Siri Blog Duel!

Happy Friday! Today’s post is iOS6 inspired! I recently got the update for my iPhone, complete with a new and improved Siri! I rarely bothered to turn the old Siri on, as she was practically useless. No matter what I said, the majority of the time her response was “I’m not sure what you’re asking, would you like me to search the web for that?” This got superbly annoying, super fast. Apparently, the new Siri is supposed to be smarter and funnier! I was playing with the new Siri while hanging out with my girlfriend and her twin – and decided that I should challenge said twin to a Siri Blog Duel! Ang’s blog is absolutely hilarious, so I figured this challenge would garner some excellent results! Don’t forget to check out Ang’s Siri post!!!

On to the challenge! It seems that Siri has been programmed to understand quite a lot more, as well as learning a whole bunch of cheeky answers to your requests! Below are some of my favourites 🙂

The first question that popped into my head was this one. Siri provided a fun answer that I was not expecting! I asked Siri again about the woodchuck, and this was her second answer…

Now that the woodchuck was all sorted, I decided to ask Siri some personal questions to see what she would reply. An important question for everyone, really…but Siri seems to be stone-walling me! I thought it might help to delve a little deeper, but Siri is a coy devil…

Another vague answer!

Since Siri wasn’t being very forthcoming, I decided to pull back a little and try some easier question… Maybe Siri would open up to me if it felt more like we were pals.. I finally got an answer! I thought I might get somewhere with this one, but Siri was back to her old tricks. She doesn’t like getting personal!

I tried to pull a fast one on her, but it wasn’t happening…

With Siri keeping me at a distance, I thought I’d try some more existential questions that Siri might have some insight into! I thought I’d start out with something hard. Turns out Siri doesn’t have any insight into the meaning of life… Siri relies on WolframAlpha’s data banks to answer some of her questions. At least we got a bit of an answer here! I doubt this would satisfy any youngsters that got their hands on Siri!

The burning question that we all want to know the answer to: Is Santa Claus real? Siri provides several answers, but won’t commit to any one in particular!

I thought I’d try to ask some questions with more finite answers. Siri doesn’t seem to like philosophical or personal questions! I didn’t check the work on this one, but I think siri did a good job at interpreting what I asked, at least 😉 OK, so maybe this isn’t exactly a finite question… but I’m wondering what ‘finding waldo in my contacts’ will do for finding Waldo?!?

After all this, I wondered if asking generic questions, or perhaps even making statements might help Siri out of her shell. Here’s what I garnered! In all honesty, I was expecting “Chicken Butt” to be her answer… but it looks like Siri has a little bit of sarcasm programmed in there! Apparently Siri doesn’t appreciate knock-knock jokes…

I’ve honestly never been so offended. RUDE! Despite Siri’s blatant dodging whether or not she loves me, it seems that there is at least a little concern for my well being! I thought I’d try buttering Siri up to see if this might loosen her up a little. She doesn’t even take compliments well!!!

Siri gets really frustrating after a while. I suppose she’s not really meant to be a source of entertainment, but more of an iPhone related assistant… Most of the questions or statements I dictated to Siri were mis-interpreted or misunderstood. I’d say about 90% of the time, Siri’s response was “I’m not sure what that means. Would you like me to do a web search?” NO. Thank you. I can do a web search myself! Siri is useful for dictating notes or text messages, for composing a tweet, or for making you an appointment, but don’t expect much more out of her!
This last request of mine was the straw that broke the camel’s back! After this, I turned Siri off. She’s mildly entertaining, but she eats up my battery life 😉

I spouted a series of words that started with P and Siri was helpful enough to find some restaurants that contained these items on their menu! LOL

single Synonyms: distinguished, especial, exceptional, exclusive, individual, isolated, lone, loner, odd, one, only, original, personal, private, rare, restricted, secluded, separate, simple, singular, sole, solitary, special, specific, unalloyed, unblended, unique, unitary, unrivaled, unshared, unusual, without equal

I’ve been single for a year now. Over the past year, a few friends have asked me “Have you met anyone yet?”

Early in the year, it was easy to simply reply “it’s too soon,” and not be pressed on the subject. I got advice from lots of people:

• You should just start dating to get a feel for what’s out there
• Do what you feel is right for you
• Make sure you’re cautious and date for a while before jumping into anything serious
• Have some fun – get out there!

All of these pieces of advice (and more) are valid, and wonderful. I received them all and filed them away.

I’m 32 going on 33. I’ve been in and out of a few relationships. I think I’m entering a really cool phase in my life where I’m starting to think about and BE about me… in a good way. For the first time I’m living on my own (I’ve always had a roommate or partner to live with). I’ve been reconnecting with old friends and connecting with new, as well as reconnecting with myself. Now that I’ve finally moved to a new place on my own, I’m really starting to enjoy single-hood.

For one thing, there’s a lot more time. More time to do the things I want to do. More time to read. More time to work on projects (of my own!) I have so much more time for me, and it’s becoming a big benefit 🙂

I’ve also been doing a lot of inner construction work. I’ve gone through a lot of changes in the last 18 months. I’m happier… much happier. I’m enjoying life. I’m stressing less. I’m smiling more.

So, when recently another friend of mine asked me “Have you found yourself someone yet?” and I replied “No, I’m not really interested,” it was easy to defend the following question: “What aren’t you interested in? Love? A relationship?” I simply replied “I want to make sure that I’m happy before I expand my boundaries to include another person in my life.” It was short, and to the point. I didn’t have to explain myself any further 🙂

I love my friends. They are protective of me. They are concerned. And I love that they question me, prod me, push me, and support me. I wouldn’t have it any other way 🙂

At the ripe age of 32 years and 10 months, I have finally realized that I do not NEED a partner. The only thing I need, or will ever need, is me. It’s a concept I’m exploring and cultivating. I don’t need to be in a relationship, but it is definitely a wonderful thing to be able to share your life with another person. Removing that imperative makes the entire concept of a relationship so so so much lighter.

I’m sure that, eventually, I’ll be ready for another relationship. Right now, I’m honestly not worried about it. I’m happy being me, and I’m happy with my life. I’m really enjoying single-hood. That’s not to say that I think it would be excellent to have someone to share things with, but for the first time, I’m really enjoying just being me and having only me to worry about. Once I get really good at single-hood, and at being me and being fantastic and being happy, then I’ll take a step towards sharing myself with someone else.

The search for happiness

My apologies, again for missing Monday. I took a much needed mini-vacation for 5 days – and now I am feeling refreshed! I managed to post content on Wednesday, Thursday, AND Friday… so I didn’t miss too much 🙂

Recently I have been hot on the quest for happiness. I have realised I am missing some things in my life, and am in need of some self-repair. I have been asking myself questions like How can I be happy? How can I find spirituality? What are my goals? What do I want from life?

As you can see, these are pretty weighty questions. But on this quest, I have been finding some answers.

It’s difficult to see when you are inside the cloud of unhappiness, stress, feeling unloved, emotional distress, loneliness, or negativity. When friends and family are encouraging you and telling you things will get better, to look on the bright side, to forget the past and move to the future – the best practice is to simply listen to them and chug forward, rather than dwelling. Even if you can’t see out of that cloud, even if you don’t see happiness in your future, even if you are feeling hopeless and don’t know what to do – just listen to those positive encouragements, and just keep moving. Even if you are going through the motions and laughing because it is appropriate, smiling because it’s your cue to smile, and getting things done for the sake of being busy – eventually it won’t be going through the motions any more. You’ll be laughing because you genuinely found that joke funny, smiling because you are really experiencing a moment of happiness, of accomplishing things because it makes you feel amazing.

And this is just the first step. Not wallowing, and not being sucked up by negativity. A wise person once said – if it’s difficult to do, and seems like you should just give up – that’s when you should try your hardest!

I now find myself outside of that black cloud – unhindered (almost completely) by negativity and sadness and anger. I have come to the realisation that this is just one step in the right direction. The journey has just begun! It’s like feeling something wonderful for a few brief moments, and committing to pursuing feeling this wonderful all the time.

As you might think, realising that I have only come a fraction of the way might seem discouraging – but the prospect of how amazing, how fulfilled, how happy I could be if I got even a little further than I am now is incredibly motivating! Plus, another thing I have learned is to look at the glass half full – so in this case I don’t see the thousands of steps ahead of me, I see the step  I have taken and feel good about it.

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Someone once told me – you get what you give. The longer I’m on this planet, the more I realize it’s true. I don’t mean that literally, because if I give someone a chocolate bar, I don’t expect a chocolate bar to fall in my lap in the near future…  However, I find that it does apply in the grand scheme of things.

Emit positivity, positivity will surround you. Give compassion, people will be compassionate to you. Get angry, and other people will get even ANGRIER! Laugh, and you will find people around you smiling. Need I go on?

Tthe key is to make sure you’re not always giving to people who are taking, or those who don’t appreciate or give back to anyone else. I personally find this difficult, as I tend to help, give, and love a lot more than I ‘should’ apparently. But in terms of the big picture, I think this just means that I’m going to get some pretty good stuff in return – eventually 😉

And I’m willing to wait.

Even when you’re having a grouchy day, try to get out of that funk. Use whatever resources you have at hand to distract yourself out of that mood. Talk to friends, mindlessly watch Youtube videos, read… do something out of the ordinary! All you need is to *SNAP* out of it 🙂 And get the good vibrations flowing. If you’re negative – who is going to want to hang out with you anyway? If you’re miserable, no one really wants to join in the ‘fun.’ Friends and family might try to help you out of your funk, but only to see you happy again – not because they enjoy hanging out with you when you’re down in the dumps. So grab hold of the hands, the tools, the distractions that are being offered, and clamber up out of the bog of negativity.

I have reason to believe that it will pay off in the end 🙂