#50 - Listening to people's music on the train

Everyday on my commute to work on the train there is, without question, at least one person who blasts his/her music from a speaker attached to their phone. And if they don't have a speaker, they sing out to whatever they are listening to in order to grace us with that gift of music.

Stop.


For craps sake, stop!


This is serious enough that is has forced me to break 5 years of silence on this post. Enough already. Nobody wants to hear it. You know who you are.

Dancing to silence is entertaining. Blasting your music for the whole train, filled with tired people starting a hard shift or just ending one, is not.


Ill take the BO before I take the loud kids who think everybody is dying to see what they have to share.

#49 - Why I will never drink another diet soda.

Just kidding. I'll never stop.

#48 - I don't care if the food is "Authentic."

I really don't know why people claim that a food is way better when it is "Authentic." I have had "authentic" Chinese Food, and guess what, I didn't like it. You take your Gelato... Ill keep my Dairy Queen Ice cream.

There... it has been 2 years, but I said it.

#47 - Hunger Games. For all ages?

I just finished the first Hunger Games book last night. If I had to give somebody a BRIEF breakdown of what the book is about I would say...

It is Gory like Gladiator.
Invasive like Truman Show.
The spectators come from Running Man.
It has tragedy like Romeo and Juliet.
It must have some Emo Music somewhere in there.
It has a part that reminds you of Tremors 3.
The ending is like an episode of I saw Star Trek once.
You wont have a clue why people are doing the things they are doing.

...and by the way...

The writer likes to make you read about children getting stabbed with spears and you wont be able to sleep cause you hear them screaming in your head.

Before I get started, let me just state that I DID read the whole thing quickly and it was very engaging. There were things I liked and things I didn't like.

The things I didn't like...

1. As soon as I saw that the writer was going to throw some kind of "love angle" (not a triangle, because that would suggest that Peeta and that Gale, or Greg guy have a thing together too. The 2 boys like the Girl. That is an angle.) I reached deep down for my teenaged love-sick version of girl Dan, but he/she didn't want to show up, and thus didn't care about all the stuff in the cave and the issues the main character had. I guess that is part of the allure of Twilight? But it is not my thing. If there really is a love TRIANGLE in the next book and the 2 boys like each other, that would make things pretty strange, but I still probably wouldn't care much.

2. When it comes to % of time spent watching gory and violent movies compared to other genres, I will submit that that percentage is very very high. I like war and military movies. I don't like teen slice and dice movies. The book reminded me of the latter. I felt very gross after reading the end of the book. I do not want to ever read a book of children stabbing each other with spears and bashing a girls head in with a rock ever again. It is a horrible image to have in your head if you have a vivid imagination. I do not know how people do not have the same images in their head of young teenagers doing that to each other.

3. Did I read about werewolves at the end?

The things that I liked...

1. I was very intrigued by the audience and the people of the Capitol. They are a carbon copy, in a way, to the people in Running Man. They are sick disgusting people with nothing more to do then to satisfy their twisted need to see something disgusting and violent once a year. I was hoping that there would be more of a slap in their face in the book. I think there was meant to be, but it just turned into a Romeo and Juliet moment. I digress. I was reading the book and got excited anytime I got to hear about those people. I had no interest in the actual games itself and tried my best to read quickly through the actual reluctant fighting.

2. I wanted to hear more about what was happening in Districts, namely 11 and 12. But of course, the 1st person style of the book didn't allow much for that. Regardless, I liked the idea of the Districts.

In the end, the book WAS an exciting read but was NOT a read that left me wanting to ever touch the book again, let alone read another one. The book had an engaging story to tell, although it was hard to get past the story-telling style of the writer. Young people wont mind the style so much. I felt confused as to what I was supposed to be feeling. Was I supposed to be hoping for the main character to kill everyone else? No thanks. I was hoping that at the very start of the games they would get together and start some type of uprising, but that never happened. Instead I had to imagine my nieces and nephews 1 by 1 getting dragged away from their parents and families. Then sitting in the cold, crying, screaming in agony and depressed in the dirt as somebody tries to take their life. Do we remember how old 12 to 17 year olds really are? I don't mind the violence. But the writer samurai sliced at my heart strings by making them all that age. I would not recommend this book to anyone who has an extremely vivid imagination and has no problem living out every detail of a story in their imagination.

Not the book for me.

#46 - Are swearwords verbs?

Soooo... I thought curses were meant to be just words you yell out when you stub your toe. But I hear them used all over as verbs and nouns.

Maybe it is time people cut back.

#45 - Radio Ads.

Was driving today and I had the radio on. All of a sudden I heard a gut wrenching crash and people screaming. I slammed my brakes and the guy behind me nearly hit me. I turned the radio down right away and the screaming left. DON'T YOU HATE THAT!?

Why do they make ads that could get you killed!?

Gosh.

#44 - Eye doctor prank.

Just got out from seeing the eye doctor and I fell for it again.

They did 3 tests..

The first test I feel I aced. All I had to do is stare at the little red dot without looking away. Easy.

The third test was a little tougher. I looked at the green dot ad it took pictures of my eye. As far as an endurance challenge, I think I impressed him.

But that middle challenge, I don't know about that one. I can see why they do the first and last one. They are so methodical and careful as they do their tests. But for the 2nd one they sit you down, line up a black nozzle right at your eye and do that stupid puff of air into your eye. I am convinced that it is the big gag.

Next time I go in for the appointment, I am going to stop them at the air puff thing and tell them I am in on the joke.

#43 - Bear Problems.

Children chased away the young bears away at the campground last week.

Later on, a bear was pushing onto the side of a tent and the guy inside punched it in the face!

Cool AND befuddling.

#42 - Coin collecting.

Did you know that f you have an old 1909 Lincoln Penny and it has VDB in tiny letters on the back, you might be sitting on a few thousand dollars? And that isn't even the most valuable one out there. Not at all! People spend hundreds of thousands on old pennies that have been circulated and look beat to heck!

Befuddling. You want some nice pennies? I have a bunch of brand new ones i will give you for free!

#41 - You are missing out.

One of the things that befuddles is when people think that life ends when you get married.

We have all heard it, some have said it...

1. "I would never get married so young. I want to travel."

2. "I would never get married before 30. I love being a bachelor."

3. "I can't get married now. I need to focus on my schooling."

4. "Marraige makes things too complicated and stressful."

Ok... to person #1. Why would anyone want to go on a trip alone?! When you are married, you ALWAYS have a travel partner. You could argue that there is MORE opportunity for travel. I would have never gone to London or other places alone. It is great to have a travel person.

To person #2. Stop fooling yourself. You might like it when you are hanging out with the boys, but do you REALLY like it?

To person #3. You can't go to school when you are married? Weak sauce excuse!

To person #4. It really does solve a lot of the problems and concerns of single life.

To close up, I don't think there is anything wrong with enjoying your youth. But I think it is unbelievable that people look at getting marriage in the light they do. Since being married I have traveled, gone to school, AND have had awesome summers! Holy smokes!

#40 - Ice man.

So,  since I am working at a campground for the summer, I naturally get to meet lots of people. And they all have a name. There is the candy man, the frito-lay man, the water-man, the wood man, the pepsi man and (worst of them all)… the ice man.

He came in. This is the dialogue between us.

Me: "Hey there. You are here to fill the ice-container?"

Ice-guy: "Uh huh."

Me: "Awesome, looks like we just need the one filled for today."

Ice-guy: *sighs* and forrows his brow. "Just one!"

Me: "Yes, please! Those are my instructions."

Ice-guy: "I usually do more than that."

Me: "We just want the one for today."

Ice-guy: *sighs* "Fine. Why haven't you guys put the handle on the ice door! I gave you one about a year ago to put on."

Me: "Sorry?"

Ice-guy: *shakes head* "I don't get it."

Wow. And that is the ice guy. He must have a hard life.

#39 - No offense.

Doesn't "no offense" almost exclusively mean "yes offense?"

Just saying.

#37 and #38- Good ol' days and our youth.

Violent crimes, homicides, and property crimes have steadily decreased in North America since 1993. However, at the same time the media has increased its coverage of these crimes nearly 10-fold. It is only natural for one to think things are getting worse and worse and wish for "the good-old days," but in many ways, those days don't exist. There are so many things which are now better than ever but we are filled with fear because of the media.

It would be silly to be ignorant enough to say that nothing bad is happening in the world. The world is in a constant scary state. But to people even know where the world has been in the last 1000 years?! Our young people today do too much texting, facebook, and video games. "I wish people were like they were in the good-ol' days." However, what were the "good-ol' days like."

How about the trail of tears in 1838? That was some good old days for the Native Americans.

How about how good things were for African Americans people? "2 4 6 8 we don't want to integrate."

Nothing bad happened in the 1940's to 1950's right?

How about the renaissance?

People used to be decent back in the past, right? Not really. There are always nutcases that are doing unspeakable things in the world right now. The media will always let us know this. But as a whole, in North America, crimes ARE decreasing. I believe that it is a wonderful time to be alive.

Sure our children are becoming snobby and detatched. But that could be because things are so good for them right now that they need SOMETHING to push against. I think it is not appropriate behaviour that people are so upset with "children these days." It is silly to think that this generation of youth is worse than they ever have been. Maybe parents are the worst generation of parents that have ever been. They are born into the world we place for them.

Wow, this has been a 2 part befuddlement.

36# - Original Star Trek.

I've been watching the Original Star Trek series again.

Befuddling how entertaining it is.

35# - Clench and bop him one.

This video has gone viral. I am happy for the one who fought bad but also very sad for the bully who will have a hard time shaking that image.

Many 'day-care' people would say, "you should just walk away and tell an adult." Yes, that may work the first time, but if it happens again, something else needs to happen. Be it, telling more adults, or clenching your fist as tight as you can and bopping one. There are people out there that are attacking the bullied boy, Casey, for fighting back. I think that is stupid.

Let me tell you something about being a boy in elementary school. It is different than in high school. In high school, if there is a bully, it is probably because there is something truly disturbed and "mean-spirited" about the individual. You can usually just walk away and things will cool off. But elementary school kids are different. Bully's like this scrawny kid, usually are just trying to be cool. So, they look at 3 potential people to bully and will go after the one who is least likely to do anything back. The passive boys are drawn towards like sharks to blood. Why? Because young bully's are wimpy and don't want to be hurt themselves. Yes, he was going WAY over the line, but it was "a show." I believe that in cases like this, you SHOULD go to the adults to get something fixed. But if that doesn't work? 

Bop in good and bop him hard. There is a good chance you will get a little beat up at that time. But NEXT time, when that same elementary school bully is looking at 3 people to bully, he will not go towards the person that will punch back.

I do not condone fighting, but i will be darned if my boy is going to be continually be bullied without standing up for himself.

p.s - on a side note, I do not think bully videos, like this one, should be glorified. That causes a whole new problem.

34# - Rebecca Black

(Watch the video first before reading.)

This is the worst thing I have seen all month! I feel so bad for this young person. She is setting records for most disliked video of all time! The like:dislike ratio is 1:10. That unheard of!!

First thing, I know this is sounding harsh but it will be a tough career when her nose is exploded out of your head from singing the way she is. This is sounding bad but there needs to be some reality here. You can bash Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber for their music, but at least there is a semblance of something that is listenable to somebody who isn't completely off their rocker!

Did she write this? If somebody is going to promote this poor girl and help her our, start by writing something that isn't fully retarded. It sounds like she is narrating new things that she is learning as they pop into her head.

Yesterday is thursday.
Today is friday.
We we we so excited.
Tomorrow is Saturday.

NO!! Stop! BAD!

I am not helping the cause because I have helped promote it by watching the video a few times. Is she just saying what is going on in her day.

There are so many negative comments in the video that it is impossible to keep up with them because there are millions of people viewing the video each day.

I feel bad for her parents who have exposed this poor girls singing to the world. It is important to love and cheer for your child but it is so important to protect them also.

Befuddling.

#33 - Grab a little person and chuck him.

Sometime in the mid 80's there a sport that emerged that seems so awesome that is hard to fathom how great it would be. 

How great you ask?

This sport would ruin all other sports for you. There would be no interest in any other sport and that whole industry would crash in the wake of this new sport. What is it?

.:Dwarf Tossing!!:.

Starting and made popular in pubs, the rules to dwarf tossing are thus, grab a little person and throw him as far as you can. Awesome. Don't worry though, they are padded and covered in velcro while they are chucked at the velcro-covered walls. They can also make a pretty penny, up to $100,000 a year being tossed.

The world record toss was done in England to a 98 pound who was hurtled 11 feet 5 inches.

Wow… that is crazy. But do you want to know what is befuddling?

Soon after the hype of dwarf tossing was reaching epic proportions, it became banned. The bill proposed a fine of up to $5,000 and imprisonment for up to 6 months.

You know what? If I could get paid to be thrown at velcro, I would. We do with what we got. As long as it was in good spirits, what the heck, lets watch a good old dwarf toss. But, alas, it is not to be.

#32 - Golf (Sports Week)

Not dogging on Golf and the talent people have that play it, but a sport?

You don't have to be the strongest, fastest, most agile.

There are no defenders.

You don't carry your own clubs.

The crowd isn't aloud to TALK during a swing.

A sport? Psssh… befuddling.

#31 - Tennis (Sports week)

Isn't there something truly awesome about sports? The yelling, the hitting, the running, close calls, the chearing, it is all awesome.

But, some sports have me a little baffled. One of these sports is Tennis. I just don't get it.

First point is worth 15.
Second is worth 15.
Next is worth 10.
Next is… not really sure but 0 points is "love."

Why isn't it just 0 points, 1 points, another 1 point , another 1 point, you win.

I could even handle if every point was worth 15. But why is it changed up? In basketball, different shots at different times and areas are worth different points. Same goes for football. Why do they need to change from 15 to 10? And why "love." Just say "0".

Awe well. Not a huge thing but it still is a little strange. Even if it IS tradition, what was the guy 500 years ago thinking?

30# - Poopy dilemna.

(Submitted by Thomas.)

"Hey Dan, I was thinking its pretty befuddling when I go into a restroom and there is some poop in the toilet but no toilet paper. What did they wipe with haha? Its weird to me."

It's weird to all of us Thomas, it's weird to all of us.