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Sometimes people think that I'm gay for many reasons: I seldom have a steady girlfriend and keep my sexual encounters relatively private; I'm unafraid of expressing my sense of style; I'm non-homophobic, although physical contact can be difficult for me; At times I can be very eccentric; I'm well spoken and speak with slightly muffled S's; I have an eclectic set of musical tastes that for some reason always tend to gravitate toward electronic dance music or things with quaint, catchy vocals or instrument riffs; I have been known to perform as if I don't enjoy sex, when in actuality I'm holding back because I prefer to not give one-night-stands my best; I fucking love John Mayer; Because, I mean, I just kind of look gay.
The way I deal with people like that is by not dealing with people like that. It doesn't bug me at all, and if they're a person of any sort of importance to me they'll eventually come to find out that I'm not gay anyway. -
Absolutely. I would have wrestled. I would have done my homework. I would have studied. I would have made the move.
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Yeah, there have been times where I felt like I didn't belong, but those moments have been pretty infrequent. I feel as though I don't particularly stand out in any given crowd, save for times I'm hanging out in a group that is comprised mainly of anyone from a specific "scene". Even then, it doesn't really matter. When you strip away social class or personal style, people are just people and it's up to you to make a connection. Take a chance at being engaging and ask people interesting, thought provoking questions. Work a little humor in there. You'll be fine.
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It would be really difficult for me to give a definitive list of my Top 5 Favorite Movies of All Time so instead I present you the closest thing I can, which is my Top 5 Most Influential Movies of All Time in alphabetical order.
Fight Club
Jurassic Park
The Matrix
Pulp Fiction
Terminator 2 -
Updates will come slowly but surely. I've been working on other writing projects lately [none of which are particularly important or profitable, but have to be done before my creativity leaves me again], but I will get around to publishing more on SuperIncentive. Don't give up on me.
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By being sincere and unapologetic for nearly everything.
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I would send an R2 droid to Blake Lively to tell her via hologram, "Because of you, I know I will never completely love my wife."
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I've only ever been in two relationships, and both were short-lived. Although I could probably have described myself as happy during both, a more proper adjective would most likely be "content". Being in a relationship is comfortable—you don't have to worry about going out and charming someone into liking you, because that's already been done. This isn't to say that you should give up your charming sensibilities, but the ones required to make someone like you are no longer necessary, which is a nice social relief. The thing is I don't need someone else to make me happy because I've figured out ways to be happy all on my own. The single life isn't so bad—it's just lonely sometimes, but learning to be alone is an important part of becoming a whole person.
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Wow, thank you. Photoshop, maybe? Or maybe a combination of genetics and a subscription to GQ.
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Assuming that you are removing limitations of space travel and I can go anywhere I can imagine within the confines of human limits [ie they can't put me on the surface of the sun, but I could be transported to any known moons/planets] and that meeting the love of my life means that the love is mutual, I would have to go with mutual love—the feeling would simply trump anything I could see out in space.
The sad fact of the matter is that most of the things we see in space photos are altered in post-processing. Usually, photos taken of nebulae or star systems aren't shown in true visible color—they're captured in x-ray or infrared or visible light and then stitched and edited together after being adjusted to show some sort of visualization of scientific data. Meeting and being with the love of my life, while at this moment would be as abstract to me as envisioning maintaining orbit around Jupiter or touching down on the surface of Ganymede, would simply leave me fulfilled for the rest of my life. I couldn't compare the two. There have been women in my past that I've liked a lot—some have brought me to near destruction, and I wasn't even in love with them. The idea that I could love someone so wholly and unconditionally as to call them the "love of my life", well, that is much more important than the fleeting image of a lonely planet or the feeling of weightlessness. -
I toyed with the idea for a bit but then realized that my ambition is not greater than my resistance to learning and mastering complex mathematics. At the very best I can only hope to be an amateur astronomer, and even then I can only imagine that I would probably end up only taking photos of space.
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This is another one of those questions I had to sit on for a while, but this time mostly because I felt my answer was too generic.
Honestly, I wouldn't take any of it back. Nothing hurts forever, and I've never hated anyone enough to want to completely rid myself of their existence.
Not to mention if you're a good enough storyteller, even the most mundane of events are worth retelling. -
I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to respond to this with anything other than a "thank you". I also feel as though maybe you only happen to catch me at my most interesting times, that is unless you simply find me to be a generally interesting subject.
In any case, thank you, and I genuinely hope that you never find me disappointing. Although there is always a day for everything I suppose. -
I wish I had a good answer for this, but I really don't. If you're asking me what's the cutest way I've asked someone on a date, well, the answer is probably via phone call or text message, and if you're asking me whats the cutest way I've asked someone to, uhh, "go steady" with me, well, the answer is probably with a kiss and "I don't want anyone else except for you". I generally save the cute things for when I know that we're both not wasting our time, which sounds uncharacteristically unsentimental of me, but is ultimately true.
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This Formspring thing is sort of odd, at times. Because of the anonymity aspect, it's difficult to derive what your intent with this question necessarily is. It's not that I have a problem with it, mind you, it's just that I'm not sure if you're asking because you're looking for possible remedies for when you're bored next, or if maybe you have an image projected on me and you'd like to see if I match up, or if perhaps you seriously just wonder what it is that I do when I'm bored for no particular reason. Anyway, I digress.
When I'm bored I sometimes drink, or I YouTube things, or I look for things to read, or I watch movies, or I design stuff, or I write, or I answer questions on my Formspring. Sometimes, although not often, I doodle or draw. Other times, I call or text someone I know. I Tweet [you can follow me—I'm @themanibusan]. I talk to people online or in real life, or I go for a drive and listen to music, or I stop at the bookstore and mosey around. Honestly, I'm bored most of the time, and these are really just things I do in general. After I'm done answering the remaining questions I have here on Formspring, I'm probably going to go stop at the bookstore and then come home to watch Vicky Christina Barcelona. -
Open-ended questions are usually good at keeping awkward silence at bay, as are questions in general; give people a reason to talk about themselves and they'll do all the work for you—look at me and this damn Formspring. I also find that Would You Rather? questions always seem to spark debate, but be cautious—if you're not good at coming up with even Would You Rather? questions that are audience appropriate and thought provoking, then you should perhaps leave it to the professionals. Stating your opinion, especially if it has comedic value [I recently spoke to a group of 5 or 6 people I didn't know about how much I hate Tim Burton for his incessant use of spirals and odd looking trees and white face paint and Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter], is usually a good way to get others to laugh and chime in with their own thoughts. Lastly, there should be no reason for you to feel as though you need to keep a conversation going, and if you do, try to get yourself to stop. Conversation is naturally occurring, and there's a cadence about it that's lost when you're trying to fill space. Silence is only awkward because you're being awkward about it.
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I'm really boring when it comes to books because I rarely, if ever, read fiction. The last fiction novel I read and finished Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk when it came out on paperback in 2003. At about that time was when I discovered that despite my lack of interest in improving my skills in science and mathematics, I could still learn about subjects regarding them in good detail by reading science books by authors who are particularly skilled at popularizing theories and specialized scientific knowledge. Unable to afford some of these more expensive books [they tend to run in the $20 and up range—much too expensive for a high school kid to be throwing cash on], I'd go to Barnes and Noble and read snippets of different books. Toward the end of 2004 I got a girlfriend who apparently had lots of money, because she was always spending a ton. For Christmas, she purchased three books for me: "Wider than the Sky: The Phenomenal Gift of Consciousness", "Why Things Break: Understanding the World By the Way It Comes Apart", and a leather bound Bible [which I have yet to open, but can't part with because of how nice it is—it was apparently $80].
Anyway, "Why Things Break" would probably be my favorite, despite having never read the entire thing. The title and the idea behind the book [that is, searching for the reason things fall apart structurally, ie not what shattered the glass, but why the glass can even shatter in the first place] are enough for me to keep in my mind on a regular basis and apply to everyday life. I find myself constantly wondering at the "why" of everything, and I feel as though it's made me a more conscious person as a result. Modern people seem to not wonder about the world around them, or when they do they're so inexperienced or have been so far removed from the question that oftentimes they're unable to obtain or distill answers to some very simple and mundane questions, and I pride myself on being a person who can step back from a situation, ask myself why, and decipher a solution or at the minimum a reason as to why a situation is occurring and be able to move on objectively. -
I would love to be one of those people who can say "everything, except country" to this question, but the implication of "everything, except country" is that I also listen to all those shitty post-pop melodic shoegaze dubstep electro-core bands, which is in all actuality contrary to the truth.
I listen to a broad range of things, mostly when I run or when I'm in the car. I tend to not listen to music while I'm on the computer, because the byproduct of living an internet-connected life in 2010 is usually an instant message with a YouTube link attached, which usually involves me having to turn my music down or off, and in my mind, a song paused for a minute or longer is a wasted song unless I start back from the beginning. Strange, I know. I've gotten off topic.
Anyway, I listen to anything that serves to heighten my mood at any given time. This is usually jazz in misty or foggy weather, hip-hop and old school R&B in the summer time, various but usually soft forms of indie rock in the spring, and hard electronic music before a party. It really all depends, though. A month ago I listened to nothing but The Smiths for a week straight, then the next week revisited the People Under The Stairs album "Question in the Form of an Answer" every day for about six days. -
This is probably my favorite question I've been asked so far, and as a result I've had to sit on it for a few days to think of my questions.
1. You are a secret agent regarded as the most well-rounded, dangerous person in your field. While on a routine mission extracting hostages from a terrorist compound, you are informed that the hostages were a decoy to distract you and your agency from realizing that the real target was your best friend, and they are being held in a cell somewhere within a 40-story building owned and operated by a large crime syndicate in Eastern Russia. Realizing the importance of your service to your country, the government grants you unlimited resources to recover your friend, save for anything that would be suspicious enough to alert the media [ie you cannot enlist the help of the entire US military or anything similar that would draw attention to the operation]. How do you go about planning and executing the retrieval of your friend?
2. The person you hold dearest has gone missing. Seven days after their disappearance, you receive a package in the mail containing a cell phone and a two-way radio. Upon opening the package, the cell phone begins to ring. When you answer, a person using a voice changer informs you that your loved-one owes someone an amount of money so large with such a high level of interest that it would be impossible to be paid back, even if all the money in existence were used, and would thusly have to be punished by death. However, you have the option to either let these mysterious people murder your loved-one in a manner and at a time of their choosing, or they would immediately be delivered to you so that you could kill them by bare-hand strangulation. Recovery of your loved one and escape are ruled out, as their heart has been replaced by a remotely-operated and monitored artificial heart and would instantly be deactivated the moment you tried to execute your plan. Also, retaliation for their capture is also deemed impossible. Do you strangle your loved-one or do you let these mysterious people decide their fate?
3. How do you define yourself as a person and why?
The first question is a test of her creative reasoning, the second is about her idea of the importance of family, the protection of her loved ones, and honor, and the third is the easiest way to get to know her ability with critical thinking in regards to her own introspective experience, which I believe is one of the more important qualities of being a reasonable human being. -
No, not at all. It's very interesting, though. I'm not sure if people are asking me because of my philosophy, if they simply want to know what I think, or if they're looking for some guidance or reassurance on their own beliefs. I mean, I'm no prophet and will never claim to be; I just take what evidence is presented to me, apply logic, and come up with something that I feel makes sense. I tend to enjoy philosophizing despite being an amateur [I've read some books, but I'm by no means educated on the topic], and tend to [at least as far as my track record so far is concerned] give good advice regardless of my experience with a situation, so questions about life and death are inevitable and always welcome.
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Joseph Manibusan’s Bio
Sharks, space, and pretty faces.
