Have you ever walked past a reflective surface like a mirror, a window or a car and looked at yourself?
If your answer was something like, "No. I have never done that."
YOU LIE!
Everyone looks at themselves when they pass by their reflections, but for whatever reason, everyone is embarrassed about it. When you walk by the surface (unless you're in a bathroom or something of the like) then you always try to sneak a peak without really looking at yourself. You kinda look out of your peripherals while continuing to walk at normal speed.
Even though everyone does it, we don't want anyone else to know when we do it. Why is that? If we're all so vain, why do we care?
Maybe it's that we don't want others to know how much we care about our appearance. Or maybe for some people, looking in the mirror is more a matter of simple interest than of vanity.
But why? I still don't understand. Why doesn't anyone ever fully stop walking and check themselves out in the mirror? Would it really be that big of a deal?
I definitely wouldn't do that myself (and I really don't know why) but I also would certainly not judge somebody who did. In fact, I think I would silently commend them for breaking a social norm so blatantly.
I'm going to postulate a theory: I think the reason we don't want people to know we are looking at our reflection as we pass a window or mirror is simply to preserve our own modesty. We assume that if others see us stopping to look in the mirror, they will think less of us or judge us.
So what it really comes down to is self-consciousness. No one wants to be judged by others, obviously. But it's still curious. Even though you don't know the person, you still don't want them to think less of you, even though it is very likely that they will never see you again nor you them. In fact, I think especially because you don't know the person, you don't want them to judge you.
Think about this:
If you were with your friends, would you still be so sneaky about looking at your reflection? Would you even care to do so in the first place? I think not.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Coffeecoffeecoffeecoffeecoffee...
I don't know about you guys, but I drink a shit ton of coffee. In fact, as I'm writing this I'm on my 3rd cup of the day. Average for me. How did it come to this though? When did I become a crazy coffee drinker?
My first cup of coffee:
I remember this so well. I was 11 years old and I wanted coffee because I thought it was cool. I don't know why I thought it was cool, but there ya go. So I asked my mom for a cup (for some reason I expected her to say no...) and she made me one. She warned me, "You might not like it."
She was right.
I hated it.
But I drank it anyway. One painful sip at a time. Seriously, every time the coffee touched my tongue, I made this ridiculous face that I'm sure looked like I'd bitten full force, no fear into the world's sourest lemon.
I didn't have coffee again until my Junior year of High School. I had so much work and I asked my dad what I could do to finish it (I knew I had to stay up late) and he suggested I try coffee again. Well I did. I went to Dunkin Donuts and I picked up a big cardboard box with a tap that was filled with coffee.
I finished it.
I may have overdone it that night, but I discovered that coffee is actually delicious. Even though it's not the best thing for our bodies. And I know that coffee isn't for everyone, but I think it's nothing short of a miracle. I think it also might have some addictive properties.
Also, decaf sucks. I don't know why anyone drinks it. It doesn't taste as good as real coffee and it doesn't keep you up.
My first cup of coffee:
I remember this so well. I was 11 years old and I wanted coffee because I thought it was cool. I don't know why I thought it was cool, but there ya go. So I asked my mom for a cup (for some reason I expected her to say no...) and she made me one. She warned me, "You might not like it."
She was right.
I hated it.
But I drank it anyway. One painful sip at a time. Seriously, every time the coffee touched my tongue, I made this ridiculous face that I'm sure looked like I'd bitten full force, no fear into the world's sourest lemon.
I didn't have coffee again until my Junior year of High School. I had so much work and I asked my dad what I could do to finish it (I knew I had to stay up late) and he suggested I try coffee again. Well I did. I went to Dunkin Donuts and I picked up a big cardboard box with a tap that was filled with coffee.
I finished it.
I may have overdone it that night, but I discovered that coffee is actually delicious. Even though it's not the best thing for our bodies. And I know that coffee isn't for everyone, but I think it's nothing short of a miracle. I think it also might have some addictive properties.
Also, decaf sucks. I don't know why anyone drinks it. It doesn't taste as good as real coffee and it doesn't keep you up.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Warmness and Music
Since it's been warm out, little music circles have been popping up all over campus. I love it. I truly believe that music brings happiness to everyone. (Seriously, have you really ever heard someone say that they DON'T like music at all? No, that's ridiculous). Even if you don't join in the jam, you have to admit that a smile creeps across your face when you walk by one of these groups.
Anyway, I have had the distinct pleasure of playing with several of these groups across campus. Most recently, I have enjoyed playing with 5 or 6 guys who meet every day at around 5 at the little alcove on campus side college right near the bus stop across the street from Dunkin' Donuts. They play a lot of folk music and were nice enough to let me join in the jam.
The best thing about these groups of musicians is that they are all (or have been so far) such nice people. All of them are so interested in what you want to play and it doesn't matter if you skip a chord or botch a note, cause we're all just having some fun in the sun.
In my last few words, I would like to encourage you to stop and listen to one of these groups. I understand that you might be going to class or whatever, but even stopping for just a second is great for the people playing. Seriously, there is nothing that makes me happier (next to actually playing) than when someone I don't know takes the time to get into what I'm playing.
Lastly, I'd like to say: JOIN IN! Even if you think you can't play or sing, you can and we'd love to have you. Even if you just dance around while the music is going.
Anyway, I have had the distinct pleasure of playing with several of these groups across campus. Most recently, I have enjoyed playing with 5 or 6 guys who meet every day at around 5 at the little alcove on campus side college right near the bus stop across the street from Dunkin' Donuts. They play a lot of folk music and were nice enough to let me join in the jam.
The best thing about these groups of musicians is that they are all (or have been so far) such nice people. All of them are so interested in what you want to play and it doesn't matter if you skip a chord or botch a note, cause we're all just having some fun in the sun.
In my last few words, I would like to encourage you to stop and listen to one of these groups. I understand that you might be going to class or whatever, but even stopping for just a second is great for the people playing. Seriously, there is nothing that makes me happier (next to actually playing) than when someone I don't know takes the time to get into what I'm playing.
Lastly, I'd like to say: JOIN IN! Even if you think you can't play or sing, you can and we'd love to have you. Even if you just dance around while the music is going.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Everyone Has One, and it's Fucking Ridiculous
Everyone has an iPhone.
Or at least it seems that way.
When I was on the bus the other day, I was texting on my own iPhone and looked up briefly to check if it was close to my stop yet. I noticed just by shear happenstance that a lot of other passengers were also texting. At first, I kinda laughed, as if to say, "Oh god, we're all so absorbed in our technology that we're texting." But then I noticed that not only were 10 of the 15 people on the bus (including myself) texting, but literally every one of those 10 people (including myself) was using an iPhone.
What kind of insanity is this??
Now, in no way am I complaining. Seriously. I love my iPhone, it's the best thing ever. It's simultaneously the most useful and unnecessary device ever created. But I took a minute and thought about something. And it made me feel like an old person because it was a thought of technological astonishment:
How is it that we've come to a point in time where it is normal for people to have the world at the touch of a finger on a glass screen in the palm of their hand?
It's really crazy when you think about it. If you'd told people in the 1800's that there was going to be something called a cell phone which would allow you to contact other people who also owned a cell phone. Even if they lived on the other side of the world. And it would take seconds. Well, they probably would have thought you were a witch or something.
In the 1950's, someone probably would have told you to go write a science fiction novel. At that time, computers took up literally entire rooms and sometimes even buildings. Then when cell phones did become common, who would have thought (besides Steve Jobs) that you would be able to own something with a touch screen?
Who the fuck is smart enough to think of and then actually invent this shit?? It's incredible! Have you ever looked at a touch screen anything and just thought about how awesome it is? How much thought went into creating it? You have the information of the world in your hand and you can see it clearly, listen to music, check the weather, make notes for yourself, cycle through different and complex windows by dragging your finger across a piece of glass and it allows you to contact people world wide in a matter of seconds.
It's crazy how often people (myself included) take these pieces of technology for granted. I'm sure you've heard this before, or maybe you've even said it yourself.
"God, this message is taking so long to send."
or
"Dammit, I don't have any service here."
Let's take it back to when people had to write letters by hand with a quill and ink and send them by boat. The person to whom they were writing the letter might be freakin' dead when it finally gets to them after a month, maybe longer. And they have no way of knowing that the boat didn't sink or the courier didn't die before delivering the message. And if the person did get the letter and wrote and sent a response, it would be easily another month at least before the initiator of the correspondence would receive the response. At which time the initiator might also be dead, or not get the letter for whatever reason etc.
I guess what I'm trying to say here (and it might sound kinda preachy, but I'm gonna attempt to follow my own advice here as well), is that we should really try to appreciate all the things we have, I don't mean just the technology. Think about the stuff you have, the people you have, the things you're good at, the things you believe in, everything. I'm not saying you should be ridiculous about it, but taking a moment to think about how much all of those things mean to you and how important or amazing they are I think is a valuable thing. To be able to recognize what you have instead of dwelling on what you don't, cause I guarantee that there will always be someone who has less than you do.
Or at least it seems that way.
When I was on the bus the other day, I was texting on my own iPhone and looked up briefly to check if it was close to my stop yet. I noticed just by shear happenstance that a lot of other passengers were also texting. At first, I kinda laughed, as if to say, "Oh god, we're all so absorbed in our technology that we're texting." But then I noticed that not only were 10 of the 15 people on the bus (including myself) texting, but literally every one of those 10 people (including myself) was using an iPhone.
What kind of insanity is this??
Now, in no way am I complaining. Seriously. I love my iPhone, it's the best thing ever. It's simultaneously the most useful and unnecessary device ever created. But I took a minute and thought about something. And it made me feel like an old person because it was a thought of technological astonishment:
How is it that we've come to a point in time where it is normal for people to have the world at the touch of a finger on a glass screen in the palm of their hand?
It's really crazy when you think about it. If you'd told people in the 1800's that there was going to be something called a cell phone which would allow you to contact other people who also owned a cell phone. Even if they lived on the other side of the world. And it would take seconds. Well, they probably would have thought you were a witch or something.
In the 1950's, someone probably would have told you to go write a science fiction novel. At that time, computers took up literally entire rooms and sometimes even buildings. Then when cell phones did become common, who would have thought (besides Steve Jobs) that you would be able to own something with a touch screen?
Who the fuck is smart enough to think of and then actually invent this shit?? It's incredible! Have you ever looked at a touch screen anything and just thought about how awesome it is? How much thought went into creating it? You have the information of the world in your hand and you can see it clearly, listen to music, check the weather, make notes for yourself, cycle through different and complex windows by dragging your finger across a piece of glass and it allows you to contact people world wide in a matter of seconds.
It's crazy how often people (myself included) take these pieces of technology for granted. I'm sure you've heard this before, or maybe you've even said it yourself.
"God, this message is taking so long to send."
or
"Dammit, I don't have any service here."
Let's take it back to when people had to write letters by hand with a quill and ink and send them by boat. The person to whom they were writing the letter might be freakin' dead when it finally gets to them after a month, maybe longer. And they have no way of knowing that the boat didn't sink or the courier didn't die before delivering the message. And if the person did get the letter and wrote and sent a response, it would be easily another month at least before the initiator of the correspondence would receive the response. At which time the initiator might also be dead, or not get the letter for whatever reason etc.
I guess what I'm trying to say here (and it might sound kinda preachy, but I'm gonna attempt to follow my own advice here as well), is that we should really try to appreciate all the things we have, I don't mean just the technology. Think about the stuff you have, the people you have, the things you're good at, the things you believe in, everything. I'm not saying you should be ridiculous about it, but taking a moment to think about how much all of those things mean to you and how important or amazing they are I think is a valuable thing. To be able to recognize what you have instead of dwelling on what you don't, cause I guarantee that there will always be someone who has less than you do.
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