Answering the commonly asked question

"Eleni, why do you wear glasses? Why don't you wear contacts?"

I get asked this ALL the time by people who I've just met/started talking to, and I have a few good reasons why I've never made the switch from glasses to contacts.

• I was never allowed to have contacts when I was younger, due to the expense of them.
• I've been wearing glasses every day since I was seven. 10 years. I feel naked without them.
• Contacts seem like so much effort. Why put in that effort when I could just whack on a set of specs every morning?
• My eyes look weird without glasses. No, it's not the way no one is used to seeing me without them, they actually look weird.
• I've been called "the hot girl with glasses" by many people in my time. Why would I want to ruin that?
• I get compliments on them all the time. People always tell me how much they suit me, and how I look really good with them. "Sexy schoolteacher" has also come up a few times.

So now you see why I love having glasses. They make me unique, and I love that. People recognise me all the time. Without them, I'd be just another face in the crowd.

Eleni.

Eleni

The issue of the DISLIKE button

So I use Facebook. I've had it for about two years now, and even during that short time it's changed at least twice.
After every change, my Facebook homepage is bombarded with "CHANGE FACEBOOK BACK" groups and fan pages, and while I admit to joining most of them in the initial backlash, I find it easy to adapt to the changes that Facebook's people make.

Facebook's founder, Mark Zuckerberg, posted an open letter to Facebook today, detailing changes that they plan on making to networks and privacy options. While this sounds great, and I think it'll be better accepted than the recent feed overhaul, I can't help but notice the massive majority of comments on this post simply say "We want a dislike button!"

I'm not rejecting the notion of a dislike button but I can see why Facebook hasn't done it. I can imagine any number of scenarios where, if a dislike button did exist, it would cause tension and/or hurt the person whose post was "disliked".

Say, for instance, you got a boyfriend. You set your relationship statuses to show that you were together, and next thing you know, his ex-girlfriend clicks "dislike". How is that supposed to make a person feel? It would immediately put a taint on something that you were excited about.

Or you updated your status to mention something great in your life, and someone dislikes it.

I feel that if Facebook did add a dislike button, at first there would be great celebration and people would go to town on that bad boy, but eventually its novelty would wear off and it would become less of a great thing.
People always want what they can't have.

What I'd like to see is Facebook go back to the way it used to be - simple, easy. I miss the simple layout and ease of use. Having that back would be a great thing.

I love Facebook, and I think it's a commendation to its success that so many other social networking sites are trying to copy its ideas (MySpace Chat anyone?), and I think the Facebook creators are doing a good thing by its users by trying to fix important privacy options and technological issues that they are constantly faced with. I think they can see what would happen if there WAS a dislike button, and I think they're being smart by not installing it.

Eleni.