First, I’d like to announce that tomorrow is my husband, Rick’s, birthday. Have a great day, Rick! The birds and I love you! We’re one happy flock!
And now on to the regularly scheduled entry:
I’m a radical non-conformist. That’s one thing about me that hasn’t changed in the 16 years since college graduation (or the 20 years from high school graduation). Ask anybody, and they’ll tell you that they don’t know what beat I march to, but it’s not any drum they can hear. Make the opinion a “popular” one, and I’m more likely to reject it – or at least put it under fierce scrutiny to see if it’s logical or makes sense. If there’s one thing I’ve always been proud of, it’s my authenticity. For example:
· When I was buying a new car in 2006, I immediately dismissed the Toyota Camry as an option based on a commercial. It was store security store camera where the announcer said “attention shoppers, a Toyota Camry has it’s lights on in the parking
lot” and everybody left the store. They prided themselves on having the most popular car in America. And I said hell no, I don’t want to drive the same car that everybody else drives. I refused to even stop to look at a Toyota lot because of that stupid commercial.
· Everybody loves San Francisco, and I’ll agree that it’s an intriguing place. I’d love to take Rick there someday. But frankly, it was too cold for my liking. 55 degrees in early September darn near sent me into shock. My sinuses didn’t care for it too much either, as I got the worse nosebleed I’ve ever had the day after I arrived. A lot of people tell me that’s their favorite place in the world. To each their own. It was interesting, but frankly it was a city that was a bit too crowded for me. I was more impressed with the nature, sunshine, and wide, open spaces of Arizona.
· I don’t care for high heel shoes. At 5’1” I could wear stilts and still not fool anyone. It won’t help, so why bother with the sore legs and achy knees. No thanks. In fact, I refuse to wear shoes with more than a 2 inch heel. It’s a compromise (but not one I make often).
· I refuse to color my hair (at this point in my life). People keep telling me I should get my hair highlighted, but I like my hair darker. I used to get natural highlights when I was in marching band in high school and college and I hated it. It might
have looked good to others, but it was dried out and frizzy, and I fought it and hated the color every day. Until I go grey, no color. And then, no blonde. I accept what the Lord gave me, so the rest of the world can darn well get over it.
· I don’t own a flat iron. I don’t need one. My hair is straighter than pine straw. And it won’t hold a curl either, so I gave up on that too.
· I don’t like the telephone. Frankly, I think it’s the most abused invention ever. People pick it up to ask stupid questions that they could answer themselves if they put their brain on it for 2 minutes. Or worse yet, to jabber about pointless things and waste inordinate amounts of time. Seriously, people use the telephone as a “surrogate brain.” Progress, my butt. That invention has kicked us down a couple of notches on the evolutionary scale. I pray computers and the Internet can pull us back up by the bootstraps before too much deterioration sets in.
· I don’t think that print media will ever die. And believe it or not, it’s not because of the absurd “paper holdouts” that gripe about the evils of technology. Rather, there’s just too much already out there in the way of books, magazines and newspapers. The world can go more digital, but I don’t see a day where we’ll do away with all paper forever. Frankly, I think we’d already be there if that were a real trend. I believe digital print will take over a majority market share, and will certainly transition to the preferred method of print media. But no, books, magazines and newspapers won’t go away. They might go the way of cassette
tapes – rare, but not extinct.
· Dogs might be man’s best friend, but this woman’s best friends have always been birds. I’ve never had a dog. It’s always been birds for me, because they’re more sociable, they’re happy, and they live longer. Much longer. Case in point: our oldest sun conure, Zack, is 13 years old, and he’s outlived 3 of my parents’ cats.
· My laptop is pink. So is the mouse. And my phone case. And my work ID is on a lanyard with pink beads. Hey, everybody else has black, white or silver everything. There’s no question which stuff is mine!
I could go on for quite a while but I think one thing is already clear – I make up my own mind about what I like and appreciate in life. And if it’s contrary to popular opinion, so much the better. I don’t have a problem with being unique. In fact, I prefer it that way. How can you be authentic if you’re just like everybody else?
That’s all today. Take care and have a great rest of the week.
Bye!
And now on to the regularly scheduled entry:
I’m a radical non-conformist. That’s one thing about me that hasn’t changed in the 16 years since college graduation (or the 20 years from high school graduation). Ask anybody, and they’ll tell you that they don’t know what beat I march to, but it’s not any drum they can hear. Make the opinion a “popular” one, and I’m more likely to reject it – or at least put it under fierce scrutiny to see if it’s logical or makes sense. If there’s one thing I’ve always been proud of, it’s my authenticity. For example:
· When I was buying a new car in 2006, I immediately dismissed the Toyota Camry as an option based on a commercial. It was store security store camera where the announcer said “attention shoppers, a Toyota Camry has it’s lights on in the parking
lot” and everybody left the store. They prided themselves on having the most popular car in America. And I said hell no, I don’t want to drive the same car that everybody else drives. I refused to even stop to look at a Toyota lot because of that stupid commercial.
· Everybody loves San Francisco, and I’ll agree that it’s an intriguing place. I’d love to take Rick there someday. But frankly, it was too cold for my liking. 55 degrees in early September darn near sent me into shock. My sinuses didn’t care for it too much either, as I got the worse nosebleed I’ve ever had the day after I arrived. A lot of people tell me that’s their favorite place in the world. To each their own. It was interesting, but frankly it was a city that was a bit too crowded for me. I was more impressed with the nature, sunshine, and wide, open spaces of Arizona.
· I don’t care for high heel shoes. At 5’1” I could wear stilts and still not fool anyone. It won’t help, so why bother with the sore legs and achy knees. No thanks. In fact, I refuse to wear shoes with more than a 2 inch heel. It’s a compromise (but not one I make often).
· I refuse to color my hair (at this point in my life). People keep telling me I should get my hair highlighted, but I like my hair darker. I used to get natural highlights when I was in marching band in high school and college and I hated it. It might
have looked good to others, but it was dried out and frizzy, and I fought it and hated the color every day. Until I go grey, no color. And then, no blonde. I accept what the Lord gave me, so the rest of the world can darn well get over it.
· I don’t own a flat iron. I don’t need one. My hair is straighter than pine straw. And it won’t hold a curl either, so I gave up on that too.
· I don’t like the telephone. Frankly, I think it’s the most abused invention ever. People pick it up to ask stupid questions that they could answer themselves if they put their brain on it for 2 minutes. Or worse yet, to jabber about pointless things and waste inordinate amounts of time. Seriously, people use the telephone as a “surrogate brain.” Progress, my butt. That invention has kicked us down a couple of notches on the evolutionary scale. I pray computers and the Internet can pull us back up by the bootstraps before too much deterioration sets in.
· I don’t think that print media will ever die. And believe it or not, it’s not because of the absurd “paper holdouts” that gripe about the evils of technology. Rather, there’s just too much already out there in the way of books, magazines and newspapers. The world can go more digital, but I don’t see a day where we’ll do away with all paper forever. Frankly, I think we’d already be there if that were a real trend. I believe digital print will take over a majority market share, and will certainly transition to the preferred method of print media. But no, books, magazines and newspapers won’t go away. They might go the way of cassette
tapes – rare, but not extinct.
· Dogs might be man’s best friend, but this woman’s best friends have always been birds. I’ve never had a dog. It’s always been birds for me, because they’re more sociable, they’re happy, and they live longer. Much longer. Case in point: our oldest sun conure, Zack, is 13 years old, and he’s outlived 3 of my parents’ cats.
· My laptop is pink. So is the mouse. And my phone case. And my work ID is on a lanyard with pink beads. Hey, everybody else has black, white or silver everything. There’s no question which stuff is mine!
I could go on for quite a while but I think one thing is already clear – I make up my own mind about what I like and appreciate in life. And if it’s contrary to popular opinion, so much the better. I don’t have a problem with being unique. In fact, I prefer it that way. How can you be authentic if you’re just like everybody else?
That’s all today. Take care and have a great rest of the week.
Bye!
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