The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => People & Places => Topic started by: Nabubrush on March 01, 2007, 04:51:41 am
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Who's opsin?
You can just send me a message if you want. The rest of you all, just keep moving.
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What's opsin?
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Google does not help me here. Guess I'll be shufflin' off now.
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the guy who discovered opsins?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opsin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opsin)
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Who's opsin?
Figured it had to be you. Mwahahahaha.
I'm amazed how easily it dragged you back though!
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Did I ever tell you about the time I was walking through the woods and I stepped into some updoc?
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Did I ever tell you about the time I was walking through the woods and I stepped into some updoc?
Wait, what's...
CURSE YOU!
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Figured it had to be you. Mwahahahaha.
I'm amazed how easily it dragged you back though!
Thank you.
For the rest of you, I said KEEP MOVING. Don't make me run you in.
Also, don't be proud of yourself, punk - I was drunk. I think we're all happy I left it at the few posts I did make.
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Did I ever tell you about the time I was walking through the woods and I stepped into some updoc?
Not to be confused with updog.
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I'll add the qualifier, I used to play a game called Big Red Racing, many, many moons ago, and had no handle of any kind to use. Anyway, I drove a purple vehicle, with this eye motif on the hood, and so figured Opsin would be the handle I would use for said game. Then, well, it just stuck. I went back to using it for the web at large, and only didn't use it here, as for some strange reason, I didn't feel like hiding from y'all.
How wrong could I have been, eh?
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I fail to understand this thread.
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I fail to understand this thread.
It seems that the eyes have it.
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Hey, speaking of missing persons, where the hell is Aloha Dawg?
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Working an unjeebusly schedule that put him on a monitored network and still had him -3hrs to the east coast. I'm hoping that's all it is 'cause I've wondered lately as well.
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Also, he has a new baby in the house, no?
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Three young 'uns, an early schedule that sets yuou free on the world in the early afternoon and Hawaii.
Shoot, I'd drop us too.
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Also, he has a new baby in the house, no?
This reminds me of my brother's particular way of mocking people whose MINDS ARE COMPLETELY BLOWN by getting to see a friend or relation's new child and claim that everyone needs to visit the new child and so on.
He will sarcastically say "Oooooooh, fresh baby! Everyone, fresh baby! OH MY fuck*ng CHRIST, fresh baby!"
There is nothing he hates more when visiting back home than when he is forced to visit a friend or relation's new child on a perfunctory basis. His is a world of cheap wine, test tubes and dusty seventy-eight RPM records. He is pretty much Crumb except if Crumb was a drug-testing analyst instead of a comic book artist.
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but...
but...
I love fresh babies!
I learned, not quite 3 hours ago, that there is an evolutionary benefit to becoming a gibbering mess when confronted with a baby.
This is one evolutionary battle which I win, hands down.
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Yeah, if you like 'em it incrementally improves ones chances at practicing making 'em in many cases.
Cort? Your Cue
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I learned, not quite 3 hours ago, that there is an evolutionary benefit to becoming a gibbering mess when confronted with a baby. This is one evolutionary battle which I win, hands down.
What benefit is that? That some ladies dig on a dude who likes babies as it subconsciously keys them to the idea that if you and her made a baby, you'd probably stick around and so forth?
I am not as anti-baby as my brother. Babies are okay but... I don't hold 'em as I am afraid I'll hurt 'em. I'm nervous around small children and smaller animals because I'm a big dude, I'm clumsy and I don't always know my own strength.
(And by that I mean, I am a weakling for my size but my size alone makes me stronger than most people so I forget.)
I'm afraid I'll accidentally harm them.
Also, I ain't talkin' baby to 'em. I'll talk to a child who is non-verbal or barely-verbal but I won't talk to 'em gibberish-style. Same for animals. I talk to animals and babies the same way I would speak to an adult human who does not understand larger words.
I'll bring the verbage down to basics but I don't do the goo-goo ga-ga thing.
I'm the guy who says "So.... bein' a baby, huh? How's that working out for you?" to babies.
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um, no, it was actually, now that I'm more awake and functioning, in relation to caring for one's own baby. IE our brain gets all warm and fuzzy when we see a baby. And we want to, you know, take care of it. As opposed to swinging it like a bat. (http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/03/06/babyas.weapon.ap/index.html)
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Yeah, if you like 'em it incrementally improves ones chances at practicing making 'em in many cases.
Cort? Your Cue
Too obscure for me.
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Also, I ain't talkin' baby to 'em. I'll talk to a child who is non-verbal or barely-verbal but I won't talk to 'em gibberish-style. Same for animals. I talk to animals and babies the same way I would speak to an adult human who does not understand larger words.
I'll bring the verbage down to basics but I don't do the goo-goo ga-ga thing.
I'm the guy who says "So.... bein' a baby, huh? How's that working out for you?" to babies.
Man, you ain't helping your case here 'cause that is basically a good thing. Children spoken to that way develop more rapidly and generally superior verbal skills for their age group.
ALSO: Your pattern is great because the mom's in the grocery store will get a laugh and the hottz as you ask babyling stuff in the store like "So, whatta ya think? 2% this week?"
Other recent grocery store lines:
[baby blows rasperry] I don't like it either bub, but it's on the list
[cart bumps shelf] Hey! Pay attention when your driving!
[baby farts] So, fudged any good huggies lately?
[baby beats on coffee container] Are you gonna work or just bang on the drum all day?
These are my grocery trips.
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[baby beats on coffee container] Are you gonna work or just bang on the drum all day?
Heh. Can for a Rundgren ref.
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*shudders*
Babies give me the CREEPS. They're just... small helpless humans. They can't do ANYTHING. They're so... DEPENDENT. It just bugs me. As a kid, I never liked playing dolls with my female friends (unless it was Barbies, because then it was all about the clothes and the pink car and going to parties with Ken and trying to network with the brunette at the sushi bar to get the promotion at the law firm before going to the beach). But playing "babies" with dolls that actually looked like babies? Blech. I'd rather read the dictionary. And I often did that.
For as long as I can remember, when someone would bring their baby around to show off, and *everyone* would be going all stupid about the baby, I never could understand what all the fuss was about. I would always be like, "Meh, cute, I guess," and then want to move on to other more interesting activities like Scrabble or making a perfect Hollandaise. I still don't get what everyone gets all wound up about.
There are three exceptions to this mentality: my nephew and niece and goddaughter. All three were perfect, beautiful, genius babies. But that's it. All other babies bother me. I can be happy for my peers who want to be parents, when I see how happy they are to be raising their kids. I'm cool with that, but it so isn't me. I know what it takes to be a good parent, and if I were to do it, I'd want to do it right, and I already know that the things I want out of life aren't conducive to being a good parent. I wouldn't be there for my kid the way I'd want to be. I love travel and adventure too much. And besides, the whole idea of being pregnant and having some other person split me in half by crawling out of me screaming? No thanks.
My mother in law is not pleased with this line of thinking. I received Folic Acid in my Christmas stocking for about five years before she finally came to terms with the fact that It wasn't going to Happen. It made for some crabby holidays.
The irony is, I LOVE kids. Babies, not so much. Okay, not at all. But once they're about 4 or so, I love them. In fact, I spent my birthday entertaining the contingent of children who'd come out to my birthday dinner with my friends (who are their parents). After dinner, I herded all the kids around, maybe 7 or 8 of them, between ages 3 and 14, and we did all sorts of games and activities. It was a blast. My friends thought I was nuts: Why is she working on her birthday?! But I can't help myself. I see a bunch of kids in a room and immediately I'm drawn to them and wanting to engage them somehow.
I think it's because for my "real person" job, I'm a public school teacher. I also teach at the ballet company school on evenings and weekends. Yeah okay, I'm pretty much teaching all the time. So getting in there with the kids is just an instinct for me and I can't help it.
But babies? Yuck. :P
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I totally agree MOF, I am totally not about the babies. I was a little worried as every single one of my female friends but for one has had a baby within the bast 15 months, (the other friend is currently trying for baby). I thought, "uh-oh! I've never wanted one before, but here comes the big test - it's a cavalcade of babies!" And like you, I work with kids - I work at a children's theatre. Today one of the kindermusic toddlers was thrilled to show me that she was "HOLDING A SPOOOON!" cute, but, meh - whatever. Even with hyper exposure, I've totally failed to catch baby-wantin' fever. Infact, though I like kids and am pretty damn good with them, all the exposure has fully cemented my total lack of desire to have one. I've never, ever had a maternal desire. Not for a second. Not once. Last night my SO and I babysat for our friends - it was the first time they were leaving the boy for more than an hour. He was under 3 months, and a really good little guy. He was really happy to see me with big grins and nice baby babble, but I was totally only there for my friends. It was no fun. It was not something I wanted to do with my time, other than to make my buddies feel safe that their baby wouldn't die if they took a night off.
I feel a little like an alien since all my pals have become breeders, so it's actually really nice to hear that another woman in the world doesn't go insane when a baby appears. Everyone asks me all the time, and when I say I've made the choice not to have children, or not to get married, many folk patronize me to the extreme. I haaate it. "Oh just wait..." "Oh, but if it happens..." I am totally happy for my buddies and their choice to have babies, I do wish they'd be happy for me and my choice to not have babies. I guess I'll just have to have a happy fulfilled life just to spite them!
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I am totally torn between wanting un bebe and being terrified of having one.
Sometimes I'll see a picture of a child (infant, whatever) and I'll just get really sad and think, "My son or daughter would be waaay cuter than that!"
What I really want is for my two sisters and I to have kids around the same time. In 1982 my dad and all his siblings had girl children, and it was kind of cool for all the cousins to grow up together.
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Amen, side_show.
It actually makes me really angry to be treated like there's something wrong with me, or to be patronized, like "Oh well someday when you've matured you'll join the rest of us and want one." Or maybe I've decided now and that's my decision and I'm happy with it? Some people have gone so far to as to be openly hostile, treating me like I'm broken or something. It makes me soooooo mad!
Part of my rationale, besides not being at all keen on pregnancy or babies, is that there are so many children on earth already who need someone to love them, and why can't I be that person? I try to be that person in my work, and in the community. Why do I need to perpetuate my own DNA to be a good parent? For a lot of my students, I *am* the parent, because for whatever reason their biological parents are unwilling or unable to be good parents. That's very fulfilling to me, to be the positive adult figure in a lot of children's lives. I feel like I get a lot of the benefits of parenting, and few if any of the drawbacks, and that society is benefiting from my choice.
Good to see I'm not the only female out there that has to deal with the less pleasant consequences of that personal choice. *high-fives side_show*
Also, people are missing from the boards.
(I have no idea what I'm talking about but I want to get the thread back on track... I feel bad for contributing to the hijack)
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I've never doubted that I wanted kids (six sounds like a good number, but its looking like I'll make do with one - of my own). Pretty much every serious relationship I've had involved moments of "what would a kid of ours look like" and "what kind of a mom would she be?". I even have gone so far as to let a relationship die because I knew the lady, while fun and sexy, wouldn't make the kind of mother I'd want for a kid. (hubris, I know. Who am I to judge? Well, a potential father for one.)
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Not to worry, jay_dub. "Kids or no kids" is a dealbreaker. I have known far too many people who are compatible in every way except for agreeing on the kids question, and those who stick together and end up having kids because the partner who wanted them insisted... well it always ends badly. And that's not good for anyone, least of all the poor kid. So I'd say it's a good thing to let that be a contributing factor in your relationship decisions, and a significant one. You're one of the few people who knows exactly how he feels about the subject, and it's good to stand firm on that and find a woman who feels the same.
I'll even go so far as to say that you and the lucky lady will be spectacular parents and raise healthy, happy, successful children as a result.
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1. Having babies is the single most significant (and best) thing I've ever done.
2. I can't fault anyone for being dubious about having babies themself.
3. Nothing was planned or intentional about either of our children.
4. Everybody posting in this thread is exceedingly over-qualified to breed and raise children. I base this assertion on our qualifications and upon the apparent qualifications of other breeders out there.
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Part of my ambivalence about parenting is... frankly, I'm not so sure that the future is going to be a very nice place. The general jist of the news is that, if we don't blow ourselves up soon, there isn't gonna be a substantive middle class left to stabilize our culture and things are gonna be Gilded-Age-Shitty right around the time they'd be adults.
There is something to be said for believing that your kids will be part of what makes the future a BETTER place? But there is also something to be said for facing up to the idea that we may be well past the tipping point toward a Crappy Future and I'd just be inflicting the Coming Global Shitstorm...
Not just on tiny people but, worse, on tiny people that are pretty-much half me.
I don't know about that idea.
Also, I'm not gonna have the bread to raise a kid properly for years. That is the practical and more pressing objection to kid-having at this point in my life. My seeing the future through a glass darkly is more of a long-view concern.
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When was the future going to be a nice place? Also, who is going to make the future a nice place but you and your progeny?
Look at it from a Darwinian standpoint. Breeding is a way of promoting your personal philosophy. As an intelligent, enlightened person the hope of intelligent life on this planet depends on the like of you creating progeny.
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Or on the likes of us (intelligent, enlightened beings) influencing others' progeny on a wide scale, like, say, in public schools and youth organizations. I don't doubt that I'd be an awesome mom in terms of how I deal with kids and the fact that I have a loving/nurturing streak a million miles wide and twice as long. But the fact that I don't want to be a parent is a huge obstacle to that. I love children. I love working with children and playing with them and teaching them and helping them grow. In my heart I feel like it's what I was put on this earth to do. I know this to be true without even being able to explain why. But to me there is a huge difference between that (which I feel I was called by the PtB to do), and being a parent (which I have no desire to do).
I can make a brighter future even by not being a parent, by being an excellent teacher and influencing youth to shape a bright, awesome future, in batches of dozens at a time. I don't need to have my own children to do that. I just need to be a loving, positive, guiding adult in the lives of the children I encounter in my life.
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Oh, I totally know. I understand that way of thinking.
But... I just see the merchants and soldiers and priests coming up all electric and I know my history.
There are days I wake up and look at the morning paper and... my genes scream out that now is the time to cut one's losses and call it a species. Let the other people tend to locking the doors and turning out the lights, get the hell out of here before the Real Badness comes down.
It's only some days. Other days, I got so much faith, I know what I'd name my future children.
It depends.
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I dunno. I'm not interested in compelling you to be a parent if you really don't want to be. It's the most serious undertaking there is (or should be.)
It's just that cockroaches and morons breed exponentially. We need all the help we can get.
Don't sell yourself short. You'd be at least a good a parent as Cletus. And the rewards by far outweigh the obligations. Raising children costs vast sums of money and eons of time, but I can't imagine anything more worthwhile to spend either resource on.
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as a child, my favorite toy was a baby doll. At least until I realized that that wasn't what boys were supposed to play with.
Sadly every girl I have ever been attracted to has hated babies. So, basically, I will likely never have kids.
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AW, I think it's some kinda record that I could've quoted you three times on this page alone for sensible agreement.
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See, I'm never sure how to address this question, because the overwhelming trend of the people I know and call my friends is a lack of desire to have children, sometimes quite militantly so. That's cool -- I am 100% of the belief that nobody who doesn't want to have kids should have kids, but... I worry that it seems somehow gauche to admit that, one day, I would like to have a child or two. Especially when the discussion is entirely about how wasteful and selgiraffe it is to inflict another child on the world... I don't know, maybe it is selgiraffe, but it's something I want nonetheless.
I think this is all kind of like my conversations with very determined ideological vegetarians: I end up admitting that, yes, eating meat is a selgiraffe, wasteful behavior, and that if I were a good and moral person, I wouldn't, but that I am just too weak not to. I am too weak to stop eating meat, and I am sufficiently weak that I'll probably have a baby eventually. Sometimes it's easier to yield to others' moral judgments.
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Ain't nothing weak about being the top of the food chain and passing your genes along.
I'm probably not going to have kids of my own, but I make video games so apparently that makes me the totality of most kids' moral compass these days. Sweet.
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I received Folic Acid in my Christmas stocking for about five years
Sleeplessly perusing this thread at 4.30 am I was going to try to add something intelligent but now all I can say is that this is one of the funniest things I have ever heard.
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I used to despise the idea of having kids, but now, financial situation in order, I would probably want to. I am only 21 and this change has already happened, so I am pretty sure if I am in the right place I will have kids.
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Everyone asks me all the time, and when I say I've made the choice not to have children, or not to get married, many folk patronize me to the extreme. I haaate it. "Oh just wait..." "Oh, but if it happens..."
I constantly want to slap my coworkers right in the face. Because as the guy they don't use the "oh just wait" line on me implying that I'll "mature" and change my mind. For me it's always, "well what does your fiancee say about this?" or "well that's what she's saying now" as if she's just pretending to not want kids to trick me or something. That's just fuck*ng insulting.
I keep getting the guilt trip from my parents because I'm an only child. And my dad was the only boy so they make it sound like I must procreate to continue the last name or something. There are 23,000 hits for our last name in Google (my mom is on page 2) and I'm adopted so it wouldn't be a true continuation anyway.
I think my dad has finally come to terms with the fact that he isn't getting grandkids. My mom will admit that I barely tolerated children when I was one but she also thinks that any time a person has non-standard behavior it's either "just a phase" or it's "acting out/rebelling." She doesn't accept that any person is really an atheist, doesn't want kids, or doesn't want to marry.
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Amen Court. There is a sort of cult mentality I've come across in some folks that parenthood is really only motherhood with a man who may (or may not) tag along for the ride. I'm lucky because though I'm sure my SO's family would be basting in joy if we turned traditional, got married and had a baby, they aren't saying a word.
V - your friends who claim choosing to have a baby is selgiraffe are nim-rods. Choosing to be a parent can come from an egotistical space (the world needs one more of me), but it can also come from an altruistic place (the world needs good people, I'm going to make sure I raise a good human to add to the betterment of society). I see choosing to be a parent as being hella' generous - anyone who puts much thought into it knows they will be giving up a lot. This is the strongest force that keeps me from wanting kids. I'm deeply satisfied with my life, and my art is so important to me that a part of me would die if I had to live a life where it played second banana to the role of motherhood.
Oddly the whole "the world's going to hell" thing has never been a part of the equation as to why I don't want to have babies, even though I often think it is doing just that. Probably because I've seen third world, fourth world, fifth world level poverty places, and hella' circumstances, and know that happy, decent humans are born into this all the time already, and that these happy, decent human beings live lives that are fulfilling to them. True, we North Americans, in large part, are privilege to a life of comfort and ease that is unprecedented, and I don't doubt that the carpet may be pulled out from under us all hella' fast. I totally agree that a big change is comming, but I have a lot of hope in the resiliency and adaptability of human kind. All my material things could evaporate tomorrow, and I know I'd still be laughing and telling stories, and be essentially who I am now. I've lived enough personal hell to know that even when it's all shit there's still possibility. Skip to a future where there's only a clutch of us humans left, and I don't doubt that their society would still have singing and dancing and that people would love each other and such. So what I'm saying is that I'm a post-apocalyptic optimist.
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GODDAMN IT IF YOU DON'T HAVE KIDLINGS THEN WHOSE ASSES ARE MY KIDLINGS GOING TO SPEND THEIR LIVES KICKING?
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GODDAMN IT IF YOU DON'T HAVE KIDLINGS THEN WHOSE ASSES ARE MY KIDLINGS GOING TO SPEND THEIR LIVES KICKING?
Yours.
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Elder abuse is a given.
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Agree with most of what AW said. Also, when it's YOUR kid, your feelings will be completely different.
Regards,
Used to not like kids
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For me it's always, "well what does your fiancee say about this?" or "well that's what she's saying now" as if she's just pretending to not want kids to trick me or something. That's just fuck*ng insulting.
To cross this with another thread for a second, though?
This line of thinking IS part of why I would be not-turned-on if a lady walked into the room, ripped off her panties with her bare hands and started brandishing her pu$$y toward me as though it were a deadly fuck*ng weapon.
I trust my girlfriend to not be like that. I know that, like, 83% of women or maybe even more are not like that. But... there ARE ladies out there like that. Less than paranoid misogynists might want to believe but more than enlightened Alan Alda types might want to admit.
I am sure your ladyfriend is not like that either. I am reasonably sure none of the ladies here who I have read enough of to get a surface read on are not like that. But there ARE ladies like that.
There are crazy ladies floatin' around, wanting to have a baby just because they sort of think that will fix all their problems and make their lives complete and it will be totally easy and awesome and make a man love you.
At opendiary, where I journal? Man, half the diaries are pretty much exactly about that idea.
Insane ladies all talkin' on how they saw a nose in the sonogram and holy fuck that is so amazing because no one has ever had a baby before, she is the first one ever and when the baby is born, it will grant her three wishes and become president and make her boyfriend love her and everything.
This is pretty much the only reason the Rust Belt and the South are still around. And I am not being a snob, here. I grew up in the goddamn Rust Belt. I lived there until I was 23. At least half the births were in Little Falls were for that reason.
Those ladies are floatin' around. Those ladies exist.
And I pretty much would never get my sperm within fifteen yards of a lady unless I was absolutely certain that she was not one of those ladies.
That semi-reasonable fear trumps any and all Penthouse Letters fantasies for all time.
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a lady walked into the room, ripped off her panties with her bare hands and started brandishing her pu$$y toward me as though it were a deadly fuck*ng weapon.
This type of thing just doesn't happen often enough in my world.
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This line of thinking IS part of why I would be not-turned-on if a lady walked into the room, ripped off her panties with her bare hands and started brandishing her pu$$y toward me as though it were a deadly fuck*ng weapon.
Hell man, your deadly weapon is bigger. You show that pu$$y who's boss.
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You show that pu$$y who's boss.
Being young and British, you don't realize that I'm now gonna have to scrub my brain for a week to get out the idea that Tony Danza actually has lady-parts and Judith Light completely loves gruffling on them.
You are lucky you have two excuses for this.
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Being young and British, you don't realize that I'm now gonna have to scrub my brain for a week to get out the idea that Tony Danza actually has lady-parts and Judith Light completely loves gruffling on them.
You are lucky you have two excuses for this.
Ay oh, oh ay! Check out my box, ladies!
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Agree with most of what AW said. Also, when it's YOUR kid, your feelings will be completely different.
People often say this right after their kid has done something totally heinous. So, wait, it's ok for me to like someone who does these fucked up things just because I'm related to them? Nah, not buying it. My brother has some totally fucked up kids. They just totally act the fool all the time, and he just says "yeah, but what ya gonna do?" I ain't wanna be that guy.
Also, this thread has wandered a bit, but it's ok because it wasn't anywhere to begin with.
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Whoa wha way whooaaa!
It's more like "I brought you into this world, I sure as fuck will take you right outta it!"
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um, more like "if you actually love your kids and have any idea about how to be a parent, you will teach them to not make everyone in the world hate them."
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um, more like "if you actually love your kids and have any idea about how to be a parent, you will teach them to not make everyone in the world hate them."
Some motherfuckers out there ain't got the memo, I guess - like maybe 80% of 'em?
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yep, sounds about right.
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Who neutered your sense of humours, chuckle-nots?
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Who neutered your sense of humours, chuckle-nots?
I'm going to the vet to get tutored!
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Some motherfuckers out there ain't got the memo, I guess - like maybe 80% of 'em?
Which just goes back to my point. The 20% of us who can read the dang memo oughta be breeding to support literacy! Fuck an intellectual today!
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Maybe this will make me sound cranky and bitchy, but I feel a need to clarify my position a bit here. I'm getting the sense that people are interpreting my desire not to have children as some sort of criticism against people who do want to have children, and that's not the case. I firmly believe that people who want to have children, should. I also firmly believe that people who don't want to have children, shouldn't and shouldn't be treated as if they are expected to.
I firmly understand and agree with the idea that people who claim to dislike kids/not want to be parents change their opinions once they have children of their own. I have gone through this very thing myself with my niece, nephew, and goddaughter. In my view they are the most perfect beautiful genius children ever birthed. Of course, I like all kids in general also, so this is no huge revelation.
I love children.
Let me repeat that: I love children. Babies, not so much. But children, I love.
I love children, and...
I have no desire to be a parent.
This is a critical distinction.
Being a parent is a lifestyle choice (and probably the most significant one), just like being married or single. There is nothing inherently good or bad about being married or being a parent that make either a requirement to functioning positively and effectively in society. I think being a parent is absolutely the most important job out there, and I admire people who have made that choice and that commitment. It is not a commitment I want.
I also do not feel that I am somehow lowering the collective IQ of humanity by choosing not to breed, when the less enlightened continue to do so. By being an effective educator, I can contribute mightily to the enlightenment of society as a whole and, as a friend puts it, "undo the damage caused by parents." Having my own children will not significantly alter the number of enlightened or unenlightened people out there.
I don't want to rock the boat here necessarily. I'm just really sensitive (perhaps overly so, admittedly) to people who are parents telling me that I should become one simply because it worked out so great for them.
I heartily endorse and support the advice to fuck intellectuals, however. It is a rather enjoyable activity, after all.
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Yeah, I should clarify too. I love babies. With drawn butter.
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I firmly believe that people who want to have children, should. I also firmly believe that people who don't want to have children, shouldn't and shouldn't be treated as if they are expected to.
And you'll find there is rampant agreement with you on that exact point from prior discussion. Heck, when I enjoined Cort to chime up earlier it was in expectation of him presenting the precise position he did later in the thread as a sort of contrast.
Bad Cort, took too long to get the hint.
This board has been there on this issue, which is why I start to fuck around with my comments. What I should remember a little more often, however, is that our newer members (heh, members!) may have interesting or unique things to add to the discussion. Or at least provide a little personal backdrop to act as context for there later contibutions.
I in no way want to discourage that.
Yeah, I should clarify too. I love babies. With drawn butter.
Thank youse. Without 'Dawg here I was missing that theme in the conversation.
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There is nothing inherently good or bad about being married or being a parent that make either a requirement to functioning positively and effectively in society.
Darwin would disagree. You aren't contributing your genes to the future of the species.
It is not a commitment I want.
I didn't either. I didn't consciously make it, but I'm glad it happened.
I also do not feel that I am somehow lowering the collective IQ of humanity by choosing not to breed, when the less enlightened continue to do so. By being an effective educator, I can contribute mightily to the enlightenment of society as a whole and, as a friend puts it, "undo the damage caused by parents." Having my own children will not significantly alter the number of enlightened or unenlightened people out there.
As much as I value the contribution of educators, I think you're comparing apples and oranges here. Heredity and environment, right? Statistically, stupid people are more likely to have stupid offspring. Smart people are more likely to produce smart spawn. Stupid people have a lower capacity for education. As far as one person significantly altering the larger population, what if everyone thought that way?
I don't want to rock the boat here necessarily. I'm just really sensitive (perhaps overly so, admittedly) to people who are parents telling me that I should become one simply because it worked out so great for them.
Well, it did work out great for me. Against all odds I have two wonderful daughters. But that really has nothing to do with what I'm arguing. I would never try to compel you to become a parent against your will. I will try to convince you, however.
Seems like there are essentially two arguements against breeding being offered. A) I'd make a lousy parent. B) The state of the world sucks too bad to bring children into it. I don't buy either one.
As to A) at least in the case of the specific individuals this is directed to, I don't really have enough personal info to evaluate the question, but I doubt you're as unfit as you think yourselves. If you're accepted around here you're most likely a pretty smart and likeable person. This would indicate that you have what it takes to be a passable parental unit.
B) is just bullshit. I don't think the world sucks any more or less than it ever did. Plus, having children could have a positive effect on human society. Abstaining could tilt the balance the other way.
Finally, please understand that I'm just spouting off here. I really don't care whether or not you spawn little muses. I just live for the thrill of the argument, dang it!
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I don't want to rock the boat here necessarily. I'm just really sensitive (perhaps overly so, admittedly) to people who are parents telling me that I should become one simply because it worked out so great for them.
Quoted for truth. There's nothing wrong with being child-free.
Personally, I think that it would be great to have children someday... but damn that's a lot of work, not to mention the fact that I had a pretty rough childhood and I'm terrified of not being a good parent. Very few people can afford a nanny or even someone to come in once a week to do some housework. For example, it's nice to have a life where I can sleep late on weekends, where I don't have to hide the contraband unless company comes over and even then it just gets shoved under the bed, and I don't have to worry about anyone falling and slicing their head open on the coffee table. If it's one of my dumbass drunk friends, well guess who's gonna get to give them stitches at the clinic??? ME. FUCK YEAH.
Maybe I'll be ready to have kids in another 10 years? Who knows.
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My only additional comment would be...
There seems to be a sort of an "it's acquired taste, just try it enough times and you'll eventually like it" angle in some of the arguments toward parenting and... I can't completely buy that, at least for me.
I have tried whiskey dozens of times. It never got mellow or smooth or anything like that for me. It pretty much kept tasting like lighter fluid with a little caramel mixed in. Whiskey isn't going to be an acquired taste to me, no matter how many times I keep trying to like it.
I have seen and smelled and been quite-near many preparations of lobster and had dozens of people tell me how awesome lobster is and... nah, I'm pretty much never gonna try lobster. It smells weird and it is a damn water spider, people.
I don't care if it tastes like popcorn Jelly Belly beans and Coca-Cola with Actual Cane Sugar at once.
It is a damn water spider.
Also, I have never and will never engage in butt sex. Giving or receiving, with a lady, with another dude, with toys, nope. I am pretty sure I'm not gonna like butt sex. I understand and respect that some people get WAY the hell off on butt sex.
That's fine and, man, as long as you aren't making me look, have all the butt sex you want.
You completely have my permission to have butt sex.
But I am completely certain that even if I tried getting poop involved with The Sex Act dozens of times, I would never come around to liking it... even though there are many people who are just gaga for the whole affair.
The problem is that... some people get all weird about this claim, you know? They're like "oh, so you're looking down on me for liking butt sex, huh? YOU'D LOVE IT, YOU'RE JUST A SQUARE, SERIOUSLY THE MOMENT YOU SLIP YOUR c*ck INTO A BUTT YOU WILL COME CRYING BACK TO ME! YOU WILL DEMAND I FORGIVE YOU FOR DOUBTING BUTT-SEX! Well, don't beg to me, man. I can't forgive you! ONLY BUTT-SEX CAN FORGIVE YOU! BEG BUTT-SEX FOR FORGIVENESS! BEG IT!"
And... that ain't it. That ain't it at all.
I am completely happy for you and your butt sex. I am not judging you. I am not judging butt-sex.
It just ain't for me.
P.S. in this analogy, babies are roughly equivalent to butt-sex.
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Well, it did work out great for me. Against all odds I have two wonderful daughters.
I would just like to collaborate this statement. I've met Frank's daughters and they are awesome people.
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Seems like there are essentially two arguements against breeding being offered. A) I'd make a lousy parent. B) The state of the world sucks too bad to bring children into it. I don't buy either one.
As to A) at least in the case of the specific individuals this is directed to, I don't really have enough personal info to evaluate the question, but I doubt you're as unfit as you think yourselves. If you're accepted around here you're most likely a pretty smart and likeable person. This would indicate that you have what it takes to be a passable parental unit.
B) is just bullshit. I don't think the world sucks any more or less than it ever did. Plus, having children could have a positive effect on human society. Abstaining could tilt the balance the other way.
Finally, please understand that I'm just spouting off here. I really don't care whether or not you spawn little muses. I just live for the thrill of the argument, dang it!
c) I don't like children. They are noisy, they smell really bad at times, various fluids and solids come spewing out of them at inopportune times, and they interfere with my drinking.
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c) I don't like children. They are noisy, they smell really bad at times, various fluids and solids come spewing out of them at inopportune times, and they interfere with my drinking.
A can for you, sir.
Though it must be added, they also interfere with travel and funtime (of various varieties) which is why they're on my no-go list.
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D) I'm happy with my life the way it is and see no reason for changing that.
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There seems to be a sort of an "it's acquired taste, just try it enough times and you'll eventually like it" angle in some of the arguments toward parenting and... I can't completely buy that, at least for me.
Yeah, well, you can't exactly try it and then return it and get your money back if you don't like it.
Also I think babies are a little fatty to eat with butter. Something to cut the grease like cocktail sauce or mustard would be better.
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Yeah, well, you can't exactly try it and then return it and get your money back if you don't like it.
Also I think babies are a little fatty to eat with butter. Something to cut the grease like cocktail sauce or mustard would be better.
I . . . I think I love you.
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Oh, you say that to all the girls. (http://touamb.com/index.php/topic,3481.msg84953.html#msg84953)
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What happened to the love, you guys? (http://touamb.com/index.php/topic,963.msg17884.html#msg17884)
These internet things fade to rosy memories so fast...
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Oh, you say that to all the girls. (http://touamb.com/index.php/topic,3481.msg84953.html#msg84953)
And I mean it!
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D) I'm happy with my life the way it is and see no reason for changing that.
Well said, Double-S. I feel the exact same way about lobster and butt-sex.
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D) I'm happy with my life the way it is and see no reason for changing that.
Well said, Double-S. I feel the exact same way about lobster and butt-sex.
Do you think some of the heat is because people, whether they want to admit it or not, view you as a little shellgiraffe and may have a bit of jellygiraffe going on with that too?
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Do you think some of the heat is because people, whether they want to admit it or not, view you as a little shellgiraffe and may have a bit of jellygiraffe going on with that too?
Can'd. Indeed, it would appear LFM has no backbone for the jelly.
I don't think the decision to have kids, or to refrain from doing so, is one that needs defending either way. It is about as personal a choice as two people can make, and I can respect anyone's choice on that matter as long as it is not made frivolously. Although frivolously deciding to make a baby admittedly can have much worse consequences than the alternative.
Speaking of babies, I would like to think they taste somewhat like suckling pig, but they look like they have too many bones for my tastes, and the mouth is too small to hold an apple. A baby pâté would be quite nice on a slice of toast, though.
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I don't think the decision to have kids, or to refrain from doing so, is one that needs defending either way. It is about as personal a choice as two people can make, and I can respect anyone's choice on that matter as long as it is not made frivolously. Although frivolously deciding to make a baby admittedly can have much worse consequences than the alternative.
Speaking of babies, I would like to think they taste somewhat like suckling pig, but they look like they have too many bones for my tastes, and the mouth is too small to hold an apple. A baby pâté would be quite nice on a slice of toast, though.
*Nods in agreement.*
Also, here's the classic that started it all for me. (http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html)
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Speaking of babies, I would like to think they taste somewhat like suckling pig, but they look like they have too many bones for my tastes, and the mouth is too small to hold an apple. A baby pâté would be quite nice on a slice of toast, though.
If you barbecue them, the meat just falls off the bone.
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I also respect you all, whatever your breeding choices maybe. I'll just say that I'm glad that each of your parents decided to reproduce. Even you Hernandez.
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I also respect you all, whatever your breeding choices maybe. I'll just say that I'm glad that each of your parents decided to reproduce. Even you Hernandez.
I personally was cooked up in a petri dish. The rest of you, though - I'll echo AW's sentiments.