Promulgate with a purpose

In my last post I talked about sacrosanct and how my experiences at the Warren County Career Center helped me open up opportunity for the situations that I am in now. This week I will talk about promulgate.

[P] 
Promulgate [prom-ul-gate]
Dictionary meaning: Promote or make widely known, put into effect by official proclamation.

Jentionary meaning:  
Certain things in life should be made known, certain things you should promulgate to others. 

I have talked about my grandma before, and I will talk about her again. Something about the older generation strikes me as odd. In my experience they have been both stubborn and predictable.

Recently my grandma fell out of her bed while getting up in the middle of the night and cracked her rib. This cracked rib lacerated her spleen, which caused internal bleeding. Internal bleeding does not sound, nor is, a good thing. 

She fell out of her bed and scooted all the way from her room in the front of her house, to her back porch where she could get her legs over a step and prop herself up. After this, she got up, went to the bathroom and decided to go to bed like nothing happened. 

Anna Franer, my grandmother

 When you fall hard enough to crack your rib, it hurts. Why not tell someone?
"Oh it hurt like hell, but my friend Bill was coming over and I didn't want him to have to go home,"  she told me.

My grandma did not tell anyone that she fell until 2:30 that afternoon. She fell out of bed at 1:30 am that morning. Needless to say, she did not promulgate her issue in a prompt manner. Because of this she ended up in the intensive care unit of the hospital for a couple days while the doctors observed her spleen to make sure it did not rupture.

Luckily, her spleen was able to start repairing itself and she was able to go home within four days. If anything, no matter if you are older or younger, make sure you make it known when something is wrong before it turns into something bigger than it should be. 

And that, my friends, is my promulgating issues should be taken more seriously. 

Making my choice toward a future of opportunity

Last week I discussed the origin of Jentionary. This week I will talk about sacrosanct.

[S]
Sacrosanct [sak-roh-sangkt]

Dicitionary Meaning: Above or beyond criticism, change or interference. 

Jentionary Meaning:
Vocational schools, or at least the vocational school that I attended my junior and senior years of high school, somehow had a bad reputation attached to it. I distinctly remember one of my friends from my home school telling me that all the "bad kids went there."

I think that the bad reputation attached to the school came from the fact that the alternative school was right across from the Warren County Career Center in Lebanon, but that has little to do with the point I am trying to make.

When I had went to WCCC for sophomore tours (where the sophomores from each school in the county goes to see which program they may be interested in participating their junior and senior years of high school) I was determined to stay sacrosanct, or above criticism, about the situation.

I was intrigued with the Digital Design program at the Career Center and I was determined to make myself a part of it for the next two years of my life. At first, I had apprehension remembering the reputation that the WCCC held with many of my peers, but I knew that just like everything else in life, it would be what I made it out to be.

The logo for the career center I attended

My teacher for the Digital Design lab ended up being one of my main supporters and inspirations for success. Mr. Beasley, or "B", was one of the first people that encouraged me to consider the Mulltimedia Journalism degree that I am currently pursuing. He is also the one who opened up the opportunity for me to have an internship at WHIO my senior year in the promotions department.

Going to WCCC also provided me with a tech-prep scholarship that I took full advantage of.
If I would have let others perception of WCCC influence my decision I would not have ended up at Sinclair making lasting friendships, writing for The Clarion, or feeling like I really belong somewhere.

Never let anyone's perception bring you down if you truly want to do something. Freedom is sacrosanct and you have the freedom to do whatever you choose.

The Origin of Jentionary

In my last post I talked about wanting to lambaste my orthodontist because of the ongoing eleven year battle with braces that I thought was going to end on March 25. It didn't because of the snow and I was very upset. This week I am going to talk about the origin of Jentionary.

[R]

Relentless

Dictionary meaning:
To be harsh, unmovable or unbending.

Jentionary meaning: 
As my readers know, my blog is about taking words I believe are challenging and using my own connotative meaning to describe them. Not only is this a successful way for me to help others, but giving my own personal twist of the word I choose gives the reader a sense of connection that is more relatable than an example a dictionary would give. The name of the blog was simple, I used my nickname and added 'tionary' to the end. Thus, Jentionary was born.

The conversation Whitney and
I had when she asked me what
the word relentless meant

My friend and co-worker Whitney suggested the blog topic after she asked me through text message one night what the word relentless meant. She had told me the next day when she saw me that she could text me or ask me in person what any word meant and I would be able to explain it in a way she could understand.

Whitney has her own blog you can visit by clicking here, where she talks about her cat Charlie and how he is relentless when it comes to water.

That is exactly what my aim for with this blog happens to be. I want to be able to relate the meaning in some way to the person that is reading, either directly or indirectly, so they can fully understand and use the word if it happens to apply to a situation that arises.  

Now, on to my own story about the word relentless.

In my sophomore year of high school my history teacher Tim Crowe always used the word relentless. Every morning during his class period he would utter, "you kids are relentless" with a smile. After every day of this word being heard by my curious ears, I asked him what it meant.
He simply looked at me and said, "you kids are relentless, that's all."

I had an idea of what it meant due to the context in which it was being used, but I was not really able to apply the use of the word until I looked up what it meant in the dictionary.

From the point that I looked up the meaning pf the word until the remainder of the year I used the word relentless at one point or another.


I used to word to tell my mom I was being relentless by not cleaning my room, doing the dishes, or folding my laundry. I also frequently called my brother relentless when he used to ask questions about anything and everything.

Next time the need arises to call someone you know relentless how will you do it? Is someone you know relentless, or do you know a time when you have been relentless?

Dear orthodontist, can you please take my braces off now?

In my last post I talked about obeisance and being thankful for the simple things in my life, like walking. I told myself to stay positive and was convinced that life will keep on moving whether I want it to or not. Nearly a week later, needless to say, my attitude has changed.

[L]

Lambaste
Dictionary meaning: to criticize someone or something harshly.

Jentionary meaning:
Have you ever wanted something so bad in your life that you could literally taste it? I am talking on the tip of your tongue here people. Or maybe in my case, the tip of my teeth.

On the tip of my teeth, or middle in this case, there happen to be brackets. These brackets make up braces. For those of you who are not aware, I have had my braces on for 11 years. I only wish that number was made up and that I was kidding. I first got my braces on in December of my fourth grade year of elementary school.

Where am I getting at with this?
Today, March 25, 2013 was supposed to be the day that I would finally get my braces off after 11 years. The "snow storm" however, hindered me of that.

 So it makes me want to lambaste the crap out of the people who work at my orthodontist's office. To be fair, I cannot be mad at my orthodontist. My old orthodontist that got me into this 11 year mess is history and now I have an orthodontist who is well educated and knows what she is doing.

That still does not take away the fact that I hate the secretaries who told me that the earliest appointment they could get me is nearly a month away. After 11 years of waiting, even five weeks seems like an eternity. So mentally and quite verbally after getting the news, I criticized, or lambasted them pretty harshly.

So what did I do to take out my anger? I asked my mom to cut some of my hair and dye it. Just a simple change, but one that was needed to get my mind off of something I had been waiting for, for quite a long time coming.

As for my teeth?
Oh well, they will live. Five more weeks isn't really going to kill me, but it does piss me off.
As for my hair? It will grow and the color will fade. All I have to keep telling myself is that life is not going to stop for me simply because I do not like the way it has been treating me lately.


Have you ever been disappointed in something that you have been waiting for a long time? If so, what is it and why were you so excited about it?

Hearing about other disappointments will remind me that I am not alone. Let's all come together and be disappointed for a split amount of time!

Turning a bad day into a thankful one

[O]

Obeisance [o-bey-sance]
Dictionary meaning: A gesture expressing deferential respect, such as a bow or curtsy.

Jentionary meaning:
I will go ahead and admit it now, I judge people. What they wear, how they handle themselves under pressure, how they talk and even how they walk. It is in my nature to judge and I will not deny it.

I just do not like when people make it a point to say that judging someone takes away from seeing the 'real' person inside. If anything a judgment is a mental note that you are taking the time to pay attention to that person and what they stand for. If you are being judged, great! It shows that if the person judging you wishes, they will take the time to see the 'real' you that you strive for others to see.

For that, I say that we show obeisance to the people that judge us.

I had one of the worst days that I have had in a long time today. It was one of those days where you wake up and everything that can possibly go wrong seems to find its way into everything you do. One misunderstanding leads to another and you find yourself pissed off at everything and everyone for no logical reason. I felt like that today, until my attitude was knocked down to size.

This is little me with a brace on my foot.
Unfortunately I still have to wear a brace
from time to time when it starts hurting.

I was born premature and have had many complications, one of which was a club foot. For those of you who are unaware of what a club foot is, it can be described as when the tendons in the leg and foot are shorter than usual causing the foot to pull in an abnormal position (in like a golf club). I have had multiple surgeries at a young age to fix this and thankfully they were successful. The only remaining problem is the arthritis in my ankle.

Arthritis can be painful. Today, for some reason, it hurt like you would not believe so I was limping. I did not think anything of it considering this is my semi-normal walk
— until I saw two young men making fun of me.

In that instant the pissed off feeling I had been holding above my head all day was knocked right from under that limp of mine. Those two young men that were making fun of me know nothing about me. Nor do they care enough to take the time to understand why I was limping.

I have to be honest with myself in moments like this. I would judge someone that was limping just as those two were judging me today. I have to give them some respect for making me come full circle in remembering that I do have things to be thankful for when I am having a bad day. One of which is to be thankful that I am walking each day. Just for that, I can show obeisance to myself and remember to keep positive thoughts in my mind when my day is feeling a little more gray than usual.

Becoming Ubiquitous with Social Media

[U]

Ubiquitous [yoo-big-wi-tiss]

Dictionary meaning: existing or being everywhere, or seeming to exist everywhere, especially at the same time.

Jentionary meaning:

We live in a society where social media has become ubiquitous. No matter if you are grocery shopping or sitting in class, social media lives on not only in personal computers but through our cell phones and the instant access to internet. Whether this is good or bad is something I believe is generational.

My addiction to my cell phone causes me to take
pictures of wherever I am at all times.

My grandmother, for example, absolutely hates when my cousins and I have our phones out at all times of the day, whether it be to see if someone we know has said something interesting on Facebook, or if someone has taken a picture of their food on Instagram.
However for the younger generation, having your phone out or being on the computer has become as much of a pass time, if not more so, than going outside and taking a walk around the block. We are instantly hooked to social media and I believe that we have quickly become addicted to it.

Do I like this rapid trend? No. Am I guilty of it? Yes.

This is a picture I took after parking on
the top level of the parking garage simply
because I thought it would look neat.

My current addiction involving social media happens to be taking pictures of the landscape wherever I am so I can post it on Instagram minutes later. I started this weird habit sometime within the last month and even though some of the pictures I have taken are interesting, I feel like my grandmother and I just want to look at myself and say, "would you put that phone down?"

Instead of looking at our phones or getting on the computer as soon as we can, I challenge us social media users to give it a break for at least a week. We can all make an ubiquitous effort to just put the internet down and reconnect with the world around us.

Can you give up social media, and if so, for how long? If you don't think you could, what is the reason?

Indignation transforming into intelligence

[I]

Indignation

Dictionary meaning: strong displeasure — especially against something considered unjust, offensive, insulting mean or base.

Jentionary meaning:

It has been in my experience that a lot of people have indignation against one another for no real reason, other than, because they have the ability to be that way. I do not understand why this is happening and find it more common every day. It seems that people have the mentality of,  ‘if you aren’t with me, you’re against me.’

A picture of me getting my tattoo
on my 21st birthday last year

For example, when you bring up a controversial topic like politics or abortion and the person you are talking to happens to have the complete opposite view on the issue than you do. Often times when that conversation starts and you find out that the other person has an opposing opinion you begin to have indignation toward them, or strong displeasure.

It is second nature to instantly turn off our listening skills and attack when this happens. We attack with what we think is truth and go about our day without realizing the meaning behind the conversation as a whole.

What if the opposing forces that have come against us are the ones that are supposed to bring us together? Yes, I know that sounds like the cheesiest thing in the world, but I have a point here.

For example, my parents are complete opposites.

My mother grew up in a quiet household where she was shy and sheltered from the world. My father, however, was raised in a household where being obnoxious is an art and doing what you want is encouraged, even if it isn't the right thing to do.

So with my parents being polar opposites, I strongly believe that is why my personality has been shaped the way it is. I am quiet, but I am also loud. I know when to be serious and when to be funny. I am stubborn but also passive. I possess yin and yang, if you will. Unity of opposites that defines who I am and all that is around me.

My yin yang tattoo that
my dad was thrilled about
while my mom was unsure.
Typical of them both.

On July 14 last year, better known as the day before my 21st birthday, I got a tattoo that signified this yin and yang in my life. I got a yin yang sign tattooed on my arm (the sunflower around it is simply because it is my favorite flower). This tattoo helps to remind me that even though I may have a dislike for others opinions or their beliefs, that it is all about  balance in the end.

Next time you have a strong dislike for something going wrong in your life, take a step back and think of the balance that has to occur in order to keep yourself grounded. With that dislike, think of something you like. With that good news, know that circumstances are not always going to go your way.

Do not have indignation, but intelligence to know the difference between being selfish to your own views and being accepting of others. Learn from the experience instead of acting as if the world and every person in it is out to get you.