The Official Rant Thread

[Astral Omega]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoo *happy hugs Kaida* I'll need to now about how many hours I'll be getting and rates of pay and crap and compare it to what I can get here.

Oh and when I'll be starting since I have plans and all...

THANKYOU^^

[Kaida]

I'll leave that for you to talk to him about, cause he wants to talk to you about it, not just send messages through me.

[Astral Omega]

Teh WOOT!

[Doodleshark]

You know Astral, even if you type naughty words on the forums it's bleeped out by the profanity filter. Check it out:

******

******

******

See? I just typed three very naughty words and they were all bleeped. So you can cuss all you want and nobody has to see it! Isn't technology great?

[Josiah]

However, that only works for words I've actually taken the time to manually enter in to the filter. So it's quite possible to accidently/purposely, post a word that I missed. So try not to rely on it.

[Astral Omega]

Oh coolies... well I just prefer not to post those kind of words anyway. It's just bad >.<

[Cheezdude]

Our school had a school dance. Today was the 'Valentines Day dance'. And I walk in. I look around for anyone I know for a bit, then find someone. I've noticed that just about everyone is dancing with others. I go to the Atrium and I hear someone bragging about getting a date. I don't have a date. One of the 'popular' kids yells about be being gay for not dancing with a girl and hanging around with my friends. Should I care? No. Do I care? Yes.

There is a girl I've known for a few years who has always been nice to me, and we just talk to each other alot. We're friends. I guess that I felt like I needed to ask someone, and I felt most comfortable asking her.

...I got slapped. She seems pretty mad. I don't know why though. And I feel like I've lost her as a friend. Just because I wanted to look 'cool'. I feel like an absolute idiot. I hate that I'm expected to dance with someone. I hate that I'm considered gay for not dancing with someone. I hate that I'm not 'cool' because I'm in Chess Club, or because I made honors. One kid is always going up to me and saying "I f***ing hate you." I don't get it - what am I supposed to do? Give up everything I love and start swearing? Bah.

[Doodleshark]

The so-called "popular" crowd bugs me all the time. Whenever that happens I just do something similar to this:

Popular guy: *Is annoying.*
Me: "You doing/saying that 'cos I'm Dutch?"
Guy: "Huh?"
Me: "Are you saying I live in a windmill?"
Guy "No-"
Me: "Are you saying I live in a boat?
Guy: "I never-"
Me: Are you saying I live in a windmill on a boat?"
Guy: "What?"
Me: "RACIST!!!" *Walks away.*

Or:

Guy: *Is annoying.*
Me: "Are you saying I'm a homosexual?"
Guy: "No-"
Me: "Are you saying I'm not a homosexual?"
Guy: "What?"
Me: "Are you some kind of homophobe? You make me sick!" *Walks away.*

Usually they never bother me again. Thank you Catherine Tate!

[Saber Knight]

Aw, that's too bad Cheez. Slapped. Owch.

Y'see...I've never really had any issues with the popular crowd. If anyone's forgotten, all of my closest friends are guys. Of course, I have to deal with the "ZOMG, are you going out with *insert name of guy friend here*", but I've gone far past the point of not caring. Otherwise, I'm really not bugged by other people.

I also don't go to dances, really. If it means I have to wear a dress, I stay away. Me. Dress. It doesn't go well together.

People are stupid. Really.

I don't think our school actually has a chess club....I wonder. If it does, I'll have to check it out. Chess is fun, it's stupid how people are degraded for playing it. What if we said all football players were geeks, huh (That doesn't make sense Life doesn't make sense, so it's all good. Point)?

I hate how people use gay as an insult. I know plenty of gay and bisexual people. They're not bad people at all. It infuriates me how so many people can be so cruel to people. You know one third of the causes for teen suicide is because of sexual orientation? It's awful...

Well, good luck Cheez. Hope things turn out better for you.

[BionicleMandi121]

Huh...being called gay for not having a date is pretty dumb. Being expected to have a date at dances is dumb too. Maybe someone hasn't found the right person, or doesn't want to start a relationship until later on in life, or doesn't have an interest in getting together in the first place, but most people don't get that. They think we should start hooking up once we hit puberty, the way things are going these days. It's very annoying and I try to just ignore it. I can relate though; it shouldn't matter to me what other people think, but I'm still annoyed when people tease me about being romantically interested in one (or more) of my friends. I'm annoyed at them for suggesting it and annoyed at myself for caring. It's usually not the popular people that do that, though; the popular crowd generally didn't know I existed. Or maybe they did. I wouldn't know 'cause I didn't know who they were, either.
Ah well.
Uh, I'd say, don't try to be cool, Cheez. Trying sometimes results in looking silly. Just be yourself and do what you think is right (that sounded incredibly cliche but it works). If you just can't harden yourself enough to not care about what other people say, that's fine too. You're not alone. Don't be pressured into doing something just because you think you have to. Your definition of being cool just might not be the same as what other people consider cool.
I'm getting the feeling I'm not helping, so I'll just stop typing now.

[Cheezdude]

Thanks guys. I only have today left this week, then 5 day-weekend. Yay for Alberta-based holidays...

[NabMaster]

Sorry to hear that Cheez, I wish I could give you advice or something, but I haven't really been in a situation like that On an up note, if anyone insults chess, just send them in the direction of Code Geass, because that makes chess look seriously awesome.

[PoikSpirit]

Well, it's perfectly natural to wish to fit in. And it's perfectly natural for bullying to exist. That doesn't make it right.
Fitting in doesn't mean conforming. Although that's what a lot of people seem to think. You know, Mandi's right. It can be hard if you don't know who you are, but one of my friends at the leadership conference taught me to be me, and now I'm happier than ever.
But of the true friends I have, I have enough friendship to not care what others think. But for those who try to impede their own faults on me (i.e. try to bully me) I stare them straight in the eye and tell them I am not afraid of them then go on with my life. Actually, that method doesn't work when you're outnumbered.
I don't know if that helps in the slightest. I'm afraid it may not, but you know, those bullies, there's a great chance that they'll be the burger flippers, and if you keep that honor roll, you'll be the one with the good office job. Next time they pick on you, try imagining them begging you for money in the future, and take a little pity on them.

Wow, that was incredibly mean of me. I apologize.

[Josiah]

I think everyone else more or less covered everything I would have said. Don't worry Cheez, hardly everyone "fits in" their entire life, and fitting is isn't always all that great anyway. Things will look up sooner or later. In the meantime, you've got plenty of friends here on the forums.

[NabMaster]

Well, it's perfectly natural to wish to fit in. And it's perfectly natural for bullying to exist. That doesn't make it right.
Fitting in doesn't mean conforming. Although that's what a lot of people seem to think. You know, Mandi's right. It can be hard if you don't know who you are, but one of my friends at the leadership conference taught me to be me, and now I'm happier than ever.
But of the true friends I have, I have enough friendship to not care what others think. But for those who try to impede their own faults on me (i.e. try to bully me) I stare them straight in the eye and tell them I am not afraid of them then go on with my life. Actually, that method doesn't work when you're outnumbered.
I don't know if that helps in the slightest. I'm afraid it may not, but you know, those bullies, there's a great chance that they'll be the burger flippers, and if you keep that honor roll, you'll be the one with the good office job. Next time they pick on you, try imagining them begging you for money in the future, and take a little pity on them.

Wow, that was incredibly mean of me. I apologize.

Mean or not, that's actually pretty close to what my dad told me when I used to get bullied, except replace flipping burgers with pumping gas. My tactic for getting rid of bullies was to just agree with anything they said, insult or otherwise. Not very good on your morale, but they get bored of you pretty fast.