Saturday, November 14, 2009 AD
Why I Can't Bring Myself to Charge My Friends for Editing
I have been blessed with the privilege and pleasure of editing a friend's doctoral project. As I just noted in a sidebar comment, "This is the price of my editing -- you have to put up with my occasional editorializing!" A few paragraphs later, I corrected a usage issue and gave the following explanation for the change:Rule of thumb: Whenever you use the word "comprise," make sure the word "envelop" would fit in the same context (even though it wouldn't be the right word). You would never say that something "is enveloped of" several other things. Just so, you shouldn't say something "is comprised of" several other things. "Comprised" is not a synonym for "composed." That said, you can probably find any number of modern usage references that allow such a construction, but they are all descriptivist, postmodern tools of the devil, so just trust me, instead. ;-) How stinkin' much fun can one editrix possibly have, I ask you?
Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 9:12 PM
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Sunday, November 8, 2009 AD
Three-Armed Pete
Many, many moons ago, my mother and Miss Gloria got matching paint-by-number Last Supper kits and completed them together. The paintings hung in their dining rooms for decades. Somewhere along the way, I noticed that the numberer of this particular kit had made a mistake. St. Peter is fourth from the left, the one with the long knife (remember his missing Jesus' point about swords and lopping off the servant's ear). I don't know which Apostle is third from the left, but I know that one of his sleeves is blue -- the same color as Peter's robe -- when it ought to be dark green to match his own robe. I decided that it made Peter look as if he had three arms. Miss Gloria's copy had the same mistake, and here it is preserved at the Paint by Numbers Museum in someone else's execution of the kit. We finally put the painting in a yard sale. I hope someone else is now enjoying the kitsch and Three-Armed Pete!
Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 6:28 AM
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Sunday, November 1, 2009 AD
What a Day!
I'm enjoying the last few sips of another glorious Sabbath. Not that I couldn't be guzzling, my cup has been overflowing like a fire hydrant all day, but I am sated with blessings.
First, that wonderful extra hour at the end of DST. Could we arrange to get an extra hour every Sunday morning? You can be sure I did not squander that time on frivolities. A significant portion of it was spent giving my eyebrows a long-overdue plucking.
Second, five new households -- a total of 19 individuals -- joined our congregation this morning. Pastor Knecht always chooses a verse with which to bless each one, so we got 19 verses and 19 prayers. I was blubbering.
Third, one of those households had six kids that all got baptized. I was blubbering.
Fourth, we had a wonderful (if somewhat curtailed...I think he was worried about how much time receiving the new members had taken) sermon on being welcoming people. I've been preparing to lead a study on chapter 2 of Steve Wilkins' Face to Face, "Characteristics of a True Friend," and the message this morning was a wonderful supplement to my thinking on the topic.
Fifth, we've recently started singing during communion, but no way was I going to glue my eyes to a hymnal page. I was craning my neck to watch those newly baptized kids get the supper for the first time. I was blubbering. (Do we sense a theme here?)
Sixth, although the Reformation Day party rain date was also rained out, the Ts still had a few folks over -- a family that had come from out of state, a couple families from other churches who hadn't gotten the cancellation message, and some chick who thinks she lives there on Sundays. ;-) Food was abundant and delicious, and fellowship was delightful. Of course the weather cleared up enough to be outside, but there was no way of knowing that would happen, so they made the best call they could. Ken lit the bonfire...and there was a rather dramatic explosion. Boys just never grow out of that pyromaniac stage, do they? I got my singing-around-the-campfire fix -- always one of my favorite things to do, and always extra fun when the "Von Lort Family Singers" are present.
Seventh, I LOVE the new baby afghan I started. I think just about everything I've made since I started crocheting again has been a solid color (or variegated thread, but that sorta counts as a solid since it's all one thread). This one is striped, and I had to keep stopping my work to just look at it and enjoy the emerging pattern.
Well, since seven is the number of completion, I'll stop there. Thank You, kind heavenly Father, for the bountiful and good gifts you pour out on your children!
Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 10:32 PM
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