i went to a friend's house to chill tonight. as i pull into the driveway, i notice there are a bunch of cars already in the driveway. "oh, his dad must be having poker night," i naively think to myself . . .
i go inside and hear a pretty loud group of kids downstairs, it turns out that my friend's little brother (who is 17) was "having a few friends over" apparently. i wasn't born yesterday, i was in high school just three short years ago, so i'm definitely still down with the lingo, shit, i invented the lingo. actually i didn't, but i did revolutionize it [for details, direct inquiries to my parents]. . . for those who may not remember as well, i'll try to explain:
a high school guy stating he is "having a few friends over" more specifically means he is inviting a few of his boys and a few random hot girls over with hopes of convincing everyone to get in the hot tub. keep it real. . .
so moving on with the story, i enter my friend's house and see the aforementioned little brother with his aforementioned boys and aforementioned hot girls. here's where it got disturbing for me. these girls actually were hot, which didn't shock me, but i definitely was taken aback by their outfits.
even though i never thought i would harbor such an opinion, i found myself wondering, "is this how 17 year old girls today dress? my female friends sure as hell didn't dress like that when i was in high school." that's a frightening thought, and an even more frightening statement, mainly because i fear that detachment from the pulse of the youth is the first step in the long road towards senility . . . maybe it's not that dramatic, but it's disconcerting nonetheless.
than i realized to what this may be attributed. when i graduated from high school, the britney spears/christina aguilera phenomenon was really just gathering steam. in fact, it wasn't until my first week of college that britney had her famous strip-show performance at the VMAs. i never realized how much impact stars like her have on people around high school age. . . the fact that teen girls' wardrobes have so drastically evolved in the past 3 years illustrates this pretty vividly i suppose. . .
i don't think i have a point with this, but it's just something i found interesting. and no, i don't have a thing for high school girls for anyone who may be gettin' the wrong idea here.
i have officially decided that running water is infinitely more important to me than electricity. after only a little more than 24 hours without electricity, i must admit i was less than ecstatic when the power came back on without running water.
there was definitely a point where, when i wasn't sure when the water was coming back, i became very conscious of how much water i was using. i used melted ice from a drink someone had left out to wash my hands, purell was my new best friend, i took sips of bottled water every 1-2 hours . . .it was interesting.
the funniest part was that there was really no reason for me to be so cautious in rationing my use of virtually everything, but part of me wanted to see how disciplined i could be i suppose. . .
i think i did pretty well, except for the long-ass shower i took when we finally got our water back this morning. i'll tell you one thing: i'll never be caught without flashlights, batteries, bottled water, and other amenities again . . .
i think there's an unspoken language behind honking your horn in your car. now in any area where there's a lot of traffic, or even just a lot of cars (like a parking lot after a sporting event), you're bound to hear a million horns sounding seemingly in a haphazard pattern of lengths, frequencies, and intensities.
but when you think about it, you can really say a lot by merely sounding a monotone horn. it can be used to express a multitude of emotions or responses, from anger to salutations to menace . . . for example:
if you're pissed off cause someone just cut you off, you pound the horn, often for 2-3 seconds to effectively communicate your frustration and anger, at the same time telling them "there's nothing i can do about what you just did, except bitch about it to myself or my passenger, which is exactly what i'm doing right now punk" . . .honk
if you're stopped at a red light and you see someone you know in the car next to you or walking in front of you, you might tap the horn twice, so as to get their attention but not make others think you are angry or frustrated (as described above). "hey [friend], i can't really stop to talk to you because i'm in the middle of traffic, but i'm just saying hi . . . i'll probably call you on my cell phone right after this just to say 'hey, i see you! whats up?! k bye.' "
if you're waiting outside someone's house to pick them up, you might also give a double horn tap, but each tap is likely to be a little longer than the aforementioned attention-getter taps, so that whomever you are picking up will know you are waiting and that it was not merely some random person trying to say hello to a friend they saw on the street (again, as described above). "hey, i'm here, waiting for you . . .get your ass out here quick, i don't have all day."
and last, if you're weaving through traffic, and you are not sure if the biker or other car in front of you knows you are there, a quick single tap of the horn is the perfect signal of: "hey, i'm here, i'm not threatening you or pissed at you, i'm just lettin' you know i'm here . . . so don't change lanes, otherwise i will threaten and be pissed at you . . . "
quite a change from DC . . .just yesterday afternoon i returned from my fun-filled and work-filled internship summer in DC. overall a great experience, though it is weird to be back home.
today, i had quite the day in suburbia . . .
it started by me fixing up my room of course, since i had all my stuff from my place in DC to sort out and put back in its temporary place until i move it again when i leave for school in a few weeks. then i went to lunch with my parents, and took a quick tour of my dad's new office, which is opening in a few weeks (so if anyone is in need of an excellent pediatrician, let me know, i'll hook it up)
i then hit the real suburban meat of my day by going to the mall, getting my hair cut, buying some gel (or wax or pomade or fiber or whatever it's actually called), seeing 16 year old girls who dress like they're working the corner on 8 mile, missing the days of high school, getting a frappaccino (mocha coconut, if you must know), then going to blockbuster and renting a movie and buying starbursts. oh, and i went to the dry cleaners too. . .
