74 posts tagged “qotd”

Every new "Today" seems more anxious than ever. Do you find more solace in "Yesterday" or "Tomorrow"? Why?
Submitted by Bee Whisperer.

I think this is the condition of life, not of merely our times. Human beings will always find comfort in the known, and discomfort, yet possibility, in the unknown.

But of course, when I was a kid, those were the good ol' days. ;-)

If you had to write your autobiography in 6 words, what would you write?
Submitted by mitzie.

Realized I was beautiful all along.

Look at the first post you ever wrote on Vox. What important developments or changes have occurred in your life since then?
Submitted by Alexandra.

My first post on Vox was September of 2006. Time flies when you're having fun!  Here's what's happened since:

• I had just moved in with the honey that month, so we got settled in and have been loving living together. I was worried that we might argue more, but really, it's been remarkably arguement-free. He's really easy to live with. He totally pitches in a fair share with the chores, and he's very thoughtful.
• I changed jobs. The new job came with a good raise and more interesting, challenging work. Good move!
• My beloved grandma died.
• I learned a ton about branding and website development. I managed my first website launch.
• The honey and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary, and took a fun vacation to Boston & Vermont.
• I attended a bunch of tradeshows, including CES and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. My first trip to Spain!
• My brother stopped talking to my parents and I because of his warped perspective (or immaturity, both, I suppose) that he was in some way "wronged" by my parents.
• My aunt got cancer for the 2nd time.
• 3 friends got pregnant. 1 down, 2 to go.
• I celebrated my last 20's birthday.

Whew.

What did you do for fun when you were a kid? How is it different from what you see kids doing now?
Submitted by jaklumen.

Let me start off by saying that I don't know where my parental supervision was. Actually, scratch that, I do. They were working hard, and my brother (5 years older than me) was clearly not mature enough to supervise me.

Our favorite game was called "karate in the dark". Yeah.....that's safe.

There was no actual karate involved. My brother and I used the word "karate" to describe any kind of violence, basically. Here's how it worked:

We'd divide up my plastic toys --  you know, those little pretend n' play pots and pans, little hard plastic things. He would take his half into the room directly across the hallway from mine, after we turned off all the lights in the house. Then, we would ambush each other. We'd run into each other's rooms -- a.k.a. "enemy territory" -- and chuck stuff at each other.

My strategy was rather honed and I usually inflicted the most damage. While Scott through one toy at a time, I'd hide under my bed, waiting patiently until his aresenal ran out. I'd gather all the toys, and while he was defenseless, rain them down upon his head at once. What can I say, I was a strange, evil little child I suppose.

Karate in the dark was our favorite game, but we had a few others. My brother would put me into an empty cardboard box -- the "spaceship" --  and wiggle it around (turbulence!).  Every time he opened the box, I got out and it was a new planet.

Another game was from the movie "Cloak and Dagger". He was Jack Flash, I was Lady Ace. We had walkie talkies. And bikes. I don't remember what we talked about over our walkie-talkies, but it sure did feel top secret. I don't think the owners of the 7-11 liked it when we walked around the store with our walkie-talkies, though.

Ah, good times. As far as kids' games today, I think it really depends on the environment. Kids in the ghetto might be learning gymnastics on old mattress springs, while kids in the 'burbs are on video games. Who am I to judge... for goodness' sakes, I used to play a game called karate in the dark...

What are your top five break-up songs?
Submitted by gt.

Feeling good about the breakup?  "Brass in Pocket", the Pretenders.

Feeling reminiscent about the breakup?  "Photographs & Memories", Jim Croce.

Just feeling down about the breakup?  "Dosed", Red Hot Chili Peppers.

How many pair of shoes do you have? Out of those pairs, how many do you wear more than a few times a year?
Submitted by fightinggale.

I love shoes. What a cliche, I know. But really, they do have the power to transform an ensemble. The best quality shoes are comfortable (even if they're high heels), and make your outfit, legs, and feet all look good. Of course, I do have a semi-ugly pair of Crocs too, but they're sort of so-ugly-they're-cute.

I have about 30-35 pairs of shoes, and I'd say I wear 85% of them in regular rotation. I tried to donate the shoes I don't wear too often. (Who am I kidding, it's just to make room for more shoes!)

What would you like to do more of?

• Travel!
• Read
• Try new things, like:
• Learn to play the drums and play in a rock band
• Surf
• Knit, perhaps
• Take themed tours of the U.S. For example, a "kitsch tour" of the Southwest -- I'd visit stuff like the dinosaurs on the way to Vegas, the teepee hotel in New Mexico, etc. Or maybe a "local food" tour where I'd take photos and write reviews of all the restaurants that specialize in local food.
• Exercise
• Have parties
• Have friends over for casual get-togethers like game night

This is why I look forward to retirement (at the ripe age of 28)...

What was the last great epiphany that you've had?
Submitted by Ross.

I had an epiphany while I was in Vietnam. I was visiting a puffed rice factory. They were puffing the rice for candies and such -- like a Vietnamese-style Rice Krispie treat. First, it hit home that the Industrial Revolution didn't really happen in Vietnam. Food production is still done in fairly small, family-run outfits along the Mekong River.

Anyway, they had an extremely efficient process for puffing the rice. To fuel the fire, the man used shells of the logan fruit. They heated a huge pan filled with clean sand, taken from the river bed. Then, the man dumped rice right into the pan full of sand. The sand was the heating element to puff the rice. Once puffed, he'd pour the rice and sand into a sifter to sift out the sand. The man would re-use the sand until it was completely black, and then I think they could just dump it back into the river.

The honey looked at me and said, "You know, if this was an American factory, we'd chop a bunch of wood for the fire. Then we'd heat a pan full of oil which could be used once or twice and would have to be disposed of, too. Then we'd have to wash the oily pan." It's so true. We have an abundance of raw materials (well, we had an abundance, anyway) and so we squander our resources. This got me thinking to my own habits, and how much waste I create.

I just realized that there's no good reason to create some of the waste I was creating. For example, I really don't need to use a paper coffee cup and the paper sleeve that goes around the cup. With such little effort, I can just use my own coffee cup which is a little nicer and even gives me a small discount. There's also no good reason I need to keep collecting plastic grocery bags until I have so many I have to throw them out.  So I just kept a bunch of those tote bags you always get at trade shows, and now those are my grocery bags.  There are a lot of things we can do to reduce waste. Beyond the obvious environmental reasons, I think being wasteful is just soft of mindless.

Here's a 3-minute video that shows you how much waste we go through:

What is your "role" in your family?

I've had a few roles in my family, and strangely (or maybe not), they are totally opposed as to how I think of myself. As a teenager, my family thought I was totally rebellious. Ok, so perhaps I rebelled against their rules a little. BUT, their rules were pretty strict, including --

• No going out on weeknights (Before the age of 15, I was allowed to if my homework was done, but they actually got stricter as I got older!)
• No dating until the age of 18
• No makeup, no heels
• 8:30pm bedtime

Yeah, I was like the last kid in high school to have a bed time. It was pretty embarrasing. I defied my parents by dating the first love of my life. Retrospectively, it was one of those loves that was impossible to stop anyway. But, by most other parents' standards, I was a good kid. Honor roll all the way, and didn't get into anything truly bad.

The other role I've always had is that of a hard-worker. I've been known as the one who works hard with my given intelligence, while my brother is known as the really smart one who's lazy. I have to admit, this perception gets to me sometimes. First, I don't really think my brother is lazy, although he is more of a risk-taker and often makes decisions that I wouldn't agree with.

Second, not to toot my own horn, but I think I'm smart. Certainly as smart as my brother. He's got technical knowledge and I've got more analytical and creative knowledge. However, my family tends to see technical knowledge as "real" knowledge. My brother can build his own flashlight from scratch which is something more tangible than me strategizing a marketing plan, I guess.

It drives me a little batty at times, but then again, what family doesn't have its share of battiness? Overall I've had it pretty good most of the time. This makes me wonder if my other family members would bristle about their own roles being mis-perceived? 

Which popular slang expression drives you nuts?

"I could care less."  The expression is "I couldn't care less", for goodness' sakes. If you could care less, than it doesn't really matter...

Also, "whatever" can be kind of annoying, though I admit I've been a perpetrator before. Let's try to care; apathy is overrated.