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Y'know, that's rather why I wanted this thread in the first place. It was supposed to be a place for us to get to know each other, as people, beyond opinions we may or may not agree with. But since you can't seem to do that even here, I can only guess that the side of you that you show in those debates pretty much sums up who you are. And I have tried to bring it up when I find something you say disrespectful. But all I get are the same things I've heard already. I've heard them all before, I've probably used them when I was younger and thought I knew everything, too. Not buying any of them.

Priestly: I'm perfectly ok with letting people be who they are. Until who they are starts to show such disrespect for other people.

And I rather think this this ridiculous, too. It's a pointless circular argument and no one is apparently going to budge.

I've said more than my piece and if no one is willing to listen, then what else is to be said. This is how you choose to speak to people and nothing I say is going to convince you otherwise. Nor am I going to be terribly convinced to change my view unless I get to see another side of you.

I'd love that, I really would. But it doesn't seem to be happening.

I've tried. I'm done. I'm dropping it, as I tried to do so before.
There's just no point in continuing this conversation.

Do you want the long answer or the short answer? I have fun by doing things I enjoy. There are some things, as you said, that are merely interesting, which aren't necessarily fun, but I tend to have lots of fun, because I go looking for fun. For example, having insane birthday parties is fun. Going out dancing with friends is fun. Sitting around and reading jokes out of a book is fun.

The longer answer probably has something to do with ridiculous amounts of serotonin, possibly dopamine and norepinephrine, and the cingulate cortex, not to mention the commonly positive association of certain events and circumstances with these neurotransmitters (I should really start resisting the urge to flaunt my psychobabble at people confused ). If you can never actually experience any pleasure beyond, "Huh. This is interesting" then ... forgive any rudeness that may be implied here, I'm not trying to be rude, it is a little bit out of the norm. However, if it's not something that really concerns you, then I guess it shouldn't be anything that concerns anyone else.



The only reason I suggested depression is that the two are commonly related. People who are severely depressed are incapable of feeling pleasure in anything. It's why they're depressed in the first place (which continues making them feel depressed- it's a bit circular). I mean, if you're happy, then that's great. I think it's too easy to confuse being content with being happy though.



You have fun by doing things you enjoy the most. If doing those things doesn't really change your mood much, then yeah, I would have to agree with you not being capable, chemically speaking. But, like you said, you're not worried about it, so no one else really should be either.

My parents introduced alcohol to us all slowly as children, letting us have an occasional small glass of wine with a meal, for example. We always knew to respect it as something that can have mostly negative affects on the body but, in small amounts, can be enjoyable. We grew up with that.

Yes, there were occasions of underage drinking with friends who had managed to smuggle alcohol out of their houses. I seem to remember getting a little bit tipsy with friends in my own house before I left for a couple of school dances. It made the night more fun.

When I was about 16 or 17, we were allowed to leave school premesis to go for lunch. It was a great idea to head to the pub for a swift pint in the garden before we left to go back to school. For me, drinking a pint of beer in the space of half an hour makes my head swim. I'm a lightweight or cheap date, depending on which way you like to look at it. Being tipsy in school taught us to be responsible, despite it being borderline illegal.

That's not to say I haven't ever passed out from drinking or done things I have regretted afterwards, even as a responsible adult of over 18 -- one new year's eve party springs to mind. However, I feel that mistakes need to be made in order to learn one's limitations.

I made a remark about passing out on my birthday, so Priestly asked about if I was going to have a strong drink. I honestly didn't have any alcohol on my birthday. I rarely drink any alcohol because I am cheap, and the only time I have gotten drunk was when I was about six.

Oh yeah, thanks.



I don't find it rude at all. I prefer people be direct with their curiousity, and I don't get bothered by questions (well, reasonable ones). I don't really see any point in worrying about it because it has been this way for over 20 years. It is strange, and I do wonder about it from time to time, but it is all I know.



I don't really get happy either. I do things to try not to be unhappy, and generally speaking I am not. I wind up being unhappy for specific reasons which you would expect to make someone unhappy, not in a depressed sense.

While not having fun or being happy are somewhat alike, I think the reasons are quite different. Fun is just something I don't understand, whereas happiness is something I just don't feel. I look at all the horrible things that happen constantly in the world, and I cannot feel happy overall. I do take pleasure in many things, but overall I just cannot feel good when I know there is so much bad.

It's generally considered the adult thing to do- to take your issues with someone to that someone, instead of whining about how much you think they need to change. Forgive my harshness here, but I'll have to agree with zz, Ixor, and say that I have not seen a single attempt from you to understand where zz is coming from. I used to be in the same boat with you, thinking zz was overly critical, an arrogant jerk, who thought he was smarter than everyone else. However, when I put on my big girl panties and went and talked to him about it, I realized zz is far from arrogant, even if he is critical. He criticizes the things that need criticizing and re-examination, and if he comes across as feeling like he's smarter than everyone else, it's probably because he actually is smarter than most of us in here, in a general book-smart sense of the word. He's not arrogant- if he says something to correct you (or me, or anyone), the adult thing to do would be to accept that you're wrong and move on, instead of flinging accusations and saying that he's trying to single you out and treat you like crap. You're okay with people being people until they start disrespecting other people? Which of us here feels they have been disrespected? I don't. Priestley doesn't. ryuu doesn't (as far as I can tell). Liz I'm not sure about. You're trying to ask zz to change his ways when no one else has a problem with him. If you have a problem with him, take it to him. You haven't tried to understand him because you keep running away from the situation. You keep saying, "I don't want to have this discussion anymore" and following it up immediately with "because he won't change" or "no one's listening to my point of view." Honey, I have been on your side of the situation- I have seen zz from your point of view, and my point of view has changed because I talked to him about my problems with him.

This is effectively stirring up drama, which is the last thing I want in my guild. However, it needs to be said, because my overall point is this: if you have a problem with someone, do not bring it up in the thread, take it to PMs- if you refuse to take it to PMs and address the issue, you have no right to complain, because you refuse to work toward solving the problem. From this day (and I will probably make an announcement in the main thread), personal issues with individual members in the guild are barred from discussion threads. Take it to PMs; I'd say PM me or another crew member, but I'll just say there what I'm saying here: PM the other person and work it out. If the problem with that person is big enough for the captain and crew to notice it, then the captain and crew will deal with it (as I have already done with zz, and realized the issue was in my own perceptions).

Someone talk about something happy.

Kittens?

Well sheesh, I'm not used to having someone stand up for me.



Did I ever explain my idea about the Judgement Day in this guild? I can't remember if I did, so I am going to post it again. The first thing to consider is if Judgement Day never came, eventually humans would die out completely. The sun will eventually not be able to support life, and even if humans went to other solar systems, the universe itself will eventually die to heat death. We can know there is some point in the future at which all human kind would be dead if God did not intervene before then. The second thing to remember is for Judgement Day, it is commonly accepted humans will not know when the end will be.

Imagine the timeline of humans stretched out like a number line. It would have a starting and ending point. Consider that ending point. We know God will not return at that very last point. If time ever reached that point, people would know when God would be coming back, since he would only have that last moment left. Since we know God cannot come back at that point, we can remove it from the number line.

This causes a problem. We now have a new "ending point." The same logic applies to that point as the last one, so we can remove it too. We can repeat this process for the entire numberline, meaning God could never come back during mankind's existence. From this we can conclude Judgement Day will not happen until after all humans are dead.

I've done that before to- come up with things I thought were original ideas, only to realize that someone else already researched it. But it is cool to see that you think on the same level as recognized theorists and such. 3nodding