Wednesday, March 18, 2009

My Hand, a Pen, and Paper

This was perhaps one of the most challenging posts I’ve ever attempted to write.

Yesterday, because the weather was absolutely gorgeous, I spent the afternoon outside sitting in the grass, eating my granola yogurt, and putting myself through a little test.

I wanted to see if I could compose this blog post, by writing it out in longhand instead of using a computer keyboard. I was curious to see if I could still use my hand, a pen, and piece of paper.

Well let me tell you…about halfway through, I was getting ready to lose it.

It was the most annoying thing I think I’ve ever experienced.

I felt like a mentally challenged caveman trying to write his first essay; using a piece of slate and a river rock.

Normally my penmanship is very legible (I went to catholic school), but when I went back to read the first two paragraphs I had written, it looked like it was the handwriting of a serial killer.

I honestly had trouble reading some of my own words.

And it’s interesting, because as I wrote, I found myself getting impatient because I couldn’t write the words as fast as I could, using a keyboard. I was holding onto the pen so tight, that it caused a tension in my arm, which traveled up to my shoulder and neck. It was like my computer brain was saying, “Come on hand…get a move on!!”

The process of writing something by hand seemed almost foreign to me.

I also forgot how to spell the most simplest of words. Words such as: tension, experience and piece, caused me to go, “Duh…what’s up doc?!”

And the whole time I’m sitting there, all I kept thinking about was how I couldn’t WAIT to get home and get my fingers on that keyboard and spellcheck, so I could write this post.

This little test caused me to think about the last time I ever sat down and wrote a letter to someone.

(like, maybe 1998?)

And lately, I even find myself sending people e-cards instead of writing inside a paper greeting card.

I love computers, don’t get me wrong - there’s definitely a lot of positives to them. But it appears to me, that this consistant use of a computer has caused me to forget how to actually hand write, other than filling in a couple of lines on my rent check each month.

So I think the first thing I’m going to do, is buy myself one of those old-fashion composition books, and then see if I can hire a nice, sweet catholic school nun to re-teach me the Palmer Method of Writing….so I can get my hand flowing again.

And I cannot lie Sister, I composed this entire post by using a keyboard…GODAMN IT!