To preface this post, my stomach is currently telling me how much it hates me. I may or may not be lactose intolerant. But ice cream sounded really great tonight after work. So, a friend and I went to get shakes in celebration of getting out of
Kansan the newsroom early.
I must admit this has been a pretty crazy week. My schedule is mildly insane, but I'm learning to deal. I'm going to try to blog as much as I can, but no guarantees. I love how I'm writing this as if I have a ton of invested followers. I don't. I feel like maybe my mom reads this. Anyway, if you do care, there you go.
First, I was deeply saddened when I learned that the great J.D. Salinger passed away today at the age of 91. I opened up a browser window; New York Times is my homepage and there the story was. Catcher in the Rye is one of my favorite books of all time. In fact, the book might flat-out be my favorite. I remember reading the book my junior year of high school and I couldn't put it down. Probably the fastest I've ever read a book. I will admit that as a journalist, I find it interesting that one of my favorite authors avoided media most of his life. I don't want to invest too much of this post into talking about my favorite literary works, but I felt paying tribute to J.D. Salinger was important.
Next, I think it's hilarious that a school in California "banned" the dictionary. The school claims they didn't ban the dictionary but merely moved the reference books to a temporary location for a while. It's really great.
That's all I have to say for this post. My stomach is still making odious sounds. In other news, I decided one of my new favorite words is "usurp."
I never thought I'd start a blog because I really don't think I'm that interesting. I also don't think I have anything interesting to write about. But one night when I couldn't sleep, a title for a blog just popped into my head and that's how I got where I am now.
Before I go any further, I should probably explain a little about myself. I am a journalism major at the University of Kansas also pursuing a minor in business. I can't say my decision to major in journalism is anything special. I was involved with the newspaper and yearbook in high school, so studying journalism in college just seemed like the right choice. I've always enjoyed knowing what's going on. Whether it be what's happening in the world, the nation or just what's new with my friends, I like to be "in the know."
But back to my blog, not me. I decided "Adventures of a Word Nerd" fit me pretty well. First, I really like adventures a lot. One of my favorite sayings is "Whenever possible, choose adventure." I first saw this quote on a piece of artwork by artist Kay Foley. Since then, I have decided to approach new experiences as "adventures." When things go wrong (or right), it's an adventure. I'll come out of the situation a better, more knowledgeable person either way.
As far as the "word nerd" part is concerned, let's face it, I'm going to college specifically to study words. How to write and communicate them with others, how to edit them, how to connect them with other words, and how to make other people WANT to like (or at least read) words.
So, this blog is going to be my attempt to share my stories about adventures, words and nerds. And probably a few other things. My sad endeavors of being witty will also be included, I promise.
And for the record, I'm not a word snob or anything. But I will admit I do have a favorite or two. One of them is snafu.