This was not my original blog idea, but I couldn't help writing this out as I was reading through applicants' forms to obtain a scholarship: People do not know how to write.

I am not saying that no one can make mistakes; everyone does, myself included. But how can you write a 4-page essay (the instructions clearly said one-page, 850 words max.) without reading it over? Or how can you read it over and not notice that -

- you spelled course "coarse". Twice.
- there is no verb in your "sentence".
- a question requires a question mark. Otherwise it's nothing, really, except a poorly constructed sentence.
- When you cite people, or books, say what or who they are. You can't say "bla bla blah" (John Coarvuzi) and expect people to know who that person is. Or "something or other using I to speak about yourself even though you're clearly not the one talking, because why would you quote yourself in your own essay?" (Johnson). Who the hell is Johnson?!
-If you say something like "taking care of him while his health discengrated slower and then quicker than a fly dies. it let me realize life prescious", maybe you should think about the fact that most people don't know how long it takes for a fly to die. I know I don't.

It just really bothers me that so many people can't write. I come accross this sometimes when I copy edit for my school newspaper, and often wonder why we let these people write for a publication. Or simply how the authors themselves aren't able to proof-read what they write.

Now let me just make sure I didn't make horrible grammar mistakes in this post.

Decisions, decisions

Life is full of choices that require decision-making. Thus, we find ourselves constantly making decisions, many of them benign but occasionally they require more thought and have more implications. We have become so accustomed to this decision-making process that we don't even notice it most of the time. Should I jaywalk? What bag should I take today? Small or Medium fries? What train car am I going in?

Then, of course, come the more significant decisions. Should I quit my job? What classes should I take? Do I really want to get married? What career do I want? Some of these decisions are life-changing, yet they are imposed on us when we are young. How are we to know what career we want? I remember the process I had to go through when came the time to apply to college. The first step in determining what schools to apply to was to decide what major I wanted to take, hence implying the ever-important question: what do I want to do with my life?

This choice, and the decision that comes with it, is thrown at kids when they are still in high school. How are we supposed to know what we want to do for the rest of our lives, when we have barely started living it? When you are 18, there are other things on your mind, such as boys (or girls, depending on who we're talking about), parties, graduation, fashion, school (in some cases)... But very few people know for sure what they want to do for the remaining 70 years of their lives, roughly. And how should they? To that point in life, we have been exposed to very few things. We take basic classes in school - English, Math, History, Religion. And then we are expected to magically know what to do.

This, added on to the way society works, leads many people to study some field or other in Business. Why? Simple - the money is good. We are pressured in making decisions that will impact the rest of our lives, and with lack of better option opt for the money. Then people are unhappy and life is shite.

Every decision we make affects our life in some way, from crossing the street to choosing a subway car. Those decisions don't make much difference, but we have to be careful when it comes to more important decisions like accepting a random job, or later quitting it.

Giving a whole new meaning to "Staying zipped up"

I'm starting to find it hard to blog at work, as I dread one of my bosses, commonly known (to me) as SB for Scary Boss. Though she really gives me no work to do, I don't have an office and my back is to the hallway, so anyone who passes by can see what is on my screen (rarely work).

But this is too good not to share. (Incidentally SB just came by as I wrote this. I tried to subtly change the window...) So recently the company I work for had some jerseys done for a bike tour coming up in the fall. One of my young coworkers just received his today by mail, so he came in to see us obviously excited. The jersey is white and, on its front, has the red silhouette of a biker holding his bike up in the air. When he showed three of us the jersey, one of the girls sitting near me cleverly noticed that the zipper ended at a very stragetic place on the man's body.

So the guy wearing the jersey said "oh, it's event worse when you unzip it" before actually unzipping it and having the zipper thing (a white, drop-shapped thing) land right in that strategic place (for the slow ones out there, it was right in the drawing's crotch). We all died laughing, and as the jersey-wearer went around the office, distinct laughter was heard along his trail.

Good times, and Happy Friday!

It must be weird being a baby.

The thought occurred to me the other day when I was walking with my mom and we passed by a baby in a stroller (and his mom, he wasn't just sitting there). The moment we walked by him, my mom started cooing and making faces at him, just like anyone would do. The baby smiled, but I think he was just being a diva who is used to all the attention.

Think about it.

Babies get carried around everywhere, either in a stroller or in litttle pouches on a parent's stomach (that has to be super awkward. I know I couldn't do it...be in the baby's position i mean) so they basically see the world pass them by without doing anything. And they are instant stars. It doesn't matter where they are whisked off to: the grocery store, the park, church, the overcrowded trains... they always manage to be the center of attention. People stare, coo, make faces, make all kinds of gestures, point and whisper... All they have to do is react. Most of the time they laugh, but sometimes they look away (in which case the adult goes "aww! i scared him!!" in a little voice, laughing) or the extreme divas start crying (in which case the adult usually looks away and pretends nothing happened).

It has to be annoying, not being able to go anywhere without getting all that attention. Pretty soon they're going to start ignoring us big people who walk on our own. Actually, that's what todlers do. I think babies are actually smarter than we are: they know how much fun we have "entertaining" them so they react to make us happy. But in fact they are really annoyed at us. I mean it's a theory, and it kept me busy on the train.

I also wonder what it feels like to be a pigeon...