10:22 p.m. | 2005-02-02 Odds And Ends. Several people inquired about the �grammar� book I read and asked me about the details. I really didn�t take notes on all that so I couldn�t respond right away. But, I did file away that inquiry in the murky waters of my brain matter. Recently, I purposely sought out that information and here it is: The Elements of Style, (fourth edition), by William Strunk Jr., E. B. White and Roger Angell. You can get a brand new copy from Amazon for $7.15. It�s tiny. As far as books go. A mere 105 pages. But, very impactful. Depending on your background, it may not be new information. And, there�s a good chance that you already own it. Or some edition of it. However, if you�re a writer, college student or any one that wants a little polish on their writing style, I whole-heartedly recommend it. It�s an old school book but it�s been kept up to date. (Or up-to-date if you�re old-school.) There wasn�t anything new, to me, in the book because I was raised by educators who came from a long line of educators. Trust me, although it might not be evident, my whole verbal and written life was strictly scrutinized by my parents, and relatives, all along the way. Hell, they followed me around correcting my verbal utterances and redlining all my written work. But, I�ve been unsupervised for a lot of years. That part is probably pretty evident in this diary. So, it was a great reminder of all things correct. See, I�ve thrown caution to the wind with my diary. Oh, but don�t think even for a second that I don�t know when I�ve violated some grammatical rule. I know. Don�t care. I even embrace typos because mistakes are what make us human. Or, what makes nature odd to us or even stymies robots (sorry, computerized operations). Mistakes evolve into character. At least to me. And my diary? I�d like it to reflect who I am. I�m not blind to all the typos and whatnot, I simply don�t care. Because I�m not a perfect person. Nor do I want to be a perfect person. I have flaws all over the place and I think that should be reflected in my diary. Plus, it�s not like I�m going to get an award or anything for the stuff I write � professionally or personally. I�m just regular person. In fact, the best speeches I�ve ever made have been straight from the heart. When that happens? I have no idea what I said or how I said it. Same with the things I write. Sometimes, my own writing blows me away. Not so much what I write here, but other stuff. I had no idea I was going to go off on this tangent. Perhaps, it�s my character. But the book? Yeah, it�s a good one. your thoughts? seed flower