An internet meme that’s popped up recently is a spread of so-called “single serving sites.” I Can Has Cheezburger was, arguably, one of the first, but Fuck My Life began a trend of text-based single serving sites. Several other notable sites have popped up in its wake, the most direct parody of which calls itself My Life is Average. The problem with FML is that most of the stories submitted are faked, and the site loses its appeal to all but the biggest schadenfreude aficionados quickly. MLIA, at first, opened to show us that most people won’t run their girlfriend’s dog over on the way to prom, or accidentally eat a batch of pot-brownies before a job interview. The original MLIAs read things like,
For lunch today I went to Mcdonalds because I like their sweet tea. When I got there I found out that they were out of sweet tea and it was going to be 20 minutes before they had more. So I just had to go with Hi-C orange. It was pretty good too. MLIA
and
Today on my way to work I noticed the “low fuel” warning on the dashboard. I pulled over and got some gas. MLIA
These, to me, were funny! I could relate to them, and they gave me some hope that not everyone’s life sucked. There was a problem, though. I got bored. Quickly. These posts were amusing at first, but after time, they’d pretty much described every aspect of my day. So, MLIA evolved. The newer entries are as such:
Today, while ringing up a customer for his take-out, I noticed that the name on his card was “Bruce Wayne”. I froze for a moment before whispering, “What are you?” Without missing a beat, he responded, “I’m Batman.” MLIA
and
Today, at the theme park where I work, I loaded a family on the paddle boat ride. A few minutes later, chilling on the dock, I hear the five-year-old son burst out into “I’m on a Boat”. The rest of the family, and eventually most of the other riders, myself and my coworker, joined in. We did the whole song. MLIA.
These newer MLIAs are a lot funnier, certainly, but the fact remains: these lives are not average. People are starting to exaggerate how “average” their life is, and it effectively becomes not-average. The new stories are spectacular, and I really wish they would happen to me. Things of this sort are not average.
The MLIA community found itself faced with a problem, it could remain average, and become boring, or it could evolve, as it has, and become no-longer average. I’m not exactly pleased with their decision, and to be honest, I think they should’ve foreseen this when they bought their domain name. It Made My Day is one of the newest single serving sites, which almost perfectly copies MLIA, but the name is much more descriptive of what the stories truly entail.
One Comment
Recently I found so not average. I love it because some are awesome times and some are crappy times. Their motto is: “An average day?.. Never.” And I agree because some days there is something crazy awesome, and sometimes your day just sucks. Rarely is it just an average whatever day, as some people may believe. Each day is filled with its own, new excitements and adventures. They aren’t all the same.