The Topic of Great Randomness

[Sam]

I'm used to being missunderstood. My mom works an add set team at Khols, they work from 8pm-1am, and she doesn't get beign tired. Right now they are working holiday hours (10pm-6am) and she still doesn't get it! ARGH! Oh well, that is life isn't it?

~Sam (Hifun55) and Dog~
One by one the garden gnomes slowly steal my sanity.

[papercrane]

Sam: I _so_ empathize with you. *sigh* I just got e-grounded too...my mom was freaking out about the 'dangerous world of the internet' and how I shouldn't even have an email account, and how teens in general and me in particular weren't to be trusted...I snapped at her, and, well, there went my email time. Anyhow, yeah. I read this last page and I was like...wow, this post will actually be less than totally random!

Words are the litmus paper of the minds. If you find yourself in the power of someone who will use the word "commence" in cold blood, go somewhere else very quickly. But if they say "Enter", don't stop to pack.
--Terry Pratchett, Small Gods

[littlehorse82]

Fortunately, my dad is a computer programmer, so he has never asked me why I need e-mail. Thank God. My mom, however, is a different story.

She's especially annoying when I'm trying to write. I'll have an insperation that takes at least half an hour to get out, and if I don't get it out right away, I'll forget it. She always calls me to do things at the most inopportune times. Like to eat dinner, or feed the dogs, or to do laundry. I don't need food! I could write for days without food! The dogs can wait! They're used to not eating much. And my sister is quite capable of doing the laundry herself.

My dad does get paranoid about internet stalkers, though. He's used firewalls to ban sites from my computer. But I never give out my name on the internet. I'm littlehorse on the internet. No one knows where I go to school. I've always been very careful about that. Why don't parents trust us?

ppc: Yeah, I can sympathize. I don't think that's very fair that the stereotype for teens is that we can't be trusted.

If ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy?

Curiosity mauled the cat and left it on the side of the road.

School is hell with flourescent lighting.

[Birdhead]

Now I feel guilty: while I feel that I am conscious of the dangers of internet, I also know that I am not internet safe, or not as I shoudl be. (Ex: at least two people know my full name, everyone knows my first name and where I live... I could be found.) Mostly I guess it's a false sense of I'm-on-the-other-side-of-the-world security.
Meh. Stalker-angst. Don't tell your parents. Or mine!! (otoh, these are the parents who have allowed me to receive a book from the other side of the world (squash, if you read this, again, THANK YOU, and also, i'm nearly done with your package. ) and to meet a stranger... I don't think they have much room to criticise me.)

"We are philosophical geniuses [sic] who will one day rule the world!"
--Agent M
Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha!
Still the Typo Queen

[papercrane]

Well, in all fairness I guess if somebody really, _really_ wanted to know where I lived etc. they could find out...oh well.
Random incident: My sister's friend told her message board what city she lived in, realized the danger a week later, and hastily told everyone there that she moved to Montana.

Words are the litmus paper of the minds. If you find yourself in the power of someone who will use the word "commence" in cold blood, go somewhere else very quickly. But if they say "Enter", don't stop to pack.
--Terry Pratchett, Small Gods

[Birdhead]

*cracks up* Riiight. Everyone, I'm moving to Auckland! No! To Sydney!

... or not. Oh well.

"We are philosophical geniuses [sic] who will one day rule the world!"
--Agent M
Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha!
Still the Typo Queen

[Sam]

I'm sooooo not internet safe, my friends worry more about me being here than my parents do. I told them about this site and they are like you told them your first name? Where you live? Your age and b-day? Your school? and all this other crap, I'm like soo, I don't really care. And they are like we'll really miss you when one of them comes and kills you Sam. I'm like hey, life will be better there. So I don't really care about it.

~Sam (Hifun55) and Dog~
One by one the garden gnomes slowly steal my sanity.

[db_pr]

I really don't understand why people say that, I mean, if a crazy man wants to kill someone then why doesn't he goes nextdoor and kills his neighbor instead of going through the trouble of tracking down somebody who he doesn't know from the internet!?

IF WE HAVE TO GIVE THIS BASTARDS OUR LIVES, WE GIVE THEM HELL BEFORE WE DO!!!

[Birdhead]

db: less trakable. Way less trackable. That is to say, his Net access is very trackable, but if he goes and kills some random chick on the other side of the country, the police's first moves are going to be looking at things like family: the real-life stuff. Sure, they may check internet, but it'll probably be their second step.
Actually, I have no idea why. I don't know if that's even accurate. But if I was to guess, that'sd be why.
Urg. I sound like a stalker. MOVING ON.

I'm like hey, life will be better there.

I don't know about that, myself, but you sound like you need a hug. *hugs*

"We are philosophical geniuses [sic] who will one day rule the world!"
--Agent M
Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha!
Still the Typo Queen

[Sam]

Tui, I'm not saying my life is bad, actually _right now_ every thing is going good. But I'm a Christian and I believe there is a heaven, so it will be better there.

~Sam (Hifun55) and Dog~
One by one the garden gnomes slowly steal my sanity.

[Aurora]

And I've read the HDM too many times... And of there's one thing those books taught me, its about how you have to think- Do you follow things blindly? It really applies for everything.

Unfotunately, I have been informed that I actually DON'T think for myself- In fact, I've been informed that I don't think at all, and you know what?

I think they're right. I DON'T think. (And that's kind of a contradiction....)

Because I just surf on memory in school- YOU DON'T HAVE TO THINK IN SCHOOL. Not really. Its like studying Philosophy. Do you study philosophy or the professors of philosophy? Do you look at your own philosophy or Plato's?

You can get through school just FINE without thinking. In fact, you can probably get through University without thinking too. And you can probably get through life without actually thinking.

But it's pathetic, isn't it? A person like me, with a 89.5% average (A+ in Canada, if you round it... and remember, Canada has a VERY good education system), and I DON'T THINK.

...I really think that I should start thinking.

...and you're all thinking I'm utterly insane and making no sense at all.

Kitsune Rei ~kisses taste nice~

[Birdhead]

Sam: Oh, good, then.

Aurora: no, actually, that made a lot of sense. And certainly it's true for many school students that they don't think, and yet you can still do well in school. That's part of the new system NCEA here, which is supposed to mean that at an Excellence level you're thinking for yourself rather than regurgitating your notes. In some subjects that works, in others it doesn't. I guess it really depends on who you are. I can, and I think I do, choose to think about my school work. Sometimes this has a positive effect (English), sometimes it has a negative affect (Sciences.) But you can get by without doing so.

On the other hand, I don't know that it's true that you, as an individual, don't think. What most irritates me about the people, the intelligent people, who I know that do not think, is that thye have none of their own opinions. They have opinions, well balanced ones, but they are not ones that they have created for themselves. However, I think you do have that.

"We are philosophical geniuses [sic] who will one day rule the world!"
--Agent M
Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha!
Still the Typo Queen

[Aurora]

My opinions? I don't think they're mine, really- I don't know if I think up my own opinions or if I simply follow someone else's opinions. Take the issue of say... Legalizing gay marriages for instance.

I completely support this movement, but I support it of the same reasons other people support it. Because I want equal rights for EVERYBODY. Someone can change their sexuality about as easily as it is to change your own gender, you can't CHOOSE. Sure, there are those people who SAY they were gay and have changed, but is that really true? Maybe they're just lying to themselves to the extent that they fully believe they've changed. I wouldn't know. In short, what right have we to refuse them the right to marry whomever they wish?

And at the same time, I can see the other side of the fence- Marriage is an honourable institution, it's TRADITION that marriage only takes place between a man and a woman. People should have respect for marriage, the most venerable institution, preceding little tribes and empires and governments. Homosexuals should be content with civil unions. They have (mostly... I think.. I'll have to look that one up) the same rights as that of a marriage. They HAVE equal rights as heterosexuals. And there is always the issue of religious values to consider.

None of these arguments are my own. NONE of them. Every single one I've heard and copied from somebody else. I still support the movement, of course, but why do I support it, having heard both stories? Because, for me, the point of equal rights is far stronger than what the opposition says. But does it mean I think? Or does it mean the opposite, that I DON'T think? That I don;t think and follow what other people have told me?

And we're back to the His Dark Materials main theme. At least, thats what I see as the main theme- Think, and don't follow blindly.

No one please argue with me over the gay rights issue. I probably should have used Racial Profiling or Feminism, but neither of those illustrated the question I was attempting to say quite as clearly. And the question, said simply, is "Do I think?"

Kitsune Rei ~kisses taste nice~

[Agent M]

Uh... Does anyone think that it's kinda strange, or even wrong, that I'm Christian but I don't believe in heaven? I don't believe in a lot of things I know I'm supposed to.... Like I think there's a lot more to what Jesus did then what the bible says.... Like maybe they weren't exactly miracles.... But then I'm not Christian, am I? Ugh. Like Aurora I think I might have read the HDM books one too many times.... In fact I just re read Amber Spyglass, *sob*
And Aurora, that makes perfect sense, sometimes I'm arguing about something and I wonder, is this what I think, or just something I've heard and I agree with it. But really, you can't go through life without thinking, not really, I mean sure, things that you talk about might be someone else's idea, but most of the time you add onto it, and if you don't, then you still feel..... I don't know what I'm getting at here, but we all have our own opinions, sometimes we just don't know what they are.

*Agent~M*
"Those who refuse the Powers, become the tools of the Powers, Those who agree to help the powers, Themselves become the Powers. Beware the Choice! Beware refusing it!"-Young Wizards books.
"Do what the night tells you, and read the fine print before you sign!" -Peach.
"In the Cookies of life, your friends are the chocolate chips" -Sam

[Birdhead]

Aurora: OK, I won't go into the gay rights issue, but i will say: no. To me (and my opinion is obviously not exactly gospel), that would indicate that you are thinking: because you've looked at both sides of the issue and said, "I feel this argument is stronger." People I know, reasonably smart and intelligent people, will do it differently: they'll read the paper and the paper will say "Gay marriage is OK (or not OK)," and all the arguments for it, and then the next time they have to talk about the issue, they'll say, "Gay marriage is OK (or not OK," and then insert all the arguments. it's a really good fake for actual though, but it doesn't entirely beat it (though it does mean they are more secure in their arguments.)

Agent M: Yes, I think it is very wierd that you are a Christian and yet do not believe in heaven, mostly because I believe it to be aquite an important part of the religion. It doesn't bother me, but I think it's definitely unusual.

Meh. I have similar opinions on the "miracles." You sound a bit like Mightily-Praiseworthy-are-Ye-Who-Exalteth-Om Oats... He kept reading and remembering things that thalked about strange bacteria that turned seas red, a blood colour, and thing like that. (For more about Mightily Oats, read Terry Pratchett's Carpe Jugulum,, 'cause that's where he's from. Actually, jsut read Pratchett anyway. )

"We are philosophical geniuses [sic] who will one day rule the world!"
--Agent M
Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha!
Still the Typo Queen