"Temporary" Venting Thread IV

[Mari]

I can't help? Because I'd love to try if you want me to.
In any case: huggly hugs to you.

[Ingwe]

(Happy?) New Year? More like "welcome to yet another round of kicks in the stomach" day. As insufferable as 2008 was, I have a bad feeling about 2009. Just moved to where I am back in March, and now I'm thinking about just plain having us all move out of the country. But I want to see how Obama does before giving up too quickly. I think Obama might have a good shot at changing things for the better and undoing the last administration's multitude of biblical and massive foul-ups. He (Obama) is definitely quite a bit more intelligent than our soon-to-be former leader, and if he could bring unity to the administration and the Senate, it could definitely be a sign of great things to come.

My wife and I discussed where we would move if things were to get any worse...we had decided on New Zealand. It's where they filmed the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so that wouldn't be too bad.

[BeardofPants]

Originally Posted by Ingwe

My wife and I discussed where we would move if things were to get any worse...we had decided on New Zealand. It's where they filmed the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so that wouldn't be too bad.

We just went right-wing, Ingwe. :/

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by BeardofPants

We just went right-wing, Ingwe. :/

I wouldn't be surprised if your NZ right-wingers are further left on the political scale than Obama's democrats anyway. American politics are quite shifted to the right, compared to other countries.

Hey BoP, did your mother-in-law retain her seat in Parliament after the elections?

[BeardofPants]

Yeah, she did, but it was a close one. Thanks for asking.

[Nerdanel]

israel has begun its ground offensive in gaza after one week of air strikes. this means more dead, and too many of them civilian.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7809959.stm
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/mi...056951537.html

[Curufin]

God, I'm so tired of all the violence over there. The west either needs to carpet bomb the entire area or just get the hell out and let both sides kill each other.

[Tessar]

Originally Posted by Curufin

The west either needs to carpet bomb the entire area

... that's not a very good solution.

[Curufin]

I'm venting, Tessar.. And you must admit that sometimes the idea of wiping out the entire region seems like the only thing that could end the violence. But I don't really mean it.

But I'm at a total loss to what a good solution would be.

[Tessar]

Sorry... Just remember I live in Texas. I know people who actually think that -is- a great solution .

[Curufin]

Ah, understood.

Well, I'm a pinko-commie-peacenik-treehugging-hippy () and don't really mean it. No worries.

[Ingwe]

Originally Posted by Tessar

Sorry... Just remember I live in Texas. I know people who actually think that -is- a great solution .

We live around those types even up north here. America's not such a picture-perfect place as some people might think. After generations of having it good, some have figured out why America still has it (relatively) good - because of all the insane crimes against humanity. Let's not forget how this country was won...so many had to either die or be set aside for settlers to gain their 'freedom' and unfortunately fighting for that freedom has no end now - there's nothing for it.

I would like to say I have some pride left in the nation, and I do in some ways. But there are many ways that have made me lose faith. But I keep on telling myself that even when one of us loses faith, it can further cripple us all. There is fully accepting all the wrong that is going on, which is partly lazy - and then there is actively trying to solve it through cooperation and team work. Team work is something I've seen little of when it comes to the affairs of much of the free world - particularly America.

America is a place I love. Don't get me wrong, such horrible things define our history and such horrible things are beginning to define our future. But America is like a son who has gone wrong - started drinking and doing drugs and getting put in jail - yet you still love your son even when he goes wrong. Same with America. There's still some good left in America - there's still some little shred of decency that may be employed to do good - not to stand idle and do nothing. For the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.

There's still time - time enough to counter this evil. But how...that is the million-dollar question...how?

Global warming, while somewhat of a threat now, while it may cause problems down the road, is not the greatest of immediate threats, but we still must come back to it and concentrate on it when we clear away a majority of the rest of the darkness enshrouding the Earth and our perceptions of the universe around us.

It has been tried time and time again - a history of many repeats - it's like summer for television, all repeats - with the Middle East crisis. Time and again, peace treaties are written up diligently by the various factions involved. Time and time again, only do they deepen the conflict. Why is no form of diplomacy working? When did the idea of simple logic escape the citizens of this planet?!

When even one more person dies a violent death, it drives everything to an all-new low and strikes grief into the hearts of millions who would do good, rather they are not willing to do what it takes to make it possible.

Us here, the members of this forum - most of us are good people, like most others. Yet even good people may be drawn into things they can't get themselves out of. Such is the fate of many in the Middle East. Wouldn't a combatant on either side, Palestinian or Israeli, rather have dinner with their families each night and worship God in their own way, instead of going into battle to score yet another kill on their war reputation? Envy, pride, greed, laziness, unwillingness, and doubt, it seems, fill so many minds in this dark hour - so much so that it makes the good forget themselves, falling forever into darkness. And fear has utter domination over the entirety of this massive conflict that is poised to paralyze the whole of human civilization - for little by little, we all begin to fall to attrition; perhaps we don't fall as war casualties, or to illness...but we fall to the grief, losing a bit of ourselves along the way...and we learn defeat so well that it becomes a fact that we eventually accept...and eventually don't do anything about. In Psychology it is called "learned defeat" or "becoming accustomed to defeat".

Economic collapse, war, grief, famine, fear, doubt, lack of faith, and so on now begin to turn their eyes on everything else that remains good and true. Morale becomes nothing more than a luxury that is taken away a bit at a time as time goes on. And I thought the passage of time was supposed to refine, not decay...usually.


In Return of the King, at Minas Tirith, Gandalf discusses the decay and deepening ruin of Gondor, before the great battle begins...

"All had turned to vain ambition. He would use even his grief as a cloak! A thousand years this city has stood and now at the whim of a madman it will fall! And the white tree, the tree of the King will never bloom again."

(Some powerful people use many vices of theirs' as a cloak...mainly pride covered up by grief...to cover up the fact that they had indeed lost all faith, or to cover for their own misdeeds - an example being a cold-blooded murderer crying in the courtroom at his trial despite not having any care for life - inevitability will always catch up with them though.)

About the White Tree...

"They guard it because they have hope...a faint and fading hope that one day it will flower. That a king will come and this city will be as it once was before it fell into decay."

(The free world guards itself, thinking with pride that it still has the means by which to challenge the rising turmoil...)

"The old wisdom born out of the west was forsaken. Kings made tombs more splendid than the houses of the living and counted the old names of their descent dearer than the names of their sons."

(Some people in high positions would rather honor the fallen dead and envy them, so that they may also fight and die as well, for they have lost all hope and have little faith left in them. They would rather commit another useless strike upon their enemies than to spend the time they have left with their families...spending time on tried and tried again but failed tactics that only make the situation worse...but they think they have hope, hope that the same strategies tried time and again will work...but it will not work. Mankind as a whole is not looking to the right place for their answers...even the wise will eventually flee...)

"Childless lords sat in aged halls musing on heraldry or in high, cold towers asking questions of the stars. And so the people of Gondor fell into ruin."

(Many waste time with hypothesis rather than the clear-and-present danger that is a fact (the environment, the true strength of the enemy...etc)...and that danger goes unchecked again and again...)

"The line of Kings failed. The white tree withered. The rule of Gondor was given over to lesser men."

(Like our elections...once Presidents would have the confidence and leadership capability of a King. Now we had to live through 'brain farts' and 'verbal diarrhea' from a certain and our most recent leader *cough* who shall remain nameless.)

When Pippin indicates that it is time to leave Minas Tirith, Gandalf has a prophetic look in his eyes and looks toward Mordor...

"Oh, it’s too late for that Peregrin. There’s no leaving this city. Help must come to us."

(There's no avoiding the hammer stroke...it will fall upon us and we must find the courage, strength, will, determination, care, and faith to repel it. An ally may come to us...with enough faith...if we surrender ourselves to His rule, and trust in him. It is at this precipice for which we will either evolve, or we will perish. It may take a month, a year, a decade, a century, or perhaps more...but if humanity goes down the same path it has been for so long, eventually time will run out, and the test would have been failed - and it is at that time that it won't matter by how much we did fail - all that matters is that we failed.)


Although most of what Gandalf said does not in any way directly relate to the situation at hand in this era, it provides an approximate parallel.

We must keep the faith people. We must keep whatever faith we have - if not in God, then each other. I personally have faith in my family - that I will care for them and they me. We must all fight the on-going battle in our own ways. I choose to fight it without a weapon of any craft. I will fight it by going to work on days that I'm not off and get there before I'm supposed to arrive, and leave after my shift is done to make sure everything is tended to, but not too late to neglect other duties. How each of us individually comes to terms with how we are to fight this darkness is up to our own free will. Only some may suggest a less-violent approach. As long as there are a few million amongst humanity who can still hold the staff of faith (faith in anything good), the world will never completely diminish.


In "The Day the Earth Stood Still" - the 1950's (I think) version, aliens invade Earth, only to save the main brunt of life on the planet. They come to destroy humanity because of its violent and impossible-to-reconcile ways. In our case, in reality, there is most likely not going to be an alien invasion. Much of humanity is already invading itself. No alien is going to come and tell us that we need to change, or else. No, the message must get out a different way - one person or group of people, maybe even a group of people geographically disconnected, will have to deliver the message in a way that a great brunt of humanity may understand it, or at least begin to. Then the healing may proceed.


Civilization had its foundations built upon much strife and bitterness. Within the time that civilization has come about, humanity has advanced to a great extent. Yet we lost something along the way (at least many on Earth have). We lost our memories, our minds, or something else...compassion. The technology is not a disappointment, but the psychological part of much of humanity is more than disappointing. Through the generations, people have become desensitized to wrong-doing and take it as something to be tolerated. But there is tolerance and then there is sloth, or laziness. Sloth is when apathy consumes all compassion and delivers only the dark deed of just allowing (some) people to accept things that should not be tolerated. Racism, sexism, hatred, destruction, war, suffering, and so on are amongst the things that must be stopped whenever and wherever they are sparked. It's one of the reasons the medical industry not just in this country but many needs to be greatly improved. Yet it is hard to counter something so wide-spread, when there are few resources in the form of solutions at our disposal.

Perhaps a new evolution is already happening - that in coming generations, humankind may lose many of its violent ways and gain a far greater gift in return for sacrificing its current doctrines of madness. It's just that...if there is an evolution taking place, it is taking place at an alarmingly slow rate. The population grows, but the quality of life drops, and the suffering begets fear begets more suffering. We may never be able to make this world into a paradise, but eventually we may be forced to part with many of the things we think we need - technology may once again be erased from the planet as it was at the beginning of the Dark Ages - and in exchange, we advance on a psychological, not technological level.

Every day three to thirty species of life on Earth are brought to their utter end. It's pretty sad that everything else that's gone wrong is mingled with this fact.


Well, that's my long rant. I had to get it out. Most of it is probably bullcrap, but to me it made sense. I am a person of peace, despite any part of that in which I may have contradicted myself. Contradiction is a part of life in this nation since a certain person took command eight years ago, lol. When you're stuck with leadership like that for eight years, well, you start to wonder if you haven't inherited a bit of that.

[Mari]

I miss Sis and Sane~! *throws a tantrum and wails*

[Rosie Gamgee]

This could be a serious tear-my-heart-right-out-of-my-aching-chest vent, and then again it might just be a you-know-what's-really-buggin'-me vent.

See, there was this guy I had (have? it's still iffy) this unbelieveably deadly crush on (very close to, "I love you," I think). That was back in June/July. I haven't talked to him since then. Haven't heard a word (yeah, it's probably the tear-my-heart-out kind).
Now, for some reason his mother has this habit lately of coming up to me and talking about the most arbitrary of subjects (compared to 'I love your son and miss him terribly,' I suppose). WHY DOES SHE DO THIS??? She knows I like him (I think she knows).... She's got to know--I only asked her about him a million-and-a-half times after he left for school... Anyway, every time I talk to her I want to just hit her. WHAT IS WRONG WITH HER SON?! Is he stupid? Insensitive? Oblivious? Or just an old fashioned jerk? For that matter, what is wrong with her? What is she trying to accomplish? Does she really just want to chat with me? Is she feeling me out for any leftover feelings for her idiot son? Am I just paranoid and angsty?? (If the answer to that last one is 'yes,' just forget the rest of them.)

*deep breath*

That helped (somewhat).

[Tessar]

If you talked to her a lot after school, she probably just thinks you like talking to her.

If the son hasn't shown any interest it's probably for one of two reasons:
1.) He's not interested for whatever reason
2.) He doesn't realize you're interested.


There are two ways to go about this:

1. Ask the mother straight up if her son likes you.
2. Just tell him you think he's really cute and ask if he'd like to go out some time.

Now you've indicated that he's not around any more (you said he 'left for school') so that suggests to me that any kind of dating situation wouldn't work out anyways.

But you talking about what an obsessive crush you have on him worries me because even if you did get into a relationship with him I -seriously- doubt things would be as awesome and amazing as you seem to think they would be (you don't crush that hard on someone unless you're imagining that the relationship would be pretty awesome). I think you might be setting yourself up for disappointment.



I doubt you were looking for advice, but I would suggest you seriously consider trying to rationalize through your crush on this guy somewhat. It wont make it go away, but it might make it more manageable.

[Rosie Gamgee]

Originally Posted by Tessar

If you talked to her a lot after school, she probably just thinks you like talking to her.

Hm.. Maybe my frivolous use of the word 'crush' had a juvenile sound to it. I see the woman at work--she's a department head at the company I work for.

1.) He's not interested for whatever reason
2.) He doesn't realize you're interested.
All very possible. I think the latter is the most likely of the two. In fact, I am sure of it.

1. Ask the mother straight up if her son likes you.
I believe her word at the time was, 'connected.' As in, "He really connected with you."

2. Just tell him you think he's really cute and ask if he'd like to go out some time.

I guess I don't consider 'cute' reason enough for a woman to ask a man out on a date. And even if I did, I'm a little old fashioned in this respect: I don't ask men out.

Now you've indicated that he's not around any more (you said he 'left for school') so that suggests to me that any kind of dating situation wouldn't work out anyways. ... I think you might be setting yourself up for disappointment.

To put it specifically, he's gone back to the university at which he works, which is something like three or four states away from where I live. So, no: it really wouldn't work.
Of course I set myself up for disappointment. It wasn't as though I wanted it to be so. I knew every day that I was around him that he would eventually leave, and I would be unaccountably brokenhearted. But that didn't stop me from being attracted, and it doesn't stop me from wishing something had happened. As it was, I had been hoping that when he came back to his parents' house for the holidays, he would look me up. (I gave him enough opportunity to do so--sent him a Christmas card and everything.) He did not.

So, as for rationalization: yes. It is the only way out of my current heartache. I just have this tendency to hold on to things emotionally (and a very overactive imagination). Most of the time, this whole thing really doesn't bother me. But every now and again I will have a bad day; I'll find myself in a place we were together sharing a laugh, etc.--I'll bump into his mother and she'll drop some comment about him (*grinds teeth*), and then I will erupt into emotional fits, wanting to cry and rage about angrily at the same time..

[Amael]

@ All those talking about American politics ...

Discussions about American politics are likely to result badly for everyone involved. LOL.

[Tessar]

I am mildly frustrated and also somewhat amused with all of the 'artsy' people who I'm following/are following me on twitter. They're all having this discussion about "how do you stay centered?" "how do you love yourself?" "I wish I'd been taught as a child how to experience the wonder of humanity" and other melodramatic things like that .

And all I want to say, but feel like I should refrain from doing so, is that if these people would stop focusing on themselves for just one minute.... they might actually find some of that centeredness. Because frankly the more time you spend wondering, "OMG what's wrong with me? Why am I not a totally caring, giving, awesome person that people will love?" the less "centered" you're bound to become... you have to act, not just sit around going "whi am i not centurd? omg lul but im totally a gud persun. lolz. rite?" -_-

[Nerdanel]

your vent made me happy, tessar. so i guess i'm actually in the wrong thread..

[Mari]

I had to cancel my going to my friend's birthday party
Don't feel well enough to go. Stupid illness!