lol

I used to hate "lol". Like, from at least when I was 13 and for twenty plus years afterwards. I don't hate it anymore, in large part because no one uses it as an acronym for "laugh out loud". It has become its own thing. Still jocular, sure, but not an expression of laughing out loud or even really its concept. At least not how I remember it signifying that. Perhaps I've changed more than lol, but if that's the case it's really hard for me to tell.

I'd like to pronounce with some certainty that I've got the right idea here, but no, I don't really have much confidence in my assertion that lol's meaning has substantially changed--I shudder to think that I may only just be realizing its true meaning, which has remained mostly the same. It's possible. I can be oblivious. More likely it's a combination of things; language does certainly evolve, so if lol has always meant whatever it means today (even if I still am wrong about it) then I'd be surprised.

Today I've been contemplating a trip to <redacted> for <redacted hobby> (henceforth RH). It's not a nice place generally. In fact, if it weren't for the specific purpose I'm considering it would be an awful place for me to go. But the conditions for RH there are rather favorable, and these conditions can change suddenly for the worse. That's usually how things go. It's a pretty fleeting idea, though. I don't want to spend vacation time traveling a long distance to a place with no charm.

I've been thinking more about RH lately in part because I've been spending time in a chat room and forum for it, and I have been practicing a fair bit. I have enough experience, believe it or not, to actually be providing advice to people in some contexts. Wild! I'm still quite mediocre, but it seems that experience level of RHers looks like the population age-pyramid for a developing country. The more time you spend with it, the more likely you are to move on to other things, and there's an endless pool of aspirants. I don't know the actual shape of our experience-pyramid, in sooth. Definitely a wide base, definitely a small tip, but I don't know if it's actually pyramid-y. If it gets straight-sided at some points, or even bowed outward. Would be interesting to find out.

I'm not sure of much today, huh?

lol