Pro Tips from a London local on traveling to London

London is one of the more popular destinations to travel to in Europe. Whether it's the rich history, the interesting architecture, something music-related or other, tons of people from all over the world make this one of their travel bucket list destinations. According to TheTravel site on MSN.com and writer Sharon Kong-Perring, who split time between the UK and California, here are 8 things she learned from a local about visiting London, 8 things that she believes tourists need to know.

-Some of the recommended tips she received include:

• Use the tap and go technology for easier access of traveling throughout London. Don't use the Oyster cards and skip the paper tickets
• Don't accept "free" items from strangers on the street. This prevents you from being hassled for payment
• Choose the more affordable viewpoints such as the Sky Garden or Monument instead of the pricier options like the London Eye

1. Oyster Cards / paper tickets are relics of the past

-Tap to pay or digital wallets increase ease of travel

-This was once the way to travel all throughout London. Using a prepaid card called an Oyster Card or paper tickets allowed access to the Underground, the underground subway system London uses. Now you can use technology to guide you along. Simply use tap-enabled credit cards or digital wallets to tap in / out of the Tube stations. Now you don't have to worry about losing your Oyster Card or paper tickets, putting the card / ticket in incorrectly at the turnstiles or making sure you have enough money to get in and get rejected. This system reduces confusion and traffic holdups at the Tube stations, especially during Rush Hour, which makes the stations incredibly crowded. There are also other options to get around London from Heathrow besides the Tube

2. Don't accept anything free from people on the street

-You'll be harassed for payment

-Despite not being an issue in recent years, it's still an everyday con job of some nomadic communities. It will often be an older woman offering those who pass by a "free" bouquet of flowers or a colorful string bracelet. Before you take them, heed this warning: when you leave, that woman will hold on you, preventing you from leaving until she gets payment

3. You don't have to pay for water

-Nothing is more irritating that seeing tourists waste money

-When you visit a restaurant in London, and the server asks what you would like to drink, and you specify water, you need to be specific. You need to say tap water rather than bottled. It tastes just fine, it's still healthy water and, above all, it's free

4. The London Eye is not the only option for getting a good view of London

-There are plenty of photogenic locations to get a good view of London from other than the London Eye

-While many who go to London want to, at least once during their stay, ride the London Eye, that's fine. Go for that. But, if you're looking for a prime opportunity to see the fantastic London skyline, there are additional options for seeing it, options that are more cost-effective and still provide those same opportunities to see the skyline. The Sky Garden is one of them. While it is free, you do need to book a slot of time prior to your visit. The Monument is another option. This is for those adventurous tourists who don't mind walking 300 steps to the top and fear of heights are not an issue. While it does have a safety net around the platform, still exercise caution as it is open to the elements

-Here is the breakdown of money and what locations cost

The London Eye. Located at the Riverside Building County Hall on Westminster Bridge Road. It's £30+ per adult.

Sky Garden. Located at 1 Sky Garden Walk. Free, but must reserve time slot prior to going there

The Monument. Located at Fish Streer Hill. It's £6 per person, £3 per child ages 5-15, £4.50 per school student with school ID and seniors

5. While Big Ben is exciting, don't dawdle on the walkways

-People are out and about on a journey to get somewhere, don't stop them from doing so

-One thing to know is that the actual proper name of the clock tower is the Clock Tower at the Palace of Westminster. "Big Ben" is actually the name of the bell in the tower. This is one of the most truly iconic landmarks in all of London. When you hear London, you automatically think of the iconic clock tower. But, the only downside is that tourists will often stop dead in the middle of the sidewalk on Westminster Bridge to snap a pic or two. If you want to get a great photo, without causing a delay on traffic on Westminster Bridge, snap those pics from the South Bank, right at the foot of the Westminster Bridge, or go to Parliament Square Garden just west of Big Ben and next to a statue of Winston Churchill. That way, even if people figure you're a tourist, they'll love that you are not stopping them from getting to where they need to

6. Stand on the right, pass on the left

-There is such a thing as transportation etiquette

-When riding the Tube, there is a certain etiquette that must be adhered to, especially on the escalators. There is a cardinal rule amongst Londoners that must be adhered to: stand on the right, pass on the left. If you don't want to walk down the moving escalator, keep to the right. This allows room for those who intend to walk down the moving escalator to pass on the left. The same goes for if you are trying to pass. You will notice people keep to the right so you can pass on the left

7. Walk on the left

-Just like driving on the opposite side of the road, keep left

-While this can be confusing, it's not impossible to understand. But when walking down the sidewalk (or pavement in British English), you walk on the left side. This mirrors how people drive in the UK. This will help you avoid those awkward dances of trying to move out of other people's way. There will be times, however, that indicate when to keep right, such as on the Tube or other walking areas. Pay attention to those signs and your surroundings

8. Train etiquette is important

-Nothing says "poor manners" or tourist more than poor train etiquette

-If you want to go outside the London city center and see sights outside of the city, most likely you'll need to take a train. These overground trains will take you almost anywhere. First and foremost, pay attention to whether you have an assigned seat. Don't sit in any seat. Don't argue with someone over a seat. Be polite. Move to the side if you are accidentally sitting in someone's seat. Second, don't be loud on the train. Don't be like the episode of British television program Mr. Bean where he had to share a train compartment with a man laughing too loud. It's important to not be too loud on the train. While you will hear the occasional phone call, don't join in on that call. If you're going to listen to music, utilize earbuds / headphones, reduce loud talking and respect your fellow riders. If you do plan on talking, use a soft, "indoor voice". There's also a "quiet car" if you want stone dead silence, apart from the rattle of the train cars on the rails

-Trainline is the go to app for train ticket purchases. This is good if you don't want to wait until the last minute. Be aware that train companies do change their schedules frequently, so it's good to know that purchasing a ticket too early means that the schedule is subject to change. The sweet spot to buy tickets is 24-48 hours prior to your trip

Police on Social Media

A lot of police departments around the world use social media. And people follow these accounts to get updates on detours, crime in the local area and more. And sometimes, they even put random, funny stuff on here. It's always good for a giggle. Plus, you have got to hand it to the police; sarcasm always seems right for the job. And it's not just police departments in America. Included in these are police departments from Canada, the UK and more

Ironically enough, these officers are with the Delhi Twp Police Department in Cincinnati, Ohio. I live in Delhi Twp. I see the two male officers running around a lot in their gray and black SUVs

1. Cool Not Cool

2. Please assist!

3. You know the drill

4. Even police nerd out

5. Every name in the book

6. Coins, spice and everything nice

This has to be in the UK. First indicator is the pound symbol

7. Cuddle up

8. Cahj Friday

9. Go to the dark side

10. My shoes

11. Real life Mario Kart

12. Riding bareback

13. List of events

14. Too Cold

15. Finally have proof unicorns exist

16. Bad to worse

17. Sean Connery now does traffic reports

18. #annoyed mums

19. Eat your way to freedom

20. A great show

21. Full moon tonight

22. Don't be an Avenger

23. Nee-naw!

24. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

25. 30 MPH

26. It seals everything

15 Hilarious Comments Teachers Make on Tests

We all know teachers do have a sense of humor; they have to. Look at who they deal with on a daily basis. Here are some prime examples of that sense of humor coming to light.

1. One does not walk out on the final

2. Don't threaten the teddies...

3. This teacher is a definite follower of modern music

4. This teacher lacks sublety

5. Perry the Platypus saves the day

6. Put some creativity to frustration

7. Kid-0, Teacher-1

8. Negotiation can work...

9. Sad Panda will not work

10. You gotta hand it to this teacher-they know their memes...

11. An elephant may never forget, but its artist forgets the tail

12. Every man for themselves

13. This teacher can be convinced with an image of a cute giraffe

14. #MathClassFail

15. Disco isn't dead

Horror Stories from the World of the Zoom Class

Because of the current world situation with COVID-19, everyone is educating/working from home and having to communicate via Zoom, whether it be Zoom meetings or classrooms. Presenting to you now are 15 stories of parents and kids and their continuing battle, with laughs of course, with the Zoom program

Reading some of these, you have to be either frightened or impressed with how smart some of these kids are. And it's hilarious seeing what these kids come up. You have to feel sympathy for the parents; they're just trying to get through this COVID-19 time just like the kids.

1. I'm the teacher now

-This is from a Twitter user named Erin Pepler. Not preschool but in the spring, my son's grade two class meeting went on for 20 minutes without the teacher, who lost her wifi signal. My son suggested that everyone show their pets on camera, so they did. Near the end of the call, he said, "I'm the teacher now."

2. A use has finally been discovered for glitches-snack time!

-From a Twitter user named Vanessa Salazar. My second grader will unmute herself and say her computer is “glitching” so she has to restart it and will leave the meeting for a few minutes to get a snack. I still haven’t figured out if I’m proud of her or not.

3. Masks of all sorts

-From a Twitter user named Tootsie Spangles. I turned away for one second and..I don’t even know where he found this mask.

4. Technical Difficulties

-From a Twitter user named Keith Edwards. Zoom 2nd grade is fun. When my son gets bored he just closes the laptop and walks away. "Technical issues!" He yells.

5. TMI

-From a Twitter user named Natasha Khan Kazi. I don't think I truly appreciated how much my 4-yo overshares the intimate details of our private life with his classmates and teacher until now.

6. Don't Wanna Watch That Again

-From a Twitter user named Ashley.

7. When is lunch?

-From a Twitter user named Bex. My son is in 1st grade using Microsoft teams and I really enjoy the sudden outbursts from all the 7 year olds. My favorite so far has been:

Kid: “MRS.TEACHER NAME” Teacher: yes?? What’s wrong??! Kid: .....are u ok? Teacher: yes, are you? Kid: no... when is lunch?

8. Stealing the show

-From a Twitter user named Jeff Bean. A kid in my daughter’s class today changed his name to “Name (host)” and convinced the teacher he stole the host seat from her.

9. "Living Nightmare"

-From a Twitter user named Bad Wolf. My son called his first kindergarten zoom meeting a “living nightmare” while laying facedown on the floor...

10. Got a train to catch...

-From a Twitter user named Rupal Parekh. one kid in my daughter’s 1st grade class figured out how to change his background to an Amtrak and he’d yell in the middle of class “gotta go! my train is here!”

11. "Is this meeting over yet?"

-From a Twitter user named Alexis Diao. Zoom preschool is both hilarious and depressing. My 4 year old keeps unmuting himself and yelling 'I DON'T KNOW YOUR NAME! IS THIS MEETING OVER YET?'

12. When the chat function has to be disabled

-From a Ukranian Twitter user named Karine. The only reason I know she is Ukranian is because of the blue and gold flag. My 7 year old’s teacher had to disable the chat function because the kids kept typing poop.

13. The camera is off

-From a Twitter user named ParlerToddler.

14. Sofa Surfing

-From a Twitter user named Sarah. For kindergarten we had one kid hanging upside down off the sofa, in her pjs, every day for a week.

15. Halloween is early this year

-From a Twitter user named Anna Bo. We had a kid who did the entire meeting with a Halloween trick-or-treat bucket on his head.

16. A sudden breakage of wind

-From a Twitter user named Beth Power. My 3-YO granddaughter was quiet & attentive in the first meeting before suddenly yelling FART!

17. Meeting, meeting, meeting

-From a Twitter user named F.A. Foster.

Creative Cheating

We've all heard about those who have cheated and gotten away with it. Here are some people who did it creatively and had fun with it. And some if not all of these are highly clever, smart and a little frightening how smart some people are....

1. It's always good to have a lucky charm

-"One time one of my buddies stole the final out of the teacher's desk when she wasn't looking. We took the test home and used the textbook to get all the answers. Since it was multiple choice, I decided to make a coded keychain with colored beads on it. The keychain was 50 beads long and was color coded to reflect the correct answers in chronological order. For instance, red=A, blue=B, yellow=C, green=D. I attached it to my car keys and just left my keys on top of my desk as I took my test. The best part was that the teacher complimented my keychain as she handed out the tests. I told her my little sister made it for me as a good luck token for finals. I don't have a little sister."

2. Under doctor's orders...

-"During high school in the mid '90s I was part of the school newspaper. As one of the editors I got to use early versions of Photoshop (we started with three but upgraded to four by the time I was a senior) and taught myself how to use it for random s---. I had a friend who was a notorious cheat, he never not-cheated. He got the brilliant idea to Photoshop answers to s--- and make it look the text on a Dr. Pepper bottle's label (nutritional info, fine print, etc. was replaced with random cheat info.) I spent a week harnessing my PS powers to put this all together for him and he spent a week figuring out how to laminate paper and get it to look almost identical to the label on the bottle. He aced it pretty good and on the day of the test, nobody had the slightest idea that all the info he needed to pass was printed on the Dr. Pepper bottle sitting on his desk."

3. Ms. Frizzle is carefree

-"In high school chemistry class, my group of buddies and I were failing the entire semester. On top of that, I'm fairly certain the teacher lived in the woods from how she smelled, and she looked like a burne-out Ms. Frizzle with brown hair. Anyway, she was never absent at all. The one day we had a substitute, they put on some boring movie which half the class, and even the substitute teacher, fell asleep to. I got curious and poked around in the teacher's spare desk, and as I opened drawers and peeked through files, lo and behold I came upon a folder that was titled 'Final Exam Answer Key'. I almost couldn't believe my luck, and I knew right then it was just meant to be that I would cheat and manage to pass this class. So here's what we did. For the final exam, we were only allowed a pencil, the scantron sheet, and a laminated copy of the periodic table of elements. We took the answer key and copied it onto the periodic table. For 'A', it was a single dot in the bottom right corner, 'B' was two dots in corners, and so forth. The best and funniest part of the whole thing was when the teacher read aloud our scores to the class and we all had much better grades than the bright kids in the class, even. I saw the teacher years later and told her all about it. She leaned in close to me, grinning and said 'I honestly don't give a s---'. 10/10 would cheat again. "

4. STD - Save the Dates

-"In college I blew off all my homework for a math class and only took the tests. Going into the final I saw my current grade and I knew I was going to fail. After the final I went to the teacher and asked why my grade was so low (obviously I knew why). He pointed out I was missing 80% of the homework. There was a two step process to submitting work. First, you upload your homework online, then you submit it to the teacher. I proceeded to double down and say I had uploaded all the work but must have forgotten to submit. He said to go check my account and, if the homework was indeed uploaded and the upload dates were before the due dates, he would accept it. So here's where the cheating began. He had posted all the solutions to the homework. When I left his office, I bolted home and began copying all the missing homework. Now, this was 2002 and there were a lot of bugs and missing safeguards with regards to the school network. So I took a chance and changed my home PC date to be the day before an assignment was due, then uploaded that assignment. The network logged the assignment upload date based on my PC date/time, not the school network's. I did this for each assignment (missing a couple problems/assignments here and there). I went back to the teacher and he reviewed my account and dates. Ended up with a B in the class."

5. Using errors to your advantage

-"In my high school AP chemistry class the teacher accidentally left a way to cheat. He was an older guy who typed his exams on a word document, would have the right answer in red, and print out the document in black and white. Our class was the entire school year and we had an exam every two-ish weeks. Around the second or third test I noticed that one of the multiple choice answers was slightly lighter than the rest. It had very faint dashes instead of being solid black so I thought 'These have to be the right answers', and they were. So for the rest of the year, except for one or two, I was able to get modest As on the exams. I told one kid a couple of months in and he eventually told a lot of people. so before the final, one kid who knew the trick completed the test in 10 minutes, turned it in and got a 98 since they were graded on the spot. Our teacher realized his mistake then and fixed it for our very long final exam."

6. "Taking" a test

-"So I'm sitting in chemistry and our teacher hands out an insane exam. Like, I go through every question trying to answer the ones I can and I don't know a single one. So everyone else starts finishing, turning in their test on the teach's desk, and I've written literally nothing. Bell rings and I think "F--- it, just throw the test in my backpack and walk out with the class." Fast forward about a week and the teacher is passing back the exams, says to the class 'Everyone have their tests?' I innocently raise my hand and tell her no, I have not gotten my test back. She starts looking everywhere, but for some reason just can't seem to find it. I let her know that test was hard as hell, no way I could take that again. She agrees, tells me if she can't find it that she'll replace the test grade with my most recent lab grade. 0 became a 97."

7. Cheating with the arts

-"I helped at a private school in India during their finals weeks. I was told to watch out for some of the crazy cheating methods they've seen. My favorite was how one girl covered in henna tattoos (which is normal) actually inscribed all of the answers into the decorative hennas. It looked normal from a distance, too."

8. Saving some face

-"We had an online class with facial recognition/webcam testing at my university. It was one of the systems that if you looked away from the screen for too long it would stop the test and make you show your surroundings; if you didn't it would give you a 0. By far one of the hardest classes I've taken, it involved a lot of memorization and to make it better, the professor liked to use true/false questions with direct quotes from the book. There was no way to cheat...or so I thought. There were three sets of exams, and the exams were usually open for about a week. So people would meet up early on in the week and take it together. So what they would do was make the girls take it first. They would then put a small Bluetooth headset on, then put their hair down so that the camera couldn't see it. The person taking the test would be on a call with classmates in another room. She would read the questions aloud and the classmates would look the question up as needed and relay the answer. They wrote down all the questions and answers for their classmates whom would just study the test questions and take it later in the week. By far the best 'Teamwork makes the dream work' story I've ever heard of, but I'm pissed because I worked my a-- off for a B-."

9. Hidden in plain sight

-"Had a guy in my class with a massive afro. He used to roll up cheat sheets and hide them deep in this afro. He would scratch his head to get them out and put them back in. It was a pleasure to watch him in action."

10. A keystroke of fortune

-"I have no proof of this, but I swear it happened. I was a TA for a physics class in college. We give the final exam. The next day, the other TA and I are grading the exams, and two students have very similar answers. Not copied exactly, but similar enough that it's suspicious. Especially because one of the students was the lowest in the class, and the questions were pretty difficult. But these kids were nowhere near each other, and neither took bathroom breaks during the test, and we collect phones at the start. Our only possible theory is that they somehow got the test early. But I kept it locked in my closet for the days before it was given. So I began to think back. I remembered that about a month or so before, this one student was having trouble seeing an assignment online (or so he said), so he asked me to sign in to his laptop to download the file for him. So I did, and then signed out. So my theory is that this kid used some sort of keystroke recorder to get my email password, get a copy of the exam from the email from my professor, worked on the test before hand with this other kid who wasn't as good, until they had decent answers, then they both just did the test normally after that. It still haunts me to this day."

11. Transparency is key

-"I had a binder that was purple, but transparent. I would put the vocabulary quiz study guide in the front of the binder and put it on the floor. When I got stuck I would step on the binder and the sheet would be readable through it."

12. Out of the red and into the black

-"In high school math class we had to correct our papers with red ink. I would swap the ink tube out of a red pen with a black ink tube. It looked like I was 'grading' my paper, but in reality I was changing my answers."

13. Even nerds cheat on occasion

-"I wrote history notes all over the desk using the tengwar font I learnt from a friend who loved Lord of the Rings back when there wasn't any movie yet. I passed the test."

14. A quick way to get the class laughing

-"Probably the best way I saw someone cheat took place in my high school Spanish class. This one kid wrote answers on the waistband of his pants. He would periodically peek down at his pants and pull the waistband out a bit revealing what he wrote. Soon the teacher noticed and asked him loudly what he was up to, thinking she had busted him. Without missing a beat the kid looked up and said to her 'I was actually just adjusting my boner, but thanks for calling me out.' The entire class burst out laughing. The teacher had no way of responding to what was just said. Kid never got questioned about it again."

15. Erotic, but effective

-" I had a ex-girlfriend who was into some kinky stuff, so she just happened to have one of those wireless vibrator things that strap onto your leg. She had me vibe one, two, three or four pulses for A/B/C/D on a multiple choice test once. Kinky and effective. 10/10 would try again."

16. Beat the system

-"I had a pretty laid back teacher for high school forensics. If he caught you cheating he would make you retake the test after school and dock you 10%. I forgot we had a test and thought I was gonna do badly, so I purposely got caught cheating and studied in my 5th and 6th hour and ended up getting a 100%. He docked me the grade, but I still ended up with a 90% on a test I probably would have failed. It's not quite cheating but I feel like I cheated the system."

17. The sweet sounds of success

-"I was taking a driver's ed course at 16. During this course we were allowed to listen to music no problem, and I felt that there were way too many f---ing things to memorize. Got mad and figured out a plan. I got a hold of the answer key for the final test. Recorded my voice speaking all of the answers. Burned the recording onto a CD. Listened to 'music' during the final exam (we were allowed to). Passed with 95%. Not 100%. I felt like I needed to miss a couple to really pull it off."

18. A presentation like no other

-"My French teacher told a story about a student who really didn't want to present in front of the class, so the day before he told his friend to come and knock on my door crying to distract the teacher. After 10 minutes, the friend went away and when the teacher came back into the classroom, the whole class was clapping because the kid told them to clap when she came back in. He ended up with an A."

19. A permanent solution to the problem

-"In my freshman year math class, a kid wrote the distance formula on his arm. He forgot to roll back down his sleeve when he turned his test in, and the teacher asked him about it. The kid panicked and said that he had a tattoo of the distance formula. He drew it on his arm every day for the rest of the semester. Got an A."

20. When in doubt, hum it out

-"My friend and I both have perfect pitch so when one of us would get stuck on a problem we would hum a quick G-flat. Then we tap our pen to indicate number and hum A, B, C or D for the answer. We couldn't do it often though because too much noise would become suspicious."

21. Turning to prayer

-"Writing answers in Cyrillic letters on pens, claiming it's a prayer to the teacher who doesn't know what Cyrillic is."

22. Code breakers

-"Three people used Morse code to cheat in a physics exam; unfortunately the professor knew it too and told them to bring their exams up in Morse code."

23. In the clear

-"Freshman year of high school I learned how to take the vocab sheets we were given for English and would place packaging tape on the answer sheet very carefully. I put it under water to rinse the paper off, but not the ink, let it dry overnight, and then I placed packaging tape on the other side so it was not sticky anymore. Bam, you have a clear answer sheet you can place on a desk and it looks like the wood grain. 'Isn't it shiny though?' F--- yeah it is. Surprised I wasn't caught."

24. Two very different yet effective methods

-"I had to retake a neuroscience final in a room with two other students. One of them had a spy pen and was taking pictures of the questions and sending them to someone at home with the text book relaying answers back via phone to his hidden earpiece. He must have spent $500 on the equipment and to pay the guy on the phone. The other kid just brought in his study guide and put it in the back of a stack of blank papers and would flip to it periodically.

25. Poster child for cheating

-"The best I have seen was a student made a large poster board cheat sheet and hung it up in the teacher's classroom, which already had plenty of poster on the wall. He would just read right off it and got away with it once, but got caught after he tried the second time. This was in a high school class."

26. Nothing to lose, but everything to gain

-"My senior year I had to make a college portfolio in my English class. The project was given at the beginning of the quarter and we had nine weeks to do it. I didn't do any of it and about a week after it was due my teacher asked me if I turned it in. I told her that I turned it in  on time and she got worried that she lost it when she took them all home. She ended up giving me an 85% because she never found it."

27. Under the cover of clouds

-"My professor loved using the campus cloud to store things like audio and sound clips, lesson slideshows...and tests. Seriously, there was the whole test on the screen. Easiest 100% I ever got."

28. Food for thought

-"I would memorize my teacher's lunch schedules and then sneak into their classroom and steal graded assignments from other students that were in the filing cabinet."

29. When hijabs really help

-"A girl wearing a hijab used to go into the bathroom before each test, put a pair of earbuds in, and conceal the wires with the hijab. So she had earphones in every time."

30. Asking the right questions

-"Once in Year 8, we had to write an essay on a certain text called 'Rabbit-Proof Fence'. I always winged my essays, but the actual content in the movie I memorized. On the day of the test, I forgot the name of one of the characters in the middle of the exam. All I did was ask, audibly, what that character's name was. Everyone stared at me, then another student just answered my question and went back to his exam. The teacher was livid, only because, since everyone now knew this minor piece of information and therefore I had no advantage, she couldn't punish me for s---."

What People Have Avoided Their Whole Lives

Everyone has something they have tried to avoid their whole lives. One thing they've never tried, one food they've never eaten, etc. Here are 13 things people say they've avoided

I'll even add my take on some of this; I can relate....

1. Run for it

-"Getting stung by a bee or wasp. And now I've built it up so much that I'm absolutely terrified of wasps and I run for my life when I see one!"

-Me: Not so lucky. I was stung by a honey bee on my thigh when I was 12. I did the stupidest thing ever- I  tried to swat it away, not knowing I was going to get stung. Not my smartest move.

2. I said no!

-"Game of Thrones and the Kardashian Show. Never seen one episode of either."

-Me: Nope. Seen neither and have no desire to watch either. If I want to watch something medieval-y, I'll pop in Monty Python and The Holy Grail

3. Lucky break (no pun intended)

-"Breaking a bone. It's not like I've been a complete bookworm either. cycling, skating, football, skiing, snowboarding, I fell off a roof once. Never broken a bone."

-Me: knock on wood....I have not done this yet. I've had sprains, but no breaks

4. Everyone has an opinion...

-"Marriage and getting knocked up. I saw what my friends went through they acted like marriage and babies were a race. I sat back, took my time, watched my friends, then decided it didn't look like fun. I still have no regrets."

-Me: Yup, not interested. Out of all my high school classmates, I believe I may be THE ONLY ONE who has not been in some sort of relationship or have kids.

5. WOW!

-"Snakes. Have never seen one or encountered them which is not surprising as I live in Iceland. But still it must count for something."

-Me: I have seen snakes here. But they're usually just the little harmless corn snakes or green garter snakes. The types you normally see around trees and wooded areas

6. Very rare!

-"I've never seen a Marvel movie, comic or TV show. It just sort of happened, but now it feels as though there's 200 movies and 2000 comics and there's no way I could begin to catch up even if I wanted to."

-Me: I've seen a few. I'm partial to the X-Men movies because they are good and Hugh Jackman, who plays Wolverine, is my favorite actor. Out of all the comic book movies, I like the X-Men movies the most. I've only read one or two Marvel comics, both X-Men; not impressed. As for the TV shows, I've never seen any; my sister was crazy huge into Spider-Man as a kid. She watched the animated series religiously.

7. Wild & Crazy

-"Driving a car. I'm 37 and father of one. I ride my bike almost everywhere. Longer trips go by train or bus. It's a great way to stay healthy and make a small environmental difference. Living in Sweden makes this both harder (the seasons) and easier (the infrastructure). My town is often considered one of Sweden's best bike cities. Yay!"

-Me: I have no choice but to drive. My job at Cincinnati Eye Institute is 30-45 minutes away if I am able to get on to I-71 North, but a full 60 minutes away if I have to take Columbia Parkway to Red Bank Road and then get on I-71 North. I'd never make it on time a bus or a bike. I'd have to switch from the 77X Delhi Express Metro bus in downtown Cincinnati and get on the 3X Montgomery Express bus to take me to Blue Ash, where my job is located

8. Oh, well

-"Watching an entire episode of Friends. Really don't understand the hype on this."

-Me: Whoever said this, I agree; They're not missing anything. It's not even remotely funny.

9. One is usually fun

-"Weddings and funerals. Never been to a single one. Never really had family so I guess it wasn't hard"

-Me: I've been to an equal number of weddings and funerals. I've been to the funeral for my father, biological grandmother and stepdad's mother. I've been to a predominantly black wedding for a friend of my late father and her now husband, my mom and stepdad's wedding and a wedding for one of my father's coworkers. Each wedding was interesting.

-The predominantly black wedding was for a woman named Harriet and her husband Alfred. Harriet worked with my late father at US Bank and her now husband worked as a driver for Coca-Cola because they have a distribution center right here in Cincinnati, in the neighborhood of Madisonville, right across the way from the Fifth Third Operations Center. Me, my sister and dad went to the wedding and it was amazing. It's beautiful, the church was gorgeous and the reception was hopping. It was, overall, a great wedding. The food was amazing; it was all soul food and God, it was amazing. Me and my sister ended up dancing with the kids at the wedding since they were relatives of both the bride and groom. Another coworker of my dad's, Andre, started dancing once he heard Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" playing on the DJ booth. Overall, the wedding was fun. Some might think it's weird that me, my father and sister, who are Caucasian, went to a predominantly black wedding. I don't think it's weird; the family of both Harriet and Alfred didn't think it was weird. All three of us were talking to various members of their families. They both have interesting family members. Most people on both sides we talked to had served in the military, which is awesome! They invited us and we gladly came because they asked and it was fun

-The other wedding, besides my mom and stepdad's, was for a woman named Kelly, who worked with my dad at US Bank and her husband Brennan. It was in Covington at a place on Madison Ave. It was a large dance hall-type place. The wedding was at a small church in Covington and at the reception, the Covington Police did a bust during the reception. One of the cooks in the kitchen was hauled out in handcuffs and from the few words I heard from the police, they included "...possession of drugs with intent to distribute" and "...regular little meth lab at home". What a place to arrest someone-at a wedding reception, rofl!! Unfortunately, the wedded bliss didn't last too long. They ended up getting divorced after three years after she found her husband watching graphic pornography on her home computer and her son from a previous marriage seen him watching it as he passed by his parents room

-The wedding of my mom and stepdad was nothing big. They had a minister meet them at Five Points Park on Rapid Run Rd, in Delhi Township, near my current home and they exchanged vows there. The reception was at a place called Wild Mike's, a sports bar near our house. They kept it simple. Of course, the special song they danced to was "Gimme Three Steps" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. They also did a slow one, which was "You're My Inspiration" by Chicago

10. The black sheep of the family

-"Being baptized. That doesn't sound impressive until you take into consideration that my entire family is hyper-Christian and my grandfather, who helped raise me, was a minister. My mom's side of the family and my dad's side were from different denominations and they couldn't agree to which church to baptize me in, and both sides were stubborn, and I ended up making it to the age when I started to question religion without getting the dunk. My (step) brother is the only person in my family I know of who isn't some brand of Christian. I'm truly the black sheep on both sides."

-Me: I've been baptized. I don't remember much considering I was a baby, lol. I just don't have a confirmation name. But in years past, I certainly noticed my faith is not what it once was. It's not as strong as it used to be.

11. Really?

-"Twinkies. Almost 26 and I've never had one. I'll assume I'm not missing too much."

-Me: Whoever said this, I can rest assured telling you that you're missing nothing. They're nothing to rave about!

12. I love it!

-"I've never mowed the grass before. I've heard other people reminiscing about having to do yard work growing up but I've never been able to relate. I was raised by a single mother and we lived in apartments when I was a baby. She remarried when I was 9 and my stepfather always did the yard work after that one we were able to move into a house. Then I went off to college and have apartment hopped ever since. Now here I am, in my 30s, somehow avoiding having to mow grass for my entire life. I don't even think I'd know how to start a lawnmower if one was in front of me. Not my proudest of accomplishments..."

-Me: My dad never taught me or my sister how to mow the lawn, check the oil/windshield wiper fluid in cars, anything! Our mother had to teach us how to wash our car, mow the lawn among other things. She leaves the automotive stuff to the experts at the local Midas shop. Plus, I like the commentary the guys there have. They don't talk down to us because we're women and if they do, it's in a friendly, jokey way.

13. A miracle!

-"Having an STD or getting a girl pregnant before marriage. For the record I've made horrible decisions in my younger days. This was a legitimate miracle. The girl I dated prior to my wife it didn't clue in for three months that we were literally not even using the pull-out method. I just assumed she was on birth control AND I WAS LITERALLY TEACHING SEXUAL EDUCATION AS PART OF MY PUBLIC HEALTH POSITION."

Funny Tweets from Parents

  You know that phrase "kids say the darndest things?" Here are some examples of proof from parents that both parents and kids say the darndest things. These are all Twitter. BTW, there's supposed to 39 of these, but I had to leave a few out, only because they had bad words (meaning the F word, the supposed grand-daddy of all bad words, lol)