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Topic #42: What is your favorite word? Why? What is your least favorite word? What word are you entirely neutral about? For all your word choices, is it how they sound, or what they mean that defines your opinion of them?

There aren’t any specific words that I prefer or would consider my favorite. If I had to pick, I would probably go with any words that relate to any themes, topics, or activities that interest me, because those words would act as a memory cue for those things that I like, and potentially make me think about them more.

Simply put, my least favorite words are any words that sound similar have multiple meanings. More specifically, I dislike words possessing secondary meanings that can also be expressed more accurately or precisely by a completely different word. For example, I dislike the word “too” because it sounds too similar to “two” and “to,” and because one could use the word “also” instead to completely avoid confusion.

I also dislike words that have gained a slang definition. For example, the word “gay” can mean “cheery” or “homosexual” (which are both more clear terms for “gay”), but it has also been given the definition of “socially unacceptable” or “something that is not desirable.” Instead of appending a definition to a random word, the little kids that come up with these new definitions should instead go learn more words. Instead of “gay,” they could say “annoying,” “unwanted,” “unappealing,” “troublesome,” “loathed,” “dreaded,” “distasteful,” “displeasing,” “scorned,” or any other abundant synonyms.

Excluding the types of words mentioned above, all other words are neutral. I believe my feelings for these words are determined more by what they mean and how they are used in society, rather than how they sound or my personal opinion about them.

So Far in 2011…

Number of Taco Bell tacos eaten: 15

Number of times I did my own laundry: 1

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Topic #38: Describe your dream vacation. Describe your last vacation and compare your dream vacation to your last one.

I don’t think I really have what I would consider a dream vacation. I’m not really a fan of traveling, and I get carsick and airsick very easily, so it would have to be somewhere close enough that I don’t get sick getting there, or far enough that I would have to take a plane and I can sleep during the trip.

I also don’t find going to different and new places very interesting. When I go somewhere, I like to go there with a purpose; I find it difficult to roam around from place to place without having a goal. However, a goal for me can be as simple as taking pictures or making a video for my website – the goal being, creating better content in order to attract more readers. So, this place would have to be interesting enough for me to make good content.

With that in mind, I think the best way to describe my dream vacation is when I have nothing to do and I stay at home all day, able to do whatever I want to do. I would essentially be vacationing away from my normal schedule, and I would do things that let me relax.

I can’t think of my last vacation because I don’t go on vacations often, and I don’t like going to different places just to have fun. As of lately, the only reason I’ve gone to different states is to accomplish something or to participate in an activity where my presence was needed or expected. However, out of these trips, the times when I go to California seem more like vacations to me, even though I still might need to take care of things while I’m there.

On the other hand, based off my previous definition of a dream vacation, I take a dream vacation whenever I’m on break from school and I am able to stay home and not do anything pressing. If I manage to finish everything related to work and academics, I might be able to take a vacation over the weekends by staying in my room and not being bothered by anyone else.

So Far in 2011…

Number of Taco Bell tacos eaten: 15

Number of times I did my own laundry: 1

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Topic #37: Could you live without the Internet for a week? For a month?

My answer to this question is highly dependent on how other people are affected by this Internet out­age.

If I was the only one that lost the Internet for a week or a month, I would have an extremely difficult time living a normal life because of how disconnected I would be from everybody else. My main form of communication and socialization is over the internet – the time a lot of people spend meeting up with people in real life is spent on the Internet for me. Even when I do actually meet up with people in real life, I usually bring some form of technology connected to the Internet with me, and once in a while I bring my camera so I can make videos to put on the Internet of the meet-up.

Life would be difficult not only for my social life, but for my education and work as well. A lot of information about my education is on the internet, such as documents that I have to read and emails about course updates, and it is important that I have access to those if I wish to succeed in my classes. As for my work, being the Web Director at the Badger Herald, almost 99% of my work is on the Internet. If I didn’t have access to the Internet, I would essentially not be able to do most of my job.

However, if the Internet disappeared for a week or a month for everyone in the world, I think that it would be much more manageable, and I would not be as strongly affected as if I was the only one without Internet. The things that I do on the Internet would come to a halt for everyone else as well, and the Internet would become a desolate place. There would be nobody to interact with, and nobody would be visiting my website, so I wouldn’t have to worry about doing anything on the Internet. People would probably use their phones a lot more because email is unavailable, and even though I dislike talking on my phone, I still have a phone number that people can reach me at, so I wouldn’t be missing that many important messages. As for mass announcements during school or work, people could relay that information when we see each other in person.

So Far in 2011…

Number of Taco Bell tacos eaten: 15

Number of times I did my own laundry: 1

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Topic #35: When teleportation is finally possible, where will you beam yourself first? (Yes, you can assume you’d be able to teleport yourself back. It’d be a teleportation app for your phone of course, which you’d keep in your pocket.)

Taking this question literally, if I had a teleportation application on my iPod Touch (because I don’t have a cell phone that is able to use applications), the first place I would teleport myself is one meter across the room. I would test the application in my bedroom, and make sure I end up still inside my bedroom. Because the prompt implies that this is the first ever way someone is able to teleport his or herself, I want to make sure that this is something I am able to use successfully without any major side effects.

If I teleport myself a meter away and there are any problems, I would still be in a good position to recollect myself and make sure that I can get any help if there are any severe problems after the teleportation. Seeing as I would be in my bedroom, I would have all the resources I normally have to make sure everything is fine.

If the first teleportation is successful, I would keep testing the application little by little, with the next teleportation taking me several meters away, a couple hundred meters away, and about a kilometer away. If this works fine, I would initially only use the teleportation application to teleport myself to my classes and my workplace, all of which are within a few kilometers away from my apartment.

If I am able to do this and nothing bad happens for a while, I would start extending the reach of my teleportations to other locations farther away, like to different cities and states within the United States. Eventually, I would probably use it to travel around the world and take videos and pictures of various landmarks for my own entertainment. I never was a fan of traveling because of the time it takes to get to different places, and because I don’t really find different regions that exciting. However, if travel becomes this easy, I’m sure I can find some places that intrigue me enough for me to go there and visit.

So Far in 2011…

Number of Taco Bell tacos eaten: 13 (+3 on Feb 03, 2011 – I just realized I forgot to add them in)

Number of times I did my own laundry: 1