h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hey Joanna!

How're you doing? I've been having 'interesting' expereinces IRL for the past week, (to say the least). That's why I haven't been around here.

Thanks for signing my 'slambook' thing. Did you think it was fun?

And thanks for putting up a link to my site! I think I may have to copy the way you have your links page. And then I'll have to link to yours from mine.

So, how's school doing? I only have a week left of the semester, and I'm so happy about it. I need a break.

GR

Hi GreyRose
Y'know, its funny about your "see you later" thing, because that's always bothered me, too... I mean, most of the time the person claiming to be going to see the other one later is so blatently not going to its untrue!
Uni continues... exams are coming up in about a fortnight... I know I'm going to fail, I can't do any of the past papers but then I'm going on a canal boat trip with my choir, which will be fun.
I liked your slambook immensly, its trés cooel, as my friend used to say... Its wierd, all my online friends seem to have geocities pages.

Interesting experiences IRL? people often use 'interesting' as a synonym for 'bad'....

Joanna

Not for me. Interesting means interesting, and interesting is fun. Here's an example of the things that have been happening to me:

I was out at the club and having a good time. I was dancing to one of my favorite songs, 'You Spin Me Round' by Dead or Alive. Towards the end of the song this weird (weird meaning kind of normal and trendy, not weird in regular settings, but really odd on goth night ) guy walks up to me and stops less than two feet away from me, and just stares at me. Now, I found this kind of disturbing. I leaned over and put my ear out so he could say what he wanted. You know what he said? 'What?' Like he was just minding his own buisness and *I* was disturbing him. I said, 'what do you want?!'. To which he replied, 'I think you're a really good dancer. I wanna watch you dance.' This last part was said in kind of a pickup line way.

WOAH!!! Hold it right there buddy! If you like the way someone dances, the correct (and polite) way to tell them is to wait till they leave the dancefloor and just say something like 'you dance really well'. The response you get if you do this is something like 'thank you' which is a lot better than what I said to this guy.

Before I could really respond (at the time I was just looking at him like he was from another planet), he said, 'I'm not a prep or anything'. Which was true in the sense that being preppy isn't really the big popular thing these days (not that preps aren't still popular). This guy was just trendy, which in my opinion is ten times worse than being a prep. So, I say to him, 'you can watch me dance all you want, but I want you to know that I'm not dancing *for you*'. I think he said something about how he was a great dancer at that time, but I was so freaked out, I really don't remember. I was going to leave the dancefloor right then, but 'Don Quichotte' by magazine 60 came on, and I've loved that song since I was six years old. So, I said, 'and I'd be leaving the dancfloor RIGHT NOW if this wasn't my favorite song'. He got upset and said something along the lines of 'you don't have to get an attitude' and then said, 'I'm here with my @#$%^&* girlfriend!'. If he hadn't walked off then, I would have told him that I could get him kicked out like that -snap-. But he did, so I resumed dancing. He ended up getting kicked out anyway.

That was an interesting experience, and while it was disturbing, it was fun in its own right. The rest of my interesting experiences were not creepy, though.

That trip sounds fun. You better watch out, though, I've heard about the things that can happen on those choir/band trips.

That is genuinely an interesting thing. How strange.... just some random peson stopping by...
What do you mean by "preppy"? Its not a classification of people that I've heard before...

The interesting and slightly disturbing and irritating thing that happened to me yesterday was finding a fourteen year old sprawled out on the front doorstep to my house puking his guts out, nearly....bearing in mind that I "live in" in university, ie. am fully catered... this was strange. Apparently he'd had a bottle of Hooch and half a diamond white, and I'm like, erm, yeah, right that's going to do that to him! He was a local, who's mates shouldv'e never let that happen to him. Its dumb. I made them call their parents, some other people who were wandering in and out the house had made him drink lots of water and stuff. But while this kid was laid out unable to get up on the steps, one of his mates thought it would be funny to draw glasses on him with a marker pen. And its like, if he stays out here much longer hypothermia is coming his way! your parents are coming! you are all in deeeeeeeeeeep trouble! ugh. I hate when stuff like that happens.

I liked your pictures; I liked seeing you and what you and your friends look like, and I especially like your photobooth pictures. I'll have to start bribing my camera-phobic friends to go into them. And me, I'm cameraphobic too....
...although I got this really cool little polaroid camera, which takes the smallest photos, I seem to be able to take better photos with it than with other cameras.... although they are really tiny.

actually its an I-zone one like yours!

They rule, don't they?

I've seen stuff similar to what happened to you, quite a few times. I myself have drawn on passed out friends. That's not something I'm too proud of mind you. I think it's really cool that you took control of the situation. A lot of people would have just gone back to bed or something.

I'm not sure how to describe 'preppy' to you. To me it means having quite a bit of money and dressing conservatively (like loafers and such). Most people who are preppy are popular. I used to hate preps when I was in middle and high school, but now I have respect for people of all 'types' as long as they are genuine.

I've had to beg many people to let me take their picture. Like that guy, Bone, he hates having his picture taken, but I've gotten him to pose for me three times now. You have to find each person's weakness. And, it gets easier everytime you do it.

Currently my usual strategy is to say, "Look, I'm gonna take your picture anyhow, you may as well look at me 'cause it won't be quite as embarrasing as a photo where you've tried to hide but didn't manage..."

I wonder if I might describe someone who was preppy as a "rah". Do they spend lots of time attatched to their cellphones, too?
I've noticed that in America you seem to put people in school in groups more than I've noticed in England, or at least groups with names. I wonder if I'm preppy. I don't think so, I don't have all that much money although I probably dress conservatively, not very fashionably most of the time though. And I'm not part of the popular group.... how do you describe yourself?

Lots of preps have cell phones but I get the feeling that I would call someone that you call 'rah', 'trendy'.

It is hard for me to describe myself, 'because I'm not myself you see'. Really, I'm not really sure which category I belong in, I think I'm going through a transitional period right now. If you had asked me that when I was 14, I would have said 'skater chick'. 15 through 19-'punk rocker'. But now, I don't know. The closest description I've gotten was from my friend Allen, who said I was a 'death rocker' which he said was a person who was a punk rocker, but deep down inside, they're gothic. And that fits me alright for the time being.

I think that people think it's strange how I put people in groups, especially 'freaky' people like myself. Most of them say 'I don't want to be categorized', like they're better or something. I *have* to put people into categories, I'm a sociology student, that's what I'm good at.

I think I'm beginning to get the idea of someone who's preppy....

And I don't object to you fitting people in groups, only if you study sociology But I don't know... Its next to impossible not to categorise people. People can say "I don't want to be categorised" which in my book fits them quite neatly into the category of "people who do not wish to be categorised". I think most people do in some senses, if your in a category it shows that you belong. But I suppose that they are also afraid of being judged based on other things about them than them themselves. I categorise, I suppose, I just don't have names for my categories.

But I don't think its just you categorising things, GR, it seems to me when I watch like say, programs on American youth culture the schools have groups of "people who are trendy and all hang around together and pose" "people who are really into acting" "people who are scarily good at maths" .... I don't know if its 'cause I'm in the system, but I don't notice that here. There were groups of friends, sure, but I wouldn't have been able to give clear names to them all... or even draw clear lines between the groups... can you? draw lines, that is.

It is hard not to categorize people. I think it's human nature to do so. Life is confusing and putting things into categories or classifications makes it easier to handle. When you meet a new person and can put them into a category with people you already know, then you will have some idea about how they think and behave. Sometimes you can be wrong though, b/c you can't always judge by appearences. But, it's the first clue that you have to a stranger's personality. The main thing I judge people on when I first meet them is clothes, b/c they are your way of showing the world what you're all about.

I think the "people who do not wish to be categorized" value their individuality and would like to think that they're different. This is very common w/the larger category that I belong in. I don't know of a good name for it, but 'freaks' will do for now. 'Freaks' enjoy being different from the mainstream, and some would like to think they're different from each other. And they are different from each other, but they have a lot of things in common. These are the ones who don't like to be categorized, even though you can clearly see that they belong in that category. These are often the same people who say they don't judge others by the way they dress (liars!). EVERYONE judges people by the way they look, whether they admit it or not. These people don't like being judged by their appearence, so they say they don't do it, but they do.

I think that I could draw clear lines between groups of people in any setting, but I would have to do a lot of observation first. That's what I do, observe people and the way they interact with each other. I think it's fascinating, and it gives me a feeling of accomplishment when I can correctly predict how someone will react to a situation.

Aghhh, I've gone on to long, my fingers are getting tired.

So you are one of the watchers... I like to try to guess what people will do, but I'm not terribly good at it. But then again I'm not a sociologist, although I do find the subject fascinating. Sadly, though, at the moment I find every subject except physics fascinating...

I suppose what matters is being able to accept that you do make judgements, say based on the way people look, but that your judgement may well be wrong, and be open to changing your mind. For me anyway.

Exactly. I'm always the first to admit that I judge people on appearences. But then again I don't mind being judged by the way I look. I do mind it if someone won't give me a chance b/c of it though.

I'm sorry you're having problems enjoying physics. I know how that is when your school work just starts to get tedious and you would rather do anything else. I think that happens more often with the subjects you're really good at, b/c it isn't a challenge.

Congradulations on your approved entries. I haven't read them yet, but I will.

Thanks I keep reloading my page to make sure they're still there, how very sad is that!

But physics is not something thats too easy for me.... I hate loath and deplore quantum mechanics, too hard!

I'm sorry. I failed my astronomy final, I know it.

There's no point stressing now, I guess.
*heartfelt sympathy*

You're right. About the final and other things (which I don't want to talk about).

There IS no point in stressing about it now.

What you just said (4 weeks ago! ) has really helped me, in ways that you will never know, because I'm not going to talk about it. Like you said, there's no point.

I did pass my astronomy class though. Barely. I wish I could say the same for psychology.

Hi again

I'm still waiting on my results... *resists the temptation to bite her bright blue nails*....

Have you ever been on a canal boat trip? They're very good stress deterrants. I'm glad what I said helped you...

sorry to hear about the psychology, though.

joanna

I've been on a canal boat trip through San Antonio, TX and that was very nice. The powers that be here in Oklahoma City thought that a canal would improve tourism here. So, now we have a canal that takes you on a trip through absolutely nothing interesting. It's a big joke around here.

I'm sure that you did well. I did poorly b/c I slacked off so much. In psych, I didn't even attempt to do the only paper assigned. I just didn't care.

Random things to improve tourism rarely actually do it any good... The Worcester and Birmingham canal was definitely one for moving coal, I guess, or something along those lines...


don't you just hate apathy?