Lame whining, Shift angst's about gender

I can sympathize with you, Shift. Sometimes I start questioning how much I've actually accomplished in life and what I'm planning on doing with my life in the future. I find it hard to get motivated and I have very little idea as to what to do with my life.

However, I do have an older cousin to look at on the issue. He doesn't seem to have very much in the way of a long term plans, and as a result of this he has gone to university, gone on a trip to Tibet, worked as a carnie, worked on a fishing boat, and then gone back to university, all within the span of a few years.

I'm not really sure what to make of my cousin on this, but I have one idea; maybe the path of life is less about the destination and more about the path itself. Maybe if you try to experience life itself as much as you can, you'll find your place in the world. And even if you don't, you'll still have some interesting stories to tell.

We have a winner!

You've figured out the secret of life. It really is how you make it through life, rather than how it ends, because it inevitably ends the exact same way for everyone; death.

Hence, why I am so protective of my freedom. My path to happiness directly relates to how much freedom I have, even if I don't use certain particular freedoms, I still want them as an option. This is also why I have gained interest in civil rights issues in recent years. I myself may not be gay, but I have realized that gay rights are human rights, and it ends up benefiting me (and all of us) when a certain group ends up freed of draconian laws and taboos. It makes absolutely NO sense to me to stamp down the rights of particular creeds and groups and in the same breath claim to live in a free society. None at all. If anything, the people who make these claims are the real prisoners, enslaved by their own fears and ignorance.

In even more recent months, my libertarian views have changed even more so into an anarcho-capitalist philosophy, or perhaps one of voluntarism. The fact that I have the freedom to continually re-evaluate and re-invent my views on the world are the basis of freedom itself. Freedom of thought.

Shift, whatever happens, do not forget that you are still free to think for yourself. So long as you retain that right, you'll always have the power to change things yourself. Always fight the urge to surrender this most fundamental right for an easier, emptier life.

Such is the meaning of life. Don't give up.

ORLY?

Everything in moderation, man. Forums are alright, but it's no good to get sucked into anything so much that it becomes the entirety of your life. That goes for forums, but it's applicable to every aspect of life.

YARLY. Even in moderation, it's a life drain. I've lost 10 minutes I'll never get back typing this post. May not seem like much, but consider just spending 10 minutes a day on a forum. Not much, is it? At least until you realize you've used 70 minutes of your week. That's a short movie you could have watched or a short story you could have written. I can draw a pretty sweet picture with an hour and change. Hell, you could have put new oil in your car with that amount of time.

A life drain is anything you habitually do that could easily be replaced by 30 or so more useful activities, yet you don't because "it's fun." Any forum fits this category.

ORLY?

Everything in moderation, man. Forums are alright, but it's no good to get sucked into anything so much that it becomes the entirety of your life. That goes for forums, but it's applicable to every aspect of life.

YARLY. Even in moderation, it's a life drain. I've lost 10 minutes I'll never get back typing this post. May not seem like much, but consider just spending 10 minutes a day on a forum. Not much, is it? At least until you realize you've used 70 minutes of your week. That's a short movie you could have watched or a short story you could have written. I can draw a pretty sweet picture with an hour and change. Hell, you could have put new oil in your car with that amount of time.

A life drain is anything you habitually do that could easily be replaced by 30 or so more useful activities, yet you don't because "it's fun." Any forum fits this category.

Then leave if you feel that way. You're not doing anybody any favors by being a drain here, especially yourself.

ORLY?

Everything in moderation, man. Forums are alright, but it's no good to get sucked into anything so much that it becomes the entirety of your life. That goes for forums, but it's applicable to every aspect of life.

YARLY. Even in moderation, it's a life drain. I've lost 10 minutes I'll never get back typing this post. May not seem like much, but consider just spending 10 minutes a day on a forum. Not much, is it? At least until you realize you've used 70 minutes of your week. That's a short movie you could have watched or a short story you could have written. I can draw a pretty sweet picture with an hour and change. Hell, you could have put new oil in your car with that amount of time.

A life drain is anything you habitually do that could easily be replaced by 30 or so more useful activities, yet you don't because "it's fun." Any forum fits this category.

Then leave if you feel that way. You're not doing anybody any favors by being a drain here, especially yourself.

Yeah, seriously. If you feel spending 10 minutes perusing a forum is a waste of time and feel the need to insult those of us who put our own time into making the place as good as possible and anyone else here who actually likes spending time on a forum, then you should just take your own advice and check out.

You know what? By other people's definition reading a short story is also a waste of time. As are writing them. As is making web comics or fansites. Or watching a movie. Any hobby whatsoever can be considered a waste of time, money, and mental energy because any hobby whatsoever distracts from RL goals. It's a matter of perspecitve and moderation. So you can take your "life drain" and point it straight at any of your own hobbies, including reading stories and watching movies.

Really, who do you think you are deciding what's a "better way" of someone spending their time? Who are you to tell someone that what they're doing is a "life drain" based on your own highly subjective standards on what's a useful activity and what's not? I assure you that what you think is useful is NOT what others would. Not by far.

Hypocrite.

I never once said that was a bad thing. I said there are better things to do with your time. Everybody's got their kicks, and that's perfectly fine if you want to spend it on a forum. I spend a shitload of time on a different forum anymore(Admittedly more than I'd care to), and while I realize that posting there is pointless at the end of the week and basically time wasted, I had fun.

I think you seriously misinterpreted my thoughts. I was actually trying to spur Shift into doing something with her life like she wanted. The sooner you get out there and experience other things the sooner you get that spark. Online communities are nice and all, but there ARE better things out there. Hope I haven't sparked too much animosity.

There'a always "something better" you can do with your time. Always. Whether you're spending time habitually on a forum or watching TV.

I think you'll agree that it's less my interpretation and more your own words that are at fault here. Put yourself in my place. But I can accept that you simply have a terrible way of expressing yourself as opposed to purposefully meaning to put everyone's back up and let it go at that.

I'd like to chime in here a second. Sorry if I'm late to this conversation.

I get what you're saying here Regulus, and I understand what the others are saying about there always being something better you can do. But Forums, like Facebook and other interacting sites ARE a form of social interaction. Whether you view people who post as real people or not doesn't matter, you are opening your opinions and exchanging in discussion that may very well help or gyrate your thoughts in the real life. I'm very much a homebody...and social networking is kinda what I do, but It hasn't made me into being socially inept, but rather helped me be more outgoing etc.

Does that make sense? XD Just felt like saying this. It's not a waste as long as there's someone replying and a conversation going.

I mean... I could have spent the 5 mins to write this post by, you know, talking to someone IRL about the same thing. Does that change a thing? Not really.