I Am Officially a High School Grad

"Matthew Keyser" (teisco15)
06/05/2016 at 23:18 • Filed to: None

And the GTI took me to commencement.

High school is officially over, bring it on college.

My two best friends. Me in the center and my soon-to-be roommate on the right. He also edited the Merkur Road Trip video that was posted on Jalopnik so he may be familiar to people who stalk my posts.

DISCUSSION (23)

dogisbadob > Matthew Keyser
06/05/2016 at 23:22

Congrats on finishing HS and good luck in college

Slant6 > Matthew Keyser
06/05/2016 at 23:25

Where college go to/

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > Matthew Keyser
06/05/2016 at 23:30

GG.

Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch > Matthew Keyser
06/05/2016 at 23:43

Things are about to get a lot more fun, and challenging.

pjhusa > Matthew Keyser
06/05/2016 at 23:45

To what college are you going to?

Steve in Manhattan > Matthew Keyser
06/05/2016 at 23:48

My undergrad advice? Find a good pizza place that delivers, and a bar with dollar drafts.

The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock > Matthew Keyser
06/05/2016 at 23:49

Good job on getting thought the most easy part of life. Save your self some debt and try an apprenticeship.

jvirgs drives a Subaru > Steve in Manhattan
06/05/2016 at 23:54

A good happy hour is a lifesaver.

Matthew Keyser > pjhusa
06/06/2016 at 00:13

Ball State in Indiana. Majoring in journalism.

Matthew Keyser > Slant6
06/06/2016 at 00:13

Ball State in Indiana. Majoring in journalism.

Matthew Keyser > Steve in Manhattan
06/06/2016 at 00:14

Much appreciated advise. I'll take that one to heart.

Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna > Matthew Keyser
06/06/2016 at 00:20

Congratulations!

Steve in Manhattan > Matthew Keyser
06/06/2016 at 01:50

And it’s ‘advice’ not ‘advise,’ which is a different word altogether. Here’s another piece of advice from a guy who has edited a law school journal and is still paid cash money to edit briefs for other lawyers - get a copy of Strunk & White , a very short book on grammar and usage, and commit it to memory. It will make your college papers readable, and thus easier to grade higher.

You will learn serial commas, the comma splice error rule, and how to edit yourself. It’s a revelation - I only wish I’d found it in college - didn’t find it until law school. And use simple words - no need to complicate your writing. And short sentences and paragraphs. In fact, that paragraph up there is too long.

Matthew Keyser > Steve in Manhattan
06/06/2016 at 01:53

I just ordered a copy! Thank you!

Steve in Manhattan > Matthew Keyser
06/06/2016 at 02:08

Anytime. And I edit the SigOther’s English all the time - she’s Japanese. Send me your shorter works, and I’ll take a crack at them. Everyone should have an editor. steve.reiness@gmail.com

And if you didn’t notice - my writing crutch? It’s the dash, or the emdash. I write a sentence - then I put in another thought where I should use a colon or a semicolon, and I get lazy.

But I will not write a paragraph that’s too long. Another writer’s trick. If a reader sees a long paragraph, they tend to skip a lot.

But if it’s a short paragraph, they’ll read it.

I wrote some opinions for a federal judge I interned for, and the clerks gave me a great piece of advice (that’s correct comma splice usage BTW - two sentences joined by “, and”). Lawyers routinely asked to exceed the 35 page limit on briefs, but if you present your argument in, say, 24 pages, the clerk is more likely to read it and put it in the bench brief the judge gets before oral argument. Give them less work, and it can only help you.

Never miss a chance to make a paragraph short. Two sentences, at maximum.

Now review the above for incomplete sentences - another sin. Oh, there’s another dash ....

And buddy up with another student - each of you edits the other’s assignments.

And learn possessives ferchrissakes ....

It is is it’s, its is its.

Lecture over.

TA4K > Matthew Keyser
06/06/2016 at 03:22

Far out man, you had a big ceremony for your high school grad? That’s cool. We had a leavers ball, got drunk at the afterparty, did leavers pranks and then kinda just didn’t come back monday. Kinda depressing, but everyone stayed in touch and such anyway. I finished about 6 months ago (New Zealand finishes school at Christmas in the summer). This year I am studying architecture technology, so good luck with what you want to do.

pjhusa > Matthew Keyser
06/06/2016 at 07:03

Wow, awesome!