Sarcasm Quotes - Revisited

            I’ve had a change of opinion about my Sarcasm Quotes idea. I’m still a fan of using a superscripted S in place of quotation marks to denote sarcasm, but I also suggested that regional accents should be included in this system. That was a terrible idea. It was brought on by my poor ability to write phonetically, and was basically a tool for laziness. It wouldn’t even work very well since having to write all of a foreign characters dialog with the same quotes would be tedious and wouldn’t carry any more meaning that just establishing an accent once, then using normal quotes. The plan was probably just to use them when making movie references and what not, but the accent is typically implied if the reader is familiar with the quote, so what’s the point?

            My new idea is to stay closer to the idea of sarcasm quotes, and use quotes to show other expressive forms of dialog. I made a new list using single letters that can be found on my Quotes List page.  It now includes quotes like A for Angry, M for Monotone, S for Sarcastic, and W for Whiney. I tried to find an elemental style of speech for each letter, since in my new system the styles are made to be combinable. Now you can write DS for Deadpan Sarcasm, ES for Excited Sarcasm, PS for Pained Sarcasm, or TS for Thoughtful Sarcasm. This makes it possible to not only show general sarcasm in dialog, but the specific type of sarcasm, which I’m pretty excited about. The other styles can be combined as appropriate too, but sarcasm seems to be the easiest one to mix, which is why I still consider it the backbone of the system. Maybe I just want to make sarcasm as fun to write as it is to speak.

            The major flaw with this idea is my own limited understanding of language. Separating and describing the elemental styles of speech seems like a job for a linguist, not for some dude with self-diagnosed Asperger’s. If I had a lot of money I’d fund the creation of a system, similar to how the Shavian Alphabet was done (which is a pretty sweet alphabet by the way, although I think phonetic alphabets should be more careful with their symbol choices so that bad handwriting won’t be a major issue), but I don’t, and working on it myself is more fun anyway. Suggested additions or improvements would be most appreciated though, and the system is still very much in a nascent state. I don’t even have styles for I and Y yet, and can’t think of a way to describe J for Jovial that isn’t exactly the same as E for Excited. The description in general are all fairly crude. I would love to do this well, since a general guide to expressive speech forms would be valuable even if it wasn’t codified into written language, but I just keep struggling with the difference between tone and pitch. I do think I was able to nail Q for Questioning though since a raise in pitch at the end is an easy one. If only everything were that simple.

The Shavian Alphabet

            In the end, this may just be another idea that is good in theory, but doesn’t really pan out in the execution. It’s fun to think about though, and expect to see some of these new quotes showing up in my future writing. I’m tempted to do some more dialog heavy writing, such as a short story or something to see if this system would be too tiresome when fully implemented (maybe it could spice up my old Jurassic Park erotic fanfiction). Sarcasm Quotes are an ongoing project that I will likely continue in the same random and unscientific manner in which it started. Until the next time.

Top Ten (Eighteen) Dinosaur Comics

            Dinosaur Comics are probably my favorite thing on the internet. Simply put, it is a web comic featuring dinosaurs in which the same clip art images are used in each comic with different dialog written in. This basic formula has created some of the funniest, most creative, and most thought provoking things that I have ever read. I’ve been reading for over five years now, and the site has also linked me to a large fraction of the other sites I frequent on the internet, so it has had a huge impact on the culture I have absorbed over the last few years. Here are some of my favorites out of the 2,451 comics that exist as of my posting.

1.  #1762 

This is just so impressive to me. To take the phrase “embrace terror” and turn it into something this stupendous is the peak of creativity. I also like the joke about semicolon use.

2.  #1979 

When I first read this I didn’t know where it was going but I knew I was intrigued. Then after reaching the end the realization of how it fit perfectly with hide and go seek blew my mind.

3.  #15 

I can’t explain why I find this so hilarious, but I just do.

4.  #431

The disgusting stories that they tell at the end are the best. I’m not even sure how a disease can be salacious, I just know I don’t what to catch it.

5.  #2150 

Turning the lyrics of an 80’s pop song into a Lovecraft-esque horror story gets me on multiple levels. This comic also feature some of T-rex amusingly named fiction characters. See also Angola Maldives and Antonio Tony.

6.  #2024 

This sort of joke where you describe something in a really highbrow manner and then end with a lowbrow punch line is irresistible to me. I try this style of joke a lot myself but never pull it off nearly as well as this.

7.  #888 

The raccoon and cephalopod neighbors are some of the many recurring characters that only appear off panel. Other such characters include God, the Devil, a tiny elephant that is a product of island dwarfism, a bug on T-rex’s nose, and Shakespeare. The silent panel two is also something that I enjoy.

8.  #2160

Coquettishly is a great adjective. This is another example of mixing highbrow and lowbrow humor.

9.  #2197 

This is actually a rewrite of the hypochondria comic that appeared before it, but adding wizards makes everything better.

10.  #501 

I always enjoy T-rex’s adventure in expression exploration, and adding an adjective to all self-identified nouns is something that I could really get behind.

11.  #1305

I now try to say totally intentional when I hurt myself. I also sometimes feel regrets that conversations didn’t come to their ideal conclusion.

12.  #2079 

The way that thon is used with reckless abandon to the detriment of the English language is a joy to behold. Gender-neutral pronouns are also pretty great. T-rex later decides that “bitches” is the best gender-neutral pronoun, but that’s another comic.

13.  #727 

You should never regret spill something on an architect. They are all terrible people. This comic also feature one of the rare swears that occur in the comic.

14.  #110 

He is so wise in many subjects while so naive in others. Failing to understand the social consequences of your actions is a thing that I can relate to.

15.  #139 

Amnesia is something that I have always thought would be cool. Short term memory loss would also be great (You would have no responsibilities for your actions).

16.  #1945 

Another As She Is Played made it into the list. I enjoy this in spite of the fact that I refuse to play Scrabble because I can’t handle the rejection.

17.  #1205 

Characters interacting with the narrator are great, especially when it’s in an antagonizing manner.

18.  #1127 

Saying ”contrast and compare” is super kulturny (this is my new replacement for classy, just FYI), and Yes, Virginia, There Is A Friggin’ Santa Clause is the best movie title ever.

Looking at my selections, I am willing to conclude that what I enjoy most is this comic’s ability to turn the simple into the sublime, and the jokes base on intellectual concepts and creative uses of the English language. Also the dinosaurs. I've reaped boundless enjoyment from this comic and will likely continue to do so into the future, and I hope that these examples might inspire others to do the same.

Time: The Finalest Frontier?

            Time travel, let’s talk about it. First off, to deal with causality crises and paradox problems, I’m going to assume infinite alternate universes, so as soon as you arrive in the past the universe divides at that point, therefore your actions are occurring in a new universe and can’t have effects on your personal past. With that out of the way we can focus on the physics and not the metaphysics. This post will cover three methods of time travel, their consequences, and some bonus conjectures from me. I should point out that this is specifically about traveling back in time, since traveling forward in time is possible with simple relativistic effects according to the current theories of physics, and is therefore isn't as fun to talk about.

            In fiction time travel is often shown as using some vehicle (DeLorean, Telephone Booth, Police Box, Steam Punk Contraption) where you punch in a date, watch some flashing lights, and then drop into your desired time period out of thin air. Sadly, I don’t think this is physically possible. In the generally accepted model of the universe, space and time are two aspects of the same thing (spacetime), and movement in this model is somewhat limited. To travel from one point to another, you need to travel through all the points in between. This means that to travel backward through time you should need to travel through all the corresponding spacetime, or more simply, your time machine needs to exist in all the space and time between your arrival and departure. Imagine building a machine, waiting a year, stepping into it and then stepping out the day after you finished building it. This may not sound very interesting, unless you’ve ever seen the movie Primer, which uses time travel this way and is great, if in a more cerebral way than less feasible time travel films. By the way, you may need to spend the same amount of time in the machine as is moved back in time, aka, traveling a month into the past involves sitting in a box for a month. This method would probably be best for short trips, and even then isn’t useful for much beyond sports betting and day trading in the stock market.

A viable time machine has its own special kind of charm

            Another method for traveling through time involves wormholes, which are always exciting. The general idea is to make a wormhole, move one end around at near the speed of light, then take advantage of the relativistic effects to time travel. To visualize this, picture two doorways that when walking through one, you instantly walk out of the other, regardless of the distance between them (feel free to add some extra sciency stuff around the doors to this picture. I recommend Tesla Coils). Now, similar to the Twin Paradox, you put one door in a spaceship and fly it around at near light speed for a while. Time at both doors is tracked, probably in a handsome LED display above the frame, and when you bring them back together they show a difference of five hours. In theory, if you where to look at one clock, step through the corresponding door, and then look at the clock of the door you just excited, you would see the same time (plus a few seconds naturally). You can’t travel to a time before the wormholes existing, so you can’t use this to blow Isaac Newton’s mind (unless you find some existing wormholes that somehow pulled this off naturally), but I still think this is stupendous. A potential problem with this is that you could create infinite feedback loops, which are generally bad. An example would be if you had wormholes one minute separate in time and facing each other at a distance of one light minute. If you were to shine a light from the older door into the younger it would emerge at the same time and place it originated, creating an infinite loop. Infinite energy created through this could maybe break the universe, but I’m not sure if it would be a problem. Interacting with this energy, including just observing it, would necessarily interrupt the loop at the beginning, negating the whole thing and making it of no consequence (unless it just instantaneously ends the universe, which is a lame consequence, so who cares). A cool thing that you could do similar to this would be to position the sides of a wormhole in such a way that falling through one would reposition you directly above it again (no time differences, since it would just cause problems). This would create an infinite fall, or technically, an infinite source of potential energy. You could easily run water through this, set up a turbine, and then generate electricity like mad (I wonder if this is how Aperture Science gets its power?). This isn’t creating energy or anything, since it's just using gravity, and if overused it could pull the planet out of orbit or something, but it could still be handy (I wonder if you could use this to propel a planet on purpose by basically pulling it with its own gravity?). Wormholes are just so spectacular that it is hard to think of anything that couldn’t be accomplished with the ample use of them.

This is what I imagine an infinite fall wormhole arrangement looking like

            A third way to travel back in time is based on some physicists having some fun with math. If you create crazy enough spacetime geometry you can plot a trajectory through it that would result in exiting before you enter. I don’t know the specifics, but I assume it involves concepts like negative mass or white holes, whose existence is dubious. If they do exist, this seems like the only scientifically legitimate way for someone to travel back in time if a manufactured device hasn’t already been created. A greatly simplified version of this is commonly used in the Star Trek universe, so I’m willing to call this version James T. Kirk approved (you can also create warp drives using this same kind of spacetime geometry witchcraft). If you want to write a scientifically accurate story that involves time travel motivated by revenge or fixing the wrongs of the past, then this method would probably be the best. In the theme of scientific accuracy you would need to account for the fact that such exotic spacetime geometries would only exist a large distance from Earth, so you would need to travel out to it and then back. This would take a while so you better account for that with some extra time traveling, while also employing cryogenic stasis or something similar during the commute. Finding these spacetime phenomena would also be difficult, since if you observed it from a distance it might not still exist when you arrive at its location. Also, surviving travel through this space would be difficult do to insane tidal forces and the like. Hmm, maybe you shouldn’t write a scientifically accurate time travel story. Probably the most interesting thing here is that physicists are spending time thinking about how to make time machines, which makes me very happy.

Looks simple enough to me

            I’ve come to a conclusion. The best method for traveling back in time would be for aliens to show up and give you access to a bunch of time machines that they have spaced throughout the past, preferably using wormholes. I think I’ll just wait for the wormholes, because they’ll make a when no different than a where, and that’s a concept so excellent that I can barely handle it. 

Why, Dear Boy, Why - REVISITED

            One year ago I wrote this. Looking back, my first post was short, boring, and pretty lame (at least this one isn't short, right). My statement about why I’m writing is still mostly true, and the content is still holding with what I originally planned (which is basically no plan). On this anniversary, I think it’s as good a time as any to address my current thoughts about the blog and look back on what it accomplished over the last year.

            I’m still using this blog as a vehicle for all my theories, opinions, and ramblings as originally intended, but I’ve noticed that sharing isn’t as important as I imagined. Soon after I started, I realized that this blog is not reader friendly. With frequent and random changes in both tone and subject, there isn’t really anything here to build a serious audience around. Others can probably find some value in here, but the real person this blog is for, is me. I’m using writing as a way to collect my ideas. Putting my thought down in words has helped me to better understand subjects ranging from what I enjoy about my favorite things to aspects of my personal philosophy.  I’ve also learned a lot from the research that I do for posts (you can never know enough Jeff Goldblum facts). Any sharing is still great, and I would be happy to hear other’s opinions and counter-theories (also let me know if any links are broken), but I am more than willing to keep writing without all that. What I don’t want this blog to become is a shrine to my own intellectual narcissism, where I can worship my own ideas, but it might already be too late for that so whatever. It also just happens to be fun to write and I enjoy the practice and opportunities to think about new things.

            Some people do seem to be viewing this thing, so let’s talk about them. After one year I have just over 2,000 hits, which is less impressive than it sounds since I believe that vast majority of those hits don’t involve anything being read. Spam visits seem to be a fairly common thing, so a large fraction of views can be chocked up to these questionable occurrences. My next main source of hits is from Google image searches. My Moonraker posts are a veritable goldmine of image search destinations, but some of the traffic doesn’t come from images I’ve collected myself, which I feel kind of bad about. The pictures I used in my John Stockton post, and oddly, the tennis dress from the Relationships post get a lot of hits, but I just took them from Google images. I don’t know if there is some sort of internet search “nepotism” or something going on where Google prefers to direct searches to associated sites like blogger, but I feel a little guilty for stealing traffic from more original image sources. Surprisingly, some of my traffic is actually from people reading this stuff, and I'm happy about that. My lone subscriber happens to be my best friend, and my only other know faithful reader is my mom, plus I get some odd traffic from other family and friends. Since this blog is a good window into my mind, I understand how people who know me can find it valuable (it’s also a good list of discussions that I would be willing to have). Beyond all the pageviews mentioned previously I would be willing to estimate that upwards of FIVE other people have viewed, read, and enjoyed some of my writing. You can find anything on the internet, including people who like to read made up duck facts, and I’m glad to have them.

            This will be my 45th post, which is a number that I can accept for my first year. Topics that were addressed include; Ducks, Dinosaurs, Dolphins, Hermaphrodites, Robots, Religion, Philosophical Zombies, and some various auto-biographical garbage. A few posts (eight) were only Top Tens, which are kind of half-assed and I don't know if they should really count as full post as they don't really involve much writing, but whatever. I still have mixed feelings about the Top Tens, and they might undergo some style changes in the future (still probably won't contain ten things though). Another thing I'm undecided on is self reference, since free standing essays would be nice, but other posts are often related and have good support material. I love links so much that the self reference will likely stay. My current goals are to write posts in some styles other than the excited fanboy (the dolphin post being an attempt at this), and I might try some more serious philosophical essays (but not too serious). I still have plenty of topics that I want to cover and don't plan on narrowing my focus any time soon. The variety is what makes it fun for me, and I don't like to beat any subject to death, so that there is always room for more thought. A weekly schedule is something that I'm hoping to maintain in the future, and another thing on the To Do List is figure out what I want to do with my Quotes List page. Other than that I think things will probably continue as they've been.

            Well, one year in, I consider the experiment of writing my own blog a success, and plan on persisting. New things that I want to try in year two is video entries, and maybe some stuff based on drawing. Let the blogging continue. 

Why Two Wheels Are Better Than Four

            We are finally into the time of year when I am confident that I won’t see any snow for a while, and that means that I can use my preferred means of transportation, the bicycle. What began as a lame attempt to impress some girl has developed into something that I really enjoy. Unless I have a really good reason to not to, I ride my bike whenever I go out now (which admittedly isn’t super often), and my internal combustion based transportation can often go weeks without being used. I think I forgot something when I turned 16 that I knew when I was 10, and it was how stupendous riding a bike is.

            There are a lot of reasons that I like riding my bike. First, is that it’s just fun. I guess it’s probably the same reason that some people like motorcycles; wind in your face, the sense of speed, and simplicity, but bikes always have one thing that motorcycles don’t. I can ride through sprinklers, and that’s one of the best things in the world. Another positive aspect is the pure physicality of bike riding. Needing to work harder to go faster and lean into turns make moving from Point A to Point B more interesting and engaging. When I get home I am generally breathing heavy, and that just add more of a feeling of accomplishment to an arrival. Also, riding my bike gives me a good mental break. The need to pay attention to traffic and the physical effort are great for focusing my mind. My short ride home from work is all that I need to completely forget anything stressful that happened that day. Nature is more accessible on my bike. I can hear birds, smell lilacs, and chase a squirrel up a tree if I want. Not so much a motivation but a bonus to riding my bike is that I get to roll up my right pant leg in what seems like some obscure fashion move. This is functionally so my pants don’t get caught in the bike chain, but I like to sport it all day, so if you see this catching on I totally started it (this will never catch on). Factors that don’t really influence me are environmental impacts or fuel prices. Those costs wouldn’t keep me from riding my bike if I still had to pay them or even had to pay more. I do feel pretty superior when I’m on my bike though. This is mostly because I behave like I’m above the law as far as traffic is concerned. I weave between road and sidewalk at will, ride through roads closed for construction, jump curbs, and cross through private property whenever it’s convenient. I assume all the privileges of a pedestrian while behaving as a vehicle when it suits me. I pretty much act like the king of the road.

            I do live in a pretty convenient place for bike riding. Nothing is very far away in town and there are an abundance of bike paths and sidewalks to use. A half mile ride to work is short by any standard. Here is a picture of my route:

Somebody was working on private projects at work

I’ve noted elevations to point out one prohibitive factor to biking is that Pierre isn’t exactly level. A town on the river generally means that the farther you get from the water the higher up you go. Over roughly 3,000’ to get home there is a vertical rise of over 75’, most of which happens in one hill. The hill labeled in the center of the route rises over 43’ and averages a slope of about 7%, which is decent. Assuming me and my bike weigh a combined 200 lbs, that means it takes 8,600 ft-lbs (roughly 2.8 nutritional calories, which sounds way less impressive) for me to get up the hill as purely as an increase in potential energy (see, physics can apply to everyday situations). I timed the ride at 3 minutes 45 seconds, so I average about 9 mph. The most difficult destination to reach in town would have to be the mall (for when I want to get hassled by the over helpful employees of Radio Shack). It’s about 9,600’ horizontal feet to the mall, and it is at an elevation of roughly 1763.84’ about sea level. That’s a vertical difference of over 250’ from my house, but I actually have to pass through a low point to get there. After the first 1,000’ traveled the elevation is only 1488.43’ so then I have to make up 275’ over the remaining 8,600’ for an average slope of 3.2%. That doesn’t sound too bad, but the slope isn’t constant and is probably better than 8% for extended stretches. I definitely get some use out of my low gears by the end of the ride is all I’m saying. Thus ends the asinine technical section of this post (FYI, a percent slope is just the vertical distance over the horizontal distance multiplied by 100).

The hill home in all its epic glory

            There are a few aspects about riding a bike that aren’t ideal. Danger is an big aspect of riding in traffic. I’m harder to see than a car and I’m not really protected if someone runs into me (I don’t even wear a helmet). A bike is very limited in how fast it can go or how much it can carry. I will struggle just to do 30 mph going downhill if there is even a bit of a headwind, and can’t even approach a car's ability to do 75 mph over a period of hours for long trips. My bike has saddle bags so it can carry everything I need to go fishing on the river, but it can’t handle a load of groceries or something like furniture. In winter a bike is not very practical for a few reasons. The main reason is that it can’t handle snow with any sort of proficiency. The factor that actually makes me pack my bike away for about five months of the year is the fact that it’s dark when I go to work, and riding in twilight seems like a really good way to get run over. I also get flat tires much more commonly on my bike. When I first started riding I struggled to go a full week without a flat. I now have puncture resistant and self-sealing tubes in my tires so I haven’t had any problems recently. I never did find the puncture vine that had been troubling me last year so I could have more flat tires later in the season.

The Wheels

            In the end I think my bike has more of an impact on me as a means of transportation because I have more of an impact on it. I actually matter when I ride my bike. My abilities have an impact, I have to pay more attention, and I have more freedom to do what I want. It boils down to a technological augmentation of my own body, but one that I can park when I don't need it, and I really like that.

Don’t Go In the Water

            Let’s talk about dolphins, or as I like to call them, CRAZY SEX FIENDS OF THE SEA. You heard me.

            Dolphins are a beast of pure lubricity and are not to be trusted. Supposedly one on the Earth’s most intelligent animals, they sure have a funny way of showing it. Instead of developing tools or modifying their environment they seem to spend their time coming up with new forms of debauchery. While we’re stuck here on land with our thumbs and our jobs, they’re living an aquatic life of hedonism filled with eating fish and WILD ORGIES. Did I say wild orgies? Sorry, I meant WILD BI-SEXUAL ORGIES. George Washington did not invent marriage so that these prurient porpoises could roll around in a big naked pile. I can almost imagine how these things happen when dolphins don’t even BOTHER TO WEAR CLOTHES. If they were so smart they would develop the concept of shame and learn to cover themselves up, like respectable beings. But no, they just swim around with their smooth hairless bodies and don’t even have the decency to feel bad about it.

It's laughing at you

Oh, and some of that sex I mentioned earlier ISN’T EVEN CONSENSUAL. THAT’S RIGHT, SEA RAPE. If you haven’t canceled your trip Dolphin Quest yet you should know that they don’t limit these salacious assaults of the sea to their own kind. Other animals may be known to force sexual advances on their bipedal superiors, but none do it with the same despicable cunning as the dolphin. Man is far from capable in the water but do you think this vulnerability is appreciated? No, it’s TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF. They are not afraid to use their flaunted agility to take sexual gratification from the unsuspecting. No fish in the sea could ever be as monstrous as this mammalian molester.

Those are soulless eyes without compassion

            If that information wasn’t enough to enlighten you to the true nature of these contemptible cetaceans here are some more facts about dolphins.

1.  Global population is unknown due to their transient lifestyle

2.  Have excellent eyesight and hearing, the better to stalk with

3.  Possess 80-100 teeth, which are all sharp and pointy

4.  Hunt in highly coordinated groups

5.  Use strong bursts of echolocation as a weapon to stun victims 

6.  Orcas (aka Killer Whales), a species of dolphin, have been know attack and kill humans

7.  Can swim up to 25 mph so you can’t outrun them

8.  Can leap up to 20 feet in the air, so you aren’t safe above the surface 

9.  Only sleep half of their brains at a time, so they never half to stop hunting you

10.  Have exceptional healing ability so shoot to kill

The Least Compelling Thing I Can Write

            I may have broken upon a unifying theory of why I am the way I am. I have an all-encompassing aversion to compulsion. To start I will explain how I define compel. To compel means to use force to change the actions of another. Force is the most important word in that definition, and is what separates compulsion from related concepts like influence or persuasion. I’m using force to mean the application of strength or power (that’s the last definition I will give because I want to avoid a Russian Nesting Doll situation). Just explaining the words isn’t going to convey my meaning here, so I will try to do that now.

I get uncomfortable with words that can only be explained in relation to other words

            My aversion to compulsion means that I become uncomfortable when my actions are not self-determined, or when I interfere with the self-determined actions of others. If you’re thinking that this describes almost everything ever you’re correct, and that is why I believe that this has a major influence on almost everything I do, believe, or feel. If effects the way I work, write, drive, eat, poop, and think, not to mention the massive repercussions in all social interactions. I take a very passive role in all my relationships and can't remember a single occurrence of initiating a change in relationship status (such as changing from acquaintance to friend). I’ve never been a member of any unified groups, either as a leader or member, since such unification would almost certainly be compulsive in one way or another. This has got to be the major cause of why my romantic history has such paucity, since getting someone to like you is a compelling act (my poor ability to recognize any naturally occurring affection in others completes the package). The most positive thing about all this is that all my friends tend to be interesting individuals who have value far beyond the fact that they listen to the same music as me.

            To see the influences on my thinking I just have to look back through old blog posts. Anti-compulsion colors my thoughts in most of my more philosophical posts such as the ones on feminism and killing (my thoughts on tallness were actually pretty forceful, but I may have gotten a little carried away on that one). My love of the Ubermensch can be reduced to interpreting the Ubermensch as a person who is beyond compulsion, and my take on philosophical zombies were just people who are lost in compulsion. I already linked my history with women posts which are full of evidence. My ego post is essential just a nascent form of this one. I now see my desire to have no needs as perceiving needs as a compulsive force and railing against them. I even mentioned disliking having an influence on the actions of others in there, but just didn’t notice how it could be applied to everything else I have going on (another thing that I could change in that post is that I now describe my sexual orientation as being asexual, hetero-curious, and bi-envious, to make it ever more absurd). I even think that the writing style itself is demonstrative, with the framing of my content as personal ideas and opinions rather than facts that might carry more force. I’m sure this idea will come up in future posts as well, and someday I may be exploring the as yet unknown source of this dislike of compulsion, so this self-reference will probably continue.

Past actions seem like legitimate evidence for introspection

            Well this has been another stepping stone on my journey of introspection, and writing like this is the best way I know for cementing my ideas. Who needs psychoanalysis when you have a blog! If anyone actually read this far I must admit that I’m surprised you would spend this much time looking at my boring self analysis but thanks, and also hi mom.