JABPJW

Raise an online hand if you've ever been confused by acronyms...jargon...emoticons. You got stuck on the online hand, didn't you? Trying to figure out how to do it? Can't figure it out? Think you're a failure because everyone else can raise an online hand except you? You are. Now that you're depressed because you've failed in your attempt to master online jargon and emoticons, such as RUMCYMHMD and ;-<> let me further BYB.

http://pctechnotes.com

Emoticons were created just after the revelation of the cosmetic effect of Botox in 2002. Men and women injected with Botox found it difficult to show emotion when speaking. They would proceed to get out their cell phones and type what appeared to be sideways smiley faces :). Eventually the celebrities began doing it, creating their own different type faces, and calling them emoticons. Soon the emoticons escalated into such a fad they negated the use to show emotion at all! People began to say things like, "I heart you" named after the ever-so-popular <3.

After 365 long days, 2002 ended and 2003 began. Emoticons were no longer enough. People, United States Citizens, began *sob* using acronyms! "Lol" not only became popular, it became mandatory to use if you wanted to have a conversation via text. What does it mean? No one really knows! Laugh out loud? Laugh online? Love or licorice? So many possible meanings for three letters! People have gotten better after nearly ten years, though. They've narrowed down the possibilities of an acronym by adding more letters. I mean, if you get a text saying IWAPESICTASOUHN, everyone knows what that means. Seriously guys, ICMTSU.

KIDAC, :A .

xoxo,
Jessie

FFI (For Future Information)

19: Hand

RUMCYMHMD: Are You on Medication Cause You Must Have Missed a Dose

;-<> : Drooling

BYB: Burst Your Bubble

<3: Heart

IWAPESICTASOUHN: I want a Pink Elephant So I Can Take Showers Outside Under His Nose

ICMTSU: I Can't Make This Stuff Up

KIDAC: Okay, I Did On A Few

:A : Laughing Out Loud

xoxo: Hugs and Kisses!

Moments like These

A few nights ago after my sister put her daughter to bed we sat up talking. I'd had a bad day and was complaining about it to my sister. Later, when my niece started to cry, I offered to go rock her for a few minutes until she calmed down and, hopefully, fell asleep. 

As I sat in the dark rocking my niece back and forth, back-and-forth, I wondered why I'd had a bad day. Why was I complaining? I couldn't remember. I was unbelievably happy that I was sitting in the dark, holding a beautiful little girl. It was nice to forget my troubles for a while and just focus on the little things that make life worth living. Things like...

The sound of my niece's laughter

My nephew blowing me kisses goodbye

Summer rain

Mountains

Daisies

The smell of chocolate

My mom's baseball addiction

My dad's smile

Shoe shopping

Chocolate chip cookie dough

Piano music

The crinkle of the pages of a new book

Singing at the top of my lungs

Rolling down grassy hills

Taking photographs

The stars

Laughing

It's moments like these that make life worth living. Everyone has something that makes them smile, something that fills them with joy. The trick is to not let the bad things outweigh the good things. 

xoxo,

Jessie

Five Songs that will Make Your Day

Ever wake up on the wrong side of the bed? You get up and automatically know it's going to be one of those days. The kind of day where everything is going to go wrong. You're going to be late for work, your car is going to get a flat tire on the freeway, and your mom forgot to pack a Twinkie with your lunch. You know the kind of day I'm talking about. No worries; I've got a cure. Play these five songs while you get ready in the morning and your day is destined to be better than you originally thought. Promise.

"Pray for You" - Jaron and The Long Road to Love

Why? - Gives you a new perspective on the whole "Love Your Enemies" principle.

"Ironic" - Alanis Morissette

Why? - No matter how bad life gets you can find comfort in the fact 

that you didn't die on your first plane ride...I hope...

"If I had a Million Dollars" - Barenaked Ladies

Why? - You deserve to dream! 

"Who Says" - Selena Gomez & The Scene

Why? - Yes, you are beautiful. 

"Online" - Brad Paisley

Why? - Remember, you can be anyone you want to be...

as long as you have a username and password.

I hope if the songs didn't make your day, then I did.

xoxo,
Jessie

Bedbugs and Beetles

I've never really known what a bedbug is, but I know it doesn't sound pleasant. And since, at a very young age, I made it a rule of mine to discard everything unpleasant from my life, I knew bedbugs were something to avoid.

So you can imagine my surprise when I rolled out of bed this morning and saw a dead beetle in my sheets. Were it's guts squished all over the sheets like it had tried to escape it's waking nightmare while I had slept dreaming of chocolate fudge cake (one of my better dreams, I'll admit)? No, rather it looked like it had suffocated to death. Like I had slept on top of it. All. Night. Long.

At first I felt disgust, followed quickly by a nauseated feeling as I tossed the beetle in the trash. But then, I felt a familiar sense of anger. Anger that this unpleasant thing had made it's way into my otherwise pleasant morning. And I had made it a rule of mine, at a very young age, to discard everything unpleasant from my life and this beetle dared to break my rules. Oh, no, his death was not surprising.

After gloating that I had won the battle I hadn't known was afoot, I started to worry, as I tend to do, about other unpleasant things making their way into my otherwise pleasant life. You know what I'm talking about...bedbugs. So I did what any normal person would do. I went online to dictionary.com, one of my favorite websites, and looked up the definition of bedbug (it is one word for those of you who wondered).

bed·bug

  [bed-buhg]

–noun

1.

a flat, wingless, bloodsucking hemipterous insect, Cimexlectularius,  that infests houses and especially beds.

2.

any of several other bloodsucking bugs of the family Cimicidae.

After looking up "hemipterous" which basically means a classification of bug/insect, I now knew what a bedbug was. And I was right. They did not sound pleasant. Now while the beetle wasn't strictly a bedbug, if we broaden the definition a bit, it was in my bed and it was a bug...so I'm pretty sure the beetle was a bedbug and it was definitely unpleasant.

Now I have an official reason to begin my war against the bedbugs of the world. Any bug that resides in, by, near, or within a .5 mile radius of my bed - you've been warned. I've got a bottle of Raid and a flyswatter that is silent but deadly.

xoxo,
Jessie