The Random Musings Thread

[Moniker]

Just watched a small spider - about the size of a dime in diameter - eat a gnat or mosquito it had caught a couple days ago. The prey was cylindrical shaped and still alive, making the whole spectacle seem somewhat sexual. After it had eaten, the spider rested, occasionally twitching an arm. Post-coital behavior, if I might anthropomorphize.

I also had a dream where the skin of my hands were like tissue paper; I was driving, and every turn created a new tear. Apparently my hands don't have muscle tissue, since all I saw in the openings was bone and artery. More than fear for my life, I was terrified of someone else seeing that my arteries were exposed.

Food for thought.. or spiders.

[Edmond Dantes]

It somewhat bothers me that my kitten went from being playful and bouncy to being more of a "rubs its head on you to get food, and then likes to climb and sleep on you" kinda cat. That's cute in its own way, but I miss the finger-biting and madcap zaniness.

[ACSeraph]

I had an extremely vivid dream about the end of the world the other day. I woke up to see the sunrise but the sun was much larger than it should have been, about twice the size it usually is. At first I just stared at it, thinking it was some kind of beautiful lunar event. As I watched solar flares spark along its surface I suddenly became uneasy, and then other people around me began to panic and run to shelter. I suddenly felt very hot, and could see that actually the sun was slowly getting bigger and bigger, by now 4 times its normal size. I thought there was no point in running at first, but my face began to burn painfully and so I began to run. I woke up shortly afterwards, but its very rare for me to have such a vivid dream so it really made an impact on me.

[nasty_wolverine]

I had an extremely vivid dream about the end of the world the other day. I woke up to see the sunrise but the sun was much larger than it should have been, about twice the size it usually is. At first I just stared at it, thinking it was some kind of beautiful lunar event. As I watched solar flares spark along its surface I suddenly became uneasy, and then other people around me began to panic and run to shelter. I suddenly felt very hot, and could see that actually the sun was slowly getting bigger and bigger, by now 4 times its normal size. I thought there was no point in running at first, but my face began to burn painfully and so I began to run. I woke up shortly afterwards, but its very rare for me to have such a vivid dream so it really made an impact on me.

Thats gonna happen, in 5 billion years... The sun turns into a red giant, and swallow all planets upto mars... maybe you're a prophet.

[Ruldra]

This thread needs more love.

I'm an atheist and I honestly believe there's no heaven/hell or afterlife of any sort. Once you die, it's over, you cease to exist.

But...a couple happenings in my family makes me wonder that there might be something else after you die. I'll need a first-hand experience to truly change my beliefs, but I can't disregard those two events either.

I won't get into details to avoid a wall of text, but both cases involved people long dead coming back to visit loved ones.

[nasty_wolverine]

This thread needs more love.

I'm an atheist and I honestly believe there's no heaven/hell or afterlife of any sort. Once you die, it's over, you cease to exist.

But...a couple happenings in my family makes me wonder that there might be something else after you die. I'll need a first-hand experience to truly change my beliefs, but I can't disregard those two events either.

I won't get into details to avoid a wall of text, but both cases involved people long dead coming back to visit loved ones.

Confirmation Bias, I have seen things other people would describe as ghost, then i learned that i had the tendency to have mild hallucinations. I can now clearly tell whats really there and not there, but that doesnt stop me from seeing things from time to time.

[ACSeraph]

This thread needs more love.

I'm an atheist and I honestly believe there's no heaven/hell or afterlife of any sort. Once you die, it's over, you cease to exist.

But...a couple happenings in my family makes me wonder that there might be something else after you die. I'll need a first-hand experience to truly change my beliefs, but I can't disregard those two events either.

I won't get into details to avoid a wall of text, but both cases involved people long dead coming back to visit loved ones.

I'm more of an agnostic. I find organized religion to be dangerous, and I don't think anyone can really claim to have the right answers about the universe and the afterlife. However, while I don't claim to know what happens after death, I find it hard to believe that our memories simply cease to exist. Do they go to heaven or an afterlife? Probably not in the way that people usually think of those things. Maybe it all just gets recycled into new life and memories, or maybe they end up as some sort of echo within the universe itself. Some ghost research (which obviously has to be taken on a bit of good faith so don't put too much weight into it) would suggest that "ghosts" are really more like echos of memories from traumatic events. And don't even get me started on the concept of god. I tend to believe there is something along the lines of "god" but the nature of it, whether it is benevolent, malevolent, both, or indifferent is a mystery I think. I doubt if god existed people could even comprehend its motivations.

Also as far as those meeting the dead things go. I'm very skeptical about that stuff, but I have had a personal experience. I dreamed that I had a conversation with a friend I hadn't thought of in years. The very next day we got a call from his parents saying he had been killed in a car accident. Maybe a coincidence, but definitely weird.

[Moniker]

Every member of my family has had what they considered to be a direct experience with God. As a result, they're happily religious, and I'm a bitterly neglected atheist.

From their descriptions, however, I do believe I experienced something similar on my second reading of Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey." An overwhelming sensation of alert calmness and mild euphoria. Hadn't happened before, nor since.

William James wrote a lengthy treatise on the "Varieties of Religious Experience," wherein he attempts a psychoanalytic explanation for miracles. Bought it for mom some years ago as a not-so-subtle hint to stop trying to convert me. Ought to read it for myself.


Finally, Labatt Blue Lite gives a really nice and smooth body & mind drunk. Recommended.

[jonny5]

Finally, Labatt Blue Lite gives a really nice and smooth body & mind drunk. Recommended.

Wheres the puke smiley around here when you need it?

[Moniker]

My favorite bored-game is to suss out etymologies without referring to the OED. Recently, I thought I had accomplished quite a coup. In America, mountains and rivers are often named "mountain" and "river" in the local native american tongue. Dave Barry wrote a pretty funny article on the subject (paraphrasing):
White Man: What is that called?
Indian: It's a fucking mountain, you moron.
White Man: I shall name it "Mountain!"

So I visited DC recently and the river that runs through it is called the Potomac. So far so good. I thought on the etymology of "Mesopotamia" - "Meso" means between "potamia" land of rivers. I.e., between two rivers (Tigris & Euphrates). Then I considered the river through D.C. - the Potomac. I figured Potomac meant "River," which would be a fairly hilarious/sad commentary on the relationship b/w the US and its natives. "Ho ho!" I announced.

Then I learned that there was a NA tribe called the Potomacs. Oh well.

Finally, Labatt Blue Lite gives a really nice and smooth body & mind drunk. Recommended.

Wheres the puke smiley around here when you need it?

Never said it tasted good. Just that the buzz was especially pleasant. (NB: I have absolutely no taste when it comes to alcohol. If it gives me a good buzz, and doesn't make me puke, I'm happy.)

[evil_ash_xero]

Every time I glance over this forum, I keep misreading this as "Random Muslims Thread".

So, in that spirit:

[BIL]

I'd be mad too if someone had grafted a pussy onto my face like the poor guy on the left. :[

[evil_ash_xero]

I'd be mad too if someone had grafted a pussy onto my face like the poor guy on the left. :[

[Edmond Dantes]

Kittens are the cutest creatures on Earth. This are fact.

Do you guys ever get that feeling that there's something you should be doing, but you can't figure out what it is?

[Moniker]

Do you guys ever get that feeling that there's something you should be doing, but you can't figure out what it is?

Yes. Upon analysis, that special something is usually a job, girlfriend, or social life. Generally, I have all other bases covered.

[GaijinPunch]

I returned to Tokyo after a 3-week stint in various locations. Apparently nobody in the whole fucking city has been doing my Yoyogi Park outter-fence run, as I obliterated about 3 spider webs... one was worthy of going in a nature book... complete w/ spider.

[Lord Satori]

I find your musings amusing.

[mosey]

I had an extremely vivid dream about the end of the world the other day. I woke up to see the sunrise but the sun was much larger than it should have been, about twice the size it usually is. At first I just stared at it, thinking it was some kind of beautiful lunar event. As I watched solar flares spark along its surface I suddenly became uneasy, and then other people around me began to panic and run to shelter. I suddenly felt very hot, and could see that actually the sun was slowly getting bigger and bigger, by now 4 times its normal size. I thought there was no point in running at first, but my face began to burn painfully and so I began to run. I woke up shortly afterwards, but its very rare for me to have such a vivid dream so it really made an impact on me.

Thats gonna happen, in 5 billion years... The sun turns into a red giant, and swallow all planets upto mars... maybe you're a prophet.

Midnight Sun - Rod Serling

[BIL]

Anyone else have a violently boomeranging relationship with eating healthily and eating really badly? I don't mean the odd binge or half-hearted attempt to go straight, I mean feeling empty and with a mouth full of acid after a bank holiday weekend's rampage of pizza and freedom friez and being compelled to cook up a huge batch of chicken breasts, veggies and wholegrain rice that I'm eating the fuck out of right now? >_> But I know in a couple weeks' time it's gonna be "AWW YEAH MUHFUCKA, MOVIES+PIZZA+FREEDOM FRIEZ" and the cycle repeats. There's probably some fascinating evolutionary biology angle here. While I'm excercising like a little weenie, I try to remember that somewhere in the mists of time our greatx100,000 grandpa was fucking and fighting 24/7 during the week and chilling with his freedom fries on the weekends before dying horribly at the wizened old age of 16 or so.

[Edmond Dantes]

BIL - I have a similar issue except it normally involves sweets--some days I'll instinctively avoid them, other days I'll want to splurge on them.

With normal eating, some days I can't eat much at all, then after a week I'll be eating tons of food.

Still not sure what the deal is.

[BIL]

Sweets (and their liquid counterpart soda) are one thing I flat-out avoid, since I binge on them way too easily, diabetes scares me, and at least something like a burger or pizza heaving with lots of meat, cheese and other goodies still has useful nutrients. Not that I plan on punishing myself with fatty foods much longer either (30 this year). I've never been a big drinker but it helps that booze is so expensive I couldn't indulge in it anyway. Sweets+soda are so cheap and omnipresent it's easy to stockpile enough for several armies.

I remember when I was a roly-poly sixteen year-old, cutting Coke out and losing a noticeable amount of weight on that change alone. Weight's not really my concern these days, but that's all the reminder I need to keep overly sugary stuff at arm's length.

[GaijinPunch]

I had two cokes on the airplane. That's more than I had last year I think. I usually only drink them when I'm hungover and I need sugar and carbonation.

[mosey]

...when I'm hungover...

Yes! Icy cold pop and Velveeta mac & cheese fixes me right up. Also some Wild America.

[null1024]

Anyone else have a violently boomeranging relationship with eating healthily and eating really badly? I don't mean the odd binge or half-hearted attempt to go straight, I mean feeling empty and with a mouth full of acid after a bank holiday weekend's rampage of pizza and freedom friez and being compelled to cook up a huge batch of chicken breasts, veggies and wholegrain rice that I'm eating the fuck out of right now? >_> But I know in a couple weeks' time it's gonna be "AWW YEAH MUHFUCKA, MOVIES+PIZZA+FREEDOM FRIEZ" and the cycle repeats. There's probably some fascinating evolutionary biology angle here. While I'm excercising like a little weenie, I try to remember that somewhere in the mists of time our greatx100,000 grandpa was fucking and fighting 24/7 during the week and chilling with his freedom fries on the weekends before dying horribly at the wizened old age of 16 or so.

My diet is like a slightly less extreme version of what you describe.
Same with my exercise routine -- "fuck yeah, gonna run, gonna get fit, gonna not be a lazy bastard", and then one week later, "eh, I'll run tomorrow", where tomorrow is always a day away, and never today.

[Ruldra]

Same with my exercise routine -- "fuck yeah, gonna run, gonna get fit, gonna not be a lazy bastard", and then one week later, "eh, I'll run tomorrow", where tomorrow is always a day away, and never today.

It is said that you need a full month to acquire a new habit, so try to stick to it until then.

It was a chore for me at first too, but nowadays I feel awful if I skip the gym.

[guigui]

As a math teacher, one of my students tried to show that "for all real number x, x is equal to 4"

Suddenly, I wish he could actually do that and make the remaining of my life way easier.

[mosey]

It is said that you need a full month to acquire a new habit, so try to stick to it until then.

It was a chore for me at first too, but nowadays I feel awful if I skip the gym.

As a fat kid my Ma and I would walk several miles to an arcade/yogurt joint for the "exercize". She went for the yogurt and I went for the games. You just need a carrot to chase.

[ACSeraph]

You just need a carrot to chase.

Girls?

[Edmond Dantes]

Lately I've begun to feel like I have too many video games, many of which I was interested in at the time but since learned they were crap (this happens most often on PC, and sadly there seems to be no aftermarket whatsoever for used PC games).

For some reason, I find that when I have fewer games for a console (or fewer games in general), it tends to be easier to concentrate on just the one you really want to improve at, whereas when I have dozens of games I get indecision and can't focus. So I've been trying to part with my library. The problem? The games I want to part with are the ones nobody wants to buy.

Seriously, nobody on the internet likes Armored Core 2 or System Shock 2 anymore?

[mosey]

May be best to sell them in bulk. I for one would be more interested in twenty good PC games for a flat rate.