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These groups are based on a viral spam/hoax premise, similar to emails that claim you’ll earn cash, or help a cancer patient, if you forward those emails to all your friends.

The groups of this type on Facebook are doing the same exact thing. No one is asking why the fate of ones’ education rests on a group having many members, or how one would get money to plan a trip to Darfur simply by having thousands of members on Facebook, even when no member on facebook earns money because of this. Nothing about the promise can be verified either, thus rendering it almost impossible to find out if the group owner actually fulfils her/his promise or not.

The only thing that can be verified is that the group admins got what they wanted; a frenzy where people believe that something will actually happen simply because it’s facebook, and simply because someone with a real name and a picture on facebook promises to do something. While some group admins do intend to follow up on their promise, majority of the groups claim things that are either not important enough to be verified, or are too complex to be observed. From going to Darfur to buying a car for a homeless person to donating to a cancer patient to going back to school, there is a group out there that will cater to your needs. If you can’t find a group that promises to adopt penguins and unicorns if a million members join that group, let me know. I might start such a group.

This is a small new turn for spreading unverifiable viral information and promises. Nowadays, we don’t click the forward button that much in our email; we click the “Join” button on Facebook and MySpace.

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So when I was told that i could get a Samsung t509 for $9.99 instead of $199 for direct purchase of the phone or even the $49.99 price for new customers, I was already planning out how to move all the numbers from my current phone to the new one. Well, after a few minutes on the phone, I was told that I should expect my phone 3 days later, on a Thursday. I paid $29.95 for the expedited shipping and looked forward to Thursday. I was told that my own phone number was the tracking number on the USPS.com website, and that I should be able to track the shipment within 12 hours.

Thursday came and went away faster than my appetite for breakfast that day. I called on Friday and asked about the phone. The lady on the phone went through the order and told me that for some reason, the order was placed but the system never completed the order, and didn’t charge me for it either. She apologized and told me that she would place the order again. I wouldn’t be charged anything for the shipping. I would receive the order by Tuesday, I was told.

That’s fine, I thought. I asked the lady if I could track the shipment via USPS using my phone number. She became silent for a few seconds and told me that they ship via UPS only, not the USPS, and that she had a different tracking number. I became quiet for a few seconds thinking about this, and then asked her why the other lady had told me to use my phone number as a tracking number on the USPS website. She apologized and told me that she didn’t know why the other lady said that, and told me that she would let the supervisor know about this. She told me to call back by Tuesday evening if I don’t receive the phone by then.

Well, Saturday comes and I receive a text message on my phone. It’s from T-mobile, and it says “Thank you for your recent order. Your order for a phone upgrade has been placed. You’ll be billed $113 in the next billing cycle.” Hmmm, $113. Huh? I call 611 and am told that since the first order was never placed, the pricing had changed since then and I couldn’t qualify anymore for the $9.99 pricing. I asked the guy on the phone if the first price quote of $9.99 was a mistake and instead of calling me the first time to tell me that I was quoted too low of a price, the first order was simply cancelled. The guy apologized and explained that such was not the case. The price had simply changed since then. He could do nothing to bring the price any lower than $99.

So I’m waiting for the phone: it’s supposed to come tomorrow. Should I keep it, or should I return it and find something better? That’s the new question, because of the $90 price different. I’m going to try out a few pictures and see if it’s worth keeping. If anyone knows a better phone for t-mobile, please let me know.

I have 20 days to return the phone if I don’t like it. I’ll have to abuse it a lot from tomorrow to see if it can survive the days that I go through everyday. “Get More“, yes, like Catherine Zeta Jones says: I’m going to be getting more on my bill than what I was told. Thank you, Mrs. Douglas.

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There are many advantages to this retarded plan. In the following list, I present to you five weird benefits that I can think up of at the moment. And you should know, thinking is a very hard thing to do when you’re starving.

1. You won’t waste time writing comments. Write a comment and click the post button. You have better things to waste time on, like figuring out whether to buy a dead chicken from a restaurant or to kill one yourself. Can you think up of any other time when you post over 50 comments in less than 15 minutes, and all those comments have something useful in them? I can’t.
2. You’ll probably post an extreme version of whatever you want to post when you’re starving. If you want to yell, you’ll yell nicely and very effectively. If you want to express love, you’ll express love in a direct manner. If you want to express a feeling and hide it at the same time, you’ll be so vague, your food will also taste feel tasteless. Awesome, no?
3. Any comment you post out of formality will be very formal. This point is very important, as the exact opposite is true also. If you post a comment just to fulfil the obligation of posting a comment, you’ll do a very good job. If you post a comment to a good friend to express something, you’ll express it honestly and nicely. When you’re hungry, you tend to lie and tell the truth when you aren’t supposed to.
4. When you associate the very needs of life with technology, you’ll automatically respect technology more. Next time, the moment you feel hungry, you’ll want to post comments all around the internet. If you don’t have access to a computer, you’ll probably want to write small notes of comments for people who’re passing by you. Make sure you give the notes to these people, or else your hunger will result in you eating those very notes.
5. Gradually, over time, your comment-posting schedule will start varying, yet depend on a fixed rule at the same time. That won’t be the case unless you starve everyday at the same exact time, which is very creepy, and probably retarded too. Imagine basing your commenting schedule on something you experience everyday, unless you’re not a starving student and always have something other than dirt dropping from your mouth. Having a schedule, like the time when you get hungry, is a perfect schedule for posting comments.

As you can see, this post was written while the death angle that stabs violently because of starvation was lurking around me. I like food. And I love missing it too. Now I must run and find something to bite on.

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In California, there are cops everywhere who talk on their cell phones while driving. Whether they’re talking to their headquarters or male prostitutes is beyond the understanding of any driver who’s driving near them. The same annoyed drivers who stalk cell-phone drivers will act like depressed puppies when they see cops talking on cell phones. Where does the sense of moral duty, of criticising the act of driving and using a cell phone at the same time, disappear at that time? No, instead of criticising, these puppy-wannabe drivers will stop driving fast and start putting on a big grin. They’ll start looking straight only in the direction that the road is going to take them. They’ll act so nice, it will make you wonder if they expect a doughnut from the cop in return.

These drivers probably do eat a doughnut when they get home, relieved that the cop didn’t kick their butts for daring to glance at the cop car.

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I’ve been gone for a long time from this website already because of health issues, just as I’ve been at different times throughout this year. Some people keep in touch once in a while because they think they care. Other people do care. Still, others pretend to care but they’re simply bored at times when they contact me, simply to say a jolly good “Hello!“, and in reality, they don’t care and would prefer to listen to immature childish songs than tell me the truth. I have more respect for people who do not ask about my health and tell it to me clearly that they don’t know what’s going on with me, than people who claim they care.

It’s like claiming to aim for something noble. While you claim to be aiming for something very noble, and you know exactly who I’m referring to when I say “you“, while I claim to come online today just to write this post. You claim to achieve a change through your online childish mamblings, while I come online to achieve the task of writing a post. You claim to preach the truth through your excuses of childish behavior, while I simply agree politely as I simply want you to go away and not bother me too much with your confused and immature version of the sophisticated western and eastern philosophy. In the end, it boils down to this: you, my immature and lying contact, someone that I’ve helped a lot before, have achieved nothing but lies and immaturity by the end of today. I, someone who has seen your lies a lot, have achieved nothing but a post and immaturity by the end of today. I indeed have achieved something that I set out to achieve, whether it was a huge noble cause or a small online task.

Which one do you think is better? I’ll tell you which one is better. My aim for today was and is better, as I’m still alive with morals, while you hide behind your monitor drenched with shame, yet acting as if you’re something. I guess everyone feels like somebody important online; imagine how fast you would run if you ever happen to run into real things in real life. Sitting behind your monitor, you read this very sentence, you still feel defensive instead of realizing that the only thing you’re faking is your own life. Everyone who is not open to change feels invincible when they are hiding, like hiding behind the monitor. Everyone.

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A few days ago someone I know told me that she needed a few thousand dollars to buy a plane ticket to visit her family in November. She didn’t have enough money and would not be able to save that much money by then. Now, I know for a fact that she owns many things including a laptop, an iPod, and a lot of jewelry. When I suggested selling some of these, she said that the laptop was needed to get on the internet and keep in touch with people, and that the iPod was something she used everyday, along with jewelry. The logic of this answer didn’t make sense to me, though this logic is something that many people use most of the time when borrowing even when they have money in one form or another. These people have money to spend on jewelry or music or expensive breakfasts at expensive restaurants, yet they cannot part with these things to save a few dollars. They would instead prefer to put someone else in a bad position. I told her that the iPod was just a luxury, and that using the laptop to go online amounted to nothing other than talking to people online during leisure time. If she was really desperate for money, she could easily sell those to get the required money within a week or two.

She shrugged aside that idea, the same way a confused spoiled kid with a lot of money and parental/spousal/significant-others’ support and backup shrugs aside the idea of realizing the reality. She is now asking a few other people for money, and so far, is not getting anything. I wonder why people who claim they are desperate don’t try everything in their power before resorting to borrowing or even complaining. Does it feel good to beg others for money while you’re listening to an iPod or while you have a laptop that you use only to watch movies on? There are too many people who keep thinking they are desperate, yet everyday they have more money hidden in the things they own than most of the people in the world. Of course, most of the people who borrow money say that they would pay back what they borrow. However, just because one can pay back someone later on doesn’t mean they should borrow the money. Why not look at all your options that are within your reach before reaching for other people’s money through borrowing?

Many people think they are special and are suffering in life, but they enjoy different luxuries in life while sticking to the idea of getting sympathy once in a while to feel better and special. Next time you think about borrowing money, you should first exhaust all your options first. If you are not willing to part with your iPod or your favorite watch to come up with some money, why would you expect it to be a logical idea to have someone lend you some of their hard earned money?

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