Monday, February 18, 2013

monday thoughts: time, questions, and the chicago manual of style

A few weeks ago I entered the library and passed somebody I once knew. If I had seen this person a year and a half ago, my heart would have clenched and I would have been stricken with slight anguish. I would have gone home and collapsed in my bed, my mind racing as it cycled through a perfect montage of memories. That day, though, I felt nothing. We passed, as Jane Bennet would say, as indifferent acquaintances. It's funny how time changes everything. It helps us realize how the things we once viewed as essential were not worth our while and enlightens us to what is truly important.

Last night my brother and I played 20 Questions for 4 hours while driving back to Provo from Boise. We take this game seriously in my family. Topics to be guessed included (but weren't limited to):
Mile marker
The Oregon Trail (the computer game)
Red fireworks at Florence Freedom games
The Great Barrier Reef
The letter I
Chapter 23 (The Yule Ball) of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Fjords
Big Ben
Avalanches
Eclipses

Thanks to my Basic Editing Skills class, I am becoming more closely acquainted with the Chicago Manual of Style than I ever really cared to. According to Chicago, I should have spelled out the 20 in 20 Questions and the number 4. But I didn't. That's editing rebellion at its finest...right? 

A note to the Idaho Highway Department (assuming there is a such thing): When the last gas station for thirty-eight (Chicago would be proud) miles deep in the heart of Middle of Nowhere, Idaho, is closed,  it might be wise to stop advertising its existence on the exit sign. Otherwise, poor travelers feel rudely deceived when they discover that said gas station has probably been closed for at least five years. I'm just saying...


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