I was looking at The Sartorlialist yesterday and happened upon
this photo of some of his notes and sketches. Check out how similar our writing styles are! Here I am writing some of the same text he wrote in his picture.
I swear I didn't try to make them look similar, that's really what my handwriting looks like. It's really similar, right? Of course I would prefer if my general style was more like his, but handwriting style is a good start.
Anyway, this made me think about a good idea for a blog post. I know for a fact that some members of my family have very similar handwriting, and I thought it would be interesting to get everyone to write a sample sentence and then compare them. What an interesting experiment this will be! I thought to myself.
I texted Elderbro and Midbro straight away so they could get working on their samples. I gave them clear instructions. I said:
"Hi dude, could you please write the following text on a piece of paper and photograph it then text/email it to me? This is my handwriting when I am making an effort to be neat. This is my handwriting when I am making no effort to be neat. (obviously I would like you to either make an effort/not make an effort depending on the text you are writing). Thanks!"
I asked for the two samples because I thought it would be interesting to see whether our writing was more similar when we were making an effort, or when we were just freestyling. After all, it was going to be an interesting experiment.
Knowing that my parents would struggle to absorb all of this in a text message, I emailed them the same request, explicitly asking each of them to write the nominated sentences. I also asked them to scan it and email it to me because they don't have smart phones from which to send photographs, but they do have a scanner. So by the end of the day, I had notified everyone in my immediate family of what they had to do, and all that was left was to wait for the results to roll in.
Of course, this did not happen. First, Midbro replied saying that it was the school musical that night and he couldn't possible do it until morning. For those of you who don't know, Midbro teaches Year 6 at a school we will call Grighton Brammar. Each year, Grighton Brammar puts on a musical with the girls at a neighbouring school we will call Birfank. This year they are doing the hit Disney musical Alladin. Anyway, the performance was last night and because Midbro fancies himself as being a but like the teacher in Glee (he once told me that he really relates to him) he couldn't do what I asked. I guess this is fair enough.
But as for the rest of the family, their inability to follow instructions and/or inability to use technology has totally compromised the exciting potential of my handwriting exercise.
This, from elder bro after several text messages providing further clarification:
What about the sample when you are making no effort to be neat, Elderbro? What about that? My instructions were so clear! I could tell that further text messaging would just make things worse so I let it go.
Mum called me when she read the email, saying that they didn't know how to use the scanner. Knowing that my uncle Gary and aunt Glenda are staying with them, I suggested they consult with those guys to figure it out. She said they had already consulted, and no one knew. I told her that four adults with an operating manual should be able to operate a scanner. Right? Right? Apparently not.
This came through a short while later:
Not only can they not operate the scanner properly, but they also misunderstood the instructions, so only Dad wrote the first sentence and only Mum wrote the second. What kind of comparison is that?! These people would make terrible scientists!
Happily, Midbro got on board this morning and sent the following samples through:
Um, I can't really tell the difference, can you?
And finally, here is my sample:
I can't tell the difference here either.
But here's what I can tell:
-Elderbro has nice neat writing that looks like a masculine version of Mum's
-Dad has terrible writing because he is vision impaired and has arthritis but he is excellent at lawn bowls and cooking steak (the last bits I know from experience, not his handwriting)
-Mum has nice neat writing that looks like a lady version of Elderbro's
-Midbro's writing looks like a no-nonsense version of mine
-My writing looks like The Sartorialist's!
-This was a terrible idea.
Those Sartorialist images touched me too and I'd already been coveting this grey jumper. Now it's mine! Oh sure, the sleeve is not that big and I won't wear it under everything. Just a coat or two. Probably not at the same time though. 
