the essay--in-class exercise

for my creative non-fiction writing class this week, we discussed the form of the essay. after a brief etymological study of the word "essay", we got to do a simple exercise to get our brains going. the instructor asked us to contribute 15 nouns which she wrote on cue cards, then distributed one card to each person. we were to write for 5 minutes on the noun that's written on our respective cards, then pass the card to the person sitting on our right for the next 5-minute turn. each of us got to write on 3 nouns, basically just anything that sprang to mind on the subject. and if we were stuck, we should just keep writing that word over and over until something comes to mind again; no stopping and pausing was allowed. it seemed a bit elementary at first but i really enjoyed it at the end. here were mine (unedited):

Airplane
Airplanes are neat. When I was young and whenever I was in an airplane before take-off, I used to count the number of times I'd been on an airplane as far as I could remember. So I'd start from the first time I traveled abroad which was to Japan, then to Korea, then to Portland, Oregon, et cetera. I did this everytime before take-off (also praying that we'd have a safe flight, to all the deities I'd heard of up to that point), until I lost count eventually. I also collected my boarding passes, but that became impossible too. Now I use most of them as bookmarks for whatever book I am reading for that flight and that's where my boarding passes are now, stuck inside books.

My cousin's friend Stephen is a pilot. We had coffee together last week and he told us how, after he finishes is Physics degree at UBC, he's going to rack up enough flying hours and go to Africa to fly planes in the Safari that will take tourists on hunting trips. That's a cool thing about being able to fly planes. You really do get to go places. When he was able to get a two-seater plane, he took my cousin literally up and about for a "spin." I think that freaked her out somewhat.

Airplanes airplanes airplanes. Snakes on a plane. Did anyone see that? It's just a funny movie title to say. Snakes on a plane. What a turn-off. Red Eye was good, with that creepy guy and Rachel Adams. She was hot in the Notebook. (writing stops. card swap).

Condescension
Nevermind, I just realized I wrote it completely wrong for this word. I don't believe I've ever used this word. Perhaps I have. But very incorrectly. Forget it.
Condescension
Pronunciation: \ˌkän-di-ˈsen(t)-shən\
Function: noun
1: voluntary descent from one's rank or dignity in relations with an inferior
2: patronizing attitude or behavior

Thumbs
Thumbs up. I've been doing that a lot, thumbing up (two of them too) for situations, outcomes and conditions that are to me good, acceptable and encouraging. So I suppose it's used to express approval:
someone: "hey guess what I bought these jeans at 60% off!"
me: "sweet!" while thumbs up

or consent:
waitress: "should i wrap this up for you to go?"
me: "yes please" while thumbs up

Mmm pretty lame. what other situations are there....Maybe when someone asks you to put your hands up (ie. a cop), and you can only do thumbs up because you lost the other 8 fingers in an accident or interrogation by Middle Eastern terrorists (like how George Clooney lost fingernails in that movie). In that case when the cop asks you to put your hands up, you can only give them the thumbs. I crack myself up. (writing stops.)