KAZAM

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I always identified with Calvin as a child (I suppose you could say I still do), and this strip pretty much sums up what being a kid like Calvin is like. Constantly feeling out of sync with the rest of the world, and thus retreating to the world you create for yourself in your mind. If you think about it, Calvin was really quite an anomaly in popular entertainment -- not just in comics, but in anything, be it movies, TV, etc. He has no friends, and no extracurricular activities; the only people he ever sees are his parents, who he has a strained relationship with, and Moe, Susie, Rosalyn, and Miss Wormwood, all of whom he detests and all of whom detest him. The only person he ever has any real interaction with exists only in his head. He is, for all intents and purposes, completely alone. And he's fine with that. The kind of kid most people would entirely ignore all through school is not generally the kind you make the star of your show, and yet the strip became hugely successful.

I know that people of all ages enjoyed Calvin and Hobbes, but I have to think that it meant even more to those of us who grew up with him. Going to school every day and seeing all the ways we didn't fit in, it was nice to see someone like us, who was intelligent and independent, and didn't need to be a smile-plastered Mouseketeer to enjoy life. Though numerous motivational posters and guidance councelors and after-school specials had said it again and again, it was Calvin who managed to truly express the idea -- without being preachy, without being sappy, perhaps even without trying -- that it was okay to be different.

-quoted from Progessive Boink

A Tale of Whoa

Gather round all ye xangarians and listen to my tale of whoa.

A much-awaited package arrived at my doorstep the other day. Judging from the packaging, I ascertained that it contained my recent order from Urban Outfitters. As I ripped open the parcel, I was utterly dismayed to come upon a striped hoodie.

"I ordered no such item!" I sorely excliamed. "Alas! They must have switched up my order!" I lamented.

However, upon further excavation of the box did I discover the extent of my purchase intact. But what of the aforementioned, unexpected hoodie? 'Twas in my size, although I definitely did not order it. Examination of the packing slip revealed it's omission from the invoice. And then it dawned on me:

I guess I just scored a free $76 Paul Frank hoodie. Oh whoa is me.

Aside: I think I've been watching too much Deadwood -- hence the strange language with which this entry was written. My apologies.

The Wild Side

It's time to throw caution to the wind--no more holding back. I'm going to take a walk on the wild side, kick ass and take no prisoners. Life just isn't worth living without a little risk and danger.

From this moment forward, I'm going to start doing Sudoku with a pen.

Yeah, I know. I'm a badass.

The Mosquito Sound

I haven't blogged in a while, but I thought this definitely warranted an entry:

Mosquito is a high-pitched sound "audible only to teenagers" sold by Britain's Compound Security. It is sold to shopkeepers to use as a teenager repellent -- the idea is to play it loudly in and around shops and "chase away those annoying teenagers!!!"

The kids have reportedly converted the high-pitched noise and turned it into a ringtone, which, being inaudible to grownups, can then be used to receive texts and calls in class without alerting teachers.

Link to article

That's pretty clever of the kids. But what intrigues me more: is this sound actually legit? A bit of research unearthed this mysterious sound. It sounded a little fishy to me so of course, I, being the thorough journalist that I am, began testing it on people. I played it for friends and coworkers. The results were surprising. It seems that the sound is legit. But the claim that it only works on teenagers is a little muddy.

Two of my coworkers (aged 23 and 25) plus myself could hear the sound. The rest of my coworkers (one aged 26 and the rest 30+) were unable to hear it. Three of my friends (aged 23) were unable to hear it. I haven't actually tried it on any teenagers yet, but that's what this entry is for. Let me know if you can hear it!

Note: If all you can hear are waves, cars, laughs, etc. then you're an old fogey. Sorry! If you're "young" enough to hear it, then you'll recognize the sound as soon as you hear it.

Bottom line: I'm still young at heart (and apparently at ears as well).

Negligent Flushers

Nothing is less appealing (read: gross) than approaching a urinal filled with liquids of various shades of green and yellow.

Thanks to modern urinal technology, this doesn't happen too often anymore in highly trafficked public bathrooms. The sensor in the urinal will flush your excretions for you. But for those urinals without the convenience of a blinking red light, there are always pools of dark yellow urine. I will not be discussing other disgusting features of the urinal (i.e. stray curly hairs, ice cubes, gum wads, urinal cakes, etc.) in this post--that is a discussion for another day. Today, we are dealing with negligent flushers.

Flush your urinals gentlemen. I am not fond of breathing in the musky odor of your urine when I approach a urinal, neither am I amused by the shade of your piss. Also, when I'm at a urinal, there is usually a strong desire to release the pressure on my bladder; wasting time to flush your pee down the drain is time I can not afford. Flushing negligence is also a sign of hand-washing negligence. If you don't bother reaching out and pulling the handle, I'm sure you also don't bother stopping to wash your hands. That's just un-hygienic and gross. So please, next time you're at an un-sensored (word play!) urinal, please remember to flush and wash your hands. For God's sake, think of the children!

Thank you.

PS. I know this is too much to ask, but when you're peeing at a toilet, please lift the toilet seat before you pee. Seeing little yellow droplets (wet and dry) on the toilet seat isn't fun. Neither is it fun for an unsuspecting person to come and sit in your pee. And when at someone else's house, please place the toilet seat back down. It's just common courtesy.