Monday, 13 May 2024
Life, the universe, pies, hot-pink bunnies, world domination, and everything
During the Middle Ages, England and Germany celebrated the start of the year on Christmas Day. The picture is a nativity scene by Albrecht Dürer, who lived while that custom was observed.
Date: December 19, 2011
Categories: At the Top of the Blog, Random craziness
I love woodcuts.
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You are named after a moon. How do I know this despite my lack of astronomical study? Why, Universe Sandbox. I was exploring the solar system and altering the mass and acceleration of planets when I stumbled upon a moon with a curious name.
I’m probably the last person on MuseBlog to figure this out.
Still. Cool name.
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Actually, the moon was named after me. Easy mistake to make.
Also, you’re pronouncing my name wrong. It’s either En-ce-LA-Dus or en-CE-la-dus, whichever you’re not thinking at that moment.
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First post?
Pretty picture. It;s gonna be weird next year when we don’t have a new Happy New Year every month.
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Agreed. I remember the January Random thread and not realizing until about April that we were going to have a year of New Years. (I joined the blog around the New Year so it was my first Random Thread. As I recall, it had a nice graphic.)
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I arrived safe and sound in Merrie Land last night, after stopping at my grandmother’s house in WV for a few days to visit and help out with taking care of her. 5 hour drive from my school to there, and another 5 hour drive from there to home, ~500 miles of driving. I know I purposefully chose a school far away from my house, but I’m starting to wonder if 9 hours by car was entirely necessary.
Among the things on my bed waiting for my arrival was a Muse, wheeee! 
Today I slept in until 12:30, which is glorious and terrible at the same time. I still haven’t washed my breakfast (hah) dishes. Herp durp, time to do that and then do more nothing.
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It could be worse. I’m 20+ hours from school by car. And we’ve driven there twice (once when I moved in, once at the beginning of this year when I was moving into an apartment).
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This randomly reminds me of my fifth grade class… We each had to do a project on a state and one girl wanted to do Maryland because apparently (as in, so she said) she had been there a lot and knew a lot about it… then she stood up and requested “Merry land.”
I think she might have blown her cover there…
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To Janet at the Kenmore Square Post Office,
Thank you for putting up with all of the people trying to send holiday gifts and cards an hour before the Post Office closed for the day. Thank you for helping all of us with our various problems, and for always keeping your cool. Thank you for taking the time to help me find the right envelope, and for letting me pay for it while still in line so I didn’t have to wait to get to the desk, and thank you for complimenting me for using the Alan Shepard commemorative stamps.
Thank you for making finals week just a little easier for one overstressed freshman.
Happy Holidays,
Kai
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I don’t know if the post office has a feedback thingy, but if it does you should definitely send them some version of this. I would imagine that the post office would generally be a pretty unrewarding job, and knowing that people appreciate you really helps.
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Today the newspaper ran an article in its science and technology section about tardigrades.
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That’s amazing! My newspaper did that once, but that was years ago, before I was obsessed (although I certainly knew what they were and loved them very much). They were on NPR’s Science Friday once, too, before I listened to that. Fortunately, I later found both the article and the radio snippet about them online; they were really interesting and complimentary and awesome.
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No-one’s playing chess right now, which might make it more likely that someone will want to play chess. I do, if anyone else does. I’d prefer someone who isn’t very good at it, because I’m not, but it doesn’t matter.
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I would like to play chess but I don’t know exactly what you mean by “not very good at it.” ((I don’t know anything besides how the pieces move.))
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Well, I make a lot of silly mistakes; I’ll forget something important and not realize I’ve forgotten it and exchange a bishop for a pawn or something–that’s extreme even for me, but anyway, I just don’t always make the wisest moves; I’m rather new to chess. Wait, but what does anything mean? If you don’t know which pieces are considered most important, I’ll tell you that because it’s kind of an important distinction. I’ll play you either way, though.
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Sounds good! I sort of know which pieces are important; well, I know that the pawns are less important than the Queen, but I don’t really know whether rooks are knights are more important.
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The approximate value system is something like this as far as I know:
King- invaluable 
Queen- about 9 points (I’ll explain later)
Rooks- about 4 points each alone and 4.5 together
Bishops and Knights- about three points each
Pawns- one point.
The values are derived by how much the pieces can move around on the board. Pawns are the most limited so they’re obviously worth the least (i.e. one point), etc. Two rooks are usually a match for the queen if they’re used together, hence the half point. Of course, the relative value of the pieces also depends on how it’s positioned on the board- that’s why, for example, that’s rooks are usually used towards the end of the game when many pawns are gone and there’s more space for them to move around, while in the beginning it’s tricky to get them into position and they’re easily blocked at every turn and an easy target for attacks.
For example, Knights are worth more when the center of the board is very packed or in tight formations because they can jump over other pieces (it’s usually a good idea to put them near the center because they have more opportunities that way), while Bishops work incredibly well on open diagonals.
The value system also explains the phase of the game well: in the beginning, both players rush to occupy the center and deploy their less valuable pieces (Knights, Pawns, Bishops) to make room for the other pieces, prepare to attack the enemy and set up a basic defense for the King (Castling= very very very important, but you can’t do that until you get at least a Bishop and a Knight out of the way!). Then there’s the middle of the game, when the players start to attack in earnest and trade off pieces and begin to employ their more powerful pieces (for example, if you trade off pawns and have an open line it’s usually nice to put a rook there). Many checkmates occur in this phase.
If this doesn’t happen soon, there’s the endgame, in which most pieces are already traded off and players usually have a bunch of pawns and only one or two other pieces left over. That’s when the players try to get their pawns to the other side of the board to gain a Queen (the first player to do this almost always wins) while gobbling up all the other player’s pawns before they reach their side of the board. At this point in the game, one pawn can often mean the difference between winning and losing, so don’t treat them lightly just because they’re worth less than all the other figures! (Of course, if you were checkmated first, usually because you forgot to castle on time, this is irrelevant) Good luck to the both of you!
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Thanks!
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I also thank you, but what is castling, exactly?
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Rooks > Knights, I believe.
I used to have a chess book that assigned numbers of points to all of the pieces, so pawns were worth one point, knights and bishops three, queens nine, and rooks five.
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Can we have a thread, please?
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Hullo, peoples. I’m proposing this on the Random thread because the Kokon one isn’t as populated and because of people that don’t check the recent comments.
I’m wondering if any of you in the New England area are willing to Kokonvene sometime in mid-late spring 2012. I’m thinking Massachusetts due to it’s central nature. It’s not too far from most of the NE states, except Maine. Anyway, my plan is to get our parents (or you if you’re 18+) on an email list to work it out. If you’re interested, tell me!
There’s this place in midwestern MA that I’m interested in possibly Kokonvening in, but it would have to happen on a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Friday for it to work there. [Details snipped. –Admin.] It’s a really great place I’m talking about, and t here’s easy access to all sorts of food within walking distance of the grounds in question, not to mention plenty of rooms (filled with awesome people) in the building itself.
I’m looking for a group of at least 4 people here. [Snip.] The two currently on this checklist are me and JLynn.
I would like to have at least 4 OTHER people, but less is fine. If you live in the area or think you can go, let me know. Those of you who know me off-blog let me know off-blog AND on so we’re all on the same page. [More snippage.]
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I think I might be able to go, but since it’s on a school day I’m not sure. I’ll have my parents email anyway to see if it’s possible.
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I can’t beleive that there are only 12 atoms between us and not breathing! Darn lactid acid.
Also, why do people always refer to oxygen as O2? (My computer doesn’t do the downward letter thing, and if it does I haven’t figured out how to yet.) I saw my dad look it up on the internet, and he said it was because one oxygen is unstable unpaired. Is that true? Why? Free radicals, unpaired electrons, is what makes things unstable, (right?) and oygen is #8, so it should be perfectly fine on it’s own.
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No, it’s got two unpaired electrons in its 2p orbital. As a result, O-style oxygen combines with other elements like crazy — including itself.
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Well, I don’t get why oxygen only exists in paired form, but it does, so at least that’s why people CALL if O2.
Also, not to be nitpicky or anything, but it’s not between us and not breathing, just between is and not breathing oxygen. We’d still have to get rid of CO2.
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We can breathe pure oxygen safely, but not pure CO2, though.
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It’s true that oxygen has 8 electrons, but that doesn’t mean that its valence shell (the outermost layer of electrons) is full. The first electron shell/layer (1s) is spherical and only fits two electrons. For example, helium has two electrons, so its valence shell is full, so it is very happy on its own without reacting with anything else. The next shell also has a spherical orbital that fits two electrons (2s), but it also has three other orbitals (2p, like Robert said) that each hold two electrons. So, an element with 2+8 electrons (like neon!) has a full valence shell, but oxygen, which only has 2+6, still has two open electron spaces that it wants to fill up.
Incidentally, that’s part of why oxygen likes bonding with itself so much. The two oxygen atoms share two electrons (a double bond), so each ends up feeling like it has a full valence shell of 8(+2).
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I see. Thank you!
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Sometimes I feel like the only reason I signed up for Journalism was to slip Homestuck references into the school newspaper.
Wait, what am I saying? Of course that was the only reason I signed up for Journalism!
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Why else would you sign up for journalism?
Our newspaper is mostly Doctor Who references actually.
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I suddenly want to read it.
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As good a reason as any, I’d say.
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Reading through old MB threads makes me kind of depressed, in a way … Like all these awesome people and threads used to be here, and now they’re barely remembered. And I was a clueless annoying neophyte during said awesome times. It’s not that MB isn’t still flammy, because it is, just in a different way. You know?
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*flings, casts, chucks, hurls, tosses and otherwise throws various pies, flans, dumplings, tarts, cobblers, donuts, croissants, cakes, rolls and other assorted pastries at Rainbow*Storm*
How’s THAT for a blast from the past?
Er…you might not have been there for that, actually.
I know just what you mean. Museblog has continued to be awesome, it’s just changed over the years. Not really for better, not really for worse. It’s still my home, but it’s lost some of the rowdy charm that made it what it was in its heyday. The community right now is much more mature and focused and it feels like a brotherhood. I love that. By heyday I mean at its peak member count, not at its best 
That’s why Beavo showing up was awesome. I mean, Beaves was one of the first to welcome me. In 2007. But it needs to change. I loved it then, I love it now. I was so tiny and adorably pathetic back then, and now I’ve become what I hope is a semi-noticed member of the community. Of course, whatever status I have here is thanks to everyone who ever influenced me. I learned everything about being polite and using teh grammerz from people who were good role models to me. There’s not really anyone for me to pass that on to, but I can still try to be an important pie-ce of the community here.
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It’s funny, because in the early days of the blog no one really cared about other people’s spelling or grammar.
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As I may have said before, it tangentially reminds me of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (which to be honest I don’t entirely understand), in that all language is only a representation of the world and cannot be used to truly convey meaning or even ideas between people. We build conventions to codify language so that it will be more universally understood, but doesn’t the form a message takes warp its meaning? dropping capital letters sets an informal tone adding to, not subtracting from, the content of the message. spelling and grammar only help to build messages between people who need them (who lack the community and familiarity that some of us here have), or who want to use them to add to their tone. Official Letters between heads of state build a formal tone and if need be leave little room for interpretation, but a LOL between friends can say even more in one instant. If we can’t get into eachother’s brains (could we?), I’m all in favor of dropping formality for familiarity.
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I CANNAE UNDERSTAND WUT YYOU’RE SAEYING
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Is that you, Daft Wullie?
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Wullie, ye wee scunner! Get off that bigjob inn-er-net right now! I told ye, them wordy things isnae to be trusted!
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Rob, there is times when a man has tae speak his mind, nae matter how small!
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WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG YOU WERE THE QUEEN OF USING CAPS LOCK
AND HOW YOU TYPED THE PHRASES RATTLING THROUGH OUR HEADS
IN HOLY BURSTS OF SPEECH THAT FELL ABOUT OUR EARS
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PINTLES & GUDGEONS ME LASSIE
PINTLES
AN
GUDGEONS
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FDAKJHGS STILL CRYING OH MY GODDDGHA I DINNAE HOW TO GO ON
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I’m not.
When I read lowercase letters, they have… connotations in my mind. They aren’t the positive ones you’re talking about. They just make the writer seem less mature to me, and I can’t stop it. They bring this… accent, like what little children use, into the writer’s voice in my head… I can’t feel as close to someone if they’re using lowercase letters. I know some people here use lowercase, and I haven’t asked them to stop because that wouldn’t be fair of me, as no-one else seems to mind, but it… bothers me a little tiny bit. And I would never, ever be able to bring myself to do that. I’m not saying I’m right; I’m explaining why I prefer us to use proper capitalization, because whether I’m justified or not, I can’t help my feelings and I want things to be convenient for me.
I agree that language is only a representation of the world. I’m not particularly tied to it, myself; unlike most people, my thoughts aren’t even in words. I think, though, that if we’re going to invent rules for how we express our idea, we ought to stick with them. Capitaliztion is minor, and I can bear it, and I don’t blame people for using it, even if it does make me uncomfortable. I do think anything beyond that is unjustifiable, lazy, and wrong.
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What saddens me was how recently I went through the Who’s Here and my memory and listed every MBer I remember seeing posts by since my arrival. About half(44/96 to be precise) no longer post, and some of those I put down as regular posters have been away for a while.
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Some of us might leave but we’re never really gone.
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“The ones we love never really leave us…”
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That’s the beauty of the Internet.
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Does the walker choose the path, or the path choose the walker?
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How many roads must a man walk down?
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42.
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I WAS HOPING
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Dwelling on the past always does. I can’t really empathize much because I only came in 2008. Things change, but in a way it would be extremely creepy if they didn’t, you know?
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I was doing the same, actually, but I think I prefer MB as it is now. I left MB for a while because I didn’t like the way it had changed from the original – but I’ve come back now because it’s changed again, this time for the better. I think everyone here has grown up, and that’s made the blog an awesome place to be.
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It also makes you wonder where MB will go in the future. Things probably won’t stay the way they are now forever.
And yes, it crushes my soul to see awesome old threads that are no longer posted in, abandoned RPGs and RRRs, and veteran Musers who seem to be gone forever. I feel like we should make more of an effort to remember the past.
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I have lost all creativity when it comes to Christmas presents, so my dad is getting a tie. Meh. But it’s a duct-tape tie, so that’s kind of okay, right?
My life: Went to aunt’s house. Made a million cookies. Came back. Saw my dad. Which was nice.
I kept getting “Happy Hannukah” messages from my friends, which kind of confused me until I realized it’s tomorrow in Singapore.
Oh, wait, it’s actually 1 AM here now… like, that time when all reasonable people are in bed…
I honestly may have just never adjusted to California time. That would explain so much.
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Dust tape tie!?! That’s just awesome.
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Muselover, what’s your gravatar? I’ve seen it before, but have no idea where.
Choklit- I never had creativity in that to start with. I’m not sure if that says anything about me or my family or not, but unless you drop really obvious hints I’ll probably give up and buy something generic like chocolate. Then again, I’m not usually sure exactly what I want.
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I’m not sure, but I think it’s JRR Tolkien’s insignia-thing. The middle part is a J merged with a T, and the two bumps on the sides are Rs.
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Indeed. It’s on all the illustrations of his books, though it might depend on which edition you have.
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Who doesn’t love chocolate?
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Concert #2 of this week today!
Have I mentioned I have 3 concerts in 4 days in Jordan Hall (am I allowed to say that, GAPAs?) yet?
Fun times.
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Happy first night of Hanukah!
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Oh wait a sec – wrong thread. Sugardoodles. Oh well, at least it’s still random.
SFTDP
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Sorting through boxes of random stuff from when I was little, and here’s something weird: at one point I thought Catholicism was the same as Judaism. That is, I simply called Judaism, Catholicism. I believe my thought process must have gone something like this: “Mom, why do we have to go to Grandma’s house today?” “Because there’s a religious festival, dear.” “Religion? Catholicism is a religion.”
Anyway. I was under this impression until I was around ten… I was a stupid child.
My plans for today mostly involve emergency present-shopping and ranting at my computer, which for some reason has entirely ceased to play sound. Any suggestions?
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My brain is still in anthropology mode after the final I just took, so yeah…
Grr! Not everything is there to be analysed, brain!
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hello!
Maybe this has been posted somewhere else and I’m late to the party, or perhaps it’s too specific a link? I understand. Whichever the case, you’ll be happy to know that [http :// articles.chicagotribune . com/2011-12-14/entertainment/ct-ent-1215-allegra-rosenberg-20111214_1_ukulele-song-contest-eps”] Kiki the Great is doing well! Recognized for singing songs, pals with Neil himself.
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Yes, Kiki is dominating her chosen corner of the world very nicely.
We’ve added spaces to “neuter” the link. Ordinarily we wouldn’t reveal an MBer’s real-life identity, but Kiki went public a long time ago, and we’ve swapped e-mail with her parents from time to time.
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That is too cool. Congratulations Kiki!
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That’s fantastic. I’m going to have to write some songs about Sherlock now.
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Yeah, Kiki! She’s a great Mostly Harmless ambassador.
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Wow, this is great, Kiki! And what an awesome article, too.
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I have the article with me right now! It’s in the newspaper I get. My parents saw it and called me to tell me, so I looked it up online and read it. I have the actual copy now, it was waiting for me when I came home I’m so excited on her behalf!
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I’ve listened to almost all of her songs, and they are ridiculously flammy (as is her hair).
ALSO MuseBlog Rock should become a thing at some point. I’d start writing, but I can’t because I’ve got “The Hiatus Song” stuck in my head.
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This is flammy! And Mostly Harmless.
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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. I was just hired as a leader for the month-long wilderness trip my school has in July/August before school starts! I can’t believe it. Mind=blown. (!!!!!!)
I applied, having no expectation of actually getting the position, because I thought it would be good practice for future years when I actually had a chance of getting hired. The letter said “You should feel affirmed in your candidacy, as the pool for this year was extraordinarily competitive and large. We had to make some very tough decisions and decided not to offer positions to some very qualified candidates.” *AAAAAAAHs some more*
I had planned to stop by and write a really long post responding to everyone else and saying other stuff, but I’m just too excited and excitement always trumps judgment and all other thought processes in my mind. Also, I haven’t seen another human since I received this news, so I’m bursting to tell THE WORLD.
Phew. Anyway! Also in recent news, I finished my semester and came home. But on the last day of classes, I was caught watching the stars on the roof of the wellness center with some friends and was fined $500. So, that’s happening in my life, too. Sigh.
But WILDERNESS TRIP LEADER FOR A MONTH IN UTAH WHAT IS MY LIFE OH MY GOSH THIS IS CRAZYYYYYYY.
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Congratulations, Purple Panda! That sounds like so much fun, I’m sure you’ll have a great time! 
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Thanks! I can’t wait!
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finals done but the stress is not. Things are in a bad situation friendgroup-wise and I’ll maybe rant on it later but I have to pack for my 3am train now x_x
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The first trailer for The Hobbit is out.
It.
Is.
WONDERFUL.
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Have you a link? Youtube is full of confusing, fake, fanmade clutter.
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Apple Trailers is better.
trailers.apple.com/ trailers/wb/thehobbit/
[Special dispensation for the (delinkified) link. –Admin.]
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I figured you would let that one through.
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IT’S OUT?! ITS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *goes completely bonkers* *has been waiting forever and now has to figure out how to watch it since the school computers blocked YouTube*
YayYayYayYayYay.
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LaLaLaLa I should be asleep right now…
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The Hobbit.
Trailer.
Beauty.
That is all.
Except–ONE WHOLE YEAR. How are we even supposed to exist that long in this state of excitement?
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THEY EVEN HAD THE SONG
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Over the Misty Mountains cold…
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As soon as I heard the song, I thought, “Oh my gosh I am totally dressing up as Fili, I will start growing my beard now.”
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I am making a stuffed squid for my best friend for Christmas.
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Guess who’s morphed overnight from a human into a crochet fanatic? Since getting some hooks and four skeins of yarn last night I’ve made one and a third scarves and a pair of mitts.
I intend to finish the second scarf and make lots more mitts as Christmas presents. (and by “Christmas presents” I actually mean after-new-years presents, because that’s how I roll.)
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EEEHEEHEEHEE HOBBIT TRAILER.
Happy Hannukah. I am now the Dreidel Queen.
And, for all of you eagerly awaiting the next installment of Choklit’s Kitchen Fiascos: beware the flaming latkes.
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Sounds really fun! Our first day of Hannukah went something like this:
“Ok, we lit the candles, now let’s go decorate the Christmas tree!” (We’re the sort of people who are usually agnostic, but we celebrate ALL the holidays)
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Our families are exactly alike. Mine was something like, “Don’t put the menorah next to the Christmas tree, dear. It’s flammable.”
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Oh, that would probably be a good idea. We managed to set 3 things that weren’t latkes on fire with the candles, including part of the table because my brother dropped a match on it.
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We have a tree and a menorah lit up too. Flammably flammy.
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Just now realizing that Pottermore has dueling back up…
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Random bad dream woke me up. The seniors in my chemistry class built a robot and then I helped them build it, but it went berserk in the hallway and started killing people and the school was evacuated, but our moderately insane chemistry teacher locked the classroom down and we couldn’t leave. And she had these cages of rats and days passed and they began to eat each other and she was all cryptic about it and eventually there was just one huge bloody rat. And then she opened the cage. And then I woke up.
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Yikes! Sounds like the scene from “Which Witch?”!
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Exactly, minus the skeletal stuff. All that nice childhood reading has a tendency to return in weird ways…
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That scene was flipping scary, even as a kid!
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I could have sworn I posted here concerning the Hobbit Trailer… where did it go?
Well, what I said was, “ITS OUT!!!!! *goes bonkers* *has to figure out how to watch it since school blocked YouTube*
Update: A roomie lent me her blackberry,so I got to watch it.
It. Was. Amazing. But I agree with Alice – how are we going to wait??
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Comment 19.2.
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Concerning hobbits…
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Somewone just swore at me for no apparent reason on another website. Thee times. I feel like never going anyplace else on the internet ever again.
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That’s my policy, basically.
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*gives huggable squid that won’t ever, ever, ever use profanity*
I know how you feel- I’ll be innocently cruising YouTube videos and wish I could delete all the comments. People! Why post this stuff? Y U no better judgement?
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YouTube comments are the worst, I try not to read them. What I really hate is when people carry on very angry and totally unrelated political arguments in the comments on space videos.
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I won’t link to it due to language, but there’s an xkcd that illustrates exactly what you’re talking about, even the space bit.
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idiots it was a soundstage on mars
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u dont think we went to the moon why not tell louis armstrong to his face
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I…I’m a moron. I never knew.
(I’m aware that’s not the one in question, it just worked well.)
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Whenever I read the word “moron” I picture a small Wheatley in my head saying “I! AM NOT! A MORON!”
… I’m the only one who has a small Wheatley voice in my head, aren’t I?
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No, you most certainly are not. Especially since Wheatley’s “Hello!” is one of my Skype notification noises.
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Yes, I’ve seen that one.
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I decided never to read comments on anything popular (which here means ‘read by non-nerds’ after reading an inappropriate comment on a blog created by an 11-year-old.
I was older than 11 when I read it, and it disturbed me. It still does. The writer of the blog was eleven.
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man yeah. My new rule is to not read the comments on articles/etc. I am a much less angry person when I don’t read them.
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Ouch.
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Nerds can be just as hateful, inappropriate and unthinking as non-nerds, sadly.
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Yesterday I read an article on a comedy site, and scrolled down to look at the comments thinking “There’s no way this topic won’t start a flame war, so let’s see it”. I was still surprised.
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I have made a roll of never scrolling down to read comments on (A certain astronomy news site), but I think the worst commenters of all are on (A certain online general news site).
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Bath salts scare me. Apparently it is getting really bad in my area. A teenage boy who attends the other half of my school was found to be in possession of a ridiculously large amount of money’s worth of bath salts. Has anyone else here heard about them? I don’t know, that might be a completely stupid question, but the problem is fairly recent in Maine, as far as I can tell.
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I’m a bit confused- why are bath salts a problem? I thought they were just things that people dissolved in their baths.
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It’s probably a street name for some kind of drug … (Going to my school has taught me that almost any word you can think of is a street name for drugs.)
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Same here.
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Yep. In fact, at my school any common word can be convoluted and taken to mean something offensive. Sometimes it feels like every time you open your mouth to speak people give you odd looks and say, ‘Eew, that sounds so wrong’.
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It’s also the street name for some interesting new drugs! And by interesting, I mean dangerous stimulants, as usual. I was confused at first too, but a few articles I found via googling have helped that.
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… oh… Oops. Yes, on the subject of drugs (did I mention this already?) the guy who used to sit next to me in Physics was expelled for possessing large amounts of cocaine, which is something that scares me.
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Yes, ‘bath salts’ is a street name for a type of drug. Sorry for any confusion; if there is a proper name, I don’t know it. Also, a correction to my post: not a teenage boy, and he doesn’t attend my school. Something my history teacher said made me think that. I read the newspaper, and a 26-year-old was found in possession of 170,000 dollars worth of bath salts, which he was selling. I’m rather freaked out by this, since it was in my town and not just my general area.
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I thought the same thing when I first read Mikazuki’s post. I don’t really know much about drugs and their street names, so I’d never heard of bath salts as being a name for anything other than…well, bath salts, really.
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I didn’t know bath salts were a drug either but it seemed reasonable enough to find them frightening. I was curious what the problem was.
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So in 2007 I went to an art camp where the class made an undersea mural. It was tons of fun. I drew a turtle.
Today in band Altosax told me she was getting psychic messages of that art camp and (upon further interrogation) that she had seen my turtle at a Hannukah festival at the place the art center was relocated to. Apparently my name was somewhere? Somehow that made my day. Also there was a squid in the mural.
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Back in IL. This is the first time I’ve been glad to be leaving college. Things turned into a mess social-situation wise and I’m not sure what’s going to happen anymore but for today I am going to watch internet tv and play mindless games and not think/stress/cry about it anymore.
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So my little sister just came home, and I took one look at her and screamed because her whole face was bright pink. Then I asked, “Did you paint your face?” and she said yes, she did it herself. “Why on earth did you paint your face?” I asked. “You have a dance recital in a few minutes.” And she said, “I didn’t paint my face. It’s blush.”
“But it’s all over your face,” I said.
“Yeah,” she said, “Carter and Samantha and I put it all over our faces for the talent show.”
“It’s all over your forehead!” I said. “You don’t put blush on your FOREHEAD! Or your nose! Or your chin!”
“Oh,” she said. “Well, I didn’t know that.”
I had to scrub her whole forehead with eye-makeup remover. I guess you had to be there.
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Augh, really? I went to a friend’s house yesterday (there were five of us) and somehow we ended up abusing the giant 100-piece makeup kits. I ended up looking like a raccoon with war paint. My friend ended up looking like she had been badly sunburned.
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I just realized that the screen was all blurry because focusing my eyes on it was too much effort.
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Past a certain number of hours without sleep, my eyes will focus and unfocus apparently at random. It makes for some interesting nights, if I have to stay up late to finish a paper or something.
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that’s strange. My eyes don’t unfocus, but they do sometimes start dilating randomly if I’m in a dark room looking at something bright for too long, which is often when I’m staying up late to work on a paper.
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Mine never make things blurry, but they often give me double vision. Oddly, the unreal version is generally clearer than the real version; if I’m not wearing my glasses, and my digital clock is next to me, I can’t read it, but if I let my eyes create a new version, well, that I can read. Or if it’s on the other side of the room, double vision will at least let me see which colors are where.
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Mine do that too.
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Oh dear. Please get some sleep if that’s the reason. Yes it’s for the weak, but we are all wimpy sleep requiring humans.
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Sleep is for the weak, but if you start becoming weak, you are allowed to sleep.
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My favorite part of the Hobbit trailer is the music! I was really curious how it would go in relation to the LotR music and as its own piece.
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Does anyone else click on one of the comments at random in the Recent Comments section, read the conversation that sparked it, and then feel compelled to post on that thread despite having absolutely nothing to say? Because I just did that. Again. And I’m kind of driving myself crazy(er).
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I don’t normally use caps-lock, but…
I AM DONE WITH FINALS! WOOO!
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I just saw The Hobbit trailer and immediately came here to talk about it. Not sure what to say, other than the usual “SQUEE!” and vague “Ican’twaitIcan’twaitIcan’twait”s. *sigh* I really do want to see it though. I’m already making plans, despite it being a year in the future–it comes out during finals week; but there should still be some diehard LotR fans who are willing to skip studying and watch the movie with me, right? Because if not I won’t get to see it until after Winter Break. Darn my family’s movie policy.
Anyhoo. I will calm down, try not to plan things too far in advance, and watch the trailer again.
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I saw the trailer too! It was flammy! I will anticipate with you! GAPAs, this should go on the Suggestion Box, but should we have a thread for this like we had for DH2? Perhaps closer to the movie’s premiere?
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Fiddler (23): YES yarn stuff! I have knit two hats since I got home for winter break; it’s great! How long did it take you to make the mitts? I’ve never ventured beyond hats and scarves.
Treebird (28): Yup, hiding is a good plan.
Jade (31): JADESTONE I LOVE YOU AND AM SENDING BIG BIG HUGS.
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School is out.
I have 2 weeks to just work on projects. Personal ones. Guess what I’m doing now-or don’t guess, since I shall not reveal what it is until I finish it.
Oh, don’t worry. It’s mostly harmless. 
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Happy new year! *blows noisemaker* If anyone remembers the alternate calendar I made a while ago, today’s the first day of Inanta! Not only is it a new year, but it’s a new cycle as well, which means the winter festival would’ve been even more celebratory than usual. We’re now in Cycle 32, Year 1. Since it’s a leap year, the summer festival will have five days this year, which is always fun.
Anyway, I should get to bed. I’ve been sorting images for two hours and my eyes are tired.
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It’s 6 A.M. and most people my age are still asleep. Then again, most of them go to bed at 3 in the morning or whatever, so I feel great.
Today my elite singing group is going to a mall to sing for the shoppers. I’m a little nervous as I don’t know all the words, but the rest of the chorus will cover for me, right? RIGHT!?
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Good luck, NNP! And have fun- I know I love going to gigs with my advanced jazz combo and playing places.
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Well, I survived. We didn’t sing the song that I didn’t know all the words too, so everythign turned out swell. My dad was there, which was nice.
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I think you guys would be rather proud of me.
I don’t watch TV as a rule, but I managed a third of the first episode of Doctor Who before my computer froze. One day when my computer loads properly I shall finish it.
*bows and flourishes*
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Yay! *dances* Did you see the first Classic, or the first New? I’m not a big fan of the first few episodes of New Series Season 1, but they are definitely worth getting through.
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Hip hip hooray!
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Woo-hoo! *cheers* Was it ‘An Unearthly Child’ or ‘Rose’?
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‘Rose’ it is.
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Welcome to the madness!
Did you enjoy what you saw?
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Somehow I got the idea into my head that I should start reading Homestuck because clearly I have too much time on my hands and not enough obsessions. Where can I find it and subsequently begin my fandom?
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Google MS Paint Adventures. Good luck!
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Wait- is this the one that starts out with the thirteen-year-old who plays with fake arms and a magic kit?
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Yup.
(that is hilarious reading it from where I am)
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Aww, great, you’ve got me reading it now.
“because clearly I have too much time on my hands and not enough obsessions”
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Me too.
I started a month or so ago… but now I return.
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I watched the first two episodes of Sherlock last night! I would have watched all of the but for some reason my sister wanted to go to bed at 1:30am. Anyway, it is amazing and wonderful.
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Oh, do watch the rest. The third is arguably the best one. It’s less Holmes-y than the others, but its standard mystery plot works wonderfully.
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I just finished! Very, very good. I wish I owned these DVDs instead of having borrowed them from my friend so that I could watch this all the time…
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Sorry for the double post, but that bromance though. I finally had a breakthrough with explaining the word “ship” to my sister after the first episode. I love how everyone kept thinking they were together, and almost more so how even after that died down in the second and third episodes they were just… perfect. Clearly this has been added to the (not terribly long) list of things that I ship hard.
Also, I saw Sherlock about one day after seeing the new Sherlock Holmes movie (haven’t seen the first one yet) and I must say that I like the BBC show better. It’s much cleaner and easier to follow and even though the modern setting is less interesting it seems to add to the show somehow.
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I think I like the movie’s Moriarty better, maybe just because he’s a professor? I totally agree about the cleanliness though, the movies try to imply complexity or wit by moving quickly and adding lots of visual noise.
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Thinking about it, though, the BBC’s Moriarty is actually really close to Doyle’s original character. The original was more of a flippant, sadistic master of disguise, which was captured beautifully in Steven Moffat’s interpretation.
Sorry. Sherlock Holmes fanatic that I am, I find Sherlock to be the greatest and most faithful adaptation ever.
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Oh I really need to get my act together and watch the 3rd one. And Moffat is the BEST at Sherlock (Also an exceptionally devoted fan, for only having seen two episodes)
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DO IT I’m already on my third time through the series. I’m excited for the next episode!
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My school doesn’t let out for break until after Christmas!
We get school off the whole of next week, but have school tomorrow, the day before Christmas Eve (Christmas Eve Eve?).
Oh well. At least there is only one teacher who insists on having us work tomorrow.
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I’m in Ohio again! The first semester of college made me lose my penchant for watching tv, which I’m pretty happy about.
How is everyone?
I think next semester I might try to stay on here. I subscribed my school address to MUSE. :]
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Quickly, knit ALL the last-minute presents!
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Sew ALL the squid tentacles!
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I love my teachers. They turned the last 3 hours of class into giant game of Clue, assigned no homework but to read a book of our choice for half an hour, and for the last day before break (tommorow) we get to go skating.
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My cousins are referencing hitchhiker’s! Awesome!
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38 (Pan)~ The mitts are pretty easy, just tubes with thumb holes. A pair takes a few hours, maybe 4? I’m not sure.
I went to the ocean today! I got to watch waves and take pictures of things and collect shells, and gaze longingly at the horizon. It was glorious. I could taste the salt, not just smell it. I love big water.
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I need some ocean.
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Agreed. I miss it.
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I love the ocean. It makes me feel like the world is much bigger than I am.
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Same. Especially when you live in a city.
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I’ve… never been to the ocean, actually.
Big water is wonderful, though. *lives in the Great Lakes state* I went to Lake Ontario during my Thanksgiving Break trip to New York. The shore’s covered with these really, really smooth red and gray stones- sandstone, I think. I scratched HPB’s and MuseBlog’s URL and such into a few, but there don’t seem to have been any results.
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Wait. Really?
No oceans?
…I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.
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I finally finished ‘Rose’ because my computer finally loaded it entirely.
I’M UP FOR MOOOOOOOOORE
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It has started.
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Two episodes. ohgoshwhathaveIgottenmyselfinto–Yes, it has.
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I’m on episode 5 or 6, I think.
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GO ON A BINGE TILL THE EMPTY CHILD
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GO ON A BINGE THROUGH THE EMPTY CHILD
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GUYS AM I BEING CORRUPTED IMPROVED HERE
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FINE
BINGE TILL THE DOCTOR DANCES
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TILL THE WEDDING OF RIVER SONG
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TILL THE DOCTOR THE WIDOW THE WARDROBE
BECAUSE IT HASN’T COME OUT YET
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JUST HOP IN YOUR TARDIS AND GO TO A TIME WHEN IT HAS AND THEN BINGE ALL THE WAY THROUGH SERIES 8
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Museblog: We produce Whovians.
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I love you guys. (But of course you already knew that.)
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Museblog: Fixing the hole where the sanity comes in.
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Ah, I remember when I was sane. It wasn’t much fun.
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Sanity? What’s that?
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PLUG THE LEAK.
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Is it contagious? OHGODGETITAWAYFROMME!!!!
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I think I must have been sanity proof from the beginning.
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Not sanity!
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Arrg, evil computer. I thought I changed it back to Treebird…
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What? Why did it put that there! I replied to post 51.1.1.3.2.1.2…which disappeared. Bad computer!
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Home from college.
Now, bed…
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Cake.
I just accidentally downloaded some random Nickelodeon show from iTunes. Thankfully it was free, but in order to keep it from starting the download every time I open the application, I have to download and subsequently delete the entire season.
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I must be tired. I just misread “Cake” as “Cskia”… from a distance on a small screen, though, that makes a sort of sense.
I must be tired anyways because I just had a revelation along the lines of “sheep are not ducks.”
Anyways I have posted on this thread way too much today but I just wanted to mention that I have a 42.5 x 55 inches hand drawn picture of a giant space squid with Earth and Titan and “MOSTLY HARMLESS” taped on my wall. That is 25 pieces of printer paper. Does it make sense that I am proud that I finished it in a day?
anyways good night zzzzzzzzzz
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help.
I promised my friend I would watch MLP:FiM.
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Well, it’s not to bad…
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Not too bad? Not too bad?!?!
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JOIN THE HERD. YOU KNOW YOU CAN’T RESIST.
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I used to wonder what ponies could be (My little bronies)
Until the internet came and showed me
Procrastination, tons of songs
Great animation, so come along
Share the ponies, it’s an easy feat
And Lauren Faust made it all complete!
Yeah, my little bronies
Do you know this is the very best show?
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Yup, that’s pretty much it.
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…Why did someone squid that?
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Sorry, that was me. I was hoping my erratic touchscreen’s folly would go unnoticed. So a late SFTMC to ZNZ. By the way, that is probably how Piggy’s squidding got started. Then once he noticed it, reverse psychology took care of the rest.
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Just watched my second Dr. Who episode ever. I watched the one with the weeping angels a few years ago, and now, the day before our Christmas break, our English class watched one where they go back and meet Charles Dickens. A very good one, though the British accents can be hard to understand sometimes
Also, the day after Christmas, my family, my sister’s friend’s family, and my sister’s boyfriends family will be leaving for Guatemala on a mission trip. Pienso que se tan espanol, pero mis padres no saben nada. Should be fun, and I’ll be gone for ten days, unless I can find one of those internet cafes my guide was talking about.
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Have fun, stay safe, and do good work!
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“I plan that I know such Spanish”? (Use “creer” for “think/believe”, and use “pensar” for “think/plan”.)
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I was always taught that when “que” is placed after Pensar, it means to think that. Failing that, our teacher always taught that context would get the message across, even if it is normally used the other way.
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It can mean that, but it’s much more common to use “creer”, at least in my experience. For “enough”, you could use “bastante” or “suficiente”.
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Oh, thank you!
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Oh, and SFTDP, but I though that “tan” meant “enough”
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Tan grande would be a better usage. Tan is more like so. I’d agree with Piggy that bastante or suficiente would be good.
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Does anyone know of a program with similar features to Garage Band, but for Windows? Lately I’ve been feeling like making music, for some reason.
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Hmm, Acoustica Mixcraft looks promising.
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Audacity is a good program.
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It doesn’t have virtual instruments, though, does it?
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My brother told me about a program called “Reaper.” You can try it free for 30 days, completely uncrippled. There’s a lower price for noncommercial use. Looks like it supports plug-ins for virtual instruments.
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THAT WAS
SO AWESOME
So last night some marching band buddies and I went caroling. (a sousaphone who was in choir and I provided vocals) As in, arrange music, cart instruments and music stands block to block, and generally provide culture to people. We somehow earned $29 and a gingerbread cookie for no other reason than we played and they asked. Pretty good haul for seven people.
But then we decided to go to our music teacher’s house since we knew where he lived. And the door opened right as we were about to ring it, and Mr. [snip] sees us all out there with our santa hats on and music stands and he has this flabbergasted look on his face. We start to play, and he just starts laughing. After we finish our first song, he invites us inside.
Turns out he was having a party, his guests loved us and he had all this food. He told us to eat and made us hot chocolate. It was surreal, like something out of a weird dream. I was in Mr. [snip’s] house, eating his food, and he had invited us in.
We took pictures, played one more song, and left.
THIS IS THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER
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Sounds great!
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MR. SNIP
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MR. SNIP IS THE BEST TEACHER EVER
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He is also, according to elasticated string theory, the worst teacher ever, until he is observed.
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DON’T BLINK or you’ll fail your SAT.
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MB Business: Attention all RATs, our first SPACE meeting is now underway in the H&H! Stop by to check out the presentations and submit your own! And Happy Apollo 8 Week!
Personal: I went back to my High School today to see my old teachers. Not all of them were there, as it was the last day before break and visitors were only allowed inside after the final bell rang, so some of them had already left by the time I got to their rooms. But all of the ones I did see gave me hugs, even the strict ones.
I finished reading the Smithsonian issues that came while I was away, and got to visit the public library! And tomorrow, my whole family is going to the rec center and I can jog on the track!
It’s good to be home.
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Getting ready to watch Grave of the Fireflies tonight for the first time. Wish me luck.
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Once you’re done weeping uncontrollably, what did you think of the movie?
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It was beautiful *sob*. But…GAAAAAH SHE DIDN’T WAKE UP *bashes head against wall*
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Off to Vietnam for a week! Trekking in the mountains so I won’t have any internet.
What will happen about the Holiday Party, Gift Tree and such?
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Have fun, Sel!
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A friend of mine painted me an awesome picture of Pinkie Pie for Christmas. It’s sparkly and incredibly fantastic. I’m not sure how best to display it–I don’t really want to hang it on the wall, so maybe some sort of easel/stand for it would be better? I’ll figure it out. It’s just awesome.
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Wow, sweet! Why don’t you want to hang it on the wall, though?
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If I hung it on the wall here at home, I couldn’t see it in my dorm. If I hung it on the wall at my dorm, I couldn’t see it here at home.
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Strategic webcam placement.
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And be unable to see the brushstrokes? Piffle.
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A really massive x-ray telescope.
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Good point, Papa Bear.
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Portal gun.
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Since I’m now a Canadian citizen, my dad made me memorize all the provinces/territories. Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Northern Territories, Yukon Territories, Nunavut, and gah there is one more province isn’t there.
I’M SORRY FORGOTTEN PROVINCE T_T
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… Ontario! It was Ontario. *facepalm*
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It’s a family tradition to open our gifts on Christmas Eve, so among other flammy things, I was given a huge poster with all of the jouyou kanji as well as The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. I also got some really delicious-smelling hot chocolate mix. I like Christmas.
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Nice, Piggy!
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We open half the presents on Christmas Eve and the other half on Christmas day.
We have an interesting family.
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Got a noooook It has colorrrrrr. So many books!
(opened immediate family’s gifts this morning as we’re driving 3 hours to the relatives for tonight/tomorrow)
Feeling a bit better stress-wise. I’ll make a post sometime but probably not today. Today will be filled with reading and pointless video games.
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Oh, I have a nook color! They’re great, but take good care of the screen so it won’t mess up like mine does.
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How so? Like, avoid knocking/dropping it or something more specific?
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I open gifts on Christmas Eve too. I got three volumes of Naruto, Children of the Mind, a Hunger Games boxed set, and two volumes of Pokémon Special. Oh, and the DVD of Super 8.
I’ll be in my room if you need me.
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Christmas tomorrow. Last-minute presents today:
– 1 duct tape tie
– 2 crocheted hats
– 1 plate of latkes
– 4 cards
I CAN DO THIS.
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I’m not sure whether to squid or pie this. *squidpie*
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Went and watched the movie Tintin with a friend today. It was really awesome, I strongly recommend it to any fan of the books. Also, the preview of Hobbit was on before. I can see why so many of you are geeking out over it, though I never got into the series. It looks pretty cool.
Also saw a preview for a movie based on The Lorax. The bar’s pretty high, isn’t it, since they already did Horton Hears a Who. But it looked really cool from the preview, and it’s from the makers of Despicable Me.
HAPPY [holiday name here] EVERYONE!!!
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So today I go and ask my mother if we can go to the library tomorrow.
“Um, FantasyFan, it’s Christmas tomorrow. I don’t think it’ll be open.”
“…It is?”
Something like this happens every year. Every year, I tell you.
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I do that too. Except our library also has random furlough days, and half the days I walk there it’s closed.
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Choklit Orange (47): That’s EXACTLY what I’ve been doing! I’ve knit two hats, a scarf, and a tie in the past few days. I’m about to start on another hat.
Fiddler (50): Tubes with thumb holes — great! I’ll definitely have to try those out when I am reunited with my crochet hook back at school. //ALSO OCEAN. Was it warm?
I also watched my first Doctor Who episode yesterday. I started with whatever Netflix calls season 2, the Christmas one with David Tennant.
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Happy Christmas eve, Museblog!
I’m still crocheting. Make ALL the presents! I go for after-New-Year’s gifts, not Christmas gifts. I’m never on the ball enough for Christmas gifts. I didn’t get any cards out this year either. Ah well, I’ve had enough to deal with, I suppose I don’t need to feel horribly guilty.
Hope everyone is having a lovely Christmas eve!
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Today I discovered that there is a tiny nook upstairs in our library behind Genealogy, where no one ever goes, which houses an ancient beanbag chair and a few shelves containing pretty much every Tolkien analysis ever written. Apparently these are the books that the library doesn’t want to throw away, but which were taken off the main shelves because they were never read.
I love it when I find magical places like that.
Also, I bought separate copies of all three LotR books, which means I no longer have to drag around my enormous and disintegrating volume of the entire thing (I know it’s technically one book, but it’s very heavy). This makes me smile. Also, I got them all for $1.50 and the cashier threw in a copy of Unseen Academicals.
Life is good.
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My family brings in the tree four hours ago and decorates it an hour ago.
(not because we’re lazy or anything psh no what are you talking about)
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Happy Christmas Eve to those who celebrate!
Now, to close up and get ready for bed.
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Hogfather is the best book to read on Christmas Eve. ^^
Also, PORTAL 2 TOMORROW EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
CANNOT SLEEP BUT PROBABLY SHOULD TO IMPROVE CONCENTRATION AND MOTOR SKILLS
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We ate crab, tonight, with our Christian friends. It’s a Christmas Eve tradition in northern California. And our friends are from the American South, so we also had a nice bowl of gumbo, and we topped it off with buttery pasta, and Dad had baked a cranberry tart and brought it over along with some caramel ice cream.
The wonder of dinners with those friends is that you sit down to eat at 7:30, and by 9:00, you’re not quite ready for the third course. They’re slow, and leisurely, and the other kids and I sat down at the end of the table and talked about Lord of the Rings music and newspaper class and bonfires on the beach. We cleaned up the plates and washed them, too, and then we stood awkwardly in the entrance hall and casually, viciously insulted each other like only people who are as close as siblings can do, and my brother made me laugh for the first time in a very, very long time.
And we waited for Santa Claus. And on the way home, we saw an enormous menorah shape made out of Christmas lights on a house that also featured a detailed nativity scene, and the world’s worst version of “The Little Drummer Boy†came on the radio, and we all shouted “BA-RUMPUMPUMPUM†at the top of our lungs and shivered until the plates we were holding clattered and huddled against each other for warmth.
And then the song changed, and we listened to Matisyahu rap about Hanukkah and loved each other and hated each other and needed each other, desperately needed each other, for warmth and for food and for no reason at all but that we had needed each other for a very, very long time. And we lied to each other: that the pasta was delicious, that the present was just what we needed, that we didn’t want the last crab leg, that it was no big deal, that we didn’t care, that we did care, that we were okay, that we didn’t love each other, that we did.
So. That, I think, is the true meaning of Christmas.
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Since it’s seven minutes past midnight here, may I be the first to wish you a happy Christmas?
Emergency present-wrapping, yeah, because I am so organized and on top of everything.
Hannukah fail #15: when you flip your latkes by flicking the pan, and they fly up and stick to the ceiling.
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You may. And, since it’s Christmas morning here, I shall be the first to wish you Happy Christmas back.
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Hey, it’s only 6:30 here but I’m up and running on adrenaline. I can see some peppermint bark pieces peeking out of my stocking, and several generous presents under the tree.
EEEEEEEEE I LOVE CHRISTMAS EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE AND MY COUSINS ARE COMING DOWN FROM CANADA THIS AFTERNOON EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
@ Rainbow: It has been scientifically proven that sleeping, although good for humans, is a sign of weakness. If you were a real human, you wouldn’t need sleep. Therefore, you are weak.
((Derp, I can’t make up lines for GlaDOS.))
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“When Santa left the North Pole that evening, a gentle mist was falling. In his yellow slicker and big rubber boots, he set out on his annual journey. It was Christmas Eve, and soon children around the world would be hearing the sound of Santa and his rain gear. Little George was waiting for Santa to come. Suddenly he heard the sound of someone walking on the roof! It was a man in a yellow slicker and big rubber boots! ‘I saw him!’ shouted George. ‘I saw Santa and his rain gear!’ (Don’t squirm, ma’am, there’s more to come!) The rain came down harder and harder, but the man in the yellow slicker and big rubber boots never faltered. Another Christmas Eve had passed, and Santa and his rain gear had done their job! The end.”
Merry Christmas, MuseBlog. I forgot to get you a present, but I hope you have a jolly sort of yule.
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I got, among other things, almost enough money to buy the new Stratocaster I’ve been looking at, a huge bag of crystallized ginger, flannel pajamas, a chord chart poster, fingerless gloves, and the new Black Keys album, El Camino.
And do you know what I got you guys? A really big hug and my appreciation for you all. Thank you for being here. :3
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Black Keys? I approve completely.
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Happy Holidays, MuseBlog.
I had a wonderful Christmas. Last night my family had our Christmas Eve party, as always, and me and the rest of the kids sat downstairs and consumed a ridiculous amount of Christmas cookies. Basically, we sat around and talked about Santa Claus and Christmas and life and school and such. It was lovely, as I hadn’t seen these people in a while and we could just catch up.
Anyway, this morning was nice too. It’s almost time for lunch, and my parents and I are still in our pajamas. We had a mostly homemade Christmas this year, except for Doctor Who shirts and buttons and a book about DW philosophy and a sonic screwdriver. Insert fangirl squee. I have no idea how my relatives know I like Doctor Who, but there you go.
Currently, it’s snowing outside. The house is warm and cozy and my parents are curled up on the couch. I have a lot of warm, fuzzy feelings. I hope everyone has had/will have/is having a wonderful day.
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Merry Christmas Museblog! (and happy other holidays)
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Whoops.. I forgot to change my name…
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We’re glad that you’re feeling happy for the holidays. Have a very merry Christmas.
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Stick around! I’m glad you’re still here, Mysterious One. Enjoy your cup of cheer
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yay! tablet!
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Happy Holidays, MuseBlog!
Typing this on my BRAND NEW LAPTOP (with Windows 7 and a ten-year-old sister reading this) hi people this is the ten year old sister here and this is my laptop too so back to agent lightning
Anyway, yes, my charming sister would like to add that technically this is her laptop, (technically?, okay, it is her laptop too) and we’re both having a great time wearing new socks and Doctor Who t-shirts. (Mine says ‘Single/Taken/Waiting for a mad man with a box’ and hers says ‘The angels have the phone box’.)
I am pretty much eating every Mexican wedding cake in sight, as well as the remnants of the backlava. And having lots of fun doing so!
She would also like to add that “My sister is a grammar freak so don’t listen to her.”
…
Anyway, merry Christmas/happy other holidays. like Kwanzaa, says my sister.
And there is a huge package still under the tree which is very large thank you very much and I’m pretending really hard to not know what’s in it.
(I also got a straight mute for my trombone! Squee!)
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MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!!!
I GOT SKYRIM!!!! AND POKEMON WHITE!!!!!! AND THIS COOL CHESS LIKE GAME WITH LASERS!!!!
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Khat, or Khet, or Khut or something, right?
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Khet, yes. Do you have it too?
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Well, I tried MOST of the vowels. No, I don’t, but I’ve heard it’s quite fun.
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Hey, I don’t know if this is an appropriate venue for this, but if you/your parents are considering donating money to places I just found out about CAMFED, which is this organization that pays for girls in Africa to attend school. Worth checking out.
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Merry Christmas! ♥
I hung out with my parents! At home! Like we do every year! Eh…
What does it say about me that the present I was most excited about opening was the massive book? It turned out to be Mary Stewart’s Merlin trilogy, which I’d never heard of, but it seems good.
We went to carol services at two different churches, one on Christmas Eve and the other on the day before. And later on Christmas Eve we watched Star Trek: Voyager. Oh yeah!
I also ate lots of Christmas food and various cookies and chocolates. Can’t forget that aspect of Christmas. And watched 3 different TV programs, which were good.
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Merry Christmas everybody! All I got was clothes and a book… But soo much good food will come later!!
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My sisters both go iPads for Christmas. I’m really happy for them, and I got a laptop earlier this year, so I’m not jealous at all. In addition to what I previously mentioned, I got an absurd amount of iTunes gift cards, as well as a $25 prepaid debit card.
Still have to finish those Narutos, though. Better get to it.
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Merry Christmas! (Even if you don’t celebrate it, I want you to be merry). I had an excellent day–well, days. Today we went to our grandparents’ house, so there wasn’t time to open our gifts in the morning like we usually do. My mom wasn’t willing to open them Christmas Eve morning, and we didn’t want to take all of our gifts with us to another town, so we opened them Christmas Eve evening. That should have been good, since it’s technically earlier than Christmas morning, but it wasn’t, because it meant having to wait for most of the day instead of just through breakfast. This made me very impatient, which for me means acting like a 5-year-old who’s just had too many Christmas cookies. (In my defense, the people who most emphasize not paying attention to material things at Christmas tend to be the same sorts of people who want you to see things through the eyes of a child). I was delighted when the time came, though! I got what I really wanted (8 CDs about how to notice more when you’re out in nature, part of a course called Kamana that also includes a book I had already, and also enough money from different people to buy the next part once I’m through) and an amazing surprise–a Kindle! I’m delighted. Well, my brother and I are sharing it, but it’s a Kindle! With free books!! I’ve already read Through the Looking Glass and am working my way through Les Mis–I’m not sure how many pages I’ve read, but although I’m on chapter 18, I’m only 4% through the book, so it must be even longer than I thought. It’s great, though! My brother and I have downloaded a lot of books we plan to read, too; I’m actually glad it’s his, too, because he has good taste and gets books I wouldn’t think to “buy” (They call it that even though it’s free) but would love to read, like The Prince by Machiavelli. He read a sentence out of it, and it’s even more Slytherin than my wildest imaginings. I don’t plan on taking any of his advice, of course, but I’m hoping it’ll help me understand people so that I can’t be manipulated. I also got some very nice little things, like a stone with a hole in it that my mom and I will make something from.
Everything has really been wonderful; I’ve had delicious food and met family members I haven’t seen for a while. I think we’ll play Scrabble tomorrow. I like Scrabble. And there’s so much to read!
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You’re reading Les Mis you’re reading Les Mis you’re reading Les Mis! I literally just squealed! Let me hug you because you are an amazing human being! I finished that about a week ago, and it’s one of my favourites of all time! Isn’t it absolutely glorious? I love it so so much! Who’s your favourite character? If you’ve only read the first eighteen chapters you’ll still be reading about the bishop, right? That goes on for… wow, about twenty-five chapters, I think? (I read it on Kindle as well, so I don’t know the page count.) I love the bishop, he’s wonderful, but his section is a bit interminable. Have you seen the musical yet? The musical (twenty-fifth anniversary concert, specifically; I haven’t seen any others yet but I’m really eager to listen to other casts especially since I understand there are several songs cut out of the 25ac[? I am open to clarification on this point.] and of course I dream a dream of eventually seeing it live that would be heaven) was the reason I read the book but I have no idea if you’ve seen it; I don’t know if you have so I’ll try not to post any spoilers; that would be rather cruel; no one should have a book like Les Mis ruined for them (not that I see the musical as ruining).
And gah gah gah I can’t wait till you’ve finished so I can talk to you about it! I don’t know anyone in real life who’s read the brick (well, my French teacher has but I can’t really rant fangirlishly talk to her) and while my family’s all seen the musical it’s not the same at all, and in fact they’re all thoroughly sick of hearing about that, let alone my Hugo rants.
(It is clear that I am extremely emotionally invested in this book… I think that perhaps somebody should probably just shoot me now. It would be a mercy kill by this point. But, M’sieur, don’t mock me now, I pray. It’s hard enough I’ve lost my pride.)
I’m just going to post this now.
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ZNZ, my touchscreen must feel sorry for you because everything of yours that I pie it ends up squidding.
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I am inordinately amused by the idea that your touchscreen pities me. Um. Perhaps I ought to go to bed.
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I’ve read the unabridged Brick; you can squeal to me. (My friend’s read it nineteen times. Jeesh.)
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I’ve read more of it now; I’m 9 percent through. I’m in chapter… *checks* 2 now, of book 3, but I’m almost done with it. It’s amazing! Book 2 was so sad! It was incredible!
The only characters I know in any depth at all yet are the Bishop, Madamoiselle Baptistine, Madame Magloire, and Jean Valjean, but I just met 8 characters I’ll probably get to know much better soon. Jean Valjean is my favorite so far because his history brought a few tears to my eyes, and it’s only the 3rd fiction book that’s done that to me (along with The Book Thief and Ptolemy’s Gate).
I haven’t seen the musical yet, but you can envy me forever and immensely because I’m told it comes live to my area every year. I can’t wait to see it! I’m sure I’ll be done with the book by the next time it comes around, so I hope it happens as soon as possible. I’ll tell you everything afterward, of course. I also have a movie version recorded, which I plan to watch once I finish the book, but I don’t know if it’s a musical or something entirely different.
I’ll try to finish as soon as possible so that we can discuss it more fully.
I didn’t really mind the huge length of the Bishop’s part because it was so wonderful, but I thought the first chapter of Book 3 went on rather longer than I’d have liked, especially since I hadn’t heard of virtually anyone mentioned. Of course, it was just one chapter and wasn’t nearly as long, but I didn’t find it anywhere near as fascinating as any other chapter I’ve read so far. I certainly don’t mind much, though, since it’s almost the only thing I don’t like.
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Well, the main reason the bishop’s chapters annoyed me was simply that I was impatient to meet Valjean; I had expected to meet him rather sooner. In this case I think I would have been able to appreciate the book rather more had I not been so familiar with the story from the musical. Valjean is my favourite in both the book and the musical – there’s not really a hugd difference in characterisation, though book!Valjean is a little more Slytherin and musical!Valjean is a little more Gryffindor, but that’s more a matter of emphasising different aspects of his character; I think he’s ultimately a Hufflepuff in both. (Where would you sort him, incidentally?)
Regarding chapter one of book three, I sympathise. Most of the people he mentions in his rants are people I’ve never heard of.
Les Mis made me cry as well, though not that part, though I can totally understand why that part brought tears to your eyes. For me it was later, at the end. The whole thing is heartbreaking, though; there’s a reason it’s not called Les Heureux. (I hope I got my French right.)
Oh, ENVY. So much.
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Ooh…Les Mis…I’ve been putting off reading that because I hate reading books with small type. But I think I need to. Has anyone encountered a copy of Les Mis that does not have tiny writing in it?
I’m glad your Christmas went well; it sounds like you had a flammy day. Are Kindles worth getting? It seems like they would be really annoying most of the time, but I don’t know. (Belatedly) Merry Christmas to you as well!
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When I first heard of them, I didn’t think I’d like them much for the same reason I don’t like reading on the computer–all the flashing, moving things and lights would distract me (my vision is easily distracted; I stopped reading The Wizard of Oz when I was 8 because there were too many illustrations that got in the way of the story!), and it wouldn’t be healthy to do it for long, which means I’d probably only be allowed to for limited amounts of time anyway. Then ZNZ got a Kindle and eliminated my assumptions. She hadn’t thought she’d like them either, but she assured me that the screen is not bright or flashy and “looks ridiculously like a piece of paper.” She’s right. I do prefer to have books I can touch, but it’s worth it because most classics are absolutely free on it, and other books cost much less than normal. I hadn’t asked for a Kindle, but I think it would have been worth it if I had. It was really a nice surprise. They definitely can’t replace physical books–well, I’m sure they will, but I mean not in my mind–but they’re worth buying, yes.
You can adjust the font size on a Kindle, too, so that won’t be a problem.
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Thank you for the information! I will have to look into Kindles then; it seems like something I would like. Nothing will ever replace physical books for me, either, but I read so much that it would be a lot smarter than buying a bunch of paper books. It’s cool that you can adjust the font! That makes me so happy.
Actually, though, once a six year old I know came over to my house and started singing Les Mis songs (she is utterly obsessed with the musical, which is why I’ve seen it and why I want to read the book, along with the fact that certain Musers have read & loved it and the girl at my school who GETS MUSE did I mention that read it as well and she said it was awesome.) I decided to at least check out what the library had. And the copy the library had is vaguely the size of a brick but it was in very nice condition; I don’t think many people have checked it out. I feel like I’m rambling here. Basically, I am starting to read the book. I’m about 20 pages in, which isn’t very much considering the table of contents and introduction took up 17 pages. So far it’s wonderful. I put it down last night only because I was too tired to hold it up. I can’t wait to read more, and then I will fangirl with you and ZNZ and Cat’s Eye and everyone else who’s read it!
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I GOT A DRAWING TABLET
\AND A SODASTREAM
AND A BLU-RAY PLAYER
AND DOCTOR WHO SEASON SIX AND 15 CONFIDENTIALS
OMGOMGOMG
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Happy holidays, MuseBlog.
Since my family celebrates Christmas, I’m just going to say:
STUFFED RHINO EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Bye.
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Happy Holidays, MuseBlog!
I got “Bad Astronomy”, “The Astronaut Cookbook”, “Gabby: A Tale of Courage and Hope”, “Silver Linings”, a pretty blue scarf from my aunt, a silver necklace with a little symbol that looks like a compass rose in the center from my mom, and the flammy “DeGaetano Plays DeGaetano” CD I’m listening to right now!
I don’t know which book to read first…
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I got a book called “A briefer history of the Universe” by Stephen Hawking. It’s amazing, I’m just on the part now where he explains why time moves slower in a more powerful gravitational field
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Is that a new book from Stephen Hawking? Eee!
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Oh, oops, it was a briefer history of time, not the universe.
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That reminds me of “A Short History of Nearly Everything” by Bill Bryson. I haven’t gotten around to reading it because when I was eight and my dad was reading it, I complained that a short history of nearly everything shouldn’t be that long.
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I love that book! I can see it from where I’m sitting.
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I’m in the middle of it right now. I love Bill Bryson.
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This is what I got for Christmas:
Peppermint sticks
Pack of tissues (yes, really)
Travel toothbrush
Two dairy-free milk chocolate bars (squeeeeeeeee!)
Four harp songbooks
Orla Fallon’s Christmas album
A “learn-to-play-the-harp” DVD
A school sweatshirt
Money!
And an unidentified package that didn’t arrive yet
This is some of what I asked for:
Peppermint sticks
Les Mis soundtrack
Discworld books (especially Snuff)
Various cool t-shirts (by my definition of cool) (which means “involving steampunk, Doctor Who, science, or The Princess Bride“)
The Steampunk Bible
A “Property of the Kokonspiracy” item of some sort
This is what was on my wishlist that I actually got:
Peppermint sticks
Maybe the mystery package? *crosses fingers*
It’s not like I resent the harp books [one of them has “Minstrel Boy”!!! Yay!] but… I just feel like there was no point for me to even make the list, since no one paid attention to what I put on it.
And I have a headache, which is probably contributing to the whininess of that last sentence. I should go get some sleep. At least I can use the money from my grandparents to BUY ALL THE THINGS /meme-ness
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
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Did anyone get to see the Christmas special today?
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yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!!!
In fact, I saw ALL the Christmas specials.
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Whooof! Christmas!
The two days straight of being swarmed by relatives was well worth it. We caroled, we goofed around, we gave and got presents, ate the most delicious brussel sprouts, and altogether had a great time.
Not to push the fun of actually being with other people aside but here’s what I got:
-Lots of books, including Logcomix, which I’ve wanted for a while, a manual of potters glazes, the new biography of Tesla,and a collection of short stories based off of “the mysteries of Harris Burdick” written by authors I like.
-Amazing Shirts, especially ones that I’d been lusting after for a long time and I didn’t even tell anyone about.
-Some really nice art stuff, including a wonderful sketchbook
-This coat that looks EXACTLY like the 9th Doctor’s, as well as a bowtie
-Assorted awesomeness.
I hope that everyone is having a wondeful whatever-holidays-they-may-or-may-not-celebrate,
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No snow at all, green Christmas and my big brother has mono so we had to have the Christmas Eve party elsewhere.
Other than that, today was great! I got a pair of earmuff headphones, a Vera Bradley purse, some new boots, and enough money to buy some new school shoes and a sweater that I’ve been wanting. And since my warranty was up, a new phone! All in all an extremely fantastic and overwhelming haul for my last Christmas as a high school student. Plus, my family is in quite a lovey mood. All sitting around the fire watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows while munching anise cookies, a good old fashioned holiday.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night! God bless us, every one.
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Happy Christmas, all! I received many presents, including:
-A Pokemon T-shirt (It’s pink, with the Pokemon logo and then Pikachu, Snivy, Tepig, and Oshawott)
-Ramen noodles!!!
-Two Musery Loves Company T-shirts, Pwt Pwns and HPB.
-Various art supplies
-A fedora
-A vast amount of gift cards and money
I really ought to have asked for more things; I only put forth around three specific requests. Of course, now I can buy exactly the things I want, like Muse back issues and a sonic screwdriver.
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Happy holidays, MuseBlog! I hope you’ve all had as happy a holiday as I have.
Thursday, I got my learner’s permit. Saturday, we spent the day with my grandparents. We always open gifts with my family, grandparents, aunt and uncle, and cousins, after Christmas Eve dinner, then eat dessert after presents. Except the presents from my parents to my sister and I.
On Christmas Eve, I got:
-Many many clothes
-Many scarves also
-An awesome panda hat
-A bracelet
-An awesome lunchbox
-A HARAJUKULOVER PURSE!
-A Chinese zodiac ornament thing
Christmas morning we found presents from ‘Santa’ under the tree. From Santa I got:
-DOCTOR WHO SEASON FIVE
-Ukulele case
-An alarm clock
And finally, this evening, we returned home from my grandparent’s house where my parent’s presents lay in wait for us. From the amazing AlpacaLips and my mother, I have received:
-A pack of tissues that have the “Keep Calm And Carry On” logo on them that I will forever treasure and never use
-A ‘five-year-journal’
-An awesome wallet that looks like a hamburger
-A harajukulovers tee that says “NERD ALERT” on the back
-A travel mug
I think I consider this year’s Christmas a success. Also driving. And I get carsick when I’m behind the wheel. Which is annoying.
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So I just wrote this huge post about the meaning of Christmas and pain and human nature and then I switched quickly to another tab and then this page reloaded and the already huge, yet not nearly done post was gone.
I may type it up again in notes and repost it but who knows.
I hope you all had great Christmases.
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This is the thing which annoys me most about iPods.
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CAKE I hate that. Mobile Safari has some serious stability issues.
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Presents! Because, honestly, that’s what this holiday is really about. My family gave me:
– A shawl
– A Star Fleet scarf
– A sheet of amazing Star Fleet shortbread
– A new purple purse
– A new coat
– A Periodic Table shower curtain
– Assorted edibles
– A shirt that says, “Harry Potter, you listen to me right now!”
I love my family. Actually, the most awesome presents on the list above were from my best friend, but I count her as family so whatever.
Remember last year, when I was whining and complaining because my parents gave me a tape measure and shoelaces? I think they were trying to make up for it this year, because they gave me:
– A Doonesbury collection
– A Science Officer-themed phone cover
– An Atlas of Middle Earth , which is the most incredible book ever, it has these simply glorious maps and BRILLIANT drawings and commentary I am so happy.
And then my aunt and uncle came over, and we all went to the movies and saw Hugo, which is one of the sweetest, most visually excellent movies I have seen.
Happy Christmas, everyone! Me being Choklit Orange Who Posts at Ungodly Hours of the Night, it’s almost boxing day.
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JEALOUSY.
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*ENVY. Unless you feel like the Starfleet merch is cheating on you with another woman?
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Didn’t I tell you that Maths Lover and I are secretly engaged?
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What?!
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It’s… possible Maths Lover wasn’t aware of this either…
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GUYS GUYS WHEATLEY FLASHLIGHT WHEATLEY IN SPACE SHIRT UNICORN PILLOWPET LOTS OF CHOCOLATE DINOSAUR PLANT THAT I CAN’T KILL SOLAR POWERED WIRELESS KEYBOARD EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
I AM IN HEAVEN RIGHT NOW
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But if you ever turn it on, you’ll DIE!
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Also, my presents! (the mere mention of Les Mis distracts me to the point of forgetting what I had meant to post originally, apparently.) I got Humphrey Carpenter’s biography of Tolkien; my squeal was heard in outer space. Also: Dune, a camera, an iPod, a jar of Nutella (as well as various assorted other chocolates and edibles), a National Geographic t-shirt, an anthology of science fiction, a book called The Disappearing Spoon, an amazon gift card, two CDs, and a Monet calendar.
WE ARE PLEASED.
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The Disappearing Spoon? I’ve been wanting to read that. There was a Muse article excerpted from that once, and it was really fascinating. I don’t remember whether it was written by the person who wrote the Science of Discworld books, but I know one article in that issue was, so it’s plausible. Anyway, it seems like it would be an excellent book; I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
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It’s not; I looked it up. In any case, it’s extremely fascinating; I’ve already learned so much.
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That is a GREAT book. I almost think that I posted about it when I read it over the summer. I don’t necessarily remember a lot of the stories, but coming into chemistry this fall, the periodic table felt like a friend instead of an undecipherable mess of weird polysyllabic words.
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Ah. Well, incidentally, I just got a book from the library by someone who did write the Science of Discworld books. He also wrote a Flatland spinoff, which I’d love to read sometime.
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Sam Kean, who wrote The Disappearing Spoon, was an intern at Science magazine (where I work) and still writes for us regularly. We cross paths every now and then. Next time it happens, I’ll invite him to visit MuseBlog.
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Wow, that would be great!
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My parents and relatives understand my obsession with Muse. I was given a HBP shirt, a Beg To Differ shirt, all the back issues from 2006 (as I already had bought all of them back to January 2007), and $70 which I was told to spend “On Muse”, as well as my parents saying they’d get me 4 back issues of my choice.
Other highlights included: A “Treebird proof” (Waterproof, shock proof, sand proof, dust proof) camera, a light up make-it-yourself Ferris Wheel, a one of a kind Native America made bracelet, a Newton’s Cradle, and various other awesome stuff. And I still haven’t seen most of my Dad’s side of the family, becuase they’re coming today!
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I love Newton’s Cradles. Have fun playing with yours!
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They’re so fun, and slightly addicting.
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I keep wanting to respond to each of these posts about christmas individually, but there isn’t enough time in the universe for that, so I’m just going to say: All of your families sound AWESOME, and I hope that you had a GREAT christmas.
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Thank you, Oooba! I hope you had a great Christmas, too!
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I did! Thanks! And I appreciate the extra “o”. Thank you for the wonderful Christmas present!
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You’re quite welcome.
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The library is still closed today, but it opens tomorrow and this would actually be my first time going back to my hometown library since I got back for winter break. I’ve been surviving off books my little brother checked out (which isn’t as bad as it might have been; it turns out he and I have really similar reading tastes and while I’ve been gone he’s read practically every book on my shelf)
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I noticed there weren’t any chess games going on, would anyone like to play me? The chess thread seems to be dead so I’m asking here.
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Pseudo offered to play me, but we don’t have a thread yet; I’ll play you before or afterward, whichever thread gets made first.
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I’ve created both games.
Choklit Orange also wanted to play, but as far as I can tell, she doesn’t have an account.
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Really? There must be something wrong with my grandparents’ computer, because I can’t see those games in the Chess Games in Progress bar.
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I haven’t had time to add them yet, but they’re on the blog.
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I do have an account, as far as I know, but it’s under my old username, Kokopelli52
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Righto, all three games have been created and listed.
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Sounds good.
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Dear Hogfather,
For Hogswatch I want spare time.
GRANTED.
Thank you!
That’s how I came to be here after lurking for a couple of months.
I hope you all have had wonderful holidays. Mine was fun. I think I’ve hit the point where Christmas hype seems a little overboard. Maybe it’s a combination of commercialism and too many Christmas carols. Either that or the influence of my friend J, who says she is a depressing person (key word: says).
However, I am extremely satisfied with my presents: watercolors and watercolor paper, a mug with letters you can stick on, a subscription to Cicada (squee!), socks, a sweater, striped fingerless gloves, I Am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak (squee!!!), a drawing-a-day book, iTunes money, and a couple of other things which my brain won’t tell me.
And now I am being bugged by my little brother.
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I went into this antiques-and-other-fancy-things store while my dad was taking my brothers to see War Horse, and they had pairs of very aviator-esque goggles, made of real glass and metal, on sale.
Since they were next to several types of toys and only labeled as “German goggles”, although priced at 24 dollars, I thought they were just very expensive dress-up gear, but, since I’d never seen such Steampunk-looking goggles for sale anywhere before and didn’t know if I ever would again, I decided to buy them.
It turned out that, because of a discount that hadn’t been on the label, the goggles actually only cost 13 dollars. I still thought that was a little expensive for a toy, but I was just happy to get them for almost half the listed price.
When I got home and took the goggles out of their box, it turned out that they were actual, functional welding goggles made in Germany, shatterproof, and compliant with a whole list of EU regulations. But the store was selling them as toys!
Either way, they look awesome. I might be Amelia Earhart for Halloween next year now that I have them.
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AGH. I want your goggles so bad. They sound so cool! And for such a bargain, too!
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Can we be goggle buddies?! Because I recently acquired steampunk goggles as well. Those sound awesome!
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Of course we can be goggle buddies!
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YAY!
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Fellow MuseBloggers, I think combining all of our “what I received for the holidays ” lists would be an amazing collection of some of the coolest-sounding things in the universe. I love you guys for being so excited and for recognizing these awesome presents for what they are.
I didn’t specifically ask for anything for Christmas, so I was pleasantly surprised that I liked everything I got so much.
-lots of board games (everybody in my family got a bunch)
-pajamas
-a winter hat from my brother (very happy-I’d forgotten even mentioning that I needed/wanted one!)
-Portal 2
-lots of supplies for my trip to Europe this coming summer (ID and passport cases, booties and travel blanket for the plane, guidebooks for London and Paris, etc.)
-notebook, pens, and a book about “Zentangles”, which is all about a really calming type of pattern-based drawing
-money from my grandpa, my other grandma and grandpa, and my aunt, uncle, and cousin (My grandpa, who we live with, gave each of the other family members in the house a $2,000 check. :shock:)
-candy
-new family Christmas ornament of the Status of Liberty
Basically, I’m very happy. I gave my brother the Portal 2 download because he’s the one who really wanted it, and I haven’t even finished the first. In return, I got majority stakes in Zelda: Twilight Princess and Zelda: Skyward Sword, which he got. We played them for a total of six hours yesterday, and they are really fun! Nothing says family togetherness like playing Zelda with your brother.
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I take back all the things I have said at any point about snow. Well, about below-freezing temperatures. At our friends’ cabin up in the mountains the lake has frozen over and we went skating. I’ve never seen a lake that was frozen without snow before in my life.
Oh, shush. I’m Californian.
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Being Californian is a very important distinction when it comes to snow. I spent my formative years there, so I still consider snow a marvelous novelty when all the native Washingtonians around me are moaning and groaning about it.
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Just to balance all the juvenile frippery, I thought I’d give you a list of some of the presents I received, so that you can see what you may expect as responsible adults :
Radio controlled monster truck.
Humming game
Didgeridoo
Grow your own chilli kit
Set of knitted key rings.
Book – “101 things for a boy to make”, circa 1926.
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What exactly is a humming game?
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haven’t really investigated it fully. I suspect it’s just like normal humming, but with cards and dice to tell you what to hum, and a scoring system to tell you if you hummed it right. A full exploration will have to wait until a bunch of my loony friends comes over for a party.
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A didgeridoo? I need to hurry up and become a responsible adult.
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“Responsible” in its most flexible meaning, of course.
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Sitting here with my unicorn, Daisy, trying to kill time until my nocturnal cousins get up.
Interesting story about her name, actually. I was going to call her Doug, after Doug Rattman (shush, I’m obsessed, okay?), but then I remembered a comic about him where his Companion Cube had been given the name Daisy. I think it suits my Weighted Companion Unicorn Pillow much better.
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Please enjoy this I-Should-Be-Practicing-Right-Now semi-PoPo, courtesy of Agent Lightning. *pays fine*
Listening to Chameleon Circuit songs right now. I just uploaded about a zillion CD’s onto my iPod. Well… re-up-loaded. I still need to hunt down a Cranberries album as well as 10,000 Maniacs and The Olympics (John Williams!) and such. But I just bought some Coldplay songs as well as aforementioned Trock songs.
Still in my pajamas at 11:27. I showed my dad Blink- I think he liked it? I might go practice. After all, I have a very cool new tenor sax case. Great for gigging!
And… that’s it, I suppose. Lots of things to do.
Before I forget, I’d like to thank the GAPAs for moderating over Christmas and such. You all are amazing.
This has been a post.
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I found the September Muse, where the answer to Erin’s question was published! Thanks so much, Robert! I’m going to try to show her a copy when I see her later this week.
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I’m in Wisconsin–surprise! We made the drive on Christmas day, 17 hours in the car, but hey, there wasn’t much traffic.
This is only the second day we’ve been here, but it feels like a week.
I’ve been the nav-com officer for family drama surrounding my grandpa’s being in the hospital and his most likely relatively soon decease. Fun times. I get a day off from visiting and being the Keeper of the Cell Phone, so I’m at the library ignoring the rest of the world and being hungry.
I’ve got lots of crocheting done though, I now have seven pairs for presents, and time to make EVEN MORE. Madness. It’s madness. I’m wearing one of the gift-pairs today, because I lent mine to mom. Oh well, whoever gets them probably won’t mind them having been worn on a walk around the lake to the library.
I think when I get back to the house I’m going to try to get the nerve to start one of the skeins of wool that I have–I’ve been using acrylic. Nice acrylic yarn, but still. Meep. I have gorgeous wool yarns, grey teal and obnioxious lime green, “lemongrass”, it’s called. It’s glorious and I love it.
Until all the stuff about Christmas presents I had completely forgotten that Christmas was so recent, and that it actually happened at all.
My parents and I had Christmas eve instead of Christmas, since mom and I drove on Christmas day. I got a book on nautical navigation and an old singing book from my aunt, and a necklace. Chocolate and something else from mom, but I can’t remember what it was now. I have a set of books coming though, one is about beauty and the other is on ugliness, and they’re super cool. I’m excited about them.
The most exciting, however, is that there’s a spinet harpsichord being built. For me. My parents are of the mind that no house is a home unless it has a keyboard, and they figure that a spinet harpsichord would be a good keyboard instrument for me since it’s small and (relatively) portable, and it’s one I love and it fits in with the time period and music that I do. And we know a fantastic harpsichord maker, who’s already made one instrument for us. So they ordered another. Now I need to learn how to play it, so I’ll see about piano lessons once I get back to school.
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Hi, Fiddler! I’m in Wisconsin, too — Milwaukee, to be precise. Tomorrow I drive back across Indiana and probably most but not all of Ohio.
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I’m in Colorado!
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So am I!
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Me too!
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As am I!
KOKON TIME
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I wish 
We’re leaving tomorrow.
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A spinet. Now, that’s what I call a Christmas pressie.
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117.1 (Robert)~ Safe travels! Milwaukee is fun, I like it. You could stop by the waterfront and see Denis Sullivan!
Last time I was in Milwaukee was on Niagara the summer before last, when we showed up during the Irish Fest, an unplanned delight.
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Went with my parents into Houston today and we saw the King Tut touring exhibit. It was really cool! There were a lot of gold stuff, a lot of statues. Saw the coffin that housed his stomach, saw a bunch of the servant-statues that were supposed to take his place in the afterlife’s forced labor (some had great personality – rolling eyes, sulking, etc), a lot of gold and jewelry. Also saw a lot of statues of the other pharaohs, etc. One thing that I thought was kind of funny was that a lot of times, the pharaohs just repurposed other statues – grinded out the previous owner’s name and substituted their own.
Then we ate lunch and looked at some of the rest of the museum. Then we drove home and I watched a lot of Buffy.
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Oooh, I saw the exhibition when it was in Philadelphia. It’s really great!
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*sigh* I’ve wanted to see it… I believe it was in Indiana when I was there, but sadly we did not go… that sounds great though!
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I saw a King Tut exhibit in San Francisco a few years ago; I assume it was the same one!
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I’m going to join the fleet of interstellar cephalopods.
I’m going to wander the universe, gathering stories instead of avoiding them as I have done for so long, leading a free and independent life away from the burdens I used to chain myself to, watching the births and deaths of stars and the collisions and collaborations of galaxies while searching for other great beings, seeing things with a curious eye rather than through a filter of assumptions and prejudices; Existence is so vast, so beautiful, so worthy of exploration and contemplation, and it’s better to begin to see that now rather than later, because every day should be worth living and out in the darkness of space there are no days, merely countless moments.
And maybe then and then again, giant space squid could meet another giant space squid, and stories will be shared for a bit before each parts on ens own way again. Life is a journey to learn and understand, and I see no better life than that of the giant space squid.
This is going to be such greatness. I read some of the things Jade wrote a while ago, and it is quite inspiring.
Who’s with me in wandering this universe?
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This is my plan for life.
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Do you want to submit this as a SPACE presentation on the H&H?
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I am most definitely with you.
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WELCOME TO THE FLEET, MY FRIEND. I WILL SEE YOU AMONG THE STARS.
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Sign me up! *flollops in joy*
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YES.
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I will join you!
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I am with you.
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I’m in!
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I will join this fleet!
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I’m with you!
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Guys.
I just created a purple and green velociraptor Obama style “HOPE” poster to be set to synthesized atonal harpsicord music for an English project.
What am I doing with my life?
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Wonderful things.
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Showing us this poster, hopefully.
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I will be sending the GAPAs either the file or the link to the Youtube video that will eventually include it. But it does have a picture of my school in it…
Would posting a link to a Youtube video that I put up on my channel be allowable by the GAPAs? I have no information on there that I don’t have on here- in fact, there is more on here than on my channel.
It was actually a really fun project to make- along with that, I got to make a picture of the USSR landing on the moon, my school after the apocalypse…
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Oh, pretty p*ease will you show us, Enc?
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By the sound of it, you’re doing exacty what you should do with your life.
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Why will it not snow? It is cold enough, but those darn clouds just won’t form! Everything is frosen, and it’s freezing outside, but the snow refuses to fall! Treebird is angry, and apparently refering to herself in the third person.
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NNP is angry there isn’t snow here as well. It’s stupid cold.
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I’m angry too. We had snow, but it just had to go and rain.
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Obligatory Apple Store post! Long live the Kokonspiracy!
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I hope someone else finds MB in the history of the apple computer.
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What’s about the apple store?
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Every time I end up there playing around on some new thing (iPad this time) I invariably wind up on the internet, and post here.
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I’ve never been in an Apple store, otherwise I would do the same thing.
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Yep, I did that on a nook tablet at Barnes and Noble just today. I also drew a HPB in the doodle pad.
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My dog found half a deer skeleton on our hike, rib cage and everything. *sickened expression*
But I’ve found awesome yarn! It’s green and white and cool. I’m going to crochet a scarf.
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Re: Jadestone on nookcolor screens: I mean like keeping it away from any sort of water or liquids (even sweaty fingers) or magnets. My screen is… erratic at times, and I’m not sure what caused it but I have a magnetic case (Why do magnetic electronics cases even exist?) and sometimes I got water on the screen- so yeah. Just generally take good care of it like that, I guess.
Sorry I didn’t see your reply earlier.
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Aha! Thank you! And no worries, I saw it here easily enough. I’ll have to keep those things in mind. I just got a case for it today, I should check it for any magnetic bits, though I think it doesn’t have any. It’s green!
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Waugh, finally! At long last, I got through my hiragana and katakana SRS decks, which means I get to start adding new kanji again! Sweet, sweet kanji, I’ve missed you so!
My extended family had our annual bowling tournament today. Every year for the past six or seven years we’ve had a bowling tournament since most of the family is in town for Christmas. There’s a trophy too–it started out as this little metal figurine of a stickman bowling, but every year the champion adds something to it, so it’s getting fairly large now. I’m terrible at bowling, so I’ve never come close to winning, but it’s always fun to spend time with all my cousins and everyone. Some of them I only see once or twice a year, so I’m speechless at how much they’ve grown. I think to myself, “You can’t be in middle school already, I remember babysitting you when you were just a wee bundle of snot and blankets!”
My parents and I drove down to St. Joseph, Missouri yesterday. There’s some cool museums there, rather more interesting than I thought they’d be. There was a fairly fascinating museum that was actually several museums in one: an old psychiatric hospital, an African American history collection, and a museum about the town of St. Joseph, which actually focused more on a) Jesse James, and b) Native American cultures. We tried to take a scenic route back home, but a road that the map claimed was paved ended up being gravel, and it drove by, among other things, a rusty trailer home with a deer hanging from a tree outside and a cannon in the yard that looked quite functional. I thought it had a certain charm to it, but my mom didn’t agree, so we turned around and got on the interstate instead. Boring.
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Among other things, I received a book of letters between Edward Gorey and a friend of his. It has pictures of the envelopes with Gorey’s drawings on them!
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Who has 10+ tentacles and the Complete Works of HP Lovecraft, American Gods+Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, and the complete Brother’s Grimm?
This squid.
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ALSO I got The Last Dragon (illustrated by Rebecca Guay! And by Jane Yolen! I have been coveting it for MONTHS), an illustrated book of various Goddesses (also Rebecca Guay!), and Gaimen’s Creatures of the Night. Those are being shipped from amazon directly to my college though, so won’t have them till the 4th at the earliest. But STILL. SO MANY WONDERFULL BOOOOOOKS.
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JADE SO GOOD. Anna got the Game of Thrones books which I have basically stolen to read for myself. Oops.
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THOSE BOOOOOKS. SO GOOOOOOD.
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So good indeed! I think she’s going to try to steal them back soon, so I MUST READ SOOOOOO FAST so that I can stay a book ahead of her. Wouldn’t want this to turn into another one of those only-one-HP-book-four-people-want-to-read-simultaneously-fight-to-the-death sort of situations.
Complete Brother’s Grimm, though. Those are fantastic.
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oh my god we had to buy two copies of every Harry Potter book after the third because of the nightmare it turned into when the sibling and I had to share it.
But yeah, one book ahead is a good plan! Though they’re pretty dense, so read fast indeed!
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My brother and I are usually fine with sharing books, but you should see our Chronicles of Narnia. In other words, you shouldn’t. The same is true of The Fellowship of the Rings and to a certain degree, HP3.
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Who’s Anna? THF?
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Yes.
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I imagine individuals with 10+ tentacles are a large demographic for Lovecraft’s work.
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I’ll have to start a book club with the Elder Gods once I’ve truly ascended to my Giant Space Squid form.
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just coming by to say that i love you all a lot and i am glad every one of you are here and that if you ever feel sad or alone or anything just remember that actually i am here saying ‘no, i love you!’ and that it is literally impossible for you to think “there’s no one” because there will ALWAYS be me. also i am pretty sure everyone else here would agree with that sentiment. so actually there are several people who at any given moment are thinking “i am really glad you exist” which is pretty amazing, if you ask me
it is really just so so important that you understand this, i don’t know i think it’s sometimes hard to really convey things through the internet but i just really feel the need to express how much i love you all, okay? even if that means comparatively little or seems stupid, i just really do and i am so grateful to have had museblog and to have met everyone i have and just generally to be alive and that you all exist and i just really need everyone to know that
i just ugh i love you all okay that is what i’m trying to say. I’M GONNA STOP NOW BEFORE THIS BECOMES MORE SAPPY BUT GODDDDDDDD
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Love you too, axa~
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:3
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<3
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MY SOUL-SISTER FLEET-MATE! I LOVE YOU FOREVER ♥
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And sooo you all probably just assume this but FOREVER AWAKE.
Having a superhero movie marathon!
By myself.
In my basement.
I’m actually just gonna sleep down here I think. The couch is comfortable enough and I run less risk of accedentally waking parents up than if I go upstairs to my room… also, I have one movie to go! Seen Captain America and Thor. Now for Watchmen. Though the first two pair very nicely, I must say, avengers and all. Now there’s a movie I’m excited for.
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YES AVENGERS LOVE
Joss Whedon. Superheroes. What else do you need?
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ALMOST NOTHING
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I would like to inform everyone that I am at the beach. I love living in a place without proper winters.
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Ah, but then you’ll miss a proper winter at the beach. That’s something special, too. Still, I’ll take ocean any time of the year. I feel a day trip calling….
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And in the Northeast we got a snowstorm in October.
I am jealous, but I have to say, there’s something about snow that no matter how many times your power goes out, it still seems magical.
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I don’t, especially when you can’t go to the beach. I’ve done that in the past, though; it was nice.
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KOKON IN ABOUT 2 HOURS
EXCITEMENT~
*jumps up and down waving my tentacles in a hyper way*
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SO IRKED I CANNOT BE THERE. *shoots out cloud of space ink and goes to hide behind Jupiter*
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I’M SORRY CAT’S EYE WE LOVE YOU COME BAAAAACK
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*sighs* *gloops around Deimos and Phobos* (All right. The next one is going to be awesome, yeah?)
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Estoy en Guatemala! We´re in an internet cafe right now, and don´t have much time. It´s been great so farl. We´re at a mission in about 6 hours from Guatemala city helping with building and stuff like that.
There´s a lot of work, but also a lot of time to hang out around the incredible city. We´ve had ice cream, I bought a handmade bag for the American equivalent of about 7 dollars (50 quetzales). Still haven´t mastered haggling, but that´s okay because the bag probably would have sold for about 20 in the States.
I can actually talk with a lot of the people (some talk waaay to fast), but it´s good to know spanish class pays off. This keyboard is weird and kind of hard to type with too. It has an accent button which is difficult to avoid hitting.
Hasta luego!
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WINTER BREAK!!!!!!!
(…has been going for about a week, now, but I just figured I’d let you all know.)
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So yesterday I did nothing but angst about the fact that
a) my sax’s neck strap had gone missing
b) so had my ability to play low notes on the sax
c) all-district auditions are Saturday after next
and today it looked as if I would be doing the same thing.
I tore apart my room looking for the strap, got frustrated at my saxophone, and was generally crabby.
Guess where the neck strap was?
It was in the bell of my sax, hindering my ability to play. After taking it out, all my problems went away. Well… most of my problems.
District auditions really snuck up on me this time. *runs off to give the pretext of practicing when in fact there’s really a strategically placed brand-new hardcover copy of The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy waiting to be read*
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I legitimately think we might be in the same district. Mine are the first Saturday in January as well (although they’re high school auditions so we wouldn’t be in the same place anyway.)
Also, I can’t play low notes either right now. My oboe simply does not want anything below a C to speak. Go figure.
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Yep, I think so too. Those are when my auditions are. Also, All-District Jazz auditions the Saturday after that. /Bb blues angst
*squid for you and your oboe* You’ll do fine, but I know the feeling- I hate not being able to play notes.
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129 (Axa)~ The other day I was talking about how much I love you and how wonderfully sweet you are. SO I’M ALWAYS HERE FOR YOU TOO, OKAY? Thanks for being there, it means so, so, so much.
Today has been far too exciting for my liking. Long and complicated story short, today I got to deal with police, a social worker, and my grandpa saying (to my face) that he hates me and wishes I wasn’t his granddaughter.
But tonight I get to play music at a session at a really cute pub downtown. And I made my first pair of wool mitts, for mom. They’re grey, lime green and teal, and turned out really well, for having crocheted them while my hands were shaking. They’re still shaking, but not as badly anymore. We may go home tomorrow, but I don’t know.
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*hugs* I don’t know what happened (and don’t feel like you need to tell any of us) but I (and many others!) are here if you ever want/need to talk. I guarantee you I will be awake XD
I hope you feel better soon and that the session goes well! Which I’m sure it will. They sound like so much fun, I wish I was better at folk music so I could go to them.
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DSLR CAMERA AHHHHHH
Also, I got an intervalometer as well, so I can make time lapse stuff! I hope to take a trip up to Mt Washington soon so that I can take pictures of the sunset over the city.
Koppar (95): Do you play the harp? That’s awesome! My best friend from high school plays the harp, too.
FantasyFan (107): The library closing on Christmas is the saddest thing. I always want to go to the library then.
Paul (113): Radio controlled monster truck! Both of my siblings received remote-controlled cars and have spent most of the week so far driving them recklessly around the house. We have a humming game, too! I’ve never played it, but it seems to be something like “name that tune,” though I don’t really know what that is either.
Fiddler (117): A harpsichord, wow! There’s a harpsichord in the piano studio at school and I sometimes play Bach on it for warmup.
Robert (117.1): Indiana! I’m not there but I live there for most of the year! Did you drive by Richmond?
axa (129): FUZZY MEGAHUGS OF LOVE FOR YOUUUUUUU. I love you!
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YAAAAAY CAMERA!!
And ooooh!! Timelapse is really, really cool. I have some links to videos you might enjoy. It’s something I’d like to try someday.
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Ooh yes! Link me everywhere.
I saw Ryan Killackey’s “A Day in California” this summer, which is probably the video that made me decide that I needed a dslr so that I could do things like that. I’d really like to be able to timelapse the stars in some way, but I haven’t had much success taking even a single picture of the sky yet–but soon I WILL MASTER EVERYTHING HAHA.
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If you haven’t seen it already, look up Astronaut Ron Garan’s “Coming Down To Our Fragile Oasis”. It’s time-lapse photography of the Earth from space set to “Down to Earth” from Wall-E. And it’s beautiful.
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Suddenly, KOKON!!
Choklit Orange here. This is the coolest thing. We all spent the morning at a Tech Museum, which was utterly flammy And now we’re in a cafe drinking bubble tea and eating crepes! Cskia and R101 are two of the most charming, funny people I’ve met.
Randomosity101~
This being my first Kokon with anyone other than Cskia or Athenian Psycho, I must say that the amazing, funny, brilliant person by the name of Choklit Orange belongs on the Warm Fuzzies thread. We’re having the flammiest time at the Tech, and thanks to CO I tried bubble tea for the first time. Wandering a museum talking about HG2G and Doctor Who; how flammy can you get?
Cskia~
So this is… An iPhone. O.0
Anyways here we are sitting on a bench. And R101 and Chok are so squidtastic and flammy and this is kind of running out of charge but wheeeeee *squid dance*
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Wow, all of you, that sounds amazingly fun! I wish I was there too. Have a super-space-squidtastic rest of the kokon!
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I was still traveling and missed moderating this comment, but I look forward to hearing more about this historic concatenation of MBers.
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I missed it, too. (Out playing hooky in a movie theater.) We’re all waiting to hear more!
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I think one of you has a missing closing-italics tag.
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Not missing, but mistyped.
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Wheeee! So, update/summary: We met at the Tech Museum in downtown San Jose (which is like a mild combination of New York and San Francisco) this morning. We spent hours in there, went to every exhibit (except the Islamic Science Rediscovered one) it was fantastic. Then we realized we were hungry, so around 2PM we wandered down to a bubble tea shop and got drinks there, and then went to this lovely li’l crepe cafe, which is really cute and has free WiFi. We ducked into a bakery and gazed at cakes, too; and then we went to Christmas in the Park and wow, it was amazing, so brightly lit and flammy, and ate dinner there (quite possibly the least healthy meal I’ve ever eaten). And then went home, eventually and much to our chagrin.
Cskia and Randomosity are both incredibly kind, funny, and clever people. /Kokon_haze
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… Italics?
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Don’t know what the problem was. I had to fix it several times, but I think the last one took.
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That was… unexpected. I need to work on my stlaking, clearly.
Sounds fun!
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You would have had a hard time finding out about it in advance, unless you were a hacker too.
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Since Choklit covered the summary pretty well, I’m going to add my personal take on things.
Even though I’ve been to the Tech about once a year since I was six, it still has stuff that’s new to me (like the microchip section with two narrations by the Mythbusters), so that was pretty cool. But the best part was walking through the entire museum talking with two of the most flamablamablous people in the universe. (Though I kept going back to the topics of HG2G and Doctor Who. :lol:)
When we got hungry, CO showed us a delightful little tea shop and then an equally delightful crepes shop. We also looked at a bakery that primarily sells cakes and pies, but we decided against eating dessert at that point.
While wandering around the area waiting for darkness to fall so that we could properly appreciate Christmas in the Park, we talked of many things, and at one point we crossed a street deep in discussion about “The Unicorn and the Wasp”. A random person who was also crossing the street turned out to be a Whovian as well and temporarily joined the conversation.
While exploring Christmas in the Park, we had such a good time that at one we spontaneously had what CO named a “verbal Warm Fuzzies thread”.
Parting was the saddest part of the day. 
All in all, words cannot adequately describe how flamablamablous today was.
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SFTDP, but I seem to have dropped the word “point” in “at one point we spontaneously”. Sorry about that.
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Chok and R101 got their summaries down wonderfully!
Anyways, the day was flammy (we constantly used that word as well as many many other warm fuzzy adjectives because we are all so warm and fuzzy like that. Chok had the sweetest cap.) and squidtastic (I drew them both squids! By the by, I have decided that every MBer I meet shall receive a personalized giant space squid picture from me. Which reminds me how Chok drew Koko and a squid on a sticky note at the Tech. Followed by me writing “MOSTLY HARMLESS” on another. And R101’s “42 and Doctor Who” on another. Speaking of Doctor Who, those two awesome people have inspired me to watch more episodes! Which I shall get to as soon as my desktop loads them properly.) and awesome (not that anyone would ever doubt it would be awesome anyways. Warm and fuzzy and huggly and finally awww do we really have to part ways hey can we kidnap Chok and keep her…) and this is a horribly written paragraph but *SQUID DANCE SQUID DANCE SQUID DANCE*
Too bad there wasn’t enough time to start a scene.
Anyways I love them and all of you and hey can I have more opportunity to draw squids soon? (Californian MBers UNITE)
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I’ve always loved your drawings, and your Space Squid pictures are truly amazing. I especially love how you draw a kind of inside joke between you and the squid recipient into each one you create.
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I have a love-hate relationship with reeds.
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*support squid and huggles* I know exactly how you feel- especially right before District auditions! It’s like every reed you play has something wrong with it! Good luck- you’ll do fine.
(Speaking of reeds and District- generally when I have an audition coming up I’ll choose a brand-new reed beforehand, mark its cover/case, and play it gently enough to break it in and practice on it a bit but not so much it’s ruined- raising it from birth to be destined as a reed I audition on.)
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Yeah, that’s what I used to do for sax. For our last concert I set aside my beat reed for oboe and barely used it so that I could play the concert on it, which worked well. Unfortunately I get all my reeds from my teacher (manufactured oboe reeds are a nightmare) and so I’m kind of stuck. I have a lesson the week before auditions, though, luckily.
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*huggles, reeds, and support squid* Does this always happen close to District? I know it’s a problem with me.
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Not even just close to District — it just always happens. I’ve gotten fairly used to it. Thanks though!
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Axa – I love you!
All of you – I love you!
<3 from me at two in the morning.
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Today I was spontaneous and bought myself a new hat whilst at a shopping outlet. It’s kind of a newsboy-style-ish, and it covers up my bad hair day pretty well.
Squee, I love hats. <3
oxlin-Go back to sleep.
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When I was 8, I read a large book about biology, with an emphasis on zoology. (I didn’t realize that a book called Wildlife Factfinder meant it wasn’t meant to be read straight through. I doubt I’d have cared if I had known; it was fascinating). I loved it, and I got interested. Then I received a huge coffee-table book about zoology called Animal: The definitive visual guide to the world’s wildlife. I really loved it and became obsessed. I tried to read it all the way through, too, and I only got about halfway, but that was partly because I kept finding this one animal that I LOVED and had to look up EVERYTHING about on the Internet and obsess over and talk about at every opportunity and so on (Hector’s dolphins, Vancouver Island marmots, Attwater’s prairie chickens, Houston toads…). Most were endangered; I’m sure that increased my interest. I’m pretty sure it was at that time when I decided I wanted to be a conservation biologist/ethologist when I grew up. I haven’t changed my mind.
I got that book at exactly the right time. People tell me I know myself exceptionally well. That was the age when I was discovering all that, and it may be the time when I grew the most as a person. That’s the sort of time when a book like that is the most useful, because I was paying more attention to my interests and thoughts and beliefs and personality traits than I ever had before. That’s the perfect time to discover something you really have a passion for.
It was one of the first places I ever read about tardigrades (although really, they’re just successors to the Vancouver Island marmots and Houston toads. The difference is that they’re what I’m obsessed with right now. Of course, my obsessions are major and last months or years, so people imagine I was always obsessed. I’ve loved tardigrades–and Hector’s dolphins and Atwater’s prairie chickens and so on–as long as I’ve known about them and still do, but there’s a difference between love and obsession). It taught me more about biology than I can possibly convey in words. It was an even bigger part of my childhood than Harry Potter.
Where am I going with this post? THERE’S A REVISED AND UPDATED VERSION AT MY LIBRARY!!
I’m ecstatic! It’s wonderful! It changed all the things that are now inaccurate, including lots of things I didn’t know about! It updated the tardigrade section! It stopped talking about the Yangtze River dolphin like it was alive (and it was, when the first edition was published), so I don’t have to get so sad when I look at the dolphin page! Hector’s dolphins’ IUCN status has been changed from Critically Endangered to Endangered! It’s the second-biggest book I’ve ever seen now (to the point where you can now get a copy of just one section if you’d rather read it that way–Bird: The definitive visual guide to the world’s wildlife, Fish: The definitive visual guide to the world’s wildlife and so on), so there must be even more new material than I expect! It includes yeti crabs now, too!
It’s like meeting this old friend of yours who was like a family member but you haven’t seen for years, and you can meet them now, and they’ve grown up, but they’re still the same person you know and love! It’s… amazing!
I’m sorry for the long post, but I just had to tell someone about this. My family is only willing to listen for so long. I’m just so glad I have this to look at for hours if I want to! It’s like how most of us would feel if JKR wrote a new Harry Potter book!
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Amazing! That’s awesome, Bibliophile! Happy reading!
(Did I mention that I came across the word ‘bibliophile’ in a school vocabulary book and thought of you?)
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Nice! It sounds awesome!
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Wow! Enjoy it!
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Hello dearies!
Long break is long. I still have like two weeks until school starts up again, and am trying to get the internet to entertain me. Dance, internet, dance! Juggle! Tell jokes! It is moderately useful but mostly not. You can only browse Etsy for so long before you stop caring. Or at least, I can. I also have a large stack of books but a curious internal system prevents me from reading any of them. And I’m out of chocolate chips so I can’t make any more cookies. D: (It’s an emoticon, what!) But I am determined to relearn the fiddle so there is something to do. Also trying to schedule my next semester. 20 credits, a Shakespeare troupe, stage managing, auditioning, sailing, and oh–that little thing called a job? I should get one. It’s really incredibly frustrating that I can’t do everything I want to. I’m going to have to make some sacrifices, and I just really don’t want to. At all. But it’s not something I can just not think about either. *(&$^%EDFOyuegf0eoq v78ervb gq7r8ot pe8qrgr87 Keyboard pounding does not really make me feel better but I always feel like it should. BLAST CURSES DASH IT ALL
Anyways, what’s up here these days? I always come back to this, read about twenty comments on the Random thread, post about the chaos/joy that is my life, and then am not really sure where to go from there and vanish again for two weeks or whatever.
Oh speaking of cookies, which I was doing a while ago I think, I made cookies with ghee/clarified butter yesterday! They are really good and crisp and nutty and the dough didn’t stick all over my hands like the ones made with regular butter. There are only two left though and they are for my father. Cookies have basically been my way of adjusting to not being at school anymore. But I haven’t made any today and now I am fully ready to return to my dorm-house. Also crime drama has been very helpful. Touching Evil (the British one) is really really good.
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I went to the American Museum of Natural History yesterday with Erin, and I showed her scans of her Q&A question in Muse, and I gave her a whale Christmas tree ornament and she gave me a stuffed sea lion, which I am considering naming Jimmy.
We ran into a guy who had an STS-41-G patch on his bag, and he had gotten the bag a long time ago and didn’t remember anything about the patch, so we were telling him everything, and he thanked us at the end.
The “Beyond Planet Earth” exhibition is really great, and I encourage anyone to visit it– there’s enough details for the hardcore space fans, but it’s also broad and digestible enough to be a great introduction to the topic for anyone. If you really like space, see it. If you only like space a little bit, see it. Heck, if you don’t like space, see it and you might change your mind!
The exhibit was timed-entry, so we went to the Hall of Pacific Peoples first and I was geeking out over seeing so many things I’d learned about in Anthropology class. Kula armbands! Balinese shadow puppets! Margaret Mead’s field notes!
I showed Erin the poster I got Dave Scott to sign for her and she got SO excited. She was jumping up and down, in front of everybody in the museum cafeteria.
There is nothing like running about a museum with your best friend and no adults.
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For Christmas, my parents got me Babylon 5 seasons 1 and 2. I was thrilled! Babylon 5 has been one of my favorite TV shows ever since I first saw it my freshman year of college. I’m glad to have DVDs so I can show it to more people!
I would highly recommend it to all of you. It was a SF tv show airing in the nineties but what sets it apart from most TV shows is the epic storyline planned out across all the seasons. Things that occur in one season play major roles three seasons later. There is a continuous plot arc that continues through out the show, and the characters get to develop. It seems somewhat like West Wing mixed with Lord of the Rings in space. Do tell me if you decide to watch it; I’d love to hear what you think of it! The first season is alright (so I’ve heard; my friends were watching season 2 when I started to join them) but it gets better and better as you go along.
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I’m a fan. I wish someone would turn it into an opera. Londo as a baritone, G’kar as a bass, and Delenn — what great roles!
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Hee! I can just picture that. I don’t know much about opera, though.
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Blast! I forgot about my blogiversary again. Oh well. It’s been a fun five years, MuseBlog! *raises glass* Here’s to another five!
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♫ And many moooooore… ♪
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We’re glad to have you around, Piggy!
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Today I went ice-skating with Randomosity101.
My life is so great.
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I saw the Rembrandts!
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Oh! I’ve got to get there soon.
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I had a dream. It had something to do with a squid and something to do with space. I am starting to like my brain.
By the way, I blame Chok and R101 that the Dreidel Song is stuck in my head. And the radio for having the Statesfarm song in my head for the past week. nowIhavetheurgetogetupandeatartichokesbye
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I got a copy of English as She is Spoke as a belated Chanukah present. I am so excited. I have wanted a copy of this since the language issue of Muse way back in 2006. The article on it has been one of my favorite Muse articles, the issue my favorite issue. It introduced me to loving language, something that I now want to study. It even was the foundation for one of my college essays.
In other words, this is a big deal. Squee!
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Went to an Ansel Adams exhibit at a local museum! It was really cool to see his Yosemite prints, after having been to most of the places he photographed this summer.
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At airport security:
TSA officer: You need to take the laptop out of this bag.
Me: I don’t have a laptop.
TSA officer: Well, then what’s making it heavy?
Me: My oboe.
TSA: Your what?
Me: Oboe. It’s an instrument.
Other TSA officer: It’s a woodwind instrument.
First TSA: A what?
Me: You play it.
Second TSA: It’s fine, let her through.
I should have just said clarinet.
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