Hmm... I rarely visit this site anymore (how many journal entries do I start like that?), but I feel compelled for some reason to mention here that I'm going to be spending the next six weeks with my girlfriend, *Firequill... She's coming to the UK again.

It's something we've been excited about for months now, and it's only the second time that we'll meet this year... The second time! TWICE in ONE YEAR! Aren't long-distance relationships brilliant?!
At least when we do meet, it's for a long time... Six weeks is a long time! Yes!
But it's so hard to survive the time apart... If you happen to be lucky enough to have a partner who lives nearby or WITH you, then you should consider yourself extremely fortunate! Or something!

I probably see a lot of Americans feeling all unpleasant about their 'long-distance relationships' which happen to be with people who live in a different state or something so they can ONLY meet like every week or month or something... pfft! They're still so very lucky!

Still... I suppose it's better to have a long-distance relationship than none at all... Hmm...

Anyway, as I keep saying to myself, I'm going to start trying to DO more stuff 'artistically' when I get back... I feel like I've wasted this year entirely, since I've made so few games, musics and arts, so I want to change that... But tsk! I lie to myself about that constantly and keep saying that I WILL do more stuff and never do... o_O

But yes... This is a journal entry for the sake of marking a significant event in my life, I suppose, more than to, uh, be interesting to read for other people.
Makes me wonder why people bother to record things like this about their lives...!

I have an interest in the 'aranormal', particularly stuff like ufology.
I'm aware that to many people who consider themselves sane and above such things that it all seems like a load of delusional rubbish, something to mock, conspiracy crackpots and all that sort of stuff. When I read about such things, I do it in a sort of way where I realise this and don't take it entirely seriously, but don't treat it like a joke either. That is, I'm not dead-set insistent that it is all true, but I am open to the idea that it could be and curious enough to spend a lot of time reading about such things (so then I'm basing my opinions on what 'evidence' - even if it is anecdotal - there is, rather than just my own personal incredulity).
I also like thinking 'what if?' sort of thoughts, and sort of imagining that the accounts ARE real and wondering what it would be like if they WERE... hmm.

Anyway, so many people - most of the time it's people who only hear about the ufology stuff from mocking, caricatured portrayals in the media - think the idea that there could be some kind of *conspiracy* regarding UFOs and aliens and so on is utter nonsense. Rubbish. Couldn't work. Make-believe. And so on.

But I'm curious about something... Whether or not you think there's anything to that, what do you think would happen if there WERE real aliens flying around in their spaceships in the skies, and the Powers of the world - governments, militaries, etc - knew this, but the common people DIDN'T? Advanced beings that are able to travel here at all wouldn't necessarily need to be clumsy enough to be dropping evidence of their existence all over the place, especially if they wanted to remain hidden.

My main question is this: What do you think would happen in this world if some government agent officially announced to the world that aliens existed, and that they are so far beyond us in technological advancement that if they wanted to, they could destroy us all and we'd be able to do nothing to defend ourselves?
Do you think this would affect society in a negative way? Especially if the aliens were known about, but refused to contact 'the governments' in the same way that they refused to contact the commoners... so everything was just speculation about their motives.
Would how you live your life or think change at all if you knew - KNEW - that there were aliens flying around in the sky but you DIDN'T know what they were doing? o_O

I think that even if the ufology stuff IS all nonsense at the moment, IF 'the government' or other powers knew about such aliens, then there would be very, very good reasons for them to not tell the public about it...

My subscription ran out, and I wasn't going to renew it because I barely visit this site these days, but I realised that you need an asterisk to start polls... I also keep intending to re-involve myself with the site, but I've been intending that for YEARS.

I've been really bad at responding to comments lately though, and probably didn't respond to any on that last entry! Which, uh, has been on my mind in an unpleasant sort of way. But did I reply in order to get it off my mind? DID I HELL.

Seems I'm the type to dwell on what needs to be done for ages without actually DOING it, and this has been affecting things a lot lately. I finished 'Raider: Episode 2' almost two months ago, but it needs to get sponsored so I can get money for it, but that involves talking to these semi-important Flash game site people via emails and sorting loads of things out, but I just keep delaying replying to emails so the whole process is really slow... Hmm.

Anyway, I'm getting to the very end of MARDEK 3 now, so it's almost finished. Hooray.
But I bet it'd take ages to get sponsored!1

I don't like writing journals where I don't ask potential commenters a question, so this time my question is:
On this site, for what purposes would you usually write journal entries?

Hmm... Something that's been on my mind recently is my position in life at the moment, and how others might think about it. I'm 21 and I live with my parents for various good reasons, and I'm unlikely to move out any time soon. I realise that many people - usually certain TYPES of people - find this incredibly pathetic because they seem to think that anyone who isn't driving around in their own car to their own house to have sex with their new partner of the day and/or wife/husband/both by the age of, say, 9, is a complete failure at everything and needs to be mocked, to empower themselves or something...?

Anyway, I want to ask two things.

Firstly, what's the minimum sort of age that someone would have to be that you would think "that's very pathetic" if they mentioned that they still lives with their parents?
Why that age?

Secondly, what's the minimum sort of age that someone would have to be that you would think it pathetic if they mentioned that they had never had sex?
Again, why that age?

Have you come across people online - on deviantART for example - who write journal entries about or in some other way express being lonely and wanting new friends to talk to? Saying that they have few or no friends and are generally really shy and introverted and don't go out of their way to talk to people but wish people would talk to them...?

If you do or if you did, what would be your emotional response, or your response in a comment?

Would you respond with condescending thoughts like "hah, loser", or generally feel that the person was rather pathetic and should simply 'get over' their introversion and go out and meet people? Would you say something to that effect, essentially trying to encourage them by 'force' to improve themselves and 'stop whining'?

Would you perhaps feel sympathetic and want to be their friend essentially out of pity, because they asked for it and you just want to be kind, even though you're content with your friends, confidence, outgoingness, etc? So not because you could relate at all, but because it seemed like the nice or expected thing to do...

Or perhaps you'd feel a strong bond to the person instantly and think that you'd found a kindred spirit, because you could relate exactly to what they've said? Would you feel like you strongly wanted to be their friend just so then you could give them what they wanted and get what you've always wanted in return or something, being introverted and shy and lacking in friends yourself?
If you felt this way, would you actually say anything and approach them much, or be too shy to say anything (possibly out of fear of 'rejection' or not wanting to intrude)? Would you make one comment then hope that they show enough interest in you to go out of their way to befriend you more, or would you take the initiative and make it clear that you wanted to be their friend, adding them on some Instant Messaging program or something?

Would your response be affected by the person's GENDER?
For example, if you're male and you see a lonely girl, would you be far kinder and sympathetic to them than if it was another male? Would you strongly desire to be the friend of a girl who's asking for friends, but wouldn't really be all that interested in befriending a lonely chap?
(I would assume that to be the case much of the time, but does it work in reverse? Are girls more likely to be sympathetic and wanting-to-be-friends-with males?)