Journal Boogie (Get down with the boogie)

Journal Sentry21's Journal: Journal Boogie (Get down with the boogie) 4

Journal by Sentry21 on Saturday June 07, 2003 @08:52AM

Well, I don't know about the geeks you've met, but it seems to me that it's not intelligence that ruins people and gets people ostracized, it's how you deal with it. Geeks that I've met tend to think that the things they're better at are more important than the things that other people are better at. They're good at schoolwork and reading, but bad at sports, but sports are unimportant. They watch star trek, not Melrose Place (supposedly), because it's intellectually stimulating, as opposed to Melrose, which is /so/ unrealistic, and besides, it's not stimulating at /all/. Feh.

Geeks have different pursuits, sure, but (from being in the thick of things) I've found that most of the time, it's not because they enjoy them more necessarily, but because they think they're above anything else. These are the 'Ivory Tower' of geeks. Not all geeks are like that, of course. I'm actually quite a rounded person. I enjoy things like climbing rock faces (unprofessionally) travelling, cooking, programming, philosophy, and so on.

The thing that sets them apart isn't their intelligence, but it's how they portray themselves. Geeks that I know tend to set themselves apart from everyone else in their childhood. They're smart, but they're no good in social situations. Maybe they're no good at sports, so don't want to bother trying (that's me). Maybe they get persecuted just for reading books (shit happens), but a lot of the time, I think it has to do with your attitude and the way you go about things, such as social interactions. I know I was never any good at dealing with people, but I never blamed my intelligence (or accused them of having a lack thereof). If anything, it has to do with the fact that I moved pretty much every year and never had any semblance of consistant social development in my childhood.

Basically, what I'm saying on that topic is that it's not 'years of social ostracism based on his intelligence and (perhaps) less-than-refined social skills', but rather 'years of social ostracism based on poor social skills and (perhaps) intelligence'. I'm just glad that I realized my problems when I was 16 and decided to fix them, rather than waiting until 20 or 25 to try and change my ways.

I haven't read Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, but I have read a very similar book, which changed my outlook on... well, nothing. I'll consider looking it up if it's good, but I know the big barriers I have to becoming an effective person, it's just harder to get over them than just snapping one's fingers.

but if I start posting a bunch of links to porn sites under the guise of being enigmatic, somebody ban me!

Been looking through my Friends list? :P

Anyway, the reason I write is for other people. That's the whole point in putting it in words. I don't have much of an interest in my past (except for learning from), I don't know what the future holds, and I know what's in the present. I will admit that it's a nice idea to just vent and have other people listen, but I can't vent about people here on the chance that they might read it, and there's nothing else that I really have the need to vent about.

I guess the point is, I'd like to journal for other people to read, because I don't feel any need or desire to journal for myself, which I don't expect...

I left that sentence in because I thought it was weird. I was in the middle of typing and was interrupted, and when I went back to whatever it was I was saying I found that, as usually happens, I not only have no idea what I was going to say, I can't even figure out what I could have been about to say. It's weird, but gives an interesting mental excercise to try and discern what might have been about to be said. Whee.

Besides,...; AGH. Another quirk. I accidentally typed 'BNesides', so I went back to take out the 'N', and muscle-memory took over, so I ended up with 'Bnesides'. Took me two more tries to get it right. Curse you essay-writing.

Anyway, what I was going to say was that the last time I kept a journal, it ended up being a good window back onto a me that I didn't much care to be reminded of. Oh well.

Then again, maybe I'll just write rants about whatever comes to mind. Yeah, that could work. Hmm...

Completely off topic here, am I the only one who thinks that Anonymous Coward posting is completely useless to the purposes of slashdot? I mean, it's nice and all, but the only AC posts that ever get made are either 1) trolls, 2) people posting full text of articles, 3) people who are new to slashdot, or 4) (most commonly) people who have something to say but are afraid to attach their name to it. In order, these are rendered invalid because 1) No one likes trolls except other trolls; 2) let them post as users, they always get modded up; 3) If you're new to slashdot, it's better to register anyway, because otherwise you'll never have any idea how your comment was taken; 4) If you're afraid to express your point of view in public, then you either know you're just being a jackass ('who cares about the Jews, they deserved what they got'), or you've got a legitimate point of view but you're too much of a coward to stand up for what you believe.

I've got news for people though: even posting something that 'no one accepts ' can be accepted. I can't tell you how many 'Score: 5' posts I have from standing up for Microsoft. Or ID Cards. Or US-bashing. Or Canada-bashing. The trick is to be right (ha ha), or at least, be convincing in your viewpoint. Most people who post AC though basically say 'ID cards are bad', or 'bsd sucks'. Yet I've managed to get 'Score:5' by bashing BSD with good points, or 'Score: 3' bashing anti-ID card activists before they've even said anything.

So to all the ACs out there with something to say, I say this: stand up for what you believe in, and if it's not accepted, then so what. Don't hide like a scared little girl in a horror flick, stand up like the hero and say what you think needs to be said. And when the rest of us mod you down into oblivion, maybe you'll get the clue and get lost. Or maybe not. Either way, quit hiding.

--Dan

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