twitter.

Since Oprah started tweeting and Ashton got his 1 million followers, there’s been a bit of backlash about Twitter. And with the celebrities talking it up, the masses have started flocking. More people means more opinions means more criticism. Suddenly, Twitter’s gone from the newest golden child of Web 2.0 to the destruction of civilization as we know it.

It’s a bit odd to me that people, who would normally have no interest in this kind of service, suddenly feel the need to join just because their favorite celebrity did. And they wonder why they don’t like it. Big surprise. Just because everyone can figure out how to use a technology doesn’t mean they should. If you feel like jumping on the bandwagon, give it a try; if it’s not your thing, move on. Ever try to start a blog when you’re not inclined to write? It’s hard. That’s why there’s so much blog death.

The last couple articles I’ve read have been defending Twitter, despite how stupid it seems. The expectation that everyone’s microblogging will somehow be smart, witty, relevant, etc. is absurd. Using Twitter doesn’t make you Oprah. Most people are going to have the same, relatively boring thoughts they normally do, and the people who care are the same people who normally do (i.e. mostly nobody). The difference is the potential audience. Geoff Manaugh of BLDGBLOG wrote a piece in defense of Twitter. He makes the excellent point that if you write notes in a diary or spiral notebook or – if you’re really hip – a moleskin, it’s the same thing as Twitter. Except no one will read it, so no one will judge you – in fact, they probably will think you’re an intellectual. I prefer the online method. I’m usually at a computer; I rarely have a notebook. I also like having followers – makes me feel more important than I am.

gossip.

I love gossip. I’ve accepted that most girls do. I have not accepted that guys do, or rather I haven’t accepted that they gossip in the same way girls do. Maybe this is because most of my guy friends don’t (at least when I’m around). Or maybe I was just oblivious to it. Or I always felt like it was one way – me gossiping to them. Now, certain guy friends of mine have started gossiping and I haven’t quite wrapped my head around it. This was suppose to be one of those things I didn’t have to worry about when hanging out with boys.

I read an article on why gossip is a good thing. Essentially, it helps enforce and propagate the rules of a social group. Through gossip, it becomes clear whether a group of people will accept or disapprove of a specific behavior. It creates an ingroup, and those in the know feel more connected. Sounds all well and good, right? But when a group is new, all the rules haven’t been solidified yet. Trying to work within unknown boundaries is extremely difficult. Eventually certain opinions will have to rise to the top, and if you’re not on the same page, you could be in the outgroup. It’s much easier to just not think about what others could be saying. Even better, get rid of that ego and assume you’re not interesting enough to be the topic of discussion.

it’s in the details.

The thing about being in a new place is that it feels a lot like starting over. When things start over, there’s always the readjustment period when you have to relearn a bunch of things. Like navigating around town, learning what time the mail comes, picking up regional slang, etc. And then you have to make new friends. Not meet new people and hang out with them once in a while, but really make connections with strangers. Being in a new place forces you to recreate your support system.

But making new friends out of necessity poses a tricky social game of trying to guess the comfort level of strangers. Any idiosyncrasies that could be found offensive or inappropriate are pulled under control as much as possible. Sarcasm, complaining, disclosure, humor are all monitored more closely. Suddenly, you have to determine if it’s too early or too late to call, or even whether it’s better to call or text It ends up being a lot of small things that you didn’t have to think about with old friends.

During this whole relearning period, new people can’t be true friends. So when are they a real friend? What if they don’t want to “friend” you back? Earlier, I thought it meant when I had your phone number. Now, I’m starting to think it’s once you’ve figured out all these little details and it all meshes nicely with your own habits. It’s when you can show up somewhat unannounced. Or when you take a nap when hanging out and they don’t care. Or when you decide that deodorant and a change of clothes is good enough for just watching a movie. Or when you realize it’s ok to make inappropriate comments because  I’ll probably think it’s hilarious. Or when you learn that I’m judging and/or laughing at everything around me, so you might as well join in. That’s true friendship.

white males.

Ever notice that the default Facebook picture is of a white male? I didn’t. And I certainly didn’t notice that the icons representing the “world” on the login page are both male and female (and orange). Of course, the feminist blog I read did.

Because I never noticed the icon itself, I would have never seen the implied message that unknown users are white and male. However, when killing time on Omegle chatting with strangers, I had that exact realization. Without any real reason, every person I talked to was, in my mind, an American (aka: white) guy until it was specifically mentioned otherwise. It’s a completely unconscious assumption that only become obvious because of my surprise at learning I’m wrong. In case you didn’t realize, there are a lot of people on the Internet that aren’t American. Big surprise, I know.

And for other unknown reasons, I think it’s completely obvious from my text that I’m a girl. Not that I use girly language or massive amounts of emoticons, but I feel there must be something inherently female about the way I communicate online. While default icons may subconsciously influence our assumptions, I think it’s more based off experience. Most people I interact with are white males, and they know that I’m a female. That mindset continues when I start talking with strangers. If I had a more diverse social circle, maybe I’d think differently. Do people in other countries automatically assume they’re talking to American males too?

horoscope.

Last few months I’ve been reading my horoscope almost religiously every day. It helps that I’m continually signed into my Google account and it turns up on my iGoogle page. It’s really the only positive to using the iGoogle page instead of the classic search. I don’t believe that my horoscope will predict my day, but it usually gives me some sort of expectation. Because of this, daily horoscopes are in no way as good as a monthly horoscope. The monthly horoscope will usually let me look forward to some vaguely positive experience at some ambiguous point during the month. By the time my experience should have happened, I’ve probably forgotten the horoscope prediction.  Daily horoscopes, on the other hand, are even more general and, very quickly (and obviously) become wrong.

What I’ve noticed recently is that my daily horoscope could be a bit self-fulfilling. It tells me that it’s a good day to have an adventure, so I can see it as motivation to do something out of the ordinary. It tells me that I have a significant amount of tension in my relationships, and I start feeling like there is. It tells me to take time for myself, and I use it as an excuse to be lazy over the weekend. In general, horoscopes lean to the positive, so the effect isn’t terrible. But lately, mine has been a bit ominous, making me a bit more nervous and impatient than usual. It better not lead to me imagining problems that don’t exist.

re: weight.

A while back I posted about weight, and got the comment about airlines charging more for obese passengers. Apparently, United has started doing just that, at least to some degree. On some level, this is terrible. It makes me feel as though I should be somewhat morally outraged – which I’m not. On the other hand, they’re stating that obese is someone who is “unable to lower the arm rest and buckle a seat belt with one extension belt”. Even though I’m not so big, I really don’t need to be sharing my seat with the person next to me.

easter.

I spent Easter weekend visiting the boyfriend’s family in Philadelphia. Neither his family nor mine celebrates the holiday, so for us, it’s just another lazy weekend. We played games, watched movies, and caught up on sleep. We also ate ridiculous amounts of delicious food.

Since I have not been willing to do extensive research into the Chinese food in Madison, I have to get my fill when I visit other cities (this is the same with any kind of seafood). Also, if I’m unsure of the quality of food, I’d much rather eat American fast food than take-out Chinese. But Philadelphia is the best because it’s home-cooked. So here’s this past weekend’s menu:

Saturday lunch (which was really as soon as I arrived): Cornmeal soup and chive-filled dough pockets

Saturday dinner: Korean barbecue – extremely delicious beef and I learned how to eat unpeeled shrimp (although I won’t eat their heads)

Sunday brunch: fried potatoes with scallions and rice balls with sweet filling

Sunday dinner: lamb kabobs, tofu and pork, mushrooms with snow peas and red peppers, Chinese eggplant, and taro chips

Monday lunch: lamb and noodles

Monday dinner: fried rice dish, two vegetable dishes that I’m not sure what they were (turnips and Chinese broccoli maybe)

Combined with a a few days of restaurant eating for work, it’s definitely a “fat happy” week.

negativity.

Everyone enjoys a bit of complaining now and again. It seems to be a pretty standard outlet for frustration, annoyance, stress…everything. But everyone also needs a little optimism, a smile a few times a day.

And then you have those people that don’t have it. Sure, most people will smile at least once a day, since it’s often the socially acceptable thing to do at one point or another. But some people don’t have good things to say. Or the only good things they say are in reference to some non-present situation. There’s just no need for such negativity. It’s an optical illusion. If the glass is half empty, just look again; it can be half full. If you have nothing good to say about the present, you better be proactive enough to do something – anything – to make it better. And there is always something you can do. Food is usually a good option for everyone (maybe not anorexics).

I like to think that I lean toward the optimistic side of thinking. This could be completely in my head. Just the other day, a co-worker told me that I look so unhappy when he sees me that he just want to give me a hug. I’m a pretty awkward person to hug, so I must look pretty upset. Thankfully, he never actually tries it. The point is, that’s a terrible thing to hear. Unless I’m flat out crying (which I will never do in public), I don’t want people feeling bad for me; I don’t want to make them unhappy. And I’d hope that any of my friends can confirm that I’m a pretty happy person. I get excited about almost anything, and I find most things hilarious (thanks to my awful sense of humor). And if I’m having a good time, I don’t want to be with someone who’s obviously not. I have an immense amount of faith in people (mostly my friends) that they will decline doing things they don’t like; they won’t cave to peer pressure.

And any time you need a smile, remember you rock.

tweet.

Does Twitter even count as new anymore? Seems like it’s been around for a while that the hype should’ve worn off. But it seems like it’s only grown. I joined a while back, but hadn’t gotten around to really trying it out for several reasons:

1. I didn’t have a good way of regularly updating.
2. I didn’t have any friends on it.
3. My life is not really exciting enough to constantly be tweeting about it.
4. I actually forgot I had an account for a while.

But in the last couple months, I’ve been giving it a good run. And just the other day, a whole bunch of friends jumped on board, which makes it much better. The thing is, I still don’t think I fully “get it”. At least not on the level I feel like I should. I think it’s “cool factor” is making it hard for me to determine why exactly it’s so cool. I read all the press and hear about the Twitterati (ps. the name alone makes you want to be one), but it makes it more difficult to find the awesomeness yourself.

I’m constantly wondering what I’m suppose to tweet? Random thoughts, what I’m doing, song lyrics? The possibilities are somewhat endless, but not very appealing.  And I definitely don’t need people knowing my every move. Maybe it’ll get easier, like having a blog has. When I started the blog, I had nothing to say. And I seem to be keeping it up ok. Maybe I’m just a boring person. New plan: I will just make things up that sound awesome.

100 things.

1. Started my own blog (rather obvious, eh?)
2. Slept under the stars (if a tent counts)
3. Played in a band (the fake school kind)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea (it was at sea, I was on the porch of a beach house)
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Have enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason (if buying them for myself counts)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book (not a book but a paper)
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Rode an elephant

31 out of 100. I’m not doing so good.