… One Hundred!

I was volunteering at a school once, and there was a kindergarden class sitting on the carpet in the classroom.  The teacher asked how many kids were present, so they started counting in unison.  They said, “One, two, three, four, … , fifteen, sixteen, seventeen!”  After counting the last child and as the teacher was beginning to explain something else, one kid chimed in, “One hundred!” as if to conclude the thought.

There are now over 100 posts here at Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs, with this being the 101st.  I try to include a variety of content on a consistent basis, hopefully void of any meaningful value.  As long as the idea train keeps choo-choo-ing away, I hope to keep this blog updated for many more hundreds of posts to come.  As always, I am open to comments or suggestions.

Thanks for reading; it means a lot to me.

Vice Presidential Debate 2012

The dynamic of the debate was much different from the first, with both candidates sitting at a single table closer together.  This lead to a more conversational debate as opposed to throwing ideas back and forth like a man playing catch with his son.

Throughout the most of the debate, Biden was laughing as if he heard the funniest joke in the world.  Obviously he read this post on my blog.  The laughing, although meant to diminish Ryan’s points, made him seem like a grouchy old man.  He reminds me of a teacher I had back in middle school who made you feel terrible about asking questions because of his condescending demeanor.

Also, did you see the glasses of water they had under the table?  There were about 3 mugs of water for the each of them stored in a compartment in the table.  I need a desk like that, but instead of glasses of water, I would install an automatic lemonade dispenser.

Joe Biden on the left, Paul Ryan on the right

Transitions

The weather today was not cold, but not hot.  Wearing shorts as I do until it drops below 40 degrees, I decided to wear a jacket.  After leaving to go about my business, I realized the oddity of my attire.  It was if my upper body thought it was wintertime, but my lower body thought is was still summer.

Transitions can be difficult to adjust to, especially if you aren’t fully prepared for the new situation.  Whether its a new city, job, school, or relationship, transitions require you to react appropriately.  If you don’t adapt, you might find yourself in an awkward situation, like wearing socks and sandals.

Uncomfortable Seat-Readjustment

Whenever I sit through a presentation or lecture, especially a powerful or influential one, at certain points, I see lots of people readjust there position in their seat all at the same time.  Subconsciously, everyone observes a point in the speech when the tension is reduced, and they feel allowed to make minor bodily movements.

To observe this phenomena, you have to watch the people, not the speaker.  Oftentimes I find the behavior of the audience more entertaining than the presentation itself.

If an audience does this, you know the speech is amazing because the people are so enthralled that they can’t appropriate enough mental power to think of their physical position.  I can only imagine the number of amazing presentations I’ve missed observing this trend.

Banner yet waaaaAAAaaaAAAAaaaave

Did you know that the Star-Spangled Banner is an actual song with a defined melody and rhythm?  If you only hear people perform it, you might not know that there actually is a correct and official way to sing it.

America’s national anthem is played and performed so frequently that the singers like to mix it up by adding their own interpretation.  All this consists of is lengthening a single note and adding a bunch of new notes in-between.  That would be like me speidontlling wothinkrds wiyouth a buwillnch of othfinder letthisters mixmessageed in.  Singing the song with your own flair doesn’t make you a better singer – it just makes it more difficult to listen to.

The Bestest Joke Ever

One day a man asked a poison control expert about the status of contamination in his factory.  The poison control expert said that he removed the harmful materials asbestos he could.

2012 Presidential Debate #1

There are probably hundreds of analyses of today’s presidential debate online (click here), so I won’t bore you with a post about the contrasting views of insurance rates or tax codes.  Instead, I will share some much less substantial observations.

First, I thought it was hilarious when the moderator tried to stop Obama and Romney when they talked way over their time limits.  When he tried to stop Obama, Obama gave him a look that said, “I’m the President of the United States of America.  I will determine when I’m done talking.”  However, the moderator did a good job overall, not being too picky.

When the camera angles were right, you could see each of them writing notes.  I could imagine both of them just drawing pictures of monsters eating hopeless townspeople like a fifth grader bored in math class.

I can understand the difficulty of a debate situation, especially one so highly televised, but it seemed like they merely bounced between pre-prepared points.  For example, Obama would say point A and point B.  Next Romney would respond by denying point B with counterpoint C, then adding point D.  Obama would retort point C by restating point B, then react to D by repeating A, while also slipping in point E.  Romney would then challenge point E by repeating point D, and add point C for extra emphasis.  They just jumped between their special points, repeating them unnecessarily at tines, simply disregarding the others’ claims, which I thought was thoroughly entertaining.  For the next debate, I shall make some popcorn.

A sample progression of a topic

Defense! Defense!

Chanting scares me.  Not in the “Oh my gosh it’s a spider, help!” kind of way, but in a deeper sort of way.  To me, chanting is tribal, animal, and cultist.

This extends to almost anything said in unison by a large group of people.  Whether it’s people chanting the name of a political figure or fans chanting “Defense!” at a sports game, it all gives me the same sort of chills.  I feel like large groups of people chanting in unison are more likely to make rash decisions and base their actions on emotions.  Chanting reminds me that the civilized nature of people is flimsy, and that with the right prompting, everything can fall apart.

Sports Cars

I do not understand sports cars.  I see people all the time with posters or computer desktops of nice cars, but I cannot understand the obsession.  From what I can gather, people want to own a sports car so they can impress their friends.  The only difference between a sports car and a normal car is the body shape, as far as the “wow” factor goes.  Why doesn’t someone manufacture a car with the body of a Ferrari but the inside of a Toyota Camry?

The only realistic situation that you can take advantage of the car’s speed and acceleration would be on a track, unless you enjoy illegal street racing.  Therefore, if you wanted to drive a fast car, why not just rent out a sports car and drive it around a track?

Maybe my lack of understanding comes from the fact that I would never be able to own a fancy sports car.  Money isn’t really the issue – with enough financial planning over time, I would probably be able to acquire the necessary funds.  My issue is that I would always feel scared about the condition of my car, where I park it, who I let sit in it and drive it, and who sees me in it.  I would feel much better in a car that doesn’t attract much attention but reliably gets me from point A to point B.