Trust the Ferret, the Ferret is Wise

So, a high school in Mississippi canceled their prom because a girl wanted to bring her girlfriend, and wear a tux. Seriously.

Now, I admit I didn't go to many school dances when I was in HS, and that was what, like a decade ago now, but I know people came to our proms with people of the same sex, generally two guys or two ladies who didn't have dates. And I know of women who came in tuxes, and by brother wore a skirt one yet (Yeah, okay, a kilt, but still), so the idea of dress codes that say guys have to wear tuxes and ladies have to wear dresses alone just strikes me as weird anyway. And isn't girls dancing with each other because there's lots of guys too shy to ask them to dance like, a staple of the high school dance experience?

Hey. Yeah, it's been a while. Bit of dust on this old place. Well, old in internet age, this LJ'll be five and a half in... Huh. The archive says the first post was in May, 2004, but I KNOW there were earlier ones, saying stuff like "This is just here for me to watch other people's LJs" and we know how that turned out. So, about five and a half years, we'll say. It's close enough. But that's just a number, not really a milestone. I'll get to those in a minute.

First though, I wanted to apologize to people, for not being around much, and not being around or talking to people much for the last while. Maybe a year. Part of the blame I can place easily on being busy, what with everything that's gone on. I'm back in school studying engineering, for about another year after this semester. I moved hundreds of miles, got a new job, got an apartment, got married, etc. So, a lot going on, and intermittent net access through it all. And I've barely mentioned most of that here. Which is what I feel a little weird about. I haven't mentioned much of that here at all, or anywhere, really. Haven't been able to be online and talk with people as much as I used to. That and I don't often talk about myself (which is why I've had a blog for five years, uh huh.) But I wanted to apologize to everybody for not being around, though I don't know how much that's going to change, 'cause I'm still busy.

Two of those reasons I'm busy are the milestones I mentioned in the title. The first? Last Monday, I turned 30. Which on the one hand is just a number, and doesn't seem very important, but on the other hand is made into this big huge thing culturally. And the other thing is we're buying a house. Despite these, I don't really feel like a responsible adult though. And I'm back in school, but there's far worse places to be, and I'm lucky I landed my internship when I did, and have been able to keep it. But I still find myself thinking things like "I wanna be a Science Hero when I grow up!" Or, in other words, this XKCD. Though I haven't made lego buildings in a while. My legos are in Virginia.

So what's the plan? Get moved, and finish school, and the rest I'lm taking by ear right now. Gonna have to start looking at finding jobs and taking the FE exam and that sort of thing soon, but not yet. Responsible Adultness? Well, gonna have to keep faking it. And try and get out more, instead of just letting responsibilities become excuses not to do the rest of the stuff I need to do. Cut back on the empty calories of flash game distractions and spend more time catching up with people I know. Send letters, the actual physical kind, 'cause it's really cool to get stuff besides bills and spam in the mail. Just need to figure out how to make the time, I've got two half-finished letters that've been sitting around for months.

Okay, so this one program I'm using for this research project?

It's written in FORTRAN.

Seriously.

From Slacktivist, in a post about some Southern Baptists trying to pull their kids out of public schools in a big group, a quote that expresses things quite well.

"So instead of bureaucrats and politicians, parents will decide directly how these schools will be run. Well, maybe not directly -- having a town-meeting every time you need to hire staff or purchase textbooks could be cumbersome and inefficient. But short of that they could ensure that parents had a say in such decisions by, say, electing representatives to a board that could oversee the schools. They could call it a "school board." This "school board" -- accountable to the parents -- could hire professionals to manage the day-to-day affairs of the schools. All of which would be so much better than the current system of politicians and bureaucrats."

Heh. Good show, sir.

I'd TOTALLY be sloth. Man. I've kept putting off writing a possible intro for this speech we have to give in my stupid speech class for all of the last week. I mean, I can probably whip up something decent in just a few minutes, but I'd rather have something GOOD, not just decent. I find it hard to be motivated about this class though. Especially when I could be talking about Batman or something online. And it's not even really "our" speech, it's a speech based on this example outline the teacher gave us weeks ago, because she forgot to set aside time to let our groups make our own speeches. And it's about why people should eat at the cafeteria instead of somewhere else, and it has absolutely nothing to do with our real cafeteria, since it's from an example one.

Also, I keep wanting a digital camera, but I'm poor and really don't go anywhere all that interesting. I rather doubt having a camera would urge me to go interesting places, but I suppose it's possible.

After reading some of my textbook for my Speech Communication class, I've realized that the book and class are not completely bullshit, they are simply presented in the same manner as a lot of other bullshit, thus coloring my perceptions.

And, to be honest, some of it's bullshit, too. And by some, I mean a lot.