Yes, my lj is:





My apologies, if you didn't realize that.

Just comment and tell me what we have in common. I'll add pretty much everyone: I ♥ friends.

I've decided to start a reading list, and just keep track of the books I finish reading each month. Repeats are not written down, although will be counted in the tally of each month in square brackets. I've decided not to include textboks here, despite the fact I have indeed read those cover to cover!

Feel free to leave reading suggestions here! Anything you suggest I will make an effort to find and read.

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*** - top recommendation for the month.
* - honourable mentions
(NF) - non-fiction
(D) - play
(P) - poetry
(F) - french

If a film isn't in English, it'll be formatted like this: film name (spoken language(s); sub-title language)
*** indicates a favourite, * indicates recommendations and - indicates dislike

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Also, I've started up a Flickr account here. If you've always wanted to see the Grand Canyon, or journey around France, or go hiking in a forest, you might see something you like.

My bucket list, in no particular order:


Travel
1. Greyhound bus across the USA
2. Teach English in Tanzania
3. Trek across Scotland
4. See the Northern Lights in Iceland
5. Trans-Siberian Railway
6. Cycle the New Zealand southern island
7. Patagonia
8. Virunga Volcanoes in Democratic Republic of Congo
9. Mongolia
10. Tunisia
11. Paris
12. Bruges
13. Ukraine
14. Complete the Bibbulmun track


Other
1. Live in France
2. Live in London
3. Stop biting my fingernails
4. Go bungee-jumping

There is too much beauty in the world for it not to be shared.


Is anyone here interested in a mixed media collaborative blog? I've got poetry/written-word down (you don't have to like them) - do we have any photographers, musicians, painters, dancers, whatever who would be interested in starting up a blog? I'm looking for four to six interested parties - each person updating once a week to a weekly theme through-out 2012.


Have you ever wondered if perfect strangers could come together?


I'd like to expand this out to a more general social experiment. While it doesn't need to be to the extent of a collaborative youtube channel, I would like to figure out a way for some strangers to get to know one another - perhaps a weekly personal blog update related to the weekly theme?


What do you think?


I really want to make this happen.

jessonaplane.com


Visit. Subscribe.

This is going to be my general blog for my travels in the next year. Anytime I update, I will link it here - don't fret. There will still be random updates here. Don't fret. But yeah, please go and have a little look. It'll be updated soon!

After reading entries on different communities, I have decided I have had enough of the blatant disregard of the most simple grammatical conventions. My English grammar education has been negligible; I'll be the first to admit that I don't know everything and that I do make mistakes. However, I have managed to pick up a few things.

Follows from Part I, funnily enough.

Thank you to barnaby_d and blasphemiliar for their suggestions.

4. Apostrophes.
Apostrophes are used for contractions or to signify ownership. Let me give you some examples.
Example one: An example of where it's used correctly as a contraction is the word "it's" in this sentence.
Example two: When I read my friend's dictionary, I learnt that the apostrophe in the word "friend's" is signifying ownership.

Basically, if you replace the apostrophe with "is", or it has a noun following, you've used it correctly; this means that phrases such as Open Monday's MAKE NO SENSE. Open Monday is? Open Monday's elephant? What are we trying to say here?

If the word that requires an apostrophe ends in the letter "s", for example lass, only the apostrophe is needed, not the "s". For example, The lass' grammar is perfect is a correct sentence. However, The lass's great! is not correct.


5. Mix-ups.
Two = the integer that is one larger than one.
Too = also. For example, I like grammar too!
"To" has several uses. One meaning is "in order to", for example, I learn about grammar to improve my English. Another usage is to indicate the infinitive form of a verb, for example, I want to write about grammar. The word also has other uses, including, The current time is quarter to eight, but they are more phrasal rather than exact definitions.


6. Comparatives and superlatives.
Comparatives are words which, oddly enough, compare two nouns; for example, His grammar is better than her or His eyes are more blue than her or I can type faster than you.
Superlatives are words which indicate that something is the supreme or at the end of a spectrum, for example, His grammar is the best or His eyes are the most blue or I can type the fastest. A superlative is "the most" [adjective].

Comparatives can be altered by words such as "much" or "far", for example, His grammar is much better than her or I can type far faster than you. However, superlatives cannot be qualified. They are already "the height" of something. An example that really highlights how ridiculous it is to qualify a superlative is the use of "unique". I am unique NOT I am very unique, or heaven forbid I am the most unique! WHAT?! You are the most singular object of your kind?


7 Misunderstood words.
Mortifying vs. terrifying.
Mortifying: causing to feel shame or chagrin or vexation; synonyms include embarrassing and humiliating.
I was mortified when you pinched my cheeks.
Terrifying: frightening or intimidating; synonyms include frightening and horrifying.
I was terrified when you came at me with a knife!

Simplistic vs. simple.
Simplistic: characterized by extreme and often misleading simplicity
I don't believe your simplistic views on love.
Simple: easy and not involved or complicated
Snakes and Ladders is a simple game.

Anxious vs eager.
Anxious: full of anxiety and disquietude; related to apprehension.
I get anxious when considering sitting exams.
Eager: a positive feeling of wanting to push ahead with something.
I am eager to see my girlfriend again.
I'm not actually sure about this one, because "anxious" has a secondary meaning of "desiring something", and so could be used in I am anxious to escape this sinking ship. My personal gut feeling is that eager would be used in moments of positive emotion, and anxious used in moments of negative emotion.

Affect vs effect vs affect vs effect
To affect (verb): to have an effect upon, to influence, to alter;
I am negatively affected by bad grammar
Affecting (noun): a display of emotion
I showed no affect when taunted with names such as "grammar Nazi".

Effect (noun): the result or consequence; also an impression produced
This pain I am feeling is an effect of terrible grammar; be warned - if you don't have passable grammar, your words will have little effect.
Effect (verb): bring about, cause to occur, achieve
I effected my success in English by improving my vocabulary.


8. Redundancy.
We work all hours, every day of the week, 24/7.
You work all hours every day of the week? You work all hours every day of the week? You feel the need to say the same thing twice in one sentence? Why?


9. "Lolspeak."
"Lolspeak" has its place: here. Sure, it can be funny at certain times. However, that place is not in everyday communication. Typing like this, dat looks cool whaddya doin 2nite?, makes you look, quite frankly, like an uneducated sleazebag. Oh!


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To be continued at a later date. Please comment with whatever bugs you and I will add it to the list. :)

After reading entries on different communities, I have decided I have had enough of the blatant disregard for the most simple grammatical conventions. My grammar education has been negligible, and I'll be the first to admit that I don't know everything and that I do make mistakes. However, over the past 13 or so years while I've been in institutionalised education, I have managed to pick on the following points.

1. Capitalising.
You capitalise the first letter of a sentence, as is demonstrated:
The first letter of this sentence is the "t" in "the" and as you can see, it is capitalised.

You also capitalise "i" when it is the first person subject pronoun, as is demonstrated:
When I write about something I did in first person, I capitalise the "i" because it is gramatically correct.
However, just because you capitalise "i" when it is the first person subject pronoun does not mean that you capitalise the first letter of every word! The following sentence is incorrect:
Whenever I Type I Like To Capitalise The First Letter Of Every Word As If It Were The Title Of A Book Even Though It Looks Ridiculous And Is Wrong.

You do not capitalise random letters in a sentence. The following sentence is incorrect:
hI eveRyoNe. i JuSt WaNtED To SaY thAt I LoVE CapitALISinG raNdOM leTTErs In A ComPLeTeLy iNcOrReCt mAnNeR.
A few words of advice to people who type like this: you are not edgy, you are not cool and most of all you are not correct! You look incredibly idiotic to most of us and many of us are not going to bother reading whatever you have posted, because it hurts our brains to try and decipher whatever your message is.


2. Commas.
You put commas between words in a list, as demonstrated:
I need to buy grapes, apples, bananas, pears and oranges for my fruit salad.
You do not need a comma before the "and" in the above sentence.
Edit to add: Okay, apparently the above rule is quite contentious. It seems to differ from place to place.

You also put commas between adjectives if you are using more than one to describe something, as demonstrated:
He opened his big, wide, blue eyes and looked at me with an open, confused, adorable expression.
This isn't hard to remember because you are just making a list of adjectives.

Commas can be put around clauses to separate them. The commas provides a pause in the sentence. For example:
When I used to live in my old neighbourhood, which was situated just south of the city, I played with my neighbours everyday.


3. Paragraphs and Spacing.
Paragraphs in informal writing are generally chunks of text on the same subject, for example a certain activity. If you are writing a detailed blog about your day do not write everything as one long, extended piece of text. It's difficult to read.

However, it can be just as annoying if you make a new line after every sentence. Consider this:
Yesterday, I went to the park.
It was pretty.
There was a duck.
I don't like ducks - they're stupid.
Yeah, that's all I have to say.
Also, I hit enter after every sentence.
Even if it's not necessary.
It's not poetic or aesthetically pleasing, it's dumb. It should read like this:
Yesterday, I went to the park. It was pretty. There was a duck. I don't like ducks - they're stupid. Yeah, that's all I have to say.

Also, I hit enter after every sentence, even if it's not necessary.


4. Apostrophes.
I'm = I am
You're = You are
He's/She's = He is/She is
Can't = Cannot
Don't = Do not

I don't know what to say about these, except do not forget the apostrophes. It's not hard.


5. Mix-ups.
You're = You are. For example, You're horrible.
"Your" is about ownership, for example, Your dog.

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To be continued at a later date. Please comment with whatever bugs you and I will add it to the list. :)

Icons:
1-17 = Stock from andourfingers (you MUST credit both communities!)
18-48 = Cobra Starship
49-54 = Cobra Starship & Fall Out Boy
55-74 = Fall Out Boy
75-97 = Panic! At The Disco
98-117 = The Academy Is...
118-145 = My Chemical Romance
146-175 = The Libertines/Babyshambles/Dirty Pretty Things


Teasers:








and let's go!