You know what really grinds my gears? #1

Just a few things that bother me about everyday life, and their justification:

Swag. I just don't understand swag. Swag just makes me think you are making up for something (in the downstairs department...) and makes me know for a fact that you are lacking in the intellectual department. I don't get the whole "Im hard" walk and talk. You look retarded. Please, try and use proper grammar and not add "-shizzle" after everything. And yeah, I'm that person rolling my eyes at you. So stop acting like a peacock and grow up.

Flouride in the water. Sure, the government started putting fluoride in the water in order to prevent tooth decay, a noble reason, but low and behold, its toxic for our bodies! So I guess choose your poison: British looking teeth, or a decline in bone density, correlated lower IQs, and thyroid dysfunctions. In my humble opinion, I rather have a cavity or two than a plethora of absurdly unnatural things happening to my body. For more info : (http://www.fluoridealert.org/absurdity.htm)

Christmas music... in excess, and in any other month besides December. I had an old roommate who would play Christmas music, more specifically, Mariah Carey and N'sync Christmas music (in June) that made me almost want to punch a baby. Please, keep the Christmas spirit to yourself. I swear I'm not a scrooge, I enjoy decorating the tree, putting up tinsel and all that other festive stuff, but keep the sticky, catchy, stuck-in-my-head-all-day music at a minimum. I understand now why people spike the eggnog at Christmas parties.

People who talk on the phone really loud in public places. Okay guys, you aren't talking through a can-and-string phone, this is 2011, they make good enough phones now that you can talk in a normal volume. You aren't yelling at a drive through speaker at Jack-in-the-Box at 2.15am.. although those tacos always seem to hit the spot when it comes to late night munchies.

Lastly, The laws about wearing seat belts bother me. The people who don't wear seat belts in cars are only endangering themselves really. I understand why it's dangerous to talk on the phone and drive, because it slows your reaction time and potentially puts others on the road in danger, but to not wear a seatbelt and drive...? Fine by me.  If this law was revoked, this could potentially be natural selection at its finest.

What is Normal

What is normalcy? What does it mean when you're not normal, and you're different or strange? To be honest, I rather be strange than fit into the seemingly perfect cookie cutter life that society tells us to strive for... You know what kind of life I'm describing... The live in suburbia, have 2.5 kids, and drive a hummer kind of normal. Although some of this normalcy sounds appealing, mostly just the procreation part of it, I want more out of my life.
I want to do something I love, and help people while doing it. I want to leave my mark on the world, and have my work and research published so others can appreciate it. I want to fall in love,  stay in love, and get married in a beautiful church or a beach with a beautiful sunset, and I never, ever, want to stop learning.
When did learning and school just become the means to an end? The end being this "normal American life". When did college become a place to just scrape by and get a degree so you can work a job in a cubicle that you loathe? I believe I first realized this shift of culture in my freshman year as an undergrad when some douche in one of my intro business classes said with an arrogant tone " yeah, well the only reason I went to college is my parents told me I had to in order to take over my Dad's oil business when he's 6 feet under if you know what I mean". I'm pretty sure I couldn't stifle the choke/scoff that came out of me.
I guess all I'm saying is that normal is not ideal. So don't make the idea of normalcy your goal. Because being normal is also being mediocre.