tanukichu

I sometimes think you and I might be the same person.

YAY! And I get to see Good Luck next Wednesday with Max Levine Ensemble. I am SO fucking stoked for this show. Matty Pop Chart has one of the most adorable voices ever. I want to hug his voice. Also, Into Lake Griffy is one of my all time favorite albums.

link or it didn't happen.

http://www.last.fm/user/shadowtalker

Art Institute of Philadelphia. In about three weeks I should have a Bachelor's degree in graphic design. Womp.

<3 you. Feel better. In the near future I would love to hang out. I miss you.

I wasn't attacking him. I might have gotten a little frustrated at first, but I tend to get really passionate about LGBT issues. I was just asking questions and trying to understand it as I've said a bunch of times. A lot of my questions went unanswered. i can only speak for myself. I know a few other people may ahve been harsh but I was only asking questions.

claps for you Alex. That's also what I was getting at. I brought up the black people thing as well but he ignored it. But I know plenty of people who are christian who think the way you do and I have no problem with them or their religion. and Heh, shucks.

It's not so much offense. It's just maybe my insatiable urge to try and understand things. So I ask why. I point out contradictions. When you spend a lot of your life made to believe your existence (or a person you care about's) is wrong you end up spending a lot of time wanting to find out why. Believe me, nothing you have said has been awful and horrible like I've heard come out of some peoples' mouths. For the most part anytime I come across someone who thinks homosexuality is wrong, I just really want to get into why. I want to understand it. That said..I'm not really homosexual persay in a biological sense. I'm genderqueer which means I choose to not have a gender. Technically to an extent that makes me transgendered. I'm really not trying to derail this thread into gender discussion. I choose to defy gender binary and they usually lump those of us who do in with the gays...even if being trans doesn't necessarily result in that. All in all people who think homosexuality wrong typically think this is wrong as well. And they don't call it LGBT for nothing. Really I only consider myself female in body only...from a biological standpoint which is your sex, not your gender.

^Heh, that's true Adam. At least...when it comes to the homosexuality argument for me. What I'm getting at is EVERYONE picks and chooses stuff from the Bible. Every single christian in the universe. And there's a good number of them who find the old testament to have a lot of law...like mosaic law to be out dated. I know a lot of people who follow the teachings of christ who don't think homosexuality is wrong because they learned from the teachings of christ love and tolerance of other people and that everyone is a sinner. The only argument I could come to understand against homosexuality is that it is a form of sexual deviancy because sex is to be ONLY used for reproduction. This means the person with this belief would not agree with using birth control or even having sex for pleasure or as a way to connect further with their partner. Really what it all boils down to is if someone is condemning me and my fellow queers to eternal hellfire or think a big part of who we are is wrong I want to know exactly why.

You know that part where you said "you can't pick and choose parts of the Bible to follow?" That part. I think you conveniently chose to ignore where I said, the old testament states that women should be stoned to death for disobeying their husbands, children should be executed for mocking their parents and a bunch of other gems. You obviously don't choose to follow these parts of the Bible. I'd also like to see the exact passage in the New Testament that discounts homosexuality. You still also never answered me if the Bible says WHY it's wrong either. I'm honestly just trying to understand this because I see NO justification for it at all whatsoever. Your argument is basically saying the same as if someone in the 60s was saying the civil rights movement would have been a non issue before and it was just the media making the acceptance and equal treatment of everyone who isn't white natural and normal. That womens' rights were only made natural and normal because of the media. You cannot argue that the Bible is incredibly misogynistic and that it basically states that women should be subservient to men. No one is telling you to justify your religion. It is yours and yours alone and that's fair enough. But I'm asking you genuine questions because I'm seeing contradictions in your arguments and I'm sure as hell going to point them out.

^It's funny you say that casey, because my big/only gripe with AP IS the layout. Heh. I'm extremely picky about editorial design/graphic design in general. It's kind of my schtick. It really just makes me dizzy to look at. I'm not into that aesthetic at all...even if it is popular with the young folk. I'm more into clean, playful layouts. As for the content, I know it's for the younger set and I really do hate seeing awful bands with bad haircuts but I remember when I was 14 and I was into an awful band with bad hair (Good charlotte) and I bought AP and ended up getting into better stuff as a result. I was flipping through the 100 Bands You Need to Know issue it was really nice seeing a good handful of bands I'd NEVER thought would grace the pages of AP. I can only hope there will be some kid that might check out Andrew Jackson Jihad, the Menzingers, Title Fight, Kudro, Ruiner, or Nightmares for A Week because of that issue. It's not really meant for the older set. As far as the tiff between Gabel and the eic, I love Against Me! and I like Tom. I do think it was a little childish to start shit with Tom and if I were him I'd probably be snide back too. I don't know what went on behind closed doors, I don't fucking care. For the most part this thread's just a tad ridiculous.

This is the BIGGEST problem I have with peoples' justification of homophobia and intolerance of homosexuals. Just because you don't protest weddings or funerals like those Westboro Baptist nutfucks doesn't mean it's pretty backwards to think that. Where exactly in the Bible does it say homosexuality is wrong? THE OLD TESTAMENT. So do you mean to tell me you also agree that women should be stoned to death if they disobey their husband? That children who disobey their parents should be executed? This is just for starters. I can whip out Leviticus. I got my NIV Bible laying around somewhere. But apparently observing the Sabbath is an outdated, unnecessary thing to do. Oy fucking vey. I'm getting a little heated. But gay rights and the gay condition is a cause very near to my heart as I get lumped in with gays for being genderqueer. Just answer me this. The Bible explains WHY some things are sinful. Murder...self explanatory. Stealing. And even drunken debauchery I get. But does the Bible say WHY homosexuality is wrong? Does it? The biggest thing, is if anything or anyone is going to tell me something is wrong, they better tell me why. Aside from some little passage in the Old Testament, saying it is, do you think it is wrong? I am genuinely curious as to your answer. And please, don't do the collective "we" thing....you're not the entire church. I want YOUR answer. You. As an individual.

^ I updated my post to explain this more. But really my political beliefs are really complex. I'm still figuring it all out. The more poli-sci stuff I read the more I keep re-evaluating my ideals and challenging myself. It keeps me sharp.

*dumb pear image* I thought I made it perfectly clear: I would much rather live without government in my life: Read: ANARCHISM HOWEVER I am pragmatic enough to know this does not work for society as a whole because people are fucking stupid/suck. Therefore I have ideas about how the government I'm forced to live under should be run. My thoughts on how a government should run; for the most part it is something called: SOCIALISM EDIT: To now respond to your valid point. The purpose of government comes from the social contract. The government is established to protect its citizens from a number of things; outside enemies, but mostly themselves/each other. In order for the government to do that, the people must give up rights and freedoms in order to comply. I feel like with our current form of government, the scales are WAY unfairly tipped in the favor of the government and the politicians. My rights and freedoms are being tampered with however, I'm not seeing any benefit. In an IDEAL socialist government I'd be getting the health care I'm fucking DESPERATE for, FAIR compensation for the labor I'm doing amongst a number of things. I'm not saying my ideas of how a government should run are entirely socialist, but for the most part capitalism has done nothing for me. Oh and I loathe the bourgeois to a point that would bring a tear to Marx's eye.

This poll is really hard for me to pick as my political beliefs are too complex (at least to me) to categorize into one blanket label. I believe in a mix of anarchism and socialism. Anarcho-socialist? I really wish I were able to live and function without the confines of the government in my life, but I don't necessarily think society as a whole would be able to function under anarchism. I don't feel like the general population is capable of governing themselves. Humanity as a whole is too sheep-like and needs to be told what to do and some people are just too fucking shitty. Thus government to some degree is necessary. So I guess what I'm trying to say is I have my own personal preferences (no government) but I'm pragmatic and so I do have ideas on how the government should run since it is necessary (which most of my preferences of established government fall under socialism). I do one day want to get to the point where I can live as autonomously as possible without too much interference from the government whether that be living on an anarchist commune or otherwise. It depends on where my future takes me. I haven't given it too much thought as I am not shitty enough a person to drop off the grid and stick my parents with my student loans....and I haven't entirely written off the idea of getting into art education either.

Thanks drab-sters. You're sweet.

My best/only friend in elementary school was a Jehovah's Witness. Everyone thought she was weird because she wasn't allowed to participate in holiday parties. She could eat birthday cupcakes. But during the parties while everyone was playing games she had to sit in the library and do an "alternative assignment." None of the other parents gave a shit and were really shitty about it and never gave her the time of day. After my mom found out she volunteered for every single holiday party and would swing by the library to bring her pretzels or whatever snack we were having and see how she was doing/sneak me out of the party so I could see her. Once sixth grade hit her parents pulled her out to homeschool her and wouldn't let us hang out. We were pen pals for a while..but then she started sending me religious literature......uhhhh...yeah....it got to the point where I felt uncomfortable about it as I don't do religion. whatever dogmatic beliefs you have are yours. However I still find not voting to be an awful thing. I harbor anarchist/anti-government ideals and I still know how important it is to vote (if there is going to be a government and all). But to each his own and if that's what you believe, fine. I just feel like it totally invalidates your right to complain about the government or criticize it.

LOL health insurance. What's that?

I have a "holy trinity." I think I got really drunk and described it to Jake once in great detail. Blake Schwarzenbach, Dan Yemin and Henry Rollins. But in all seriousness, I am still sort of figuring out what I believe I guess. I'm trying to believe in myself first before I believe in some other worldly being. I guess I'd be considered agnostic as the existence of an other worldly being(s) has not been proven nor disproven. I tend to lean towards the atheist side of the fence but I don't completely discount the possibility that there could be something supernatural that exists beyond human comprehension. Sidenotes: I was raised protestant and had to go to church just about every Sunday for about 18 years. I also enjoy objectively studying and learning about religions.

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I know nothing about bikes. I don't even know how to ride one save for one with training wheels when I was a kid. Wheels and I don't get along. BUT I really want to learn and take it up as it is something super practical to have and do living in the city. I'm hoping my boy will teach me when the weather is consistently nice, he's not sick anymore, and we're both not super busy. My only concern is my bum knee getting in the way. I live in constant fear of severely dislocating my knee again. I will have to find my knee brace and make sure I wear it.

I work at Starbucks. Red Eyes and Black Eyes are pretty commonplace. I've never had to make anything else on the secret menu...nor have I really heard of most of them, save for the blended lemonade which I"ve made for myself before and the London Fog. However we don't have chocolate Frap mix, nor almond flavoring. I've never seen such things at Starbucks. I had a whole secret menu at my old coffee shop gig. I like to invent drinks. But I really haven't been motivated to at Starbucks....aside from putting mocha in a caramel Macchiatto.

What started as a ballpoint pen sketch for a Jawbreaker mix I was making for someone special turned into a self portrait gone awry. I did some quick colorization in Photoshop..it's kind of hard with the trackpad. I kind of think it's funny. I may go and clean it up in Illustrator but I don't like losing my loose freehand style. I'm just surprised I found my scanner cord. When it rains, it blows.