We're as close as the vena cava and the aorta!

Fourth Wall event at DramaDramaDuck!

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:12:46 GMT

I need some movie recs.

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:53:40 GMT

Doug: [of The Sopranos] "I love that show because they kill people."
Monika: "This coming from a kid wearing a Livestrong bracelet."

I can't stop watching this.

Or this.

Tell me about some of your favorite movies, people. Link me to trailers if you can find them!

"Prozac, at work in today's society!"

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:48:49 GMT

Mrs. McGlinchey: [of lab procedure] "Don't wear jewelry, tie your hair back, don't wear any loose or dangling clothing..."
Leslie: "So you're saying I should come in wearing a tight bodysuit? I don't believe it. I think you just want to see me in Spandex."

So people who have paid attention to my journal for a while might remember that I have this weird thing with getting really shaky when speaking/performing in public. It's especially annoying during our orchestra concerts, because it gets so bad that I can't even hold my bow properly and my fingering gets all messed up. The most annoying thing is that I don't actually feel nervous-- it's purely a physical reaction. I don't even know.

So this past Sunday, we had a concert. Guess what?

No shaking.

Thank you, Lexapro!

... Icon relevant.

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 23:14:09 GMT

Zoe: I'm going to go jump off a cliff; I'll be right back." [walks out of the room]

I have one more paper to write, two tests to prepare for, a few sociology videos to watch, and then I AM DONE. I'm actually pretty relieved for winter break this year (though I still don't know what class I'm signing up for for J-term). OTHER THAN THAT!

1. I spent far too much money at the mall today. And I haven't even been to Barnes & Noble yet. Oh, dear.
2. People on my flist who RP: GO DO THIS. 8) I know you know that you want to.
3. Because I told a few people I would: this is for you, super_pineapple!

Not much.

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:32:33 GMT

We're going out for Japanese food tonight to celebrate my sister's birthday! (The people who run the tables are ~*firebenders*~, too; it's a hibachi restaurant.) My mom is frantically cleaning the house because a bunch of people are coming over tonight-- it STILL looks pretty bad, but more like "as to be expected from a home with three slobs and a million animals" than "OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL IS THIS".

... raserei_hojo, I owe you tags like woah. DX I WILL GET TO THEM TODAY, I PROMISE.

Remind me again why I'm signing up for J-term?

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:21:59 GMT

Eli: "Where's Djibouti?"
Cam: "Right next to Ass-mara."

I have so much work it's not even funny. I can't wait for finals week, because all my papers and projects will be over by then and I'll just have tests, which at least only take a couple hours each as long as I understand the material. But until then, I'll be slaving away. This is why I hate being sick enough to miss school; when I get back there's always SO MUCH TO DO.

On the plus side, I'm SO GLAD that Statistics in Sociology is being offered as an online course for J-term. 8D I wasn't at all looking forward to taking that during spring semester, but now it's awwwwwright.

Google Wave invitation giveaways!

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:26:55 GMT

Thanks to Norry I now have a Google Wave account (and... am still trying to figure out how it works, haha), and at the moment I have eight invitations to give away. If anyone on my flist wants one, let me know I'll shoot one off to you!

(ALSO: this is unrelated, but JOIN PLURK. It's like IMing only at lot easier to keep up with.)

So I'm officially Not Sick.

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:04:18 GMT

Today I walked into Spanish class for the first time in close to a month, and the general reaction was "OH MY GOD HANNAH, YOU'RE ALIVE". I was amused. (I'm also so far behind it's not even funny, buuuuuut I'm not going to dwell on that for the moment.)

I also love how this year I've gotten SO LAZY at keeping up my room. Last year I kept things pretty sparse, but neat. This year, I went all-out with the decorating, but in terms of tidiness I'm just like, "FUCK IT *uses the floor as a dresser*". Seriously.

Blast from the past.

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:28:02 GMT

Neil: "What was Shakespeare's inspiration for A Midsummer Night's Dream?"
Miss Bavier: "No one really knows."
Neal: "... Did they have opium in his time?"

I went to my sister's Spanish play today. It was weird walking past Madame's room. It was also weird being confronted by a janitor when we went up to wander around the second floor afterward (... no one ever used to have a problem with students hanging around after hours; that's my only excuse). I also stuck my head in a classroom door and shouted the name of one of my sister's friends who was in there, and even though it *looked* like people weren't really doing anything but bumming around Jenny maintains that she thought they were in the middle of something. I'm hoping she was wrong, though, because even though no one actually takes those skits seriously I'd still feel bad if some people got theirs interrupted by some random girl walking by and yelling "SONJA PAPE!" at them.

Anyway. The obvious real reason for this entry:

Aren't my shoes awesome?

Journal rename!

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:45:33 GMT

emilyyousay ------> banerry

Just so you don't go "wtf who is this person commenting to my entries".

THIS ENTRY IS DEDICATED TO century_fox, WHO REALLY, REALLY, REALLY WANTED ME TO UPDATE.

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:13:13 GMT

Mr. Zottoli: "It's fun to say 'Vagina Monologues'!"

This is literally all I've been doing for the past two weeks:

- reading
- watching TV/movies
- using the computer

I've been out of the house twice to go get blood drawn at the doctor's, but that's it. 8| I AM. SO BORED. Hopefully I'll be going back to school next week, but if the mono test comes back positive they'll want me to stay out longer. As it is, the doctor recommended that I only go for half days for at least ten days after I start going back. I hope my teachers don't flip out.

ANYWAY. In other news, I've been marathoning Dexter online and am currently in the middle of 4x07. I LOVE IT, and I have some theories about something but I don't want to get into it here because I don't feel like spoiler-cutting, so ask in the comments if you really care to know.

AND LASTLY, AS PROMISED, my list of excellent kids' books for lovesnotwisely (the ones that are starred are especially amazing):

Aliens Ate My Homework, by Bruce Coville (the first one isn't nearly as good as the last three, AND BY THE WAY I'M NOT EVEN KIDDING ABOUT THIS ONE, don't be turned off by the cracky title)
* Baby, by Patricia McLaughlin
Bloomability, by Sharon Creech
* A Cool Moonlight, by Angela Johnson
The Devil's Arithmetic, by Jane Yolen
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, by Nancy Farmer
The Egypt Game, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
* Every Day and All the Time, by Sis Deans
Every Soul a Star, by Wendy Mass
Freak the Mighty, by Rodman Philbrick
The Headless Cupid, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (as well as the rest of the series)
Julie of the Wolves (as well as the rest of the series, especially the third one)
Kensuke's Kingdom, by Michael Morpurgo
Kira-Kira, by Cynthia Kadohata
The Legend of the Wandering King, by Laura Gallego Garcia
Mara's Stories, by Gary Schmidt
* Mick Harte Was Here, by Barbara Park
* Our House, by Pam Conrad
Parvana's Journey, by Deborah Ellis
* Saffy's Angel, by Hilary McKay (as well as the rest of the series; I think the second and third books are the best)
Smile!, by Geraldine McCaughrean
So B. It, by Sarah Weeks
* Somebody Else's Kids, by Torey Hayden
* Stonewords, by Pam Conrad
Totto-chan, by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi
What I Call Life, by Jill Wolfson
The Whispering Road, by Livi Michael
* Zink, by Cherie Bennett

Ahahahahawhat.

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:57:21 GMT

It's like I'm the Gus of DDD!Plurk.

... And saying that reaaaaaally makes me want to go fool around on AFC now, but instead I'll be somewhat responsible and go do Spanish homework or something.

I am just going to leave this here with no explanation, and then go to Panera.

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:24:08 GMT

Mmmmmm memes.

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 16:01:03 GMT

Mrs. McPhee: [Of the winter hiking unit in gym] "For these first couple outings in milder weather, I think you can get away with wearing--"
Mark: "Tank tops."

banerry's Halloween party:

againstmywillq dressed as a associate dead chicken waver.
almalthia dressed as a bottle of Prevgran.
amanisadick dressed as Adam-the-first-man but the fig-leaf was far too big.
angeldusting dressed as Sybil - except that Sybil didn't show but the other 18 personalities did.
babb_chronicles dressed as Squidward.
babilu dressed as the Pink Power Ranger.
benetteserinas dressed as Naomi Watts's mother, though it looked more like Madonna.
carnality dressed as a character from Harry Potter and the Tame Collection.
century_fox dressed as Calvin Coolidge.
cockpuppet dressed as a character from a Super Mario game.
crazybookgirl dressed as something active, but what, specifically, you can't tell.
dragoon1940 dressed as a angel.
dreamoflight dressed as Mace Windu.
elspeth_vimes dressed as Optimus Prime.
fire_lord_azula dressed as Daisy Fuentes.
freezer818 didn't dress up, spoilsport.
grapewhine dressed as Milla Jovovich, though it looked more like a disturbing self-made character called "Squeezit Monkeyshorts".
grimorie didn't dress up, spoilsport.
gussiki dressed as legendary space hero Pack Rockbone.
harpseals dressed as - tarred and feathered.
hello203 dressed as a character from "The Graduate".
history_spork dressed as the resurrected dead -- complete with the most convincing coffin, though it looked more like a specimen.
iamstillthemoon dressed as a squirrel.
idgiebay dressed as without the horse and far too little hair!.
ilostafriend dressed as Nosferatu the Supreme Vampire.
jangrafess dressed as the Vicomte des Boules-Velues.
later_days dressed as the spirit of their dead grandmother Bernice, though it looked more like Marie Antoinette going to her death.
lime_yay dressed as a Harbert, Leitao & Mraz AssociatesIncorporated employee.
lovesnotwisely dressed as a grating witch.
lylith_st dressed as Sigfried in need of testosterone.
magicnme dressed as the Archbishop of eselzac.
marzandstars dressed as Ronald Reagan.
msdrewsleuth dressed as Scooter Libby.
neutralalienist dressed as Elizabeth Regina on steroids and roller skates.
no_social_life didn't even show up and doesn't get any candy.
nvrmoore dressed as the Cardinal of East Byarsfield.
panther3751 dressed as Fallout Boy.
pinkhairedcutie dressed as the love child of Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan.
poison_prison dressed as Marie Antoinette going to her death.
pushpushlady dressed as a very fake witch-doctor complete with a collection of shrunken skulls.
rinhriveiel dressed as Mary Queen of Scots ... without her head. Most convincing.
roll_soul dressed as Helga the wisewoman, although the live snake was a mistake.
saria dressed as Josephine Baker but the banana "skirt" didn't survive the night, though it looked more like the Earl of Sarawilluline.
savingdaisydiva dressed as Pavlova the ballerina -- dancing on point too.
schellibie dressed as Crane, the schoolmaster from Sleepy Hollow.
solitaryrain dressed as the White Power Ranger.
somethingstyx dressed as a Level 10 fighter.
spotts1701 dressed as but the exploding barrel of dynamite didn't go down too well.
spritzed dressed as Caprice Bourret riding a horse.
super_pineapple dressed as a walking Guillotine.
sweatyscotty dressed as a kicker for the Giants, though it looked more like the Brown Power Ranger.
tenshibellaluna dressed as Mde. Lachienne Foutue d'Enfer -- you don't wanna know.
this_troper dressed as Susan Lucci.
tl__dr dressed as Chekov from "Star Trek".
tuiereol dressed as with her very own conjoined Ashley.
unactive dressed as Michael Jackson.
vivider didn't even show up and doesn't get any candy.
voldy92 dressed as a second baseman for the Cardinals, though it looked more like a still behind.
wormtailzerimar dressed as blues legend Big Foot Allison.
zippyladoodles dressed as Ivan the Terrible of Russia.

Throw your own party at the Hallomeme!
Created by sigma7: More info here.

"Have you ever seen the air so clear?"

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:24:29 GMT

Kaitlin: "Any ideas for what intramural sports we could add?"
Dan: "Ultimite frisbee."
Leslie: "Football!"
Marshall: "Killer tag. With knives."

So I watched The Day After Tomorrow yesterday. I wasn't really expecting much, but I love disaster movies so I thought I'd give it a go. The first half-hour or so was really jumpy and choppy, but then it settled down a bit, and really, it was much better than I had expected storytelling- and writing-wise. I thought the ending in particular was very well done.

The only part I thought was really hokey was the wolf attack; that was pretty dumb. But all in all, it was actually a fairly solid film. I don't even have to classify it as a guilty pleasure!

Why are like half my favorite books kids' books.

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:33:02 GMT

Mrs. McGlinchey: "I can pronounce it 'sell-see-us' instead of 'sell-shuss'-- I just don't want to!"

Every Day and All the Time by Sis Deans is one of my favorite books ever. I'm SO glad I bought it to re-read; I like it even more than Barbara Park's Mick Harte Was Here (which deals with the same sort of issue, and has been a favorite of mine since I was nine or so). It'd definitely going on my list of books that I need revisit at least every couple of years or so. In a way, it's a good thing that a lot of the books on that list are short and easy reads-- I like being able to marathon my way through four Bruce Coville books in one day, or spend a weekend reading Hilary McKay's books about the Cassons (... or just read Indigo's Star and Permanent Rose over and over and over again; that works, too).

TL;DR: I AM NINETEEN YEARS OLD AND I BUY MOST OF MY BOOKS FROM THE CHILDREN'S SECTION.

... I can read adult literature when I want to, I swear.

Three "why"s of the day:

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:50:22 GMT

- Why does Firefox keep freezing
- Why am I so addicted to Unicreatures
- ... Why am I thinking about this instead of working on my French project with Abbey and Gianna 8|

I missed snarking textbooks.

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:03:28 GMT

According to my sociology textbook, the Unified Crime Report defines rape as:

"The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will."

Because men cannot be raped, ever?

This book also goes out of its way to make it clear that children are the most likely to be arrested for crimes that only children can be arrested for. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR CLEARING THAT UP, ROBERT REGOLI.

I don't have NEARLY enough entries about sociopaths.

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:37:31 GMT

A random OOC-note conversation with Yue led me to start digging for more dissections of Martha Stout's A Sociopath Next Door. I know I've seen some critical analysis by actual professionals that is absolutely AMAZING, but tonight I'm kind of tired, so I really didn't look much farther than Amazon.com (SO REPUTABLE, I KNOW). But I did find one review that pretty much sums up ALL of my feelings on the subject:

Most Oprah-friendly psycho-babble is relatively harmless, but this book equips the multitude of middle-minded armchair psychologists who've experienced corporate downsizing or bad break-ups with little more than emotionally charged popcorn science that can (and undoubtedly will) be used for inappropriate slander. It is the stuff of witch hunts -- that Stout takes the time to lament the Salem witch trials in one of her many pointless digressions is an upsetting irony.

More upsetting is her tacit authorization of a lynch mob mentality. She uses an Inuit custom to illustrate her point that sociopathy may be an irredeemable state. The concept of 'kunlangeta' within the Inuit society parallels sociopathy. These individuals -- regardless of their mental disorder -- are subject to the lowest form of justice and systematically executed. The Inuit may assume that 'kunlangeta' is irremediable, but that is hardly an excuse for their murderous custom. The fact that she does not condemn such behavior is shocking.

With sweeping generalizations and fear-mongering, she defines an entire class of people as sub-human, beyond any form of redemption or rehabilitation, apparently worthy of extermination. This is an eerie tactic, made more corrupt as she curses the names of history's mass murderers while relying on their methodology to craft her message.

Her arguments are emotional. Her statistics are soft. Her evidence is anecdotal. Alarmist moralizing sophistry may very well be the recipe for a best-seller, but as a woman of science, it is irresponsible work. She may be a well-credentialed expert, and her extrapolations may ultimately prove correct. Her book, however, is little more than exploitation.

If this topic is of interest to you, start with Robert Hare's far superior book, "Without Conscience".

-----------------

If you like simplistic white-hat, black-hat moralizing dressed up in pseudo-scientific posturing, this book is for you. In it, Martha Stout will tell you that there are people who are good, hard-working and caring, and then there are people who are just plain evil, conscienceless and cruel. And they're all around us! Look out! One might be behind you right now!

Stout conceives of a world where pretty much any bad deed-- murder, rape, infidelity, genocide, theft, lying, you name it-- it's all the product of sociopathy. Stout identifies an incredibly large numbers of historical villains as being sociopaths. Not that there's any way to really know, considering that these people aren't around to undergo psychological testing. But Stout is sure they are, because they fit her profile, and they seem "bad".

The fact of the matter is, every day, people show incredibly cruelty to each other as acts of conscience. People kill and maim and hurt each other ever day because the think it is the right thing to do. Stout cites September 11th over and over and over again (to the point of absolutely cheapening the reference). Osama bin Ladin is her sociopathic extreme. But that ignores the fact that bin Ladin, who is an abominable murderer and horrendous person, did what he did because he thought it was the right thing to do.

The truth is that the world isn't divided between good and evil, and it's not divided between sociopaths and the rest of us. The world is full of people who will all tell you that they are acting out of righeousness as they commit acts of immorality. There isn't simple black and white, predator and prey relationships in the world, but real people, beating against each other, caught in conflicts of ideology and politics. You don't need to create alarmist tales of boogeymen to understand the cruelty of the world. People of conscience do more than enough damage themselves, thanks.

What's most disturbing about the book, though, is the utter lack of any compassion for these people, this "4%" of society, that Stout describes. In the book she specifically says that the condition is largely genetic, and that most of the psychological dimension is brought on by childhood trauma. So in other words, these people have no control whatsoever over their condition. Now, they can control their behavior; but to Stout, this is not enough. Once a sociopath, to her, always a sociopath. There can't be any fate for these people, apparently, except fulfilling their "evil" natures.

She offers no solutions for these people, no idea of what we should do with them. And we need to know what to do with these people, if her absurd, Manichean view of the world is correct. Not against them; not what to do to protect ourselves from them, but for them, with them. I've looked and looked and looked and I can't find a single word-- not one word-- of compassion for this 4% of the population. Not an whisper of sympathy for people who are, she admits, deeply handicapped. By her own statistics, there are millions of these people in our country alone. And yet she washes her hands of all of them.

What kind of a conscience is this, that writes off millions of people? What kind of morally superior being effectively condemns one out of twenty-five people? What does Stout propose we do? March these people of to the camps? I don't want any part of that, thank you. I won't stand with a person or a book that flagrantly dismisses the lives of millions.

But wait! Maybe if I don't like her book, I'm a sociopath too!

-----------------

Dr. Stout's book does a tremendous disservice to humanity and to the field of psychology with this shallow and sensationalized "study" of sociopathy. Her book is a call to judgement: she irresponsibly urges readers to diagnose and condemn the people in their lives, and shows no compassion for the nuances and complexity of the human psyche. The sociopathic examples she writes about play out like one-dimensional cartoon characters lurking in the shadows and dropping anvils onto innocent passersby. Would that Dr. Stout had used her experience and pedigree to consruct something helpful; unfortunately she chose an approach that is truly WITHOUT CONSCIENCE.
Anyone interested in this subject would be much better informed by reading M. Scott Peck's People of the Lie.

-----------------

Psychopaths tend not to feel fear, and sociopaths usually don't feel guilt. There are lots of people out there who have tendencies of both diseases, but do not technically qualify for the diagnosis. There's a branch of mild schizophrenia (so mild that most people will never guess you have it) that causes emotional detachment. I know someone who literally cannot empathize with someone she hasn't personally met, yet is fiercely loyal and understanding of her friends. I also know a guy who can empathize with animals, but not most humans (except like his parents and girlfriend). It happens. Both of these people are good people, and they don't go out of their way to hurt or manipulate others. They just have emotional limitations. Even for people who do meet the diagnosis, their condition is not a virtue, but a handicap. There are many emotions they can still feel: anger, sadness, love. It makes personal relationships very hard. Imagine being able to love someone, and to hurt them, unintentionally. They can tearfully explain why it is that you hurt them, but you'll have a very hard time understanding, because you can't empathize with them. This may lead your partner to believe you don't love them, or care about how they feel, which is not true. You're just UNABLE to feel their pain.

Most of these people are normal people leading normal lives. There are plenty of people out there with no hint of sociopathic tendencies who cause plenty of pain for others. I know it is tempting and comforting to assume that al the evil in our world today is the result of people who aren't ike us, who don't feel like we do, but this just isn't true. Those who do the most ill are people just like you and me, who chose to be evil because they could, not because they were born that way.

^ That one makes very similar points to an article I read that was written by a PhD., SO EVEN THOUGH IT'S FROM AMAZON THE IDEAS HAVE CRED, YO.

-----------------

EXACTLY THIS. All of this. THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT.

"Broken".

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:58:25 GMT

That was awesome.

Moar dorm room pictures.

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:12:19 GMT

Mr. LaForce: [reading the program notes for "Rise of the Firebird"] "The firebird, also known as the phoenix, bursts into flames and is reborn from its own ashes, stronger and more powerful than before."
Doug: "I can do that."
Mr. LaForce: "I know, wouldn't it be cool if I just burst into flames on the podium after the song?"
Maddie: "The longest recorded time of someone doing that is thirty-four seconds."
Taylor: "You mean people actually record how long it takes for someone to spontaneously combust?"
Maddie: "No, set themselves on fire."
Taylor: "People set themselves on fire?"
Maddie: "For a living."
Doug: "I do that."

They had these neat wall-decorating things at the campus store; you just stick them on, and they peel off really easily whenever you want to take them down. Impulse buys are win.

I talk about rats too much in here.

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:22:31 GMT

I came back into my room this evening and found Lotus, one of my rats, dead in her cage. There was nothing physically wrong with her and she was only a baby, so we're guessing that she just had a defective heart (she was a white rat, and there's good evidence that they're genetically weaker than the fancies). She looked like she had just keeled over very suddenly; there wasn't any sign of pain or struggling. Right now I'm sitting here with her cagemate, Xena, and she's like. Skitterish and shaking and just generally freaked out and traumatized. I feel bad for her, bawww.

Having pets that only live for a few years at most sucks, gaiz.

NOTE TO SELF:

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:50:41 GMT

Use DailyBooth more often.

Take less pictures that look like this.

In other news, I finally picked up a fifth class, and when that's done, I'll never have to take another science Gen. Ed. again. SO. HAPPY. I really want to take an astronomy class, but all of the ones I've looked at have lab components and there's just no way. I JUST WANT TO TAKE A CLASS WHERE YOU JUST LEARN ABOUT STARS AND BLACK HOLES AND PLANETS AND SHIT, IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK? Ehhhhh.

I still like Philly better than HoCo, though.

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:59:53 GMT

Doug: "Speaking of forging things, Maddie, how would you like to make some money after school?"

The table tents at my school's dining halls are filled with typos and grammar mistakes. Today, I spotted the best one I've seen so far:

"Spitfire Grill is a compelling tale about a town struggling to survive, and the heroin that saves it."

UNH is promoting drug use, everybody!

Speaking of dining halls, I had these really good Asian noodles for dinner. They were good, at least, until I found an ant crawling around in them. Why does life do this to me.

OH OH OH.

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 03:19:49 GMT

THE ENDING OF SCRUBS WAS SO PERFECT. EVERYTHING FROM THE HALLWAY SCENE ONWARDS WAS SO SAD AND BITTERSWEET I CRIED (EXCEPT NOT REALLY, BUT YOU KNOW). NOW I WANT TO GO WATCH IT ALL OVER AGAIN AHHHHHHH.

THIS HAS BEEN AN ALL-CAPSLOCK ENTRY BROUGHT TO YOU BY HANNAH.