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I remember going into a cinema without having any preconceived notion of what the movie I was about see would be about. Now, with instant texting, instant messenger, Facebook, Twitter (seriously, why did I get Twitter...), blogs updated every single day, and a general acceleration in word of mouth communication, I find myself going into movies already knowing whether the acting will be amazing or subpar, whether the plot'll be good or not, and what happens at the very end (and maybe even after the credits).
It effectively ruins the films for me, films like Wall-E, Up, and Avatar, just to name a few. Great 3-D movies, I understand the digital wonderfulness of them, but hey, let me just watch it and judge on my own accord, because the more you talk about it, the less impressed I can and am going to be.
Now, you can lay the blame back on my own shoulders, for I signed into Facebook and Twitter and surfed the web extensively for the past few hours, denying what I know to be true, that when I watch the Academy Awards, it will be spoiled if I keep clicking from page to page, but hey, it's Monday morning, 9:30am. I just had breakfast, and I don't have a lesson until eleven.. this is what I do every morning, every day, like the Pinky and the Brain trying to take over the world. I have no time to blog or tweet or check my e-mails later, this is my routine.
Hollywood news just spreads so quickly, and movies get so hyped up, to the point where it's just not impressive, worthwhile or simply news anymore.
If everybody could not talk about Alice in Wonderland, that would be appreciated. I am a fan of Johnny Depp, and of Tim Burton, and of Lewis Caroll, and well, I don't want this to be another Wall-E sort of disappointment.
Hmmmmmm...
...between the hours of 10pm and 6am.
At 6am, the cleaner lady comes along, and I don't know what she's doing, but she makes a lot of noise for something like six hours non-stop. She's always pushing the vacuum cleaner with wheels around, or her little trolley thing that holds her brooms and mops and cleaning stuff, and it rattles inside the trolley, and it feels like she's cleaning the place again and again and again and again. After noon, it's then around ten hours of students coming in and out, talking on their phones, talking to each other, grumbling in frustration at their computers, stomping, coughing, sneezing, ruffling through their bags...
...and I can't bloody concentrate on my blogging during these hours. And right now, this doofus two rows in front of me thinks it's cool to play music loudly. What if I was to watch my American Idol episodes loudly, huh? It's not fair.
Okay, it's Santana, but even though it's good taste, I can't concentrate in the presence of any noise. I just can't.
There are also two guys seated on my right that are chatting about cars. One guy appreciates Lambourghinis for their design, but prefers Ferraris as it suits his personality. The other guy's favorite brand is the Maserati.
If you ask me, my favorite brand of car is Shutthehellup. I can't blog properly, damn it!
"Hey!"
"...Hey."
"How are you, Michael? Long time no see!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm great. You?"
"I'm good. What are you up to nowadays?"
"Oh, nothing much, studying anthro—"
"Right, that's cool, man. I'm actually on my way to the bus stop. Catch up some time, okay?"
"...okay."
"Later, dude!"
"...Bye."
Have you ever had these sorts of conversations?
If you have, it's probably because you ran into an acquaintance. Acquaintances are people whom you met at a distant time in the past and from that point onward, you are obliged by the rules of society to greet or give a nod to that person whenever you see them. It's a friendly gesture that carries with it all of that "common courtesy" poppycock, but if you're asking for my opinion, it's annoyingly pointless.
Chances are you met this person because you were just stuck together in a long queue at the supermarket, or because you shared the same high school, or because some idiotic mutual friend introduced you two at a large gathering, thus coercing you into 'knowing' this person you didn't wish to approach on your own, and from that initial exchange of names onwards, you and your acquaintance tacitly pledge to say 'hi' to each other for the rest of your life whenever you meet in the curiously coincidental lives we lead.
It's a small world, you may have heard. And you will have hundreds of opportunities to engage in these uncomfortable conversations.
Sure, we have known their names and faces for years, and we spend a great deal of time stalking them on Facebook, but to me, if there's nothing important to say, there's no need to say anything at all. This societal rule sucks, and we are people with our own lives to lead; we have things to do and places to be. We do not need to waste our times on these associates if there's nothing of value to be shared.
What do you think about running into old acquaintances?
At my workplace, I am not the sole bartender there is. There is one other, and he is a tall, Nepalese man in his twenties. He has a lot more experience doing this than I do. He can make a large variety of drinks, tell a lot of good jokes to keep the atmosphere buoyant, reach bottles and glasses on high shelves effortlessly, and perhaps best of all, spot the beautiful ladies at the bar as soon as they appear. There are some things that he still has to learn, though, and one of them is the fact that he has bad breath.
Restaurants and bars get pretty noisy, especially around 8 to 9pm. The music is blaring, people are chit-chatting, and the boss, the waiters, the waitresses, the barmen, the chef, and the sous-chefs, are all shouting at each other about this table and that, in order to keep the food and drink running smoothly.
And since it's so loud, us bartenders must sometimes resort to approaching each other, up close, to communicate. And when my partner comes up to me, and wants to clandestinely mumble something to me about this red wine nearly running out of stock, or how that customer over at table 28 is a total asshole, that moment is when I get a whiff of his odorous sigh.
I'll admit, I don't have the best oral hygiene. For the past few years, there are times when I'm just too tired and lazy to brush my teeth. I try to brush my teeth during my morning shower, but you see, keeping my teeth clean is not the point. The point is, I chew on gum, and I nibble breath mints, and I eat mint chocolate chip-flavored ice cream, in order to keep my breath fresh. (Okay, that last one sort of works against me in the long-run. I'm just joking about that.)
I don't mind if people don't use any soap when they shower, so long as they use deodorant/perfume before I see them (but of course, using soap is... preferred). There are just some things people need to do to be presentable around others. My bartending friend is fit to be seen, but his breath is utterly revolting.
In my younger years, I used to be unbelievably shy. I simply would not utter a single word to my classmates throughout the school day, because I thought that these other kids were strange beings, people I could not understand. And because I could not understand them, they were people that I deeply feared. (The one permanent emotion of the inferior man is fear - fear of the unknown, the complex, the inexplicable. What he wants above everything else is safety. - Henry Louis Mencken)
It was only until my mother had picked me up from school and whisked me away that I was suddenly capable of human speech. She would meet me at the gate everyday after school, lead the way to the nearest road, and hail a cab. And it was inside this cab, where I instantaneously transformed into the talkative and opinionated person that you, my readers, are presented with today.
I behaved this way at the time because I only trusted my mother, and did not trust these strangers who worked and played alongside me. I also didn't think I was the best at anything (even though, at the time, all we did in class was basic maths, basic English and drawing). I didn't think too highly of my abilities and I did not want others to know my standards. I wasn't confident. I did not have very high self-esteem.
In retrospect, I believe it was because of this lack of confidence in myself and others that I did not have many friends in primary school. In fact, I am still very much like my five-year-old self, and when I go to school these days, I actually find myself distrusting my own and other people's judgements, and that's what usually separates me from the group.
I know several people who experience unease and nervousness each day because they perceive themselves, or others, as inadequate or worthless. There is a very fine line between being insecure but pretending to be okay, and actually being okay. And it's in pretending to be okay that annoys me, because the person I'm talking to is achingly putting on a fake, confident smile, just for me.
So what can that person do, or what can I do?
I like to attack a problem by first eradicating the source of the problem, like hosing down the stove in a kitchen fire. By that analogy, I mean trying to build confidence is the way to achieve a healthy quantity and quality of self-regard (i.e., remove insecurity).
However, how this can be done effectively is beyond me. These people are so insecure about themselves, that they think they aren't capable of anything, and that includes change for the better. They never feel motivated enough to talk more, or talk to one more person, they never feel like they can actually break out of their usual behavioral habits. And so it's just a horrible paradoxical internal bewilderment that exists within us, a bewilderment that is borne of these strange beings who feel insecure, sort of like a sprinkling into our lives of realistic humanoids that are machined to solely experience doubt, shyness, and feelings of being threatened... it's just another one of those vicious cycles.
I hate it, how are you supposed to build a strong relationship with someone that's insecure? Come on, readers, do you hate it too?
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(Do you hate it too? has received a Neno's award, displayed on the right-hand side underneath the Golden Bog Roll. Please check out the link, as I talk about why I love to blog. :D)
"OW, I hit my funny bone on the edge of the table!"
"OW, I stubbed my toe!"
"OW, I accidentally touched the edge of the frying pan!"
"OW, I hit my head on the ceiling!"
It's stupid enough that you caused yourself the pain, but must you shout it out loud for the world to hear? That's imbecility that is incredible to me. Why are you telling me how you hurt yourself? Does it relieve the pain? Do you want to be known for clumsiness and thick-headedness? Does it make either one of us feel better?
No! Don't tell me you ventilated like that as part of a reflex reaction. Are you really garrulous and unpredictably verbal to the point where you really do not have any control over your own mouth? I just can't help but think that you deserved to get hurt after such a reaction as yours.
This is probably God's way of having fun. Using the principle of karma, normally, you would be dealt pain that would exact the degree of your wrongdoing, but in this case, you are dealt the punishment first, as God knows you will react by committing that exact sin. Like I said, God's playing with fate, and there's a touch of irony, of a paradoxical relationship.
"Anything interesting in the news today?" "What book are you reading?" "Look at Lindsey Lohan on the cover of Michael's magazine, don't you think she's gotten a lot fatter?"
Our examinations are coming up, the final exams I will take in high school. Several subjects are worrying me right now, namely chemistry, physics and mathematics, so currently, I haven't been blogging as much so that I have more time to study.
This week, I've been focusing on building my vocabulary for the English exams, as well as going through my maths textbook, making sure I know how to use every single symbol and equation. I think I've mentioned this before, but to build my vocabulary, I've been reading a book named 'Word Power Made Easy'. It teaches you vocabulary primarily, by pointing out the etymology of a lot of different words, but alongside that, it touches on what is or isn't correct grammar, punctuation and pronunciation. It's a really effective means to attain a better vocabulary in the English language, for me at least.
What irked me at lunch today was when my friends asked me what I was reading. I didn't answer them, because I knew answering them would only attract more inquiries:
"Why are you reading that? Do you think your vocabulary's bad?"
"Where did you buy it?"
"How much was it?"
"What exactly does it teach you?"
"Do you actually learn anything from reading thing?"
"Dude, I haven't read a book in years, besides those we've studied in school. Can you believe that?"
"Isn't that boring?"
"What's the book called?"
"Who's it by?"
"Can I borrow it after you're done with it?"
"Why are you looking at me like that? You look pissed."
Shut up, peeps, I'm trying to read.
This happens too often.
Michael: "Hey, when are we meeting up next week? What time and where?"
Person: "Ummm... the McDonald's in Times Square."
(fifteen seconds of silence later...)
Michael: "Which day and what time?"
Person: "4 o'clock"
(five seconds more...)
Michael: "Uh, huh... and the date?"
Person: "Oh, sorry. ...Um... Thursday."
Michael: "Thank you..."
When I ask multiple questions consecutively, it means I need multiple answers consecutively. Jeez.
Contrary to the previous post about how I dislike it when people are too slow, there are some people that are just too fast and they irritate me, too. No, not like they run fast and I hate it out of jealousy, but I don't like it when some people never seem to know that sometimes, a break is good for you, that slowing things down may make things more comfortable, enjoyable and better.
I suppose it's the erratic behavior of high-speed individuals that really freaks me out. They go around always wanting to be proficient and proactive, when they're really living very primitively and preposterously, somewhat wildly as they go around everyday trying to keep themselves energized, rushing around, working on things 'til the very last second, always have to have a pen in their hand or a Bluetooth in their ear, never having a meal while seated.
You have to breathe, baby!
Sometimes, people also have this compulsion to speak quickly to sound smart. I'll rant about that in more detail some other time, but it's basically some delusion that people have that compels them to talk faster in order to make their point more valid/truthful. It's verbal diarrhea, people blabber on and on really quickly. If you're my age or younger, you know the whiny girl I'm talking about. If you're a working adult, it's that colleague or that boss that never shuts up. Sometimes, I can empathize with my grandparents, what, with the younger generations always having school or work and 'things to do with friends'. They truly know the virtues of taking things slowly and they are wise in that they know that speed isn't everything. Us people are so fast, and we're often too crazed about everything in our modern day and age.
Maybe being fast isn't really what I'm trying to get at here. I think it's the imprudent, reckless manner in which some people behave when trying to be fast that I don't like seeing. It's those people on the streets that walk quickly, dramatically, and I hate that because like I've said before, I love subtlety. Some people just lack a general grace in their demeanor and that's probably what annoys me about people that act with gusto. Meh. Being slow is more annoying, though. But haven't you ever been annoyed at anything fast?
Remember how I wrote a post about mispronunciation a little over a month ago? Well, today, the subject came to my mind again, only this time, it was vulgar. What sparked it was a pun made by my friend, while we were watching the presidential inauguration together on the phone. He said he was so excited that he got a "Presidential Erection', a play on the word 'election', of course. I laughed, it was funny to me.
I mentioned in that other post that there aren't many people that speak properly all the time. I know I don't. Some mispronunciations are awful because they're not only embarrassing slip-ups, but they can be vulgar and offensive. Imagine if Obama said 'erection' instead of 'election' during his campaign. Yikes.
All we can do is try to be careful, especially on formal occasions. But we need to take extra care with these words in particular, because these slips of the tongue contain swear words, can be offensive and/or simply don't make sense at all!
Sentence: Mispronunciation
I can't get enough of the city life in Hong Kong: I can't get enough of the shitty life in Hong Kong.Please sit down: Please sh*t down.
Our little girl has six dolls: Our little girl has sex dolls.
We got him six toys for Christmas: We got him sex toys for Christmas.That's a really old folk song: That's a really old f*ck song.
Could you give me a clean fork, please: Could you give me a clean f*ck, please?
Foxhounds : F*ck sounds.
Benedict: Bend a dick.
The student used his cork to seal the test-tube: The student used his cock to seal the test-tube.
Do you have an available slot, say, at 5pm tomorrow: Do you have an available slut, say, at 5pm tomorrow?
I cannot live without her: I cannot live without whore.
You can't: You cunt!
I ordered the third sandwich on the menu: I ordered the turd sandwich on the menu.
Everyone loves a good father: Everyone loves a good farter.Brush your teeth: Brush your teat.
The professors showed us their theses: The professors showed us their feces.
There's a lot of rust inside the car: There's a lot of lust inside the car.
The entire audience clapped: The entire audience crapped.
There are lumps in my mashed potatoes: There are rumps in my mashed potatoes.
The American people elected Obama: The American people erected Obama.
The elections come and go so ever-so-quickly: The erections come and go ever-so-quickly.
The whole wall is made of bricks: The whole wall is made of pricks.
And my favorite three. They are my favorite because I've actually heard these being said:I have to perform a piece on stage: I have to perform a piss on stage.The beaches are really nice and hot in Thailand: The b*tches are really nice and hot in Thailand.
Feel free to take a sheet: Feel free to take a sh*t!
Just to clear out all of my own major slips of the tongue, let me just mention that I have pronounced the names, Peter, as Pet-ter, and Steven, as Steh-ven. Sometimes, my brain just doesn't calibrate the letters and process the order of those letters. The part of my mind that helps with pronunciation just blanks out. I remember there was a time I went to the movies with some friends. I was confused by a sign they had hanging on the wall and I turned to my friend with a very dumbfounded look on my face and asked, "What does no smocking mean?"
I felt very stupid when I made those mistakes and I believe I felt rightly so. I've always admired those that could read very well. Their trick is simply to read carefully and to stop briefly when they come to a longer or trickier word. There are some others that I've met who don't seem to have much talent in speaking correctly. I don't get awfully angry at these people. I just inhale deeply and sigh, sort of like my own method of therapy. People shouldn't open their mouth unless they know how to speak properly. It's annoying to listen to someone's thoughts when the words they're using aren't really words at all. Mispronunciations often occur when one is reading quickly so everybody should practice taking their time to read.
Here are some of the most annoying/amusing/common mispronunciations that I can recall:
Word: Mispronunciation (Comment)
actor: ak-tore (It's spelt that way but it's meant to be 'akter'.)
ask: ass/aks (You're an ass if you mispronounce such an easy word. Let's give the axe to ass and aks.)
clothes: close (Plain sloth.)
dog-eat-dog world: doggy dog world (Tragic mistake.)
environment: enviroment (There's an 'n', isn't there?)
espresso: expresso (I heard this at Starbucks the other day. My, my...)
et cetera: excetera (I have the impression this one is thanks to the King of Siam in The King and I.)
every: eh-ve-ree (It's a two-syllable word.)
February: Feb-ury (There's an 'r' after 'b' and an 'a' after 'u'. Pronounce them.)
government: guver-ment (Similar to enviroment. Even news reporters get these wrong.)
harass: her-ass (Scots never get this one right.)
helicopter: hel-ri-cop-ter (Asians do this. It's not good.)
hungry: Hungary (Hungry is the sensation of wanting to eat. Hungary is the Eastern European nation.)
idea: i-dear (Oh, dear. Do you see an 'r' at the end? I don't.)
José: Jozay (Spanish words require an 'h' sound as opposed to a 'j' sound. That's probably one of the worst misunderstandings you can have for other cultures.)
karate: ka-ra-tay/ka-ra-tee (The word is spelt exactly how it's meant to be said in Japanese. 'ka-ra-teh')
Ku Klux Klan: Klu Klux Klan (Sure. If there's a 'l' in 'Klux' and 'Klan', why not change it to 'Klu'?)
library: li-bry (Refer to 'February'.)
mayonnaise: may-naise (I love mayonnaise.)
nuclear: noo-coo-lah (George Bush says it this way and it sounds sort of dorky.)
parliament: parlament (There is an 'i'.)
probably: probly/prolly (This is horrible, especially when spelt in that haphazard way on paper.)
pronounce: pro-noun-ciate (I hate this one. It makes no sense at all.)
pronunciation: pro-noun-ciation (Ditto.)
snuck: sneaked ('Snuck' isn't a word, people.)
succumb: suck-cum (One should not succumb to laziness if one wants to avoid this awful, awful mispronunciation.)
supposedly: supposably (This is just stupid.)
the/this: duh/diss (Diss is more common dan you dink it is.)
toward: tor-ward (There's no 'r'.)
valve: volve (I don't understand how this happens. It's sort of like a bad attempt at sounding British.)
W: dubba-you (I dub you bad at pronunciation if you fail to say 'double-U'.)
Are there any that you can think of?
I'm starting this entry in the school library now and to say the least, our school's library just has to be one of the noisiest. There are (rare) times when I sit in this place trying to read a book or do my homework, but there's always all these sounds that make it extremely hard to concentrate on anything.
Oh, damn. The bell just went off. It's time to go to class now. I'll continue this when I get home.
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Hi, all. I'm home now.
As I was saying, I don't believe it sometimes just how noisy it is in a place that is supposed to be quiet. The first thing that really strikes me as being noise would be the door. Whenever someone opens the door, there's the sound of the cylindrical lock, and then the creaking of the door's hinge, then the footsteps on the hardwood floor (high heels are just the worst), then there comes the momentary silence as every head in the room turns toward the door to see who it might be. It's only momentary and that makes the murmur of voices that follows right after even more unbearable.
And it's not actually murmuring. It's more like... pattering, prattling or chattering, something with the letter 't'. The librarians really don't enforce any silence and so the kids just continue yapping on and on. Oh, and there are computers in the library too and the sound of fingers tapping keyboards is also very, very irritating. There's also the printer/photocopier that beeps five hundred times an hour, as well as the beeps eminating from the bar code scanner that the librarians use to check in/out books.
But I think the worst noise originates from the librarian herself. I'll talk more about that in my next post, but really, does nobody respect the sanctity of silence in libraries anymore? Noisy libraries: Do you hate them too?
So obviously, yesterday's post was a bit of a joke. Some people around me do consider me to be a bit too talkative, but I don't think so. For those that didn't catch on yet, I was delibirately writing a short entry yesterday in protest to these wild accusations. I guess now I'll talk about yesterday's and today's at the same time, as they are somewhat similar.
I find people who talk too much, and people who dominate conversations, both annoying, but of course, only when I'm not the one doing the talking, or the dominating. They're different, but the people who talk too much and the people who overpower others in conversations, both have a set of commonalities: a compulsive uncontrollable need to talk, a fair amount of creativity, some irritability brought about by silence, a dash of pride, and most of all, no awareness whatsoever. I'm glad to say that I have recently tried to cut back on talking more than others.
Just to clarify the difference between the two. When you're around a person that 'talks too much', you participate in the conversation too. It's just that their points are really, really long. You experience a surplus in the amount you'd like to know about them, and it's often what we call 'verbal diarrhea' (...mmm). On the other hand, when you're around a person that 'dominates the conversation', you are incapable of joining in the conversation, because their statements are either very loud, or very bold and almost always interruptive. It's like large, unusual, and abrupt diarrhea.
At rare times though, people will actually listen to a conversational dominator like me, but at other times, they're either:
(1) nodding their head at me every two seconds,
(2) laughing for no reason,
(3) asking me "then what happened?" when I've already finished my story,
(4) falling asleep and if I'm lucky, they'll drool, or
(5) they're staring at me with a blank face, which always makes me incredibly uncomfortable, because I think they're picturing me naked (which I really hope is not true) (and there's that creativity I talked about earlier) (...and pride). As you may observe by this list, conversational dominators can get annoyed at all the incessant nodders, the erratic laughers and the possible perverts too! But we probably deserve it for pressing our own lives on to others so much.
I remember a time where I was on the other end of the conversation spectrum, the end where I get talked over and subdued, that is. Since I couldn't possibly make this guy shut up, I took the liberty to observe him and his 'listeners'. The 'listeners' really do drool. And he really is completely unaware that nobody is listening. He was talking about... cars... or stars... I wasn't really sure. I remember it was boring. I also remember several of us trying to speak up, but he would just go on and on. He just wouldn't listen to any of us. It's like diarrhea all over the place.
Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, I'm trying to cut back on talking so much. I don't like seeming insensitive and self-involved. It is strange though. Recently, my friends have been calling me up, starting conversations with me online, finding me at school to talk more often. When you shut up, do people finally notice you've been a lil' quiet? In fact, I used to talk so much that I've had people ask me to fill in the silences when topics are lacking. Guess what?
I hate that too, and that's another story.
So do you hate people that dominate conversations? Is it even possible to convince them not to dominate conversations (refer to blog number 5)? Do you consider 'verbal diarrhea' to be a very vulgar phrase? And how are all of you readers out there? Just thought I might ask you all these questions. I wouldn't want to come across as if I'm talking too much, eh?
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