I will be on vacation this week so I will be on xanga break.

Here are some of the finalist for the prettiest eyes on xanga contest.

1.  TheGildedCage

2.  Shatterfocus

3.  Callmequell

4.  Ordinary_Girl

5.  Mangotini

6.  Jesycole

7.  Hiskeiki

8.  Curiousitea

9.  Causeimrussian

10.  Ampersands_Anonymous

Which woman has the prettiest eyes?
                                  
                            

I was reading an article about how it was Gay Pride Weekend in New York.  Here is the link:  Link

I also read a blog where someone mentioned she had marched in a Gay Pride Parade.

Would you ever march in a Gay Pride Parade?

I am 38 years old and I have discovered certain things as I walk through life. 

It is sort of interesting what you learn from some of the people you meet.

1.  The dying

I used to do volunteer work with hospice.  It was an interesting experience watching people die.  I am not talking about being in the same room as them.  I am talking about watching them go through the stages of death.  It is so sad when someone finds out they are being put on hospice.  It is the death sentence.  It is the way in which the doctors let you know there is no more hope.  You will die and there is nothing they can do to stop it.

Lesson learned:  Death takes everyone.  You can be rich or you can be poor.  You can live a good life or you can live a bad life.  But either way, you will die.

2. People in prison.

I used to visit people in prison.  I had the opportunity to have long conversations with people who killed other people.  It is sort of interesting the number of people in prison that have the ability to deny responsibility for their actions.  In fact, I think the common trait you can see in visiting with prisoners is the ability to make excuses or deny reality.  I once visited with a person who had killed 5 people.  It is sort of funny to have an in depth conversation about family with someone who has killed people.  I also had a few conversations with child molesters.  I talked to a guy who had molested his step-daughter.  He started when she was 9 or 12.  I can’t remember exactly.  He blamed her.  I talked to another guy who I believe had molested anywhere from 100-200 kids.  He said he was better off in prison.  He was serving for 50 years.  I hope they never let him out.

Lesson Learned:  Sometimes you can have a casual conversation and the person you are talking to has killed people.  Often you will never guess all the things people have done based on their appearance.  But you should still follow your gut about people.

3.  The Evil

I met a guy who was physically abusing his wife.  He was very active in church.  He was a church leader.  I found out what he was doing to his wife and I talked to her.  I asked her, “I have reason to believe your husband is physically abusing you.  Is there some way I can help?”  She didn’t say anything for for about 30 seconds.  Then she told me “no.”  So I left it at that.  She was always nice to me.  She had a kind heart.  She told me he never hurt the children.  They had 4 children.  One day he was sitting at home alone and he shot himself in the head.

Lesson Learned:  Some people are evil.  They will hurt others and they have no conscience about it.  With time, you start to be able to indentify those who are evil.

4.  Rich man

I met a rich man.  If you had a conversation with him for 3 hours, you would never know he was rich.  He had a kind heart.  He was particular about how he wanted things done.  But he  was a good man.  He was thin and his wife was overweight.  You wouldn’t pick them as being together because he was better looking than her.  And yet he was so kind to her and valued her. 

Lesson Learned:  Not everyone who is rich, chases riches.

5.  Waiter

I read one time where a CEO said he could tell what kind of employee a person would be by the way he treated a waiter or waitress.  He said it said a lot about a person how he/she would treat someone he/she didn’t have to be nice too.

Lesson Learned:  Be nice to people with no real motive.

6.  The Naive

A naive person doesn’t know whether people are good or evil.  The naive person doesn’t know to be angry about the evil. 

Lesson Learned:  I am still not sure whether it is better to be naive.

7.  A woman in church.

There was a woman at church that had a baby outside of wedlock.  Years later people could see the visible proof of her mistakes.  She was one of the more godly people I ever knew.  She didn’t have much and one time at Christmas, she took her gifts and some of her children’s gifts and gave them over to a poor family in need that had no gifts.

Lesson Learned:  Not everything is as it appears.

I was just reading an article by a feminist where she indicated there is nothing wrong with objectifying men such as the soccer players.

She felt it was harmless for women to drool over the men.

She did not think men were suffering in any real way to have women drool over them.  Women, on the other hand, are not taken seriously if they are the victim of objectification.  She also felt that the men had healthy bodies where women are expected to get boob jobs or be unhealthy and skinny.  Here is the link:  Link

Is it hypocritical for women to drool over the bodies of men?

I was reading a post where a person mentioned he wanted to commit suicide.  Here is the link:  Link  I was reading the comments and most of them were really caring and showed a desire to help out.

I did read a comment, “If you were going to kill yourself you’d have done it by now, without justification.” MyHomeIsWriting

If a person was really going to commit suicide, do you think the person would cry out for help first?

I have noticed that some people claim on xanga from time to time that the quality of content has gone down on xanga.

I pointed out in a post today that I think the quality of content on the most commented sections of xanga is actually higher.  I pointed out some of the most commented posts back in late 2004 and early 2005.

Here are a few of them.

Link1

That post received 196 comments and 298 eprops.

Link2

That post received 195 comments and 356 eprops. 

Link3

That post received 198 comments. 

Link4

111 comments and 208 eprops.

Link5

148 comments and 222 eprops.

Link6

150 comments and 248 eprops.

Link7

190 comments 333 eprops.

(No offense to those people I just linked).

Do you think the quality of content has gone down on xanga?

It is kind of funny to me that the trends associated with men are really practical.  In other words, if guys are losing hair, they just shave their heads and go with the bald look.  If a guy is going gray, he just embraces it and has gray hair.

If a guy starts to gain weight, a little fat looks good on the guy.

Women, on the other hand, have to fight the trends.  Each of my three sisters dye their hair.  I know they have to have gray hair.  But they have to fight it.  If they are about to go bald, they have to fight the trend.

Anyway, I was really wanting to get input from women on this one.

Which looks better on a guy, the bald look or the gray look?
                                                              

It is sort of interesting how many xanga sites people have had over the years.  Recently I posted asking how long people had been on xanga and so many mentioned another site they had.

How many xanga sites have you had?
                                        
                                                                                       

I was talking to a lady friend recently and I have noticed that more women appear to have bisexual tendencies than men.

I am not sure why that is but you have all probably noticed that women are more likely to cuddle with each other or hold hands.  You just don’t see that with guys.  But I have also noticed that women are more likely to express bisexual tendencies like an attraction to the same sex.

I am not sure you can chalk that up to men being more repressed in their feelings.  I think clearly more women are bisexual or at least bi-curious.

So lets poll the crowd.

Was there ever a time in your life when you were bi-curious?