CLTOPCD-A lifetime disease?

My name is Lindsay Victor and I have a serious problem.

CLTOPCD, or compulsive listening to other people’s conversations disorder, is an issue of mine that always seems to make an appearance whenever I am doing homework, reading, or especially, taking AP tests.

I have always had a problem with being distracted by noise, but have adapted my habits to address my shortcomings. Instead of spending nights doing homework in front of the television or in a room filled with music, I have spent my high schools years doing homework in COMPLETE silence. My mother joking plans to send me to college next year with a pair of noise cancelling headphones, but I am seriously considering asking her to buy them for my graduation present so I can control my CLTOPCD.  

I still cannot figure out why I have not been able to teach myself how to block out outside noise. Whenever I am in a room that is silent besides one or two people whispering, my brain focuses in on the conversation, totally determined to figure out what amazingly interesting topic they must be talking about.  

My latest CLTOPCD outbreak occurred during my AP Literature Test last week. The room was silent and everyone in the cafeteria was working on reading through passages and answering multiple choice questions. All of a sudden, I hear a noise: the Sports Center theme song. I turn around and see that the televisions in the cafeteria have been left on. Really? I am testing in a freezing cold cafeteria, in an uncomfortable chair, AND the proctors have left Sports Center on?

Although I know that I will not be able to avoid the sound in the room, I am the type of person who will just sit there and fume internally, instead of just calling someone over and asking them to turn off the television. Fortunately, my new favorite person, Jes Vasko, decided to call over a proctor, who quickly proceeded to turn the television off.

The main issue with my situation is that I refuse to address it. Instead of realizing that most people are probably having conversations about topics that have no relevance to me, I decide to listen, because maybe, this one time, they will actually be talking about something important to me.

I hope that my discussion today is the first step on the road to coping with my CLTOPCD.

If you have any advice about how to help me deal with my extreme nosiness and fear that I will miss out on some juicy information, please do not hesitate to email me!

In the Defense of Literature

In our contemporary society, using technology as a means of entertainment has become the socially accepted standard. We criticize our parents and other elders who need to “get with the times” as it is said. Writing letters? Who does that anymore?  I mean, that is so last century! And books?

         

Now, I may be mislabled as a nerd (according to http://www.dictionary.com/), but I strongly believe that books are not mere objects to be pulled up on a screen. Books are our companions and friends. They cheer you up when you’re sad by sucking you into a magical world where we relate to well-developed characters and enjoy the savory sensation of a happy ending. We can curl up with one and escape the world, if only for a little while. And how do we repay our story-telling friends? By sticking them on the Internet available for a $2.99 download.

           

ebook image

We’re meant to hear the rustle of turning pages and see the flickering letters dance across the pages. Instead, we perfer to bind them to the cold restrictions of the online phenomena. We’re meant to take them off the shelf and lovingly stroke their spines. Instead, we slide a finger across a screen.  How impersonal does it get?

Ebooks are easier to carry, people say. They are more portable. While this is true—come on, try and prevent fifty someodd books from rolling around in the trunk—I believe that it hardly excuses the betrayal of one of our best friends. Would you stick your dog or cat on the Internet and maybe lead it around with a finger? Books may not be alive, but both pets and books comfort you, never question you, and cheer you up. ebooks can do none of these, bound as they are behind a multi-character password and a sliding touch screen.

box of books image

Technology is ever-growing in today’s society. Facebook, Twitter, cell phones competing to see who can be the smallest—I’d be hypocritical if I said that all technology should be banned. After all, I do have a Facebook which I use quite frequently! And where would I be on all those school essays if it wasn’t for Wiki—I mean, Google? Seriously, though, technology really is a marvelous thing. I just do not believe that books should be vacuumed up into its consuming mouth. Books have been around for centuries. They have served as a source of entertainment, information, and even inspiration for countless masses! They do not deserve to end at a fad that robs them of their significance and makes a circus exhibit out of them. The ebook bonanza may seem harmless enough now, but it really is only a small step from ebooks to simply downloading the stories into our brains. What would this result in? The end of books!

The End of Books (1984 reference)

 

Think about that the next time you pass a library or a bookstore. Who knows? By the twenty-second century, they might say “Apple” or the name of some other big ebook company. So buy the book, not the ebook!
Email me if you fancy

Vintage

Vintage is such a fad. In this case, I'm referring to vintage fashion, which now seems to be worn and displayed regularly by young girls (specifically speaking, high school girls). Now, perhaps this is intentional, but I am not one to follow fads, or at least that's what I tell myself. I don't like pop culture: I don't watch the TV shows, I don't listen to the music, and I certainly don't wear the clothes. Until now.

The worst part about vintage is that I actually like it. The flowery designs, the lacy details, the cute buttons and bags to go with it all... the style is very hard to dislike. It is, in two words, casually elegant. Here are some examples:

This is what I consider vintage, anyways. Honestly, I'm not a fashion expert of any sort, so this style might not be considered vintage by anyone else but me. Actually, now I'm curious. What is the definition of vintage?
Ahh. Here it is according to Dictionary.com Apparently it has nothing to do with my perception of vintage. Perhaps vintage can be likened to retro, which is defined quite the same when referring to clothing.
I'll call my perceived style modern vintage.

Anyways, about modern vintage. Even though I think it's cute, and even though I wear "mod vintage" (my new abbreviation for modern vintage, which is my own take on vintage clothing), I still do not like it, simply because it is a fad. This really makes no sense, because I really don't have a reason for disliking it besides the fact that so many people wear it. Perhaps I dislike it because it's mass produced. Stores like Forever 21 and others (but mostly Forever 21) are choked to death with an overstock of mod vintage clothing. By that I mean the stores are dead, unappealing, because they are not original.

Maybe that's the real reason why I don't like mod vintage, because stores force the style upon us and leave no room for creativity in our fashion. All the outfits made in those stores are made to be interesting. Again, this hardly makes sense, because clothes should be interesting, or else no one would want them. But I would prefer simpler styles that leave more room for personal interpretation. Maybe I should resort to sewing my own clothes.
Just kidding, of course, but I'm not just kidding about mod vintage. Perhaps the only reason I feel this way about fashion is because I'm a self-proclaimed cynic. Actually, I don't know what that words means in its entirety either. Here is the definition from dictionary.com for cynic. That seems about right.

This was not meant to criticize anyone who wears mod vintage. No indeed, for I wear mod vintage too, and like it. I am only critical of its components of unoriginality and abundance. But, like rap music, there is no way to stop this thing from continuing on, so there's really no reason to complain. I already took the time to complain in this entire blog post, though, and it's too late to take it back now, so I'll leave this post with my opinion well known. Enjoy my cynicicm. Or not, because there's no real reason to enjoy it.

My email is here.
--Bailey

Welcome, Adv Comp students!

This blog account is where we will be publishing our blogs! The password and login are the same as our google account (see me if you forget it). The blog assignment is due Friday, May 13.




In addition to fitting the 400 word minimum, you will experiment with the features you can add to a blog. Required elements include: 

1. One photo or image, such as this image of some attractive, brilliant people I know:

2. One link to another website or blog, such as The WSWC webpage

3. One link to your email address

(Ex.  Feel free to email me if you have questions on how to do any of these.)

4. At least three labels (see below)