I stayed up having a beer with my dad last night -It's so great to see him. My parents came in to town to watch our kids/house while my wife and I go out of town. A friend from High School/College is getting married this weekend in Memphis, so we are headed to TN. I've never been to Memphis before, not sure what to expect. It's our 10 year wedding anniversary this weekend and I had a big night out planned at a fancy restaurant (in memphis) and my wife said, "nope, I want to get some cheese, fruit and champagne and stay in our hotel room all night." -I'm totally, completely and 100% cool with this. You know how each anniversary has a specific type of gift you are supposed to give? Well, this year is diamonds. DOH! -I have a good friend that is a smithy in Ann Arbor and she helped me find something nice for my bride. A common complaint from my wife is that I have more attention to detail in my business life than I do in our personal life. It's true. So, I put together a powerpoint presentation of the state of our marriage: Where we started, where we are and where we are headed. It's pretty cool, I think she'll appreciate it. 10 years. It really is amazing. I'm looking forward to some time alone. That said, I'll be away from Hubski starting tomorrow till about Monday. I'll probably have a few moments here and there to check in, but have a great weekend everyone.
That awkward moment when you laugh out loud in a starbucks, sitting alone at a table.
You're getting hosed, homeboy. The traditional 10 year gift is aluminum or tin. That diamond thing is a recent cash grab by the inventors of such brilliant ideas as Sweetest Day and the like.
Oh, don't worry, the band is made of tin and the "diamonds" are a painted aluminum alloy. She'll never know.
I thought about this too. Here's my conjecture: the librarians are only archiving what people do, not suggesting what they should do. They probably see in periodicals and the like what trends are now being observed, and they are studiously documenting. That, or some enterprising librarian whose 10th anniversary was approaching is pulling a fast one on her husband.
I appreciate you giving librarians the benefit of the doubt. Who ever heard about librarians on the take. On the other hand, the fictional librarian Lillian of Hubskina is sending a bunch of Heros of Hubski to Tidder -- she's probably on the take. Don't trust her. eightbitsamurai
It is also my parents' anniversary this weekend! The 6th. My mom is taking my dad to a Dallas Cowboys game. He is a lifelong fan but he has never seen them live. At first he was very blase about it but I think it's a perfect gift, especially as she doesn't give a shit about football, and now apparently he is getting excited. That means that I get the house to myself this weekend! Nothing crazy planned, no parties or anything, but it will be very nice. I hope you have fun TNG. And I hope your wife is like "Honey I didn't tell you I wanted to stay in the hotel room so I could watch a powerpoint presentation" and then pulls you around by the tie, and graceful fade out
The powerpoint thing made me laugh, but it's cute. I think she'll get a kick out of it. And congrats on 10 years :)
Yesterday morning I woke up, tired and excited. It was the day I have to give my 10 min about my master's thesis to the group I applied for a PhD thesis at. I practiced my talk a lot, I did't want to repeat my mistakes from my thesis defense (they did not like my discussion part). Still, I was anxious, I had to prove to myself that I can make it... I woke up 4 hours before the set time, planned my travel time to be there half an hour earlier. Went through my talk again and went out of the house with some Alt-J on my ears, to calm me down. Of course it was a mess. I had to change my train twice, making me miss my connection etc. I was late, and I was worried. This is germany, being on time is probably one of the most important values, and I am fucking it up already. I talked to the Prof., he said its okay, I arrived, surprised that there was no one in the room. Phew. I had time to check if my slides were fine and have some smalltalk with the Prof. before he called his PostDocs in for the talk. And then I switched to english, and things went smoooooth, very smooth. They liked me. He did, his PostDocs did and his Docs too. And I like them too!!! He asked me when I want to start... Wait a minute, 2 weeks ago I was confused, no direction, looking for advice what to do. And then I stumble into something that just turns out to be amazing! WTF?? Does it work like this? I am lucky. He told me it will take some time till my contract was set etc. so I wouldn't be able to start working before next month. And there I decided, I am flying back to Israel for 3 weeks. Eid al-Adha is on saturday and I know my parents would be happy if I was there to celebrate with them :) So, a few hours later I booked the flights, for the same night. And so I found myself watching the sun rise over Istanbul while listening to Tycho's Awake, one of those moments I would probably never forget. In less than 24 hours, I went from cold Düsseldorf in Germany to the warm and slightly windy Nablus in the heart of Palestine... Everyone is shopping for the holiday. The streets are crowded with young guys selling toys, clothes, fruits and sweets. It wakes a specific feeling inside of me that reminds of my childhood. This ability to induce this feeling is long lost at my hometown in Israel but I always find it in the Westbank :) Two crazy days, and I feel happy and ecstatic. Somehow, alive...
I have started running again. I hate running; I like having run. Heading to SF later this month for reasons; maybe I will stay on and do some LA for other reasons. Please keep your Ebola in check until after I leave thank you. Plotting novel. Diagram looks like an angry spider. This winter I will write. I'm about to spend a year saying yes to everything and seeking higher states of work. This may involve surgical removal of the internet.
I have started running again too! Yesterday was my third day. I did a little over a mile. About 1.2, I think. I'm very bad at it. Don't say yes to everything, though. Or else: Hey! Complexity! Come to an undisclosed location in NE USA and do some rolls[1] with me! [1]While this is referring to something edible, it is not referring to bread.
I wholeheartedly recommend Novamind and Scrivener, which I'm pretty sure are both cross-platform. If you do hit LA, a mini-meetup with myself, insomniasexx and I'm pretty sure a couple-three others I'm forgetting might be in order.
Scrivener I may turn to; I've been using other tools for screenplays. Let's see if my serial number from 2007 works... Novamind looks intriguing and probably more in line with the structure. Thanks for that. LA minimeet. If I'm there, let's do it.
You could go with Final Draft, Complexity, but the entirety of Hubskina was written in Scrivener so I think we have a clear winner here. If you're looking for free, Adobe Story and Celtx both are. I wanted to try Final Draft but the price tag made my wallet cry in pain and hide behind my computer monitor in fear of use.
Yeah, for screenwriting FD is my last resort for back and forth between me those who demand it; and after the feature free 'upgrade' pricing debacle and the hilariously awkward Scriptnotes episode with the FD guys who have now become a running gag between Craig and John, I'm pretty much done with it. Actually, since I found Fade In Pro I haven't looked back. Light, agile, modern and just gets out of the way for a draft. I think it lacks the annotated versioning/change tracking of FD but that's so much later in the development process (and such a specific type of studio writing) it doesn't really affect me at the moment. Celtx was always a nice idea but slow and unwieldy (cutting and pasting multi-page sequences into a 110 page doc was like waiting for the pitch drop experiment to happen). I didn't like having to be online to generate a paginated preview on their servers and the increasing move to cloud shenanigans was not for me. Never really played around with Story. I'm doing a lot of scratch drafts in Fountain, anyway, so I can use anything.
Fuck, dude, if I weren't under NDA I could tell you so many things about the features you were almost cursed with...
I am drinking Soylent. My wife and daughter have been in China for a week. I finished the upstairs room in our garage, wired her playhouse with electricity, and painted the horse on a spring that was in our yard when we moved in. I feel very productive.
I started working on my resume for the first time in an embarrassingly long time. I kinda hate updating my resume. While working on it, I had an epiphany that I'm not sure I want to work for a company that wants to see my resume. That probably doesn't make any sense and sounds overly idealistic. Oh well… LinkedIn is next...
For real I'll look at it, help format/spell, and give my opinion on what should/shouldn't be there. Helps if you can provide career goals and shit. PM me and I'll getcha an email address. Credentials: I've gotten every job I interviewed for except two. Don't know how much that says about my resume skills really? But it can't hurt? I've also helped a number of people w/resumes over the past year.
Yo, Linkedin is bomb though. I got offered a job at Apple as a technical writer because of that thing, and another job as a technical writer in downtown Denver. I believe I read that the same thing was true for thenewgreen. Give it shot, it might actually work out for ya.
How did you pull that off? I've keep my Linkedin updated and have 65 connections already, so I'll be in a good position when I graduate. Is there something you need to do to get the most out of it, certain people you need to get to or is success something that just happens to you?
I've gotten 2 jobs through LinkedIn, by which I mean literally just by having a profile on linked in. Recruiters reached out and I figured their offers were interesting enough that I decided to follow up on them. I think the industry matters a lot but beyond that, if you're in the right industry, you ain't gotta do nothin' but look good on paper and interview well.
I only have 31 connections, but the job I'm correctly working as - Technical Writer - is apparently in high demand, which I believe has more to do with it than anything else. So I assume the sales recruiter just saw my current job and decided to contact me. So I think the real thing is to post as much of your experience on there as possible, and make sure it's as up-to-date as possible, just because you never know. Sorry, I know that's vague, but I hope it helps.
So it is more of the it-could-work-out-by-chance kinda things. By the way, the wiki on technical writer uses a Vonnegut line to explain it, which is just fantastic: "...trained to reveal almost nothing about themselves in their writing. This makes them freaks in the world of writers, since almost all of the other ink-stained wretches in that world reveal a lot about themselves to the reader."Kurt Vonnegut described technical writers as:[2]
Yeah, definitely don't exclude it as an option, but definitely don't count solely on it either. Technical Writing is so awesome, I'm glad I got to try it out. Been doing it for 2ish years now and it's interesting and something I'm good at it. And it's applicable to all sorts of different scenarios too.
Tech writers are those that are capable of churning out content about things that are really not interesting. You get more points for being descriptive and thorough than you do for being engaging. If you wanted to be a tech writer, veen, all you would need to do is point prospective clients at veenspace. Although I'd aim higher if it were you. Tech writing isn't that conceptual and the stuff you do is a lot more director-level shit.
Very true. LinkedIn helped me secure a career earning 3X what I was previously earning. I owe that site big time.
How do you people do that. I have a full profile, 250ish connections and am yet to get anything out of it.
I had 3+ years of sales experience prior to this happening. A sales recruiter contacted me, I then had a series of about 6 interviews before getting the gig. I had to work for 3 years doing shit jobs to qualify for my first sales job, then I had 3 years in that job to kick ass and win EVERY award the offer. Then I got to the big leagues. It takes time and grinding it out. There's no way around it in most cases.
Wow, that's way different than I was expecting. My friends who are even remotely involved with software/comp sci/and similar professions are basically having jobs thrown at them on LinkedIn. I shoulda picked a more in demand major.
Did that earlier this week. Sitting in class in a suit waiting to go to my colleges career fair. I'm not a fan of these kind of things, and understand your resume sentiment. LinkedIn is weird.
The only good things to come out of it are I have a new pair of sunglasses and probably an interview with Anheuser-Busch. And maybe Green Mountain Coffee. Yay.
I've always skipped career fairs. One of my classes even gives credit for going to it. That said even the teacher that gives credit for it says it's a joke. I have a job and time I'm spending screwing around with HR people at a school fair that has no relevance to me is time I'm not getting paid for.
Might as well tell someone. I'm seriously considering dropping out of college and living on my own for a year or two. Family and personal circumstances are dragging me down, depressions affecting my academics and I'm in the middle of imploding. The thought of dropping out is scary and therapeutic at the same time. I just have to decide whether to go the route prescribed for me or try something different. I have a big decision coming up in my life and I'm still not sure what fork in the path I'll be taking.
I dropped out of college in 2010 after 1.9 years. If you ever want to talk, PM me. thenewgreen did something similar, but went back to finish when he hit a ceiling at this job. Here's some slightly related threads:
Quiet you! You're an exceptional person with exceptional skills and drive. Maybe rene is too; I wouldn't have a clue. But I do know that playing the odds, it's better to finish college than not. You shouldn't try to generalize your case to everyone, because most people can't do what you do (I mean this as the highest compliment, so don't read it as me scolding you for giving bad advice). Stay in school. Don't use drugs.
For the record, I wouldn't recommend taking the path either...but sometimes it works and certainly it helps to see other perspectives regardless. I'm still too young and it hasn't been long enough to know if I will regret the decision yet.
For the record, since I was shouted out, I would never suggest taking my route. I very much wish I had finished the first time around. I regret that decision.
I left for two years in the middle of my undergrad. It was a very positive experience for me. I don't think taking a year to get your shit together is necessarily a bad thing. But, a degree is a serious asset, so don't burn bridges. IMO sometimes when you are making a decision, it helps to imagine yourself 10-20 years down the line. That time will come sooner than you think. Try to consider what that future you would have preferred you to do. Best of luck.
Thank you for the response. Do you mind me asking what you did for those two years and why you decided to take the break in the first place? My tentative plan if I drop out is to save up for a few months and then try to get my old job touring with Cirque du Soleil around the country. I feel like future me would appreciate the experience, even if that makes me delay my "career" a few years.
I worked in a hardware store in Cambridge MA, partied very hard, and enrolled at the Harvard Extension School, taking a classes on James Joyce, Playwriting, Chemistry, and Neurobiology. I don't think I completed the last two. I walked out of my Neurobiology lab final because I was about as prepared for it as you likely are at this moment. I finished up the hiatus with a road trip across the US on which I read Broca's Brain and Gödel, Escher, Bach. The time was transformative for me. It wasn't until some time after I re-enrolled that I started making what I consider to be progress, but without that break, I wouldn't be where I am at today. I think the important thing for me, was that I knew all along that it was a temporary detour, and that it wasn't a lifestyle that I wanted to settle into. That was a freeing aspect of it.
I'm in the same boat as you, currently I'm unable to pay the remaining tuition and I'm under the threat of being "kicked out" (its kinda of a gray area). Even if i do pay this semester, it makes me think on how I am going to be able to pay next semester and the one after that and so on. I'm terrified beyond words whats going to happen to me if it turns out that I can't continue my schooling. Its pretty much the only way that I can ensure to have any type of a successful future. Obviously there's other paths to take in life but just the thought of them is another weight in my already heavy head. The only that I know for sure is that it's how going to work out somehow, I don't how but it will even if it means delaying the path that I want. As for you, I could only wish you well and hope that everything goes well for you.
Francesca is a kick in the pants. The new fuel map gets over 150 miles to the tank, which is spectacular, because my daily commute is now 34 miles one way and it sucks hitting the gas station every.damn.day. I have replaced the tygon reservoir lines with EPDM, which means they are no longer sweating brake fluid, but my $20 "lie-zoma" brake reservoirs that I bought from China to save $250 on the real thing are steadily turning into cottage cheese because surprise! Chinese scammers don't use brake-fluid-proof plastic in their products. So that's a drag. I switched from AT&T to T-mobile last week so my iMessages aren't working, but that's okay because I switched from an iPhone 4S in Otterbox to a Oneplus One in leather about an hour ago. The new iPhone is stupid large, there are none smaller, so fukkit we'll go large. And T-mobile was willing to sell me a 6plus for $40 a month... which I checked the same day that Nissan offered to lease me a Versa for $59 a month, thereby putting "phone" and "FUCKING CAR" in the same budget category and banishing all thoughts of crazy-fucking-expensive phones from my life forever. Because you know what? A fucking phone shouldn't cost more than a goddamn Mac Mini. And you know what else? After two years, the iPhone 6plus and the lease on the Versa will both be worth exactly $0 so fuck that shit. And I switched my phone, and I'm switching out my wallet, and I'm switching out my keys, and I wondered why the fuck I feel the need to fuck with every single one of my accessories all of a sudden and then I realized I'm turning fucking 40 in three weeks. So. Earning that weather station one day at a time, I guess. 40 is the old age of youth; 50 is the youth of old age. - Voltaire
I wasn't very responsive yesterday, but that was a picture of "my bar" that I sent. My friend and I decided to go drinking directly after I got off work. I've decided pretty firmly to never do that again. It ensures that you get literally nothing done for the rest of the day - unless you opt to have, like, two beers, I guess.
KB, why would you do this to yourself? There are some things you should not cheap out on, and the things that are between you and the ground (Beds, shoes, and motorcycles for example) are some of those things.but my $20 "lie-zoma" brake reservoirs that I bought from China to save $250 on the real thing are steadily turning into cottage cheese because surprise! Chinese scammers don't use brake-fluid-proof plastic in their products. So that's a drag.
Man, that sounds awesome! Give her my best. Is she on Hubski? Now I want sushi. Must have sushi.
I still quite like it here in Canada. Loving the radio station, and I'll be going hiking this weekend with the Outdoors club. One of the things I never thought I'd enjoy so much is all the freedom I have. Except for the daily lectures, I don't have any obligations. It's very liberating. If I feel like doing something, I just do it. So, Hubski, do you feel free in your life?
Submitted my first first-author scientific paper this week, feels good to finally have it out the door. Now I'm casting about for a new direction I'd like to work in... Plus some reading for the soul, I'm surprised that I've never seen anyone on here give this book some loving.
I mentioned it before during IRC but I have no idea what I want to do in terms of a degree right now so I'm not in the beeest place in that regard. I know it's not Computer Science, which sucks considering how much of my life I threw at it, but, whatever. Talking with my Therapist has been nice, especially because my decision stems from a LOT of baggage from earlier in my life that I needed to talk out with someone anyways. Going to see apparently our school's very best Advisor later this week, just to consider my options. I don't actually feel bad, though. Recognizing that I don't want to do this has made me much, much happier, even if it changes things for me. And other than that, things are pretty good. Super Smash Bros. comes out on Friday (HYPE), I love my current job, I plan on volunteering with my College Radio soon, and it is Eid-Al-Fitr, which means I get to fast on Friday and then celebrate the Holiday with the Mom and Sister Units. Huzzah.
I talked to an advisor at school halfway through my first degree and she helped me a lot. It is weird how baggage from past times can influence your decisions even when you thought that there is no connection. Fasting a day before the Eid, is it typical for your community? Here it's rather rare to do that
I like the fact that the family is kinda forced to sit on one table and eat. Usually everyone eats whenever he/she gets home. I don't do Ramadan in europe. It gets dark at 11pm in germany >< and doing it alone sucks Never thought to fast when stressed, should try it sometime. How long do you fast for when you do that?
Same as any regular Ramadan day, but depending I might allow myself water. It really puts things into perspective for me. Also I TOTALLY hear you about doing it alone, it's garbage. There a local mosque you could check out to do it? I know mine has community iftars every day of Ramadan.
Mitigating tension between friends in a business context is harder than I expected. But at least I expected it. The secretary to the CEO of Wounded Warrior called last week. Said we should expect a call from the CEO this week. Still waiting... A state senator offered to inaugurate our Veterans Day event. It wasn't supposed to be a full-fledged event, with things going on other than dental care, but it is now. I feel like I haven't been allowed to catch my breath in weeks. I keep going to bed earlier and earlier (down to 9:30PM now) and waking up at 6AM still exhausted. But at least I can watch the sun rise every morning. I'm exhausted.
About sleep... I don't know what your habits before sleeping are, but if in the last 2 hours before going to bed it involves any watching/reading on screens, it could influence your sleep negatively. For that I reccomend f.lux, try it out, it seems weird at first but could help. Next, how many hours do you sleep ? A normal sleep cycle is around 1.5 hours long. If this is interrupted, you will feel tired even though you have slept enough. The trick is to use that knowledge when setting up alarms/deciding when to go to sleep. Assuming it takes you half an hour to fall asleep, from what you mentioned above you sleep 8 hours. Try heading to sleep half an hour later and wake up at 6, getting 5 sleep cycles in, and see if that works better. Keep in mind, more is not always better. 9 hours of sleep seem to be unnecessary, 6/7.5 are ideal. I hope this helps, sleep well :)
I'm also a big advocate for turning down the temperature/turning on a fan when heading to bed. Humans are supposed to sleep better when our bodies are cooler - in the 60-67 degree range from what I've read. It does make getting up in the morning both harder and more bracing.
Can't explain the torture of last month when the temperature hung around the 100s. I have no a/c, and my house traps heat and humidity like you wouldn't believe. Two fans were barely enough to keep the sweat off me. I wouldn't be surprised if this played a big role in screwing up my sleeping. Thank fuck that heat is (hopefully) gone until 2015.
I have a pretty consistent schedule that involves no electronics past 9:00pm and a half hour to 1 hour of reading before I try to sleep. I used to use flux prior to this rule I set for myself. I will try adjusting my schedule toward 6 hours of total sleep. Thanks :)
We had our first successful meeting as new founded company (that's all part of a student project we have to do). Hopefully our plan will work out And I want to learn Rust - note I want and have the motivation, but then it seems like, I can do so many things and I never find the time for it Oh, and next week a short internship starts and my prof wants a report :/
So I think I'll start using the #rsls tag to post weekly music snippits and things related or unrelated to the Russian Sex Lizard Satellite EP. From now until 2015, the gf is working every weekend so it's just me and the cat for two days. Better use that time and get some creative stuff cooking.
I love that someone is more into the Russian Sex Lizard Satellite than I am. Also, the RSLS has been a running joke with me and a friend (slash loser boy who wants to fuck me slash don't ask but he's a jerk slash i totalled MY car on a deer going to see him one night and he didn't even offer to come help me deal with it ? slash refugee what is wrong with you slash back to topic) and I'll definitely be telling him about it. So you have like, definitely 1.5 fans already. Devoted fans.
I got 3 hours of sleep last night, and I feel fantastic. The 2.5 cups of coffee I had this morning probably didn't hurt. Also I don't know what to do with my life. I'm thinking I want to major in Poli Sci, Philosophy, and/or Music, but idk which ones. I think if I majored in Poli Sci I'd want to go into Internet policy (maybe after grad school). And obviously with music I want to play drums for a living. Philosophy I just want because I like philosophy (so that might be a minor). How does one decide?
galen - go to a university that doesn't make you declare a major for two years. Take as much of everything as you can until you fall in love with something. You are only 12. You don't need to decide yet. OK maybe 14. or 15. or just turned 16. I don't know, maybe 16.5.
I don't feel that there is a good way to decide prior to diving in. I did it via process of elimination. Unless you're doing STEM, it doesn't matter so much for the first two years of college anyway. That's your best opportunity to narrow it down.
I have a crush on a bartender. This is, in my opinion, "Like, really bad." He may have a crush back on me. After I told him that I, too, loved horror movies, H. P. Lovecraft, and indeed wrote a senior research paper on Lovecraft (and King and Poe) he asked me if I was trying to make him fall in love with me. In fact, he has been repeatedly stating that he thinks he's falling in love with me. But let's be rational: this is all in the context of a bar, where he is on one side and I am on the other, so those words don't mean what they look like they mean in black-and-white type in a comment box in this corner of the Hub-sphere, the internet, the world. But today, I'm rereading the Mountains of Madness. Last week I watched Out of the Past at his recommendation. Next week or this weekend I'll watch Kiss Me Deadly at the same. It's a bad case, I'm afraid. I've been avoiding the bar to prevent the crush from developing. Yesterday, he made me blush. It's happening and I'm grappling with it, so I'm sharing it with you all.
Ask him if he wants to go see a movie. No harm there.
I think part of the issue is that I am not particularly interested in having a crush in the moment and slightly terrified of dating. I am more interested in killing the crush. (Not literally.) In addition, if we were to date, we'd become the subject of much gossip. And if we were to break up, it would ruin the bar for me. But I do appreciate the sentiment of encouragement. My current plan is to discuss controversial topics/important topics with him and see if our views differ horrendously on any in such a way that will make him less attractive in my eyes. So feminism is going up on the list. Which at minimum will be a fun conversation either way, you know, right?
To be fair, sometimes my opinions on feminism run controversial (but on the more liberal side of the spectrum, as opposed to more conservative). But I've had problems with finding out people were, well, kind of anti-feminist, weeks into dating them. I am trying to think what else I can discuss: gun rights (but I'm pretty sure he and I will agree on them based on passing remarks); abortion (no idea). We've briefly discussed religion/spiritualism before and he falls on the more esoteric side of the spectrum but I could bring it up again. I already know where he falls on drug use. So come on guys, what else can I come up with? It's true that the down side of this approach is he may end up being perfect and I'll fall in love with him...but I doubt it :)
So, feminism I can see as a dealbreaker, because that's a human rights and equality issue. I don't think anyone need be educated on the particulars of various aspects of academic feminist theory to appreciate the fact that we should all be equals in society. As for the other "issues", who gives a shit? They're hot button political controversies that shouldn't get in the way of getting along with someone. Some of my best friends are conservatives. It's good to be close with people who don't agree with you, because, provided they're intelligent and engaged, you can have really good conversations with them. Anyway, that's beside the point. One's humanity doesn't begin or end with how they feel about the reigning distraction of the day. Edit: My point is that you shouldn't deny yourself potential happiness based on arbitrary positions about arbitrary issues. I'm rooting for you; not telling you you're wrong, if that isn't clear.
well HELP ME OUT WITH THAT edit: Also, stance on abortion is a personal dealbreaker for me, although it also happens to be a hot button political topic, due to my own experiences. So, yes, it qualifies, but I would not be able to date someone who did not believe abortion was not/should not be an option (for women everywhere).
Fair enough. I remember reading a thing you wrote about abortion a long time ago, and I can see why you feel that way. I mainly meant that the news, our peers, politicians, etc, all make us think that what's important is that we take a stand, have an opinion, that our value to society is less if we don't make a choice on the things they tell us we should be making choices about. What if I happen to not give a fuck about guns? Then what? Should those who are passionate about guns rights or gun control think less of me as a person? Can I not still pick you up from the airport, listen to you when you're having trouble, and have a good laugh with you, because I don't think this or that issue affects my life to the point that I have to make a choice about it? That's my point. Whether we care about each other matters so much more to me than whether we care about issues. If you find someone who cares about you and treats you like you feel you deserve to be treated, then forget the political stuff.