ceruleansoul85

Sacre Bleu!

2009-05-12T14:59:23Z

I've decided that nobody can envision Cerulean better than I can and have thusly begun drawing him as I see fit. For more details, please examine my LJ Icon.

Retirement.

2009-05-05T13:33:05Z

I would like to announce my retirement from the career of professional boxing. At this time I am undefeated and wish to preserve this for the benefit of humanity.

A possibly morbid question.

2009-05-01T14:33:50Z

If you were in a long-term relationship with someone until becoming elderly, would you prefer to die first, or would you rather have your spouse die first?

Valentine's Day

2009-02-15T01:28:25Z

Valentine's Day is the day where you make fun of your friends because they forgot to get a card and now their ovulating girlfriends are going ape-shit.

Photo meme

2008-11-22T04:42:53Z

Stolen from Xoa's LJ,

Take a picture of yourself right now.
Don't change your clothes, don't fix your hair...just take a picture.
Post that picture with NO editing.
Post these instructions with your picture.

Politics

2008-11-02T05:15:22Z

I liked it better when LJ users had opinions about more than just the election.

Sympathy and Empathy: My Anti-Drama's

2008-08-07T21:40:03Z

...You know, like those anti-drug commercials? Where little kids talk about how basketball and school and friends are their anti-drugs. They never made a commercial about my anti-drug, but I guess "homicide" has too many letters.

Anyway, a thought struck me. Currently, furries have no consensus on the definition of drama, but I would wager that underlying the common uses is the propensity towards conflict. The emotion or context may differ, but generally speaking, anybody doing something aversive that has the potential for conflict constitutes "drama."

However, the potential for drama works like a two-way street. Someone being antagonistic, whiny, uncooperative, or overly emotional can cause drama, but they must be within the correct environment to do so. Their behavior must receive a response from somebody willing to initiate conflict with them, criticize them unconstructively, or otherwise be unwilling to negotiate.

So what does this mean?

The short and sweet of it is, YOU CREATE DRAMA. Every single one of you is responsible for the drama that you describe, because it lies in your inability to compromise or resolve situations of conflict that arise. Were you better able to cope with potential drama triggers, such as assholes at parties who scream and vomit, potential drama would be too rapidly defused escalate into full-fledged ultra drama. Drama would not be a concern for you.

So what's the cure? What's to stop you from gossiping about other people based on their entries on Encyclopedia Dramatica, from telling someone "Cut the fucking drama!," or from drawing attention to yourself by bitching about the drama that doesn't concern you? What's to stop you from feuding with jerks?

The answers are sympathy and empathy. For those of you who don't know, sympathy is understanding someone's (usually) negative emotions, empathy is assuming them as one's own. Pity, although sometimes contemptuous or perceived as such, is taking it a step further by (sometimes) doing something about the sympathy and empathy you feel.

Basically, what I'm saying is this: try to put yourself into the head of the person creating the potential for drama, realize the circumstances of their behavior, and minimally try to understand their position. Maybe they just lost their job, they're lonely and depressed, their parents used to trap them in dog cages, whatever. Sometimes it's not even important to know -why- they're acting the way they do, but giving them the benefit of the doubt that they have reasons. If you don't know, ask.

The next step is to attempt to resolve it, if even applicable, which requires that you maintain that person's situation in mind while carefully choosing your actions. Some douchebags will use every tactic to cause you to become upset, annoyed, or offended, but understanding that in and of itself protects you from the consequences of such.

Of course, this is all not very practical. It's much more fun to make fun of stupid assholes that annoy us, start shit with us, and try to undermine our self-esteem, self-efficacy, and self-confidence. You can imagine that's why I very hypocritically referred to some people as douchebag assholes throughout this rather lengthy post.

Additionally, I'm not saying that you should trust people and sit down and have deep, heart-to-heart conversations with some jack-off who's just going to exploit you. You can still try to have reasonable, constructive conversations with people, without needing to look like an after-school special, and if that doesn't work, ask them not to associate with you anymore.

To recap, avoidance of drama requires the following:

A) Stop: Stop talking, punching, fucking, whatever facilitates drama
B) Think: Think about what the person is feeling. Empathy and sympathy are great.
C) Defuse: Come to an understanding with the person or agree to disconnect.
D) Smile: Your life is drama free!

Yes, a little bit of STDS make all of our lives a little better.

An ultimatum to furries

2008-08-05T05:27:00Z

This letter is generally directed and has several exclusions. I'm sorry if you identify as a furry and find this offensive. I need to write this for myself to get this off of my chest, and if you don't like it, by all means, comment, discuss, or as a last resort, remove me from your friends list.

Dear furries,

What the fuck is up? I feel like I've been wading in bullshit up to my shoulders ever since becoming associated with this community. Some people tell me that it's just a few people standing out amongst the crowd, but after what I've consistently seen tells me otherwise. I feel torn between saying, "To each his own," which is what I've been normally saying throughout my experiences, and instead saying "Knock it the fuck off!"

I am not long for this community. After archiving my entries here, I will likely soon remove this account and sever ties with the furry community save for contact with the few give-me-back-my diamonds I've found in the rough. I am tremendously disappointed, and I will list my complaints and suggestions below. Feel free to argue or bitch as you'd like.

1. Show a little self-restraint when it comes to sex. Your goal in life should not be to be able to, if not outright, fuck with every person you come into contact with. Monogymous relationships should be possible for you.

2. Show a little compassion when it comes to newcomers who threaten your existing rung on the social ladder. You were new to the community once, too, and you should know better and express empathy towards them. Being furry doesn't automatically grant you the right to be an immature, rude douchebag.

3. Demonstrate any kind of passion in your life towards things other than hookah, fucking, sleeping, and/or World of Warcraft. Get up early without any half-assed excuses ("I'm not feeling well," or "I was partying too much last night.") Have a shower and a cup of coffee, go find a productive hobby or job, and contribute positively to your society.

4. Spend money on something other than a commission of your "fursona" ass-fucking someone you feel a superficial connection to. Is sex -really- what your relationship is all about that that's even necessary? What better way to show someone you love them than by having someone else draw some unattainable ideal of yourself fucking some unattainable ideal of them. How about buying a frame to put a picture of their human face to remind you of who you really love, even if you aren't capable of facing the truth.

5. Don't be jealous. If someone talks to your "mate," go find someone else to talk to. If your life consists of a bitterly co-dependent relationship that requires you to be around your significant other constantly, you are going to be horribly crushed when God takes them from your life.

6. Have manners, be polite. Interact with other people like you see normal people interact daily. If you can't do it, seek help, but don't make other people deal with your rudeness.

7. Do not expect everyone to love you unconditionally because of who you are if you are unwilling to put any effort into developing yourself as a person. Real people love those who reciprocate their emotional investment, not those who drain the life out of them with need. On that note, don't "settle," either. Change your life for the better.

8. Be humble. Talk to someone about what type of computer they have without it being a competition. Talk to someone about who is in their life without competing with who likes who better, without turning to gossip, and without doing any other behavior inspired by your shallow self-esteem. If you need to out-perform someone in such small, meaningless ways, you should reconsider how little you value yourself without them.

I imagine some immediate criticism is that I am being too harsh or too narrow-minded, and you're likely correct in making that assumption about some of my complaints and not others. I'll be glad to discuss that with you on an individual level.

There's likely some overlap within my issues. My goal within the coming days will be to find furries that meet most of these qualifications. Failing this, I will try my best not to return to this quick-fix community.

- Cerulean

Question

2008-07-21T16:38:08Z

Every person has two biological parents.

Does this mean that the human ancestry expands infinitely?

Wine Review

2008-06-13T03:55:44Z

I tried a rather delectable wine today that I thought it necessary to share with all of you today. I hope that after reading this, wine-lovers and -haters alike will reconsider their tastes and at least try a small taste of this tasty treat.

Blood, or as Hispanic people call it, Sangre, has been around for thousands of years, but only recently has Blood gained popularity as a substance to be consumed within the United States. In fact, Blood has been traditionally taken from men by force among English cultures by their wives in a ritual known as "nagging."

However, Blood in the United States comes in a much more convenient and less confrontational form. Bottled and sold in your local grocer's freezer, Blood can now be enjoyed by all of our friends, family members, and neighbors alike. The producers of Blood, Pepsi-Co, recommend that family members share a fresh bottle of Blood with dinner, or when the children have been tucked into bed and the parents need something to wind down after a hard day.

Worried about consuming excessive calories? Although Blood comes in a reduced-calorie form, known as Blood Light, experts say that Blood contains many of the nutrients needed for daily functioning and may even have other health benefits, such as lowered cholesterol, increased muscular functioning, and strengthened bone structure. As an added bonus, Blood has a festive color, so you're never embarrassed or worried about bringing a boring water to lunch again!

Blood Starter Kit

For those of you who have acclimated to Blood: Classic, Pepsi-Co promises that Blood comes in over 30 various ethnicities. There's no reason to wait to find your flavor: try them all! And remember, if you're trying to stay Green to help the environment, Pepsi-Co now sells a Blood Starter Kit: now the whole family can delight in a fun activity of creating blood right in your very own home!

So what are you waiting for? Give Blood a try. If you're skeptical, Pepsi-Co will double your money back!

What not to buy: Guitar Hero 80's

2007-07-25T20:11:14Z

In 2005, RedOctaine released a game called Guitar Hero, and little did they know how popular among us nerds it would become. The game presented a compromise between learning guitar and having the feeling of being a real guitarist, an expert guitarist, while performing live in front of thousands of screaming fans. For all intents and purposes, the game was a Rock Idol simulator. Players got to play a legendary soundtrack, including Smoke on the Water, Thunder Kiss 65, I Love Rock and Roll, and selections from infamous guitarists like Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn. It was great for rock fans and nerds alike. Not only that, but you could unlock original songs from the game's development team, which really provided hours of good times for all.

In 2006, the sequel, Guitar Hero II, expanded tremendously on the first game. Modifying their previous engine of the game to make hammer-ons and pull-offs easier, designers could introduce even harder songs than before. Players had the chance to take on the likes of Dave Mustaine's "Hangar 18" and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird," plus original songs like "Jordan," by Buckethead, which some players still can't beat (and let's not forget Thunderhorse and Trogdor, because those are simply awesome). Moreover, a new cooperative mode was introduced to allow players to play lead and rhythm/bass--things were like a real rock band, now! Sorta... but it was still neat.

And now, we're in 2007. One long year after the release of Guitar Hero 2 comes Guitar Hero Encore: Rockin' the 80's. So excited, I set time aside last night to play through the game as far as I could get.

...Little did I know that I would beat it. And even worse, I was horribly disappointed. Imagine someone spoiling Harry Potter for you while taking a shit in your eyes. Yeah, it was that bad.

Let me give you a run down of why you should not purchase this game.
Less characters: This installment of Guitar Hero: 80's has less characters than both of its predecessors. The characters that do remain have received 80's overhauls, so they fit the genre fine. The trouble is that none of the other characters have changed: the grungy rockers and singers from the second game remain without having 80's updates. In essence, your character looks completely ridiculous, because they're designed to be from the 80's, and you're playing 80's songs, but nobody else there looks like they're from the 80's. Terrible.

Less songs: There are 30 songs in the game. Let me bold that. There are 30 songs in the game. That's right, they reduced the number of songs from the previous game by 10 and didn't bother to write any original tracks. I'm pretty sure there wasn't an excuse for this other than that they couldn't find 10 more songs to put into the game...but why? Maybe I just don't know how to unlock the songs yet. I'm certainly hoping so.

Less innovation: The designers of the game basically took Guitar Hero 2's menus and logo and changed what they said. There are some different loading screens, but many of them are still the same. Other than that, the supporting band is the game, the menus look almost identical save for some color changes, the background on the noteboard looks identical, many of the stage props look identical, and the overall feel is just...that you're playing Guitar Hero 2 again, except this time you can't see because someone shit in your eyes.

Less challenge: I beat the game in two sittings, and that's only because I had to go to bed for class the next morning. Cumulatively, I spent about 2.5 hours playing the game to get through 30 songs. I played each song once, with the exception of one I played accidentally on quick play mode instead of career mode, and I had to play through the last song in the game twice to beat it. Yes, I failed the song, but once I realized that it was similar to Jordan in that you needed Star Power to beat a certain section, it was no longer challenging. Now I'm not that good at the game, but playing through these songs for the first time, I got 5-stars on all but about 5 of them. Replay value? Gone.

Overall: I'm horribly disappointed. What about this game is worth paying $50? That's about... $1.67 per song, and most of the songs aren't challenging enough to be enjoyable anyway. Unless you're an 80's enthusiast, but how many of those are there that are going to be playing this game? You may be saying, "Sure, that's not a lot of money," but keep this in mind: you're basically donating to the creators of this game for some mediocre trash that they half-assed. Everything about the game screams "I didn't put any work into this, but pay me money anyway!" And why would you want to support that? So they keep making more of them?

I implore you not to purchase this game. Donate your money instead to a more worthy cause, and do not endorse laziness.

"WTF?"

2007-01-23T04:06:28Z

Okay, so you may be wondering: "Why did Cerulean change his name?" To answer that question, it's to be more discreet about the furry aspect of my life. The last thing I need is for my somewhat closed-minded family to find out about the other life that I lead. You can delete the other name from your friends list, and I apologize for the inconvenience if I added you just recently and prior to establishing this name.