FW... the thing you do on those days when your brain is fried...

So... I've been sick all weekend. Dreadfully sick. As in, I never get this sick. And, to boot, not only do I get sick, but my body decides to layer different illnesses on me. Bargh. The woes of being mortal. But, on a much brighter side, when you get wiped out like that, you find out that people are really nice and super caring... I guess you find out how good people really are.

My friends and roommates have been absolutely wonderful to me. On Sunday when most people found out that I was feeling icky, within the next couple of hours I had a pot of herbal tea and a jug of orange juice brought over, roommates offering to cook dinner for me, and people almost literally throwing drugs at me. (Wohoo!) "Oh, here! Take this, it works wonders!" "Hey, do you have Airborne? Take some of mine!" "What? You're living on cough drops? Dude, here's two packs of cold medicine." People are wonderful.


Man, the funny thing about being sick and being on drugs (oh yeah, and sleep deprived :) ) is that you are totally not coherent. I was trying to talk to my roommates last night and I was giving them WordHurl. Rather pathetic... I'd go to say something and I would completely get the wrong word, or pronounce it like I was drunk. I think I gave up after a while. Meh. That's why everybody needs to learn sign language. Probably wouldn't help much when my brain was broken, but at least it looks more artistic :D.

RA: More Rhetorical Analysis... dun dun dun...

So, ironically, we were supposed to go actually put ourselves into a situation where people's livelihoods depended on commission. Normally, you avoid those people like the plague. I usually do too. But, lucky me, I didn't have to go far, because yesterday one of them called me up, and I couldn't help grinning because she thought she was doing her job but she was really doing my homework. The one and only time I like telemarketers. (Well, actually, there were the pranks that my sister would always play on them, but that's another story.)

Dearest Brynn calls me up from some company that sounds like "World Market" (which was funny, because at first I thought she said "Wal-Mart"). She informs me that I've been referred to their company to receive a free cruise by a "friend of mine" (a creepy guy from the single's ward back home) who has just joined the company. I would receive a free cruise for 2 adults from Cali to Mexico, all food and entertainment paid for, if I would simply go to a 90-minute presentation. That was all. I was not obligated to sign up for anything, commit to anything, just listen to a presentation, and the cruise was promised regardless.



So. What was she trying to do?
1. Promises me a free cruise. Why in the heck not?? I'm a poor student...
2.She tells me that it'll help out a friend. Appeal to my pathos. (Heh, she doesn't know he's creepy. I didn't even give him my number, he got it from a ward list.)
3. Said that it would only take 90 minutes... not "an hour and a half". Just a small, very tiny bit of my time that would guarantee a whole cruise: Logos. Such a small investment to make for such a large return.
4. Assured me that there were no strings attatched. Problem is, my parents have gone to timeshare presentations before, and were definitely not there for only "90 minutes." My dad left furious, because he definitely didn't want to sign anything, but every step they tried to take to go out the door was countered by someone offering a better deal if my parents would just sign up. The goal is to suck you in and make you buy something more.
5. As soon as she asked me their "mandatory procedure questions", which included my age, my marital/dating status (or lack thereof), and my income, and she found out that I make diddley-squat as a student, she admitted that I "didn't qualify" financially for the offer. "But", she said, "can we keep you on our list for some of our other promotions that don't have that requirement?" What a good little saleswoman.

FA: I wish I could remember what FA stands for

Whatever it does stand for, it's not the Rhetorical Analysis and it's not Freewrite, so... the last one :)

We're supposed to give a response or try to experiment with something we talked about this week, which lately has been about rhetoric, effectiveness with your audience, wording on your arguments, etc. I basically decided to apply my knowledge of how people use rhetoric to a more everyday situation.... the dreaded Dating Scene. I've actually told a small lie, because this particular instance wasn't your every day occurance, but it's definitely interesting.

Short summary of what happened: There was a guy in my ward sophomore year that apparently liked me. I didn't like him. He was a bit strange, had odd social habits, and frankly just wasn't my type. He asked me on a few dates, I went on the first two, and then afterward told him I wasn't interested. A year later, I get an email from him saying several things, including the following: He had been impressed to tell me he loved me (something he hadn't told any other girl in his life), hadn't stopped thinking about me even though he'd been dating other girls, listed off several qualities he liked, admitted that he didn't feel the most qualified, and asked if I would consider going out with him again but would respect my wishes if I didn't want to. It was a very gutsy thing to do, and somewhat of a sweet email, but it was less than convincing and even had the opposite effect by weirding me out a little.

So. Why not? Why wasn't it convincing?
1. He started off his email with "I went to the temple today..." Baaad move. It is an extremely overused phrase in my little culture and usually means that the guy has little else to convince you with. I suppose the best way to say it would be that he picked the wrong angle for the wrong audience.
2. He was very complimentary, but bashed on himself: "I know I am not the smartest, most romantic or the funniest person out there. I'm not rich, and I probably never will be. I am certainly not the best at talking to girls." He threw away his own credibility very quickly.
3. He did make a lot of appeal to my pathos side: "But, if you gave me the chance, I would give you my heart. I would do my best to make you happy, I would be there for you when you are sad, to listen to what you have to say, to hold you when you cry, and I would be a gentilmen always." That part was actually more effective. Being an appeal to the emotional side of people when dealing with romance is usually a much better way than, say, the logistics that Mr. Darcy tries to use with Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice.
4. His grammar and spelling were less than perfect. My family grew up as grammar nazis and it's something that's important to us, so that lost him some credibility there too.
5. The lack of confidence was a big one. He needed to know that his audience was looking for someone more bold and self-assured, but he played a more tentative card.

Lest I ramble on for too much longer, I'll stop there, but all in all, I mean to say that I'm realizing how important it is to know what you're talking about and to whom. In the very least, if you don't care about writing papers, at least you should know that it'll affect your dating life :).

(By the by, N, in the future I won't make these so long. I finally counted up how many words I had and I won't burden you with infinite tomes in coming posts.)