Well, if there’s nothing wrong with being a freak, there can’t be anything inherently wrong with the word freak, can there?
It’s what the word suggests to me . . . that there is something inherently wrong with me because that’s what the word means.
I suppose I could compare it to this: you’d be offended by someone who called you a gay if it were meant to intimate that being gay is evil. In that same sense I take offense at someone who calls me a freak in that it intimates that there is something inherently wrong with me because I am not “normal” if such a thing even exists.
OK, I think that we’ve established that matt is either a bundle of sticks or a cigarette.
We’ve also established that matt is gay.
How does one go about establishing whether an inanimate object such as a bundle of sticks or a cigarette is happy?
Myself, I think matt is a bit queer.
Why should it matter;)?
Also, IMHO, an inanimate object, or one which does not possess a brain, can’t be happy, as the chemicals required for such an emotion do exist just don’t exist. Or if they do there’s no way for them to be processed. Or something.
I am thinking too hard today.
Mmmm…bundle of sticks.
Wait a second, Matt. You’re gay???
No, but all the men I sleep with are.
Or to put it another way:
Wait a minute…so THAT’s why you added me to your list! For a second, I just thought you were straight ACTING gay… 
This weekend on the way to Norfolk, as we were waiting to cross the Hampton Roads bridge-tunnel, we were stopped behind a red pickup truck. It had a sticker on the back which read, “You’re all laughing at me because I’m different; I’m laughing at you because you’re all the same!” I looked at RTFirefly and said, “Oh my God, it’s matt_mcl!” Much hilarity ensued. 
…must…steal…quotation! got to…amuse…weirdo…friends!
:eek:
People talk about me to one another off the boards? I’m astonished and flattered.
I’m not straight acting gay. I’m not even a straight-acting gay.
I get told I am weird all the time. I suppose it is because I am not afraid to speak my mind. Keep it up Matt and I you will just have to marry me. Yeah, I know that I am not your cup of tea.
HUGS anyway!
Sqrl
Oh, please, you amateurs - don’t try to out-weird me. I learned from Master Tam, Lord and Master of the Dark Armies of the Koalas. I get weirder things than you free with my breakfast cereal.
Esprix
Ug. I may not be gay, but that’s some pretty lame weirdness. Plus I think that last line is a quote. How original. :rolleyes:
My tapeworm passes weirder shit than you.
I believe Zaphod Beeblebrox said that in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”
Matt, if being “weird” is that important to you, enjoy. you’re 18 and you’re still working out your identity. It’s usual for adolescents to to try out new personas. Just remember, you’re going to turn 40 in 22 years, and you’ll have a short haircut, a husband, a boring job, and a mortgage. It’s inevitable.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by goboy *
**
No, no, no, no, no.
Stop traumatizing the nice strange young man with your button-down ways, Mr. Anti-Candy Pants.
It isn’t true, Matt. You don’t have to have a boring job, a boring husband, and if you want to defy the laws of space time, I’m sure you don’t have to be 40.
I’m 29, and I’m still considered strange. Screw 'em.
My life is just that. And anyone who doesn’t like it is welcome to fellate Jesse Helms.
While weird is a self-identifier, to claim it does not mean you are young or immature. It can just mean you move to your own rhythm. Some of our rhythms are Siouxsie and Laibach, and some perky people put their rhythm to the frightening Britany Spears. Whatever gets you through the day and brings you pleasure.
I said I was weird, not original. Sheesh.
goboy, that sounds more than a bit patronizing, akin to, “It’s just a phase - how cute is that?” I’m hoping matt stays just as radical when he’s 80 as when he’s 18. If what you describe is “inevitable,” life just ain’t worth living, IMHO.
Esprix
I didn’t intend to come off as patronizing. It’s just the fiery idealism of youth does cool and having money in the bank and someone to come home isn’t the worst thing in the world. FWIW, I think Matt’s a terrific guy and if he were ten years older, I’d probably have a big ol’ crush on him.
It seems to be that in describing himself to be weird, he’s basing his identity on other peoples’ perceptions of him, instead of doing his own thing. It’s other-directed, not self-directed. After all, you can’t be weird on your own, you have to have an audience see you and call you weird. Being other-directed is one of the stages of adolescent growth, and Matt, at 18, is an adolescent.
Eventually, as Matt gets older, he’ll find his own direction and will cease to care if he’s weird or not weird, as long as he’s being true to his own principles.
Who knows, maybe he’ll end up voting for Preston Manning.
{ducks from the rocks and stones}
Ouch. Talked about in the third person.
You really don’t know me, I’m afraid. I was already weird in elementary school when I had Asperger’s and I couldn’t care what people thought of me.
I’m not sure where you get the idea that I’m basing my identity of other people’s perceptions of me. I am aware of their perceptions, but I behave how I behave.
Small example. I like goth. I think goth is good-looking. I’m aware that people expect you to like certain music and act a certain way when you’re in goth. I don’t like goth music and I’m unfamiliar with the subculture. I wear goth anyway. Because I think it’s good looking.
Being weird for me is not cute. It is the way that I am.
That I could grow up and turn boring is one of my greatest fears. Fortunately, being conscious of the possibility is one of the easiest ways to avoid it.
And that thing about the CCRAP was not funny.
And how do you feel about posting on the STRAIGHT dope? Surely THAT’S gotta leave you a little bummed…