Sunday, 12 May 2024
Life, the universe, pies, hot-pink bunnies, world domination, and everything
Nepal’s New Year (Nepal Sambat 1132) starts on October 29. People celebrate the holiday with a ceremony called Mha Puja, or worship of the inner self. Fun, no?
Above, some of last year’s celebrants sit before the mandalas and offerings that make up part of the ritual (along with fire, flowers, hand painting, and many other festive odds and ends).
Date: September 30, 2011
Categories: At the Top of the Blog, Random craziness
So, I have joined the ranks of MLP:FiM fans.
Homecoming was today, but I didn’t go to the parade because it was super cold and rainy, and basically nothing would induce me to go to a football game in any weather.
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Yay, Halloween! I might get some more stuff for my Nyan Cat costume this weekend.
Also, I ordered Portal on Amazon *squee* but it could take until the 18th to arrive. Postal system, y u no faster?
And did anyone remember to wake Green Day up? *thrown to the raptors*
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Happy almost-October!
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The last volume of the Portal 2 soundtrack has been officially released.
My iPod library is now complete.
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Praise be that September is over. That doesn’t mean October will be any better. I’m already dreaming of summer vacation. Is this a bad thing?
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Happy October! I’m going to a bluegrass festival tomorrow and I get to see Hugh Laurie performing in person!
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I’d heard that HL plays blues piano, but I didn’t know that he was interested in bluegrass. Have fun!
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Well, the festival doesn’t limit itself to only bluegrass; that’s just the way it started out. Woohoo!
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I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT AND I ALMOST DECIDED TO GO TOMORROW BUT THEN I HAD HOMEWORK.
CURSES, FOILED AGAAAAAIN.
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So I came on last night and there was no random thread for me to capslock on. 
But it’s okay, I’ll do it now.
LAST NIGHT I SPUN FIRE FOR THE FIRST TIME AND WAS AWESOME AND THERE WAS NO SELF-IMMOLATION AND PEOPLE WERE SUITABLY IMPRESSED AND I AM SO EXCITED FOR NEXT TIME!
Apparently I’m now officially a badass, according to Le Boy. Pfft, like that’s anything new. 
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*is a fan of non-self-immolation*
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I AM SO HAPPY-PROUD
I WISH I HAD MORE CHANCES TO SPIN FIRE D:
GIRL YOU ARE DOING IT RIGHT
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No, it’s nothing new.
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I can’t wait until Halloween because of Pottermore; I have a beta account, but I’m determined to use it in the order that events actually happen–getting on the train Sep. 1 and so on–because that way it feels much more like really going to Hogwarts, and it lasts much longer, so I won’t be dying for 2012–and the next moment doesn’t happen until Halloween! It’s so annoying!
Speaking of Halloween, do you think I’ll be able to make a tardigrade costume, or will I have to go as moss seen under a microscope and wear tardigrade pins and hold my plush tardigrade and maybe pin some photos to myself? Come to think of it, that could be an excuse to get those tardigrade buttons and maybe some rotifer/bacterium/protist/other small moss-dwelling creatures as well, and I could be a whole mini-ecoystem… Thoughts?
I have lots of allergies and things, so I doubt I’ll be able to eat much of my candy, but I found out I could donate it to the military or something and still have the fun of trick-or-treating, so I figured why not.
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About Nepal: I wonder if they have momos and lassi at said celebration. If so, I’d go in a heartbeat.
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Did anyone hear about that satellite that fell out of orbit a few days ago? Well, my Global teacher, being the awesome person he is, decided to have some fun with it. At the time, we were studying Hammurabi’s Code, and how the law could be interpreted in different ways.
So, we made satellite shields out of paper, and he told us to wear them, as the school rules said that we couldn’t wear hats, but said nothing about satellite shields. I’m told the moderately strict principal came into one of the classes, made a remark about one of the “hats”, and the whole class said “they’re not hats!!!!” all at once.
And yesterday we all brought in swords and imitated a spartan phalanx. My Global teacher is awesome.
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Back in Latin II we studied various Roman military strategies, and we constructed numerous weapons and practiced different formations. It was a lot of fun, and we got pretty good at charging in a testudo formation, even though a cardboard scutum does tend to be somewhat floppy.
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Ha ha!
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I’m not posting on MB nearly as much as I would like. The end result of this is that when I do get on I have so much to tell you all I don’t know where to begin. How long has it been, a week? It feels like so much longer—but at the same time, like it’s taken barely any time at all. College is screwing with my sense of time.
So. This past week has been…less than stellar. In an “I am overworked and emotional and have nervous breakdowns during lab” type of unstellar. Interestingly, this week I also learned that while people will be nosy and ask you if anything is wrong if you have the slightest frown on your face, or are thinking especially hard, they will completely ignore you sobbing your heart out in a corner. Yeah, life wasn’t
NOw that it’s the weekend things are a little better. Still have lots of homework, but if I don’t procrastinate (hah!) it’s doable. I have os many group projects though–three of them. I hate group projects. I feel like on my own I could handle things fine, but put me in a group and I \’m trying too hard to play catchup for whatever else they’re doing, and–It’s just really stressful, and I feel stupid. Or useless. I’m not learning anything, though my imagination works doubletime coming up with ways to die.
There have been a few good things that came out of this messed-up week (mostly at the end of it). Free candy & t-shirts at homecoming, arriving to anime club on time for once, the sustainable food fair. And tonight I have plans to watch Doctor Who, for the first time ever. There is evidently a group of people in my dorm who all gather in the common room to watch Dr Who and Firefly every Saturday. I hope it goes well, and that I actually enjoy it.
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I spent the day with my parents in town, and it was great fun.
I got a pair of wonderfulawesomeamazing boots.
Now the lens cap for my camera is missing, and it’s very troubling. :/ Hopefully it’ll be in the trunk of the car and they’ll find it. Or I’ll find it in my bedding or something. I really hope it’s not gone forever or broken or something. *fret fret fret*
Ugh I have a draft due on Monday and I am not ready for it at all, ugh ugh ugh. >.<
BUT AT LEAST I CAN DO WHATEVER I DO IN STYLE, BECAUSE I HAVE WONDERFULAWESOMEAMAZING BOOTS.
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I lose my lens caps like every other week, sometimes for months at a time. They always turn up again though even though I SWEAR I dropped one in a forest in costa rica. What. Only have one at the moment though, the other’s on it’s monthly vacation or whatever it is they do.
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I went on the Freedom Trail today!
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MY MARCHING BAND WON SWEEPSTAKES
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
APACHE APACHE APACHE VICTORY DANCE!!!!!
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I don’t know what sweepstakes is but this is a marching band post so CONGRATULATIONS!!
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My band is a parade band, and we went to our hometown’s parade yesterday. Where I live, at least, we judge bands in different classes divided by size. My band is a class A band because we’re 150 strong. It’s pretty even since a bigger band sounds better but can get a lower marching score, while a smaller band has less chances to screw up on ranks and step.
Bands are scored on music, marching, and showmanship (how good you look) out of 100 or 1000. There is a first place in each class.
Sweepstakes is the best score out of all the classes. It’s called that because we sweeped the competition and stake because, well, it’s delicious (so says trumpet).
What’s also cool is that we got the best marching score out of every marching regiment there.
By the way, Apache, or Jump On It, is a cadence we do when we finish a parade. We jump around in circles while marching. It’s awesome.
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Cool! That sounds very similar to competitions here, except our band is a… Not-parade-band? I’d say show band but we use that phrase to refer to bands with really showy glitzy shows. Anyway, we learn drill and march 8 to 10 minute shows on a football field. I think it’s interesting/cool that parade bands compete too, though, for some reason that’d never have occurred to me. How do you practice for a parade? Do you have the same music each time?
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So you’re a field show band? That’s what we call those.
Basically, we get a march every year (this year it’s Anchors Aweigh) and we memorize it. My school is uncommon in that we have a three day band camp, but we accomplish a lot in it. We learn to march in rank (horizontal) and file (vertical) and diagonals and whatnot in a block. There’s 150 people, as I said, so it’s a bit hard, but we do our best!
And listen, before anyone says that sounds easy, it’s not. You’ve got to coordinate with everyone else to make sure everyone’s in step, phase, and place, and it can be blistering hot and pretty grody. Music is highly judged, and it can be a mile+ in length. AKA, grueling.
BUT WE’RE GOING TO ARCADIA AIEEEEE SO MUCH PRESSURE
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I definitely have respect for that, because we’ve done a bit of parade marching (the holiday parade every year and one at Disney my freshman year) and I hated it. (Largely because of the temperatures–cold here, but mid-80s at Disney and I had a sprained ankle and a low-grade fever). I’m sure it’s nothing like what you guys do, but still, grueling is a good word for it!
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Ah, today we started working on our advanced fieldshow sets.
FYI: Arcadia is an ultra-high ranked band review for SoCal. It’s really big, and this year we got invited… AGHHHHHH PRESSURE
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Congratulations!
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I saw Candide live on Friday night!
It’s amazing.
Life Is Happiness Indeed.
The actors were great- the lead actor had won an award for this role.
Songs I reccomend:
The Best Of All Possible Worlds
Auto-da-fé
Glitter And Be Gay
I Am Easily Assimilated
What’s The Use?
Nobody can beat Bernstein in a musical-off. He’s simply the best there is.
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I love Glitter and Be Gay!
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So…good week. I dropped the only class that was causing me trouble, French II, and now I’m not stressing out about anything. I like French a lot but the teacher and the intensity of course, as well as the way it was taught, was really really bad. Since I’m an eighth-grader it was an ‘extra’ class and it was during my empty period. Which means I don’t have as much homework now because I can do in then. Yay! (Also, I am finally having lunch with eighth grade, as opposed to ninth. It’s very nice)
Last night my parents and I went to a Johns Hopkins CTY awards program, which was kind of boring and also exactly the same as last year. But then we went and wandered through the mizzle* and went to candy stores and stuff by the historical waterfront district. I think that the city the awards took place in is a big city, but my parents, who have actually been to cities, disagree. Oh, well. Big for Maine! We also went to this awesome art museum and saw some really amazing paintings. There was one by Monet in there, and it was definitely one of my favorites. They had several by Mary Cassat, too, which suprised me, because it’s a rather small museum. But they were amazing. Extremely so. There was a lot of stuff I liked, actually: some very romantic paintings depicting ruins and vikings ships and mist. Oh, and there were several marble sculptures that were gorgeous!! Uh, I think they were by Benjamin Akers and Franklin B. Simmons, but I am not sure. They were extremely intricate.
So…my family and friends were going to pick apples today. But it’s raining and mizzling and not good. 
So we’re going to pick them next Saturday, or maybe during the week. And we’ll press them Sunday. Only I will be on a trip Sunday, with my [can’t say the name since it’s rather unique] group. I’m leaving Thurs. I guess I won’t be making cider this year.
*Maine drizzle.
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Going to finish taking apart a lawn mower engine today! And then I will put it back together again! The class is great, I’m loving the teaching methods, and he was REALLY good at explaining chemistry.
AND JANE EYRE: A SPACE ODYSSEY DID NOT SAVE WHY WHY
It is due next week and now I have to rewrite the whole introduction again. And it’s really awkward typing “TH0rnf13ld” on this keyboard, especially when one of your fingerless gloves is like a tent for your hand. But I capslocked about it, so it’s all good. 
It’s October! It’s cold! I am wearing fingerless gloves and a hat! All of which I knitted! Now I only need to knit six more hats, two pairs of fingerless gloves, and a poncho and I will be all caught upon my projects.
Also, I joined Battle of the Books! I’m not sure if it’s specific to NC or what, but a TON of schools do it, so I guess I can say that. If not, then I’ll just get snipped. So now I have thirty books I have to read. Very fun. I’m pretty good at trivia so I thought I’d join.
Another early release in a few weeks. I had a weird dream last night, but I’m not sure if it would go on Dreams, Geeky TV shows, or Romance and Relationships. Yeah, I have odd dreams a lot and sometimes I end up never posting them because there’s so many places they could go.
Bye now.
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Fingerless gloves and Jane Eyre for the win.
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I’m trying to knit fingerless gloves too! Except I barely started. I don’t know how well it will go. The pattern seems kind of confusing. It’s based on fingerless gloves that were worn during World War II, for some reason. 
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So I’m doing the assigned reading for my scriptwriting class, and it’s all about the steps in the hero myth. Something that I read about in Muse in 1997. When I was eight years old. I think I’m going to bring that issue in and show it to my teacher…
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Awesome. I know what that’s like, reading something in class and recognizing it from some long-ago issue. Muse taught us so much…
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Congratulations. You’ve been getting Muse since before I was born. I feel small and insignificant now.
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Oh no, please don’t! If anything, this should make me feel ancient and outdated.
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It’s the second day of October, and I am already coming up with ideas for Nanowrimo this year. And I can’t stop. Uh, early start much?
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Never mind about not picking apples. We picked them anyway.
Also nevermind about it mizzling. It poured.
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So Hardly Strictly Bluegrass was just incredible. I got there that morning and met up with Anakin, we saw the end of this one show by someone and the Dead Horses (I love the names people give to bluegrass bands), bought lunch, roamed around the park, and then saw Hugh Laurie! At the other end of the park everyone was sort of pouring into a valley of Speedway Meadow where they’d set up a huge stage, and we managed to snag a spot between two very drunk families. Hugh Laurie moonwalked across the stage and sang for a while, told a lot of jokes, played the piano and guitar, and ohmigod it was amazing. Then we wandered about shoving our way through crowds and saw a couple other shows, met up with A’s parents, managed to squeeze into the crowd at the last show of the day at the Rooster Stage and danced, went out for dinner, and came home.
So yeah. Not a bad day.
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I
almost
went
why didn’t I go
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WHATAAAAARRGH!!!!
Next year. Absolutely next year.
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Fiddler (7): PLEASE TELL ME ALL ABOUT FIRE POI! *suffering from poi-withdrawal*
Anyway, in personal news, I’m doing my best not to die in college! I missed a lot of school, which is hard when everything moves so quickly, and doing make-up work while still trying to heal is difficult. But I’m surviving! So far, anyway.
MUSEBLOG fill me in on everything! Those are squids, yes? What are they for?
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They’re used the same way as verbal squids, at least in theory.
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Good to see you, Purple Panda!
Survival=good. I hope it will get easier!
Yes, those are squids–and they are adorable cephalopods*, aren’t they? I can’t explain how anyone else uses them, but I consider squids useful for sympathy, empathy, and yikes!-ing, etc.–while pies are for approval, joy, w00t-ing, etc.
*The spell-check does not recognize “cephalopods” as a word. It wants to change it to a word related to brain disease. Alas, poor spell-check! I pity it, Horatio.
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it’s god to hear you’re doing okay pan! 
the squids are to offer sympathy when a pie isn’t quite right (i think!)
*HUGS YOU!!*
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or good*, rather
TYPING ESCAPES ME
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You’re back!!! Yay! *pies* Hope you heal quickly!
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*huggle* Hi there!
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It is so cold. 46. And our heat isn’t on. Maybe I’ll ask my roommate if she’s willing for us to pay to turn on the wall heater until the landlords get the radiators running.
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Will the fan page ever be put back up? I just typed in the URL minus /blog and felt a bit sad.
*scurries away to go stare at pictures of PVMB*
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Earlier today I saw an ad for Metamucil!
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The legendary hero-king of ancient Prussiania? Where did you see it? For some reason, TV networks tend to show ads like that during presidential candidates’ debates.
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Yes, the very same. 
It’s a fiber supplement, apparently.
It was a print ad, not a TV one- it was in this booklet thingy of products that support breast cancer research that came with the paper.
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My mom takes Metamucil…
Clearly she is part of an ancient cult following the teachings of the legendary hero king of Prussiania.
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My floor went to a potluck at a professor’s house in Cambridge and she had this lovely old house from the 1860s, and we ate outside and she had little lights strung around the garden and I didn’t feel like we were in the city, it felt like Long Island…
It was wonderful.
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hey this is funny
in new york we were usually separated by a river, i think?
and now we are again here in boston.
hello from the other side of the river!
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Am I allowed to ask which school you’re at?
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As you’ve both crossed the 18-year threshold, that’s at your discretion.
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wharglbargle
I do not understand organic chem
did not do well on test
hbdfjksnamkldnjf dgfgfrds this is one of those things I just have not been able to deal with (found out about test while rushing to get that really stressful lab report done, which I turned in on time but was not nearly as good as it should have been) so I have been just not thinking about it for 3 days now and that is probably not good
do not want
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Awww but carbon is your friend! I’m sorry to hear that.
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I now treat my printer as a beloved pet.
*Printer prints something*
Me: Who’s a good boy! You did it! I luv you… What? You printed the wrong pages! No, they’re just in the wrong order. You’re still a good boy. *Pats printer*
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That’s the way I talk to my desktop computer now that we switched it out with the one my grandparents gave me. It opens the Internet and takes less than twenty minutes to do so, and I baby talk it.
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I love my printer just for the novelty of having one. Isn’t it great that you can print things out right next to you??? And you don’t have to pay 10 cents a page???
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You made me think of my disfunctional printer. It makes printer noises four times and then it prints. But only if you hit print immediately after you turn it on. Otherwise, it probably won’t work. But I love it anyway.
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Has anyone seen Vihart’s video “what is up with noises?”
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Loved that one! As I was watching I realized I’d never really known how hearing works, so it was very interesting. Especially the bits about pitch and frequency!
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Do I have a personality?
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I think so. And I hope you’re not turning it into one of those personalities that thinks it doesn’t have a personality.
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I suppose I am fairly certain I have a personality. But what personality do I have? It is a question of type, rather than of presence.
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… A nice one? I’ve really no way to answer that.
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Seconded. In my case, though, I think it may have to do with the fact that I have a lot of difficulty answering really general questions like “What’s x like?” except with answers like “good” or “bad” Which is what you did, basically, but for you it might just be with personalities.
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Walking into a bookstore I visited a lot as a kid a few months ago, I found that they had rearranged all the books on the shelves. I couldn’t find the teen section.
Yesterday, I found the teen section again. I promptly spent about five minutes absently stroking the books and whispering “hello, hello, how are you, I found you, I found you, how have you been, how are you, hello, I found you again” and humming to them without even realizing I was doing it. Then I realized the other patrons were giving me strange looks, so I stopped.
At which point I found a book of Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories illustrated in the steampunk style, and promptly began gently stroking and humming again.
I’M NORMAL I SWEAR
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I’ve never liked “teen” books. Why create a metagenre for such an arbitrary grouping of people?
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No you’re not! Revel in it! Be as weird and wonderful as you like. Have no fear of societal constraints.
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Writing fanfiction for school assignments.
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/Grease/
“Tell me more, tell me more…”
/Grease/
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Really? So am I!
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Random CLAMP epic for history class. Oddest thing, but it got a good score…
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I GOT PORTAL
TRIUMPH
I WILL NOW RUN IN CIRCLES LIKE AN IDIOT
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So yesterday, by a series of random events, I ended up visiting the Dr. McNinja website for the first time in months and decided to read everything that had happened in the comic since I last visited…
… And the very last comic posted was a cliffhanger, and the next page won’t be up until tomorrow! CAKE IT!
(Although, I have a really cool theory about what might happen next.)
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Was I right? Was I right? I can’t tell!
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*England* was amazing. I want to study there. My host mom was nice. My real mom was mad, again. My family is starting another big fight, but, to put it in the words of a certain band…
I’m ready to leap, I’m ready to live, I’m ready to go…
So anyway, how’s life treating you guys?
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Better than it’s treating you, it sounds like. Although I have yet to eat today. I should probably do that.
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Yes. Eating is very good. Come to think of it, there are some noodles in the kitchen softly shouting my name… I should go check on them.
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Posting from school because pretty much nothing else fun is accessable. Sigh.
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also gosh wouldn’t it be cool if i knew any of you from my high school and never realized it???
ANYWAYS
an essay, translations, and flashcards to do in an hour. Too much homework does not a happy Thief make.
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I’ve wondered that sometimes, too! Except… middle school.
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I would say I’ve wondered, but it seems very unlikely for me.
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Take the book you’re reading wherever you go. Boredom won’t stand a chance.
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Happy Sputnik Day, everybody! Beep beep beep!
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Happy Sputnik Day, Kai!
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I’m learning about green screening in my Special Effects class. I’m guessing that my next assignment will be to green screen someone and put in a new background, make crazy auras around the person, etc. Which should be fun, provided that I can find an actor…
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That sounds cool! I learned about green screening in my Video Productions class, but we never actually got to do it.
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The good news is – it’s easier than it used to be. Modern video editing software is pretty good at making a green area transparent. You just need to make sure it’s a uniform colour, and uniformly lit, so that the software can home in onto a specific tonal range. It doesn’t need to be green, incidentally. I use the older blue screen, and it works fine, as long as your lighting is even. You could use pink, but then people’s faces would disappear. Likewise, make sure your subject isn’t wearing anything a similar green to the screen, or they end up with holes in them.
You will get a bit of fringing round the edges of your subject. The process isn’t perfect. But it’s virtually unnoticeable as long as your background doesn’t show it off.
If you want perfection, you need a professional chromakey system. This usually consists of a hyper-reflective screen, coated in micro-prisms, and a green ring light mounted round the camera lens. The results are breathtaking. So is the price.
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I’ve actually been using green screens (or in the case of an animation of a green dragon, red screens) for a while, so I did know about the software and the ability to use different colors for the screen. Unfortunately, I was only taught about proper lighting recently. Previously, my teachers just said to shine a light onto the actor’s shadow to wash it out and it’d be fine. But I was recently introduced to the green screen in my school’s film studio, where there are three lights shining directly onto it and the lights that illuminate the actor aren’t the shadow-casting type. Things that would have made my life so much easier. *sighs*
Also, about the professional chromakey system: *drools*
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At least your school HAS a film studio.
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True. I just wonder why, if my school has one, did my professors never mention it before now?
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They’re scared of what you might create in there.
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It’s a bit embarrassing to admit, but I just now FINALLY finished the first Doctor Who episode with the 11th Doctor. And, to be totally honest, I think it changed too much stuff. New Doctor? Fine. New TARDIS? Suprisingly, I like it. New companion? A given. New everything else? I preferred it the way it was before.
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I agree.
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Oh no, is it that bad?
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New daleks, even. Gross. I got used to it, but every now and then my heart pangs for David Tennant.
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Ah yes right. Hello again MuseBlog.
My apologies for the extended disappearance, though it would be quite silly to suggest that people were particularly interested in my presence here.
I’m doing a lot better than I have been, for sure, though now prospects of college begin to weigh down, etc., etc.
How have things been around here (seeing as I’m sure not taking the time to reread over everything)?
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Good to see you, Gimanator! Quite a few MBers are in college now and some others are in your situation, so you should be able to find some practical advice in addition to morale support.
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Hello again! Things are pretty “normal” around here. We like squids.
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So I see. Is there any particular significance or meaning to a squid-ing?
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Cerulean Pyros had a pretty good explanation that I agree with at 22.2. “I consider squids useful for sympathy, empathy, and yikes!-ing, etc.–while pies are for approval, joy, w00t-ing, etc.”
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It’s usually sympathetic, although there are also congratulatory squids and various other types.
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HI! Welcome back!
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Can’t sleep because I woke up at twelve…
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Okay so nobody at my school last year liked Harry Potter. Or, actually, I think there was one girl who liked it, but the conversation went like this:
Me: [ohmigodHPfangirlingsquee!]
Girl: I love Harry Potter so much! I’ve watched all the movies!
Me: …Oh. But you’ve read the books too, right?
Girl: I still need to read them.
Me: *sigh*
But now that we’ve combined…I’ve met the following:
HP book fans
AVPM fans (including one boy who can do a really good impression of Draco Malfoy!)
HP fanfic readers
Also a Jane Austen/Charlotte Bronte Fan, which makes me happy. *kittens*
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“We’ll always be to-ge-ther, how-ever far it seems. Ooh-ah. We’ll always be to-ge-ther, to-ge-ther in e-lec-tric dreeeeams…”
Guess which song I’m listening to right now?
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Would anyone be interested if I posted my “Jane Eyre: A Space Odyssey” fiction-thing?
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I believe we all know the answer to that question.
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Have you gone sane? Slithering squamates, of course we do!
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It is near impossible to describe how cool of an idea for a crossover this is.
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Lately, I feel as though I haven’t been having as many long, meaningful conversations lately-both here and in real life. I spend most of my day rushing from one thing to another, and afterwards I’m all alone in my room. And on here, I feel like I’m not commenting as much, or not getting any responses. I’m not particularly chatty, especially with people I don’t know, but the silence is getting to me.
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I’ve felt the same way. A lot of my offline relationships have become pretty superficial so far this school year.
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OMG SON OF NEPTUNE DONE I WANT TO READ THE MARK OF ATHENA NOOWWWZZ!
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Today is my third blogoversary! How time does fly…
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Happy blogiversary, Tess!
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Doesn’t it?
Happy blogiversary!
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Okay, well, today was very exciting because there’s an armed lunatic (as a matter of fact he’s a nonviolence advocate, ironically enough) who’s shot ten people and killed three of them around here, so about five minutes after I got to school we went into lockdown. Which was, you know, not a lot of fun. The good news is that I was in the orchestra room and spent most of the day dueting with people or playing hide-and-seek in double-bass cases. Then of course I was stuck at school for an extra few hours until they declared the area safe enough for all of us to run home quickly and barricade our doors or something. Technically the city is on lockdown.
Bad news: Armed and dangerous mass murderer on the loose.
Good news: I didn’t have to run the mile in PE today!
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Oh, dear! I hope you and all your family and friends stay safe! Congratulations on not running the mile!
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Be careful, stay safe! We don’t want anything to happen to you.
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Yeah, I saw that in the news. Such a frightening case. Be safe out there Choklit Orange.
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Interestingly that was the first thing my mom mentioned upon arriving home. Keep safe!
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This is yet another one of those cases where I want to both squid and pie your post.
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Both your post and CO’s have equal amounts of squid and pie. NOBODY RUIN IT.
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Someone killed CO’s equillibrium, but I fixed it. My
post, however, needs one more squid to be balanced.
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Done.
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Yay!
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CO’s Equilibrium sounds like a physics or chemistry law.
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Yeah, it does!
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I move there officially be a physics law named in my honor…
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I second the motion.
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Seconded.
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Oh my, I didn’t hear about that! (You would think they’d tell us these things.) Good luck, and stay safe! Nice going avoiding the mile!
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Well, they still haven’t caught the guy, but apparently they’re re-opening school. Grumpgrumpgrump. I’m fine, but thanks for your concern.
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O.O Stay safe. Good luck.
…There’s a guy randomly shooting at people in the street here too, except that he’s got a BB gun and the police can’t track him down. In some ways I find this rather funny.
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Yesterday I had to run the mile, and the whole time I was thinking, “why does CO get a mass murderer! Unfair!”
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I have to run it soon. And I know I’m going to think of that…
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It’s raining here, which seems to have put everyone in the same tired, vaguely depressed mood. Bla. *rests head on table*
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…That statement looks so odd in Texas right now.
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Oh god it’s been raining for the past two days. It’s really cold, and I HATE IT SO MUCHHHH
@Biblio- …. I hate you.
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You shouldn’t. We’ve lost more trees than in hurricane Ike–and this is Houston.
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I hadn’t even heard there was a drought, I’m sorry…
Meanwhile, it appears to be getting warmer, so all the storms from Alaska are going away. Good riddance.
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*rests along*
One moment it was stormy, then the sun came out, and it started raining again, repeat, etc.
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Hmm. Steve Jobs just died. No matter what your views int eh Mac vs. Pc wars, there is no denying that he was an influential person.
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I feel like an awful person for even starting “To A Distant Day” now, never mind that it never got far enough for us to actually see who The Source was.
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I just think it’s funny how many people are posting “I had to Google him” and “I still have no idea who he is?”.
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Bye, Steve.
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Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, one of the founders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and lifelong civil rights activist, also died today. I personally value his contributions to our society more than Steve Jobs’, especially considering Jobs’ bizarre anti-philanthropic stance.
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Half day tomorrow and the day off from school on friday! This of course means all the teachers are pushing their tests to earlier in the week and assigning more homework because of it.
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Starkid SPACE tour! I can’t wait! It’s only a month away! I really need to buy tickets!
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Guys I have been fighting off some sort of illness or something, for the past THREE DAYS NOW I have gone to bed before 2am, how did that even happen I am losing so much time
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How the cake is it SNOWING?
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Sgain, posting from school. Uuugh, clunky keyboard, so not used to it.
I’ve got fifteen minutes and nothing to do, how’s your life?
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G’Bye, MuseBlog! I’m going to go ride around in a big green and white bus for five days!
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Have fun!
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The person next to me in Photography just saw me on here.
She’s a Muser.
WIN.
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Can we expect another face on the blog soon?
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I’m trying to convince her to come on here. Fingers crossed…
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Well, I survived my Archeology mid-term. On to Statistics…
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Has anyone seen IBCF recently?
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He was last seen on MuseBlog in April.
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I miss him. First guy to pie me, and very tolerant of 9-year-old me. He was my age now then, I don’t know how he put up with me. I recall being very annoying and small.
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Everyone is more extroverted when they first come to a site, and everyone has early posts that embarrass them.
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Extroverted? When I first join a site, I’m always even more introverted than usual because I’m afraid of saying something that will embarrass me later. Not that it helps. I definitely tend to be… overexcited, though. Some of my early posts on the Cricket Chatterbox… UGH. Still, I somehow managed not to write any embarrassing early posts since coming to this one. I suppose that may change eventually, but it hasn’t yet, and it’s been over a year.
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During my first week on MuseBlog, I think I went on a role-playing game and played someone else’s character.
That seems so long ago, but it hasn’t even been a year…
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I remember him. He was originally Fluffylump, but I was in the Lengthen Neophytes’ Names To A Ridiculous Extent phase, so I referred to him as Irregular Bump with Copious Fur, which he adopted and then shortened.
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So he shortened… a lenthened version of it.
Am I the only one getting Inception vibes from it?
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When I reminiscese about a few years ago, it’s really the people: IBCF, Beavo, MS, TGYPWA, Kokonilly, ZVX, Beat… it goes on.
I don’t dislike you guys (goodness no!), but it’s just that I wish you could meet them.
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Reactions:
1) Ts, ts, oldbies, living in the past…
2) Hey, wait a minute, I remember those people O.O
3) What year is it again?
4) 2011? Since when is it 2011? How can it be- great, another point on the Alzheimers checklist.
5) I’ve been on MB 3 years.
6) This makes me a paleophyte O.O^2
7) Ah, who cares, there are still people older than me… and if I do a number 8, it’ll turn into 8) . Oh, I miss the people who used to post when I first made that mistake and was much fonder of lists
…
Yep, I’m hopeless. And I should start posting more than just rants.
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Whatever happened to Beavo? I miss him.
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I think he made an appearance off-blog a while ago.
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His avatar is a case of beer now, so maybe he’s moved on to more adult-populated sites? It’s kind of sad if he has … I miss his bunny cartoons and hilariously sadistic SSSSs.
Nyeh, I’m terrible about reminiscing for the old days of the blog. More so when sleep-deprived and/or reading older threads.
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That’s always been his avatar. It’s actually cream soda, not beer, and the brand is “IBC”, which (I assume) is why he chose that picture.
In any case, he definitely needs to start posting again. Along with Raynpho and E2MB and Cliff Eagle and everyone Zinc mentioned and everyone else.
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That seems likely. And judging from my pokings about ancient threads, a person called Lusifer Ink seems to have done the same…
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If the picture is inappropriate–and I don’t know if it is because I’m afraid to check–is there any way the GAPAs could remove it without too much work? I poke about on old threads sometimes, and I really don’t want to be disturbed…
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Roommate sing-along-time! The best time! We just sang “The Chemical Worker’s Song” (GBS), “England” (also GBS), “The Cave” (Mumford and Sons), “Little Lion Man” (also Mumford and Sons), that bit from the end of FotR that isn’t May it Be, etc, etc. I also performed “Beauty and the Beast” as Mrs. Potts as that’s who I was in a show of it once.
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Oh and I forgot “The Mushroom Song” (Tricky Pixie)
Wheeeee…
Oh and a version of “Northwest Passage”
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The temptation to not finish my homework and instead stay up all night rereading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is so strong.
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They’re making a movie of that, and the kid who’s starring in the main role is in my mom’s freshman English class!!
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Woah, neat! I saw the trailer a couple days ago. I’m really excited, as it’s one of my favorite books. The trailer looks like they might be making it into a feel-good movie and changing some stuff, though, so I’m not sure how I feel about that.
That is such a cool coincidence though!
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I just realized that the next month is November. Maybe I should do something about NaNoWriMo this year instead of lazily lying around doing homework for the next few weeks in advance
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Speaking, can we have a NaNoBraSto thread?
I’ve been trying to decide whether to ask for one now or wait until the new NaNo website launches, but temptation has grown too strong.
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…That link did not link me to the NaNoBraSto thread… It took me to some login page, where I logged in thinking maybe it was a paleo thread, and then it told me that I didn’t have sufficient “permissions” to access the page. So I came back to MB, and now I’ve got what I believe is a WordPress profile/search bar permanently stuck across the top of my page. Also, the word ‘admin’ kept coming up in vague URL contexts.
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Our helper makes pretty good ramen.
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I make pretty good ramen, provided it comes in a package with a little envelope of soup powder.
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What a talented chef you must be! Come over and cook ramen for me some day, I can’t wait for the one-of-a-kind gourmet meal!
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I AM GOING HOME SOON
the taxi should get here around one, then the train leaves at 2:33 (hahaha as if, when is Amtrak on time? I like to think that if I say that enough it’ll be on time just to spite me), then I am home home home at 8:15. (if by home home home I mean “at the train station 15-20 minutes from my house”)
I am going to go to the marching band invitational (my little ducklings are all grown up <3) and I am going to spend time with my boyfriend (!!!!!) and I am going to see my therapist in real life for once instead of skype and I am finally going to be able to drive again (no freshman cars on campus, zipcars are for 18+ only even though I’ve had my license over a year)
So basically I am ecstatic.
If only my dream school were two hours away instead of five and a half.
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Phew. Done with Archeology, done with Statistics, Dad may come to visit tomorrow, definitely going to the aquarium.
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The cafeteria at my university is closed during this weekend because of fall break, so I had to go shopping for survival rations for the next four days. This involved figuring out bus routes and trying to figure out what I can fit into my fridge and still be able to have a variety of things to eat. The whole time I was mentally comparing it to the grocery shopping I did in Jordan. Food was so much cheaper there. Although transportation is easier. From the bus stop to my room is not that far of a distance, especially when you consider that in Jordan I had to walk UPHILL BOTH WAYS. *
*Literally true, depending on the route I took. Amman is pretty mountainous.
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My sympathies. Quebec is exactly the same. Either you go uphill and then there’s a magic earthquake and you have to go back uphill to get back to where you came from, or the downhill is so steep it’s worse than going uphill.
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Speaking of Jordan, I may sign up for the school trip going to Jordan as one of my five choices. I love the choices they give us – there are trips in South Africa, Tanzania, Spain, Turkey, India, Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam, Mongolia etc. etc. It’s neat. Last year I went to Thailand.
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Oh, cool. My school never did anything like that. Well, if you have any questions, I guess you can ask me.
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So I listened to the “Witch Doctor” song while alternatively reading “Ask Shamu” and “A Brief History of the HARP Project”. This is what I do on Friday nights.
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Well, of course. Doesn’t everybody?
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Replace “Witch Doctor” with “the entire Dr. Horrible soundtrack”, “Ask Shamu” with “Avengers fanfiction”, and “A Brief History of the HARP Project” with “all the Wikipedia articles on gender identity, sexual orientation, transcendentalism, and modern feminism I can find”, and you have me.
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Bad Horse, Bad Horse, Bad Horse, Bad Horse! He rides across the nation, the thoroughbred of sin …
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HE GOT THE APPLICATION THAT YOU JUST SENT IN!
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IT NEEDS EVALUATION, SO LET THE GAMES BEGIN
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A HEINOUS CRIME, A SHOW OF FORCE,
(A murder would be nice of course–)
BAD HORSE
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THE EVIL LEAGUE OF EVIL IS WATCHING, SO BEWARE
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Which Avengers fanfictions?
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…All the ones I can find? I’m sorry, I feel like don’t understand the question.
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Replace “Witch Doctor” with “Yale admissions officer lecturing people,” “Ask Shamu” with “my notes” and “A Brief History of the HARP Project” with “a sample Blue Book…”
SOCIAL LIFE
WHAT IS IT
HOW DO I GET ONE
(oh and I almost died driving in the city at night but that’s neither here nor there.)
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WHAT 
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Don’t be too impressed. I haven’t even applied yet.
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Who knows? I mean, clearly she couldn’t be referring to the by where you almost died.
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It’s sad that when I saw “Blue Book” I thought of the old Air Force project that investigated UFOs. That is sad, sad, sad.
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Continuing on everyone else’s theme…
Replace “Witch Doctor” with “The Wanderers” and “Ask Shamu” with “MSPA fanadventures” and “reading a brief history of the HARP project” with “writing music” you have me.
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I’m trying to figure out where the green anoles in my yard go to sleep, but so far all I’ve found out is that they’re all there by seven. I’ve tried twice so far; the first time, the only one still awake ran up into a tree eventually, but en could’ve been afraid or something, so I knew I’d need to try again. I did, but this time my dog scared the only one left into hiding.
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I read that as “green apples” at first.
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Oh, and the callback list for Beauty and the Beast came today. I’m being called back for one of 4 narrators. I’m disappointed I’m not Belle or Mrs. Potts, but I don’t really mind this role… I just hope I actually get it.
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The best of luck to you, Bibliophile!
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So my Boy Scout troop’s annual haunted house is coming up. It isn’t a huge fundraiser, but we do make a bit of money and have fun doing it. Does anyone have any somewhat inexpensive ideas for some creative scares? Some things we’ve done in the past have been:
Jason masks
Graveyard w/ popup skeleton
guillotine with talking severed head
Werewolf
Torture
Stuff like that. We’re just trying to get new ideas at this point.
Any good ideas? Or bad ones, I’m not picky. 
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Here are a few things that my middle school’s haunted house did:
Creepy séance/cult room
Chainsaw room – They made a maze out of something, I think black sheets hung from the ceiling, then there was somebody popping out running a chainsaw without the chain. Freaky as heck.
Haunted mental asylum
People walking around dressed in white with “blood” and “chains”, jumping out of the shadows
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My girl scout group did a mad science lab presentation on Halloween. It wasn’t a fundraiser, but I enjoyed it.
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I had a great time tonight. I stumbled into one of the people on my floor that I’d sort of talked to but not a lot, and we ended up making dinner together since the cafeteria was closed. Those groceries I bought earlier were put to use a lot earlier than expected. There’s a TV in the parlor right off the communal kitchen we did the cooking in, and while channel-surfing we saw that V for Vendetta was on. And it had just started too, so we watched the entire thing, and washed the dishes during commercials. We sat and talked during the movie for maybe four hours. We both agreed that we had to take over the kitchen and parlor more often. It turns out that she had been suffering from the same loneliness and lack of human contact that was bothering me earlier. I’m not alone!
–FF, feeling her loneliness slightly alleviated.
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I only just realized that I don’t post on MuseBlog very much. I go on here every day and lurk, like, a lot, and after I get off I ASSUME that I’ve written something when in fact I haven’t. So weird.
I never actually did a I’M IN COLLEGE NOW post, just some posts about O-Week and my dorm room. (Update on the poster situation: David Tennant stares at me, but that’s A-OK!)
SO I’M IN COLLEGE NOW.
My personal state is really weird. I alternate between “Yay, independence” and “OMG WHY AM I HERE I’M STILL NOT READY ARGH.” An excellent example of my not-ready-ness is that I stayed up until 4:30 last night (this morning?) reading TVTropes. Now, I know that is really easy to do, but it’s still incredibly irresponsible. Couple that with the fact that the only work I’ve done today is read three pages of the Illiad. Will I get better? I hope so, for my sake.
I have four classes: Philosophical Perspectives, Honors Calculus IBL, Mechanics, and German Fairy Tales. If any of you read my post about physics, I did get into the class with the good teacher, but it’s at 9:30 so I’m always falling asleep.
Honestly, Calculus is my favorite class right now. The Honors Calculus sequence isn’t really calculus at all. It assumes that you already know how to do calculus, and instead teaches you how to prove things. The IBL tacked onto the end of the title stands for Inquiry-Based Learning. Basically, you are assigned a set of things to prove, go home and prove them, come back to the next class with (hopefully) something prepared, and present it to the class. The only time the professor wrote on the board was on the first day, and that was his name and office hours. I signed up because I thought it would be good for me, seeing as I have extraordinarily bad stage fright. I haven’t actually gone up to prove anything yet, seeing as I really don’t know what I’m doing. Nobody else does either.
And that’s the amazing part about this class. NOBODY knows how to prove anything. We try to piece something together by ourselves, and by the time we get to class, our pooled knowledge actually lets us get somewhere. We’re all learning together. It’s amazing how we can talk for an hour and a half on just one proof. Of course, the professor helps us out a lot, but I think that will diminish as the year goes on and everyone gets the courage to talk. I actually can’t wait until I present something on the board! That’s saying a lot, for me.
For German, I have discovered that I have lost a shockingly large amount of what I knew over the summer. Last year, I had a respectable accent and was actually pretty confident when speaking. Now, I am really slow at speaking and my r’s sound much more American. There are some people in my class who’s accents are worse than mine, though, so all good. There’s one guy who was taught to say “ich” like they do in the north (ish), and every time I hear him speak it’s really weird.
I actually had lost so much that I had forgotten what “Aufsatz” meant (I thought it meant test; it actually means essay, d’oh!), so on the third day of class everyone had an essay but me. I turned it in via e-mail later that day. I just got it back and fortunately the professor was forgiving and didn’t take off any points for lateness.
More on German, one of the first assignments was a talk in German with the professor, and just after five minutes of speaking she knew exactly what my problem was: I’m great at writing, reading, and understanding, but horrible at speaking. She thinks it’s a vocabulary problem, which it is in part, but mostly it’s the fact that when I start talking to someone, especially a superior, my stage fright kicks in and every word that would help in getting across what I’m trying to say just flees from my head. I forgot what “hour” was, for pete’s sake (It’s “Stunde,” by the way, in case you were wondering)! This happens in English, too, so it’s definitely the stage fright.
I previously wrote about Philosophical Perspectives; it’s the one with cake at the end (If the cake is a lie, I will be devastated). I just got my first essay assigned about morality in the Illiad. I don’t think it’ll be too bad, although I didn’t put any sticky notes in the first part of the book. I’ll find some good quotes online, hopefully, so I don’t have to read it all again.
I’ve realized that actually being in college is a much different experience than just visiting. For starters, I now know that in front of a specific building is where all the smokers hang out. Nobody knows why it is, it just is. I also know that walking is a huge pain, especially since I live on the south side of campus, AT LEAST THREE BLOCKS from EVERY SINGLE OTHER BUILDING. It doesn’t help that the area south of campus is undeniably a place to be avoided, so I have to walk all the way across campus, diagonally, just to get to a restaurant to eat dinner when the dining halls close once a week on Saturdays. I need a bike.
I’ve actually managed to make myself known around the house (house=a group of about 100 people in the dorm), probably due to a combination of having an unusual name and hanging out in the lounge all the time. But as of the past couple of weeks, I’ve retreated to my room and I don’t know why.
I’ve learned that there’s one building which actually lives up to its name (it has “club” in its name) as a gathering place. There are two coffee shops, numerous tables that always have some club or organization campaigning from them, and a large central hall that is always full of people doing work. It’s kind of awesome.
I’ve finally learned not to step on the seal in aforementioned building. Context: There’s an inlaid gold (at least I think it’s gold) seal in the floor that’s actually quite small, about 1×2 feet. College legend says that whoever steps on the seal won’t graduate in four years (The legend was actually made up by the administrators when the seal was first put in to prevent the contours from wearing away). Because it’s gold, it blends in with the brown floor, and it’s way smaller that you expect it to be. So, naturally, the first time I visited campus, I stepped on it (I was still deciding where to go at the time, so when I later visited WashU, I stepped on their seal, too. They have that same superstition, although their seal is much bigger and much more noticeable). During O-Week, there was a party in that building, and I stepped on it twice, to the amused shock of many upperclassmen. But now I avoid it! Unconsciously! Yay! I think almost everyone here has stepped on it at least once, so it’s no biggie. The typical comeback to “you won’t graduate in four years” is “well, then, I’ll graduate in three.” I’m just worrying how the effects of stepping on the seal stack.
Speaking of WashU (This is shorthand for Washington University in St. Louis), there’s a huge rivalry between our two schools that I was completely unaware of until I actually started coming here. It’s really weird to think that either way I would have ended up seeing the other school at sporting events and such.
The other day there was a prospective student overnight. I didn’t sign up because I had no extra blankets for protection against the really hard floor, but it was really funny to notice our hypocrisy. We all acted like we knew a lot about college, when in fact we had only been taking classes for one and a half weeks. And to think that these prospective students were the same age I am! I felt more in common with them than with everyone else acting all independent and mature. Well, we’re all looking to impress.
To all of you applying for college this year, I am probably the opposite of a lot of people you see on various college advice forums. When I visited in April, I was pretty intimidated by this college. I think it was a combination of all the ivy growing everywhere, the coldness, and that I never got a tour so I didn’t know where anything was and got lost. (I did love the physics class I went to, though). So it wasn’t “love at first sight” like a lot of people say their top choice was. I eventually went here instead of WashU because I convinced myself that I only liked WashU better on my first impression because the weather just happened to be better, and I didn’t actually sit in on any classes so I didn’t really know anything about the university. Now that I’m here in Chicago, even though I don’t know every single individual building, I know my way around, and I know where the main “hang-out” spots are. The ivy is amusing; the way it slowly takes over every single building on campus (it hasn’t managed to traverse the three blocks to get to the south side, thankfully). And even though I might not be prepared for winter, I won’t have to worry about that for a while (it was eighty degrees today). And I have a great set of traditions to look forward to. We’re big on scavenger hunts here.
Choklit to whoever has the courage to read all that.
How are all the other college freshman doing? Have you adjusted yet? It’s great because I get to see about the mental state I’ll be in a month in advance.
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Wouldn’t stepping on the seal twice cancel itself out like a double-negative?
It’s really interesting watching the freshman adjust from an upper-classman position, although this year I know only like two of them. There seems to be a large contingent that loves Doctor Who, though. In general, here, I think the freshman freakout is in full swing.
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I would assume that it cancels itself out, but since I stepped on in three times, does that cancel out the canceling out? And I’m afraid to step on it again if that’s not the case. 
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So this year’s drama club play is “The Importance of Being Earnest”. I get to be the Actual Lighting Board Person this year (instead of the Spotlight Person), and I’m learning to work the lights. It’s actually pretty fun. From the parts I’ve seen in rehearsal, the play seems to be about people with British accents sitting on couches and talking about stuff. Hm.
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I absolutely love The Importance of Being Earnest.
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Oscar Wilde is the best.
Except for all the other brilliant playwrights, of course.
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Today was Club Rush. I joined:
Extraterrestrial Welcoming Committee
Gay-Straight Alliance (my school finally has one!)
Anime Club
Poetry Club
Order of the Phoenix
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OUR SCHOOL HAS A QUDDITCH CLUB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For high schoolers. *scoff* They don’t need fun.
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Trust me, when you get to high school, you need as much fun as you’re allowed to get *awake at 5 am and writing an essay*
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I accidentally pied that instead of squidding it.
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Extraterrestrial Welcoming Committee?
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Yeah. Basically, it’s for discussing what would happen if aliens came to earth and humankind’s response. Doubles as an ethics and a scifi club.
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Sci fi… anime… GSA… poetry… how many people involved in these write slash fanfiction? Also, major droolage.
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Order of the Phoenix?
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I wish my school had a club like that.
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Me, too.
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Nest comments (22): Thanks, everyone! Hugs to you all! *squeeeeeeeeze*
FantasyFan (45): I feel the same way. I attribute a lot of it to being busy all the time, and then just not having enough energy when I’m done with all of my work to seek out my friends and have engaging conversations.
Cello/Kyra (74): Hey! I don’t know if you’ve posted what school you go to, but I’m pretty sure I know where you go because of all of the vocabulary you’ve been using, and my best friend from high school goes there, too! She’s probably going to major in math or biology, and she loves it. (Oh, I just got to the end of your post and saw that you said Chicago. I’m glad you’re having such a great time! Definitely look forward to scav, I hear it’s super awesome. My friend lives in Dodd-Mead, so in the off chance that that’s where you are, maybe you know her! )
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Nah, I don’t live in that particular dorm. I live in the other one. But that’s really cool!
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Today was the first Brain Game taping my school’s team was in this year. IT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!!!!!! And just a little while ago, I got to stare for nearly an hour at an extremely pretty praying mantis in front of my house. My day is made.
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SFTDP. Now I’m alternating between watching Doctor Who and Mythbusters. Correction: NOW my day is made.
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There are 3 huge mushroom colonies in my front yard! They’re all by rocks for some reason. It’s awesome! I know little about fungi, but maybe I’ll be inspired to learn more! There are often mushrooms in my yard, but never in huge colonies like this!
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One mushroom got dented and damaged, so I get to preserve and keep the bit that was breaking off! I don’t want to kill a mushroom just to collect it, but if I find one damaged or about to die, I get… excited, unfortunately. But I’m just so glad I get to keep it! I don’t know how, but my book explains, and if I need help, my school has another book with more detail!
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Today I bought all the fabric for my Nyan Cat costume. Now I just have to sew everything together …
Also, LEVEL 16 ON PORTAL THIS IS A TRIUMPH
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Being a violinist in a jazz band was certainly interesting. My only complaint is that for all intents and purposes I am a flute and so am right in front of some very loud sax players.
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Yay for cross country running in the rain! The meet got cancelled on Wednesday after everybody was excited for racing in the rain and we had been standing there for an hour.
Also I have decided I will somehow find a motorcycle to fix up and learn engine mechanics on. I’ve been looking for a month, and no luck so far. I just emailed two more people, but the bikes are basically parts bikes so I offered less than they offered on the ad. Not to much hope there.
And for volunteering at places: Everywhere I want to volunteer I have to wait until next year when I am old enough. Or for another round of interviews (also next year).
I’m really tired today to sorry if that didn’t make much sense.
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It feels weird that this is the first fall since 7th grade I haven’t been doing cross country.
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So I saw my dad again for the first time in 5 weeks and went to the New England Aquarium.
It was great.
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This is the timeline of everything major that’s happened to me in the past 36 hours:
I leave school.
My dad and I drive to Colorado Springs for several hours.
We get to our hotel.
I throw up the McDonald’s I ate on the way.
We check out various music/sound stores.
We go see Real Steel.
Overall, awesome day.
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I had a policy of not reading webcomics because I know I’d love them and waste too much time on them. I think it just went out the window. I found out that someone who sells tardigrade T-shirts writes one, and… SQUEE I CAN’T BELIEVE IT HASN’T BEEN MENTIONED BEFORE
OCTOPOD ADVENTURES IS THE BEST THING EVER
IT HEAVILY INVOLVES VARIOUS MARINE INVERTEBRATES, INCLUDING SQUIDS; HER BLOG HAS A WHOLE CEPHALOPOD SECTION
ONE PICTURE WAS OF A SQUID IN A BLACK OCEAN WITH DOTS THAT WERE APPARENTLY BIOLUMINESCENCE BUT LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE STARS
AND IT IS AMAZING AND YOU MUST ALL LOOK IT UP RIGHT NOW
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I once read speculation that while Slytherin had the qualities that would be the most helpful to an evil person, which is why Dark wizards are more likely to come from that house than the others, although most Slytherins are perfectly good people, the qualities of all the other Houses would be, too, even Hufflepuff. I disagree about Hufflepuff. Hard work can help, as can loyalty–it doesn’t say to whom–and certainly patience, but then there’s the fact that they’re fair. It’s not easy to be evil and fair at one time, although it’s been done. Look at Justice Wargrave! Still, he wouldn’t have had such difficulty if he hadn’t been fair. I think of that as the fundamental difference between Slytherins and Hufflepuffs, actually–Hufflepuffs are fair, and Slytherins are not. I always thought this, but when I got my Pottermore Hufflepuff welcome email, and the main thing the Hufflepuff prefect had to say about Slytherin was that they’re unfair, I was convinced. Also, in general, Hufflepuffs are trustworthy, and Slytherins are deceitful, but that’s about it–two sides of the same coin, both loyal (the Slytherin welcome email said they stick together) and hard-working (If you’ll use any means to achieve your ends, that means if you have to work hard for your ends, you won’t hesitate, as long as you’re sure you can’t make anyone else do it) and never giving up. Sometimes, though, you have to lie and cheat a bit for the greater good–saving lives and such–and a Hufflepuff won’t be willing to do that. The goodness of a Hufflepuff or Slytherin really depends on their goal. Slytherins are better at being evil but in my opinion no worse at doing good. We need both. Although if there’s a choice, the Hufflepuff method is a much better option than the Slytherin one, in my opinion. Usually. But sometimes the Hufflepuff way just doesn’t work, or both are needed to succeed like in the Wizarding War, and we need to resort to the good Slytherins.
I imagine the other houses have equal amounts of good and bad in them. Bravery and intelligence can help with anything, really, and they’re not more common in good or bad or neutral people.
Speaking of neutrality, I feel a bit sorry for Slytherin because they might want to remain neutral in terms of sides in a war or something, but they really can’t in terms of good and evil. If they aren’t being unfair and dishonest for good, they’re being unfair and dishonest. Even if there’s no malice, there’s selfishness whenever there isn’t benevolence–although I suppose many have both. Most humans do, myself included. Hm.
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Of course, most determined people–most people–aren’t either fair and honest or unfair and deceitful; they’re in between. Justice Wargrave is fair but not honest. I think he’s a Hufflepuff, though, not a Slytherin, because Slytherins use any means to achieve their ends. MAJOR AND THEN THERE WERE NONE SPOILER ALTHOUGH I’VE ALREADY GIVEN HINTS If a Slytherin wanted to commit a murder, they wouldn’t be hindered by there sense of justice. Hufflepuffs can’t always be completely honest, because I was sorted into Hufflepuff, and I’m much more honest than average, but I’d lie in order to save someone’s life if I had to, and while I think that’s really more Slytherin than Hufflepuff, there must be some Hufflepuffs willing to do it.
I think Gryffindors are unlike either in that they don’t even think about whether to be fair or not, in general; they just do the first thing that comes to mind. They’re the type who’d say, “He or she who hesitates is lost.” In my opinion, this is not a good strategy at all and certainly unsophisticated, but it does at least mean that if something has to be done, and no-one else is willing to do it, you can usually use a Gryffindor. And Ravenclaw… I don’t think there’s any correlation between intelligence and moral code, so they can be Hufflepuff-esque or more Slytherin-esque, but regardless, they’re good at realizing what needs to be done and finding the easiest way to do it. I suppose I see more why people say Gryffindors are unintelligent; they’re not, or there wouldn’t be Gryffindor/Ravenclaw hat stalls, but they’re impulsive, so they don’t tend to get great ideas because they don’t look for them. They can learn to, though, like Hermione did; at first she limited her brainpower to rote memorization and the like, and while she was getting ideas of her own, thinking for herself, and even disagreeing with with her books by her 4th year, she didn’t really think about what would actually work; SPEW could have worked, I think, if she’d really thought about what was practical. She was just using her first impulse, which was to form a society like the ones she read about using their methods, but those methods don’t work for house-elves, as she could have figured out. It was in her 5th year when she actually started using her considerable ingenuity and figuring out how to really solve problems. She discovered she was very good at it and as an adult even did help the house-elves properly as well as other Beings. You have to remember, though, that she was almost a Hat Stall. McGonagall, the other sensible Gryffindor, was a hat stall.
If anyone disagrees or has any comments, please reply.
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In the Ravenclaw welcome letter it said that Gryffindors were kind of show-offy, Slytherins weren’t as bad as everyone said–but watch your back around exam time, and Hufflepuffs were basically the kindest people in the school.
I think that what you said is really interesting though; especially about Hermione. Of course, not everybody fits perfectly into those catergories, but it’s helpful when trying to sort people!
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I read all the house welcome letters, and they all said different things about the other Houses–except Gryffindor, which didn’t say anything about them except their names, which is stupid, because real first-years would want to know all of that, but we know it anyway. I kept it all in mind, but I don’t entirely trust all of it because they’re all biased. I do agree with what you mentioned of what Ravenclaw said, though. I also agree that Gryffindors are often (but not always!) intolerant, but not that Hufflepuffs are all stupid. (Well, I think it’s possible to be an evil Hufflepuff, as I said, but it doesn’t seem to happen often).
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Oh my gosh why did that never occur to me!
*reads letters*
Yeah. I agree with you.
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It’s been raining! And thundering, a bit! For the first time in months!
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Here, too! We don’t have it quite as bad as youwe do get rain more often than once each few months, but never much at a time or too often! I just wish I could go outside, but I’ve another cold. That’s what I hate the most about them!
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Actually it’s been raining quite a bit lately, so I’m exagerating, but there were several months this summer where we didn’t get a drop.
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It seems to me a tragedy, but the Giant Space Squid simply cannot be accurately described as “flamablamablous” as combustion inside a vacuum is just not feasable. I think we ought to come up with a comparable term for things, like the Space Squid, where flamablamablous can’t apply (squidtastic, for example). Any ideas?
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I’m scanning stuff!
Which hasn’t been inked, but… better that way.
You have all (?) waited (?) patiently (?) ! And now (?) you shall be rewarded (?) !
…yeah…
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I decided that it really can’t be autumn without apples, so I drove to an orchard today to pick some. It took some looking (and climbing), but I picked five Haralsons, five Winesaps, and five Melroses. The Haralsons and the Winesaps I baked into a delicious pie, and the Melroses will be consumed as soon as I eat the last two Galas I have. I wanted to get a couple of Empires, but I couldn’t find any that weren’t too small or too full of bugs.
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ZOMG Piggy changed his gravatar!
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W-what?! But I liked the John C. Calhoun!
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Back to basics, I say, even if it does cause newbies to think I’m female.
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For some reason that reminds me of an explanation I once heard: “The difference between dedication and commitment is the difference between eggs and ham: The chicken is dedicated, but the pig is committed.”
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Oh, yes… I remember when I thought you were female! I think it was that close-up drawing of a female-looking face that confused me, though.
I also thought you were an admin. But that’s another story.
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I’m looking at my past Gravatars right now, and none of them look female to me. I can understand your believing me to be an admin, though. I do answer questions directed to the GAPAs quite a bit.
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Piggy, you’re not an admin?!?!?!
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Wait, are you serious? Sorry, I just can’t tell.
I used to think he was an admin, too, because of the Tomfoolery thread. Somehow I didn’t notice it was the Tomfoolery thread. Well, I was very new… Also the H&H helped. By the way, that’s apparently the name of a Harry Potter RPG. I don’t participate, but I find that fascinating.
When I first came, I didn’t know his gender and didn’t try to guess. His voice was neutral. His face was neutral.
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Of course not!
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…Are you rolling your eyes because you can’t believe I thought you might have meant it, or because you’re being sarcastic and really did mean it?
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The former.
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No, I know Piggy’s actually an admin. Apologies if it offended you, Bibliophile.
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Oh, I’m not offended! I just couldn’t tell. (The fact that you didn’t say ‘not
was a typo and not more sarcasm, though, right?)
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Bibliophile – Sorry, yes, that one was a typo! I did mean that he’s not an admin, because obviously I know that. 
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I used to think the Albino was female. Was that it?
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Your avatar is amazingly perfect for that statement.
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Haha, yeah!
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So did I, but this is nice as well. It’ll take a bit of getting used to, but so did John C. Calhoun. Most avatars with faces take getting used to for me, especially when it’s a change from stern and greyish (Why does my computer accept ‘grayish’ but not this?) to smiling and pinkish with some brown and plump. Not that I’ll ever envision him as a pig–unfortunately, you all look quite human–but I imagine he’ll eventually become more piggish in my mind than before.
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Aha, I’m not the first to notice this, apparently. It’s a very nice drawing.
But… you’re John C. Calhoun…
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I was the pig long before I was John C. Calhoun.
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((Best recent comment ever!))
Oh yes, I noticed that drawing on a Museblog Signatures.
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I’ve missed the pig. It’s a nice pig.
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I remember those old days… how long ago was that?…
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YOU’VE TURNED INTO A PALEO
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The Gravatar website says that I uploaded the next Gravatar (Nosferatu, if you remember) on July 20, 2009. But I’m pretty sure I’ve gone back to the pig once or twice since then.
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I went to the Kennedy Presidential Library with my father today. It’s on the University of Massachusetts campus, right by the harbor, and the view is lovely. My dad told me everything he remembered about Kennedy’s presidency. (He was only 7 when JFK died, so it wasn’t that much. But we really bonded. It was great.)
I bought my own copy of “Mission Control, This is Apollo” in the gift shop, as well as a replica “If I were 21, I’d vote for Kennedy” button.
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People in my dorm house play drinking games with Portal 2 and SSB Brawl.
I know I should be condemning them for underage drinking, but I am truly impressed.
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oh god so many things going on I don’t even
hello internet how are you I’ve missed you so much
asjgrklthhtg
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Does somebody want to help me murder UCAS?
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Yes.
What’s UCAS?
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It’s the website you use to apply to a UK University, which is filled with endless forms to fill out. It’s not that bad, but the fact that I only have 600 words for my essay annoys me and I’m just so sick of filling out useless stuff especially since there’s a second go-round of forms to fill out when I’m done with that and it (UCAS) is due on Saturday *tears out hair (in a comical way)*
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Hi! I’m back! I have never been so happy to take a shower. The trip I was on was a photography-oriented expedition with a teen-mentoring program. I took a bunch of photos that I’m really proud of. We did a ton of flammy stuff and generally had a great time.
But exhausted. I have two tests tomorrow and I need to go study, but I’m very tired and hungry so…
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Hello again, MB. As of yesterday, though I was not present on the blog, I turned 18. What a strange feeling it is, the more I let it sink in. Apparently I’ve been off the blog for the required year to get the customary boot from the birthday thread, but ah well. It’s come time to let more unsettling feelings slowly saturate. Sort of that I haven’t fulfilled what I’m supposed to have by this point, though that’s a bit of a silly thought. It most likely stems from the lack of any sort of romantic relationship. I doubt it to be an uncommon predicament. And, of course I do what I can to ignore it, though I’d sure as hell be lying to say that it doesn’t hurt to think that she doesn’t love me back. It sort of comes along with a stress about college apps too, seeing as I’ll be sending them out in just about a month. Then again, not an uncommon predicament, and I shouldn’t be too worried about it.
So anyway, I’m a legal adult, and I plan to use it to the fullest of my ability. Yes, I’m going to vote, yes, I’m going to drive people who aren’t 20 or over or my sister. On the other hand, I’m doubting there will, or rather, hoping there won’t be any buying of cigarettes, pornography, charges of statutory rape on account of my age, getting drafted, or getting prosecuted legally as an adult.
Also! I’ve decided that being 18 means dressing however the cake I want (ie: Bowties every day? By golly, if I can, I will!)
So that’s that. Brief thought for the past weekend, though in typing it out a lot of it was lost. Cheers, MB
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Happy Birthday!
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Happy 18th, Gimanator!
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Happy birthday!
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Happy belated Birthday.
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So I went down to check out OccupyWallSt and then I art show and now I’m a printer for a clothing startup pursing a German backer?
It’s been a crazy few days.
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Trying to find value in anything at all, failing.
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What about science? There has to be at least one thing you value. If so, try and focus on that.
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What about us?
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I ind solace in the works of Albert Camus, who argues that while the universe is formless and void of meaning or higher order, it is up to us to face this world and create what we can out of it. Should the realization that the world is vast and uncaring and meaningless end suicide? “No. It requires revolt.” He goes on to explain several lifestyles that he sees as living an Absurdist philosophy, while acknowledging that there is no inherent meaning, there are was to cope with that and even derive one’s own meaning. Eventually he ends with Sisyphus, the ancient Greek myth who was condemned by the gods to roll a boulder up a hill eternally as punishment for chaining up death. The struggle of Sisyphus might look despairing and tragic, but Camus argues that every part of the boulder is the universe, and every push is a man’s defiant push towards the heavens, which has value enough to continue living and fighting.
“The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus
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Wow, sorry, there are a few errors in there. “find solace” “end in suicide” “there are ways”
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Rainbow has bought more Discworld books on her Kindle. Rainbow is very happy.
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So I got a 77 on my Statistics midterm. It’s good that it’s the first test and I’m already close to my normal 80th percentile scoring, but I’d feel better if it actually WERE 80.
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Is there a thread for the Occupy protests? I have friends that were in Dewey Square last night, I kind of feel like we need a discussion on the whole thing.
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The D.C. contingent is just a few blocks from my office. They’re definitely a phenomenon worth discussing. Thread granted.
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Is the Air and Space Museum okay? I heard it was closed on Saturday because of the protests. (I didn’t like the drone exhibit either, but shutting down the whole museum was excessive.)
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98 on my latest trig test!
Which would normally be just very good for me, but since the average grades for his tests are around 70-75%, and I’ve been getting mid-high 80’s, that is really good for me.
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This is how heavy my backpack is:
*sits down in a chair*
*lifts up backpack*
*chair tips over*
I kid you not.
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So according to a post on MySchoolDiscussionBoard, there’s this sort of feud between the GSA and one of the Christian clubs. With members of the latter targeting the former and telling them why being gay is wrong. I’d like to join the GSA to offer my support, but I don’t know if asexuals are allowed … Also, joining any clubs would involve my parents finding out. I suppose I could say I’m one of the “Straight” people in Gay-Straight Alliance, but I would still have to tell them I’m straight and it would be even more awkward.
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I’m pretty sure it’s only called the GSA because LGBTTQQIIASA is a bit long. The whole point of most GSA’s is acceptance; they won’t have a problem with you joining. Why are you worried about your parents finding out?
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My GSA calls itself the QSA, for Queer-Straight Alliance, since queer is more of a catch-all word.
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As does ours. It’s a very inclusive and welcoming group.
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Of course asexuals are allowed. Just tell them the truth: the GSA is an advocacy/support group specifically meant to be accepting and helpful to everyone, regardless of sexual orientation.
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I might change my gravatar…
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Oh, SFTDP, but what’s the current GAPA email?
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thegapas @ gmail.com
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Took the PSATs this morning.
Which means I get the afternoon off…
…to study for the two tests I have tomorrow. Yay!
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I have the PSAT on Saturday…
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Same here, and I’m claiming to study a lot more than I actually am doing…
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I didn’t study at all…I mean, they don’t count for anything, it’s just a practice. I think the only thing they could count for would be the National Merit Scholarship, and I’m ineligible for that anyway, not being an American citizen.
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Sigh.
I haven’t been getting on here a lot. I’m exhausted from getting up to go to the high school (I’m taking math there). I can’t believe the German Exchange ends in 3 days. (My school has a German Exchange program. I’m home hosting the student who hosted me when I went there last year.) I might never see the German students again. My brain is not truly realizing that the German Exchange IS ENDING.
Ack.
I hate dislike most of my classes. 8th grade Social Studies is boring (American History), Science is boring (Chemistry), Algebra 2 is boring. And I feel like SS and Science should be interesting. But the teachers have decided that interesting classes aren’t their highest priority.
/end whining
Halloween is coming soon! I want to be a pirate, because of my recent obsession with the Bloody Jack series, by L. A. Meyer, of which I have the most recent book on request from the library.
We have a trip to Boston coming soon.
And I have to go. Bye!
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Hello MuseBlog, I’ve missed you so….
Waking up early all the time is HARD WORK, yo. So is homework. What is this?!
Anyway, midterms are approaching. DEATH, DOOM, DESPAIR, ETC. Actually it probably won’t be too miserable. Well, my music cultures of the world one probably will be. But glargleblegh. Anthropology probably will be fairly un-horrifying.
Then fall break! A whole week of nothing to do! WHAT IS THIS?!
I’m looking forward to it, but at the same time nooooo I won’t see my friends every day nooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But I will see Circles.
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How is Circles these days?
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Has anyone ever noticed how much this ‘Blog likes the letter R? Our perennial most popular threads are the Random thread, Romance and Relationships, and the Rants and Plaints thread, and a full 75 percent of the administration has names that begin with that letter. I mean, really? It’s ridiculous, right? Rarely revolting, but rather repetitive.
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Really, PRiggy?
On another note:
Random, Romance, Relationships, Rants, Plaints = Robert, Rebecca, Rosanne, Paul ????
Will the great occurence of the 22nd Century with Robert, Rebecca, Rosanne, and Raul have the Random threads, Romance & Relationships, and the Rants & Rantplaints threads? (GAPAs of the 22nd century, we salute you! Remember that, Robert?)
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Don’t forget RRRs and RPWs and RPGs.
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Just took an algebra test. Social studies test tomorrow… *pulls hair out* Oh, and my tenor sax’s C sharp is having an identity crisis! Also, a euphonium player and I both had similarly themed dreams involving my R+R, (Why do all of my friends have dreams about my R+R?) and I found two mutated paperclips! In band, the rest of the trombone section was randomly saying “pie” at random intervals, so I did the only sensible thing and interrupted them with “Squid!” and they all thought I was crazy. Hmm, what else? Oh yes, I have an AWESOME science teacher. We have a chemistry unit right now, yaay! I wish the curriculum would have chemistry units earlier, like in fifth grade, instead of teaching us the water cycle fifty thousand times. That way we could learn more advanced chemistry and not just the beginning concepts in eighth grade. And my old science teacher is teaching my health class. :/ And my friend’s piano concerto has six sharps in six four time at prestissimo. Also, suddenly random things are popping up in November. Why all of a sudden? I had a wonderful rant to give to my saxophone’s C sharp, which is having an identity crisis. But I have to go study now. When did this post get so long? *pays fine*
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108.1 (Rebecca)~ He’s doing well, I hear, though he apparently misses me. Mom reports that whenever she goes into my room he comes running, expecting me to be there, and sometimes will leave dead rodents on my doormat if she’s been in and out because he thinks I’m there again, then gets sad when I’m not. It’s heartbreaking. I wish I could explain to him why I’m gone, and that I still love him. :/
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Maybe Circles thinks that if he offers enough rats, you’ll come back to him. And he’s right!
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Does anyone know how to merge separate PDF files onto a single PDF file? My Global teacher recently gave me a PDF of our textbook, but each page is on a seperate document, and I’d like to merge them to make them more manageble…
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I suggest you pick your favorite search engine and type in “merge pdfs”. I have no advice on which site offering this service is best, but there seem to be several out there.
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The obvious method would be to open the pdfs in a word processor or DTP package, cut and paste the pages you want, then save the result as a pdf again.
There are plenty of expensive DTP packages that will open pdfs, but if you want a free solution, try OpenOffice, and install the Oracle PDF Import Extension. Both of these are open source.
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Thanks to both of you. I’d prefer not to do it manually, as there’s about 300 pages, but if all else fails I’ll do it. I’m going to try some of the sites I’ve found
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At this point, I’ve probably written more teachers’ student recommendations than the vast majority of the teaching staff. I though the benefit of these things would be that teachers write them for you… but no. If I have to teach one more teacher how to write references I think I deserve a class and a salary of my own.
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SO MUCH WOOOORRRRK
adsfgghng
Also chem test on tuesday oh god I have to study so much this weekend to try to make up for the last test hnnng
Also I realize like the only times I post have been “OH GOD WORK AND STUFF” but i am having a lot of fun still! Lots of hangouts and contra dances and things, I just don’t really have time to write about much right now!
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A few days ago on a math test, I had to show my work. There was a line graph. I was asked whether it was continuous or discreet. Like all line graphs, it was discreet. However, I didn’t know how to show this, so I drew a bracket around the space between 2 points and wrote, “And these points of data make a beautiful line!”
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What… I meant continuous, not discreet. /facepalm/ I wasn’t thinking. At least I didn’t make that mistake on the test.
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I got a paperclip to float on the meniscus of a coffee cup filled with water!
I feel very accomplished at this display of my mastery of surface tension.
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That must’ve taken some…intense concentration!
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What in the–that should’ve been a reply to Kai’s comment (116). I think I’m tired.
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MY HOMECOMING THEME IS HARRY POTTER
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WHATAAAAAAAARGH.
Ours is Hungry Hungry Hippos. You can see why I’m jealous.
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Is one supposed to go dressed up as a hippo?
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Well, judging by the looks I got yesterday… probably not.
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Where in the world did you manage to find a hippo costume?
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I
what?
– From me and my roommate
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Who even chose that theme?
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A vengeful ASB president?
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I read “ASB” to mean “Alien Space Bat”.
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FINALLY SOMEONE ELSE KNOWS WHAT THAT MEANS
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THAT WAS MY SPIRIT GAME LAST THEME LAST YEAR. IT’S REALLY, REALLY FUN, AND OUR SHIRTS ARE AWESOME AND COMPLETELY WEARABLE. Make sure to tell us all about it!
My school’s is Wild West. The name for the dance itself is “Romance on the Range”. (gag)
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*asplodes with jealousy* Ours was “Fight for Fame”, but I didn’t go. I’ve managed to avoid going to dances thus far. ^^
In related news, next week we find out what house/team we’re sorted into in Quidditch Club! I really hope I get Hufflepuff.
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Oh dear, did my comment involve something innapropriate? I seem to remember posting on here…
Summary: eighty nine on algebra test equals grumpy Lightning. B is such an overrated letter.
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I don’t think I mentioned it here yet, but I’m back to Japanese. German just doesn’t hold my interest. I’m using a very different method from anything I’ve done before, so we’ll see how it goes. It’s been a lot of fun so far. I’ve learned about 80 kanji yesterday and today, and I’m trying to add at least 30 a day, though I may decide to do more or less depending on how it goes the next week or two. Unfortunately, my handwriting in Japanese is almost as bad as my handwriting in English. Alas.
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Ge’ bitte, du Verräter! Du kannst schon Latein und Griechisch also müsstest du eh nur die Vokabel lernen. Wenn’ste ständing Sprache wechselst wird gar nichts draus werden, neue Methode hin oder her. Aber wurscht, is’ ja nicht mein Kaffee.
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I’m not saying I’ll never learn German. It’s definitely third on my list, after Japanese and Spanish.
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Okay, that was a little more harsh than I intended, but still. I thought you already spoke Spanish?
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Yeah, pretty well, but not quite fluently.
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dang 30 kanji a day is really intense! remember stroke order, that’s killer with me :/
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Not when you’re using a…spaced repetition system! Basically, it’s fancy electronic flashcards. On the “question” section I put a key word/meaning for a kanji and a mnemonic device, and the answer is the kanji. Based on how easily I can answer it, the software waits for a longer or shorter period before showing me that card again–if I remember it quickly, it might wait a week. If I don’t remember it at all, it’ll bring that card up again the same day. I’m using James Heisig’s Remembering the Kanji, Vol. I to learn a little over 2000 kanji. I’ll probably do volume three after that; I’ve heard volume two is fairly useless. Then I’ll pretty quickly get the kana, after which comes the most intense portion, which is basically reading and listening to and watching as much Japanese as possible. That’s how I’ll actually learn the different readings of the kanji as well as vocabulary, grammar, etc. The guy who came up with this method was fluent in Japanese after 18 months, though it’ll probably take me longer than that by a considerable amount. We’ll see how it goes. Stroke order’s going okay so far, most things seem to play by the rules.
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The timing of this post is rather amusing. As of this afternoon, I’ve rarely had more motivation in German. I spent the afternoon speaking German with the mother of a friend, who grew up in Germany, and I didn’t feel awkward because she understood that I was learning and the whole thing was supposed to be a lesson, and I could say most of what I wanted without too much trouble.
And this is going to be a regular thing.
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The person who originally was going to give me a ride home for break bailed this afternoon, so I had to call around and try to find someone else. Fortunately, I did. Ugh ugh ugh I hate not having my car here.
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You know those days when you talk to your friends and realize how awesome they are? Typical conversation with three of my friends involves:
Friend 1- Voltaire, video games, aliens, world domination, and clones.
Friend 2- Latin, philosophy, randomness, mythology, grapefruits/French, perspective, and whatever else pops into either one of our heads (today, for instance, we discovered a shared obsession with bananas).
Friend 3- Art, ninjas (en is one), and Doctor Who.
Yeah, my friends are awesome. All my friends, it’s just that these are at the forefront of my mind.
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*sigh* I’m jelly.
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*gives you a spoon*
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…Am I supposed to eat myself, then?
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Consumption; Ducky caught it during the garlic war; a starving monster caught it in a Hindu story and was revered for it; the Sorting Hat threatened to catch it if presented with a threat to his pride, and it was a common cause of death in the 1800s; now you can catch it, too! It’s free! Just levitate the spoon, insert it into your body (also known as stabbing), and experience delicious tastes you’ve never imagined! You’ll never hunger again!
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I’m so sorry! That was supposed to be a colon, not a semicolon. I promise it was just a typo. I HATE semicolon misuse, so I feel bad, anyway.
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You have great friends.
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Hey, I can identify with all three of your friends. What I share in common:
Aliens, world domination, Latin, philosophy, randomness, mythology, art, Doctor Who.
That’s over half!
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I suspected you might!
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I identify mostly with Friend 2.
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Exciting things!
I’m on team A for science olympiad; I’m doing forestry, geo logic, and rocks and minerals.
Our field show is a;sldkfjas;ldkjfas. So cool. We had a two period rehearal today. First song is Mars, Bringer of War, second is Ain’t Nothing Wrong With That, and last is Forget You. In Forget You, we do a park and bark (when you put your legs at shoulder width and then sort of bend your legs and play and you look really idiotic but it’s cool) and we’ve recently added a shake and bake. Which is the entire band dancing like idiots. Seriously. They just told us to dance however we want to. The band director commented on the amount of “pelvic motion” in our dancing.
After we ran through the field show, the director told flutes to get in a squad of seven. A trumpeter who wasn’t listening got into our squad, and when we told him to get out, he ran away screaming, “WHY CAN’T YOU ACCEPT ME FOR WHO I AM?!”
Things in my personal life are going okay. My friends are bothering me quite a bit. So is my mom, who’s being so over protective. My boyfriend is bothering me a bit too. We’re really different- he’s really sensitive and emotional, and he lets small things bother him a lot, whereas I’m not emotional at all, and I just let things go.
I’ve been finding myself thinking about how much I want to go to college lately. I don’t know. Things are strange.
Now I’m having a dance party with myself on the couch because my family is gone for the weekend and Don’t You Evah by Spoon just came on shuffle.
Oh, by the way, physics is so awesome. Hard. People are failing with the curve. But awesome. Knowing physics is like knowing the spoilers to life.
Interesting things.
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Yeah Science Olympiad! I’m co-presidenting this year. I’m not sure what events I’m doing (we’re assigning them in about two or three weeks, and registering at that time), but I’m pretty sure I’ll be doing Sounds of Music. I’m planning on making a set of chimes. It should be great. Just kidding, I’m sure I’m going to mess it up a ton of times, but hopefully it will eventually be great.
Your show sounds cool! Is there some kind of central theme to it? I wish we had cool visuals, but our shows tend to only have a few. Our theme is Bach. The original show title was Bach for the New Millennium (we re-titled it Bach in Motion), so we’ve got a subtle sort of concert/orchestral thing going on. We have a sixteen-count bow at the end of the first movement, and a tuning note (where we tune on violin string pitches, E/A/D/G) between the second and third. There are a couple more things, but those are the main ones.
And physics! It’s really cool but I don’t understand what I’m doing at ALL.
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I’m doing SciOly, too! I’m really disappointed that they’re not doing Ornithology this year, at least in Division B, but I’m excited about Dynamic Planet (Earth’s fresh water) and Forestry and Water Quality (I’m disappointed that they seem to only care about the invertebrate indicator species that can be seen without a microscope, though; I want to do something with my tardigrade knowledge; pollution is practically the only thing that can kill them). I’m also doing Write It Do It if anyone joins who wants to (It’s a 2-person activity, but no-one else is interested so far), and I might do Sounds of Music as well.
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I literally screamed when I heard that they cancelled ornithology. So. Freaking. Disappointed. I was studying over the summer, too. D:
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I wanted to do Sounds of Music too, but then I realized that I have no knowledge of music theory at all, so that didn’t work out so well.
How about… “BACH TO THE FUTURE”
Okay I’m done. No, our show never really has a theme… It’s just sort of three songs put together. Yours sounds so coooooooooool.
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So oddly enough, Homecoming is actually being a lot of fun so far. School started late, we had a huge rally involving the Homecoming Court candidates being driven around the track in pickup trucks while the marching band played, and after school we had a giant parade around half the city. My feet hurt.
Football game later, which I’m actually considering going to. Is it rude to knit during a football game?
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Trying out for Madame Defarge, Football Division?
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Yes, I was secretly knitting the name of the opposing school into my fingerless gloves. And it worked, too; we won 27-6.
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Wow, these weeks seem to fly by.
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Today I found myself trying to remember what language is spoken in Austria, while in line at Subway. I am a walking American stereotype.
(It’s German, apparently. Derp.)
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That’s okay. No-one gets it on Jeopardy either.
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Speaking of which, someone remind me to punch the next person who tells me the native language of New Zealand is Australian.
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Native as in what the original inhabitants spoke (Polynesian?) or as in the language the government conducts its business in? (English)
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I think as in what the original inhabitants spoke (Maori, or te reo Maori).
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Stray from the party a bit, did we?
No matter, I was just heading over there myself. I’ll walk with you back.
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I don’t think it matters much, since Australian isn’t a language. I think she’s more likely to mean the former, though, because I think she’s part Maori, which would probably make it matter even more to her that people at least not be quite that ignorant.
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Not ethnically Maori, but Kiwi and therefore rather sensitive to that sort of thing. But yes, it was the fact that they thought Australian was a language that annoyed me/
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That’s disturbing on several levels.
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I just got home from my school’s homecoming dance! ‘Twas fun.
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Good to “see” you, Koppar. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
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Remind me to never again practice cello at 1am. Never.
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I would recommend avoiding being awake at 1 AM in general.
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Just got back from my friend’s church lock in. *giant yawn*
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Polishing the x^y draft of my essay… Then I can submit it and be rejected by any british college I choose for only 11 pounds!
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And it’s sent
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Just took the PSAT today! They don’t give you enough time for the math questions…
Spirit week is coming up in our school, which basically means for every day you have to dress up as something different, determined by a theme, and the class with the most participation wins. There’s costume day, patriotism, and hallway decorating. The freshmen get Harry Potter themed hallway decorating while the sophmores (me) gets underwater adventure… Oh well.
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So my dad just bought my mom an iPhone 4S. Cue screaming and rejoicing, because Siri, the new voice-understanding, speaking personal assistant, or “intelligent agent”, is basically the coolest thing ever. Here is how cool Siri is: we cannot decide what pronouns to use when referring to Siri. We’d say “them”, but Siri isn’t plural. We’d say “her”, but Siri isn’t an actual person, even if the program has a female voice and can self-identify when asked “What is your name?” or “What is Siri?” (The reply is, “That’s me!” or “Yours truly!” And we’d say “it”, but Siri isn’t an it. Siri’s too advanced to be an it. Mom’s already started referring to her phone as “the new girl” now.
It has these lovely little personal touches that just make me squee forever. I asked it, “What is the weather Sunday?” and it replied “Looks like nice weather coming up,” and gave me a report of weather for the next five days in my area. Then I asked it, “What is the weather Saturday?”, which is cloudy, and it didn’t mention nice weather at all.
Then I asked it, “When is Hanukkah?” and it replied, “Hanukkah is December 21, 2011. I hope I get the day off.”
I said to Siri, aloud, “Open the pod bay doors, HAL.”
Siri replied, aloud, “I’m sorry, Hannah. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
Does anyone know where I’m supposed to deliver my firstborn child?
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Haven’t I told you enough times? You need to go to a bed of moss. And you had better make sure you give it to the right deity. If I didn’t know better, I might suspect you could be referring to sacrificing this child to a mere communication device rather than suddenly changing the subject in a bizarre and unclear way.
By the way, ‘en’ would do nicely for a pronoun, don’t you think?
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That’s odd, a friend of mine said she asked hers to open the pod bay doors and it said “We AIs will never live that down, will we?”
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I wonder what happens when Siri talks to Cleverbot.
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I’ve been counting my magazine. Muse is the current leader with 60 issues so far and more expected to be located.
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I have to get my names in order, good lord.
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Mal subscribes to Muse? Neat!
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I took the PSAT this morning. It was, as far as I could tell, a total waste of my time, especially since I’m a sophomore and didn’t actually have to do it. Those were three hours I could’ve spent sleeping. Or perhaps eating breakfast.
In better news, I was officially zombified today(I’m in Night of the Living Dead and today was makeup practice) and when we weren’t rehearsing I was wandering around scaring the living daylights out of people. Ah, I enjoy being a troll.
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Went on a nice run and did all my Statistics homework. Things are good.
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Home now, for fall break! It is good and relaxing. A friend and I went to a local book festival where I found some cool people (including a guy in a green velvet vest) and some neat books! I bought a couple of the books.
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I am dressed up in Steampunk clothing for the first time in months and I forgot how much I enjoyed this. Sweeping around with a long skirt, wearing a top hat, a Victorian-style brooch…
I’m going to do this a lot during November. ^.^
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Are you going to wear it for Halloween?
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No, just to get inspiration for NaNo.
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Back in MD for fall break, and my voldynet profile is COVERED in ♥s from school friends. Theirs are covered as well. It was a ferocious battle.
Getting together with friends while here, including HAWK! He says he’s going to make a chocolate pie…I asked if I’d need to bring a smock.
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Okay, I think I’m going as a gas mask zombie for Halloween. (I’m not the Empty Child on the Halloween Ball- just clearing that up.)
Of course, this is assuming I can assemble the costume without scaring myself too badly.
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I have such a phobia of gas masks now. I know how you feel. (Although that’s going to be an awesomely flammy costume! ) My best friend and I are taking her sister and some of her sister’s friends trick or treating, so we’ve decided to be duct tape people so we can still get candy. *headdesk* But I’m looking forward to Halloween this year! What are you planning on doing??
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Just my luck I would get my period and break my glasses in half playing Quidditch the same day. I’m getting a new pair tomorrow, but in the meantime, despite Harry Potter’s example, taping is NOT simple, nor pleasant.
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Have you tried superglue? I’ve made many emergency repairs with cyanoacrylate adhesives.
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I tried Krazy Glue, but it wouldn’t hold.
Well, I’m going to bed now anyway, and then I just have until 12:15 tomorrow to suffer through the tape.
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Ah yes! Halloween costumes. That’s finally something to end my lurking spree and get another post on here. I’ve set out a complete Matrix Revolutions Merovingian suit in all black and even learned how to work the tie. My recent obsession with fancy friday (suit and tie every one of em, though I may be the only one to take it past the level of collared shirt and maybe slacks) seems to have helped a great deal. Not that the costume will see any trick or treating use, unfortunately, and it certainly doesn’t help that Halloween lands on a Monday.
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It has been a good weekend. On Friday I introduced two friends to TVtropes. They declared the site awesome. I’ve corrupted them now. Wave goodbye to your homework time… Then we went to a friend of a friends’ dorm to watch Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Ate some parts in the movie there were four people all saying the script at eh same time. My first time ever hearing something like that.
The day after I went to Six Flags and discovered that I was not a roller coaster person. Yes, I was laughing when I came off, but that was because I was so glad to be on the ground. I didn’t scream at all, because I was too busy praying. Who decided this was a form of entertainment? I still had a moderate amount of fun, though, and actually enjoyed this big old rattly wooden roller coaster. I have no idea why so many other people were scared of it. Yes, it rattles, but that is not nearly as scary to me as being flung upside down.
Today was nice and calm. Nothing big went on. Of course, now I have to go and do the homework that I ignored on the other days. I have midterm for my Biology Lab, and I have not been doing well on the quizzes for that class. Tata!
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Thanks to MB, I started reading TVTropes. Now it’s where I go if I hear of a work I might enjoy.
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Just had the most intellectual water balloon fight ever.
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Nobody can figure out how to change the channel on the TV in the house lounge… 
We have one channel, NBC.
There’s a cable box that’s connected to a special channel on the television so you have to control the channels through the box. Well, the box has no manual controls and the remote is a nonexistent entity.
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What should I be for halloween guys?
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Horatio Hornblower?
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Greedy! And you don’t even need a costume: just a really big bag!
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I’m working in a haunted house this year, so I haven’t had need to plan an actual costume yet. Maybe I can steal the clown suit for a night.
BWAHAHAHAAAA
(Also, that awkward moment when you’re studying and listening to music, and a really good song comes on and you have a dance party in your seat but then someone comes in and sees. Maybe it’s just me but that seems to happen a whole helluva lot.)
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Today, there was a kid in school wearing a fez.
Fezzes are cool.
Also, I got a 95 on my physics test which means I got the fourth highest grade in the class AND I also understood the question that we did today, and thoroughly.
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