When I moved to Utah at the age of fifteen, I quickly discovered that I was in a minority group. I was one of the only girls in school who didn't have "cute handwriting." I hadn't thought much about handwriting before that point, although as a girl I remember thinking that my mom had nice, feminine handwriting.
Anyhow, perhaps in an effort to fit in (or because I was simply swept up by the "cute" fad), I started to change my handwriting style. And I don't think I'm the only girl who worked hard to develop a cute handwriting style (or "identity typeface" as J might call it); I have noticed a couple of teenage girls who have changed their writing style around the age of 14 or 15. (Did you?)
I was going through my journal entries this evening, noticing how the entries mark my changes in penmanship and "cuteness." Check out these two entries. The first one is from the "pre-cute" era (I had only been in Utah about four months), and then you can see my first attempts at a "cuter" handwriting in the next entry (which was about two months later):
And the handwriting continued to change for the next few months. For awhile I maintained this really time-consuming writing style, where my "R," "B," and "Y" letters had to be capitalized at all times:
I finally ditched the selective capitalization, but I still kept trying to make things more difficult for myself. I was into swirly "9" numbers for awhile, and I always had to write the "9" backwards (starting to write the "9" from the tail of the number instead of at the loop) to achieve my desired effect:
Luckily, that didn't last either. I guess I started to realize that it took way to much time to execute stylized, choppy letters and backwards-written numbers. I started to go for more swoops and curves (especially with the "y" and "g" letters), but still kept things rather neat. This was taken from my mission journal:
As my mission progressed, though, I began to write more and more sloppily. I spent so much time quickly jotting down addresses and phone numbers, that my whole writing style became more messy (and even more swoopy). I have recovered somewhat, but I still don't write as neatly as I did during my early college and early mission days. Actually, when going through my journals, I realized how some of the most busy and stressful periods of my life are indicated through my sloppy script. I must not have felt like I had time for neatness back then. (Or perhaps I wasn't even thinking about being neat, since my energy and attention were focused on other things.) This sample was taken soon after I started graduate school:
Tonight I realized that I hardly write with a pen anymore. I was writing some lengthy comments in the margin of a textbook, and I realized that the physical act of writing feels a little foreign to me. I use a computer so much; I only write to sign a check or quickly jot something down. With technology replacing the need to physically write, I wonder:
Who else went through a handwriting metamorphosis?
* Get the joke? This post isn't exactly a historiography, but it's a history of my own "graphy" (i.e. handwriting).
When I moved to Seattle, I was more-than-lucky that a close friend from high school already lived in the area. Joanna and I grew up in the same neighborhood, and she's been one of my dearest friends for years. This photo was taken ten years ago, the day before I started college.
When I came home from my mission, Joanna was my "companion" for an hour or two until I was officially released. We went and watched a ward basketball game together -pretty adventurous for a returned missionary, eh?
We went out for a movie and dinner last Friday; it was our last GNO before Joanna leaves. It's so crazy to compare these photos to the ones we took in high school and college. We look so old! And we don't have such a carefree look about us anymore. Sigh. I guess that's what happens when you have kids: the responsibility and stress really becomes apparent, eh?
School starts in little over a week. It's been interesting to reflect over what I've done this past summer. In June I embarked on a quest to find "the most awesome textbooks in the world" for my ancient and Renaissance art classes. I spent several weeks reading snippets from a bigillion books, and my coffee table constantly morphed in appearance, depending on what titles I was perusing or rejecting. This picture was taken several weeks ago, at the height of my ridiculous endeavor.
Sam with Current Obsession #1: Dinosaurs.
Sam with Obsession #2: Sea Animals.
And here we are: the Washington State Capitol. There were really interesting column capitals around the drum of the dome, with a large flower was placed in the center of each capital (see below). I wonder if they could have more symbolism or significance beyond the idea of beauty, but this government website seems to attribute all the other flowers in the building to signify simply "beauty". Harrumph. I wish there was a more interesting response. It would be cool if the flowers were specific to Washington or the Northwest, but they seem a little generic to me.
On the way toward the Mt. St. Helens peak, we stopped at the Forest Learning Center, which is one of the visitor centers for the Mt. St. Helens park. This is a really great center, especially for kids. Sam was entertained by the exhibits and the "hands on" learning room for children. As you can see, they also have a mini helicopter for kids, which Sam loved.
There was a short nature trail near the center, which promised a "vista" to the valley below. The trail obviously was made several years ago, before the reforested areas grew back. When we reached the end of the path, this was our vista: trees. I guess we can't be too upset, though. We didn't have a marvelous view, but it's good to know that the forest is recovering from the volcanic blast. Nonetheless, I wouldn't really recommend this short walk to future visitors. There's many more interesting things to see and experience.
As we drove closer to the peak, it was really interesting to drive through the reforested areas because all of the trees were the same species, and all of the trees were exactly the same age. I never realized it before, but it's normal to observe lots of variety on mountain landscapes, with trees of different varieties and ages. It was weird to not see that usual variation on the mountainside. When we were driving through this area, it felt like we were in some virtual world with CGI effects - it was like we saw the same tree over and over and over...
Near the crater, we visited Johnston Ridge Observatory (which is the best place to go to observe the geological changes which have occurred since the eruption in 1980). A lot of the land around the volcano peak has been preserved since the eruption. Scientists don't want the land reforested or manipulated, because they want to observe the natural ecological/geological processes. For that reason, there is still a lot of the volcanic eruption. This image shows a ridge which is right next to the volcanic peak. If you click on the image, you'll see that the whole mountain is covered with trees that have been pushed over in the same direction (i.e. away from the volcanic blast). It was really strange to see many slopes covered with dead tree trunks that were all lying in the same direction.
The only disappointment of the trip? We didn't get a good glimpse of the crater itself, thanks to our ever-present Washingtonian clouds. Ah well. We want to come back and do some hikes in the area anyway, and I'm sure we'll get another chance to see the top of the mountain.
Posts
