As some of you likely are aware of, I’ve been on the jurisprudence beat for the past few months, and that’s given a number of courthouse staffers a chance to learn what many of my friends, relatives and co-workers already know:

My penmanship is not real good.

“Is that a zero or a six?” a records clerk asked me one day last week after I’d written down the number of a case file I needed.

“That’s a six,” I said. “Sorry.”

A few minutes later, I needed to write down my name and phone number for another employee. Freshly nervous about my handwriting, I asked her if she could decipher it.

She looked a bit uncertain but said, “Oh, yes, I can read it.”

Below, for your viewing (dis)pleasure, is a handwriting sample. Please, give me your critiques:

handwriting