Translating the Haha

People use multiple ways to express laughter in the online world. Some of the usuals are: haha, lol, ha, hehe, hahahahaha or mwahahahaha. The list goes on and on. Each way of communicating laughter online expresses a totally different sense of humor. In my personal attempt to decode people's intentions, I have come up with a translation guide.

ha - yes, it is funny, but not THAT funny. I am also kind of mocking you.

haha - generic 'oh, yeah. I am acknowledging the fact that you are trying to humor me.'

hehe - this is either a sexual, cheeky, or slightly mischievous remark you are responding to.

hahaha - it is genuinely funny, and I am acknowledging that you have actually made me laugh inside.

hahahaha - this is hilarious.

hahahahaha + more ha - hilarious inside joke.

HAHAHAHA - I am laughing quite hard because an inappropriate but hilarious conversation took place.

bahahahaha - you are making fun of someone, and I find it awesomely hysterical.

mwahahaha - evil laugh.

lol - most annoying and inaccurate laughing response ever. you are not actually laughing out loud. i know you aren't, so don't lie.

Above is a laugh chart I found that I agree with until the mockingly funny level, multiple hahahahaha means hilarious. That is just a fact.

ADD YOUR OWN LAUGH CODES TO THIS TRANSLATION GUIDE

ualuelaelaellalea, alsualsualualauusualulus

I kid you not, these are the actual lyrics to an actual, legitimate, money-making song: Chacarron. How hysterically sad is that? Now tell me what you think he is saying. OH WAIT- IT'S GIBBERISH.

Lake Shuanglonghai

Instead of the library today, I would love to study in Lake Shuanglonghai. That bench in the far ground would work just fine. Wouldn't that be splendid?

MIKA, my a**

So, tonight my roommate mentioned that she had downloaded MIKA's 2007 album, Life in Cartoon Motion, and she played several songs for us. I kid you not, at the start of nearly every single song, we noticed that we had already heard this song before...but not by MIKA. Definitely some sketchy business there. Still though, I do like the songs a lot, and they are surely worth a listening, especially if you want to hear a terrifyingly catchy pop-meets-gospel-chorus song ('Happy Ending'), and even if there's perhaps some element of "borrowing ideas" involved. Check out this page, too. It gives a background on the album cover's artwork and designs, which are pretty cool. 

Everybody's gonna love today, 

love today, love today.

Raining in Baltimore

So once again, it's raining in Baltimore. What else is new? C'mon now, I think the "City that Reads" (ha) can do better than that. Until the sun is out again, listen to the Counting Crows' version of Raining in Baltimore; it's perfect rainy day, mellow music. 

The Third Letter

Ludwig van Beethoven wrote this to Antonie Bretano in his "Letters to the Immortal Beloved": 

Ever thine

Ever mine

Ever ours

Beautiful.

How do aliens eat string cheese?

How do you eat your string cheese? Do you peel it apart meticulously, sliver by sliver, or do you simply chomp it down? Is the right way to eat it peel by peel, and is the naughty way to eat it just like a stick?

There has to be something that connects your personality to the way you eat string cheese. I have seen the messiest of people sit patiently peeling the thinnest of strings. I have seen OCD, uber clean people eat it like it was a candy bar. What is more perplexing are the in-between, the people that take big tears, peel it only half way down, then eat the rest, and still yet, the inconsistent peelers, the bite and peelers, the mouth shredders; the list goes on and on. 

I have seen animals eat string cheese, and they most certainly do not peel it. How do aliens eat string cheese? Maybe once we see an alien eat string cheese, we will finally know the correct way to eat it. I am personally an "in-betweener"- I peel the string cheese meticulously to the half-way point then chomp the rest. I have no idea what this says about my personality other than that I am probably odd...

How do you eat string cheese? Do you think it says anything about your personality? PLEASE SHARE! 

Caesar was right

realization in my brain cells: it is during the lows of daily life that you realize who your true friends are. It is surprising who is willing to jump down in the gutter and bring you up to the land of the happy-go-lucky. It is even more shocking when the people you thought would be there, let you stay in the gutter without a word of concern. It is amusing, though perhaps more correctly disconcerting, that at times it is a role reversal and at other times it is exactly the people you expect. Et tu, Brute?  Caesar had the right idea- you are your own best friend, senate and emperor. GO INDEPENDENCE! 

Handmade in Australia

Evidently, you can now buy us (Hepper & Pepper) online for just $14.00. Ha. Check out the Hepper Pepper Bunny. Shipping and handling costs apply, naturally. We don't come at that small a price. ;-)

Seg-men-ted

Today, while waiting for the bus at Peabody, a music professor and I got to talking. He mused in his strong Russian accent about the many segmented things around us, pointing to the crosswalk near George Washington's monument. "There are even lines, segments, to cross a street." From there, he swerved to a discussion about reckless driving. When he was in Russia last, he had this "ridiculous idea" that he could simply go to the police and ask them to make the road signs more evident. But then he realized this was a foolish hope, and besides, why should we segment something even more? Everything around us is already segmented- societal tiers, crosswalks, windows on a bus, cafeteria tables, urinals. Still, maybe The Beatles had it right. Maybe 4 guys walking across a segmented street isn't so bad after all, if great music comes from it. Or wait...maybe I meant The Simpsons?

"Become Your Dream"

You can't walk down the streets of New York City without coming across a sidewalk chalk drawing, whose intention is to send out a social message of some sort, on one street or another. James De La Vega and his murals, which punctuate much of the city, particularly the Upper East Side and East Harlem, go wherever you go. De La Vega is a 32-year old artist who lives in Spanish Harlem and sports an idealistic gallery on St. Mark's Place, with the adage "Become Your Dream" plastered on the front of the store. 

I first spotted De La Vega's work, which many consider graffiti, while in elementary school in Manhattan. We would walk down 86th and Lex clad in light blue jumpsuits and white button-downs in the fall and spring and dark grey jumpsuits and blue button-downs in the winter, counting how many De La Vega images we could find. Once you walked a little further uptown, the drawings became more and more symbolic of the gentrification of East Harlem, and he wrote things like, "Don't think we haven't noticed the 96th Street border moving north." 

Though much of his work has caused trouble for De La Vega, including charges of vandalism, I have to admit that I enjoy his drawings and couldn't imagine my lower, middle, and upper school education without seeing De La Vega's artwork lining the Upper East Side. Definitely head to 1st Avenue and Avenue A next time you're in the city for some words of wisdom. And De La Vega doesn't whisper words of wisdom, either. His work screams them. 

Vampire Weekend [Sophomore Album]

Must check out these up-coming songs from Vampire Weekend's Sophomore Album due late 2009.

White Sky

Little Giant

Arrows

Everywhere *Fleetwood Mac cover

Svalbard

Quite possibly the most beautiful place on Earth and the reason Globetrotter wins over my heart. 

Wisdom of MJ

Billie Jean is not my lover

She's just a girl who claims that I am the one

But the kid is not my son

She says I am the one, but the kid is not my son

MJ's lesson of the day: always deny, deny, deny until the blood work proves you wrong. Or you could just wrap it up

From D to J

Can anyone tell me exactly when the general population progressed from saying 'dungarees' and 'denim' to 'jeans?' When did this shift occur?!? When I Google Image-searched 'dungarees,' I came up with many pictures of overalls, but for 'jeans,' I found this, which in it of itself is a statement as to the evolution of society, the advent of the overuse of sex and seduction in advertising, and the language we use today. Just something I thought of. I'd be interested to hear what you think. Do any of you still say 'dungarees?' At least this group, started in 1990, still does: Dungaree Brothers. Soothing harmonica-heavy music for an overalls-wearing type of day. 

Oh, I believe in Yesterday

Whatever happened to classiness of Yesterday? Movies and Music. 

I appreciate actors of the modern day: Daniel Day Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Edward Norton, to name a few. I appreciate new music: Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I even admire great culminations of the two arts in films like 'The Proposition' or 'There Will Be Blood.' However, one thing lacks: the beauty and simplicity of Yesterday. 

No matter how great the quality and technical advancements of film and music may be, the heart and soul of the greater arts is slowly wearing away. I find myself and several of my peers- Hepper being foremost amongst them- constantly living in the past. The music we appreciate still includes The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd; the films are still 'Sabrina,' 'Roman Holiday,' and 'On the Waterfront.' The music of today simply does not have the same depth or emotional impact that the past still holds on some of today's more 'back-in-the-day-inclined' youth. I will find myself sitting before an iTunes visualizer with close friends listening to and soaking in 'Imagine' or screaming at the top of my lungs and smashing coin jars to the impeccable rhythm of 'Babe I'm Gonna Leave You.' I will find myself watching 'The Sound of Music' for the 13th time and gasping in awe and genuine surprise during the "the Mouth of Truth" scene of 'Roman Holiday.' 

I am sure there are many that will defend the newer Oscar winners for their brilliance, and rightly so (err...maybe there was a hint of sarcasm in that); however, I will dare them to find writing, dialogue, and effortless delivery that matches Audrey Hepburn's and Humphrey Bogart's in 'Sabrina.' All that needs to be said is that Yesterday is gone, Today is not sticking for some of us, like myself and Hepper, and I pray and hope that the Future delivers a new Beatles and Audrey to satisfy my need for amazing entertainment. Until then, who wants to watch 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' with me tonight and 'long for Yesterday?'

Why kiddies go to JHU

Whilst cruisin' and perusin' the net, I came across this blurb on Hopkins, and I couldn't help but wondering if myself, along with all my HopKiddies, will live up to this description?

"Johns Hopkins students are passionate about intellectual exploration; they are eager for life in a community of similarly passionate, equally ambitious scholars and teachers. This community is based at Homewood, a serene, tree-lined 140 acre campus next to the eclectic north Baltimore neighborhood of Charles Village. Here, students partner with their mentors to push the boundaries of knowledge. Johns Hopkins exposes these independent thinkers to new tools of analysis and new perspectives on the arts, humanities, social and natural sciences and engineering. At the same time, they engage with fellow students outside the classroom in intellectual, cultural, service and recreational pursuits that greatly enrich their education. When our students graduate, they join a global alumni body of men and women who use knowledge and experience acquired at Johns Hopkins to change the world." 

If you like shoes, you'll love these boots.

Little Boots = love. Forget Gaga for now- Little Boots even impersonates her stance (though she was told that to truly impersonate Gaga, she'd have to be pantless), so you get two goodies for the price of one.

'Sacred Heart girl turned bisexual disco queen...'

It always strikes me as odd when a private school girl decides she will throw away her parents' money, pick up her high-laced hooker boots and re-route her life from the shady, but never dull, alleyways of St. Mark's Place, to the high-profile hills and (dollar)bills of Los Angeles. Oh wait. I just know of one girl.

I have to hand it to Lady Gaga, Class of 2004 graduate of New York City's Convent of the Sacred Heart, though. She had it right: “What am I supposed to do, canoodle with celebrities at a nightclub, with a lemon-drop Midori in my hand? It’s not the same as being in a bar that smells like urine with all your really smart New York friends.” 

'Cause at the end of the day, when you've finally smelled and breathed the suffocating scent of the West Coast dollar bills, you'll wish it was more like New York and the sweet, sweet, never-nauseating-for-a-New Yorker-to-smell smell, of urine.

Remarkable Change

Today in my Animal Behavior class, we discussed ever-changing and unstable environments. Just as animals adapt to these changing environments, so too do the actual environments adapt to the changing times. Example: Baltimore, Maryland. In 1954, you could get a fountain drink on this street corner. In 2004, with the rise of industry and construction, you can see a brick wall in the place of Hankin's corner Bar & Food. Isn't change simply remarkable?

I Wanna Make Love (on this Wall-to-Wall)

Recently, there has been an abundance of "I love you"'s, erotic 1990 song quotes, and blatant "I miss you baby"'s all over our beloved Facebook. Has PDA crossed over to the Internet? Is there any way to stop such a disease? PDA in the real world could normally be avoided by a simple brushing away of the hand or gaze of death. If you are a bystander of such prolonged and excessive PDA all you must do is look away. Now that we have entered a new world, what is to stop significant others or creepy friends from showing their unnecessary public affection towards you on the web? The answer is absolutely nothing. Facebook is plastering this abundant "love" on front pages everywhere and ruining the beauty that is the relationship. This is a worse pandemic than the Y2K bug; this is the disease that could ruin Facebook.

Hear my cry! 

Please stop, Facebook PDAers- you are ruining the Internet. 

people.

For such a people-person, it's hard not to be genuinely irritated by people sometimes. And it isn't a jealous kind of irritation, either. It is just a general annoyance by, and aversion to, people. Hmph. But methinks I just think like this when I have the mean reds.

Thoughts?