Rant.

I know I have been away for far too long, and I apologize. I say this to the blog, itself, personified, as I don't feel that my audience is very... existent. To make up for lost time I am going to write a new post that is sure to knock your socks off!

Being the proud, PROUD owner of a Palm pre, an evil, dark force stalking through the internet has been brought to my notice. These demons walk among us under the guise of the "Mobile" website. They may also be called "Lite," "Touch," or even (I shudder to say this) "Enhanced" versions. The only thing "Enhanced" in these websites is bullshit.
I swear the only part of these sites that works consistently are the ads. They are dumbed down, half assed versions of the website you really wanted. They are impossible to navigate, only provide you with half of the information, updated half as often as the real thing, and are just plain ugly.
Take, for example, x.facebook.com. Filth. Pure filth. The layout itself is suitable at best, the news feed is updated once a week or so, and navigation is nonexistent. To view a friend's photos you go to their profile, select photos, and you can view them a handful at a time. Now let's say after seeing some of their pictures you want to write on their wall. You have to get back to their profile and click on wall. Easy, right? Wrong! Use the back button, I dare you. What happens? Exactly Back to the site you were on before you even got to facebook. Instead, you have to either go back to home and find them on your news feed, go to your friends list and hunt them down, or search for them. Convenient, yes? If you want the exercise I suppose.
Google. Want to search for a news article or image? Good luck. You can't unless it uses its voodoo to recommend what you really wanted. Checking on your RSS feeds, huh? No zooming. When you look at an article it expands it in the list, rather than opening a seperate page. That's fine, until you select the next article, which happens to be smaller than the first. The whole list shifts and you have to find your place. On top of that, here too, they've turned the back button into a time machine.
I wouldn't mind them so much if you weren't forced to use these diluted impostors. If I own a smartphone, I must know how to use it. I don't need you to hold my hand and direct me to an area you find appealing. I typed the URL of the full site because I wanted the full site. If, after a night of heavy drinking and drug use, or a lobotomy, I feel the urge to use the mobile site, I can direct myself there. Thank you very much.

There are a lot of things in the way of having a decent day.

I have to get my car inspected today, and I'm a little nervous. There's always a chance that I won't pass, and I need my car. I use it a lot.

I'm really tired. I couldn't sleep last night for some reason. Nothing in particular. It may be because I had caffeine too late in the evening. I don't want to be anywhere but in bed.

I'm pretty sure I look like hell today too. I couldn't find any clean shirts so I had to go with an undershirt, which is never fashionable. I can barely keep my eyes open.

But mostly, I'm not being as good a student as I should. It feels as though I've fallen behind on my studies. I want to do well so bad, but I can't seem to motivate myself. There's nothing at school that pays off immediately. All I can do is think of the future, but it's too far off.

Where would I rather be than here?

I think if I had the choice of anywhere to be other than at school I would have to pick outside. I'm a simple person. No fantasy island getaways. Just somewhere quiet and relaxing.

I don't just mean out of the classroom but out in that perfect meadow you see in movies and TV shows. In the shade of that puffy tree on the hill with the tall grass that seems untouched by man, overlooking the city. I would like to be there. A spot where it's fresh, quiet, and I can relax.

I sit in this work of art watching time pass. I watch the wind softly send waves through the grass. Like an ocean on land. Birds are flying, playing on the ground. I also watch the city from a great enough distance that it looks still, quiet, and lifeless. I see the clouds in the sky crawl past on their way to cover the city.

It's quiet, although not silent. As the breeze comes through I can hear the grass shifting, I listen as it travels through the branches of the puffy tree. The birds are chirping, and scampering around as they play. Once in a while a sound from the city makes the long journey to my hill. A car horn, perhaps, maybe even a helicopter.

The air is fresh, so much that it's almost palatable. I look at the clouds and think about what they would taste like. Cotton candy, perhaps? Marshmallows? They may not even be that good, rancid milk, possibly.

It smells so nice out here. The wind brings up the aroma from the tall grass. The wood in the tree is letting out it's natural scent. The air is like a clean slate where I notice all of the smells I often take for granted.

The wood on the tree is surprisingly smooth. The bark is there of course, not without its blemishes, but it feels as though it was sculpted out of smooth stone. The grass under the tree is soft and cool to the touch. The breeze is cool, in contrast to the warm spring air. In the sunlight I feel the rays as they grace my skin, warming me and letting me have their energy.

I think this place is where I would like to be all the time. No need to go too far.

I like music.

I have been having an ongoing discussion with one of my peers about music. We were listening to a radio talk show and the crew got to bring in their three favorite songs. Of course, they were all songs that had been played on the radio before, and they were safe to play in public ears. It got me thinking about my three favorite songs, or lack thereof.
I feel it would be about impossible to pick three songs that I consider superior to all of the other music in my life. Taste changes, moods change, and it's hard not to get tired of songs, albums, bands even. I listen to different music depending on what kind of day it is outside. They would have to be timeless and able to stretch across changing attitudes. They would have to be songs that you are always ready to hear.
I honestly don't think I could do it. I was singing Steely Dan in the shower, listening to Tool on my way to school, and fell asleep last night to a mix of hits from the '90s. It's sunny out today so I might listen to some rap. I add and delete music from my iPod all the time. I can't sit still when it comes to music. I'd have to say there are only two groups that I've really stayed faithful to for the past couple of years, and they quit making music. What happens when I've overplayed the collection? On top of that there's plenty of music that I wouldn't listen to myself, but my friends and I do. I have good memories with them, and they mean a lot to me.
So in order to pick three songs I would consider my favorites, I would have to add subcategories. A tree view of all the criteria it takes to make a favorite song. If they asked me on a rainy monday I could navigate my way through the list to find songs that cross in the "rain" and "monday" branches. Then of course narrow it down by my mood, and what's been happening in my life. I think that is the only successful way that I could make a list of favorites.

I'm in class.

I don't know what to write, but I'm assigned to. I forget that I have a blog now. I have thoughts all the time that I feel I should get out. They sit there in my mind nagging at me to let them escape. So eventually I decided a blog was a good idea anyway. I just never got around to making one.
Then, lo and behold, my English teacher assigns us journal entries and privileges us with the ability to use a blog to submit them. As you can imagine I am more than okay with this. It's just that now that I have one I don't know what to do with it. I'm already taking it for granted.
You know the light bulb that shines above the cartoons head when they have a good idea? My brain is full of ideas. I have a tanning bed over my head on most days. Not today. Maybe it's the lack of sleep, maybe it's the poor diet, or the fact that I haven't done anything outside of school and work since last Thursday. No inspiration there. Which actually worked out in the end because now I have a decent sized entry on how I have nothing to say.
Here I am in front of the computer screen, hands over the keyboard, and all my inspiration ran away. I finally do have a chance to get all my ideas out and I can't think of one. Nothing to put down at all. Oh well, I can always come back later and put something real in here.
I do have more than one assignment to do.