Likes & Dislikes

Likes

• “&” & “&c.” – I derive more delight from typing an ampersand than I do from typing any other character. There’s just something about the ampersand that I love. It’s beautiful and elegant yet, it’s shockingly informal. If I always substituted “&” for “and,” professors would have a fair fit (induced by my interesting take on grammar) and become terribly unhappy with me, but being forced to type “and” all of the time makes me sad. “&” is much prettier; sometimes it looks a thousand times better than “and.” Tiffany & Co. > Tiffany and Co. However, more than using “&” to substitute “and,” I love using “&c.” in place of “etc.” Although “&c.” may no longer be à la mode, I find it aesthetically pleasing. “Etc.” grates on my nerves. Even if I were banished from the land of ampersands, I would much rather just type “et cetera” than “etc.” Anything > “etc.”

• Learning, studying, reading, & arguing about Intellectual Property – OMG, I love hearing people talk about IP! Well, I cannot honestly say that I am fond of listening to anyone drone on and on about patent law, but I am completely cool with someone going on and on about copyrights, trademarks, or IP in general. Why? It’s fascinating stuff—at the very least, it’s entertaining. If you don’t believe me, watch this video on Nixon Peabody LLP. Also, if you hear something interesting and IP-related, tell me.

• Versailles – The little girl in me, the one who fancies princesses and fairy-tales and who aspires to purchase her very own castle in France, loves Versailles with all her heart. She can’t get over the fact that it is real. The historian in me loves Versailles because it’s a historical gold mine. Louis XIV lived there; Marie-Antoinette lived there; Madame de Pompadour & Louis XV had their fun there; treaties have been signed there &c. Versailles is just brilliant. It’s also gorgeous, one of the most beautiful palaces on earth.

• Pretty words, etymology, & learning languages – In short: I love words. The more I know the better. Pretty words are especially fabulous because they’re words—as I said, I like words—and they’re pretty. The aesthetically pleasing makes me happy. Who doesn’t like well-formed things with nice sounds? An example of a well-formed term: “oubliette.” “Oubliette” is more than especially fabulous because not only is it pretty, it’s also obscure and it possesses an amusing meaning. Sadly, I rarely have the chance to use it because, I don’t think that I’ve ever happened upon or seen an oubliette and I’m not the type to threaten others with dire things. But, if I ever see one or become an evil tyrant who throws people in them, I’ll be happy as I’ll have a chance to employ the term. Etymology is also fabulous. Just look at “oubliette.” A person ignorant of “oubliette’s” connection with the French verb oublier (to forget) is missing out on something particularly sinister but sickly amusing about the term. Were people locked in oubliettes so that they could be forgotten or were people in oubliettes often forgotten? I don’t know but, the connection between the words is disturbing. Also, I’m a polygot-in-training. Remember: the more words I know the better. The language of origin is rather irrelevant. Now, I’m learning French, Japanese, and Korean. When I finish with those, I hope to move on to Dutch and perhaps German or Chinese.

• Alexander Hamilton, $10 bill, January 11th, &c. – ALEXANDER HAMILTON! My strangest obsession is the one I have with Alexander Hamilton. Right now, to me, Hamilton is a brilliant thing. He’s like an unwrapped Christmas present: the right shape, the right size—having the appearance of being the perfect (enough) and most inspiring present. But, I cannot be sure and thus, I’d rather not open the box (i.e. read more about him) and become disappointed. Nevertheless, I have rather low standards and thus, so far, I have been shocked by how “amazing” and yet, “human” he was. He’s like Frederick Douglass (random, I know but, he is in that I’m simply fascinated by him because I don’t understand how someone like that could have existed). Someone must have made him up.

  For those of you who do not know, Hamilton was the United States’ first Secretary of the Treasury and one of its founding fathers. He had his faults (tact—Hamilton—tact!!!!!! Where was your sense of tact?) but, he was such an amazing person, just so unbelievably intelligent and forward-thinking.

  I’m always always talking about him because he deserves more fame than he has. I want people to know that ALEXANDER HAMILTON is featured on the $10 bill—he’s the perfect 10, you know?—I also want them to know that his birthday was January 11th, that he was the first Sec. of the Treasury, and that he was killed by a psychotic nitwit (Aaron Burr) in a duel in 1804. P.S. If you’re an American and if you don’t really know who Alexander Hamilton was, that’s not funny… Go read a history text or something.

• The color green (especially chartreuse) – Because I like boys with green eyes, green is my favorite color. If you want to get specific, my favorite shades of green are chartreuse and what J. Crew likes to call “vivid lime.”

• History – I majored in history. I find the past intriguing. There’s not a need for me to say too much now as history is significantly related to 9 out of the 11 things listed here. My favorite historical figure is Alexander Hamilton, obviously. Don’t forget about him. Also, one of my off-the-wall ambitions is to become a tour guide at a museum in France or, for the sake of practicality, to simply become a tour guide at a museum.

• Old violins – Old violins of quality are glorious things. If I’m in a museum with one, I’ll stare at it for at least five minutes. These instruments are so pretty and they sound amazing. I want one? No, I would just love to be able to play one. I have a violin but, it’s disgustingly new and I’m also disgustingly talentless. But, hopefully, I’ll be able to remedy both of these things. I just need time, an instructor, and a well-paying job to finance such desires. Seriously, though, if I ever get the chance to play something like a Balestrieri, I will cry because I’ll be touched and I will have worked my ass off to get to that point but— as it stands now, I’m talentless, instructor-less, busy, and in possession of a new violin so, this is just another one of my off-the-wall ambitions.

• Mr. Darcy – Pride & Prejudice’s number one hottie: Fitzwilliam Darcy. He’s classic: tall, dark, and handsome. His vices, namely his pride, are even part of his charms. The man is nothing but loveable. The only thing objectionable about him is his first name, Fitzwilliam. It’s hideous but, it’s alright because the world knows him as Darcy and has erased his regrettable first name from its memory. I shall soon do the same. Also, I have yet to see the 2005 Pride & Prejudice movie; however, I hear that its Mr. Collins is hotter than its Mr. Darcy. That is an abomination.

• Leaving notes – I love letters, notes, and things because they’re tangible. There’s handwriting. When compared to email, there’s just something so much more intimate and human about them. I own heaps of stationery. I love the stuff. I’m forever leaving notes for friends and strangers in weird places. I once left a note about a specific someone for a stranger and that someone found the note. Oh well. It happens.

• Seoul, South Korea – Even though Seoul consists of hills and stairs and more hills and more stairs and some dirt, and is nastily humid in the summer, it’s magnificent. It’s bursting with history; it’s technologically advanced (I downloaded files at 900kb+/s); it’s not expensive; the people are great; there’s always something to do; and it’s a shopping paradise. I love Seoul so much that I’m trying to move there in a few months. View Sparkling Korea commercial?

Dislikes

• When “your” & “you’re” are confused – The thing that annoys me the most is when people confuse “you’re” and “your.” The words aren’t exchangeable. “Your” simply isn’t the same as “you’re.” Everyone has their issues with grammar and their own grammatical quirks and I understand this but, I cannot cope with those who ignore the difference between the two words mentioned above. Whenever I see something along the lines of “your stupid!” on a message board or on a blog, I cringe.

• Tennis shoes (trainers) – I don’t like tennis shoes because I think that they look ugly. They don’t go with anything. They’re big and bulky. They’re not that comfortable. When it comes down to it, I’m just not a fan.

• Crayons – I hate crayons. Touching a crayon makes me feel dirty, contaminated even. They have such an awful texture and an awful smell—once you touch one, even if you only tap the paper surrounding the actual crayon, your hand will carry the scent of one of those dreadful things. If you don’t believe me, go touch one. They also have a fat tip (not good for accuracy at all; it’s no wonder that some children have trouble coloring in the lines). Plus, they don’t go on smoothly. Unless you press down super hard, it’s difficult to get an even coat of coloring with a crayon.

• Holden Caulfield – I dislike The Catcher in the Rye because I loathe its protagonist: Holden Caulfield. I’m not a violent person but the things he says and the way he acts make me want to smack him, hard. He’s nothing more than a foul-mouthed, hypocritical, pompous, and angsty teenager. His vocabulary is also exceedingly poor. He uses the same term, “phony,” to describe everything. Anyway, here are some gems of wisdom from HC:

  I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It’s awful. If I’m on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I’m going, I’m liable to say I’m going to the opera. It’s terrible.

  I mean most girls are so dumb and all. After you neck them for a while, you can really watch them losing their brains. You take a girl when she really gets passionate, she just hasn’t any brains.

  Take note: I think that The Catcher in the Rye is a good book. I just happen to
  dislike it.

• Ugly words – Even though I have a thing for words (see like #4), I don’t like all of them. One that I’m not so fond of: “masticate.” It looks ugly. It sounds ugly but, the biggest problem with “masticate” is that another term is encroaching on its word territory. If you use “masticate,” people are going to say, “Excuse me?” because they don’t understand or because they think that you’re talking about a different activity all together. In most cases, they’re going to think that you’re talking about a different activity all together and become unable to pull their minds from the gutter. Your entire conversation will derail and you’ll waste entirely too much time trying to explain what it is that you actually meant. In the end, you’ll wish that you just used the word “chew,” instead.

• Being mediocre – Four words: I am a perfectionist.

• Capital letters – I’m all for proper nouns and words of significance being capitalized. Yet, on some days, beginning sentences with capital letters just isn’t for me. I tend to capitalize things anyway but—really, what is the point? We end our sentences with punctuation marks. Isn’t that enough? We stopped capitalizing all nouns so can’t we stop capitalizing the words at the beginning of sentences? Please.

• Thomas Jefferson – Thomas Jefferson annoys me in ways that no other founding father possibly could. He was overly sexist and overly racist (most people of TJ’s time were sexist and racist but—TJ didn’t have to be quite as sexist and racist as he actually was. He could have toned it down a bit); he also told unnecessary lies… But, because he was a real person of very good intentions, I respect him. I’m just not a fan of him or his morning routines (waking up at dawn, sticking one’s feet in cold water, &c.).

• Cockroaches – Cockroaches scare me. My idea of torture is being locked in a room with five cockroaches. I can’t live in a place with such monsters.

• Red – When I select colored objects, I don’t pick red things. I’ll go for green or pink or purple or blue or yellow or orange or anything really, anything besides red. I have a thing for pastels, for soft and light colors. Light red doesn’t exist!

• Robots that don’t work – Non-functioning robots are the bane of an electrical engineering student’s existence. Robots can occupy hours and hours and weeks and weeks of such a person’s life. A student’s devotion to her robot can be startling. I had a robot once and let me tell you how it repaid me for my devotion to it (the time I spent programming it). It was so excited that it was working that it got a bit carried away. It was going everywhere and it just ran into a pole and took out its eye. Sadness.