𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 & 𝘀𝘆𝗺𝗯𝗼𝗹𝘀: 𝚊 𝚓𝚎𝚗𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚊 𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚝

The Variations

LISA POV

I had created a couple of variations in my handwriting. From what's considered readable to borderline indecipherable to absolute genius (well, genius in my terms).

As an example, around 2nd grade, I wrote my numbers in cursive.  It was fine for single digit values, but when we got to multiplication card speed tests in 3rd grade, I had given up. I could not afford to write "463831" in cursive anymore.

Then there was my "defying the rules" type of handwriting. I felt quite rebellious and was pretty smug about it. The idea first came up when I began to question why we had to capitalize the first letter of the first word in our sentences and why that had to be the norm.

I thought this was pretty unfair for the other letters, so I made my own rule.

i WRoTe liKE thIs.

I didn't care if my "I" wasn't capitalized every time. Like what I said, the weirder, the better.

However, my genius was pretty short lived. After I submitted a 500-word essay using the new brilliant handwriting I had come up with, my teacher explained that I should stop using this style because it would be harder for others to understand my writing.

After that, I decided to tone it down. I simply put hearts and circles above my "I"s and "J"s.

But it was pretty anticlimactic from my previous style.

After 9th grade, I changed it again.

THIS TIME I WROTE IN ALL CAPS.

IT WAS FUN FOR A WHILE BUT THEN I FOUND IT TOO TIRESOME BECAUSE OF THE EFFORT OF ALWAYS WRITING IN HUGE BLOCK LETTERS.

PLUS, IT SEEMED THAT I WAS SHOUTING IN MY WRITINGS. BUT I REALLY AM NOT.

Currently, in the summer before 10th grade, I decided to write my capital A's in a pattern that made it look like a star.

It was random and that's exactly what made it brilliant. What are the odds of another person turning the specific capital letter A into a specific symbol, a star?