Random thoughts

Here are some things that have been rolling through my mind lately. I want to see if other people think the same thing. Mostly they are rants.

• I don't like Windows Vista. The school recently got a new contract with Dell, so we all have new computers this year with Vista installed. I still have XP, which has been a good operating system since I first got familiar with it in 2002. I'm no computer genius, but I think I own enough common sense to operate a computer. Yet Vista seems to go against all logical thought (well, at least its Office program does). Instead of having a clear "File" option to save and print, it has a stupid (!) little round circle with a Windows logo. How are we supposed to know that the circle means "File"?! I can't tell you how many people in the library have asked me how to print or save. The programs still freeze up. And of course, here's the big one: since everything is all jazzed up in a new file format, you can't open documents on older operating systems that were first saved in Vista. Did the Microsoft people not test this stuff out? It's not too inconvenient because I have access to Vista and a printer in the library, but if I didn't, I wouldn't be able to open attached documents.



• The gym is a very unique place. Everyone just goes there to plainly focus on themselves, their bodies. Yeah, you have spotters, but the main point of the gym is to work on yourself, even if you are occassionally helping someone else lift. It's funny because you have people of all shapes and sizes joined together with the common goal of becoming more fit. Now, what "fit" means to one person may mean something completely different to someone else. You've got the bodybuilder fellas who all crowd together around a bench and sip their protein shakes while discussing BMI. There's the young lady who is furiously running on a treadmill, like a little hamster on its wheel -- going nowhere fast. You've always got someone who is at the machine you want, taking an infinite break before the next set. Occasionally you will see a woman pumping iron, putting many guys to shame. Then there are those who seem to work out all the time, yet you never see a difference on them, which is unfortunate. But these next people really get under my skin: When I used to go to the YMCA, the trainers or attendants (I tend to think they were the latter because they never did much of anything) would stand around chatting it up with the regulars. They were always just so friendly and full of kinesthetic energy. They would never chat it up with me because I was closed off, listening to my iPod, focusing on hitting my high intensity point (whatever weight that would be just enough to make my muscles shake from strain). Maybe I was jealous because I was not social with these people, but these attendants really irritated me. They would hog up the gym space, particularly near the areas I would want to work out on. They just needed to go away and measure someone's body fat percentage or wipe down the machines. Anyway, it was and still is very interesting to study the ecclectic people who go to the gym:the cliques and the loners, the beginners and experts, the lifters and cardio-folks.



• I've been reading two very odd books, both for children and teens. The first, The Light Princess is for a lit class and it's by George MacDonald, a very famous Christian author from the 1800s. The story is a "fantasy" fairy tale, about some princess who is cursed with the inability to be held down by gravity and is eventually freed from the spell by the act of a "selfless" young prince who is enamored by her beauty (now that's surprising for a fairy tale, isn't it?). Without going into details, I saw the Christian symbolism, but I was just wondering, "How the heck did he come up with this crazy idea?!" A friend let me borrow The Perks of Being a Wallflower, about the woes and wiles of being a teenager. The main character is indirectly affected by the following issues that are faced by his friends and family: death, homosexuality, teenage pregnancy, suicide, both homo- and heterosexual sex acts, abuse by family and abuse by boyfriends, some spirituality, and of course, love. Did I mention that all of this happens within one school year?! I'm having a hard time relating to the narrator. I guess I really sheltered myself when I was a teenager, because I hardly heard about any of these things happening, let alone experience them (I obviously knew these things existed). I guess that's just the life of a "real" teen. I'm interested in it because it raises a lot of social issues, but it's still weird for me. I guess I can see it as expanding my worldview.