Who Stepped on the Bitchy Button?

I was a bitch yesterday to a troll, so now I'm taking a break from it, but meanwhile continuing to be sensitive which is no help at all.

FWIW, I'm full of love. Feel it, Sam & Luna. And by that I mean The Love.

Okay!

Nate, it was a switch before the major upgrade. Now it's a button. Progress!

Bitch NT

:(

That's OK, neither can I.

:( :(

Bitch NT

:)

I'm all about the etc.

:) :)

:) :) :)

Luna is going to be so disappointed when she finds out that Huck isn't gay.

:( :( :(

:) :) :) :)

Also I am proud that my posts got all the frowny faces.

:( :( :( ;)

(xp, obv)

Having said that, I'm glad it didn't. I like being able to connect with people on that level, whether or not it makes anyone else shy away with revulsion.

I don't see it as an exclusive club where we go to escape the rest of the big, mean, wicked, nasty ILx - it's more of a hey, how's tricks, what's shakin', I thought this was funny/sad/whatever and I didn't know where else to put it and didn't want to start an entire thread, so here is what I think about it - anyone else?

I'm sorry if any of you find it twee or banal or appalling or just plain repugnant - I never meant that.

(So yeah ok, taking it a bit personally is probably my own problem, but goddamn, would it be at all possible to lay off a little?)

xpost. i like threads like this. I like being able to play amongst some of the threads on this board.

I can see why you would say this, completely - but it isn't supposed to be - not in my mind anyway. It's just supposed to be a dumping ground for the shit in our heads. I apologize heartily if I have offended anyone in doing that.

(This may, in fact, mean that I am completely away with the fairies and that this thread should be in Oz, filled with hearts and flowers, sunshine and pastel colors, balloons and lollipops.

But I don't fucking want that, either).

No, I don't think they do that though, it's just asking that there be nothing edgy on that thread. It's hardly saying that there shouldn't be any edginess anywhere in ILX. I don't think anyone in the "this is the thread" cult wants all of ILX to be like that.

Although similarly I would hope that you're not looking for ILX to be all-edgy all the time, I don't think the X in ILX stands for XTREEEM.

See also the misanthropy thread.

-- but then, like, I'd be even happier if sometimes you just talked about everyday crap. Well, you do sometimes, and maybe I'm missing a whole set of threads, but I really would like to know what else is going on in your life, in almost everyone on ILX's life, even if it isn't dazzling or clever. Because it's all a sort of gateway into how people live, and -- I don't know, it breaks down stereotypes, it makes people be more real.

Tom pointed out on another thread that he comes to ILX and it's like reading the newspaper or something; he really doesn't think of us as real people when he's posting here. I'm oversimplifying probably but you get my idea. And that's a terribly easy thing to do with these boards, to treat it like a videogame and get everyone all riled up or make everyone laugh -- and, you know, that's cool sometimes.

But in addition to that, one of the things I'm interested in is all the other banal things about people's lives -- not in a stalker sense or anything, but I'm interested in the banal things that make up the bulk of lives, especially the boring parts of people who can be really interesting or funny or killer at times.

So. I'm totally rambing here, but there really are a bunch of things I like about ILX (or, even, a bunch of things that I like about life, eh?) and obviously it's not going to be same things for everyone, but... I guess I feel like some people are squandering a great opportunity.

Although, yeah, I guess they're just not interested in that crap. So.

In summation: It's all good.

I think we've come to the shocking conclusion that ILE has cliques.

I could say the same of pretty much all of ILM! Which is funny really cos its what drew me here - ILM not ILE. Y'all on ILM have just as much cliquey, ritualistic discussions in their own way as anyone else does.

And how many people other than me, Jim, gaz, Colin and maybe Ned read the really Aussie in-joke threads like the Pseudo Echo thread and other ones Colin often kicks into gear? I assume no one does, because they wouldnt get it. So is that a bad thing?

Isnt the idea there is SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE here?

:D :D :D :D :D \o\ |o| /o/ hands in the air, y0!

\O-O/

I always presumed I was everyday/banal, I just tend to exaggerate banal things maybe, I don't know.

It's true. I'm a gay man. With breasts. Etc.

-- luna (luna.c), Wednesday, December 17, 2003 3:00 PM (3 years ago)

It's true. I'm a gay man. With breasts. Etc.

-- luna (luna.c), Wednesday, December 17, 2003 3:00 PM (3 years ago)

It's true. I'm a gay man. With breasts. Etc.

-- luna (luna.c), Wednesday, December 17, 2003 3:00 PM (3 years ago)

It's true. I'm a gay man. With breasts. Etc.

-- luna (luna.c), Wednesday, December 17, 2003 3:00 PM (3 years ago)

It's true. I'm a gay man. With breasts. Etc.

-- luna (luna.c), Wednesday, December 17, 2003 3:00 PM (3 years ago)

It's true. I'm a gay man. With breasts. Etc.

-- luna (luna.c), Wednesday, December 17, 2003 3:00 PM (3 years ago)

It's true. I'm a gay man. With breasts. Etc.

-- luna (luna.c), Wednesday, December 17, 2003 3:00 PM (3 years ago)

So there's this set of people who get really frustrated by the sort of ritualistic behavior on ILX, the people who get frustrated because the schtick isn't clever enough or it's all too familiar or whatnot -- the sort of people who get really upset about the Thread Where I Say threads.

And, you know, let's face it, we've all more or less had this conversation and told these jokes before. And some people would probably look at this and think "what a bunch of idiots, telling the same jokes again and again, argh".

But of course, what we're by and large doing is setting up some traditions, some rituals. And these rituals, I think, are comforting -- we belong, we reinforce our relationships to one another. Luna will make some comment, and I'll start my "Don't move" schtick, and Dee will have a friendly "you go, girl!", and all these roles reinforce a sense of -- I don't really want to say community, but it's something dependable.

And dependable things can be really nice.

Especially when the rest of ILX is trying desparately to immolate itself, it's interesting how some of the threads keep chugging along. And I'm especially happy that this thread, which started out as part of that implosion, turned into a silly and pleasant and friendly thing (which I am possibly ruining with this post) (or perhaps has been ruined while I wrote this out).

What was my point again.

Oh yeah. So we have the rituals, but every time the ritual is performed, slight details are changed, and because it's a ritual, those breaks in the pattern become really big deals (even though to someone who's not used to the pattern, they're probably nothing special). And that's where the interest and humor comes from -- there's both the comfort and then the slight jolts which, to the initiated, come off as major events.

It's the same kind of enjoyment that you can get from, say, Krazy Kat (where the same basic cartoon was drawn with slight variations for decades to brilliant effect), or (I assume, since I don't actually do this) by collecting tremendous numbers of live shows from, say, the Grateful Dead, where they play the songs slightly differently each time and the small nuances become huge.

That small detail becoming huge, that's what I live for. (No silly erection jokes, please! ;-) I mean, it's great to be clever and LOL and all, but what's happening here is far more interesting, perhaps specifically because it's so much harder to point to it.

(Not that there hasn't been cleverness here -- I love Dee's smileyface reinterpretation thing, and I'm perhaps unduly proud of my "et alia" joke, but for the most part, yeah, this hasn't been a terribly clever thread -- and that's great!)

There was something else I was going to add but I've forgotten it. Oh well. Let's see if this thread has imploded while I typed this...

-- Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, December 17, 2003 3:44 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark Link

100 lbs of bullshit just to say 'im lonely & defensive about it'