Black Friday/Thanksgiving Edition!!

Now that I've finally awaken from my food coma and the rest of my family has joined the angry hordes of holiday zombies a' la 28 days later at the mall, I would like to take this opportunity to share what I'm thankful for this holiday season.

1. My Organic Chemistry Final Exam- My professor is willing to wipe my slate clean and give me whatever grade I get on my final exam as my final overall grade. Logically, this should scare me because if I have been doing so terrible on all my exams leading up to the final, what chance do I have of doing well on the final? It's just nice to know that I have at least one final shot at redemption in this class.

2. My Dysfunctional family- My dad likes to tell people that our family like to "put the fun in dysfunction." Most of the time I cringe when my dad says that, especially to complete strangers. But somewhere in between the great grandma that steals and hides the deserts, the buttload of children running around, and the other grandma that chain smokes and doesn't visit because she is too busy playing World of Warcraft... Something happens. I'm not quite sure what it is, but it is pretty amazing.
3. Online Shopping- I just recently learned that the Monday after Thanksgiving is called "Cyber Monday," and it has nothing to do with instant messaging someone about your genitalia. With a name as ominous as "Black Friday," I tend to avoid the mall after Thanksgiving and until after the holidays are over. Thanks to the internet and websites such as thinkgeek.com, my friends don't get to suffer lame gifts because of my fear of large crowds and zombie apocalypses.

A Comparison of Graffiti in Male and Female Restrooms at the UHH Library

Bathroom graffiti is commonplace among many of the restrooms at the university of Hawaii at Hilo Campus. You can find at least one example of graffiti in each of the restrooms. For this paper, I will be comparing the graffiti in the men's and women's restrooms in the campus library.

Before I began my examination of the library's restrooms, I spoke to Robert Yogi, the student supervisor for the UHH Library. Of the four years that he has been an employee at the library, there has only been one or two complaints about graffiti in the restrooms. He told me that the majority of the graffiti is not found in the restrooms, but actually on the desks in the first and third floor; places that have the least student traffic. When asked about which genders' restrooms has the most instances of graffiti, "Boys, definitely the boys," he replied.

"It's actually not really too big a deal," Yogi says. "A majority of the time that graffiti get reported, we clean it that day. It'll be as simple as rubbing off pencil scratches. The only thing that gives us a problem is when the students mark up the grout. We're not able to clean that off unless we replace the grout."

And so began my examination of the restrooms. I began with the third floor restrooms and worked my way to the bottom floor. For the women's restrooms, I had a female friend photograph any instance of graffiti.

In the library's third floor men's restroom (Fig. 1), I found graffiti next to the toilet paper dispenser in the handicap stall. I have been unable to translate the phrase or discover it's significance.
Fig. 1

In the second floor men's restroom (Fig. 2), I found another instance of graffiti, next to the toilet paper dispenser in the handicap stall. Written in pencil was, "Tap Feet 4 BJ." However, tapping one's feet did not summon anyone with the initials of BJ.

Fig. 2.

On a more serious note however, I was shocked to find graffiti advertising a sexual act on the second floor of the library. The second floor has the most student traffic and faculty. There is a greater risk of being caught.

In the first floor men's restroom (Fig. 3), someone had taken a pencil and shaded in a bit of grout on the wall in the handicap stall. What is particularly interesting to me about the first floor restroom is that of all the bathrooms, it has the least amount of graffiti. Because of the library's student supervisor's observation of desk graffiti, I had predicted that the first and third floor restrooms would have the most graffiti.

Fig. 3.

As I also predicted, there was no bathroom graffiti in the any of the women's restrooms. However, of interest, someone in the women's restroom had taken a sign asking users, "Please do not flush pads and tampons... Dispose in trash can" and ripped it in half and folded it up (Fig. 4). Maybe someone was having a bad day?


Fig. 4.

Only the men's restrooms had graffiti. In all of the cases, graffiti was located in the handicap stalls, near the toilet paper dispensers. What does the provenience of the graffiti tell us? One way to interpret the placement of graffiti is that the males who use the restroom and participate in graffiti, do so while sitting on the toilet. Handicap stalls may be chosen because of the amount of space available.

What does the lack of graffiti in female restroom's tell us about female restroom habits. It is obvious that females do not have the same thing in mind as males while they are sitting on the toilet, or that they forget to bring a pencil with them every time they go the handicap stall.

The next step would be to survey students and get their responses about restroom graffiti. It would be interesting to see what the demographics are for people who participate in restroom graffiti, but for now, I can only speculate as to what processes are involved in restroom graffiti.

Election Bash!!!

The following is an actual conversation between three girls that were walking next to me this morning on my way to Psych 100

Girl 1: So who are you voting for?

Girl 2: I dunno yet. Palin seems like a really sweet lady, but McCain is old. He's like HELLA old.

Girl 3: Yeah, what the hell is up with his arms? He's weird.

Girl 2: Hehehehe.

Girl 3: I'm voting for Obama. He's sooo friggin' hot.

Girl 1: SHUT UP!!

Girl 3: Well for a president, you gotta admit he's pretty damn hot.

Girl 2: Yeah, he's got that Tiger Woods thing going on. I think it's sexy.

Girl 1: Well, I think I'm going to vote for Obama.

Girl 2: I'm going to vote for Obama.

Girl 3: Haha, poor wrinkly McCain.