Was just thinking earlier, and came across an odd thought: my reaction to other people talking about sex is drastically different from one person to the next.
Now, I'm definitely a bit different from the average person (and very different from the common stereotype of how the average guy is) when it comes to this sort of thing in the first place, considering that I need to actually get to know people before I can become attracted to them, and even when that happens, the physical aspect of it is usually the absolute last thing to get involved. So in case you weren't already aware -- my eyes are not automatically drawn to boobs and butts every time someone passes, I do not actually think about sex every seven minutes (heck, it's probably not even every seven hours on a typical day... there've probably been times where it wasn't even every seven days!), I don't immediately form opinions on someone's appearance upon my first glance of them (and when, or if, those opinions do develop... they're anything but "set in stone," liable to shift around a whole lot depending on how well I get to know someone and how often I see/talk to them and who knows how many other things), I'm not hung up on a specific body type or anything along those lines, and so on.
But anyway, on to what I was actually going to write about before I got sidetracked a bit. When other people talk about sex, my reaction to it seems to vary wildly. Some people? Even the vaguest mention is uncomfortable, sometimes even bordering on creepy, even if nothing that's even remotely creepy was said. A random Facebook comment implying something sexual (or even not-quite-sexual-but-very-close) or an offhand sexual joke might be enough to make me wish I hadn't scrolled so far down the page. An outright mention of that some people's sex lives (or even acknowledgement that they have one at all) just feels "icky."
But with other people? Even when things are said that probably WOULD make me uncomfortable (or at least very slightly embarrassed) in public, there's no uncomfortableness and certainly not any creepiness. Vague mentions are okay, dirty jokes are okay, stories about stuff that happened in the past as part of some previous relationship they were in are okay, even if they end up talking about specific things that I actually do find to be "icky" or going into a little more detail than I'd want to be talking about in a public place... it seems like basically nothing bothers me when some people say it. Or at the worst, there might be an occasional "ouch" or "ew" sort of reaction, not the creepy, uncomfortable sort of feeling that I get other times. It's not an "ouch/ew" that makes me want to change the subject, just a normal reaction to what's being said. On rare occasions there might be just a tiny bit of uncomfortableness, but it's so brief and so minor that whatever was said doesn't ever get to the point of "okay, I would be better off having never heard that."
I wondered for a second if it might have something to do with me having some sort of strong feelings for the person saying the thing or not, like if I'm not as close to someone it'd be more uncomfortable while if I've known them for a while and feel more comfortable with them in general it'd be less so. Doesn't seem to be the case, though, looking back at a few specific "I wish I hadn't just heard/read that" moments -- several of the ones that bugged me the worst were actually vague mentions or jokes in Facebook comments from people I knew pretty well and had some degree of feelings for at the time.
About the only consistent thing is that "hurr hurr, so-and-so's hot" kinds of comments always creep me out at least a little. Partly to do with the use of "hot," I'm sure, since that particular word has always come across as creepy to me. Pretty much whenever it's a guy bringing up sexual stuff, it comes across as at least a little uncomfortable and/or creepy -- probably because of how society encourages the "hurr hurr, she's hot" sort of commentary from guys more than girls, along with encouraging (or, at best, not discouraging) them to go along with basically every other kind of creepy or assholish behavior when it comes to sexual stuff. Also, whenever something comes across as bragging about something the person did (also common to the times I've been unfortunate enough to overhear guys talk about this kind of stuff), or bashing on people they were previously involved with, or talk about a person as if the sexual things they did were the only good thing about that person and/or the only reason they were involved with that person to begin with... those tend to bug me a lot also.
But when it's just like... someone telling me about things that happened in their past, with no creepy bragging/bashing sorts of comments, just describing what happened (sometimes vaguely, sometimes in more detail)... then it doesn't bug me, even when it gets into the range of things I honestly didn't want to know, and things I pretty much never would've asked about or brought up. But some people are able to bring those sorts of things up without creeping me out in the process, somehow. I'm still not sure what it is, but I'm wondering if maybe it has something to do with the degree of... I guess respectfulness?... involved. Like, if someone tells me about some random sexual thing that happened in a past relationship... if it comes across as the sort of thing I'd overhear the douchey kids hurring and durring back and forth to each other in high school (creepy bragging, bashing on past sex partners as if the way they did sex things somehow reflects on their worth as a person, etc.) then it bothers me. If it's just like "hey, here's a thing that happened in my life, I'm going to tell you about it in as non-creepy a way possible" then it doesn't.
Like I said, this isn't a subject that comes up often for me, so this post pretty much took several years worth of random conversations with various people (and unfortunately overheard conversations, and random Facebook comments I stumbled across...) to get to a point where I might be able to figure out what's going on. But the thought stuck in my head, so I had to write it down, pretty much.
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Friday, April 17, 2015
Wow... I've gotten *really* bad at regularly updating this thing, huh?
Yeah... 5 months since my last post on here. Oof. I don't think I've ever gone that long between posts before. I guess there just hasn't been a lot going on for me as far as "real life" goes -- it's all been just going to my job and working on various stuff on the computer, for the most part. I don't see friends nearly as often as I'd like, and it's a really depressing thought that so many of them are going to vanish after this semester is over (and even more within the year or so after that.) I've gotten to see several people recently, but it still never quite seems like "enough," especially when there's still so many friends I really want to see but I never really get the chance to. I hope I'll be able to keep in touch with people better than I have up to this point... not hearing from people for months at a time is pretty awful (and seems even worse when they're people I could easily just walk over and visit!) and I'd really rather avoid that in the future if at all possible.
Anyway... job has been going okay for the most part. I've made some progress toward finishing those training videos I need to get done before my pay can get bumped up to $8.00 an hour (it's at $7.50 an hour right now), I think I only have one video left to go now... though it is the longest of them, supposedly in the range of an hour and a half. I'm kind of dreading summer, though, after hearing about how insanely hot it gets in that store when it's very warm outside. Hearing that it sometimes gets into the freaking 90s inside during the summer almost makes me glad that my hours will be shorter over the summer... I'm definitely going to have to start applying to other jobs soon, specifically jobs at places that actually use their freaking air conditioner rather than setting it to 78 which... doesn't actually cool the place down that much, especially with all the heat blasting out from the oven and the pizza-heating racks. I mean, it's an improvement over 80-82 that it would get up to without the AC on at all, but still not great, and apparently when it's really hot outside even turning the AC on is not enough to keep it within "actually a tolerable indoor temperature" range. 95 degrees is not within that range... heck, 95 isn't even tolerable when you're outside unless you're in a swimming pool or something. And apparently when the AC broke last year, it got up to 115 degrees inside. And stayed that way for months because it took them forever to get someone to fix it. Yeah, if that happens I'm going to have to find somewhere else to work because I'm pretty sure I would be in actual danger if I tried to work in those conditions (even the 90s might be in "Eddie is in danger of overheating and dying" range, really, considering how bad that one day of 80-82 degree temperatures in there was for me.) I've got an application for Subway, but I'm going to have to check the place out a little more and find out how they do their air conditioning (I'm assuming it'll be saner than what Papa John's does, considering that Subway has indoor seating) -- I don't want to have two jobs where I'll be roasting alive all summer, after all. I'm actually seriously considering giving Wal-Mart a look, since I know they keep it pretty cool in there... I've heard Wal-Mart isn't too fun to work for, but this is going to be a summer job rather than something long-term so if it sucks I can always quit when my Papa John's hours start going up again when the college students come back in the flal. XD
The warmer weather hasn't been all bad, though (it's actually been pretty nice aside from work-related complications!)... I've been going on walks a lot more often lately, sometimes more than once in the same day when I'm off from work. I had already explored Buena Vista from one end to the other (walking all the way up to Food Lion in one direction, and way out past city limits to the "old fences and grassy fields" range in the other), and I'm pretty sure the flood wall is pretty much the far end of Buena Vista on that side, but now I've walked up to what may be the highest point in town. And I took some pictures, which I'll post here now:
Oh, and back in February I made another OHRRPGCE game -- this time one based on Teekee, that fat, goofy gray stripey cat who's currently living back at my mom's house. The game isn't finished but it is playable and even beatable, since it's going to have multiple story branches with different endings when it's done (currently only one is reachable... not counting a couple of "bad ending" possibilities, anyway.) It was made for one of Slime Salad's many OHRRPGCE game-making contests, and came in second place (though I get the feeling that if one specific voter hadn't put the game at the bottom of his votes solely for "I was too lazy and/or not-smart to figure out how to get past this point" reasons I would've won. Heck, I would've tied for first place if I had switched my own votes around slightly.) Here's some screenshots:
I've also been drawing more stuff than usual lately, as you've seen if you've been looking at my Facebook uploads... or my other blog... or my Deviantart account. Yeah, I put stuff all over the place now. XD And here's one more place, though I'll only be posting one picture this time... I actually painted something for the first time in months recently!
That's the girl with the fish-sword that I came up with a couple years back, except now she's actually colored in (the original drawing was black-and-white... and I had no idea what kind of color scheme to give her. Whoops. XD Thankfully, my first attempt actually turned out really well!)
And I've also continued trying different kinds of beer. Yep, this is the point where some of my Mormon friends may want to tune out, so I've conveniently plunked the beer portion of this post behind a thingie you have to click on to expand it if you're reading this from my main blog page! If that thingie doesn't work, well, this is the last bit before I start talking about beer, so if you don't want to read about beer, pretend the post ends here. XD
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Anyway... job has been going okay for the most part. I've made some progress toward finishing those training videos I need to get done before my pay can get bumped up to $8.00 an hour (it's at $7.50 an hour right now), I think I only have one video left to go now... though it is the longest of them, supposedly in the range of an hour and a half. I'm kind of dreading summer, though, after hearing about how insanely hot it gets in that store when it's very warm outside. Hearing that it sometimes gets into the freaking 90s inside during the summer almost makes me glad that my hours will be shorter over the summer... I'm definitely going to have to start applying to other jobs soon, specifically jobs at places that actually use their freaking air conditioner rather than setting it to 78 which... doesn't actually cool the place down that much, especially with all the heat blasting out from the oven and the pizza-heating racks. I mean, it's an improvement over 80-82 that it would get up to without the AC on at all, but still not great, and apparently when it's really hot outside even turning the AC on is not enough to keep it within "actually a tolerable indoor temperature" range. 95 degrees is not within that range... heck, 95 isn't even tolerable when you're outside unless you're in a swimming pool or something. And apparently when the AC broke last year, it got up to 115 degrees inside. And stayed that way for months because it took them forever to get someone to fix it. Yeah, if that happens I'm going to have to find somewhere else to work because I'm pretty sure I would be in actual danger if I tried to work in those conditions (even the 90s might be in "Eddie is in danger of overheating and dying" range, really, considering how bad that one day of 80-82 degree temperatures in there was for me.) I've got an application for Subway, but I'm going to have to check the place out a little more and find out how they do their air conditioning (I'm assuming it'll be saner than what Papa John's does, considering that Subway has indoor seating) -- I don't want to have two jobs where I'll be roasting alive all summer, after all. I'm actually seriously considering giving Wal-Mart a look, since I know they keep it pretty cool in there... I've heard Wal-Mart isn't too fun to work for, but this is going to be a summer job rather than something long-term so if it sucks I can always quit when my Papa John's hours start going up again when the college students come back in the flal. XD
The warmer weather hasn't been all bad, though (it's actually been pretty nice aside from work-related complications!)... I've been going on walks a lot more often lately, sometimes more than once in the same day when I'm off from work. I had already explored Buena Vista from one end to the other (walking all the way up to Food Lion in one direction, and way out past city limits to the "old fences and grassy fields" range in the other), and I'm pretty sure the flood wall is pretty much the far end of Buena Vista on that side, but now I've walked up to what may be the highest point in town. And I took some pictures, which I'll post here now:
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| Source of all water in BV that doesn't come from the Maury, perhaps? XD |
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| Most contradictory signs ever. KEEP OUT, STOP, WELCOME! |
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| The view from the top of Buena Vista. |
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| No random encounters -- Earthbound/Mario RPG-style wandering enemies instead! |
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| Obligatory in-battle screenshot. Teekee vs. the dreaded demon-beetles. XD |
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| The Big Humpty Star nose-vacuuming Crocowilliam. |
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| Hmm, what's that mysterious stone arch here for? |
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| A cat's take on human toilets. |
And I've also continued trying different kinds of beer. Yep, this is the point where some of my Mormon friends may want to tune out, so I've conveniently plunked the beer portion of this post behind a thingie you have to click on to expand it if you're reading this from my main blog page! If that thingie doesn't work, well, this is the last bit before I start talking about beer, so if you don't want to read about beer, pretend the post ends here. XD
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Wednesday, December 10, 2014
What's happened since my last post here... Also: Adventures in beer
Well... looks like I've forgotten to consistently update this thing again. XD A lot has happened since then... I've been continuing to have a job (and like it fairly well), and in fact have actually gotten a slight pay increase (from minimum wage to $7.50/hr, with the possibility of a further boost to $8/hr if I finish some more training videos.) Two of the three coworkers I didn't get along with have quit, Richard Nixon style (...basically they knew they were going to get fired so they quit first) and I'm waiting on Douche #3 to finally decide to actually quit rather than just ranting about how he's going to quit but not actually doing it.
My car has had a couple of issues (first a near-dead battery, which was replaced, and more recently a broken shifter linkage and some messed-up motor mounts... which were fixed/replaced over Thanksgiving break, so I have a car again) but isn't giving me any trouble at the moment. I've managed to make another visit out to the Roanoke area which went really well (...though I could've done without the drive home afterward... driving on back roads at 2 am with a fogged-up window is a bit scary), as did the day when I managed to convince a friend to come see me in Buena Vista.
I've finished a couple more paintings for people who are leaving soon (most recently, I finished one just in time--she's leaving today, and I just so happened to bump into her in the library yesterday right after I'd finished the painting! huh? me actually having good luck? weird!) I've also finished my first OHRRPGCE game since high school, Okédoké! La Leyenda Mexicana, which can be downloaded here if you'd like to try it out. And last month, I did NaNoWriMo and actually managed to "win" for the second time in my life (and do so early for the first time ever--I started a day late and still somehow managed to go over 50,000 before the end of the 28th of November.)
And, on a completely unrelated note, I've discovered that "beer that I actually like" is something that really does exist after all. Maybe I just needed to try it a few times to let my taste buds adjust to "beery" tastes, or maybe my first attempt at trying some years ago just ended up with bad circumstances all around (beer wasn't cold due to fridge being off, I tried to drink it with a chocolatey granola bar which probably wasn't the best choice of food, I had tried one of my dad's dark German beers first because that was what was readily available rather than trying something lighter, etc...), or maybe some combination of both... but either way, I now drink beer semi-regularly and actually like it. The rest of this post will be talking about beer and my experiences so far... just a warning for those among my Mormon friends who might not want to read about beer. I know not all of you are offended by the very mention of mild barley drinks, but I haven't brought up the subject with most of you guys so I figure I'd slip in a warning ahead of time before going right into a big ol' beer post. XD
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Anyway... the history of me actually having positive experiences with beer goes back only as far as September, when I tried Blue Moon's Harvest Pumpkin Ale. At first I didn't like it much at all--it was "too beery" for me at the time, though it tasted better to me than what I remembered of the beer I tried first years ago. But then I tried some again a few days later, with some food (spicy pasta!) this time rather than by itself, and I actually found it to be decently drinkable so long as the food lasted. After having one of them with dinner a few more nights, I was left with a six-pack that only contained two beers. I had one of them with a meal, and found that... I was actually kinda liking it even after the food was gone. So I went ahead and had the last one, and was surprised to find that I now could drink the stuff even without the accompaniment of food.
A few days later, I was in the grocery store and saw one of the Blue Moon variety packs. I figured that'd be a good thing to try, what with the fact that it had six different beers in there rather than just one (like a six-pack) or three/four (like most of the other variety packs that were around.) Over the next week or two, I tried one of these beers every night, and was somewhat surprised to find that I didn't really dislike any of them, though there were some I liked more or less than others (the pumpkin one I tried first, oddly enough, ended up being one of the three in the pack that I didn't care for quite as much as the others.) The regular Blue Moon (a Belgian-style wheat beer) has been consistently pretty good every time I've had it, and the Cinnamon Horchata Ale from the same variety pack was nice too (though unfortunately the cinnamon/horchata-ness of it seemed to fade away a lot after about half a glass.)
My first "wow, beer can taste like that!?" moment came from the first time I tried this one...
...the Farmhouse Red Saison/Flanders-Style Ale. This one (well, the first bottle of it I tried, at least) had some really interesting flavors to it that I haven't had in a beer before or since... it was actually kind of "tomato-y" along with more general sweetish fruit-esque flavors and the bready flavors that you get in a lot of beer. The second bottle, unfortunately, wasn't the same as the first--it wasn't bad, but the fruit/veggie-ness of the first one was almost totally absent (the "tomato-y" flavor in particular was nowhere to be found in the second one.) That inconsistency is probably the main thing that would keep me from buying a full six-pack of these--I'd be worried that they'd all be the less-good version, or that I'd only get one or two of the tastier version. I'm not sure which version is the way this was "supposed to" taste, but I definitely liked the first one I had a lot more than the second.
After the variety pack was gone, I went without buying any more beer for my fridge for a little while. I did, however, try some at Mexican restaurants whenever I ended up eating out at one. The first I tried was Pacifico, which was not bad (and seemed to make my food taste even better, somehow) but not amazing either. Didn't have a great deal of flavor to it at all as far as I could tell. I also had Negra Modelo, which had much more flavor along with retaining the food-enhancing properties (I'm just going to figure that Mexican beer in general does this, as all three that I've tried so far seemed to.) I think it might've been better without the lime they served it with, though I'm not sure as I haven't had a "lime-free" version yet (they do sell it in stores around here, though, so maybe that will change at some point in the future.) My favorite of the Mexican beers so far, though, was this one...
...Bohemia, which I found after looking up some information on it online is apparently made to resemble a German-style Pilsner. This one was another "huh, beer can taste like that?" moment--I still am not sure exactly how to describe the taste of this one, except that I occasionally noticed bits of lemony flavor in there (even in the one I had without any lime juice squeezed into it.) I actually liked it enough that I ended up ordering a second one, since my food was not gone yet by the time the first one was empty and I felt like another drink. I probably could have emptied out a third, too, but by the time the waiter asked if I wanted a third one I figured that since my food was gone (and I was starting to feel the effects of two beers' worth of alcohol...) it might be a better idea not to. XD
The next beer I ended up trying (actually before Bohemia, but I decided to put all the Mexican beers in their own segment) was one I picked up from Wal-Mart during a visit, which was also my first "craft" beer (which basically just means it's made by a smaller company, rather than the big advertising-all-over-the-place corporations like the guys who make Budweiser and such.) It came in a 22-ounce bottle, and so I ended up drinking the whole thing in one sitting... so I got a bit drunk. Not unpleasantly so, thankfully (I've only been "dizzy, sleepy" drunk once and I don't intend to repeat that experience... and I definitely do not plan go any further than that! making yourself sick just doesn't appeal to me at all), but definitely "warm and fuzzy." Anywhere, here's a picture of that one:
Blonde Hunny from Wild Wolf Brewing Company, located in Nellysford, VA (apparently somewhere in Nelson County.) This one was really interesting, and at the time I had it was probably my favorite beer so far (and is still up there, though one that I've had more recently has bumped it down from the #1 spot.) Like the regular Blue Moon, this was a Belgian-inspired wheat beer. There were definitely a few differences, though--this one was brewed with honey (which contributed to the taste of it and also gave it a bit higher alcohol content) and still had the yeast in the bottle rather than filtering it out or otherwise removing it. It basically had all of the features I liked about regular Blue Moon (like the "wheaty" taste) plus a bit more (I could definitely taste the honey here and there), and without the one thing I didn't like so much (...I'm very sensitive to smells, and Blue Moon tended to smell a bit funky if you let it sit out very long. There was no noticeable effect on the taste when that happened, thankfully, but still.) This one was really good. Only comes in canned six-packs and the big 22-ounce bottles, so I haven't gotten more yet (I'm still a bit wary of cans, for some reason...), but since it costs about the same as Blue Moon for a six-pack I'd most likely get this instead if I really wanted more wheat beer at some point.
Shortly after that, I ended up stopping in to a local beer/wine store in Lexington, where I wandered around a bit and then ended up asking the guy at the front for help picking something out since there was just too much to decide from. He ended up pointing me toward a six-pack of Leffe Blonde, which was imported from Belgium (my first beer from another country! well, aside from that one of Dad's I had years ago, heh.) I somehow didn't end up getting any pictures of this one (or the next beer I tried after it), but it was pretty good. "Bready" sorts of flavors were there, along with banana-like flavors, interestingly enough. Apparently that's a common thing in Belgian beers, and has something to do with the type of yeast they use. Unfortunately, only half of the six-pack was really good; I'm not sure what was wrong with the other bottles, but I noticed a kinda iffy "smoky/greasy" sort of flavor in them (faint in the fourth bottle but very noticeable in the other two) which pretty clearly did not belong there. It wasn't so bad that they were undrinkable, but those last few were definitely not as good as the first few.
After those were gone, I tried the Vienna Lager from one of Lexington's local breweries, Devil's Backbone. Their six-packs are available just about everywhere around here (they're even in the gas stations... though more expensive there than in regular stores), so I picked up one. That was also pretty good, and I didn't have any trouble clearing out the six-pack over the course of a week or so.
The next beer I tried was George Killian's Irish Red, from one of the local Italian restaurants where my dad took me during a visit over here. Was pretty good, but seemed to clash oddly with something in the pasta I was eating--when I was drinking it before the pasta came to the table, it had a sweeter sort of taste to it, while afterward it was completely different and not as good. I've had this one once again since then (from the same Italian place) and it didn't seem to have the same issues with pizza--so not sure if it just doesn't go so well with pasta for some reason, if I had a somewhat iffy bottle that first time, or what.
And after that, since I was running a bit shorter on money than usual, I started looking for something a bit cheaper than what I normally bought. Most of the beer that goes for $5-$6 a six-pack around here seems to be the cheap crappy kind, like Bud Light and such, so I was hesitant about buying a full six-pack of any of those. Then I noticed that Yuengling (which my sister has mentioned liking) sells for the same price as the aforementioned Bud, so... I went ahead and grabbed a six-pack. Also pretty good. Kinda similar to the Kilian's overall, though different enough that you probably wouldn't get them mixed up or anything. Next one I tried was over Thanksgiving break, also at a restaurant with my dad (and sister)--Guinness! Which was pretty nice. Definitely had a noticeably different taste to it than the lighter-colored beers I've tried, more of a "toasty" sort of thing rather than just "bready."
Also during Thanksgiving break, I found a partial six-pack of old pumpkin beer...
Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale, apparently made by Michelob (and also apparently not being made anymore at all--from what I can find, new packs of it haven't existed since 2012.) I was expecting this to be undrinkably disgusting since it had been sitting in a cabinet back home for 4 or 5 years, but the first bottle I opened actually wasn't that bad. I could actually taste some of the pumpkin-pie type spices and everything. The second bottle, on the other hand, kinda tasted like dirt. So... I'm thinking I probably won't be drinking the rest of these too quickly, if at all. XD
After the break, and after returning to Buena Vista, I ended up spotting a variety pack that I'd never seen in the stores before...
I had heard from some friends that Fat Tire was pretty good, and I liked that there were 5 beers rather than just 3 or 4 like most of the variety packs, so I went ahead and grabbed this one. A couple weeks later, I've tried at least one of every beer in the pack, and (somewhat surprisingly) I still haven't found a beer I just plain can't stand (...though the second bottle of old pumpkin beer, tasting like "pumpkin spice dirt," came very close. Blargh. >_<)
The first one I tried was Fat Tire...
...which was nice, had a bit of a toasty/almost nutty taste to it. I had the second bottle of this one along with some pasta just last night. Next up was...
...their Abbey dubbel, which was really good and has risen up into the "favorite beer" slot. XD This one had, in addition to the dark toasty bread sorts of flavors, a good bit of banana and occasionally something that I can only compare to tropical fruit gum and/or cotton candy. As far as I'm aware, these flavors are all results of the particular strain of yeast used, along with possibly some sugar added (something that some of the Belgian-style beers apparently do to give the yeast more "food," apparently.) But yeah... I haven't had the second bottle of this one just yet, but the first one was the best beer I've had so far.
Next up was...
...2 Below Ale, which apparently was made in the style of an English bitter (an ESB or "Extra Special Bitter" to be specific.) This one was also pretty good. I have no clear recollections of what I thought of this one, except that I didn't find it to be especially bitter (though apparently some who tried it did--the first review that came up for it when I searched on a beer website I'm on was basically just complaining about the bitterness!) Which leads into the next beer from the pack I decided to try, which was definitely more than just a little bitter...
...the Ranger IPA (India Pale Ale.) This basically tasted like liquid pine tree! I was honestly kind of afraid to try an IPA before this point, since I'd read that they're extremely bitter and most people who are new to beer won't like them (...and even some people who're more experienced beer drinkers still can't stand IPAs.) Apparently this one ranks at 70 IBUs (the scale that beer bitterness from hops is measured by), which is pretty high up there (...the scale basically breaks down after 100, and most above that only list their IBUs as "100+.") It was noticeably bitter, but not unpleasantly so. The piney taste was definitely a really strong one, though. I have to wonder how this sort of beer would work with food--so far I haven't tried it.
And the last one from the pack was...
...the Rampant Imperial IPA. Which I was expecting to be "like Ranger but more," though it actually ended up being a bit more complicated than that. The pine flavor was definitely still there, but didn't seem quite as overpowering as in Ranger--there was a bit of something fruity in there as well, and I could sometimes even taste some of the more usual "bready" flavor in there. This one also didn't seem noticeably more bitter to me than Ranger, despite being 85 IBUs rather than just 70. It was, however, noticeably more alcoholic--definitely a "just one at a time" beer for me!
And most recently, I noticed a sale going on at the local Food Lion--a 12-pack of beer for only $8.99 (plus a 2-dollar mail-in rebate.) Since it was Yuengling, which I've already had a positive experience with, I went ahead and grabbed one...
...but not a regular Yuengling 12-pack, instead getting one of the Black & Tan (which is a combination of the Yuengling Porter, a darker beer, and Yuengling Premium Beer which is basically Yuengling's version of the lighter yellowish lager like Bud, Miller, etc.) Pretty good. Tastes similar to regular Yuengling but with a bit more flavor and hints of "dark beer" type flavors (more toasty bready-ness, occasional bits of chocolate) every now and then. Going by this, I figure I'd like the Porter, considering that it's the "black" in the Black & Tan and would be the beer responsible for the "darker beer" flavors present in this one.
My car has had a couple of issues (first a near-dead battery, which was replaced, and more recently a broken shifter linkage and some messed-up motor mounts... which were fixed/replaced over Thanksgiving break, so I have a car again) but isn't giving me any trouble at the moment. I've managed to make another visit out to the Roanoke area which went really well (...though I could've done without the drive home afterward... driving on back roads at 2 am with a fogged-up window is a bit scary), as did the day when I managed to convince a friend to come see me in Buena Vista.
I've finished a couple more paintings for people who are leaving soon (most recently, I finished one just in time--she's leaving today, and I just so happened to bump into her in the library yesterday right after I'd finished the painting! huh? me actually having good luck? weird!) I've also finished my first OHRRPGCE game since high school, Okédoké! La Leyenda Mexicana, which can be downloaded here if you'd like to try it out. And last month, I did NaNoWriMo and actually managed to "win" for the second time in my life (and do so early for the first time ever--I started a day late and still somehow managed to go over 50,000 before the end of the 28th of November.)
And, on a completely unrelated note, I've discovered that "beer that I actually like" is something that really does exist after all. Maybe I just needed to try it a few times to let my taste buds adjust to "beery" tastes, or maybe my first attempt at trying some years ago just ended up with bad circumstances all around (beer wasn't cold due to fridge being off, I tried to drink it with a chocolatey granola bar which probably wasn't the best choice of food, I had tried one of my dad's dark German beers first because that was what was readily available rather than trying something lighter, etc...), or maybe some combination of both... but either way, I now drink beer semi-regularly and actually like it. The rest of this post will be talking about beer and my experiences so far... just a warning for those among my Mormon friends who might not want to read about beer. I know not all of you are offended by the very mention of mild barley drinks, but I haven't brought up the subject with most of you guys so I figure I'd slip in a warning ahead of time before going right into a big ol' beer post. XD
====================
Anyway... the history of me actually having positive experiences with beer goes back only as far as September, when I tried Blue Moon's Harvest Pumpkin Ale. At first I didn't like it much at all--it was "too beery" for me at the time, though it tasted better to me than what I remembered of the beer I tried first years ago. But then I tried some again a few days later, with some food (spicy pasta!) this time rather than by itself, and I actually found it to be decently drinkable so long as the food lasted. After having one of them with dinner a few more nights, I was left with a six-pack that only contained two beers. I had one of them with a meal, and found that... I was actually kinda liking it even after the food was gone. So I went ahead and had the last one, and was surprised to find that I now could drink the stuff even without the accompaniment of food.
A few days later, I was in the grocery store and saw one of the Blue Moon variety packs. I figured that'd be a good thing to try, what with the fact that it had six different beers in there rather than just one (like a six-pack) or three/four (like most of the other variety packs that were around.) Over the next week or two, I tried one of these beers every night, and was somewhat surprised to find that I didn't really dislike any of them, though there were some I liked more or less than others (the pumpkin one I tried first, oddly enough, ended up being one of the three in the pack that I didn't care for quite as much as the others.) The regular Blue Moon (a Belgian-style wheat beer) has been consistently pretty good every time I've had it, and the Cinnamon Horchata Ale from the same variety pack was nice too (though unfortunately the cinnamon/horchata-ness of it seemed to fade away a lot after about half a glass.)
My first "wow, beer can taste like that!?" moment came from the first time I tried this one...
...the Farmhouse Red Saison/Flanders-Style Ale. This one (well, the first bottle of it I tried, at least) had some really interesting flavors to it that I haven't had in a beer before or since... it was actually kind of "tomato-y" along with more general sweetish fruit-esque flavors and the bready flavors that you get in a lot of beer. The second bottle, unfortunately, wasn't the same as the first--it wasn't bad, but the fruit/veggie-ness of the first one was almost totally absent (the "tomato-y" flavor in particular was nowhere to be found in the second one.) That inconsistency is probably the main thing that would keep me from buying a full six-pack of these--I'd be worried that they'd all be the less-good version, or that I'd only get one or two of the tastier version. I'm not sure which version is the way this was "supposed to" taste, but I definitely liked the first one I had a lot more than the second.
After the variety pack was gone, I went without buying any more beer for my fridge for a little while. I did, however, try some at Mexican restaurants whenever I ended up eating out at one. The first I tried was Pacifico, which was not bad (and seemed to make my food taste even better, somehow) but not amazing either. Didn't have a great deal of flavor to it at all as far as I could tell. I also had Negra Modelo, which had much more flavor along with retaining the food-enhancing properties (I'm just going to figure that Mexican beer in general does this, as all three that I've tried so far seemed to.) I think it might've been better without the lime they served it with, though I'm not sure as I haven't had a "lime-free" version yet (they do sell it in stores around here, though, so maybe that will change at some point in the future.) My favorite of the Mexican beers so far, though, was this one...
The next beer I ended up trying (actually before Bohemia, but I decided to put all the Mexican beers in their own segment) was one I picked up from Wal-Mart during a visit, which was also my first "craft" beer (which basically just means it's made by a smaller company, rather than the big advertising-all-over-the-place corporations like the guys who make Budweiser and such.) It came in a 22-ounce bottle, and so I ended up drinking the whole thing in one sitting... so I got a bit drunk. Not unpleasantly so, thankfully (I've only been "dizzy, sleepy" drunk once and I don't intend to repeat that experience... and I definitely do not plan go any further than that! making yourself sick just doesn't appeal to me at all), but definitely "warm and fuzzy." Anywhere, here's a picture of that one:
Shortly after that, I ended up stopping in to a local beer/wine store in Lexington, where I wandered around a bit and then ended up asking the guy at the front for help picking something out since there was just too much to decide from. He ended up pointing me toward a six-pack of Leffe Blonde, which was imported from Belgium (my first beer from another country! well, aside from that one of Dad's I had years ago, heh.) I somehow didn't end up getting any pictures of this one (or the next beer I tried after it), but it was pretty good. "Bready" sorts of flavors were there, along with banana-like flavors, interestingly enough. Apparently that's a common thing in Belgian beers, and has something to do with the type of yeast they use. Unfortunately, only half of the six-pack was really good; I'm not sure what was wrong with the other bottles, but I noticed a kinda iffy "smoky/greasy" sort of flavor in them (faint in the fourth bottle but very noticeable in the other two) which pretty clearly did not belong there. It wasn't so bad that they were undrinkable, but those last few were definitely not as good as the first few.
After those were gone, I tried the Vienna Lager from one of Lexington's local breweries, Devil's Backbone. Their six-packs are available just about everywhere around here (they're even in the gas stations... though more expensive there than in regular stores), so I picked up one. That was also pretty good, and I didn't have any trouble clearing out the six-pack over the course of a week or so.
The next beer I tried was George Killian's Irish Red, from one of the local Italian restaurants where my dad took me during a visit over here. Was pretty good, but seemed to clash oddly with something in the pasta I was eating--when I was drinking it before the pasta came to the table, it had a sweeter sort of taste to it, while afterward it was completely different and not as good. I've had this one once again since then (from the same Italian place) and it didn't seem to have the same issues with pizza--so not sure if it just doesn't go so well with pasta for some reason, if I had a somewhat iffy bottle that first time, or what.
And after that, since I was running a bit shorter on money than usual, I started looking for something a bit cheaper than what I normally bought. Most of the beer that goes for $5-$6 a six-pack around here seems to be the cheap crappy kind, like Bud Light and such, so I was hesitant about buying a full six-pack of any of those. Then I noticed that Yuengling (which my sister has mentioned liking) sells for the same price as the aforementioned Bud, so... I went ahead and grabbed a six-pack. Also pretty good. Kinda similar to the Kilian's overall, though different enough that you probably wouldn't get them mixed up or anything. Next one I tried was over Thanksgiving break, also at a restaurant with my dad (and sister)--Guinness! Which was pretty nice. Definitely had a noticeably different taste to it than the lighter-colored beers I've tried, more of a "toasty" sort of thing rather than just "bready."
Also during Thanksgiving break, I found a partial six-pack of old pumpkin beer...
After the break, and after returning to Buena Vista, I ended up spotting a variety pack that I'd never seen in the stores before...
The first one I tried was Fat Tire...
Next up was...
And the last one from the pack was...
And most recently, I noticed a sale going on at the local Food Lion--a 12-pack of beer for only $8.99 (plus a 2-dollar mail-in rebate.) Since it was Yuengling, which I've already had a positive experience with, I went ahead and grabbed one...
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Attention, people of the Internet
"Preggo" (pronounced "preg-oh") refers to this:
"Prego" (when pronounced "pray-go") refers to this:
And finally, "Prego" (when pronounced "pree-go") is this:
"Prego" (when pronounced "pray-go") refers to this:
And finally, "Prego" (when pronounced "pree-go") is this:
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
In which I take a metaphorical sledgehammer to a list of utter stupidity
This is actually something I've been wanting to post for a while: I stumbled across this list on the Internet at some point months ago (I honestly can't remember how I found it--I want to say I was reading a list someone else had linked to, then stumbled across a link to another one, and then THAT one had a link to this one... but it's been a while so I honestly don't know)... and, well... it was just embarrassingly stupid, full of terrible advice and generalizations about how people work that are rarely actually true unless you're dealing with a walking stereotype (and if you are, RUN AWAY and never look back.)
The list is here: "50 Things Every Woman Should Realize About Men." If you know a thing or two about how people actually work (or at least know enough to know that differences between individuals are what matters, not lame assumptions made about entire groups), you should probably already know it's gonna be a load of crap with a title like that... nothing in the history of the world that started with the thesis of "men and women are, like, sooooo totally different!" has ever been remotely accurate, after all. But anyway, if you're smart you knew that already. So... onward, to the part where I point out exactly how it's a load of crap!
If I don't say anything about an item on the list, either it's just not worth saying anything about (either it's dumb, but in a fairly harmless way... or it's just not something I can say much about) or it didn't get any more of a reaction out of me than "eh." Things that I don't mention might be "true-ish" or at least true for enough people that I can let them pass, or they're just... not really worth saying anything about because they're not saying much of anything in the first place.
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#3 -- This is not as much of an unconscious reflex as this list seems to think. A guy's first reaction to seeing ANY female is not "check her out," unless that guy is the type of guy who should be punished with enforced celibacy for his crimes of aggravated douchebaggery. Just briefly noticing someone's presence does not amount to "checking them out," by the way--it's one thing to notice "oh hey, there's someone walking by" and it's another thing entirely to spend 30 seconds staring at her butt as she passes. One of these is a natural reaction (not noticing the presence of another person when you're looking right at them is weird), the other is a conscious choice.
#4 -- Depends. If you're actively trying to get rid of my friends, then yes, you are in trouble. But a general "will always pick friends over girlfriend if I have to choose," no. My friends are wrong about things sometimes, too--they are people after all. Also, why are you acting like "friend" and "girlfriend" are two mutually exclusive categories, stupid-list-on-the-Internet? I would need to be friends with someone first before dating/etc. becomes possible at all.
#5 -- Criticize my mom all you want, as long as it's a legitimate criticism. She is not some holy being who can do no wrong. And I seriously hope that anyone I end up dating won't have many things in common with my mother, or we probably wouldn't be together very long...
#6 -- Wait, what? Actual good advice? On this list? It's a miracle!
#8 -- If I walk in and you are being all quiet to "let me stare at the TV for half an hour," I will assume something's horribly wrong.
#9 -- If you're trying to say that I'll lose control, run off, and screw some random girl just because I'm not having regular sex for a while, then you are an idiot, Mr. List-on-the-Internet. Yes, trying to manipulate someone by withholding sex until they do something you want them to do is pretty messed up... but sex is not something I can't go without. I have 28 years of practice after all. Also, masturbation freaking exists. There are ways of getting rid of those urges that don't involve infidelity.
#10 -- No, I'm not.
#11 -- Honestly, the other hole appeals to me FAR more than that one. I'll try it (with a condom) if you want, but unless YOU actually like it, please don't push for it. Especially if you're only doing so because you think I want it because some dumb list on the Internet said so.
#12 -- No, I don't. I probably don't even know them. Also, "90% of the women I've ever met?" Good lord, what kind of mindless sex-robot do you think I am? I've only had serious thoughts of so much as *kissing* ONE of the women I've ever met, and only vague fantasy-type thoughts (but only that--there was no thought of actually attempting anything) involving maybe a dozen or so more beyond that one. That's not even close to 90% of the women I've ever met. That's not even close to 90% of those I'm currently friends with.
#13 -- I don't give a damn about pool, or who can beat who in whatever. Competitiveness is not a part of my being. Yeah, I'd rather win at things than lose at them, but I don't really care enough to make a big deal out of it either way--whether the thing itself is any fun is infinitely more important.
#14 -- I probably won't be the "instigator" most of the time. I don't know for sure, what with the "never had sex before" thing and all, but I can't imagine that would be easy for me to do, considering that initiating ANYTHING is hard for me. So you'd better make this more than "every once and a while" unless you only want sex slightly more than "every once and a while."
#15 -- I probably won't notice that, actually.
#16 -- I suck at opening pickle jars, actually, so please don't hand them off to me unless you've tried and loosened them up ahead of time first. I'm also kinda awful at changing light bulbs (though the fluorescent ones are oddly easier to screw in than the old incandescent ones), so please don't think I will be magically better at that than you just because of my Y chromosome. It doesn't actually give you superpowers, y'know.
#17 -- My liking you is not dependent on how much you weigh. Hopefully you never had the "I've got to stay under whatever weight to find a boyfriend" mindset in the first place so this won't be a problem for you. Yes, try not to balloon up to the point where it's unhealthy for you... but don't be obsessive about it and don't think that if you gain 5 pounds I'm going to suddenly not like you anymore. Unlike the so-called emotions of the sort of people who wrote this list, the feelings I have toward people I truly care about are not fragile little soap bubbles that bust into a million pieces in a light breeze.
#18 -- Not necessarily. Not everyone gets to the point of considering marriage at the same speed. Some people are Mormon and think you need only a few months, while others legitimately might need 3 years or more to get to that point. I know that's all you know how to do, but please--don't make generalizations, Mr. List-on-the-Internet.
#19 -- Hallelujah, a double-decker miracle: TWO good pieces of advice hiding among the garbage heap that is the rest of this list! Yes, trying to force people to do something is a TERRIBLE idea (...not just guys, but anyone.)
#20 -- No, I don't. I will be okay with adopting, but only if YOU want kids. If you aren't sold on the idea of kids and want me to be the "tiebreaker" then guess what, we probably won't be having any kids. And I don't give a damn about "leaving a legacy behind" and you'd better not go off the birth control, especially if you don't let me know about it first.
#21 -- Only if it's obvious. I'm not a mind-reader.
#22 -- Shared interests are nice and all, but don't force yourself to be involved in stuff you don't like for my sake.
#23 -- As someone who doesn't care about clothes (note: not caring about clothes is independent of gender! there are guys who care way too much about stuff like this, too), this one is actually probably true.
#24 -- See above.
#27 -- Having to guess stuff is terrible. So yeah, this one's probably actually good advice too.
#28 -- Depends. Some girls look nice with short hair, or at least shortER hair. Sometimes even those that I think will only look nice with longer hair. You may or may not be one of them.
#32 -- False, there are most definitely things I will NOT do. I won't go into them here, however, because they're gross and some of my Mormon friends are probably reading this. XD Just ask if you want to know what they are, don't assume something's going to be a "yes" or "no" automatically.
#33 -- Talking about feelings is most definitely not "the girl's thing." I can and will talk about mine.
#34 -- If that "big piece" has bones in it, you can have it. I'll take a little one without bones, thanks.
#35 -- I'm unsure what this even means. Probably some bullshit that only "wannabe super-macho-man" idiots care about.
#36 -- I'd rather know a few vague details than a flat "this many" number, actually... if all you're willing to say is "there were this many before you" then you'd be better off saying nothing at all.
#37 -- Don't lie about this stuff. If there's something I can do to improve, let me know.
#39 -- ...if I'm walking ahead of you and happen to get to a door first. Don't expect some "running to doors to open them before you get there" crap. Or opening car doors, that's just dumb.
#40 -- My own moral compass works just fine, thanks. If, however, you think that ALL guys just inherently have malfunctioning moral compasses, perhaps you should get your own checked out--it sounds like somebody has sabotaged it.
#41 -- I don't have this strange ego problem that you're assuming I have, Mr. List-on-the-Internet.
#43 -- Actually, I have little-to-no interest... so if YOU want a threesome this one will be reversed.
#44 -- Quiet sucks. Quiet worries me. Please ignore this list's terrible, terrible advice.
#45 -- Compliments kinda creep me out, so go easy on them.
#50 -- I am probably complicated enough to be at least two of you. simplicity is overrated and I want no part in it.
The list is here: "50 Things Every Woman Should Realize About Men." If you know a thing or two about how people actually work (or at least know enough to know that differences between individuals are what matters, not lame assumptions made about entire groups), you should probably already know it's gonna be a load of crap with a title like that... nothing in the history of the world that started with the thesis of "men and women are, like, sooooo totally different!" has ever been remotely accurate, after all. But anyway, if you're smart you knew that already. So... onward, to the part where I point out exactly how it's a load of crap!
If I don't say anything about an item on the list, either it's just not worth saying anything about (either it's dumb, but in a fairly harmless way... or it's just not something I can say much about) or it didn't get any more of a reaction out of me than "eh." Things that I don't mention might be "true-ish" or at least true for enough people that I can let them pass, or they're just... not really worth saying anything about because they're not saying much of anything in the first place.
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#3 -- This is not as much of an unconscious reflex as this list seems to think. A guy's first reaction to seeing ANY female is not "check her out," unless that guy is the type of guy who should be punished with enforced celibacy for his crimes of aggravated douchebaggery. Just briefly noticing someone's presence does not amount to "checking them out," by the way--it's one thing to notice "oh hey, there's someone walking by" and it's another thing entirely to spend 30 seconds staring at her butt as she passes. One of these is a natural reaction (not noticing the presence of another person when you're looking right at them is weird), the other is a conscious choice.
#4 -- Depends. If you're actively trying to get rid of my friends, then yes, you are in trouble. But a general "will always pick friends over girlfriend if I have to choose," no. My friends are wrong about things sometimes, too--they are people after all. Also, why are you acting like "friend" and "girlfriend" are two mutually exclusive categories, stupid-list-on-the-Internet? I would need to be friends with someone first before dating/etc. becomes possible at all.
#5 -- Criticize my mom all you want, as long as it's a legitimate criticism. She is not some holy being who can do no wrong. And I seriously hope that anyone I end up dating won't have many things in common with my mother, or we probably wouldn't be together very long...
#6 -- Wait, what? Actual good advice? On this list? It's a miracle!
#8 -- If I walk in and you are being all quiet to "let me stare at the TV for half an hour," I will assume something's horribly wrong.
#9 -- If you're trying to say that I'll lose control, run off, and screw some random girl just because I'm not having regular sex for a while, then you are an idiot, Mr. List-on-the-Internet. Yes, trying to manipulate someone by withholding sex until they do something you want them to do is pretty messed up... but sex is not something I can't go without. I have 28 years of practice after all. Also, masturbation freaking exists. There are ways of getting rid of those urges that don't involve infidelity.
#10 -- No, I'm not.
#11 -- Honestly, the other hole appeals to me FAR more than that one. I'll try it (with a condom) if you want, but unless YOU actually like it, please don't push for it. Especially if you're only doing so because you think I want it because some dumb list on the Internet said so.
#12 -- No, I don't. I probably don't even know them. Also, "90% of the women I've ever met?" Good lord, what kind of mindless sex-robot do you think I am? I've only had serious thoughts of so much as *kissing* ONE of the women I've ever met, and only vague fantasy-type thoughts (but only that--there was no thought of actually attempting anything) involving maybe a dozen or so more beyond that one. That's not even close to 90% of the women I've ever met. That's not even close to 90% of those I'm currently friends with.
#13 -- I don't give a damn about pool, or who can beat who in whatever. Competitiveness is not a part of my being. Yeah, I'd rather win at things than lose at them, but I don't really care enough to make a big deal out of it either way--whether the thing itself is any fun is infinitely more important.
#14 -- I probably won't be the "instigator" most of the time. I don't know for sure, what with the "never had sex before" thing and all, but I can't imagine that would be easy for me to do, considering that initiating ANYTHING is hard for me. So you'd better make this more than "every once and a while" unless you only want sex slightly more than "every once and a while."
#15 -- I probably won't notice that, actually.
#16 -- I suck at opening pickle jars, actually, so please don't hand them off to me unless you've tried and loosened them up ahead of time first. I'm also kinda awful at changing light bulbs (though the fluorescent ones are oddly easier to screw in than the old incandescent ones), so please don't think I will be magically better at that than you just because of my Y chromosome. It doesn't actually give you superpowers, y'know.
#17 -- My liking you is not dependent on how much you weigh. Hopefully you never had the "I've got to stay under whatever weight to find a boyfriend" mindset in the first place so this won't be a problem for you. Yes, try not to balloon up to the point where it's unhealthy for you... but don't be obsessive about it and don't think that if you gain 5 pounds I'm going to suddenly not like you anymore. Unlike the so-called emotions of the sort of people who wrote this list, the feelings I have toward people I truly care about are not fragile little soap bubbles that bust into a million pieces in a light breeze.
#18 -- Not necessarily. Not everyone gets to the point of considering marriage at the same speed. Some people are Mormon and think you need only a few months, while others legitimately might need 3 years or more to get to that point. I know that's all you know how to do, but please--don't make generalizations, Mr. List-on-the-Internet.
#19 -- Hallelujah, a double-decker miracle: TWO good pieces of advice hiding among the garbage heap that is the rest of this list! Yes, trying to force people to do something is a TERRIBLE idea (...not just guys, but anyone.)
#20 -- No, I don't. I will be okay with adopting, but only if YOU want kids. If you aren't sold on the idea of kids and want me to be the "tiebreaker" then guess what, we probably won't be having any kids. And I don't give a damn about "leaving a legacy behind" and you'd better not go off the birth control, especially if you don't let me know about it first.
#21 -- Only if it's obvious. I'm not a mind-reader.
#22 -- Shared interests are nice and all, but don't force yourself to be involved in stuff you don't like for my sake.
#23 -- As someone who doesn't care about clothes (note: not caring about clothes is independent of gender! there are guys who care way too much about stuff like this, too), this one is actually probably true.
#24 -- See above.
#27 -- Having to guess stuff is terrible. So yeah, this one's probably actually good advice too.
#28 -- Depends. Some girls look nice with short hair, or at least shortER hair. Sometimes even those that I think will only look nice with longer hair. You may or may not be one of them.
#32 -- False, there are most definitely things I will NOT do. I won't go into them here, however, because they're gross and some of my Mormon friends are probably reading this. XD Just ask if you want to know what they are, don't assume something's going to be a "yes" or "no" automatically.
#33 -- Talking about feelings is most definitely not "the girl's thing." I can and will talk about mine.
#34 -- If that "big piece" has bones in it, you can have it. I'll take a little one without bones, thanks.
#35 -- I'm unsure what this even means. Probably some bullshit that only "wannabe super-macho-man" idiots care about.
#36 -- I'd rather know a few vague details than a flat "this many" number, actually... if all you're willing to say is "there were this many before you" then you'd be better off saying nothing at all.
#37 -- Don't lie about this stuff. If there's something I can do to improve, let me know.
#39 -- ...if I'm walking ahead of you and happen to get to a door first. Don't expect some "running to doors to open them before you get there" crap. Or opening car doors, that's just dumb.
#40 -- My own moral compass works just fine, thanks. If, however, you think that ALL guys just inherently have malfunctioning moral compasses, perhaps you should get your own checked out--it sounds like somebody has sabotaged it.
#41 -- I don't have this strange ego problem that you're assuming I have, Mr. List-on-the-Internet.
#43 -- Actually, I have little-to-no interest... so if YOU want a threesome this one will be reversed.
#44 -- Quiet sucks. Quiet worries me. Please ignore this list's terrible, terrible advice.
#45 -- Compliments kinda creep me out, so go easy on them.
#50 -- I am probably complicated enough to be at least two of you. simplicity is overrated and I want no part in it.
Friday, September 19, 2014
Monogamy is "unnatural"... unless you're Eddie?
I've actually had an idea to do stuff like this for a while now (posting my reactions to articles that I stumble across on Facebook here, rather than just real-lifey stuff), but ended up never getting around to posting my first one a while back when I originally got the idea.
But anyway... this is a pretty long ranty post, and may not be "Mormon safe" (in the sense that sexual stuff is discussed, though not explicitly or anything, and a blogger who some of my Mormon friends seem to frequently share posts from is called out as being full of crap... though for the most part, this post isn't about him. It's about a really awful misconception that's taken root across much of society, which both he and the person he's arguing with both somehow agree on.) So those who are easily offended and prone to posting angry, insulting comments on anything you disagree with, run away and never look back.
Anyway... those of you who are still reading, this post refers to this blog post. All that you really need to know, though, is that both of the people who say some stuff in said post agree that "monogamy is unnatural" and humans (especially male humans) are naturally predisposed toward screwing everything that moves. The difference being, one of them is a college professor who you've probably never heard of unless you're in one of his classes (taking the "we're all naturally non-monogamous so let's go ahead and mindlessly screw everything that moves!" stance) and the other being a religious/political-ish blogger that you've probably never heard of unless you've seen your religious/political-ish friends share his posts on Facebook (and his stance, of course, is something along the lines of "monogamy isn't natural, it's a commandment from the Old Man in the Sky and his son White Jesus to test our righteousness by making us do something hard!")
And now that you have that much information, there is no longer any reason to read that article I linked, so you can continue on to the rest of my rant. XD
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Okay, a lot of this Matt Walsh guy's blog posts are full of crap from what I've seen (this one included, honestly; I only included a link to the article for context purposes, not because I'd actually recommend it! XD)... but this professor claiming that "monogamy is unnatural" and trying to say that all men are just inherently geared toward wanting to have sex with as many people as possible might be even worse.
...Actually, scratch that--Professor Widespread McMisinformation is definitely worse. The "all guys are pre-programmed to be ravenous sexmonsters" line of thinking is probably one of the most horrible untruths to become accepted "fact" by a depressingly large segment of society in a loooong time.
If monogamy is "not natural," how the heck do either of these guys (who somehow agree that it is "not natural" even if they don't agree on anything else) explain ME?
I'm only interested in monogamy when it comes to relationships. I've only ever been interested in monogamy. There was no "party phase" earlier in my life that I've since grown out of--I just have never seen any appeal in the typical "go out (drunkenness optional but encouraged) and have sex with as many people as possible" thing a lot of people (especially guys) get into starting around high school. When other guys would brag about stuff like that, it always seemed so strange to me that they would think that was a GOOD thing. While other guys were being all "aw man, when will I lose my virginity?" my concern was always something more like "when will I find a girl who actually likes me?" instead--losing my virginity is something that'd be more of a nice bonus that would ideally come along with finding someone who actually felt as strongly about me as I do about her, not an end goal in and of itself (even now, the only concern related to that is "if I DO actually find someone, will she reject me just because I'm still a virgin at age 28 or will she actually be a decent person and try to understand and work with me on that instead?")
Oh, and that's not all. Just having strong feelings for one person (even if they're one-sided feelings which that person doesn't share at all!) basically blinds me to all others, to the point where I'm pretty sure by now that I've missed a few people who may have actually liked me because I just couldn't turn my attention away from someone else long enough to notice. Even on the rare occasion that I start to like multiple people at once, that only lasts until one of them manages to push ahead of the others in my mind and become the lone person that I end up mildly obsessed with. I can't imagine how much MORE focused I would be on that one person if I actually was in a relationship with someone, rather than just an "I like her but she doesn't feel the same way" situation. This is literally the exact opposite of the supposedly "natural" walking stereotype guy who can't help but have his eyes drawn to any nice-looking girl he stumbles across, even if he's already taken.
And I'm pretty sure at this point this is something that's built in for me, not something I've learned. I haven't gone to church (occasional visits alongside friends at SVU aside) since I was 12, and even then I barely believed most of what they said in church, so I definitely didn't pick it up from religion. My old church rarely (if ever) talked about what they thought was right or wrong in relationships anyway from what I remember, so that makes it an even less likely source. And I'm not a "traditional" person at all, either... so it's not like I was taught that monogamy was the only way or anything (I wasn't taught hardly anything about relationships, actually--I didn't even have a clear concept of what a date was until I was in my 20s.) And it's not even likely that I just sort of unconsciously absorbed it at a young age, because I remember hearing a lot of stories about historical figures who had both a wife and mistress, or wives and concubines, or various other "more than one person" sorts of situations for at least as long as I've been hearing about monogamous relationships.
Maybe it's not the same way for everyone else; maybe some people are "programmed" to tend toward some polyamorous sort of thing and have difficulty only being seriously attracted to one person at a time. But it seems to me that, for me anyway, monogamy is indeed "natural." Am I just this rare weird sort of person that's "programmed" for monogamy? Or are a lot of us like that to start with, before society manages to reprogram the majority with that "as many as possible, as often as possible, as early as possible" mindset when it comes to sex/relationships?
It's hard for me to even guess about how it is for other people... but I know how I work, at least, and that alone blows the "all guys are like this naturally" nonsense out of the water. I mean, what are the chances that I'm literally the only one like this, out of 7 billion humans? I'd say not that high.
But anyway... this is a pretty long ranty post, and may not be "Mormon safe" (in the sense that sexual stuff is discussed, though not explicitly or anything, and a blogger who some of my Mormon friends seem to frequently share posts from is called out as being full of crap... though for the most part, this post isn't about him. It's about a really awful misconception that's taken root across much of society, which both he and the person he's arguing with both somehow agree on.) So those who are easily offended and prone to posting angry, insulting comments on anything you disagree with, run away and never look back.
Anyway... those of you who are still reading, this post refers to this blog post. All that you really need to know, though, is that both of the people who say some stuff in said post agree that "monogamy is unnatural" and humans (especially male humans) are naturally predisposed toward screwing everything that moves. The difference being, one of them is a college professor who you've probably never heard of unless you're in one of his classes (taking the "we're all naturally non-monogamous so let's go ahead and mindlessly screw everything that moves!" stance) and the other being a religious/political-ish blogger that you've probably never heard of unless you've seen your religious/political-ish friends share his posts on Facebook (and his stance, of course, is something along the lines of "monogamy isn't natural, it's a commandment from the Old Man in the Sky and his son White Jesus to test our righteousness by making us do something hard!")
And now that you have that much information, there is no longer any reason to read that article I linked, so you can continue on to the rest of my rant. XD
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Okay, a lot of this Matt Walsh guy's blog posts are full of crap from what I've seen (this one included, honestly; I only included a link to the article for context purposes, not because I'd actually recommend it! XD)... but this professor claiming that "monogamy is unnatural" and trying to say that all men are just inherently geared toward wanting to have sex with as many people as possible might be even worse.
...Actually, scratch that--Professor Widespread McMisinformation is definitely worse. The "all guys are pre-programmed to be ravenous sexmonsters" line of thinking is probably one of the most horrible untruths to become accepted "fact" by a depressingly large segment of society in a loooong time.
If monogamy is "not natural," how the heck do either of these guys (who somehow agree that it is "not natural" even if they don't agree on anything else) explain ME?
I'm only interested in monogamy when it comes to relationships. I've only ever been interested in monogamy. There was no "party phase" earlier in my life that I've since grown out of--I just have never seen any appeal in the typical "go out (drunkenness optional but encouraged) and have sex with as many people as possible" thing a lot of people (especially guys) get into starting around high school. When other guys would brag about stuff like that, it always seemed so strange to me that they would think that was a GOOD thing. While other guys were being all "aw man, when will I lose my virginity?" my concern was always something more like "when will I find a girl who actually likes me?" instead--losing my virginity is something that'd be more of a nice bonus that would ideally come along with finding someone who actually felt as strongly about me as I do about her, not an end goal in and of itself (even now, the only concern related to that is "if I DO actually find someone, will she reject me just because I'm still a virgin at age 28 or will she actually be a decent person and try to understand and work with me on that instead?")
Oh, and that's not all. Just having strong feelings for one person (even if they're one-sided feelings which that person doesn't share at all!) basically blinds me to all others, to the point where I'm pretty sure by now that I've missed a few people who may have actually liked me because I just couldn't turn my attention away from someone else long enough to notice. Even on the rare occasion that I start to like multiple people at once, that only lasts until one of them manages to push ahead of the others in my mind and become the lone person that I end up mildly obsessed with. I can't imagine how much MORE focused I would be on that one person if I actually was in a relationship with someone, rather than just an "I like her but she doesn't feel the same way" situation. This is literally the exact opposite of the supposedly "natural" walking stereotype guy who can't help but have his eyes drawn to any nice-looking girl he stumbles across, even if he's already taken.
And I'm pretty sure at this point this is something that's built in for me, not something I've learned. I haven't gone to church (occasional visits alongside friends at SVU aside) since I was 12, and even then I barely believed most of what they said in church, so I definitely didn't pick it up from religion. My old church rarely (if ever) talked about what they thought was right or wrong in relationships anyway from what I remember, so that makes it an even less likely source. And I'm not a "traditional" person at all, either... so it's not like I was taught that monogamy was the only way or anything (I wasn't taught hardly anything about relationships, actually--I didn't even have a clear concept of what a date was until I was in my 20s.) And it's not even likely that I just sort of unconsciously absorbed it at a young age, because I remember hearing a lot of stories about historical figures who had both a wife and mistress, or wives and concubines, or various other "more than one person" sorts of situations for at least as long as I've been hearing about monogamous relationships.
Maybe it's not the same way for everyone else; maybe some people are "programmed" to tend toward some polyamorous sort of thing and have difficulty only being seriously attracted to one person at a time. But it seems to me that, for me anyway, monogamy is indeed "natural." Am I just this rare weird sort of person that's "programmed" for monogamy? Or are a lot of us like that to start with, before society manages to reprogram the majority with that "as many as possible, as often as possible, as early as possible" mindset when it comes to sex/relationships?
It's hard for me to even guess about how it is for other people... but I know how I work, at least, and that alone blows the "all guys are like this naturally" nonsense out of the water. I mean, what are the chances that I'm literally the only one like this, out of 7 billion humans? I'd say not that high.
Friday, September 5, 2014
Yep, I think I've recovered from summer now.
As the title says--all the awfulness of summer seems to have pretty thoroughly disappeared at this point. I'm pretty well settled in at my apartment here in Buena Vista, with all my stuff unpacked and set up and September's rent paid so I won't have to worry about that again until the first week of October (which is... still a good ways off.) I'm also no longer suffering from the horrible boredom/loneliness/lack-of-motivation stuff that was hanging over me for most of the summer, and have actually gotten more work done on Okédoké! (not enough for a late-August release sadly, but early/mid-September should still be doable) lately, to the point where I should be out of "actually adding new stuff" stage and into "final playtesting before release" stage within the next week. Speaking of Okédoké, here's a few random screenshots of new stuff:
Also, some pretty big news: I've got a job now!! As of... last Thursday, I've been working at the Papa John's in Lexington. Did training for answering calls and operating the computer system on that Thursday, then worked a few hours this past Monday... and then immediately got a second day (Tuesday) added on to my schedule, during which I did some more training (for topping pizzas) and got to practice answering the phones and taking orders a bit more. And then right near the end of my original Tuesday shift, I got more hours added on--coming back in around 5:30 and staying until 8:00ish. Thursday was another "short day that turned long," since I was originally signed up for 10:30 to 2:00 (was supposed to do training before the store opened... but it was the training I already did, so I didn't have to be there until 11) but somewhere along the line that transformed into 11:00 to 7:00! Long day, but it was nice to have something to do during the day for once that isn't "sit around alone on the computer and I hope I actually get stuff done." Actually managed to get some drawing done during that long shift's slow periods; I sketched up some of the gods from the ancient K'hyurbhi religion (...which hardly any K'hyurbhis believe in anymore) on the back of some napkins.
...yeah, I just posted all of the drawings there. The old K'hyurbhi religion (along with a lot of other Nummorrian cultural stuff) is getting a lot more fleshed out now, and I'll probably continue to add more onto it over the next few weeks/months/years until I can finally say "okay, this is pretty much the whole thing" like I can with the Blurby religion I came up with a few years back.
I also ended up actually making some pizzas (well, putting the sauce, cheese, and toppings on them anyway--can't do the dough just yet) on Thursday, and after a few somewhat shaky attempts (which were not quite shaky enough to be rejected when they came out of the oven, thankfully!) I think I've pretty much gotten it down well enough to do it consistently as part of my job in the near future. I suppose the next step in training will be either preparing toppings (chopping up the veggies, filling the containers) or getting pizzas off the oven line and into boxes (which seems fairly simple aside from using the pizza cutter to cut the slices out right, which I haven't done anything really similar to before.) Apparently there's a chance I might be able to become a fill-in manager eventually once I get through all the training, and the more training I do the more my pay will go up, so... overall I think doing the full training is probably a good plan. XD
Oh, and I finally got to meet one of my formerly-online-only friends last week! Which means that I now no longer have "friends that I've talked to online but never met" (though there are still quite a few "friends that I unfortunately haven't seen face-to-face in pretty much forever.") I drove over to the Vinton area to meet her as she got off from work and then we headed into Roanoke to get some Mexican food (and my first ever margarita, which was pretty good.) Also stopped in to the Goodwill nearby before heading back, where I found some of the khaki shorts that I need for my job. And also... some kid's drawing in a book:
Apparently somebody forgot to check the book for loose papers before donating it to Goodwill... whoops. XD
But yeah, that worked out pretty well. Only issue was related to the traffic on the way back, which was pretty nasty (and made worse by me accidentally driving off in the wrong direction at first and having to turn around before I went into a city-ish area where it would've been even worse.) But aside from that slight detour on the return trip, I didn't have any trouble with the driving... though there was a lot of driving and I was a bit worn out when I got home. Still, it's always nice to actually see my friends (and hang around with them and talk and goof off for hours) and not just type messages back and forth online.
And today, my work schedule for next week rapidly expanded--first I was only signed up for Monday and Wednesday, then Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday got added to the list, and then finally I ended up on the phone with my manager while on the way back home for a dentist's appointment today and got a few hours each on this Saturday and Sunday. Thankfully, my three hours on Saturday don't butt up against the Doctor Who club meeting later (it's just noon to 3), though next Saturday's shift goes from 5:45 to 10:00 so I'll end up missing that week's episode. However, as a friend (who I hadn't heard much from in months, so it was nice to get to talk to her again--unexpected messages from people that turn into hours-long conversations about half a dozen random things are always appreciated!) just reminded me of today, there's probably places to find and watch these online... so I may actually manage to get caught up on Doctor Who at some point.
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| Gravestones in El Pueblecito and Frogbucket now have readable text, rather than just being scenery. |
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| A new scene added to an early part of the game if you do a certain specific thing. |
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| A little preview of an optional boss boss battle later on. Yes, those are maids. XD |
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| Hmm. Wonder who lives here... |
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| A new feature added: you can now talk to people from the other side of tables. |
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| This guy only exists to keep you from getting to that trash can from the roof. XD |
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| The "Wizdum Guy" hands out somewhat vague advice for only a few pesos. |
Also, some pretty big news: I've got a job now!! As of... last Thursday, I've been working at the Papa John's in Lexington. Did training for answering calls and operating the computer system on that Thursday, then worked a few hours this past Monday... and then immediately got a second day (Tuesday) added on to my schedule, during which I did some more training (for topping pizzas) and got to practice answering the phones and taking orders a bit more. And then right near the end of my original Tuesday shift, I got more hours added on--coming back in around 5:30 and staying until 8:00ish. Thursday was another "short day that turned long," since I was originally signed up for 10:30 to 2:00 (was supposed to do training before the store opened... but it was the training I already did, so I didn't have to be there until 11) but somewhere along the line that transformed into 11:00 to 7:00! Long day, but it was nice to have something to do during the day for once that isn't "sit around alone on the computer and I hope I actually get stuff done." Actually managed to get some drawing done during that long shift's slow periods; I sketched up some of the gods from the ancient K'hyurbhi religion (...which hardly any K'hyurbhis believe in anymore) on the back of some napkins.
 |
| Yikimahn -- believed to be the creator and/or ancestor of K'hyurbhis and all other round-bodied creatures. Hamhu revision added the nameless mother goddess drawn below him, while older versions had Yikimahn himself laying the original K'hyurbhi egg (which contained a lot more than just one K'hyurbhi, as the species wouldn't last otherwise. XD) Gatadz -- generally seen as the god of death and cold weather, who watched over the frozen cave-like afterlife known as "Lahnan." Hamhu revision made him out to be the bad guy, but originally he was just doing his job (much of which involved deciding how much ice to freeze the actual bad guys in when they ended up in his place after death.) |
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| Zhingaru -- seen as the god of Kihlah, who was originally the only being with that power but decided to hand it out to K'hyurbhis and various others so he could share it. Hamhu revision claims he gave it to K'hyurbhis ONLY, and that all others are using some form of "false Kihlah" or somehow stole actual Kihlah energy from a K'hyurbhi. Mozzu -- the god of war, and sometimes also of metal and stone. Minor earthquakes were thought to be caused by his footsteps, and thunder was the sound of him fighting somewhere in the distance (usually by throwing his mace up into the sky to hit some unknown attacker.) |
...yeah, I just posted all of the drawings there. The old K'hyurbhi religion (along with a lot of other Nummorrian cultural stuff) is getting a lot more fleshed out now, and I'll probably continue to add more onto it over the next few weeks/months/years until I can finally say "okay, this is pretty much the whole thing" like I can with the Blurby religion I came up with a few years back.
I also ended up actually making some pizzas (well, putting the sauce, cheese, and toppings on them anyway--can't do the dough just yet) on Thursday, and after a few somewhat shaky attempts (which were not quite shaky enough to be rejected when they came out of the oven, thankfully!) I think I've pretty much gotten it down well enough to do it consistently as part of my job in the near future. I suppose the next step in training will be either preparing toppings (chopping up the veggies, filling the containers) or getting pizzas off the oven line and into boxes (which seems fairly simple aside from using the pizza cutter to cut the slices out right, which I haven't done anything really similar to before.) Apparently there's a chance I might be able to become a fill-in manager eventually once I get through all the training, and the more training I do the more my pay will go up, so... overall I think doing the full training is probably a good plan. XD
Oh, and I finally got to meet one of my formerly-online-only friends last week! Which means that I now no longer have "friends that I've talked to online but never met" (though there are still quite a few "friends that I unfortunately haven't seen face-to-face in pretty much forever.") I drove over to the Vinton area to meet her as she got off from work and then we headed into Roanoke to get some Mexican food (and my first ever margarita, which was pretty good.) Also stopped in to the Goodwill nearby before heading back, where I found some of the khaki shorts that I need for my job. And also... some kid's drawing in a book:
But yeah, that worked out pretty well. Only issue was related to the traffic on the way back, which was pretty nasty (and made worse by me accidentally driving off in the wrong direction at first and having to turn around before I went into a city-ish area where it would've been even worse.) But aside from that slight detour on the return trip, I didn't have any trouble with the driving... though there was a lot of driving and I was a bit worn out when I got home. Still, it's always nice to actually see my friends (and hang around with them and talk and goof off for hours) and not just type messages back and forth online.
And today, my work schedule for next week rapidly expanded--first I was only signed up for Monday and Wednesday, then Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday got added to the list, and then finally I ended up on the phone with my manager while on the way back home for a dentist's appointment today and got a few hours each on this Saturday and Sunday. Thankfully, my three hours on Saturday don't butt up against the Doctor Who club meeting later (it's just noon to 3), though next Saturday's shift goes from 5:45 to 10:00 so I'll end up missing that week's episode. However, as a friend (who I hadn't heard much from in months, so it was nice to get to talk to her again--unexpected messages from people that turn into hours-long conversations about half a dozen random things are always appreciated!) just reminded me of today, there's probably places to find and watch these online... so I may actually manage to get caught up on Doctor Who at some point.
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