I retired Greenspan. That is all. : )

Gave me a sub for Christmas! Go visit him and see his writings! I COMMAND YOU.

I'm feeling good this year, overall, despite some things happening lately. All the gifts I sent arrived early, I've got a bunch of days off, and my BF is happy. I couldn't ask for more.

The internet makes you stupid. Because I've been holding this in for a long while, and I feel that I should let it all out. I'm gonna rant about everything I can think of until I either crash into a wall or run out of gas. All items will be bulleted, blue for the issue and red for the explanation, becuase there's this strange compulsion within me to be orderly.

[NOTE OF WARNING]
If you're the sensitive type and may believe that some of this applies to you... well, then, it's not really my fault that you happen to feel guilty about something. If you're doing your best to improve, then I wouldn't ask anything else of you. Also, I'm gonna curse in this thing, because I'm Southern in a very big way. Kay? Kay. On to the glorious bitching!

Furries.
That's right, furries. It may seem like a big bucket of 'wtf' for me to complain about them, but holy DAMN on a DAMN CONTAINER OF SOME FASHION, they piss me off! For every one level-headed, intelligent, reasonably stable personality in this fur fandom, there's at least 20 bastards out there who are either a) social rejects who've never been touched in their lives and now try to overcompensate on the internet, b) sarcastic assholes who are wrapped up in so many layers of irony they believe said sarcasm is the truth in any argument or c) overbearing people who do not know the limits of another person or when to quit. If everyone you meet regardless of their walk of life has a problem with you, it's quite possible that the rest of the world is not just stupid for not realizing that you're special or whatever.

Quasi-subtle Narcissists.
These tend to piss me off in a way that's not immediately rectifiable, because most often they mean well and just have no fucking clue why no one wants to talk to them. Well, here's something that you can learn by either buying or borrowing How to Win Friends and Influence People (which is a sadistic little piece of reading depending on who you are, but I still recommend it): People, as a rule, do not want to go out of their way to talk about you. They don't know you as well as you know you. They want to talk about themselves. This is a difficult loop if you haven't exactly been social at all in your life, but if you monitor your conversations somewhat to think about the other person and what they may want to talk about instead of centering the conversation around yourself, you may find better results. Try it out.

Prejudice (racism, sexism, whateverism)
This gets me because it's two-fold. First, are the people who are prejudiced against a certain group of people. Let me tell you something; if you hate a group of people because they are from said group of people and are completely unwilling to give that individual person a chance to state their case, you're an extremely self-limiting fuck. Just ask anyone. And denying it won't do you any good, because you obviously haven't ever seriously considered it before. Having a friend who is black, female, gay, whatever, does NOT exempt you from being an ignorant jerk! I've known MANY people who are two-faced about things concerning their friends and prejudices, holding the poison in their blood but biting their tongues because they think they can change or ignore that part of them. You'll have to confront it sometime.
Second, are the people who are fighting against the prejudice. Believe it or not, I have grievances there, as well! If you want to convince others that their stereotypes are wrong, you do NOT enforce an artificial insertion of your culture. If you want to convince others that you're just as capable, you do NOT ask for anything based off of your group situation. If you want to convince others that you are a normal, functional person, you do NOT march down Times Square in a purple thong singing Gloria Gaynor while people are staring at your ugly, hairy ass. How does any of this make things better?!

"So what? It's just the internet."
And you're just an asshole. Go join your other asshole friends and knock down a mailbox like you did in middle school, moron. You're on the same level as prank callers, fire-alarm pullers and bomb threat makers. What the hell is your problem that you think you're so damned funny being an obstacle?

Picky requesters/art collectors.
You know, I love to make art for everyone to have. It's not the best on the internet, and holy damn I make a new blatant mistake every picture, but I do it anyway because people seem to like it. Occasionally I offer to do requests, too, because I remember what it was like not being able to draw ANYthing (hell, it was what, four years back? ) but wanting to see something in particular. I don't even put up a fuss about that 'art theft' crap; take it! Steal it, post it, trace it, color it, do whatever you want! The only thing I ask in return... is that you not be a picky bitch. If you've got a valid complaint or suggestion or want to have at least a semi-serious debate with me, start up the van and let's party! But if you're going to leave some stupid-assed comment about how I didn't particularly pique your interest with one picture out of the many, MANY wide interests I cover, or a slight alteration would've given you your jollies and you're disappointed, do me a big favor and DO NOT BITCH ABOUT IT! You're not paying for this crap, I'm taking time out of MY day and not doing something else that could benefit me more just to share something I thought maybe others would like. It's not like I'm doing a huge community service, but the only inconvenience you receive is not particularly liking that one card in the whole pack. Guess what? I'm a freak. I like a little bit of everything, and if you don't, then play it safe and don't come along! I'm not forcing you to look at it.

Alan Greenspan.
And they appointed a new Greenspan. He's no longer Mr. I-could-destroy-the-economy. That totally ruins every joke I had of him.

This is an exercise for everyone. I want you to sample any random conversation you have, online or in real life, look through it and find how many times you've said the word "I" in it.

Post the number in this journal and tell me what you think it means.

Yep, I'm nineteen. Had a great birthday. Pigged out on freaking crab legs and steak. Ugggghhh, mah bellay is in pain and I couldn't care less.

Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. You rock.