Sorry, I was just venting my current views on religion, considering I got so much shit before for being a self-professed Christian :P I was hoping to have a good conversation with someone, idk for some reason I go to you guys for advice.

Am I really as stupid as you all make me out to be?

I do agree with you there.

You're 15 or whatever, of course you're stupid. I was stupid when I was 15 and am arguably still stupid. I certainly don't lack intelligence but I am a overwhelmingly negative asshole 20 year old which is just as bad. You don't lack potential, but you're aiming all that you do have in all the lameasshippiedouche directions.

Truth is I attack you and call you stupid because I am an asshole. And a perpetually drunken asshole as of late.

Perhaps as a younger person I would have taken cheap potshots myself- actually, I know I would have, and probably would have said "goddamn hippies" myself.

As an even older jaded bitter d-bag, I can actually look at that statement and, with my small knowledge of this person, knowing that he is actually an intelligent, inquisitive young man, applaud the ability to evaluate and critically assess one's own belief structure as a hallmark of a functioning mind.

Why hippie? Serious question, what is wrong with living a life being good and loving to others? How does that make someone a lameasshippiedouche?

Deep down I mean what Eric said (though I could not have put it as eloquently), but there's something that exists within me that won't allow me to express that. I don't know if it's because I am so far away from home and have been for so long, but I think I am becoming That Twenty Year Old Dickhead. I always knew I was headed for this, but I never thought I'd actually reach my destined or thought about what I'd do when I get here..

I really shouldn't drink I have come to realize, it is not a good chemical for me to be consuming regularly. I am a happy guy when I smoke weed, however alcohol tends to make me angry and at times violent.

There's nothing wrong with that, in fact I admire and envy people who are capable of doing that. It is when it becomes one's mantra and mission statement that it becomes pretentious and lame. It just comes off as, beg my pardon on the ignorant use of language but: "Super faggy, bro". I don't know, I guess because of my own psychological makeup I think that sort of thing is just super lame?

This

I also have some kind of weird suspicion that a lot of the people I've met who are happy and "love everyone, maaan" are just putting on a big front They might not be but I always assume people like that are. I don't know why.

To Mr. Cam: That's part of being a 20-year old asshole. You'll pick up on this at about the time you're a 30-year old asshole.

To Master Bradley: No, you're not that stupid- far from it, actually. You'll realize this when you're a 20 year-old asshole. But then you'll be inclined to bust on people largely, when it comes down to it, for being young. Call it the life cycle of thought processes. They may or may not be, like, tectonic-level shifts, but as someone who was there for that, yeah.

Not that I'm some sort of pinnacle of wisdom. I suppose if I manage to not score an Own Goal and eventually become a 40-year old asshole I'll realize what a dumbass I was when I was 30.

Just, for your own sake, don't wind up being That Guy who still lives at home with his folks in the 'burbs when he's 30. That makes one almost by definition inclined to have some Really Questionable Ideas. Highly suspect.

Self Loathing Builds Character. I just thought up these words sitting here, I quite like them. They shall become the title of song with a little time I think.

Well, thank you. I suppose that's what I've been trying to do for the last year when I first started thinking for myself. I've been having what Catholics would call a faith crisis; conflict of ideas in my head, doubts, etc, and I didn't really know what to believe. It was starting to interfere with my peace of mind. I just wanted it to end, i didn't wanna think about these things, at least at my age. But I have come to a bit of a resolution; be the best I can be for the time being and figure out the rest later.



It's completely fine man, I understand. Go ahead, call me out when i say stupid shit (as I do alot), it helps me improve myself. It's all good though, I'm not offended


Honestly, I sort of agree. i am rather pretentious, I need to work on that. it is my mission statement, but I agree that it shouldn't be flaunted nor used to put others down. To do so would contradict the essence of the statement itself :P
You are entitled to your opinion and I respect that.

If it's anything, for the most part, I am a total sweetheart and unfailingly polite IRL. Like, Victorian levels of polite. "Is there anything I can do for..." (even if I think you're an utter fuckwit).

I do occasionally amuse myself hurling venomous stream-of-consciousness invective at Religious Reich-types who decide to go hate on women, LGBT people, or, well, everyone and tell them they're all going to Hell when I run into them being ignorant in a public place, but this is a rare treat.

I think this proves your point, as I'm pretty certain everyone on here has heard some of what emanates from my noisehole, which tends to indicate the truth of the matter.

Don't bother thinking about it. Just do it.

Thank you for always seriously responding to all my bitchy manopause teenage problems haha it means a lot. Kudos to you man. And yeah hopefully college saves me from that :P

I'm just very empathetic and compassionate. I'm very good at putting myself in other peoples shoes, and usually try not to judge anyone (but many times I fail at this haha) except for judgemental people. I'm nice to everybody because I know how it feels when someone is mean to you. If someone is an asshole, I don't really blame them. there are many things in life that may cause someone to be a dick. if anything, i feel compassion for them, and generally love. I guess i just see good in everyone, even when it doesn't necessarily exist. I suppose I'm an idealist.

Not trying to raise myself up, just objectively analyzing myself and the way I treat others and observing the more positive things about me.

Well apparently I always say polite things, but my tone of voice and facial expressions show that I'm putting it on I'm really bad at bullshitting and faking my way through stuff, and this is probably why I'm so terrible at job interviews

A good friend of mine, albeit one I don't have much contact with anymore, but someone I respect as a truly, genuinely fantastic human being and who helped me through some dark times (she grew up rural-poor, lost her mother and brother in an accident, Captain in the Air Force, medic, treated the wounded in Iraq, coalition, insurgent and civilian alike, psych nurse, Master's degree, works in the children's ward at the psych hospital... Totally intense person, amazing; I was her husband's Best Man at their wedding) said the best way to ensure your children become atheists is to raise them Catholic.

I do suppose being a denomination that has comparatively encouraged questioning, science, learning, knowledge and... well, thought it would lend itself to that, but that's its own digression. (I was raised Catholic too and so was her husband.) The suppression of critical thought and adherence to groupthink is perhaps the greatest tyranny imposed by organized religion- the notion that you're not allowed to call bullshit, as it were. And for that I'll actually applaud the Catholic church- how often does a religion, whatever its myriad sins may be, ever get up and say "We were wrong"? (They also have a shitload of cool art. And some phenomenal music. Ever hear Verdi's Requiem? Granted even that... Again, digress, digress.)

Deleted: my rambling about political conversations with a libertarian friend (I would call myself a European-style democratic socialist) and the willingness to listen and evaluate one's own ideas as the mark of a thinking person, pragmatism and fairness and equitable treatment of other people. Suffice to say our economic views differ but we enjoy the conversations as it makes us evaluate the logistics of our own viewpoints.

The band of learned misfits that frequent this board really crack me up when I stop to think about it. This sort of conversation exists pretty much nowhere else.

<--stage performer.

I interview very well. Granted I have some experience to back it up and that plays well up against recent art-school grads. (Sorry dude.) Honestly, it's a loada bull, as yer up against management-types and management-think is... It is what is is. You can in theory be a complete hack and reprobate if you were at the right places with the right clients for long enough and make yourself look good. Having at least enough chops to back up yer shit is a plus. When I got my current position, before the interview I crammed from Heidelberg's website for some of the software we use... Turns out we don't use jackshit of its capabilities, but that sort of thing is a plus- if you don't know it, learn it, and show you learned it because you want it. In two years I scored a whole three interviews- not much need for me in Buffalo; limited market/specialized skillset. Two of the jobs I got, one I was turned down as overqualified as I had more extensive background than the guy running the joint.

Woulda kept the first one. Great environment, great people. 12 hours a week does not pay the rent. Like the crew I deal with now, environment is stressfulsuck though. BIggest of big-deal clients, as I've mentioned.

It's pretty damn absurd, if you think about it.

Essentially it's castoffs/dropouts from one of the largest musician's forums on the planet. There's how many of us who hit this place up regularly enough that we don't notice they've said something? It ebbs and flows as far as its pace- slow of late; it'll pick up for a while as its wont to do, and then slow again- and it's a total clearinghouse of bizarre. A large portion of the action is in the sticky threads in the off-topic forum.

If it comes up, someone is not only aware of it, someone can probably offer a reasonably informed opinion on it.

Especially considering how narrow of a demographic is represented here.