The color of the stickers the federal government mail man uses on your box is a sign to the DHS/FEMA of who is marked to be a prison planet guard and who is to become a prison planet prisoner.

How will the mark the planet?

OHMYGOSHJUPITER!!

Today I dropped my 19th pound since Jan. 5th.

Yay, congratulations! Your steady success is encouraging.

I don't know. You said a lot of things last night.

Do people really feel bad if they use bad language and get tattoos in the modern world? I am asking seriously.

Seriously, some of them do.

Goddamiit, I sound like some new age fuck up there. Shoot me.

I KNOW! Every time I think in terms of 'personal journey' I can hear Ron Swanson yelling, "Son, people can SEE you."

I guess I have to revise my analysis of why I don't understand this conversation: If you come from a home for scared people you don't have the urge to do dangerous things so you don't need self-control about them.

What if you found out it was never all that dangerous?
Topical Comic Illustration!http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2013/03/22


Ash, AW, and Doc: these are interesting perspectives. Thanks. I will think on them.

This lack of understanding combined with denial makes it loom larger and larger in your life, way out of proportion with its actual importance.

That bias hadn't occurred to me. It makes total sense, and (hopefully) explains why this is only a big deal to me.

jay-ell and I saw "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." It was a very good try at an unfilmable book. That thing deserved a miniseries or something. Confusing as all get-out. And I read the book. I loved that book. I could NOT keep the suspects straight. Some books should just be books. Even when people like them.

What is the difference between self-control and repression?

I grew up a Catholic southerner with a deep and abiding respect for authority. (That reads: few people around me held or understood my beliefs.)

Our pastor, Father Bill was a Franciscan Friar. He was a monk. A vow of chastity. A vow of poverty. Everything he used on a daily basis was technically the property of the church. I thought that guy was badass. I really admired his sacrifice and dedication and thought that such a lifestyle brought clarity and strength.

Now it seems much more likely that such a lifestyle could be horribly alienating, even damaging, and would certainly get in the way of the connecting and understanding work of the priesthood.

Because of my upbringing, I limited certain behaviors, and beat myself up pretty bad when I didn't successfully limit others. I'm starting to see how even this could be damaging, but having never explored these issues openly, I lack a frame of reference.

Surely there is still such a thing as healthy self-control. Apparently, there is such a thing as harmful repression. What are the criteria for determining where to draw the line? If "all things are permissible, but only some things are beneficial," how do you set your boundaries?

Does everybody either adopt a given frame of reference (like good little Mormons and Catholics) or just play with boundaries in youth until they get burned and retreat?

How badly do most people get hurt before they frame their version of a healthy lifestyle?

I know this is a lot of questions, and folks have probably been working this out all their lives. But I went from being a pretty mature kid to a really naive adult, and I've only just now noticed the change.

Wait.  What?

It's supposed to recall Aslan, the lion stand-in for Jesus in the Chronicles of Narnia.

OH MY GOODNESS I COMPLETELY MISSED IT!

Yeeeeeaaaaah. I wasn't going to mention that. That doesn't really need mentioning.

wait there's hoss in PIE now? i was on the fence but that settles it.

Just Moon Pies. They contain gelatin "from de-hooved hosss" (as NoFX puts it).

They are not made of Moon. They are not pies. What is it we THOUGHT we were getting into playing god like this?