creativepen

I am writing a magazine article about the current state of cursive writing and whether or not its continued existence is necessary.  I would like to really personalize this and hear from people of all ages, occupations (especially teachers of all levels)  and all locations on the planet. 

Do you write in cursive? 

If not, were you taught cursive? 

If you were taught cursive, were you carefully walked through the formation of the individual letters, or simply given an exemplar and told to work on it yourself?

Are you left handed?  Did this cause any problems for you in learning to write? 

How would you rate your writing in terms of legibility?

If you were taught cursive writing, how much time was allotted daily for practice?

If you were taught cursive and don't currently use it, please tell me why.

If you were taught cursive, do you know the method you learned? (examples - Palmer, Zaner-Bloser, D'Nealian, Spencerian)

Please let me know where in the world you live.  Also, If you know, please tell me if children in your area are currently learning/using cursive writing.

Do you personally think that children should learn cursive writing? Why or why not?

How much do you, personally use a pen and paper?  Please give me some examples of how you use handwriting on a daily basis.

What do you think is the future of written communication?  Do you think childen need to learn cursive writing? Why or why not?


I look forward to hearing from you!

Well, I knew that the latest job iteration was a mistake, but I was still doing my absolute best and totally blindsided by their hostility and attempts to make me quit.   So far, now 3 weeks out, and many, many resumes sent,  haven't even gotten one call for anything worthwhile, but at least I exited with unemployment payments - and shreds of my former self-confidence - not irreparable though.  Friends say I'd do better at a plaintiff firm rather than another  defense firm, but at this point, if I never see another attorney ever, that is perfectly OK with me.  I loved working in insurance and deviating from that career path was a mistake.  So let's see... 4 calls from Aflac, yes, that's 4 to do corporate sales for them on a strict commission basis (no thanks), That's one call with their recruiter being honest and telling me it was strictly commission and the other 3 calls trying to entice me with other options that all mysteriously led back to sales on the strictly commission basis and various levels of the hard sell. What part of NO did they not understand? One customer service possiblity (not that desperate yet), Asbestos removal - no, landscaping/Scott's lawnbuilder product sales - No.  Obviously there were no humans involved with the last two.  I worked on asbestos litigation - hence the asbestos keyword "match." Can't figure out the lawn care option except possibly that I speak Spanish and could talk coherently with other landscapers?  Ok, add to that one fake jobsite asking me to provide (among other job-seeking type info) my cell phone number - then in teeny tiny print at the bottom (after clicking on their privacy statement) a statement saying that clicking enter authorizes them to charge a monthly $9.99 to your cell phone bill.  Or perhaps the other fake jobsite, which again asked for all kinds of official looking job seeking info - only to say (in their privacy statement, of course) that clicking enter authorizes them to send you surveys that they think you might be qualified to complete - and for no monetary benefit except to them, that I could discern, anyway. Wish we could afford for me to stay home, but as that isn't the case, at least I can also get the house into some semblance of shape, before hitting the hamster wheel again.
Wish me luck!

I was dreading the task of writing my self evaluation.  Not only did I have to evaluate myself, but also to create my job description.  I switched careers last year, so I'm still figuring out what I do - this is all totally new.  To make it even more complicated, I have worked for four different groups with four different sets of priorities and had to combine them to make one comprehensive profile and then evaluate myself against what I had written.  Come on - does anyone really give themselves anything but stellar evaluations?  Let the other people bring me down a notch - I'm not sayng anything negative against myself! 

I knew that if I didn't sit down immediately that this would take on a life of its own and take over the whole weekend.  So I'm proud to report that I started it right after lunch and finished it up several hours later.  YAY!  I must admit, it was easier than the 5 headed horrendous monster project I had it cracked up to be.

Now let's hope that whatever increase is coming will cover for the increase in gas, food, utilities...  Hmmm, maybe I should have defined SUPERWOMAN and evaluated her accordingly...

I look forward to your replies.
Thank you.

 Went to visit my Aunt for a rubber stamping party (Stampin' Up) and had a wonderful time.  We made 4 cards.  Two of her grandkids were  there; ages 16 and 20.  I recently saw the older one (last month)- after not having seen her since she was 14 - and the younger one - first time I have seen her since she was 7.  She has matured into an exceptionally beautiful and creative young lady.  I was sitting next to her and got to help her with tonight's projects - what fun!  My daughter is 26 and has been on her own for awhile.  I really enjoyed being around the two girls.  I behaved myself and didn't buy any new stamps - just an ink pad and some card stock.  I really could save some serious money by using the zillion rubber stamps that I have and making some cards instead of waiting until the last minute and running out to buy a store bought one.  You know that all of those other stamps were bought with the best of intentions!  Hopefully I will verify here soon that the new ink pad and cardstock have not gone to waste.

Dug my journal out of the mothballs and was apalled to find that I hadn't written in it since February.  I knew it had been awhile, but really was surprised that it had been that long since my last entry.  Step one - digging it out of the mothballs.  Step two - putting it into my work tote bag.  Step 3 - actually writing in it  - well that's something to strive for tomorrow!  I looked at the book during my lunch break - even opened it up.  But my brain was fried from having been working really hard on some intense things going on at work and I decided to veg with a sudoku puzzle instead.  Just what the doctor ordered.  Anyway, that's part of what I found appealing about this site.  A place to muse and reflect out loud, so to speak.  Hopefully, a place where I can meet some new snail mail pals.  This is my first attempt at any kind of blog. 

By the way, I should say that I welcome correspondents of all ages.  As I've perused the site, I have noticed that I am one of the older folks here.  I'd welcome dialog with younger people and enjoy fresh ideas and viewpoints. 

 If someone comes up with  a (legal) pill that you can take and  feel rested, awake,  and don't have to sleep unless you want to, I'll be the first one in line.  I wake up at 4:30, go to sleep, get up, go to work and before you know it, it's time to do it all over again.  I need a few uninterrupted days just to get things done - over and above all of the things I try to stuff into a normal weekend.  I love the early morning hours - and the quiet late night ones.  Trouble is that I can't stay awake for both.   My most creative and productive time for artwork is 4:30 pm and I love journal writing in the morning - except a small thing like working for a living gets in the way.  Go figure!  Maybe I should go buy some lottery tickets!

Latest fun thing I've discovered - Italian Charm bracelets.  Ok, ok, I know they're old stuff now and have been out for years.  But I just discovered them and they're fun and affordable.  Go out on ebay and type in "Italian Charm" and there are literally HUNDREDS of them out there for every whim, fancy, emotion, hobby, job, horoscope sign, etc.  So far I have collected several different chinchilla charms (for the fuzzy kids), a bulldog charm in memory of mine who died last December - at the ripe old age of 10 (ancient for that breed), a feather pen in an ink bottle (for my calligraphy interests), sushi (self explanatory), an artist palette, bees (I collect them), a chipmunk (for my pet Siberian chipmunk), a runner, two cherubs kissing (I think it's part of a famous painting somewhere) two butterflies, an American flag in the shape of a heart, a dragonfly, one that says "I love New York" (my daughter lives there), and an old fashioned typewritter.  I received one with my name on it today (hard to find), and one that is engraved and says "give me coffee and no one gets hurt"  Of course the writing and pictures on these things is so tiny that you really need a magnifying glass to see them - but that is part of the appeal and whimsy of these things. 

OK, off to go throw some laundry in, play with the fuzzy kids, go to sleep,  wake up tomorrow and get on the hamster wheel all over again.  I LOVE this Summer weather!

Could someone please tell me how to insert a photo into a post?

Thanks