Against the grain

[SPazzo]

I guess you'd say I'm against the grain in that I don't date, believe in marriage or go to church.  I believe in my Lord, yes, but don't feel I need to go to Church in order to prove I believe.  I've NEVER believed in marriage.  As for the dating thing, well that's not really a choice.  I've been rejected so many times I've stopped trying.  But I remember being in high school and going on full rants about marriage being a sham.
I understand that to an extent.  Me personally, I grew up in the '90s so I'm used to cell phones being around.  Granted, for the first bit of the '90s, it was the Zack Morris "Saved by the Bell" type of phone, big and clunky.  But by the time I hit 13 in '97, they were the smaller versions we have now.  I almost always text.  Just easier than having to go through the formalities of "Hey, how you doing? How's the family, etc?' and just asking a simple question. 

Out of all the teenagers I know, only 3 do not have cell phones.  One of those three is me. 

[Trevor]

I am one of the few people who is against making gods out of certain  politicans - they're only human after all.

I loathe the regurgitation of SA's turbulent and unjust past by foreign filmmakers who ignore the problems in their own countries.

I agree with Mohammed Al-Fayed that his son and prospective daughter in law were murdered in Paris in 1997.

[Newt]

Family of five and not a cell phone among us.  There have been times when it would be nice - such as when somebody gets stuck in traffic or a snowstorm, just for reassurance, or when the eldest misses his bus or train home - but the rest of the time who needs one?  Boggles my mind that the expense is considered an 'essential' - up there with food and shelter - by most people I know (who then use their cells for totally trivial purposes).  I'm not so important that anyone needs to contact me immediately.

Most TV shows.  We've found that we almost always completely dislike what is popular and the few we truly enjoy get cancelled.

I have not redecorated the house since we moved in 18 years ago.  Not that I am happy with the way it looks, but it is functional and presentable (more or less) and I have other priorities for my time, effort and funds.  (Drives my SIL absolutely bonkers that I have not had the kitchen ripped out by now: my cupboards offend her - wrong type of wood apparently.  Even if I *had* the extra several thousand dollars just kicking around, I would not be spending it on a new kitchen!)  Redecorating every few years 'just because' is insane in my books.

I don't often use makeup and don't get my hair 'done'.  A good cut once in a while; never had it dyed and don't plan on starting now.  I can live with it.

I HATE the current style of teeny-tiny eyeglass lenses.  I need to SEE darnit!  Having the frames IN my frame of view is aggravating.  I do have contact lenses but I work in dirty, dusty conditions and rarely wear them.

Marriage: I believe in it.  I have been with my husband for over thirty years. It is not the marriage that keeps us together, it is the bond that prompted us to get married.

In my work (I am self-employed training riding horses and teaching people to ride): in a world that increasingly takes shortcuts in the pursuit of immediate gratification, and often promotes out-and-out *lying* to clients about their abilities and progress (in order to milk more business out of them), I adhere to 'classical' principles in training and refuse to mislead my students. I take the 'long way'.  I feel the results are inarguably superior and well worth the effort.  Obviously I won't be getting rich any time soon...

And most people don't understand my taste in movies.  I'm here, aren't I.   

[The Burgomaster]

REALITY TV - Can't we make it go away?  I'm not talking about informative documentary type shows (like the "inside prison" shows, which I love).  I'm talking about shows that center on fat people trying to lose weight, dysfunctional families, future pop idols, and stuff like that.

TOUCHY, FEELY, EXPLOITATIVE TALK SHOWS - Let's run Oprah and all her TV clones straight out of town.

MOVIES WITH LOTS OF CGI - CGI is good when it actually adds value to the movie (like AVATAR).  But when they start using CGI to add clouds to a blue sky and other mundane stuff like that, I think it's going overboard.  Also, I prefer a good old-fashioned car chase with stunt drivers to anything they can create with a computer.  THE FRENCH CONNECTION, BULLITT, RACE WITH THE DEVIL, VANISHING POINT, and DIRTY MARY, CRAZY LARRY didn't need CGI to make good car chases.

HARRY POTTER - Please refer to my old thread "Harry Potter, I know him not."

[indianasmith]

As long as we're baring all here . .  .


I think George W. Bush was not a bad President.

There.  I said it.

[Sleepyskull]

Cell Phones - I agree with what people have been saying. They are useful but not necessary.

  Boggles my mind that the expense is considered an 'essential' - up there with food and shelter - by most people I know (who then use their cells for totally trivial purposes).  I'm not so important that anyone needs to contact me immediately.

I am THRILLED to hear somebody say this!    My younger sister can't live without a cell phone. The biggest problem is that she always breaks them. True story: We were on vacation and she went in a leaky paddle boat to a floating dock with her cell phone. Another time she broke her phone by dripping sour cream from a taco into it.   She has also broken a few just by dropping them. And whenever her phone breaks she gets irritable and rude. 

I am 18 and have never owned a cell phone. I have an odd sense of pride for that. The only way I would be willing to get one is if I needed to for a job or if I knew a massive emergency would come up. I just can't imagine what sort of emergency would fit that criteria though. I would never mindlessly text/talk with friends either.

You can't judge a book by it's cover! -

I have never agreed with this saying! I still believe that most of the time you have to give books a chance by reading a little bit of them. However, when I look at all those romance books in the grocery store, I am not likely to mistake them for a spooky story collection. I am also not going to be tricked into believing I will be thrilled with a plain blue book titled something like 100 years of photos from Model Airplane Weekly.

On a related note Movie Previews - Sometimes I just can't stand it when people tell me "You don't know if you'll like the movie or not! All you have seen is the preview!" Sometimes they are right but usually they are wrong. I don't need to see the entirety of Did You Hear About The Morgans? to know it's not my type of movie.

[Rev. Powell]

I don't play video games.  Have no interest in getting a system; I'm not sure I would take one if it were offered for free.  I will play an occasional computer game as long as it's geared towards strategy and not reflexes or button pushing.

[JaseSF]

Just being straight edge makes me a bit different from most (especially where I live as I'm the only non-drinker I know). I don't need any alcohol, cigarettes or any other type of recreational drugs to have a good time. I don't abuse prescription or over the counter drugs either. I also believe in being in a relationship before sex.

I don't own a cell phone and really doubt I'd ever need one aside from a potential emergency.

I've always preferred women who had more meat on their bones. Curves and just more of all the good bits so to speak.  

I also actually really like most films people think are bad. I really get loads of enjoyment out of AIP films in particular.

I hate CGI and the mainstream celebrity stalking so prominent these days. Hate Entertainment Tonight and other celebrity gossip shows big time. Loathe game shows nowadays (used to like Price is Right as a kid).

[Leah]

I don't own a cell phone and really doubt I'd ever need one aside from a potential emergency.

I ALWAYS lose my cell phone 

[Mr. DS]

I think texting is a complete and utter waste of time.

[Mr. DS]

Oh and I HATE professional sports of all kinds.  I used to watch them but realized as a society we allow guys who play a kid's game for a living to make millions upon millions while people who do jobs of real importance get squat.  Sorry but count me out.

[AndyC]

I have a cell phone, and it would be extremely useful, except that I'm always leaving the house without it, and always forgetting to charge it, and never giving out the number. My wife's family makes much more use of theirs. At times, I think they might use them more than land lines. I will admit it's a handy thing to have on a long drive, but I just can't get in the habit of using the thing.

This was true even when I was a reporter and being reachable was important. Hardly anybody had the number, and I hardly ever had the phone until I started chaining it to my camera bag. Even then, I would mostly just get calls from my wife during late meetings, wondering how late I'd be. The mayor and council would be discussing some sort of business, and the Doctor Who theme would suddenly start blaring from my pocket. They'd all laugh as I fumbled around trying to answer it.

[AndyC]

Oh and I HATE professional sports of all kinds.  I used to watch them but realized as a society we allow guys who play a kid's game for a living to make millions upon millions while people who do jobs of real importance get squat.  Sorry but count me out.

Sports just bore me. People running up and down with a ball or skating up and down with a puck - it just doesn't hold my interest enough for me to actually follow it. I even used to do some sports photography, but then it was just a matter of following the action and anticipating a visually exciting moment. That was fun, but don't ask me what happened in the game. I actually wish I did like watching sports, because people seem to have a lot of fun doing it, but it's just not for me.

I have a particular dislike for televised sports, mainly on account of my dad always having some kind of a game on and monopolizing the TV for the whole evening when I was a kid. That and all of the times a good show was bumped by a football game that couldn't stay within its time slot. It always bugged me that sporting events could get away with that, and that the programs I enjoyed were somehow less important.

I don't mind professional sports per se, but I do hate the way people make this stuff out to be so much more important than it is. You could compare it with actors getting paid lots of money to entertain us. They can do something people will pay to see. That's fair. But when was the last time you saw a rowdy mob vandalize a city core because they were particularly moved by a film they saw, or fly flags from their cars showing loyalty to a favourite director? It doesn't happen, because the public, by and large, knows that movies are just entertainment. For some reason, people don't grasp that when it comes to sports.

[HappyGilmore]

Just being straight edge makes me a bit different from most (especially where I live as I'm the only non-drinker I know). I don't need any alcohol, cigarettes or any other type of recreational drugs to have a good time. I don't abuse prescription or over the counter drugs either. I also believe in being in a relationship before sex.

I was Straight Edge for a while.  Then, well, long story short, was the total polar opposite.  Fortunately, I've gotten my life back together.  I didn't do anything for a while, then some girl I know invited me out to the bar recently.  I went, but really didn't see the appeal in drinking that much anymore.  

[JaseSF]

More power to you for getting your life back on track. I'm Straight Edge but I'm not an hardliner who believes no one can come back to the lifestyle if one makes a mistake. I do believe in it myself as a lifelong commitment but  mostly it a matter of choosing the right thing over the wrong. I don't tell anyone else how to live but some things should be obvious when they're not working for you. I applaud anyone who can overcome an addiction.