Really Random Things

The things in this post are completely unrelated and all not important enough to take up a whole post, but important enough for me to complain talk to you about. So I figured that “Really Random Things” (note the capitalization) would be a catch-all title. AND IT’S SO CREATIVE TOO! *sarcasm.* I know I should probably come up with a nice catchy title, but I don’t feel like it.

• Formspring Questions – Okay, I caved. I like how I did a post on how I don’t take part in social networking sites, and then I sign up for one. Typical. So, Formspring. The thing is, it’s really pointless. For me, anyway. Because everyone “gets themselves out there” by posting their Formspring on their Facebook status like: OMG formspring.me/xxxxx and then everyone’s like YAY LETS CLOG UP THEIR FORMSPRING WITH DUMB QUESTIONS! Since I don’t have a Facebook, no one knows I have a formspring…so yeah…I guess it’s pretty pointless. I didn’t really put much thought behind my Formspring, I just felt like being spontaneous and cool.
• Photography - I’ve gained way more appreciation for photography of all types. I used to be like, “Wow, a flower. BIG FREAKIN DEAL.” But now, I understand the artistry behind it: the shading and lighting and angles and all that crap. So when I see a beautiful, professional picture I’m like, “Wow, a flower. I WANNA DO THAT!” This is a skill that I really want to have, but I’m just never going to acquire. I can’t even take a picture with like…a Polaroid. Fail.
• Weight-Loss Programs – Probably the stupidest, most waste-of-TV-satellite-space commercials I have ever seen. NO YOU DID NOT LOSE 50 POUNDS ON JENNY CRAIG BY EATING STEAK AND ICE CREAM! The skinny women who were “supposedly” whales before are all annoying and tanned and liposuction-ed and whatnot and are supporting these dumb programs that don’t even work. It doesn’t matter that the food gets delivered “right to your door” or whatever. No one can eat sundaes and lose weight. It just doesn’t happen.
• The Mall – I hate the mall. It’s pretty much a vast expansion of crappy stores with a bunch of annoying teenagers who think they’re SO COOL because they can walk around the mall in their tight clothes and buy crap and be loud and annoying and like throw stuff from the upper levels and the people working there are all peppy and like HEY BUY MY JUNK and it’s just claustrophobic and obnoxious and I’m all like “Kay, uh, don’t really wanna be here” so yeah…EW. ANTI-MALL.
• Mass Text Messages - I was bored today in Study Hall so I was like, “I’m going to send out a text message to random people saying HI !! and being annoying!” And, I don’t really know whether it was because I was dying of boredom or because I’m easily amused, but it was actually like REALLY FUN. I sent it out to 9 people and was like OOH LET’S SEE HOW MANY RESPOND! It was kind of embarrassing because I was just staring at my phone for the remaining 20 minutes freaking out whenever it buzzed but it passed the time. And 6 of the 9 responded, JUST FYI. So that made me happy. I recommend it when you are bored beyond belief and you have no other form of amusement.

So there’s my list of Really Random Things. There are probably more, but I am supposed to be doing some math thing and it’s 6:30 and I like to have my homework done early because I am a nerd so I’m kind of freaking out right now. Anyway, I need to end this post before I start rambling on for another 18 paragraphs.

It’s Easy to Have Guy Friends

A lot of girls have problems with guys. I know I did a whole post on how guys are sooo complicated and I’ll never understand them and this is true. I will never understand the flirtatious, potential-boyfriend side. But if you don’t like the guy and you’re not trying to decipher their every move, it’s easy to be friends with them. And it’s a lot of fun.

In my life, I’ve had two main groups of guy friends. I went to private school for four years (fourth through seventh grade) and in the last year, I became really good friends with about four guys. We were super close and I could talk to them like they were my girl friends (minus all the drama). We never got in fights and we could just chill and laugh and they could give me advice about guys and I could give them advice about girls. Of course, I started to fall for one of them at the end of seventh grade, but I had left the school by then so it wasn’t a big deal. I still keep in touch with one or two of them and they are definitely still my best guy friends.

Then I moved schools and I was chill with most of the guys. But I didn’t really have a group of guys that I felt as comfortable with as I did with my girl friends. There just wasn’t that parallel group that was obviously the type to be friends with. But this year, as I moved into high school, there was more room to step away from some of my girl friends and be friends with guys — even if some of my friends weren’t. I wouldn’t say that all the guys in a certain “group”  are my best friends and I can tell them anything, but I definitely have a few guys that are like my best friends. They make fun of me, I’ll make fun of them, but we both know that if and when we need help, we’ll help each other, and I feel totally comfortable around them.

The reason I like having guy friends is because they’re really easygoing. Sometimes with girls, the drama can get overwhelming and the topics can be boring (ENOUGH WITH THE MAKEUP TALK!) Don’t get me wrong, I’d die without my girl friends, but guy friends can be a nice breather. I’ve often heard that I’m “one of the guys” and for me, that’s a compliment. I dress like a girl — I always have to have my hair done, cute clothes, matching jewelry and whatnot — but I can be chill with guys. I don’t believe that I’m a high maintenance person or that I talk incessantly about topics guys could care less about.

There’s a few things that I think can help if you want to have more guy friends or if you want guys to see you as a friend and not a weird, annoying girl or just a “hot” girl.

1. Be a girl and a guy. This might sound weird, but here’s what I mean. Don’t dress like a guy and be all like, “YO SUP MAN? YEAH DUDE BRO GIMMAAAAY SOME YEEEEA!” But don’t talk about your hair, makeup, clothes, and how fat you are (OMG I LOOK LIKE A COW TODAY!) When you know how to just be cool and talk about anything with guys, even if you have to fake it, they’ll see you more as one of them. At the same time, be yourself. If you have no idea what they’re talking about with videogames, you can pretend like you know (which I do all the time: OH YEAH LEVEL 8 IS IMPOSSIBLE!) or ask them questions about it.
2. Don’t talk about girls and drama, but don’t be afraid to ask for advice. Guys don’t care if two girls in your group are fighting about a guy. And if they’re your friends, they’ll probably tell you that they don’t care. Some of your guy friends will like gossip, but some couldn’t care less. Don’t talk to them like they’re girls, because they’re not. But if you want advice on a boy you like or how to get a guy’s attention, don’t be afraid to ask them. That’s one of the best parts about having guy friends — they can tell you what goes on inside the mind of a guy.
3. Don’t be afraid to rag on him. I make fun of my guy friends ALL THE TIME. But that’s just me. If you two have a little insult war going back and forth, it keeps things funny and less flirty (because you don’t want to get all flirty and romantic with your guy friends :P). Not saying you should tell your guy friends how they’re ugly all the time, but you know which ones you can tease and which ones are sweeter and more flirty.
4. Get to know each one separately. Don’t lump all of your guy friends into a group (they’re all nerds goshdarnit!) Everyone in a group is different — I’ve got a flirty friend, a shy friend, a sarcastic insult-y type friend (see #3), a plain out hilarious friend, a friend that’s great for advice etc. When you get to know each of your friends personally (just like girls) you’ll have something to talk about with all of them.

For me, I like to just stay friends with guys because I think it’s so much easier. If you’re just normal and let guys see a funnier, less-girly, and less-annoying side of you, they’ll like you a lot! It’s not that hard to have cool guy friends and still keep your girl friends that you love so much.

Mac vs. PC or Why Macs Pwn

Pretty much ever since Macs have been created (yay Apple!), people have been arguing about whether Macs or PCs are better. (MACS ARE AMAZING! UMM ARE YOU HIGH? PCS FTW!) I’ve used a PC all my life because my family is a) technologically challenged and b) lazy so we were like LETS KEEP OUR 34280410912 YEAR OLD COMPUTER! But finally, my parents wanted to have a computer in the main part of the house, so my dad just got a laptop. A Macbook Pro, to be exact. And it’s probably the greatest thing since sliced bread. No joke.

• Better Looking - K, it’s shallow, but I want my laptop to look good. I don’t want to have this bulky piece of junk with wannabe personalized covers or whatever these Dell netbooks give you nowadays (DELL NETBOOKS LET YOU GET ANY COLOR YOU WANT ON THE TOP WOOHOO!) I want a sleek, smooth, lightweight laptop with a screen that’s pretty to look at, flat keys, a sweet touchpad mouse thing (I believe it is called “multitouch technology”–swipe, pinch, rotate, scroll, tap etc.), and all the gadgets built into the sleek sides.
• Better Apps - Safari is better than Internet Explorer. iPhoto is better than My Pictures. iTunes actually comes WITH the computer. Pages and Keynote is way better than Word and Powerpoint (yeah, I’m all unconventional not using Word, sue me). Mail is built right in the computer so its like “Hey, I wanna email a picture–Oh look! It’s all on the bottom bar so I don’t have to open 41041852 windows in My Computer or whatever and get all confused and copy and paste stuff that doesn’t even work!”
• No Viruses - I hate Norton Antivirus. I don’t know if it was just my computer or if all 80 year old PCs do this, but literally every time I’d log onto my desktop it’d be like NORTON ANTIVIRUS. I don’t even know what the hell it is. I think it was supposed to be some ‘keep viruses away!’ software but instead gave us more crap than ever. We got our computer cleaned and 2 weeks later it had pop-ups and viruses all over again. I’ve had the Mac now for over 6 months and haven’t had a single pop-up or virus. Yeah. Dwell on THAT.
• Cheaper – So think about it. You buy a PC for 700 dollars, let’s say. You buy a Mac of the same size for about twice that. OMG SOO EXPENSIVE NOW I’M BROKE! Two years later: Your PC crashes and you have to buy a whole new one because you’re a technologically retarded. 700 more bucks. Wait, what’s that? Your Mac is working like new? Four years later: You’re up to your third PC. $2100. Oh, sorry? Did I hear right? Your Mac is JUST NOW slightly slowing down, but still completely capable of performing? Yeah. So in the long run, you save way more money with Macs. 1 Mac=5 PCs*
• Easier to Follow - It’s so easy to troubleshoot on the Mac. If my Internet is screwed up, I just go to Network Diagnostics and I can get back my Wi-Fi like THAT. When my Internet didn’t work on my PC, I had to go to the ROUTER in my house and like press a bunch of buttons and scream at my dad that the Internet wasn’t working and I needed it RIGHTNOW and what the heck, PCs are SO ANNOYING. Plus, all of the system stuff is in ONE PLACE. There aren’t 50,000 places to add a program. It’s all compacted into one place so the room can be used for more helpful apps.

And not only does Mac/Apple/whatever make better computers, the phones are better (why do you think every company has their own version of the iPhone) and the iPods are pretty much the only worth it music device (mp3s? REALLY?) So yeah, what I’m saying is that Macs are amazing and you should probably chuck your PC right now and go buy one.

*untrue statistic

Cursing Does Not Make You Awesome

Note: In an attempt to keep my posts PG (haha), I’m going to substitute the standard !@#$ for curse words. Do with that what you want.

Cursing really doesn’t make you cool or awesome or amazing or hilarious or [substitute synonym for any of these here]. People don’t really respect it, even though it may seem like they do. When you say, “So today I had the !@#$ worst day ever. My !@#$ teacher gave me 34205593 !@#$ assignments and I was like “What the !@#$ is wrong with you, !@#$ !@#$!” it does not make people go, “Wow, he’s really funny and cool. I think I wanna be friends with him.” People are probably like, “Wow, he’s really annoying and uncool. He uses cuss words more than ACTUAL words. I think I wanna punch him in the mouth so he’ll stop cursing.”

Cursing can be excused once in awhile. Like if someone just dropped a 500 pound weight on your foot in the weight room and all your toes are probably broken and you can’t even move without it feeling like your toes are going to fall off, yes, I think it is acceptable to scream “WHAT THE !@#$” in an attempt to make you feel better. But just randomly employing curse words, especially the F-bomb, in common conversation is unnecessary because you can get the point across without the aid of curse words.

Yes, I curse sometimes. It’s a fact. People are going to curse. But that doesn’t mean that you should use cursing INSTEAD of regular words. Since I don’t feel like doing research, I have no idea who started cursing or why the purpose of it originated. But I can tell you this — most people who curse A LOT started out as thinking they were the bomb and then it just became a habit. In sixth and seventh grade, I thought I was really cool when I cussed. It made me feel super badass. Then, as I got older, curse words completely lost their appeal.

There’s this one kid I know and he “curses like a sailor.” He says the F-bomb before like half of his words. It annoys me to no end. I’m like “I AM SURE THERE IS ANOTHER WAY TO SAY THAT” and he’s all like “ZOMG ZEENIE LEAVE ME ALONE *laugh, laugh* I’m so clever for using curse words.”  I just try to ignore it, but if you’re talking to me and you’re cursing every 10 seconds with no good reason, I’m probably going to point it out and you’re probably going to be annoyed. But it’s just one of those things I have to do.

Maybe in third grade when you just discovered there were such words that were considered “bad” besides stupid and shut up and could be used as replacements for other words, you thought it was sick to use them. You thought you were the only one cool enough to call your butt your ass. Except you never got up the nerve to do it. Then in fifth grade, people actually started infusing these words into their vocabulary and would casually talk about flipping people off and you were all like WAIT I CAN ACTUALLY SAY THESE WORDS NOW? PEOPLE I KNOW ARE ACTUALLY USING THESE WORDS? MY LIFE IS AWESOME! But once you get to high school, people know everything. They know every sign, nickname, and curse word in the book. So when you CONSTANTLY use them, it does not make you awesome. It makes you annoying.

If I Hear These Songs Again, Radio Personalities Will Suffer

I got this blog idea from Darren Barefoot’s 55 More Blog Posts I Hope You Write (not about technology) because I was in the blogging mood with nothing to blog about and I didn’t want to post one of those posts. Plus, I figured that this is a good topic to blog on anyway.

I don’t know what occurs in the mind of radio personalities or whoever decides the music line-up for a certain period of time. I mean, do they think it’s a good idea to put on Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” for the 800th time? Or Justin Beiber’s “Baby”? I mean, I know that thousands of screaming girls are probably like AAAHH JUSTIN BEIBER FOR THE 3548202352TH TIME = LOVE! But when I’m flipping through the radio and I hear his voice bursting through, it bothers me. It bothers me that I can’t even flip through a radio station without hearing Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Justin Beiber, Ke$ha or a super trendy, bad hip-hop song with weird, vulgar lyrics.

First of all, I don’t listen to the radio much because 1) it’s basically an iPod except without the songs you actually want to listen to and 2) the commercials piss me off (no, I do not want to enter a contest to record a duet with Miley Cyrus that’s “going to be on her new album”). But if I’m having one of my pop moments (I have those on occasion) or I want to hit up a song that I don’t have on my iPod or I’m in the car with a friend and the radio’s on, I’d like to hear something A LITTLE more substantial than Tik Tok, where the lyrics are literally Wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy Grab my glasses, I’m out the door, I’m gonna hit this city Before I leave, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack ’Cause when I leave for the night, I ain’t coming back. YOU JUST PLAYED THESE LYRICS 82 TIMES IN ONE DAY! THANK YOU FOR ENLIGHTENING US!

It’s not even that bad when they overplay a crappy song. I mean, it can’t get much worse than that. But how about when they bring a good song to the dark side (meaning the landfill of overplayed, burnt out, hear-them-again-and-die songs)? This, to me, is the worst and is another reason I don’t listen to the radio. I don’t want to have one of my favorite songs ruined. Remember a few years ago when OneRepublic’s Apologize is ALL you’d hear on pop radio? Or what about KT Tunstall’s Suddenly I See, Love Song by Sara Bareilles, or any of Taylor Swift’s hit singles like Love Story and You Belong with Me? People liked these songs once upon a time (or at least I did). These are songs that to me, personally, when they first came out, struck me as good, great, or even my favorite songs. But as the radio chipped away at them little by little, they became less and less appealing. I think I got to the point where I’d hear It’s too laaate to ‘pologize! in my dreams. Okay, maybe not. But it was getting there.

Is it really that hard to put together a list of songs that are new and likable without overplaying every single one? Seriously, like 300 albums (or something) come out a day. You don’t need to play the Top 10 songs on repeat every day of the week. We get it. You wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy. We don’t need you to confirm this irrelevant fact 82 times.

Is it just me or do radio stations completely destroy perfectly good, innocent songs on a regular basis?

(Note: Yes, all of the numbers in this post were completely exaggerated.)