entries until I found this:
| Main Entry: | free |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | Costing nothing; without charge. |
See where it says "costing nothing"? Yeah, that's my definition of free. Note: this does not relate to the other free (liberated, unrestrained personally/politically--this is just the "costing nothing" free). The idea of buy one get one free and other sales techniques with all their "some exceptions apply" and "see in store for details" is just befuddling and misleading.
It's like if you got a letter that said:
Come in to our store and get a FREE apple, after you buy another apple of equal or greater value. This promotion only applies to the bruised apples that no one wants to buy anyway. See in store for more details.
And they use that tiny font that strains your eyes to read, just so when you come into the store you'll feel obligated to buy the stupid, bruised apple just because you already come all the way to get it.
Advertisers are relentless and low. When did we get to this? Conning people into buying your bruised apples? How did we get to this level?
Back to my invented word. I'm thinking 'eerf' because it is 'free' backwards. Here Is my dictionary.com entry for eerf:
| Main Entry: | eerf |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | Item that will be given to you for no charge if you submit to conditions stated in minuscule print at the very bottom. (other stipulations apply, please see in store for details--what store you may ask: sorry but that's not in our contract to disclose) |
Does this seem fitting?
Another list perhaps? Is anyone getting tired of the lists yet? If so, too bad. Was that a bit immature? Yes, we've descended to that level.
**This is where I was going to write my list about my OCD tendencies, but then I had another idea which you will soon be reading below and it turned out to be quite the idea and so I decided I will save this list for another post. Something to look forward to.
A few days ago I was asked if it bothered or embarrassed me when my mom talking to other people about my blog. Let me rephrase: ...when my mom raved to other people about my blog. My answer at the time was no, but I'm wondering to myself if perhaps it has changed. It doesn't embarrass me, so to speak, the whole point of writing a blog is so people will read it. It's like a plea for attention (not a very good one...). But it's also kind of personal. What I'm writing down is what's in my brain. Most blogs are very public (being on the Internet, of course, and thus accessible to anyone with an Internet connection), but there's also something private about them. It's weird knowing that not only are random strangers caring enough to read what I'm thinking but also, the people I know. Who I spend time with and know me. It's hard to write a blog when you don't want to be giving too many details (so people who already know you aren't bored of you) and giving enough (so people who don't know you can follow along). I don't' even know how I feel about strangers reading this blog. Maybe I'm being a bit self absorbed to think that anyone actually has any interest.
So maybe I am a little weird about it. You have to admit, as another point, that hearing other people brag about you can sometimes feel awkward. Maybe it's a self esteem issue and I should just accept it, but you have to admit, it still feels strange to have people talking about something that you wrote. Another thing is that once you've told people about your blog, you know that someone might actually be reading it and that in itself is scary. It adds a sort of pressure to entertain.
I was looking on the mj Ning, where other BEDA people can post their blogs in one common place, and I noticed that today there has been a theme of topics. A lot of people are writing about how they are tapped out of blog topics. It seems like today is the day that most people are having trouble with, and I admit, I felt the same way when I woke up. What am I going to write about? Ahhh! But I persevered and came up with this lengthy post on blogging awkwardness and fake freeness (or eerf). Go Alex!
We're 1/3 (and a day) through April and thus BEDA. Oh, and I'm turning 15 in 29 days. Another yay.
One more thing. Last thing I promise. You can even look ahead and see... I will be adding some pictures to a previous blog post where I listed some things on my wall. I'm going to take some pictures so you can see what I mean by random memorabilia that has no other place in the world. Check that out. The post is called What's In A Label For A Noun so you can find it in the archive over there <--- if you so desire.
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