Usually Always. Well which one is it—usually or always?

Hey, (oxy)moron.  Stop using "usually always" to describe how often you do something.  Because I can't tell if it's something you usually do, or something you always do.  There IS a difference.

Usually describes a frequency of varying degrees and is not an absolute.  "I usually buy my groceries on Mondays."  That may mean I normally buy my groceries on Mondays but not always. It's more of a description of the frequency at which I shop for groceries.  Once in a while I could be buying groceries on a Tuesday instead of a Monday.  Who knows? I could be unpredictable like that.

Always is an absolute.  You either always do something or you don't do it every time. The same goes with never. You either never have done something or you've done it at least once.  "I always buy my groceries on Mondays" means groceries aren't getting purchased on any other day but Monday.  (OCD much?)

So to say you usually always do whatever it is you do is an oxymoron, a contradiction in those words.  You can't "sometimes always" do something.  If you always do it, that means you don't do it sometimes.  If you do it sometimes, then you aren't doing it always.  So stop using that phrase!  Use “often” or “typically” or even “usually,” but leave out the absolutes like “never” and “always.”  (This is also good if you’re in a marriage.  “You NEVER do the dishes” is not what you want to relay to your spouse.  “You hardly do the dishes” is grammatically better, but you’ll still be in a spat.  So I guess it’s not really good advice.  It’s just something to keep in mind.)

There’s vs. There’re?

This post is a rant against myself.  One of my petpeeves is when people misuse words like their and they’re, or you're and your.  It's basic grammar, and why people don't comprehend that is beyond me.  I think the education system has definitely become lazy as well as the parents who raise their (not they're, not there) children.  But that's another post.

However, I’ve recently been catching myself misusing contractions as well.  Shame on me!  For example, "There's a million things I'd rather do today than go to work."  Let's examine that sentence.  If I expand the contraction, I'm saying "There is a million things I'd rather do today than go to work."  Let’s take out the hyperbole to reduce the sentence even further.  "There is things I'd rather do today than go to work."  There IS things???  No.  No, Darrin.  There ARE things.  Plural, not singular.  Thing is singular; things are plural.  I should have stated, “There are a million things I’d rather do today than work,” assuming there’s no such contraction as there’re.  And I’m too lazy to look up that rule.

I do this often in emails.  "There's too many issues with this.”  No there aren't.  There ARE not too many issues with this.   Just one issue.  And it is that I can't seem to differentiate singular and plural objects of a verb.  Get it right, Schwizzle!

Load up your tray before you empty it!

I went to La Salsa for lunch today and as I sat down, I noticed a table that was a bit messy and still had 5 of those cups for salsa dipping left on it, half-used. I wondered, what was so urgent this person or these people couldn't put those 5 containers on their tray as they took it to the trash? Was the tray so overloaded there wasn't any room to place 5 little containers on it?

I know I'm lazy. But geez, that's just arrogant.

Hold on! I just got here.

I regularly work as an independent contractor for a company who has a cubicle set up for me as if it were my own desk. In that respect, coming into the office is very much like going to a regular office job everyday. I come into the building and to my desk, check logs, check emails, eat breakfast at my desk, get coffee. Basically I get situated and set my game plan for the day.

So it bothers me when I'm encountered/approached as soon as I arrive in the office before I have a chance to get to my cubicle. I understand when it's truly an emergency or urgent issue, but most of the time it's something that could've been sent in an email. It instead turns into a long and repetitious conversation resulting in an unnecessary waste of my time. Can't they see I have my breakfast in a bag getting cold when they stop me from getting to my cubicle to eat it?

Living single, but not alone.

Sometimes it sucks being single. And it sucks renting a room out of someone's house. Especially at 34.

I do have plenty to be thankful for (I'll post later on that), but I get so bummed when I think about the fact I don't have a place of my own. I don't care that I don't own a house nor have a mortgage. I've moved past hoping for that. I've accepted that as long as I live in southern California, I will be a renter.

But when I spend my time at home, I'm tired of spending it in my bedroom, which is also my living room, which is also my office, which is also my dining room. I want a place where I can come home, sit in a recliner, and turn on whatever I feel like watching on a TV I don't have to share. Or play Rock Band. Or embarrass myself with a home workout. A place where I can cook with my own good-quality kitchen utensils and shop for groceries without worrying if I'll take up too much of my shelf space in the fridge. A dining table where I can sit for breakfast or dinner without having chit-chat with people who really don't give a shit about what's going on in my life.

It's been on my mind a lot lately. A single friend of mine who's renting a room from someone else's house is moving out to an apartment/condo of his own this month. Another friend just moved into her boyfriend's recently purchased home tonight. One of my best friends moved up to Seattle a year ago, found a nice apartment and lives on her own. Another couple I've recently become friends with have a really nice apartment and I'm envious every time I visit. And all these friends are younger than me. I feel like I fell behind the status quo in my 30's. I have less and less single friends these days and most of the couples I know live together.

It doesn't feel good to be single and not have a place of my own. It's embarrassing. I've never lived by myself. From the time I moved out of my parents house to go to college, I've always lived with someone else. Granted, during most of my 20's I was married and hence lived with my spouse as a married man probably should; but the point is I've never lived by myself.

Is that the rant? I've been so financially unwise for so long, I've never been able to afford a place on my own? Or am I afraid of living alone? Or am I unbearable for the opposite sex to live with? Oh, the psychology!

First post!

After much procrastination, I finally started a blog! I've read many and will be the first to tell you I learned a few things here and there, but nothing about the way a blog should be written. (So please don't care about my lousy grammar skills and/or punctuation, because I don't.)

But that's okay. I'm not trying to sell anything, give advice, or show off any of my life's adventures or endeavors.

My original intent was to just have rants longer than the Twitter limit of 140 characters, hence the blog name (Rants in My Pants was already taken). And I'm a wordy mofo. I don't like to complain, but I'm good at it. Isn't everyone who's a pessimist (*ahem* realist *ahem*)?

Over time though, there will probably be more posts regarding music or generally random thoughts than rants. And along the way maybe I'll learn how to make my blog cool(er than yours).

Meh.