COCK

Here's me when I found out my 2 hour class was cancelled today:

But then hold on: not allowed to leave early.

But you know that's ok because this gives me ample time to get this bullshit out of the way before Friiiiiday night starts.
So let's do Dear Abby since we did Dear Annie last time. Gotta finish our rounds I figure.

DEAR ABBY: I have been seeing my boyfriend for five months. He still has some of his ex-girlfriend's lingerie in his dresser.

 Wear it for him.
He's hoping to do some fucked up shit while you pretend to be his ex-girlfriend so he can work out some unresolved issues.
I feel a good girlfriend would help a brother out.

Would it be inappropriate for me to throw away these "trinkets" without consulting him?  

He probably just wants to be pegged while wearing them.
What a homo.

DEAR ABBY: I was recently told by a neighbor that if he wasn't married, he would make a pass at me. 

Yeah man bitches will do that in this country and not tell you.
Hey I have a boyfriend is that ok
fucking I dunno what's he like
oh he's in a gang
nope.jpg.avi
that's a true story.

DEAR ABBY: I met a guy four months ago. Our relationship is new and pretty casual for the most part. We like each other's company and spend nights together, but when we're intimate, he keeps his clothes on -- boxers and all. He is only 26, but he has told me about past relationships, so I know he has had experience.
Over the past two years he has lost almost 100 pounds. He looks great now -- healthy and toned. I have seen him get in and out of the shower. (I noticed a little excess skin on his stomach, but not much.) It's really weird. I don't feel comfortable taking my own clothes off when he doesn't.
This isn't exactly a deal breaker for me, as I obviously am attracted to him. I just would like him to be comfortable with me. Should I address this with him, and if so, how? Or should I just leave it be for now? -- AWKWARD SITUATION IN GEORGIA

lol Georgia
kindly tell your cousin to put on a bathrobe and I'll tell you what you should do.
What you should do is
I have absolutely no fucking idea. Who cares? In the real of problems in the world this somehow ranks below my current biggest problem which is there are crumbs in the kitchen I have to Swiffer up tonight.
It must be tonight or the cockroaches will return.
I have spent a great deal of time and effort and some money purging the filth from the apartment.

DEAR ABBY: I met a guy online. We have been dating for some time now. We have a wonderful connection and have our dates on Skype. The problem is, we have never met in person.
Every time we plan on meeting, he shuts up for a time, isn't reachable, then suddenly reappears and makes excuses, asking me to forgive him and plan another meeting. Should I still believe this will happen anytime soon? -- LEFT HANGING IN NAIROBI

They have the internet in Nairobi?
Listen, baby, get on an airplane and come here. I'll take care of you.

DEAR ABBY: Lately I have been having problems with my live-in boyfriend, "Ethan." We fight about everything, and he refuses to admit when he's wrong. Ethan has been sleeping on the couch for a week waiting for me to take the first step and reconcile.
He isn't working and I am, and that is probably what has him so mad. I pay all the bills, and he thinks I feel superior because I'm bringing in money and he's not.
We argue day and night, swear and scream at each other, and he does not appreciate everything I'm doing so we can survive. I have two daughters, he has one, and I'm supporting all of us.

Top lel
Sounds like
sounds like you're pretty fucked.

Do you think it's a good idea for us to have a baby? Ethan is desperate for a child with me

Do I think it's a good idea for you to have a baby?
No I don't.
In fact I think you should have your existing children taken from you and airlifted to Africa to be raised by gorillas.
They'd probably have a better chance at a normal life.
The fact you even need help making a serious decision like that tells me you're not emotionally responsible enough to do it and that's really shocking considering the fact you already have two children.
The other amazing thing is your boyfriend is somehow less responsible than you.

DEAR MARY JANE: Not only do I think it's not a good idea, but I think it's a terrible idea. Babies are expensive, and you're already carrying a heavy load. I suspect that Ethan thinks a baby will fix what's wrong in your relationship, but he's wrong. Don't do it! It would be a huge mistake.

At least Abby got the right idea.
Not passionate enough of a response but ok.

DEAR ABBY: I have an attractive friend who was bypassed for a front-office promotion. "Miranda" is pleasant, clean, efficient, energetic and had the same qualifications as the individual who was promoted. A management team member confided that the reason for Miranda's lack of advancement "might" be due to the numerous tattoos -- difficult to cover -- on her arms and wrists, which the manager said isn't the image the business wants to convey.
Is this discrimination?

Yeah totally. You're not allowed to discriminate just because she's retarded.
God in my brain I can hear how this bitch asked this question.
"Is this, like, discrimination?" with too much upward inflection her voice.
God I want to murder her.

I think it's unfair because Miranda is a good worker. She keeps asking me if I have any ideas why she was bypassed. Should I tell her? I don't want to violate the manager's faith in my confidentiality, even though I will be retiring soon.

The corporate image doesn't include prostitutes with finger tattoos and tongue piercings.
Sadly.
Anyway I am done with this bullshit
fuck blogs
I'm going to go buy bread and snacks then I'm going home and playing video games.

Blogs are boring

Fuck me it never ends with this shit.
Overly intellectual (usually British) guy
girl who writes too much fanfiction and thinks she's humanity's gift to literature--
religious person who won't shut the fuck up about little shit being baby Jesus--
furries (just kidding that's not even a thing anymore)
actually, yeah, let's talk about furries briefly.
Remember all those people who said in their soul they were actually a fox?
What happened to that?
Are they even still around anymore?
How long has it been since we've had a furry blog?
This wave of boring pseudo-intellectualism and Dr. Who fanfiction has just obliterated the furry.
Not that I'm complaining or anything but, I dunno, I need some variety. I think all the words and permutations of words I can use in regards to stultifying Dr. Who fanfiction story #58934741.3 I'm skipping have been exhausted.
Anyway pseudo-intellectual person.
Maybe a girl. Who can say?

I've spent a not inconsiderable part of the day coping with the inefficiencies of the current financial infrastructure. First I went to pay off a chunk of my mortgage. I went to my old C&G branch at Moorgate, walked in, gave my cheque to the cashier and told her what I wanted to happen. After some apologies that it was "her first day", I was passed along to the next guy, who told me that it was now a TSB branch, and although he could process it, it might be a better idea for me to go to the Lloyds branch around the corner.

Have you ever seen Reservoir Dogs?
Well that'd be a solution.
Just saying.

So, of I went to the Lloyds around the corner. That led to a 25 minute farce as they tried to work out what to do. The main problem is that most of the mortgage payments that they receive in branches are just that - payments on the mortgage. What I wanted to do was reduce the principle on an interest-only mortgage, a different transaction entirely. And they just could not find out what code they had to enter.

>reduce the principal
whoa easy there, Mr. Moneybanks. This is 2014.

When did the 1960s start? 

January 1, 1960.

The obvious answer is, January 1 1960. People took more notice of decades in those days. I do not remember the passing from the 1950s to the 1960s, but I do remember the passing from the 1960s to the 1970s. I went to a New Year's Eve Party at a council flat off the Wandsworth Road. A pop TV programme was on, of which I only really remember The Who.

January 1, 1960.
Unless we're talking metaphorically like when did the culture stop being 50s and start being 60s.
Because as we all know the 80s actually started in 1978.

But social movements and decades do not neatly coincide. And how one defines "the sixties" depends on your parameters. Politics? Economics? Fashion? Music? Literature? Film? 

Like 1964 or something.
I possess two well-known books on that decade - The Neophiliacs by Christopher Booker and The Pendulum Years by Bernard Levin.
Yes, truly those are the books of the 1960s.
Two books I haven't even heard of.
Not Dune?
Like of all the books of the 1960s surely Dune should be in the top 2.

It would be easy to write 200 pages on how the Age of Austerity morphed into the era of "You've Never Had It So Good" and then morphed again into the end of that Macmillian era -- so beautifully drawn by Timothy Birdsall in an early Private Eye, depicting Bacchanalian excess at the heart of the Conservative government.

That sounds like the least interesting thing ever.
Like holy shit that was the era of psychedelics and scifi and that's what you got?

But this is more of a personal memory, written down now because, I realize to my horror, far fewer people are alive who remember the early 1960s than those who do not.

Yeah that means you're too old to be blogging. My mom doesn't remember the early 60s.
She was a toddler then.
You gotta stop, dude.
Like come on man.

I was quite distinctly defined by pop music. And so my measure of the start of the 1960s is pop-related.

I was reminded of this while watching a compilation of 1960s hits. With the benefit of time, it's easier to see the flow from the 1950s through the 1960s to the 1970s. The "new music", so hated by my father, in terms of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, really consisted of nice middle-class white boys in sharp suits and ties, adapting the blues music of American blacks. If you wanted a real innovator in UK terms, you had to look to Lonnie Donegan.

No, it was not "She Loves You" that defined the beginning of the 1960s, not for me.

While watching that 1960s music compilation, I realized that the real groundbreaker was Sonny and Cher's performance in 1965 on Top Of The Pops of "I've Got You Babe". The tune was not radical, but the words represented the San Francisco ethos that would become famous three years later with Scott Mackenzie. 

YES, TRULY
SONNY AND CHER ARE THE 1960S.
THERE WERE NO BETTER ACTS.
Like I say 1960s music and what's the one answer you should give?
Oh I don't know, what about THE BEATLES YOU FUCKING RETARD

I had an interesting encounter early on in my holiday in Las Vegas. I was talking to a rather intelligent ultra-liberal (for the US) poker player, about 30 years of age. Somehow the conversation got round to living for nothing in London, and I mentioned the word "ligger".

He reacted with horror, which puzzled me. Then he said that it would be difficult to use that word in the US, because it was too close to the "N Word". 

1. ligger isn't a word.
2. shut the fuck up.

Needless to say, this set me off on one. "So", I said, "the liberals are now so sensitive to the word nigger that you can't even use words that SOUND like it? Hasn't the fact that words which sound like each other don't necessarily mean similar things sunk in in liberal America?"

Subsequently I asked him if he had similar problems with the words rigour, figure, bigger and that character from the Jungle Book, Tigger.

I'm suddenly reminded of my buddy in EVE Online, Digger Nick.

Obviously, he hadn't. That was because the meanings of these words were in his brain. The transfer to meaning from sound was entrenched. However, with "ligger" (a word that he did not know) he had no meaning to fall back on -- only the sound of the word. It was this which caused him to think that there would be a problem with the word.

But does this not also say something damning about liberal America? The word "nigger" (even though he could not bring himself to say it) was so high in his consciousness; the fear of offending "African-Americans" was so great, that when I mentioned a word that even rhymed with nigger, then that was the first word he thought of. Not "figure", "rigour", "bigger", or "Tigger". No, his mind leapt immediately to a word that he could not bring himself to utter.

Remember when Fox news was debating if the word nigger was as bad as cracker?
But it wasn't "nigger vs cracker" it was "n-word vs cracker"
like when you won't even say one of the words
that's the worse word
Also I'm allowed to type the word nigger because I'm called it enough in a 24 hour period by teenagers I'm basically black at this point.
Like when a 6'7" kid comes in with his posse and addresses me "what up my nigga" and means it genuinely there's something wrong
like I'm a tie and a clipboard away from being middle management I don't think this is how this is supposed to work
but yeah good to see you too, Larry

This, I feel, indicates a far higher level of race consciousness amongst white liberals than the white working class. I've long maintained that part of my problem (as far as white liberals are concerned) is that I frequently forget the race and colour of people. To me, they are people.

I don't even give a shit about race
black, white
Indian
Asian
Hispanic
you're all dumbass teenagers who don't know the first thing about anything to me.

As such I do not have this white liberal (and, it must be admitted, black intelligentsia) hyper-sensitivity to the "travesties of history". I'm not perpetually carrying a guilt trip for the misdeeds of people in the 18th century who happened to have a skin similarly hued to mine. 

I just want to know why black people name their kids after Roman Emperors.
I mean by and large black American culture is very offended by their past enslavement (totally understandable) but naming your kids after the rulers of people who are so sold on the idea of slavery they owned white slaves too--
not sure that's what you're aiming for.
Maybe they just like the names.
I will agree they had some rad names.

It would be a lot easier if the white liberals and black intelligentsia could think the same way.

Most black people I meet are about as sick of the likes of Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson playing the race card incessantly as anyone else.
They're just people, Jesus. Most of them are just trying to make some money before they fucking die like the rest of us.
Here's a post about online poker--
but not like "here's my grand online poker strategy" it was just a discussion about point conversions.
Want to read four paragraphs about me discussing the merits of buying champions in League of Legends with Riot Points versus Influence Points?
NO?
Me neither.
Fuck it.

Third day in France, and not a whisper of a blog entry. 

Wow that's fucking incredible.
Not a whisper of a blog entry so what the fuck are all these words that follow this sentence?
It's the miracle entry.
It's the fucking virgin birth of blogs.
The entry that wasn't conceived.

Have Facebook and Twitter updates truly made the blog redundant?

Why are you asking this question on a blog?
Clearly the answer is no.

Certainly a significant number of the people whom I know who used to write blogs now confine themselves to FB or (increasingly) Twitter posts.

I'll admit that, when Twitter started, I was sceptical. Grubby (Pauly's brother) was the first blogger whom I saw mention it, 

Who you saw mention it.
You directly mentioned him. Grubby, Pauly's brother, who was the first blogger I saw mention it.
He is the subject of this sentence.
Whom is the direct object.

when he was working at a radio station, back in, I dunno, 2008 or something like that. First of all, I couldn't quite get the hang of what it was, and then I couldn't quite work out what the point was. I got the fact that it would be useful for real-time updates of chip counts and the like, but this was before the smartphone and 'always on' was ubiquitous, even in Europe, let alone the US, which was about 18 months behind the curve when it came to mobile telecommunications.

>need a mathematical count for a mathematical game
>uses Twitter and not a spreadsheet
come on dude what the fuck there's a reason the stock market is a ticker and a candle graph and not twitter.com most valuable stock on the NYSE

And, speaking of mediums, I'm writing this on a laptop which is on my lap. That doesn't happen very often. Laptops in the main these days are more portable desktops than laptops, aren't they?

... No?
I know we're getting cute with our words but a desktop just means there is a cabinet for the computer and the other bits are separate and a laptop is integrated.
And I swear to God if anyone posts about Macs being integrated I will kill myself and haunt you.

In the office a few years ago you would see people moving between floors carrying their notebooks (paper). Now they are carrying their laptops.

Do you want to pick a thought and stick to it?
What I got from this:
Twitter replaced blogs because laptops replaced paper.

People moan about the depersonalization of air travel these days, and never stop criticizing the hassle off fflights in the modern world.

Did you guys see the Korea Airlines commercial during the Olympics?
Prove to me that isn't a country that has its fucking act together.
Hot women in skirts.
Have you seen American airline commercials?
I feel like I'm being sold a line of credit.
Fuck off, everyone.
Here just compare.
Am I going crazy
Like I dunno which would you rather do?
Go on Korean Air where hot women will serve you drinks with umbrellas and this P.F. Chang looking motherfucker will cook you chicken or do you want to hear bloated William Shatner and that unfunny cunt from Big Bang Theory cackle?
Excuse my while I load this 9MM and put it to my fucking temple.

One of the things investors are always careful of when looking at balance sheets is spotting how "optimistic" a company is when it comes to booking revenue. 

I don't know why companies are ever optimistic in predicting their earnings. If you meet expectations your stock goes down because it didn't exceed them and if you don't meet them it really goes down
so just assume the fucking worst.

If you see marriage as a religious institution rather than a legal institution, one "sanctified by god and by god alone", then you could be a strong supporter of gay rights and yet still feel unable to vote in favour of gay "marriage", because (their argument would go) they simply cannot do so because they believe the institution of marriage to be something unique to a man and a woman. 

To which I'd remind you that not everyone believes in your hateful desert god.

That isn't homophobia (the most common accusation) or bigotry (the second-most common accusation). It's a deeply held belief (no matter how misguided from some people's point of view) based on an interpretation of the Bible. 

Wrong is wrong.
Well intentioned or not.
Some day people will learn the only thing that actually matters is results.

In the early days, advertising and marketing was effective because it was new. If advertisers and marketers had been shrewd, they would have rationed it – kept it rare and thus maintained its level of impact. It could, in other words, have become a sustainable ecology.

There you go. Better to sell one of something at 300 dollars than 10 of something at 40 dollars.
You heard it here first, people.

It was nice to come back from Las Vegas in profit. I still haven't achieved the dream of paying for everything, but I came pretty close. I won $1,350. The holiday cost $880 (flight), $400 (spent), and $630 (hotel, including added gym and internet fees). So that's $560 spent for the entire two weeks. However, included in that is about $100 that I spent on clothes and stuff (I bought another $200-worth on my card). So that brings it down to $460. And if I had stayed at home I would have spent about $160 at Tesco and maybe $200 elsewhere. So the net cost of the fortnight, in a hotel, in Las Vegas, and most definitely not here, was $100. I'd take that deal.

>profit
>lost 560 dollars
uhhhh
maybe I'm don't know what profit actually is but what?
Also you "won" 1350 after two weeks. What's that in dollars per hour?
Because I'm guessing it's about minimum wage.

I also won about $1,350 online this year -- pathetic compared to the $25,000-odd that I chalked up in 2009, but rather better than the $10 or thereabouts that I achieved in 2011.

I can tell you precisely when the wheels started to came off -- it was in October 2009 in France. My monitor blew up, so I started playing cascading rather than tiled.

>tool failure
>instead of replacing the tool you change the fundamentals of what you do to make money
>wonder where you started going wrong
do people think about shit ever?

Dell announced a 47% drop in profits this morning. That's a neat indication to anyone who supports buying "growth companies" as an investment strategy that the important part of that strategy is to know when to get out.

>Dell is also looking to go private
>implying
Fuck blogs Jesus Christ.
But do you know what shouldn't even be badmouthed ever?
Playing Fallout: New Vegas and then this is on the radio in the game.

well you know

we run things
things don't run we
that's a genuine Miley Cyrus lyric.
She didn't really write it, though. Seven (yes, really) people were needed to make that masterpiece of lyricism.
There's this debate with litfags about the story of Orpheus.
The story classically ends where he gets over his lost love by having sex with a lot of underage boys and it's believed now early Christians added that to discredit one of the more important myths in Greek Paganism.
I think it's clear that it's no myth and Orpheus still lives among us writing Miley Cyrus lyrics.
Oh right, what the fuck am I talking about?
Blogs.
Hope you're sitting comfortably and doing something else enjoyable while reading this drivel because we're opening with a bracing session of body politics.
I went to the gym yesterday and was already skinny before and now I'm getting fuckin' ripped so I am well equipped to handle this topic with sensitivity.

There's been another round of non-controversy over the use of mannequins with proportions approximating those of average women rather than unusually thin women. Which rather trivial news has been greeted with hysteria over the prospect that the mannequins might promote unhealthy lifestyles. 

I'd really like to take this article to a feminist in India and say "this is what feminists in America are worried about instead of the number of their supposed sisters raped and killed here every year"
I'm sure her insight would be interesting.

I find it completely baffling, this idea that even the most mildly positive image of anyone who isn't thin is going to destroy everybody's health. I personally am not convinced by the evidence for the view that being fat causes diabetes and heart disease and cancer, but I appreciate this is conventional wisdom. Even accepting that correlation, for one thing it seems like the only body shapes that don't provoke this health panic are those that are much thinner than the proportions recommended by those who are convinced that weight is the major factor in long-term health.

I'd only want those really swanky mannequins that don't even have human proportions--
like the impossibly thin waist and huge tits.
I'd also glue googly eyes on all of them.
Also I'd only have one pair of pants in a random color, style and size and once someone bought it I'd shutter the entire store for 15 minutes.
When someone bought it an air raid siren would go off.

And for a second thing, vaguely positive images of non-thin people don't cause people to gain weight and most certainly don't cause serious long-term health conditions. And we're talking really tiny amounts of positivity: a plastic statue of a woman standing in a shop window and wearing fashionable clothes is hardly an aspirational role model. I am incapable of imagining a woman deciding, oh, they have mannequins of about my body type in the window of Debenhams, I won't bother doing any more exercise or maintaining a healthy diet any more.

Remember when everyone was pitching a bitch about Abercrombie and Fitch saying it didn't want to sell clothes to fat people or nerds?
I feel they really missed their mark.
It's a brilliant marketing strategy but it's directed at the wrong market.
Teenagers are traditionally the ones who shop at Abercrombie and Fitch and they're also at the height of their 3edgy5me must be different phase and the best way they perceive to do that is by being extra accepting so that means being accepting of fat nerds and homosexuals.
If you want that marketing strategy to work make sure you sell primarily to white 20 something women.
Trademark like one pattern and put it on yoga pants and make sure it matches with beige and brown then pay like 50 hip-looking, hot models to wear them in NYC and LA for a week.
Then just sit your ass down and count your fat motherfucking stacks you greedy swine.
This type of thinking is exactly how I make money on the stock market, incidentally.
Here's my market research:
"that's an interesting name, what do they do?"
If I like what they do I go to their corporate website. If their mission statement sounds evil I check the news. If I can find a story where they're doing something I'd do I invest 100% of my money.
If I can second guess them I keep looking.
This is why I am 18% growth and really only play two to three times a week during lunch or in between bouts of 16 year old punks asking me ridiculous questions.
If I was actually a full time day trader or, hell, invested my full attention into it for an hour?
Watch the fuck out.
Nothing more heartbreaking than to see a good angle only to find the company is owned by like a chain of 90 companies and you just have to invest in Viacom or, even worse, they're private.

 I was going to post this when I had three milestones clustered together: a year of running, a hundred runs, and 200 miles total. But I was going through a really bad patch and I just felt too discouraged. Now things are going a bit better, but I'm still finding it hard going and feel I've lost ground. 

>been seriously exercising for about 3 months
>over 100 miles run
m8

So I started the Couch to 5K beginners' running programme at the end of September last year. It went really well; each successive week the workouts got enough harder that I was challenging myself but not impossible so that I felt like giving up.

Enough harder.
Do you have a couch to basic English proficiency program?
FUCKIN' ZING.

And I got through the programme (it took me I think 12 weeks rather than 9, but that's no big deal), and by the end of it I could comfortably run for half an hour without stopping. Slowly, but considering that even one minute of running felt daunting at the beginning, that felt a big accomplishment. 

Time to start your marine PFTs then.
I still couldn't join the marines due to my abysmal mile time.
I don't understand. I went from noodle arm to being about to do 20 pull ups without any real trouble but my run time has barely improved.
Not that I'm planning on joining the marines but I figure they have to shoot people for a living so they probably know a thing or two about not being a pussy and I just wonder why my progress is so uneven.

I definitely like running better than generic cardio.

>running better than generic cardio
>running is generic cardio
-
anything that gets your heart rate up is cardio.
The way 99% of meatheads will advise you to do this is running.

Partly because it's such a basic thing, I can get a fairly objective feel for how I'm improving without worrying about things like the exact machine settings. Partly because at least having the potential to run outdoors sometimes makes it less boring, I can actually go somewhere rather than being on a machine. This also means that I can just put on some trainers and leggings and run, I don't have to faff around going to the gym, getting changed, remembering my washing things etc. Of course, the down side of this is that sometimes the weather drives me indoors; I don't know if I should maybe go back to just switching around cardio things like ellipticals, bikes and rowing machines when I do have to be in the gym, because at least that would be a bit more varied. 

>you have a rowing machine
>not using it
IT'S LIKE YOU NEVER WANT TO GO SUPER SAIYAN.

On a good day, I come close to enjoying a run, though good days are still the exception rather than the rule.

You're not running fast enough, then.

In any case I'll take less hateful, because it's a lot more possible to motivate myself to do exercise when it's only mildly unpleasant rather than both unpleasant and boring. 

>want your exercise to be less hateful
Wow no wonder you've made like no progress.
The human body evolved in some of the harshest conditions on this, an already violent, planet. If you want true fitness you can't really afford to be anything less than a ball of incandescent hate and fury.
I should write motivational tapes for Warhammer nerds.
If I heard that in middle school instead of the typical NO PAIN, NO GAIN crap I might have given three fucks about four fucks.

I think one of the reasons that C25K worked well for me was that I got into the habit of running three times a week. I had to be quite strict with myself to make that happen, but aiming for three and falling short was was definitely getting me more exercise than aiming for twice a week and falling short. I also gave myself permission that on days I ran, I didn't have to do any other exercise. 

My routine starts with running.
Then there's stuff after it.
No fail.

So my brother (here known as Screwy) is a sessional teacher in a university. He decided, on the advice of a trans friend, that he would include asking for preferred pronouns during the intros in the first class of term. However, one fresher in his class, whom Screwy read as trans but who isn't out, was made visibly uncomfortable by this. This student later wrote in Screwy's teaching evaluation that this exercise could potentially out them, and respectfully requested that Screwy should not do that again.

As a result, Screwy feels really bad because his good intentions of making his class a safe space for people with diverse gender expressions backfired and actually made one of his students directly unsafe.

"Fuckers are out in force" would be my reaction.

i haz a pedagogy!

Oh good you're trusted to instruct people.
Fills me with confidence.

Somebody mentioned in one of the introductory sessions that whatever else the course achieved, it would turn you into a bad student. That turned out to be absolutely prophetic. I skipped the reading and turned up to class unprepared, I gossipped or daydreamed instead of working on group exercises, I whooped and punched the air when class was cancelled.

Sounds like how I got through my last year of college.
I bought a book to use as a prop.
Proof I owned it.
I never even opened it.
I'll never forget the class where we had to grade each other for "practice" and my response to this was "let's all just give each other an A" and one punk motherfucker said "I'm going to take this seriously."
I think something about the look in my eye convinced him I was serious when I said "then I want to grade last and I will give you exactly what you gave me."
If we're playing a game of GPA chicken I think I can take the guy in a sweater vest and bow tie.

Thing is, I was a bad student partly because for the first time in my academic career I genuinely had more important things to do than get high marks in a particular course. 

One time I had to walk hand in hand out to the parking lot with a class.
This was in college.
I am dead
fucking
serious
I tried to sandwich myself between the two hot Korean exchange students but no dice. I did get between one of them and a blind girl though so that was all right. What were we doing in the parking lot?
Checking our fucking privilege.
I swear to fuck I am not making this up.
I think the problem teachers run into talking to me is unless you literally taught in a prison and went to college in fucking Narnia you're not beating the insane shit I've seen and done.
This was somehow supposed to prepare me for homeless children high on PCP. I feel like if they had just played this while pointing at me it would have prepared me better.
YOU BETTER FEEL LIKE THIS ON THE INSIDE OR YOU'RE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT THROUGH.
And here I am.

Another reason I was a bad student was because I actually struggled with the academic material. Lots of people look at someone like me who typically achieves high marks in everything and imagine it's completely effortless.

>struggling with pedagogy
more like struggling to stay conscious am I right?
This doesn't make you a bad student. It makes you bad at tolerating bullshit. Any class that outright tells you "you'll be a bad student by the time you're done" is full of shit by definition.
Really?
Because before now I was an honors student. Is it me or is it you at that point?

Which is always really annoying to me, because I've never coasted on my innate ability, I've always worked really hard in every academic setting (until this course). But there's a difference between putting in lots of time and effort, and as a result fully understanding the material and being able to do well at it, and putting in lots of time and effort and still not really getting it. 

That's because it's engineered to not be understood. It's like one of those Zen riddles. T
wo hands clap and there is a sound.
What is the sound of one hand? It's like that only stretched out over 40 pages and filled half with made up words and the other half with  the douchiest words you've ever heard strung together in your entire life.

kaberett is absolutely right to point out that social science isn't any more jargon-heavy than any other field of study. But my problem was not that I didn't know the definitions of words, as that I didn't really understand the concepts the terms (very often words with common English meanings entirely unrelated to their technical ones) were referring to. I'm afraid that if this Higher Ed teaching course had been my only exposure, it would have confirmed my prejudices that social sciences are mostly wishy-washy and people making stuff up without any evidence and using lots of long words to make their opinions sound respectable.

Nope that's the social sciences.

For one thing, that helped me to overcome my prejudices; the "problem" with social science is nothing more than Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is crap. 90% of natural science is crap too, it's using long words to justify existing opinions and prejudices, it's based on experiments which assume their conclusions rather than properly falsifying hypotheses with rigorous controls. But because I am completely embedded in the biological science world, I can filter out all the mediocre stuff and I basically only notice the really well-supported models. I still do find it difficult to connect to "theory" as opposed to what I think of as empirical work, but I am much more aware now of good research going on in social sciences and I'm starting to get the hang of where some of the theory comes from. 

I did a study for my student teaching class that said if you don't study you won't pass the test.
I had to scrap the experiment because I had no control. No one actually studied for the test.
It actually turned into this tortured experiment in perception vs. reality.
I'm pretty sure I ended up concluding I couldn't actually prove any of my students were real.
I guess I should be thankful because frankly it's been an issue I've been grappling with ever since in the back of my mind.
What is real?
What am I, even?
WOW MAN.

Some friends of mine have a young baby who is just about approaching the age where the NHS starts its vaccination schedule. They've been reading anti-vax stuff on the internet and it's scaring them. 

>being against vaccinations
>anno domini 2013
I guess the jar of leeches and the balance of the humors works just as well, then.

My friends are not completely convinced because they say that the pharmaceutical industry is motivated by profit rather than health.

No one hates the pharmaceutical industry more than me.
They are in the business of selling health, though. If what they sold didn't work they wouldn't be in business.
I'm not saying it works well or even fixes the problem but it has to at least be partially efficacious.

They are aware of stories of negative trial results being suppressed, of contaminated vaccines and of testing unsafe vaccines on vulnerable populations without proper consent.

And I store nuclear waste in a Coke bottling factory in EVE Online.
If you want cheap crap some sacrifices have to made.

There's been a lot of virtual ink spilled on the snobbery and sexism that permeates which kinds of video games are taken seriously. I think where I'm at is that actually, the industry has woken up to the fact that they can make serious money out of casual games, and it hasn't necessarily made my life as a casual gamer better (even though I am reasonably willing to spend money on games I enjoy). 

Every girl can now play her fucking Candy Crush for 5 minutes a day but I still struggle to find a game that can't be beaten in 12 hours.
WELCOME TO THE EQUALITY OF GAMING.
Ready for a fucking essay on why she's a casual gamer?
No?
Well too fucking bad because it's coming.

I am almost totally uninterested in first person shooters or any sort of game where the aim is to run around the world killing enemies. Those make up, of course, most of the headline games! And yes, I know some of them are really good, beautiful graphics, detailed world-building, interesting and original missions. 

You know some of them are really good, have beautiful graphics, detailed world building, etc etc?
Can you list them?
Because I sure don't know any like that.
Just brown and bloom in the desert of brown people and vague gun metal.

But I can't be bothered to invest dozens of hours in a game in order to find out what happens next in the plot. I would rather read a book, which takes me 10 hours or less, and which I can do more or less anywhere without needing complicated hardware. And if I want to look at pretty things and admire excellent storytelling in a more passive way, I would rather watch a film (which takes 2-3 hours) than play a game. 

Sounds like you might want to read a book or watch a movie, then.
You don't have to fuck up my major form of entertainment just because you weren't included in a hobby you clearly have no interest in anyway.

I've quite often acquired cutting-edge games when they seem to be more plot or exploration driven and less explosion / shooting driven, but I still have the problem that I can't be bothered to learn the skills needed to control my character or put the time in to actually play through the game. Things like Myst, Baldur's Gate, Black & White, Oblivion: over the years I've never been able to stick to them long enough to get past being useless and incompetent and actually start having fun.

YOU COULDN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO CONTROL MYST?
YOU CLICKED WHERE YOU WANTED TO GO AND IT HAPPENED.
THERE WAS LITERALLY NOTHING THREATENING YOU IN THAT GAME.
Also are you sure you played these games because if you tried to pick a group of games with less in common control wise than Myst, Baldur's Gate, Black & White and Oblivion you'd be having problems.

There are precisely two games I have actually enjoyed enough to spend time learning a complex set of skills to be able to play. One is Civilization II, which manages to combine flow state (managing resources in each of my cities in turn) with making decisions which actually take thought and strategy.

Until you realize the quirky AI and exploit it like a motherfucker.

And I think Terraria is turning out to be a second such game. I play it on softcore (which basically means that dying is an inconvenience), and I like the combination of simple repetitive stuff like fighting, with the brain-requiring bits of exploring and building. 

>Terraria
>brain power
WOW.

So the obvious reason I prefer casual games over "serious" games is that I want something that gives me 5 minutes or half an hour of flow state, not something that requires serious investment of time and brain power. But there's a second reason too, which I think boils down to a difference in approach or attitude. Serious games require you to manage split second timing and pixel perfect pointing to avoid DEATH. 

Not really.
I mean some games sure but most are a mix of strategy and coordination. If you're seriously going down to the wire like that then you're probably doing something wrong.
Also so what? Some people enjoy competition.
This is like people whining about IVs and EVs in Pokemon.
That's what competitive battlers do. If you don't like it prepare to be at a disadvantage. Don't expect everyone to bend over backwards because you don't like to sit and breed Pokemon for a few hours.
I'm glad IVs are still in Pokemon. Nintendo stood the fuck up and told whiners to go screw.
They made it manageable, granted (and thank fuck) but it's still an important element to the game.

Casual games kind of give you the benefit of the doubt, often giving you credit if you're nearly right, they tend to default to "yay, you win" any time the outcome is marginal.

IF I NEEDED PROOF OF HOW AWESOME I WAS I'D READ MY OWN BLOG.
OTHERWISE I'D LIKE A CHALLENGE.

And also, in serious games, your reward for doing well is very often stuff that is simply not rewarding for my brain. In-game money or high score points, meh. And all too often your reward in serious games is... sexy women. "Sexy" as in scantily clad with tiny waists and pneumatic breasts and a sort of vaguely soft-pornish "please abuse me" attitude. 

I have never in my fucking life played a video game where the reward was a woman outside of Mario.
You know, Princess Peach?
The one with so much clothing on she's wearing gloves in the desert and the only sex happening is if you can somehow interpret "baking a cake" as "fucking"?
There might be some sort of dating side quest or dealing with white women as a matter of getting to the part where you get to kill heretics and aliens but in general the end result isn't women.

Even though I'm attracted to women in principle, that particular style of sexy I find a complete and utter turn-off, and honestly when I'm playing computer games I'm not looking for sexual thrills anyway.

Soooo let me see if I understand this correctly:
you don't like active entertainment
you don't like being challenged
you don't like spending a great deal of time figuring stuff out
you don't like conflict
clearly video games are the hobby for you, then!
I hate the feeling of chalk and I can't draw worth a goddamn and I can't be assed to practice.
Should I pick up chalk portraiture?

Conversely, in casual games, your reward for doing well is often cuteness. Playing a little fanfare or displaying a colourful animation or giving me achievement badges and medals are much much better at pushing the reward buttons in my brain than just racking up a bigger number. And little cartoonish cute creatures make me smile, whereas sexy women making kissyface just makes me feel vaguely dispirited or reminds me forcefully that I'm not the intended audience. 

SO MAYBE FIND A NEW HOBBY.
JESUS CHRIST.
Also she may be dressing this up as "I like easy things" but I'm really reading this as "women can't handle honest competition and only like shiny, colorful distractions and vapid, shallow, meaningless content" but maybe that's just my rampant misogyny showing.
I mean sure video games are a waste of time (like pretty much everything in life) but at least good games you can claim shit like "well most people couldn't beat that."

Literal unpopular opinions

I have some unpopular opinions but let's match and see who is more far afield.

Israel is a legitimate state, both politically and in the specific sense of existing as a constitutionally Jewish and Zionist state.

Israel is not a legitimate state but that doesn't mean it shouldn't exist. If the Palestinians couldn't keep their shit together then that's sour grapes.
They're both assholes, though.

Islam is an excellent religion and one of the crowning achievements of human civilization. 

Backwards, barbaric drivel and the crowing jewel in the decadent and primitive Abrahamic religion crown.

There should be fewer abortions. 

I think most people agree all babies should be wanted and loved.
That's not really a controversial opinion.
The problem is that is not reality.
How are we doing so far?
Who is more controversial?
I'm not even trying to be edgy, here. These are genuine opinions I hold.

It's often better to vote Conservative than Labour. 

No one cares about British politics--
Not even British people, seemingly, as they're wrapped up in ours more often than not--

Alternative medicine is a good thing if it makes people feel better, even if its claimed mechanism of action goes against the current scientific consensus. 

This is where I'll lose ground, I think. Alternative medicine is full of shit and feeling better isn't necessarily being better.

We should actively encourage immigration into this country, and possibly remove immigration restrictions altogether. 

And here I'll gain some ground (against the typical Dreamwidth crowd, anyway): immigrants should only be allowed in if they have a useful skill or are college educated.

It's sometimes acceptable for parents to smack their children as a punishment. 

No it isn't. It only teaches children violence is a solution when they don't know how to deal with an issue.
While literally true (sometimes violence is the only acceptable solution) that's not really a lesson I believe needs impressed upon a 4 year old.
Your controversial opinions are boring.
Uhhhh fuck blogs.
Fuck the internet.
The song of the now.
Have we had this one before?
FUCK FEATURES.

Are you fucking serious?

I'd like to apologize to the last blogger. There are worse things than your layout.
Namely this layout.
I had to check with my eyes and monitor and PC and the cosmos itself about ten times to affirm I wasn't going blind so if you're doing the same thing, rest assured: what you see before you is happening.
It's .5 gray font on a light gray background.
FUCK YOU, READER!
I like how her blog is "friends only" (already established there's no such thing). Some friend. "You can't read this if you're not my friend but if you are my friend you get to eat shit" is how her "friends only" tag reads to me.
Also last blog was tapped out upon further study. Oh well~
Someone hipped me to the fact that it's probably a girl writing it who has a crush on another girl and after rereading my entry, the blog itself and going further back than I had in the previous entry I'm still not convinced.

What fictional television show would you want to live in? What character would you play?

So today's writer's block confirmed two things: Dr. Who is apparently the greatest television show ever if I'm going by popular opinion and no one knows how to spell the word "definitely" (hint: there's no 'a' in it).

oh my god, definitely Doctor Who!

I would seriously love to go for a spin or two or two thousand in the TARDIS.

like seriously, it has been a fantasy of mine to be spirited away in a whimsical flying contraption by a quirky alien since I was four.

It has been my dream to the prattling of some cunt while pretending I'm Stevie Wonder.
Thank God for this blog.

What are your best and worst personality traits? Do you think your friends would agree?

My best personality trait is I'm blind and my worst is I'm blind please help.

I think my best personality trait is probably that I'm a little crazy... in a good way. I take friendship really seriously, there are few things that I wouldn't do for a friend in need, even if they're asking me to do something insane, I'm usually game.

LULZ I'M INSANE xP
There is nothing worse than a person who thinks like this.

On the flip side of that, I can be a little sly and I'm an amazing liar, which is advantageous sometimes, but it isn't really a "good" personality trait, especially not in a friend. Though I'm not pathological, I can fib through my teeth if I need to.

I think the general consensus is that I'm missing a few marbles... although, it might come as a surprise as to how cunning I can be, since truly being cunning means fooling people into believing that I am always being truthful.

YOU SAID THIS BEFORE YOU STUPID CUNT.
LET ME GO ON IN DETAIL ABOUT HOW COMPLETELY CRAZY I AM.
I write fanfiction and I play video games (don't hit on my silly boys XD) and I loooooove anime and manga and furry conventions and I'm totally into BEING COMPLETELY UNSURPRISING.

Sorry I've been dead for a few weeks, I've been really busy.

As soon as February is over I'll be able to breathe again. I re-applied to university in January because I'm not too happy with York, and if all goes well come September I will be living in downtown Toronto. I'm so over suburbia it isn't funny. And I'm not just saying that because I miss my fourteen-year-old Green Day fangirl days, but because I think this is a change that I really need.

Let me guess you want to do all the crazy and zany things a totally free spirited girl like you does like take drawing and acting classes, shop at Goodwill and knit and stitch because you are totally rocking it old school like that! Did I teeeeeeeeeell you guys about my fanfiction?

I want to live in a tiny apartment and play good music and bake and study and take acting classes, and that isn't really working for me right now.

Bake--
acting--
I said stitch instead of bake and art in addition to acting but I'm still going to award myself full points.

Since I'm applying for graphic design though, I need to create a portfolio, and that on top of regular school work and rehearsals and my job has left me little time to actually talk to anyone.

YES THANK YOU.
BOW BEFORE MY PSYCHIC MIGHT.

If you could wake up and spend 24 hours in an online game with any weapons/powers, would you do it? If so, what type of game would you choose, and why?

FFXIV. Get money, fuck bitches.
Seems mundane but I know what goes into adventuring in that world and it involves getting shot by the Empire or eaten by a dragon or getting yelled at by twats so not worth the time.
24 HOURS ONLY COMPRESS IT INTO THE IMPORTANT ASPECTS.

Do you think Web sites containing "adult content" should be legally required to post warnings? How would you personally define the rating scale? Do you fear this would place a chill on free/creative expression?

I missed this question when it first came around.
Absolutely and if you're caught misusing the warnings you should be shot.
Goodbye, Livejournal.

Most certainly. And as long as there's still accessible to those who wish to view them, nobody needs to wave their "freedom of expression" flag in anyone's face.

The rating scale seems simple enough to me... anything with violent or sexual content should be clearly labelled.

14+
GUYS I'M SOOOOOO SAD MY iPOD BROKE :(

Do you think society puts too much pressure on people to be in relationships and/or have children? Do you think this ostracizes people who would be perfectly content to remain single and/or child-free? Is this pressure worse around the holidays?

Oh shut up you fucking pussies.
WAAAAAAAAH SOCIETY OSTRACIZED ME BECAUSE THEY JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND I'M A SQUIRREL TRAPPED IN A WOMAN'S BODY TRAPPED IN A MAN'S BODY AND ALSO I'M A VAMPIRE AND PSYCHICALLY MARRIED TO THAT FAGGOT FROM TWILIGHT BECAUSE HE EXISTS IN AN ALTERNATE DIMENSION :(
Yeah, no one gets it because you're fucking crazy.

Almost everything in the media alienates single people. But yes, the holidays do have a way of warping the word "happiness" so that it can only come from a tall, good looking person in a business suit with a $10 000 ring in their pocket.

Yes, happy people are rich and attractive.
Back to the fields, peasants.

As for pressure on women having babies... actually no, not so much. I think babies have become the new taboo. Like homosexuality used to be. People today get their heads ripped off by the feminists of the world for even suggesting that they would like to have children.

They do?
Have I completely not been paying attention my entire life?
I've never once felt alienated watching TV because I was single and I've never once heard someone get scoffed at for wanting to have children.

It's treated as the most unnatural thing in the world. As though now, every woman needs to be 100% focused on their career and their social life, and not worry about having kids until age 32 rolls around and they start having regrets, which can lead to dangerous pregnancies.

You guys should live in a country run by me.
Your problems would seem insignificant by comparison.
For a while, I should add. Then things would be much better.
I'm sorry she kept going on about shit that I'm convinced isn't even real and I couldn't read it because my optic nerves leapt out of my head and started strangling me.

If your best friend forgave his or her partner for cheating and lying, would you try to forgive him or her too? Would you find it difficult to spend time with them as a couple?

...
Am I reading this question correctly? Why do I care who my best friend is fucking?
Except when friends get into relationships with insufferable twats, I should say, but that's only because you lose them as a friend or they gain an annoying appendage that's always with them when you're hanging out.

I wish I could say that I'd want to respect my friend's wishes, but the truth is if I'm going to have to pick up the pieces every time this happens, I'm not so sure I'd encourage the relationship in the first place.

That and I have zero respect for any kind of infidelity, and I don't believe in second-chances.

Sorry bro I know we've been bros forever practically but something that doesn't even affect has now caused me to reconsider our status as friends.

Are you an oldest, youngest, middle, or only child? How do you think it has influenced your personality?

Only and I don't know because I only have a sample size of one.
Maybe if I could talk to the interdimensional mes we might be able to come to consensus on what being an only child has done to me.

Only child. And I have quite a bit to say about this.

This is why my blog is good and all other blogs are shit. Everyone else has sooooo much to say on the subject of themselves and my response was "I don't know" bordering on "I don't give a shit" which is always the preferable state in which to find yourself.

I think that family and faith are the two things that impact a person the most. My mom said she always wanted to grow up and have lots of kids, but she and my father separated after I was born, and she... how do I explain this... doesn't "believe" in being married more than once. She says it does not conform with her morals and values. Fine, whatever.

A highly respectable position.
You yourself said you don't believe in second chances. Well your mother gave marriage her one and only chance.

I don't know how to write families. I can write friendship, and I daresay, realistic relationships. Maybe that comes from not having have father or siblings, and a mom that worked really hard to support me growing up, but as a result was not around very much. I'm not trying to turn this into a I'm-a-teenager-my-life-sucks moment, but I think one of my biggest regrets is not having siblings.

I guess literally "regret" is a sense of loss or disappointment but I usually think of a regret as something you have control over. Like you were going to do something and didn't so you regret it (or, indeed, did something and regret it). I don't think something outside of your control is something you can really feel regret over.
But then again I feel regret for not being a space marine so maybe I'm just talking out of my ass.

Do you think it's okay to tell little lies about small things to avoid hurting someone's feelings? Or is there no such thing as a harmless lie?

Yes.
Lie constantly.
There is never a good reason to tell the truth.

Honesty is the best policy.
It just isn't always the easiest.

A lot of people claim that they "can handle the truth" even if it hurts them, but I think that in itself is a lie.

People are cowardly and weak. Only the strong deserve the truth.

No matter what language you speak, you've probably come across words or phrases in another language that sound better than their equivalents in your native tongue. What's your favorite word or phrase in a foreign language?

On a similar but not stupid note the phrase "you are already dead" (of Fist of the North Star fame) sounds awesome in every language I can think of.
Actually if you look it up on Youtube the US got screwed out of Fist of the North Star dub. Japanese version is awesome (mostly because of the voice of Kenshiro) but the Spanish and especially the Italian dub are almost as good.
The English dub is fucking weak, man.
I guess it's because it's a hotblooded show and Spanish and Italian cultures are hotblooded so they'd kind of understand the psychology of Fist of the North Star better than English or something.
I don't know I'm just rambling to have to avoid looking at this blog and risk going blind and dying.

I'm so sleepy right now, but for some reason I have Celine Dion playing over and over in my head and I can't get to sleep.

I'm sorry to hear that.
I can't say I know a Celine Dion song which I consider the best policy in life.

Thrilling updates about my life:

1. Yesterday I ate chocolate ice cream (as opposed to vanilla) for the first time in 10 years, and it was very refreshing.

2. I've had Subway for dinner for two nights in a row and it's not doing my self-esteem any good.

3. York University is hot for me.

The year is 1943. You are a scientist working on the top secret Colossus project, an immense undertaking never before dreamed of by man. Its one goal: to decipher the Enigma code.
Flash forward 20 years: you are a scientist working in a hot Berkley University basement. your goal? To network two computers together to instantly(ish) send information from one computer to another. You are laying down the foundations for technology that doesn't even exist yet.
This is the dawn of a new era and the beginning of something that will revolutionize the way humanity understands information forever.
Flash forward another 10 years and you are IBM, positing that processors are now complex enough to handle graphical user interfaces, an idea Bill Gates takes and turns into his immensely successful Windows OS. For the first time computers might be within the grasp of the average person.
Flash forward a mere 35 years:
HAD ICE CREAM FOR DINNER xP is the summation of your collective efforts.
Shoulda gone into law, gentlemen.

I was lying in bed afterward and I had this great huge epiphany about the 1947 Greek Crisis which literally saved my soul IA.

No idea what this means but I have to assume it's the 1948 Greek-Turkish "Crisis" where President Truman set a policy where the US would send aid (money, weapons, training, etc.) to prevent Greece and Turkey from falling into the hands of the Soviets.
Well I think I've finally gone blind.
Goodbye.

Pussies. Pussies everywhere.

So fuuuuck the internet today. It's time to drop anchor and raise the sails, because WELCOME TO SUMMER TIME. SCHOOL'S OUT, MOTHERFUCKERS.
Bird's are singing, dogs are barking, cars are driving and cunts are whining.

I used to rely on the scales to dictate whether or not I was going to have a good day. It’s the sickness that plague the vain and overly self-conscious people of our society.

I'm always so amazed fat people can throw this back at society. WHY DOES SOCIETY SAY I HAVE TO BE SKINNY I'M BIG AND BEAUTIFUL. ;_;
Isn't over half the population of this fine sinking nation obese? I guess this is like when Christfags cry persecution despite being over 80% of the population. Back in the day my people fed your people to lions and now you're crying because you can't pray in schools.
My my how times change.

When you deprive yourself too much of life’s goodness (a.k.a. great tasting but most often bad-for-the-waistline food) just so you can fit in to the latest fashion trend particularly made for the skinny, then obviously you’re doing it wrong!

Oh wait I seem to remember something about this what was i--

The name you citizens gave me was Ciacco;
and for the damning sin of gluttony,
as you can see, I languish in the rain.

And I, a wretched soul, am not alone,
for all of these have this same penalty
for this same sin." And he said nothing more.

That penalty is to eat filth while a giant three-headed worm gnaws on you.
It's a good book you people should really check it out sometime.

And if you think that once you achieve that ideal body, or look, you have in mind, that you’ll finally be happy, then you’re wrong once again.

Not necessarily. "I wish to not be a fat slob" and then they achieve that goal. There's every reason to feel good about yourself at that point.

Because if that’s the kind of mindset you follow, then you should know that this battle doesn’t stop once results are achieved because you’ll always want to go for more and always wish to look better than the previous ‘better’ you had in mind.

Oh boy isn't that convenient. YOU'LL NEVER ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL ANYWAY MIGHT AS WELL STUFF YOUR FACE ALL DAY ERRDAY.
LAZINESS.
Sloth, gluttony, gloominess-- YOU'RE GOING STRAIGHT TO HELL.

I want to feel God so greatly again. I want to see Him transform my heart and my attitude towards everything that has happened and will happen.

The Lord moves at his own pace, heretic. Not yours.
I guess my problem with most Christfags is I am 500% more awesome as a Christfag than they are and I'm not even serious about it. You people really need to look at your own theology again.

I want Him to make me beautiful in His eyes, and I want to see His glory to shine through every part of my life.

What is that line from the Bible? "Your good works are as filthy rags, ye workers of iniquity" something. I think there's another line: "be saved, filthy as thou art" although on second thought that might be Warhammer.

Thank You for declaring me a new creature in Christ Jesus. :)

Is it Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus? No one can seem to agree on this simple issue. Of course "Christ" is just a title (and not his last name like so many people seem to think).
Herp derp she's trying to lose weight and quit smoking at the same time.
WHY DO I KEEP FAILING ON ALL MY GOALS? ;_;

I bought two Audrey Hepburn DVDs today! Funny Face (1957 - with Fred Astaire) and Paris When It Sizzles (1964 - with William Holden) :D

Paris When It Sizzles.
Also known as "we had bunch of aborted scripts what should we do with them?"
"How about we put them all together in some sort of movie where a guy is dictating to a secretary?"
"SOUNDS GOOD TO ME!"
Fuck that movie.
Here's her "20 best movies of January 2010" and one of them is Sabrina.
I have some news for you. That's not from 2010.

If you love someone, ask him for nothing. Don’t hold him from his destiny.

OUR FATES ARE ALL WRITTEN IN THE WARP AND YOURS IS DEATH.

Last weekend, it dawned on me how immature of a Christian I still am. Even though I thought I knew a lot already, my actions often fail to mirror what I know.

You just have to follow the 10 commandments.
What are they, let's see-- thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a man's mind-- uhh. That's the one that really stands out.

I can't remember the last time I actually thought about my brain, or well, my intellect for that matter...

My brain is full of fuck.
So I'm not sure if it's a commandment but it should have been one: thou shalt not use God as your personal self-help guru.
GOD HELP ME LOSE WEIGHT
GOD HELP ME STOP SMOKING
I mean it's one thing to sit here and read some sort of "deep revelations" about religion (boring) and it's quite another to read about your own personal failings as relating to religion (also boring).
I can't even remember the point I was trying to make now.
I know this is totally unrelated but I went to check my mail to see if Square wanted to invite me to their Final Fantasy XIV alpha after being a loyal customer for like 16 years and I see an article about "new research suggests Darth Vader has a mental disorder."
... Did you fuckers watch Star Wars? Christ all mighty.
Really, the guy that tries to take over an entire galaxy by creating a giant space death ray might be a tad on the mental side? I can't wait to read this breakthrough research.
Also he is a fictional character, you realize that, whoever wrote this? I don't think we actually have to fear reproach from the Death Star or anything.
Next thing you'll be telling me Hitler might be deranged.
--Anyways--
I'm off to do other shit. Piss off.

FOR THE EMPEROR!

The semester is winding down, finals are around the corner-- it's nice to see people can take time out of their day to be pretentious, self-centered douches.

In the midst of the end of the semester, I'm really busy and it's really easy for me to stress out but I have just felt God saying to me this week, You can do this. You don't need to be stressed. Look at all I've given you; You have friends who love you, family who wants to see you, the love of your life there to support you, the character to do what's right even if it's hard, the motivation and focus to complete it all, and most of all, Rachel, you have My joy that I have given you especially for times such as these. Trust me Rachel."

Stop. I never bought into this religion thing in general and Christianity specifically, but I don't think the point of faith in some sort of religion is to make its central deity your fucking personal self-help guru. He said all that to you, did he?

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You have loved me

Ugh this is already getting tiresome.
Now here's a post entitled "Ha ha" with nothing in it. I guess that's the number of things she's said that have caused others to laugh (owned).

I commit this coming year to one where I will draw nearer to my Savior.
A year where I pray more about decisions... large & small.

Great. More time spent hoping some magical space entity will make my decisions for me instead of doing shit for myself.

Or I could say, "Because I scare the boys away with my awesomeness."

Yeah I'm sure that's it. Don't you Christfags have some sort of rule about hubris or something?

Have you ever just wanted someone to want to get to know you?

Nope. If I perceive someone I'd like to get to know better, I talk to them. If they enjoy my company we hit it off. If not, fuck them.

I'm sure you have.

Well aren't you presumptuous?

Everyone wants that I think. But I would really like to be known and for someone to ask me about....me. Eh.

So you want people to be interested in you, is that it? Well for people to be interested in you, you have to first be interesting. That's the difficult thing for a lot of people. There are many ways to be interesting. You can look interesting, say interesting things, or have an interesting talent.
So far, based off the contents of your blog, you fail at all three things. I mean, I've never seen you before, but I can imagine.

I've been around the block a few times and my age has nothing to do with it because people are so quick to use the age card to count for life experience when that's not necessarily true.

I'LL BET YOU'VE BEEN AROUND THE BLOCKS A FEW TIMES! (burn)
Also shut up. You're 19. You know nothing.
Now here's her lesson for today, which I think is particularly apt:

Don't put your life on the internet if you don't want people to read it

Couldn't agree more.

It's hard to deal with sometimes when people assume things about you that aren't true. They don't even know you, or know someone close to you but they'll still pass judgments.

Who gives a fuck? If they don't know me, I most likely don't know them, and therefore by default don't care what they think.

At least put a little truth in peoples' minds instead of crazy stories they'll make up on their own and say about me?

Oh wow unwarranted self importance. You really think people you don't know care that much about you? Most people probably won't look twice. Seriously.
I'll teach you a valuable lesson right here, right now. Let's go through your little list, and I'll say what immediately comes to mind when I read it.

I'm single. Not looking, not interested.

Lesbian.

I'm grateful for the close friends I have. I'm happy that, in all honesty & sincerity, Gus and I are friends. Nothing even close to anything else. I'm happy about that because of aforementioned reasons and because he and I never got to be real friends without romantic inclinations before.

You're manipulative.

I love myself. I love who I am becoming and the changes I have made.

You have no self confidence and rely on your friends 100% to prop your self esteem up.

It's really important to me to be consistent in my relationship with God because sooner than I think, I will be on my own and my world falls apart when I do things my own way apart from the God who loves me and takes care of me.

Don't think a lot about this, quite frankly. Oh wait, I have one. You're stupid. Now how did that make you feel? Pretty bad, I imagine. But oh wait a minute: who the fuck am I? I'm no one, at least to you. Why does my opinion matter? It doesn't.

It's just weird knowing as much as I stalk other people, people are stalking me. Weird.

Yes, those who do illegal things are quite often afraid that they will be caught, or that their activities are reciprocated. "Dark thoughts weigh heavily on the heart."

Just remember that:
You may think you know, but you have no idea.

Know what? Philosophically speaking all I can say with 100% certainty is that "I am." After that I'm pretty much making assumptions. Still I know a lot of things to a fairly safe margin of error.

Goodbye Stalkers.

You really think you're being stalked, don't you?

I hate having my journal friends only...

Uhh--

It is especially 'disheartening' since I probably won't be dating at all for three years. Three years of THIS. Let's just hope that Jesus gives me a heart change soon so that I can be happy as a single woman. And by 'soon', I mean now, because I don't know how this will affect me in a little state called desperation. The last time that feeling came over me... let's just say, it was a mental disease filled with poor choices.

I think you need to get laid.

Sooo.... here's the big news.
Yesterday I praised God that I had a sister because she got us tickets to go see the most amazing band of my life.

So you only praised God for you sister because she did something for you? Wow, what a cunt.

So I am officially a college student who attends classes, studies, and has migraines. It's pretty great if you ask me.

>migraines
>pretty great
you've never had a migraine, have you?

But, the food is great, most of the people are great.

Okay now I'm sure you've never been to college, either.

I met a girl yesterday who is legally blind with a slew of eye problems like, her eyes can't focus, and she's photophobic meaning she can't be in the sunlight. And she's an AMAZING artist!! She's just sooo good. I'm so jealous. God really gave her a precious gift.

Just not sight. One might wonder what kind of God would allow a person to go blind.

There are so many girls who are Christians but they don't understand why that should entail a level of modesty.

Huh, you, Mrs. "people are stalking me because I'm so scary awesome :)" lecturing people on modesty.

I watched a movie this morning and then walked to Curves and worked out until the sweat was streaming in my eyes :-p .

Ha, ha-- eww.
Now there's a ton of shit I don't care about, so entry over, I guess.

Okay we need to talk

If you keep a blog out of a sense of catharsis, I think you need to rethink your prime directive in life. Being boring and purging your stupid head of every thought is good, okay, but posting it is a bad idea. A very bad idea. What do you do after you take a shit? You... FLUSH THE FUCKING TOILET.
rdxdave has violated this golden rule of staying interesting no matter the cost so hard I don't think there's a term violent enough for what he has done to interest. Believe me, I know a lot of synonyms for violence.

First read this article.

Stop. Okay. Listen, this is a blog, not a homework assignment. Admittedly I link the blog I'm reviewing before I begin assuming people will read it, but I always quote the bits in reference so you don't actually have to do this to get the point of my meaning. I try to make my blog as painless as possible to keep it interesting.
So apparently this article tackles that fantastic list of sins, the seven deadly sins.
Personally I think it's a fair list but it just didn't go far enough. Seriously, only seven things are deadly? I can think of at least twenty or thirty emotions to be minimized.

Despite that, this whole list looks like it was compiled after an all night drinking session by standup comedians, "did you ever notice that women tend to be overly proud..." or "do you know how men are horny..."

Probably because it was.
Seriously don't think too hard about the seven deadly sins or you'll realize a lot of them don't make a lot of sense. Pride? Pride is a sin? It's only natural to take pride in things you do well. That's because whoever originally translated the Bible into English is a genius and realized the word closer to spirit of the original, "hubris", would be totally lost on the illiterate peasant population.

One of these days I'm just going to say "fuck it" and start pasting my lectures into these posts. Not because they're inherently interesting,

Stop. "Not inherently interesting"? Why? Why would you do this? Also I have trouble believing a philosophical dead weight such as you teaches anything.
Actually no I don't. Just kidding.

There is a line in the Tao Teh Ching wherein Lao Tzu remarks about how the wisest person sits and smiles like a newborn baby. This is because in the Taoist interpretation babies are the closest to the Tao and through our education we actually venture away from it.

Holy shit not content with misunderstanding simple precepts in the Bible he continues to the Tao Te Ching.
No, I'm not doing this again. Fuck you.

The one thing that I love about the current political atmosphere is

Nothing. Next post.

I find myself interested in trend setters lately, the first of something that sets a new genre. With that in mind I took out the book Neuromancer from the library.

Oh, that's a classic that started one of my all time favorite genres of fiction: Cyberpunk. Let's see how you make this boring as fuck.

Cyberpunk itself has a unique relation to Philosophy. It dealt with concepts that we study mostly in Mental Philosophy classes but made an attempt to mass market the concepts. This had a double effect: on the one hand it gave us concrete pop-culture examples to use in argumentation whereas before the best we could rely on was Searle's Chinese Box. Arguing over the status of personhood/identity could be focused on examples of AI taking them a tad out of the abstract.

Jesus fuck. Yes all of this is true, and I actually read Searle's Chinese Box, but you're still a pretentious prick.

On the other hand, it had a downside that I call the "instant expertise defective" or IED for short (yes I chose that on purpose). Here's how IED works: when everyone saw the movie "Gladiator" some of those people acted like instant experts on Roman history.

If Cyberpunk makes those plebs desire to make themselves less plebeian, I fail to see the issue.

The cyberpunk genre had IED when the incredibly popular "Matrix" came out. At the time I was taking Philosophy of Mind at SUNY Fredonia.

Oh well look at you, Captain Philosophy 102 is suddenly an expert in the field of philosophy!

When I was teaching, I was often told of many many books that I should read from my students. Most of the recommendations were drivel,

Stands to reason since most books in general are drivel, I suppose.
Holy shit this guy is so fucking boring I can't bring myself to read any more. I keep trying and trying, but I keep finding excuses not to. Oh my God I'm still fucking here how did this even happen? I haven't been on this screen for fifty minutes.
All right this is going nowhere, I'm ending this bullshit now.
"rdxdave" you are bad and you should feel ashamed.

Persona 4 is out, fags

Best be going to your Gamestop and getting that shit.
You can thank me later.
So today is our typical weeaboo, which felt appropriately hypocritical after my PSA about Persona 4.
Although, no, wait, this isn't a regular weeaboo, this is a super weeaboo.
JLPT is, for those of you not familiar with Japanese, the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Basically you take a ton of tests to prove you're fluent so you can be a translator.
A translator of anime, of course, because there isn't any other possible translator job related to Japanese.

You might not be able to stick to it, but you should at least try. I forced myself to learn 50 vocab words a day plus 3 to 4 grammar points.

Ha, ha there's no way you retained 50 new words. You must have a super memory.

It's partly for my own benefit--the next time I take the JLPT, I want to study better instead of harder.

Maybe it's my limited fucking understanding of how languages work, but it's basically impossible to study better. Your only option is to slave through it.

Skip the reading questions and go directly to the grammar questions. Answer them as quickly as possible.

Exactly what you want to do with grammar: answer as quickly as possible. Don't spend any time because God forbid a grammar test is never knit-picky.

If you can't, just guess and move on.

You are the best grammarian ever. JUST GUESS.
I bet her next tip is "pray. Pray everything turned out okay."
Of course now I see why she's doing this sheer madness of attempting to learn 500 words in a single day. She signed up for this test October 6, the test being a little under two months later.
At her current skill level on October 6, she had to learn 4000 words by December.
Good job pacing yourself, boss.
Her current method of study? Why, to put words she saw in a video game into an electronic dictionary!
This'll work. I have a good feeling.

Haven't been on The Internets much lately because The Internets keep giving me headaches.

Didn't George Bush or whoever say this shit four years ago? Isn't it about time we moved past the whole "internets" thing?

What's more, I'll be leaving Japan in August,

Yeah, returning to the motherland you weeaboo fuck?

Le sigh.

Yeah keep it up. Just keep it the fuck up.

He thinks it's going to be easy to just walk into a foreign country and get a job and place to stay.

Depending on the country it probably isn't as hard as you make it out to be.

Can anyone give me some advice on finding work/residence in Japan (especially Tokyo) that I can pass on to him?

Google it you stupid cunt. You're on the goddamn internet.

Names of English schools, good districts to live in, contacts, etc. I've never had to hunt for a job or apartment while actually in Japan, so I don't actually know very much information that's immediately useful to him.

Gee I didn't know this blog came with a homework assignment. I might have reconsidered my involvement had I known this.

Am 99% sure I passed, yay! I did terribly on the listening section though...the girl sitting next to me had a really loud pencil, it totally distracted me.

At what point are you just making excuses? A loud pencil?

finish and mail off my test for my lame-ass Japanese course for JETs (the textbook not only has terrible explanations, it's also racist and sexist and discrimates against left-handers. I guess it's leftist?)

That textbook sounds like it kicks ass. Fuck left handed people. They're sorcerers.

As a sidenote, my family once caught pufferfish while we were fishing in the Philippines. But we threw the suckers back, since we aren't stupid.

Too bad.

This site lets you bypass your workplace's firewall so you can access blocked websites! Yay!

Holy shit welcome to 1999.

as I'm sure you're all dying to know about my sordid little life.

So why are you posting it? Your blog is arguably the most boring fucking thing I've ever read. I've skipped through 45 entries just waiting for something to comment on and it hasn't happened yet.

Today my students asked me my age and I answered truthfully (twenty-three). Her response was along the lines of, "No way! I thought you were way older! I thought you were older than _____-sensei!"

The teacher she was referring to is close to forty years old.

Shit, destroyed.

It's funner than it sounds.

AND YOU TEACH ENGLISH.
Here's the thing, though: had this been Japanese you know that would have been conjugated perfectly.

First off, my computer attempted to commit suicide tonight so if I suddenly disappear off the face of the net (more than usual, I mean), it's because my computer succeeded in its attempt.

I know I might try just to get away from you, holy shit.
I can't take this anymore. This is so fucking bad.
Flonnebonne, this is bad and you should feel bad.
You seem to like Japanese, so let me say something in a language you can appreciate:
糞食らえ、われめちゃん。
It's always good to know your favorite words in several languages, that way you won't be caught unawares should you suddenly find yourself in Japan and in need of calling someone a cunt.
Which happens to me quite often, I might add.