Mad Libs by Kaitlyn Jeong
“Once upon a time, there was a (noun) who loved to (verb) frogs. One day, the pesky (noun) became very frustrated and decided to (verb) the (adjective) frog. Then the (noun)’s mother came in and told the (noun) not to (verb) the frog anymore or else she would punish her by making her eat several (noun)s, which the (noun) hated. So the (noun) decided to kiss the frog instead, and the (noun) and the (adjective) frog lived (adjective) ever after.”
“Mad-Libs” used to be my favorite activity when I was in the fourth grade. It was a pretty hilarious way to teach grammar…most of the time. Some of the immature, obnoxious kids in the class decided to put “elephant” down for every single blank, including the verb and adjective blanks. I, on the other hand, actually tried to put sensible words down and even peeked at the other side, hoping that by doing so, I could create a cohesive, well thought out paragraph that told a story and contained an innovative and important moral that would benefit the entire fourth grade. Little did I know that trying to choose the perfect words actually produced mundane stories that made my peers tear up; not because they were touched by the meaning and depth of my story, but because they were utterly bored out of their minds. What fun was it reading about a princess that became friends with a frog because her mother would make her drink brussel sprout soup if she didn’t? Wouldn’t it be much funnier to hear about an elephant that elephanted a frog because her mother would elephant her if she didn’t elephant it? I suppose I was the only one who thought otherwise. I honestly didn’t know that it was expected for these stories to be unexpected (I didn’t know that elephants were really popular back then, either).
Why is it that I seem to be stuck in the same old rut six years later? Every now and then, I think to myself that if I could write out the story of my life, everything would be perfect. I’d have enough money to send my family on one of those year-long cruises around the world so that they could sit back and relax. Diseases would be cured left and right. I’d be taller. Oh, and world peace. In my head, the list would just go on and on…which would bring me back to the fourth grade. I failed to realize then, (and still fail to realize now) that writing and planning everything out so that it is perfect in our eyes still doesn’t prevent the unexpected, and that’s what makes life so interesting. Whenever we wish for things in life to be different or for the power to change things to our advantage, we’re losing one of life’s greatest elements: the element of surprise. Sure, it would be fantastic to know when the sky is about to rain cats and dogs (especially if, thanks to Southern California’s bipolar weather, it’s still sunny outside), but knowing being able to know every little detail and map out what you are going to do for the next fourteen-and-a-half years is a little much. Life sometimes doesn’t go as planned, but I believe that that’s what makes it worth living; for example, if my English teacher planned a timed writing but abruptly changed her mind and showed us an episode of “The Simpsons” instead, I would definitely applaud the unexpected.
Without life’s little twists and turns, we would all be bored to tears, just like my fourth grade peers. We need a couple of adjectives, verbs, semicolons, and exclamation points to spice our own stories, for without them, life would just be one big elephant.
“Once upon a time, there was a (noun) who loved to (verb) frogs. One day, the pesky (noun) became very frustrated and decided to (verb) the (adjective) frog. Then the (noun)’s mother came in and told the (noun) not to (verb) the frog anymore or else she would punish her by making her eat several (noun)s, which the (noun) hated. So the (noun) decided to kiss the frog instead, and the (noun) and the (adjective) frog lived (adjective) ever after.”
“Mad-Libs” used to be my favorite activity when I was in the fourth grade. It was a pretty hilarious way to teach grammar…most of the time. Some of the immature, obnoxious kids in the class decided to put “elephant” down for every single blank, including the verb and adjective blanks. I, on the other hand, actually tried to put sensible words down and even peeked at the other side, hoping that by doing so, I could create a cohesive, well thought out paragraph that told a story and contained an innovative and important moral that would benefit the entire fourth grade. Little did I know that trying to choose the perfect words actually produced mundane stories that made my peers tear up; not because they were touched by the meaning and depth of my story, but because they were utterly bored out of their minds. What fun was it reading about a princess that became friends with a frog because her mother would make her drink brussel sprout soup if she didn’t? Wouldn’t it be much funnier to hear about an elephant that elephanted a frog because her mother would elephant her if she didn’t elephant it? I suppose I was the only one who thought otherwise. I honestly didn’t know that it was expected for these stories to be unexpected (I didn’t know that elephants were really popular back then, either).
Why is it that I seem to be stuck in the same old rut six years later? Every now and then, I think to myself that if I could write out the story of my life, everything would be perfect. I’d have enough money to send my family on one of those year-long cruises around the world so that they could sit back and relax. Diseases would be cured left and right. I’d be taller. Oh, and world peace. In my head, the list would just go on and on…which would bring me back to the fourth grade. I failed to realize then, (and still fail to realize now) that writing and planning everything out so that it is perfect in our eyes still doesn’t prevent the unexpected, and that’s what makes life so interesting. Whenever we wish for things in life to be different or for the power to change things to our advantage, we’re losing one of life’s greatest elements: the element of surprise. Sure, it would be fantastic to know when the sky is about to rain cats and dogs (especially if, thanks to Southern California’s bipolar weather, it’s still sunny outside), but knowing being able to know every little detail and map out what you are going to do for the next fourteen-and-a-half years is a little much. Life sometimes doesn’t go as planned, but I believe that that’s what makes it worth living; for example, if my English teacher planned a timed writing but abruptly changed her mind and showed us an episode of “The Simpsons” instead, I would definitely applaud the unexpected.
Without life’s little twists and turns, we would all be bored to tears, just like my fourth grade peers. We need a couple of adjectives, verbs, semicolons, and exclamation points to spice our own stories, for without them, life would just be one big elephant.