the web out there

and you know what i'm realising more and more? there is so much out there. on the internet specifically, but everywhere else, by extrapolation (there's a better word for that). i'd been sheltered in my stupid little online text-based game world. and now i'm exploring the rest of the internet. and this shit has been here for years, under my nose. so many ideas, sites, tools, communities. recently found ChangeThis.com, which is a "manifesto" site. it's mainly business ideas i.e. managing smart people, making money, etc, but even that... its made me realise how much thought people put into these things.

i think a big reason why teenagers get depressed is because they think they are alone. especially the smart ones. they think their thoughts are abnormal, and that no one else thinks like they do. because while some of us like to be unique in some things, we have an overwhelming urge to fit in. hell, i feel nervous when i'm taking photographs sometimes because i think i'm afraid of looking like a photographer - and not being normal. i think it was just a few years ago when i realised that other people have the same thoughts i do - you know, deep thoughts about things that don't seem very relevant and that aren't discussed in every day life. and among teenagers, discussing them is often seen just as weird. for guys it's probably worse, it might be seen as gay. girls it's just weird. sociopath. loser. etc. and yeah, it's not really that clear cut, there are groups of teenagers who can discuss things like that - but not everyone has the opportunity/luck to belong to such a social group.

i've gone off topic, haven't i?

we think so much about our world - about its properties, about its behaviours, about how we interact with it, and about how we interact with ourselves - either personally or interpersonally. and yet, how much of that thought would be readily apparent to an outside observer? sure, if you dug for it you'd get an idea of it, but at first glance? at first glance we'd seem like drones, oddly solitary and dependent on machines. but there's oh so much more than that. there's even numerous books on things like how to be creative, web communities devoted to it, community groups, etc. there's just so much out there.


and some people work really damn hard and care a lot about... whatever they do or are interested in. and it's inspiring.