"OMG I'M GOING TO MISS YOU SO MUCH"

The other day I was walking to class and I noticed a couple hugging each other as if the world was about to end. It was one of those scenes you see at the airport where one person is flying halfway across the world for 6 months and they won't be able to speak because they'll be 7 hours apart...but in the middle of my sidewalk. And all I could think to myself was, really, you've probably spent the last 3+ hours together, and you now have to go sit in a room for 50 minutes where you have complete ability to whip out your phone and text the whole time, and you're going to cry about it?



So today's award goes to THOSE couples...the ones who can't stand to be apart for an hour and want everyone in public to know it. It doesn't matter that they spend every waking moment together and have lost sight of their friends, their teachers are interfering with valuable memory time that they could be making. And the public displays of affection...people are only bothered by them because they WISH they had a boyfriend/girlfriend to make out with in front of everyone else. So what if I shed a few tears each time we leave...I LOVE him/her! Even though our age probably still has a "teen" tacked on to the end of it, he/she is the ONE!



Thank you, THAT couple, for putting me in an even better state of mind to go to class.

"I sometimes think that God in creating man somewhat overestimated his ability." -Oscar Wilde

Day 4-Your parents

Sometimes it gets confusing explaining my parents. My mom and dad got divorced when I was very young, and since both are remarried I find myself making the general comment of "parents" to mean any combination of people who raised me.

My mother (and by association stepfather) is Susan. She is a lawyer for UF, and exactly like me in many ways. Besides being almost identical, I think it is safe to say I don't have to look far to see where I got my stubbornnes, my determination, and my firm belief that I can do anything, and hearing that I can't is just going to push me farther. She married Bill when I was 7, and they have my sister Rachel (tomorrow's post), who is almost entirely the opposite of me. My mom's biggest personality quirk is that she is addicted to crafting (a skill I did not inherit) and has been expanding her crafting collection since I was about 8 years old. It doesn't seem to mesh with her lawyer persona, and I think one day she will probably quit and go into crafting full-time (as if that is a real job). She makes really good spaghetti and has recently developed a taste for Kahlua.



My father (and by association stepmother) is J. He lives in the mountains of North Carolina (which I HATE) and lives a much slower lifestyle than I do. From him I inherit my extremely low tolerance for stupid people, something that he is learning to control while I am simply learning to blog about it. His expertise is computers, and he has recently developed a fondness for the Linux operating system, which I refuse to use because I am happy with mac. Though born and raised in the beaches of Florida, he claims that 6 years in North Carolina has made him appreciate "seasons" and "cold weather" which I cannot tolerate either. He married Kasha when I was 15 and she is from Maryland (much more of that "seasons" and "cold weather"). My dad loves fixing up old computers (and fixing mine when I overload it) and creating websites, but actually has a degree in accounting (which I am dropping this semester). It is difficult when I visit him because his sleeping hours are between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., and I never want to see that side of 5 a.m.

Day 3-Your first love

I don't pretend to ever have been in love. I'm 21 years old and I can barely commit to a major for long enough to graduate (psychology stuck mostly because UF stops allowing you to change after a certain point in your degree). So I think it's safe to say my first love was probably an animal, or an inanimate object that I wouldn't leave behind.

If you can love something inanimate, I will give my first love to the sheepskin blanket I was given when I was a baby. For some reason, instead of liking the wool side, I liked the scratchy other side better, which years later I would say was because it gets cold. Each edge of the blanket had a different feel, and there was one side I preferred to all the others. I remember times in life thinking I was too old to sleep with it anymore, and breaking that habit. The first summer I was at camp I cut a small corner off to carry around with me (which I immediately regretted). But even without the constant companionship of the blanket, I know that if anything were to happen to it I would be devastated.

So I guess that's love. I'll see if I can find a picture anywhere to add to this.

Day 2-Meaning behind your blog name

The meaning behind my blog name is both simple and complicated.

Essentially, it means In My Humble Opinion.

Last week, I was shopping for a birthday present for my best friend when I happened upon a journal called "In my humble opinion." I was intrigued by its bright orange color and catchy font, but it won me over permanently with its opening line. "Other people are so annoying."

This journal reminded me of last spring, when I began to spend a lot of time with one of the Jewish educators at our Hillel. I have never been accused of having weak opinions, but this woman pointed out to me one day that whenever I start a rant with "let's be honest," I always end up making a long, well-thought out argument about a subject that I feel strongly about. She suggested at that point that I start a blog about these feelings, and one day maybe even write a book.

That is the story behind my blog name.

30 Day Blog Challenge and Day 1

To push myself to blog more, I have stolen this 30 day blog challenge from one of the other blogs I have been paroozing recently. We'll see if this motivates me to be more involved in this and maybe begin a habit (which supposedly takes 30 days) that I finally dedicate a piece of time to this on a regular basis.

Day 1-Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts

Day 2-Meaning behind your blog name

Day 3-Your first love

Day 4-Your parents

Day 5-Your siblings

Day 6-A picture of something that makes you happy

Day 7-Favorite movies

Day 8-A place you've traveled to

Day 9-A picture of your friends

Day 10-Something you're afraid of

Day 11-Favorite tv shows

Day 12-What you believe

Day 13-Goals

Day 14-A picture you love

Day 15-Bible verse

Day 16-Dream house

Day 17-Something you're looking forward to

Day 18-Something you regret

Day 19-Something you miss

Day 20-Nicknames

Day 21-Picture of yourself

Day 22-Favorite city

Day 23-Favorite vacation

Day 24-Something you've learned

Day 25-Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs

Day 26-Picture of your family

Day 27-Pets

Day 28-Something that stresses you out

Day 29-3 Wishes

Day 30-a picture

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Day 1-Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts

My name is Emily, I am a senior at the University of Florida and I have zero direction in life. Here's my attempt at 15 interesting facts:

1. I changed my major four times. (Biology, Public Relations, English, Psychology)

2. I played piano for 11 years, as well as flute, drums clarinet and voice. I seriously considered pursuing music school but...

3. I have serious carpal and ulnar damage in both of my hands.

4. I am actually from Gainesville, FL, and I don't live with my parents.

5. I struggle with a severe identity crisis--being raised both in a southern environment and of a Jewish background. These two things often clash, but I can throw back some manischewitz while listening to the best of Rascal Flatts any day.

6. I love three things in life--harry potter, gator football and hugh jackman.

7. I have been working at the same summer camp for 4 years. The people I have met there have been the most life changing of any of the people I've ever met.

8. I thrive off of my planner and being obscenely busy.

9. While my wardrobe consists of mostly black, white and gray, Lilly Pulitzer dresses are my kryptonite.

10. One day I aspire to do a climb for cancer, and hopefully scale the seven summits in my lifetime.

11. I have been seriously addicted to caffeine since I was 13 years old. I don't have any plans to get over it.

12. I set out to make a phenomenal bloody mary this fall after visiting New Orleans and this bar 3 times...and then I did.

13. My new obsession is the food network...Giada at home...and learning how to cook very well. I am coming from a background of being able to make Ramen noodles...in the microwave.

14. I am also on a quest to have a full appreciation of alcohol. The process, the different types and the ways it can be incorporated into food. I might head for culinary school.

15. I don't like the cold weather. Or South Florida. So I might be stuck here forever.

Going to the phone store

Cell phones have revolutionized the world we live in. Not only are we at all times able to reach the people that we want, but we are able to access phone, internet, voicemail and email from wherever we happen to be. All of this has caused the 20-somethings of the world to ditch the land line...why pay for it? Land lines are wired, have small ranges, cannot travel with you, and you have to pay extra for caller id and long distance.

So yes, when my phone freezes, it is an issue.

Today's questionable human award goes out to the people who work in the cell-phone store:

No, ma'am, I cannot wait 48 hours for a new phone.

Yes, sir, it is an inconvenience to me to drive out here once you've sent me my new phone so that I can transfer all of my important data on to the next one, especially since I drove out here today for you to tell me to make a phone call.

No, it is not acceptable for you to hand me a phone number that connects me to someone in a different time zone, who cannot physically see my phone to fix it for me, to guide me through the process of fixing my phone, which is something people get paid to do, so you better be paying me anyway.

And no, I do not have 45 minutes to spare, nor do I have a place to call from, because as previously stated, I have no land line and my phone is broken!

And to the man in the different time zone fixing my phone, here's second place. Because while you may think I hung up on you out of frustration (although I would never do that because that would result in me still having a broken phone), the call was in fact dropped. And though it seemed as though you had such personal customer service, I do not know your name, nor do I have your cell phone number to call you back on.

Thanks.

"Hell is other people."

-Jean-Paul Satre

problembility

People always wonder why the donut falls frosting side down...always. Why, in a school of 50,000, one can end up in not only a class, but a group of 11 with their ex-boyfriend. How it happens that in a sea of 90,000 screaming gators, the last person you want to see in the world is not only seated in the same section as you, but 10 rows in front of the exact seat that you're in (also giving them a better seat). And also consequently, why you attend such events expecting to see the one person you want attention from.

Running the numbers and learning the physics behind it will only confuse you. The only real way to explain this phenomenon is problembility.

Problembility is most simply the probability that whatever will cause you the most problems will happen to you. Often, these situations are unanticipated. For example, not thinking that in a city of 800,000 you are going to be driving by the one boy you're seeing with another boy in the car. Sometimes, there is an obvious sign. But always, there is a high level of problem and a low level of probability.

In further news, I am thinking of asking a statistician to run the numbers on some of my funnier situations. Stay tuned.