Dara

Michael Jackson's [alleged, but probably true] death broke Livejournal!

And I just remembered, again, that I have a Dreamwidth account. Hello Dreamwidth.

It's interesting to me that Livejournal seems to be somewhat dying off (well, it's not as active as it once was, at least) and yet people on Teh Interwebs are obsessing over a new Livejournal clone called Dreamwidth. It seems better than LJ in one regard because it's all open source and welcoming and not very commercial, but on the other hand, I thought the days of community journalling sites had passed, as far as online trends go. I'm just amazed that so many people are aflutter about a site that has pretty much the same functionality as a site that's been around for ages and that has tapered off in activity of late.

Also, the Dreamwidth people are smart. Getting an account is by invitation code only (or by pay), so people want one because of the exclusivity. I almost want one (human nature, I suppose), but then I realize that I hardly ever update this, or my blog, so would I actually update another journal on another site, especially one where I would be starting with no contacts? I don't think so.

As an Apple enthusiast and a feminist, this site makes me want to puke. (They're not really pornographic but I might not click the link at work since some of the ladies are rather skimpily attired.)
UGH, there are so many things wrong with these pictures.

Favourite Quotes

"Don’t let the term “model” fool you – despite being beautiful, Erin Marie boasts some serious geek street cred for a girl her age."

Oh, right, because you can't be an attractive female and know anything about technology, or for that matter have a brain in your head at all.

But worry not, because a quote from one of the other "models" puts us at ease:
“I LOVE Apple products for the design! They are awesome. I don’t know about technical details and I dont want to know about them :D"

Well that's better, isn't it. Barf.

Do certain songs make you feel good or do you only listen to these certain songs when you're already in a good mood?

I ACTUALLY don't know.

P.S. This Persona icon is totally hot awesome and dreadfully underused so I'm using it even if it doesn't really fit my mood at all.

Today on Digg I read this article called What wouldn't you do in front of your spouse? and I couldn't help but go "!!!" at the part of the article that mentioned that it's apparently rude to blow your nose in front of someone else.

And I quote:
"Even if we're out with friends, I'll go to the bathroom to blow my nose," says Odenbach, a media specialist. "If he does that in front of us, I give him a dirty look and say, 'Don't you need to go to the bathroom?'

Oh, and it gets even better in the comments:
Gotta fart, belch, blow your nose? Then do so. But don't be surprised to find yourself living a very solitary life.

So, friends, am I completely rude or are people who go to the bathroom to blow their nose insane? Maybe it's because I often have colds and allergies, but if I didn't blow my nose in front of people sometimes, I'd either be sniffling a lot (which is really irritating) or I'd have snot dripping down my face (which is really disgusting). So, uh, what the fuck?

Now that I am out of school and on vacation, I seem to get out of bed from 12-2pm. I wake up around 11 and just lounge around on the Internets.
Uh oh.

Dear Santa,

I've been good this year. Um, kind of. Anyway, if you could give me some discipline, motivation, and, you know, a life for Christmas this year, I'd really appreciate it. Also if you could overlook the fact that I'm Jewish and don't celebrate Christmas, I'd super appreciate it.

Yours truly, &c.

Apparently public transit in Toronto shouldn't be declared an essential service?

One word: sigh.

Sincerely yours,
Someone who doesn't have access to a car and gets at least somewhat screwed over every time they strike.

I am 22! Happy birthday to me!

I don't update LJ as much as I should because I've actually been fairly unplugged for the last little while, but I wanted to let you know that I had a really great week this week. I was out almost every night this week and although I'm not fully 100% well yet, I am feeling SO much better than I did just a little while ago. (If you forgot, I've been randomly sick for oh, two months now, without knowing what's wrong, because doctors are... special.) I still have good days and bad days but there is definitely a general upward trend. Today I even felt up to taking a fairly long ride on my birthday present (a new bike, from my parents! So nice!). I'm working on some random design stuff quickly and will nip off to sleep soon because I have work in the morning. Yes, I'm working on my birthday. $_$ (Eyes with money symbols in them, if you didn't KNOW.)

I'm off to Montreal next week to visit family - two of my cousins have produced adorable babies this year and I look forward to meeting them. Also, Montreal is awesome and I'm hoping to take in some of the city too, if there's time.

By the way, if you missed my blatant and shameless self promotion, I also have a blog going now... I've been bad and haven't updated it this week, but in case you missed it, here is my art blog at openedeyes.net. I posted a new painting there and I quite like it. It's different than my usual stuff because it features an actual person, and I don't usually paint people.

Speaking of blogs, although I like my domain name (that I've had for over two years now... where has the time gone?), I'm not sure if it's too obscure. Should I also get a domain name that's a firstnamelastname.com kind of deal? Is a random name okay? Who knows. Stuff to think about.

I am at work now. A customer just paid for a pair of headphones in coins. 90 coins. He looked impatient as I counted them.

That reminds me of something I really found refreshing while I was in continental Europe... "the customer" didn't always come first and wasn't always right. In fact, I even sometimes found salespeople talking amongst themselves as they served me. While that would be considered a customer service sin here (and, well, it kind of is), I found the lack of customer-worship and the lack of sucking up to idiots to be a breath of fresh air. Consumers are only worshipped here because they're full of money, and everyone worships money. It's grating. I just want to be able to tell people off! Is that so much to ask?