Oscar Pick'em

Thanks for calling me out, Andy. I didn't really feel like posting just yet, or perhaps ever. But here it is:

Join my Oscar Pick'em Team

The group is "Skittles" and the PW is the famous Skittles slogan. If you can't figure it out, you don't deserve to join.

I picked winners in every category even though I have seen like, a total of, like, one (1) of the movies that have been nominated. I have terrific (or terrible, depending on the situation) intuition. So I think I'll do ok.

The trouble with bubbles

Like many Asian households, soft drinks, cookies, and candy were expressly forbidden when I was a child. Well, forbidden, except for Halloween, when we could have up to ten pieces of the candy that we collected that night, while the remainder went into a very poor hiding spot in my mother's closet.

I don't know about you, but I have been punished for whining about drinking Coke in public. That promptly ended my public Coke "requests". I suspect that has something to do with my current general aversion to soft drinks, but I can't be certain.

Even to this day, I'm not a huge sweets person. And I certainly cannot drink soda every day, or even once a week. I mean, the flavors are good and all, but I just cannot stand the carbonation. The carbonation does something weird in my throat, and I end up feeling like I swallowed a bunch of air (surprise, surprise), I get the hiccups, or both. I HATE the hiccups. I HATE feeling bloated.

I don't quite understand why people prefer drinks that are carbonated - besides the novelty of bubbles in your drink, what's the point? It doesn't add flavor, although it does tickle your tongue. I find tongue tickling to be tiresome and annoying.

I say, "Down with carbonation!" Anyone else want to join my new 501(c)(3), People Against The Sipping, Ingesting or Eating of Sodas (PATSIES)?

Sez who?

I'm currently reading Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller. It's a so-called classic written in the early 1930's and was initially banned by all English speaking countries due to its subject matter and vulgar depiction of said subject matter.

This book is supposed to be critically acclaimed and touted as a fine example of literature by many a great author and critic. Although I'm only a few pages in, I am not impressed.

I wonder how many things in life we take others' word for because we are too lazy to form an opinion for ourselves. For that matter, I wonder how much of my experience has been biased by others' opinions or offhand remarks. Take movies, for example. Critics are saying now that "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" was a terrible movie. I rather enjoyed it. It was no "Forrest Gump", but it wasn't "Mars Attacks!" either. However, when I read that review, I began to doubt myself. 'Did I really like it that much? Yeah, it really wasn't that good I suppose...'

Other things are subject to our inexperience or lack of knowledge. I'll take a plumber's opinion on which brand of toilet flap is best, simply because I don't know any better. I just have to trust that plumber's expert opinion - but he could be dead wrong. Just like some of my computer-savvy friends still tout Windows and PCs, even though Apple, Macs, and Mac OS X are far superior to anything in the PC world. But so-called "experts" in IT will still promote Windows up the wazoo.

I have a feeling that we don't really want to know how many things in our lives are dictated by a body of questionable knowledge and expertise. Kind of like why people categorize and generalize/stereotype. It's easier on the ol' noggin that way.

A REAL shower

I installed a Waterpik Cascadia showerhead today. It's designed to let you shower like you're in the rain, since the spray comes straight down. And I have to say, it's simply marvelous. I've never been so excited to shower in my life.

Anyone who loves me must love my pet, Peeve.

Is it OK to let a seemingly innocuous and silly pet peeve derail a relationship? Some of my pet peeves are non-negotiables: I cannot live with someone who is filthy (not necessarily messy, but filthy; although I get frustrated easily with constant mess); I can't stand people who have protracted cell phone conversations when they are out with someone; I despise people who have long, personal cell phone conversations while sitting or standing right next to strangers (e.g. on a plane) who can't get away; and I look down on people who don't appreciate the genius that is Britney Spears.

But some of my pet peeves are less important to me. Even so, they really get on my nerves. The biggest of these is spelling. I can't stand people who can't spell. I'm not talking a typo here or there, or a word that is understandably difficult to spell. I'm talking about routinely mispelling words like "arduous", "mistaken" or "tonight". I also don't like it when people use abbreviations like "l8r" in IM when you could easily type it out, or "lol" in email, when you have the time to write that out too.

Another point: apostrophes. Use them ONLY when they are replacing a letter (e.g. "nothin'","o'er") or in a contraction (e.g. "I'd" = "I would", "she'll" = "she will").

Don't get me started on "quotation marks". I hate when they are overused or misused. GRRR.

Sometimes it gets to the point when I wonder if I could ever be in a relationship with a poor speller. Even worse is someone who uses worse grammar than I do.

Spelling isn't that hard people! Work on it!!