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Saturday, February 14th, 2009
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Sunday, October 19th, 2008
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Thursday, October 9th, 2008
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Monday, August 11th, 2008
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Things I don't like about me:
-I don't treat people very well
-I don't have the proper perspective on many things
-I don't trust my own decision making and judgment
-When good things or people come my way, I ruin it
-I don't react well to things
-I am mentally sick
-I don't feel comfortable talking or being around most people because of those things as well as
me not liking myself physically
-I'm lazy and immature
-I don't have the motivation to do much of anything
-I'm a hypocrite, and I don't live up to my own standards and ideals
-I get too emotional about things
Things I do like about me:
-NOTHING
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Comments: Read 5 or Add Your Own.
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Thursday, July 31st, 2008
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Most everybody recognizes that theft, killing, and control of others is wrong. How is it then that 99 percent of everybody supports the idea of a government which is defined by those things? It seems to me that the only way people can rationalize things that if done outside of political systems is considered a crime is to view those in government as being on a higher plane of existence than those outside government. In ancient times, government leaders were considered gods and therefore could kill and plunder their subjects since their subjects were of a lesser humanity. The monarchs who were not considered gods justified their unequal status to their fellow humans by way of a supposed divine right by God to rule. The majority of the people might never go for the legalized crime of all taxing monopolistic governments if they were not seen as being the rule of something superhuman. Any regular human claiming such power would be and is seen as the criminals they are and treated accordingly. Today, the institutionalized and systematic theft, slavery, and killing through taxes, war, inflation, and all other forms of property rights violations is justified in the eyes of the masses by way of the deifying of the collective through socialist democratic republics. It works like this. Imagine three people on a deserted island. Two of the three want things done one way, and the third one wants things done another way. The two can't force the third to go along with the other two because that would be a violation of the third one's natural liberty to their person and property. In order for the two to coerce the third to go along with their plans and be justified in their own minds as well as possibly in the mind of the third is to create a superhuman being who by its superhuman status can morally force the third to go along with the other two. They come up with the notion that there is a god like thing called humanity of which they are just a collective part. This mystical collective being's will is expressed through democracy by way of majority vote. Things like socialism, democracy, and republicanism therefore get their sense of legitimacy by the same means that all governments have which is by convincing the masses of the superior nature of the government rulers or the superhuman entity they act on behalf of. I cannot support collectivism in any form. My god is God. Not the false collective humanity.
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Comments: Read 3 or Add Your Own.
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Thursday, June 26th, 2008
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I have a theory which is counterintuitive to most people: the more government there is, the more crime and less security there will be; the less government there is, the less crime and more security there will be.
This theory comes from my different view from most on the origins of government. The common view is that society in its natural state is just a bunch of violent barbarians. By some unexplained and mystical way, a few of those brutes form a government to pacify the other brutes. Apparently, civilization in this view is the result of the magical civilizing force of government emanating across the masses turning savages into fairly peaceful people. How intelligent people could believe such nonsense is a testament to the effectiveness of propaganda. The truth of the matter is that government, rather than being the opposite of what the people actually are, it is in fact a reflection of how the people actually are. It must be a reflection since no government can exist in the long run on force alone. It must be acceptable at least passively to a majority of people. Otherwise, there is revolt and revolution. The character of government is therefore a result of the character and ideas of society in general. If the masses are savage murderers and thieves, the government will be made up of savage murderers and thieves. In other words, if that is the character of society, government is no solution.
The Hobbesian theory that without government, life is violent and short does not take into account the rational nature of human beings. It views people as if they were animals living in a state of nature. There are two ways to gain. Either through peaceful production and trade or through violence. In a society where most people choose the violent means to gain things, they will not, as animals do, steal, plunder, and kill in isolation or in small bands. Since they can reason and think, they will find it in their best interest to gain the affections of the masses or join up with the strongest criminals. The rational nature of human beings will thus always lead violent societies to form governments to better and more effectively institutionalize their actions. The more acceptable crime is to the masses, the bigger and more intrusive the government will be. Massive slavery and theft through taxes, regulations, and wars, and inflation will be seen as acceptable and bringing peace and stability even though it is really the violent actions on a mass scale that government is supposedly set up to counteract. The opposite of common opinion is true. It is not no government which leads to life being brutish and short. It is total government which leads to life being brutish and short. One only has to see the over hundred million people killed by total governments in the past century. Certainly the barbaric societies in Germany, Russia, and China were not the result of too little government since those governments controlled every aspect of society.
If government is based on violent ideas among society, and if the more acceptable violence is to the society, the greater the government will be, this means that the less government there is is an indication of more peaceful attitudes among people. If all government does is tax 1 percent of the economy and only uses those funds to form police and courts, this can only come about because people will only accept that amount of violence, and the government reflects that. If most people accept no violence at all, there will be no government in the sense of one that taxes and monopolizes its actions. Therefore, no government means peace, which means culture, love, charity, and prosperity. In other words, no government means the highest state of civilization. Taxing and monopolistic government is just a criminal gang writ large. So long as most people accept violence, it will exist. If people accept no violence, it will not exist. Government, therefore, is not as most people believe a check on violence and crime. It is in fact rather the institutionalization of that violence and crime. Human nature being what it is, there will always be some in any society who seek the violent means to attain what they want. However, in a society with no taxing government, this means that only the tiniest of minorities seek such a way of life. Crime with no state, particularly violent crime, would be very rare, and most would never encounter it in their lives. As was the case when there was much less government in this country, people could safely and confidently go without locking their doors or being worried about being out alone late at night.
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Comments: Read 17 or Add Your Own.
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Thursday, June 19th, 2008
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"So many times I thought I've been changing,
then slipped into patterns of what's happened before"
Jim Croce from the song "Hey Tomorrow"
Recently I've been trying to make changes. To finally be independent and achieve some sense of self respect. What I have found is that it is extremely difficult. I don't know exactly what is wrong with me. I have been diagnosed with OCD, but I think I must have other things wrong with me as well. Everything for me which is a change, no matter how small, is uncomfortable and causes anxiety which causes problems for me physically as well, such as not feeling like eating. I'm going to keep trying and hopefully I can over time get used to and settle into beneficial changes and then go on from there. Maybe I should just try and do it all at once, but that is overwhelming for me, so I'm going at a more gradual pace and hopefully I can make some progress. I've upped my medication, which causes problems of its own such as making me feel tired more, but I've got to try it. I feel as though I've been robbed of many things due to my disorders, and I'm trying to fight it now for my own reasons. The hardest part is being motivated to do things. I have gotten used to not doing much of anything or ever leaving the house much because everything seems so hard to do. It all has seemed hopeless, and so I haven't even tried until recently. This is a defining moment in my life. As I have posted before, I cannot go on like I have been. If I cannot get better now or in the near future, I fear I never will. If I fail, it will be devastating. Time will tell....
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Comments: Read 2 or Add Your Own.
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Thoughts on the energy crises:
1. The earth and its resources exist for the benefit of humanity. As the Bible says, people are to go forth and subdue the earth. The earth exists to be used and altered to benefit people and improve their well being. It does not exist to just sit there. To say it does would be like giving a child a new bicycle only to not let them ever use it for their gain for fear they may get it dirty or wear it out in some way. In such case, what is the point of making the bike to begin with? I say every drop of oil or any other energy source whether it be offshore, Alaska, or where ever should be drilled for by profit seeking capitalists who either homestead the land to drill or gain it by receiving it voluntarily from previous owners. There should be a completely unrestricted market for oil production as well as for the production of alternative energy sources. Those who think that alternative sources are the way to go should be completely free to invest their own or other investor's money into the production of them. If such ventures are too costly and not profitable, they should not be able to loot others through government to fund them. Forcing people to pay for things of whose costs exceed their benefits only works to impoverish people and only through the market can we know if that is happening or not. Also, it is ridiculous to talk about our addiction to oil. There is nothing wrong with being dependent on something that benefits you. It would be like saying we must stop our addiction to bread and instead eat something else. It doesn't make sense.
2. Stop devaluing the money through the printing and inflating of paper money. Much of the reason for the high cost of oil is due to the weakening dollar due to the inflationary policies of the federal reserve. Abolish the fed and return to a sound currency based on gold and silver.
3. Stop bombing people. Trade and talk to people in the Middle East and everywhere else. Don't threaten and kill people for the stupid and irrational belief that democracy at the point of a gun is going to save the world.
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Comments: Read 1 or Add Your Own.
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Yesterday Brian and I went to Best Buy because he wanted to get a new computer. The sales lady asks him "so do you want a computer to do whatever or to play games?". He said play games, and so she showed him a display model he might like. After looking at that one as well as all the other ones, he had pretty much decided on the one the lady had showed him. He then told her that he had a few questions about it, but first she should tell him if they have any in stock. It turns out they didn't.
This is in case you missed what I just wrote:
Yesterday Brian and I went to Best Buy because he wanted to get a new computer. The sales lady asks him "so do you want a computer to do whatever or to play games?". He said play games, and so she showed him a display model he might like. After looking at that one as well as all the other ones, he had pretty much decided on the one the lady had showed him. He then told her that he had a few questions about it, but first she should tell him if they have any in stock. It turns out they didn't.
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Comments: Read 2 or Add Your Own.
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I'm not a supporter of the Libertarian Party. With any Libertarian Party there is a paradox. If the party is too small, it cannot get elected to much of anything. If it becomes large enough to be a significant player in the political process, power seekers will come to it as a means of gaining power, and the libertarian aspect of it, its sole purpose, will take a backseat to power politics. This is the case with Bob Barr as the Libertarian Party presidential nominee. It is not nearly enough to simply agree with certain aspects of the liberty philosophy. To be a libertarian, one must love liberty. This love of liberty will show itself in the person learning as much as they can in terms of economics, philosophy, and history. It is only these people who can move the message of liberty forward and only these people who deserve support. Barr comes off to me as a libertarian conservative pretender. I have yet to hear him say a single thing about one of the most destructive things the state does, which is central banking. The constant inflating and devaluation of the currency by the federal reserve is the main tool of any all powerful nation state. How is it possible for someone claiming to be a libertarian to not make it either the main or close to main issue of their campaign? Or at least talk about it at all? Also, to love liberty is to despise all militarism and war. Barr claims to oppose the Iraq war, yet speaks of it with not much passion, and I've heard him say nothing of bringing all U.S. troops from all around the world home immediately which any passionate defender of liberty would surely do. What many in the Libertarian Party do is they use the message of liberty as a means to gain power. However, liberty and power are the antithesis of each other. The only way to be successful in gaining power then, if that's one's purpose, is to dilute the message to the point where the candidate is not much distinguishable from any of the other candidates. An example of a true libertarian and true lover of liberty is Ron Paul. Ron Paul is incredibly learned and in his presidential campaign made the federal reserve a central part of his run. He managed to talk about it and put it in pretty much everything he said demonstrating his deep knowledge of monetary policy and history. He also spoke more passionately about the folly of foreign military interventionism than anybody else out there. Since his campaign was not about gaining power but about telling the truth, such radicalism inspired people, he did much better than anyone could have expected, and he sparked a movement which will continue on into the future. Because of Barr's lack of radicalism, his lack of education concerning the free economy, and his residual Republican conservatism, he will not spark the same kind of excitement as Ron Paul did. The Libertarian Party should, if they are what they say they are, at least be able to run the most libertarian candidate out of all the parties. Since Ron Paul is by far the most libertarian and ran as a Republican, the Libertarian Party has not accomplished that. When a Republican is more libertarian than the Libertarian nominee, I think that's pretty sad. It is not enough to just claim to be something. One must demonstrate it. Actions speak louder than words.
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Comments: Read 3 or Add Your Own.
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Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
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Kassi asked people to re-post what was the 42nd post they put on here. This is mine from January 4, 2005. This is supposed to be the meaning of my life, and it actually turned out to go along quite well with that I think. This was it. It was very short. Just a lyric from a Jimi Hendrix song.
"and so castles made of sand fall in the sea...eventually"
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Comments: Add Your Own.
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I usually remember the dreams I have pretty well. I've posted about this before, but the last time I was asleep I dreamed again about being back in high school at the age I am today. This is a reoccurring dream of mine. Either I'm back in college or I'm back in high school. I remember in my last dream thinking how it made no sense for me to be going back to high school. I was thinking about how if I was going to go back to school, it would make more sense for me to be going back to college since I could at least go after a different degree or something. However I had this thing in the dream where I felt I had to keep going and finish out the school year even though it was completely unnecessary. Then there was the other common things that always happen which is that I'm always way behind in some assignment I'm supposed to do, or I can't figure out where I'm supposed to go for my next class. I guess if I were to psycho-analyze this reoccurring dream I would say that there's something about me that wants to go back to school and do it better, yet every time I go back in my dreams it all turns out to be much worse. Maybe there's some kind of message here where I'm being told that I did it as well as I could and could not have done it better. I'm not sure.
I also had a dream that Ivan Drago, the Soviet boxer from Rocky IV, was beating everybody up and threatening to do the same to me. With that in mind, I would like to post some of the press conference in Rocky IV leading up to the tragic fight between Ivan Drago and Apollo Creed.
Russian promoter: You can box yes, but you are far too old to think that you can win over Drago.
Creed: Is that a fact?
Russian promoter: Yes, and it could be a painful one.
Creed: You put that big bag with eyeballs in the ring with me, and you're gonna be the one in pain.
Drago's wife: Why do you insult us?
Creed: Now you just hold on here. Don't make me out to be the bad guy. I came here to talk about a friendly exhibition bout 'till comrade bigmouth showed up.
Russian promoter: I wish to speak to the press in all fairness. Drago should not even fight this man, because he is a has been.
Creed: You put that big chump in the ring right now. Get off of me. Get off of me.
Creed: We're gonna finish this in the ring, and all your puppets that showed up. You history chump, you history.
Creed: How did I do?
Rocky: A bit much for my taste.
Creed: But good?
Rocky: Oh yeah very good.
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Comments: Read 1 or Add Your Own.
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What happened to me Thursday has put me in an anxiety attack that I just can't seem to get out of. The stress has caused me to be in kind of a haze most of the time, and I feel so sleepy like I could go to sleep no matter how much I've already slept. I hope it passes soon.
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Comments: Read 8 or Add Your Own.
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Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
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The cops took her in
that woman didn't need no bail
she wiggled one time for the judge
the judge threw the cops in jail
From "You've got to love her with a feeling"-by Freddie King
I would say Freddie King is my favorite pure blues musician. He was a large man with a large voice who could really play a mean guitar. He played great songs too. Some of my favorites by him are the one mentioned above, "Palace of the king", "Sometime after while", "I'm tore down", "Further on up the road", "I love the woman", "The stumble", and especially "Have you ever loved a woman". Eric Clapton covered "Have you ever loved a woman" for his Layla album, and it's been a concert staple for him ever since then. I hear Clapton and his band have been playing lots of stuff in their concerts from the Layla album. It's a great collection of songs. Clapton plays a lot of songs about being alone, which are kind of my favorite kind of songs since I can really relate to them. The Unplugged album had lots of those kinds of songs like "Running on faith", "Lonely stranger", "Layla", "Old Love", and "Nobody knows you when you're down and out", which I think says as much as any song just in the title. Then there's the song from the From the Cradle album called "Driftin'", which is a cover of an old blues song and a song which could be the theme song of my life.
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Comments: Add Your Own.
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This is my favorite instrumental right now. It's called Manhattan by Eric Johnson. I love the little slide part he does.
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Comments: Read 4 or Add Your Own.
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Is it appropriate for kids to play Grand Theft Auto IV? Considering all the violence and bad language in the game, one would be tempted to say no. However, considering that the character you play puts on a helmet whenever he gets on any kind of motor bike, I would say that makes it an okay influence. Doesn't the lesson of motorcycle safety make up for all the other things?
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Comments: Read 13 or Add Your Own.
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A jasmine is a vine plant. It's flowery and very pretty when it blooms. The problem for the jasmine is that if it grows with nothing for it to grow on, it just lies on the ground and is in danger of being trampled on and mowed over rather than admired for what it is. Thus putting its full potential in jeopardy. What a jasmine needs is something to grow on. Like two wooden posts side by side that the jasmine can grow around and be supported by. When it has this, it is raised off the ground, out of danger, and able to be seen for all its splendor. Rather than being looked over as when it lies on the ground, the posts cause it to be seen. People take notice of it and value it. Also, the wooden posts when supporting the jasmine no longer are seen as being useless things in the way but with the jasmine growing around it are viewed as necessary and having a purpose. One magnifies and enhances the other. People are like jasmines and posts. They can exist on their own but exist is all they do. Without each other, they are unproductive and useless.
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I find myself not feeling very well. Maybe it has something to do with me being up during the day. I find I do much better when I'm up all night and sleep during the day. It's like the world overwhelms me during the day even when I stay inside and go no where. At night there's the feeling that all is shut down and asleep, and it's easier for me to take. I think my situation, aside from my health, is at least partly due to the 100 percent rejection rate in my life from any female I was interested in, and almost the same rejection rate from people I just wanted to hangout with. There seems to be three reasons why I'm in the state I'm in. One is not feeling well. Two is social rejection. Three is not making the most of what I've been capable of doing, so I must take responsibility. I probably could have done better than I have. In terms of the social aspect, I remember when I was a kid, and I was sleeping over at a friend's house with a few other guys. We had just gotten back to the friend's house after being out. The friend was talking on the phone with a girl that had been out at the same place as us. For the sake of interest, the girl was asked on a scale of 1 to 10 how she would rate us guys. She rated all the guys other than me at something like an 8 or 9. She was pretty generous and would try and give the most positive response possible. She gave me a 5 if I correctly recall. After the friend had gotten off the phone, he told me that she had told him to say 5, but that she only went that high to not hurt my feelings. She would have gone lower than that if she would have been completely honest. I knew then as I know now that one person's opinion is just that, and that it doesn't mean it's a fact. Even knowing that I still couldn't shake the suspicion that it was a fact. The girls up until that point had never shown much interest in me. It's interesting how something that would usually be a rather small and insignificant thing can be a defining moment in how a person sees them self in the eyes of others. From that point on, I knew I was below average. How a person looks is a big factor not only in determining their social acceptance but also their financial status and opportunities. An ugly person must be that much better to compensate. Now I never needed anyone to tell me I was ugly for me to know it. When nobody you've ever been interested in wants anything to do with you and you're my age and don't even know what it's like to have someone hit on you or come on to you, that's a pretty good sign. Even the most average or even below average looking people have their share throughout their life of people expressing interest in them. Anyways, I'm 28 now, and I don't look forward to my 30s. The older you get, the harder it gets when you haven't already made anything of yourself. I've seen broken down and messed up ugly aging guys. Most of them are hard drinking smoking types who have a toughness about them and an ability to adapt to misfortune. I'm not like that. I'm too weak.
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Comments: Read 2 or Add Your Own.
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Saturday, April 26th, 2008
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I'm posting this on request from Kassi.
1) Are you currently in a serious relationship? No, I'm not in any kind of relationship
2) What was your dream growing up? to be a great basketball player until I became a teenager and started getting into music; at that time, I wanted to be a great guitar player
3) What talent do you wish you had? I would like to further develop the ones I have or discover ones I didn't know I had
4) If I bought you a drink what would it be? tea or root beer
5) Favorite vegetable? my favorites are corn, green beans, jalapeno peppers, and potatoes
6) What was the last book you read? the last book I read from was America's Great Depression
7) What zodiac sign are you? I don't know
8) Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? Explain where. no on both
9) Worst Habit? too many to name, I'm not sure which is the worst one
10) If you saw me walking down the street would you offer me a ride? not if I didn't know you; if I did know you, still probably not and would instead tell you I saw you on the street the next time I saw or talked to you
11) What is your favorite sport? I like lots of sports with the exception of baseball; it's not that I just don't like baseball, I actually actively despise it; I rarely watch sportscenter during this time of year just to avoid seeing baseball highlights; I wouldn't mind if baseball players went on strike, well, forever; my favorite sports would be football and basketball
12) Do you have a Negative or Optimistic attitude? I'm a hopeful pessemist
13) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me? if I didn't know you,I would do the same thing I would do if I were in the elevator alone; I'm not a very sociable person and would assume you were not either; if I knew you, I would of course say something to you
14) Worst thing to ever happen to you? I'm not sure
15) Tell me one weird fact about you. I'm 28 and I've never been on a date
16) Do you have any pets? I have a dog named Martha and there's a cat that lives here that we feed; it's been living here for almost 2 years, so I guess it's ours now; we just call it kitty
17) What if i showed up at your house unexpectedly? I would probably be asleep
18) What was your first impression of me? it depends on who you are; if you're Kassi, I thought you were very interesting and easy to be around; I like your piano playing
19) Do you think clowns are cute or scary? they're annoying
20) If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be? I'm a train wreck as far as that goes; I've got something in mind, but I won't type it here
21) Would you be my crime partner or my conscience? conscience, although you may be able to get me in to trouble if you try hard enough
22) What color eyes do you have? blue
23) Ever been arrested? no
24) Bottle or can soda? bottle
25) If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it? whatever I wanted to; I would probably save most of it and try and figure out how to turn it into more
27) What's your favorite place to hang at? I don't have a place I really hang at
28) Do you believe in ghosts? it depends on what you mean by ghosts; I do believe in spiritual things
29) Favorite thing to do in your spare time? play music, look stuff up on computer, watch tv, think, read books, eat-whatever can be done at home
30) Do you swear a lot? not a lot
31) Biggest pet peeve? when it rains, and the weather people on television act like it's a natural catastrophe
32) In one word, how would you describe yourself? sad
33) Do you believe/appreciate romance? I've never personally encountered it
35) Do you believe in God? Yes
36) Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you? I just did
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bashow's journal