"Line?"

[jmfargo]

Tonight I started a new job. It's only a week-long, and lasts from an hour to an hour and a half each evening, but it pays well, and it's probably one of the most interesting positions I've ever accepted. Coming from a man who (at last count) has held over 60 jobs, that means something. I'm not sure what it means, but something. Definitely.

I'm a line-reader. I'm helping a graduate student/actor learn her lines for a Shakespearean play in which she is taking part*. I have to correct her if she makes even the tiniest of mistakes, which means that it demands my attention at all times, but since I enjoy reading and I "get" Shakespeare, it's more enjoyable than work.

Don't tell her that, though. She might not want to pay me!

Still, pretty cool, huh? What's the neatest job you've ever held?**

*I wanted to say "play that she's part of," but felt bad slaughtering the language in such a way after mentioning The Bard.

**I'm tempted to wait until tomorrow morning to post this, because that's when I get most responses to questions like this one, but I know that if I don't do it now I'll never remember.

Comments

[jfargo.livejournal.com]

In High School I was part of a Shakespearean Sonnet and Soliloquy competition and learned many Shakespearean quotes that I would whip out at the appropriate time. It would have helped me look cool, except for the part where I started this paragraph with "in High School."

I got beat up a lot.

And thanks for the English lesson. Normally I wouldn't go out of my way to switch around the language to what I've been taught is its proper use, but I was trying to be funny.

I laughed at myself and in my little world that's all that matters.

[kauricat.livejournal.com]

Sorry; I think I came off as pedantic. And not everyone agrees about that preposition thing anyway; lots of learned folks still say you should avoid ending your sentence with a preposition, so even when you're not being funny, you might want to stick with the rule when writing papers and such.

That's really maddening that quoting Shakespeare in high school got you punished by your schoolmates. I'm glad you didn't let it stop you from being who are you.

[jfargo.livejournal.com]

I don't let much stop me from being who I am. It's sort of the point of being me, right? In High School I was definitely a lot quieter, and not as out-going, but afterward, when I realized that the world wasn't actually out to punch me in the face, I allowed myself to be who I wanted to be.

I didn't find you as pedantic, though some may have. I find little tid-bits very interesting, and love it when friends share their thoughts on, well, anything!

But yes, I realize that in any normal written paper I should stick with the rule they taught in High School. In my journal I prefer a conversational style of writing, which is why I use it.

Thinking about it, I have to be fair to my High School schoolmates. I think the me from then would have annoyed even the me from now. The Shakespeare quoting probably just came off as pretentious, not interesting, especially as I knew they wouldn't particularly care for it.