Random Thoughts 31

Dear Every Website on the Internet:  I do not want to subscribe to your newsletter or sign up for notifications.  I don't want a temporary discount for your goods in exchange for permanently being on your mailing list. Please stop flashing me your pop ups every time I open a page.

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There is a term used in British English I feel needs to be used more in American English.  Both British and Americans use the word "pot" to mean vessel or container.  However, Americans only use it when they are referring to cooking vessels or containers for plants.  I noticed the British use the word pot to refer to other types of containers as well.  For example, the British will use the word pot to refer to food containers such as saying a "pot of yogurt" or a "pot of cottage cheese".  Americans almost always refer to food packaging as "containers".  Isn't is easier to say "pot"?  We waste our breath with longer words.  On the other hand, I have also heard the British refer to a jar of spices as a pot of spices.  It's as easy to say jar as it is to say pot, but why do Americans refer to certain vessels as jars and other vessels as containers?  Isn't it easier to refer to all of them as pots?  I don't always feel there is much utility in British English (why the extra u in so many words?) but I have to agree with them on this one.  Let's call everything a pot.

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I am a little tired of this trend of "Dad Jokes".  It's not that I don't like clean, clever, punny jokes.  What burns my butt is that these types of jokes are now considered the realm of men with children.  Why do men - and parents - have to monopolize something fun and claim it as their own?  I have been making puns my entire life.  As a child-free woman, I don't want to be told I am telling Dad Jokes.  I am telling Rachel Jokes!

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There is a stallion at my barn right now.  In typical stallion fashion he is rambunctious and hot to trot. He raises a ruckus any time someone walks by his stall.  Of  course he becomes even more agitated when a mare walks by.  

I try not to be too bothered by his behavior.  He is a stallion in a barn with a heavy mare population.  It must be frustrating for him to have mares walk by or stand near his stall every day and he can't do anything about it.  It must be doubly frustrating when one of the mares is in season and starts signaling to him that she's ready for some action herself. 

Then I thought of something.  Human men go to strip clubs.  They deliberately go to places where scantily-clad women dance around them, feigning sexual interest in them.  The allow themselves to be titillated by women they can't have.  Let me reiterate: They do this DELIBERATELY.  They put themselves in a state of sexual arousal that won't be immediately satisfied.

That stallion can chill out.  

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Clothes shopping is something I love do to in theory.  It's fun seeking out and finding those perfect items of clothing.  My problem is it's never as much fun in practice.  I have created a situation where I have fine-tuned my style to the point that I have to reject most of the clothes I look at.  I only want to wear colors I know flatter me.  I only want to to wear certain silhouettes or certain necklines.  If hemlines can't easily be altered, I am not going to buy anything that's the wrong length.  It's hard to find clothes that fit within the parameters of what I think will flatter my trollesque figure. When it comes to fashion, I'm not a risk taker anymore.  So now clothes shopping has gone from a playful pleasure to a frustrating and often futile endeavor.  Knowing your style is both a blessing and a curse.  

I suppose it helps me shop more intelligently and cuts wasteful consumption.  There is an upside to everything.

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Unpopular Opinion: Jeopardy has jumped the shark.  (There.  I said it!)

It seems to me in the past couple of years, the contest is skewed to encourage mega-winners.  The show seems to like it when one contestant dominates for weeks at a time and wins upwards of six figures.  Then the producers keep shoving tournament after tournament at the audience, pitting these mega-winners against each other over and over.  Now they're doing it in prime time.

This show is just a glorified trivia contest.  The format is dumb.  What is the point of making the answer be in the form of a question?  Nobody asks questions and give answers the way Jeopardy phrases them.  How about the show be regular questions and answers?  I suppose if the format changed, I wouldn't be any more interested in it.  How many years can anyone stand watching other people answer questions?  

As a kid I remember my grandparents' generation defending their loves of game shows by saying, "You can learn something from these shows."  Have I learned that much from Jeopardy?  I am well known in my circles for remembering useless facts, but I'm not sure I remember the many useless facts I discovered on Jeopardy.

Before anyone says to me, "It's not the same since Alex Trebek died," I want to say I don't think that's the problem.  I was as accustomed to Alex Trebek as anyone.  Regardless, I take no issue with the current hosts.  They're fine.  

I'm burnt out on the show, burnt out on the questions, and burnt out on the contestants.  No waterskiing stunts are going to make this show any less tedious.

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Some of these microblogs are a little less micro than usual.  Here is a something to think about for future S&C posts.  Should some of these random thoughts have been standalone posts?  How long should a random thought be before it becomes long enough to be a full blog post?