You Want Me To Get A Tattoo?

You want me to get a tattoo? One day about eight years ago I received an email from a random person on MySpace asking me if I wanted to get a tattoo. He notified me he was giving special offers to first-time clients in the area, so I politely emailed him back and expressed that I had no interest in doing this. He said he "learned something new every day," and was shocked I did not want a tattoo. Maybe I am a wet blanket, but I absolutely hate needles, so those are my feelings on the issue. Many people talk about how getting a tattoo is a big life step for them, but for me, I just have no interest. I think that is great if you want to get a tattoo, but I find it funny that some people have asked me if I will ever get one. I have no interest in sporting a tattoo, and today I was thinking about some other things I have no desire to do.

I never understood why people like to get a buzz or slightly out of it from drinking. I never enjoyed the taste of wine and could live without it. When I turned twenty-one I did not remember being excited to finally be able to legally drink liquor here in the US because I never liked the stuff in the first place. I tried wine a couple of times when I was around the age of twenty and just did not like the taste. Give me a sweet tasting soda over wine any day. When I go places I order soda and can live without the liquor. One time I remember how in Botany class we once made homemade beer and I was one of the few students who did not want to drink it. Actually, today I am preferring water with lemon in it, and in the long term I just do not want to drink something people used to have to rely on as their one of the sole medicinal sources. Wine tasting might be an art, but I am pretty artistic without indulging in it myself.

My mom won an Ipod a few years ago and I loaded a few songs onto it, but after that we just did not understand the appeal. I never liked wearing headphones or putting ear buds in my ears, so the point of the Ipod pretty much went over my head. Also, I tend to agree with some of the observations today on how everyone being tuned into their ipods and wireless devices has created a disconnect from the people we are around at the moment. Technology is a great thing, but I would rather listen to music or watch a show when I am on my own time, which is at home in solitude and leisure.

I graduated from college back in 2000 and completed my master's degree online in 2005, so I missed out on the Ipod and texting crazes. However, I do remember seeing people listening to their CD players during lecture and often wondered why they even attended class. Some people I know who are in college now share how students often text or listen to their Ipod when a professor is lecturing. What are you doing in class if you just want to play with technological gadgets? I tend to agree with that Sociology professor who got mad at the students talking in the back of our make-shift movie theater classroom. He informed them that they could go out in the lobby and eat popcorn if they wanted to chat, and I sort of feel the same way about those who text and listen to Ipods during meetings and lectures. Personally that is your choice, but why even go to class or a meeting if you are going to do that? Also, it shows a bit of disrespect for the person lecturing. They spent time putting together a presentation, and tapping on a phone or Ipod just seems a bit dismissive. Take an online course if you need to constantly be plugged into your gadgets.

I enjoy listening to music from time to time, but I do not have any interest in the Ipod, so I just never see myself buying one.

Part of me used to want to drive when I was in my early twenties, but I soon learn I was just way too nervous behind the wheel. I would rather walk miles on my own two feet as opposed to driving. When I walk I get to look up at the mountains and hear the birdies chirping in the trees, but I could not if I drove. I will never drive and no longer try to defend myself when some noisey person asks why I do not. People in California act like you are a mutant if you do not drive, and it has only been with the recent economy situation that walking has become more acceptable. Walking has always been fine with me, but now some people are actually walking more because of the high gas prices we pay in our state. However, the majority in the Inland Empire drives, so you better watch out from them even as a pedestrian when you have the right of way.

I wish some drivers would remember that when there is a walking light it is pedestrians first and cars second, but in California this is not always an easy rule to enforce. Actually I live in a slightly more rural part of Southern California, so I would hate to live in Los Angeles all the time. Part of me actually likes how in New York everyone can walk and no one thinks anything weird of it. Besides, people are always giving themselves pats on the back for being environmental for using cloth shopping bags and driving prius cars, but honestly people who travel on foot have a much lower carbon footprint. In the beginning I never even started out wanting to brag about how environmental I was for walking, but I realized over time that I actually was created fewer carbon emissions than those who bragged about how green they are.