You talkin' to me?

Figured it was time for another post, mayhaps.

Hmm. So...one of the funniest things to me is what's commonly called "small talk". It's a whole world unto itself - the possibilities are endless (provided you use some ingenuity). You could talk about your school. Your job. The weather. Sports. Hobbies. Something crazy or hilarious that happened to you. Cats. Whatever. But it seems like the stigma is that whatever you do, you just have to keep it going...cuz otherwise it would be awkward, and heaven forbid, we don't want that :P

And I have been dragged into seemingly endless small talk before. Usually it's with people I like, good friends and such, so it's no big deal, and it makes things fun depending on what you talk about. But sometimes there's a person that just irks you a little bit...and if you're overly nice to them, they may want to keep talking...and talking...(provided they're not too shy). And...I dunno. I like to humor people sometimes. But other times it's like...go away now, please. I don't even know you. I don't want to talk about your aunt who owns three goldfish and plays monopoly on the weekends.

But then sometimes, there's the small talk with people that just make you feel all special inside, because they give you the feeling that they actually do care about you and what you have to say. And those are the people with whom I feel comfortable delving into deeper topics.

But...usually I can be somewhat reserved and quiet. Like, if you don't talk to me first, chances are I won't talk to you unless I really, really want to.

Same with talking on the phone. I'm not afraid to call people, and some people I do like calling, but it's not something that I do regularly.

And then there's texting...which is quite the interesting advent. I text more than I talk on the phone, that's for sure.

Whenever my dad sees me texting, he always says something like "Are all your friends behaving? Why don't you send out a global message to everyone, say something like 'All is well, the guards are fed and the castle is safe' or 'We have successfully routed the Lamanite invaders, do not worry'"...or something silly like that. He probably is thinking "what in the world are they possibly talking about?", and when he asks, usually I'll say "oh, just stuff" or "nothing". Which of course he sees right through, but he doesn't press the issue.

As far as habits while texting, I tend to use a lot of emoticons...because it's sometimes hard to express meaning if that meaning relies on emotion. Semantics are very limited in 160 characters. If I would be smiling in real life, chances are I'm texting you a :) ...I also tend to include a "haha" or, if it's really funny, a "paha", if I would be laughing. ...and I also use a lot of ellipses, but that's not too unusual.

Some of my favorite emoticons (disclaimer, none of these are orginally mine)!:

={) D "I have a big nose! And it makes me really happy!"

(}°_°{) "Are you as shocked about my big ears as I am?"

:?| Witch face (see the wart? and the weird nose? and the disappointed expression?)

\m/^_^\m/ Rock on, dude with the anime eyes, rock on.

(\)(\)
(o^.^o) Pikachu!

:P This one is pretty common, but I just think it's funny, because isn't it supposed to just mean "I'm being silly"?...and yet you're sticking your tongue out like a weirdy!

@_@ Hypnotized

XD I laughed so hard that I died! ROFLCOPTER!


(the following are from Hyperbole and a Half, which is funny and stuff)
*:0 = "MY FACE IS ON FIRE!!!!"

!,! = "Hi. I am a rabbit"

% = "I feel like I am a mosquito looking directly at you."

|:( = "I am displeased with my unibrow."

<:( = "Pointy hats make me sad." >:( = "Now my hat is upside-down and I don't feel any better about it."

:*( = "You make me cry sparkly tears."

{:| = "I am a Frenchman."

Q:| = "I'm Davy Crockett."

:$ = "I am trying to look unimpressed, but someone drew a squiggly mouth over my real mouth and this must be terribly confusing for you. I am sorry."



And...that's about all I got for now. So long, and thanks for all the fish. (if you can name that quote, you deserve a cookie)


*edit, some of these emoticons don't work as well on the actual post because of the font they're in, and I don't care enough to try to change it.

I'm not a toboggonist.

But I AM a skiier. And skiing is awesome.

I'm not a great skiier...I only go maybe half a dozen times a year. But it's one of my favorite things to do.

My dad started me out skiing when I was about...6?...something like that. I went without poles, relying on helpful pushes from my dad when we hit some flat spots. It was great. We'd go up to Alta and ride Sunnyside for a few hours, and then head home. I love it.

Then in elementary school, we had a ski-after-school program in which we'd ride a bus up after school to Snowbird, get divided into little groups, and follow instructors in a duck line, going back and forth down Mid-Gad for the whole 2 hours. It wasn't the most exciting skiing, but it sparked my interest a bit more. Plus the bus rides were fun. I believe I accumulated my first debts on that bus, by owing my friend money for some food he gave me (hey, I was hungry). I still haven't paid him back yet...

Now I never go up with my Dad because I could out-ski him with ease. But around here, there are tons of skiiers and snowboarders to go up with if you know who to talk to. And you can make some good friends in the process. I do like skiing alone sometimes, but it's also fun to race your friends down a chute and nearly kill yourself* in the process! *unless you know what you're doing, buddy.

Plus...I live in Utah. Best snow on EARTH! It's the truth.

And it's good to get up in the mountains and out of the smog of Salt Lake Valley. The mountains are beautiful. You can go up and feel like you don't have a care in the world.

Ignoring my brother and me (yes that IS grammatically correct. You wouldn't say "ignore I", would you?), see the pretty mountains? Haha. Yep. It's cool up there.

And...it's a bit of an adrenaline rush. And good exercise that I probably wouldn't otherwise get :P

Final words? The meek shall inherit the earth...but the aggressive shall dominate the slopes.



Well, that's all for now. Seven posts in a day should make up for a few things. Anyway, if I don't return, avenge my death!

Music

I like to say that I like everything from Aaron Copland and Bach to Yes and ZZ Top.
While that's not technically true, I do like a wide variety of music. My little playlist for this
blog is limited by the choices on the website. REALLY limited. But I enjoy most music provided that:
1. It's not rap
2. It's not screaming at me
3. It's not swearing at me
4. And of course, it has to be interesting. You say you like Moby? Get out. (just kidding...but he does like to take a couple measures and repeat it for 4 minutes, doesn't he?)

I enjoy playing music too. I play classical piano and like it very much. I play a little guitar and ukelele (need to practice those more though..). And I play in two bands. It's awesome.

Here are just a few of my favorite music quotes:

"A wrong note played timidly is a wrong note; a wrong note played with authority is an interpretation."

"Music is what feelings sound like."

"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." -Berthold Auerbach

"You can't possibly hear the last movement of Beethoven's Seventh and go slow." -Oscar Levant, explaining his way out of a speeding ticket

"These seem to me so ambiguous, so vague, so easily misunderstood in comparison to genuine music, which fills the soul with a thousand things better than words. Though everything else may appear shallow and repulsive, even the smallest task in music is so absorbing, and carries us so far away from town, country, earth, and all worldly things, that it is truly a blessed gift of God." -Felix Mendelssohn

"Jazz isn't dead, it just smells funny." -Frank Zappa

"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" -Sergei Rachmaninov



Godspeed. (I always wanted to say that)

Nostalgia

It's a powerful thing.

Can you guess which one is me?


Yep...the excited one to the left of Nana! (above and behind the cousin in green)
Ah...I love my family.

Elevators

I found this list on the internetz and it amuses me greatly.

Fun Things To Do In An Elevator:
1. Crack open your briefcase or purse, and while peering inside ask: "Got enough air in there?"
2. Grimace painfully while smacking your forehead and muttering: "Shut up, all of you just shut UP!"
3. Whistle the first seven notes of "It's a Small World" incessantly.
4. Sell Girl Scout cookies.
5. On a long ride, sway side to side at the natural frequency of the elevator.
6. Greet everyone getting on the elevator with a warm handshake and ask them to call you Admiral
7. When at least 8 people have boarded, moan from the back: "Oh, not now, motion sickness!"
8. Meow occasionally.
9. Wear a puppet on your hand and talk to other passengers "through" it.
10. Draw a little square on the floor with chalk and announce to the other passengers that this is your "personal space."

I've gotta try some of these.


Hasta la pasta!

Being a Nerd

You can call me a nerd. That's totally fine. I like classical music, I put a lot of time into my grades, I play video games, and I like intellectual discussion.

It's actually kinda fun being a nerd. Here are only some benefits.

-You get to express yourself more freely.
-Usually, only jerks don't like you.
-You can play games like Age of Empires or Team Fortress without shame. And make friends doing it!
-You're generally more intelligent than laypeople.
-You can say weird quotes and phrases all you want.
-Chances are you'll be more financially stable in the long run.
-Think of all the BOOKS you can enjoy!
-You can develop an appreciation for smooth jazz.
-Nerd humor is often cleaner and more sophisticated, and therefore funnier. See above example.


Shalom, y'all.

Pet Peeves

(quoting the internetz here)
The term is a back-formation from the 14th-century word peevish, meaning "ornery or ill-tempered."
"The precise derivation of "peevish" is uncertain, but it may be related to the Latin "perversus," meaning "reversed, perverse." The original meaning of "peevish" was simply "silly or foolish," but by about 1530 it had acquired the sense of "irritable, ill-tempered or fretful." Surprisingly, it then took several hundred years to develop "peeve" as the word for the irritating agent or action. "Pet peeve," meaning the one thing that annoys you more than anything else, first appeared around 1919. The "pet" (in the sense of "favorite") formulation probably owes its popularity and longevity to its mild perversity ("favorite annoyance" is a bit oxymoronic) as well as its snappy alliteration."

I'm generally pretty patient with people...but there are a few things I just can't stand!

-prejudice
-apathetic ignorance
-incompetence
-people who snoop incessantly (though friends are usually ok)
-vulgarity
-fake laughter
-disloyalty

That's all I can think of for now...anything that gets on *your* nerves?


Fare thee well!