The Earthquake: A Story and a Perspective

Dear Diary,

Today I felt an earthquake. It was the best day ever.

Sincerely,
Danny

Really, though, it was the awesomest experience ever. I was on the second story of a school building and it began as a low, "are there train tracks near here?" rumble for about 20 seconds; I even looked outside the window to see if a tractor trailer was driving across the rooftop adjacent to the classroom. By the time my mentor teacher (a California-native) was yelling at me to get in the doorway, it had already clicked in my head: THIS IS AWESOME. I can't describe just how awesome it was, but I will give you what went through my head as I was cowering and smiling like a crazy fool:

This was the first day of school for Anne Arundel County. If they had been run by ancient Greeks or Romans, I imagine they simply would have sent everybody home and then re-done the whole first day the next day. This was almost the definition of "ominous" and I can't think of a worse omen to begin a major undertaking on. Unfortunately, as an intern, these are the kinds of decisions I am not remotely involved in.

So good luck, AACPS, because you owe a sacrifice to the Earth Shaker because you have clearly inspired his wrath (and you have a lot to worry about because you're right next to the water). Just a friendly word of advice.

Middle English

Maybe it's because I've spent a bit of time with his parent, Old English, or great-grandparent Latin, but Middle English feels a lot like talking to a distant cousin who speaks with a heavy accent and strong regional dialect (thinking Louisiana; OC, California; or Boston/NE). Yeah, I don't always understand everything he's saying, I miss some of the regional references, and at times I feel like he's just making up words, but for the most part I get the message, and honestly it's just more interesting than talking with somebody from the East Coast.

But man, his spelling is atrocious.