Story Book Villians. (Eragon spoilers)

I am pretty unimpressed with the characters passed off as evil in stories, as a whole. Most of them would be the good guy, if they were in the protagonists position.

Take the Chronicles of Narnia for instance.

All my nerdiness aside, Edmund was evil for liking the White Witch, and then stopped being evil when he met Aslan. Isn't that a bit odd? He's evil for not siding with someone he's never had the chance to meet. All he did was befriend the first person he met over some food, Lucy did the same thing!

The order of events goes like this-

1) Child enters Narnia
2) A stranger shows them kindness
3) The stranger earns the childs' loyalty
4) It is revealed that this person might wish to harm the child
5) The stranger forces the child to go home at once

Lucy would have been "evil" too, if she hadn't come through when she did. Think about it. Ed goes through, meets a guy who wins him over with some neat stories. He'd go back and talk about it, and I bet only Lucy would believe him. She'd try getting in and meet this nice old woman.

I've never seen Starwars before, but my English teacher talked about it a lot. Didn't Darth Vader turn evil because to be a Jedi he was expected to stop being in love with someone? Or something? Anyone with his hormone balance would have done something just as drastic.

In Eragon -the book, the movie is not fit to bear the same title. If it didn't you wouldn't know they were supposed to be the same thing.

Anyway.

In Eragon, Murtagh turns evil, thus disappointing thousands of fangirls who really need to look at the whole story and not become obsessed with single characters-

Anyway.

Murtagh turns "evil" and helps Galbatorix- after being captured, dragged into an abyss against his will, forced into the Kings fracking dungeons and discovering the dragon that completes his soul. I mean come on give the guy a break. Dragon hatchlings are pretty pathetic, and you know if Murtagh didn't agree to help His Royal Craziness he would have had to watch the adorable baby he had dreamed of all his life and loved with all his heart killed before his eyes, thus literally slashing apart his soul and sending him spiraling into suicide, or life long insanity. Which he would be imprisoned and tortured during.

And then he lets Eragon go later. Sort of. It's sort of only because Eragon was weakening his dragon. But he and Eragon were friends, and if he caught him then he could stop trying to murder him. And he had that whole speech about how they were trying to unite the country so that there would never be wars again. And he's trying to save the species of dragons.

If he hadn't been captured he'd still be a good guy. And he's doing pretty well under the circumstances. He's got morals. His actions are reasonable.

All in all? Not impressed with the people literature labels as "evil". That's a pretty strong word. Because if the options were presented bluntly, who wouldn't choose to be good?

Where I've been

If I get readers one day who read through my posts and care enough to look at the dates, you'll know that I haven't written in a few days.

That's because I've been busy trying to write a story!

Note: "Trying" is the operative word here.

Other note: "Busy" really isn't.

I'm sick of magic being something that drains you. In certain stories, that works really well, but it's started to become normal, and that just makes it seem unoriginal after a certain point. And there are lots of stories where magic is something that requires vigorous training. But how did the teachers learn it? Isn't anyone self taught? Plus it's such a huge part of peoples lives in stories. It's hardly ever seen as just an unimportant supporter feature of society.

And although there's nothing like a good Chosen One story, I didn't want to write one.

So, I'm only two pages in. I know exactly what I want to do, but I've got to make sure I avoid these fantasy fiction pitfalls.

Burial

Burial is considered to be a sign of belief in the after life, apparently. At least, it is if the bones are found straight and orderly, not like they've been dumped in a hole to avoid bears.

When you think about it, organized religion has caused nothing but trouble. Yet burial may be the single most comforting thing we can do to brace for our own demise.

Once burial is common practice, in the back of your mind, you always know that you will be cared for after death. Not in a "I will hold your memory to my heart forever" sort of way, it just shows that after you die, you still exist.

Is that enough to push away all nervousness about the great abyss? No, certainly not.

But it helps, right?

Fantasy on the internet

The Internet is a MAGICAL place for many teens in need of a creative outlet. The number of small, unprofessional fantasy stories online grows exponentially everyday. Of course, the number of those stories that are worth reading is somewhere lower...

I am going to try to write a proper story, set in a MAGICAL realm.

"But Kirti," my non existent readers ask "How can you be sure your story won't get lost among all the others?"

Well my gentle and non existent friends, the answer is that it will get lost among the others. But at least my story will be filled with sociopolitical issues.

Hurray for sociopolitical issues!

Mike- Tu nombre es un pregunto!

Yesterday my friends started discussing what we would want to name our children, should we get old and choose to have some.

This is an incredibly fun way to spend time. I know a girl with every intention of naming her first born Mariadock and Paragrin her second. I love my nerd friends. Another friend wants a boy named Xavier for no reason other than the fact that any name beginning with X is awesome.

I said that though I'm a celibate who hasn't had a XY born into her family for... Uh... Ever actually. Like, you can trace the family tree back and nothing but girls have been born. The guys are always married in, and then their wives have daughters who marry and have daughters.

But if I had a son, somehow (Omaigawsh, virgin birth?) I said I would name him Ashely, because Ashely was originally a boys name and it is so unfeminine. People started jumping in to say the Joshua be a girls name...

Makes me think about BabyNames.com, places like that. You would not believe how many names actually mean things like "God is Gracious" (Joe, John, Jane, Janet, Janice, Janette, ect) and "Who is like God?" (Micheal. The answer is supposedly that no man is like God. And yet it's thought to be good Christian name. When Christianty centers around a man who they think is like God. Huh.) It seems so strange that we look at babies, something we created, whose survival is stringent on us, and think of our Gods. Is it because we are reminded of our own vulnerability before Zeus and Thor and Jehovah and whoever else, or because we have doubts in our faith?

Or, you know, because we are a species of suck ups. Seriously our ancestors were that insecure? Naming their kids that? Can't they just hang a sign round their own necks saying "Please don't smite me mister God, I fully regret doing the nasty,"? I mean really. Now it's a tradition. How any Mike be sure of his identity when his name is actually a question I may never know.

Romance and Pansexuality

Greetings non existent readers! Sorry for the late update, my girlfriend was over. Right now I am in my pajamas, not at A-prom. So I think now's a good time to talk about homosexuality.

First off- I'm not. Allow me to explain.

1) I am a girl
2) I am in a sixth month long romantic relationship with a girl
3) My girlfriend is a lesbian
4) I am not a lesbian. What's more, I am not bisexual, nor transgender.

Ladies and gentlemen , I am what is known as a "Pansexual". I feel romantic attraction regardless of gender, because genders do not interest me. I don't give a crap, and I don't see why I should. I don't understand why other people do, actually.

Out of curiosity, I often ask girls what they look for in a soul mate. The list is extensive and features things like "Smart, funny, sweet, honest, cute", etc. All the traits girls seem to look for are gender neutral. Plus, when asked "So if you two are really true loves, does it matter if they aren't awesome in bed?"

Que the hip cocked,the arms crossed, the jaw set and the nose goes flying into the air as they inform me that obviously they wouldn't care. "Sex has nothing to do with true love!" they say.

Okay, so maybe it's unfair to trick people like this, but every girl I've tried this on ends up saying that love and sex are disconnected for them, so I ask the critical question- if love and sex are different, and you desperately want to find your soul mate, why do you only date guys?

Try it sometime. Girls will stutter, or go wide eyed, some even gag. And then they do their best to explain that they're straight. Straight; That's a sexual orientation! They feel they can't possibly fall in love with girls because they can only have sex with boys? When they agree that sex is unrelated to love?

But pansexuality is a sexual orientation too. Just like asexuality is a sexual orientation. Just like atheism is a religion, and bald is a hair color. Back on topic, I realize I can't logic people into thinking that sex doesn't matter. For most of you, I guess it does. It's just weird.

But despite my general repulsion towards all reproductive organs, I fully support gay rights. I even read comics and manga about gay love (there are several that I am a huge fan of). Any straights who say being gay is a choice...

I can explain the hormone spikes in the womb that cause men to rely of their left brain more than is typical another time. For now, all homophobes should know you're wrong and illogical. G'night!

"Music equals Life"- Well, actually...

I really like music. But here's the thing-

EVERYONE DOES.

The tee shirts and icons and buttons saying "music is my life" and "I <3 music" were cute at first, but now they're just annying. And they're multiplying.

Liking music doesn't make you cool, and it doesn't make you emo. It makes you normal. It's completly typical, and not out of the ordinary for anyone in anyway.
"But I like wierd music!" You and most of the people I know.
"But I love music." Uh huh. I can't think of anyone who doesn't.
"But you don't get it. Music is my life." Yeah. I got that.
"No seriously, I'd die without it." No. You'd be sad, but you would definately live. If you commited suicide because you couldn't listen to music, that means that you have psychological imabalances that really have very little to do with music.

This cultural obsession with music is just insane. I don't argue that it should be a part of our lives, but we have a whole generation trying to devote their lives to it alone. Being a singer or a rock star or a guitarist, or whatever- that's not a noble pursuit. It's great if you make people happy with your music, but doctors and lawyers make people happy too.

Actually, we put too much emphasis on being doctors and lawyers as well... The people who work on renovating peoples houses make people really happy. When you walk into a newly finished room and you breath in air that still smells a bit like paint... That's a good feeling. It doesn't "equel life", it just makes people happy.

Really, isn't living a happy life more important? If you think your life is awful and you listen to nothing but depressing music, it'll seems like it is all that your life is- but your life is more important then a bunch of sad songs.

Live and be happy, and listen to lots of songs along the way. But don't say your life is nothing but the music.

By the way, I had a concert today. I sang pretty well, considering.

And on the Eighth day (and counting)

Everyone is getting psyched for the end of school. Which means that they're whining that we're still in school. Honestly, calm down. It's not as if additional days have been added.

Maybe I'm just too nostalgic, but I'm going to miss this year. The fact that it was total shit does not take away from the knowledge that next year and the years following will be shittier. This year would go on longer if I had my way. Not to make vacation shorter, just to learn more. Can a thirteenth month be added?

If we lost some mass, the earth might spin fast enough to fit another thirty days in before we finished going around the sun. I know it's dangerous, but I think it's worth the risk. The real question is what to jettison. I volunteer the Republicans!

Back on the subject of school, I might be spending more than eight days anyway. I'm at risk for summer school for math. The bizarre thing is that I love math. The idea that there is an answer, one answer, and it's possible to find- If you can get into the right mindset, it's thrilling.

I just happen to be lousy at it. What can you do, right? My teacher's great, I work hard, and I like it, I'm just awful. If summer school will help, of course I'll be happy to go...

No, not really. It's all true but I don't want to go to summer school. That'll be on my records. So fingers crossed that I pass. Oh wait, I have exactly zero readers to cross their fingers.

I'll umpa your lumpa

Traditional standards of what represents wealth and beauty are getting reversed lately, especially with us XX's.

It used to be that being pale was good, like we had time to sit around inside doing nothing while everyone else labored beneath the hot sun while they considered Communist revolutions that would force them into further oppression.

But now everyone is being oppressed by capitalism and so we have to stay inside in our cubicles without seeing the sunlight except through screen savers, so being pale is pretty normal. Now being tan is what prooves you're rich. It means you have time to lie around in the sun, or wander around on far off beaches, or go to expensive tanning salons.

Granted, nobody cares about the origins of these trends except me, so now fake tans are all the rage. When girls walk around with bright orange skin, it's not because they're good girls who eat their carrots (mind out of the gutter please) and they aren't umpa lumpas- Adolescent XX's just think that orange is the new sexy. XY's get in on the doopity doo too.

If you're like me and don't buy into the tanning craze, worry not! Eventually these current icons of beauty may get skin cancer, and their bleached silky hair may be sacrificed during chemotherapy. And then people with cancers lives will improve because wigs will no longer be seen as out of the ordinary!

Or fashion will keep on moving. Either or.

First blog

Hello. I'm Kirti, and many people I know are under the impression I am insane, and(/because) I think too much.


I have long since given up on convincing anyone that this isn't so when talking to people in person so I'm hoping to get enough of my thoughts and opinions down here, in this blog, for strangers to understand my way of viewing things.

My posts could be about anything from what's going on in the world, to what's going on in my life, to what's going on in my head. This blog is basically the boarding schedule for my train of thought, so expect delays, derailment, and possibly the running over of screaming girls who got themselves tied to the tracks.

Fair warning that my sense of humor might throw certain people through loops, or catapult them over the loops completely, depending on personality. Really though, I'm just hoping someone will find this entertaining enough to bother reading.

This post was written on the first of June twenty ten. Hopefully it all goes up hill from here!