Eight Things From 2011 I Am Soooooo Over

I thought I'd take a departure from the format instituted in last year's recap and do a different kind of year-in-review for 2011. While the past 12 months saw a lot of good happen in my life (getting a job in advertising and purchasing my first car), it seems like there was just as much stuff that irritated the crap out of me. So without further ado, I present...

Eight Things From 2011 I Am Soooooooo Over


1. "Firework" by Katy Perry



I hate this song. Like, really hate it. Like, really, really, really, really HATE. IT. Like, stick a fork in my eyeball, pull it out, saute my dislodged eyeball with mushrooms and peppers, wrap it all up in a tortilla and top it with sour cream, shredded cheese, salsa, and guacamole and eat it rather than listen to that fucking song one more time type of hate. Why do I hate it so much? Have you heard the lyrics? They sound like they were written by a seven year-old. "Boom Boom Boom/Even brighter than the moon moon moon." Seriously, what the fuck? Yet people inexplicably loved the shit out of this song and it was everywhere, from awards shows to Glee.

2. Taylor Swift




The first Taylor Swift song I ever heard was "Teardrops on my Guitar." I'll admit, I liked it, as well as some of her subsequent singles. But after listening to her 100,000,000,000th song about a boy, all I can do is roll my eyes. Get some more material, girl! Or write about grown-up relationships, because every single time I listen to one of your songs, I feel like I should be roaming the halls of Taylor County High School all over again. I'm 28. I'm over that high school shit.

3. The Duggars




When they first started getting media coverage, I was enthralled just like everybody else. Kids numbering in the double digits?! Holy shit! But now even their sweatshop-sized numbers aren't that interesting. I am SO TIRED of it being breaking news every time this woman pops out another kid. The television shows try to make it all mysterious and drop teasers left and right that say things like, "Michelle Duggar has big news! What could it be? We'll find out after the break!" but it's NOT mysterious! She's fucking pregnant! That's her deal! It's not like she's going to announce she found the cure for cancer or helped colonize life on Mars. She's with child. Again.

4. The Kardashians




Refresh my memory: why are these ladies famous? I'm waiting..............................................

Okay. Moving on.

5. American Idol




Why is this show still on? When it first debuted it was unique. Well, it was unique to those of us who didn't watch a lot of Star Search growing up. But now? The only original judge left is Randy, and from what I hear, all of them are too nice! The main thing that made American Idol worth watching was Simon Cowell's painfully honest comments that crushed wannabe contestants' hopes and dreams. Really cutting shit like, "You are the worst singer in the world" and condescendingly rhetorical questions such as, "Do you honestly think that was good?" If a contestant cries and it's not because they were told their tone-deaf performance caused babies to contemplate suicide, I'm not watching.

6. Two and a Half Men







One of the reasons Charlie Sheen's magnificently hot mess of a public breakdown thrilled me was the fact that it would be the demise of this horrible, unfunny show. But you know what? It's still alive! This show is like a cockroach in that no matter how many times you step on it, the little bastard just WILL. NOT. DIE. Come on, fellas. The half-man is pretty much grown. Unless you're planning on renaming it Three Full-Grown Men, please, for the love of God, end it.

7. Lindsay Lohan




All the girl did this year was bounce in and out of court. Can we please just file her in the, Please disappear already! section?

8. Awkward conversations


I don't know if the social networking sites out there are making us all socially weird, but it seems like I had a hell of a lot of awkward conversations with people this year. It's gotten to the point where I'm questioning if I'm the socially-awkward one, and that's an idea that fills me with fear. Call me crazy, but isn't a conversation supposed to go something like this?

Me: So what do you do?
Them: Me? Oh, I'm an archaeology professor.
Me: Oh, that's cool!
Them: Yeah, I really enjoy it. It's really nice when I get to get out of the classroom for some real hands-on learning, though.
Me: Oh really?
Them: Yeah. Like one time, I had to beat some Nazis to the supposed location of the Ark of the Covenant...
(continue on with banter about Nazis, the Ark of the Covenant, etc.)


It seems like a pretty cut-and-dry formula: I ask you a question. You answer it, and then ask me a question. I answer that, and then at some point we find some commonality and talk about it. You'd think it'd be easy. Instead, here's what I've had to deal with:

Me: So what do you do?
Them: I'm an archaeology professor.
Me: Oh, that's cool!
Them: Yeah. ::crickets::
Me: So...how did you get into archaeology?
Them: ::shrugs::
Me: Has it always interested you?
Them: Yeah ::crickets::
Me: ::goes off to kill self because that would be more entertaining than this conversation::


I hope 2012 sees me talking to more people who are well-versed in communicating with other humans face-to-face. I can't deal with another year of pulling teeth only to find out that the industry you work in is just, "okay."

So that's my list. I was originally planning to write about eleven things that bugged me in 2011, but it's 2:00a.m. (no matter what Blogger says!), I'm tired, and I can't think of any more right now and all I want to do is sleepy-sleep. So happy New Year everybody! Cherish and relish in the optimism you are feeling right now, because in a week, all that will disappear and you will be the same embittered person you were before midnight. Cheers!

New Year's Happenin' and Other Random Crap

This post is just going to be a hodgepodge of randomness, since what I want to write about isn't meaty enough to justify an entire blog post. Just a forewarning.

1. Sometimes I think about random, off-the-wall crap. Case in point: while I was brushing my teeth earlier, I was thinking about when I catch Ava doing something she's not supposed to do, or barking at what appears to be nothing. When I catch her doing these things, I think about how easy it would be to communicate with her if dogs understood English. Then I thought, what if there was a way we could communicate verbally with dogs, but it involved us learning how to bark? Like, if barking were an actual language and we had to learn it in order to communicate with our dogs? If humans could actually learn how to bark, would you do it in order to communicate more easily with your pet? I wouldn't. Actually, the more accurate response is, Hell no I wouldn't. I just couldn't risk looking like a moron by barking at my dog in public, or even in the privacy of my apartment. I have my dignity.

2. Sometime between 8p.m. and midnight on New Year's Eve, I found myself fist-pumping with a bunch of strangers at a bar downtown. You read that right. Fist-pumping. Jersey Shore-style. I was at a New Year's Eve party hosted by Events and Adventures, a singles activity club I recently joined. When I arrived at the party that night, all I was expecting to do was to have a few drinks, eat a few appetizers and meet some new people. Starting an impromptu dance party in the middle of the bar with a group of people I was talking with did not cross my mind, but I'm so glad it happened. I love it when random things like that happen. It's magical. I joined Events and Adventures to get out of my comfort zone and try new things and meet new people, and I don't think I could have started off 2011 any better. I'm not one of those people who look for signs about the future in every little thing in life, but I do like to think that my busting a move with strangers and connecting with them in such a fun way is a good omen to how this new year will unfold. I like to think that it will mean that this upcoming year will be filled with many more such memorable experiences and new friends.

Okay, that's it. I'm going to bed now. Told you this was random.