Originally Posted by RobinMask (Post 842582)

I know no one will probably believe this, but there's actually nothing I'd want as a gift. . .

I'm not really a materialistic person. I grew up pretty much getting what I asked for, and I think I lost an appreciation for physical things because of that, and when I hear certain friends reeling off lists of 'I want, I want' it makes me feel sick inside. To me what matters is shelter, food and love, and as I have all three I'm pretty much content.

I have everything I want, and if there was something I wanted I'd rather save up and get it myself than have someone hand it to me, because it's worth more then :) Like with Japan, sure if someone gave me a ticket and paid for a trip it'd be cool, but I would never appreciate it as much as having saved up myself and arranged the trip on my own. Each year everything seems to be more and more about consumerism and materialism, and each year I can't help but think 'do we really need the new Ipad, Mercedes, PS3 etc.?' I think the value of families and holidays is lost. Christmas is no longer religious or cultural, it's about presents and items.

I'm not selfless enough to give everything I get away, because I know people worked hard to get me things to make me happy, and I appreciate the gestures and love them for being so kind. I do wish though that I had enough that I could give possessions or money away to charity, to make people who needed it happy themselves, but sadly I'm not rich enough, lol. . .

I don't know, I guess my perfect gift would be to see all these presents going to kids who deserve them and seeing them smile for the first time in ever :mtongue:

Originally Posted by RobinMask (Post 842673)

I don't really feel like getting into an off-topic discussion about gender and identification and the like, so I'll be brief as I can (which admitedly isn't very brief) . . .

My name is androgynous partly because I like the name and the character it's from, the cartoon picture on my profile and anime display picture are partly because I like those characters, and the other reason - and the reason why I don't disclose my gender - are because I don't believe in gender as such. . .

I believe in equality and that people are free to be exactly what they want to be. People make assumptions based on gender - regardless of whether they intend to or not - so with my writing, my essays, my presence on the online commuinity I choose to be neutral. It's interesting that when I say or write certain things I'm sometimes referred to as 'she', mostly on a writing forum I visit, and sometimes when I say other things I'm referred to as 'he'. For various reasons people assign me a 'gender' based on their own assumptions, so rather than people go 'your opinion on so-and-so is partly down to being a woman/man' I choose to let them think what they like or nothing at all, because frankly the whole 'she said that as she's a woman' or 'he said that because he's a man' thing happened too much for my liking.

And anyways, the picture of the man is Ukitake from "Bleach". I find the picture aesthetically pleasing and I can relate to his character, I also find his personality pleasing and it's something I don't mind being associated with or identifying with. Just because he is a man doesn't mean I can't relate to him or find him inspiring.

Sorry for the off-topic rant :(