FOOD!

Since I'd already written my post for last week's topic I'll just post both now.

1. Breakfast!

When I was still in school I hated breakfast. Not only did I grow up in the one region in Germany that is entirely void of good bread (they sell it in plastic bags *headshake*), I simply wasn't hungry that early. I joylessly munched some chewy bread, drank tea and then usually bought a cheese roll or something during recess.

I don't think I really started to like breakfast before I moved to my current town. We're one of those towns that are thoroughly dominated by their universities, and to suit students a lot of bakeries offer affordable small breads that are manageable even if you don't share with your housemates. And then I kind of fell in love with breakfast (and bread, zOMG bread...).

Since I started cycling in the morning I usually split breakfast in two. A wee bit of cereal in milk with berries (frozen) before I head out, and a "proper" breakfast consisting of bread and tea (black, plain or with ginger) once I'm back.

This is what I had the last two days:

Today's was two small slices of rye bread, one with cream cheese, cucumber and nigella seeds, one with almond paste. NOM. No fresh veg or fruit today since I was out :( The one on the left features the best pottery teacup ever.

That I eat bread and savoury topic is the only part that's typically German, I think. Most people drink coffee in the morning, and sausage or cheese (sans veg & weird seeds) on their bread.

2. Meat eater Vs. Pescetarian Vs. Vegetarian Vs. Vegan

Let's have a look at today's groceries:

Yup. Clear case of almost-vegetarianism ;).

I've never been particularly fond of meat and fish. There were a few meat dishes I rather liked, but when my sister turned vegetarian when I was six I started sharing her food rather than my parents' rather quickly. I'd still eat meat if my parents cooked something I particularly liked, but on most days I stuck to veg. When I slowly started to learn how to cook it was usually dinner for me and my sister, or the entire family, so I never really learned how to cook meat (ok, I also absolutely refused to touch raw meat (yuck), that might've been an issue as well...). (As a result the only traditional German food I can make is potato salad... oops.)

It's still pretty much the same. I'm not strictly vegetarian. I don't mind gelatine and rennet, and I'll very occasionally (maybe once a month) eat meat, though not usually prepared by myself. Mostly to make life for my friends easier, occasionally because the dish on offer is just too bloody delicious to refuse. The only thing I prepare myself is the occasional taco beef (well, and I tried to make beef curry a while ago, but it wasn't that great, so I'm unlikely to try again for quite some time)...

My main issue with meat (aside from veggies simply being yummier) are the conditions under which most most meat is raised. Growing up in a small town in a rural traditional farming region our butcher could usually tell us what meadow that cow had been standing on a few weeks earlier, and farmers generally took good care of their animals. Now I live in a bigger city and it's quite a bit more difficult. The only thing I can be certain to have been raised under decent conditions is lamb/mutton and venison, which (of course) are a bit too expensive for a slim student budget (especially when you have no idea how to actually cook them). For some reason it's much easier to get dairy from happy dairy cows than meat from happy meat cows :(

As for my vegetarian diet... I really hate meat substitutes. I guess it kind of figures, since I'm mostly almost-vegetarian 'cause I don't like meat. I just fail to see the necessity, because you can cook much, much better (not to mention healthier) just sticking to traditionally vegetarian dishes. But I guess a lot of people who turn veg for ethical reasons miss their meat.

Did I mention fresh veg is delicious? Because it bloody well is.

Pescy...what?

Hi Nerdy Bunch, it's Saturday THURSDAY. How are we all? I've just started back at uni after the end-of-first-semester holidays. Its good to be back, but it makes me sad that I'm busy already. Anyway, on to the week's topic!

I am a meat-eater. I have nothing against vegetarians, vegans and pesca...tarians? I have to admit that I had no idea what a Pescetarian was until I remembered that one of my favourite vloggers, KatersOneSeven, is one. Anyway, I would go so far as to say that I agree with the philosophy/ies behind the aforementioned dietary ideologies. I do not think that animals should be treated cruelly just for my benefit.

That being said, I can't help but find veganism/vegetarianism/pescetarianism just a little bit silly. Humans, my nerdy friends, are omnivores. In order to be fully healthy we need to source our nutrients from a wide range of places, and yes, that means animals and animal products. That is not to say that I think we have the right to be cruel to animals;  I'm not naiive about where that tasty bit of bacon I had with my lunch came from. I just think that there are widely available sources of cruelty-free animal products such as free-range eggs and meat from animals that have been raised and slaughtered in an humane way. I know that somewhere, an animal died so that I could have a delicious meal, but I try to go for cruelty-free products where possible.

Pescetarianism does have quite a good health benefit, what with all that omega 3, but I personally dislike fish/seafood, so I just couldn't live that lifestyle. Secondary to that is the fact that our seas are terribly overfished, which is pretty bad for the ecosystem.

Veganism is what really gets me. Like I said, there are cruelty-free sources of milk and eggs, and if you go for those, nobody is harming/killing some poor animal for your benefit and you are still able to get essential nutrients from those sources. It just seems...illogical, to me.

If I were to go with any of the alternatives, I'd be a Vegetarian, because I could still have eggs and milk, and could get most of my other nutrients from fruits, vegetables, beans and legumes. I make a mean Dal (Indian lentil-based stew-type-thing). But really, I do like meat too much to give it up.

Anyway, it is not for me to dictate who eats what. One of the great things about the whole thing is that I can choose what I eat. In that way, we're all pretty lucky, really. I mean, if I feel like eating an apple, I can just stroll to my fridge and grab one. Heck, I can change my mind and go for an orange, or a stick of celery, or a sandwich instead. And that's pretty awesome :)

See you next week! Am I right in assuming that I'm picking the topic?

All-Day Breakfast

First of I apologize for not being here last week. I have been busy in the kitchen making baked goods and is too tired to do anything else when I get home.

Anyway, I love breakfast food but not so much breakfast. I wait to get hungry before I eat and that doesn't usually happen until lunch time. Breakfast type foods though I can eat any time of the day. Specially our version of breakfast food. We're not a fan of sweet breakfasts so usually it's more like an actual heavy meal that you would eat for lunch or dinner which includes some sort of fried marinated protein, garlic fried rice "Sinangag", and eggs "Itlog". This complete meal is called depending on the meat that you like. for example my favorite is "Tapa" which is beef marinated in garlic and vinegar so they call this dish "Tap-si-log" because of the tapa, sinangag, and itlog.

Tapsilog

But if I have time and I feel like i really need to eat breakfast, I just eat milk and cereal

QOTD: What's your favorite ceareal?

Hear From Your Guys Soon

RUBEN IV

P.S. Since I wasn't able to post a topic during my week I'll take this opportunity to make up for my absence.

Topic of the week is: "Meat eater Vs. Pescetarian Vs. Vegetarian Vs. Vegan"

Define Breakfast Time

Good Morning nerdy Bunch its Monday,

So this is going to be a quick post to say that I love breakfast foods. Waffles, Pancakes, Omlettes, Bacon, Hash-browns, etc. But I don't like cooking or eating in the morning. so I generally eat bread or crackers so i won't be grumpy on regular mornings and occasionally go out for breakfast to get the thing I love to eat.

Best Wishes,

Allysa

Joyless Breakfast Marriage

I have very little to say about breakfast. To me it’s always been just something you shove down your throat when you are busy trying to get dressed so you can run to the bus. I didn’t even have breakfast for a long time when I was younger. I think I didn’t start having ‘proper’ breakfast till I was about the age of 15 - I started upper secondary and we had long days with a lot of stuff to learn, so I got hungry early and my stomach was growling hours before lunch break, which was not nice when if you happened to be sitting in a classroom that was mostly quiet, but I digress.

I don’t cook in the morning; I do not fry things, make porridge, or pick up something healthy like an apple. Usually I spend less than a minute on making my breakfast - by that I mean I heat up some ready-made over processed food that terrifies people who care about carbs, additives, and what they put in their mouth in general. Sometimes I have toast and that, as an exception, takes more than a minute to prepare. That’s about it when it comes to me and breakfast. A very cold relationship with no joy - like a forced marriage in the 50’s.

The most important meal of the day.

Well, it is a rather unorthodox topic, but it's still fun to think about. My current breakfast food of choice is porridge. I make it by boiling rolled oats in milk and sprinkling some brown sugar on top (I believe it's called 'oatmeal' in some places). It's great for the Winter months (it's Winter here in Australia until the end of August), and it's nutritious and high in fibre, and with a little bit of sugar or fruit or both, it's certainly delicious.I am on a bit of a health kick at the moment, so porridge is basically the perfect breakfast for me.

And now for a little bit of a story.

When I was little, I read Oliver Twist. It was an illustrated version, but still. I was in like, grade 2 or something. I was such a little Nerdfighter. Anyway, I remember the kids at the Orphanage having to eat something called Gruel Thrice every day. That sounded terrible! I could tell that Gruel Thrice was gross and felt sorry for Oliver.

Little did I know--though I found out YEARS later-- that they weren't eating Gruel Thrice. They were eating GRUEL. Three times a day...thrice. Still, gruel is actually gross. It's basically a watery porridge and more like a drink than food. :( poor Oliver.

Anyway, what are you eating for breakfast at the moment?

Uhm...

I waited 'till now for Ruben to post, but since that still hasn't happened I guess I'll just set a topic for this week. I don't really have time for a proper blog post now (my bed is calling), so I'll just give you the topic and add my on-topic post next week, hope that's ok :)

... and because I have absolutely no idea what topic to pick, and it's past midnight and I've had rather a lot of red, this one is going to be random: Breakfast.

Because.

Ugh

Good morning nerdy Bunch It is...

36 degrees Celsius out today and it feels like 44 with the humidity. Yesterday I had a massive allergy attack and couldn't see because my eyes were watering so I took a Benadryl and went to bed. That is the reason this post is so late, the abominable heat accounts for it's shortness.

Best Wishes

Allysa

P.S. I saw Deathly Hallows 2 yesterday and cried like a baby

Double Double toil and trouble

I remember when the first Harry Potter book came out. I’m not sure what compelled me, but I reserved the book at our local library (it was so popular it was already on loan). After about a month of waiting, I got the call that the book was now available and picked it up. I tried to read it but I just couldn’t get into it. I felt like it was boring. I don’t think I ever even got past the opening scene with Dumbledore and McGonagall leaving Harry on the door step of the Dursley’s.

I never ended up finishing it and, until seeing the movie Deathly Hallows Part 1, I didn’t have a big urge to read any of them through either. I had seen the movies, why would I read something I’ve already seen? I’ve thoroughly spoiled myself, after all. Later I got over that, but then my thinking was that since the first two movies were now rather kiddy and uninteresting in my now older eyes, the books would be the same and I didn’t want to have to paddle through the first two just to get at the rest of them. I’ve also acquired a certain impatience and lack focus to read through books. Eventually, however, I wound up listening to the audio books, read by the magnificent Stephen Fry, who practically brought the books to life. I did skip the second book, but otherwise I listened through them all.

During the course of this, much like with the movies, I came to the conclusion that, like enika, I’m far more interested in the older generations than the actual main characters of the books and movies. I think that of, for the lack of a better term, 'Harry’s generation' I was only interested in Luna and Neville, the rest of my interest lied with the Weasley twins and the adults. My interest in the adults, along with the urge to see how it all ends without having to wait for ages for the final movie, was actually a big reason as to why I wanted to read the books - I wanted to know more about them. Imagine my disappointment when it turned out that the books didn’t reveal much more than the movies.

Over the course of the books I grew sick of Harry as a character and all the romance plots and puny drama between the young students. I was far more interested in how they would have to actually face a war at such a young age, a war that would essentially be a genocide from Death Eaters’ part, but unfortunately I feel like the author didn‘t take advantage of the inherent tragedy and drama of their situation. I should probably mention I was sick of Voldemort even before I hit the books. I was also disappointed by the idea of horcruxes. They felt like a sudden flat idea, shoved to the books because the author simply needed some loop hole in there so Harry could kill the wizard she had made out to be so powerful. I understand that there needed to be a way, but horcruxes, to me, are a very dull idea that is similar to a variety of clichés within the genre of fantasy. I guess I could also include the prophecy in here, along with the fact that the main character is a male child who happens to be the “chosen one” (would be nice to have a female child as the chosen one for a change, just a FYI at the young adult fantasy novelists) and whose parents have died a tragic death.

This probably makes it sound like I hate the books, but I really don’t. I think they are okay. I’m not a huge fan or anything but they were okay, and Stephen Fry made it very entertaining to listen to them. Harry Potter books are certainly better than a lot of the crap published these days, I’m looking at you, Twilight books.

I think that’s about it with me and the phenomenon that is Harry Potter.
As a summary: I wanted to know more about the adults! I wanted to see children - not just Harry - facing a war and the notion of genocide.

Here, have a song...

To the well-organised mind, death is but the next great adventure.

So...

I saw Deathly Hallows Part 2 this morning. I can't even...

First of all, it was awesome. I'm one of those people who can completely separate an adaptation from its source material. It helps me to enjoy the adaptations more, since it's basically impossible to completely and perfectly adapt anything to screen without making a few concessions.

Anyway, I was seriously impressed by Alan Rickman's performance. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, but that's what I'll say. All of the performances were great, but Alan just stood out as being just...amazing. Augh. DH wasn't my favourite of the books, but I'd have to say that the two films combined are the best in the series. I'm sad that there won't be any more films (at least with the cast to which I am accustomed).

People keep talking about how this is the end. That somehow, because there are no more books and no more movies, the magic will simply fade away. I'd like to respectfully disagree; so long as Harry Potter is a part of us, it will be a part of our world.

I can't wait to see what will happen next!

Question: Who is your favourite character in Harry Potter? Why?

Mine is Remus Lupin. he's just such an all-around good guy. He *does* have his flaws, but he's a powerful, kind and caring wizard. Close second is Snape...because Snape, that's why.

I wish there'd been less Harry Potter in Harry Potter

It's weird seeing everyone talking about "the end of Harry Potter" these days, since I've never been into the films that much. To me Harry Potter ended a few years ago, when Deathly Hallows was released. I think the last of the movies I actually saw in a cinema was Order of the Phoenix, and until a few days ago I hadn't even seen HBP. I still haven't seen Deathly Hallows 1 yet, but will take care of that on Saturday (more on that later). It's always been about the books for me.

Being mostly into Beat and drug culture literature*, YA (let alone YA fantasy) wasn't something I was paying attention to at all. At some point between GoF and OotP I'd gotten a livejournal, which basically was a shift from being active in communities focused on specific fandoms, to a community where people talked about all the stuff they liked in the same place. I have one particular online friend who is incredibly good at spreading enthusiasm for the things she loves, and at the time OotP came out it just happened to be that (well, with a good dose of "why oh why did she have to kill Padfoot? (poor Remus)"). I read a few fics she and others recommended, got interested in the characters, and finally started to buy the novels.

So that was that. As I said in the comments to one of your posts, I'm still mostly interested in the parent/teacher generation. I'm not quite sure whether it's the characters (Remus! Mr. Weasley! Snape! Sirius! *hearts*), or just me being used to reading about adults rather than teens, but I never cared about the pupils that much. I don't think I've reread the series after Deathly Hallows. I've read bits of the first three books, since I use translations to learn other languages, but that's it. Maybe I'll get around to it this summer.

BUT (ahahahahaha) two days ago I bought tickets for a Harry Potter movie marathon Friday night (or rather, Friday afternoon until Saturday afternoon). They're showing all eight movies in a row, which is so delightfully ridiculous I just couldn't not go (even if they're dubbed in German :( ). It's going to be awesome.

To do the question thing: What's your least favourite scene in the books/movies? What's your favourite?

As for least favourite, even considering I've only read it once, I have to go with the endless camping trip in Deathly Hallows (I don't care about the trio that much, so was pretty much waiting for it to be over from the second page on) (I like to pretend the epilogue doesn't exist). The scene I returned to over and over again, mostly because of the characters, if the Shrieking Shack bit in Prisoner of Azkaban (again: characters! so lovely.)

Finish What I Started

Yet another topic that I am not very inclined with. Only because I really wasn't that interested to begin with.

I watched all of the movies so far just for the sake of finishing something that I already started. But judging the story from the movies i'd say it was just ok for my taste, But entertaining enough to not hate it. 

My favorite part is the cinematography of the movies which really wouldn't make you read the book at all. Considering that they have had four different directors and six different directors of photography, I was very intrigued with what's going to come next each time they come out.

I have never had those biases between the book and the movie, specially in this case because I haven't read any of the books, but also I can understand how things can be difficult to translate to film considering the complexity of one's imagination. Which is why the interpretation, or imagination, of each individual involved, may it be the actors, writers, directors, editors, producers, etc., in making of the film is key to the potential success of a book turned movie.

QsOTD: What's your favorite HP movie so far? Which is your favorite novel based movie?

Hear from you guys soon

RUBEN IV

Harry Potter, determinism, and time travel.

Good Morning Nerdy Bunch it's Monday!

Warning spoilers ahead.

Since I am 95% percent sure I choose the theme this week I am going with the obvious. Harry Potter. I didn't get into Harry Potter until after it had been out for a while. I was a voracious reader and read above my grade level. I kind of dismissed Harry Potter as being "trendy" and for little kids. (wow reading that, little Allysa sure had a hipster attitude). Anyway I got the first one for my dad for Christmas a year or two after it had come out and of course I read it too. I like it, alot Harry Potter has a way of catching the imagination. I definitely played witch in the field behind my house. The first book of the series will always be my favorite and I think it is the strongest of the series and gets the most things right. So I'm not a Harry Potter hater, but, there are things I don't love about the series. I think because Harry Potter is such a phenomenon and so many people love it so much there is a reluctance to talk about the fact that some parts of it aren't great.

When I think about the sereis as a whole I divide it into three parts books 1-3 book 4 and books 5-7. Part One I see as being really good children's fantasy fiction, top of it's class (but not untouchable). In the same category as The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, Or the Book of Three By Lloyd Alexander. The third part I see as being ok but not great YA fantasy. Book Four goes back and forth between the two, with elements of each.

I have some very specific issues with the series as well. First of all and least seriously no one talks about or has sex in the books. Now I don't think that every seventeen year old is out there bed hopping but, they are sure as heck talking sex. Every romantic relationship in the book reads like they are all thirteen the entire time. I'm not saying there should have been a sex scene in any of the books but it felt like an issue that was very carefully stepped around.

Issue number two: determinism. So generally I don't enjoy fiction that involves time travel. I have to turn off my brain to watch Doctor Who. Mostly because in fiction the rules of time travel are rarely well explained and are full of logic holes. Harry Potter obviously skips past most of these problems with MAGIC which is good, it makes my brain not hurt to much, if I don't think about it to hard. However the rules of time travel are deterministic. In the third book when we go through the central sequence of events the first time certain events happen that can only happen if they travel through time. If they do not travel through time, those events do not happen. So they have no choice about what to do, or their choice has already made in the future. This is the first symptom of determinism in Harry Potter. The second symptom of determinism and my biggest pet peeve in all of literature prophecy.

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies

I strongly dislike fantasy novels that include prophecy. Very very rarely it can be done well and create a sense of mystery and excitement. I almost always get the sense that the author is being lazy, like they couldn't figure out a way to get from the beginning of their story to the end so PROPHECY bam right there forcing the characters. Maybe it's just me but I saw the ending coming from miles away and that was disappointing the suspense was gone. We don't get a startling twist where the prophecy turns out to be something no one expected or a tragic self-fulfilling prophecy in the traditional Greek style. No one ever questions whether they should be helping the prophecy come to fruition, everyone just does it. Not only do they apparently lack free will in the Harry Potter universe but they don't even question that they lack free will. Oh man I'm all riled up now. Really it's a pet peeve of mine and there is so much good about the books but when I think about it I first, get confused and then steamed up.

Well that was longer and more involved than I intended and it doesn't even scratch the surface of my thoughts on the Harry Potter Universe, something I probably think to much about. I am really excited about the movie coming out and will probably go see it on the weekend yay!

My question for you all this week is what house would you have been sorted in when you were eleven? How about now? When I was eleven I would have been a Ravenclaw hands down, now I'm more of a Hufflepuff.

Best Wishes,

Allysa

P.S. On a non Harry Potter but still nerdy note have you listened to Still Got Legs yet. If not go do it now. RIGHT HERE

Online pet peeves?

I've got a few.

Firstly, much like Allysa it really annoys me when people are mean just for the sake of being mean. Just because there's supposedly more anonymity on the internet, it doesn't give people leave to go and say mean and nasty things to/about other people. I've never encountered this in Nerdfighteria, but elsewhere on the internet, people seem to revel in belittling someone else.

Secondly, living in Australia means that some things, especially TV shows and movies, are simply not available to me (legally) online, and when they are, they are disproportionately expensive. I bought the Game of Thrones soundtrack on iTunes for $16 when it cost (I think) $9 for people in the US. This completely annoys and baffles me, since there's no real difference in distribution costs when you're selling DOWNLOADS. Guh. Expecting people to pay more and/or wait longer for things than people in other countries is so not jokes.

Actually, I think that's it. Hope everyone's having an awesome week. <3

Nothing to add :(

Hm, I don't really know what to write about, since most of my internet pet peeves already came up in Allysa's and sterling's posts.

Businesses (libraries, offices...) that hide their opening hours are evil. My university's libraries are brilliant at this. For some reason the institutes rarely link to their own libraries, so you have go through a labyrinth of pages starting from the main library to find out when the institute ones are open. You'd think they'd link to that from the library database. It tells you all sorts of crap about the library that holds whatever book you're looking for except opening hours & the address.

Carelessly bad English does bother me, especially when native speakers do it, but I'm somewhat guilty of it as well (of/off is my main problem, I don't pay enough attention to the little words - I know the difference between the two, of course, I just keep on dropping the second f when it's off). But what bugs me even more is when people jump on others just because their English isn't perfect. The nerdfighter ning was especially bad, even though people on there knew we had a lot of members that weren't native speakers (and a lot of dyslexics). But as soon as you made a typo or grammatical error people called you stupid, and (ergo) your argument invalid.

I guess that's it for this week? Sorry...

I can't think of any

I have been staring at my computer for a while now and I really can't think of any online pet peeves. I really don't have that many pet peeves in general.

I'm not fond of seeing people being too affectionate in  public but it never seems to bother me online. Like when I read couples baby-talking or exchanging sexual innuendos on Facebook. Maybe because not too many of my friends would do that and if they do, it's just easier to avoid online.

Anyway it's been an hour of surfing and thinking and I still don't have anything.

QOTD: what helps you cool your head when you're irritated or mad at something?

Hear from you guys soon

RUBEN IV

Giant Squid of Anger

Good Morning Nerdy Bunch it's Monday,

I try not to have a lot of pet peeves, you know let things go be chill. But there are two thing that I can not handle on the internet. First and Foremost: buisnesses who hours are either not present or buried on their website. Your hours should be on the front page of your website, that and product information are the only things I want to know. Having a big old link to hours and location is also acceptable. Having it on your contact page is less good but still works. There is NOWHERE else that information should be, and if you don't have the information on your website then I must assume you do not want me to come to your establishment.

My second pet peeve is sort of nebulous I hate when people find it necessary to mock or denigrate others on the internet. If you wouldn't say that to someone's face why say it on the internet. Just because you are internet famous or whatever does not give you the right to disregard other people's feelings. If this is hard for some, here is a video that helps.

I mean I get it you have opinions, that's great. I have some too they are probably different from yours. I think we should share them. If I think that you have a point I'll take a look at them see how they stand up to what you've said and my experience of the world. If I disagree with you I'll nod and smile and move on. This is the internet if some random stranger says something I disagree with it is not the end of the world, if it's a friend then work through it like you would with someone IRL.

phew! It's good to get that off my chest. If I had to break my life's philosophy down to a central tentant if would be: "First, do no harm." Or you know in more modern language "don't be a dick." I don't get why people feel the need to be mean and cynical when it is easier and makes you feel better to be kind or do nothing at all.

Well that was sappier then I intended it to be. I guess I've just spent enough time being angry and sad that I'm at the point where I try to face it and move past it. I hope you all had a lovely weekend.

Best wishes,

Allysa

Small Frustrating Bits of Internet Culture

So, since Thursday has yet to post this time around, we shall skip to me and I will hand out the next topic. This time around I’d like to discuss things that frustrate me online. No, not the usual trolls and what-nots but other sorts of pet peeves, little things that frustrate me.

One that recently came across me once again is the zombie apocalypse fad. Everyone seems to love discussing it and what they would do if it was to happen. I’ve always found zombies to be boring and movies featuring them generally do not interest me. It just seems like internet really loves zombies and jokes about them but I fail to find the “in case of zombie apocalypse” humorous or even remotely interesting. But It keeps popping up everywhere. On Tumblr there are those “the object on your left is now your weapon upon facing zombie apocalypse. Will you survive?” things and other chain letters similar to that circling around, on Facebook there are zombie apocalypse groups, almost every online store focusing on t-shirts has something related to zombies and when I asked for help on coming up with a topic to blog about…guess what was the first suggestion? “Zombie apocalypse preparation”. I think I’ve yet to see a genuinely funny zombie apocalypse related thing.

Next is a certain brand of chat speak. I mean, chat speak itself is simply infuriating, it’s a major pet peeve of me. I cannot take anyone who writes 4 instead of for or u instead of you seriously. Write like that to me and I will instantly treat you as a 12-16-year-old in my mind (unless it was just for a comedic effect or something), whether I really want to or not. But the thing that I’m really here to complain about is: You’re, your - they’re, their, there confusion. People keep mixing these up. I thought it was just some fairly new form of chat speak but it turns out a large amount of people seem to be genuinely confused about which one to use and when. I’m not talking about those who do not speak English as a native language either, I’m talking about grown Americans and Brits who still get confused due to maybe poor quality of education or inability to pay attention at school. It doesn’t help that there is a major lazy chat speak factor here online. People write your instead of you’re just to do less typing. This only feeds the confusion and misuse further as those who are unsure copy others. To me it’s also frustrating because often when people mix up those words they all too often turn their sentences into barely understandable jumbles. It’s just a major pet peeve of mine by now.

Sites that look like 90’s puked on them and then died, leaving its battered remains rotting on it. By this I mean sites with ghastly bright and saturated colours with flashy animated graphics (at worst a site with some animated sparkly/star background with repeat pattern - myspace profiles are the worst offenders with this one), low quality clip art, sparkly effects, copious amounts of bright coloured text with Comic Sans font. It’s 2011, by now people have surely seen what one can do with graphics and site layouts. Graphics programs are more efficient, and there are cheap professionals and semi-professionals crawling everywhere online. There is no excuse for the amount of horrible some sites keep spewing.

Also, sites with music that starts to automatically play: NO! Just no! Many professionals looking at these sites immediately turn away if there’s such nonsense going on - many art directors turn away from portfolios that have some ghastly music playing automatically. Generally this stuff just disrupts casual browsing. Often it scares the crap out of people if they sit in silence, open a site, look at it in peace, and BAM some loud tune starts playing out as it finally finishes loading! Plus some might already be listening to something as they browse so they don’t really need an interruption. Auto-play music is just not a good choice. It might pass if the site is related to audio but even then automatic play is not really the best option most of the time.

While I could surely go on and on about my pet peeves if given enough time to think them up (I bet in an hour I'll be able to think up things a million times as frustrating as any of the things I did list here...), I think four is sufficient for this blog. xD So, have fun remembering frustrating things and venting about them, fellow nerdfighters!