Claire

[quote name='Crimson Spider']Anyway, I'm glad that you are aware that the "devotion" comes from the romantic connotation. That is the fundamental point for which the same-sex marriage argument stems from. If the romantic case isn't present, the legal case doesn't doesn't make sense anymore, because then there isn't any foundation to claim that someone can't exercise rights anymore. The cultural shift towards greater acceptance, that also won't exist without being seen as a victim group fighting the good fight for freedom.[/quote] [FONT="Arial"]So are you implying that romance is absent from gay couples? The biggest part of marriage is being in love with your partner. Love is love. I cannot accept your view of human beings as pure survivalists, merely getting married to continue a family. I know it's not true.[/FONT] [quote name='Crimson Spider']Right are not applied to a "couple", but to an individual. I, myself, could go out and get court orders and living wills if I wanted to. Nothing is denied here. Whether or not someone wants to exercise a right, or go through an alternative means, that is largely up to personal responsibility. In ten days, I will gain the legal right to drink alcohol. Whether or not I want to, and for whatever reason, that doesn't change the right from being applied in the nature it is. Whether or not an institution should be re-defined out of convenience of a separate factor all together, that shouldn't be an issue. If someone thinks it is too difficult to obtain a living will, then is that not an issue of bureaucracy?[/QUOTE] [FONT="Arial"]Do you want to pursue [B]over a thousand[/B] rights each by yourself, whereas if you were to marry you would receive them in one single package? If something IS too difficult, why should anyone have to undertake it just so they can have the same privileges as their straight brother? That doesn't make [i]any[/i] sense to me at all. Like I said before, this is 2008, not 1964. People should not have to fight for their personal freedoms anymore. [I]Later in the day:[/I] These ideas came to me in between this morning and now, and are merely reflections on some of my earlier points, and probably seem pretty scattered. 1) Gay marriage promotes lust, eh? Along those lines, you could say all you can eat buffets promote gluttony. For a small price, people can eat more than twice the size of their stomach (if such a thing were possible). I suppose if gay marriage must remain illegal to prevent feelings of lust increasing, then as additional measures to preserve society, all you can eat buffets should be banned. 2) The word "heart" has similarities amongst its different variations in each of the romance languages. The French say [i]coeur[/i], the Spanish say [i]corazon,[/i] the Portugese, [i]coracao[/i], the Italian, [i]cuore.[/i] Their common trait is that they are all derived from the Latin root [i]cor[/i], meaning heart (duh). The heart is symbolically the base of emotions. It's what hurts, literally, when a personal loss is endured. "Heartbreak." Perhaps this is a mental thing, but when emotions such as love, happiness, and sadness are felt in extremes, there is an actual sensation in the heart not unlike the gut feeling of anxiety. The heart, the generator of love, is the core of the body. Emotions are the core of humanity. Love is the core of marriage. Love is the most important prerequisite. Without it, people would not consider making such an eternal promise (disregarding gold diggers, which probably exist in all sexual orientations). Of course people won't like it, of course there will be protesters. When has there been a constitutional amendment that didn't cause dissent? What resulted from each occasion? Women became widely seen as equals in the workplace and the home. Ditto, African-Americans. Interracial couples no longer cause widespread disgust. We've covered pretty much everything. What gay marriage really promotes is tolerance. Acceptance. The diminishing of ignorance. The banishment of discrimination. It promotes equality. [/FONT]

[quote name='Crimson Spider']Cynicism is fun, but usually not a very good point. However I digress: Marriage is seen as commitment, but then again, so is friendship, family, and business. Gangs (though they engage in all manner of illegal activity) are often seen to have relationships within them so strong that they call themselves "brothers". A phrase also gaining in popularity is BFF, or Best Friends Forever. It has even been featured on Spongebob. [/quote] [FONT="Arial"]Yet none of these involve as much devotion as marriage. It's the romanticism of marriage, I believe, that is really why people want to do it. It's the promise of forever. [/FONT] [quote name='Crimson Spider']The next question to ask in the line of reasoning is the following: Why is marriage seen as the ultimate union, instead of other things? Anyway, claiming benefits is, IMO, a cop-out to the real issue at hand. Let me explain: Whether or not someone has the right to insure their room mate, or leave their house to their maids or their friends, that is hardly an issue of "marriage", but an issue of real estate or insurance. That question should be raised independently, because it doesn't have anything to do with marriage, other than the ease in which marriage can grant these privileges. Everyone does have alternatives (not just civil unions). There are a variety of living wills, medical permission forms, and insurances that can extend all of the rights that marriage does to anyone you want to. These are granted, and are practiced regardless of anyone's gender or sexual preferences. If a woman I know is in an accident and is in a hospital, I cannot see her because I am not married to her, either. The convenience in which marriage grants these rights simply isn't enough to legalize them, especially when these abilities are being sold in "marriage-like" packets already. The rights, they are not being denied to anyone.[/quote] [quote]On the order of 1,400 legal rights are conferred upon married couples in the U.S. Typically these are composed of about 400 state benefits and over 1,000 federal benefits. Among them are the rights to: [list] [*]joint parenting; [*]joint adoption; [*]joint foster care, custody, and visitation (including non-biological parents); [*]status as next-of-kin for hospital visits and medical decisions where one partner is too ill to be competent; [*]joint insurance policies for home, auto and health; [*]dissolution and divorce protections such as community property and child support; [*]immigration and residency for partners from other countries; [*]inheritance automatically in the absence of a will; [*]joint leases with automatic renewal rights in the event one partner dies or leaves the house or apartment; [*]inheritance of jointly-owned real and personal property through the right of survivorship (which avoids the time and expense and taxes in probate); [*]benefits such as annuities, pension plans, Social Security, and Medicare; [*]spousal exemptions to property tax increases upon the death of one partner who is a co-owner of the home; [*]veterans' discounts on medical care, education, and home loans; joint filing of tax returns; [*]joint filing of customs claims when traveling; [*]wrongful death benefits for a surviving partner and children; [*]bereavement or sick leave to care for a partner or child; [*]decision-making power with respect to whether a deceased partner will be cremated or not and where to bury him or her; [*]crime victims' recovery benefits; [*]loss of consortium tort benefits; [*]domestic violence protection orders; [*]judicial protections and evidentiary immunity; [*]and more....[/list] Most of these legal and economic benefits cannot be privately arranged or contracted for.... ...However Vermont now allows same-sex couples to enter into civil unions. This will bring them all of the state benefits of marriage, [B]but none of the 1,049 federal rights, benefits and privileges that are routinely given to married couples. [/B][/quote] [FONT="Arial"]Source: [url]http://www.religioustolerance.org/mar_bene.htm[/url] I could and would find a lot more if I wasn't short on time. (I should stop trying to reply to this when I'm in the process of getting ready for school!) And if the rights [i]are[/i] available in separate places, wouldn't that mean a lot more work for the couple? Is it fair to offer someone the same privileges as someone else, but force them to do a lot more work for it than the other? Wouldn't that fall under discrimination? [/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"]I get very angry whenever I hear someone say "that's so gay," or call someone a "***." It's common in high schools, I'm assuming everywhere. I don't understand how that could be funny. It's just ignorant and disrespectful. What else is new. But people IN MY FAMILY'S CHURCH say things like that often. That infuriates me even more than the church does already. The sunday school teachers are always going on and on about "taming the tongue," but do absolutely nothing when some kid calls another gay. What the hell.[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"]This is all I have time for right now:[/FONT] [quote name='ChibiHorseWoman']Hey as long as you practice safe sex I'm all for promoting lust.[/quote] [font=arial]And I think there are much bigger problems to face than the legalization of same-sex marriage potentially condoning the corruption of society. Such as: the amount of sexual content and violence young people can see on TV. Such as: peoples' access to hard drugs. Such as: poverty and hunger in this country. The list goes on.[/font] [quote name='Crimson Spider']Though I do raise one question: Why "marriage"? Why not just become business partners, room mates, neighbors, best friends through thick and thin if sex is not involved?[/QUOTE] [FONT="Arial"] This is entirely up to the people involved, but I'm going to hazard a guess that it's because marriage is seen as the ultimate union. It means commitment. It means both parties promise they will be together no matter what, until death. And maybe for the cynical, it means that the other person is going to have to go through a lot of trouble if they want to break the contract. But as mentioned before, over and over again, there are benefits that married couples have that the unmarried do not. I don't know what they are, I believe something about insurance and property claims, as well as smaller things. There are over a thousand, if I read one article correctly. For most people on the planet, a relationship is just not enough unless it's recognized as final by the government, and for many, God.[/FONT]

[quote name='Calypso'][COLOR="Sienna"]Hoover Dam! This thread blew up!!! Before I get back to debating with you totally awesome debators(yes, thank you for being reasonable and being a good debator)(and debator is a word.......I think) Where are we? It seems as if we were talking about the Bible and what is says about homosexuality and then I went to bed and I woke up to see um....................just tell me where we are, please?:confused:[/COLOR][/QUOTE] [FONT="Arial"]Right now the two sides are: 1) As homosexuals cannot procreate, sex is done purely out of lust, and gay marriage would be promoting lust. At least, that's what I'm getting from the argument. I may be misunderstanding. The other side remains to be that there is no reason for gay marriage to be illegal still, though that side of the debate is developing smaller arguments against the first side.[/FONT]

[quote name='Crimson Spider']I know. The marriage issue is really tertiary to the sex issue. BTW, I'm not assuming that a gay couple would cease having sex because they aren't married.[/quote] [FONT="Arial"]Then I don't understand your point. You say that homosexual sex is purely for lust, and that allowing gay marriage would promote this lust? I disagree. Marriage is about more than sex/procreation. You may not see this, maybe because your view on the matter is highly scientific. But I feel that the reason so many people get married to divorce later is that they find the notion of a happily ever after hard to resist; this happy ending being comprised of spending one's life with their "soul mate," for many reasons other than being able to have sex with them.[/FONT] [quote name='Crimson Spider']Your anecdote really doesn't make sense. What are you trying to say here?[/quote] [FONT="Arial"]Support for my argument that not everyone is in it for the sex. I really don't think I'm the only one in the world.[/FONT] [quote name='Crimson Spider']Right. Not everyone is a lustful maniac. I am acknowledging that they are human beings that maniacally lust just like every other sexual preference.[/quote] [FONT="Arial"]Someone mentioned this before: if we're going to assume that marriage between two unable to procreate is based completely on lust, then shouldn't we outlaw marriage between a man and a woman if one/both are infertile? [/FONT] [quote name='Crimson Spider']I can. I've met plenty of couples that "want children" before they want to "Hit that nasty style". The activity-focused side is more character of the male behavior than of the female behavior, but neither is completely isolated.[/QUOTE] [FONT="Arial"]This relays back to my point that not every marriage is about sex for any reason, as well as my own anecdote. I do not want kids. I have no interest in sexual activities. But I do want to find someone to spend my life with, for better or for worse, etc. etc., and I feel that if I should someday decide that I do want to marry this person, regardless of their gender, I should have this right.[/FONT]

[quote name='Crimson Spider']Same-sex couples live in the same manner as the lust aspect, and this is not a trend to be encouraged, even in heterosexual couples. My discouragement of this aspect is preference-neutral. Same-sex couples, regardless of all of the romanticizing, isn't ordered toward procreation.[/quote] [FONT="Arial"]You're assuming that because a gay couple can't get married, they aren't going to have sex. Um, sorry, but people can have sex whenever they feel like it, regardless of what they're wearing on their left ring fingers. This is an absurd sweeping generalization. If what you say is true then I must be a tragic outlier. I have never had ANY sexual desires ever - not even to simply kiss - and at 17 I'm not too sure I'm going to develop any in my lifetime. This doesn't mean that I've never felt attracted towards people. On the contrary. Right now I'm battling constant sadness that springs from my emotions. I'm always thinking about this person and I just want them to feel the same towards me. But even though I would love for us to be a couple, there's no way I would ever want to have sex with them. Not everyone is a lustful maniac. Claiming that same-sex couples are in it for the spooning completely ignores that they're human beings too, just the same as heterosexuals. I can't imagine a straight person wanting to get married just so they could procreate. Marriage is too romanticized, and tons and tons of people have ambitious hearts.[/FONT] [quote name='Crimson Spider']It can't, because the aspect of procreation requires that the other member be of the opposite sex. Do not forget why it is other people are condoning this action, either.[/quote] [font=arial]This is also not true. There has been a study that proves women could self-fertilize using some kind of marrow from their own bones. I don't have time to look it up right now, though.[/font]

[FONT="Arial"]I don't have much of a style. All I ever wear is straight leg or skinny blue jeans and a t-shirt. I have a couple band shirts, but most of what I own are graphic tees from [url]www.threadless.com[/url] or shirts related to my school. I will occasionally wear black sweatpants to school. In the summer I refuse to wear anything but basketball shorts around my house, and usually when I go out as well. So I'm pretty dumpy most of the time, haha. You could say I wear a conglomeration of styles, but what that really amounts to is that I still don't have one.[/FONT]

[quote name='Calypso'][COLOR="Sienna"]To Clurr: Almost all of the stuff in the Bible wasn't meant to be taken literally.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] [FONT="Arial"]As taught by the leaders of your denomination. But how can we know which words are literal and which are figurative? I'm not aware of any human being on this earth who has the divine right to decide what parts of the Bible are to be followed to the letter, and which are no longer relevant. You're African American, right? And a female. You more than anyone should be able to understand the desire for equal rights. Forty years ago, you would have not had them.[/FONT]

[quote name='Allamorph'][FONT=Arial]Yes. That verse means that to refrain from punishment is to cause your kid to turn out rotten. Still doesn't help [I]you[/I] any. :p[/FONT][/QUOTE] [FONT="Arial"]If the Bible wasn't open to interpretation, there's a good chance that none of us would be here right now! (Assuming that people like Martin Luther and John Calvin would have just followed the rules).[/FONT]

[quote name='Calypso'][COLOR="Sienna"]To [B]Retribution[/B] and [B]Whoa, Mann: [/B]I'm not ignoring the fact that there are [I]many [/I] other sins out there. I'm just replying to the main point of this thread. It's about sexuality. If there was one about being disrespectful to my parents, I would be debating in that one, too.If there was one about any of the others sins, I would debating there, too. I can focus on something else if you want, but I wanna stay on topic.:catgirl: [/COLOR][/QUOTE] [FONT="Arial"]Chances are you would not be using the Bible as support for your argument for a debate about being disrespectful to parents. Retri just brought several verses in which the Bible gives parents the right to kill their children for disrespect to our attention. How do you feel about that?[/FONT]

[quote name='Vicky'][SIZE=1]Anyway, it's a fine example of a contradiction. And even if it isn't taken as contradictory, my point still stands: homosexuality is spoken of in the very same text, yet slavery is an exception. As is eating all these animals you're not supposed to eat - why are there not religious zealots outside Japanese Sushi bars? Why are there not religious people picketing outside farms who produce pork? Because homosexuality is so much easier to dislike as there's a name to the face of 'evil'. Unless you can give me another reason, then I applaude you, or anyone, to do so. What makes homosexuality so different from eating pork? [B]Remember all sins are equal.[/B][/size][/QUOTE] [font=arial]This is the key to one of my points, which I feel is going ignored or miscomprehended. I would like to now offer a musical interlude. Ahem: [I]I married in the sun Against the stone of buildings built before you and I were born Into my heart confusion grows against The muscles fought so long To control against the pull of one magnet to another Now we look up in Into the eyes of bullies breaking backs They seem so very tough They seem so very scared of us I look into the mirror for evil that just does not exist I don't see what they see. Try to control the pull of one magnet to another.[/I] Also, I would urge anyone who is against gay marriage to read the website I posted a little while ago ([URL="http://www.yffn.org/admin/spi/marriagevsunion.html"][U]Click here![/U][/URL]). It makes perfect sense.[/font]

[quote name='Calypso'][COLOR="Sienna"]To Indi: You are right, terribly sorry. I just thought Columbus came here under Christianity, gotta brush up on my history.........:animeswea[/COLOR][/QUOTE] [FONT="Arial"]Columbus set sail with the intentions of uncovering a direct route from Spain to India in order to improve trade. He couldn't do it because there was a giant land mass in the way. His goal was purely economical and had no religious basis whatsoever. [quote name='TimeChaser']I'm not positive if it's all the rights or not, so there is still that margin that marriage provides all the rights while civil unions only provide some.[/quote] I found an excellent website: [url]http://www.yffn.org/admin/spi/marriagevsunion.html[/url] The only states allowing civil unions are Vermont (which strikes me as odd, yet impressive, as there's an actual law against denying the existence of God there) and California. This means these are the only states that will recognize a civil union. If a couple moved elsewhere and became residents of that state, they would no longer be a union. This makes me sad. :([/FONT]

[quote name='TimeChaser']Just to clarify the civil unions bit. The rights, or at least some of them, are provided, but what people desire is that full recognition of "We are married." The people who fight for gay marriage rights are saying that there shouldn't have to be one form of marriage for everyone else, and then a special exception below marriage for them.[/QUOTE] [FONT="Arial"] Ah, thanks. At least in some places the existence of same-sex marriage is merely a matter of semantics. I'll admit, I have no desire to ever get married myself. This hinders my ability to understand why anyone else would want to. But if they want to, then there is not one good reason why they shouldn't be able to. I would also like to address the idea that homosexuality is a choice. It's not. Thank you.[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"]A reason why many people came to this continent was in the pursuit of religious toleration. Also, the Pledge of Allegiance did not make mention of any deity until the fifties, when "under God" was added. Basically 100 years after the fact. People want to make this a Christian nation as part of the doctrine of their religion - something about going forth and spreading the word to all people of all nations, and what better place to start than your own country? EDIT - Haha, I was going to say everything that both Indi and Vicky have said, but I'm glad they got to it before me because I wasn't sure I could find the evidence to support my points. Hooray! EDIT 2 - More proof that this country is not based on Christianity: Nowhere in the Bible does it mention sins having degrees. Each is viewed as the same. This means that cheating on a test is just as bad as killing somebody. But are you about to be sent to the electric chair for peeking at someone else's test? For a less broad example, you steal a car, you get jail time. Kill someone in the process, you go to Death Row. The government holds some sins as worse than others. [/FONT]

[quote name='Allamorph'][FONT=Arial]To use physical arguments traces directly back to religion, for according to Christianity that is not how we were designed.[/font][/QUOTE] [FONT="Arial"]I've been wanting to go against this argument with one of my own for a while. Biologically, humans are not intended to mate with others of the same sex. Science can't disprove this. With that logic, eating meat must also be a sin. Humans originally had to fashion spears and go out of their way to hunt, whereas carnivorous animals were born with sharp claws, teeth, and senses, and great strength. Humans have to tenderize meat and cook it well in order to be able to chew it and digest it and not get sick, whereas carnivorous animals merely consume their prey raw. But every single Christian I know goes out for some fried chicken for Sunday dinner. The point is that there are many things that humans were not designed to do, but have found a way to accomplish. That being said, I fully support equal rights for all human beings. Blacks, women, gays, etc. I would always answer this kind of survey question with "Love is love," but Retribution brings up a great point that married couples have benefits unavailable to the unmarried (are these benefits not available for people involved in civil unions?), which is unfair to people who are legally unable to become married. This is not the 1800s, this is not 1920 or 1960. We should be above rights exclusions. At the base of matters, marriage originated as an institution of religion. So did Christmas. Now you have atheists and agnostics taking part in both. Okay. However, it may be a good idea to take small steps towards total equal rights. Civil unions should be legalized in every state (if they aren't already, I'm not very informed on the subject and I only know that same-sex marriages are still illegal practically everywhere) and should offer every benefit of marriage. To please the religious, it would be marriage before the government and not before God - not "marriage," so to speak. ...yep. [SIZE="1"](Disclaimer: I'm a vegetarian, but I'm not about to condemn anyone for eating meat. It's a personal choice, and this is America!)[/SIZE][/FONT]

[quote name='dearz']tokio hotel:animesmil[/QUOTE] [FONT="Arial"]Dearz, could you please add a little more to your post? Here at OtakuBoards, we encourage conversation, and your post doesn't really allow for much. Talk about why you're so obsessed with Tokio Hotel, your favorite songs, etc. Welcome to OB![/FONT]

[quote name='Eclipsed Dreamer'][COLOR="Indigo"]yeah, I know you're older than me, but trust me, you [I]need [/I]a teacher. sure you can know all the technical stuff, but there's certain habits that you develop that you yourself cannot fix. only a teacher can fix errors on stuff like, holding your fingers. i know, i stopped playing for a year and when i went back, although i almost finished the book i was in, i had to almost start over![/COLOR][/QUOTE] [FONT="Arial"]Holding my fingers? It really doesn't make a difference whether I play the keys pretending to hold a tennis ball or not, I can still play songs. I defy convention. Everyone else in the class is too busy playing C, D, E, F, and G as 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Our teacher has reminded them several times that just because the book has a particular chord as 1, 3, and 5, that doesn't mean those are the note names, but I keep hearing "what note is that? a one?" and it's frustrating.[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"]I'm taking piano class in school right now. You don't get a teacher devoted to just you for fifty minutes, but honestly I don't need one. I've known music theory for at least five years, so I'm flying through the beginner's piano book they assigned us. It's not much, but I can play quite a few songs (I accidentally memorized them so I don't have to read the music, which is not one of my fortes, LOL PUN). Everyone else is stuck on something like "Clementine" and I'm trying to learn "Cielito Lindo." I'm much better at guitar than I am at piano, though; I've been playing for almost nine years now. However, that's nine years without so much as a teacher or instruction book or any substantial amount of time spent practicing everyday. I'm pretty good at rhythm guitar and I can play some faster riffs, but if you expect me to pull a crazy Raining Blood solo, you will be sorely disappointed. (Or even just a cutesy little one!) From playing guitar, I can also play bass. Not those cool jazzy techniques like slapping, and the strings are too fat for me to be able to play relatively faster songs, but I can still play it well enough. I know how to keep a rhythm on a drum set (thanks to Rock Band, in all honesty) but like everything else, I haven't had lessons, and I don't even have a set to practice on (not even RB, it belonged to my friend and he took it back), so I'm not very good at all. [/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"]I don't know what I'm going to be for Halloween. I don't even know what I'll be doing then. I just know that if nothing fun happens, I'm going to be really pissed - I've been waiting for a Friday night Halloween for years and years, and now I've got more freedom than ever before on top of it. Dammit if all my friends have plans! :( My favorite holiday is Christmas, because it lasts a really long time (think about it, all the radio stations play the music and the stores are all decorated the DAY AFTER Thanksgiving!), and I love love love winter weather and of course PRESENTS. Halloween would have to be my second favorite holiday, by default. I mean really, is there anyone on earth whose favorite holiday is not either Christmas or Halloween? ...or Thanksgiving, but whatever.[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"]During the warmer months, I wear shorts and a t-shirt to bed. I've recently discovered the wonder that is basketball shorts. Also of late, I've designated shirts to wear to sleep in, whereas in the past I just threw on whatever was clean and would end up wearing it out the next day. When it's too cold to wear short sleeves, I put on sweatpants. When it's absolutely freezing (which is really only 60 and below here in Florida, but my bedroom is so poorly insulated or something that it ends up feeling like the North Pole in here) I try to find some toe socks and a hoodie to keep me warm beneath three or four blankets.[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"]Jeans and a t-shirt. That's it. I really only have four pairs of jeans that I'll wear out of the house; two are identical straight leg and two are identical skinnies. I would like to have a more diverse range of bottoms, but I'm so picky about it and I never like what I try on. Most of the shirts that I wear are from [u][url=http://www.threadless.com]Threadless[/url][/u], but I also have a few band tees and shirts leftover from middle school (and one from fifth grade that fits perfectly!). As for shoes, I currently have a pair of pewter and black checkered slip-ons from Vans. They're pretty beat up, though. I also have another pair of Vans, which are, I guess, just skate shoes, that I had to get for the Team Sports class I took over the summer. I haven't worn them in a while. I think I'm going to wear flip flops more often, now, though. [/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"][B]1. What level of education are you at? Highschool, college?[/B] I've been a senior in high school for about three weeks now. [B]2. What's your favorite subject, or if you're in college, what's your major?[/B] I'm not so much about subjects anymore. I'd say I like English Literature the best, but I walked into the classroom this morning and saw "Poetry Timed Writing" written on the agenda for today and thought "why did I wake up this morning?!" (luckily the teacher just hadn't updated the calendar and we took notes on the Renaissance instead...) For me, my favorite class depends on the people. And this year, the people suck. When I go to college, however, I plan on majoring in Recording Arts. [B]3. Why is it your favorite subject or field of choice?[/B] There's no way I'm going to get stuck doing a crappy job I'll hate. I would love to write books, play in a band, and act in movies for a living, but I don't need a college degree to do any of those things, so I don't want to waste my time trying to get one. Instead, I want to learn how to produce music so that I can do so for myself and get a job at a studio if I really really needed to. [B]4. What's your ideal job along the field you are studying?[/B] I plan on becoming a self-sufficient musician, but if necessary I would love to work for a recording studio as a producer. [B]5. Talk about whatever it is that interests you! Why is it so damn interesting? Why'd you choose it, blah blah blah.[/B] Music interests me. I listen to it all day and I discovered that I can also create it myself. I love performing - I'm about to learn the role of the Wicked Witch for a production of Wizard of Oz - so anything involving playing shows with a band or acting is very relevant to my interests. I love writing, too, and I like to think I'm good at it for my age, but sometimes it's really hard and I get frustrated trying to please myself. [/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"]There was a show that I wanted to go to, but it got canceled because of Hurricane Gustav. Not that I would've gone by myself, and the only friend who would've happily accompanied me is immersed in schoolwork today. My best friend is out of town (hopefully returning today in time to hang out a little) and another friend has been grounded since the beginning of summer. So basically I am just sitting around the house wishing something exciting would happen. And also, my diaphragm hurts.[/FONT]

[FONT="Arial"]I'm so bad at making friends that it's a wonder I have any. When I entered the ninth grade, my mom made me go to the school she taught at instead of the school every single one of my friends were going to. There weren't even any people I had known in middle school, except for a few people I seriously did not like. I tried to start conversations with people, but no one would talk to me, and they ended before they really began. I really tried to fit in with people in my drama and creative writing classes, but I just couldn't do it. By the end of that year I had found two people I actually wanted to be around, plus a few others I could talk to if I needed to, but I was never honestly happy. One was a grade above me, so when I returned to that school the next year I didn't see her. The other had gone to a new school. Where I might have been content with my situation before, I got really depressed really fast. My parents finally let me switch schools and now I'm going to graduate with all my friends from middle school this year. I managed to make very close new friends the rest of my tenth grade year, but I don't really know how it happened. I feel like maybe some people I'm just meant to be friends with, and once I find them it will work out. [/FONT]