MysterionMuffles

Maybe just the biological drive to out alpha the other indegenuous fawna? I dunno. I think competition is a pretty healthy thing to engage in, provided that you don't take it too personally. To me it sounds like you wanted to compete with these guys and it motivated you to improve, but in the end just for your own satisfaction which is what it always comes down to anyway. You can compare yourself to your own satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

I noticed that there are some videos on Youtube that get uploaded on the FDR channel, but when it comes to searching for the podcast version of those videos (as there are usually) some tend to be missing. Like the Christmas Eve show isn't on iTunes as well as last Sunday's entitled Making Excuses For Evil. Is it just my iTouch having this problem, is there a delay in between Youtube and iTunes upload times, or is it just for an entirely different reason that some Youtube comment doesn't make it to the iTunes podcast feed?

Do you guys think that there's an objective criteria as to what makes music good? Is it totally subjective and up to each individual's tastes, the artist's amount of success, or is there really an objective way to quantify what makes a good song? I would argue there are a few basic things that make songs more LIKELY to be good, not neccessarily good entirely: - Use of repeatable themes/melodies (repetition is fundamental in establishing memorability) - Even structure, mainstream usually consists of verse, chorus x 2, bridge and chorus, but I prefer songs with more dynamic song structures in which at least 2nd verse or 2nd chorus offers something different from the first. This could be an extended chorus or a new instrument and melody. Even more so the songs that abandon the use of choruses altogether but that's a different topic I suppose. - Reasonable rests between notes and beats to accomodate other instruments - Even use of dynamics (ie. like a rollercoaster, the climb should always be worth the drop), basically a good use of soft and loud parts put together in a logical order - The right use of instruments and tones to compliment each other. I'm having a tough time mixing instruments together to see if there are odd combinations that just don't work. I have heard songs in which a saxaphone was great with distorted guitars, or distorted guitars to go with tribal drums. So you COULD say at least that some instruments are harder to blend with each other, but it's not entirely impossible. I'm not sure if I have any more critieria or if any of those are valid, but what are your thoughts?

I swear I thought there were some writers on this board, and naturaly they'd like perusing the forums a lot since it involves a ton of writing and reading lol. Oh well.

Yeah I think you understood my post pretty well. From here, I also think a new discussion can be brought up in terms of good and bad envy. There needs to be a positive word for envy like...admiration perhaps? There are times I can compare my self to say, one of my favourite bands, I can compare not our level success, rather dedication to our creative work. I got huge self knowledge from this topic: Idol Worship and Meetings Gods in the Flesh in that regard. The fact that I had to compare my self to them made me uneasy because although I would like to think the band and I are very passionate about respected projects, I realize the root of some fanboyism in me was due to negative envy. I felt unworthy of their presence because although I'd like to think we're equal in creativity, they have pushed theirs further to the point that they get to play shows almost every night and garner some decent coin from it all. At the end of the thread, I came to terms to how equal I am to these people. That was my initial mindset meeting with them, that they're human just like me. But an unconscious level, the negative envy struck me at the snap of the photo: my admiration for them has become envy because I'm jealous that they've been able to gain success from their creative work. Meanwhile, I'm still stuck in obscurity and unnoticed by the literary world or music industry. It's like that negative envy only works to diminish the ego into thinking "I can't achieve that, there must be something special about them." Whereas if I had positive envy, ie admiration, I would be motivated to have talked to them longer and pick their brains a bit. And even get to the point where I am so enamoured by their success and down to Earthiness that I feel compelled to compete against them in that friendly kind of way. The friendly kind of way I think can only be useful, at the end, with only your past self. To compete against old habits and mindsets and become a better you rather than a better musician/author/artist or whatever when it comes to comparing yourself to someone else in a nearly similar situation as you. I don't know if that makes sense, I feel very unclear about my own post. For now that's what I have, but I promise to be more clear in my next one if this does not suffice.

I think the only person worth comparing yourself to is yourself. I may be wrong, but in my experience, the only way I've improved my habits and overall mindset was to compete with my past self. Not others. They have their own journey.

.....what the hell are you talking about? This block of text went in so many directions that I have no idea what exactly you are trying to convey.

Kody you have a valid point but those last two sentences were unecessary guilt tripping.

Comparisons are also self sabotage because you're making more or less of your self or the other person. If you envy that they appear more successful than you, then you feel less successful with your life. If you feel superior to them because you are smarter than them, you diminish their capacity for intelligence in your own perception of them. I think we're all of a Ying and Yang balance with each other. When I first graduated high school, I had the tendancy to compare my self to everyone else who was hopping onto University or College, or even full time work, while I took the time to unschool my self. But I didn't see it as unschooling for the first little while. I saw my self as lazy and unmotivated while everyone else was getting ahead in life. Then I started talking to these people and they weren't even happy about all the studying they had to cram into their lives and their jobs not even being that personally rewarding... It was an eye opener for me but I just realized that comparing yourself to others is just self sabotage. We're all better or worse than each other at varying degrees. I think you can compare objectively just to see those vast differences between yourself and someone else, but never so much when your self worth is at stake is all I'm saying.

That is if such a disorder truly exists. Is there a mental condition that causes someone so traumatized to experience stressful situations in a completely different way than what is actually happening? For instance someone who receives a beating and reexperiences it as a lewd sex act in order to dissociate and minimize the event? I dunno what other example I can give but thats as accurately as I can put it.

I've been listening while playing Soul Calibur V. I think if it's a game based on reaction I can listen at the same time, but when it comes to something like Assassin's Creed III MP that requires ahead of time strategy PLUS reaction, I tend to lose focus. So SCV and FDR, best combination lately. Before it used to be Sonic Rush but my busted iTouch would freeze up a lot, and Subway Surfers just lost its fun.

Now I feel like a douche for what I said lol. I guess it all comes down to jealousy, if not of female influence, its of success with creativity.It's kind of like the Facebook page for How I Met Your Mother. Since season 7, maybe even earlier, people have been complaining about the declining quality of the show. For some its just not funny anymore, for others its because they just cant get to the meeting of the mother fast enough.Even when the page posts pics of a really good episode, people will still bitch about the show that no one is forcing them to continue watching. So at the mid season episode post I said, "if you guys know what it takes to make a better show, then form your own production crew, team of writers and cast of actors and do iSo in relation to Beiber its like what have you accomplished? And even if its a lot or even more than him, at that point, wouldnt you be immune to making judgements.

Because hes that pretty boy sell out rockstar who keeps getting the ladies due to always singing love songs. You know, instead of more important topics and having songs that arent in 4/4 timing. But thats just me being a mathrocker so anyway. I hate that he just got disocvered on Youtube, signed and has a hand up his ass in this sock puppet rock show of good boy to bad boy, akin to what happens to all the Disney girls, save for Hilary Duff. Hes just a corporate tool. No doubt hes talented and works hard to stay in the biz, but there are more harder working musicians who put the same or more amoubt of energy and passion into their music. Instead of image, dancing and stretching their assholes for more industry guys to control them. Beiber also plays into influencing tweens AND milfs to fall for bad boys with pretty voices. Whose songs can be about just about any girl because his lyrics are so generic and broad.

I know there are a few out there I've talked to in the chatroom, but I still want to know. Are there any other writers here in FDR, and if so, has the concept of IFS/Mecosystem affected your writing? I can't remember the exact quote, but it was along the lines of "an author is just a bunch of people trying to be one." I recall learning in writing class that the characters we create are usually just aspects of ourselves that want to be expressed. When I got familiarized with the concept of IFS/Mecosystem, it started to make so much more sense. Yes, some of the characters I write about are based on people I know, but ultimately because they will hold some of my own views, and if not views at least my words put into their mouths, they are still a part of me. Stef also mentions that it's helpful to identify your parts and write out a dialogue between them, and so that just makes me think that any time people go to sit down and write, they're just writing from the place of the Mecosystem, using the IFS to help them trudge along in this crazy world we like to build fictions around. What do you guys think?

What are you so scared of Randanza? Feel free to share your story, I sense from dsayers post that you have a problem with self erasure. It would be very determental to be doing it to yourself in a place that offers you some serious empathy and compassion for whatever you feel.

I swear, aren't you using the internet to post here?

I would love to hear his thoughts on it too in a more elaborate podcast about it in particular. I personally think that it's not immoral to watch porn because you are watching two or 10 consensual adults engaging in sex acts. Yes it preys on people with troubled childhoods and that's how they get them into it, and just be concious that that's the market you're supporting when it comes to consuming porn. The level of trauma is very apparent when you can contrast between girls who only masturbate or sometimes scissor with other girls, in comparison to hardcore artists that are into spanking and being choked (and not just with hands!) As for masturbation, before high speed internet, I always had my own imagination and natural urges so I dont think porn is really neccessary. Especially if you're a teenage boy with that stuff on your mind all the time, you dont need an external visual to get you off if you've got the imaginative capacities. In that case no one in reality is getting hurt, except for you of course because you're gonna end up with hairy palms!

Fair enough DaVinci, I retract my statement made towards you.

That sounds like a lot of stuff already...why not just ask her what she's interested in and pursue that more? Unless you were being ironic. Sorry if this post sounds insensitive, just skimmed through the thread at 8:30am without having gone to bed yet! Unless you're forced by the State to meet those standards and they will check on you regularly, then mah bad! EDIT: ok so I actually read it all after posting hastily post haste I guess what I said would only be valid and easily applicable if you weren't be hovered over by the state. That sucks, but it's great that you're open to new suggestions as there have been really great ones provided by Lians. Either way though, good stuff on making the choice to homeschool your kids. Was the Youtube video recording your idea as a form of reporting her findings?

LOL that gif makes me wish gifs would work for Facebook.

Damn guys, good job pointing out those sophist tricks. It used to be such a brainwasher, but the more I watch Stef's article deconstructions and your insights, the more I can see through the webs of BS!

Are you sure you don't mean to say that the other way around? How can he help heal the others he has hurt if he doesn't know how to heal himself first? He can't offer them that which he has not yet experienced first in order to know what to offer. Seleneccentric, thank you for your vulnerability in this post. I think you've taken a huge step in the right direction at least acknowledging the same kind of behaviour you want to exacerbate from your life. Sometimes the things we hate in others are things we hate within ourselves. Not all the time, but sometimes we use others to avoid ourselves. I'm sensing that that's something you have done pre-philosophy. Really sorry to hear about your siblings...that must be really hard to admit to. It's great that you're taking the steps to help heal them as well, so I guess you can be doing both at the same time. Working on yourself as you clearly already are while helping them out. As for the last two paragraphs I'm just really sorry you feel that way. I don't know what else I could add here...I just think you answered your own question at the end by simply starting this thread, and for that I thank you once again for your openness about this.

I think thats a good exercise. Keeps you distant from your emotional connection from your original beliefs. And no way would you want to let the other person win if youre competitive at all, thus opening your mind to their pov.

I only hang out with two people and not very often. I see them each once or twice a month at best. I could share my thoughts openly without hesitation and fear of being misunderstood. These relationships were created during high school but only built upon in our adulthood. One's a woman the other man, neither of which are Freedomainers, but reasonable and self assured people nonetheless so it makes me happy to know them. We have some mutual acquaintances I used to hang out with but I found those surface level interactions unsatisfying and have stopped pursuing them. For instance I used to play Dungeons and Dragons with a couple of guys every week or so in 2012, it got really boring because the only we would talk about anything real was in between breaks and didnt last too long. I started feeling empty rolling dice and hardly roleplaying our characters (if you're unfamiliar with the game I'll spare you the lame geeky details), and I knew that I wanted more of the authentic conversations we have when we're not playing. So 2013 I resolved to hang out more with people I hang out with that don't require a set activity like drinking, gaming, or whatever. It works out great because connection comes before activity. Even if we're just sitting around doing nothing, having deep meaningful conversations happen and even when we distract ourselves with games or shows just to take a break from the heaviness of our topics, we can at least joke around in between.

I noticed that he does get abrupt more near the end of calls. Like past 2nd hour mark or so as he is now doing 3 hour calls. I guess he's just trying to trudge through as many callers as possible, and if it's a very sensitive issue that the caller wants to talk about, he does offer a kind of empathy that is rare. Sometimes he does have a long winded and original farewell to callers, like "I hope you end up doing the right thing," or "I'm incredibly sorry for your situation but I hope this helps." And then bye. Not all the time, and there's no way for me to measure how often he does that, but is that kinda what you mean?