I am way too long winded...

[verloren1983]

☁ Found a DW theme I liked better than the one I had. Yaaaaaay. It's all blue and stripey and awesome.  ^_^ Speaking of DW, they just handed out some new invitation codes, so if anybody wants one, poke at me. I don't think I ever used all of the ones that they gave me originally, either, to be honest. They're probably still hanging around in my e-mail inbox somewhere.

☁ Finished Shuffle. It ended up being a lot more interesting than I thought it would be at first- better than the run of the mill harem anime, I think. Though it WAS still a harem anime and so there were a lot of unneccessary panty shots and awkward sexual type moments. It did manage to surprise me several times, though, and the girls were actually decently developed, personality wise. ^_^

☁ Stef got me reading Hana Kimi, too. It's interesting- reminds me of Ouran a bit. You definitely have to suspend quite a bit of common sense, but it's cute and fun. I'm on chapter 35 at the moment, so we'll see.

☁ I know I shouldn't be adding more to my currently watching list, but meh. D.Grayman seems to keep coming up a lot recently, and it's something I've been unable to find subbed up until now. But I found it~ I thought Allen's voice sounded familiar, but couldn't quite pin it, so I looked it up. Akira! *hearts* (I suspect that this will just make my brain want to cross D.Grayman with Hikago. *headdesk*)

☁ Ran into a snag with Glyde- there are no listings for GBA, GB, and PSOne games (and who knows what else that I haven't stumbled on yet), so you can't put those on the site. Boo. It's useful for what you CAN put on there, but still. Complete and utter fail.

☁ I found the Myers-Briggs results I'd been looking for when I talked about it before- I =knew= there were a set of other results that I was really impressed with. (For the record, it's here). The analytical thinker in this test makes me an INTP. Which made me laugh because the last one pegged me as an ISTJ. I did say that I get different results all the time. Only the Introverted and the Thinking are constant. ^_^;;; It's just incredibly amusing to me. Frustrating, but amusing. Apparently I'm hard to pin down. Or I secretly have multiple personalities. Yanno, either way. :P

☁ So Old Navy is apparently selling a few Pride shirts. Which is awesome, because they're a major chain and 10% of their profits are going to The Trevor Project. The designs are kind of meh, but whatever. It's the thought that counts, right? But there's a catch. You ready?

They're only carrying them in 26 stores. No, that's not a typo. Twenty-six. That's it. And they're not online, either. I appreciate the gesture, I really do. They're doing something that no other mainstream chain has ever done. That deserves some serious props. But I feel like it's exactly that- a gesture. How many shirts are they really going to sell in those 26 stores? If they're really trying to make a difference, if they're really trying to contribute something positive and get this stuff out into the mainstream where it NEEDS TO BE... this is not the way to do it. A+ for effort and pure balls, Old Navy, but F for execution. You still have time to rethink your strategy before Pride month gets swinging, GO.

(Yes, I know there's been a lot of gay related things lately. With Pride month coming up it's bound to be on my mind. Also the whole marriage thing is getting a lot of press locally, it's something that NY is really trying to pass soon. So, again, on my mind. Apologies if it's annoying anyone.)

Comments

In the Navy.

[ktalk]

I'm surprised that other major retailers haven't sold Pride T-shirts before when it seems such an obvious market to tap.

I'm also baffled about the narrow number of outlets. I could understand if they were doing it by way of promotion before putting them on general release, but it's going to remain that way until stocks run out.

Re: In the Navy.

[verloren1983]

Obvious market, yes. But I think maybe you underestimate the power of the religious right in the US- and like it or not, they ARE powerful. As a matter of fact, there's a group now that's calling for a boycott of Home Depot because they're "promoting the homosexual agenda." That could really, really hurt HD financially, and I'm sure that's one of the big reasons that major retailers HAVEN'T tapped into that market. Ignoring us still has us shopping in their stores, and they don't piss off the haters. Acknowledging that we exist sets off things like boycotts and them losing a lot of money. Old Navy is probably going to get a lot of shit for even this meaningless gesture.

As far at the number of outlets, I can't help but think that it's an attempt at staying under the homophobe radar. I haven't heard anything yet, but I doubt it'll work. We'll see.

Re: In the Navy.

[ktalk]

You're right, I did underestimate the power of the US religious right. Over in the UK, we have no real equivalent, in fact there is a tendency to take a secular view.

For what it's worth, spending nine months working in a YMCA when I was twenty-three made me realise that I'm an atheist. I'm also a bisexual, a realisation made at a much earlier age.

Re: In the Navy.

[verloren1983]

Urgh. I wasn't trying to sound like an asshole, though now I realize that it might've come off that way. I'm sorry if it did. I tend to stick my foot in my mouth. ^_^;;; For the record, when that happens, feel free to go, "Hey, you're kind of being an asshole right now." It doesn't always click right away that I've said something stupid.

Out of curiosity, what made you realize that you were atheist? I always wonder what brings other people to it.

Robin Williams had a line about our Puritan roots several years ago that's stuck with me- something like: "The Puritans- our ancestors- people so uptight, the -English- kicked them out." I try to keep that in mind concerning other countries, because we are SO much more sexually repressed here than in a vast majority of the world. Religion is a huge part of that. Unfortunately.

Re: In the Navy.

[ktalk]

I didn't think you were an A-hole from what you said. If I had, I would have told you. I keep half an eye on US news sources, so I knew what you were talking about.

What really set my lack of beliefs in stone was the staff at the YMCA. I was there on a voluntary basis, getting £55 a week as opposed to the £45 that I would have got from the welfare office. This is going back about six years now.

They held a prayer meeting every Monday morning where we discussed the week's business, then each member of the group would offer a prayer out loud, if they felt comfortable with doing so. I realised at this point that the idea of a God who listens to you, cares for you and whose son died for our sins just didn't sit right with me.

After a lifetime of being intermittently agnostic, I felt much happier once I'd rejected this so-called God. In more than half a decade I've never doubted or gone back on that view. I'd met Girlfriend before this realisation but she's of the same mind. If we ever have children - and that would be a long way off - I'd teach them to make up their own minds when their school tries to teach them about faith.

I made an entry a couple of years ago on this matter if I haven't bored you stiff already: http://knaw.dreamwidth.org/2409.html.

I take from your response that you're of a similar opinion about religion? If so, how did you form that view?

Re: In the Navy.

[verloren1983]

Yes, I'm an atheist, though the way I came to it sounds kind of stupid. ^_^;;;

My family was never particularly religious- I can only think of a handful of times that I've gone to an actual service- but I did go to two kid's church programs non-simultaneously. I never thought to question any of it. I was 11 when we learned about the Big Bang Theory, and all possible puns aside, it blew my mind. It instantly had me questioning the entirety of religion. There's a term for this in Psychology that explains it better, but I can't remember what it is at the moment. Yes, it's a theory, but it made sense, where religion never really did. I'm a scientist at heart. ^_^;;; In that moment, in my Earth Science classroom, I knew that God hadn't created the world like I'd always been told and that God, in fact, didn't exist. And all of a sudden the world made a lot more sense.

Honestly, though, I would've come to atheism eventually anyway. I've always been much more into science/logic/facts than blind faith. If nothing else, I'm positive that I would've realized at some point that a God that says I'm an abomination for who I love isn't a God I can support. I just took the shortcut I guess.

I looked into Wicca in high school at the suggestion of a friend who thought it would be good for me (I think she was just unnerved by the atheism thing). It was interesting, but in the end, I just can't swallow the idea of a supernatural entity. There's actually a little bit of agnostic thrown in there- as in, I'll admit that while I don't believe, it's possible that I could be wrong. I don't have all the answers. But I've been an atheist more than half of my life (16 years, wow), so I don't think that's changing anytime in the foreseeable future.

*shutting up now*