thoughts in passing:on life

Life is an effing roller coaster ride.

Ups, downs, feelings of nausea, etc.

The world is cruel asshat, and needs a giant kick in the face, but no one has a foot big or strong enough.

We all, some more than others, know the pains of depression, angst, and bieng pissed off at the world. The greater part of my ninth grade was wasted on all my thoughts focused on hating the world, and asking why it was me who had to go through the bullshit that.. However, everyone goes through one, or several, times in thier life when they just want it to end, want to kill themselves, want to be alone, or want everyone to just eat shit and die.

However, you don't get anywhere in life if that's the only attitude you can muster.. and you "keep on truckin'" (to borrow an awfuland archaic(sp?) saying. If not for yourself, for the other people in your life that need you more than you think.

j00 out.

Tada

It started out a beautiful day, I felt better than I have in about a month. Free from almost all the feelings of depresion, school when by well.

Laughing and being with friends always pushes the depresion away, and it was a wonderful day at school. Having a shorter day and more time to relax after school. I felt really good.

But now, I really really wish I could be with you, setting up for coffee house and hanging out. Anywhere but here. If I weren't here maybe I could eat without worry of throwing it all up anyways.

It feels like I've been thrown off my high-hores right when I thought I deserved to be there. Why do I have to be thrown back into this pit of dispare? Why do they do this? Why do they pick on him?

It's because he's different. It's because he wants attention. It's because he's fucking different. Because of what he wears, because of what he says, because of what they don't see, because you don't give him the help he fucking needs! They drove him to this!

I want it to end! STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! Stop...

I don't want to talk, I just want to be alone.

I want to go home.

I just want this day, and this part of my life to end. I'll hopefully feel better in the morning, I feel better getting this out...

Edit: 10 seconds after this post and I feel no more pitty for him. Now I'm just mad and crying.

There is no epidemic of youth violence in America.

The whole concept is a lie manufactured, distributed and perpetuated by the media. Kids are not killing each other more frequently than they used to. In fact, it turns out the opposite is true.

Check out that ugly graph on the right. It doesn't take a genius to conclude that violent crime is at the lowest it has been in a good thirty years. For effect, I've also marked the release of the Playstation console, the first Grand Theft Auto game, the PS2 console, and the infamous GTA 3. OMG, look at those surges in violence!

Believe it or not, I got that graph - and all the others in this piece - directly from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Statistics. All I added was the video game timeline. This isnt some privately-funded poll or crazy game journalist defense mechanism - this is the actual, most recent government data on crime as used by the FBI. The fact that they all max out at 2003 is irritating, but this debate has raged much longer than the past few months.

The government and the media just can't go around making this stuff up, right?

Something must be missing. That first graph is the overall violent crime rate, and we�re talking about youth violence here. So I found the data sorted by age, and it turns out that through 2002, youth homicide actually dropped across the board, the only increase being among adults. If I may quote directly from the D.O.J. report, 'Recently, the offending rates for 14-17 year-olds reached the lowest levels ever recorded.'

The lowest levels ever recorded. In other words, the Playstation era has, in fact, produced the most non-violent kids ever. But I thought video games were training children to kill? I�m sure I read something like that here and here and here and here and here and here.

To be fair, there have been about 300 studies on the effects of violent media, about 30 of which have been about video games. Most have found little to no connection, although some studies found a small, casual correlation between aggressive people and violent media.

Even if true, this does not necessarily mean violent media has created aggressive people. It is more likely that aggressive people are attracted to violent media. Blaming violent media would be like going to the opera, noticing that most people there are rich, and concluding that opera makes people rich. (Classical opera, by the way, is chock full of lust, incest, murder, suicide, and revenge.)

In an analysis of the risk factors of youth violence by the Surgeon General of the United States of America, violent media is categorized as 'Small Effect Size.' In fact, there are 27 risk factors rated higher than exposure to violent media, like socioeconomic status, academic failure, poor parent-child relations, weak social ties, and being male. ZOMFG! Ban all males!

So is the media and the government flat out lying to us? Yes, and they have been doing so for years. As touched on in the rabble-rousing films of Michael Moore, fear sells. It's how you turn terrible tragedies like Columbine and the WTC Attack into election votes and must-see TV.

The media in particular loves to bash video games, making sure to point out any time there's an Xbox within 50 yards of a crime. This is because games are the new competition - every hour you spend interacting with a game is one hour less spent drooling in front of their fear-mongering programming.

And it's working. Sparked by Columbine, mainstream media routinely paints a picture of gamers as odd shut-ins dangerously close to the precipice of violent behavior, and almost unerringly misconstrue the games themselves without taking the time to fact check, as is the case in the very first sentence of this CBS News report. 'Points for killing cops in GTA?' Do games still have points?

Gaming is also a new medium, one that has recently become wildly successful. Young people play them and old folks don't understand, so they must be bad. Don't forget that in the 1950's, rock and roll was linked to youth violence in the same way. The hedonistic, tribal rhythms were going to turn America's youth into a bunch of violent maniacs. Rock and roll was banned and censored all over the country. A bill was even put before Congress in 1955 to ban rock and roll altogether.

Something exactly like what is happening now. Sorry guys, I don't care what people say, rock and roll is here to stay.

Let me be perfectly clear: Grand Theft Auto is a best-selling adult game that should not be played by 12 year-olds. That's why it's rated 'M' and you have to be 17 to buy it. However, most games are not like GTA. In 2004, 54% of games were rated 'E' for Everyone, 33% were rated �T� for Teen, and only 12% were rated 'M' for Mature. The vast majority of the best-selling titles every year are not rated 'M.' Compare that to the 55% of movies rated 'R' and only 8% rated 'G.' The ESRB might not get it right all the time, but who does? (Sources: the ESRB and the NPD Group).

And after all, there's no problem with R-rated movies or mature rap lyrics or violent video games, because there is no problem with youth violence. The most disgusting thing to me is that some truly horrible high-school tragedies are being exploited by the media, and somehow, we're part of the problem.

The truth is that we are the most non-violent kids our parents have ever had, and we all own Playstations or Xboxes. The government is so desperate to find some youth crime to crack down on that theylre strip-searching kids and locking up 11 year-old girls for throwing rocks and eating french fries. The most peaceful generation of Americans in recorded history is being shoved through metal detectors, having their civil rights violated on a daily basis, are the victims of unreasonable search and seizure, and are treated with constant suspicion.

All because of a media lie. If nothing else can incite them to violence, maybe that will.

Snow?

lets go skiing.

Neopets Bashing

Well, just saw a thread about hatin' on Neopets.

Kay. Neopets is more of a 6-10 year old based site, since you can't swear, or say anything that may be used in a sexual sense, like "suck". You can't PM or use the forums unless you are 13 or have written permission from your parents (you would mail this written permission slip to Neopets).

Doesn't it seem logical that you would grow out of a site such as Neopets? Yes. After a while the childlike games and community would rub on the nerves of teenagers and above, but obviously, some would want to stay, just 'cause they can and want to.

Now, why must we tell the world that we hate it so much?

People say it's because "it's too easy to get a warning/ban". Well, that’s because using foul language on those sites where by the age of three you could be playing, isn't very good, and the parents of the child could sue or something. You know, bitchy parents.

People also say, "The users are annoying". Well what do you expect from a five year old? They aren't old enough to be mature like that. Neopets is full of children that don't know "forum etiquette".

“Cheap games,” is also an excuse. The games are simple, but can be fun. Depends on what person uses them.

Reasons than I don't like Neopets is that it is directed for a younger audience, Ive devoted al my time to Gaia, it has a crapy fire wall and is too easy to hack, and that the forums are spammy and child filled. That seems reasonable, eh?

It's not that the forums are full of n00bs, it's that the forums are not MODERATED and the children that use the site, don't know "forum etiquette".

That’s my rant for the day. So what goes on in Neopets, should stay in Neopets, unless you have a reasonable excuse to hate it and tell the world.

Snow out.

[Alt+F4]

CAPS LOCK.

BUSES CANCELLED??

OMGnewsemester.

YAY.

so THAT's what 120w feels like. *twitches violently*

I was hooking up my PS2. At any rate, I was tugging and pulling and reefing on cords, and I had to fix the VCR plug, but it was behind the TV, blahblahblah *details* I reached back in there, blindly... Short story even shorter: my freakin' VCR electrocuted me. Sonofabitch zapped me good. 120watts of unadulterated electricity. ZAP. 0_0 Wierd stuff. electricity is a mystery. Watch your back!

Ju: out.

HLLSYSBTCHS!!

Ultraviolet.

Milla Jovovich's newest film. She is proving to be the new Queen of Science fiction, and could soon oust Sigourney Weaver from past, present, and future generations of this thought. Although nostalgia will always prevail, this woman is making history.

I CANT WAIT FOR THIS MOVIE.

D: *explodes*

It'll be so much better than Underworld, (read on for "How Much Underworld Sucked") and without the excessive gore!

SCORE!

"Set in the late 21st century, a subculture of humans have emerged who have been modified genetically by a vampire-like disease (Hemophagia), giving them enhanced speed, incredible stamina and acute intelligence, and as they are set apart from "normal" and "healthy" humans, the world is pushed to the brink of worldwide civil war (a war between humans and hemophages) aimed at the destruction of the "diseased" population.

In the middle of this crossed-fire is - an infected woman - Ultraviolet (Jovovich), who finds herself protecting a nine-year-old boy who has been marked for death by the human government as he is believed to be a threat to humans."

~MOVIE POSTER~

K,thnx.

~a tribute video.~

Milla, Uma, and Jennifer forever!! PWNAGE!!

*calms down a little bit*