I hate to say it, but newspapers seem to be less politically charged and opinionated, and certainly less alarmist, than other forms of news media. That's not a fact so much as a theory, based on a few articles I've read recently. (http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/1299981.html)

Now I wonder: if that is the case, is it contributing to the apparent decline of the newspaper industry? Modern news sources--certainly those seen on television--deal as much in ratings as in anything. It's not their fault. Focusing on TV for the moment, they need ratings to stay on the air. They need viewers for those ratings, and their current format attracts viewers. (The politically charged/opinionated/alarmist format)

I wasn't going anywhere with this, but it seems like an interesting topic that I'd like to explore a bit more, later.

Again I haven't posted in a while. I sort of want to make a voice post, but it would probably not be phoned in so much as recorded, uploaded, and linked to.

Breakdown:
Yeomen went swimmingly. I miss it.
The Sorcerer is going swimmingly. We're doing it again, with a different group, and with my father this time. Now all five of us are in this. We have been since Christmas Carol, but I didn't know if I told anyone from the internet.

I haven't actually started moving on with my life, yet, though I wrote in my callendar: 'Gather Info about MCC'. I already have all this freaking info, and all the paperwork, and everything. But I can never seem to get momentum going to actually find out about this stuff. I've also been wanting to look into volunteering as a fire fighter. The fire station is like 75 yards from our house. I could -walk there- and ask about it, if I had an excuse not to call. But I don't even do that, because I haven't got the motivation. Maybe I am simply not ready to move forward. I am happy where I am, and there are still things to do here. Perhaps I should finish those before I force myself into college or some other situation like that. I am going to start taking vocal lessons this week though, probably... (I hear you: 'It's about time, boy!')

I haven't updated that project in journalism, but I've been thinking about it. I've been considering carefully what I want to do, 'cause I realized that in a way I am still injecting opinion. I'm a bit torn. I can continue with this approach, where I report an exaggerated piece of 'news' or, more frequently, spam email--it's a bit like Snopes, really. Or I can switch to pure news: just research and relay the truth behind these exaggerations, and filter out any opinion or untrue statements.

It occurred to me that I could do both, and split later. There's no reason I can't have one more blog. I have fifty already. (Probably)

Now for the title of this post: Playground Games. The best physical sports, I have found, are the simple ones without many rules, and in a casual atmosphere. My favorite games right now, in no real order:

Four Square -- The wikipedia article explains it best. Apparently there's league play too, but it's best without strict rules..

'Indian Dodgeball' -- A combination of freeze tag and dodge ball. If you're hit by a ball, you're out until the person who hit you is out. If someone catches the ball (or if you hit them in the head) then you are out until they are out. If you're out, you just sit down. Get as many players and balls as you can, and you start getting alliances and strategies forming, as well as just a general excitement. It's difficult to describe how fun it is to not be hit, or to hit a player who has dominated most of the field. In the latter case, usually everyone is rooting for you, and when you succeed suddenly the field comes alive, you are immediately tagged out, and the thing starts all over again...

500 -- Someone calls out a number (and sometimes modifiers which depend on the players) and throws a ball in the air, and if you catch the ball before it hits the ground you get that number of points. Play to 500... (Or 1000 or 5000 or whatever) It's obviously more fun when more than one or two people are trying to catch the ball.

There are more games, certainly. You're never too old to enjoy these! I'm going to be playing Indian Dodgeball well into my seventies.

Well I haven't posted in a while. Turns out it's because I forgot to post the last post I was working on. I stopped updating my blogger blog for some reason, I guess I got bored cheating the system.

There are a few things I want to talk about, I guess, though I don't know if anyone really reads these. So I'll just type as stuff comes to mind.

Sometimes I wish actually that I had an 'anonymous' blog. I shouldn't have spread this one around my real life, now I can't talk about people anymore. (Especially those on Facebook -- You rascals!)

I've been interested in journalism recently, and sort of half-heartedly toying with it via my new project. I haven't really done anything to learn about journalism yet, somehow I skipped that step. I've just researched some things that people were raving at me about, and posted the results of my prying there. So far there's an article on a bill proposed to the House of Representatives, and Influenza A(H1N1) -- Swine Flu.

On a somewhat related topic, I suppose it's time for me to suck it up and get moving with my life. I need to learn to drive still, having pathetically become bored with the whole concept. And more to the point, I need to start looking into college. I have no interest in RIT at the moment--I'm not sure why, it just doesn't grab me--and as I've said I've been planning on MCC for a while. But all of my planning is useless if I don't do anything with it.

I can get a highschool equivalency diploma there first--I need to read up on that again too, I should stop forgetting stuff--and then start working on interesting things. I still am moderately interested in psychology, more leaning toward sociology now.

And journalism and graphic design and theatre and music and and and...

The problem with this, as you can see, is that I have far too many interests. Not a bad thing in and of itself, but it means I need to focus, and I cannot focus easily. I'm sure it would be possible. A lot, I could research on my own, but classes would still be awesome. Like graphic design -- the actual implementation is a piece of cake, now that I've read the entire internet. I know how to do all sorts of cool things with Photoshop and The GIMP. But what I don't know is the theory behind it. What looks good and why it looks good.

I'm sure that if I had actually read the entire internet, I'd know all that too, but I guess the point of college is that it's easier. If it was easier to just research it yourself, then why would anyone bother? Ignoring the preference many employers have for a degree.

Oh what else. Little Mary Sunshine went fine, if I didn't say anything about it. It was awesome. Only three performances, sadly, but that meant that it meshed nicely with Yeomen.

As for Yeomen, it's going fine. I guess mistakes were made leading up to the performances, but if no mistakes were ever made then everything would be boring. One of our directors has had to leave for *static*, and I will miss her. (I miss her already, and I saw her just today!) But the show must go on, this next Friday.

It being Yeomen, we really don't have very large audiences. Seriously, the first night we had 19 whole people reserved, and a staggering 40 showed up. That's 10% of our audience for G&S Christmas Carol. That said, MY GAWD are these audiences awesome. The 40-60 people that showed up each night this weekend had a great time. Even this Sunday's audience was energetic. And that's the best thing ever.

I might have mentioned that I turned my old decrepit computer, GIR--don't tell Nickelodeon--into an awesome server, and recently an even awesomer alarm clock. (It's a word if I say so!) There's not much going on there, though. I installed Wordpress purely on a whim, so it's sitting there nice and blank. I have no idea what to do with it now.

When I installed Wordpress, I initially wanted to host that new project I mentioned, so that I could use javascript. But then I realized that we're paying for and using a home service, and that if I hosted a blog, we'd probably get a nasty letter from our ISP.

So I'm probably going to remove Wordpress for now, or shove it into a separate folder and use it to document what I learn about network administration, and anything else that GIR helps me with. I've been using Webmin a lot, although I can get by on the command line if I have to. But the tool is there, so why not use it, hmm?

Now I need to read a bit and make sure I know how to secure everything before I give people a link to GIR, or I would do that. I will do that, in fact, once I am sure.

Know what the really cool advantage to having a server in your bedroom is? Shell account + GNU Screen == lifeblood. I can just leave everything like TinyFugue (a command-line MUSH client) and Finch (Pidgin's command-line version) running, and start it up from a computer on the other side of the country if I have to, without it missing a beat.

So I can start a conversation at home, leave, and connect via SSH from the library for example--I have a Java-based SSH client installed too, btw--and pick up the conversation where I left off, as though I were still at home. Same with editing a text file or anything else...

Here's a dinky picture you can hopefully click on to see a big one!

From Drop Box

Obviously since I'm using PuTTY here, alsamixer does me no good at all, but it's neat.

Now, screen has a little trouble with UTF-8, or perhaps I just haven't figured out how to make it work properly, but hey. It's awesome, either way.

That's enough for now, I'm done...

Indeed I'm not. I've just not felt like posting anything.

A few things.

First, I feel I'm doomed to naivete, regardless of what I have or will learn, or am learning. Just call it a hunch, hmm?

Second, looking back four years ago, I can see how I have matured. It's raised some interest in me regarding cultural and psychological development, specifically that of sexuality, currently. (Other focuses have and will crop up presently) I know no one wants to hear such things, but it's interesting! It can possibly be summed up in sociology anyway. Sociology sounds better.

Third, I really enjoy thinking about how the set OMP uses has evolved over time, even in the one or two years since I've been doing shows with them. It grew a balcony for HMS Pinafore, and now three of the platforms we use to extend the stage have shrunk. It's a two-tiered thing now, and with a 'runway' poking out. I think it would be cool to take a photo of each set from now on (plus whatever photos might exist of old sets) and see how it's changed. I need money so I can do this, and other similar things.

I'll talk more later, I guess.

I'm not going to take a position on gun control, right now, 'cause that's
not the point my brain is trying to make to me. Mostly I guess the point is
that people should, in arguing their case, at least avoid logical fallacies.
I'm just as guilty, especially when I'm not putting my words to paper--I'm
scatterbrained when I don't have time to review and research--but here.

The most common fallacy I've seen in this particular debate--the gun control
one--is a sort of genetic
fallacy<http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/genetic-fallacy.html>,
if I remember right. What the one side--the pro gun-rights side--does is
quote from Memoirs
of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin. "*They who can give
up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither
liberty nor safety.*"

I disagree, in some cases, but it seems solid anyway. Regardless of the
validity of the point, though, they always append '-- Benjamin Franklin'. To
make sure their opponents--the 'anti gun-rights' side (that's sort of a
false dilemma too, but that's a different post)--are aware of just who said
it. That's the fallacy. The quote is supposed to be automatically valid
because Benjamin Franklin said it. (Even if it is taken out of context) And
he's, you know, Benjamin Franklin.

I always wanted, even when I wasn't taking part in the debate, to quote
right back at them. "*I do not consider
Hitler to be as bad as he is
depicted. He is showing an ability that is amazing and
seems to be gaining his victories without much bloodshed*" -- Mahatma
Gandhi. That wouldn't do much beyond making myself look like a Nazi, though
the point would be to show how dumb it is to quote someone to support your
cause.

Now granted, that quote, the Gandhi one, is out of context. It was spoken,
or written, in 1940, and the war was only just starting. Nothing incredibly
monstrous had happened yet--besides the whole starting a war thing. But it
shows my point anyway. Just because you quote someone famous, and credible,
doesn't mean that what they said was correct.

That said, I'm not aching for a debate on gun laws. Look up there, see? I
dislike both extremes. If you want to debate it, don't drag me in. Just do
it in a way that is sound.

Next Topic!

Did you look up there, click that link to Franklin's memoirs? I sincerely
hope you did. If not, go click it. I'll wait.

Ok, good. I sincerely hope you appreciate how amazing it is that you can
read that online, and for free. (With a library card, if you want it
-really- for free) Even print it. In 2004 (source) this wouldn't
have been possible, through these means. There may have been other sources
online, but come on. You have to admit, Google Book Search is pretty
awesome.

There's also wikisource. The Wikimedia Foundation is pretty lacking in
evil as well. Then look over at Hulu. The
point I'm getting at is, the internet, for all of the worries some people
have, (which are justified in some cases) is amazing. Simply amazing. You
just have to know how to use it. Look
at it. That's how the universe was formed. Probably.

And the internet has only been available to the public for as long as I
have been alive. That's eighteen years. Look where it has come in
eighteen years. Now say 'wow'. Now go read about it. :)

This is hilarious. :)

Past and Present
[] Own/have owned a denim jumper.
[] You were at least 13 when you got your first "trendy" haircut.

-- I'm 18 and I have yet to have a 'trendy' haircut. Just look at my hair!

[] Everything in your closet at some time was referred to as modest.

-- My clothes are on the floor.

[x] You do/have tucked things in that shouldn't be tucked in.

-- I got my head stuck in a shirt once, so I'm counting that as tucked in..?

[] You have been a member of at least 3 co-ops.
[x] You were a true 16 and never been kissed.

-- :(

[x] Your mom has/have drived a van of some sort.

-- [SIC SIC SIC]

[] You have at least one childhood picture where you, your mom, and all you siblings matched.

-- This test was adapted from 'Are you a True Mormon?' with few changes. (Just kidding..)

[] You are/were/will be a PSEO Student.
[x] At some point in your life you were more comfortable with adults than kids your own age.

-- I've been that way pretty much forever.

[] Have studied ways to defend your beliefs, debate, and/or create laws.

-- No, I prefer the haphazard method of saying whatever I heard someone else say.

[] Used uber conservative ABeka curriculum

-- What the deuce is ABeka?

Total: 4

[x] You use big words that most adults could not use in conversation.

-- Like 'Flarbleglopaglemous.'

[x] You can use the words sublime, epiphany, and cognicent correctly.
[x] You have a favorite word.

-- My favorite word is 'cat.'

[] You have an understanding of Latin root words and how to use them.
[x] People from the outside world are referred to as "public schoolers"

-- Among other things.

[]You or one of your siblings knits.

-- My mom does, does that count?

[] You laugh at the decline in literacy in America

-- Yes. Ha. Hahahahaa. Also, I believe it's spelled 'literessy.'

[x] You score constantly higher than "public schoolers" on standardized tests.

-- Which 'public schoolers'? I guess, overall, I score higher than 74% of them according to these PSAT test results. And I only scored in the 36th percentile for maths. (Higher than only 36% of everyone else who took the test.) Go figure.

[] You have no concept of cafeteria food.
[X] Family vacations are/ can be referred to as "Field Trips."

-- Sure, why not?

[X] Traveling on said vacations have included stopping at historical site markers along the way.

-- That was the best freaking part. :P (Besides seeing relatives) Historical sites, and also museums and stuff. There was an awesome out-of-the-way museum of geology or some such thing on the way to Ohio once. Also we saw a wild lizard.

[] You have never been in a public elementary school, middle school, or high school during regular school hours.
[] You have gone to or been involved in a homeschool convention.

-- There are conventions?!

Total so far: 11

[x] You read books on a regular basis.

-- Let's look in the dictionary for a moment. Ah: '1: in accordance with fixed order or procedure or principle.' I read books regularly, about once a month. <.<

[] You have taken part in a political protest.
-- http://xkcd.com/470/
[] You were a Pride and Prejudice fan before the movie.
[x] You were a Lord of the Rings fan prior to the movie.
[x] You were a Chronicles of Narnia fan before the movie.

-- I wonder, does the movie downplay the Christian undertone of the books? I've actually not seen the movie.

[] You speak a language other than English.
[] You dream of dating characters from books instead of celebrities.

-- I suppose dreaming about dating real people is too creepy.

Total so far: 14

It has been assumed that you, as a homeschooler,
[] ... have won many spelling bees.
[x] ... have no social life.
[X] ... have no friends of the opposite gender.

-- All of my friends are of the opposite gender! :P (Obviously that's not true, but just look at the list of folks I tagged.)

[] ... are outstandingly smart.
[x] ... are extremely inept.
[] ... only listen to classical music.
[] ... play piano or the violin.

-- This is the only one that's actually true. I should take up violin, I'm told I'd be good at that or something larger.

[] ... do not own a pair of trendy jeans.

-- Is this like owning a pair of depressed jeans? I pretty much hope no one owns a pair of trendy jeans. When jeans have their sense of fashion, something's amiss. Think about it.

[x] ... have no knowledge of drugs or alcohol.
[] ... don't date, only court.

-- Observe! The homeschooler in his natural habitat! (Home, duh. Who's he supposed to court, anyway?)

[] ... have never been to a "party."
[x] ... know no other beliefs other than what your family believes.

To be fair, these preconceptions were always short-lived.

Total so far: 19

You have been asked more than 10 times:
[] If you wear pajamas to school.

-- I do..!

[] If you get perfect grades because your mom grades you.

-- Your mom grades you?

[] If your mom teaches you or if somebody else's mom does.

-- My brothers' mom teaches me.

[x] How do you meet people.

-- How do you meet people?

[x] Why you aren't in school.

-- I am.

[x] If you get days off whenever you want.

-- Pffffft. Have you ever had a mother?

[] If you're going to be homeschooled through college.

-- I wonder if that's possible. I really doubt you could get away with it.

[] If you have a big family.
[] What your parents are protecting you from.

-- I don't have a witty answer. :(

[] To quote something famous.
[x] For an answer, because supposedly homeschoolers always have all the answers are stupid.

-- Like 'What's 22 x 6?' Of course, it always takes me a moment to work it out in my head, (the answer is 132) by which point the other party will have remembered, having learned the answer by rote just today. (That's why they asked) I'm not bitter!

Total so far: 23

You have rebelled by:
[] Listening to "worldly music"

-- Ok, come on, what's worldly music? I'm did some quick research. http://blog4critique.blogspot.com/2008/10/why-do-you-review-worldly-music.html sort of explains it. Basically wordly music is tied to the material, physical realm as directly opposed to the biblical view of the spiritual realm. I guess the problem stems from a few passages in the bible, including John 2:15. "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him"

[] Wearing black fingernail polish
[] Wearing tight clothes or letting your midriff show
[] Watching a *gasp* PG-13 movie
[] breaking dress code
[] Listening to music with a beat (I've done a lot of these things but not to rebell)
subtract this from total: 21-3

Total: 23


1-10 You're not really a homeschooler. You just do school at home.
11-21 You're a homeschooler, but not what the world expects.
22-32 You're a homeschooler.
33-? You probably wouldn't have Facebook account to begin with, but congrats, you're the stereotypical homeschooler!

This meme is meant to be sort of funny, for the record. At least, that's how it read to me. So don't get all offended. (You know who you are)

I'm posting it here on livejournal too, because I thought it was funny. Too lazy right now to use the email blogger/livejournal cross-posting thing. Livejournal and facebook is enough for this meme anyway.

I love xkcd.

http://xkcd.com/552/

There's a song in LMS in which the bass part is very tough. I've circled the
hell out of it. Hopefully I'll have it by the time we start running straight
through the show...

Well, so. I'm using email posting now so that I can post to multiple blogs
at once. I finally gave in to Google, and am now simultaneously posting to
livejournal and blogger... Theoretically I could just use blogger, and have
blogger forward posts to livejournal, but this seems so much simpler. The
only problem is that if I want to post images, I'll have to either do it
manually or just post a link. (Blogger doesn't like HTML in its incoming
emails)

I've heard tell that having blogger forward the message to livejournal
doesn't work that great anyway, as links and images disappear or look wrong
anyway. So this is better. I'm just looking into a way to make this easier.
Assign an alias through gmail to both of the email addresses, so I can just
type 'blog' or something. I could, theoretically, create another gmail
account for it, but that would feel wrong... I could also create a filter,
and just send myself the emails with [blog] in the subject, but then that
would show up in the subjects here. It's a conundrum!

Off to solve all of the world's problems, or at least fix X.

If this link <http://zalethon.blogspot.com> works on livejournal, it'll go
to my blogger blog... Otherwise, here it is: http://zalethon.blogspot.com

Testing email posting...

Not-So-Random Link

As you folks on Facebook will know, via my never-ending barrage of status messages involving the fact, I've been messing with different flavours of linux and different window managers. I gave up on FreeBSD, as far as GIR goes, (that's my computer) and switched back to Debian.

Unfortunately, during the switch I lost everything on my hard drive... Nothing terribly important, but still disheartening.

Anyway, now I'm using Ion3 as a window manager. Tabbed, and 'tiled'... Very fun. There's three frames there in that picture, two with tabs.

Ion3 isn't the prettiest of things, but it is, for me, very usable and efficient. I'll never have to touch the mouse again.

I'm considering installing Arch linux, rather than Debian. Package manager is better, (no annoying schedules and old releases) smaller, more modular. I honestly don't know what I'm getting myself into, really, but I bet it will be fun finding out. (That's why I do this, you know.)

Anyway, on to real life. Rehearsals fun, singing sort of ok I guess, (my singing, that is) etc. Only thing I remember of note was just the other day, when we were lowering our halberds (as we had been instructed) and a siren went off. To quote Yeoman #5, (I know his name, but you don't bwahaha) 'We need those sound effects.' Not a direct quote, but hey.

Time for a blog post!

Recently, Elvis (Forrest) and I we were noting, in our own way, (high-fives) whenever one of us used a band name in normal conversation. Naturally, this evolved into high-fives whenever we invent a new band name from normal conversation.

Google It
Babies Are Funny
Eyeballs is a Funny Word

There were far better ones, but I forgot them. :(

Thanks to those of you who posted comments and suggestions and the like.

Just to clarify: When I say the way I learn has nothing to do with people directly, I don't mean that I can't learn from people directly. I do that literally all the time. I just can learn on my own too. :P

It struck me a little while ago that saying such a thing was dumb, so cross it off the list I suppose. I don't often learn from other people when it comes to things that have manuals, but singing and acting I do often learn from other people. Lou, just about everyone at OMP, etc.

So like I said, cross it off. Keep 'independent,' but cross out the rest.

Also, that little bit of advice you offered me that one time? (Whomever you may be, and whatever it may have been) I learned from it, and I am grateful for it. :)

So I was thinking recently, while developing a lot of code for a decidedly useless language--MUSHcode, PennMUSH specifically--that if I applied my skills and focused on mastering something like python, mathematics, geometry, anything at all that wasn't useless, I'd be set.

Then it occurred to me that I've tried before, and I simply haven't got the attention-span to do it. Even if someone tells me to do something, I never can find time to do it. Maybe it would work better if someone outside of my family told me to; -1 point for homeschooling, I suppose. It still has a lot of points, though.

Anyway, that prompted me to write out a list of my strengths and weaknesses, a la The Honeymooners oddly enough. Ralph did good.

Perceived strengths:
- I'm independent. The way I learn has nothing to do with other people. Not directly, at any rate.
- I'm good at music. At least so far. Maybe any talent I have will progress no further, I dunno.
- I'm good at acting. Getting into character at least; stage acting may be a slightly different story. I role play a lot.
- I'm good at programming. (A few other things than MUSHcode)
- I've a remarkably positive outlook on life.
- It's hard to get me down for a long period of time. Things always work out.

Perceived weaknesses:
- I've no attention span, no follow-through. Good ideas, but no practicality. (That's a phrase I'm liking more and more)
- I've got a short fuse for my family although I'm working on it. This is not an issue with friends and family outside of this household, though, which worries me slightly.
- It's difficult to control my actions when I'm angry; I'm working on it double time.
- I'm maybe too hard on myself sometimes, although I don't think this is one of those times.
- I hesitate to speak well of myself, for past actions and weaknesses.
- I'm overweight. Not unhealthy, by any means, nor particularly unattractive, (I'm not particularly attractive either) but I am overweight. And big. Part of the big is just being big, but I can't deny that I have a belly..
- I'm terrible at elementary math--division at least--but if I work at it I can understand most higher math. It's just like a programming language.
- I'm not that great at geometry either.

It would be futile to write all of my strengths and weaknesses down, because like any human being, I've a lot. I'm literally a strong person, but I don't know pi to more than like 5 places. 3.14 something... Make that two places.

So what am I going to do about it, hmm? Well, I don't know. The idea is to improve your strengths, and rid your weaknesses. There will always be weaknesses, but I listed the ones that I think can be fixed.

I started this a while ago, trying to be less angry, more helpful and such. The helpful part still needs work, but I think I don't get angry as much. I'll have to ask. I'll keep working on that, obviously, but next I will probably try to lose weight. I should drink more water too, just thinking of it.

As for strengths, I'll just keep working at stuff like I have been, if I take vocal lessons or classes at MCC for anything. There's nothing there that needs special attention.

I'm not looking for any compliments, though I suppose I won't tell you off if you post such things; constructive criticism or suggestions would be more welcome. :) (In private, if it's something that should obviously be private)

Remember when I was on about genetic algorithms? I missed a crucial step.

So, today I dressed as a giant siamese cat who thinks he's a chihuahua, for the sake of a much younger generation, and then I watched the inauguration and Obama's speech in the lobby, had pizza since everyone at the Webster Public Library is nice and appreciates our work, and led Elvis (AKA Forrest, for all you folks reading this second-hand on facebook) around dressed as the cat.

Now I'm going to either upload a PennMUSH server for a friend, and install HSpace, since I promised that I would, (I can't from here, at the library, though) or I'm going to travel around running errands all day and then go to an audition for Yeomen of the Guard. I'm confident, for once, in my singing; ironically, not so much in my acting. (It used to be the other way around) I'm believable enough, I just tend to moderate myself a lot. If I pretend that I'm confident, I'll probably be fine.

---

I often wonder what all I'd be diagnosed with if I saw a diagnostic psychologist. A friend of mine told me recently, when I bought to question my own maturity, that I might have ADD (he said, 'hint: everyone has ADD') or perhaps be partially autistic. I don't know if he meant he thought I was partially autistic, or if he was joking. I didn't and don't find it insulting, really, I just found the suggestion a curiosity. (Of note: Lots of people are thought speculated, by admittedly few, to have been autistic.)

My mind had been bouncing from subject to subject rapidly all night, and it still is a little, but I think that's from lack of sleep. I need to sleep more.

I am probably perfectly normal, as far as normal goes. I think that if someone had no psychological 'disorders' or any quirks of any kind, they would be abnormal by the very definition of the word. I just wonder in what way I am normal. :P

---

FICS, which stands for Free Internet Chess Server, is at freechess.org, by the way. I did the link wrong. Check out ChessCube too, if you're interested... That's easily one of the best websites I've seen to play chess online, with a browser. It's only in real time, but still.

I got an email from Gayden Wren. :) He has not seen the show yet, but he did in fact read my name. Hopefully he read it in the program first, but then someone evidently sent him an excerpt from my blog. How embarrassing and/or awesome.

He wrote other plays, and books, for the record. The book I found particularly interesting: A Most Ingenious Paradox. It's about Gilbert and Sullivan's creations... The plays, for the record, are Ernest (A musical based on The Importance of Being Ernest) and Baseball, Sex and Other Facts of Life. None of which I've seen...

I'll have to try and see Very Truly Yours, and then the others, I suppose. I find myself somewhat limited, in that most of the musicals I know are Gilbert and Sullivan, and being that they only composed 14 or so.

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On Friday, August 21st, 1903, a man named Schuyler C Kelley was found to have been missing for a number of days. I just thought it was kind of neat, in a creepy sort of way. Luckily, my middle is Bertram, and this was over 100 years ago, so I'm relatively certain that there are no terminators out for me.

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In other news, I've been stumbling around again. I keep changing my mind, what I want to do. I am certain, beyond doubt, that I want to do musical theatre or at least theatre of some sort, and that seems like a solid choice, but I know very well that I want something else. The problem is, the something else I want is everything.

It is times like these that I get depressed, hmm? Thinking about all that I am interested in and curious about--sociology, anthropology, (which covers everything under the sun, so I could stop there, but I won't) computer science, algorithmic science, mathematics although I still despise the simple stuff. It bothers me that the simpler it gets the harder it is for me to do it. (Excepting addition, subtraction and multiplication) Other subjects too, I have a passing interest in.

But going back to the depression, it is because I feel that I will never be able to learn it all. That may be good for me, in that I will never run out of materials to study when I am bored. That's what I do, I think, when I get bored with one thing I move on to the next, but I never finish anything. At this rate, nothing of mine will be finished by a hundred years from now.

I was reading today about Scale-Free Networks, and I intend to read into it further--ways I could make use of it, for example. This is what started me off thinking about mortality and such, although it does directly apply to what I'm doing recently. (A lot of programming. MUSHcoding, but programming nonetheless--I'll finish learning Python one day. (At which point I will make a damn FICS client for FreeBSD that works)) I just don't know how it applies yet.

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I had a dream the other day where I was in a restaurant with my 12 year old brother, and I think 4 guys busted through the windows dressed as Ronald McDonald, brandishing weapons. 12-year old would not shut up, and I got shot for some reason. Grr.

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I'm trying a new thing where I separate subjects by three hyphens, see? I think it's working. I feel slightly more organized already.

Just kidding, really there is no cynicism at all. I just wanted to get attention. :( Someone told me that they like me because I have had no reason to be cynical. They think I'm naive, but that's why. I have mixed feelings about this, but I'm sure they meant well.



Anyway, now that I've hooked you with my humorous quip, I got an email today from the folks handling the 'Obama-Biden Transition'. Remember the suggestion box? (I dunno if it's still up, or where it is, or I'd link it) Well, now there's a new one, where folks can vote on the suggestions. On inauguration day, the top ranking ones will be presented to President Obama as part of his briefing. So naturally, I took a look, and what was at the top of the list? Ending Marijuana Prohibition!

Anyone can publish research, (some less easily than others) so I don't care one way or the other. I just thought it was hilarious. We've got our priorities straight, I'm sure.

Neat, it wraps around my userpic for some reason.

I have a ton of stuff to talk about, but most of it, per usual, I cannot remember. What I can remember is that I'm 18 now; Al and Amanda (folks whom most of you, as I write this on livejournal, won't know) found my library cards and book for me; I'm probably going to do chess again at the Rochester Chess Center although I am far out of practice, having not played chess in a few months now; I got a bunch of notebooks to write stuff in; and Weiss gave me this and other avatars for my birthday. :D This one is Near, although I don't read the series he's from. *hug Weiss* Thanks.

I'll write more later, probably gotta go just now.