Hail, Hubski. Been a while, hasn't it? Looks like the last time I was really active here was July or so. A lot's changed on my end, but on reflection, I didn't really have a venue where I could process everything and sound ideas off people until I remembered this place. I hope you've all been well over the past half-year or so.

Far too much has changed to discuss in a single post, but to give a highlight of events as it were: promotion, further schooling progress, handled a network expansion and wireless network deployment for the second-largest office of an S&P 500 company (!!!), been bogged with work and projects and who knows what else; celebrated a birthday, flew to Phoenix for a music festival, used a psychedelic as an entheogen, began taking steps to get active in the Masons again; preparing to earn three more professional certifications in the coming months and attempting to complete the bachelor's in a year - 92 credits down in 8 months. Just a whirlwind of activity overall. Now I'm finally slowing down a little and giving myself time to socialize and unwind between my bursts of productivity.

Hopefully I'll be here to stay this time, now that I'm contracted and everything in my personal life is significantly more stable. Glad to be back and hope you're all doing well, too. <3

Been a while since I've been around these parts. Hope all y'all have been well.

Streetlight Manifesto - The Three of Us

Andrew Jackson Jihad - Sorry Bro

Puscifer - Simultaneous

I don't have much formal debate experience or anything, but I'd be more than willing to discuss some issues on a podcast-style thing. This sounds like a pretty great idea. Best of luck!

Good morning, Hubski! Week's been alright. Started my next set of classes - Introduction to Physics, Principles of Business Management, and Network and Security Applications. 12 credits. I'm looking to have them done by...July 28th. I also helped broker a $130k service contract for my employer over the weekend. I've been riding an accomplishment high for the weekend, haha!

As for pleasure, I've got some trips coming up - it's off to Michigan to meet up with a friend, then in October, I'm heading out to the Monster Mash event in Arizona. Tool, Coheed & Cambria, and Primus all in the same night. It'll be spectacular. I also bumped into a basset hound puppy that slipped through its fence while walking today. It was adorable. The owner came back a few minutes later for her, but damn if that wriggling woofer didn't make my morning.

All the best, y'all.

Bought a ticket to Monster Mash for Halloween night. Tool, Primus, and Coheed & Cambria. Should be a good time.

Coheed & Cambria - Key Entity Extraction III: Vic the Butcher

Count me in. Look forward to seeing everyone. ccc asdf Corvus

Here you are, my friend! Ethnic Zorigoo ft. Zaya - Khuleg Baatar

G'morning hubski! I've just rolled out of bed for a day of frantic studying and lab simulations - I started a 4-credit course last night and have the final tomorrow, eesh. Gotta love when institutional and personal schedules collide. On the upside, passing the exam means I've done 12 credits in 24 days. Not a bad pace, methinks.

Had some fun in IRC last night with a few folks, too! A fun time all around with galen, ccc, Quatrarius, and asdf. Some IT talk was had, some music was shared, I introduced them to the wonders of Mongolian throat rap...

Not a particularly exciting week, but a good one. Hope all is well with you lot. All the best, hubski.

I don't find any sort of pornographic image/video/material to constitute adultery, quite frankly. Without attempting to give too much information, I have a particular fetish that's very much impossible to recreate in the real world. It is very much the primary source of arousal for me, to the point that any sexual conduct results in the gradual tapering of arousal well before any sort of mutual satisfaction is reached. In my previous relationship, I sat down and talked with my partner about it, and we established that it's a-ok for me to browse around and resort to solo play. Naturally I also did my best to accommodate them as well, but that was out of care for their needs, not my own.

I don't see it as a "tool of the patriarchy" or "inherently exploiting women"; on the other hand, I don't consume mainstream pornography and don't care for videos. I'm not innately connected to the standard practices of production for standard hardcore pornography. Insofar as I'm concerned, porn is a tool for self-exploration: it allows fantasies and wants and kinks that one may not be able to explore with a partner (or even possibly perform at all). It sates the urges and can be used to hone in on what makes one's sex drive tick. But hey, that's just me!

Thanks for sharing. The article was interesting, and I'm honestly curious as to what the 'ski thinks on the matter. Not many places you can get a rational discussion on something like this. :)

To a degree, though primarily I've focused on the Fool and Magician. I've also been poking around with a few interpretations of divinatory tarot as well. At the end of the day, though, the symbols are what they are. It's the personal interpretation and ascription that open doors and provoke one's journey.

I'm down, sounds like a fun time. Look forward to chatting with a few more of the old guard and getting to know people around the 'ski. :)

Less a story, more of a koan: it incites within me a great doubt. :P

Really though, it's a somewhat problematic question for me to answer. On one hand, I'm the author of my own mind and decisions, like how I'm writing this out instead of sleeping. On the other, the recounting of past events tends to be done via narrative - you can't convey every single sensory detail of any single past event, so you make a story out of it. In that case, if I am the storyteller, what is my life? Perhaps less a narrative and more an anthology of parable, fable, and vignette. It is a patchwork of events with characters that come and go, and you can construct a "story" using any which set of them.

Or perhaps I'm naught but a fool. Then again, what is the Fool but the start of the journey? Thanks for sharing, lil.

Been a rough week and this one's shaping up to be even rougher, so I've turned to stuff that always perks me up. Can't go wrong with some good ol' Tool - The Patient. I also really like this remix from the final battle of Cave Story, by Nutritious from OCRemix: The Unbroken.

I scored 73/100 overall. It's a neat little game, short enough to keep interest and offering enough variety to make me actually think about design and kerning. Granted, I'm not much of a designer, but still!

Thanks for sharing. A fun way to end a workday.

"The opposite of love isn't hate. It's fear. You can't hate something or someone you didn't once hold passion for, someone you didn't let into your heart." Courtesy of the assistant headmaster at my high school in my senior year, while teaching a course in classical literature. I believe this was specifically in regards to either Oedipus Rex or Antigone. This was what broke me out of a depressive spell and a significant period of self-doubt, and ended up with me leaving high school behind on good terms with just about everyone in my class.

Barring that? "I love you and I'm proud of you". My stepfather, at about 2 AM on the day after my 19th birthday. Two months prior we had discovered he had terminal cancer. I said "I love you too". The following day he had a stroke. He never regained consciousness and died three days later, in our living room, on a gurney. That brief exchange was the last conversation we had.

I, uh...I'm gonna go take a break from the computer for a bit. Don't neglect the chance to tell the people you hold dear that you care. Nothing is guaranteed. Not "18 months". Not tomorrow. Don't be afraid. Love each other.

I can hardly say I'm qualified to answer a question about what career you should end up seeking, especially because - in the U.S., at least - it appears that a substantial portion of people don't work in a field related to their degree. I believe it was a career building website that conducted a poll in late 2013 (I can't find it at the moment) that said 1/3 of respondents over 35 had never worked a job in their field of study, and 47% of college graduates took a first job outside that field as well. It becomes a question of work experience and transferring hard skills from your schooling.

With that said? Remember that you can study things on your own time, as well. Many degree plans have some electives and wiggle room, and at the universities I've looked at or attended for IT/Comp Sci/Engineering, there are still a few writing-intensive courses. It may not be creative writing, but honing the ability to communicate in a technical or professional manner with the occasional turn of phrase or subtle wit is something that will serve you well. You could also consider the interaction of hard science and the humanities - how does math influence certain types of art? What about the ethical and moral considerations of scientific advances? What are the implications of developing artificial intelligence? So on and so forth.

Keep questioning, keep learning, don't be afraid to study or read on your own time to further your interests, and don't let the fire of knowledge die down. Best of luck!