Thursday, November 26, 2009
Sori tru...
Yes, I haven't posted in a week. I'm just taking a small breakish type thing. The world will have to wait until next week to not care about what I write.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Music
I was planning on writing about something stupid... you know, just the usual sarcastic me. But earlier tonight, I was playing guitar and singing with my mom. And just a little bit ago, as I started to plan a little of what I was going to write, I started listening to the 'real' version of one of the songs I was playing earlier (Hosanna, by Hillsong, in case you're curious).* So as I was about to start writing, I was struck by a thought: how awesome is it that God created the concept of music?
There is so much amazing beauty in music. And so much diversity to it. And it can be so moving. And it can inspire. Something I think is so great about music is the fact that it exists to be enjoyed, to be sung, to be played, to be moving, to be beautiful. It can impact us in ways that the lyrics alone, without music, never could. It can be so much more memorable than just the words themselves. I dunno even how to put into words how great it is that music exists. (Although, maybe if I wrote a song about it...)
Anyway... I didn't really have a plan for what I was going to write about it, so this may have made sense to only me. But some thoughts wanted to be written down, so they were. And now they have been shared with the world.
*And yes, it was still Hosanna, by Hillsong, even if you weren't curious.**
**I really can't pass up pointing out the ridiculous literalisms (it's a real word) in the English language.***
***Even if this isn't a 'normal' post.****
****Who decided to make asterisks, anyway? How often were they really used before word processors? (And what happened to their friend Obelix?)
There is so much amazing beauty in music. And so much diversity to it. And it can be so moving. And it can inspire. Something I think is so great about music is the fact that it exists to be enjoyed, to be sung, to be played, to be moving, to be beautiful. It can impact us in ways that the lyrics alone, without music, never could. It can be so much more memorable than just the words themselves. I dunno even how to put into words how great it is that music exists. (Although, maybe if I wrote a song about it...)
Anyway... I didn't really have a plan for what I was going to write about it, so this may have made sense to only me. But some thoughts wanted to be written down, so they were. And now they have been shared with the world.
*And yes, it was still Hosanna, by Hillsong, even if you weren't curious.**
**I really can't pass up pointing out the ridiculous literalisms (it's a real word) in the English language.***
***Even if this isn't a 'normal' post.****
****Who decided to make asterisks, anyway? How often were they really used before word processors? (And what happened to their friend Obelix?)
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Why?
As I should be studying for a psychology test right now, I figured that I would somehow include some of it in tonight's writing, no matter how inane. (I also purposefully decided to include it because it would have shown up one way or the other, and I'd rather feel like I have some sort of control over what happens to be written.)
Nothing really profound to say tonight, but I did want to say one thing. Having said one thing, and then written some more words, my attention span regarding the writing of what I'm thinking to the world at large (when the world at large is largely oblivious to the fact and largely doesn't care) has severely waned. Oh, and here's the psychology bit: people who avoid others and don't enjoy being a part of a group are not antisocial. Antisocial people are those who have a habit of disregarding the basic rights of others. These would be almost everyone in the prison population. It is a little bit like a milder version of narcissism, in that the person feels that what they want is more important than what others want or what others need (a lack of empathy [to copy from my psych study guide]). Where it differs from real narcissism is that narcissistic people also feel an excessive need for admiration and most often have delusions of grandeur, which is a fun thing to say, but not so much to experience in someone else. And in case you were for some really weird reason curious about them, they are both a subtype of Cluster B Personality Disorders, which are categorized as dramatic, erratic, and emotional. They are also lifelong disorders, which means they fall into Axis II of the Multiaxial Assessment test.
On a completely unrelated note, the coffee* in the library tonight is nothing to write home about. Unless, of course, whoever you are writing to at home cares about how horrible the coffee is, or you feel the compulsion to write about how bad the coffee is. In that case, it would be something to write home about. But for the majority of people, at least those who don't write about things that aren't so great because they know that the person they are writing home to doesn't care and it makes the letter so much longer which means that you would have to get a second sheet of paper and write on that too, but then you really don't have enough to write on the second paper of the letter, so it looks like you only have two lines on it because you didn't want to cram it all onto the one paper, and then they think that you didn't really write very much because there's only the two lines on the second paper, even though really you wrote more to them than they would have gotten anyway, because for some reason you were writing home about the less than mediocre coffee in the library, but since they don't care about the less than mediocre coffee, all they see is the fact that there are only two lines of writing on the second paper, so most of it is blank space, and they think about how much more you could have written, and if you really loved them you would write more about what you were doing and how your life was and important things like that instead of just inane drivel about the almost-but-not-quite-entirely-unlike-coffee drink that is sitting in the library, and now they're not so sure that they even miss you quite as much as they thought they did before they got your halfhearted letter (as they see it, because of all the blank space after the two lines about the coffee), and now they're not quite so sure they actually want to come visit you at Christmas after all, since you don't care about them (or miss them, apparently) enough to write more than just the two lines about coffee on the second paper even though there is so much extra space to write in and it's not very likely that your pen is really going to run out of ink while you're writing that one extra little page that you already wrote two lines on about the stupid coffee, which they don't even want to hear about even a little bit, and after all when they wrote you last time, they used up three whole pages, front and back, and didn't just write two lines on a piece of paper, even though their writing really was a little bit on the big size, come to think of it, and probably contained less actual writing than the letter you wrote, even with the useless bit about the coffee which didn't need to be written at all, but you wrote it anyway, just because for some weird reason you wanted to write home about the coffee, and now since they feel you don't care about them, as previously stated, they won't even be coming to visit you, and now that they think about it, they won't even send any presents to someone like you who is so obviously ungrateful that you only wrote two lines about coffee instead of anything meaningful, and after more consideration, they don't even want to see you any more so you're on your own with no support from home at all. If you had listened to my advice, you would not be having this problem. It's your own fault. Ingrate.
*Seriously, though, the coffee sucks tonight.
Nothing really profound to say tonight, but I did want to say one thing. Having said one thing, and then written some more words, my attention span regarding the writing of what I'm thinking to the world at large (when the world at large is largely oblivious to the fact and largely doesn't care) has severely waned. Oh, and here's the psychology bit: people who avoid others and don't enjoy being a part of a group are not antisocial. Antisocial people are those who have a habit of disregarding the basic rights of others. These would be almost everyone in the prison population. It is a little bit like a milder version of narcissism, in that the person feels that what they want is more important than what others want or what others need (a lack of empathy [to copy from my psych study guide]). Where it differs from real narcissism is that narcissistic people also feel an excessive need for admiration and most often have delusions of grandeur, which is a fun thing to say, but not so much to experience in someone else. And in case you were for some really weird reason curious about them, they are both a subtype of Cluster B Personality Disorders, which are categorized as dramatic, erratic, and emotional. They are also lifelong disorders, which means they fall into Axis II of the Multiaxial Assessment test.
On a completely unrelated note, the coffee* in the library tonight is nothing to write home about. Unless, of course, whoever you are writing to at home cares about how horrible the coffee is, or you feel the compulsion to write about how bad the coffee is. In that case, it would be something to write home about. But for the majority of people, at least those who don't write about things that aren't so great because they know that the person they are writing home to doesn't care and it makes the letter so much longer which means that you would have to get a second sheet of paper and write on that too, but then you really don't have enough to write on the second paper of the letter, so it looks like you only have two lines on it because you didn't want to cram it all onto the one paper, and then they think that you didn't really write very much because there's only the two lines on the second paper, even though really you wrote more to them than they would have gotten anyway, because for some reason you were writing home about the less than mediocre coffee in the library, but since they don't care about the less than mediocre coffee, all they see is the fact that there are only two lines of writing on the second paper, so most of it is blank space, and they think about how much more you could have written, and if you really loved them you would write more about what you were doing and how your life was and important things like that instead of just inane drivel about the almost-but-not-quite-entirely-unlike-coffee drink that is sitting in the library, and now they're not so sure that they even miss you quite as much as they thought they did before they got your halfhearted letter (as they see it, because of all the blank space after the two lines about the coffee), and now they're not quite so sure they actually want to come visit you at Christmas after all, since you don't care about them (or miss them, apparently) enough to write more than just the two lines about coffee on the second paper even though there is so much extra space to write in and it's not very likely that your pen is really going to run out of ink while you're writing that one extra little page that you already wrote two lines on about the stupid coffee, which they don't even want to hear about even a little bit, and after all when they wrote you last time, they used up three whole pages, front and back, and didn't just write two lines on a piece of paper, even though their writing really was a little bit on the big size, come to think of it, and probably contained less actual writing than the letter you wrote, even with the useless bit about the coffee which didn't need to be written at all, but you wrote it anyway, just because for some weird reason you wanted to write home about the coffee, and now since they feel you don't care about them, as previously stated, they won't even be coming to visit you, and now that they think about it, they won't even send any presents to someone like you who is so obviously ungrateful that you only wrote two lines about coffee instead of anything meaningful, and after more consideration, they don't even want to see you any more so you're on your own with no support from home at all. If you had listened to my advice, you would not be having this problem. It's your own fault. Ingrate.
*Seriously, though, the coffee sucks tonight.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Figures
As soon as I find something to do with all my spare time (writing to the great unwashed [thanks Mr. Bulwer-Lytton]), I suddenly have all sorts of other things I have to do. So... again, a short post. But I have three hours in which to write a four page paper on Dissociative Identity Disorder, so I'd better get to it. Facebook is going to be distracting enough as it is.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Free-writing
Well, it is Wednesday, and I am posting... but I didn't really think of anything to write about. I was fairly sure I would be in the middle of writing a research paper for psychology that was due tomorrow. But, as it turns out, that paper is not due until Tuesday. So I've got almost an entire week to procrastinate on that. So... no ideas. Which means no writing. Of course, it is entirely possible to write something without having any idea of what you're writing, but it is generally discouraged. Discouraged, at least, if you are expecting anyone to read what you've written. And enjoy it. It is encouraged, sometimes, as a means of getting past writer's block. Just start writing whatever comes to mind. Don't think about it, just type it. Don't go back to correct yourself. Just write, write, write. I guess that could work. You write whatever flows out your fingers and eventually you're bound to get some sort of idea. It's just a statistical probability. The trick is, though, to not do it when it's for more than just your own amusement or help. So, for example, if you had one of these blog-type-things that people actually read, it would be a bad idea. Probably. Most likely. Luckily for me, though, I don't care. It's liberating... you should try it.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Posting
So... I'm going to write this as though there are actually people who read what I write here. Therefore: to those 'people' (not figments of my imagination) I say this: (is it grammatically okay to put two colons in the same sentence? [or two parenthetical statements?]) I plan on writing something in here on Mondays and Wednesdays. Usually. Obviously, if there is something else happening, this is pretty much the bottom on the list of things to do. Unless, of course, someone replied and said something about how they couldn't live without reading my clever and witty writing. Then I would post something about how they need to get a life and stop stalking me. Anyway... this is my post for tonight. So I don't have to think of anything else to write.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Why do it?
Really, when you think about it, blogging is kinda weird. (If you don't think about it, it's not weird. Sorta like a Schrödinger's cat sorta thing.) Before the internet, did anyone do anything similar? Or could they, even? How would you be able to share what you're thinking with people all over the world? To share what you're thinking requires either someone hearing you, or someone reading what you have written. (I'm discounting telepathy for now.)
To have someone hear you, before the internet, would either require that person to be in your presence, talk on the phone with you, or to have a recording of your voice. While having someone in your presence is probably the most effective way to tell them what you are thinking, it has limits. Probably the most significant limit is the number of people who can be physically with you at any given time. The same basic thought applies to listening over the telephone. Although you can have talk to more than one person at a time on the phone, there is a limit as to how many can be on at a time. If your voice is recorded, you can make as many copies as you want (theoretically), and therefore have an unlimited number of people who can hear your ideas. This, however, is not instant. You cannot clarify what you mean. You cannot decide you don't like what your idea was and get back all the copies you made from everyone (theoretically) in the world.
Writing.* (Before the internet, in case your attention wandered and you have forgotten what this is about.) This is also a very effective way to spread your ideas. There are some obvious benefits of writing over speaking. Writing lasts a lot longer. Writing, once forgotten, can be read again and remembered. Writing can be done to either a specific person or small group of people (as in a letter) or to a large diverse group of people (such as a newspaper). If you write a letter to someone, it takes time to arrive. It can only be read by a limited number of people at a time. It can be copied to allow others to read it, but that, again, takes time and effort. To share your ideas in a newspaper, you most likely need to work for the newspaper. They (newspapers in general) do not publish random members of the public thoughts and ideas. There is also the aforementioned problem with the time it takes to arrive. Writing also has the additional problem, as with speech, of not being able to clarify or correct what you wrote. You cannot instantly tell someone what you meant to say. It just takes time.
And now we have the internet. Anyone can share their ideas with anyone in the entire world (theoretically). It doesn't cost money (to just write). It doesn't take time, other than the time to actually think of something to write and write it. You don't even really have to say what you meant the first time. If someone asks you a question about what you wrote, or points out that you have made a mistake, you can correct the mistake so that no one in the future will even know that you have made a mistake. You can correct and refine for as long as you want, with no addition charge (other than time writing), and no additional time to again 'publish' what you have written. Someone can see it ten seconds after it was written. Say what you will about the evils of the internet (but if you do, why are you even online to read this?), but it makes the distribution of ideas (however wrong or boring or whatever) incredibly easy. It's almost a little bit magical.
*Or pictures, since pictures are worth a thousand words.**
**What is the exchange rate from pictures to dollars, and why is the word to picture ratio is not at 100 to 1 like most of the world's currencies?***
***Yes, I realize I'm just making this post look a lot longer by using footnotes, but you'll get over it.****
****Eventually.****... Okay, fine, I'm done.
To have someone hear you, before the internet, would either require that person to be in your presence, talk on the phone with you, or to have a recording of your voice. While having someone in your presence is probably the most effective way to tell them what you are thinking, it has limits. Probably the most significant limit is the number of people who can be physically with you at any given time. The same basic thought applies to listening over the telephone. Although you can have talk to more than one person at a time on the phone, there is a limit as to how many can be on at a time. If your voice is recorded, you can make as many copies as you want (theoretically), and therefore have an unlimited number of people who can hear your ideas. This, however, is not instant. You cannot clarify what you mean. You cannot decide you don't like what your idea was and get back all the copies you made from everyone (theoretically) in the world.
Writing.* (Before the internet, in case your attention wandered and you have forgotten what this is about.) This is also a very effective way to spread your ideas. There are some obvious benefits of writing over speaking. Writing lasts a lot longer. Writing, once forgotten, can be read again and remembered. Writing can be done to either a specific person or small group of people (as in a letter) or to a large diverse group of people (such as a newspaper). If you write a letter to someone, it takes time to arrive. It can only be read by a limited number of people at a time. It can be copied to allow others to read it, but that, again, takes time and effort. To share your ideas in a newspaper, you most likely need to work for the newspaper. They (newspapers in general) do not publish random members of the public thoughts and ideas. There is also the aforementioned problem with the time it takes to arrive. Writing also has the additional problem, as with speech, of not being able to clarify or correct what you wrote. You cannot instantly tell someone what you meant to say. It just takes time.
And now we have the internet. Anyone can share their ideas with anyone in the entire world (theoretically). It doesn't cost money (to just write). It doesn't take time, other than the time to actually think of something to write and write it. You don't even really have to say what you meant the first time. If someone asks you a question about what you wrote, or points out that you have made a mistake, you can correct the mistake so that no one in the future will even know that you have made a mistake. You can correct and refine for as long as you want, with no addition charge (other than time writing), and no additional time to again 'publish' what you have written. Someone can see it ten seconds after it was written. Say what you will about the evils of the internet (but if you do, why are you even online to read this?), but it makes the distribution of ideas (however wrong or boring or whatever) incredibly easy. It's almost a little bit magical.
*Or pictures, since pictures are worth a thousand words.**
**What is the exchange rate from pictures to dollars, and why is the word to picture ratio is not at 100 to 1 like most of the world's currencies?***
***Yes, I realize I'm just making this post look a lot longer by using footnotes, but you'll get over it.****
****Eventually.****... Okay, fine, I'm done.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Once upon a time...
...there was a blog. And the blog was not expected to last very long. The blog knew this from the moment of its birth. And the blog was okay with that. It knew that it served a very small purpose. It was aware that it would most likely be forgotten within a week. It had heard the stories of other blogs, the vast majority of blogs, who had been started with grand intentions and aspirations, only to be lost in the shuffle of normal life. Yet the blog was content. It had no aspirations. It had no dreams. No hopes. Not even any plans to speak of. It merely was. And the blog was fairly sure that it was good. Not the blog itself, but its existence.* Although the blog itself had a chance be good. It had not yet existed long enough to be able to say with any sort of certainty whether it was good or not. It figured it might also be bad. It thought it may just plain cease to exist before any sort of determination about its good/bad ratio/leanings/tendencies come into being. And the blog was still okay with all of this. ** The blog also realized that there were a lot of other blogs out there. Bigger blogs. Meaner blogs. Blogs with big spiky collars and chains connecting them to their houses. After all, it was a blog eat... The blog realized that it could not with good conscious continue with that line of thinking. Although it was a small blog, with no one currently in sight, it realized that someone someday (possibly) may see what it contained and be horrified at such a cliché-although-not-quite-used-enough-to-technically-be-cliché sentence. After noticing how far its own quality of life had dropped, in the mere minutes of its existence, particularly in the arranging of letters into words and words into sentences, not to mention the mutilation of all proper grammar rules, although it did try to always use proper spelling, the blog decided to quit while it was ahead. If it was ahead. It couldn't quite be sure. It was sure, however, that it did not have a head. So it wasn't sure if it was possible for it to be ahead, when it didn't have a head, or what there even was for it to be ahead of. Upon this thought, the blog became confused and retired for the night.
* It must be said, however, that the blog had no other experiences (other than existing) to compare its current experience with.
**It must also be said that the blog had no real choice in the matter as it was an inanimate object, existing only in the almost-magical, a-little-bit-ethereal, not-quite-fantastical-but-pretty-close-to-fantastical land known as 'The Internets'.
* It must be said, however, that the blog had no other experiences (other than existing) to compare its current experience with.
**It must also be said that the blog had no real choice in the matter as it was an inanimate object, existing only in the almost-magical, a-little-bit-ethereal, not-quite-fantastical-but-pretty-close-to-fantastical land known as 'The Internets'.
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