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It's a widely known fact that Gmail is easily the best e-mail provider in existence. Nothing else even comes close. I converted a little more than a year ago and haven't looked back. I can't believe I managed for as long as I did on Yahoo! mail. Ugh.
A couple days ago I found a reason that makes me like Gmail even more. I received an email from CBS Sportsline (which I had signed up for to receive updates on the NCAA men's basketball tournament) updating me on the world of sports. The tournament is dead to me at this point--UConn lost in heartwrenching fashion on George Mason. I have no reason to stay updated on the tournament anymore. I was about to click on a link to unsubscribe to the newsletter when something at the bottom of the email caught my eye.
Gmail wanted to know if I wanted to invite CBS to open a Gmail account. Imagine the power! A lowly college student like me could invite the entire Columbia Broadcasting System (a network that brings us shows like Survivor and CSI) into Gmail!
Nothing else will convince you to join Gmail if that doesn't. I was floored when I saw that. It's fantastic. Let me know if any of you want to open an account. I still have 47 more invites left. Act quick before I spend them all trying to get CBS to join Gmail.
11:30 on a Saturday morning. I've showered but not yet shaved. I haven't really eaten breakfast yet; I'm sitting here in front of my computer munching on a bowl of grapes. I have a fair amount of homework to do--enough that I need to buckle down and do it here soon but not quite enough that it's panicking me just yet. I'm still in that state where I can put the things off that I need to do today and it won't hurt me quite yet. I'm feeling really relaxed - for the first time in days. It's very nice. I'm finally over the cold (for the most part) that has been pestering me all week.
Life is good. It's taken a weird week to teach me that. All I could ask for now is for my back to stop aching quite so much. (I suppose there are some other things that I could do with. Perhaps my commas again.)
Sorry for the lack of creative posts of late. I generally post on the strange and humorous events in my life; nothing of especial interest has happened to me lately. I'll be sure to let you know should something exciting happen to me.
I saw this painted on the back of a truck on the way home from the store today. I swear I'm not making this up.
If this ride's a-rollin'
Don't come a-knockin'
You can try and make sense out of that if you'd like. I couldn't come up with anything.
It's been a strange last few days. I've had some pretty high highs and some pretty low lows. I can't tell you why I've been so up and down recently (I'd have done something about it if I knew what was up). I just know that I've been all over the place. Normally I'm pretty even-keeled. Not this week. I just recently received some really good advice that set my mind at ease though. I suppose part of the problem is that I've been stressing more than usual about my future. I like things to be really planned out for me. Such has not been the case of late. Someone told me yesterday to remember that all I can control is the present. I can safely leave the future in God's hands.
I found that really comforting. There's really no use in stressing unduly about the future. I still have plans for the future. It would be even less logical for me to ignore the future and not plan for it at all. I have a plan for the future but am taking things one step at a time. I can control the present. That's enough for me.
It's not anything big. I just wanted to share it with you all.
I was in a foul mood for most of today. Nothing was going my way. All the little things that normally make my life really good were just turning out wrong. It was awful. Thanks to those who came to my aid. I appreciated it. It's just that I was in a nasty mood and nothing was going to get me out of it.
Except for food. A quick trip to Applebee's with Angry Block served to fix me right up. I set out to mend all of the damage I'd done by being morose after that. I'm really feeling a lot better now.
I'm feeling wonderful right now. Somehow I always seem to when I come home this late. It's a good thing.
This was a day full of seeing Board writers past and present (always a good thing). I studied at the library with Petra for most of the night. I'm always glad to have the chance to do so--it helps keep her from going 'round the bend. That's not something any of us need. I like being able to help people. We ran into L'Afro on the way out. She kept us talking in the library until it was 12:06 and we absolutely had to leave. I spent some time over at Petra's after which I headed home. I decided I was hungry; fortunately Uffish Thought was making ramen and offered to give me some. Who am I to turn down free ramen? I immediately headed over.
I was sitting on Uffish's porch while she was inside fetching some utensils when I saw someone shuffling across the street toward us. He had sort of a wide-eyed stare that completely unnerved me. He also had the air of a drunken person (pun intended). Uffish was quite cordial to him and invited him to sit and talk with us. He seemed friendly enough--he was just really creepy with the way he was speaking and phrasing things. He told us that he was a Presbyterian and that with all the Mormons around one could hardly hear a Hallelujah chorus around here. He felt it was his job to fix that and was going around teaching everyone the Hallelujah chorus. He then asked if we would be so kind as to give him a bit of our ramen. I thought it would be a bit rich of me to offer him some ramen that wasn't even mine in the first place. Uffish was only too happy to give him a bit of ramen (best not to upset a drunk guy) and went inside to fetch him a bowl.
I thought I'd go ahead and introduce myself to him while she was inside. He told me that his name was Joel--although some called him Shaggy. He wasn't quite sure why people called him Joel. If it were his choice he'd just go by the name "Crow." Crow was from Georgia and was telling me about all of the different Greek roots to the city names there (such as Atlanta and Rome). We sat and talked for a while about all sorts of things (all of which were just as random as what he was telling us earlier). At one point he insisted to me that he was a "magic man." That was wild. He even started to sing the lyrics to a Kenny Rogers song to us. He told us that learning this song was his "ticket out of here." Apparently Kenny Rogers will get him out of Provo and into the big time. He ended up singing the whole song to us while finishing off his ramen. After he finished he ended up just stumbling off and singing the song at the top of his lungs. It was all we could do not to burst out laughing while he was still in earshot.
It made for a pretty exciting ending to an already pretty good day.
Welcome to Lent. I haven't ever celebrated (celebrated? observed?) Lent in the past - I'm not Catholic and haven't felt that I really had any pressing sins or shortcomings that I needed to give up. This year will be different; I finally have something to give up. I was discussing the matter with Petra (who will be giving up Internet addictions this year) and she guided me toward something useful to give up.
Commas.
I will refrain from using commas (or even relative clauses) for the next forty days. It hasn't even been a full day yet and I'm already going out of my mind. I never realized how much I used commas before. Try it - you'll be surprised. You'd also be surprised at how many ways there are to get around it. I've never used so many semicolons and dashes in my life.
It's going to be a long forty days. A really long forty days. I may perish from the insanity of it all.
Gmail wanted to know if I wanted to invite CBS to open a Gmail account. Imagine the power! A lowly college student like me could invite the entire Columbia Broadcasting System (a network that brings us shows like Survivor and CSI) into Gmail!