The most important thing college has taught me so far:

"There is no such thing as good writing. There are only good re-writes."

Why on earth should that be important to me, a chemical engineering major?

The best part about this quote is that my chemistry professor told this to us. He told us about this brilliant guy he knew (one of his MIT buddies, I believe) who's done so much for the world of science, but no one knows or cares because he can't express his ideas. Wouldn't that be frustrating?

People say math is the most important skill you can have, but that's wrong. You can easily hire someone to do your taxes for you.

My prof was probably saying this to justify assigning us weekly chem writing assignments, which are scary because you post them online and the other students in the class grade them. It's also fun trying to get it in before the deadline after a hectic day.

In grading other students' posts, I must say it amazes me how many brilliant students here have no idea how to write. Frankly, it makes me very angry.

But I also thank my lucky stars that I had high school teachers that beat writing into me, to the point where I can spit out a thesis and POAs and give you five paragraphs in 45 minutes, tops. And I still catch spelling mistakes, weird grammar/punctuation, and unclear ideas all the time in my writing. I also have a bad habit of using way too many commas.

I'm always trying to practice good writing, whether in my blogs, facebook, or on actual assignments that count for something. All in the quest to be a good writer. So if I ever write something awkwardly, grammatically incorrect, or totally wrong, feel free to send me an angry email.