I feel like my parents during the 1960s. I just don’t understand the younger generation, particularly their use of all the social media sites: TikTok, Snapchat, What’sApp, Instagram, and Facebook which I’m most familiar with because apparently, it is for old people. You know those over forty.
With social media texts, you can share what you are thinking or doing instantly! But when you try to express yourself using texts, people miss the non-verbal gestures and tone of your voice and misunderstandings can occur. You can only do so much with punctuation marks: ! or !! or !!!
To address this disadvantage, in 2010 emojis were introduced in the U.S. for mobile devices. Emojis are small images, symbolic, and simple in design, and became instantly popular. In 2015, Oxford Dictionaries even declared an emoji to be the word of the year: “face with tears of joy,” otherwise known as “crying laughing.”
I usually avoid emojis because I have no idea what the 3,664 emojis mean. I don’t have the emotional depth to even know the differences between the dozens of smiley faces!
But if you want to use emojis, and don’t want to embarrass yourself (I learned you don’t use an eggplant and peach emoji together!) check out the Readers Digest article https://www.rd.com/article/emoji-meanings/. There you’ll find the meanings of the most popular emojis.
If you’re still unsure about an emoji, the place to go is Emojipedia. This website shows how every single emoji ever invented looks on your device, plus it also contains a brief explanation of its meaning, its history, and a list of related emojis.
Emojis are a way to add a little flair and nuance to social media texts. But I would avoid them if you are trying to impress your children or grandchildren. From the memories of my parent’s attempts to be “hip”, we’ll never get it right!
How do you pick yourself up when you’re down in the dumps, feeling low or hopeless, lacking interest, and having trouble concentrating?
We all experience those feelings at times, but if they persist you may benefit from participating in a six-week P.E.A.R.L.S. class. It helps reduce the symptoms of mild to moderate depression which many of us experience and if not addressed can harm our physical and mental health.
A trained facilitator will help you learn problem-solving techniques and strategies to reduce anxiety and improve mood, add enjoyable activities to your life, and get on a path toward increased physical activity. And most importantly help you live a healthy and rewarding life so you can get to where YOU want to go.
The class will be held from 2:00 – 3:30 pm on Tuesdays from August 1st through September 5th at the Hood River Valley Adult Center. Space is limited. To learn more, contact Roni Hyde at 541-705-4870 or ronih@gobhi.org.
BRAIN TEASE: This is another one of those, “Oh, yeah. Why didn’t I think of that!”
Re-arrange the letters D R A N S W G L I O E, to spell just a single word.
The bandleader who hosted his popular show from 1951 to 1982 was Lawrence Welk. I received correct answers from Mary Pierce, Debora Geschwint, Diana Weston, Rhonda Spies, Jess Birge, Lana Tepfer, Marny Weting, Donna Mollet, Patty Burnet, Linda Frizzell, Bruce Johnson, Anne Saxby, Tandin Smith, and this week’s winner of a quilt raffle ticket Sandy Haechrel whose high school senior class president and actor in every high school musical was Tom Netherton, a singer on the Lawrence Welk show from 1973 to 1982.
This documentary series featured scenes of wildlife and nature from around the world. For this week’s “Remember When” question, what was the name of this television series originally produced from 1963 until 1988 and sponsored by Mutual of Omaha? And for bonus points who was the original long-time host? Email your answer to mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, call 541-296-4788, or send it with pictures of the pet chimpanzees “W. K.” and “Mr. Moke” who were often featured on the show.
Well, it’s been another week, feeling my way in the dark. Until we meet again, do you ever have one of those days, when listening to friends debate whether the glass is half full or half empty, you’ll just happy there’s still water in it?
“I’m glad it’s finally hot enough to complain about how hot it is.” Anonymous
Nutritious home-delivered and in-person meals are available at noon Monday through Friday unless otherwise noted.
Seniors of Mosier Valley (541-980-1157) – Mondays and Wednesdays; Hood River Valley Adult Center (541-386-2060); Sherman County Senior and Community Center (541-565-3191); The Dalles Meals-on-Wheels (541-298-8333)
For meal sites in Washington, call Klickitat County Senior Services – Goldendale office (509-773-3757) or the White Salmon office (509-493-3068); Skamania County Senior Services (509-427-3990).
Answer: A SINGLE WORD
