10 Random things meme

[ZephyrStar]

I'm perfectly happy to embrace things I like (video games, comics, anime, etc.) and don't think this makes me any less "grown up" or unprofessional despite what some hoity-toity people choose to believe. And I think I'm a happier person for not giving a damn about so-called social expectations about when to get married/havekids/etc. etc. That being said, I don't like people making excuses for me. As if they have to apologize for me being single, or assuming that having a guy visit me MUST MEAN I either want to jump his bones or I'm deep in unrequited love. (WTF people?)

This. So much this. I used to feel kinda down about the things that I love because they are typically "for kids," and I really didn't have anyone who understood my hobbies or creative drive until I met people from this site. I sortof envy the younger anime fandom, it seems a lot easier for them to meet other people now than when I got started. I also get really annoyed when people look down on me for my fandom, like Mewn said. Especially when said people don't have as many degrees as I do and are half as professional when it comes to their quality of work. But eh, whatever. On the topic of being single though, I have the same stance. Seems like everyone is in a freakin hurry and in it for the short term. Eff social expectations. Especially when the social norm seems to be so narc and fake.

[Castor Troy]

I'm perfectly happy to embrace things I like (video games, comics, anime, etc.) and don't think this makes me any less "grown up" or unprofessional despite what some hoity-toity people choose to believe. And I think I'm a happier person for not giving a damn about so-called social expectations about when to get married/havekids/etc. etc. That being said, I don't like people making excuses for me. As if they have to apologize for me being single, or assuming that having a guy visit me MUST MEAN I either want to jump his bones or I'm deep in unrequited love. (WTF people?)

This. So much this. I used to feel kinda down about the things that I love because they are typically "for kids," and I really didn't have anyone who understood my hobbies or creative drive until I met people from this site. I sortof envy the younger anime fandom, it seems a lot easier for them to meet other people now than when I got started. I also get really annoyed when people look down on me for my fandom, like Mewn said. Especially when said people don't have as many degrees as I do and are half as professional when it comes to their quality of work. But eh, whatever. On the topic of being single though, I have the same stance. Seems like everyone is in a freakin hurry and in it for the short term. Eff social expectations. Especially when the social norm seems to be so narc and fake.

x2

I too grew up in an era where kids tried to be all grown up and listed to rap music to be cool. I'm glad to say that I really enjoyed being my age and kind of stayed that way.

I think most people don't realize that being in a "relationship" is an incredible amount of physical, emotional, mental, and financial work. I really would like to have a girl that easily supports and compliments all those things, but I'm in no hurry.

Another thing I want to share:

- I don't want kids. I was 12 when my youngest sister was born and my mom put me through hell trying to take care of her, especially to the point of calling me incompetent and stupid when I didn't wash the bottles right. She's 17 now and I love her to death, but my negative experience trying to raise her for the first few years turned me off to having kids of my own.

[Fall_Child42]

"Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."

I really took this attitude to heart.
Thank you C.S. Lewis.

[JaddziaDax]

- I don't want kids. I was 12 when my youngest sister was born and my mom put me through hell trying to take care of her, especially to the point of calling me incompetent and stupid when I didn't wash the bottles right. She's 17 now and I love her to death, but my negative experience trying to raise her for the first few years turned me off to having kids of my own.

21. X2!... Cept it was my niece and nephew born instead of a sibling. I'm the youngest of my siblings - but my older siblings both have had 4 kids a piece. They range from 15 to 2.

I was 14 when my oldest niece was born, and 16 when my oldest nephew was born. I was on-call babysitter all the time, (only getting paid half the time, if I was lucky to be paid at all) and I often ended up watching them even when my sisters were at home.

As for baby bottles, I used to wash them until I finally got fed up with the fact I was the only one who would wash them. My sisters would leave them out and the bottles would mold and rot too. So I just got fed up and stopped washing them. I said "you had the babies you can wash their bottles" and the sink would be lined with bottles all the time, sometimes clean sometimes filled with milk chunks/moldy. I think they both have gotten better at this, but it helps that the youngest ones are 2-3years old (aren't really using bottles much anymore).

Then they just kept having kids and more kids it seems, till now there's a total of 8 of them. I don't mind borrowing them once in a while, but I seriously don't think I would want to handle having kids of my own. Thank goodness my husband doesn't really want kids either.

22. I like baths. They are nice and relaxing!

23. My room looks like a teenagers room. It has posters all over it of the things I like, and I finally got nets for my plushies XD. I also have my AMV trophies on display above my shelves of manga.. I don't care if it looks childish, I'm more comfortable this way. Also, I call my office, "my room".

24. Working at a book store made me aware of loyalty cards and how they work. Now I tend to think twice before signing up for one.

25. There is almost always a song stuck in my head. Sometimes its a good song usually its a bad song - recently it's been that awful "Friday" thing... but I have Belanova stuck in my head right now.

26. I'm currently re-reading Fruits Basket because the first time around I never finished it, and I don't remember many of the little details. I guess I'm just not as into it as I used to be.

27. I'm more active on Gaiaonline than I am on facebook or myspace. I'm tired of feeling like I have obligations to social networking sites. I don't think I've written in my LiveJournal in months.

28. I'd always imagined I'd grow old to be the crazy old cat lady, I never thought I'd get married. So, I never really "looked" for someone. I've had several friends act as though it's the end of their life if they didn't have a significant other. I guess I've always felt that if it happens it happens, if it doesn't that's okay too. I never really understood the obsession (even when I was single), and probably never will.

29. I despise internet ads, especially animated ones. They sometimes make me irrationally rage for some reason.

30. I used to go to Renaissance Faires back when I lived in California. Most people attribute Faire goers as SCA or some such, but that's not really the case for me. Most of the people I went with did it to hang out with friends and have fun. At the large Northern California Faire I used to sell flowers, but at the smaller faires, I helped out with an archery booth, and taught (very basic) archery. There aren't really any faires in Idaho, and I didn't end up going to the ones in Texas, so, I haven't been to a faire in over 6 years. I miss it.

*there added 9 other things to keep to the thread topic

[Otohiko]

Haha, I have to weigh in on the recent topics that everyone's been bringing up now:


-Airports

The only airport where I truly dislike even the procedures is Toronto (Pearson). The buildings etc. are nice, but the bottleneck at US customs especially is just retarded. I've never gone from front door to gate in less then 1.5 hours there yet...

On the other hand everyone kept scaring me about major US airports, and so far my experiences at those have possibly been the nicest out of the ones I've been to so far. I've gone from front door to gate in 5-10 minutes at Newark and LAX, at LAX repeatedly... Although I can imagine how the terminal layout of the latter would make transfers painful if you're switching airlines or going from international to domestic.

I'm obsessed with LAX by the way. I've only been there 3 times, but I could tell you my way around that airport (and its runways/taxiways) with my eyes closed

-Stuttering, nervousness in conversation etc.

I don't stutter, but I do butcher words relatively regularly. In Russian I just sometimes mince my words, but in English it seems like I have a specific problem with vowels (not totally surprisingly... your vowel system's fucken complicated!). I've caught myself saying "bewk" instead of "book", and "phone" instead of "fun" before Not sure how these things get mixed up in my brain, but they do. I've never been particularly nervous about the process of speaking though, even if I'm extremely conscious of it. I put in a lot of effort into eliminating any trace of accent, and did it quite successfully. Although I still sound not-quite-Canadian, mostly because of my intonation (i.e. the way I vary my tone up and down throughout sentences). It doesn't actually bother me, I think it's an um, 'unique feature' of my speech rather than flaw

As far as speaking in crowds, I dunno, it's not been specifically a problem for me, but maybe I'm just cripplingly polite and/or rude. I have no issue whatsoever lecturing a class for 2 hours, mostly off the top of my head (i.e. what I do for a living quite often). Nor am I easily embarassed about speaking to another person one on one or having questions thrown at me. But I seem to do best when I'm given a chance to rant and am the center of attention. In a more complex group, or with a person who isn't interested in me ranting or storytelling, I tend to be quiet. I'm also terrible at asking questions or striking up conversations. Unless someone else prompts me or invites feedback, I seem to have no ability to initiate anything. Though I'm like that with everything .__.

-Growing up, being serious, having kids etc.

I'm gonna be on the unpopular side here actually

I totally have no issue with keeping diverse interests and not judging people, but I also have a pretty clear division between 'fun' and 'serious' sides to my life, with the latter ultimately taking precedence. It drives me nuts that I can't get people around me to take me seriously sometimes. I'm not the most uptight person ever of course, but I feel like my efforts to seem more relaxed and less 'serious business' often backfire .__.

Likewise, the whole being-married-and-having-kids thing is a double edged sword for me. The only thing that is a bigger thorn in my side than being single is the fact that it gets interpreted as a lack of interest or maturity on my part. Truth be told, I don't think there's anything else in life that I want more than a family ;____;
However at the same time, I know that I wouldn't be ready for it right now. But it's never something that just falls from the sky on you, I guess, and it's a process that has to start somewhere.

Still drives me nuts when you put in so much work your whole life to be taken seriously and make something out of yourself, and at the end of the day you're just 'silly George'/'Goshka-durak'/whatever. .__.

[CodeZTM]

- I don't want kids. I was 12 when my youngest sister was born and my mom put me through hell trying to take care of her, especially to the point of calling me incompetent and stupid when I didn't wash the bottles right. She's 17 now and I love her to death, but my negative experience trying to raise her for the first few years turned me off to having kids of my own.

21. X2!... Cept it was my niece and nephew born instead of a sibling. I'm the youngest of my siblings - but my older siblings both have had 4 kids a piece. They range from 15 to 2.

X3!!!! I'm the oldest of six, and I've more than done my quota of raising the next generation into horrible little people.

______________

1. When I take exams or am doing something that requires attention for long periods of time [like mowing the lawn or doing taxes], Disney movies [from start until finish] play through my Brain. During my accounting final today, I was playing Pocahontas. I got weird looks and a gentle nudge when I starting humming JUST AROUND THE RIVERBEEEEEND.

2. I know jack shit about cell phones, despite my knowledge of most software/technology. On the same note, I text like an old lady with arthritis in the middle of a blizzard. [AKA: Very slowly]

3. Despite owning all of the Shinkai movies, I've never actually just LOVED them. They're ok, but they're just not something that I ever plan on watching again. It was more or less my friend that was so OMGOMGOMGAWESOME that got me them for Christmas/Birthdays.

4. I have all 3 current generation consoles. Of the three, I can honestly say that I play my DS/PSP more than the other three combined. Actually, I've probably played the SNES more than the other three combined. And it's not because of time constraints. >_>'

5. My parents have an outstanding debt of nearly 1,500 dollars that they owe me, but will more than likely never pay back, despite their saying that they will. My brother has about 500, and he's probably more likely to pay it back.

6. When running computer maintenance on a teacher's computer at school, me and 2 other friends found nearly 200 GB of REALLY CREEPY PORN. While I wasn't the one that said anything, he later resigned from his position without much of an explanation.

7. I actually "moderately" enjoyed the first three books in the Twilight series. While not some of the more better written things I've ever read, I thought it was unique to say the least. The fourth one was a chunky vomit milkshake, however. Deviantart writers did a better job than that piece of shit.

8. I religiously follow Wasted Talentand Questionable Content, and almost enjoy them more than manga.

9. In every group project I have ever been in, I have done all the work voluntarily. Mostly because I don't want people screwing around until the last minute and creating absolute shit.

10. I dream of seeing this song played on FoxNews, CNN and any other media outlet by a disgruntled employee or a hero.

[Castor Troy]

5. My parents have an outstanding debt of nearly 1,500 dollars that they owe me, but will more than likely never pay back, despite their saying that they will. My brother has about 500, and he's probably more likely to pay it back.

My mom owes me that much, but I said that can cover 3 months of my rent since I'm renting 2 rooms from her right now (bedroom/computer+entertainment room). My sister owes me that much too and she HAS to pay that all back me now that she just got a new job.

[ZephyrStar]

Still drives me nuts when you put in so much work your whole life to be taken seriously and make something out of yourself, and at the end of the day you're just 'silly George'/'Goshka-durak'/whatever. .__.

Gosha-durak, I just want you to know I have an enormous amount of respect for you for a variety of reasons, not limited to your professionalism and your wonderful help in proofreading my script for me.

[Otohiko]

Still drives me nuts when you put in so much work your whole life to be taken seriously and make something out of yourself, and at the end of the day you're just 'silly George'/'Goshka-durak'/whatever. .__.

Gosha-durak, I just want you to know I have an enormous amount of respect for you for a variety of reasons, not limited to your professionalism and your wonderful help in proofreading my script for me.

Thanks, glad to be of help

In fairness, I think one of the most important things in life is to know how to not take yourself too seriously. In the end, and maybe that's my Achilles heel (for confidence and self-esteem, anyway), but I believe that any judgment of how serious, good, and otherwise useful you are should come not from what you believe about yourself, but from what you can actually do. If you actually mean business, then you don't need to ever say it. I have no patience for people who act all serious but can't show anything for it other than the usual faking and some sort of socially-acceptable collection of consumer goods, or even superficial knowledge.

That's why I've also got massive respect for people like you who nevermind the naysayers about their hobbies and social status, but slowly work on actual big projects. At the end of the day, the work will speak for itself. But even if the work is not a definite project of some kind, I think people's seriousness and quality should speak for itself.

[Fall_Child42]

I have no idea what Goshka-durak means but is a totally awesome name for Orc-Barbarian Warlord.

As for taking yourself too seriously being your achillies heel, I hope I've helped in some small way with that