The 8th wonder of the world

Is electronic mail the 8th wonder of the world? Sure, email is great, and I bet even fax machines were amazing when they first came out...but have either really replaced snail mail?

Nope, I don't think so. Not in the least. I admit, it's a pain in the ass to buy stamps, buy envelopes, find pen and paper, find out someone's actual mailing address, physically write the letter, lick the envelope and stick on a stamp, and then find a red bin to shove it in. You worry that you're going to have to put on more stamps (alas! another 54 cents!), the envelope's seal is going to come lose in transit and everything will fall out and end up in the gutter (because you bought the cheap, dollarstore ones), and that your grandmother's birthday card won't make it in time (because you didn't get around to doing it until Friday after the last pick up and her birthday's on Monday).

But note: you were sending a birthday card, to your grandmother. Awwwwww! Isn't she going to be delighted? That's so sweet!

And let's go further in-depth--why are we socialized to think that a real card sent in the mail is so darn special? Is it because it's rare? Of course. Or perhaps it's because you went out to buy stamps and envelopes, found a pen and some paper, found out their actual mailing address, physically wrote a letter (or signed a card, whatever--you still picked it out), licked the envelope and stuck on a stamp, and put it in the mailbox. Then you risked someone else finding your card out of the envelope, reading it and laughing, and then throwing it out. It was late--but it's called "snail mail" for a reason, right? At least it got there.

I actually don't think many envelopes bust open on the way--get wet, maybe, but that just adds character.

Think of how much thought went into that card!!!!! Maybe THAT'S why it's so special.

And, who isn't delighted to receive a non-bill in the mail? I LOVE LOVE LOVE receiving mail! If this wasn't the Internet, home of pervs and kidnappers galore, I would give you my address right now and let you send stuff to me. Heck, I even like buying stuff online rather than in the store so I can get packages in the mail. If that isn't a desperate ploy to give my mailbox a job, I don't know what is.

And think about how you feel after you send someone something. When you get past the worry mentioned above (I'm a bit of a worrywart, I know, but keep reading), and realize that most likely it's going to get there...isn't there a bit of anticipation on your side, too? I wonder if it's there yet. They'll love it, I know. I wish I could see the surprise on her face when she looks in the mailbox. Will she send something back? I hope she calls or something to let me know! Is it there yet? Anticipation is great, too :) It's one of my favourite parts of Christmas. It drives my sister crazy, but I unwrap stuff reeeeaaaalllllyyyyy slowly, to draw it out.

In conclusion, emails kind of bug me. They're convenient, sure--but they make you hurry: Ok, I KNOW it's there. Why the h*ll isn't he emailing me back yet? I need to know NOW!!

And when you have 14 emails in (just one of) your inbox(es), and you have to respond to 8 of them NOW, and 4 were junk, and the other 2 can wait even though you know you'll forget about them and then you'll be in sh*t... don't you just wish someone would send you something nice in the mail?

Introverted-extrovert, anyone?

I have discovered something about myself lately. I really like to meet new people and get to know them. Not all of the time--I still find myself tongue-tied trying to make small talk at big things like parties where I don't know anyone. But, for example, I like to meet them in a public forum--as a nurse, as a waitress, as a secretary... It is so interesting to see that all these people are living in the world, with their own lives, where they have their own values, priorities, interests, agendas, etc. Say you're looking at a really tall apartment building, with 47 floors. There are hundreds of people living in there, and lots of them don't know each other. Yet they are each the centre of their own little universe. Cool, huh? It makes you want to ask them, "Who are you, really?"

Everyone's a little strange, that's one thing I have realized :P Everyone does their best to hide it, too! Haha, in a lot of ways, I stopped doing that. Why not ask that incredibly un-tactful question, to find out what you want to know? I know, I know, it's just plain rude to pry and ask personal questions, but why not have little things, like, "Why don't you take the shells off your shrimp before you eat them!?" Some people might find it awkward, but hey, most don't seem to. If you buffer it with, "You don't have to answer if you don't want..." most of them just laugh and answer you. I was genuinely curious about why this girl left the shells on, because I would never do that!

I admit I have a bit of a fear of getting too close to people. I have my closest friends, and my family, and a circle of friends, but sometimes I just get scared of getting to know people too well. What if we suddenly have nothing in common? What if I share something with them, and they don't reciprocate? Do they think I'm too weird for them? They know me as one person--what if I'm having a bad day and they don't like that person? That's hard to explain...I can't explain exactly what I mean...but, for example, most of the time I would prefer to have new patients every day than have the same one on multiple days. I guess...it's kind of...I'm being kind and supportive for the first day, because what I know of this person, they are in the hospital and need that type of care. But if you have them too many times, it becomes more difficult to keep up this "facade"...kind of...it's not really a facade...is anyone out there getting what I mean? So I'm afraid of being abrupt and not so kind anymore. I guess I'm afraid of them seeing the "impatient me" and getting mad at me? I don't know, I have no idea what I'm saying. Verbal diarrhea. All I know is that I hate people being mad at me. How do I get from fearing getting to close to people to explaining that I hate people getting mad at me???

What I explained above is in a professional sense, but in some ways it's on a personal level, too. So if on some days I seem super friendly, that's the real me--I want to get to know you. But if on other days I seem distant and quiet, that's the real me, too--I don't know how/where our relationship/interaction is going, and I'm anxious. Not worried, just a bit anxious. It also doesn't help that sometimes I like spending time by myself, and I might just be sick of spending time with people--not you, but people in general.

Yep, everyone sure is full of layers. Kind of like onions--many, many thin layers are needed to make up the solid bulk.

Hello to my favourite sister, Binnie! Jeez, that girl has a lot of layers!

Smoking kills you

Hey, it's a fact: over 50% of smokers die as a direct result of smoking. Doesn't that suck?! And I know it's higher than that, but I can't remember the exact percentage. Let's see what it does: causes wrinkles and leathery skin through its vasoconstrictive properties, yellows your teeth and fingers with the enclosed tar, causes chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder that will eventually get so bad you will feel short of breath even sitting in your lazy-boy, and causes heart disease. Doesn't that sound lovely?

Some people say they started smoking because it "relaxes" them. Nicotine is a stimulant. You get a buzz off of it. In fact, you start getting the buzz 7 seconds after your first puff, because that's how fast nicotine reaches your brain--faster than a direct injection into your vein (i.e., something like heroin)! Maybe the relaxation comes from the crash after the buzz, but I'm not buying it.

Research shows that if you don't start smoking by the time you're 25, you most likely won't. This means that we have to protect our young. We are most easily influenced when we're young and impressionable, just like all those under-25-year-olds: pre-teens, high school students, college students... "social smoking" is smoking. No ifs, ands, or buts. You ARE affecting your body! And you are going to be a pain in the ass when you land in the hospital 20 years from now, running our poor nurses off their feet because you decided that to be cool you had to breath 4000 chemicals into your lungs. Imagine how much that's going to cost the health care system! Let's save it for things that can't be prevented, like Type I (juvenile) diabetes, shall we?

So you don't care about your own body, and you don't think far enough into the future to see the effect on the health care system, tax dollars, money re-directed from community centres...how about the people around you when you smoke? You know how the cigarette has a filter, and when you take a puff the smoke goes through it, making it "better" for you? You're right, actually. The filter picks out the biggest particles of tar, soot, and ash out of the stuff you're breathing in so they don't settle in your lungs. But what about the other end of the cigarette? This is known as "sidestream" smoke. It doesn't go through a filter. The people around you (as well as you since you're there, too) are breathing those big particles in, along with the other stuff. They settle deep down in your lungs, and since the little cilia hairs that normally sweep particles up so you can swallow them were paralyzed and can't anymore, the particles stay there. Being irritable. Leading to pneumonia, emphysema, and lots of other great stuff.

The pee of a smoker is carcinogenic ("cancer causing"). Because the chemicals get past your lungs and into your blood, where they travel all over the body. That's why you can get things like bladder cancer from smoking. 13 other kinds, too, such as lung cancer.

Smoking makes me really angry. When I'm walking down the street, and see someone who is smoking, I want to stop and SLAP THEM, and ask them how they can be so stupid?! I'm sorry, smoking is really addictive, and most people have to try quitting something like 12 times before it's for good. Technically it's more addictive than heroin. But TRY IT, would you?