"But...but...you HAVE to help me!"

[Gabrielle Proctor]

I actually had a teacher take books away from me in school. I was in the 3rd or 4th grade and reading at the college level, thus, reading lengthy novels in the 500-700 page range. I was getting through these various books during breaks or lunch, and one of the teachers there saw me reading a full blown novel and took it away from me because it was too complicated for me to understand or some such nonsense.

I actualy had that same problem. Except they took books from me because I would get so into them that everything around me would "disappear". I don't know how else to describe it. The only thing that existed while I was reading was the book itself.

Anyway, it's cool to meet someone who had a college reading level at that age too. Although, my biggest problem was math. I had a horrible math level! I was practically learning impaired when it came to math!

[Bliss]

pluralize something with an apostrophe (as in: "Closed Saturday's") or, worse, stab one into a verb (as in: "He say's that all the time.")

You are joking, right? I know you're joking... you have to be.....

I mean, english is not my mother tongue, and still I find easy mistakes, such as not knowing the diference between their and they're to be very irritating..... this... I've not seen this yet other than you mentioning it right now... if I had I might've shot myself....

[Bliss]

1. If I know what goes wrong, I can fix it, and
2. If I can fix it, I can probably *improve* on it.

Thus, if you know what goes wrong, you can probably improve it. Hypothetical Syllogism. I'm trying to re acquaintance myself with my favorite college class ever. Logics. I love logic and boolean algebra

[Mamadrae]

That reminds me of a situation that occurred in my 11 th grade American History class. The regular teacher was out, and he had his student teacher showing us a video on Jefferson (the president). I was the only one even trying to pay attention (I like American History), so the student teacher gave us a 5 question pop quiz on Thomas Jefferson basics. And I mean basics. Like which president was Jefferson? and What was the name of his estate?

I was the ONLY person in the class to get a hundred, but what worried me more was the number of students that put down 2nd, 4th or 5th for the first question. I mean c'mon, it goes like this:

Washington
Adams
Jefferson
Madison
Monroe
Adams
Jackson
Van Buren



SC

Reminds me of my junior year in high school. My english teacher was retiring and just had a brain fart converting greek god names to roman. I was drawing something since I knew my greek mythology backwards and forwards.

T: Zeus was known as...ummm...*struggles*
Me: *not looking up from doddle* Jupiter.
T: *gives me a look* Hephaestus?
Me:*cocky grin* Vulcan.
T: Hera?
Me: Juno.
T: Demeter?
Me: Cer.....Cer.....rena? Wait that's not it! Dammit!
T: HAHA! Respect your elders Mamadrae.
Me: Yes sir....

[corporateslave]

OP, you sound like a great teacher.

the first one that gets published, I'm dedicating to him. He died of cancer about 3 years ago, but I'll never forget him.

That's so sad. But it's still good that you go to have him as a teacher.

It's the rampant abuse of the innocent apostrophe that bothers me the most. It's becoming almost physically painful to see someone pluralize something with an apostrophe (as in: "Closed Saturday's") or, worse, stab one into a verb (as in: "He say's that all the time.").

Oh, gah.. I hate that so f*&#(%ing much. I see it daily. I die a little inside every time.

[protege]

Thus, if you know what goes wrong, you can probably improve it. Hypothetical Syllogism.

It's not just with the car though--it applies to my model locomotives as well. Athearn diesels are a particular favorite. They aren't bad engines at all, a bit noisy perhaps. Most of that goes away after some fine-tuning. Meaning, I take the entire thing apart and go over it. Once you've done it a few times, it's not that hard

First step, is to check the truck gears. There's usually some excess plastic on the teeth, which causes noise. Some careful filing is usually enough to remove it. Then, I put some abrasive gel on the gears. After they're run a few minutes, they're "broken in." With that done, I can then mess with the electrics--mainly that stupid metal contact strip. In a perfect world, it's great. However, it usually gets bent a bit during assembly, and no longer conducts like it's supposed to. Solution? Yank that off, and replace it with wire--one wire from the front truck to the headlight; another from the headlight to the top motor contact, and one wire from the rear truck to the top of the motor. Next step is to remove the motor brushes, and trim their springs. Clean the wheels, put it all back together, and it runs better than new

Seriously though, if I wouldn't have read up on those engines, they'd still be running rough, or not at all!

[JoitheArtist]

Me: Cer.....Cer.....rena? Wait that's not it! Dammit!
T: HAHA! Respect your elders Mamadrae.
Me: Yes sir....

Ceres. *L* A fellow mythology geek here.

As to the extra apostrophes, etc....you would not believe how often I see that in "professional" writing, from my bosses, etc. As a matter of fact, I'm shocked at how few "educated" people can properly construct a sentence. You must, at minimum, have a subject and a verb. A string of nouns randomly interspersed with adverbs will not do. *weeps for the future of humanity*

[KhirasHY]

You are joking, right? I know you're joking... you have to be.....

I mean, english is not my mother tongue, and still I find easy mistakes, such as not knowing the diference between their and they're to be very irritating..... this... I've not seen this yet other than you mentioning it right now... if I had I might've shot myself....

Bliss, in response, allow me to copy and paste the e-mail which I had waiting for me when I came in tonight:

"I had hears about the meeting's but I do not think everyone should be their, some of us have thing's to do"

[JoitheArtist]

I would get so into them that everything around me would "disappear". I don't know how else to describe it. The only thing that existed while I was reading was the book itself.

I still do that. One time I was reading a book in Borders, and it wasn't until I hit the end of a chapter that I realized a friend of mine was standing in front of me and had been calling my name for a few minutes.

BTW, your avatar is ADORABLE! *L* cute lil mischievous kitty...

[Gurndigarn]

I'm shocked at how few "educated" people can properly construct a sentence. You must, at minimum, have a subject and a verb.

Riiiiiiight.

Oh, c'mon, you knew it was coming.

[Belari]

I actualy had that same problem. Except they took books from me because I would get so into them that everything around me would "disappear". I don't know how else to describe it. The only thing that existed while I was reading was the book itself.

Anyway, it's cool to meet someone who had a college reading level at that age too. Although, my biggest problem was math. I had a horrible math level! I was practically learning impaired when it came to math!

I had the same problem too. My parents had to ban books at the dinner table even. And I acquired more than a few bruises from walking and reading. I think my parents seriously feared for my social life

[iradney]

I apparently taught myself how to speed read. It was very annoying in elementary school. Once a week, we had 2 reading periods. No credits, no points, just reading. I was reading at highschool level (or above) by then, so those stupid little books with the large print took me no time to read. The teacher didn't believe me, and would pick books for me to read that he had already read, and then I would have to tell him what happened *much eye rolling*

I don't have a large library, thanks to all my moves (13 times in 10 years! ) but if I were to add up all the books I've ever read, it would probably be close to 10, 000. If I include internet essays and ebooks, probably close to 15, 000.

*sigh* I need to find a library. I buy a new book, and within hours I'm finished. It took me about 4.5 hours to read the last Harry Potter book...

[Mamadrae]

I apparently taught myself how to speed read. It was very annoying in elementary school. Once a week, we had 2 reading periods. No credits, no points, just reading. I was reading at highschool level (or above) by then, so those stupid little books with the large print took me no time to read. The teacher didn't believe me, and would pick books for me to read that he had already read, and then I would have to tell him what happened *much eye rolling*

I don't have a large library, thanks to all my moves (13 times in 10 years! ) but if I were to add up all the books I've ever read, it would probably be close to 10, 000. If I include internet essays and ebooks, probably close to 15, 000.

*sigh* I need to find a library. I buy a new book, and within hours I'm finished. It took me about 4.5 hours to read the last Harry Potter book...

God your like my brother. He reads over 100 pages an hour I think. All I know is 4 hours at the relatives for Thanksgiving and he picked up and finished some books of theirs with over 1000 pages. I mean I can read the book and all, but not in a 4 hour time span and actually retain everything.

[Racket_Man]

I actualy had that same problem. Except they took books from me because I would get so into them that everything around me would "disappear". I don't know how else to describe it. The only thing that existed while I was reading was the book itself.

my teachers, my parents, my ExWife and my daughter quickly learned that when I was reading a book you could have a direct impact nuclear explosion go off right next to me and I would not notice. I used to to take the subway to work and read books during the trip. darned near missed my stop a few times too. after a while the local library ran out of books for me to read.

my mind and imagination took over visualizing the characters and surroundings. I esp loved science fiction most likely because they challanged me to "create" all of the backgound visualization. books like the Niven's Ringworld series or Asimov's Foundation/Robot Series gave me the most pleasent experience.

to give you some idea of my love of scifi, I had 4 or 5 branches of the local library system I went to in my quest for new material. every branch within reach of a bike trip was fair game during the summer

some of the books/stories that were made into movies just did not live up to my "creation"

I apparently taught myself how to speed read. It was very annoying in elementary school. Once a week, we had 2 reading periods. No credits, no points, just reading. I was reading at highschool level (or above) by then, so those stupid little books with the large print took me no time to read. The teacher didn't believe me, and would pick books for me to read that he had already read, and then I would have to tell him what happened *much eye rolling*

I don't have a large library, thanks to all my moves (13 times in 10 years! ) but if I were to add up all the books I've ever read, it would probably be close to 10, 000. If I include internet essays and ebooks, probably close to 15, 000.

*sigh* I need to find a library. I buy a new book, and within hours I'm finished. It took me about 4.5 hours to read the last Harry Potter book...

I have gotten out of the habit of reading in the last 10 years or so I lost my ability to speed read. darn it took me about 8 hours for the last HP book

[Naaman]

I haven't dared count how many books me and my GF have, here's the room where we store most of them though;

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ff%202/BR3.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ff%202/BR2.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ff%202/BR1.jpg

And loads in other bookcases and stacks around the house