My best friend came into town last week and I decided that it would be fun to go to dinner with some friends that night. At dinner we were all talking and having fun until I noticed a pause in the conversation. I looked up from my menu and realized that all five people were on their phones texting/browsing the web/Facebooking/Tweeting/whatever. This literally went on for about five minutes.

I thought to myself, “Okay, I’ll give it a few more minutes and then I’m saying something.” I thought that I wouldn’t have to wait because surely someone else will notice the silence and realize how silly it is that we’re all here to hang out with each other, but instead not even engaging in any type of conversation.

Nope. I was the only one NOT on a phone. After waiting, I just went off at them in a half-joking, half-serious tone that we all use in order to avoid being too mean. But they just laughed and continued  staring at their phones.

This definitely wasn’t the first time that cell phone use has gotten on my nerves. It happens ALL the time! The worst is when you’re telling someone an important story, and the only response you get from them is, “Yeah,” without even looking up from their phone. When you didn’t even ask a question to begin with.

I mean, seriously! At parties, study groups or things that require attention to the group, I’m always finding a majority of people sitting on their phones disengaged. Why even go out if you’re going to stare at your phone all night? You might as well sit in front of a bigger screen at your house.

Obviously it’s perfectly fine if you’re using your phone for a few minutes, but lately I’ve been getting pissed at people who text while you’re trying to have a one on one convo with them. It’s so RUDE!

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Who do you think you are standing outside of the store asking people to buy you things, then acting like what they get isn’t good enough for you?

Last weekend, I left CVS and walked past this homeless man standing outside with a noticeably shy, quiet young man in front of him. The younger man had gone inside, bought a sub out of the kindness of his heart and brought it out to give to the guy. I walked by only to find that the homeless man was turning the sandwich around in his hands, saying, “No, this isn’t what I wanted.”

WHAT IS UP WITH THAT!? Just take the food, say thank you and go on your way. I mean what is it that you wanted, some beer? Cigarettes? The poor kid didn’t have to get you anything, but he did. Now you’re going to tell him that he didn’t get you the right kind of sandwich? I couldn’t believe what I had seen. If I was that kid, I would have snatched it right back from his hands and said, “Well then have a nice day.”

I can’t believe these people on the streets are acting like bullies. That wasn’t even the first time I witnessed a situation like that. It seems as if I can’t even walk into the grocery store without someone asking me for money. We’re all broke college kids, but we get targeted because we look vulnerable and too nice to say no. I always see the same homeless people on the side of the road with those black liquor store bags holding 40’s. I don’t understand, how do you have enough money to buy alcohol?

Well, whatever the case, these rude people are ruining it for the rest of the homeless population who are actually starving. The fact that he turned down a sandwich really makes me think, well is he really in need of food, or is it drugs or booze that he really wants?

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These are five reasons why rainy days piss me off:

1. You get all ready for the rain by bringing an umbrella (might I add that mine is oversized and pretty heavy), only to step outside and it’s barely drizzling. You don’t know whether you should actually open your umbrella because it’s not like your getting that wet, but then you figure you brought it all the way out so you might as well. Then you just look dumb carrying this big umbrella over your head when there’s really no rain falling.

2. After you splash around in puddles all day, you end up getting to your class late and having to walk to that open desk all the way across the room. Meanwhile, the entire class stares at you because your shoes squeak the whole way to your seat.

3. I’ll be walking out of the BA building just fine when all of a sudden I end up doing splits because the outside tiles and bricks are extremely slippery.

4. When I get to my car in the morning to drive, my windows are all fogged up because of the humidity outside. I can never remember if I have to turn on

the heat or the AC to get them clear so I end up just waiting in my car, after I’ve already gotten a late start.

5. Everyone is carrying an umbrella, so your umbrella ends up hitting everyone else’s that walks by, or you don’t have one and your hair gets caught on a

random persons rude, stray spokes.

However, there are three reasons why I love the rain:

1. You can be a little late to things. “It’s not your fault, there was traffic” (really you just didn’t feel like getting out of bed).

2. You don’t feel as bad about being stuck in the library working on your paper. It’s not like you can be tempted to be outside having fun in the sun

instead.

3. It’s just more of an excuse to watch movies, eat snacks and not spend extra time getting ready for class.

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We all want to enjoy ourselves on the weekends and sometimes even during the week. We deserve it, right? Classes, exams and work are a pain to even the most hardworking student. So it’s only fair to have a get together with a few friends and celebrate....

To be clear, having a party IS nice, just not EVERY SINGLE DAY. Though the stereotype of “going to college means you get to party all the time” is false, there are a select few people who attempt to live up to it.  The blaring music can constantly get on your nerves and disturb your studying time or even sleeping hours. “Quiet hours” is a term not even in their vocabulary.

As if trying to block out the noise isn’t bad enough, you have to watch the wasted people stumbling home from the keg party. So wasted that someone could probably get drunk just by touching them. The “I’m drunk out of my mind” person is so out of it that they leave a little gift on your doorstep. It is a warm feeling to wake up with a few red Solo cups on the lawn or puke in front of your house, but it’s really exciting to spend a few minutes of your day cleaning up after drunken idiots.

What can you do about it when your neighbor acts like the guy from “Animal House”? Reporting them doesn’t help unless you are looking forward to them making your life a living hell (if they don’t learn their lesson) until you move out or the year ends. That can be a pretty long wait. Going to them may not solve anything if it goes in one ear and out the other and it would just be a waste of breath. Obviously ignoring doesn’t solve anything, does it? All of these lost causes can drive a person to crash at their friends’ house, which in turn can eventually annoy willing hosts.

Here are a few notes to the people guilty of partying to celebrate any occasion they can think up (such as it being Wednesday): Cut it out. People are trying to study or even sleep during your all-night parties. Clean up after yourselves. This is college; mom is not here to clean and neither are your neighbors. Take your neighbors feelings into consideration. If that’s too much to handle, move your freaking party somewhere else!

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OK, so we’ve all witnessed the “hot guy with the dog” thing, but lately a few things are getting out of control and not in a good way. I don’t know how many people I can name who invested in a pet for the wrong reasons. In my apartment complex alone, there are tons of neglected animals that are basically just there because their owners think it’s so cute to have a pet they can walk around the neighborhood while meeting other people with pets and become friends and blah blah blah.

The sad part is, students who don’t even have enough time to study have these poor animals cooped up inside the house or their rooms all day while they go to class. Then they get food with their friends, spend a few hours at the library and so on. By the time they get home to feed their pet, they’re exhausted and the walk they take their animals on actually turns out to be a walk to the end of the block to let them pee and straight back. It really is so sad to see!

I also hate when I walk into a party and the music is loud, there are tons of people falling over drunk, beer is on the floor and then I see a poor little dog that just wants to sleep in the corner because it’s scared and stressed out because of all of the strange people and loud noise. I have even witnessed the whole, “I’m going to dump my dog off on you for the weekend because I want to go out of town,” thing.

People, you don’t understand — pets are sort of like kids in the sense that they need lots of attention and love, and you can’t just drop them off for the weekend on your neighbor who doesn’t even know how to take care of it. You also can’t just leave and not tell your roommate you’re going away for the weekend to find the dog was left behind without getting a heads up (especially when it barks and cries the whole time because then my weekend is ruined, cough cough).

I really get annoyed when I see people who just want a dog because it gets them attention. I have definitely witnessed the whole “I really just want a dog because all the girls will stop and pet it and then I can get laid,” type of guy (because girls clearly do fall for that).

Seriously, think before you get a pet because it costs a lot of money and time (that you don’t have). I mean, really, do you think you can take a dog out at least three times a day, walk it and play with it all while trying to study, work and hang out with friends? No! So do your poor animal a favor and think about waiting until after college unless you really can be a good parent and adopt for all of the right reasons.

I understand that we 20-year-olds are past the whole boy band sensation these days. I mean, jumping on our beds in our training bras listening to ’N Sync was sooo 10 years ago. But let’s face it — the (sort of) new pop sensation has totally been the one-and-only Justin Bieber for the past three years, ever since his hit “One Time” came out. To this day, I still hear people make remarks like, “Ew, he’s so lame,” or “Seriously? He sucks!” Even when they hear his songs come on the radio, they say, “Kill me now.”

The best part is they don’t understand that they sound as dumb as we did in elementary school when we claimed we hated “Barney” and only watched it because our little brother or sister made us. Either way, all I have to say is, Justin Bieber is smart, talented and awesome (yeah, I’m not afraid to say it). First off, that boy can sing. If you’ve ever watched his YouTube videos or even just listened to his songs, you’d know he has major range. Also, he can pretty much play every instrument there is. He started playing drums at the age of two, and street performing at 13. On top of all that, he can dance, too.

Lastly is Justin Bieber’s charm. He knows exactly how to make the ladies swoon. At his concerts, he brings girls from the audience up on stage, hands them a bouquet of roses and dedicates the song to them. Now that’s genius. Those girls, their friends and all who witnessed it will be Bieber fans for life.

So there, I rest my case. Justin Bieber obviously has some damn talent and knows what he’s doing. He’s made $53 million in the past year (Forbes.com), has a hot girlfriend (Selena Gomez), coined his own haircut and had a movie made about him. So my only two explanations for all of those Bieber haters out there are:

A: You’re a guy and you can’t stand the fact that your girlfriend admires a 17-year-old who has already made his life savings and can dance, sing and play an instrument. Or-

B: You’re a girl and you really can’t accept that someone has replaced Justin Timberlake and Nick Lachey, and you’re still grieving the downfall of the boy band era.

I must add that, although I enjoy listening to most of his songs, I’m not a crazy obsessed Justin Bieber fan. I just feel the need to defend him because he actually does have talent, a brain and has definitely earned every bit of success he has made for himself. I believe he deserves some positive attention, and I am tired of hearing people bash him just because he has already accomplished his dreams in life.

Needless to say, one of the best parts of working out on campus is the Strom gym. Aside from all the fun of sweat and exhaustion, you get to analyze the different types of people who work out there. So basically you’re getting a good workout and pure entertainment all in one package.

I could talk about the outfits people wear, the various groups of people, the bro-mance couples, the girls who can’t go unless they have a friend with them, or even the hilarious conversations that one is sure to overhear. However, I’ll save all of those things for another rant, because this blog’s attention is strictly dedicated to a certain type of guy.

This is about the guy who thinks he is the god who runs the gym, that every single eye is on him at all times and that Strom was made for him, and only him, to flex, grunt and be admired in for his oh-so-strong and manly stature. This, I call the meat head.

For those of you who haven’t had an encounter with a meat head, let me explain: He’s the guy that always wears a cut-off muscle tee (trimmed a little too far, leaving the unwanted nips exposed), and hangs around the weights acting like he’s about to use one, but instead just stands in front of the mirror admiring his physique. Most importantly, he wears an expression on his face that could be taken as, “I’m so mean and big that you would lose in a fight against me,” or, “Man, I’m so strong that it

kind of hurts.” Either way, he tries to act as hard and mean as he can.

A few days ago, I was sitting on one of the weight benches, resting between sets, and this guy walks up to the one next to me. I immediately began watching him because judging by the size of his “air latts,” I knew it was going to be a good show.

He stood in front of the weights, predictably admired his body, put on the typical expression and then noticed someone’s eyes were upon him (mine). With a big, mean grunt, he picked up a weight that was clearly way too heavy for him. He grunted a few more times, finished his set and then dropped the weight. Then, ever so casually, he stood up to wipe the sweat off of his face with the bottom of his t-shirt, just to flaunt his tightly-flexed abs (if he had clenched any harder, he probably would have pooped his pants).

He was so incredibly obvious that I had to crack a smile, which I guess gave him the idea that I wanted more. The cherry on top? He took a sip of his water bottle, flexed his biceps and looked right at me in the mirror to make sure I didn’t miss it.

At this point I had to walk away because I felt so uncomfortable and completely confused as to why he thought that was acceptable behavior. I guess it satisfied him that the people in the weight area knew he was “invincible.”

Oh boys, someday you’ll understand how to get attention without being so blatant.

Now that school has picked up, classes are getting hard. This requires extra study time that’s productive enough for me to learn something in SILENCE! My busy schedule only allows me a few hours a day to dedicate to my school work, in which I try to get as much done as I can. Unfortunately every time I sit down to do this, I get interrupted/distracted by the loud idiots around me who either can’t read or don’t understand the meaning of “Quiet Floor” in the library.

I can’t study at my house because my roommates have the TV on at an abnormally loud volume in the next room. I can’t sit in Panera to study because apparently they have this new way of announcing that your food is ready. It’s a combination of an intercom and an annoying man that is way too happy and nice sounding, that calls out, “Melanie, your GLORIOUS bowl of soup is ready here at the counter!” Every.  Five.  Seconds.

So I turn to a place that’s sure to be fool proof: Floor 1 of the Thomas Cooper Library. With my luck, to my left, I have three frat boys talking at a normal conversational tone about their drunken party weekend. I was clearly not the only one pissed off; Every person in the area kept giving them glares to SHUT THE F&*% UP!

The worst part is, they didn’t get the hint.  They thought that since everybody was looking at them, this meant that everyone was interested in their stupid conversation which made them talk a little louder with a little more pride. One kept looking at me for recognition, like he was expecting me to say, “dude you are so badass!” To top it off, one of their laughs sounded like a mix between a woman giving birth, and a hyena.

All I have to say to these people who don’t understand the point of a quiet study area is, if someone looks like they MIGHT be studying (usually by themselves with an open book nearby), MOVE YOUR CONVERSATIONS FAR, FAR AWAY OR PUT A SOCK IN IT!

In case you've been completely cut off from the internet for the past week (don't know what a week is? Watch the video and you'll be educated forthwith!), join the other 30 million youtube viewers in the hilarity that is Rebecca Black's hit single: FRIDAY.

Sorry not sorry if this is littered with typos/thingsthatdon'tmakesense.

But why would this blog deviate from my usual grammatical perfection you ask?