Witty article about travel writing…
I wont replicate the article here, just click above to read it. Its a hilarious article about words people really ought to eschew when recounting their adventures. I must say, if I have used any of these words in the past I apologize! I am now removing them from my writing vocabulary 
This also reminds me of something of an inside joke my family and I have about a few words: “cute” and “amazing”. Neither of these words are particularly descriptive and are just replacement words for our lazy minds. Cute represents some hazy notion of interest between “i could care less” and “possibly adorable”. Its the default fallback word we use to lie to our friends and family. “Isnt my baby adorable?” “Ya, sure, it’s cute…” As for amazing, I just received an email from paypal describing the “amazing back to school deals”, yet none of these deals actually bewildered or even astonished me. Like the article says about “breathtaking” : “Was your breath literally taken away by the beauty of that sunset? Probably not, so this word is overkill. Unless you’re blue in the face and suffering from awe-induced oxygen deprivation, look for another word.”
Hannah on 30 Jul 2009 at 6:46 am #
Amazing blog.
kyle on 30 Jul 2009 at 8:49 pm #
thats a borderline insult there missy
Dad on 04 Aug 2009 at 11:01 am #
I actually thought Hannah’s comment was cute.
kyle on 04 Aug 2009 at 10:39 pm #
haha so did i (the wink meant i was joking). Hannah is too clever for her own good!
Geoff on 09 Aug 2009 at 3:51 pm #
Hey man, sounds like you have really had some good times. The grand taxis sound like an trying experience in their own right. I must say that I begin to really question the things people in American society seem to deem as “needs” in their life. I mean, take a look at how you have been living with all the simple plesures of life around you. Do you feel as though you need more? I’m sure you could actually survive with much less. It cracks me up how diluted people become with the massive over stimulation of modern American culture. Maybe when you have so much it really become less when we take a look at who we really are versus what we own. Or should I say what own us….
Oh well, I have gone on some random tangent like usual. Hope to hear from you soon bro!
-G
kyle on 10 Aug 2009 at 11:16 pm #
I couldnt agree more. This trip has definitely taught me about what I “need” vs what i “want”. To this point, I use only half of what I thought I “needed” when I packed my bags almost 3 months ago. I wonder if you wouldnt really like the philosophy of Timothy Ferris in “The Four Hour Work Week”. One of his big organizing principles is removing all the waste from your life.
Tyler Durden: Do you know what a duvet is?
Narrator: It’s a comforter…
Tyler Durden: It’s a blanket. Just a blanket. Now why do guys like you and me know what a duvet is? Is this essential to our survival, in the hunter-gatherer sense of the word? No. What are we then?
Narrator: …Consumers?
Tyler Durden: Right. We are consumers. We’re the bi-products of a lifestyle obsession.
—–
Tyler Durden: It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.