Sunday, October 27, 2013

so very tired (and various updates in the life of a tashi)

I just started working this week, which is a good thing. otherwise, I'd still be broke and looking for work. It's at Target, which is newly opened in the province of Quebec, and I'm working the nightshift unloading/stocking position.

The hardest part of the job, up to now, was getting my sleep schedule figured out. On Monday (the 21st) was orientation, then I got my schedule to begin working Wednesday. At 9:30 PM, until 5 AM. So getting my sleep schedule flipped around has goal 1, and I think I'm almost there right now.

The work itself is physical and hard, but not too terrible. The atmosphere is fairly relaxed, co-workers aren't generally fuckbats and are fairly nice, there's a fair bit of banter going on during the work shift so it passes by fairly quick. All in all, not terrible. Could do worse with myself (Like going back to being a phone-salesman for a credit-card processing broker. ugh)

On the other fronts, I've been mostly quiet. The Vampire LARP I run has been going good, and shit finally came to a climax last game. Now it'll be a couple of quiet games while everyone tries to bring the pieces back together in some form of order until we knock it down all over again.

I've purchased a bunch of old RPGs, like the Ultima series, which I need to button down and actually play. I've been waffling about wondering about it, but it's not bad and I wanna get the shit done already. Also an old, but interesting, looking RPG called Darklands. It looks very immersive and amazing, but not as user-friendly as Ultima was, so it's on the list for a bit later.

Movie/TV wise, I've been watching a couple of the newer geek shows like Agents of SHIELD (which is alright, but should start getting better soon if the last couple episodes are a measure) and Sleepy Hollow (A whole lot of silly, fun, kind of creepy and overall cheesy supernatural amazingness with great writing and good characters).

This blog has been the most writing I've done in the past couple of months, which considering the huge amount of dry-spell I've had in the past few weeks makes me feel kind of terrible. I'm not entirely happy with my last post, either, as I feel it kind of meandered off at the end of it and lost the point I was going for. That happens to me a lot, as I don't really plan where I'm taking a post, I just go "I HAVE A TOPIC WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" and get to typing. The few times I've tried organising a proper outline of shit has had those posts stuck as drafts for months now (I had a big one about Ultima, game design, and open-world feel in RPGs I was really excited about but couldn't get through properly ;_; one day)

Nothing really new on the kink or sex scene for me, I've been too broke/isolated still to really do much. Though I did get a linkback from Miss Pearl recently so that's nice (I hope a couple people stuck around. Hi to people who did!)


Friday, October 18, 2013

On being creepy

Miss Pearl (a very good friend of mine) just posted something about an online dating horror story she had.
Granted, "Horror story" is a bit of a strong word here, but it's what she used and I am nothing if not open to being told what to call things.

This is of interest to me for a couple of reasons, the biggest one being I personally know everyone who was involved in the whole thing. Eyeballs, as she calls the gent, is someone I consider to be generally unpleasant to be around as a guy who is into the same things he's into, and I've seen evidence of him being... Well, lets generously call it "socially awkward" (and not generously call it fuckin' creephatish) around the female of my geek (and non-geek) species.

To quote;

"Eyeballs has an actual name, but was made most distinct by the fact that he was trying to bore a hole through me with the aforementioned gaze capacity all night. I did not particularly find him attractive, through no fault of his other than the staring and lack of talking. Wistful leering is not my thing."

This, in general, is how he did things. He doesn't talk much, he just stares and leers. Now, I can understand why he did this. Pearl is a rather attrative woman, and has a pretty striking personality even when she's not flailing around on a dance floor. Heck, she is a person who has packaged her boobs up to be more visible and attractive as a plot for the Vampire LARP she plays in (and I run). While she does have limits for things, she is often comfortable enough in her own skin to, at the very least, not mind being eye-candy.

So what did Eyeballs do wrong? Well, for one thing, the *only* thing he did was leer. He never did walk up to Pearl and actually try to open up a conversation. Considering who it was, it may very well not have changed anything, but it certainly would not have hurt. It would have demonstrated, at the least, that he considered Pearl a person to be talked with, and not just an object to lust after from a distance.

Speaking from experience, I can understand being shy and uncertain, and having low self-esteme. I've myself longingly looked at attractive women and not quite had the courage to step up and talk to them. Luckily, I got better at it. However, I also never just... Laser-leered at them constantly.

How can you avoid being like Eyeballs?

It's pretty simple. I'm not even asking you to stop staring at sexy women! (though there is obviously a line you shouldn't cross when you do). It all comes down to attitudes. If you stare at a woman like an object, it comes through in how you do it. Women are, as a rule, fairly keyed to this kind of thing. They unfortunately have to be, considering SCHRÖDINGER’S RAPIST (you should all read that if you never have), and giving that kind of leering stare tends to be an alarm bell.

The next step is obviously just going to talk to them. Even if you're awkward and nerdy and bumbling. Just say something like "Hi, I think you're pretty and I was wondering if you would like to talk a bit". Or, in Eyeballs case, "Hey, I think you're pretty, how'd you meet [mutual friends A and B]".

i lost where i was going with this goddamnit


but, in short; staring, leering and not approaching for even a polite "hello" is generally a good bet for being labeled as a creeper. So, like, don't do it.