Yeah, Ok..

I decided I do have a bit of a "hmpf" to offer on this:

My company did a "Friday pat on the back" day for jobs well done amongst the company. A certificate of some kind was given out to selected members of each area. I noticed my boss holding one, and wondered... which one of us? It went to the newly hired copywriter, which I'm sure does a great job at what he does here. I know his services were greatly needed, but a month or so ago, I distinctly remember revising his copy ideas for headlines on ads. He liked mine better than the ones he'd come up with, and even told me that his creativity had run out one day, so I came up with something then. I wasn't upset that he got a certificate for his work and I didn't for my work, I just thought "huh, well that's funny, whatevs."

Tea For You & Tea For Me.

A notable discovery occurred today.

But first, a prelude:

I've never been able to enjoy tea. It usually burns my mouth and I don't like bitter flavors that make my face go "eewuuugggh" when I have previously attempted to force enjoyment of certain tea flavors.

Today my coworker Francheska offered me some teas that as promised, were not bitter. She gave me a packet of spearmint tea, and with a little sugar... I actually think I like it. I'm not becoming a tea snob yet, but if I ever want something warm to drink, I miiiight consider this one.

Still I've never been too big on drinking things altogether. Other than water. Rarely do I finish a regular sized cup of anything. Other than water. I think I drank maybe 2" worth of this tea. I'm not sure what it is. I can't imagine myself drinking a ton of anything all day. Who knows. I'm weird.

My Father's Creativity

In a successful attempt to entertain his girls during our childhood, my father came up with a variety of acronyms and nicknames for things. Acronyms were used to "save precious seconds of life" so to speak, maintaining efficiency and well time-usage in everything he did. Temporary nicknames were given to us mostly because I think he wanted to annoy us. The etcetera is just some terms or titles he came up with for other stuff.

Acronyms:
BSOD - Blue Screen Of Death, as seen much too often on our old PCs
TLS - Tough Luck Sucker, used in place of "sorry, Charlie"
TMI - Too Much Information, usually used in response to a daughter's gross and detailed explanation of thing x.

Nicknames, etc:
Volcano Mouth - a daughter being extremely loud indoors
Load - a daughter; not sure why we deserved this nickname, it was usually used when we were not wanting to do Dad's chores.
Sack Of Potatoes - a daughter being carried over his shoulder.
Gateway To Dessert - my dad wouldn't let us have dessert until we finished the dinner provided.
Nasal Nosehead - when a daughter had a snotty nose and continuously sniffed up the snot rather than blowing it out.
"The Fog's Rolling In!" - exclamation when a daughter was blowing her nose very loudly.
Warp (#) - Dad used Star Trek references a lot, warp 6 on the highway was 60 mph, and so on.
"Photon Torpedoes!" or "Fire Phasers!" - exclamation that meant Dad was about to barrage a daughter with a series of pestering attacks, which included all or some of the following: tickle missiles, reverse rolling cradles, atomic drops and hip checks.
Slow Boat To China or Troop Transport - usually in reference to a daughter or my mom being slow while everyone else is together and ready to go somewhere.
The Lawnmower - Dad used to hold Mandy or I in such a way to create a scissor motion with our legs, to simulate a lawn mower chopping up the grass. The other running, screaming and giggling twin was the grass.
The Washing Machine - he would hold a daughter around the waist and slowly shake and tumble her in the air to simulate taking a ride in a washing machine.
The Flying Machine - he'd lay on his back and we would put our feet on the palms of his hands and grab his feet as he raised them into the air. He'd then waver his arms and legs around so we could drive this air-born "craft" (which never left the ground, ha).
Talkin' Paper - scratch paper Dad always used to help daughters understand math, usually word problems. (in the early days, it was usually the back side of old work printouts from a dot matrix printer!)
Bimbosot - this one daughters actually came up with, because we used to call each other names all the time. It's a combination of bum, imbecile and idiot, ha.
The Itchy Elbow - Dad would say, "hey, my elbow really itches, could you itch it with your nose?" so that we'd put our head in his arms for headlock positioning, it never worked.
The Hand Problem - "I seem to have a problem with my hand" (he'd pull it back into his sleeve) "Could you look in there and see what the problem is? (then he'd act like he'd punch us after looking up his sleeve.

I swear my dad never really intended to hurt us during all his seemingly tortuous shenanigans. Just thought I'd throw that disclaimer out. If he did happen to accidentally hurt any of us, my mom would step in and the intensity of our shenanigans would go down a notch or two. And "You're going to bend my glasses!" was not an acceptable excuse.

"You can pick out a toy" - by "toy" he usually meant something under a dollar, which limited our choices to rubber pencil enders, plastic frogs, or chinese finger traps. I got the frogs after agreeing to eat cranberry sauce for a prize. ( I don't like cranberry sauce).
"Come Get Some" - quoting Duke Nukem in the 1998 version of the PC game, it was usually used as an "I dare you."
Something Fun On A Saturday Morning - cutting the grass, which isn't very fun at all, ha.
"Cease and desist" - stop doing what it is you're doing to annoy me.
"So Shall It Be Done, So Shall It Be Written" - Dad has the final say, his mind won't be changed by pleading daughters.

I think it's funny the range of sources my dad uses: Star Trek, sometimes military terminology, sometimes wrestling terminology, and then quotes from the Charleton Heston version of The Town Commandments. Nice job, Dad. I'll remember all this stuff forever.

The Death Of Cool

Once the year 2000 rolled around, I remember a high school classmate making a big deal about training herself not to use the word "cool" when describing something great. (Victoria and Mandy, remember Kelly Hurley? yeah it was her). She thought 2000 was the era in which to retire "cool".

I've noticed recently how much this word really has started to expire in usefulness. I'm usually pretty particular about the words I choose to speak, and whenever I use "cool" I feel a little stupid, ha. "Cool!" Gosh I remember trying not to give in to using this terminology. 5th grade. Somehow I thought people using it were shallow because they were only copying everyone else saying it. So intentionally, I avoided "cool" and went for "neat!" or the extra-stellar "awwwgh!!!" when something was REALLY neat, ha.

How long has it been around? Well,

Etymology:
The usage of cool as a general positive epithet or interjection has been part and parcel of English slang since World War II, and has even been borrowed into other languages, such as French and German. Originally this sense is a development from a Black English usage meaning 'excellent, superlative,' first recorded in written English in the early 1930s.

Almost 80 years! Kind of amazing isn't it? However I think we attribute a more hip connotation to it's meaning to like the 1950s or something. Still that was 60 years ago. I'm impressed as to how long it's lasted. Surely it has outlived "swell" and "groovey" as socially acceptable terminology.

However! I've noticed that just in the past couple years "awesome" seems to have replaced "cool". It's true. "Awesome" seems more appropriate for something one would deem really impressive. Of course, you then have to wonder about how people choose the words they say. Some just say things because of habit, which doesn't mean the topic inducing their reply actually is all that awesome. Speech patterns would probably be more interesting if people thought about their word choices a bit more, including myself.


On a kind of different topic, but possibly related: my boss was telling me about this cartoon he watches with his kids every morning. It's called Martha Speaks, about a dog named Martha who's able to speak because she eats alphabet soup. Some of the letters go to her tummy, and some go to her brain. Ha! What a concept!

Who Likes Andrew Bird?

You do, now.
PS His new album Noble Beast is out now. I'm listening to it for free on songza (search for andrew bird noble beast) it looks like most of the tracks are here anyway. It's very good. Take a listen if you have time, it'll play straight through the list here.

So Good

Qian Qian was my web design professor for 2 courses I took in college: web design and advanced web design. He's pretty good I guess.. since he's been interviewed in Print Magazine, and he was asked to submit an animation to represent his country (China) for the 2004 Olympics.

His work is pretty interesting. It's very... hip? in a way that reflects the pop culture that apparently defines China in the world of graphic design these days. Now I know everyone is entitled to their opinions, especially with art. Some of his work is very nice.. But others, I look at and my designer senses get confused. I'm not saying the work is bad or isn't well-executed, because they are very well executed. I'm looking at this specific piece at the moment:



Whoa.
Okay, being an artist.. this is how my mind processes this piece:

Okay, it's a panda with a rocket for it's bottom half. It has a disc around it's center with little pandas on it, and the main panda doesn't seem to be happy about the fact that he's a pandarocket, possibly spewing some fuel out his side. And it looks like there's somebody trapped inside his mouth, which I guess would also be an uncomfortable thing . I wonder what this means? I know pandas are an endangered species native to China... but I know they aren't shooting pandas into space on rockets. My next thought is maybe this is a statement about something where pandas are getting entangled into something about fuel usage? The "fuel crisis" ?? I have no idea.

And there you have it. So I have no idea what this piece means.

Sometimes I wonder about people's ability to use their art for useful things (or their ability for their art-for-useful-things to actually be useful to those things). Sometimes it's just fine for work to be a lifelong inhabitant of a blank wall somewhere, just something for people to enjoy. Other times I think a talent can be overused. I've seen the work of artists that appear to have found their style, and they keep copying that style among all of their productions. Eventually, they must generate a slew of work that just resides as dusty .psd files somewhere. What good is that? I understand the usefulness of creating lots of works in order to achieve a final goal in that piece. But sometimes it's just like, oh it's another.. pandarocket. What do I do with this? I searched Qian's facebook page today too. There's a ton of these:

but with different "fillings" (like the same.. uh, bunny? cat? outline with different ideas designed inside of them). It almost seems like a spare-time filler of a project. I really don't want to harass the integrity of my former professor's work (after all I'd know nothing about Flash without his influence). I think some of his work is very beautiful and wonderfully executed. I guess I would just like to see talent deemed "so good" used less often as a space filler. I don't know. Actually yeah I do know. And that's what I'd like to see more in the work of modern professionals.

Write. Do It Today.

I was sharing some ideas with Ms. Susan today, as I enjoy doing so often. We chatted briefly about writing, which encouraged me to rant further on the subject...

In the past more of my friends kept blogs. But now they don't. They've "grown out of them" they think. Well let me just say, I miss you guys. I hear very little from a good percentage of people I'd hoped to keep in better contact with after moving away. I wish they would at least keep a blog. I understand being too busy with life, because I am myself. Writing blogs is the easiest way to keep a number of people updated about your goings on, if you care to that is. I would read yours. That's why I keep mine. I knew I wouldn't necessarily have the time or capacity to separately email or phone call every single person I'd like to keep informed about my life. Make one post! It's that easy.

Maybe I just find more enjoyment in the act of writing than others do. There's something really pleasant about a moment captured in words and deeper thoughts than you might have in person. Plus, you never know what things you could share that might be of great influence to someone else. What you write doesn't have to be what you did that day. Remember in school when you actually had to push your mind to write for a grade? Or remember the post your friend made one day about wishing more people would write because she knows you have great potential?

There's something to be said for challenging your brain for a hobby that isn't your everyday ho-hummings. You'll find it's good for you. Just saying.

Sweaters, Expensive Clouds & Carrots

I swear to you the swearter I wearterday is made wrong. The seams look like they should be on the inside, yet the buttons are on the correct side of the fabric. No tellin'.

So I found some inflatable clouds on kmart.com today while I was browsing for an image I needed for homepage design. Inflatable clouds. For $50. Hm. I wonder if there's something somewhere in the world that exists as a better teaching utensil, that doesn't cost $50...

57 minutes until the end of the work day. I think I'm going to steam some carrots when I get home. I really like steamed carrots. My mom used to get actual (not baby or pre-sliced) carrots from the grocery store when I was little. I'd eat them and pretend to be Bugs Bunny, because I liked the chompy sound effect Mel Blanc used as Bugs rudely chewing with his mouth open.

Just Sunday Night

I came up with a really great idea yesterday. It was one of those that you smile while no one's looking and sort of good-jobbingly fist yourself in the shoulder for it. No details. It's a secret.

I'm laying on Jonathan's couch at the moment and my feet (though socked) are cold so he is warming them up with his hands. I'm not sure why I'm so cold all the time. I can foresee a certain degree of 'the Battle of the Thermostat' after we're married and living in this apartment. At first I was a little bummed not to have found a cute little home for the two of us to move into come May.. however I'm relieved at the financial non-burden that him staying here and me moving in will be. It is a nice location. It's quiet, not a lot of traffic, 2 bedrooms for a decent price. No dishwasher though, and despite Jonathan's "but I will be getting a dish washer" har har, it's not the worst thing not to have. I do wish the tile floor were linoleum and not tile, tile is cold! Rugs can help that though.

I'm looking forward to rearranging stuff and seeing what it looks like with my stuff in here too. It's a good thing I'm not one of those OMG! pink and purple glittery! type of females with their sense of "interior design"... we actually have very similar styles, which makes working on a home for the two of us fun and not a battle.

Anyway, does anyone really care about my thoughts about interior design? Rhetorical.

The third Terminator movie is on right now, with "the Governator" as Jonathan calls Schwarzenegger. I think it's funny watching humans portray "andriods" or whatever. Their "so serious bad-assness" has a way of translating to bad acting, ha. Someone's getting beaten up in a parking lot, but this is hilarious.

Taxes.. That Help People??

New Yorkers are now being taxed extra for non-diet soft drinks. I think this is kind of a funny way to attempt to address obesity. They're calling it the obesity tax.

Apparently there's also a media tax (4%) like on iTunes downloads in New York as well. I'm getting this information from a fellow coworker who lived up there before she moved here.

I think I'd argue more with these taxes if I cared about downloading music or drinking sugary soft drinks. But, at least as far as consumables and obesity are concerned, I'm tempted to support it. More taxes on McDonald's, Krispy Kremes, and those friggin' fatty hoity toity Starbucks coffee drinks too. There's a ton of crud Americans load up on that they really don't need. If they had to pay more for it they might realize that these things shouldn't be every day indulgences, but instead more of a treat. If we treat ourselves all the time then it's not really a treat, is it.

Intolerable Chicken?

RAH! I just can't win with cooking lately. I had two batches of cookies go corrupt over the holidays, and last night I attempted chicken and dumplings.. which were ok, a little too watery for the amount of other supporting ingredients... BUT apparently I poisoned my fiance with it! He said his stomach was a little upset last night and this morning he said he was up at 4 am throwing it up :( I feel so bad for him! Why am I not sick if it was bad? He did eat more of it than I did. It bothers me that I think I made him sick. I feel so sorry for him, he's probably crumpled up on his couch at the moment enduring his upsettedness while I'm stuck at work wishing to be with him to help in any way. *Sigh!* I'm so sorry dear.. this is really frustrating to me. I feel really terrible, which is probably why I just wrote all this, because I'm dwelling on it......

Strange Equation

Someone dropped an algebra test in front of me. "What is this?" I ask myself. I haven't done these for years. Everyone around me had their heads down in diligent working positions. As I tried to read the first problem, a strange bit of mentality distracted me away from figuring it out. I know how to do these, I actually used to get a high from knowing so in high school. I began to dissociate. What is going on here!? I leaned forward in my desk to tap the shoulder of the scruffy-haired guy sitting in front of me. He wore a light blue button-up shirt, sleeves rolled at the elbows. I thought I recognized that shade of blue. He turned around and made a "don't copy my answers" expression. "Whoa it's Jon! Like, Jon from 2005 Jon, with the "super goat" goatee deal on his chin, ha" I thought, totally surprised and kind of confused. He didn't know who I was. But I knew who he was, or I knew who he was going to be. I was in the present but he was in the past. I'm not sure why were were taking an algebra test. Very strange. This was the dream I had last night.