother is making me do on the threat that my education won’t be worth its price and she won’t want to pay for it and she’ll be disappointed in me for eternity otherwise, not because they’re what I really want to do? What do I want to do?
Why am I unable to get close to other people? Even surrounded by and interacting with other people, I still feel all alone. When someone tries to get too close to me, I instinctively push them away, though I know that’s not what I want. Is this because of the lack of closeness within my family? An inability to trust even my parents because they let me down?
I don’t know if I’m really just a spectacular failure at life, or if my standards are simply way too high. Well, I mean, either way, my standards are too high for what I’ve been carrying out. And I don’t know if that’s because I’m just insane, or because my parents have turned me into a monster that expects nothing less than perfection by never allowing me to make any mistakes, or because society as a whole places too much pressure on success.
I am so confused.
The grammatical butchering of my favorite dessert is not okay
Food, Grammar | April 15, 2010
On a menu I saw today:
Dessert of the day: “TERRAMISÚ CAKE”
There are so many things wrong that I don’t even know how to begin.
First of all, why are there quotation marks? I’ve noticed that they always quote the dessert of the day. Why?! Are they actually quoting something? Are they demonstrating irony? (Is the dessert always fake or something?) Are they using the word or phrase out of its usual context? Are they using the word or phrase in any context that would require quotation marks? No? Misplaced quotation “marks” all “over” the “place” are “annoying.”
Secondly, tiramisu is not spelled “terramisu.” Oh no. Unless I’m woefully unaware of whatever pun exists here, I’m appalled. Tiramisu is sacred in my mind!
Thirdly, if you’re going to retain a word’s accents in its original language despite the lack of accents in the commonly used English form, at least do it right? Tiramisù. Not ú. Unless you’re spelling tiramisu in Spanish. I’m pretty sure they weren’t in this case.
Okay, I s’pose there were only three things wrong. But still.
Essay fonts and the demolition of Times New Roman
General | April 8, 2010
I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to realize this, but I’ve recently concluded that the dullness and ugliness of Times New Roman tarnish my poor, innocent, undeserving eyes. Up until now, I’d used it for essays because my middle and high school teachers expected it, but now, with more flexible college professors, I’ve gotten the urge to experiment with essay fonts.
Now, you might be thinking that I’m just foolishly putting my GPA in jeopardy, but no worries, the essays I’ve written in Cambria have done just as well as or better than my essays in traditional Times New Roman. And when I get picky professors who swear by that grotesque, outdated font, well, I’m certainly not going to disregard their guidelines. Plus, I swear I’ll never write anything in Trebuchet like this dude did.
Perhaps Cambria works just as well because it’s the new default in Word, so plenty of people are using it and Calibri these days, and perhaps I shouldn’t try any font that’s too outlandish (essays in Webdings? I’m sure that would go over well…), but Cambria, although better than TNR, is too…blocky.
So, (very) recently, I’ve begun writing my essays in Minion Pro. It’s just so lovely and clean and sophisticated, and it reminds me of well-designed books. For example, The Holocaust: Roots, History, and Aftermath is set in Minion, and it’s a phenomenal textbook in both design and content. Books with TNR as a typeface strike me as unprofessional and make me go awerkawerklaewrkl (I don’t know what that is, exactly, but I imagine it closely approximates the death of a body part). I’m actually writing my first essay in Minion right now, so, I mean, I haven’t received any feedback, but I’ll let you know if I get my first F on a paper or something like that.
I think we should all do away with Times New Roman. About 75% (this is a very scientific statistic; I didn’t just make it up or anything…) of all other serif fonts are better-looking and more legible.
What fonts do you like most for essays or for print in general?