This weekend I am again going home, and leaving my room in the dubious care of my roommate. But I am more optimistic than usual, because I don't have as much work to come back to as I previously thought (yay for paper extensions). Though my goals for writing and drawing are a bit lofty, I hope I can at least get two more Karma pages done (since I'm going home next weekend too, for fall break) and write more on Clarity and Twolle and I's thing... and I'm also taking home the PS2 to play Kingdom Hearts. :B;; (mom's gonna be mad at the amount of stuff I'm bringing with me, but oh well..)

Apparently my crazy world drama professor is indeed bisexual. He told us that his 151 (intro course) students were looking to jump out the window when he told them that, and also that he would be frequently beaten up while in bars (because of his one earring). The reason why this is interesting to me, and why I'm recording it here, is because no one in our class expressed revulsion. If they were repelled by the knowledge, they internalized it, probably to avoid looking stupid. But I don't doubt that at least a few of them were. Rhodes, despite being a liberal arts college, is actually pretty conservative. No hippies here, Twolle. X3 Or at least I haven't met'em.

Actually I would think that, in terms of liberal arts colleges, Twolle's Beloit and my Rhodes are polar opposites. The funny thing (to me) about them both is that it seems like there's a focus of service at both--but at Beloit, it's more service in the let's go rally and try to get Congress to change the laws because we don't like the establishment and the patriarchy and whatnot, whereas Rhodes is more like, let's go volunteer at soup kitchens and build houses for the homeless.

And there is definitely not a club for gays and lesbians. :B;

It's funny because it's true!! (before anyone possibly jumps on me, I love techno, and one of my most favorite techno songs has all the elements mentioned here. It's still funny.)

My brother came home from UT Knoxville today, and I had dinner with him and my mother. I suppose that adage about absence making the heart grow fonder is true in this case, because we got along pretty well. Though doubtless I'll be yelling that I hate him when I go home tomorrow and spend the weekend with him around and we fight, right now I have to say that I love my brother. He always reminds me that it doesn't matter what other people think of you, especially when their arguments are fallacious and puerile. Apparently he's been having several chatroom adventures with random folks and been subsequently amazed at the vast ignorance present on the Internet (he was talking about being in a chatroom devoted to religion, but the people in there were only talking about whether or not the Vietnam war really happened).

Later I was talking about how I felt bad about turning off my roommate's alarm this morning--it had gone off about five times, and I'd asked her to get up/turn it off each time, and on the fifth time I finally just got up and turned it off myself because I couldn't take it anymore--and he said that was understandable and some other stuff about him and his roommate and me and mine, and I said to Mom, "See, I'm not a bad person..." and he said "No, you are a bad person. That's beside the point. I'm a bad person too. There's nothing wrong with being a bad person."

Course, then mom said he was full of it... Ahh, my family. :B

He also told me that he'd written in my guestbook.. apparently I took the 'adapt or die' line from him or something. I thought that was just some random passer by.. nope, it was my evil twin. =P

This too is vanity, and a chasing after wind.

And also: Witch Hunter Robin = AWESOME.

NEED EPISODE 15. NEED BAD. n_n

I realize that a lot of you are gonna disagree with my opinions on the nature of blog posting. That's OK. I'm not the kind of person who thinks her friends have to agree with every little thing she says in order to remain friends--or at least I try not to be that way. The example I always use here is that Ali, who I love dearly and well, loves Aerith, while I hate Aerith... and Ali, who I love dearly and well, dislikes Seymour, while I love Seymour. You might think to yourself, well, fighting over character preferences is petty anyway, and it is, but I've seen people get -enraged- about it. But Ali and I do not get enraged, because our preferences do not have to match for us to be friends. Besides that, I have many friends who are friends with people that I either dislike or who do not like me at all, and I still love those friends dearly and well all the same. You do not have to agree with me on every single point to be my friend. You don't even have to like all of my work (though I'd be lying if I said it wasn't nice :B). It's just a matter of politeness and respect.

Besides, when it comes to the blog thing, if you apply the prevailing doctrine here, then no one's got any right to call anything I write immature because this is my 'ranting space.' But since I disagree with that, anyone can feel free to say so, and in some cases I'll agree. I'm 18 years old.

But I'm also 5, 8, 3, 9, and 12, and I'm sensitive. Am I sorry for how I react to words that hurt me? No. Am I sorry if I seem immature? Yes. But you know, I'm not going to hide my feelings just because some people suddenly think being unkind is OK. And no matter how you slice it, there's nothing nice about deriding someone, especially because of their ill perceived popularity.

Though it might not seem like it, I am in fact a reasonable person. But I respond with reason to reason, and tend to lose sight of it in the face of meanness. We all have our flaws.

I thought, again, briefly, about stopping my projects. But then I realized that would never happen. No matter what anyone says, I will never stop. I am not going anywhere. I will stay here until everything is finished, and from that finished work will arise more, new work to be finished. If anything, this makes me want to work even harder.

But I guess now I cannot deny that I am at least somewhat popular. After all, what's a better mark of success than detractors?

I'm sorry, but I take issue with this. I've mentioned it before, but now I'm going to be direct and open about it because I'm sick of seeing ideas like it being used to justify people being inconsiderate and rude in their weblogs.

While I do think that readme makes some good points, I'm mostly taking issue with this section:

"If they do not want you reading it, or suddenly stop posting entries, ask them why and if necessary, stop going to the site. It is important that as a friend, relative, co-worker or whatever you may be to the writer, that your presence at their weblog not impede their ability to express themselves. Remember this is their outlet. They may not want you to read certain things they might write about you or others you care about, in order to spare your feelings, avoid drama or maintain their privacy. You should respect this and immediately stop going to the site, and never relay any information you gather at their site to others who might use it against them."

I must respectfully disagree. Writing in an online journal is NOT the same as writing in pen and paper journal that is seen only by you and the underside of your mattress. Some of my readers are probably getting tired of me saying this, but I'm going to keep talking about it until I stop getting it thrown in my face by rude writers: PRIVACY. DOES NOT. EXIST. ON THE INTERNET.

ESPECIALLY when you A) are in webrings and B) LINK TO THE WEBSITE OF THE PERSON YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT. I mean, could B be more of a DUH? If you link to someone, and then later write negatively about them, you've got no right to bitch and moan about how they weren't supposed to see it, because the only reason they did was because of your own carelessness.

Regardless of the steps you think you've taken to hide your blog, eventually it's going to be found, and you had better be prepared for a backlash if you are writing rude shit. It's not immature to be offended at a callous remark. It's immature to think that you shouldn't be taken to task and that you are not responsible for what you write in a public forum. Yes, I said PUBLIC. Obviously this is especially true for people who don't take any measures to hide the URL of their blogs (such as me), but it holds true for people who do, too. The Internet is a PUBLIC FORUM. GET OVER IT. Stop spouting this stupid, childish, whiny diatribe of, ohhh, it's my personal ranting space! I can do what I please! No one can say anything against me about it! To do so obviously shows their immaturity! The first three, I'm fine with. The last, no. Like I've said here before, you can feel free to take me to task if I write about you specifically in a negative light. Because I take responsibility for the shit I write, which is why when I'm pissed off at someone I don't generally write about in a public blog.

I'd be lying if I said this wasn't inspired by something, because it was, but I'm refraining from naming names because I know the writer I'm thinking of is trying to keep her blog inaccessible. But if she reads this, and wants to comment, and wants to IM me, or whatever, I'll answer.

As for the rest of the readme, I don't have a real problem with it. In fact, I like the following paragraph:
If someone writes about you and you don't appreciate it, approach them about it. Try to remain calm and polite. Explain that you are entitled to your privacy as well. There are many compromises that can be reached from using vague nicknames to protect your anonymity, or not mentioning you at all. If you are upset because they are writing negative things about you, be reasonable, try to see if there is a way to resolve the issues and mend your relationship with the writer. If that doesn't seem to be possible, stop going to the website. They will eventually get bored and move on.

Strangely, this one comes right after the portion I take issue with, and they seem to be somewhat contradictory, as one says that if you're not wanted at a weblog you should leave and respect their privacy and the other acknowledges that people are gonna get upset if they see bad things written about them.

Weblogs are not like houses. You can't "kick people out" and YOU don't GET to decide who's going to view your blog or not. All you can do is try to control where the URL goes, and that's about it. You don't have the power to decide who visits your site and who doesn't, because this is the Internet. It's not your fucking house.

KINGDOM HEARTS: You want to plaaaayy meeee.
ME: No!! I have to read Ecclesiastes!! I have to do an archaeology exam! I have to write a World Drama critique!!
KINGDOM HEARTS: PLAY ME.
ME: Agh! Shut up!!
KINGDOM HEARTS: You know you want to...
ME: ::sobs::

"In the last chapter of the first part, Claris is sent to a world
in which everything is basically the same except Sean does not exist and she has
no friends. You covered that sequence in about a paragraph. I think you should
have taken the time to describe it. It would have been more effective that way."

Friends, THAT is constructive criticism.