03 July 2010

Day 98: Half Broken Things

Half Broken Things by Morag Joss. ISBN: 9780385339407.

As the story progresses, Jean and her compatriots become more duplicitous in their maintenance of the Walden Manor* lifestyle.  At one point they run out of heating oil and Michael learns to fake the owner's voice while Steph fakes his signature.  (Michael is Jean's make-believe son to go along with her make-believe lifestyle).  As Steph is figuring out the signature it describes the loops and whirls and how the owner gave up on making the non-initials legible.

I have to admit that I find signatures fascinating.  It took me years to perfect my signature.  I don't plan on changing it anytime soon, and I actually swore that I would never change my last name if it meant changing my signature.  It probably sounds like a stupid thing to be so pleased with, but a signature is a very important thing.  Many times it's the only indication of your personality on forms, business letters, etc.  Sure, there might be a little personality in a business letter based on your writing style, but for the most part it's the same damn letter you write to almost everyone and a copy is a copy is a copy is a copy.  But then there's that little flourish at the end where you get to dump the New Roman Times and feel the satisfying flick of ink on paper.

I love signing my name.  If I'm stuck in a meeting or bored, I will endlessly practice my signature.  I secretly hope to be famous someday so people actually ask me to sign things and then cherish my signature as much as I do.  Yeah, okay, it's weird, but at least I don't dress up as a giant cartoon character in order to get "positive" attention after leaving my parents' basement for the first time in three months.

I first started working on my signature probably in fourth grade, when my favorite teacher showed me an alternate way of writing cursive A's.  Instead of making roundy-apple A's, for my signature I use a peaked-swoopy A and cross it like you would a "t."  I then use the cross bar to sign the rest of MY first name (hahah, get it, my?  A...my.  It's mine, you cannot has).  Meanwhile when I was making the A I started it off with a curl that forms a C and that's where my last name goes, arcing up along the left side of the A.

And just so you know what the hell I'm talking about, I think I'll "sign" this post.  Although...it's an old signature, so no forgeries for you.



*This is the name of the house Jean is taking care of.

2 comments:

  1. That's a really clever signature, I wouldn't want to change it either. Mine is like Huge-Ass "D" followed by scribbling then a slightly more discernible uppercase "I" then more scribbling. Imma be a doctor.

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  2. No worries Dayna, I'm sure you'll be famous soon enough and that illegible scrawl will work out well for you. Hopefully you'll remember your good ol' blogger friend from Antioch who very much encourages you to make that signature as illegible as possible.

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