Have you ever really thought about how important your feet are to your every day activities and well-being? I’m going to guess you haven’t, unless, one of them hurts. We take so much of our body for granted because we don’t feel its parts individually until something happens to make us take notice. Continue reading “Stand On ‘Em”
When I saw the title for this day, my first thought was what about the people who have to go to work; how can they take a whole day to relax? Then I read down the list of relaxation activities and immediately could see what could go wrong with each one because I tend to be a negative nanny when left to my own thoughts. So my exercise today will be to add a personal guarantee to each of the items and pray that’s how they come out for the person doing them. Continue reading “Everyone Relaxes Differently”
For most people happiness happens naturally. I can look out my window and marvel at the colors of the flowers, enjoy dewdrops glistening on leaves, and know it’s going to be a sunny warm day in western New York. I can hear my cat purring in the chair next to me and watch the chipmunks outside running around on our wood pile. Both things make me smile. I sometimes think about the reality of how a human body works and the solar system keeps moving. These miracles we take for granted give me reason to be happy. Continue reading “Be Happy”
National Minority Donor Awareness Week was created to increase awareness of the need, especially among minorities, for more organ, eye and tissue donors. It is also a time to honor minorities who have donated and to encourage others to register as donors. Continue reading “Give the Gift of Life”
Emoji, a Japanese expression, roughly means “picture word” and was developed in 1990 by Shigetaka Kurita. While working for NTT Docomo, a Japanese telecom company, Kurita designed these picture words as a feature on their pagers to make them more appealing to teens. When Apple released the first iPhone in 2007, an emoji keyboard was embedded to nab the Japanese market. While not intended for U.S. users to find, they did and quickly figured out how to use it. (Information from National Day of Calendar)
The last line of the above paragraph gives me pause. “Emojis were not intended for U.S. users to find”. Really? Did they think we wouldn’t understand them or what? If you think about it, humans have been using emojis without calling them that for a very long time. There is a picture floating around Facebook comparing the little guys to hieroglyphics. But I’m thinking more about the symbols that denote a bathroom, you know, one has on a skirt and one has on pants. Or perhaps a deer or duck crossing sign on a road. We even understand the taxi-stand sign in a city. What’s that old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words”. I know I’ve been drawing smiley faces on things for as long as I can remember. When I look at the above picture, it makes me wonder how long the dollar sign has been in use.
I like to use emojis when I text. They add a bit of humor, or love, or emotion as they were intended. The thumbs-up and hearts are the ones I use most. I haven’t been sucked into trying to write a whole thought in emojis. I can write the word car, for example, faster than I can scroll through a bunch of tiny little pictures to find one. There is probably a trick to finding it quickly I will need my grandson to show me. I know the picture comes up after you have typed the word, but then what use is it. I like to do things in one step, not two.
Anyway, emojis can be used to display all types of emotions, convey many different meanings and add a little something to our printed communication. We should take a moment to thank their inventor today and use a bunch of them.
This is the day we recognize social media and how it has changed our every day lives. Think about it, depending on your age of course, the time of waiting for news of the birth of a cousin by snail-mail is long gone. We now have instant pictures or videos. I think that’s a good thing and I’m sure every family that is now spread across this nation, or the earth, thinks so too.
On the other hand so many people use social media to bash someone or our government that using it has become a negative instead of a positive. I have to admit, I have unfollowed “friends” who bash others. I have also unfollowed people who post too many details, all negative, about their current relationship or life style. I don’t want to be dragged down by those who won’t take responsibility for their own lives or get help when others have suggested that is what could improve the situation.
My blog is part of social media and I’m sure there are some that look at my titles and think, “Who cares?” That’s all right. My point in writing this was to help myself become a better writer and just maybe inspire some conversation around someone’s dinner table instead of having four heads buried in their phones.
You-Tube is its own being now. You can find anything on You-tube. I do like my favorite genre of music videos. I look up how to do something in my sewing room, and my grandson watches people play and explain video games. There is definitely something for everyone, especially about cooking and travel. My wish is for the people who make the videos to take all the “umm” and “ya know” phrases out of their public speaking. But then again, that’s just my pet peeve.
Social Media is here to stay, unless of course, the power goes out. I think it has made the world a smaller place and I’m not at all sure that is a good thing. See you soon on Facebook!
Sue Spitulnik 