Ridiculous Commercials

Have you ever watched a commercial and thought to yourself, that's ridiculous, impossible, or extremely unlikely? I'm sure many of you have thought this, and many times the advertisers want you to think this to demonstrate how awesome the product is and how much more you need it. But, have any of you, instead of instantly coveting said product (like we are supposed to), are put-off and don't want it?

Recently I saw the Subway commercial where you can win instantly if you peel something off your cup. Whenever someone wins (in the commercial), they throw up their cup, full of their soft drink of choice, and then drench their fellow diners in sticky, sugary, brown soda. Despite dripping in cola, the onlookers look at the winner in complete awe, happy for the winner and their newly awarded prize. The soggy people then continue talking and eating as if nothing happened.

What I thought at first was, if I had someone just spill soda all over me, I wouldn't be happy for them, I'd be angry at them. Depending on how many times it happened, I would have demanded they apologize and buy me a new outfit. Then, my next thought is, man, Subway drink lids must be really crappy. The point of a lid is to prevent spillage. If it can't even contain a beverage well enough to prevent a major accident with a gentle toss, what's the point?

Then I thought, well maybe those people don't have lids on their drinks. Who doesn't get a lid? It's like they are asking for their chilly beverage to spill everywhere. Why must others be victims to their stupidity?

Ok, so maybe I analyzed this commercial too much. But, I have thought about these kinds of things with other commercials too. Like the car commercial where the two cars (one driven by a man, the other driven by a woman) play Marco Polo around the city. Could you really do that? I thought the GPS was to determine where you are, not other cars. If it does that, I'm sure government officials and stalkers alike would be excited about that new feature. How are they communicating? I thought it was a pohne, but then it seems like it's another feature of the car. Now that's just creepy.

There are some pretty hilarious and ingenious advertisements out there, but then there are still others that afterwords you just can't believe you wasted two minutes of your life actually watching that stupid commercial. Anyone else feel this way? Any other commercials that spring to mind that make you ask, what was that company thinking; someone needs to get fired for this?

Still New?

I know earlier I wrote an entry about feeling new. I had to get used to a new job, twice, a new city, a new house, new friends, and a new ward. And while most of these aspects in my life have become second nature, or at least familiarity has set in, I still feel "new" in one part. My ward. It might be the fact that there are new people that visit and join the ward every week. It also could be that many go on vacation, several move out/ in, and now that we are nearing the end of the summer, many are returning to school (which means more people moving out and more moving in).

I have been in this ward for three months, but I still feel as if I just moved in. I mean, I've only been at my job for a month and a half, and the novelty has worn off already. So why not in this case? There are a few people I know and have become friends with, but compared to the friends I had up at BYU, my number of friends here are a pittance. At the beginning, I tried to put myself out there, and I tried to meet new people. But like I said in my previous post, it's exhausting to continually be out of your comfort zone. That's why it's a comfort zone; it's comfortable!

I haven't been comfortable for awhile. I still try to meet some new people, but I'm definitely slacking off. I go to church activities, and while the actual activity is fun, I come home and tell my mom, "Eh, it was a dance." I know that if I had been with fun people, friends, then I probably would have come home and said I had a blast. But that variable in the equation is lacking. (The equations being Friends+Activity=Fun)

I did make a good friend at church, and I had fun with her, but she just moved to Utah! I know making friends is hardwork, and for some it seems impossible. But as someone who has made friends with little or no effort, I'm tired of trying. I'm sick of feeling new; I just want to magically have a group of friends that I have fun with and enjoy being around like I did at BYU.

Why can't things be as easy as it was before? I want to feel comfortable and be myself without having to feel like I have to be on my best behavior with everyone I'm around. I know that usually my best behavior is pretty close to being myself, but I don't want to feel like I'm on my tiptoes hoping that my normal sarcastic self doesn't slip out and offend someone.

Well, you know what, I don't care anymore. I'm just going to be myself. It'll be easier for me, and if someone gets offended, so be it. The sooner I'll eliminate the people I have to be nice to and move on to others that could be my friend.

(Ok I realize that this sounds very mean, and I'm in somewhat of a bitter mood right now after having gone to several activities that were partly a waste of my time. I won't be mean to anyone [at least not on purpose], but it'll save me some effort and time by realizing that someone I'm trying to befriend is really someone who will not be my friend. And in all seriousness, they will indeed be missing out, not only on some good times, but on having a friend that is fun, funny, and will always be there for you even when the times aren't so good.)