Dun-dun-duuuun!

Today's prompt from the The Daily Post is:

If you were to judge your favourite book by its cover, would you still read it?

There are so many books I've read and loved, I don't know if I can choose one. I've got about thirty books in front of me right now and I'm scanning them to see which one I should talk about for this post and my indecisiveness is getting to the point where my eye is about to start twitching.

I'm settling on Matthew's Reilly's Ice Station.

Matthew Reilly is the god of action thrillers and his works are filled with guns, explosions, blood, swearing and a lot of humour stemming mainly from a character called Mother, who is the least motherly character I can think of. His sentences are short, sharp and everything swooshes by at a pace so fast I was flipping through the pages like a crazed bibliophile who couldn't get enough of words.

Once, I stayed up till three in the morning to finish one of Matthew Reilly's books. It was a great idea at the time but a couple of hours later in school, I really regretted it.

I digress.

Although this cover doesn't tell the reader much about the epic and violent content inside, there is a dark feel to it because of the rolling clouds above the silhouette of a darkened ice station. It's almost a prelude to the horror that the Marines find themselves in, a quiet photo to lull the reader into a false sense of security before throwing them neck-high into action.

I'd pick this up based on the cover alone. I'm more of a minimalist when it comes to covers and if it's clean and simple then I'm more likely to pick it up. That's not to say I won't pick up a book that's got characters and words crammed onto the cover, no, of course not. But it will deter me quite a bit.

Anonymity on the internet

One of the many things I cannot stand is bullying and more specifically, cyberbullying.

Today someone expressed her opinion on her blog. It was her opinion about her experience and it was looking on the upside of a medical condition that most people tended to look down upon. Soon after that, a person commented. No, not even that. It didn't resemble a comment because every second word was 'bullsh*t'. The comment expressed no opinion. It was, quite literally, all 'bullsh*t'.

Oddly enough, the commenter didn't have the guts to post under his or her name. Just 'Anonymous'. A cruel and profane message delivered without a name, without a picture or even initials.

And that pissed me off, big time.

Would the commenter have said the same cruel and profane words if the anonymous function had been disabled? No, of course not because that's not what cowards do. They can't make a comment and stand by it because they know they'd be attacked if they left their real name. They know they deserve it so they hide behind their computers like the pathetic wimps they are, with their fake bravado and big words.

I should hate cyberbullies. And maybe I do, just a little bit. A part of me pities their miserable existence. But mostly, I laugh at them because they think they're powerful and dominating when the truth is, they are nothing without their computers.

I stand up for my opinions without shame and I don't diss others for theirs. What do you do?

Growing up or growing old?

Today's prompt from The Daily Post is:

When was the first time you really felt like a grown up (if ever)?

There's been no specific time when I thought, "Wow, I'm all grown up now!"

It doesn't matter that I'm over eighteen, that I'm actually in my twenties and study at university or that I can drive (sort of) because I have the mentality of a ten year old and that's reflected in my childish personality.

However, there have been moments in my life, particularly in the past three or four years, when reality snuck up behind me and whispered, "Wow, you're old."

That usually happens when I'm talking to people younger than me and I start my sentences with one of these three beginnings:

1. When I was younger...
2. When I was your age...
3. I remember when...

I don't think I've lived a long life by far, but throughout my childhood, technology has made leaps and bounds so far I'm still scrambling to catch up. All the little things I told myself I'd have as a child are now obsolete. Like VHS, walkmans and the old Nintendos. It's like having my dreams taken away from me.

It doesn't help that children have asked me if I'm married or pregnant (!), call me Miss and Lady and see me as a teacher figure because I am their tutor. It's even worse when new tutors, fresh out of high school, come in and they say, "You must have a lot of experience since you've worked here for so long!"

It's even worse when my friends say, "Silvia is like the grandma of this place!"

Growing up is fine. But growing old is not and I don't think I will ever truly feel like a grown up. Maybe not until I'm married or have my own kids or something I associate completely with adulthood.