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I think I may be alone here, but I canât stand when intersections or guard railings have make-shift memorials planted beside them, âhonouringâ someone who died there. First off, I thought thatâs what cemeteries were for? If weâre going to be erecting tributes everywhere someone died, then places like hospitals would be overflowing with things like flowers and plush animals. Frankly, seeing roadside memorials is depressing and after a few days in the rain, unpleasant to look out. If you want a way to warn drivers about a potentially hazardous intersection or piece of road, maybe start a petition to have a sign put in instead of transplanting a temporary garden. -Roadside rage
Headphones are my favourite accessory. I want to acknowledge that few peopleâmyself includedâactually look good sporting massive pods on either side of their head, but after I recently canned my earbuds in favour of something more substantial, I know I canât go back. Iâve always had trouble making earbuds stay in my bizarrely small ears, but even apart from that, the experience of listening to music on headphones is so much better. Ears donât hurt from having music blasted directly into the drum; they block outside noise much better, so I donât have to listen to honking cars or chirping birds if I donât want to; and if you invest in a good pair, the sound quality is much better. Theyâre spectacularly dorky-looking, and arenât nearly as sleek or subtle as the easily hidden earbuds, but thereâs really no other way to listen to music. -Music to my earsÂ
Iâm nowhere near being an expert in health, but Iâm really sick of hearing about how unhealthy binge drinking is, and how college students are slowly killing themselves one bottle at a time. No oneâs pretending that theyâre paragons of health by downing shots, and to be honest, few people even think about the effects of alcohol on their liver when theyâre at a party. Thatâs one of the points of going to a party: have fun, and forget about exams, commitments, and other concerns. Iâm well aware that it would be better to limit how much alcohol I consume. My hangover the morning after drives that point home just fine without articles and advertisements warning me that my organs are shrivelling up. Obviously people should be safe, drink with people they trust to avoid becoming vulnerable, and not die. Those warnings are fine, but Iâm young, I like to have fun, and I donât want to hear about how my having fun is dangerous to the health of my organs. -Sorry for party rocking
I donât think this gets emphasized enough outside of fights that develop from little white lies, but honesty really is the best policy. Every once in a while Iâll find myself in a situation where telling someone the truth will be awkward and embarrassing, possibly hurtful, and almost definitely complicated, and like most people, Iâm tempted to lie. Whether by omission or admission, a lie is almost always the easiest way to go, at least in the short-term. But Iâm slowly finding, based on the few times that Iâve recently had to confront my aversion to honesty, that I donât regret telling the truth. I donât regret being honest about what Iâve thought, felt, or done. I only regret other peopleâs reactions to my honesty, and their reactions are up to themânot me. So, much as I donât really have anything against lying (itâs still a tempting little treat), Iâm finding more and more that I love being honest. -TBH