I find myself unsure how to organize my thoughts. Maybe I don't need to in a blog. I'm kinda' new at this.

I often find myself needing to express myself, to communicate my thoughts to people in some way. To this end, I frequent a wonderful online message board called the Watcher's Diary, which has helped. Sometimes, however, that's not enough. I'll watch a news report or a television show, or I'll learn something new in class or meet a new person, and I'll find myself bubbling over with a desire to talk about it. It's hard to talk about certain things with people. I know my wife is bored to tears by my political talk at times (and we're at a difficult point in our relationship anyway, so that doesn't help matters), and I feel funny if I create a new message board thread too often to talk about whatever is randomly on my mind. Hopefully, this will keep me from making captive audiences of my family and friends. After all, if you're here, you want to read something, right?[/hope]

So what's on my mind today? Somebody on the WD irritated me last night with a reply to one of my posts. Apparently I take movies too seriously. I don't think that's at all true, but I admit that I take some movies and books and television programs as more than mere mindless entertainment. I was a little offended by someone's casual dismissal of my opinion as "it's just a movie," clearly insinuating that my opinion was less-than-serious or worthy of consideration because it was a movie that made me think about it. I wrote a response, taking a bit of time, that I was rather proud of and, since last night, I've been waiting for a reply. The person in question has been on a couple of times since then and yet there's been no response. Maybe I'm being a little nutty. I don't think for a moment that I "won" (whatever that might mean) or that I convinced him of anything. Instead, I'm sure he rolled his eyes at my post and just declined to take the time to respond. Maybe it's my inner insecurity, but that bothers me. I kinda' wish he'd say something, even if to call me a fool.

In other news, I managed to get into classes for this semester. I was stupid and didn't enroll early for a variety of reasons, and so I had to try crashing some courses. I am happy to announce that I got into two political science courses that seem very interesting (Constitutional Law and International Relations) as well as my geology lab (I took geology 1 a long time ago but was never able to find a lab that fit into my schedule). I'm also enrolled in an anthropology course that doesn't start until later in the semester. What pleases me most is that I now have something to do with my days. Summer was hell, with little to do except sit at home all day and play video games. I do like video games, but I felt like a layabout before long. I don't think I'm someone who can stay home all day every day. I need to feel like I'm accomplishing at least a little something each and every day.

Anyway, I think I should check in with my online gaming group now. We play World War II Online, which pits large groups of players on the Allied side against large groups of players on the Axis side. I like the feeling of being part of a large (semi-)organized team working toward a common goal. That, and I've met some genuinely great people through this game and I like spending time with them. There's very little of that uncomfortable silence stuff when you meet people. You've pretty much always got something to do, and you get the feeling you're working alongside your friends instead of randomly surfing chat rooms or message boards in the hope of meeting someone interesting. So I think I should go check in with them now and help them out with the war. Anyone reading this is welcome to join. Just follow the link, download the software (the price for which is pretty reasonable, and the monthly fee is a modest $9.99) and load in. Let me know when you're in-game, and I'll be happy to help you learn to play.
- posted by Jason @ 11:29 PM