You know what's really been annoying me lately? One of my roommates. Her friends in particular. One of them comes over to our apartment all the time (I won't use her real name, because I'm betting that someone here knows her). We'll just refer to her by the first letter of her name, M.

M comes over and uses our bathroom and then fails to turn off the light. I think that it is common curtesy to turn off a light when you leave a room. It save energy. It helps the environment. It keeps people like me from getting very annoyed with you. It also annoys me because I'm probably a little bit OCD.

Now, this wouldn't annoy me so much if it didn't happen quite so often. But it happens every single time she uses the bathroom. EVERY SINGLE TIME!!!! Now, energy conservation is something that I care about. I would say something to this girl, but she is way too spacey to remember. I've come very close to telling my roommate, "Tell M that if she doesn't start turning off the light when she's done in the bathroom that she isn't allowed to pee over here any more. She can use the bathroom in her own apartment." But I'm too nice.

How else can I solve this problem? I can leave little notes around, I suppose. But people don't usually like that.

The Oscars

The Oscars weren't terribly exciting this year. But my roommates and I watched anyway. We laughed at Jon Stewart and made fun of quite a few outfits.

Some of the montages got to be a little much. Especially when they decided to show clips from all 79 of the previous movies that won the "best picture" awards. They also decided to show montages of many (thankfully not all) of the actors and actresses who won the "Best Actor," "Best Actress," "Best Supporting Actor," "Best Supporting Actress" and a bunch of others.

It got extrememly tedious when they decided to show the best binocular scenes from movies. Ugh. Oh, writers' strike, why couldn't you have ended sooner?

I did really enjoy all of the musical performances, though. I really enjoyed the songs from "Enchanted." That movie was adorable and I love the music.

There were some pretty dresses, and then there were some not so pretty dresses. Some of them made me think, "AHHHHH, what were you thinking when you picked out that hideous, hideous piece of cloth to wear to the Oscars?????" Ugh!

After watching the Oscars this year, I can only hope that next year will be better...

TV and voting

As I wrote a paper last night I was half paying attention to the Project Runway reunion special. Project Runway is one of the few unscripted television shows that I can stand to watch. I enjoy seeing what the contestants come up with each week. Will they do well? Will their designs fall apart?

This seems more original than most of the TV shows that were on during the writers' strike. This show has been around for a while now, I know. But every season people on the show create new designs and I can't help but hope that some of the contestants succeed on the show and after it is over. The people on this show are actually talented. They don't have to be pretty or fake (they can be, but it's not a must) Unlike on most reality TV shows, some of the people on this show are even likeable. Although I was a bit disappointed when Christian took the Fan-Favorite over Chris who my friends and I like the best. But whatever. I guess not everyone votes (I didn't and neither did my friends). And if you don't vote, then your voice will never be heard.

I don't blame people for not voting in the Fan Favorite contest for Project Runway. But I do think that all Americans who are of age should vote in this November's presidential election. I know I will. And I hope you do, too. The more people who vote, the more likely it is that we will have a president who represents a large population of our country (although, with the Electoral College you never know).

So, I encourage you to go out and vote in the November presidential election. If you don't you will have no say in who becomes our next president.

I don't watch much television...

I don't feel like I watch as much TV as I used to. Because of the writers' strike there doesn't seem to be anything good on anymore. It's mostly trashy, tedious reality TV. A lot of it is exactly the same as the rest. And I can only handle so much of that.

I want all of the TV shows that I watched last fall to come back. Right now, all I really have to look forward to is "LOST" on Thursday nights. It drives me kind of crazy the way they never answer any questions, but I still watch. I watch because, despite my frustration with the show, I still enjoy it. I get excited, because it is one of the few shows left that requires writing.

I wish I could say the same thing about reality TV. No, actually I don't. I can't get excited about the next episode of Rock of Love 2. That show is awful. I can't sit through an entire episode without wanting to gauge my eyes out with a fork. It's that painful. I don't care who Brett Michaels chooses in the end.

Recently, my friends and I have been watching TV shows on DVD to battle our cravings for decent television. But I've seen a lot of the episodes on these DVDs before. But I do still laugh during every episode of "Arrested Development."

It makes me wonder: Are other people doing the same thing? Will they ever give up on reality TV like I have? When they do give up on reality TV, what will they do? Will everyone start purchasing television shows on DVD? Will the writers' strike ever end?

I'm tired of this writers' strike and all of the reality TV that comes with it. When will I have something new to look forward to on TV again?

It's just after 11 p.m. and I'm trying to decide what to blog about for my first post. What is something in pop-culture that I can blog about? I know, blogging itself!

The Internet has become a huge part of our culture today and as a result we have blogging (also a large cultural innovation). Millions of people worldwide do it. And millions more read blogs. We blog about politics, television, movies, our pets, parties that we go to on Saturday nights, our day-to-day lives, how much we hate our jobs or co-workers (people from the autobiographical writing class last semester may or may not recall a story of mine in which this was a part of the plot) and anything else, really. If you can imagine something, there's probably a blog about it somewhere.

Some people write huge blogs that are read by tons of people. Some people write blogs that are just read by a small group of friends and acquaintences. And others blog just for themselves.

Some writers blog to find jobs. Hell, maybe someday I'll end up doing that. Who knows? Maybe I'll use this blog to do that. I'll comment on society and where I think it's going. Or I'll write about politics. Or maybe I'll find a job by sending out clips, resumes and cover letters. Wow, I hope I don't end up blogging to find a job. That could take forever (there could be even less results than from traditional job-hunting for writers). What if no one ever discovers my blog (it's highly likely that they won't)?

Some people blog for fun. I do that with my other blog. I just ramble on about whatever is on my mind. I blog about things that excite me, things that worry me, deep inner thoughts, and anything else that I find worthy of sharing with my friends.

I actually haven't blogged in a while. I don't know how some people do it every day. I just do it when I feel like it, when I have time, or when I remember that my blog is still there and lonely because it hasn't been touched it in over a month.

I suppose it could be worse. It could be one of those trashy blogs about celebrity gossip or something else awful like that. But no, it's just where my thoughts go when I decide to write them down. It's not that interesting. It's just a place to record random thoughts, crazy memories and deep or weird questions for my readers. It's nice to have a place for that.

It's also great to have a place where people read my writing and I don't have to be all "academic" about it. I can use the first and second persons. I can use contractions. It's looser than writing for most of my classes or news articles for The Torch.

I think blogging is here to stay. People ranging from angry 11 year-olds to celebrities, to professional journalists do it. And anyone can start a blog. It's crazy how large a part of our culture did not exist just a few years ago.