Tumblr and TV Intros

A couple short things today.

First, I signed up with Tumblr (here's a link to my page there), after much insistence from friends of mine who use the site. Actually, I did this back in July, before I left on my summer vacation. I intended to write an introductory post back then, but I totally forgot about it until just recently.

In all honesty, I still don't really 'get' Tumblr. It's a micro-blogging service, which means it's like a mix of Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger all rolled in one. Most people, it appears, just post funny pictures or gifs that they want to share with friends, which is cute but not enough to make me join up. There are a lot of people who do post short written pieces, however, so it seems like that's what I'll be doing.

Treadmill Reviews: Fullmetal Alchemist

Walking on a treadmill, if you've never done it before, is actually quite boring. We happen to have one in my house, and it's become one of the few ways I can get exercise reliably, but the only way I can stand to use it is if I sit a laptop on the top tray and watch TV shows. And of course, when I watch something interesting, I want to tell you guys about it.

The show that I've been watching these last few weeks is the newest anime adaptation of a very popular Japanese manga, Fullmetal Alchemist. I read the books years back when I was in high school, and I didn't mind going through the story again in anime format because I already knew that the entire thing was and would be incredible.

Social Media Changes

Those of you who use Facebook regularly are probably aware of the new User Interface changes just released. Facebook has gone through a series of almost constant changes since its inception, and it seems like once the users finally get used to the last change, another one rolls around.

My language on Facebook is currently set to "English (Leet Speak)," so I actually have no clue what the new Facebook changes look like. If you've seen the changes and hate them, like most people seem to, I may sound like I'm bragging. I am. Of course I am.

Avast! These be Strange Waters!

 Aye, and they'd have to be, too; today's tide bring in one of the best holidays ever: International Talk like a Pirate Day! That's right, landlubbers, ye heard it here. It's the one day a year dedicated to the fierce, rogue, sea-loving pirates, when everyone around the world can affect an accent and dress up for school or work (assuming, of course, you've explained yourself to your captain).

I'm pretty bad at Piratey lingo, so I wont even pretend to try to keep it up for long.

Intense

Of course, you understand, I keep hearing 'In Tents'.

I know it's a stupid joke, but I'm not exaggerating; every time someone uses the word 'intense', I think of tents (such as 'that movie was in tents!' or 'this book is in tents!' or 'that was an in tents car ride'). When I'm in mixed company, I refrain from actually saying anything, but I always think it in my head.

I was hanging out with friends today, which is why today's post is short and late. My friends are leaving for far off colleges in a week or so, so we're trying to fit in as much "chillax" time as possibly before we can't anymore. How did people handle this before in internet? Well, I guess they wrote letters, right?

Computer Troubles

I like to write blogs reviewing things I've seen and talking about stuff going on in the world that I think you guys would be interested in, but every so often I have to talk about things going on with myself, so you'll understand where I'm coming from (actually, I've been doing this a lot recently). Today I wanted to take some time out from your regularly schedule broadcast and talk about my computer troubles.

Lately, computers and I have been having a strained relationship.

The Singing Painting

Sometime last year, while looking through Bed Bath and Beyond for something or other, my mom saw a print of a painting that she instantly fell in love with. The print was pretty expensive, so she didn't buy it, but later that week she showed me the painting, and I gave her my blessing (such that it is) to buy it.

The painting my mom saw is called The Singing Butler, and it was one of the first pieces done by contemporary Scottish painter Jack Vettriano. He was around thirty when he painting this particular piece, and apparently he had very little experience painting.

What makes the painting so memorable, however, isn't the backstory, but the images. It's very minimalistic, but with little understanding of who the characters are, the viewer can still see exactly what's going on.

Wisdom Teeth Extraction

I got my wisdom teeth removed today. They're gone. I'm not 100% sure what they were doing there in the first place, since it seems like everyone just wants to get them out eventually. I'm sure a five minute Google search would lend me an answer, but I find I don't actually care enough to go look it up. Ah, 21st century.

I got to the dental surgery place a bit early, after driving myself and my dad there in his truck - which is a stick-shift, by the way. Remember how I said I never wanted to have to drive manual transmissions? It's because I hate them, and I think I'm going to either die or kill someone else when I'm in them. A few minutes ago, I looked up "pros and cons of learning to drive stick-shift," and you want to know what the best 'pro' reason was? "A lot more fun to drive."

It's totally not.