Perfectionism Ad Nauseam
August 9, 2008
The more I find fantastic blogs to read, the more intimidated I am about posting abject shit. So I write nothing.
On the other hand, today I sent out an e-mail to a Yahoo group and didn’t proof it properly. I misspelled a couple of words, including “teachers.” OMG. I could forgive myself perhaps for “antidisestablishmentarianism.”
I guess I could pretend that I really did mean “techers,” maybe a new fangled type of employment that deals with technology.
If you had any idea what a spelling snob I am then you would know that this faux pas made me want to take my skin off with a dull carrot peeler.
More and more I realize what a hideous bitch I am. The thoughts I’ve had about the poor spelling I’ve seen on numerous e-mails over the past couple of years would lead you to believe I must be perfect in every way.
Well, that issue has now been fixed.
I will, however, continue to pick apart everything else in life until I’m forced to notice my own reflection once again.
You know all those books out there that talk about loving yourself? Honest to God, sometimes I think you’ve got to be a stupid jackass to pull that off.
However, the guy who made millions off of such a lame & ridiculous idea is probably touching himself right now, while looking at his own face on a book cover, thinking about his bank balance.
Maybe I should write a diet book. It could be full of abject shit, written by a stupid jackass, & make millions.
Even spelling errors would be forgiven in the insane push to lose weight. If I accidentally called apples “bapples” and bananas “fananas” there would be women running to produce managers looking for new-fangled fruit.
Problem solved.
August 9, 2008 at 3:15 am
Spelling snob; I love it. We all have our little idiosyncrasies (I looked that up, cuz I didn’t want to spell it wrong).
I’m at work, they don’t have “foxfire” browser, which has a spell check built in. So, even when I’m posting a comment it helps with my spelling. I’m dying. I am the world’s worst speller
Don’t be so hard on yourself. Where can I get a fanana? LOL, you are hilarious!
Fananas are a wonderful fruit that have the capability to cool you off before you eat them. And I would have totally spelled “idiosyncrasies” wrong. Gotta remember that one.
August 9, 2008 at 4:02 am
You must ridicule every other comment I make, because I never proof read anything, and I’m notorious for misspellings, word omissions, and the worst one of all: thinking one word and typing another. I may mean to type “can” and instead type “cat” or “cow” or even “down”. No rhyme or reason. Perhaps the ADD going on in my head. My mind and fingers have two completely different agendas.
Still I feel for you. I too am my own worst critic. I constantly beat myself up for stupid little mistakes, but it doesn’t seem to slow me down any. Hmmm… I wonder how many mistakes I’ve made in the process of typing out his comment?
Go easy on yourself.
Thank you, Peter. Comments are my favorite part of the day, so they don’t get the same treatment that e-mail from other homeschoolers get. There’s a certain expectation that if we’re keeping our children home then we should be intelligent enough to spell the word “teacher.” lol
You’re right though about the critic thing. I always assume, when I meet someone who’s very critical, that they’re their own worst enemy.
August 9, 2008 at 8:29 am
You might try the Firefox browser like javaqueen tries to use. You don’t have to make it your default browser, but you may want to… I still use IE, but I really like Firefox more. Old habits die hard. There is a spell checker built into the program.
It is a free program, free download and you are allowed to hange many things about the appearance.
Don’t be too hard on yourself. In the blogging world, I don’t mind a few errors or sentences ending in prepositions. We have to be a bit more casual in here.
No pressure!
I know you’re right. I will never resort to spell check, however:) It’s one of the few things I’m rigid & old school about — remember my age? I started as a secretary when CARBON PAPER was still in use. Not for long, but still . . . I even had a very difficult time adjusting to the use of a mouse. My first word processing jobs used coding instead. I fight change as if it were chasing me down the road in the dark:)
August 9, 2008 at 10:39 am
Like Peter says, we are our own worst critics. I used to be anal about misspellings and incorrect grammar, but now I just don’t care as much, especially in the blogosphere. I have to forgive myself a little more because I’ve noticed that the flat laptop keyboards sometimes have a mind of their own and can’t keep up with me. The same goes for the blogging applications. It does, however, still bother me when I’m paying more than one dollar for a book in a bookstore though. That pisses me off because I figure at least bloggers don’t have editors and proofreaders. But the people who are getting published SHOULD have them and they should have good ones. If not, they they should be hiring ME for crying out loud.
Forget grammar — I never did learn proper form & I’m sure it shows. Since I don’t understand it however, I don’t notice, which works! I know exactly what you’re talking about with the laptops — and I want one anyway. I’m sick of being stuck behind my desk for hours a day & am starting to get claustrophobic. The question is why does the 10-year old have one & I don’t?
As for misspellings in books, they make me wish for the same job you’re looking for.
August 9, 2008 at 10:39 am
See that there? That last line should say THEN they should be hiring ME for crying out loud. Dang keyboard.
Exactly – that’s why comments are different, cause you can’t go back and fix’em.
August 9, 2008 at 12:46 pm
LOLOL! “Stupid Jackasses” OR Extremely intelligent human beings who have figured out the key to living a supremely happy life??? Uh-huh, which might it be? Not the ones who espouse loving yourself, but the people who actually DO IT! Most of them are so ‘at peace’ they feel no need to tell you about it.
I know, I know, you feel if you ‘let go’ of all your anal tendencies to hyper-criticize all the things going on around you, what would you have left to write about? How interesting would you be then? After-all, isn’t that part of your ’self-identity?’
Like my big boobs were before I had them cut off. So afraid I was going to go around making Dolly Parton jokes and everybody would wonder why? Okay, well, this was almost 23 years ago, back before every Tom, Dick and Harry had them….and I was trying to get rid of ones that could poke your eye out. Dolly was my hero, and the person I joked about to put others at ease. Come on, when I walked up, all you could see were boobs…..everywhere. To NOT make a joke about them would be like saying nothing about the naked man in the room.
And anyway Pam, you NEVER have to worry about losing your muse. You do need to start loving yourself enough to realize that you have a gift. You have a very intimate relationship with words…..in fact, you can see their ‘flavor’ when the rest of us are just using them to say something. But you use them and make us ‘feel’ something. Yes, many other people have a gift with words…..(that dead charming guy to name one)….but your’s is unique and your own. And however you evolve, even if you choose to become less of a ‘bitch’ one day, you will still be making people feel things with your words. You love them too much……the words, I mean. Not necessarily the people! LOL! How else could you appreciate ‘warm’ and ‘gritty?’
And we will still be flocking to come and read what you have to say, as long as you are willing to say it. Because we like how you strum a part of our inner selves that no one else does. So start one thing today that is the beginning of your journey on ‘loving yourself’ and quit giving yourself a hard time! That stunts your ‘writing gene’ and we miss reading what you write!!! Come on! Think about us, would you!!!?? LOLOL!
I mean, I have gone ‘cold turkey’ on all but your blog. And I still keep coming back to ’see’…..I can’t help myself. (smile) Isn’t that a testimony? Oh, and just so you will know, in case you want to start with the one I use….I DO stand in front of the mirror and tell my apron that I love it….you know that roll of fat on the lower stomach??? Wait, you’ve been losing all that wait, you probably don’t have one anymore! LOL….oh, and I want to know what your counter things says about me??? Where am I from? Etc. Love ya, Soapbox Diva
P.S. I did the ‘wait’ on purpose…..just to screw with you some! But how many other total mess ups do I have that I didn’t even see? And really, who cares?
Wow – you were so kind & spectacular with your comments that I had to go back and see the word “wait,” cause I missed it. I’m slipping.
I’ll go search for you & let you know regarding the counter . . .
And I’m fascinated by the boob reduction – you may already know that I prayed every day as a girl that mine wouldn’t grow big like my female relatives:) God is good – lol.
August 9, 2008 at 3:33 pm
I think that’s just silly, you do some damn fine writing.
LOL. I love “just silly.”
August 9, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Oh, honey, you should never be intimidated by anyone else’s blog. I enjoy your writing more than almost anyone in this weird interworld I’ve gotten caught up in. I can count on one hand the blogs that really interest me on a regular basis. Keep writing, and I’ll keep reading!
I know exactly what you mean about being hard on yourself when it comes to content or, god forbid, a spelling error. I get paid to edit and proofread hundreds of pages a week, so it’s mortifying when I see an error in a post or even a comment of mine. When I see someone use insure when it should be ensure or affect instead of effect, my head starts pounding.
I’m just letting it all go when it comes to this blog business. I think when you try to post and respond to comments and read other blogs and comment, all while trying to be witty, that this shit happens. If I know what you meant to type, that’s good enough for me!
I actually lost a good job — quit it — transcribing from home because I couldn’t bear the expectation that I just listen to the tape and slap some shit down. My perfectionism couldn’t bear it. I knew my name would be on the front cover of those documents and I could hear attorneys laughing at “the stupid transcriber” who put something entirely inaccurate in the transcript.
My employers continually told me I was great, but that I shouldn’t worry about the quality so much since it impacted the quantity. ACK.
As it turns out, I think I permanently damaged my knee due to the repetitive motion of the foot pedal & my hearing from the damned tapes. WTF? It didn’t pay enough for that.
August 10, 2008 at 12:05 am
That ‘new fangled fruit’ thing is SO true! We had friends trying to sell us some kind of bizarro membership to this ’special fruit drink’ club that would, apparently save our lives. It was all complete crap! Just a few days after their attempted sale we saw their supposedly life saving, special, blah, blah, blah fruit drink in the frikkin’ Wal-Mart.
And, by the way, you better keep blogging and letting me love everything you write!
You’re so sweet:) And there’s not a damned thing that doesn’t eventually make it to Wal-Mart shelves.
August 10, 2008 at 12:54 am
LMAO! My first visit via MTAE…and I loved it! I am with you on that spelling thing. I cannot type without hitting the backspace a trillion times to correct my spelling. I must do it before I can go on.
Thanks for visiting! MTAE has become one of my addictions:)
December 17, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Is the irony intentional in misspelling “ad nauseam” in the title?
I am appropriately horrified and will fix it right away, although I was tempted to say you were right about the irony:)