Stratovania

I think I'm going to do a life overview sort of a post now. I was actually just considering recently how blogging became a lot more fun for me when I decided to treat it as less of a diary and more of an unofficial column. I've never been the type to keep a journal, possibly because I don't think I'm all that interesting on a personal level. I get the idea of wanting to collect your thoughts, but it's never worked that way for me. I see people saying their blogs are really for themselves but other people can read them, but I actively want others to read mine. The problem is that I don't know what anyone else finds interesting, so I guess it's more that I'm writing the kind of thing I'd want to read if somebody else were writing it, as trite as that might sound. And I do sometimes enjoy going back and reading my own writing, although that's probably rather self-involved. It seems weird at first that someone can be self-centered AND have low self-esteem, but it probably makes sense in that you're not going to particularly dislike yourself unless you think a lot about yourself. And I'm always concerned about things when writing that might not bother anyone else, like whether I'm covering the same topic too often or too many times in a row, and if I'm just duplicating information that can be found elsewhere.

But anyway, it's the Halloween season, and I'd kind of like to dress up this year, but for what? What's the point if nobody is going to see it? A lot of the ideas I come up with aren't really feasible anyway. On Saturday night, Beth and I went to the haunted events at Creamy Acres, which we hadn't done before even though it's been running for a while.

It seemed like it would have been difficult to fit in all six events, which are only available as a package deal. But really, they're mostly pretty short, and four of them are done in a row.

This cut-out makes me look like I did when I was in college.
Most of them are the sort of dark maze where it can be genuinely hard to find your way through, although usually the costumed characters will direct you if you need them to. On the hayride, we both took note of how obnoxious teenagers are. Maybe it's weird to say that when you're a childless adult still participating in events designed for kids, but I think it's more of a nostalgic thing for people like us. Teenagers seem to be at the stage where it's no longer scary for them, but instead of just going along with it they feel the need to make snide comments to make it clear they're NOT scared, as if anybody cares. I'm sure it's not ALL teenagers, but it seems particularly common for that age group. Or maybe I'm just a cranky old man, but I feel like I was one of those even when I was a teenager.

On Sunday, my sister-in-law had her baby shower, and my brother wasn't there. I always got the impression that baby showers were all-female events, but Beth has been to some where there were men in attendance, and there's really no reason why they shouldn't be that I can see. But what ended up happening was that I drove Beth there, and then my dad, my sister-in-law's dad, and I sat in the backyard during the games and gift-opening. I liked their dog, although she did keep growling at me when I stood up.

I don't know when I'm going to be able to see my new nephew, but I believe he's due in late November or so. After the shower, Beth and I ate at Friendly's, then drove up to Brooklyn.

Contents of the claw machine at Friendly's
As usual, it took me forever to find a parking space, although I did appreciate that the DJ on WFUV played some George Formby songs and discussed the Bonzo Dog Band. He played the original version of "Jollity Farm" and its predecessor "Misery Farm." I might have to check out Songs the Bonzo Dog Band Taught Us.

The temp agency originally told me my job was going to end last week, but it was extended, and now I don't know when it's supposed to end. I guess that's true for just about any job, though, isn't it?

Great, I'm being beset by trolls over on my WordPress. Look at the comments on this post, for example. Then there's this one, which is even more bizarre. At least Xmas Boy's comments relate to the posts, even if they're totally ridiculous. This Lynn person used a post about Chick Tracts to rant about radical Islam. What, does this mean stupid little comics are our last line of defense against Al Qaeda? The problem is, I'm bad at dealing with trolls, because I kind of encourage them. Instead of just leaving their comments alone, I figure I might be able to get them to see a different point of view, and if not at least an argument with them would be funny. And it IS somewhat funny in retrospect, but at the time it's rather stressful. Part of the problem is that, when they start making personal attacks, I begin to wonder if that really IS how people see me. I'm just too sensitive to being disliked, I suppose. Of course, there's no way to win with such people, which is what makes them trolls. There seems to be a sort of link between trolling and fundamentalism, and I don't even necessarily mean religious fundamentalism. About eight or nine years ago, I spent way more time than I should have arguing with some guy on an Oz e-mail list. To his credit, he was really quite enthusiastic about the topic. Despite this guy's proudly announcing he was an atheist, however, he had the same approach to the Oz books that Christian fundamentalists do to the Bible. His interpretation was the only right one, and certain quotes that he pulled out had to be taken entirely literally. It's so frustrating, because I WANT people to feel free to disagree with my posts. If you're not even open to any other views, however, why even bother commenting? Just to be annoying?

Okay, let's get off that topic for a little while, and turn to one that's less controversial, Nintendo cartoons! You know, because everyone agrees they're not very good.


King Scoopa Koopa - Oh, holy cannoli, it's a message episode. I don't mind when there are lessons in a show, but it really helps when they don't hit you over the head with them, like they do in this one. Bowser opens Scoopa Koopa's Fast Food, a restaurant that serves chickadactyl egg sandwiches (a chickadactyl, in case you couldn't guess, is a sort of a combination between a chicken and a pterodactyl, which appears only in this cartoon), papaya fries, and coconut shakes. Several dinosaurs work in the kitchen, with Dino-Rhinos doing the cooking. Not only is the food fattening and addictive, however, but the sandwiches slowly turn those who eat them into chickadactyls themselves. Since Mario doesn't like eggs and the Princess refuses to touch any of the food, they're both unaffected, and try to shut down the restaurant. The customers and employees give chase, with Mario and Peach having to use the Star Road to get away. Eventually, after an encounter with a Rip Van Fish, they end up in the cavern where Scoopa Koopa's dumps their garbage. Mario finds a Cape Feather, and uses its power to drive out King Koopa and his cooks. He then tells the cave people to go home and eat some vegetables. So there's your lesson, kids: fast food is bad for you, because it can turn you into a chicken. Too bad this was quite likely followed by a McDonald's commercial when it aired on television.

Battle of the Baseball Know-It-Alls - Hey, remember how insane it was when Larry Bird showed up in "In Pursuit of the Magic Hoop"? Well, here's another gratuitous appearance by a sports star, Bo Jackson, who had a Nintendo game around this time. Actually, Bo and the "Bo knows" catch phrase were all over the place when this show first aired. If I remember correctly, the show following this one was a cartoon called Pro Stars. I never watched it, but I know Bo was a character on there as well. I doubt he did his own voice in either show, though. Anyway, Bo is stuck into Captain N continuity as the captain of the Videoland All-Stars and an inhabitant of Baseball World, which is quite possibly the place where Princess Lana visits a Videoland version of Yankee Stadium back in "Mega Trouble for Megaland." Bo is playing a game against the N Team, and I actually mean the entire N Team for once in this season, although Lana and Game Boy are on the sidelines. This is also the only episode this season with Mother Brain making an appearance, and she looks even more off-model than the other characters.

Seriously, she doesn't even have her tentacles anymore. She and her goons rewire a warp to send Bo and the N Team inside Baseball World, where there's a cellar full of sentient and nasty baseball equipment that they have to fight. One point of interest in this rather stupid set-up is that Mega Man uses a buzzsaw to defeat some bats. I've always wondered if that was supposed to be the Metal Blade from Mega Man 2. Granted, it doesn't fly off in different directions, but it's probably close enough for this show. Meanwhile, Mother Brain takes control of the palace, and we get a somewhat amusing scene where King Hippo brushes his teeth with a toothbrush that he and Eggplant Wizard had been using to clean the floor. Lana manages to open a warp zone out of the Baseball World cellar, but since it leads from the bottom of a gulf to the ceiling of the palace, she tricks the Brain's henchmen into making a giant cake for the N Team to land on. Mother Brain, King Hippo, and Eggplant Wizard end up inside Baseball World, and that's the last we see of them. No, seriously. I have to suspect they escaped eventually, because it would have been pretty lame for that to be the ultimate fate of the show's main villains, but we never see this. I'm not sure why the makers of these cartoons were so adverse to season finalés, but there you go. Anyway, while the last thing this season needed was ANOTHER episode based on a sports game, I think the writers made more of an effort with this one than with the basketball one. Also, the presence of Mother Brain was a plus.

I have a bad habit of assuming that, if someone doesn't get back to me right away, it's because I've done something to offend them. I realize this is ridiculous, especially considering that I'll often take upwards of a week to respond to comments and such. So I'm both paranoid and hypocritical, I suppose. Really, though, there have been times when I think I really DID offend someone to the point they didn't want to talk to me anymore. Back when I was in college, there was one girl who liked my web page and exchanged e-mails with me a few times, but stopped when she said she was joining a sorority and I said they came across as pseudo-communist organizations. Probably not the smartest thing to say, but I still kind of feel that way. I remember when I was doing some preparation work for a church book sale, and some sorority girls were also helping out, and there was just a real sameness to all of them. You know how, in A Wrinkle in Time, the people of Camazotz don't look identical, but they're all somewhat the same, and it turns out that they all share one giant brain? That's basically how sororities come across to me. Maybe not all of them, but it's what comes to my mind. But I digress. Also, a few years ago, somebody added me on LJ but then suddenly removed me a few months later, and when I asked about it she said something about how I was mean to her friends. The main thing I can remember arguing with her friends about, though, was how I think "natural cures" are most often bunk. I'm sure I could have been more tactful in both situations, but it still confuses me a little. It's not like I was being personally insulting, at least as far as I could tell. And anyone who's been reading my journal for a while knows that I often criticize religion, but if anyone religious has stopped following me because of that, they really kept it on the down-low. So what I've gathered is that it's fine to bad-mouth people's deeply held convictions about the very nature of life and the universe, but not to point out that herbal supplements are highly unlikely to cure cancer. Good to know, I guess.

bethje and I had a bit of a delay in watching last Sunday's cartoon lineup, but we finally did on Wednesday night. I really don't have much to say about the Simpsons episode, which just struck me as kind of trite. While plot lines based on a character discovering a hidden talent have practically infinite possibilities, I think they're starting to get a bit overdone. This time, we find out Homer has a knack for cutting hair, and he opens his own salon. I was amused by Homer's reaction to the constant chatting, however. One thing I wondered was that, in the scene at Moe's when Homer starts remembering everyone's foibles, why does he have one for Ned Flanders? His wife is dead, remember? I think it did just say "stupid," though, so maybe Homer filled that in himself. Also, we get an interesting look at how Lisa is uninterested in Milhouse, but still gets jealous when he's dating someone else. That actually makes a certain amount of sense to me. In other cartoon-based discussion, is every American Dad from now on going to include jokes about how Principal Lewis is a lunatic? Not that I mind them, but I kind of wonder why they've been playing up the character's insanity so much as of late. And I have to give props to the Family Guy episode for being particularly creative. Since when did Leonardo da Vinci have children, though?

Yesterday, Beth and I trekked up to New York City so she could see Rufus Wainwright's tribute to his late mother Kate McGarrigle. I didn't go to the show, but I went along anyway so we could do a little exploring. Beth said she didn't recognize any of the songs from the show, and I wonder if I would have, as my dad had a Kate and Anna McGarrigle album. It was one of only a few cassettes in the car at the time, so I became quite familiar with it. For what it's worth, from what I remember, every song on there was depressing. Anyway, Beth has a thing about wanting to live in Midwood, a largely Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn. She's told me several times that she's always wanted to be culturally Jewish, so I'm sure that's part of the reason. From our limited look at it, it really does look like a nice neighborhood, and not at all urban despite being in the city. They even had car dealerships, which isn't a selling point, but drives home just how different it is from other parts of New York City. We met therealtavie for dinner at the Heartland Brewery, and then joined up with Stephanie, who was going to the show with Beth. While they were there, I wandered around the Times Square area looking for a place I could rest and charge my phone, and could not find the latter. I thought Starbucks usually had outlets, but that's apparently not the case in that part of the city. I ended up ordering a smoothie at McDonald's, then sitting around and reading there for a few hours. Beth loaned me her spare battery, so I was able to keep my cell phone intact. Really, though, this is an issue I pretty much never see addressed, but which must come up. I always see people walking around the city talking on cell phones, and I know those batteries don't last forever. So where do they typically charge them? Or do they just not stay out long enough for the battery to die? I'm really quite curious, because when I'm on all-day excursions, I'm always afraid to use my phone for fear the battery will die on me.

All right, I guess that's it. Happy Friday the Thirteenth, everybody!

It's been a little while since I've posted anything here, hasn't it? Even though work and school are both only part-time, they add up. And in the time not devoted to those things, I'm usually either sleeping or writing topic-specific posts for my other blog. Those are more interesting for me to write, but apparently not more interesting for people to read, based on the number of comments I get. I know that's not always a good way to judge, as people can like something and yet not have any reply to it, but part of what I'm doing with my posts is trying to generate discussion. If none is forthcoming, then I get a little disappointed. I was kind of hoping the WordPress would bring in more people who don't have LiveJournal accounts, but most of those who comment there are also friends here. Not that I don't appreciate having loyal readers, mind you! Sometimes the topic-specific posts seem a bit pointless, in that I really don't have anything new to say about most of them, so I'm just summarizing information that can be found elsewhere on the Internet. I like to think I write about them in an interesting way, but it still sometimes feels futile. I guess I'M always learning new things, though, so that counts for something, as trite as that sounds.

Anyway, as I mentioned, I'm back in school. I've noticed that people tend to react with cheers when an adult goes back to school, but sometimes I wonder what's so great about it. It costs money, involves a lot of work, and doesn't necessarily pay off at the end. I guess I'm kind of bitter, because I already have a master's degree, and it doesn't seem to have helped me that much. I want to try to be more conscientious about finishing my work and looking into outside opportunities this time around, but that latter item especially isn't really in my nature. I do what's required of me as a student, but I feel awkward trying to make connections. I guess we'll have to see what happens. I'm taking two classes, one on campus and one online, and the latter is a new experience for me.

I'm most likely not doing a video game post this week, unless I think of something while I'm at work. I've been known (well, known by myself, anyway) to plan out posts pretty much word for word while working, although of course they don't come out exactly the same when I actually write them. The Mushroom Guru posts were fun, but I've largely run out of ideas, and I can only recall receiving two comments on them anyway. Am I using the wrong forum, or were they just not funny? Either is possible, but it's difficult to tell when no one leaves feedback. And when I make comments like that, it's pretty much always people who comment on other posts anyway who leave a reply like, "Oh, I'm sorry. I've been busy recently." While I definitely appreciate your replies, I'm really not talking to you, but to anyone reading this who NEVER comments. Then again, maybe there aren't any people in that category. I don't know. While I'll probably keep using LiveJournal for posts about my life, is there a better place for my creative experiments and observations on religion and mythology? And if so, would it be possible for me to an RSS feed on LJ, so people who DO like this format would be able to read them without going somewhere else? I feel like I've asked these same basic questions many times, and while I've gotten answers, they've never really been enough to go on. Really, that's mostly my fault, though. I'm just not sure where to get started.

Anyway, I originally wasn't going to make a post at all today, but then I came across this article. Aren't you glad that ridiculous bigotry is still alive and well? Because I'm not, but it looks like someone must be. bethje had told me earlier about Constance McMillen not being able to bring her girlfriend to her prom, and how when the ACLU got involved, the school just canceled the prom entirely. Well, they apparently settled the issue by holding a small event for Constance and her date that only four other people attended, while other students attended a separate prom. I wondered for a minute why anyone would have attended the separate prom knowing the prejudice that went into the decision, but then I remembered that we're talking about high school students here. The article touches on how cruel an environment high school is for anyone who's different in pretty much any way, and how the schools rarely do anything to prevent this. In fact, in this case, we have the school coming right out and saying, "Hooray for homophobia!" Doesn't it figure that this school would be in Mississippi, and have "agricultural" in its name? Does a state that's stereotyped so much by the rest of the country really want to perpetuate the stereotypes? Come on, if you're portrayed as marrying your first cousins and having five kids by the time you're sixteen, it's probably not a good idea to marginalize anyone else for their sexual identity. Obviously the redneck stereotypes aren't true for most people either, but this school and its students certainly aren't helping matters. Oh, and of course there are also bigots leaving comments on the article, yakking about the "gay agenda." First of all, this is a phrase that you obviously took from someone else, meaning you're just parroting another person's thoughts. And really, if you want to talk about agendas, which is more of one? Wanting to have the same civil rights as everyone else, or working hard to overturn that pesky separation of church and state?

1. Online Presence and Future - Between this journal, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, it can sometimes be a bit of a challenge deciding where to address a certain topic. Really, I don't use Facebook much except to link to stuff I've written elsewhere, as I find the interface rather overly complicated. On the other hand, that's where I have the most followers, so there's no accounting for tastes. I use Tumblr pretty much exclusively for pictures and videos, although I'll occasionally throw in a link or a brief text post. Twitter is for brief observations (as it pretty much has to be by its very nature; I actually kind of like the fact that it prevents me from being unnecessarily verbose), and this journal is for a real mishmash of stuff. Lately, I've been writing more topic-specific posts (Oz, mythology, video games, etc.) than personal stuff here on LJ, and I have to wonder if it's really the best medium for that. It's convenient, but bethje has said she suspects people tend to see "LiveJournal" and think it's going to be someone whining about their relationships (which I do do, but not quite as often). She and some other people have suggested getting my own domain, but I have to admit I have no clue how to do that, or how to work with it when I do have it. I know some people have blogs (i.e., movable type) on sites that aren't specifically tailored for it (like LiveJournal, Blogspot, Wordpress, etc.), so I know it's very possible, but I don't know how to arrange such a thing. And does anyone think I'd actually get more traffic that way, or would it just be a waste of money? I'm looking for input here, people!

2. iPod So You Don't Have To - I've been considering getting a new MP3 player, since my current one is now about four years old. It still plays, but it has occasional problems, and it's probably better not to wait until it conks out entirely. I currently have a Creative player, and I like it, but I don't think they make any with much storage capacity these days. I know some of the iPod Classics can store a lot of music, but is it true that you can only use those with one computer? I've heard that, if you plug an iPod into someone else's computer, it will erase all of the stored data. Is this true, and if so, is there any way to get around it?

3. This Is Not Really an Item - I already mentioned this on Twitter, but I thought I'd elaborate on how ridiculous I found it when an eHarmony commercial insisted that it WASN'T a dating site. Their explanation for this was that it was a match-making site, or something like that. I forget the actual phrase they used, but it was something that sounded suspiciously like a dating site to me. It reminded me of something I first read in a Chick Tract and later heard from other fundamentalists, which is that Christianity isn't a religion, but a relationship with God. I don't think any of them have been able to sufficiently explain what the difference is, though. Is saying things aren't what they pretty obviously are a growing trend?

4. Brangelina Blues - Well, I've now heard about 80,000 times from various media that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are breaking up, although they officially deny it. Wow, what a shock! You know, if you get shocked by really obvious things. ("Oh, wow! Grass is GREEN!") Didn't Brad cheat on Jennifer Aniston with Ms. Jolie in the first place? Not that I really blame him for that one, since at least Angelina is somewhat interesting. Ms. Aniston has to be one of the dullest people in the entertainment business, yet somehow she keeps appearing on magazine covers. The story usually seems to be something like "Jen upset over break-up," which I suppose is news because people who didn't star in Friends just LOVE breaking up. But anyway, my point is that I never figured either Brad or Angelina for the type who goes for stable relationships.

5. Haitian Satan - An interesting post I read today puts Pat Robertson's moronic comments about Haiti into context. Apparently the idea that the Haitians are in league with the Prince of Darkness is nothing new, because some Christians assume that Voodoo rituals must be Satanic. Yes, we're back to the idea that every god other than yours has to be the Devil in disguise, as if Satan really has that much free time. As the article mentions, Christianity itself was subject to that sort of slur in its early days. I can't say I believe in any of these gods, but I always kind of liked the ancient Roman notion that having more gods would strengthen the state. Really, I think paganism would work out well in today's society, because as it is we have hundreds of different interpretations of the same deity. If you really want a violent deity, why bother insisting that the notorious pacifist Jesus would have been cool with guns? Just become a devotee of a war god (Ares/Mars, Tyr, Mithras, etc.), and you can easily mix your pro-war stance with your religious fanaticism! Also, I think I might do an article on Voodoo mythology in the near future, as I don't know a whole lot about it and it sounds interesting. I do know one of their gods (or loa, anyway) is a skeleton in a top hat, and how can you go wrong with that?

So, LiveJournal is cool in many ways, but I've been thinking (partially at the behest of bethje) that I should get my own domain for blogging. I'm not entirely sure what I'd call it, though. The obvious "vovat.com" and "nathandehoff.com" aren't really all that memorable, so I'd welcome any suggestions you might have. I guess I'd mostly want to use the site for my more scholarly posts, although I'm not sure whether I'd count the Oz stuff in that category or not. I mean, I guess it's scholarly, but does it have much mass appeal? I don't know.

One thing I do like about LiveJournal is that there's somewhat of a captive audience. Sure, you can skip my posts, but if you use the friends page you're at least aware that I've written something. Of course, you can now subscribe to a feed of pretty much any blog on Google Reader or a similar application, but is it as common? What I don't really like about LJ is that, while the commenting system is convenient for anyone who has an account, it really isn't for anyone else. And there's the whole image thing, with a memorable domain name probably being more likely to attract new viewers than a LiveJournal page. Any other thoughts on the matter? I don't plan to avoid LJ entirely, but I would like for people other than my LJ friends to read some of my stuff (assuming any of them are interested).

You know, I hadn't even heard of Twitter until 3x1minus1 mentioned it, but I've seen it mentioned quite a bit lately, often in a negative context. I was a bit apprehensive about it at first, what with the word limit and all. I have, as you may have noticed, a bit of a tendency toward verbosity. But I've since found it a useful repository for the thoughts I have during the day that I'd like to share with others, but don't feel like working up a LiveJournal post about. I have to wonder if part of Twitter's image problem is due to its tagline being "What are you doing?", which sounds both narcissistic and dull. More often, the questions I answer are closer to "What are you thinking?" or "What are you observing?", which only fall into the "doing" category in a broad sense. Of course, as I'm sure I've mentioned before, I don't usually use my LiveJournal as an actual JOURNAL, either. Sure, I do sometimes, but a lot of the time I think of it more as a sort of amateur op-ed column.

I got this from pixielust:
( Ooh, controversial! )

By the way, you know one thing I don't know that I'll ever understand? LJ users removing other people from their friends lists with no explanation. It's happened to me a few times, and I'm probably oversensitive about it. But I'm terrified of rejection, and that's part of why I usually won't add anyone to MY friends list unless they add me first, or we've had some prior back-and-forth commenting. If you have a problem with someone, why can't you just TELL them? And if it's a matter of not wanting people you don't really know to see certain posts (which I can totally understand), isn't that why custom groups were invented?

I was supposed to see a dermatologist today, but it turned out they never got the referral from the regular doctor, even though I called the office about it the other day. The particularly annoying thing is that the doctor's office was right around the corner, but they wouldn't let me go over there to ask about the referral. Apparently they couldn't see me if I showed up too long after the appointment time, even though I actually came into the office ten minutes EARLY, and that was after sitting in the parking lot and reading for a while. But apparently leaving the office and coming back somehow negates that, so I had to reschedule. Not a big deal, but you'd think this referral thing wouldn't be so difficult. I just had to sort another referral out with the insurance company, because I didn't realize exactly how it worked. But this time, I went about it the right way, and it still didn't work out.

Anyway, here are some memes regarding my LJ itself. I think I've done these before, but since they're subject to change, I felt I might as well do them again.

( Read more... )