ripple effect

[derien]

My card to my brother is sitting on the table, along with a bill of Eor's. I have to remember to mail them on my way in to work because the local Post Office took the neighborhood mailboxes off the corners. My best guess is that they took the mailboxes away because people were throwing trash in them. People throw trash in the mailboxes because the city does not provide trash cans on the sidewalks in residential neighborhoods. If the city had trash cans on the sidewalks in residential neighborhoods people would dispose of their household trash in the cans instead of buying the 'official' trash bags sold by the city. In essence, selling official trash bags and only picking up trash in official trash bags is a way to tax us for trash removal without raising our taxes. Now, call me silly, but I would think a tax increase would have been better than losing our mailboxes.

stolen from afrai and lacorneille

Artistic talent: I used to draw, but am very out of practice. When I did it regularly people told me I was good. Some people used to tell me I sang well, but I don't do that much anymore, either (I don't get positive feedback for doing so). Some people tell me I write well when I work at it.
Birthplace: A town nobody's ever heard of on the coast of Maine which I never lived in.
Career Aspirations at Age 6: I don't recall age six. The only true career aspirations I recall having were to be a writer and illustrator or comic book artist, but I know that was at closer to age 12.
Dreams, recurring: Tornados on their way.
Elementary School, Name of: Hope School and Riley Country Day (a hippy private school).
Fabrics and Materials, favourite to wear on body: Cotton.
Gym, work out at one? Nope, never could afford to and I know I'm too lazy to spend the money.
Happy Memory: Getting a german shepherd/collie puppy when I was 5. He was soooo sweet.
Introvert or Extrovert? Introvert
Jewelry/Trinkets, worn regularly: A Chinese coin on a string which my brother, Hawk, gave me.
Killer App: *shrug*
Latest book read: "The Number 1 Lady's Detective Agency" by Alexander McCall Smith.
Medications (Rx): none
Nicknames: Doe, Dodo, Dorito.
Operating System of Choice (for desktop): Windows 98
Queer? Most definetly. (bi)
Role models, current: For Writing - daegaer, for Art - lekythen, for Brain - eor and matushan.
Sleepwear: For when I need such a thing I have blue and yellow long cotton pj pants and a big t-shirt with beach chairs and umbrellas on it.
Tattoos: none
University degree(s): Sociology BA
Virginity, age lost at: As LaCorneille points out, this is a pretty nebulous concept. I guess I'll say around 16ish.
Weather, favourite: A cooling thick fog on a summer day.:)
X-SOs you're on speaking terms with: There aren't any around for me to be on any terms with - I just don't see any of my X-SOs anymore.
Yard/Rummage Sales, do you go? Used to love them and am still drawn, but I resist (mostly).
Zen Moments: Quite often.:)

Comments

[afrai.livejournal.com]

Ooh, Sociology. My mother always makes insulting noises when I say, "what about sociology?" What's it about?

[derien.livejournal.com]

It's kind of like psychology. Psychology studies why people act as they do based on things going on inside their own heads. Sociology studies why they act as they do based on the things their society is telling them. The most obvious example of sociology in common usage is people's response when some fool says that homosexuality is 'unnatural' because 'people never used to act that way.' Almost anyone, now, can pull out the "What about the ancient Greeks?" card, and some can talk specifically about the Spartans. Among the Spartan Greeks homosexual behavior was expected and required among the men because it was considered to bind them together into a more fierce fighting force, and ALL the men were sent away to school at 7 years old to become fighters. If men refused to behave as homosexual in that society they were considered odd. (And consequently they had to be forced to marry and have kids when they reached 18 - literally punished if they didn't do so - and the marriage ceremony included the girl cutting her hair short so she'd look more boyish, to help the new husband be able to find her appealing. And it might not be surprising that their birthrate fell off over a few generations of this, and soon they ceased to be, as a people. They'd gone a bit overboard.)

Sorry, I got off on one tangent. I haven't had breakfast or tea or anything at all, yet, and I could go on all day on Sociology. I took classes about poverty, religion, crime and drugs - it's fascinating WHY these things exist and how societies can encourage or discourage them, what the misconceptions are about the causes, and how misconceptions are encourage to further someone's agenda. What I really want to see is some of the understanding of all this put to some use as far as influencing people to change their societies to get rid of poverty and drugs, lessen crime, and lessen the negative effects of religion.

And speaking of that, after I get myself a bit more collected so I won't ramble on forever, I should go make a comment on that thing you said in your journal about religion being a crutch for the weak.;)

[afrai.livejournal.com]

I feel like I should say more than "ooooh" about this, but "oooooh."

See, if I told my mom Sociology was rilly rilly interesting and cool to study and told her all this stuff? She'd just say, your uncle studied Sociology and came out of university and told everybody it was a totally useless degree. So there.

:(

[derien.livejournal.com]

Oh well, I didn't say it was useful, not in the 'getting a job' sense. Since I graduated I've been a cashier, service desk clerk, network support person, medical records clerk and security screener, and in none of those positions has Sociology helped me move ahead.