Kittens, Coupons, and Falsehoods!

Saving Money > A Cute Baby Kitty (Barely)
FALSE

I can't help but to giggle at this. Apparently someone doesn't like saving money as much as they love cute baby kittens.

I saw this poster in the women's washroom in Gregory Hall. Thankfully, the first stall I entered wouldn't lock and I ventured into this neighboring one. Oh, how silly students are. You can't seem to bribe them even with saving up to 90% from our "favorite bars, restaurants, and more!" Perhaps the kitten on the poster isn't cute enough. Perhaps she is not worried about saving money because daddy pays for everything. Maybe she's a self-sufficient woman. Maybe she knows a deal when she sees one without the help of an online source. Or maybe someone is just being a sassy pants and doesn't want to admit that sometimes saving money is slightly greater than a cute baby kitty (barely).

Or wait a second... Is it that the cute baby kitty is barely less than saving money? Or is it that the barely cute baby kitty is less than saving money? Because, then I'd have to agree with the latter statement. That kitty is barely cute; so, yes, saving money would be greater than it.

Someone is trying to let us know that we can save money! We're poor college students who have empty pockets and this will save us! Save us! Okay, maybe not, but someone wanted to focus on the kitty part over the actual advertisement. Girls... I'll never understand them.

PSA

Stop peeing all over the seat!

I'm sure men have this problem too. Maybe? Maybe if you have young children.

But I find nothing more frustrating when I'm uncomfortably speed walking down the hall, rush into the bathroom, push the stall door and see the tinkles of a previous female. Not only do I find it absolutely disgusting that the seat either has sprays or a couple drops of urine, but it disgusts me to have to wipe down the seat before I go. Now, don't assume that I wipe then sit. No no no. I wipe. I wipe again. Then I put down three sheets of toilet paper on each side of the bowl and proceed.

If--if--by any chance there is even a little bit of tinklings on the toilet, then it is wiped away! What is so hard about that? The person after you will see what you've done. You've seen what you've done, so why don't you help everyone by cleaning up after yourself. I know this is a little juvenile to state, but it's something to keep in mind at points of our life.

Toilet users all over the world should keep in mind that a happy behind is a clean behind. Wipe your butts and wipe the seat, but not in that order... or at least, please use a new sheet of toilet paper. Let's stay sanitary, folks.

Go confidently!

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams,
live the life you’ve always imagined.”
– Henry David Thoreau

The correct quote is: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” Close.

I would have saved this quote until graduation day, but I think it is fitting for all occasions. Every day. Carpe diem. Seize the day.

It’s so fitting that this was written in the English Building’s bathroom. I feel like for English majors—and humanities students, at large—this could not be truer. Despite the fact that modern language programs are being phased out and even English departments are being cut down, we shouldn’t be discourage to learn what we love and to what we’ve always wanted to. We must keep our heads high because what we do is an art and a skill that is secretly desired by all, but are despised by those who have a difficult time appreciating the beauty around them.

One of the well known transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau did write this…or it could be a paraphrase of a section of Walden. However, our female culprit has done an excellent job at exuding confidence to herself and to her readers. Indeed, we must be confident in all that we do and all that we dream. Why can’t we live the life we have imagined? What is holding us back? The fear of not being able to achieve our goals? The pressures from our peers? From our parents? I know a thing or two about pressure from parents and I do not plan on letting that stop me from writing what I want or reading what I want or getting the jobs that I want. I plan on living my life as I had dreamed and working hard to make that dream a reality.

Stegasaurus!

I don’t even know what to say about this. Probably that it’s the cutest Stegosaurus I’ve ever seen. Forget Jurassic Park or We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story or even The Land Before Time (one through infinity). Who has this much time to draw a huge dinosaur on a bathroom stall? I should have taken measurements so I could give you a better impression of him.

Could it have been an art major? Maybe. She must have been in a rush to not have made it as detailed as I would expect from an art major. Or it must have been rush hour in the women’s restroom at the Foreign Language Building and there wasn’t enough time: long lines and anxious women equal anarchy.

How about a visual communications major? My friend does a great job with graphics and illustrations. Very playful and clever. Perhaps this fine artist is in a similar field? I find faces the hardest things to draw. I’m not that bad at mastering the right eye, however, the heads of anything seem to be the most difficult. But this artist makes it seem so easy.

Maybe she just likes to draw and is good at it too. But honestly, who has enough time to draw a dinosaur on the wall? Was it before class? After? Feeling inspired by thinking about a nephew? Does it really matter at this point? Whoever you are, you had way too much time to draw this adorable creature and have done an excellent job at doing so. Kudos.

How are you feeling?

“How are you feeling today?”
“Poopy :)”

Indeed. As I said in my last post, I desperately needed to relieve some pressure that was building on my bladder. While the pressure was quickly disappearing, I admired the doodles, the messages, the quotes, and the responses written all around me. Of course the one dialogue that caught my eye is written at toilet-level to my right. It took me a second since my finger got caught in my belt, but it hit me. “How are you feeling?” she asked. “Poopy :)” answered the other girl.

At this moment in time, I am prying my finger from my belt buckle and thinking, “Does anyone really care how someone else is doing when they’re going?” The answer: no. Or at least, I hope not. Let’s be honest here: although it may be normal verbally to ask a roommate or a companion how they are doing while one is doing their thing on the seat (or standing), it’s a little more unusual to write your inquiry to strangers. Obviously the answerer had a punny response. It took me a second for it to click. Why smile after you just admitted to feeling poopy? Shouldn’t you be frowning if you’re poopy? Oh, wait! Pun on bowel movement and human emotion. Clever, indeed, lady. Clever indeed.

With a flush and a laugh, I couldn’t have been more excited to share this picture. I washed my hands and ran back into the stall, pulling out my camera from my purse. Thankfully my meeting was in the evening otherwise I’m sure students of all majors would have thought I was some weirdo taking pictures in bathroom stalls. Seriously though: if you were going to ask a question like that it deserves a playful response. Let me first express my gratitude to the answerer for not sharing her deepest darkest secret or saying that life could be better and all she wants to do is cry. No one really has time for that except for the Counseling Center (and close friends). Just cut across the Quad diagonally from the Foreign Language Building, walk in between Altgeld Hall and the Henry Administration Building and cross the street onto John Street and it’s the building to your right. They’ll listen to you better than the etches on the stalls of any restroom on campus.

I knew there were some clever people on this campus

New Discoveries

Earlier this evening, I ventured into the Foreign Language Building for a meeting that I had around 9pm. I had about ten minutes to spare and I needed to relieve my bladder of some pressure that it was experiencing. Unexpectedly, as I entered one of the stalls, I saw that almost every inch of it was covered in graffiti. I felt like I had won the lottery. I needed new material to work with, and wasn't content with the pictures in the file that I had from the English Building restrooms. Now. Now, my dear readers, I have a plethora of pictures. Many that I am excited to just share and not even analyze. Hopefully this weekend I can update you the many new occurrences on this campus-- the English Building was renovated over the summer, so the women's restroom on the first floor was completely redone, free of any graffiti...or so it was. And then I made my discoveries in FLB so the English Building will sit on the back-burner for now.

Soon you will see. Soon you will (hopefully) enjoy.

Edit:

It has been almost two months since my last post and I apologize for that. More midterms, papers, research papers, response papers, and final exams all like to pile up within the last month of the semester.

I had to make some changes in my posts. I've edited and expanded in a few of them. One of my posts I completely erased the content of the R.I.P. Evan post. What I had written was a little harsh and insensitive, but I think the picture is still very important. Finding an epitaph written on the bathroom wall is not necessarily the best place to remember a lost friend, but also very inappropriate. A smelly bathroom stall is not the place to remember a friend. What would motivate the writer choose the bathroom to write this? Is she thinking of him while in the bathroom? Does she want the world to know of Evan? Either way, there are better places and better ways to express memories of Evan than the women's restroom in the English Building... I left the post with the picture up so that those who have comments can leave them.

Be prepared to see more posts this summer! I have a few more pictures from the English Building, but I received word that Davenport Hall and the Art and Design Building restroom's also have interesting graffiti.