Happy Birthday Sandra!

It's my friend Sandra's birthday today so we'll wish her a Happy 20-something! I hope she has all the fun she's entitled to after these horrendous exams are over with.

So where have I been?

Seems like the wrath of assignments, projects, uncompleteable (Is that even a word? It should be.) midterms and cold, wet weather have gotten the better of me.

Have I become the lazy fatass I was when I was 16? Perhaps.

My car needs servicing yet again despite the $1,500 bill I forked over last time. All was necessary though and the mechanic is a good guy despite indirectly taking food out of my mouth. Visa and American Express love me. I'm their #1 client.

Lookin forward to going out this weekend though - it's been a while. Let's get our drink on.

Police Brutality in London

This is crazy!

If anyone witnessed this in London please get ahold of the author of that article. Will write more later, but definitely not a surprise to read about officers on a power trip. It's just sad to see it goes way too far sometimes.

Online etiquette

No this isn't yet another complaint about how the Internet is dragging our human interaction and writing skills into the gutter.

 

Some expressions derived from online chatter can describe one's behaviour accurately enough without them having to write complete sentences to describe their state of emotion. So really, it's making our language more efficient.

 

Please don't take this and apply it to your professional lives, however.  I'm just talking about casual writing between friends.

 

 

The Beef

 

The problem I'm finding these days is with the overuse of these helpful acronyms, punctuation, and spelling in general.

 

Not only that, but (granting an exception for ESL students), it seems like some people never quite understood the difference between they're, their, and there as well as numerous other words (to, too, and two).

 

 

Let's examine LOL for a minute: Laugh Out Loud.

 

The goal of this expression is to subdue the need for writing an endless string of hahaha, or typing I am laughing so hard right now.

 

Unfortunately the efficiency is annulled when numerous LOL's are joined together, expressing extreme cases of laughing out loud.  Funny, but counterproductive.

 

LOL LOL LOL LOL !!!!!

 

 

The Killers

 

Punctuation and lack of proper Internet etiquette really kills it for me sometimes.  Let's provide some examples to get you in the same frame of mind:

 

Are you going to Jessica's party!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Well, if you'd ask me in the form of a question I'd consider it.  Unfortunately, not only are you screaming at me with 30 exclamation marks, but your question lacks the basic building block of the request-response scenario: The Question Mark.

 

The answer to your pseudo-question is NO anyway.

 

 

Another example:

 

HEY DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE I CAN GET THIS PHONE????????  I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

We've already covered the punctuation so I won't beat you over the head with it again.  At least this person used a question mark, though 10 of them may be excessive.

 

Their problem is that they haven't yet caught on that not many people type in ALL CAPS on the net, and when they do it typically demonstrates some form of excitement or anger.

 

So if you're not feeling any of those, click the damn thing off and continue typing without screaming at me.

They grow on you

When UGGs first made it on the scene, I really couldn't believe my eyes. Could some seriously ugly boots really capture the hearts and wallets of Western's beautiful student body?

Somehow it did many years ago, and I ridiculed this "fashion statement" like it was my job.

Just picture a very attractive girl, who could be seen in August weather in a short skirt, tank top and cute sandals, engulfing herself in ugly, wooley-mammoth-looking boots in the fall, complimented by tucked-in grey sweats and a hoodie. Now, maybe I've suddenly become attracted to those hunter-gatherer types of girls (Neanderthelle), but something about girls in mukluks three times the size of their legs is kinda hot these days.

Surprisingly, I've come to accept the new look of today's Western woman. It's very unfortunate that they don't highlight her curves in the least way, but I'm sure that despite the freezing whether outside (oh not now, but just you wait) she's having her own little party in her boots. And I'll just have to be happy for her. Or just cross my fingers that I get invited. Whichever.

For a different angle, see what Paige has to say about them.

Yes, this was just a sad excuse to link to her page. Girls are pretty.

Paige, you're pretty.

Hush...

Hip-hop fans and those of you who enjoyed the brief pre-challenge music from The Contender may want to check out the new album from Hush: Bulletproof.

R&B fans might be more drawn to tracks like Let It Breathe, but high energy tracks like Fired Up and Put 'Em Down (both from The Contender) are more for the hip-hop crowd.

Hush is also featured in the upcoming Need For Speed: Most Wanted video game soundtrack.

Oh please!

So people have been complaining about Steven Harper's comment about the Remebrance Day poppy.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

First of all, he's not criticizing the symbolism of the poppy, or making any form of negative gesture towards our veterans. I'm sure like the rest of us he has a great deal of respect for them.

We're talking about the production quality of the symbol itself, how the fastening design hasn't much changed in the 80 years that it's been around, and how they constantly fall off since they use a simple pin instead of something that would actually keep the poppy attached to your clothes.

I can't believe people so easily turn this around as some form of shameful comment against the veterans. They obviously have incredibly poor listening skills, and have this magical ability to tune out what he actually said.

Selective listening is bliss.