Return of the Revenge of the Son of Saying Hi to Josiah!

[Blue Fire Cyndaquil]

I did a research paper in two days. I don't know why, but I write essays very well. It just comes naturally to me, I guess. Doesn't matter, I'm probably gonna fail history cuz I failed a test after missing two weeks whe-

Oh, almost forgot. About a month ago I fell down the stairs and fractured my skull. I black out sometimes, and I get light-headed (As in where I don't quite black out) almost daily. That's been going on for like a year. So, my life is just awesome right now. That's also why I'm do behind on homework. I have about five make-up tests. And a lot of other make-up work still.

Isn't life just grand? -_-

Also.... Silver that made my day XD I'm a very literal person. In the actual sense of the word. So much so that my exact wording and word choice is often extremely important to what I mean. I might be too literal.

[Josiah]

Hi! How long it takes to write a essay or research paper depends on a lot of things including the person, topic, format, and length. I can generally write a 3-4 page paper on a topic I know absolutely nothing about in several hours providing that internet sources are ok and I don't have to conform to any particular style guide. Something bigger and more complex, on the other hand, can take quite a lot longer, especially if a very large number of sources are needed and/or if original research is required. For example, while I wrote the first draft of my master's thesis in a week or so, that was after months of surveys and searching out a large number of credible sources. And then, since it was a thesis it had to follow very specific format and style rules which meant lots and lots of revisions... Ugh, I hope I never have to do that again.

[Marluxia]

Oh dear.
I believe I have a problem that I could use help with.
My friend has been placed in a precarious situation.
How to start this......egh. A friend of mine, she uh, she's bi-sexual. Thing is, her parents, are against it.She has told me they have been blabbering on about bi-sexuals being unholy and they need to be blessed bla, bla, bla, bla. And, well, she thinks that they know. Oh being a catholic sucks. Im trying to think of a way to advise her about this and I, am stumped. I just....don't know what to do about this. Im afraid of what will happen. Not just her, but for myself as well. I actually am bi-sexual, and quite frankly, i'm scared of what my family would do if they ever found out about it. Knowing them and the fact that they can be just the same as hers, and how distant I normally am with them....probably would result in something crazy like a sexual re-orientation camp or just being told to get the hell out. It just scares me knowing these things, for both of us really.

[Blue Fire Cyndaquil]

:( I'm sorry, Marluxia. It's probably best to keep it secret. If they do find out, they probably won't kick you out. If you do somehow get kicked out, I would happily try to help you somehow. No idea how though. I really wish there was a way without keeping it secret, but if your family is how it sounds.... Either way, you and your friend might try showing your interest in guys a little bit, though not so much so that your parents will get wary about it. Either way. Wish I could be more helpful. But either way, you need a big group hug. *Hugs* Everybody join in!

[Faustgy]

I can't say that I have any advice, Marluxia, since I haven't been in that situation before. I do recall hearing about similar experiences other people had, though.
One of them is a childhood friend of mine, although we haven't kept in contact for a long time. I did hear from a mutual friend that he's homosexual, but never told his parents. At first, I thought it was something he wanted to keep quiet about, and when we had a reunion this past summer with two of our other childhood friends that we hadn't seen in years, he never said anything about it.
I don't think he intended to hide his sexuality, though; after that reunion, the four of us added each other on Facebook, and he seemed pretty opened about his sexuality on there. None of his posts about his sexuality or boyfriend was hidden, at least from me, and since the two of us are no longer that close and he probably doesn't know that I'm well aware of his sexuality, I think it's safe for me to conclude that he's not hiding anything.

Another case is with someone who goes to my school. I don't know him personally, but he once gave a speech about his sexuality to the school. According to him, he lived the majority of his life with his grandmother. I don't recall what happened to his father, but his mother initially had been disowned and sent away from the family after his grandmother found out that she [the mother] is a lesbian.
The son didn't know he was homosexual at first, but when he did, he asked his mother if they could talk, thinking that she would be empathetic to his situation. When they sat down though, the first thing his mother said was, "You're not gay, are you?"
The way she said it, as the son recalled, was in a rather disappointed tone. Immediately, he changed his mind about the decision and told her that he was worried about an exam instead. Some time after that, his grandmother asked him if he had a girlfriend, and when he replied negative, she reacted pretty much the same way his mother had. Again, he denied being homosexual.
But at school, despite the insults that were constantly thrown his way, he was pretty open with his sexuality. (I mean, he did give that speech and all.)

Both of them managed to keep their sexuality a secret from their families for a long time, but I highly doubt either of them has any regret about his sexuality. In fact, I would say that they're proud of their sexual orientations. They knew their families wouldn't approve, so they simply said nothing about their sexual orientations to their families, but they didn't kick themselves for preferring males.

I don't know if all that helps, and again, as I've never been in that situation before, I can't give any advice. I hope those stories will give you some ideas, though. I just want to mention that no matter what, I hope you and your friend will never think being bisexual (or anything else, for that matter) is a bad thing. Coincidentally enough, Mandi and I were talking about a similar subject just yesterday, and we agreed that it's a shame how homosexuality, bisexuality, and asexuality are present in all animal species, but some humans can't accept them.
Oh, and my apologies if I had, for any reason, insulted someone with what I've said. I know this can be a pretty touchy subject, but I had no ill will while I was typing all of the above.

'Ello everyone.
Since I have to write a term paper on a topic of my choice, I've recently gotten very interested in my subject to the point that I'm researching more because I genuinely want to know about this artist, rather than for the term paper, and I'm putting his songs on loop. It's been going on for a few weeks now, and I'm somewhat surprised that I'm not tired of the songs yet. Other than that, same old, same old. I was recently informed that there's a fairly new Miyazaki film though, so I definitely want to check that one out when I have time.
On a completely unrelated and random note, I think this is the longest post I'vetyped outside of RPs and the Post Your Favorite Song Lyrics Thread...

[Silver]

Alls I have to say is, do you intend to go out with either of your parents? No? That's what I thought. So then, your preferences won't really affect them in any way. Sure, it would be great to be open with them, but if you're putting anything on the line just to tell people who it doesn't matter to, it's just not worth it, is it?

So, anyway. School sucks. I really hate the college I'm going to right now. Have I mentioned that here yet? I went to community college for two years because it was cheap (actually free. Actually they paid me to go there. But anyway) and then transferred to the closest public college around. The Richard Stockton College... "New Jersey's DISTINCTIVE Public College"! They paste that slogan everywhere, caps on the "DISTINCTIVE" included, and I still don't know why. Is that even a good thing? I really don't know what they're trying to say. Well, it's pretty distinctively lousy. And if this is supposed to represent all of New Jersey's colleges, that means they all suck! But I know that's not right. Community College was great, man. If only they had four-year programs, I never woulda left.

In other news, anybody know what this Sunday is? It's nineteen years since the World Trade Center was attacked!

...And some other thing.

I really wish I had known about that before... If I had waited just one more day...

[Josiah]

Hi! What other thing, Silver? When I think about this coming Sunday the only event that comes to mind is the Daytona 500 (which I only know about because, since it's in Florida, they have commercials for it on TV all the time).

I watched the new Muppet movie again last night. Hadn't been planning on it, but I was at the Japanese laguage tables at UF and some friends mentioned that they were going to see it because UF has free movie nights so I ended up tagging along (fortunately, they didn't ask for student IDs). It was fun, though it didn't leave me with a lot of time to get work done. Or it wouldn't have it I hadn't ended up staying up really late for a completely unrelated reason. Well, whatever. Yesterday was fun and I got a lot of work done so no complaints here. And now, back to work.

[SuzuTitor]

Hi! What other thing, Silver?

Nothing that anyone here would know actually. It's just Silver being cute and romantic right now.

[Marluxia]

Thank you guys. Really, I can't thank you guys enough for what you've done for me over the past few years.

Also I have finally gotten used to my dog's sneak attacks. Now I can just wheel around fast enough to point at him at which point he comes to a stop. I have saved quite a few pairs of pants because of this. He is still awesome just the same. It's going all right for me, besides the fact that I scared myself half to death. Also, that's sweet silver.

[PoisonWing14]

Moi,

On the topic of sexuality, I've always just said to be proud of who you are. Don't let anybody being you down just because they think you're different. Being different then other people is awesome! (In my opinion at least)

For me...I don't think I actually 'came out' about being bisexual...most of my friends have found out as they have gotten to know me over the years, and I think my parents found out right around when I started being a little bit more open with people. So far, I think my parents are fine with it and my friends don't really care about who I like. They like me for who I am. (So cheesy, I know. I can't think of any other way to phrase it.)

So, on the topic of other things, I went out with my mom and god-mother for lunch today. We went to an awesome little diner in the city. It's a small and old-fashion kind of diner. The kind you would have seen everywhere in the '40s.
Afterwards, we went to some little cornerstore-like shops. In one shop, I bought a little 8-inch tall wooden mannequin, who I named Harvey. They also had a whole lot of other cool little things in the shop. It was the kind of shop you could spend hours in just looking at every little thing. The store before that one was a shop where you could by posters of all kinds. I nerded out and bought myself a poster that was for the first Star Wars movie.

All in all, a totally awesome day. Stay radical people!

[Silver]

Oh, come on, how is that being cute and/or romantic? I'm just saying that the World Trade center was bombed on February 26, 1993. That's all. I'm not going to point out that it's our anniversary, because that would just be rude! That's essentially bragging that I have a girlfriend who likes anime and can beat me at Brawl while everyone else except Kaida is single! There's no way I'd say something like that.

What I AM trying to insinuate is that September 11th was not the only time the place was attacked. It's not a new thing; it happened all the way back in 1993. So people can stop making a big deal about "nine eleven" now.

Also that... well, how does stuff like this happen? It's like someone planned it! A terrorist conspiracy! Yeah so my brithday's September eleventh and our anniversary is February twenty-sixth. In other words, I take special notice of and specifically celebrate the days when the World Trade Center was attacked. Coincidentally. How was I supposed to know? The 26th of February seemed like a perfectly fine day! Just as nice as any other! But I found out later that... yeah...

Meanwhile Stevenson's birthday is Talk like a Pirate Day and his anniversary is freaking Christmas Eve.

Humph.

[Josiah]

Hi! Speaking of girlfriends, while I'm in no particular hurry to get one (a combination of waiting for the right person and simply being busy with work, my game projects, and the like), my dad has been bugging me to either ask out someone I know or try a dating site. I'm not really opposed to the idea, I may have done so a while back if I didn't keep so busy. But I figure what the heck, I should have some more free time in a couple weeks after GDC. But that brings up the question of how to go about it. Dating sites are simple and there's a lot of them to choose from (even ones catering to gamers, otaku, etc.) but odds are anyone I meet wouldn't live anywhere near here (not neccessarily a problem but certainly a complication). If I asked out a girl I know... Well, there's a few female friends I'd consider dating. I'm not in love with any of them, but we get along well and I could potentially fall in love with them in the future. But only one of them lives in Florida and in every case I'm also friends with the girl's friends and/or family which means it could be very awkward if they turned me down or they accepted and things didn't work out. It'd be so much easier if I could just grab a sword and go save a kidnapped princess or something.

[Metalheadz]

Hi!

If you hear anything on the news about a teenage suicide from Franklin County, Virginia, I happened to know that kid. It's been bringing a lot of people at my school to tears lately, and even some sadness to myself. Knew him since early Kindergarten, befriended him for a while until middle school when we slowly stopped seeing each other, but I knew him to be very emotional and dealt with a lot of drama. He was never bullied or picked on at school, and in fact I thought he was a happy person when near his friends. I didn't know enough about his personal life, though, and now he's gone. R.I.P Ryan 1994-2012.

My message to the people here... Well, you should probably already know it's sad that a child dies before their parents do. Just stay in school, live your life, do what makes you feel happy. Most importantly of all, if you're feeling depressed, you should go find help. Even a hug or a smile from somebody will change your life.

I didn't mean to bring my drama onto here, but in case some of you have had an identical experience, I'm merely sharing my own.

Peace out!

[Neo Zanther]

Hi, and don't worry I'm still single as well. And my mom has been bugging me about it. I would try but with me moving and going to another college this fall (move in summer) hate to now get started in a relationship and either have to end it or they feel like they have to follow me to where I go next, and while there if it doesn't work out they are now stuck there for awhile, so ya...maybe try when school starts back up in the fall. in other news, i'm bi as well

[Saber Knight]

Hey

Meanwhile Stevenson's birthday is Talk like a Pirate Day and his anniversary is freaking Christmas Eve.

My half birthday is Talk Like a Pirate Day JUST SAYIN'

So... I suddenly realized that I haven't been here in a while. Why? Because it's vacation week and I'm FREAKING BUSY. It's just like school. I wake up early and either head to Fest rehearsal or DI practice for at least 6 hours, and then get home exhausted and do some homework. Or Tetris Battle. Or both.

Trololol, my mom used to bug me about being single, but she's kind of dropped the matter ever since my friend who she was always telling me to date got into a relationship (score!). I do get a bit insecure about the whole never-really-been-in-a-relationship thing sometimes, along with the whole I-think-I'm-bi-but-I-don't-really-know-'cos-I'm-asexual-or-something thing. Also, as far as sexual orientation goes, I really don't think my parents would care one way or the other about mine, whatever it turns out to be. They just want me to get in a relationship so I won't be a bum for the rest of my life :/

Really sorry to hear about that, Metal. There was a suicide that occured in the town next over a few months back... it's just really sad that these things happen. I came terrifyingly close to losing a good friend to suicide.

Oh, and the f key fell off of my keyboard. Ironically, that sentance used the most f's so far. ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffokayI'mdone.