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FML Insight

Today I went to the sports centre and spent an hour on the treadmill – possibly the longest time I’ve engaged in any form of exercise since those dreaded bleep tests in year 11. With a mixture of adrenaline, enthusiasm and downright arrogance at having done something that I thought was going to be a struggle, surging through me, I strolled over to the bike machines at the front of the fitness suite in full view of everyone and literally jumped onto the seat. Unfortunately, my pride meant that I didn’t notice it positioned at its maximum height. As a result, my foot slipped out of the pedal, I lost my balance and fell over the other side of the bike. FML!

Along with the likes of chatroulette and urbandictionary, the latest weird but equally humorous website I’ve happened to stumble across comes in the form of fmylife.com. The site, which receives over 1.7 million hits a day, was generated in January 2008 by the creators of the original French version viedemerde.fr, which translates as “life of sh*t”.

The blog serves as, “a recollection of everyday anecdotes likely to happen to anyone” where users post their own stories about unfortunate things that have happened to them, dutifully starting with, “Today” and ending with “FML”. Other users can then rate these posts.

FMyLife has been so successful that a book was published in June 2009 containing stories and illustrations from the site and an application for the iPhone was also released so users could access the website on the go. By May 2010, further applications were made for Android and Blackberry – which now means all I need is my phone to tell people whether, “I agree, your life sucks,” or “you totally deserved it!” (Note: I wouldn’t just say these mean things to people; it’s how the ratings are recorded!)

There is even an ‘FMyLife Intimacy’ section. I think the title’s pretty self-explanatory but just in case you’re lost; it’s a particular part of the site purely for users’ embarrassing sexual encounters. Some of them are hilarious and a lot of them I’d imagine people can relate to. But some of them are so cringe-worthy that I can only hope they’re fabricated purely for entertainment purposes.

In all, FMyLife is a brilliant site if you need something to make you smile during an essay break or if you just want to feel better about your own unfortunate happenings. Why not even add your own anecdote and see how many ratings you get. Many of today’s comedians are where they are now because they can share these types of experiences with their audience and laugh them off.

Or you could just read the posts, rate them and thank god that someone else’s life is more messed up than your own.