Urgh, do you really want to do that?
Nowadays on my way home from school I spend my time commuting using my phone. No, I don't play Candy Crush. I don't play handphone games. If I wanted to play a game on a console it will not be on my handphone, I have a 3DS XL for a reason and it looks so much cooler than my phone:
Beats my Nokia Lumia 800 hands down.
Yea so I don't have a reason to spend my time with my head down just to play anything stupid.
I do, however, read stuff on my phone. Not erotica, but like Reddit, or something that might not be any more productive, but at least there's more mental stimulation. That's where I read something about "progress". The article was about how humans are hooked onto the idea of "progress", and that's what compels people to do something boring over and over again. Like a level system in games, you might find killing mushrooms in Maple Story really stupid without the level system, but you still do it because you want to level up, because progress is evident.
How do we bring this element of progress into real life? Or rather, how do we show that we're progressing in real life? I have no idea how. I can only think of it as showing off, and the ways of showing off would be
1) Getting a car
2) Getting a hot trophy girlfriend/wife
3) Having a harem
None of which I can get now, so I guess I'm never going to appear like I'm progressing in life.
On an entirely different note, I've been seeing a lot of pictures from the local university orientation camps, and I am greatly perturbed. I mean, I have a lot of friends who've or will go through these activities, but do they really have to be this sexual?
I'll state a few examples
1) Male does push-ups over a female. (simulates copulation)
2) Male passes a piece of bread over to another female with his mouth, said piece of bread is passed around many times to other people in a group. (encourages an exchange of bacteria through saliva)
3) Licking off peanut butter from a plastic wrap, with a member of the opposite gender licking the other side of the plastic wrap. (simulates eating each other out and treating the oral cavity as food)
4) Girls running for pageant are supposed to find pieces of notes stuck on guys by touching around blindfolded. (simulates groping in nightclubs)
I've heard worse stories but I'm sticking to information that I can verify (pictures and people that I personally know).
If things are this sexual, why do people do them? Is it because they are sexual?
For me, I wouldn't go for such orientation camps. To me, these activities would not add value to my life. I'd postulate 2 possible reasons as to why girls would want to take part in these activities, and my eventual view on these girls: Why is this girl able to do this? If she can do this, it means that she's either
1) Enjoying this. If she can enjoy doing this, she's probably not someone I'd want to hang out with.
2) Not enjoying this, but too shy to admit, or peer pressured into doing it. This means that she's not actually enjoying it, so why would another guy want to take advantage of her obvious embarrassment or compromised situation? And, I'd also think of her as weak, because she's succumbing to peer pressure. What if the group is doing something worse, like drink driving or having an orgy? Would she silence her protests and go along with the group?
Another thing about these activities are that they can be conducted as a forfeit. Like between 2 groups, if one loses, the winning group sits around and watch the losing group do such nonsense to each other. That reeks of voyeurism. Which makes me wonder what the winning group would be doing while the losing group is doing those weird sexual activities. Are they cheering them on, or are they disgusted? Do they feel sorry, or do they get sexcited?
Look, I understand that humans are social animals and that we normally just kill any semblance of self and individualism in order to not stand out too much, but to capitalize on this vulnerability of humans by adding such programs in the schedule of an "orientation" is just not right.
I spoke to a female friend who had to go through with these "rites of passage", and as things turns out, they have a point system, so if you don't engage in these sexual activities, you lose points for the team. So now, team members have to "take one for the team", and if you don't do it when "everyone has already done it", you'd be "seen as a wuss".
It's a really humane thing to follow the crowd, but I also think that that's the really "wussy" thing to do. Following people is easy. Herd instinct kicks in and you follow, it's that simple. Even if you're scared and you think it's a stupid idea to just jump, you will jump too after your 9th friend did. I did something that was pretty cool when I was in Pattaya with my army friends. We were resting at a spot after scuba-diving (OK FINE, it's just snorkeling), when my friends had this idea of jumping off the ship from the second floor?storey?. Yea whatever, so they started jumping. I have this fear of heights and generally I do not enjoy jumping into the water, but they were all jumping and some made repeated jumps and synchronized jumps and stuff, and they made it look less scary than I would. So I jumped, and here's a picture to prove it:
 |
| Balls of Steel. |
Yea it's not that hard to jump. It's not a ballsy thing to do if you're coerced into it. It's almost like I was shoved into jumping.
If I were in such an orientation camp and a female were to stand up and say something really prudish like "No I'm not going to do that that is wayyyy overboard", I will be in awe. That, is one fine specimen of a chick with balls. I like gutsy people, those who dare to stand up for themselves. It's a trait that most people don't dare to express, almost as if it's something against societal norms.
But what the fuck. It's your body that the organizers are fucking around with, you have a say. If you don't like it don't do it. What do you get out of it? The lingering sense of disgust whenever you see that particular guy whose crotch you accidentally touched or who's hand strayed to your boob while you were both blindfolded?
Guys will have lots of fun in the camp I am sure. They all have the perfect reason to get all physically intimate
"It's for the team!"
"Man I know this sucks for both of us but we got to do it."
"Let's just get it over and done with."
and the list goes on. If they don't enjoy it, then the reasonings above given to the females still stand
1) if they enjoy it, do you really want to date him?
2) if they don't enjoy it, and they don't stand up for themselves, do you really want to date him?
I think that networking is important, but if it comes at the cost of your principles, then fuck it. There will definitely be ways to make friends when school actually starts. I didn't go for my orientation camp, I panicked and ran away, but I'm doing OK now. And so will you. You don't need to compromise your body just to gain some friends. It's an easy way to make friends though, that I'll concede. But it's not the only way.
I think this issue has been going on for a really long time already. Parents have even complained to the newspapers about the raciness of the activities. The problem here, parents, is that your children are going despite knowing it's racy. The problem here is that you, as parents, have told them that they cannot go anywhere in life without friends. It is sound advice, but orientation camps are really not the only way to make friends. Firstly, orientation camp mates are not necessarily going for the same lectures as you. I have a friend who went for like 5 camps. I've never liked him, and I wonder how much peanut butter he licked. Probably a few cans worth. Can anyone really still walk on the face of this earth without feeling ashamed that she had to do such a gross/vile thing with such a gross/vile human?
Bah.
I know I haven't written anything in awhile, so pardon me if my ideas seem fragmented or are not put across clearly. Somehow, I am glad that even though I spent 4 hours just standing around, I managed to have a conversation for like 30 seconds or less. Totally worth it.
-- 7/17/2013 12:17:00 AM