You've Got Mail?

Way back in the day, when this blog consisted of a mere two posts, I wrote about one of my favorite things: dance parties. At the end of that post (in addition to adding a really nice picture of chips and guacamole), I promised I would have write more posts about things that I really liked. Well, I know you've all be anxiously awaiting for another post like this, so here it is- and it's all about e-mail.

E-mail, and let's face it, more importantly G-mail, at this point in my life, is the best. Literally the best. I want to be clear that I am not writing about e-mail just because I now have it on my phone. In fact, I am still getting used to this- it takes away the excitement of opening up my computer and seeing what new e-mails I got for the day! But, I'm over it...moving on: E-mail is the best because not only does it make you feel like you're chatting with someone you don't get to see very often, but it lets you make witty one-liners with your friends all day long! After I passed the cat e-mail (refer to previous post) along to some friends, it hit me how cool e-mail really was. Emily told me her whole office enjoyed it, and Marisa said she was actually laughing out loud. A girl I sent it to in my office actually teared up from laughter. Now, I am not saying you need to think every e-mail is the funniest thing you've ever seen, I'm just saying, how cool is it that you can brighten someone's day with a few clicks on a computer!

I would have to say my true respect for e-mail didn't start until this past year at school. UVa uses Gmail, so I got to customize my account, complete with labels and fun, tropical colors. And, even though I don't always comment on some of the arguing that goes on over listservs, I love to read through everything. So, I guess you can say Gmail and I were just really good friends.

Our real relationship began when I created the greatest listserv of all time: The Zenith Listserv (I was about to put the link, but then didn't because I don't want an influx of fan mail). After this was created, I would say that not only did Gmail and I start dating, we were basically married.

The Zenith listserv provided some many wonderful threads, about so many wonderful/strange things. It let us talk about Spread the Love- always a topic of high importance and high excitement levels, it let us plan family dinners, birthday parties, and cleaning sessions, it let us talk to each other while we were all sitting in the same library not doing any work, and, maybe most importantly, it let us practice being witty. It was so great people even tried to hack it!

I guess my love of Gmail started the summer before The Zenith, when I would send countless Youtube and Hulu videos to my fellow Orientation Leaders. I would provide notable links to these videos here, but a) I have already used them as links in other posts b) if you know me, which you should if you're reading this, you've already seen the videos against your will multiple times, so you wouldn't really want to watch anyway). The videos became the go-to one-liners for the summer, and I'll forever be so happy that some of the jokes are still used a whole year later.

Anyways, I love how e-mail can bring people together. I love listening to peoples reactions to videos I sent out via e-mail, I love sitting in the library on my e-mail for hours, not doing any homework, and laughing out loud to some of the threads, I love sending really long e-mails with lots of information, and then giving cliffnotes at the end, I love getting "good luck" e-mails from my roommates when I have a test, I love a good Legends e-mail, I love e-mailing grandma every morning, I love seeing what time people sent e-mails and not feeling so bad about myself when I realized they were up far later than me studying, and I love when people like my e-mails. It's a digital world, might as well make the most of one of the best digital services out there.

Not going to lie, there were days when I opened my e-mail, so far too many unread e-mails, and promptly closed my computer, but the ridiculousness and tears of laughter I experienced from my e-mail outweigh any of the stress I ever had.

I want to leave you with one of my favorite exchanges of all time. Last names were removed for safety, but I think you'll get the gist of it. It is important in reading this thread to keep in mind that everyone involved was sitting in the same library, in various locations, studying for finals and trying to plan a birthday dinner for Alexis from Texas. Also, please note that Quinn somehow joined in on the conversation, but we're not really sure how. QAB (Questionable at Best). Note: Some content has been edited as to make this post not go on for years/so that an innocent bystander can follow along.

Date: May 9; Location: Alderman Library; Time: 3:50-5:19pm; Weather: Mild;

Average Amount of Sleep everyone was running on due to the fact that finals were happening: Unhealthily Below Average

Subject of E-mail: Darling Dumplings Die

Em: from memory i am going to name every single place on the corner (by location) and you choose [I left this in because it is just so darn impressive]

Cohn's

Bodos

Starbucks

Take It Away is Closed

Biltmore

Old Buddhist Bike Bar and Grill - now is something new

Sushi Love

Para Coffee

Three

College Inn

Finch

Little John's

Michael's Bistro

Trinity

CVS

Qdoba

Christian's

and that bar on the corner

Basil

Lemongrass

Subway

Rev Soup

Arch's

Pita Pit

Fox Park Coffee

Mellow Mushroom

Jimmy Johns

Red Roof Inn

this is taking entirely too long to list....

somewhere yummy is always good

Kate: Those finches were looking awfully tempting today Emily....I could def go for one of those with some zesty bbq sauce......MMMMMMMMMMMMMM

- Kate "It's so cold in Alderman my typing speed is significantly slowed" J

Tex: Cohn's sounds like the best option to me. Definitely. Followed closely by CVS.

Al: for dessert we will all hit up that tanning salon. boom baby. boom boom boom.

Em: hhh man i forgot to include that nice picture frame store (that no one ever goes too) and the white spot darn it

I"M IN ALDY WITH KATE AND QUINN IN THE VERY SCHOLARLY LAB

Tex: I'm in the b&w room, or the Michael Jackson room as I like to think of it, in my head.

Maris: WE ARE ALL SO PRODUCTIVE! I JUST TOOK A NAP AND A SHOWER!

Al: even tho it's your bday tex, that was too soon.

for everyone who's in aldy meet at the front steps at 5:55 so we can walk to the corner together, while skipping and holding hands. duh

Tex: Quinn, are you coming to dinner with us?

Kate: No, he's not invited. also he is a tricky trickster.

Well actually I guess he's invited if you want him to come. It's your bday. THE BIG 2-0.

Em: TWENTY FUNNY AND THRIVING

also guys, in economics terms, dumping is "the pricing of a product below its cost of production" (wikipedia) and i was just referring to how cheep the dumplings are...duhh

QB: if i go, i would also like to celebrate mother's day

Kate: SHIT DID ALEXIS NOT SURVIVE TEEN PREGNANCY?!?!?!?!?

QB: i will confirm that they laughed out loud

Tex: Uh...guys, I can't remember if survived teen pregnancy or not. Didn't someone make a photo story of my teenage years that we can reference?

Al: there's a ginger who is sitting on the 3rd floor with me that i named evan o'murphy. (he's irish).

We then went to Pizza Rise, and had a delicious birthday dinner. I didn't make a lot of friends in the library that day, due to the fact that I was not very focused/LOL-ing like a boss. Rockstar of the Day is Gmail. Happy Thursday! P&B.