If there are one or more people on your friends list who make your world a better place just because they exist, and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the Internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.

Seriously, sometimes I don't know what I'd do without LJ. It's kind of sad, but having a journal and a supportive f-list has helped me process problems that I can't talk to people face to face or even on the phone about, and I wouldn't have gotten through them with as much left if I didn't have this outlet.

I bonded with the majority of you over being HP or SPN geeks, and you've been fabulous friends. I do my best to keep up with all of you and help you the same way you do me, though sometimes I feel like I fall short. Mostly because you guys deserve so much, and well. I don't always have that much to give.

I love all of you, though. Seriously. ♥

My mother has turned into one of those people who walk around talking on their wireless headsets, looking like they're talking to themselves. I knew she had a Bluetooth headset, but I did not realize exactly how crazy she looked with it until we went shopping today.

She deserted me at the cashier, which left me awkwardly trying to fake her signature with the credit card, and talking to the guy behind the counter. The conversation went something like this:

ME: My mother is one of those crazy people that looks like they're talking to themselves with a wireless headset. See? She's deserted me.
CASHIER: I'm one of those crazy people without a wireless headset. People like your mother make the real crazy people look good, 'cause no one can tell nowadays, right?
ME: Ahaha, no, I guess not.
CASHIER: Hey, you eat the same kind of yogurt as me!
ME: Really? Sweet!

He was also wearing a pink shirt that was just a little too small for him, which amused me. Too bad he looked to be in his late thirties and... well, it might have something to do with the pink shirt, but he set off my gaydar. Which is actually saying quite a lot, because you have to be fairly flamboyant to set off MY gaydar.

Also, I am not sure whether to be pleased about the fact that McCain may not be eligible to run for president. You'd think they'd check this sort of thing out in the primary, wouldn't you? Christ.

AND HE HAS THE SAME BIRTHDAY AS ME. I THINK I AM SCARRED FOR LIFE.

ETA: I just remembered what I forgot, haha. I tried to watch Eurotrip online today, but the one I had (at surfthechannel) wouldn't go past 21 minutes. If anyone knows where I could find a copy -- preferably streaming, so I don't have to download it -- let me know?

Guys, tell me that I'm right to offer my services as a fanficcer for livelongnmarry.

I mean, I am really incredibly tired of fanfiction exchanges, but... this is different, it's an auction that will give money to help keep same sex marriage legal in California! That's really awesome!

Surely my muse could be convinced to work, and write something a little longer than usual even, for the right kind of cause? SURELY. I mean, ignoring the fact that it's pretty much dead right now, but the story wouldn't be due till October.

I think I've decided I'm going to do it. I just need to work out what to put in my offer so that I don't get stuck with something I don't want to write. I'm planning to offer Harry Potter and Supernatural fic, since I feel a bit more comfortable writing SPN fic now. Hmm. *plans*

YOU GUYS SHOULD TOTALLY DO IT TOO, OR COME TO BID ON WHAT PEOPLE ARE OFFERING. Check out livelongnmarry to help fandom keep a place for gay actors in Hollywood to get married gay marriage legal in California! :D


ETA: I have offered my services here.

This just made my day like, 100x better. Found on metaquotes in the comments, and it was too good not to repost. Anyone know who that comedian is? All I caught was the name Dave.

It seems rather ironic that my writing muse should come back just as I sign myself up for an online class and start studying for the GRE. Why couldn't it have been around while I was actually, y'know, FREE? Had time on my hands to write all the time? Stupid fickle muse.

On the other hand, all desire to RP has very nearly left me completely. I think I might be too jaded for it now, or something. Maybe I need to just retreat a little and write for myself for a while, write with others when I want to and not get too overly involved with anything. There's not even drama and I find it... tiring; there are too many reasons for this for me to go into, but I think mostly I'm going to blame it on my brain. I don't even know.

I'm supposedly summoned for jury duty tomorrow. Have to call and see if they actually need me; last time this happened I was instructed to call the night before (I think that's general protocol) and when I called, they said I'd already completed my service as a juror. Or something. Which I took to mean that they had no use for me.

I wouldn't mind going if it was an interesting case; sitting around in a courtroom for hours otherwise does not appeal to me at all.

Right now I just want to eat some good food, turn on my Recently Added playlist on iTunes with all the Weezer and The Hush Sound and Led Zeppelin albums I just downloaded, and write my little heart out. I think I finally know where I'm going with against the dying of the light, though I've still got no clue how to get myself out of the mess I wrote myself into for hpvamp, even after starting over.

Sigh. Content sigh, though. It feels like a storybook summer evening, and I'm half expecting fireflies to come out. Even though we don't get those here.

Oh, right. I meant to post about this yesterday.

Scientific American's Study Says Brains of Gay Men and Women Are Similar:

The team next used PET (positron emission tomography) scans to measure the blood flow to the amygdala, that part of the brain controlling emotion, fear and aggression. The images showed how the amygdala connects to other parts of the brain, giving them clues as to how this might influence behavior. They scanned subjects' brains when they at rest and did not show them photos or introduce other behavior that might have been learned.

They found that in gay men and women, the blood flowed to areas involved in fear and anxiety, whereas in straight men and lesbians it tended to flow to pockets linked to aggression.

Robert Epstein, emeritus director of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies in Concord, Mass., agrees that the study offers compelling evidence that sexual orientation is a biologically fixed characteristic. But he cautions that these findings may vary in different people whose sexual orientation is not that clear-cut, which his own research shows includes a majority of the population.

I am not at all sure how I feel about this. My general opinion on finding a biological basis for sexuality is that while it would be really, really awesome scientifically, in the end it would do no good. This article exemplifies a lot of the problems that arise -- in just this one quote, I can see extrapolations in which lesbians could be labeled 'masculine' and 'aggressive', while gay men are 'fearful' and 'effeminate'.

Yet, at the same time it makes me wonder what they'd find in my brain -- after all, I fit into that last category of 'people whose sexual orientation is not that clear-cut' -- I guess it's the scientist in me.

But this is one place in which I think science edges pretty close to touching on topics that could become morally dangerous if the general public became aware of them. I'd like to think that people wouldn't want to use information like this to make sure they had straight children, or to 'fix' gayness... but people are still killed for their sexual orientation and prevented from marrying the people they love.

Sometimes I wonder if I should go into scientific ethics rather than journalism, since my brain never, EVER lets this stuff go. >.>


ETA: This article by National Geographic is much better written and I think if I'd read it first, it wouldn't have made me quite so worried about the ethics part (or maybe it would have, idk). Thanks to sporkyadrasteia for pointing it out.

OMG. OMFG.

OH MY FUCKING GOD.

CALIFORNIA IS OFFICIALLY THE COOLEST STATE EVER, Y/MFY?

AMIRITE OR AMIRITE?

Well, not coolest in the sense of temperature. It's 96 fucking degrees here in Berkeley, which is insanely hot for this part of California. We're right on the ocean, the COLD part of the ocean. We're supposed to get FOG and TEMPERATE WEATHER, damn it.

I am so not taking Milo until it cools off a bit. >.>

I HAD NEW SPN TODAY.

Kripke, I love you. I am using my Kripke = God icon all over the place today because it is his birthday and he gave an absolutely fabulous new episode in honour of it.

No, no spoilarz from me. I am spoiler-phobic, I avoided my f-list until I could download (I have no TV here at home and I can't watch it at my grandma's because 1) she has no cable and 2) she'd never watch it anyway) so that I wouldn't get spoiled. But suffice it to say, IT WAS AWESOME.

I have a bump on my head from where Milo dragged me out the door the other day and caused me to bang my head on the porch railing. Also, I have PCOS and hypothyroidism, 'tis official. Fun stuff, my genetics.

I decided to apply for an RA position next year. I was hoping to live off campus, but now that I'm home I'm not entirely sure how exactly that'd come about, plus getting paid for my senior year YAY BOOZE!! would be nice. Not to mention that I'd be guaranteed a single even with my crappy lottery number (the effing new online housing form ate my application and I didn't realize it >.>), sooooo.

If I get it, my parents might even get off my back about finding a paying summer job and let me do something I really want to do. Like volunteer at the Sierra Club.

Also I am lame and have already turned Ghostfacers into an .mp4 file. FTW.