Oh, no. Ah, HELL no!
Not only am I now a YouTube celebrity, apparently my blog has become the new location for the loosely controlled chaos of Jacqueline Passey’s comment threads. Alright, guys. If you’re going to start commenting over here, here are some simple rules:
- This is my blog. This is “sheer potentiality” on philwelch.net. You’re lucky if I update weekly. If there’s a thriving comment community I may be inspired to update more often. If I update more often, of course, I have a chance of cultivating a thriving comment community.
- There’s no ads on here and it’s going to stay that way unless traffic goes up enough to justify it. Note: I don’t keep track of my traffic. I easily could, but I just don’t bother.
- I delete comments at will. There is no policy about this because it is my blog and the policy is, I delete comments at will. The same policy holds for all site content. Any blog post and any other page on philwelch.net is edited or deleted at will. If for some reason I don’t want to be reminded of you,, the blog will read as if I never knew you. If burned bridges are rebuilt again, I might consider adding you back, unless of course you’re vindictive enough to burn them down again for no apparent reason. If you’re very observant you might know who I’m talking about here. But chances are no one reads my blog that closely.
- I don’t like pants much. Or haircuts.
Seriously though, most of you are okay. So welcome to sheer potentiality.
Thanks for letting the party move to your place.
Hi ya Phil,
So, you are taking up the blog slack? Good! I had just started reading JMPP’s blog and really enjoyed the commentors there…she said something about replying to total strangers recently…I guess I’d be in that category?
I was soooo like her twenty years ago. But, that’s another story. I really enjoyed your comments, btw, as well as Melissa, Trouble-maker, Scot, Shawn, ThirdMan and I can’t remember the rest.
In response to JMPP’s jibe about “not having jobs” - I do work part-time, but it’s very important for me to communicate and connect with others online. Dealing with a chronic illness imposes inevitable limits, so, yeah, I do spend a lot of time on the computer and I like to write…so…
What do you mean by not liking pants? As in, trousers, jeans, that sort of thing? (ignore this if this is some inside joke thing that I’m not getting!) My husband has strong legs and would look smashing in a utilikilt, but no luck so far. I wish these things would catch on…
http://www.utilikilts.com/
I really do.
Your blog policy is very 1984. ;)
– Laurel
Lalah, check out some of my archives. I’m against wearing pants in principle (admittedly, the principle is making my genitals comfortable) and, but for my financial situation, would wear Utilikilts 24/7, Well, except when sleeping. And showering. And certain other personal situations. The point is, I would wear them as an exclusive replacement for proper pants. Unless I needed to cover my shins for some reason.
Um, the point is, I’m on board with the utilikilt thing :)
Your blog policy is very 1984.
I’m not the type of person to up and decide that “I don’t want to remain in contact” for frivolous and mostly-unstated reasons. If someone does that to me, they’re dead to me. I don’t want to keep fond memories of that type of person around, because if you up and do that, all of those fond memories are based on a lie. This isn’t the only situation where I purge someone from my life. It’s not even the initial situation behind my last purge. But it’s the current situation.
Basically there’s something going on here that I’m not going to spell out right now, but I needed to vent a little.
Vent away, if you need to, Phil. Isn’t that part of what a blog is for?
I did read some of your archives, chosen at random, and it was a very good read. I particularly enjoyed the ‘quotes,’ lol.
When you are able to, you can one be of the Utilikilt-wearing pioneers. I know a few guys in bands who wear them, and they look especially good with long hair. It’s that Braveheart thing going on.
Phil, I hope you don’t mind if I address the abusive last words spoken on Jacqueline’s blog? An unfinished discussion causes commentus interuptus, which can be very unhealthy, and I’ve no intentions of reading a blog I cannot comment on. Too control-freakish for someone as opinionated as myself.
I hope the others show up here…and Melissa…I just wanted to say that JMPP’s comment to you was childish.
Basically she exposed herself and her *own* fears by derogatory comments about your weight and dating/relationship status, since these things are what drives her.
People *tell you all about themselves* without knowing it; one just has to listen to their words. “Being thin” and “having a BF” are only temporary bandaids to the underlying issues, at best. That said, I wish her well.
I think that when anyone comes right out and says, hey, I’m human, I get depressed, I don’t understand crap, whatever, I’m as vulnerable and flawed as the next person, it’s a beautiful thing. It’s real and it’s honest and connects us as humans.
I’ve known for some time that Jacqueline spent a long time fat and single and grew to hate herself for it. That’s why she hates fat single people.
I feel sorry for Jacqueline. She obviously has some issues that I can’t imagine would be easy to deal with. I think it really upset her when I responded to her post with my true weight and relationship status (not fat, married). (Well, obviously it did, because she took it down.) I’ve never had to deal with weight issues so I don’t really know what she’s going through. She tries to make her life sound so great, but really it’s just sad.
And lalah, she was rude to you too. I feel bad that you took so much time to give her good advice and she responded that way. I wonder what it’s like dealing with her in person…Phil, do you have any insight on that?
Hi Phil! Great Blog. I always enjoy reading what you post.
And hello everyone else from JMPP blog. Melissa, lalah, and Laurel, I agree with your comments on JMPPs blog. She mostly posts things for reactions from people. I’ve stopped posting on her blog as it has become tiresome.
I’ve also come to realize that her blog is just a small snapshot into her life. It would be interesting to talk to her boyfriend Neal in a year to see how things work out. As I’ve said before on her blog, she likes drama. And I wouldn’t be surprised if she was bi-polar or something as well.
And utilikilts rule! I just wish they weren’t so expensive.
ThirdManFromTheLeft
And for anyone feeling self-conscience about their weight, check out this episode of Penn & Teller’s Bullshit: http://www.tv-links.co.uk/link.do/
1/1919/2719/18363/29586
(You’re going to have to cut and paste the two lines together as it’s too long for this comment column)
Sadly, it seems society right now equates skinny = better person and overweight = you are flawed. I’d rather judge a person on their actions. Well that, and how they smell.
: )
ThirdManFromTheLeft
Scotsmen cover their shins with knee-high woolen socks… with garters to hold ‘em up and a dagger tucked into the garter…
I wonder what it’s like dealing with her in person…Phil, do you have any insight on that?
I had lunch with her once in Edmonds. She seemed pretty nerdy and friendly then. She’s really quite nice most of the time—she’s just awful at taking criticism, and I think she has some issues with disagreement. But like most people, she’s way nicer in real life than online.
Jacqueline is my friend, and we’ve been there for each other a couple times. Yes, she has some serious flaws, but she’s fundamentally a good person. It’s just that good people can have differences with each other easily if they’ve had different experiences and different perspectives.
I’ll also note two other things I’ve observed about Jacqueline:
1) Whenever I talk to her about certain things, she has a much different perspective than I do, and than I suspect most people do. And when I talk to her, I can usually see her side of things, even if I don’t agree.
2) Jacqueline often doesn’t respond to points she finds uncomfortable to hear. For instance, during our abortion argument, she didn’t really have anything to say when I pointed out that it’s not uncommon for men to abuse their girlfriends into getting an abortion, and that her radically-pro-abortion stance fairly well glossed over those women and *their* freedom to choose. (I’m not trying to restart that argument here, simply illustrating an example.)
Philip: I’ve known for some time that Jacqueline spent a long time fat and single and grew to hate herself for it.
I saw that.
I regret that I didn’t take longer to establish more of a rapport before I jumped in there with advice. Inside that slender pretty girl is her overweight, insecure self that got teased. I think we all, in some way, identify with that.
Melissa: I felt sorry for her, too. You, and others, pointed out some discrepancies that I think became more and more difficult for her to rationalize, so she cut *everyone* off. I like to think that much of what was pointed out to her will be revisited, when she’s ready.
Anon: Sadly, it seems society right now equates skinny = better person and overweight = you are flawed. I’d rather judge a person on their actions. Well that, and how they smell.
Lol, so true, though! Have you read any of the recent statistics? Apparently, anorexia and bulimia now affects pre-adolescent boys. It makes me very angry at a media that sells this message.
Utilikilts:
Yes, they are overpriced. But, you can make your own using the same guidelines that girls use to convert their blue jeans into skirts; by un-doing the inner leg seems, making the resulting ‘front’ and ‘back’ fabric pieces straight, then sewing front-to-front and back-to-back.
The advantage is that your own jeans or cords already have etablished wear-patterns giving your kilt it’s own rugged character.
http://www.savvyseams.com/clothing/jeanskirt.php
Lalah, how masculine does that end up looking? The thing about Utilikilt is that it has rather masculine pleats and such.
Yeah, I know, Phil. But, they want around $150.00 for the u-kilts, and that is way, way too much, IMHO.
It wasn’t the best suggestion, I admit. If you really want the pleats, you can start from scratch with a kilt pattern. You don’t have to use a tartan - you can use rugged black denim or camouflage fabric, whatever floats your boat. (just wash and pre-shrink it first)
I found this link:
http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/chegc/kiltsite/kilt.htm
It’s a man’s website who promotes the wearing of kilts. He includes complete instructions, pattern and diagrams and claims anyone who can fold a towel can make a kilt from his pattern.
There are many links for making your own kilt - I just picked one that seemed relatively uncomplicated. If you didn’t want to take this on as a fun weekend project yourself…do any of your female friends sew? (is that sexist?) Ask around!
I wouldn’t be surprised if you got requests, once you started wearing yours:)
I’m not in touch with many women who sew. Some of them graduated, some of them aren’t in close touch anymore, some aren’t in touch at all anymore. But this is probably something I’m capable of myself or with minimal help. Thanks for the link.