jabber

[nightgoblin]

Dug up my old Jabber account and read the VCard. The "About me" section reads:

I'm a rude and inconsiderate piece of leftover junk DNA. Thinking about talking to me? Think again. Twice.
I wrote it like two or three years ago, and it continues to be pretty damn accurate. I need to order/make myself a T-shirt with that written on it

Comments

[anonymous]

Perhaps. Actually there's a fabulous t-shirt at cafepress.com that made me think of you. try to guess which it is. ;) I.

[nightgoblin]

There are thousands of them. Do tell :)

[anonymous]

Ah, I forgot what a busy man you are! And what a coy and silly question I posed. Verzeih mir! Well, I did consider "Have you hugged your delirious, desperate, confused, morally challenged Russian axe murderer today?" But then I remembered, no, I haven't -- and besides, the axe is not your weapon of choice ;) And "morally challenged" is not apropos. But... this suggested you on the Dostoevsky page): "For what is man without desires, without free will, and without the power of choice but a stop in the organ pipe." Condemned to free will, to choice, to the existential leap... what glory and what horror. In strongly Kierkegaardian vein, because it is late and I am so tired... I. But still have enought energy for :)

[anonymous]

Ah, a typo, that should be "enough"! I.

[nightgoblin]

Looks like it's a common typo. OpenOffice Writer automatically corrects it upon typing.

[nightgoblin]

Mmmm... Delirious, desperate, confused, and morally challenged - that would definitely be me :) As for the axe... You are right, I prefer a chainsaw :)

My energy lately comes virtually exclusively from caffeine/guaranine, I don't know about you :)

[anonymous]

Definitely caffeine all the way! I'm a little scared of guarine. But there would be no life without caffeine. When I was ill, I was permitted only half a cup of coffee per DAY, which truly made me even more sick. I had the most appalling headache as a result of the caffeine withdrawal. But fortunately I'm back to normal, and enjoying lots of lovely dark-roasted coffee. I see no reason to give it up. I've given up enough...

A chainsaw? Not an elegant little revolver? (That's what I thought of).

I do hope you are not destroying yourself in order to finish your degree quickly. There are those who would find that regrettable... schade, sehr schade.

All work and no play is not good for anyone, not even the nightgoblin. :) I.

[nightgoblin]

Caffeine and guaranine are the same substance. Hence the slash.

I try to stay off too much coffee, though. But one big soda plastic cup in the morning is already a necessity, not a luxury )

A revolver is indeed more elegant, but a chainsaw is so much more fun! :)

I thought about it, whether I destroy myself, that is. So far I prefer to think I do not, but make myself stronger instead.

[anonymous]

Are they? Just goes to show what I know! I thought this was some appalling substance that would keep me awake for 72 hours and destroy what is left of my brain. As you can see, my ability to read punctuation is impaired too. You have once again driven me to my grammar books. Oddly, though, the example they give is he/she. That doesn't quite work under all circumstances, though, does it? As interchangeable terms, I mean. :) I.

[nightgoblin]

Sorry, I don't mean everything I write here to be formal. Sometimes my use of punctuation is rather arbitrary :)

As for interchangeable terms - do you mean the gender mess the "politically correct" version of English suffers?... I find it rather unfortunate - both the confusion and the fact that so many people find the use of one or the other pronoun offensive. In those languages where nouns do have gender (and, being a native German speaker, you understand what I mean), there is normally only one correct way to say things...

Perhaps, the difference in word gender is artificially bound to sex of humans; at least, for me the phrase "sexist language" means a little more than just using masculine or feminine pronouns without special consideration. Seriously now, why does everything have to be about differences among people?..

[liith12]

dear nightgoblin, your page has been giving me all kinds of trouble tonight! I wrote a magnificent reply on grammatical gender, the joy of difference (which I think you and I embody) and the page ate it all up! I cannot reconstruct it right now because I am so tired (but, oh, it was worth it! we were a triumph tonight). So you will have to wait until tomorrow. Until then, sleep well, ich denk an Dich, schlafe wohl, bis bald. :) I.