05-03-03 @ 4:06 am EDT

I've got POSTCARDS! ^_^ Now I have to get postage. >_< As there were only two who expressed interest in receiving them, I got two of each of four different cards. Maybe more some other time. Again, let me know if you'd be interested in a postcard from Michigan, and I'll TRY to send one along.

Crap, I forgot all I wanted to type! Oh yeah. I just got another e-mail about my Manitou Island site. I growled as I opened it, fully expecting yet ANOTHER Spam-assed offer from ADDR.com. (If you know any underhanded means of pissing off Spammers, PLEASE target ADDR.com! They are ALWAYS sending me crap offering to set me up with paid webspace...duh, hello, if I could AFFORD it, I'd HAVE it already, wouldn't I? Actually it seems to be on a referral basis and it's a lot of different idiots contacting me about my various sites. The number of Spams has gone down since I put notices on most of my sites telling them they are NOT welcome to e-mail me, but one site that escaped such a notice is the old Radioactive Playground site, which I would have to open PageBuilder to edit...and I don't want to do that. Too lazy; I use my own HTML now. So they keep sending me crap about THAT site. Even on their site policies page they don't prohibit Spamming people! They have some clever wording and such which SEEMS to frown on Spamming but I read it carefully and nowhere does it say that unwelcome Spam e-mails are discouraged. So if you know any way to piss them off...go ahead and do it. Tell them TEHUTI sent you since they're so big on referrals and all! >:P )

Anyway...I opened the e-mail, fully expecting the crappy error-riddled ADDR e-mail yet again, but it was an actual person this time. Go fig. He DID plug his own website, not too subtly >_< --but the main gist of it was that he wanted to know my personal experiences with Manitou Island. The REAL one. AAAGGGHHHH!!! I say REPEATEDLY on my site that my story is NOT, NOT, NOT about MANITOU ISLAND! It's based on MACKINAC Island. I sent him a polite e-mail informing him of this, but I really feel like I should not have to by now. I've gotten so many e-mails from people thinking I'm talking about Manitou Island (one of them, at least) that you'd think I was really vague about it...I guess these people never take the time to visit the information link at the very top of the main page of the site. That is an IMPORTANT page and so why do they skip it? I finally went over to GeoCities and edited everything to update my updates page (which was woefully out of date) to be VERY clear, and to make the link on the main page difficult to miss--PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE STARTING THE STORY! IMPORTANT INFO ON THE REAL-LIFE "MANITOU ISLAND," & ON THE SEQUEL, RETURN TO MANITOU ISLAND, INCLUDED. Or some such. Since I think none of the readers of the original, who accessed it from the site, even know that the sequel has already been started, although I SAID it had been. Do you think THAT should be clear enough to get people to actually READ that page?

Sorry to sound so snarky, but I myself try to check out all the updates/background info and such before questioning a webmaster about something; I guess I'm a rarity. :/ I'm not mad about the people who don't know about the sequel, just upset that they don't know; it's the people who don't see what island I'm writing about who annoy me. I hope at least more people aren't so confused anymore. Sheesh, before I changed it, it even SAID further down on the main page that there is a selection of pics from the real-life "Manitou Island"--MACKINAC ISLAND.

Anyway.

Have you seen the cover of the latest Entertainment Weekly? YIKES! All three of the Dixie Chicks are buck-naked and covered with epithets such as "Dixie Sluts" and "Patriots" and "Saddam's Angels." Now, don't get me wrong...I cannot stand the Dixie Chicks. I HATE Natalie Maines's voice; it drills right through my head like a swarm of nasal bees. Every time I hear that damned "Travelin' Soldier" song, I want to gouge my ears out; it just gets in my head and plays OVER and OVER and OVER again. Whenever they play on the TV, I actually have to leave the room or throw a screaming fit. BUT...I feel very sorry for the way they are being treated. For God's sake--all she said was that she was ashamed Bush was from Texas. And right AFTER she said that, she said she supported the troops! Funny how people don't pick up on all the details, huh? I hate how if you disagree with ONE little aspect of our government, it means you are a traitor and a bleeding-heart and you detest the ground the troops walk on. Personally I think Bush is a moron. And I USED to be antiwar (before the conservatives shouted me down; now I just don't care). But I dearly love our troops. I come from a military family--helLO!

She said that even THEIR family members are taking the heat for what she said...and somebody whose music I hate even more, Toby Keith, shows doctored pics of Maines with Saddam at his shows...cripes. I cannot believe the idiocy of people; if I were Maines I'd sue Keith for defamation of character. (That should teach him for singing that FARKING STUPID "We'll put a boot up yer ass, it's the American way!" song!) And what, honestly, is the deal with destroying their albums? HELLO! You already BOUGHT those albums--the Chicks have already made money off of them. It's the same thing as breaking all those bottles of French champagne--besides being a (rather dorky) symbolic act, what good are these people doing? The money is already in the Chicks' and the French's pockets, so why don't you just listen to the CDs and drink the champagne and quit being big babies about a few little words said in JEST?

(I'm talking about Maines's comment, there, not the French. As for the French, if you must hate anything about them, hate their GOVERNMENT, don't hate their people or their products. For God's sake, many French people don't even agree with their own government. Take a look at what some of US think of our own president!)

It's a sad day when bigotry is promoted by Congress...

But anyway, back to the Chicks...uh...what else did I have to say? Oh yes...I already said I can't stand their music, so I don't even listen to it anyway. I DO listen to music from people whose political/personal views I KNOW I would not agree with. So what? So somebody whose music I like is a conservative or pro-war or whatever. Why should that matter, so long as they are not making a political message in their songs? I would understand this anger if the Chicks were using their MUSIC to promote their views as propaganda--then people would have a right to be angry. (Even if not to call them traitors.) But they are not. Take a look at "Travelin' Soldier" and tell me they are against our troops. Go on, take a look. (I won't as I just can't stand the thing for aesthetic reasons.) As their music has absolutely nothing to do with their political views, why should it matter what they think about our government? Just LISTEN TO THE DAMN MUSIC if you like it, don't listen to it if you don't, but for God's sake, stop acting like big BABIES because somebody has a different opinion and wasn't afraid to share it.

(In JEST! She was JOKING, people!)

HP Lovecraft was somewhat racist, but I myself greatly enjoy his writings. I abhor racism, but since for the most part his writing has nothing to do with his personal views, that does not bother me. Hey, even when he DOES belittle other races in his fiction, it always turns out that those races are the smartest ones, in the end! (They're the ones who know not to go calling up Cthulhu, for example!)

I admit I am not perfect, and when an artist holds a viewpoint that I find PARTICULARLY repugnant, I will sometimes avoid anything of theirs, even if it has nothing to do with their viewpoints. But for the most part, this is not so, simply because I just don't go around looking into the personal opinions of my favorite artists. I just don't care; it's the ART that attracts me. And even when I do personally boycott somebody, I sure as hell don't go around slamming them every chance I get, and I don't bulldoze their product. Sheesh. Grinding CDs into dust is hardly any money out of the Chicks' pockets.

Well, I think that's quite a long enough rant, considering I can't stand the Dixie Chicks. But I can't stand idiotic behavior even more. I can't wait till this crap is all over. Oh, and a la the last time I ranted about a related subject--the French--I got a lovely bigoted dumbass anonymous comment from some prejudiced, pinheaded moron who had absolutely NO facts to back up their "comments" (read: mudslinging). Said person even called me a "faggot," which shows just how closely they read my journal--hello, straight female in the house! So if you are such a person who plans on attacking me thus, why not just save your breath? You know I'll just delete it, diss you publicly in this journal AND end up making a whole lot more sense than you, and move on. So save us both the time and go break a bottle or bust a CD since that makes your little brain feel better, all right?

"Breaking...stuff...good!"

Blabbedy-bla. I have to address a personal point here now. I explained this in an earlier entry entitled "For Blurty Users" (which could also apply to ALL versions of Skew), but I wish to address it again. I do not often respond to comments left on my journals, and this is a personal flaw of mine. Even worse, I am slow to go look at others' journals when they have looked at mine. Again, I'm sorry that I do this. But I'm very shy of responding, and sometimes, I really can't think of anything to say. Believe me that I do read what comments I can, and I try to check out others' journals when I can, but my extreme avoidance makes this very difficult. When people ask me about it it just makes it even more difficult, as I feel very guilty now...like I am being very snobby and ignoring people. :( I know it seems like I am, but I'm not. I'm just afraid of responding. I appreciate the attention, but I guess I should just admit that I'm not very good at returning the favor. (I HATE admitting this, especially after my "Reciprocation" entry...*sigh*) If this is a problem for anyone reading my journals, they can take me off their friends lists, and I'll take the hint and take them off mine as well. I won't hold any hard feelings. I just don't want people to have higher expectations of me than they should. I wish I knew a way to just get rid of this stupid problem of mine, but I can't figure it out. And I feel like no matter what I say, even in this entry, I will end up offending everybody with it. I'm sorry if I did.

This is often why I update my Writing.com version of Skew for days without updating the offsite versions; I'm afraid of having to confront the people who may be reading those versions and wondering why I am not responding to them. I avoid updating those and hide from sight for several days; once I did this so long on Blurty that my journal fell out of the ten most updated, even though it still had a higher number of entries than some others.

So, I guess I should REALLY say, please don't add me if you want somebody who reads and posts notes frequently. Please DO add me if you just like to read my journal. I can't think of many people who would like to add me just for the sake of reading me when I don't ever seem to respond, but you're free to anyway. I like to think that if you are somebody who reads this just for the sake of reading it, without expecting anything in return, perhaps we are a lot alike, and my chances of reading you in return are increased.

I'm sorry I'm so shy of people, especially when they are paying me attention that I very much appreciate.

I had an interesting dream but I have to end this entry now; maybe later. Tar...