Simple pleasures

Thursday: I received a paper clip shaped like a MINI Cooper in the mail. It’s now on my vanity wall next to the cat sticker and the Chinese uglydoll.

Friday: That hand-dipped caramel apple with crumbled Heath bar was divine. DIVINE.

Saturday: We had some seriously perfect fall weather. I’m so glad autumn has arrived; I’m daily reminded why it’s far and away my favorite season.

Sunday: Jane Eyre (the intense version) combined with belovéd roommates and pie and ice cream to create a much-needed respite after the relentless nerve-jangling chaos of Primary (so few children, so much… personality).

Monday:

A) As of today, I get to be part of the Mormon delegation attending the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremonies this year.

B) Close encounters with road construction trucks by the dump entrance, lurking Staties who didn’t catch us, half-concealed parking spaces, getting lost in the woods, un-go-aroundable puddles the size of small ponds, coldcoldcold water, torrential rain, delightful friends, and nymph impersonation synergized into the best nightWaldening trip EVER. And to think I almost didn’t go.

Tuesday: A friend sent me this haiku.

Sylvia I write
An unknown name to obtain
Pause – I am Batman.

Can’t wait for Wednesday.

BRAIN FREEZE

So today I had an errand to run. I completed the errand and returned to my car, which I have owned for five and a half years and had just driven two hours earlier. I climbed into the car and looked down. To my complete astonishment, I suddenly had no idea which pedal was the clutch.

Now, I have been driving stick shifts almost exclusively for over twelve years. Most of you know that I drive automatics only under duress and that an automatic transmission is a dealbreaker for me.

But.

I sat there, bewildered, staring at the pedals and trying to figure out which one to push, and decided after about a minute that it must be the one on the right. The action felt somewhat awkward, but I stepped on the pedal and turned the key anyway. Not a sound from Simon Bennett.

Still bewildered, I looked down at the pedals again, and started pushing different pedals with different feet. After a few seconds, I chanced to push the left pedal with my left foot. At that point muscle memory took over, and I was able to drive home.

Am going to bed now and hoping that whoever stole my brains last night puts them back in while I sleep tonight.

Gallupping, part two

So, writtenwithstyle was far and away the winner – which is great, ‘cuz that was one of my favorites. However, a friend of mine pointed out that it would be helpful to also have a URL that’s very clearly oriented toward school applicants, most of whom are much more interested in getting into school than learning to write*. So I have the following additional selection:

admitoneessays.com
admissionsgranted.com
nowadmittingessays.com
admittanceessays.com
successfullyadmitted.com
dreamschooladmit.com
topschoolessays.com
mydreamschoolessays.com
helpmyessays.com

Let the voting begin!

*I should clarify: The ultimate long-term goal is to become a writing instructor, whether I’m teaching people through essay editing or tutoring one-on-one or in small groups. Right now I’m concentrating on essays because it’s essay season; after the deadlines have passed, I want to do more tutoring. In the meantime, I also want to edit resumes and cover letters.

Gallupping, sort of

I’m taking a poll: Which of the following do you like as a name for an editing business? I’ll be editing essays for business/law/medical/graduate school and college applications; target schools are Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Duke, Penn, etc.:

helpmywriting.com
writing-fix.com
writingfixes.com
writtenwithstyle.com
writtenadmissions.com
writing-your-way.com
writerightaway.com
learntowriteright.com
learntowritewell.com
written-up.com

Gracias!