I'm leaning on a broken fence between past and present tense

I don't know about anyone else, but I don't really write letters too often in any consistent capacity, so when I do, I always wonder for a moment about the most appropriate way to end them. "Sincerely," "Your friend," "Thanks," "Love," and "Yours truly" are all generally regarded as appropriate closings and are used pretty often and interchangeably, with only small variations in formality. But it's interesting to consider the actual, literal implications of some of those endings. Especially "Yours truly." Think about that one. Then think about its implications the next time you use it in an e-mail to professor or worse, a complaint letter to Wal-Mart.

Ellipses (better known as the dot-dot-dot) irritate me, mostly because no one ever uses them properly, unless begrudgingly to "improve" an MLA citation so it fits more appropriately in a paper. Their primary modern function in conversational society is allowing sentences to inexplicably trail off. I, too, used to overuse them horribly, until I realized the benefits in ending thoughts conclusively. Like not coming across as the penmanship equivalent of a dementia patient.

They say that unhappiness is a lot of the time due to the whole "grass is always greener on the other side" mentality. Which means happiness is easy enough, so long as you can't see other lawns. It also means it's nearly impossible if you can.

For my gateway class I wrote a long-winded paper on all the reasons postmodernism sucks. Personally, though, I think the only major reason I'd never subscribe to the philosophy is because I'm a big fan of labels. Like any true fan of rhetoric and persuasion should be, really. It's unbelievably interesting to see how the way something is branded affects the way it is perceived, no matter how wrong, inconvenient, overused, restrictive, or unnecessary the brand is.

For example, sometimes I do art. By simplified definition, I'm an artist. I refuse to ever call myself an artist, though, because I think that label is presumptuous and completely eye-roll worthy, since it's been ruined by teenagers who want to seem cultured and deep. If other people call me an artist, I usually respond with, "Well, I draw." It's pretty silly. But I love that the label exists for me to be annoyed with and irrationally deviate from, and a postmodern mindset would take that away from me. Being annoyed by stereotypes is one of the many random joys of my life.

Being annoyed in general, actually, is pretty essential to my happiness. Constant contentment would give me so much less to think about.