I Caught A Mechanical Butterfly

I would love to own things like this necklace:

I.  Love.  It.

It's amazing.

Nothing more can be said.

...

(Except that the feedback poll is still going on!  Visit and comment on the post below to give your input.  Yeah, I know I should have just left it alone.  But I couldn't help myself.)

image found using Google images

Just Tell Me What You Want!

I want your feedback.

What types of posts do you like reading the most?  Which ones do you usually skim or skip over?

I'm sure I could find a way to make a poll with some Blogger Widget thing, but I'd rather just hear what you have to say in a comment. 

Here's the rules:
1) You can vote for as many different things as you want, although I'd like to at least know your top two or three favorite topics.
2) Also, tell me one or two things you usually don't enjoy reading about as much. 
(I know, I know, there's less slots for dislikes than there are for likes.  I figure that if you dislike as much or more than you like, you probably aren't here enough to comment anyway!)
3) Give me a suggestion on something you'd like to see more of.  Whether you like reading about a certain topic, a comedic opinion on a situation, you want advice (heaven forbid!), or whatever other type of posting, I want to know what you want!

Here's some of the things I've posted in the past to help you out a little:
-something on the topic of videogames
-a post made up of pictures
-"Best of the Internet" links
-a topic of interest (like sex/gender/androgyny/etc, the vampire fad, things like that)
-advice based on my experiences
-comedy and/or stories
-lists
-R.A.I.N.Y. day
-questions posed to the readers

I can't promise anything one way or the other, of course.  What if you happen to hate something everyone else likes, or you would love to hear about something that I know nothing about, have no experience in, or can't research for some reason?  Obviously, those things wouldn't work. 

On the other hand, I'm curious as to what you like to read about.  And if I ever find myself wanting for a post idea, I could take your wishes into account!

Am I Pretty Now?

Yes, things have changed a little around here!

It's been way beyond time for a layout change, so even though I'm not sure if it will stay this way (since there might be better background pictures out there if I can get them to work; I don't know yet), this is the new Lantern of Lightning for now.  And knowing me, it probably will stay like this for a while.  I worry a heck of a lot more about content than appearance, as anyone who's been around this blog for any length of time can easily tell.

Besides, I do like this look. 

If my job were a video game...

...then the first level of difficulty in delivering pizza would be going to government housing, because the address numbers are all in the same place and they all light up at night.

...then one of the constant challenges would be fixing your beat-up, super-ghetto car and changing a flat on the fly.

...then one available upgrades would be getting a better, more reliable car...but only after several months on the job.

...then at higher levels, you'd be forced to find houses on dark streets at night that feel no need to display their house numbers so that even if there was a light on, you wouldn't be able to tell which house you were supposed to be at.

...then the higher level would also have multiple streets with the same name that force you to guess which one to go to.  (Reminder: this actually happens.)

...then tips would only be about 13% comparable to the amount of distance travelled.  Sometimes you'd go one mile and get three dollars, while others you may travel five miles and get a customer who waits for you to count out all their change rather than to let you keep a few cents.

...then a handy dandy money pouch or brighter shirt to allow you to be seen at night would count as obtainable items when you upgrade.

...then your experience points would allow you to do less turnarounds overall.

...then every mission would be a solo mission and you'd only get limit commands with party members in-store (with things like washing dishes) to create more powerful attacks.

...then customer complaints would open up a "Retaliation Menu", allowing you to unleash any one of a plethora of violent attacks on them. 

Because this is a video game.
And sometimes games are more fun than real life.

For all the lovely commenters out there: What would your job be like as a video game?  List a few points in a comment or make a post like this of your own!  I give you official permission to borrow the idea. :)



A Pizza Hut Delivery Driver leveling up. 
(Okay, so maybe it's actually a screenshot from City of Heroes.  I don't have screenshots from the Delivery Demo yet, okay?!)

picture found using Google images

Wordless Happiness

So...

What things are YOU happy about this Friday?

all pictures found using Google Images

Linky Linky Link-a-dinks

Lately, I've been exposed to a lot of new things in a variety of forms.  Watching new movies, reading new blogs, playing new games. 

I've never done a "Best of the Internet" post.  Maybe it's about time that I did!

http://www.dearblankpleaseblank.com/
You know how people do those little letters on their Facebook statuses all the time that read "Dear blank, please do so-and-so.  Love, Blank"?  Well, this is a site full of those.  Except that these are actually funny.

http://www.textsfromlastnight.com/
The title says it all.  This place is for people with an inappropriate sense of humor.  It glorifies sex, alcohol and drugs.  And usually, it's freakin' hilarious.

http://www.postsecret.com/
People have secrets that they can't tell anyone, but they want to get it off their chest, so they send in a postcard here.  New ones are posted every Sunday.

http://www.illwillpress.com/
It's sort of like an animated web comic.  Just started watching these last night, but they're worth the recommendation, even for the uniqueness alone.  It takes a pretty odd sense of humor to subscribe to these, but it's worth a try!

http://www.mylifeisaverage.com/
A retaliation to FML.  It started as a place to post average things that happen in life, but slowly evolved into a place where extraordinary things happen, when Harry Potter is loved by all, everyone's still looking for Waldo and Twilight deserves death by ninjas.  I don't read these as much as I used to, but I was addicted at one point.  Maybe you'll like them too.

http://www.hulu.com/
Okay, so you haven't been well acquainted with the internet if you don't know this site yet.  But just in case you don't, you can watch TV shows on here with limited commercials.  (Psst...they have Glee episodes!)

http://www.pandora.com/
You give it a song you like, it gives you an entire radio station of music tailored to your tastes.  It's amazing.  Need I say more? 

http://www.hyperboleandahalf.com/
Okay, so I wasn't going to put any blogs on here, but I couldn't help it.  This woman is a comic genius.  She makes me laugh out loud even when I'm reading by myself.  She draws cartoons to help illustrate her stories.  Funniest crap ever!  Go there now.

Pretty much all of these sites can be visited for just a few minutes, so you can look at any of them even if you don't have much time.  They're always there to go back to, and they all update pretty regularly.

Okay, I need to go to class now.  Happy hunting!

Hero (happy grandal mix)

I've been giving this piece of advice to a lot of people lately, and it seems to be helpful:

Take a break from thinking. Even if it's only for thirty minutes, take some time for yourself to be free from your worry.

I guess I just see people stressing out a lot.  It seems silly sometimes, because they get really bothered over things that don't really matter that much, but I think that people's minds will find equilibrium by blowing things out of proportion if they aren't serious enough.  That's the only way people know how to live.

The problem comes when people do nothing but stress and worry over things.  Sometimes, a person's mind just gets preoccupied with one thing over all others for a certain period of time.  It happens to me pretty often, and it's almost impossible to just stop worrying about something.  People might tell you that you need to "not worry about it", but when you deem it important, you can't get it out of your head. 

That's why it's helpful to take a break from it.  Allow yourself to go back to it later, but for a certain period of time, let yourself be free from your repetitive thoughts.  Give yourself a break from worrying.

Sorry if the thought processes don't seem up to par this time, but Steve's playing DDR and he's really good, so it's almost impossible to concentrate. :)

Let's Talk About Sex!

So, I had the tv on yesterday.  Which is abnormal for me, because I don't actually have the time these days to do anything.  Ever.  At all.  Think about that.

Anyway, I actually had the television on while I was eating between classes, and a show came on that started talking about intersex people.  Have you ever heard the term?  It turns out that an "intersex" person is the same thing as a "hermaphrodite", except that the term "hermaphrodite" is seen as offensive nowadays and is supposed to apply to animals and plants only.

It's a really interesting topic to look into.  The intersex person they were interviewing explained that what we think of as a clear distinction between male and female is wrong, that sex isn't actually black and white differences but a range that people fall into.  Apparantly, all babies start out as females, and hormones determine whether they become male or not.  An intersex person wouldn't fall to one extreme end of the scale like most people do because the hormones that turn them manly didn't finish the job.

All this jabber translates into: the baby has man AND woman parts.  A lot of parents choose surgery to make the baby one sex or another, but some believe that they should wait until the child is grown and can decide for themselves what they want.  If I'm understanding this right, it's a strongly held belief in the intersex community that a person should be allowed to choose and that corrective surgery at birth is a horrific and psychologically dangerous decision for the kid.

To refer to someone who's intersex, you would use "hir" (pronounced "here") to stand for "him/her".  The word "zhe" (pronounced "zee") would be used for "he/she".  The intersex community would like for these pronouns to be more widely used, but since intersexuality isn't really very openly discussed in our culture, that's just not happening, at least not yet.

I find this whole topic interesting, so I took time to research it a little (which is something I haven't gotten to do in forever because I don't really have the time to pursue my own interests much).  After reading up on intersex people, I got linked to reading about androgynes and transsexuals too. 

Androgynes are people who deliberately dress in non-gender-specific clothes so that it's practically impossible to tell if they're male or female simply from looking at them.  Some do this in the belief that sex shouldn't matter, so they force people to interact with someone who's sexually ambiguous.  I think they ask people to use the same pronouns as intersex people do.

Transsexuals are people born as "the wrong gender".  They identify with the opposite sex so much that they believe they've been born into the wrong body.  An important thing to understand about all of these subjects is that "sex" is a person's biological identification, their physical body, while "gender" is our society's associations.  Your sex is whether you're male, female, or intersex.  Your gender would apply to the way you act, the things you choose to do, which sex you identify with, your role.

I can't even get into all the implications with sexual orientation.  If you're intersex, or even transsexual (if you want to stretch it a little), how do you know whether you're gay or straight?  What if you're dating/having sex with/in love with someone who's intersex?

I should make sure to specify for everything I've said today: I'm not part of any of these communities, so I have no way of truly knowing if my information is correct.  I researched it on my own, so I can't be sure how valid these things are, and I invite anyone who knows more than me on any of these topics to please correct me on anything I've misrepresented and share anything they choose to educate us further.

So why did I spew all this random information with no real point?  I just find it interesting.  Don't you think it was time you learned something new that was actually interesting anyway? :)


For commenters: What's something you saw on television or learned about in some other way recently that grabbed your attention?  What's your take on any of the subjects I covered today?  How do you think you would handle being intersex, transexual, or androgynous in today's society?


photo found using Google images

It's A Needed Moment For Breathing

I know a long time goes between posts these days.  I'm really busy!  I'm sorry I neglected you!  :huge glomping nuzzly hug:

You should really feel appreciated, because I save those hugs for people I really, really like.  (a.k.a. the people I'm close enough to that they won't actually freak out "Who the heck is this girl and why is she...oh my, that tickles....hey, somebody...I didn't ask for this...STOP IT ALREADY!")

I think I should make it more of a priority to post.  The problem is that I try not to unless I actually have something fairly interesting to say.  Maybe I should get over that, be less afraid of posts that are more short and sweet, and actually update at least every three days or so.

Yeah, that sounds like a plan.  As long as I can get internet access often enough.


...But I think that I should at least leave you something to comment on.  Something mildly interesting and worth reading this post for...

Nope.  Can't think of anything that good.  I'll bring this up instead:

I'm playing DDR again!  Let me tell you, for someone with pathetic stamina, it's intense.  But I'm having fun, especially when I get to play with Steve.  He beats me at new rythms and quick steps, but I have an advantage at timing accuracy.  At least I can claim having an advantage at something!  He's totally at a higher level than I am, and him being out of practice is the only way I can almost-not-really-but-let's-just-pretend keep up with him at all.

Have you ever played DDR, as a hobby (I have the Playstation 2 version) or at an arcade?   If you haven't, go Google it or Wikipedia it or something and tell me if you think it looks fun!  Because it is.  :)

image found using Google Images

I Looked Down And Saw The Point Of A Blade

Why do so many people do practically nothing but gossip?

Turn on the radio or television, it's there.  Not just news, but shows admittedly about celebrity gossip.  Made entirely to talk about people that we're only supposed to care about because their career happens to expose their talents to the general public.  Let's not even talk about tabloids (especially because I know nothing about them besides the fact that they gossip and lie)!  People actually follow this stuff religiously, and I can't understand it.  If I'm that bored, I'll just read a book.

I wish that was the worst of it, but I see things in everyday life that bother me even more.  I see people just backstabbing all over the place, hear them talk about each other behind backs with things they would never say to that person's face.  I've heard two people literally talk about every single other person there (mind you, there were about fifteen of us); they went down the line and discussed every single one.  And in that entire conversation, I never heard a positive thing said.  Those people never had a chance to make an impression on a newcomer because their reputations were ruined by a person who actually barely knew anything about them.

I've had people make up crap about me too.  Doesn't everyone who goes to public high school get to deal with that?  You may have never done anything to the people who start this stuff, but it doesn't even matter.  I guess they do it to have fun or something.  I wouldn't understand.

It's frightening because I see kids growing up with this now.   There's a little girl about my sister's age (my sister's thirteen), and it seems like every time I see her, she starts talking about people again.  Different people, the same person as before.  It doesn't matter.  And she doesn't seem like a cruel or heartless person in general.  It's just something that she's taken to be so normal that she doesn't even think twice about it.  Does that disturb you?  Because it bothers the heck out of me.

It takes guts to confront people.  But if you have an issue with someone that's important enough, you'll bring it up to them because that's the only way to make it better.  If it's not important enough for that, don't bother talking about it.


For the commenters: Do you follow celebrity gossip, and if so, why on earth do you do it?  What was your reputation in high school?  Have you ever confronted someone who's talked about you behind your back?  Do you see kids growing up with the mindset that backstabbing is okay, or does it scare you how the media effects social interactions?