As I read books I fold the top corners of any pages that contain words that move me.  Usually it’s something profound, or a line that resonates with what is going on in my life.  Sometimes it’s only relevant in the moment. Like a line about a strangers outstanding beauty, which I read while at the beach and a stranger with outstanding beauty happens to walk by.  Sometimes it is relevant to larger life questions/ethical-decisions/pursuits. Sometimes it’s just clever word-play.

Once I have finished the book, I go back through the dog-eared pages and read them again. I decided that I wouldn’t capture the quotations that I liked as I was reading so that my reading wasn’t interrupted and so that there was some form of quality-assurance. I find that I am unable to identify the quote on about half the dog-eared pages that I originally thought warranted the dog-earring. The ones that survive the QA process make it into a Google Spreadsheet document that I’ve been keeping.  It documents the book, author, copyright date, chapter, page and of course the quotation itself. Every now and then (usually when I go to add a quotation to the document), I like to read through all the quotations that have made the cut. More importantly, all the quotations that have made an impact.

I love learning new things, and reading helps me to do that. I love reading that others have shared my feelings or thoughts before me (and have been clever enough to juice their mind grapes into written word). I love hearing stories about long ago, the future, and even the present. But mostly, I love being moved. I love music for those few songs that move me, and I love reading for those few lines (sometimes there are only one or two in a book) that move me. So naturally, I enjoy a collection of those lines, in a single Google Document. A spread-sheeted validation of my emotions, of my belonging, of my existence.

I often wonder while reading the quotes I have chosen to capture whether or not someone else would have chosen the same ones. By reading the lines from a book that moved me the most, could that give others insight into who I am and how to better emotionally invest in me, or at least how I invest emotionally in the world around me? I’m not sure. Maybe one day I’ll enjoy finding out. Until then, I’d like to leave you with a quote that I recently read. I won’t tell you who said it, or where it’s from, because the words themselves are significant enough to me without any greater context (other than my own life).

“Woman, you have lived! Did you think you could get through life with only scratches? That is not living. It’s hiding.”

I am a nerd by choice and by profession.  I spend a good portion of every day coding web sites and applications (and soon maybe an iPhone App or two).  Because of the large portion of time that I spend focusing on syntax and the need for it be precise (has to be perfect or it doesn’t work), I notice things that others may not be inclined to notice.

English is a tricky language.  There are no rules.  There are things that are called rules but they all have exceptions, which means they aren’t rules (because there is no punishment for breaking them).  They are just generalities that are followed a majority of the time which isn’t useful for someone trying to remember them or for someone who has the misfortune of trying to learn the language. One rule, which I think is one of the few rules which is followed 100% of the time, is that punctuation always goes inside of quotation marks.

“I hate English.” – Correct

“I hate English”. – Incorrect

It’s great that we have this rule, but this rule is wrong and should be ignored from here-on-out.  The period/question mark/exclamation mark is used to end sentences.  Below we have a sentence that contains a quote:

He exclaimed “what a stupid fucking rule.”

The word ‘He’ begins the sentence, and the entire quotation ends the sentence.  Since the quotation is a part of the sentence, the quotation should be concluded before the sentence is concluded (with it’s appropriate punctuation mark).

<Sentence><Quotation></Sentence></Quotation>

That is how it would look as web code. Even a non code-monkey can tell that it looks funny because you have the tag to end the sentence before you have the tag to end the quotation, and the quotation is is started within the confines of the sentence.  It should be:

<Sentence><Quotation></Quotation></Sentence>

I know English isn’t perfect, that’s why we left England.  I just wish we could have some sort of consortium that could gather every year and discuss ways to improve the language so that it makes more sense.  Make sure you get someone smart to chair the consortium though, otherwise it defeats the purpose.  Pick someone who understands rules and conventions.  (Call me).