Straight from my brain to your computer screen

[vovat]

And now for a few things I've been thinking about recently, in the form of an orderly numbered list (well, maybe not THAT orderly, but at least the numbers are all in the correct order):

1. Has anyone ever considered that the title and lyrics of the They Might Be Giants children's song "Fibber Island" might actually be bad for kids, since they equate using your imagination with fibbing? Isn't it important for kids to know the difference? But then, what do I know from kids?

2. I know I differ from some people (including bethje, who told me that she wished she'd gone to another Spice Girls concert in addition to the one we saw last week) in that I generally don't consider it worthwhile to see the same basic concert twice. Sure, there are usually a few differences between each show, but I tend to figure that once is enough until the setlist has been altered considerably. I'm still kind of bitter about the New Year's 2006 TMBG shows that the band claimed would be totally different, but ended up being almost exactly the same. I guess it wouldn't bother me as much if there were, like, a week or so in between the two basically-the-same shows, but it still seems like I could make better use of my money elsewhere.

3. Beth likes to get the Turbo Ice at Dunkin' Donuts, and the clerk often insists on calling it an "Ice Turbo." I know English isn't the first language of most of the people who work there, but knowing the menu of the place where you work isn't exactly the same as learning an entire language. And it's not like "Turbo Ice," despite being made up of English words, really makes much more sense in English than it does in any other tongue.

4. Some fast food drive-thrus (but not Dunkin' Donuts, at least not around here) use those screens that tell you what you've ordered, which I think is a good idea. What I don't get is why they don't always turn them on. Or do they tend to malfunction a lot?

5. When I was trying to turn around on a road recently, I saw a business parking lot that looked like a good place to make a U-turn, but they had a sign specifically saying you couldn't make one there. Now, I don't want to sound like the Five Man Electrical Band here, but it isn't like I wanted to stay there for any length of time, just drive in and right back out again. Isn't it a little self-important to insist that no one can do that? On the other hand, if it were a private residence, I would probably side with them, because it's kind of creepy to have someone turn around in your driveway.

6. I learned the other day that Ruth Plumly Thompson wrote a story in which Sir Solomon Tremendous Wise invented a lossless umbrella, and wrote some other times that it would be a nice thing to have. Apparently Thompson had the same problem with umbrellas that I do.

And in case you haven't had enough of numbers yet, here's a 60-question survey that I got from petie_s:

1. What is in the back seat of your car right now? Beth's old taxation textbook, and a box of tissues
2. When was the last time you threw up? I think it might have been when I was in Albuquerque in January 2005. The American Southwest is apparently bad for my digestive system.
3. What's your favorite curse word? Belgium
4. Name 3 people who made you smile today? I haven't even interacted with three people yet today, and I'm not sure I will.
5. What were you doing at 8 am this morning? Sleeping, or at least trying to sleep. I keep waking up early even when I went to bed late and have nothing to get up for.
6. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Reading my friends page
7. What will you be doing 3 hours from now? Probably hanging out with Beth, assuming she's up by then.
8. Have you ever been to a strip club? No, but I've been to a burlesque show. I like to pretend that's classier, but I don't know that everyone would agree.
9. What is the last thing you said aloud? I don't even know. Something to Dorothea about her dog, maybe.
10. What is the best ice cream flavor? Peach
11. What was the last thing you had to drink? Orange juice
12. What are you wearing right now? My They Might Be Giants Presidents T-shirt, khaki pants, and light blue underwear. I think I might have been wearing at least the same shirt when I took another survey that asked this question.
13. What was the last thing you ate? A Myers chicken pot pie. Myers makes the best frozen pot pies, but the grocery store I go to most often doesn't carry them.
14. Have you bought any new clothing items this week? Nope.
15. When was the last time you ran? Not all that recently, unless it was just for a brief time in the middle of walking.
16. What's the last sporting event you watched? I'm not sure I've ever watched a sporting event all the way through.
17. What is one thing you could totally live without doing? Hiccuping. That's petie_s's answer, but I'm just going to keep it, because I definitely agree.
18. Who is the last person you emailed? My supervisor, I think.
19. Ever go camping? Yes, but not recently.
20. Do you have a tan? At this time of year?
21. What is your guilty pleasure? Hot Pockets and Super Mario Bros. cartoons
22. What kind of foundation do you use? I don't build buildings. Or is this like that parable about the foolish man who built his house on sand? The rains came down and the floods went up?
23. Who is your cell phone service provider? AT&T, unfortunately, since they don't get very good reception in this area. I'm stuck with them for a few more months, though.
24. Do you drink your soda from a straw? I do at restaurants.
25. What did your last IM say? No idea. I hardly even sign on to AIM these days. Whenever I do, nobody else is on anyway.
26. Are you someone's best friend? Yes.
27. What are you doing tomorrow? Well, not working, most likely.
28. Where is your mom right now? I don't know. Probably either at home or at work.
29. Look to your left, what do you see? Floral wallpaper
30. What color is your watch? The display is surrounded by black, and the band (which I've had to replace at least once) is metallic gray. I actually got another watch for Christmas, so I might switch it up sometime.
31. What do you think of when you think of Australia? Kangaroos, crocodiles, spiders, and lozenger8
32. Would you consider plastic surgery? I doubt I could ever afford it, but I wouldn't necessarily rule it out, especially if I were somehow disfigured.
33. What is your birthstone? Topaz
34. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? Usually the drive-thru, but it depends on whether I'm in a hurry to get somewhere else.
35. How many kids do you want? Zero
36. Do you have a dog? No, but I live with one.
37. Last person you talked to on the phone? Beth
38. Have you met anyone famous? A few times, but most of them were just really brief encounters where they signed something. My two best celebrity meetings were with Carolyn Mark and Robin Goldwasser, neither of whom are really all that famous in the grand scheme of things.
39. Any plans today? No, although I'll probably watch American Idol tonight. Maybe that's something else I should have included in my "guilty pleasures" answer.
40. How many states have you lived in? Just two. Well, if you want to be technical about it (and you know I do), I've lived in every state I've been in. I just didn't have homes in any but two of them.
41. Ever go to college? Yes, and graduate school as well.
42. Where are you right now? Sitting at the computer. Where did you expect?
43. Biggest annoyance in your life right now? My work situation
44. Last song listened to? Queen - Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy
45. What do you wash first in the shower? I think I usually start around the shoulder area, but I'm not sure. Maybe I'll check next time I shower.
46. Are you allergic to anything? I get some pretty bad allergies in the spring, presumably to pollen.
47. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time? My brown Land's End moccasins. I probably need some new ones pretty soon.
48. Are you jealous of anyone? Yes, but only for specific things. I can't think of anyone else I wish I could be.
49. Sweet foods or Salty? I guess salty, unless you're talking about fruit. I'm more into sweet drinks than sweet foods.
50. Is anyone jealous of you? I doubt it.
51. What time is it? 12:26 PM
52. Do any of your friends have children? Well, it certainly seems to have been pretty common among my LJ friends as of late.
53. Do you eat healthy? Yeah, right.
54. What do you usually do during the day? Depends on the day. Go to work if I'm supposed to, but otherwise mostly spend time on the computer.
55. Do you hate anyone right now? I'm sure I do, but I'm not actively experiencing hatred for anyone at the moment.
56. Do you use the word 'hello' daily? I think so.
57. Favorite time of the day? Afternoon, generally
58. How old will you be turning on your next birthday? 31
59. Have you ever been to Six Flags? Yeah, I had a season pass at Great Adventure for two years in a row.
60. How did you get one of your scars? I got some scars when I jumped off my bike as a kid. Pretty dumb thing to do, but I felt I'd lost control of it. Bike riding was always pretty scary for me, but I sometimes think I should try it again.

Comments

[travspence.livejournal.com]

You know, in some languages the adjective does follow the noun instead of preceding it like it does in English.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

True, but that's not how the item is written on the menu, is it?

[travspence.livejournal.com]

I'm just saying that if you are in the habit of putting the adjective after the noun it might not be easy to switch gears.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

That's fair. I'm not sure "ice" is even really a noun in that case (isn't it essentially short for "iced coffee," making "coffee" the noun?), but I think that would just be quibbling. {g}

[kristenjarrod.livejournal.com]

>>3. Beth likes to get the Turbo Ice at Dunkin' Donuts, and the clerk often insists on calling it an "Ice Turbo." I know English isn't the first language of most of the people who work there, but knowing the menu of the place where you work isn't exactly the same as learning an entire language. And it's not like "Turbo Ice," despite being made up of English words, really makes much more sense in English than it does in any other tongue.<<

This reminds me of two things.

One: Back when there was Eckerd, the cashier at this one I hit almost every day would say at the end of the transaction, "thank you for shopping at Eckerds. Eckerd-S". It's Eckerd. Not with an "s" afterwards.

Two: Ok, this is related to the "S" thing, sorta. The guys in my electricity class still call my teacher, "Mr. Forrester", instead of "Mr. Forrest". It's February. One guy still does this and he's had him for two semesters.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I think there might be some business names to which I always unthinkingly add S's to the end, even though I know they aren't supposed to be there. I don't think I do that if I worked at any of those places, though.

It's sort of like how everyone insists on referring to Zelda 2 as "Adventures of Link," when it's actually just "The Adventure of Link." He apparently only has one adventure in that particular game. {g}

[bethje.livejournal.com]

Two: Ok, this is related to the "S" thing, sorta. The guys in my electricity class still call my teacher, "Mr. Forrester", instead of "Mr. Forrest". It's February. One guy still does this and he's had him for two semesters.

That reminds me of this one professor I had a couple years ago. He was the kind who would randomly ask his students a question to see if they were following along. One time he looked in my directions and asked a question to a "Miss Ellison." First I thought he said Melissa, which isn't me, so I sat there waiting for this person to answer. Eventually, he moved on, and then I realized he meant me (my last name is Ellis, in case you didn't know), and then I felt like a stupid person for not saying something. I still cringe when I think about that and what everyone else must have been thinking for him to ask me a question and I just sat there.

[yosef.livejournal.com]

One of my teachers last year called me "John" after I gave a presentation, even though my name is Joe and I said so (as required!) at the beginning of my speech. This was like week 15 though, so I decided it was pointless to correct him.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

1. I actually DID have this exact thought while listening to it just last week! And I have a degree in elementary education, so what you know from kids is, well, what I'm thinking in that same case, so it can't be that far off. Anyway, I was thinking "Tall Tale Island" would be more accurate, but I guess is less musical.

3. Maybe there was a comma in there. "Ice, Turbo." The register has all the "Ices" listed together, like, with the qualifying words coming after.

4. I have seen this happen (or more accurately fail to happen) lots of times myself, probably more times than I've seen them work, and I rarely even use drive-thrus.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

1. There's kind of a nice ring to "Fibber Island," which I guess is at least part of why they used it. "Tall Tale Island" doesn't sound bad either, though.

3. You know, I'd say that's a definite possibility.