surfing the "innernet"
I'm sure I'm not the only person to notice the "evolution" of the generic American accent recently. Although there are many many American accents, because of TV, movies, and radio, all of those individual accents are starting to sound similar. By far the biggest change I've noticed is that people are dropping "internal t's" so that words like "Internet", "Pentium", and "center" become "Innernet", "Pennium", and "cenner". It's becoming increasingly obvious in TV advertisements. I saw an ad for "Ren-A-Cenner" the other day, for instance.
Even before I noticed this lack of t's, I was hearing the different ways people pronounce the letter "o". "Not" and "pop" are becoming "naht" and "pahp". That may sound normal to west coast speakers, but up here in the frozen tundra of Massachusetts, I've always heard those words as "nawt" and "pawp" (close approximation). It's also closer to the British pronunciation.
Of course, we Massholes have our own quirky accent (that, might I add, Hollywood almost NEVER gets right). It's well known that we tend to leave out the r's, but it's not as serious as the clichéd Bostonian portrayal in movies, which tends to sound more like a New York accent than a Boston one. And there are also definite differences between the South-of-Boston accent and the North-of-Boston accent, not to mention the Berkshire accent. There are even subtle differences between Haverhill speakers, Lawrence folks, and Andover bourgeoisie. But I'm straying from the point...
The point is that I'll bet a lot of those regional accents will disappear as children are exposed to a deluge of west coast-based media and their particular manner of speech. I'm not saying I'm opposed to this inevitable consolidation of accents, but let's just hope future generations don't all sound like the "Dude, yer gettin a Dell" caricature of a teen...
what a deal
A little while ago in the Market Basket parking lot, two guys in a passing SUV yelled at me to come over and check out their speakers. So I went over, and the guy got out and proceeded to tell me this obviously-a-scam story in a fast, loud voice. He wasn't from the area and got these speakers for free from some person somehow (I couldn't quite follow), and he wanted to sell them "real cheap". The other guy threw him a catalog, and he showed me what the speakers were since they were in boxes. They were large, 3 way generic-brand speakers with a list price of $1000 each...sure. So he bugged me about buying them for a great price. Even though I said I had no money, he urged, "you can go to an ATM and get a few bucks!" I asked him how much he wanted for them, and he said he'd cut me a deal -- 1/3 the list price, or a couple hundred bucks or something like that. No thanks, dude. When he asked how much I'd be willing to spend, I said, "uhh, maybe $20." haha! Realizing he wasn't going to get anything out of me, he hopped back inside and drove away to find another sucker.
I mean, really. Does anyone actually fall for those scams? This is the second time I've been approached by these speaker scam artists.
I don't think they're going to get much business in Lawrence and Methuen, where everybody already has their own stolen stereo system...
Presto Bondo!
After what can only be described as a terrible paint job, my car repairs are finished (for the moment). Let's hope that the nearly 3 liters of Bondo will last long enough to get the car re-inspected.
It's too bad I didn't take before and after pictures since this is quite a dramatic change. Ugly, but dramatic.
Now I can move on to other things and plans...
I was going to wait for a while
But I might forget what I wanted to say.
Well, today would've been the day we left for New Orleans. But have no fear, the plans are in the works.
---
In reference to this:
I don't know what the term "naturally lonely person" means. What are you trying to say? Are you implying that I'm extroverted and have all sorts of people to share my feelings with? That's not true. Not at all. And it seems like an excuse to say that someone is "naturally lonely" or not. People can change those characteristics if they choose. There's no "lonely gene". I'm positive you have more and better friends than I do, so what is your point?
Also, a connection with another person is not the same thing as simply interacting. I didn't say people shouldn't interact with others; I didn't even say we shouldn't try to connect with others. But it all comes down to intent.
I don't know where you got the idea that "no act is selfless". That is absolutely untrue. There are selfless acts happening all the time in the world. There isn't even a debate although you can try to explain what you mean. You're just dead wrong on that issue. And as long as you believe that no act is selfless, you'll never be less selfish.
And yes I know that we have this tendency to judge people or assign labels, but don't say that it's impossible to think another way.
Don't try to dismiss what I say by claiming that it isn't from my "heart". Well, it isn't. My heart doesn't think. But I do put a lot of energy into conversations with people. I wasn't cutting and pasting from a book. If I didn't believe what I wrote, I wouldn't have written it. Take it or leave it (though I think you'll leave it).
Get over your inferiority complex. Just because you judge me doesn't mean I'm judging you or thinking I'm "better" than you.
And you're right, I shouldn't try to fix you, and I won't try anymore. It seems I did more harm than good. I can't say I didn't see this coming.
so many standards to pick from...
I've been working on making my site more standards-compliant. This page should now validate as XHTML. (Thanks to Michael Hanscom for the tip about blockquotes.) You can check by clicking on this button:
The index is also valid XHTML. Probably the only part that will be tough to validate is the gallery since it is a software package using PHP, and I haven't looked at the code yet.
In other news, I gave myself a haircut. Here I am:
