Lovely. 36 is one of my favorite numbers.

Hey guys, it's been a while since I wrote my last blog. Although I seldom visit GS these days, I haven't forgotten this place, as I still like a lot of its users.

Much has changed in the past few months. Gone are the days of self-hatred that drove me to write ridiculous blogs about how my disappointing SAT score was and how I loathed myself for being lethargic. Through some introspection, I have concluded that self-hatred is never helpful. I wish I came to that conclusion much earlier, since I think it's quite obvious, but it really is easy to convince yourself that self-hatred is healthy. Now I have begun to increase my self-confidence - slowly but surely. Much of my self-criticism has now become constructive rather than destructive. However, I still have a lot of room for improvement, since I still tend to fall into overly harsh self-criticism in certain situations.

Another thing that has changed is my school life. I now plan to do a few more semesters at a community college and then transfer to a good state university - hopefully UC Berkeley. For a while I considered applying as a freshman applicant. But as a CC student, I am barred from freshman admission for the schools I'm considering. All those schools are highly competitive, but I'm want to try to get in anyway, because I know that I'll be ecstatic if I get admitted. I would be ecstatic if I got admitted into any good school, because getting in would entail a chance to truly dive into my academic interests (namely linguistics) and so live a much more interesting life.

Granted, only two things have changed significantly, but those changes are so significant that I feel that somehow countless other things have changed as well.

That's all for now.

I don't feel like I'm 17. =S

Long time, no see. :>

I'm getting closer to Radical Ninja! =D

Hello. I'm bored and want to write about grammar pet peeves, as I've been thinking about language a lot lately.

5. Incorrect use of the phrase "as such"

Example: The weather was bad today; as such, I did not go to the store.

The phrase "as such" needs an antecedent, for "such" is a pronoun. It does not function as a word like "therefore". This error annoys me because usually when someone uses the phrase incorrectly, I can tell that the writer is either careless or trying to show off--the phrase does sound nice in sentences.

4. The ambiguous pronoun

Example 1: I got an A+ on my exam. That pleased me.

Example 2: Bob told John that he fixed his bike.

In spoken English, people usually understand what "that" refers to. However, even though "that" most likely refers to the good grade, the pronoun may also refer to the exam itself. Pronouns can never be ambiguous--a pronoun should have no more than one clear antecedent.

The second example has the mistake in a more common form. This sentence sounds fine in spoken English--one can infer that, depending on the context, one person fixed someone else's bike--but it makes no sense grammatically. How can you tell for sire who fixed whose bike? The answer may be obvious in conversation, but in written from the pronouns here are totally ambiguous.

I find this error irksome because it is very, very common.

NOTE: Read my discussion with Teenaged below; this really isn't an error so much as a pet peeve.

3. The comma splice

Example: I didn't like that movie, it was boring.

This error is terribly common, since it is nonexistent in spoken English: that is, aside from necessary pauses, punctuation has only a small role in speech. For instance, no one uses semicolons in speech since they're only found in written English. Unfortunately, because of the absence of punctuation in spoken English, many people believe that written English also lacks any real use of punctuation. Hence, people deem sentences like the above one as correct.

This error bothers me greatly since it is rife in poor written English. A sentence with a comma splice usually tells me that the writer is lazy and, just like the people who use ambiguous pronouns, assumes that the reader knows what such a sentence means.

2. The misplaced modifier

Example: The waitress served me my coffee in a frilly white apron.

I think this error can be very humorous; clearly, the coffee is not served in a an apron. Rather, the waitress is wearing the apron.

Although the misplaced modifier is a terrible error, I think it is more forgivable than the previous errors--I speculate that most people who misplace modifiers are in a hurry.

1. Error in idiom

Example 1: I am running at the store.

Example 2: Look to me!

Incorrect usage of idiomatic prepositions is dire: there is no rule you can use to determine what preposition to use for a verb. You just need to know what preposition to use. In both cases, the prepositions are not used for those words.

I was 15-years-old in the wintry state of Colorado. At the time, I had extreme social anxiety.ust like any socially inept person, whenever I had to meet someone, I would make countless excuses. The following incident perfectly reflects my former strange tendencies to avoid people at all costs.

On that day, I just happened to visit my older siblings, who were living in an apartment separate from the one in which I was staying. I did barely anything besides occasional chatting and playing video games. Since everything was dull, I thought that day would be peaceful. Unfortunately, I was proven wrong. My brother had called the internet guy before I visited--and I couldn't go back home for a while--so I, along with my siblings, had to wait for the man. As soon as I learned that a stranger was coming, I quickly thought of a place to hide. I was told that the internet guy would establish the router and modem in the living room, so I decided to hide in my brother's empty closet. I believed the man would have no reason to go further inside the home, and the closet was an inconvenient place to set up the connections.

I ran to the closet and waited. After about an hour, I heard an unfamiliar voice, which I suspected was the internet guy's. His voice, though obviously benign and normal to anyone else, made me freeze up. I immediately started to regret hiding in the first place, but I didn't get out of the closet as I thought that would look strange: in my mind, "strange" meant "crushing embarrassment". After a while, I decided to spring out of the closet and pretend to scare the internet guy when he came. When he opened the sliding door of the closet, I nervously sprang up and said, "HAHAHA I'M JUST JOKING; I JUST WANTED TO SCARE YOU!" With that, I dashed out of the room. Much to my horror, the internet guy was absolutely puzzled as to why he just saw a 5'7" kid hiding in the closet like a 7-year-old. Above all, however, he thought it was hilarious: he kept talking about my jumping out of the closet, and so did my mother, brother, and sister. It was a strange end to a dull day.

A year has passed and now I am not nearly as socially inept, though I still have social anxiety. However, I still find the above story very amusing.

This is another, happier life blog; indeed, I am less depressed these days (though I still get stressed out very often). A few recent developments have occurred since my last blog.

First, I've been more focused in my studies, actually getting things done and seeing good results. That is because I've been more focused on my future, so I must work harder--slacking off at this point is suicidal.

Second, I am now considering another (obviously future, as I'm not in a university yet) major in school: linguistics. I have realized that that is the field in which I would truly enjoy getting a major. Ever since I have learned basic Arabic, I've regarded language as a fascinating subject--I am especially interested by concepts like semantics and language structure. Sometimes I spend hours trying to spot similarities among certain langauges. I don't know how to put it in words, but I know that I really love the idea of studying the field.

That's all I have to say.

-ghokle

Revolutionary Girl Utena (RGU)

Genre: Shoujou

Number of episodes: 39

My rating: 9/10

Revolutionary Girl Utena is the first shoujou anime I have watched. Having heard people say that shoujou anime is generally melodramatic and derivative, I stayed away from this series. Recently, however, I decided to watch it out of curiosity. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised; this anime is incredible for its deep story and well-done characters.

The most notable thing about RGU is the story. Although simple at first, the story gradually gets much more interesting. At least throughout the last two arcs, there are several shocking plot twists that certainly surprised me--particularly near the end of the last arc. Needless to say, my jaw dropped at some plot twists in RGU. Along with the plot twists, there is enough heavy symbolism to give you a headache. If you dislike anime with a lot of symbolism (such as Neon Genesis Evangelion), then you should stay away from RGU. However, if you are patient enough to understand all of the symbolism and see how it relates to the plot, you will find this anime even more awesome.

In addition to the story, there is RGU's cast. Some characters like Utena are likable from the start; whereas others are initially annoying and insufferable--but believably so. Also, most of the irksome characters' personalities get less intolerable because you'll eventually sympathize with some of the characters (case in point: Nanami). Most notable, almost every character has his or her psychological problems that are mostly revealed in the second arc. The characters' various issues show that all of the characters are believable and three-dimensional. In short, all of the characters in RGU are good as they each have unique personalities and play important roles in the plot.

My only gripes with RGU were the repetitive animation sequences and music. Even though most of them were okay, it did get annoying when I came to the same old staircase sequences with the track Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku playing every single time. This certainly isn't a good reason to avoid RGU, but if good animation is really important to you, then steer clear from this anime.

Overall, RGU is a fantastic anime for its use of symbolism and great plot. Even if you dislike shoujou anime, you should definitely at least try watching this anime.

Next time you argue, please don't use black and white logic and accuse the other side of lying.

Doing such things in arguing helps nothing.

Please stop.

Love,

ghokle

(I've noticed that people are arguing like this, and I've found it incredibly irksome.)