worst jobs ever

there is a show called "world's worst jobs." i can't watch it because i know i'll just say "yeah well, sure that guy has to recycle monkey shit all day, but i bet he gets the weekend off."

um

we suck at this blog.

mean people suck part 2

i need to work on not being so touchy. on not taking things so personally. otherwise i'll spend my whole life trying not to cry.

easy-to-read screens

WHAT? easy-to-read is HYPHENATED? this is just too much.

its like a disease, without any cure

someone sends me a cover letter. an email to a potential employer. a resume. a SENTENCE. please take a look at this, they say. its no good, they say. how can i fix it, they say. HELP ME, they say. and i stop whatever i am doing, and i work on it. i move the words around. i see how they sound and how they look. i don't stop at "ok, this looks better," i keep going until i really like it. i've tried to stop at ok, and i can't. and these words aren't even going to be MINE. no one will know i've even seen them.

its like i can't bear to see words arranged badly. its like i don't think the words deserve that. its like a disease, without any cure.

mean people suck

previous comments on this blog, such as those about women and those about the chicago manual of style, deserve luscious answers ripe with double entendre. however, those will have to wait.

mean people suck. i don't know who coined the phrase, but the point is, its true.

what makes people want to take pleasure in making others feel bad?

there's the power dynamic school of thought: I, man, will make you, lesser man/woman squirm as a assert my authority over you. You have spoken out of turn and disturbed the balance of power in this world.

the just plain spite school of thought: i feel wronged. now, i'm going to make you feel wronged. why? because making you feel wronged will erase my feeling of wrongness. even if, in fact, i was wrong.

there's the i'm so full of myself that i believe nothing is ever my fault so why are you trying to make it my fault school of thought: what? you think i'm wrong? you're wrong.

i'm sure there are more, but i don't feel like analyzing this further.

the good thing about mean people, is that they make you appreciate nice people. i don't mean your friends, because of course you appreciate them, or i hope you do. i mean random nice people. like they guy in your class that is just always there, and he's nice, and he's never been much of anything to you, but always stops to say hello in the hall and say something innocuous and mundane or slightly silly. or the person who sells you your grande house blend that always asks how you are. they don't really have to ask that. i think they have to say "have a nice day," but the initial "how are you" is really extra effort.

its times like this when i remember little things like wearing 3D glasses on a sunday and i smile. and i feel a little better.

from a harvard business school case:

"government-funded."

here's an example of a correctly used hyphen: "non-specialized."

government-funded?

no. just, no.

i'd venture to guess that 80% of the population misuses the hyphen at least once a day.

terrifying, no?

i have a serious problem

with the rampant hyphen overusage in our society. perfectly smart people are inserting hyphens into words that do not need, nor did they ever need, nor WILL they ever need hyphens. "much-needed" is a SERIOUS infraction. overusage is not a word. too bad.