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Since I'm in Los Angeles, where having a car is about as necessary as having legs, it should come as no surprise that my fellow drivers are often a source of ire. Has you ever seen this on the freeway or on the street? Someone is on the inside lane or left-turn only lane when they realize that they have made a mistake and need to exit or make a right turn...basically, they need to be on the outside lane. Instead of getting off on the next exit or just making the left turn and going around, they instead decide to cut across all the other lanes with little or no warning, usually forcing the motorists in the neighboring lanes to brake suddenly. Why do people do that? Why can't they just do the right thing and follow traffic laws? Don't they realize how dangerous this sort of driving is for their fellow motorists? I hate people who do that! Sure, they may be in a hurry, but in that case, they should have been paying attention in the first place! I am all for correcting one's mistakes, but you should do it in safe and legal way! Stupid drivers.
I'm not a graphic designer by any stretch of the imagination, but that doesn't mean that I can't complain about stuff. I don't like this new trend of fixed backgrounds. It seems like all the kids these days are creating webpages where the backgrounds are fixed, so that when you scroll, only the text moves. The problem I have is not with the concept of fixed backgrounds in itself, but with the implementation. If you're going to do a fixed background, the key thing to remember is that the background is the background. It's supposed to unobtrusive. The background should not be the same color as the text because then you can't read the text! There are a lot of web sites out there right now where I get a headache just trying to read the text because the background is has too many colors and the text is just too hard to distinguish. Just thinking about it makes me ill. I have to take an aspirin and lie down now.
"Yes" means "yes." "No" means "no." "Yes" does not mean "no." Sometimes I get extremely annoyed when people mindlessly say "yes" when they really don't mean it. Note that I wrote "sometimes." When you are in a social situation, you may find yourself conversing with an extremely boring person, an incredibly intelligent person excitedly talking about a subject of which you know nothing, or an important person towards whom you are indifferent or hostile but in whom you must feign interest. In such cases, nodding with an insincere look of amazement or interest while murmuring, "Yes, yes, I see!" is perfectly acceptable and understandable. However, when you are furiously trying to complete a project at work or handling large sums of money, you are in a completely different situation, and different situations require different actions. Let's say you're a student who is confused about calculus. If your teacher were to explain a concept to you and then ask you if you understood, do you think saying "yes" (when you actually don't understand) will boost your grade? Of course not! Let's say you're starting on a huge multi-million dollar project at work, and a colleague is trying to explain the different phases of the project. When the colleague asks, "Got it?", you should not say "yes" if you did not "get" it! I wish people could analyze their situations more carefully and not let their pride get in the way of being honest and admitting that they are confused about things. Don't they realize how much time, effort, and money they would save? I work with people who do this all the time, and they double and sometimes triple the amount of work I have to do because of their inability to just say "no." They're lucky that I've managed to restrain myself from punching them in the face.
I recently heard on the radio that the state legislature of California has enacted a law against selling sodas in the vending machines at school! While I understand that obesity is becoming an epidemic in this country, I also feel that my state legislature could probably spend their time more effectively working on some other issues besides limiting access to fizzy drinks to kids. First of all, not all sodas are "fattening." Ever heard of diet soda? Second, it's really up to parents to teach their kids about healthy eating and exercise. Third, parents should probably be more worried about all the mocha-choca-vanilla-frappucino-ice-blended drinks that I see kids drinking all the time. When I see kids drinking that stuff, I think two things: (1)That stuff is FAT CITY and (2) How come when I was a kid, my parents didn't give me the money to spend $3 (which can buy you a McDonald's Value meal - hamburger, fries, soda) on a freaking drink every freaking day?! I think it's ok to ingest solid fat as long as you understand the consequences and don't go around whining about how fat you are. But I don' t think it's ok to charge people $4 for a cup of milk, powder, and ice. That's just not cool. Hmmm...I seem to have gone off on a tangent. Back to the soda thing...I also think that the government doesn't need to regulate our food intake. People should be allowed to make choices, as unwise as they may be, unless it endangers the general public. I know, I know, you could argue that the obesity endangers the general public, but I know that you know what I 'm saying. Just my 2 cents.
Some people are so clueless. Let me give you a tip, guys. If you are trying to call someone, and the person who picks up tells you that you've got the wrong number, LISTEN to them. I understand that sometimes you might misdial or you might incorrectly transcribe someone's number. These things happen, I know. However, if you call again and verify that the number you dialed is the number you have, and the person on the other end of the line tells you once again that you have the wrong number, BELIEVE them! Heartless as I am, I get no joy from playing mind games with people who call my number. Furthermore, it's hardly in my best interest to lie to people for whom I've bothered to provide my digits. If I say you have the wrong number, it's the wrong number. So please, please, please...do not call me every single day asking for the same person when I tell you every single time that you have the wrong number! You're supposed to LEARN from your mistakes. Sheesh.
This observation is a little outdated...but may I just say that I cannot stand Clay from American Idol? I shall first point out that his skills are limited to belting out Broadway tunes, and that my friends, is not what being an American Idol is all about. When people say "American Idol," I see an attractive purveyor of bubblegum pop, R&B/hip-hop-influenced pop, and diva-worthy ballads (think Britney and N'Sync), not some guy in a theater singing songs from Andrew Lloyd Weber's latest musical. Furthermore, an American Idol should be hot or if he was not born with good looks, then he should be a good dancer (see N'Sync). Clay has none of those qualities. Lastly, I think Clay is fake and irritating. After Reuben was announced as the winner, Clay was still hogging the spotlight and talking the whole time. Instead of being a gracious loser, he made seemingly light-hearted yet pointed remarks about how the sales of their singles the following week would be the real determinant of who was the real American Idol. Clay, do us and yourself a favor and SHUT UP.
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