So you have been nominated for the Academy Award. Thoughts of your acceptance speech have run through your head a couple thousand times, admit it! Your biggest fear is that you will forget someone. Face the hard truth. You’ll get up there and fail because you refused to write it down, for fear of jinxing yourself. You are a superstitious lot.
Your dream comes true and you win The Oscar:
First you feign shock. You let tears well-up in your eyes while demurring to the others in your category – even though you are secretly so completely stoked to beat out a couple of them. Then you will look out at the adoring faces in the crowd and rattle off the names of your producer, director, actors, etc.
You’ll thank your parents with the overused standby, “Because without them, well, I wouldn’t be here tonight,” -insert tired chuckle from crowd- followed by other significant supporters in your life.
Without boring everyone with a list of the obvious, I thought I would help remind you of the one person you should thank, but so often is overlooked. No, it is not your 2nd grade teacher. Continue reading
In Defense of Emoticons, Asterisks, and Exclamation Points!!!
Have you ever been in a conversation and found yourself blurting out what you think is a funny joke only to be met with a blank expression?
Imagine writing a comment using sardonic wit. The writer of the post can be left wondering what the hell you meant by that and may slap their laptop shut, storm out of their study, then sit back down and Unfollow you!
Insert smiley face
and voila! Sarcasm bursts through the words and the writer giggles along with the commenter.
When I first started blogging around two years ago, it took me a while to get the hang of commenting. At first, I went into hyperdrive and left lame, “Great post!” comments everywhere.
Then I slowed down and read other reader’s comments. Some chose eloquent words. Others related to the content of the post and either responded emotionally or revealed something about themselves. A few were hysterically funny. Most used different ways to express their emotion.
I look forward to reading what you think of my words. Sometimes comments make me laugh. Others are so sweet, they are like precious gifts, so I copy them to a saved file. Once in a while, I scratch my head and wonder.
To help you through the emotional minefield of commenting, I came up with:
Susie’s Surefire Glossary to Conveying Emotion:
Emoticons - Many comments contain the smiley face.
It has always reminded me of Walmart, so it took a while for the association to fade. Now I LOVE the round yellow faces! They are like happy little bubbles of joy, unless they are unhappy faces. 
Asterisks - Many use them for sound effects. **clink**, **crash**, **gulp**, **giggle**. These fun additions add another dimension to the comment and tickle my funny bone.
Exclamation Points - Okay. I’ll admit it. I am an exclamation point junkie! When wanting to convey my big goofy grin, I use them like periods. Honest to God. I have to go through every happy comment and take out at least half of them before Replying. Sometimes my itchy finger presses Reply too soon.
It would be so great if you would share this!
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