The day they installed children's games on the library computers was a dark day. No longer could I look forward to silence while I was at work; instead, I get to look forward to hearing the same voices say the same things over and over and over again. They used to be out with all the other computers but eventually got moved into the kids room, but it didn't matter; you can still hear Elmo loud and clear from the furthest point away from the computer. It's absolute torture. You might think it's not that bad, but really it is. I can't tell you how many times I have wanted to take a sledgehammer to those computers. It's not just the annoying voices and sound effects (although that is a major part of it), but it's mainly the repetition. In the span of one game, I can hear the same phrases and noises at least fifteen times. Now, multiply that by the dozens of kids who come in to play the game in the five or six hours that I'm working, and maybe you can start to see how this affects me. I had started writing this post a while ago, and in light of my last post this seems so irrelevant and part of me thinks, who the hell cares about this stuff anyway? But life goes on even when tragedy strikes and I'm trying to put the pieces back together and move on, and if it takes talking about annoying computer games to do that, then that's what's happening.
Elmo is the absolute worst invention ever in the history of children's characters, and this is coming from someone who thinks Jim Henson was a genius. But it's not just Elmo and his stupid voice. It's Dora the Explorer. And Spongebob Squarepants. And something called Reader Rabbit and the stupid mouse character that does all the activities. And the skeleton guy. Oh, that skeleton guy.
I'm not sure why it's not there anymore, but there used to be a game where you could have Green Eggs and Ham read to you, along with animations and various sound effects. That sounds amazing, right? WRONG. Don't misunderstand me, I absolutely love Dr. Seuss, and in particular Green Eggs and Ham, since that book is what taught me to read. But imagine a really obnoxious voice, one that overdramatizes. Every. Single. Word. And that's what Sam sounds like. Now imagine a grumpy old man voice, and you have the other character. Throw in annoying overdone cartoon sound effects and that's essentially the whole thing. It was enough to make me want to gouge out my eardrums.
Reader Rabbit might even be worse than that, though. I have no idea how the game got that name, because there is absolutely nothing there that teaches kids how to read. There are games where they color, do hand motions to certain songs, pop bubbles, do shape puzzles, but NOTHING involving reading. That really bothers me! And then I have to hear the Itsy Bitsy Spider eight times in a row, usually with the kid playing the game singing along. Badly.
Spongebob Squarepants used to be a show that I enjoyed watching, as stupid as it is. I never realized just how annoying he was until the game happened. First of all, it's a typing game, like Mavis Beacon, only with Spongebob and Patrick and Squidward. Kids who watch Spongebob don't understand what typing is or that the point of the game is to type things correctly. They just bash away at the keyboard, making bugs squish (with disgusting sound effects) all over the windshield. Mr. Krabs' voice, saying the same things over and over again: just awful.
Then there's the skeleton guy. I have the smallest problem with this game compard to the others because I'm partial to science and biology in particular, and this game teaches human anatomy. That's pretty cool, even if his voice is dreadful. But what really gets me? The alarm clock. I'm not sure why you have to wake him up for the game to start, but you do, and not only does it sound like the computer broke and is beeping in that "warning! warning!" kind of way; but it sounds just like the alarm clock I had when I was in high school and I get flashbacks of waking up at 5:30 in the morning and waiting for the bus in the cold...ugh.
And these games are just a smattering of what's available to play. There's a whole slew more of this junk that I get to hear on a daily basis. So there you have it: my slow but sure descent into Crazy Town. My eye is twitching just thinking about going to work tomorrow.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Kris
I have refrained from using anyone's real name in here and I plan to keep on doing so, but not this time. This is a big deal to me and I can't imagine not using his name in here. In my last post, I mentioned a guy flirting with me before moving to the other side of the world. That guy was Kris. I know I made it sound like it happened that one time and then he was gone, but it was much more involved than that. I wasn't going to elaborate on it at all except that I just found out that he has passed away, and it makes me want to share our story even though it's extremely brief. This happened at the end of June, just this past year. I had seen him in the library on and off for a long time but never really talked to him until more recently.
We talked in the library twice, the first time when he introduced himself and we talked about music and he told me that he's from Australia (yeah...on top of everything else...an Australian accent. Swoon). He was adorable. No two ways about it. Everything about him. The next time I saw him, he wanted me to help him print out forms so that he could mail things to himself in Australia. He told me he was moving back there that weekend. I was kind of shocked, but I figured that's just my luck. He wrote down his name for me and told me to find him on facebook. So I did. Imagine my surprise when, over a week later, he accepted my friend request and wrote on my wall telling me that he was leaving for Australia TOMORROW. I found out later that he missed the original flight. This was my second chance! I was at my other job and I went on facebook when I should have been working, but this was perfect. He left me his phone number so I sent him a text to come hang out with me at work. He said he would love to but had no way of getting there. So you know what happened? My boss let me leave and go get him and then bring him back while another girl covered for me. It made me so happy. I brought him back, he hung around while I finished my shift, and then I took him home with me. I was housesitting for some friends, so we went to their house and I decided we were not sleeping. We were going to make the most of this time together and stay awake the whole night. We almost did, falling asleep at 5:30am and then waking up at 7. That night will always stay with me. I hate to sound so cheesy and cliched, but we really connected. We liked a lot of the same music, and laughed at all the same things, and I could listen to him talk for hours with that accent. It was so amazing. In the morning, I took him back to his place so he could start packing and get ready, and I went back home but then went to his place after a little bit. He was sending me threatening texts, too, saying "you better hurry up, you have one minute!" So I pretty much sat there and watched him run around shoving things in a suitcase. But I still wouldn't trade that time for anything. We listened to music together; he turned the volume all the way up on one song to annoy the upstairs neighbors because he said they were always waking him up too early in the morning, running around and stuff. I always think of him when I hear that song, and I know I always will.
The time came too quickly that his ride showed up to take him to the airport. I'll never forget him walking me to my car and giving me a kiss and then running and jumping into the van, smashing his face against the window at me and blowing kisses and they drove off. He called me from the airport. Twice. He called me when he was back in Australia. We could talk for hours. We facebook messaged. Facebook chatted. We texted. But we both got busier, he was going back to school and doing volunteer work, and we had less time to talk and text. But every time we talked he told me he loved me and always said "miss you heaps" and we would never be able to hang up. It would take forever to say goodbye, and he would make me hang up first. We weren't technically a couple, but we both obviously liked each other, and had the circumstances been different, we probably would have ended up dating. He was probably coming back in December and we would have a week or two together. Well, I started dating someone else. I told him, and he was sad, but he was ok with it. His main concern? If I was happy. I cried during that conversation, because I realized just how sweet he was. He told me he was seeing someone else too, but that he was already over it and didn't see it going anywhere. That made me feel a little better, that it wasn't just me. We still talked, but less frequently. He didn't come in December. Partly because of me, I think, but there were probably other reasons too. I guess I'll never know.
We talked once more, on December 22nd. He texted me to ask if he could call because he missed talking to me, so I said yes, and he called. We talked for about an hour. He was so tired and sounded like he was getting sick but he still wanted to talk. He asked me everything that had been going on since we last talked, and it was a good conversation. I'm kicking myself now because he called two more times after that, and I missed the calls but never called him back. I texted him twice, once the day before he died, and one after he had already passed. I didn't find out until a week after it had happened. I can't tell you how much it hurts. He was such a special person, and he made me feel special too. He never missed an opportunity to make me feel great about myself. He also never got tired of making fun of how he said hello to me outside the library that day we first talked, and I ignored him. I don't know how many times I explained to him that I didn't realize he was talking to me, but he still gave me a hard time for it. We always laughed about that. Even though I never told him how I felt about him, I hope that he knew. I guess none of this is really too relevant to my blog, except that here is someone I met at the library and he deeply affected me and now he's gone.
This is for you Kris.
I miss you.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
We talked in the library twice, the first time when he introduced himself and we talked about music and he told me that he's from Australia (yeah...on top of everything else...an Australian accent. Swoon). He was adorable. No two ways about it. Everything about him. The next time I saw him, he wanted me to help him print out forms so that he could mail things to himself in Australia. He told me he was moving back there that weekend. I was kind of shocked, but I figured that's just my luck. He wrote down his name for me and told me to find him on facebook. So I did. Imagine my surprise when, over a week later, he accepted my friend request and wrote on my wall telling me that he was leaving for Australia TOMORROW. I found out later that he missed the original flight. This was my second chance! I was at my other job and I went on facebook when I should have been working, but this was perfect. He left me his phone number so I sent him a text to come hang out with me at work. He said he would love to but had no way of getting there. So you know what happened? My boss let me leave and go get him and then bring him back while another girl covered for me. It made me so happy. I brought him back, he hung around while I finished my shift, and then I took him home with me. I was housesitting for some friends, so we went to their house and I decided we were not sleeping. We were going to make the most of this time together and stay awake the whole night. We almost did, falling asleep at 5:30am and then waking up at 7. That night will always stay with me. I hate to sound so cheesy and cliched, but we really connected. We liked a lot of the same music, and laughed at all the same things, and I could listen to him talk for hours with that accent. It was so amazing. In the morning, I took him back to his place so he could start packing and get ready, and I went back home but then went to his place after a little bit. He was sending me threatening texts, too, saying "you better hurry up, you have one minute!" So I pretty much sat there and watched him run around shoving things in a suitcase. But I still wouldn't trade that time for anything. We listened to music together; he turned the volume all the way up on one song to annoy the upstairs neighbors because he said they were always waking him up too early in the morning, running around and stuff. I always think of him when I hear that song, and I know I always will.
The time came too quickly that his ride showed up to take him to the airport. I'll never forget him walking me to my car and giving me a kiss and then running and jumping into the van, smashing his face against the window at me and blowing kisses and they drove off. He called me from the airport. Twice. He called me when he was back in Australia. We could talk for hours. We facebook messaged. Facebook chatted. We texted. But we both got busier, he was going back to school and doing volunteer work, and we had less time to talk and text. But every time we talked he told me he loved me and always said "miss you heaps" and we would never be able to hang up. It would take forever to say goodbye, and he would make me hang up first. We weren't technically a couple, but we both obviously liked each other, and had the circumstances been different, we probably would have ended up dating. He was probably coming back in December and we would have a week or two together. Well, I started dating someone else. I told him, and he was sad, but he was ok with it. His main concern? If I was happy. I cried during that conversation, because I realized just how sweet he was. He told me he was seeing someone else too, but that he was already over it and didn't see it going anywhere. That made me feel a little better, that it wasn't just me. We still talked, but less frequently. He didn't come in December. Partly because of me, I think, but there were probably other reasons too. I guess I'll never know.
We talked once more, on December 22nd. He texted me to ask if he could call because he missed talking to me, so I said yes, and he called. We talked for about an hour. He was so tired and sounded like he was getting sick but he still wanted to talk. He asked me everything that had been going on since we last talked, and it was a good conversation. I'm kicking myself now because he called two more times after that, and I missed the calls but never called him back. I texted him twice, once the day before he died, and one after he had already passed. I didn't find out until a week after it had happened. I can't tell you how much it hurts. He was such a special person, and he made me feel special too. He never missed an opportunity to make me feel great about myself. He also never got tired of making fun of how he said hello to me outside the library that day we first talked, and I ignored him. I don't know how many times I explained to him that I didn't realize he was talking to me, but he still gave me a hard time for it. We always laughed about that. Even though I never told him how I felt about him, I hope that he knew. I guess none of this is really too relevant to my blog, except that here is someone I met at the library and he deeply affected me and now he's gone.
This is for you Kris.
I miss you.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
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