1.                  Everyone puts their foot in their mouth at some point, so ignore the awkward silence of realizing you’ve done it and move on. 

I notice many things in people; styles of clothes, the way they walk, the looks on their faces.  I keep my thoughts and opinions to myself when I’m alone, but when I have a good friend or family member next to me and I’m in a comfort zone, I’m compelled to share these sometimes brutal truths. 

The next time you find yourself ready to point out someone with an annoying appearance, make sure your company doesn’t share that same look you’re ready to clown on.  So when you see the guy with the tribal tattoo around his bicep that doesn’t go all the way around the back of his arm, take a peek at your friend’s arm before regrettably spewing, “Look at that douche, if you’re going to get the most common tattoo in the world, at least be man enough to get it all the way around your arm!!  I’d never be friends with anyone like that!”  Your boy just might have the most awkward look on his face while trying to hide his half ass tribal symbol that he picked out of a tattoo book, next to a fortune teller shop on the strip of Venice Beach. 

When you and he are scrambling for something else to say to break the silence, just let it go and try to lie to him by saying his is different and you actually like it. 

 

2.                  Text messaging has taken over everyone’s life, (including mine) simply because it avoids having to talk longer than I’d like to or right at that time.  But…how do you know when to end a long texting conversation?

We don’t do it to look cool, especially since it doesn’t look cool.  We sometimes text message for the convenience and peace of mind from that dreaded 2-hour phone conversation with someone that is using you as a source of entertainment while driving home in traffic.  We’ve all looked at the caller ID and “damn, I don’t have time to talk to this fool for 2 hours straight!”  The saving grace from being a rude friend is to instantly text back, “What’s up?” with the hopes that they’ll assume you’re too busy to actually talk…like humans.  Now you’re still a good friend and your ear doesn’t have to get hot from the phone, making you wonder if you just pumped tons of radiation into your temple causing brain cancer in your future. 

But now that texting has gotten so popular, stress from texting etiquette seems to rear its ugly head, there’s no escape!  How do you know when to end a written conversation that has now taken up that hour you were just looking to save?  This is supposed to be quick and to the point, where did these super texters come from?  And now that you’ve responded to their first few messages, they pretty much know that you’re not as busy as you claimed to have been by ignoring that first call. 

You can give all the “wrap it up” signals you want in your texts, but a determined talker turned texter never catches the hints.  You try to not progress the conversation any longer with messages that elicit a response.  Some favorites to truncate the ramblings are, “haha” J or a simple “yeah” to a long winded story about an entire day of activities seem to never work.  Once I get these responses, I shut down my mini keyboard so I won’t be the nuisance I complain about. 

--JJJ

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