Hey guys! So sorry I've been absent-- I've been in 32 solid hous of training at work this week, my dad is visiting me, and my internet at home hasn't been working anyway since my neighbors are out of town. (I'm actually in training now, but don't have anything to do at the moment). I was really interested in the previous language topic, by the way, although I couldn't get the time to post on it. I'm a copyedtior (although you wouldn't be able to guess that from my posts here!), among other roles, so my approach to language is very different than, say, Caitlin's approach, and I find them both fascinating. I'm also one of those people who has worked dilligently to cover her southern accent-- my brother has lived in Columbia, SC for 6 or so years now and he's enhanced his to the point that I sometimes have trouble understanding him. Hard to believe we grew up in the same house listening to the same parents.
But on to this week's topic. I think my young birthdays were overall more interesting than my older birthdays. The older I get, the more I realize birthday parties are just eating and drinking with people I like, which isn't a whole lot different from a normal weekend. I tried getting people to skydive with me one year, but it was too expensive. I've already figured I wouldn't have a party this year-- too stressful.
But when I was little, my parties rocked. When I was 4 (I think) I had a pirate party, complete with cardboard pirate ship and my 7 foot tall uncle (maybe 6.5, but he was big!) dressed as a very authentic pirate.
Later, I had an Indiana Jones party with a treasure hunt through the yard. We made whips too by tying strips of leather through wooden sticks.
And one year, when I was a bit too young probably, I had a horror movie slumber party where we rented and watched The Blob, Night of the Living Dead, and (eek!) Psycho. At the end of Psycho, all the girls screamed like crazy and (it was about 2am) my mom called the phone from another extension. I picked up and she said in a creepy voice, "Hello, this is Norman Bates..." which made us scream even louder. After that, we all went to the bathroom in pairs, scared that someone would jump out and get us. I still insist on clear shower curtains.
Back to training now.
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4 comments:
Actually, copyediting is one of those things I have always enjoyed (on a small scale, so we'll call it "proofreading"). And Psycho terrorized my little brother, too.
By the way, how does one become a copyeditor? I always wondered about the prerequisite training for that. You have a writing/English degree, right? Was that enough? Or did you have to do some kind of special training?
I'm pretty jealous of your past birthday parties! I never got to have any themed parties... and that Indiana Jones one sounds awesome. Maybe I'll do that next year :-)
As with most things in my life, I sort of fell into copyediting/proofreading. I work now at a company full of public policy-minded people with either military experience or degrees in something like foreign relations, poli sci, public policy, homeland security, etc. I'm kind of an oddball since I have an English degree.
When the managers decided to cancel the contract our project had with an offsite copyeditor, they asked if I would do it instead (the nature of the project is such that we have a lot of original documents that need to be formatted and copyedited before being posted to the web site). I said 'sure,' and found a 2-day training course nearby put on by the USDA. I also became intimately with the 5th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. I've certainly had my share of disagreements over grammar issues (learn what a mass noun is, people!!), but overall, I enjoy it and do it a bit obsessively when reading published books and papers now. :)
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