The Definition of Irony

Seen today: a late 70's Ford Pinto with flames airbrushed down the sides. How's that for irony?

25 Random Things

There's been this thing going around Facebook for awhile where you list off 25 random things about yourself. My thought is why waste this on Facebook, when it will make a perfectly good blog post, where the entire world can read it.


And so, I give to you 25 random things you may or may not have known about me.

1. I have long hair but I always wear it up.
2. I absolutely love garlic. Almost too much, sometimes.
3. My record for moving is 6 times in an 18 month span. I do not want to ever repeat that.
4. I am not a big fan of onions, but I do like onion dip, onion bagels, leeks, scallions, chives, and other onion like vegetables, and Funyuns.
5. My favorite snack is cheese and crackers.
6. My favorite cheese is brie.
7. By the time I finished all of the requirements for my engineering degree, I was one class short of a math minor, but I just couldn't bring myself to take linear algebra.
8. While I was in college, my engineering friends would often accuse me of having serious liberal arts tendencies.
9. I like music, but I am a horrible dancer.
10. I can't stand discord in music.
11. I will like almost any song in a minor key.
12. I spent a big chunk of change on a memory foam bed and think it's one of the best investments that I have ever made.
13. I shop at farmer's markets
14. I try to support local businesses, but still find myself shopping at Walmart and other box stores.
15. I will not date any guy who wears Axe body spray.
16. I understand where PETA's coming from, but I abhor their advertising campaign.
17. I am not fond of spiders.
18. I like words and think that some just sound awesome. Panorama is very fun to say and I wish I could work it into more conversations.
19. I consider myself a feminist. I don't think that feminist is a dirty word.
20. I have voted for the Democratic candidate in every presidential election I have voted in.
21. I love kitty cats but currently do not have one due to apartment living.
22. I enjoy cooking and think that there is something cathartic about chopping vegetables.
23. I am a big fan of tea, especially Chinese greens.
24. I've recently come to terms with the color pink. Girls get pink overload growing up and I've never been terribly 'girly'. But it is a fact that pink looks better than white on people with pale skin.
25. I rarely get sick. I think it comes from spending my working life in hospitals.

Non-Readers

I'm beginning to come across more and more people who are 'proud non-readers'. These are people who read as little as possible and are proud of that fact. They'll say things like 'I haven't read a book since highschool!, usually while wearing a very large grin. I generally want to smack these people with a paperback.

I don't get the attitude. It's one thing to not enjoy reading; everyone has different interests and what I enjoy may not necesarily be what someone else enjoys. I don't see why someone would be proud to not read. I don't really enjoy, say, watching Nascar, but I don't consider myself a proud non-Nascar watcher.

Kanye West, ironically in an interview about the release of his new book, said the most assinine thing.

"Sometimes people write novels and they just be so wordy and so self-absorbed. I am not a fan of books. I would never want a book's autograph."

Really? Because I would totally want a book's autograph. That would be so cool, since books are inanimate objects and can't, you know, sign things. I bet a book's autograph would totally be worth more than, say, Kanye West's autograph on eBay. Also, I'm pretty sure books are supposed to be wordy. That's kind of the point.

So what is this masterpiece non-wordy, non-self absorbed literature that Mr. West has produced? It's called Thank You and You're Welcome and is currently selling on Amazon for 8 bucks (Read the reviews. They're priceless). Basically it's a 52 page spiral bound book with Kanye's 'words of wisdom'.

I haven't actually read the book, but from reading online accounts, I'm not missing much. Most of the pages contain a few words or a sentence, some pages are blank (WTF? Blank pages in the middle of the book?), and one two page section contains only "Life is 5% what happens and 95% how you react!", which just sounds to me like a slight modification to the old inspiration vs perspiration saying.

Nope. Definately not wordy. Or terribly meaningful. Does anyone else find it ironic and sad that this guy makes a living as a supposed word-smith in the hip hop word? The best part? For this intricate piece of literature, Kanye needed a ghost writer. Check out the cover. 'Kanye West presents Thank You and You're Welcome with J. Sakiya Sandifer'.

Ugh. His whole attitude makes me cringe and weep for future generations. After reading the interview, the only thing I could think of was a scene in Idiocracy. "Why you keep trying to read that word for? Are you a fag?"

Freakin' Laser Beams

Well, guys, it's official. As of July 7, I will no longer be wearing glasses. Whoo hoo! I just got the all clear from the retina specialist and scheduled my LASIK surgery yesterday. I am very excited about being drugged up, tied down, and having laser beams shot at me. OK, I'm not really excited about that part, but I am excited to not have to wear glasses or contacts anymore.

Update: Bah! It turns out that there will be no one to cover for me at work in July, so I had to push the Lasik back until August.

Linguam Latinam Dico Similis Romano Antiquo

Well, not really. But I did manage to get a perfect grade on the midterm for my elementary Latin class. Lets see if I can keep it up. Just two more weeks to go.

Phew!

I must be some kind of masochist, or something, because I am once again subjecting myself to an abbreviated summer course. It's basically an entire semester crammed into 4 weeks. It's brutal. This time around, I'm taking Latin. None of the classes I need for my masters are offered for the summer session, or the fall semester, for that matter. I figure the Latin will help with medical terminology. And because I like words. And because things sound cooler and philosophical when said in Latin.

It took nearly 6 hours (with a small break for dinner and an episode of Next Gen, so more like 5), but as of right now, I'm all caught up on my homework and I just submitted my midterm exam. Phew! Now I just need to take out the recycling and then collapse in bed, so I can get up tomorrow and do it again.