Hey there! Happy Friday. I just finished two days of back-to-back long runs (more on that coming up on Sunday) so I’m feeling pretty good. Overall I’m in a “good phase” right now, but I know that’s not true for everyone.
Recently, several bloggers have shared that they’re going through hard times (SHU, Sarah, Noemi, just to name a few). And to them, and all the other bloggers who have shared, I say- thank you. In Oliver Burkeman’s Meditations for Mortals, there’s a chapter called “Scruffy hospitality- On finding connection in the flaws.” He includes a quote by Anne Lamott:
“Everyone is screwed up, broken, clingy, and scared, even the people who seem to have it more or less together. They are much more like you than you would believe. So try not to compare your insides to their outsides.”
I might be in a good phase right now, but there will be rocky times ahead- that’s true for all of us. No one is immune to troubles, and it’s nice to know we’re never alone.
In other news, in the recent Happier podcast episode, Gretchen and Liz talk about cutting back on swearing. Remember how, after the election, I decided to start swearing more? Well, it didn’t really work. It does feel good every once in a while, but I guess it’s just not… me.
Gretchen did cite several studies that show how swearing can be beneficial- it can increase tolerance for physical and emotional pain, and temporarily increase strength. I stored that information away, in case I need it during my race- but honestly, for me it’s more beneficial to remain positive. When my hamstring hurts, I think “Yes, but my feet feel great!” or “Look how beautiful the clouds are- I’m lucky to be out here.” Of course, my race will be much longer than any distance I’ve run before, so anything could happen. Maybe I’ll end up swearing my way through the last ten miles, ha ha.
One more thing I’ll mention is, I’ve stopped putting two spaces after every period (has anyone noticed?) When I learned typing in middle school, that’s the way they taught us and I could never break the habit, Then I read Yellowface. At one point she’s corresponding with an older woman, and says something like “She does that thing old people do, putting an extra space after every period.” WHAT. So, I stopped! I might relapse every once in a while, but it really hasn’t been that hard to form a new habit.
Did anyone else learn how to type that way? – Yet another silly thing I learned in middle school.
Top photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
35 Responses
I put two spaces after every period. That and the Oxford comma are my hills to die on. The rules I learned in high school hold true. ( Though to be honest, I paid my big sister to type my term paper because I was a terrible typist. I had to use too much white out and occasional scotch tape to finish my papers.)
Have fun with your race!
Ha ha… ah, the good old days of white out. I’m glad to hear someone else learned to type that way, and it wasn’t just me.
The positivity–especially the ability to reframe is a great skill to have. Swearing: eh–if it doesn’t help you, you’re fine ditching it. I didn’t swear before I started hanging out with Big A, and I won’t give it up now.
I did not notice the two spaces thing in either the novel or your typing!
Oh that’s good. I was starting to wonder if people were thinking I was doing the “old people thing” with the double spaces.
I’m pretty sure that these platforms, typepad and wordpress and so on, remove that second period. I put them in because I was taught that way, and actually it is the standard at my work as well. It renders better on the page of a pdf if you have your text fully justified (rather than left or right) because the justification often smushes characters together, so without that second space, it’s sometimes hard to see where a new sentence begins. Rough on the eyes. But if people don’t want to use the second space, aside from my work, more power to them.
I like your Anne Lamott quote. It’s so true, I see people’s blog posts and see their smiling faces and so on, and would never know there was any grief or worry if they didn’t tell me. And I guess the same is true for my blog. I like that our group of bloggers is such a safe space on the internet, where we can share some of these things with each other. When I’ve been going through tough times, it has been a true comfort.
I hope your run goes smoothly on Sunday, I will be thinking of you! WOW.
I just remember when I was helping my son with his college essays- whenever I would edit something, he would roll his eyes and go back to remove the second spaces. So it’s the standard at your work??? I feel vindicated! Maybe I should go back to it! No… I already broke the habit and that’s that.
Oh for sure I did a double space behind a period. For years. Not sure when I stopped. It helps that on a phone when you do a double space it adds the period for you. 😉
Thanks for thinking of me. I hope to put up a post tomorrow with info on what’s going on with me. It’s good to have a reason but I’m still processing the diagnosis.
Two back to back runs is amazing! I’m so glad you’re feeling good before the big race!
Oh, you have a diagnosis! I hope it’s something that will help you moving forward. I’ll check in tomorrow.
Wait—you used to type a full stop followed by two spaces? I had no idea people actually did that, and I definitely never noticed!
One thing that totally outs me as Gen X: I still type in High German here in Switzerland. All the younger generations are typing in Swiss German, and I just can’t keep up. We only learned to write in High German at school. Even when I try to type in Swiss German, autocorrect turns my attempts into something even worse.
And yay for those back-to-back long runs! You’re clearly ready, Jenny!
Thank you Catrina! Sometimes I feel like I’m ready and sometimes I’m still pretty nervous about it. When I finished the 24 mile run on Wednesday I thought (this isn’t even halfway!” Yikes.
YOU GAVE UP THE DOUBLE SPACE????????????? Gasp! Of course I use a double space because it was consistently required in school, and I can’t imagine putting the mental energy into changing it. I also can’t imagine knowing or caring how anyone else does it, but it seems like I’m the outlier. Kyria once asked me about my double tap, and said that she once had a boss who required her to only use a single space. If it’s an old people thing, well in my case maybe the shoe fits.
I am someone who swears, but also someone who knows that I need to have control over it, so I avoid it when possible. Elisabeth was talking about language in her post yesterday, and I actually messaged her because we had our all company meeting and our CEO was dropping f bombs practically every other word. I don’t want to say it was unnecessary, but I will say that the only thing he was talking about was that he wants us to use AI whenever possible.
I am here for your “good phase”, and hope that it lasts a long time. Like the rest of your life.
Thank you Birchie! I agree- I don’t mind when other people swear, but when it’s excessive it’s becomes distracting and offensive. And- I’m surprised by how many people are saying they use the double space! I guess it really was a thing for a while, but they must not be teaching it that way now. I mean- if people are even “learning” typing at all. I think both my kids took keyboarding skills in middle school, but I know they don’t double space.
Haha! My boss required me to do a double space! He was 75 years old. I personally only do a single, even though I was taught double in school. I think it is a throwback from typewriter era which is why it seems like an “old people” thing!
Oh no. I still often out that extra space. I’m old. lol.
Yes that quote is perfect. We are going to through hard times. But there’s always someone who has it worse.
That’s great that you can focus on the positives. It makes all the difference.
I will try not to whine that Saturday it will be freezing raining and snowing for my half.
Oh boy, that sounds unpleasant! If you can not whine about that, then I’ll try not to whine when my race is hot and humid. I mean…. we can’t control the weather (but is it too much to ask for it to cooperate, every once in a while???)
exactly. We train and then the weather doesn’t cooperate. Not fair.
You know where I stand on swearing (though, as I’ve mentioned many times, it is when faith based words are used that I truly mind it – everything else is just “words”). I think a good f-bomb can be very effective (I use them myself), but when overused I think it just sounds crass, unoriginal, and is going to put someone into a negativity bias.
I think one of the most wonderful things about this blogging community is the ability to share our joys and frustrations, triumphs and “failures”. It really helps to know that other people are living life with all the ups and downs that come with it.
Yes- honestly I used to read some blogs that only talked about good things, and well… it’s just hard to have a connection with someone like that.
I know where you stand on swearing- I know I used the GD word on my blog once, and I apologize! I know you must have cringed.
LOL, I hung on to my spaces for a while but now I’m the one taking them out when I see them.
Glad you are feeling good!
Okay Coco- that just shows that we’re youthful (at heart) and willing to change with the times!
I love that quote by Ann Lamott!
I did learn to type that way but when I was writing for YMC I had to break myself of that habit. They didn’t want the editor to spend time taking out spaces. So that was in 2013 and I did adjust pretty quickly to it.
Glad you held up well for your runs! It’s so funny, I was just talking about swearing to Elisabeth yesterday. Profanity doesn’t bother me unless it’s just a constant stream of fucks and shits, like every other word. That bothers me because I think – what are you even saying? But generally it doesn’t bother me at all. I personally don’t swear a lot in regular conversation, but I do swear some. I think it was Ally who asked what my favourite swear was and the one I use most is goddammit or dammit. The swear I wish I remembered to use is Hot Damn! Elvis used to say that, apparently, when the music was just right. Maybe I need to condition myself to say it more, like I conditioned myself to type with one space.
Ha ha… I like Hot Damn! It’s a little more creative than the usual swears. And, dammit is a good, all purpose swear word.
The double spaces drive me crazy as someone who learned to just do a single space, and I come across it fairly often in my job as I’m editing website content, so I always take it out even though it doesn’t really matter. I also don’t like Oxford commas!
I do swear a fair amount, but not in professional situations, and not always in a negative way! But I do find it’s useful for me when I am frustrated to just let it out, and it usually comes with some choice words haha!
I think you and my son feel the same way- my double spaces really irritated him, and that’s what first made me aware of it. I’m ambivalent on Oxford commas. Sometimes when I read over what I’ve written I’m like “there are way too many commas here!” and I’ll take them out. But sometimes they can prevent confusion, so then I’m okay with it. And sometimes I don’t really think about it.
I’m not a two-spacer, but as an editor I can tell you that I still see it! And out it comes. I am Team Oxford Comma all the way, though.
I swear a lot, more than people seem to expect me to for some reason. My mother, though she says she doesn’t mind that I do, does not like to do it herself, so I regularly hear her say an emphatic “Oh, sugar bear!” and I do wish she would just say “Oh shit” and move on.
Yeah, that’s funny- I wouldn’t have pegged you as a swearer. Of course that’s just going by what I see on your blog. I guess I see you sitting peacefully and knitting. And to be clear- I do NOT say “sugar bear.”
I also learned to put 2 spaces after a sentence. I think most word processors correct for that these days. But not all because I’m often deleting the extra space when I edit commentaries from our portfolio managers, etc. I’ve trained myself to not put 2 spaces after a period, though!
I do not swear very much at all which is good because I have young children and really do not want them swearing at school and getting in trouble! It’s easy to fall into a bad habit of swearing, though. My old mentor/colleague gave up swearing for Lent one year because he noted that I never swore and he felt bad doing it around me. I will still swear occasionally, though, but since I do it so infrequently, it really stands out when I do swear!
Ha, my husband gave up swearing for lent one year! And I agree- you don’t want to swear around young kids. Honestly, I don’t even want to swear around my daughter and she’s 16.
Okay, I feel like the two spaces thing WAS a thing when I was growing up because I learned to type ON A TYPEWRITER. I didn’t learn on a computer or word processor. When you had typewriter font, the two spaces was crucial because otherwise letters might run into each other. That’s why we all learned two spaces. I have tried to teach myself not to do two spaces, but it is literally MUSCLE MEMORY and changing muscle memory is hard.
Oxford commas are necessary. I will not abide people just randomly taking them out. Interestingly, the department names in my college are inconsistent about if they use it in the names of departments.
Literature, Writing, and Film does it correctly, as does Politics, Government, and Law.
Sociology, Criminology and Anthropology do not and it frustrates me EVERY TIME.
We had a bit of a swearing problem for a while and we did a swear jar for a year. We donated the money in the swear jar at the end of the year. It was surprisingly effective!
Ooooooh! So there was a REAL REASON for the double spaces. And that’s why younger people who have never typed on a real typewriter think it’s incredibly weird. Well- I’m glad I learned how to type on a typewriter. So there.
My husband swears a good amount. As a matter of fact I have a funny story about that, and I’m going to share it in a followup post. Maybe we need a swear jar.
I never learnt to put two spaces after a full stop. But I do see others do this only slightly older, so I suspect it went of our schools in Australia in the late 80s?
I’m not a big swearer, but I will swear occasionally if it’s really called for! I suspect the last 10 miles of a 50 mile race might be one of those called-for times! Ha!
Yes, late 80s is probably post-double spacing. I was in middle school in the late 70s.
I’ll report back on the swearing during my race!
I do think that it makes sense to think about the potential kinds of rocky times ahead when you’re in a good phase right now, Jenny. And I’m quite sure that that is what you do regularly.
And yes, I’ve also listened to Ep. #529 of the Happier podcast: “Cutting Back on Cussing, Easier Traveling & Do Possessions Have Feelings?”
I’ve never learned to put two spaces after every period. I’ve never learned to put two spaces after any punctuation mark. In the meantime, though, I’ve never noticed you putting two spaces after every period, Jenny. It also helps that I have only read very few of your blog posts so far, which implies that I haven’t got to that many double spaces yet. And since you’ve stopped putting two spaces after every period right when I’ve just started delving into your main site, you know, I consider it pretty good timing too.
As Birchie mentioned, I do notice the double space, but I feel like it is one of those things that you can do it either way and technically it is correct. Like, I never use an Oxford comma, but I know that some people do, and I am okay with that. I used to have to write updates and newsletters as if they were coming from my boss (the 75 year old) so we had to do it his way so that it would look like he was actually writing them. So I got used to double again, but still only use one space for myself.
I also swear when I get angry or frustrated. I am cautious not to do it in front of my students. I also put two spaces after a period. Honestly, I don’t see the big deal with it. That is what I learned when I took a typing class in high school.