We didn’t need a poll to figure out we could use a new Polling Place.
Continued from v. 2011.1.
Patience, Please
This site is under reconstruction and will look strange for a while. We regret the inconvenience.
We didn’t need a poll to figure out we could use a new Polling Place.
Continued from v. 2011.1.
What do you think of The Deranged Hermit?
(a) ’nuff said already
I second Robert.
First post? Maybe?
1)If you play an instrument, what it is?
2)What is your favorite instrument?
3)What is you least favorite instrument?
My answers: 1.Guitar, 2.Guitar, and 3.Oboe.
1) Alto and bari saxophone, piano, and melodica (if that counts)
2) I don’t know about favorite, but I sort of would like to learn oboe or bass (upright bass or bass guitar, either would be cool.) I guess I like low instruments.
3) Flutes sort of irritate me, I guess. (Apologies to any flute players.)
SFTDP
I meant bassoon there, not oboe.
*is offended*
Apology not accepted.
Ouch.
I is kidding, Pseudo.
So was I. XD
Maybe there should be a special font for sarcasm or something….
1. Viola
2. Viola
3. Violin
Hmph.
1. Violin
2. Violin
3. Viola.
I was waiting for that one to show up.
Go, harmony lines!
1) Guitar
2) Guitar/Cello (APOCALYPTICA!)
3) Uh…Auto-Tune, if it can be classified as an instrument.
I was not aware that you liked Apocalyptica THAT much, we need to listen to more of it together.
<3
Well, guitar is more or less the only instrument I love. I was thinking about it as I wrote the comment, and then realized just how amazing Metallica sounded played on four cellos. My brain then told me “Face it, Castle. You KNOW you love cellos.” and I was like “….Yeah. Yeah, you’re totally right.” and my brain was like “Told you so.”.
CASTLE HAS A TALKING BRAIN OMG!
1. Piano and organ seriously, but I also own and play: ukulele, guitar, ocarina, recorder, harmonica, and penny whistle.
2. I could never decide that. The hurdy-gurdy’s lovely.
3. Badly played keyboard.
1) Piano
2) Piano or Guitar
3) That I don’t actually know.
1. Oboe is my primary instrument. I can play English horn as well. I march alto sax and played that and soprano sax in pit last year. I took violin lessons for years and can still play, although I don’t really have time to practice anymore. I miss playing regularly though! I also know some rudimentary ukelele, clarinet, and French horn. I’m teaching myself the first and third, sporadically. Uh, the short version of that would be: Oboe, English horn, alto sax, soprano sax, violin, and a bit of clarinet, French horn and ukelele.
2. Oboe and English horn are my favorite woodwinds. French horn is my favorite brass instrument. Cello is my favorite string instrument. Overall, it’d be a tough call between English horn and French horn.
3. I’m not a big fan of saxophones. I don’t dislike them but they just don’t do much for me. Also, drum sets.
Also, if you hate oboes, you cannot possibly have heard one played properly. Granted they can easily sound like dying ducks, but they can also sound like angels.
Well, I only hear my sister play. And it sound horriblw.
Whenever the oboe tunes a guy in my section asks me who invented it again, and if it sounded so bad in the first place then why did whoever invented it keep playing until they discovered that it sounded nice?
I have no answer to this so I always remind him that the oboe is descended from the shawm.
1)If you play an instrument, what it is? Piano, recorder, voice
2)What is your favorite instrument? The nyckelharpa sounds so awesome that I think I’ll have to choose it without having the faintest idea what it is.
3)What is your least favorite instrument? Electric guitar (Sorry, I do really like acoustic, at least)!
1. violin
2. violin
3. violin
Your least favourite instrument is violin?
The more you play an instrument, the more of a love-hate relationship it becomes.
That can be true. I don’t hate the violin, though.
Also, I’d call it more love-frustraton than love-hate.
I think the usual word for love-frustration is “love.”
yup. I mean, technically, it would be myself, but..
1: Flute
2: I can’t choose
3: Badly played saxophone, especially when there’s three of them behind me at band. Same for badly played baritone (except there’s only one of them).
1. Cello (evident
)
2. Cello
3. I must say violin in keeping with the terms of the great c-string alliance. I don’t really have a least favorite, because anything played well can be good. Trombones are pretty bad, though, only because they’re always behind the cello section and blast our eardrums out.
Yeah! Go C-string alliance! *high five*
Darn, there aren’t many double bassists out there, unfortunately. At least there are loads and loads of violins to compensate. Seriously, I play such common and overplayed instruments, it’s not fair. I’ve always wondered about trying the viola, though, but it would take a while to get used to reading the alto clef.
Alto’s not bad – the advice that seems to work for other people but never did for me was to read it like you’re playing in third position when you’re in first.
I’ll keep that in mind if I ever try playing the viola. Thanks!
I have trouble reading the treble clef, which is bothersome because it is actually necessary in some situations.
Would you say you have treble?
SFTMC; I meant to pie that.
Oh, and celli are the winners because we have to read THREE clefs! Whee!
*is a trombonist who plays loudly in band* I apologize.
1) Alto sax, tenor sax, trombone, and a tiny (miniscule!) bit of baritone.
2) Shawm. Just… because.
3) Bassoon. (Long story involving a Gallifreyan trombonist and an equally alien bass player who is really the Master and they’re all in a quintet together… long story.)
2.) Also trombone and tenor sax.
1) I never really stuck with an instrument for real, but I suppose that I play the psaltery the most seriously. LOOK IT UP. So cool.
2) Psaltery, and Cello. Cellos are just awesome, always.
3) Steel drums. They annoy the cake out of me if ever recorded and put into music that will reach my ears at any point.
1. Clarinet.
2. Piano or cello. Or clarinet.
3. DIE ALTO SAXES DIE- at least the people. SHUT UP SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO THE TEACHER.
1) violin
2) guitar
3) trombone
1) Hurdy-gurdy
2) Nyckelharpa. Or Geigenwerk. Can’t decide.
3) Ophicleide
2 (Treebird)~
1.) Fiddle/violin, English Concertina, voice. For now.
2.) Can’t decide, but the mohrin hur is pretty cool.
3.) Probably autoharp, but they’re not even that bad.
(Also, Paul lies, he plays much more than just the hurdy-gurdy.)
1.) piano, violin, trombone
2.) bagpipes
3.) kazoo. That is all.
….No
toobatuba?Sadly, no. I do like the tuba though! It’s probably my 3rd favorite instrument that I don’t play (after the gourd flute)
If you had three wishes, what would you wish for? World peace and end to world hunger and things are all well and good, but excluding those.
And no, you are not allowed to wish for more wishes. Or the ability to wish for more wishes. Or the ability to wish for the ability to wish for more wishes. Or the ability to wish for the ability to wish for the ability to wish for more wishes. So on and so forth.
Can I wish for the ability to have the power to grant any amount of wishes to anyone who tosses pennies in a well, not excluding myself and only limited to the amount of pennies tossed in said well, assuming I can spend them at leisure myself after I’ve granted the wishes, so I could wish to be able to grant myself wishes with the money I gain from granting myself wishes?
So apart from the greater good (which would have been my first choice…)
My first wish would involve my musical abilities.
My second wish would involve the TARDIS.
My third wish would involve the intent that both previous wishes would play out perfectly to my heart’s content and secure me the ability to close any and all loopholes in said wishes once they came up. (HA! I BEAT YOUR SYSTEM!)
“I wish for a less literal minded genie!”
I would probably wish this, then wish that the rules you just laid out didn’t exist, then I would wish for more wishes. (This probably doesn’t count.)
Hm.
My first wish would be to do with tiredness, or rather lack thereof.
My second wish would be to actually be sure of/about myself.
And my third wish would be that I would be able to remember why I have all these tally marks on my arms…
I wish for genies! They can give me more wishes.
A TARDIS, a portal gun, and a magic wand. I would be unstoppable.
You are at a party and you don’t know anybody except the host! Do you:
a) introduce yourself to people by talking about how you know the host
b) try and find someone geeky and talk to them about something geeky
c) suddenly start spouting your heart and soul to everyone
d) not talk to anybody and stay there awkwardly
e) give a random person quizzes about what they do at parties
f) hide under a table and surprise people by jumping out
g) leave
h) grab a flamethrower and declare yourself master of the party
i) do complicated mathematics on peolle’s faces
j) call in your personal army of velociraptors
k) engineer a subtle social movement within the party and use your spreading influence to get more and more influence upon everyone, eventually taking the party over from the host and condemning them to death and slowly executing a reign of terror upon everyone there until you are the last person there but then you realize that there was really one more guest who takes the party back from you in a tragic battle to the death where you are the villian but you win because its actually a tragedy
l) other, if so, please comment!
I’d find any pets and talk to them instead; if none were to be found, I’d leave.
K, of course!
A version of K, but involving more Cthulhu summoning, using partygoers as sacrifices.
B. Or D.
D) or g), mostly likely. Possibly b) if I was feeling especially outgoing that day.
D or G. Or (depending on caffeine consumption) H.
Alternately, I would onto the middle of the dance floor and flail around randomly. ‘Tis what I call dancing. ‘Tis fun.
G, if possible, or D. Maybe B. I really don’t like parties …
B through L; my usual modus operandi is to sit in a dark corner stroking the cat and muttering darkly to myself.
D, or maybe see of the host had any pets and if so, play with them. I tend to get along better with animals than humans, anyway.
(Or, in my little alternate universe, j).
I would probaly do B or D in real life. It a different life, I would do: E,F,H,and J.
Realistically, D. But B or K would be awesomer by far.
D, alas. Or B, maybe.
B and D.
D while trying to make myself do B.
Reposting from what somebody else posted last one of these threads:
Last thing you copypasted.
Raaaaaaaaaaaaaain
Goes in a cycle so the water can be used again
And again and again and again and again
And again and again and again and again
Again again again again again
apperantly
….I was checking if it was spelled right.
four titles
…huh.
“The doll is one of the most imperious needs and, at the same time, one of the most charming instincts of feminine childhood. To care for, to clothe, to deck, to dress, to undress, to redress, to teach, scold a little, to rock, to dandle, to lull to sleep, to imagine that something is some one,–therein lies the whole woman’s future. While dreaming and chattering, making tiny outfits, and baby clothes, while sewing little gowns, and corsages and bodices, the child grows into a young girl, the young girl into a big girl, the big girl into a woman. The first child is the continuation of the last doll.”
/momentswhenIwanttopunchVictorHugointheface
*also wants to punch*
It gets worse: “A little girl without a doll is almost as unhappy, and quite as impossible, as a woman without children.”
My doll had sumo wrestling matches with bears.
(Teddy bears, admittedly. But they were four or five times bigger than her, and about half the time, she won.)
Hello! What time would this be at? The [school] concert is Thursday, the eighth, at 6:30. But I would like to come if I am able. If I can’t, sorry! We have a meeting on the 15th, also, right? Thanks.
[Mikazuki]
5: I’d wish first for omniscience, then for omnipotence. If I’m omnipotent, that basically means I can grant all the wishes I have, so I’ll be fine. I’m aware that’s basically wishing to be God on earth, but since the first thing I’d do with my omnipotence would be making myself perfect/worthy of the position, I don’t see that there’s anything wrong with that, really.
6: If I like the host, and en likes me, I’ll go look for pets and talk to them. If not, I’d leave. If I look for pets but find none, I’d look for the host and talk to them, then leave. I’d do K first thing if I could, but I don’t have enough ‘subtle social influences’ for it to work.
‘Kay, so this is an actual poll, and ‘twould be nice if I could get some responses quickly, as this thing is due tomorrow~
So: Should I do my Media Studies presentation (5-15 minutes, focusing on production, language, representation, and audience, Ã la Buckingham, in any text I choose) about a certain GIF/image/meme site which I can’t name because of MB policy, but suffice it to say that it’s a GIF/image/meme site, I think you all know the type; or on Buster Keaton’s silent films?
Buster Keaton. That is all.
You a fangirl too?
Yeah, I ended up doing him, ’cause I figured I would have more to work with. I am glad to hear that everyone else agrees with me. XD
Buster Keaton’s silent films. I don’t really know much about Media Studies, but it seems like you might have more to say about production, language, representation and audience on silent films instead of just a meme site.
I would say the silent films.
Silent films.
GUYS I NEED YOUR OPINIONS ON THIS OH SO VERY PRESSING MATTER:
Francis Poulenc or Philip Glass?
I’m not very big on either one, but Phillip Glass just because he’s Ira Glass’s cousin, and that makes him awesome.
Definitely Poulenc. But I’m probably biased because I played his “Toccata” from Trois pièces earlier this year.
Both are pretty cool. They’re really different, though.
That’s why I need your opinions- which to listen to more of (and therefore influence the music I write)?
Personally I’m not a fan of Philip Glass, his music sounds repetitive and not very creative to me, so I’d go with Poulenc.
Well, do you want to imitate minimalism or the avant-garde of 1920s france?
Not really imitate- the music I listen to has a weird way of accidentally affecting what I write in ways that don’t even make sense.
For example- hipsterish semi techno makes me write really relaxing slow music.
Poulenc & co. make me write modern classical, almost atonal music.
Bach sends me into minor keys (even when I listen to major fugues).
So it’s complicated and I don’t know.
Here’s a question to make you think: What would you rathe have, a mental disorder or a physical one?
89% of the voices voted for physical: they said they didn’t want any more company
Hmmm… hard question. If I had a mental disorder, I might not be able to realize if my disorder prevented me from doing things other people could… I don’t really know.
Those categories are really too broad to let me choose. A “mental disorder” could just be something like a phobia that can be controlled relatively easily, and a physical disorder could just be something like low blood pressure, which can also be controlled relatively easily.
Low blood pressure already qualifies as a physical disorder?
Well, it’s obviously physical, and since order is defined as “a condition in which each thing is properly disposed with reference to other things and to its purpose”, it’s clearly not properly in order, so technically it would be a physical disorder.
Ah. That makes sense, it just didn’t seem serious enough to qualify. Never mind.
Physical. Definitely physical.
Also, sorry if I start a discussion here, but “mental disorder” isn’t as well defined as physical disorder. For instance, until a while ago being gay was considered a mental disorder…hmm.
What’s wrong with starting a discussion? Isn’t that what MuseBlog is all about? (:
True. That sentence originally had the word “giant” as if apologizing for the hugeness of the discussion I would cause, but then I though that sounded like I though people cared about I said more than they do, and I was worried that it sounded a bit conceited, so I took it out, and the sentence lost all meaning I meant to convey.
Don’t you hate it when that happens?
Well, I made the catagories broad on purpose. For example, I would rather be high on the autism spectrum than have full out celebral palsy. But I would prefer, say, stomach acid refluxes over something that cause me to have hallucinations so severe that I can’t tell what’s real and what isn’t.
Speaking as someone with a lot of experience with both of the mental conditions you mentioned*, I definitely agree. The thing is, though, that means many people won’t be able to answer the question clearly. It’s interesting to think about, but I agree with ooba. A lot of “mental disorders” either a) have both positive and negative aspects so that while the condition generally makes life harder, it can give people with it rare talents that can enable them to contribute to the world in ways most people just can’t, sometimes to the degree that people with it say they wouldn’t give it up even if they could or b) are usually accompanied by physical difficulties that aren’t always bad but can be the worst part of the disorder for some people or c) both. Are those mental disorders? If not, what?
I’d give my own opinion, but I don’t think I know it.
*I am high on the autism spectrum, as is my aunt, and my grandmother has hallucinations so severe she can’t tell what’s real and what isn’t.
Hmm. As everyone else said, it depends, but probably physical. If there was a hat with slips of paper with mental disorders in it and a hat with physical disorders and I had to choose which to pull a slip of paper out of and I would immediately have whichever disorder was pulled out, I guess I’d say… oh, this is hard… physical? After all, there are so many diseases out there and so many of them can be controlled/contained/lived with, so there’s probably a high probability of my life going on assuming I had medical assistance.
What do you ship/pair for Homestuck?
(To avoid conflict, please only say the ship. Do not reply to anyone else. Do not bash. Just say the name of the ship and move on. Okay?)
PB<3J
Terezi <3<| Vriska
Autoresponder x everyone
John<3Dave, Rose<3Kanaya, VriskaJohn, Vriska <3<Terezi, D???Strider<3Jake, D??? Strider<3me, R???<3Everyone.
I have a lot of ships.
If you could have complete control over the world for a day, what would be the outcome?
I like to think I would be a benevolent dictator and solve all the world’s problems … But realistically I would probably become drunk with power, ban Twilight, channel insane amounts of funding into space research, send assassination teams after people who misuse “your” and “you’re”, then be forcibly removed from office before I could do any worse. Fun times.
Same here. But I’d probably try and do something about the global economy so I can stop hearing bad depressing stuff about it. Yep. Then I’d fund lots of research for global warming and pollution and the environment and stuff. It’s a long day, no?
I would like to pretend that I would get all sorts of interesting stuff done, but the truth if the matter is that I would probably be too busy being overwhelmed as well as calling my friends to rub it in that I was in charge of the world to get anything done for at least the 1st half of the day. As far as doing stuff actually goes, it’s likely that I would go into it with all sorts of great plans for the world, but I would soon realize that the job was too stressful and that I didn’t actually l dealing with people, and I would probably end up quitting.
Yell at everyone who annoys me with their false dichtomies and arguments and revel in the fact that people have no choice but to listen to me. Then freak out that the power was going to my head. Then threaten everyone to behave.
Favorite way to eat Nutella?
I like mine on whole wheat bread, but it’s also good as a substitute fondue if you like to spread it on marshmallows. Not as nutritious, but a good dessert.
I like it on bread (whole wheat, preferably), with peanut butter.
On waffles. With powdered sugar. And whipped cream.
I’m terrible, aren’t I.
Omnomnom…
With a spoon. I used to eat it on crackers and then I realized that the cracker was merely a conduit for the nutella and not something that added to the experience, so I cut out the middleman.
In a grilled sandwich.
I read that as “a grilled CHEESE sandwich” which just sounded simply disgusting before I realized that I had invented the word “cheese” being in there.
That sounds extremely unpleasant! Like mixing cheese fondue and chocolate fondue together.
Which I’ve accidentally done once. It was indeed very unpleasant.
That sounds like something the eleventh Doctor would eat.Definitely on a perfectly browned plain bagel, a habit which my Global teacher introduced me to.
On graham crackers or nilla wafers.
Non-toasted bread, with strawberry jam.
There’s a yogurt place near my house that allows you to drizzle it on as a sauce.
As a substitute for Hershey’s chocolate in a s’more. You have to use a lot of it.
I have never had Nutella before. It sounds kind of disgusting to me, anyway.
*le gasp*
No, it’s great!
What would you do if you were part of some quest to save the world and you had to battle up a 1000 story tower with 3 other people (facing various challenges on each floor etc., unless you take the elevator, I guess… (but that would be cheating, and therefore not allowed), and each floor had some password pertaining to some sort of code involving Edward Gorey for some reason and then at some point you realized you didn’t even know how you got to that tower and what you were going to do when you reached the top? Who would you want the other people there to be?
Merp. My brain goes on tangents. This actually made sense in my head for some reason… I construct strange worlds in my dream-state.
1. Edward Gorey (I have no idea who he is, but apparently he has something to do with this)
2. Methods!Harry because he’s bound to think of something creative, and I’d love to meet him, anyway
3. Whoever had indicated I should go to the tower, because they might have some idea how I arrived there
I would be accompanied by two other fans of that-which-you-are-making-a-reference-to (I think you know well enough…) and one who’s only experience with it is “PICKLE INSPECTOR!!!!!!!!!!!!” (I think we know who that is…) And I would probably be stuck being the weasel, so I would flip out.
Weasels are good.
“Since childhood I have had a great fondness for the family Mustelidae.”
What actually goes on in your head when you do addition and subtraction? Even though if I write it down I use the regular method, in my head I work from the largest multiple of 10 down to the units. In the case of subtraction I anticipate whether I need to “carry” anything, and make the number smaller accordingly. And for two-digit multiplication, I now think of it as (10a + b)(10c+d)–>100ac+10(ad+bc)+bd.
You do it almost the same way as me, with the exception of subtraction – I just add random numbers to the smaller number, growing closer and closer until I finally get it. It’s surprisingly fast.
I work from the large units down as well (in 79 + 33, for instance, I’d take 79 + 30 + 3), though with addition and subtraction I also round some numbers up to the nearest multiple and then add/subtract accordingly to adjust (e.g., 67 + 29 becomes 67 + 30 – 1). Once they’re broken down the numbers sort of fit together like shapes for me.
I think similarly, including fitting together like shapes. That’s a good way of explaining it.
It’s not a great way of explaining it, though. You can understand it because you do it yourself, but I doubt people whose minds work differently think that explanation makes any sense at all. Unfortunately, I don’t know any clearer way to put it. I just take 7 and 8 and I can feel/see that the 7 butts up against the 8 and makes 15. I guess it’s thinking of shapes in a very abstract sense.
When I’m subtracting, I start with a negative version of one number, and then add the second to it to find the difference; for example, for 78-51, I would start with -78 and add 51, and come out with -27, which I would then change to +27. When I’m adding, say, 63+49, I add 63+40 first to get 103, and then add 9 to get 112. Clearly I am not a math genius, but oh well.
How many MBers watch My Little Pony?
I’m thinking it would be easiest to use pie for yes and squid for no, though you can still reply if you wish.
This GAPA confesses that he has never watched My Little Pony and wonders what next? Rainbow Brite?
The current My Little Pony series is about as different from the original as Disney’s Hercules is from the original Greek mythology, with the key difference that, in the case of ponies, it is the latter incarnation that is epic, not the former.
A YouTube video summed it up nicely:
Old MLP: Pinkie Pie has a tea party with inanimate objects because it’s something young girls do. It is annoying and unoriginal, unless you’re two years old.
New MLP: Pinkie Pie has a tea party with inanimate objects because she, already a questionably sane pony at the best of times, has completely mentally snapped after her friends avoided her. It is both hilarious and creepy, with an added Crowning Moment of Heartwarming when Rainbow Dash snaps her out of it.
I don’t think I ever have. I had some of the toys when I was 6, though.
Twilight is best pony. I firmly believe this.
What are some of your favorite/least favorite unique situational feelings–feelings you only get in very specific situations? I’ll give a few examples. For instance:
-That feeling when you’re wearing stocks and you step in a puddle of water
-That feeling when you think someone is waving at you so you wave back, but it turns out they were waving at someone behind you
-That feeling when you’re eating noodles and you accidentally only get one tiny noodle on your utensil but you eat it anyway
-That feeling when you wake up in the middle of the night and realize you still have hours to sleep
Hm.
Favourites:
That feeling when you feel that perfect, soft, warm skein of yarn.
That feeling when you’ve gotten up very early, for no particular reason, and you feel like you’re the only person awake in the world (or at least your time zone).
That feeling when you wave your finger across a candle flame without getting burnt.
Least favourites:
That feeling when you wake up and feel really tired and want to go back to sleep but then you look at your watch and see your alarm is going to go off in fifteen minutes.
That feeling when it’s cold and you’re having a lovely warm shower and you have to get out.
That feeling when there’s yogurt at the bottom of the tub except your spoon won’t allow for you to scoop it out around the edges.
Favorites:
-That feeling when you step into the heater room to hang up clothes and it’s so warm that you stand there for half an hour.
-That feeling when it’s the middle of summer and you’re walking down a boiling hot street and an ice cream parlor comes into view.
-That feeling when you buy a really sweet, hot, sugary drink (I’m thinking caramel latte) and walk through the chilly park in warm clothes listening to This American Life.
Favorites:
-The specific quiet but not quiet you get when you’re alone and staring out a window
-The feeling of taking off your headphones after keeping them on for a while
-The feeling you get when you’re playing an instrument and then you forget that you’re playing, and you find out you played it perfectly.
-The feeling you get when melting an ice cube in your mouth.
Favorites:
That feeling after you first submerge in the ocean when it’s really cold.
The feeling of wet paint on your fingers.
The feeling of rain on my face.
The feeling of tea or hot soup going down my throat.
Least Favourites:
That feeling of knowing when you’ve done something that is toward your benefit but against a friend’s.
That feeling of when it’s too loud around you, and you can’t think straight because all the noise makes your chest really feel tight and like it’s going to explode at the same time. (generally accompanies stress)
Favorites:
That feeling when you’ve been having a horrible dream about a real-life situation (mostly getting into huge trouble) and you wake up to discover it was all in your head.
That feeling when you and someone else know something and someone else is begging to know, but it’s the world’s biggest inside joke and if you told him, you’d have to kill him.
That feeling when you’re playing your instrument and you love the music and you feel like you’re in perfect control and you could just go on like that forever listening to yourself and the rest of the ensemble.
That feeling when you’re doing something slightly-against-the-rules and you’re with friends who accept you and you know you’ll never get caught and you feel invincible.
Would you rather be blind or deaf?
I think they’d cause more or less equal amounts of problems, so I’ll choose deafness because that would incidentally solve some of mine, although I would still be devastated if that happened to me.
Deaf, although if I had to choose one of my senses I’d probably give up my sense of smell.
I’d probably give up my sense of taste, out of all the senses, since most of your taste comes from smell.
Blind. But I’m not sure why I chose that.
If I was blind, I wouldn’t be able to read sheet music and would not be able to function normally in band but if I was deaf I couldn’t hear music at all.
I agree with CO, though, on smell- you can’t smell music.
That would be a really cool form of synesthesia.
Despite having horrible eyesight and loving music, I’d have to prefer deafness.
Do you guys see me as the human version of the Space Core? (I don’t play the game, but a friend of mine who does made a comment that he thought I was, and explained what he meant.)
I don’t know what a Space Core is, but it sounds like something you would be.
Seconded.
Thirded.
…now can someone explain what it actually is?
Fourthed.
Fifthed.
Sixthed!
Seventhed!
I have played the game, and I am actually inclined to say that no, you are not. Shocking, I know, but you are simply far too smart to be a human version of that lovable lunatic. You seem to have an equal interest in space, but you are much more intelligent about it. Besides which, you are actually able to hold a conversation on other topics if you want.
I will take that as a compliment!
Wait, does nobody who responded actually know what the Space Core is?
PORTAL SPOILERS I GUESS… MORE LIKE EXPLAINING A BIT OF THE PLOT PORTAL SPOILERS I GUESS… MORE LIKE EXPLAINING A BIT OF THE PLOT PORTAL SPOILERS I GUESS… MORE LIKE EXPLAINING A BIT OF THE PLOT
So GLaDOS (the main robot villain) has these smaller robots called personality cores attached to her in order to manipulate her personality into something less hostile/deranged. They didn’t really work.
One of these is called the Space Core, and it loves space. It wants to go to space. And it is constantly talking about loving/wanting to go to space.
I agree with Randomosity that Kai is not a human Space Core. Definitely not.
Do you know your blood type, and if so, what is it? I only ask because the bio paper I’ve been complaining about across three different threads now is on ABO blood typing aaand the subject is kind of on my mind.
I’m A+. Doctor Who fans will remember that during Christmas 2005 A-positives were hypnotized by the Sycorax to stand on top of buildings. Presumably I was up there, along with practically my entire family. Made watching that episode slightly surreal.
I believe I’m O…
I vaguely remember mine as being A-, I think.
I have no clue and my parents don’t either. >.<
I keep forgetting to ask the doctor whenever I see en.
O positive. Finally got my blood donor card, like 5 months after I gave blood.
B-
I have absolutely no idea and neither does my mother, which is weird because I’ve had blood tests. Is there some way to tell from your parents’ blood types?
http : // www (dot) biology (dot) arizona (dot) edu/human_bio/problem_sets/blood_types/inherited (dot) html#calculator
It’s not particularly specific (no + or -), but you could find out which ones yours could be.
So, I could be A, AB, or B. Positive or negative. Well, at least we’ve eliminated O.
Unless your parents are heterozygous for their phenotype. ie have the genotype AO and BO. It wouldn’t show up on any blood tests, because the A and B alleles are dominant, but they still could have passed it on to you and you’d never know if they carry it unless they’ve done a genotype of their ABO gene. Or you got a blood test done and turned out to be O.
Things are back to being complicated again. Sorry.
Augh, no! I used to know all this stuff! Why have I forgotten it? I thought I wasn’t the type of person who forgets things learned in science class the previous year!
SFTMC.
B+.
[Blood donation stuff that doesn’t matter a whole lot, blah blah bah… Lady sticks a needle in my arm and such… You pet the gicture. I’m lying on the lawn chair thingies; she’s sitting next to me fiddling with medical stuff.]
Me: So I’ve been trying to find out my blood type for over a year, now. I used to know, but I’ve since forgotten, which is part of the reason I donated for the first time in high school.
Woman Offered My Blood; Actively Taking Some: That’s so great! I hope you’re still donating even now that you’ve found out.
Me: Oh, I definitely am. They actually never got back to me, though, even though they said they would, and the past couple of times I’ve donated since, the information hasn’t been on record. Could you check and see if it’s there this time?
WOMBATS: Well, let’s see. =checks= Yes, I guess it finally came through. Are you ready to finally know your blood type?
Me: Yup, shoot.
WOMBATS: B+.
Me: I will, though I can’t see that it’s really going to be all that momentous. Now what is it?
-A
*ahem*
Waste Of Money, Brains And Time.
WOMBAT.
(21) This is basic medical information. I’m surprised that so many MBers are oblivious.
Unless you have a particular medical condition, or donate blood frequently, it doesn’t come up all that much in daily life. Even during emergencies, I think EMTs just use O blood or type the patient then and there rather than trust the patient’s information, which could be faulty. (And if it is, and they follow it, hooboy would they be sued.)
In my case, this information was medically relevant, even if it was before i could remember anything. I know because my mother told me. She’s O-, I’m A+, and apparently during pregnancy there was incompatible blood and that’s dangerous so she had to take immunosuppresants. This was a problem with all my siblings, and wiki tells me it’s is called hemolytic disease of the newborn.
Today a lot of donated blood is separated into at least three parts by centrifuge: plasma, platelets, and red blood cells are the main ones. In an emergency, unless blood loss is severe, EMTs will try to just give the necessary components. I don’t know if all parts of blood have antigens or just red blood cells, but I think it’s less risky to administer specific parts.
It is surprisingly hard to find out! My parent’s didn’t know mine, and it wasn’t ever something that I could find out. Part of why I donated blood was to finally be able to tell.
But like FF said, it wasn’t ever a medical thing for me so no one ever bothered to tell me. Is it something doctor’s know from the routine tests? I’ve had bloodwork done many times but I’ve never had them tell me anything besides that I have low iron.
That was a factor in my donating blood the first time, too, as I became very curious after we learned about the RH factor in class. The specific reasons why no one could/would tell me are long forgotten, but in general doctors of the old school never wanted to tell me anything, anyway. (For the record, I turned out to be O negative.)
The universal super-donor! The Red Cross must love you.
I’m B positive, like Lizzie.
I don’t think I’ve ever had my blood drawn for anything, so…
It’s on a piece of paper that my mom has somewhere. Even she doesn’t know what blood type I am.
Do you pronounce “creek” as “creak” or “crick”? Do you/people who live in your region use “rig” instead of “car”, “truck”, etc.? What is your general location?
I say “creek” both ways, though most people here (Eastern Oregon) say “crick”. “Rig” is very commonly used here also.
I say “creak”, and I’ve never heard the word “rig” used to describe transportation in any other context than “big rig”, as in a semi truck.
“Creak”. I’ve never heard “rig” used to describe anything other than an oil-drilling platform.
Semi-related: Is it common in states other than New York for people to say “ginger” to mean “person with red/orange hair”? Because I always thought it was a British thing, but I’ve heard a lot of people say it since I came to Boston.
“Creak.” I’ve never heard anyone use “rig.”
As to Kai’s question, I use “ginger,” but only because of Doctor Who (and it sounds so much cooler than “redhead”). Wikipedia says it’s of British origin.
“Ginger” is definitely a thing here. But I’m around Boston a lot, so that makes sense.
Everyone says “ginger” for that. Everyone. I live in Seattle.
I’m really not sure. My use of “ginger” began with someone in my German class repeatedly calling himself “ginger.” I don’t know where he got it from.
(He was actually ginger, just for the record.)
Yeah. I say “ginger”. Did you think it was a British thing because of Doctor Who?
(“I’m still not ginger!”)
I think it actually did originate in Britain, with discrimination toward “gingers.”
Here in Michigan, pretty much everyone says “creak,” and I have never heard “rig” used to describe a motor vehicle.
Creak. I’ve never heard people say rig before. I speak for Michigan, even though that’s not where I am now.
Creak, don’t say rig.
Kai– yep, I hear ginger a lot in the midwest (IL and OH). More in the last 8-10 years than before, when I mostly heard “redhead.”
Creak, and car. I don’t hear “rig” at all around here.
I live in a rural part of NY
Creak. Not generally. The Seattle area.
“Creak”, don’t use “rig”, do hear “ginger”.
Forgot to mention, I’m from eastern Washington.
Creek has EEEEEE’s in it. Not “ih”
Creeeeeeeek.
And I’ve heard rig used in that context before, but I don’t hear it often.
“Creak” and I’ve never heard anyone use “rig.” I live in Maine.
Kai–people in my area definitely use “ginger” to refer to people who have red hair, although they use “redhead” too, probably the same amount.
A related question–how do you pronounce “Muse?” Mews, rhymes with news, or mewssss, rhymes with moose?
I had no idea there were people who pronounced creek as ‘crick!’ I’ve never heard ‘rig’ used to mean vehicle, either. Ginger, on the other hand, is used all the time. I’m in Texas, by the way.
I’m almost positive Muse rhymes with news, since that’s how the word ‘muse’ is pronounced.
I say “creak” for “creek,” but most Wyomingites say “crick.” “Rig” for me usually means “oil rig,” but I’ve heard it used occasionally to mean “semi truck” as well.
Creak; I would never say crick. And I’ve never heard of ‘rig’ as being a synonym for car or truck, so, no.
OK, we just talk weird over here. XD
Thanks!
When someone says “I was really trying to make my hair look queer”, which is the more reasonable interpretation:
A) “Queer” as in sexuality.
B) “Queer” as in “strange and exotic”.
Following B, I suggested to a fellow student that their hair “Would look queerer if you dyed it a really crazy color, like lime green.”, only to find out they meant A. We had a good laugh about it, but for future reference, which do you see as more reasonable?
Maybe it’s just the people I know (and/or the fact that I hang out on certain LGBTQ* websites) but I feel the word’s been taken over to such an extent that A would be the default definition for “queer.”
With that said, I think your suggestion would still make sense.
I would interpret it as “strange and exotic”, but more people would probably use it sexuality-wise.
My immediate thought upon seeing it in the RC bar was definition B, but I have no idea what the most common usage is.
For hair, I would almost certainly assume definition B, though definition A might occur to me.
In my area, it would be C) Odd, weird, and also gay, not meant nicely
I always think of Alice in Wonderland. The book. She said something was “queer” and it’s stuck with me ever since.
That’s why I associate “queer” with “odd, strange” more than the other meaning.
Same for me; well, not Alice specifically, but that’s how it’s used in many, many books I’ve read.
When I think of the word ‘queer’ used in books, I think first of The Secret Garden because that’s when I first read/heard it. At least, I think it is–I also used to think it was where I first read “thee,” but then I reread it, and it only used slang and contraction forms of “thee,” never the real thing, so I’m guessing that I learned “thee” from the movie, although I do still need to rewatch that again to check, because it might not even be there, for all I know, and the whole debacle of memory makes me skeptical of the whole “words I remember learning in first grade or before” category.
Both, but mostly A would be what I’d assume.
I would first think of definition B, strange and exotic, but a lot of it also depends on the context.
Ducky–“Creak,” probably because I’m from Oregon, too.
Related–and I think I’ve asked before, but forgotten the answers–how do people on the ‘Blog say “both?” Because I’ve been looked at really weird when I bring the way I say it to others’ attention, and it’s one of the main reasons why this one guy from the Midwest says I have a “western accent,” whatever that means.
And I’m not giving choices because the distinction between the two isn’t as huge as “creak” and “crick,” and it’s really easy to confuse which way you prefer to say it, because both choices sound right.
Will someone else please reply to this? I’m really curious about how else ‘both’ could be pronounced, as I’ve never heard of any other way.
Or you could just tell us.It has an “oh” in it. b-oh-th
Although sometimes when I’m talking really fast the th at the end sounds kind of like an f.
I (mis-)pronounce it as if it has an l in the middle, as in bo-lth.
NO NO NO NO It’s NOT a mispronunciation!
That’s why everybody makes fun of me!!!
They say: “Ugh, that’s so weird, it’s like you’re swallowing your tongue!” MEH.
But yeah I say it with an l. But I have at least one friend who says it with an l, too! So we are united in our both l-ness!
I keep trying to remember to study my other Oregon friends’ speech patterns, but it’s pretty difficult when I’m trying to have a conversation at the same time.
I suppose the “f” at the end could also be considered a variant, but the “l” was what I was going for.
I’m just curious, what’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to you? It’s sort of a weird question, but I genuinely want to see what people come up with.
I’m not sure what the nicest thing I’ve ever been told is, but the most recent example that comes to mind is an email from my mother which mentioned she was “very proud of” me.
I don’t even know who it was that said it, but somebody shouted “Preach, sister, preach!” when I was giving a speech about ecology at school.
Probably something you’ve said, or any number of comments on Rants/Plaints or Warm Fuzzies. You’re all so kind.
I don’t really know. Probably what my chemistry teacher said when I apologized for being late: that I shouldn’t apologize because there was no point in teaching until I came anyway (This was probably because I’m the only one who pays attention in class but yeah, he’s pretty nice).
Or some things MBers & the GAPAs have said on the rants and plaints thread. I already re-read those posts when I feel depressed or demotivated and they cheer me up.
I suppose it’s more about how people say things and not what they say: when I was 14, I showed my dad an essay (my old German teacher said it was completely and utterly perfect) and he said that it wasn’t bad (instead of the usual well… and some corrections). My mom often says kind things, but she doesn’t mean them the same way and I suppose that’s what counts.
Otherwise… my former psychotherapist once said I’d make a good psychotherapist (then, upon seeing my facial expression, added “later, when you’re older”)- I’m not quite sure what to make of that.
A few things, in the order they come to mind:
you’ll be a great captain. you are an amazing player” — graduating senior from my school soccer team
-Tess letting me know that I made her day.
-My Civics teacher telling me on the next-to-last day when I turned in my final paper that he had to apologize because he’d misjudged me before I ever entered his class as, essentially, somebody who was so driven that I didn’t have time to enjoy life.
-The birthday letter that I received today from a girl who was my best friend for much of middle school. We never see each other anymore, but the letter was amazingly sweet and made me feel a lot of nostalgia. (Notable because I hated her for a time, too. The best way to describe our relationship is that we like each other more the less time we regularly spend with each other.)
-My best friend calling me her best friend.
-“So, where do you get a brain like yours?” — after Civics class, maybe a week in to the semester, as we were lining up for the bell, from a guy who I had never spoken to before. Also from him: “[Meow], I am really happy I had class with you this year”, and “Therefore, I will praise you anytime I feel like it, and you will like it”. All of those are even nicer in context.
-“Just remeber I yell because I love u and believe in u!! I’ll work on being more positive! U mean a lot to Ssa!” — Soccer academy coach
-“Oh [Meow]! next year the team is yours
“Very nice play today! I’d take 10 of you!” – Soccer coach…from two years ago.
Some of those are texts I’ve saved because they mean a lot to me, haha. Just like the Warm Fuzzies thread, I read them when I need a boost.
Also, what my biology teacher wrote in my yearbook last year. I tear up just rereading it.
Sorry, this isn’t really “the nicest thing anyone’s ever said” to me, more like a list of off-line Warm Fuzzies.
Hmmm, quite a lot of instances come to mind.
You guys, every day, any day. The Warm Fuzzies thread is one great example of all these lovely lovely feelings, and then there are some things on the Rants & Plaints thread, and things scattered here and there and everywhere…
Other sites on the internet, especially a certain art community, have also linked me to unforgettable, utterly amazing people. For a while my best friend was a girl called firefox who I don’t even know the name of, and there are so many individuals and so many exchanges of all sorts of feelings…
And then IRL friends. Things Star have said, regular, random compliments from friends I haven’t codenamed here, other classmates who are kind enough to smile and say something nice… and Swalot, of course, who is my best friend, with all his sweet and amusing remarks worthy of “d’awww”…
I remember some things teachers have said as well. My eighth grade yearbook has notes from my teachers, things like “I expect to see you famous someday” and “you are the sweetest young lady” and just “so sweet.” I should relocate that yearbook sometime; I rather miss it at the moment…
And I recall strangers, complete, anonymous internet strangers, with whom I’ve discussed so many, many things, from friendship issues to spiritual confusion to just pure sympathy, who have been so kindly thankful and sometimes generous enough to call me an “angel.”
There are a lot of good people in the world. Sometimes it’s just hard to realize that.
What’s your favorite time of the year? What’s your favorite time of the day?
Your post wasn’t up when I began writing mine. My favorite time if the year is probably summer because of the free time, closely followed by winter because of the weather. As for times of day: which day? In the summer/on weekends, morning, because that’s when one sees the most outside. On schooldays, evening, because of the free time.
Autumn because I simply adore the weather and all the enthusiasts who start decorating for Christmas when they’re taking down their Halloween decorations. And I function best around 1 AM, so I’ll say extremely early morning. That’s only if I stay up for it, though, rather than being awakened to get to the airport at some godawful hour.
I like autumn, because there are still bits of summer left, and they mix with bits of winter and make trees look neat and make weather into the nice kind of weather and not either of the extremes. Although if we’re factoring in events that happen with whichever season, I don’t really have a preference.
And my favourite time of day is that span of time in between 10 or 11 and 3 in the morning. Everyone in the house is asleep, but a sizeable number of people on the internet aren’t. After 3, though, everyone starts going to sleep and the internet is no fun anymore.
Early summer.
The witching hour.
Oh, no–I think I’ve read a books called (or at least about) Witching Hour, and I’ve forgotten what it even means! Could you please clarify? If you’ve any idea which books I’m talking about, I’d also appreciate it if you could give me the author and title (if the title isn’t Witching Hour).
Is anyone else familiar with the comic artist Kate Beaton? I love her. She’s the best. I’ve managed to get several of my friends from school obsessed with her stuff… perhaps I can convert some MBers too….
Ooh, I love her stuff!
As in the Hark, A Vagrant Kate Beaton? She is indeed excellent.
YESSSS.
Yes, yes! Her comics are very wonderful. Lots of intelligence and humor and charm. Her drawings are as interesting to me as the jokes–the historical ones are my favorites, but I do like the Nancy Drew spoofs and I love the Edward Gorey book cover jokes.
Oh, I met her once! She drew me as a pirate!
You’ve converted me by posting this! She is excellent at drawing.
25: Bow as in the thing used to shoot arrows (or the thing put in one’s hair), th as in teeth.
26: You know… I’m really not sure. I’ve never compared everything said to me that’s given me warm fuzzies to figure out which was nicest of all. I don’t think I’d want to, really; it might make all the others feel slightly less special to me.
This is assuming you don’t mean ‘said’ in the literal sense? Because for some reason, I think most of the nicest things said to me have been technically written to me, whether on the Internet, in letters, in good luck notes, in “Write something nice about everyone in the room” activities, etc. Maybe it’s just that I can look at those again so can remember them better?
So, I’m ninety-nine percent certain this has been asked before, but since I’m just now really getting into Doctor Who: Favourite Doctor?
It’s too early for me to say, of course, having only really seen Hartnell, but I’m curious as to what others have to say.
Resident David Tennant fangirl makes her appearance.
I’m a little under halfway through Classic Series 2, and have watched all of New Who. Hartnell has definitely grown on me; he has wonderful one-liners!
How far have you gotten?
Eccleston.
So far, I agree.
Having seen all existing installments of New Who, I like Matt Smith the best. A very uncommon opinion, that. I’m also extremely fond of Christopher Eccleston, as he was my first Doctor. This is not to say that I dislike David Tennant–I like him; he’s just not my Doctor.
While I am finally coming to terms with the fact that Matt Smith makes the best Doctor, and he really was a fantastic choice for the role, I must say that my personal favorite Doctor (so far; I haven’t seen much Classic Who) is Ten. David Tennant will always be my Doctor.
Matt Smith or Davison.
I came over here from Fishi’s post in “You know when you’re addicted to X when you Y…”
What movie scenes, songs, etc. make you cry every time? Or what do you do when you need a good cry?
My answers:
-Doctor Who: The last thirty minutes of “The End of Time: Part 2” (but especially the Doctor’s regeneration) and, weirdly, “Doomsday” from the soundtrack. I think Rose might have grown on me. But that’s a completely different topic.
-Pixar: the first ten minutes of Up, obviously. I recently re-discovered a new one: “Nemo Egg” from the Finding Nemo soundtrack. SO HAPPY AND SAD AT THE SAME TIME!!! Also the entire scene inside the whale. Finding Nemo was amazing.
-The love song from Mother 3…? I don’t really know what it’s called. The main theme thing.
-A lot of the music from the end of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2.
-The part in “…To Die For” off the Lion King soundtrack where Mufasa is dead…
-Classical music: Barber’s Adagio for Strings, the Finale of Tchaikovsky’s 6th, and a whole bunch of others (Holy cake I spelled Tchaikovsky right on the first try!).
-Finally, not under the header of classical music because they’re special: Ashokan Farewell and O Mio Babbino Caro… Ashokan Farewell is what my high school orchestra played every year as the last song at the last concert. This song said goodbye to all the wonderful seniors year after year until finally it was my turn. It’s very emotional to listen to. O Mio Babbino Caro was specific to my grade year. When the new conductor, who is amazing, replaced the old one, I and my classmates were in eighth grade. He arranged O Mio Babbino Caro for our little middle school orchestra to play, and it turned out pretty decent. As we progressed through the years, it was pretty much forgotten about–until senior year, when four of us were in the high school’s string quartet and scrounging for things to play. We found good old O Mio Babbino stuck in a filing cabinet somewhere. It became part of our repertoire, and eventually we got together all of the seniors in the orchestra to play it: All of the people in the orchestra our conductor arranged that song for. It was so great saying goodbye to the conductor who had given us so many amazing years of music. It’s just… *sniffle*
Wow. That ended up being a lot longer than expected.
And actually I can’t recall a lot of other stuff I listen to… so yeah.
For me, always Les Mis. Especially the finale (both the epilogue proper and the DYHTPS reprise) and Valjean’s Confession and Javert’s Soliloquy. And all of the corresponding scenes in the Brick.
Wait, Brick is like Les Mis?
HAHAHAHAHAH OH GOODNESS I AM AN IDIOT YOU MEAN THE BOOK
IGNORE ME!!!!!
I don’t think I’ve actually cried at books/movies/songs/etc. in years, but some that stand out to me as being very sad:
– The van Gogh episode of Doctor Who, when he sees all his paintings in the museum. The music in that scene, too.
– Serenity. You know the part I mean.
– The ending of Portal 2. “Grabmegrabmegrabme …”
– This is going to sound really stupid, but the “American Revolution” episode of APH. Especially for being the one sad episode in an otherwise cute and silly series.
– Several deaths in Deathly Hallows, and more generally the series ending. I remember actually crying when I first read it.
Up. The whole caking movie.
The soundtrack to the above.
Grave of the Fireflies.
The ending of Doomsday.
The entire last half hour of Professor Layton and the Unwound Future.
To a lesser extent, the climactic scene from Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. Those who’ve played the game will know the one.
Aron’s vision in 127 Hours, as well as “If I Rise”.
The soundtrack from To The Moon. I haven’t even played the GAME.
“WILSON! WILSON, I’M SORRY! I’m sorry…”
And that’s all I can think of right now. I’m sure there are plenty of emotional movies I’m missing out on, but I think that’s a good list for now.
-Like, the entire second half of Fiddler on the Roof (I cry from joy when Tevye agrees to let Tzeitl marry Motel, and then from sheer emotionyness at their wedding, and then it’s downhill from there).
-The 10th Doctor episode entitled “Waters of Mars,” at the end.
-The ending of Lord of the Rings. Also when Boromir dies.
-Every Miyazaki movie ever made.
-Star Treks 2, 3 (don’t start), 4, 6, 7, and even Nemesis.
-Lots and lots of House episodes (really. Don’t start).
As you may have gathered, I’m a huge movie crier. These left the greatest impression on me, but this is from a girl who cried during When Harry Met Sally.
-Also, soundtracks from LotR, Castle in the Sky, EVERYTHING from Fiddler, several songs from Les Mis…
Is it too late to respond to this?
Surely not. Respond away.
Thank you.
I generally don’t actually cry in response to sad movies and songs, but some do make me profoundly sad:
-The movie The Devil’s Arithmetic. I haven’t read the book.
-There are a few other scenes from movies and one episode of Doctor Who that fall under this category, but strangely the names of all of these escape me at the moment.
-The song “Memory” from Cats. (Yeah, yeah, I know.)
-The songs “Feathery Wings”, “Anastasia”, “I’m Sorry”, “Hallo Elskan Min”, and “The Churchyard” by Voltaire.
There is one exception to the not-quite-crying rule: “Born Bad” by Voltaire makes me cry nearly every time.
Well, none of these things made me cry every time, but once is a rare enough event.
–Grave of the Fireflies
–That bit in Deathly Hallows where Harry is walking in the forest with the people from the resurrection stone.
–Petey. It’s this book by Ben Mikaelsen. I recommend it, and a box of tissues.
–This other book I read a long time ago, about this girl who was dying of cancer, narrated by her friend.
–Several Oprah episodes.
–The last work of fiction to make me cry was actually fanfiction, which is sort of embarrassing to admit. It dealt with two characters reincarnating, and their romance, and time passing and things changing or not changing and eternity and all of those things are really really big waterworks cues for me.
I find interesting that some of the things on my list are the same. Also, going by people’s answers here, Doctor Who is the saddest TV show on the planet.
I hope you didn’t consider my post when forming that opinion about Doctor Who.
It was more the other three respondents who did list Doctor Who moments. For comparison: Out of the six people who answered this poll, half of them listed Dr. Who. That’s the most responses any one single show has gotten, though there are a few more works listed as being sad by two people.
Anaaalysis!
Oh good. Just making sure, because my post really wouldn’t have counted in that analysis.
Yeah, I don’t really think Doctor Who is the saddest TV show ever either. But popular opinion disagrees…
It’s not that, it’s just that things about forgotten/lost pasts and lost friends are a bit of a trigger for me, so it really had almost nothing to do with the show.
Huh. Trigger is the word you’d use for those things that make you cry no matter what the form? I think I listed some of mine up above….I think I understand what you mean about it, though.
OH MY GOD PETEY
I forgot about that book
it was so so so sad
and so good
and so devastating
it was one of the first books I read when I was young that was like… wow. This is a thing. This isn’t fantasy, it’s fiction, but it could be real and it was just so… poignant
*randomly here from Recent Comments*
Reichenbach. I’ll just watch the last ten minutes of it over and over whenever I feel like turning myself into a sobbing mess for some reason.
About half the songs in Seussical (mostly the not-actually-sad ones) make me cry because I’m currently working on a rather dark fanfiction of it and they give me a lot of thematic feels, so I start doing weird chokey things whenever Havin’ a Hunch or some such comes on on my iPod and make my sister very puzzled.
That said, though, in the past month pretty much any work dealing with strong emotions of any type can make me cry. I seem to be just kind of emotional in general.
Is there something the whole internet/world seems to unanimously love, but you secretly dislike or are indifferent to?
Personally, I dislike Homestuck and don’t understand what’s so great about Pokemon. *hides in a box*
Shrek. Coen Brothers movies. My Little Pony (though this is more indifferent; I do like the show, just not as much as some people). Zelda games in general. The movie version of GoF.
I’m indifferent to Harry Potter. And Star Trek. Or maybe I’m somewhat deprived? *hides in a box too*
This is sort of the inverse, but I don’t understand what everyone hates about Nickelback.
*shrugs* Not a music person in general though.
Spongebob. Cosmetics, usually. Skinny jeans. Naruto. Cheese. Chips that are any flavour besides original. Twilight, although there’s more of a distinctive group of people who don’t like it. To a lesser extent, the Hunger Games. Pastries. Speaking of Spongebob, nearly everything on TV.
Any meme that gets brought up in conversation after conversation for the sake of being brought up is not my friend. There are probably several more that I could come up with, but that would be silly.
*puts hiding-box on head, and ends up looking much like something wearing a pith helmet. Or, more accurately, something wearing a cardboard box and pretending it’s a pith helmet.*
Popular music.
Bad spelling and grammar for the sake of “humor”, a focus on romantic elements in shows that are some genre other than romance to the exclusion of everything else about the show, complaining but never taking any sort of action, bacon, swearing “for emphasis”, acting like older works never existed before they were adapted into/ featured in a movie/TV show.
Also, the idea that being both an aerospace enthusiast and a pacifist is strange. There are lots of cool planes and spacecraft that aren’t military!
I don’t like any of the tings Sel, Selky, or Kai mentioned, but I don’t ever visit sites where those things are unanimously loved.
As for things that are unanimously loved on the sites I actually visit that I don’t much care for, I can only think of A Very Potter Musical.
…..Harry Potter. *runs and hides*
COME JOIN ME IN MY BOX
I DON’T WANT TO BE ALIVE AND DEAD AT THE SAME TIME!!!!
NOT THE SCHRODINGER ONE, SWALOT, ANYWAYS YOU ALREADY HAVE A POKEBALL
Star Wars.
*runs away*
The Nonjudgmental I-Don’t-Like-This-Popular-Thing Box is bigger on the inside, so there’s plenty of room for everyone. *starts handing out surrender flags and pasta*
The Hunger Games. Harry Potter. I’ve never read enough Homestuck to get into it. Season 5 onwards of Doctor Who (even someone in RL likes those). Never watched My Little Pony. Not that into jello.
Conversely, I like Enterprise better than any other Trek series.
I’ve never watched Doctor Who, so I can’t say if I dislike it or not (I probably wouldn’t) but maybe my crime is I’ve never felt inspired enough to go out and start watching all the episodes?
I’ve been trying to come up with a name for the situation when you know of something, know some things about it through others, have friends who like it, consider- based on your experience- both the work and the fandom to be mostly inoffensive and well-meaning, but do not have any interest in reading/watching/playing it yourself because it seems like Not Really Your Thing. “Good Neighbor Status”?
(This unnamed situation is my status towards Doctor Who, Star Trek, and The Hunger Games.)
Nyan Cat.
I know this is an old post, but I was recently reminded of it.
Personally, I just can’t bring myself to care one way or the other about the Legend of Zelda game chain.
Strangest sentence you’ve read all day?
“But nobody, not even Mahatma Gandhi, ever said that peace requires air conditioning.”
I’ve been wandering around trying to catch trains all day, so I haven’t had much time to read anything. There was one sign I saw, though, that said
“Warning: Fence has been treated with lubricant”
I want context for this sentence. Even if you can’t remember it anymore.
It was a comment on a news story about the cost of air conditioning for military organizations.
“Not in your left bosom, in your heart.”
“Outer space is proof of it; in many ways, it is a chalk outline.”
(From a very weird yoga-sermon-ish thing that also included the words “like a reverse Satan”.)
And today: “It is as though the place had been visited at full moon by demented monkeys.”
1) Have you ever had a whoopie pie?
2) If you have had a whoopie pie, did you like it?
3) If you haven’t had one, do you know what they are?
4) Are these confections readily available in your area?
These are important questions, people. Important questions.
If you had asked me that question before last Friday I would have had no idea what you were talking about!
But yes I have had a whoopie pie! It was a carrot cake whoopie pie and it was delicious!
1) No
2) N/a
3) No
4) I haven’t checked; I’m allergic to dairy and eggs, though, so even if they are, and if they aren’t what they sound like but in fact something awesome, it’s extremely unlikely that I’ll ever be able to have one.
1. Yes
2. Oh yes
3. N/A
4. Mostly available – bake sales and I’m sure bakeries are great.
When I saw this in the Recent Comments bar, I thought it said something about multivariable bake sales.
1) I don’t think so.
2) N/A
3) Yes, vaguely
4) I don’t know. Maybe? People don’t talk about them much.
I’m from eastern Washington, if that matters.
Last week, in class, my Aegean Bronze Age Archeology professor said, very casually, “Some books you’ll read will say that Michael Ventris was involved in the codebreaking at Bletchley Park. He wasn’t.”, with no further explanation.
I knew what he meant, because I did those Spy University activity books in Elementary School, but I don’t know if any of the other kids did. Without looking it up, do you know what he meant by “the codebreaking at Bletchley Park”?
I have absolutely no idea who Michael Ventris is, but the codebreaking at Bletchley Park, I believe, is the WWII codebreaking in England, where Alan Turing solved the Enigma machine and other great accomplishments. It was also one of the first large installations to use a real computer.
He’s the man who deciphered the Mycenaean Linear B script in the 1950s.
Oh, cool!
I’m afraid I have no idea what Bletchley Park is, or who Michael Bentris is. That sounds like a really, really awesome class, though.
If your time machine ever strands you in London during World War 2, try to get a job at Bletchley Park. It’s definitely the place to meet the 1940s equivalents of Muserly nerds.
That sounds wonderful, but I hope that doesn’t happen for a while yet, because I’m not old enough for a job in anything except babysitting, which I highly doubt they needed at Bletchley Park. Even when I’m older, I’m sure I couldn’t get a job in anything interesting, as I’m female, and I don’t think going back in time for major feminist reforms is a good idea because what if it goes wrong, but I would be willing to be a secretary there or something if everyone was really so awesome there.
A different sort of poll: give one of your favorite words starting with each letter of the alphabet.
I’ll begin:
Alpine
Butterscotch
Chapel
Din
Elephantine
Faraway
Goldenrod
Harriet
Ignominious
Jubilant
Klang
Lectern
Multifaceted
Nocturne
Ophelia
Precipice
Quadragesima
Rabble-rouser
Sunup
Theophilus
Unterwerk
Vermillion
Wirble
Xylography
Yarding
Zeppelin
Good idea!
Aschelminth
Bewusstseinslage
Cnidarian
Dongle
Einkorn
Floccinaucinihilipilification
Gnomon
Hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian
Ibex
Jabot
Katzenjammer
Lop
Myrmecophile
Ningaui
Ophicleide
Pickelhaube
Qiviut
Reredos
Sphygmomanometer
Tmesis
Uunuununium (Isn’t it a pity they had to change the name to Roentgenium?)
Viscacha
Wirble (I have to concur with you here)
Xenophilia
Yokel
Zarf
Avuncular
Betwixt
Coveted
Derelict
Entrancing
Fathom
Gestalt
Hamsah
Iguanas
Jaunty
Kaleidoscopic
Leviathan*
Marvelous
Nephrology
Orchestrated**
Perplexing
Querulous
Relic
Scepter
Traversed
Umbrage
Virology
Weasel
Xenia
Zephyr
*tied with levity.
**tied with occult, but only because of the Occult Hand thing.
You and Piggy have both used my favorite Z-words.
Anisotropic
Bron-Yr-Aur
Chameleon
Destiny
Exit
Field
Guerilla
Hinduism
Introspective
Joker (the one from Mass Effect)
Korfa (it’s a bay in Russia)
Lit
Metro
Narcissistic
Omnomnom (it is a word in my head even if it is not in the dictionary.)
Plebeian
Quixotic
River
Serenity
Trespass
Underground
Ventricle
West
Xenomorph
Yr-Aur
Zeppelin or Zephyr (because music)
Aluminium
Brooklyn
Crossbones
Daisychain
Ecstasies
Fern
Gadzooks
Harlequin
Illuminate
Jalopy
Kingfisher
L’hadlikh (Hebrew)
Moloch
Nastify
Oscillate
Phoenix
Quagga
Rancid
Seraphim or Susurrus
Tricoteuse
Ultramarine
Vesper
Witchknot
Xenocide
Yakkety-yak
Zima (Russian)
For the most part, I enjoy commonly known words that conjure up vivid sensory images and feelings. Crossbones, daisychain, harlequin and ultramarine are my favorites. I also like l’hadlikh because it means “to kindle a flame”, and it’s so onomatopoeic.
OH IS THAT WHAT HADLICH MEANS
Hannukah makes a lot more sense now.
I didn’t know the word jalopy, but it’s now my favorite J word.
answers will change in about 15 minutes
albumen
bionic
catatonic
diminution
exacerbate
cake
gorgon
hack
illiterate
janissary
klangfarben
languid
masticate
necessity
oubliette
preterition
quixotic
rev
susurrus
tang
ululate
virulent
west
xanthine
zeugma
Anachronism
Burnt
Constellations
Defenestration
Eucatastrophe
Fathom
Galaxy
Hark
Incandescent
Jester
Kestrel
Lantern
Macabre*
Nocturne
Octave
Passage
Quagmire
Regardless
Scatter
Travail
Universe
Verisimilitude
Wanderlust
Xanadu
Yonder
Zither
*tied with Melancholy and Mythopoeia. So many lovely words start with M.
Addititious
Boustrophedon
Cantilever
Desecration
Escalation
Facetious
Gurgle
Heliopause
Iambic
Jezebel
Keelhaul
Loquacious
Miscellanea
Nattering
Obfuscate
Phrontistery
Quantophrenia
Rath
Sesquipedalian
Teeming
Unasinous
Vacillating
Wanderlust
Zyzzyva
The Smurfs: Are they a cult, or are they Communists?
The band wants to know.
Who says they can’t be both?
NAE QUIN NAE LAIRD NAE MASTER
WE WILLNAE BE FOOLED AGAIN
I think the feegles might be a wee bit upset to be compared to smurfs, so watch out for a fight. Even if they aren’t upset, you should still watch out for a fight.
Not those little blue people…
Yes.
Favorite Disney animated feature film?
That is a tough question…I’ll have to say Peter Pan.
But not the Return To Neverland. Never the Return To Neverland.
(sorry for those fans of that movie out there.)
Mulan all the way.
This is clearly the only correct answer.
Hmm. On the one hand, Disney technically produced my two favorite animated films of all time, which are Up and Princess Mononoke. On the other hand, my favorite film in the Disney animated tradition is easily Beauty and the Beast.
Treasure Planet. The most under-appreciated movie ever.
Beauty and the Beast, but I don’t know if that’s because I think it’s the best or because I have so many feelings related to memories involving it, since I once participated in a musical version.
There are exactly two Disney shows I could give a cake about: The Lion King and Treasure Planet. I declare a tie.
The Lion King, with Mulan, Treasure Planet, and Atlantis: The Lost Empire being the close runners-up.
Treasure Planet, absolutely. Atlantis:The Lost Empire comes in second, with Mulan in third place.
This assumes that Pixar, while a subsidiary of Disney, is a separate category of films.
Robin Hood!
Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, or a left sock?
Can I hire both Holmes and Poirot to get on investigating where all the missing socks go?
Simple: the Eater of Socks eats them.
Well, definitely not a left sock, because Holmes and Poirot presumably are each wearing one of their own, so in reality, the 2 socks would probably join to defeat the other sock (because 2 left socks are almost guaranteed to defeat one if all 3 are randomly chosen, and Holmes and Poirot would both decide that being defeated by a left sock would be the most embarrassing option of all, so they’d be willing to team up on that, especially since it would involve no effort besides telling their socks what to do), and then it would just be Holmes vs. Poirot. I don’t know the answer to that one.
In your mind, what does the word “cramble” mean?
I’ve never heard it before, but I associate it with crumbling, rambling, cramming, and cranberries, so I’ll say it may mean… ramble about cranberries, trying to cram as much speech as possible into the time it takes for something in your vicinity to crumble.
It makes me think of berry crumbles, but that’s influenced by seeing Bibliophile’s post and wanting to eat yummy food.
My other guess is giving a rambling speech, but speaking quickly.
Nothing. Am I unimaginative? *looks for dictionary*
Oh. Uh, I didn’t expect it to mean that. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, it means to crawl or hobble.
If I’d had to, I would have guessed it was a portmanteau of some sort, along the lines that Bibliophile described. But since I didn’t recognize it, my mind defaulted to blank, that’s-not-a-word status.
Do you consider MuseBloggers:
1) Real people, just like your friends off-line
2) Nearly fictional characters who interact with you, but have their own universes that cannot be easily reached
3) Stalkers–but non-malignant stalkers
4) Anthropomorphic entities representing artistic callings
5) The result of a plot to enrich high-potential youth by exposure to a range of people and situations they would not otherwise encounter
6) You could tell us you know, but then we’d have to kill you
7) Inhabitants of the celestial dome–constellations, space squids, Time Lords, etc.
I think 1 and 5 are both probably true. 4 is an interesting way of looking at it, though; it would probably work if I tried. I pretend that 7 is true instead of 1 sometimes, but I don’t actually believe it.
1 for sure, 5 is an observed outcome even if it wasn’t plotted, and 7 is obviously true.
One and five are true. Two, four, and seven are unlikely but interesting. Three and six are probably false.
I’d have to say that two seems to be the most true, though I know that, rationally speaking, it’s not. You people just seem so… Distant.
1 and 5, probably.
40- I picture a cranberry crumble on a muffin. (For the record, I got that impression before reading the comments on that post.)
41- 8. All of the above.
All of the above?! But if 6 is true… and then you actually tell us…
PLEASE DON’T HURT ME I WON’T TELL I SWEARWell you see, if you read that sentence carefully, you’ll realize that it does not prohibit me from actually telling you what I consider MuseBloggers to be. It simply prohibits a specifically worded two-word sentence in certain context. So we’re both safe.
1) Two books you would love to read to your future children (or your friends’ children, or any particular kindergarteners you know).
2) A city where, if someone called and offered you a job there, you would move immediately.
3) What is the best part of the view from your bedroom window?
1. Pippi Longstocking and any of the Winnie the Pooh books.
2. The quality of the job is much more important to me than the city. It would have to provide lots of opportunities for fieldwork in ecology and conservation biology. Unless it’s before I’m qualified for any job meeting that criterion, but in that case… If I was still in undergraduate school, there’s no chance I’d do it, because I’ll already be a transfer student (I’m going to attend an early college high school and have 60 college credits by the time I graduate; I refuse to go to any college where I’m not considered a transfer student, because I want to hurry up and get on with education so that I can do what I love) and have so many credits that I’d lose lots if I tried transferring again–and I expect no college would accept me, anyway. If I’m done with that, the quality of my graduate school would be more important than the city or the job, so I still probably wouldn’t do it.
3. Actually, it always has the blinds over it because I can’t figure out how to get them up without getting them lopsided. Sometimes they’re open, but even then you can only see through the slits in between. The best part of what’s visible is definitely the tree, though. There was a whole, huge flock of cedar waxwings on it once.
Whoops, never answered my own questions. Here goes:
1) Prince Ivan and the Firebird, which has the most beautiful illustrations and I just love the story- no moralizing or Life Lessons for Youngsters, just a magical, romantic, dark story. And then Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie, which is all of my all-time favorite books. It seems like very few people have read it, but it’s funny and also whimsical a bit sad and very well-written and- actually, both Prince Ivan and Haroun are sort of literary music.
2) Auckland, Jerusalem, Anchorage.
3)
I love how I can see right into my neighbor’s bedroom*There’s this tree that’s been growing right outside my window for ages- when we moved in, it barely reached the bottom of the window, and now it’s way up past the roof (my room is on the second floor). It casts cool moving, translucent shadows all over my room, and has nice flowers, and there’s a pair of hummingbirds that sometimes nests in it.Also, I live very close to my school, and I can actually see my Spanish classroom from my window. So that’s neat.
*I actually can see right into my neighbor’s bedroom. And into her living room. And I get to benefit from her impressive stereo system, which often broadcasts pop songs at odd hours of the night.
1.) Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton. Because I loved it so much when I was younger. Also The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton because it is such a good story and I loved it a lot when I was younger.
When the children grow a bit older I will move them to the Narnia series, which I devoured in the first and second grade.
2.) I don’t like cities. I like towns and I like the downtown bits with small bakeries and consignment shops and yarn shops. But not actual cities with big buildings and parking garages and cars cars cars. I mean, I can stand going to one, but I don’t think I could stand living in one. Too much noise.
3.) I can see my bus stop, so I know if people are out there and I need to hurry up. That’s been my favorite bit in the past, but now in high school my bus stop is up the hill a bit. So I guess it’s because I can see the sunrise and the moon.
Describe your drawing style!
Everyone has big square eyes with tiny noses and mouths. Girls have bigger eyes, rounder faces, and curvier bodies than guys. Limbs are thin and made of straight lines and angles. Feet are flat triangles. People are about 6 heads tall, with children being 4 or 5 heads. Hair is spiky and 2-dimensional looking. I cannot draw backgrounds or nature stuff to save my life. Animals are always fuzzy and small enough to sit on your head.
I still draw like a vaguely talented elementary schooler. Most of my drawings are recognizable for what they are, but not much beyond that. I’ve actually looked at my drawings from elementary school, and the style hasn’t changed much. All the lines are very curved, my eyes are ridiculously large in proportion to everything else, and my noses are absolutely horrendous.
Apparently though, I am good at drawing ears. Huzzah!
i am pretty good at drawing animals and things. but humans are hard to draw for me. i can never draw hands or feet. and i always forget to add a nose
and ears are hard to draw and i usually can never draw a cat’s snout easily. i can draw items, stickfigures (who can’t) houses. i mostly like pop art. i like “Pen Painting” pen painting is where i take the tip of a paintbrush (not the bristles part) and sharpen it then dip it in paint and Paint/Write. it’s easy although every 10 seconds i have to dip it again but it’s really fun 
I’ve been praised for my stick-people drawing skills (seriously!).
It’s putting flesh on the stick people that’s the problem. I’ve gotten quite good at drawing faces over the years, but bodies I can’t draw at all. Everything gets out of proportion.
I draw people with very angular heads, very detailed eyes but noses and mouths just drawn as horizontal lines, swoopy hair with lots of texture, crosshatching shading where the lines are kind of obvious (the kind of shading that you do with pen, only I do it with pencil too). It overall looks a bit like anime, but the faces aren’t much like those of anime characters. I don’t really do backgrounds very well, mostly just as a few lines of different hues and colors when I have to.
I can draw objects and backgrounds pretty well, given enough time and effort. I can’t necessarily draw accurate landscapes, but I can draw ones that look good.
I can’t draw people well. I get the proportions and shading wrong. They have simple or too-shaded faces, and weirdly-shaped fingers. I’ve tried drawing anime-style faces and haven’t succeded at that, either. I also can’t do facial expressions well, although that might be because I’m not as good at reading them as many people are.
I’ve been too lazy to mix accurate colours, so I usually draw in black and white or make the picture unuasually bright.
I generally draw things that are supposed to look semi-realistic and end up turning out that way if I can draw from real life or a picture. I can’t draw faces. They’re so hard.
My car-drawing skills steadily progressed from scribbles to a recognizable car when I was between the ages of three and five. Since then, they have plateaued.
If I’m actually trying, I just draw what I see, which looks pretty realistic save limitations of my line skills, colors available, and time for details. If I’m not, then my art also looks like that of a vaguely talented elementary scholar.
If you were standing in front of the Mirror of Erised, what would it show you?
An admissions letter to my dream college, plus some sort of financial aid form stating that I was getting a full ride.
my face. i don’t believe in the mirrior of erised
I don’t think any of us think it actually exists in real life. The question is probably meant more as, “If you found out that the Mirror of Erised was real and actually worked, and you looked into it, what would you see?” She isn’t suggesting that this will (or can) actually happen.
It’s like how you just posted a poll about a Wolfman and a Vampire, even though you probably (?) don’t think they exist.
Being free from debts, obligations, chores, and homework.
Me, standing in Hogwarts that contains the mirror of Erised, because if the mirror exists, than maybe going to Hogwarts isn’t a false hope after all!
Except that unless you’ve had very strange, inexplicable things happen to you all your life, you’d probably still be a Muggle…
Well if I can’t be a wizard, then I’ll just have to settle for awesome undercover ninja who can sneak into Hogwarts, won’t I?
…Except that Muggles can’t see it.
Not all my life, but I can think of a few things, as I’m sure most people could. (Especially when prompted.)
If most people can, though, then it doesn’t count, because most people are Muggles. It has to be significantly more frequent than average–basically, all your life–to mean that, were witches real, you would be one.
But even people who are Muggle-born wizards who have had strange things happen to them all their lives don’t put the pieces together until they get their letter from Hogwarts. It’s much easier to ascribe meaning to patterns in retrospect, when you’ve already been told that there is a meaning.
Well, yes, but if asked, the Muggle-raised witches and wizards will tell you that they can do strange things and/or that strange things happen to them that they can’t explain.
So can everyone else, though.
Can they? I can’t, but you probably wouldn’t say that if you weren’t sure it was true of most or at least some people. That’s interesting.
if you were being chased by the Wolfman and a Vampire and you found a gun with only one bullet. which monster would you shoot at?
Shoot the Wolfman, stab the vampire in the back.
I guess this assumes that either Wolfmen are different from werewolves or that the silver bullet myth is false? I’d shoot whichever was closest, then: I’d miss, otherwise (I’d probably still miss), because I’ve never tried shooting with a gun before, and I’m terrible at that sort of thing in general; also, the closer one is probably faster and therefore more dangerous. If they were equally close, I’d shoot the vampire because if the “Wolfman” is the same thing as a werewolf, it might be a good person the rest of the month. If I managed to shoot one, I’d grab one of its fangs and use it to stab the other, like bookgirl described, although I’d probably fail.
Trick Question! Wolfmen can only be killed by a Silver Bullet or a Wooden Stake, and it wouldn’t be very likely if you found a silver bullet. and also Vampires can only be killed by wooden stakes so you would have to face the consequences of becoming a Where-Vampire. because you might be bitten by both.
Which makes the best pseudo-pet?
a) A rock.
b) A stuffed animal.
c) A left sock.
(My own answer would be B.)
d) Any will do in a pinch.
e) An owl-shaped mug. His belly feathers are Boggle-blue and he’s been my mascot throughout senior year.
Yes, I was so sleep-deprived that I started talking to a cup of tea. We all have our moments, ‘kay?B, but also D.
B) I always talk to my stuffed animals, and apologize when I throw them on the bed and they accidentally hit the floor.
What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever wanted to do that you’ve never told anyone about before?
Me, I possess a secret desire to look at my snot under a microscope. I’ve wanted to do so for ages, since I was eleven or twelve. I want to see if I can see bacteria. I want to compare the thick yellow snot form when I’m sick to the runny clear stuff the drips out of my nose when I cry a lot. I want to see how that compares to the phlegm I cough up.
I really am curious, and I can’t stop thinking about it when I blow my nose. And I’ve never told anyone about his before because it’s disgusting and I’m afraid of how people will react to my honest scientific curiosity. I’m fairly certain Museblog won’t judge me negatively for this, though.
So, you tell me now. What weird or disgusting thing have you always wanted to do, but couldn’t?
I don’t know why, but this post made my day.
Wasn’t there a magazine article about this back in the day? Pretty sure I remember one.
What, in Muse? I remember one on how colds spread, with a picture of a guy with a faucet for a nose on an orange cover. I think that also might have been the issue in which HPBs appeared for the first time.
It is. I didn’t subscribe to Muse at the time, but I bought the article because of that.
This isn’t exactly something you do, but….
I’ve always kind of wanted to be blind. I don’t know why.
I strongly suspect you don’t. Otherwise, why didn’t you blind (or at least blindfold) yourself a long time ago?
Blindness has its perks, but it is not pleasant. If you don’t believe me, try it. I did–I was curious, so I did blindfold myself. I soon removed it.
There’s quite a wide spectrum of “wanting”.
Years ago I had to have both my eyes bandaged for 24 hours to rest them after corneal abrasions caused by hard contact lenses. My experience was made easier because I’d practiced being blind quite a bit as a child. It was actually fascinating and even fun in some ways. I recommend the experiment (though without the corneal abrasions which I wouldn’t wish on anyone).
My philosophy professor last year got on a tangent about the senses and told us a story about the time she used hard contact solution for her soft contacts and spent the next month with bandages on her eyes. She said she got along more or less fine after the first few days, except when her siblings moved the furniture around to screw with her.
Have you ever heard of Dialog in the Dark? Just google it. Basically, you can take a tour at one of their locations where you’re led by blind people in the absolute dark through an exhibit that simulates everyday environments- a park, a city street, a store, a market, a boat and a bar/cafe- so you can feel what it’s like to be a blind person, if only for an hour. Their only US locations are Atlanta and NY, but if you’re ever in town, it’s actually pretty fun.
Ooh, I did that in Singapore! It’s actually really, really cool. I never imagined that darkness could be so complete- it’s just like there’s a wall around your eyes.
Yeah, I love darkness!
Sometimes when I’m walking alone down a city street, I close my eyes and see how well I can walk like that. I used to think that only I actually did this, but it turns out that a lot of my friends do that, actually.
When getting dressed, do you put your pants/skirt or shirt on first? Which do you take off first? Does it feel odd if you do it in a different order?
I was just thinking about this today.
I usually put my pants on first in the morning and take them off last in the evening. But with pajamas I usually put my shirt on first.
Hm. I’ve never thought about that.
I don’t actually seem to have a preference.
I always take off/put on my pants first.
It’s kind of strange posting this on the internet, but I’ll get over it.
I usually put pants/shorts on first, then tank top if I’m wearing one, then shirt. I take them off in reverse order in the evening.
Due to my *erm* stunningly organized dresser, closet and miscellaneous bins my clothes seem to overflow into, I always put on first whatever I find first, then sometimes have to take it off again because I can’t find anything that matches… It’s sort of a toss-up, really.
Skirt, then shirt, then find a different skirt and replace the first one with it, and so on. Somewhere in there, the hair is brushed and the socks are located, buried deep within a drawer.
I think that I just sort of get dressed haphazardly based on what clothing I can find first. Although often I find shirts before pants, so I guess that’s more common?
Don’t answer this question.
a) Yes.
b) No.
c) I hate you.
d) What question?
e) No answer.
f) All of the above
d, e
At Subway or the local deli or wherever it is that you buy made-to-order sandwiches, what do you usually get?
I’ve been going to the newly installed sandwich place on campus (from my room it’s down two flights of stairs and across a hallway) pretty much every day for lunch, and my usual order is: wheat ciabatta bread, turkey, hummus, pepper jack cheese, spinach, onions, green peppers, and spicy mustard. The hummus is something I had never tried on a sandwich, and I must say it’s fantastic. It definitely takes the sandwich to a whole ‘nother level.
Usually tuna on whole wheat, with provolone, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and mustard, except when I’ve already had tuna recently in which case I will get a veggie sandwich unless the veggie option has eggplant in it that I can’t take out. Then I don’t get a sandwich at all.
Since I know Subways can be expected to have the same ingredients, that’s the only place I have standard ingredients I ask for. I ask for teriyaki chicken, shredded cheese, lettuce and pickles on flatbread, sometimes with tomato.
I’ve never had hummus on a non-pita-bread sandwich. Must try that. I usually get turkey and cheese with onions, and, if they’re not charging extra for them, avocado slices. No dressing.
In Subway I get the spicy Italian foot long. So like, salami, pepperoni (or the red-er lookin’ meat? I think pepperoni), provolone, lettuce (a little), tomato, pickles (some), oil & spices, on asiago. In sandwich shops in general I tend to lean towards the “Italian” options, like in Jimmy John’s (no/very little mayo though) and Panera.
When I make myself sandwiches at oberlin, I generally do salami, one piece of ham or turkey, provolone, colby jack (or chedder, depends on what they have out), and pesto. I use multigrain bread, though if they had a french bread/long-ways cut option I’d probably pick that.
I love pesto on sandwiches, I recommend it.
I also have some friends who will make “chip putty” sandwiches (basically a french fri sandwich? Guy got the idea/saw someone having them in England when we went there, not sure if they’re a thing)
Subway:
Spicy Italian footlong on Italian herbs and cheese bread.
Lettuce, extra pickles, banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, olives, green peppers (sometimes), salt and pepper, mayo.
Panera:
Chipotle chicken panini. Always.
My main feeling about this is that avocado as a sandwich option is worth taking at Au Bon Pain but not at Subway, which has this weird guacamole mush as compared to ABP’s actual avocado half.
I’ll eat anything that looks interesting and holds still, especially at the Au Bon Pain across the street from school that takes meal plan fake money. At Subway I usually get tuna sandwiches with cheese, olives, tomatoes, and cucumbers, though. The other cold cuts there are too uniform and shiny and weird looking.
mmm…I don’t think that I’ve ever really gotten the same sandwich twice.
White bread with ham, lettuce, cucumber, salt and pepper.
Ham, cheese, tomato, lettuce, carrot, cucumber. Sometimes with mayo. If it’s at Subway we have cheesy herb bread, not sure what it’s called. It sounds rather boring compared to your prefences, but I like it. If I see something interesting I’ll try it though!
My mum makes some interesting sandwich-like things, but that’s getting into the realm of toast toppings.
I’m vegan, so I don’t think I’ve had a made-to-order sandwich in my life. (Not that I’ve been vegan all my life, but I have always been severely allergic to dairy and eggs, which prevents me from eating bread at restaurants).
Top five Doctor Who episodes?
(in no particular order)
1. The Eleventh Hour – Lots of funny Eleven moments. This was the episode that convinced me the new guy might not be so bad.
2. Blink – Weeping Angels, paradoxes, “wibbly wobbly timey wimey”.
3. Silence in the Library – Vashta Nerada, huge creepy library, and the only River Song episode where I didn’t want to strangle her for being annoying.
4. The Doctor’s Wife – My OTP, steampunk goggles, “bunk beds are cool”, written by Neil Gaiman.
5. Vincent and the Doctor – Art history, awesome visual effects with the paintings, perfectly done Heartwarming Moment/Tear Jerker at the end.
1. The Girl Who Waited – Timey Wimey and just plain incredible. Seriously, one of my favorite things that exists.
2. Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead – RIVER SONG AND MOFFAAAAAAAAAT
3. Midnight – Erghh I just can’t say exactly why or how much I love this episode but I’d say it’s Tennant’s best portrayal of The Doctor.
4. The Empty Child/ The Doctor Dances – JACK HARKNESSSSSSSS
5. The Doctor’s Wife – NEIL GAIMAAAAAAAAAN
So basically MOFFAAAAAAAT.
1. Blink: This is, in my opinion, Doctor Who time travel at it’s most consistent, it’s timey-whimeyest, and it’s best. I also just use this episode to explain my beliefs about how time works to people so much! And the weeping angels were so creepy before you actually knew what they were.
2. Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead: This is probably the episode that I reference the most out of all of them, especially with the intention of scaring people. Also, the Vashta Nerada are my favorite villain. And overall, MOFAAAAAAAAT
3. Empty Child/Doctor Dances: Oh My Elder Gods JAAAAAAAACK HARKNESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Also, it just has tons of scary moments, and also some of the funniest lines as well. And my favorite Doctor.
4. Midnight: I really like 10 in this, and I almost agree with Enc. It’s also just a beautiful episode for all of the characters. I absolutely love how it makes the characters into real people very quickly, and then how their reactions to everything seem so real and so human.
5. The Doctor’s Wife: NEIL GAIMANNNNNNNNNNN and awesome steampunk, and brilliant Doctor and TARDIS dialogue.
It also should be noted that most of these are the scariest episodes in Doctor Who…hmm…
Hard to pick!
1) The Doctor’s Wife: Because the TARDIS who travels with The Doctor is my favorite Who character. Neil Gaiman is brill. I started watching Doctor Who after learning he had written an episode. Suranne Jones is marvellous in it. Learned about Time Lords–including solidifying the idea that The Doctor could be a woman someday. Also, one of the things I love about Matt Smith as The Doctor is his slowness to anger–and then, his ability to convey cold, deceptively disarming rage. This episode shows it off very well.
2) Blink: Sally Sparrow is an exceptional character, especially for a single episode. Weeping angels; great time-play; memorable dialogue: “So, what’s so great about feeling sad?”–“It’s happy for deep people.”
3) The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances: Established “Everybody lives!” and presented us with Nancy and her gang, and Jack Harkness. Very wonderfully scary.
4) The Waters of Mars: I really like Adelaide Brooke. The problem to be solved is intriguing and frightening. The presentation of traditional Time Lord ethics and the tension created by them really turns this episode to brilliance. Favorite moment? Adelaide won’t let him get away with it.
5) The Eleventh Hour: Eleven is my Doctor, and this episode is a good display of Eleven’s interactions with children, as well as Eleven’s style of confidence, dignity, kindness, and alien nature. Plus, the marvelous Miss Caitlin Blackwood. I had some serious issues with “The End of Time” that made this episode an encouraging breathe of fresh air.
The Girl In the Fireplace– because it’s made of awesomeness and amazingness and David Tennant and Madame de Pompadour and tear jerker and aaaaaaaaahhhhhh.
Blink– Moffat! Gotta love those paradoxes.
Empty Child/Doctor Dances: Yeah, why not? Good episode, creepy, Moffat, gas masks.
Closing Time: Stormageddon! (don’t judge me!)
And I’m sure there are others. But I can’t think of them right now.
I couldn’t decide whether to list my objective Top 5– the five episodes that I know, on a rational level, are some of the best– or my personal Top 5, the ones that have special places in my heart for one reason or another. (I’m pretty sure we all have similar experiences in trying to choose.) I eventually decided to do Objective Top 5 and Personal Top 4, but only explain the personal ones.
OBJECTIVE TOP 5
1. The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
2. The Doctor’s Wife
3. Midnight
4. The Eleventh Hour
5. Human Nature/Family of Blood
PERSONAL TOP 5
1. The Christmas Invasion. Cheesy, the tropes were weak, the plot was mostly nonexistent, and it was the first episode of Doctor Who I watched, ever (sort of; I’ll explain below). And then there was a swordfight, and one of the things I loved about Nine and Ten that I’m sad that I see less of in Eleven is just how much they loved Earth, and humanity, and there’s nothing I like better than seeing the Doctor defend my planet, and that was how I fell in love with Doctor Who.
2. The Girl in the Fireplace. Okay, this one is also objectively good! But it was really that one moment where I was sitting in my living room, and then my mouth dropped open and I said to myself, “The Doctor just killed the monsters underneath her bed.”
And that was exactly what he’d done. And I’d never seen anyone do that before, and it made me suddenly and stunned-ly aware that I was watching someone brilliant, and that was how I fell in love with Ten.
3. The Shakespeare Code. This was the first Who episode I actually watched, only I was required to watch it in class, so it doesn’t count. (It was a good class.) I was thirteen and wouldn’t learn to appreciate Who for another year, but even then I enjoyed it.
And that was Shakespeare class, the only part of middle school I ever enjoyed, and Shakespeare club, the only place I ever felt like I fit in, and costume changes backstage and prop swords and Shakespeare being like a foreign language that I could speak naturally, and that was how I fell in love with theater.
4. The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords. I’m not including Utopia in this, and there’s a specific reason for that: it doesn’t include Simm!Master.
So somewhere out there on the Internets is a fanfiction entitled How the Master Stole Chrisrmas, which is exactly what it sounds like: a story from the Christmas That Never Was, in which the Master is the Grinch and the Doctor is his dog Max and it’s even more ridiculous than it sounds. And this fanfiction exists because in English, as we were watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas on the last day before break, Terpsichore and I were mutually freaking out about Simm!Master, because I’d just watched that serial and she was Introducing Me to the Ways of the Whovian.
And that was the first fanfiction I’d written in, oh, such a long time, and it was her idea, really, and I posted it and she commented with the happiest, nicest, best review I’ve ever gotten, to this day, full of keysmashing and specific compliments, and that was how our friendship started, really, and it was the first time I’d ever felt good about something I’d done, ever, and you know this is going to end with that was how I fell in love with Terpsichore. And it was.
I’m going to list my kind of guilty pleasure episodes–because a lot of the same ones are being listed. XD. Of course I like Blink, Midnight, and The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, but I want to put some more obscure ones out there, even if they aren’t all that great.
I’m also going to limit this to New Who… The Romans would definitely be on this list, though.
1. The Shakespeare Code: This was the first one I thought of, probably because it’s been on my mind ever since The Power of Three. I love all the interactions between the Doctor and Martha; they make such a great team.
2. The Christmas Invasion: New regeneration one-liners. Even though the rest of the episode is really, really, really cheesy. But look a those one-liners!
3. Partners in Crime: OH GOD I LOVE THIS ONE AND HATE IT AT THE SAME TIME. This episode made me have a complete reversal with my opinion toward Donna; I think it did the same for a lot of people. Her whiny complaints were suddenly turned into sassy remarks that the Doctor totally needed. The entire “conversation” through the windows has me laughing every time. BUT THE STUPID ADIPOSE ARE STUPID AND HAVE RIGHTFULLY NEVER BEEN MENTIONED AGAIN.
4. The Waters of Mars: I liked the monster in this one… also that the Doctor makes a huge mistake. He’d been going downhill ever since Journey’s End, and this was his low point. What I didn’t like is the forced humor. Some of it was good: The Doctor’s intention is fun! The bicycles joke just ruined the whole thing, though. And the stupid robot.
5. I decided I had to slip in an Eleventh Doctor episode in here, and I decided on Vincent and the Doctor. I liked the ending and the character of Van Gogh. More than that, I liked the undercurrent of loss–Rory, NOOOOO! The Doctor has to deal with trying to be at ease with Amy when everything, to him and to the viewer, is clearly not OK.
I’m sorry to leave some out–there are so many episodes with little moments that are awesome! I’m sorry to leave out the Ninth Doctor, but series 1 is special in that there weren’t any episodes that I absolutely hated. It was just kind of cursed with mediocrity. Except for The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, of course. I actually quite enjoyed Boom Town as well.
Self-serving poll! If you walked by a teenaged busker on the sidewalk, who was playing the violin, which songs would make you most likely to put money in her case?
Viva la V— *is keelhauled by marching band*
Sorry. Ahem.
But yeah, you can’t go wrong with Coldpl– *hit over head with trombone*
The only circumstance in which I would ever do something like that would be if it was a really obscure, nerdy song no-one’s ever heard of, and I wanted to applaud its spread. That probably wouldn’t get very much money overall, though, because of course, no-one would know the song.
Either something obscure that’s not the everyday stuff everyone plays or something that takes true skill to play regardless of its popularity.
Less pop-music stuff:
The melody from the Antlers song Sylvia because that song makes me feel lots of things
Frank Zappa’s Cosmik Debris because it would sound really cool on violin
True skill/something that makes me feel:
John Denver. The Eagle And The Hawk, Take Me Home Country Roads.
The Red Hot Chili Pepper’s more melodious stuff
But this is mostly stuff that *I* like, not that everyone likes. It’s what would make ME be like ACCEPT MY MONIES.
The Faery Reel.Speaking not as a Muser but as a General Person Walking Down Street (which is what I suspect you may want), something jaunty. The more likely I am to dance to it, the more likely I am to give you money. Also, currently popular tunes are popular for a reason; it’s because people like them.
That said, I think it’s probably an ill-advised idea to try to play dubstep on a violin. But.
Generally the best things to busk with are 1. easy and 2. short. If you know any fiddle tunes, play those – do you knwo ashoken farewell? You want to play things that will be popularly appealing and things that people will recognize.If you can throw in a few popular tunes, themes from movies, etc do that
A zippy version of “Sweet Georgia Brown” would work for me. Or “Blue Skies.” In any case, you want something upbeat. Slow, soulful tunes are harder to play well anyway.
Actually, there’s an Irish song called The Foggy Dew that’s been covered/performed by many artists over the years. It’s been mentioned before here, but my favorite version is the one by the Chieftains and Sinead O’Connor.
It has a lovely melody that’s relatively uncomplicated. It doesn’t seem like it’d be terribly difficult to play, and it’s pretty recognizable (assuming you listen to modernized Irish folk music).
(that is also my favorite version of the song!)
Thank you, everyone! Off to listen to all of these.
Ashokan Farewell, definitely. ALL THE FEELS
Besides that, any concerto that I recognize/played in the orchestra for. Because it’s fun to be able to hum along…
Any arrangement of a pop song would not sway me.
Is bioluminescence cool?
a. Yes
b. Also yes
c. Still more yes!
d. It’s not just cool, it’s AWESOME!
Seconded!
C.
C.
I want to suggest some kind of special food in my dorm’s dining hall suggestion box for Sputnik Day (October 4th), but I don’t know what. Borscht is kind of unappetizing and I don’t think you can buy astronaut ice cream in bulk.
More unappetizing than astronaut ice cream?????
Yes, I dislike the taste of beats.
Milky Way bars? Mars bars? Mooncakes? Moon pies? Star-shaped cookies? I’m just throwing out all the space-themed things I can think of.
Any number of favorite musicals?
1. Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog. I totally count it as a musical, I like every single song, all the actors are some of my favorite people, and I love that Whedon put it on the internet for free.
2. Rent! Mostly for the fantastic songs. Also, Mark Cohen. <3
3. Sweeney Todd. Also for the songs, dark humor, cannibalism for fun and profit, the Burton/Depp/Bonham-Carter trio, couple of Death Eaters, what's not to like?
4. West Side Story, mainly from happy memories of our school's production, 50s dresses, and street gangs that sing and dance.
5. Footloose, also because we did it at my school, and I actually didn’t do a horrible job with the lighting this time!
6. Avenue Q. Fuzzy puppets singing catchy and hilariously inappropriate songs that can be made into an AMV for any fandom in existence.
1. Les Mis
2. Fiddler on the Roof
3. Wicked
4. Rent
5. The Drowsy Chaperone
Also: The Music Man, The Sound of Music, Hairspray but only because I was in pit orchestra for it, Urinetown, etc.
Water Bears in Space.
(Seriously, look it up; it is on the Internet for free and is the best thing).
Aside from that, Beauty and the Beast is excellent (My school did the junior version, so I have fond memories, but I looked up the bits in the full Broadway musical that aren’t in the junior version or the Disney version, and they are so obviously the best by far that I felt almost cheated–also I have been using it to practice Spanish, and the result is hilarious–“Y SU NARIZ STUCK EN UN LIBRO, QUE UN PUZZLE AL RESTO DE US ES BEEEEELLE!”), as are The Sound of Music and Little Women. I didn’t even like the book Little Women, even though it’s supposed to be a classic, but the musical is genuinely good! The characters have actual personalities and aren’t Mary Sues! One of them (Jo) is even relatable! And she’s the main character! I’m angry at The Secret Garden for how different it is from the book, but I’ll admit the songs are amazing. And although I haven’t yet seen Les Mis, I’ve heard one song from it, and that’s enough to assure me that it must be brilliant.
Annie is also good. Speaking of which, did you know that there is a bird called an ani–and that a group of anis is called an orphanage? On that note, a group of cardinals is called a Vatican and a group of flycatchers is an outfield.
The only ones I’ve seen in recent memory:
1) Les Mis
2) Wicked
And those are my top two.
I also like The Music Man and My Fair Lady.
1. Cats
2. The Wiz
3. Honk
4. Peter Pan (the first musical I ever saw live was Peter Pan with Cathy Rigby.)
5. The Sound of Music
6. Sweeny Todd (even though I’ve never actually seen it…)
7. The Music Man
The only ones I’m really fond of are Les Mis and Fiddler on the Roof. (I’ve seen Sound of Music more times than I care to count, but I don’t like it especially.)
I like a lot of musicals… West Side Story was my first love, though.
List (in no particular order)
Dr. Horrible
AVPM
Rent
Les Mis
Spamalot
etc, etc.
For me, it’s a complete tie between Les Mis, Fiddler on the Roof, Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Avenue Q., Phantom of the Opera, and Mamma Mia. (Wait, do Disney musicals count? All of them.)
Doctor Horrible’s sing along blog
Assassins
Sweeney Todd
Into the Woods
Guys and Dolls
Hair
Damn Yankees
Avenue Q
Chorus Line
I count them if there are actual stage musical versions, but I’m not really the judge.
Yes; I was thinking of adding The Lion King to my list, but I realized that I liked the movie waaay better than the stage musical, so I didn’t.
1) The Lion King (The first musical I ever saw!)
2) Wicked
3) The Sound of Music
I’ve only really seen three, and they’re
1. Hair
2. The Sound of Music
3. Holiday Inn
That was supposed to be a reply to 58.
Say you were suddenly offered the opportunity to travel the universe in the spaceship of an alien you were friends with. For various reasons, this alien says that en will allow you to take along another person with you. Because ens ship is neither a time machine nor bigger on the inside, you can only take one person. Because the alien intends to travel the universe for as long as en lives, and you are welcome to do so yourself, it has to be someone you are certain you can spend the rest of your life with.
Will you:
a) Remain on Earth.
b) Travel with the alien, but don’t take anyone else.
c) Travel with someone (if you put this letter, you need to say who – if en’s not a MuseBlogger, say something like “my sibling”, “my friend”, “my enfriend”, etc.)
d) Travel with someone (but I won’t tell you who!)
Is this inspired by the short story that was in Bruce Corville’s Book of Aliens where every person had promised one person they’d take them with them, so there was a whole crowd of people?
Um… No? I’d actually never heard of that.
Oh! Well, this girl gets posed the above question, and fortunately, she already promised her best friend from school that if the scenario ever occurred, she’d make them take the friend along, too. But her friend made the same promise to her brother, who made the same promise to his roommate, who… you get the idea. So all these people show up, and since nobody will go without anybody else, the aliens don’t take anybody and leave.
Oh, wow.
When I was little, it bummed me out that none of them got to go, but in retrospect, it’s kind of heartwarming that nobody wanted to leave anyone else behind. And the ending was that they all decided to build their own spaceship and go looking for the aliens in space.
That is a happy ending.
Ohhhh, gosh. I think I’d go with the alien alone, as long ad I was allowed to periodically come home, like Companions usually do.
Um, can I come home sometimes/when my travels are done? Because if that’s the case I guess I’d go alone and come home occasionally.
…hmm.
I…
might go with b.
Or C.
Or D.
Or A, for that matter…
I’m really indecisive…
I wouldn’t take anyone else… sorry, real life, but the universe is much better!
D, just to have someone from Earth to make sure that what I see is really there.
Oh, that’s hard. That is so hard.
I’m really tempted to choose b or c, because that would just be amazing. But… I kind of feel like I have a responsibility to stay on Earth. Traveling the universe, I don’t think I’ll get too many opportunities to help others. And in my life, I don’t think my net impact has been positive, considering, say, food and energy consumption and so on. It would be kind of irresponsible to just leave now, before I’ve had the chance to make up for it.
SFTDP. Oh, I forgot to mention. You can return to Earth periodically (just remember – no time travel!), and you can have internet access in space (like how The Doctor upgraded everyone’s phones). So, you could always contact people on Earth indirectly.
b, unless I can take friends on short trips now and then. I don’t think I’d be able to pick for c. And I feel like if offered it’d be wrong not to go and learn everything I could about the universe, esspecially if I could help by bringing that knowledge back to Earth every now and then.
Clearly c). I don’t think I’d make that much of a contribution towards Earth by staying and I couldn’t go alone. The only trouble is that the person I’d want to take is my crush, but there are so many reasons why that could go terribly wrong. On the other hand, I wouldn’t want to be alone all my life. But I’d go and I’d ask him, because I’d rather have an awkward conversation and/or make a stupid mistake than spend the rest of my life thinking “if only”.
Inspired by what one of the women in my Archeological Remote Sensing class said today, how many archeologists, either present or historical (real people, not fictional characters like Indiana Jones, as cool as he is) can you name off the top of your head?
(And no, fellow MBers who are archeology majors but don’t yet have degrees don’t count.)
…You know, that’s hard. Actually, I’m, um, having trouble coming up with any.
Um, Louis Leakey? Did he even study anything recent enough to count? I’m… surprised at how little I know. Thank you for showing it to me.
I thought he was an anthropologist?
Well, yes, he was. That’s why I wasn’t sure if he counted. But he was the closest I could think of, and there is overlap between the fields.
We’ll count him (and his family), they’re at that blurry archeology-anthropology-paleontology boundary.
Howard Carter.
That is all I know of off the top of my head.
Kind of ironic since my marching band show is about ancient Egypt…
Heh. Are MBers with BAs in anthropology allowed to answer?
I guess not, since my friend was curious about what “members of the general public” knew.
1) Gail Carriager. She’s not a famous archaeologist or anything; in fact she’s mostly known for writing fiction books, but she is in fact an archaeologist on the side.
2) Since you told Bibliophile you would count them, Louis and Mary Leaky.
I know more than that, but I’m drawing a blank.
Who is a (well-known) person you admire the most?
Can en be dead?
I don’t know if she was well-known, but I think Freya Stark was pretty cool.
She is very well known among Westerners familiar with the Middle East.
We were discussing this at SEDS tonight:
Would you rather be attacked by 100 horse-sized ducks, or one duck-sized horse? And in fighting your opponent(s) of choice, what would be your strategy?
(I’m torn between Nick Kristoff’s “distract the horse-sized duck with cracked corn, jump on its back, and have an awesome flying mount to ride around on” and Richard Branson’s “catch the duck-sized horses in a net and sell then to the circus/start your own”.)
Well, the concept of a horse-sized duck is appealing, but I wouldn’t want to be fighting a hundred of them, since they’re so large.
Did you perhaps get the numbers backwards? It seems this is so by the wording of your second paragraph.
Whoops, that’s what I get for posting past my bedtime. Yes, it was supposed to be one horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses.
Your strategies are Awesome But Impractical, with emphasis on the ‘impractical’ bit. The horse-sized duck would throw you off its back, and if it somehow managed to fly, you could be killed, although I’m sure it wouldn’t if it was so big. Either way, you’d make it even angrier than it already was, which I don’t think would be a good idea. And the net would only work on the duck-sized horses if they hadn’t already surrounded you. On the other hand, horses don’t generally do that; they tend to encircle their own offspring to protect them instead. So maybe the net idea would work. I think I’d prefer the 50 duck-sized horses, then. I definitely wouldn’t sell them to a circus under any circumstance, though; I suspect that neither you nor Richard Branson are aware of the horrific abuses that take place there much more often then you’d expect. (Many of them are illegal, but it’s hard to catch that sort of thing because they only check every so often, and the fines they have to pay don’t always outweigh the profits they receive). Starting my own circus, on the other hand, would be a very good idea.
Homestuck fans:
If you were going to cosplay one Homestuck character, who would it be?
(My answer: definitely Rose.)
Well, I have two and hopefully three actual cosplays planned for next year, but on the purely hypothetical side, gosh it would be fun to cosplay Rose and go around with my violin playing Aggrieve or Dance of Thorns but I don’t think that’d be practical.
I honestly couldn’t choose. There are way too many characters I like. Aradia, possibly. Or Jade. Or Meenah. Or the Peregrine Mendicant.
For me, this is a “who is your favorite character” question. That is Vriska. She gained ALL THE LEVELS!!! And she looked awesome doing it. The fact that she’s my patron troll has a lot to do with it as well!
Actually, Marquise Mindfang would be awesome, too. Considering she and Vriska are about the same person…
Terzei is a close second, though. Frighteningly close. Jade comes in third.
*Terezi.
I’ve already cosplayed Spades Slick, and it was super fun! I’d like to do a Rose cosplay at some point.
If you could go to any 5 cities by teleportation (no travel time) where would you go and why?
If you had a pet snail capable of magically granting wishes, what would you name en?
My biology teacher (who is ridiculously awesome) asked us that question in a warm-up. Answers ranged from “Charlie” to “Escargot” to “Gamzee” to “God” (my answer). I’d like to hear your ideas. I’d want to name en after a fictional snail, myself, but I don’t know any in media that I like (which here means media other than Spongebob Squarepants).
Eugene, or ‘Genie’ for short.
Snailrachi Wishmaker. (Yes, I went there.)
If you could only have one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Probably something I don’t especially like now because I wouldn’t want to ruin a meal I love by repeating it every day, whereas something you don’t like can become palatable after enough tries.
I’m assuming we’re ignoring things like nutrition and cost. I wonder if I could get away with saying something like “bún thịt nÆ°á»›ng” without specifying the specific type of meat and veggies, and get a little bit of variety that way. I think that would be the wisest answer.
A thali meal. They’re plates containing rice or bread and then small containers of curries/dessert around the edges, so I might not get bored quite that fast (that said, I actually don’t like Indian food much).
Ooh, good choice. I might be tempted to go for that. Otherwise I think I could live quite happily on baguettes and cheese. And perhaps an endless supply of millionaire’s shortbread.
That is a good choice. I could probably manage that. (I love Indian food, and it does hold up to repetition better than some.)
Oh…as I go to make some red lentil soup, I realize I probably could eat that just about every day. And I definitely could eat soup every day. I practically do that now.
Alternatively: if you were facing execution and could choose one last meal, what would it be?
Medium rare buffalo steak, garlic mashed potatoes, and steamed kale. Mmmyep. And key lime pie made from real limes for dessert.