*~The P0L!tiCz of ICQ~*

I am fluent in internet slang. They say the best way to learn a language is to practice speaking it, and I've been "speaking" (typing) Internt slang, since about 1998. Internet slang was first introduced to me via instant messaging, and more specifically via ICQ. ICQ was an instant messaging program, one of the originals, that has since been replaced by popular IM programs like MSN and AOL.

Like all online social tools, ICQ had politics. Loosely, ICQ had "rules", even if they were unwritten.

I got ICQ in grade 7. (I thought I was so cool. I had like three ICQ friends, and one was my older sister, who barely counted since we lived in the same hourse and couldn't even communicate online as we only had one computer). Anyways, my screen name never ever read plain old "Angela", but rather, it incorporated "funky" letters and annoying little swirlies. If I remember correctly, and I do, my first ICQ name ever was ~()T@l!@n_pR!n(e$$~. It often changed to other cool things like "I love BSB" and "**an_juh_lah**". But definetely, it was never just "Angela". That was the way ICQ worked.

My "Info box" in my profile details was updated almost daily, and rather than actually listing information about myself, it was always fully equipped with inside jokes and shout outs to as many of my ICQ friends as possible. Most of the time, it looked something like this:

~~Hey to all my gurlz - haley*nicole*cassie*vanessa*liz*danielle*sandra*sarah*amy*andrea
*blah*blah*blaaaaaaaaaah*blah*blah

Hey to all my boiz - mike*mat*chris*brian*kevin*AJ*howie*nick*blah*etc*and*so*on.
To anyone i forgot, tell me so i can add u~~~~

(the info box always included swirls and/or stars)

If ever I added another friend's name to this urgently important list, I sent out a "notification" to my entire list. It usually read ~update info~(again, the swirls). My friends on my list then navigated my details till they found my info box, hit update, and hopefully, saw their name and were thankful for it. This was another way that ICQ worked.

Another ICQ "rule" was that you should never actually be available. I never put myself "Online" on ICQ. Usually, I put myself to N/A, even if I was at my monitor, so that I could fill in my away message with something sweet like "here w/ the galz!". For the times that I left my ICQ on when I was actually busy, it would have to read something like "out'n'about with (followed by a long list of names).Other times, I put myself to "Invisble" so that I could message only those people who I wanted to talk to. But I don't know what the point of that was since most of those people I wished to chat with were on my "Invisible List", which meant they could see me at all times, invisible or not, when everyone else couldn't. It was a popularity thing I guess.

ICQ was fun times. I can still hear the "Uh-Oh" everytime I think of receiving a message. I can still hear the "knock..knock...knock" when I remember a friend logging in. I can still remember ending every convo with "Lylas" (Love you like a sister). And most importantly, (or strangely), I can still remember my oldest ICQ # - 1019654710. If anyone still uses ICQ, feel free to add me. Just don't feel offended if you're not in my info box.

Good Idea: Read this post...

So remember last post when I told you I stayed up till 3 to watch 90210? Well that means I didn't get to bed until past 4...and had class early(ish) the following morning. I honestly couldn't keep my eyes open through lecture and still had loads of work to get done before today. Wednesday sucked, and all in all, I made a bad life choice.

Bad-life-choice. I mean, it's not often that I make one, but when I do, I truly feel the pain. Like the time I thought it would be wise to tell a bouncer she was actually confusing me with my "twin sister", as she suggested that I immediately stop drinking ( sorry Mom & Dad =) ) But that's a different story. On the contrary, the majority of the choices that I make are done in good esteem, like my decisions to volunteer in the community and to maintain dilligent study habits (Wuv you Mom & Dad)

Making choices between smart/stupid, safe/dangerous, good/bad is a practice that human beings from all ages and places can relate to. And finally, I arrive at my point. First and foremeost, I attribute my good decision making skills to my parents, but, secondly, I attribute them to a friendly animated TV series that was popular during the 1990's - Animaniacs.

Animaniacs, aired by Warner Bros and created by Steven Spielberg, was a comical cartoon program comprised of short educational skits on topics like history, geography and science. Every episode was divided into 2 or 3 portions, each featuring a different set of characters. My personal favourite, and seemingly most educational, of these mini segments was the "Good Idea/Bad Idea" portion put on by Mr. Skullhead. (see clip below)



With the help of Mr. Skullhead's monotone narration, and his painfully obvious good and bad ideas, I developed some (for the most part) pretty great decision making skills that date back to the 90s. The program was not only popular amongst children, but according to Wikipedia, adults liked it too. I've said it once and I'll say it again - Speilberg is a genius.

So, the next time you find yourself in a "sticky" situation - I urge you to reconsider the circumstance from Mr. Skullhead's point of view. An example : With Halloween just around the corner, it might be a good idea to dress up like a pirate. On the flip side, it might be a bad idea to dress up as a pinata.

"The End".

Beyond the world of play and make believe ...

there were the tragedies, and the scandals.

When most females are little girls, they imagine that being a princess means living in a castle, having a crown of gold, and wearing a long gown of pink or lilac. My ten year old self was no exception. At this age, I enjoyed a plethora of make believe games, like playing dress up, as it gave me the chance to boast my early dramatic flare. I pranced around my house in over sized dresses and sparkling shoes from my dress up box and spoke in a lofty accent to my playmates. This is probably the reason why, on the long weekend in August of '97, when family and I were visiting with friends, my Mom simply laughed and shoo-shooed me back to my sisters as I marched up to her and the other adults on the deck to announce that "Princess Diana has died".

I did what my Mom said -went back into the TV room where the news was on every channel, reporting the death of this princess. What my mom didn't realize that night was this time, my princess game was not entirely made up. By the next morning at breakfast, my Mom seemed to have heard of the international news. She asked me if I was just playing the night before when I had told her about Princess Di, to which I shrugged my small shoulders and said "the TV said so". In this moment, I can still remember the look on my mother's face -one of simultaneous shock and sorrow. When we returned home, the face of Princess Di (who wasn't at all what I thought a princess looked like) was everywhere - in the newspaper, on covers of magazines, and on the TV. And I will never forget that.

This, to me, is unbelievable. A lifestyle above me, an ocean between us, and nothing at all in common, I can still remember the vivid details surrounding Princess Diana's death. For the rest of my life, I expect to remember the details of world events like 911 or the Virginia Tech Massacre. But Princess Diana? Undoubtedly it was a huge event, but I didn't watch the news when I was a kid, I played pogs and sang Spice Girls.

Of course, when an event is as big as something like the death of Princess Di, it moves beyond news coverage so that people of all ages remember it (albeit in different ways). Like Princess Di, there are parts of the 90's, besides toys, movies, and television, that I can clearly recall hearing about as a kid. A child and adult perspective vary greatly from each other, especially on instances of importance. I've decided to make a list of some of the top "news-related" things that I can, as accurately as possible, recall learning about in the 90's, whether voluntary or not:

1. Princess Diana (see above) and Mother Theresa - I still remember the deaths of two prominent promoters of charity that passed on within two weeks of each other. I knew that both must have been very good people, as the story of their lives' dominated the mainstream media.
   
2. O.J. Simpson, 1994/1995 - I was only 8, and I remember that my Mom said he was a 'bad man" with a black glove (which I often times got confused with the white glove of Michael Jackson, but still, they were both scary). Anyway, I knew he was in the NFL too, and football still scares me to this day.
3. Nancy Kerrigan vs. Tonya Harding, also in 1994 - I remember that Harding clubbed Kerrigan in the knee so she could win a gold medal. I never really knew exactly what happened but I got the gist - it was the wrong thing to do and Harding still placed 10th. Guess she missed about nine targets.
   
4. JonBenet Ramsey, 1996 - All I remember is that she was pretty and rich. And because of that, she was killed. But nobody knew by whom. But she was pretty.... and rich.
   
5. Bill Clinton & Monica Lewinsky, 1998 - I was 12 when this all broke out, so I understood that Clinton was adulterous, and because of that, he was an inadequate President of the U.S.A. (*Some things never change...)

These are not all the scandals, tragedies, or big news stories of the 90's. They are simply the ones I, personally, can recall best at this time. In keeping this blog, I have been doing some research into more news related issues of the 90's, and have found it interesting to learn that things like the L.A. riots and the availability of the internet also occurred in the decade. Some of these events lived solely in the 90's, but many have obviously lived on to influence our life today. To put it in perspective - without the introduction and popularization of the internet, how would I even be keeping this blog at all? (*Well, I guess some things change)