Tuesday, 30 April 2024
Life, the universe, pies, hot-pink bunnies, world domination, and everything
MuseBlog dedicates this month’s random threads to the Muse of Bad Poetry. Because, really, what is life without a lot of bad poetry in it?
Continued from Part One.
Date: March 17, 2012
Categories: At the Top of the Blog, Random craziness
Hi! Grease rehearsal was fun and exhausting. This is going to be interesting. But people said I sounded good! Yay! I’m playing saxophone in the pit! I’ve never played in the pit before!
0
0
I just went to have some archery lessons. I’m not bad, I don’t think. At least I had fun.
Anyway, the presidential race so far is just starting to depress me. I don’t like any of the Republican candidates, and sometimes they just make me want to scream. Maybe I should stop following it, it’s not like I can vote yet anyway.
On the plus side, my English class is going to be on a fun project for the next week or so. The whole project is: Find a controversial issue, research it, write a persuasive essay about it. I haven’t quite decided what to do yet, my brother’s doing capital punishment, and right now I think I might go with global warming, but I’m not sure.
0
0
At least it’s anything you care about and not a specific thing you want to reform using civil disobedience, like my last English assignment. (I chose Civil War battlefield preservation.)
0
0
I actually see why a majority of people here are liberal now. *is really glad to live in a country where the two main parties suck about equally, even if the minority parties are bad too* (I’ve become so much more cynical, haven’t I?)
0
0
Rick Santorum. Why.
Can I trade English projects with you? P*ease???
0
0
When I first read this, I thought you wanted to trade English projects with Rick Santorum.
0
0
I don’t think he’s still in school…
0
0
I wouldn’t be surprised 
0
0
Maybe he should be…?
0
0
You both stole my punchline!
0
0
Honestly, looking at the public opinion, I didn’t think President Obama had much chance at a second term, but seeing the other candidates has changed my thinking.
0
0
His approval rating is above 45%-I don’t know why people keep talking about how public opinion is against him.
0
0
I wish there was another good president. Like Kennedy! (He was considered a good president, right?)
0
0
Reasonably good.
0
0
Happy St. Paddy’s day!
Earlier today I had a gig, and my car’s been making weird noises lately.
“So dad, you didn’t get a chance to check out my car yet…will it make it there, or will it blow up, for that authentic Irish experience?”
I’m a terrible, terrible person.
0
0
I found Granada’s version of The Red-Headed League after all! I’m annoyed, though, because Mr. Wilson’s hair isn’t fiery red enough. It’s light red, like carrot-flavored bread crust instead of a carrot. Why, there are others in the crowd with redder hair than his! The other episodes are good, though, and even this one is in most respects (Yes, I’ve been spending almost the whole day watching these; why do you ask?).
I can’t wait until I recover from my illness; the green anoles have stopped hibernating just in the time when I’ve been unable to go outside; one sees them out the window on occasion, and when one goes outside to the car for a haircut, one can’t help seeing them. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen them for a while, so I’ve gone a bit rusty on how not to frighten them too much; I’ll have to work on that again if I want to observe them for long. It’s alright, though; I’m just glad to see them.
0
0
Oh, dear. I had to stop; I think it contained a spoiler for another story or novel. It mentioned Professor Moriarty, you see, and I don’t know him, even though I’ve read the Red-Headed League–but I’ve heard of him and know he appears at some point in the books, so I can’t watch the rest. I’m a bit afraid to watch the remaining Granada episodes now until I’ve read everything.
0
0
I mean Granada follows the books really closely so one will spoil you for the other. Just depends on which you watch/read faster.
0
0
It’s just that this episode was based on a story I’d already read (The Red-Headed League) but brought in a character from an entirely different book (I don’t know which, because I’ve only red Adventures so far).
0
0
My best friend and I were drawing random pictures and she drew a space squid. Yep, she’s that awesome. 
0
0
Knowledge Bowl state! Dart guns! Magnets! Elevators! Kokonvention that lasted multiple minutes! 7th place!
Good times.
0
0
It was at least five minutes this time! And I have photographic proof.
0
0
Yes, yes you do! Have you e-mailed it in?
Did I see correctly that your school didn’t make the semi-finals?
0
0
Not yet. I’ll probably do that tonight.
Yes, you were correct. We were four points away. >.<
I was super happy with how we did, though. We held our own in all of the rounds, and did better than any team from my school has before.
0
0
I’m sorry that you didn’t make it, but it’s good that you’re still very happy with how your team did.
My team is so funny. When I checked my phone, suddenly looked around, crossed the cafeteria, took a picture with a random girl while making a strange hand sign, and then came back, they didn’t even ask what had just happened.
0
0
That weird moment when you look up and notice that it’s technically tomorrow morning. Then that weird moment when you see that your comments are being moderated right as you post them. It’s 12:50 here and some other ungodly hour on the East Coast- GAPAs, do you keep hours as strange as mine?
0
0
Special circumstances. I’m attending a museum conference, arrived in Asheville sort of late, so I went out to get something to eat. Waiting in the drive-through, notice the steam pouring out from under the hood of the car…. Then there’s the wait for AAA….
Let’s just say that the policy of always carrying a book with me proved its value once again. Luckily, once he arrived on the scene, my knight in shining tow truck not only was able to fix the problem on the spot, he also made sure I got back to the hotel safely.
0
0
Glad your car trouble got fixed! Museum conference? Sounds cool!
0
0
China Cup undefeated champions!! We won all four games including the finals this morning! (Back in Hong Kong now.)
0
0
SFTDP – for soccer, in case I didn’t mention it before. Our school got 1st in three out of the four divisions – JV girls (my team), JV boys, and Varsity boys. The finals were against our homestays and we tied, so it moved to penalty kicks and we won!
0
0
I haven’t been on recently, and I’m not quite sure why. I think after the first few weeks, shame kept me away.Â
I don’t know if this marks the beginning of posting again or not. But I wanted to come back, and at least say I’m sorry, and I miss you guys. I still think about you, even though it’s been months.Â
This post isn’t coming out like I imagined. I wanted it to flow much better, wanted it to sparkle. But the discussion that finally pushed me into actually posting something didn’t leave me at my best. Sorry if this is incomprehensible.Â
I miss you. I’m sorry for leaving with things unfinished. I hope to be around more in the future. Thank you for being here still.Â
*****
I wrote this a fortnight ago, and haven’t had the courage to post it. I’d edit it, but I’m afraid I’d never finish.Â
So… I’m back.Â
I’m pretty sure I’m going to stay.
0
0
I am very glad to see you again, Errata!
0
0
*so many hugs*
I’ve thought of you often, Errata, and I missed you. I’m so glad to see you back again.
0
0
We like you, Errata. Come and leave as you please, but it’s nice to talk to you again. You’re hardly the only person to disappear for long periods of time. *ahem* *me* *ahem* Anyhow, welcome back. 
0
0
Hi, Errata! Please keep posting. You’re awesome.
0
0
GAPAs, when I click on the Part One link in post zero, I get a box that says: “Firefox* doesn’t know how to open this address, because the protocol (ttp) isn’t associated with any program.” I mention this partly to be (hopefully) helpful, and partly because I’d like to know what “protocol” means in this context.
*My browser is Mozilla Firefox.
0
0
Sorry! We made a typo in the HTML code. It should work now.
0
0
It does indeed! Thank you.
0
0
The internet is a structure for moving information around. Protocols are standard formats used to communicate that information. Some protocols are computer to computer, others are program to program.Each time you use the internet you’re using a few protocols, but program to program are the kind you’re most likely to see. The most common protocol of this type is HTTP, which stands for hypertext transfer protocol. Others include FTP, file transfer protocol, and IRC, internet relay chat. The incorrectly typed address, http: //www.museblogetc begins with http to let firefox know what program to open it with.
0
0
Thank you very much for your clear and complete explanation, Vendaval! I am familiar with HTTP and FTP, but didn’t know the umbrella term.
0
0
As part of an optional test protocol, we are pleased to present an amusing fact: The device is now more valuable than the organs and combined incomes of everyone in *subject hometown here.*
Ahahaha, sorry. Can’t help saying a GLaDOS quote every time I hear “protocol”. I think in this context protocol means “a set of rules governing the format of messages that are exchanged between computers”. And yes, I did get that from Dictionary(dot)com.
0
0
0
0
I AM IN BARCELONA.
It is good.
But scary, because my Castilian is mediocre and my Catalan is nonexistent.
0
0
Hello, Adeliae! How’s the pie in Barcelona?
0
0
I… I… I… I don’t know.
I need to find some pie now.
0
0
That statement seems to fit perfectly with your gravatar.
0
0
You know you’re addicted to Doctor Who when you see this post and think of the planet Barcelona, not the country.
0
0
Did you know, the dogs there have no noses?
0
0
How do they smell?
0
0
Awful.
*continue Monty Python’s “Funniest Joke in the World” sketch here*
0
0
Incidentally, Barcelona is a city, not a country. Though I’m sure you knew that.
0
0
I wonder if Beads on a String would be a fun thread to do again?
0
0
That reminds me of fun times.
0
0
*looks up* Yes!
0
0
I have returned form my spring break. I was with 19 other students from my university, volunteering in southeastern Georgia. We did a lot, this past week. We cleaned up parks, and painted a barn, and helped clean beaches and restore marshland and oyster reefs. It was fun, but it was hard work, and I’m just as glad I’m back as I am glad that I went. It wasn’t just work, too. We were by the beach, so we went swimming there often, and I picked up a ton of shells, and went horseback riding.
During the trip, I really wanted to talk to everyone on MB about it. During our service, we talked about a lot of really important subjects, like race and class and poverty, and environmental protection, and community building. Each day I had so much to think about, and say, and now that the trip is over it’s all jumbled in my head.
Still. Totally worth it. If your college does something similar, do it. It’s way better than just lounging around at home over spring break.
0
0
Z. O. M. G.
You guys are never going to believe who I’ve spent the afternoon talking with.
You really will never guess, so I suppose I should tell you…
Vi Hart’s mom.
0
0
0
0
We had been talking on and off during our tours of some art spaces. I was interested to meet her because she’s the new director of a local museum I’d been hearing a bit about from a mutual acquaintance. At some point I found myself telling her something about MuseBlog, in response to which she started telling me about her daughter. The description was sounding very familiar. My eyes practically popped out of my head cartoon spit-take style when she said her daughter describes herself as a mathemusician and I realized… *insert embarrassing fangirl moment here* Fortunately I didn’t frighten her too much. I don’t think.
0
0
Ahhh hahaha that’s so cool!! And awesome! Wow
0
0
So cool!
…is Vi Hart’s dad the one starting the Museum of Mathematics? I’m interested in working there if possible.
*shifty eyes*
But so cool!
0
0
Yup, that’s her dad.
0
0
How is her family so cool?!?
You didn’t scare her mom away with fangirling? Cool!
0
0
Funny, I just looked at his sculpture section of his web page and realized I had seen his work a long time ago, well before I knew about his daughter. I hadn’t remembered his name, but I recognized some of the sculptures.
0
0
If you’re interested, let them know. And go there as soon as possible.
</world_domination_101>
0
0
The kokonspiracy must spread!
0
0
So say we all.
0
0
As such, I will send that email this afternoon.
0
0
“Dear Museum of Mathematics,
As my next step on the road to world domination….
0
0
It’s not open yet, is it?
They have a fantastic location!
0
0
Opening date still undetermined, according to Vi’s mom.
0
0
GAPAs fanning out = win. GAPAs fanning out about Vi Hart = SQUEE! REBECCA, YOU ARE SO LUCKY!
0
0
Only in my house would the microwave be held together with scotch tape…
0
0
Because everyone else uses duct tape?
0
0
If you use duct tape to hold your microwave together, it’s more far gone than mine is… O.o
0
0
One time I walked downstairs and made myself a bowl of cereal like nothing was the matter. It was only when I went to boil my tea when I realized all the glass in my microwave had shattered. It just shattered! For no reason!
It was beyond the help of scotch tape.
0
0
Today I tilled a garden using a tiller from the seventies (even managing to avoid killing my grandparents’ dog in the process), and I ate some smoked Polish sausage, and I did some writing for the Theme with Variations thread, though I accidentally wrote myself into a corner so I’m going to pick it up again tomorrow morning and go in a different direction with it. Pretty good first couple of days of spring break, though not quite as restful as I had hoped. Oh well, there’s plenty of time left to lounge around. I crossed the 1000 kanji mark yesterday, which was neat. And we’re supposed to get some thunderstorms tonight and tomorrow, so I’m excited for that.
0
0
Ooh, themes with Variations! I should go back there.
0
0
‘Kay, so I read my previous post and decided it was definitely incomprehensible. I basically didn’t do any editing at all this morning, ’cause I was afraid I’d wimp out like I’ve been doing for… Quite some time.
Anyway, I can give more details now.
I’m not sure when it was, but sometime last December I realized that I hadn’t come on here for weeks. For a couple of weeks, I just didn’t come on because I was out of the habit, but at some point the whole thing became massive and complicated. Which developed into anxiety about the whole thing.
So I just didn’t come on. Even when I missed you guys, it was easier to stuff everything in the closet.
Then, at the end of february, I talked to my mother about something which turned into a tearful discussion of how I didn’t have any friends, and led to me crying in my room, composing the above post in an attempt to reconnect with you guys. But when I was about to post it, I stopped. It was evening on the last day of the month, and almost nobody would see the post. So I decided to wait for the next morning.
And the next morning I couldn’t do it. Took me twenty days to be able to.
But I’m finally back. I’m looking forwards to getting to know these faces I don’t recognize and readjusting to everything here! Whee!
That was probably way more than you wanted to read. Cookies if you made it this far.
0
0
Oh, and I totally forgot to say: Thank you so much for all your kind words. They really mean a lot to me.
Mostly because of the above mentioned lack of friends. Non-virtual friends, I mean.
0
0
We love you. Very, very much. Welcome home.
0
0
I missed you! I’m glad you’re back. Welcome 
0
0
Welcome back to where you will always be welcomed, Errata. We all love you and I’m so glad you’re here again, I really missed you!
0
0
*huggle* I’m glad you’re back.
0
0
I know that feel bro.
Welcome back Errata! *glomp*
0
0
You will always, always, be welcome and cared about here. I am personally thrilled to see you, since I’ve missed you!
0
0
Cerulean, your name makes me think of people from Cerulean City (in pokemon) getting flamethrowers and burning down all of the inferior towns in Kanto. it is AMAZING!
0
0
That’s imaginative. I just think of Hermione’s blue fire in a jar.
0
0
As long as we exist, you will never be without friends.
We’re glad you finally came home.
0
0
Yesterday I spent all evening reading MB again and I went to bed with a giant smile on my face, and just lay there thinking about how lucky I was. You guys are the best in the world, and don’t let me forget that ever ever again.
At some point I’ll resume normal posts instead of making everything all about how glad I am to be back. But for now, I’m going to coast along on the glee.
0
0
I just had one of the most incredible weekends of my entire life.
0
0
What did you do?
0
0
I did my very last high school musical with some of my best friends, and it was so indescribably awesome.
0
0
Back at school again.
I got more work done on my hammock, it should be done in another few days, then all I need is to talk to someone on the woodworking crew and get two pieces of wood to hold it open. Yay! And then I can set it up in the woods and read the book I brought back with me, Navigation and Nautical Astronomy. [/sailorgeeking]
0
0
Cool!
0
0
If anyone has advice on what I posted on the College, University, and Higher Education thread, I’d appreciate it.
0
0
Tweets from Nak, eh? Very nifty.
0
0
WHOA tweets from Nak when did this happen
0
0
Nak tweets? I like it.
0
0
Went to see M.S.I. on Sunday night, and it was nice to see the band since they’re one of my favorite of all time, but the night was just “meh.”
The worst of it was that I lost a little bit of hearing. I woke up this morning and it still was muffled (though I did only get four hourse of sleep…) It’s gradually coming back today I think… I hope! My dad constantly warns be about the dangers of too-loud-music, so it’d be especially shameful if this were permanant.
It seems like every time I go to a concert, there’s some big secret everyone knows that I don’t, because nobody seems to have a problem with the impossibly loud music, but I have to plug my ears every half hour or so to, um, readjust. Apparently everyone’s hearing is different, but I don’t know anything about it.
0
0
Possibly other people have already damaged their hearing at earlier concerts and so don’t notice any change.
0
0
Awww. That’s icky, especially because it’s MSI and they’re awesome. Losing your hearing is annoying. :<
Here, have a hearing-squid. I'm not sure if it's closer to a seeing-eye dog or a babel fish.
0
0
My big secret is when I go to rock concerts I wear heavy-duty wax earplugs.
0
0
I DON’T
WHAT’S THAT SPEAK UP I CAN’T HEAR YOU
0
0
My big secret is that I never go to rock concerts.
0
0
What’s the point in keeping that a secret?
0
0
No point; I was parodying Lizzie’s post (24.3).
0
0
Good news, hearing’s back! Definitely going to invest in some good earplugs. It’s easier to hear the music that way, anyway.
0
0
I like the tweets from Nak!
0
0
Yay kokonventions!
Rebecca is here at my school and we’ve had a quick Kokon before I rush off to play practice. It’s a lovely day, so we wandered around and admired the flowers and trees and things, and ate Mexican food. Yay!
Hi! yay! Too rushed for my slow, melted brain (it’s 80+ degrees out here) to think of anything more to say. Right now we’re trying to figure out how to photographically document the occasion.
0
0
You both have fabulous cameras! That is how!
How are you guys liking them by the way? Fiddler i know you’d gotten that fisheye a while ago.
0
0
Whoa, Rebecca gets to hang out with all the cool people this weekend!
0
0
It’s true. I envy myself.
0
0
And again next weekend, maybe?
0
0
I hope so!
0
0
Wow, sounds like a flammy time! Post pictures soon!
0
0
I was at a loss for words and asked Fiddler what I should say. She said, say “‘hi, yay.’ It’s traditional.”
By the way, I think our avatar is splendid.
0
0
Jade~ I LOVE it.
Rebecca~ I like that our avatar is the same color as the 10+ pie pink.
Also next weekend yay! I’m excited for it.
0
0
Oh my gosh. I DON’T KNOW IF I GOT THE PART UNTIL TONIGHT. I HAVE TO WAIT LONGER TO KNOW.
WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.
Also, Nak doesn’t simply TWEET, oh no no no. She… she…she Roars!
rawr
0
0
Good luck!
0
0
So, um… went to my first driver’s ed class today…
It was weird. The first half of the class would be best described as YAY LET’S RUN INTO THE WHITEBOARD TO DEMONSTRATE FORCE OF IMPACT AND HOW MUCH IT HURTS
0
0
I would love to have a physics class that did that.
0
0
CO’s Equilibrium.
0
0
I don’t know if I mentioned this earlier, but the reward for making the honor roll at my school is a rubber duck.
0
0
Envy.
0
0
SO MUCH OF IT
I want a rubber duck :U
0
0
Rubber ducks are awesome!
0
0
I recently saw a vending machine at someone else’s school that sold rubber ducks. It also sold pencil sharpeners shaped like noses.
0
0
“Tell me, what exactly is the function of a rubber duck?”
0
0
Cuteness.
0
0
* insert terrible duck and smartness related pun *
* is pied *
0
0
Rubber ducky, you’re the one…
0
0
I’m a week late for this, but….
So you’re saying the honor roll at your school isn’t all it’s…quacked up to be?
0
0
Based on the observations of my peers, I have developed the following hypothesis: If hand sanitizer is made readily available to schoolchildren in a middle school, then the hand sanitizer will become the number one cause of substance abuse in that school.
Is it possible for hand sanitizer to be a mind-altering substance? From my current observations, the fumes seem to be dissolving the brains of my peers into slimy, smelly, alcohol-based gel.
I am seriously going to look into this, because people at my school do not just use it for killing ninety nine point nine percent of germs. The stuff gets everywhere– on chairs, on papers, on the floor, on the desk. It’s disgusting.
0
0
Ewwwwww.
0
0
I’ve heard that smelling too much of iit can kill brain cells. How some people can stand the smell enough not to be disgusted by the idea of sniffing it, I don’t know. They seem to like it, though.
0
0
Ew… hand sanitizer’s nasty, it smells like having acid pumped up your nose. Can’t be good for you.
0
0
I also think hand sanitizer is grody.Some of my friends are doing their Science Fair (a thing at my school )project on scented and non-scented hand sanitizer.
0
0
If you look online for “prisoners drunk on hand sanitizer”…yes, it is possible.
0
0
Yep. It gets everywhere in my school as well. 
0
0
Well, my sister said she got lightheaded for smelling it for too long.
I’ve been keeping an eye on her now…
0
0
Spent a good fraction of today browsing fountain pens and notebooks online. Time well spent.
0
0
Hi, I haven’t been posting much lately, but I have to ask, who/what is Nak?
0
0
It’s a nickname for Nancy Kangas, a thoroughly flamablamablous person who writes incredible things for Muse on a regular basis. “Nak” is the Ble version of her name.
0
0
Tonight in an overly-energetic frenzy I started cleaning my room. A bit. Part of it. You can see parts of my desk now. It’s pretty spiffy.
Anyway, I unearthed a sketchbook, and decided to draw things, because I needed to do something with the ridiculous amounts of GO GO GO GO GO GO GO FOREVERRRRRRR that I had on hand. So I drew parts of books, and my sewing palm, marlinspike, and treid to draw part of my knife. All except for the knife came out a lot better than I was expecting. I’m not too good at the whole drawing thing. But I’m having fun.
I should write in my journal again, it’s been over a week, and things have happened that need to be recorded.
Aaaaand tomorrow is Tuesday and I don’t have my philosophy class, so I have work from 9:30 to 12:30 and then the rest of the day is COMPLETELY FREE.
Except that I need to write a paper.
But aside from that, COMPLETELY FREE.
I’ll probably be outside all day, hiking or finishing my hammock. Eeee!
0
0
DO ALL THE THINGS!
0
0
I didn’t know what “Galaxies” was “really” about (other than space in general) until just I watched a video of Adam Young talking about it. I never thought of it as being sad before… 
0
0
What’s it about? I love that song, and I don’t see how it’s sad…?
0
0
CI didn’t make it on Chamberstuck, but the other things are TBA.
0
0
What does that mean?
0
0
I’m beginning to realize how infrequent my avatar changes are. Maybe it’s consistent with my name changes, which are nonexistent.
0
0
That was supposed to coincide with my new gravatar, but I’m not seeing it. Is anyone else?
And Piggy, I have cleared my cache.
0
0
I’m seeing it. I don’t know what it is, but I’m seeing it.
0
0
I don’t see it. By the way, you’ve changed your gravatar more often than I have in the time that I’ve been here, and you’ve been here longer than me.
0
0
HELLO FELLOW TWEWY FAN
I only have like 10 DS games, but The World Ends With You is one of them (actually I bought my DS used from a friend and it came with the game). I’m not very good at it — after I finished the main storyline I stopped playing and now I can only play on easy — but it is so good askdlfasldhfsadflhasdo
my boyfriend used to constantly wear an armband with one of those pins on it, and I would tap it and be like “why can’t I scan asdf” He gave me one of the ice-spike-making pins when I went away to college and I treasure it still.
/unrelated facts about my life
0
0
NEED MORE CANDY CANE
0
0
True. Although, I generally make it into whatever I’m currently interested in, whereas you will always love tardigrades.
0
0
THAT WAS A REPLY
WHY DID IT NOT LET ME REPLY
0
0
Although I will always love tardigrades, I have to admit I can’t guarantee I’ll always be obsessed with them. A few years ago, I was just as enthusiastic about Attwater’s prairie chickens; I’ll always love them, as well, but people don’t always know it. It’s the broader subject of zoology in general that will never leave me.
0
0
SFTDP (EVEN THOUGH IT WOULDN’T BE IF IT LET ME REPLY)
Somebody That I Used To Know may be the first song I’ve ever bought that was on the iTunes top 10 at the time.
0
0
Hello MB, my name is Skunk. I was on here for a while a while ago, but I never posted much, so most (make that all) of you will not remember me. Anyway, I’m back. Hello again.
0
0
Psh, I remember you just fine. Good to see you again!
0
0
I remember you! Welcome back!
0
0
Welcome back! I remember you just fine.
0
0
ACK. SFTDP.
…that awkward moment when you write something and realize you just said the exact same thing as Piggy. Complete with pie.
I do that way to often – I scan a set of posts and end up unconsciously copying one of them.
0
0
Hiya, Skunk!
0
0
Welcome back, Skunk! I remember you; glad to see you again!
0
0
I remember you! Glad to have you back!
0
0
I remember you. Welcome back!
0
0
Skunk last posted in August 2011.
0
0
So, if I got an email offering an interview, but was supposed to reply by today which I only noticed today. I replied today but do you think I am okay given that it said by? Does by actually mean before?
0
0
“By” means “on or before,” so you’re fine.
0
0
Another fine day of spring break. Today my mom and I went to our favorite tea shop and had some in the store for the first time. We’ve bought tea leaves there before, but somehow the only beverage we’ve bought from them is bubble drinks. She had her usual ginger peach tea (she’s the sort that orders the same thing every time she goes to a restaurant), while I tried a pot of Tung Ting Oolong. It’s a somewhat pricey tea, but it was absolutely delicious. Moderately sweet, very floral–it tasted like springtime. It felt like a bit of a waste to only steep the leaves once, but one pot was plenty for me. They had some roasted Tung Ting as well, which I’ll have to try sometime. I also noticed that they had some licorice root tea, which I hadn’t seen there before–I’m the only one in my family that likes licorice, so I’m putting that on my list as well. After that, we stopped by Trader Joe’s. As we were pulling into the parking lot, by some bizarre coincidence the lady that had served us our tea was pulling out.
I think I picked the wrong week for spring break. Last week it was warm and sunny and beautiful, but this week it hasn’t stopped raining. There’s a lot of yardwork I’d like to get done, but it’s too wet to do anything.
0
0
YOU’RE on spring break!? I have to wait for next week! Lucky!
0
0
I’ve already finished with spring break.
0
0
Mine doesn’t start ’til next Thursday D:
0
0
I GET TO READ HOMESTUCK FOR MY ENGLISH PROJECT
0
0
Your school WINS.
0
0
Wait… REALLY? WOAH.
0
0
Awesome!
What’s the project?
0
0
Summary.
0
0
You’ve got your work cut out for you, then.
0
0
My cat just leaped up onto my keyboard and I had to delete a bunch of gibberish!
0
0
There seems to be an email address in your name. I suspect the GAPAs will have to remove that.
0
0
Yes. Even if it’s not real, it’s not something to be encouraged.
0
0
Me: Man, I feel like such a rebel doing this… it’s kind of fun! 
Friend: You stay after school to practice the saxophone and you call that breaking the rules?
0
0
In current events: New Zealand is suffering from a desperate shortage of Marmite. Reportedly, the prime minister is spreading it more thinly on his toast to get by.
0
0
What’s Marmite? Is this related to the recent butter shortage in Norway? Someone was arrested for trying to smuggle it in, I believe.
0
0
You know how cloudy days are supposed to make the sunny ones feel better, and it’s always darkest before the dawn, and there’s a shadow side to everything?
That’s the relationship of Marmite to basically every other edible object.
If I were Australian, I’d be celebrating in the streets. No offense, Australia.
0
0
I have tried Vegemite exactly twice in my life.
Both times, I regretted it.
0
0
:O
0
0
It’s the food of the gods even better than Vegemite a yeast-based glop that’s pretty much the national food of New Zealand (that is, New Zealand Marmite. The British stuff has the taste and consistency of tar). We put it on everything. By which I mean we use it as pasta sauce, spread it on bread, mix it with hot water like tea, and even occasionally try to use it as mosquito repellent.
The plant in New Zealand that makes Marmite shut down after the Christchurch earthquake this year, and won’t re-open until June, so Kiwis are panicking and bidding for Marmite online, or, in extreme cases, even resorting to Vegemite.
0
0
OH THAT
MARMAGEDDON
0
0
I really like Marmite/Vegemite. I hope they find some more soon.
0
0
I just received my Muse issue! I’m quite excited because I renewed my subscription several months ago, but they didn’t replace it until today. I missed a few issues. I’m glad I won’t miss any more. Could I please have a thread to discuss it?
0
0
I watched my first Errol Flynn movie today, for my Modern Medieval History class. Robin Hood. It was surprisingly fun. Ridiculously cheesy, but fun. And afterwards I was left with the strong desire to go around Flynning and taking odd swipes with a stick at everything.
Also, he reminded me of Orlando Bloom for some reason. Possibly because of the pretty-boy in historical costume getting into ridiculous sword fights thing.
0
0
So, tonight was opening night of The Music Man. It went wonderfully (besides the fact that I misplaced my pants afterwards) – I actually hit my high notes well! – and I’m really pleased.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEE SO HAPPY
0
0
I love that musical! Who do you play?
0
0
Marian.
0
0
My only complaint with The Music Man is the dance routine during “Seventy-Six Trombones”. The kids pretending to play trombone were bashing their slides against the floor so badly. In real music, you would rarely go out to seventh much at all, and just going from first to seventh to first to seventh to first to seventh… there are five more positions, guys!
0
0
If you have not found your pants yet, I do hope you find them soon.
0
0
Tonight, I was going to start my paper, which is due tomorrow at five (and I haven’t been procrastinating that badly,, it was only assigned on Tuesday if you must know!).
At midnight, the plot bunnies struck with a vengeance. I never actually got to sleep tonight. What is my life I don’t even.
0
0
I suppose it probably wouldn’t be helpful to say that the story you started, if it’s the one I’m thinking of, is brilliant?
0
0
WHY IS IT 87 DEGREES IN MARCH?!
0
0
I KNOW, RIGHT?
I like it, however , and, besides, it’s “only” 82 here. 82 DEGREES. In Maine. *eyebrow twitch* IN MARCH. IN MAINE IN MARCH.
A couple of years ago we had a huge snowstorm in April…
I feel like I should be worshiping the sun or something. Actually, I was just worshiping it; I had a yoga class where we did the sun salute.
This weather is putting me in such a good mood. I’m not sure if I would be if it were 87, though. *sympathy squids*
0
0
You can salute and honor something without actually worshiping it, though.
0
0
Still, the yoga positions are technically Hindu worship positions.
*does not wish to start a religious debate*
0
0
Actually, many of them are fairly recent and don’t have strong connections to Hinduism. The sun salutation, for example, is a 20th-century invention. The science writer William Broad recently wrote an interesting book about yoga, which tried to clear up a lot of confusion about its origins.
0
0
Ah. *adds to list of things to know*
0
0
Well, plenty of Hindus- actually most of the ones I know- don’t do yoga at all. A few do, but for the health benefits, rather than for religious reasons; a lot of Hindus regard modern yoga as more of a new-age exercise and meditation system that doesn’t have much to do with religion.
0
0
According to the “Weather” thingy on my phone, this whole week it’s been warmer in Boston than in Cupertino. (The California one, not the Italy one.)
0
0
I live near Cupertino. It is FREEZING*.
*California freezing- like, 50 degrees.
0
0
WHY HAS IT SNOWED FOR THE FIRST THREE DAYS OF SPRING?!
0
0
EXACTLY!
Three inches of snow at my house this morning.
WHAT IS THIS MADNESS?
0
0
It was 84 degrees outside today.
I wore a dress, opened all the windows in the sunroom and pulled out my cello again for the first time in months today. It felt awesome to have some Bach under my fingers again.
0
0
Second performance was amazing. The director for the high school came to see it, and it went very well, so that’s a good thing.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE THE HAPPINESS
WHAT A STRANGE FEELING
0
0
I wish to get to know all of you alot better but I still feel like an outsider plus the uneasiness issue that I might say something wrong and idk anymore.
Any suggestions how?
0
0
HELLO I BELIEVE I AM SPEAKING FOR EVERYONE WHEN I SAY WE LOVE YOU VERY MUCH AND PLEASE DON’T WORRY ABOUT SAYING THE WRONG THING BECAUSE YOU ARE FANTASTIC
KWA KWA KWA KWA KWAAAAAAA
0
0
I understand; I generally feel that way when I’m new to a website I want to spend a lot of time on. Please keep in mind that we don’t actually work that way: when someone comes, it’s just taken for granted that they’ll turn out to be awesome, and en is treated as a friend, and I, at least, have never been disappointed–and you definitely do seem awesome. Feel free to just jump into conversations; that’s a nice thing about the Internet; it isn’t considered rude. Your contributions are always appreciated. As bookgirl said, you’re not likely to say something we object to, but even if you do, we’ll forget it quickly, certainly before you will.
0
0
First off, I don’t think of you aren’t an outsider. You are fairly new, so I don’t know you as well as most of the other MBers, but that’s only to be expected. If you stick around, we get to know you better and visa versa. (Of course, I don’t really read R&R so I’m probably missing a lot).
Don’t worry about saying the wrong thing. We all make mistakes (except maybe Piggy). As long as it’s not against the rules (or trolling, or very rude etc- you get the picture) it probably isn’t “wrong” anyway. If you’re worried about something, just ask!
As for getting to know us better, there’s threads like the profile thread, or polling places, or things we like etc.
I’m sorry that you feel like an outsider: I’d like to see you post more and I wonder if there’s anything we/I can do to alleviate that feeling.
0
0
No, no, I make mistakes. A few days ago I misspelled “narcoguerrilla” as “narcoguerilla”.
0
0
I REFUSE TO BELIEVE PIGGY IS CAPABLE OF ANY MISTAKES WHATSOEVER
I, on the other hand, just spelled “mistakes” as “mistales” and am constantly spelling “would” as “woudl”. Thank Celestia for spellcheck.
0
0
And that comment was supposed to be a reply to 54. Oops. I suppose it only serves to further illustrate my point.
0
0
The Hunger Games was an amazing film. Really, really good.
0
0
It was so beautiful, so breathtakingly incredible, so flawlessly seamless. The script adaption, the sets, the shots, the music (and lack thereof int he right places), and the incredible actors…everything was all-around perfect. I have never been more satisfied with a movie adaption of a book.
Can I go see it again!?
0
0
POSSIBLE HUNGER GAMES MOVIE SPOILER ALERT BUT NOT REALLY IT’S JUST ABOUT SOME CINEMATIC CHOICES THEY MADE
I liked almost everything except for the skaky camera parts. Which were long and often. They made me dizzy and I couldn’t tell what was going on 
I understand it’s use in some scenes but a lot of the time it just seemed really unnecessary. My friend actually got nauseous and had to close her eyes for a lot of the movie.
PROTIP: MAKE SURE YOU ARE FAR AWAY FROM THE SCREEN TO REDUCE EFFECTS OF MOTION SICKNESS
0
0
MAYBE SPOILER ALERT I DON’T EVEN KNOW IF THIS NEEDS ONE SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
Yes, total agreement. Even sitting in the back of the theater it was still disorienting. And at the part after they blew up the food where it sounded like everyone’s ears were ringing, I was suffering a bit more than necessary.
0
0
(Oh, and to add to this a little bit, here’s why I love the fandom:
When Katniss stood up and gave the three-finger salute after Rue’s death, our entire row got up and did the same. Then the entire theater.
Why are people so awesome?)
0
0
IT WAS AWESOME!
I totally agree with you, agrrrfishi, that was probably the best book to movie I have ever seen done.
0
0
Guys guys guys
Battle competition! I was up till eleven making peppermint bark and it worked because we got first place! We were really unsure, but we got first place! And since I was out of school for that I have more time to study for my math test! And I am super happy! And I love my whole team and we came back for seventh period and instead of going to band I lay barefoot in a field of grass while listening to Florence and the Machine and it was flammyness and awesomeness and apparently the way I answered questions gave everyone comic relief.
And we’re going to State competitions now and it’s all flammy and I got to see Paperclip and he was happy to see me and we got announced over the intercom because we won and I was one of the starters and I was in every round and we beat all the other counties!
And, since I’m not sure if anyone will see the post or because I’m not sure if she can find the Random Thread, the neophyte Agent Hippie is in fact a very close IRL friend of mine who is a very Muserly person and reads Muse and she is retrying MB because last time was a bit of a disaster (this was mostly my fault) and I may have mentioned her here as my friend Flute because that is what she plays and I just wanted to say that.
Now I have to go get ready because I’m playing in Grease again tonight, and all will be flammy and my sister and her six friends will be there since it is her birthday party and we get to eat cake and did I mention there is melted peppermint bark left over?
0
0
Congratulations on your battle competition victory! Your day sounds like it was really awesome. I didn’t comment on your involvement in Grease before but anyway, it’s really cool that you’re doing that. I hope everything continues wonderfully.
0
0
Going to see the Hunger Games movie tomorrow! I really really hope it isn’t ruined. In the meantime I am keeping myself occupied by watching Hetalia and eating cookies.
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
0
0
I was looking through the Poetic Edda for information about Yggdrasil, my favorite aspect of Norse mythology, and I was surprised and disappointed to see that the footnotes/introduction/etc were just casually using the word ‘heathen’ frequently, without any attempt to respect Norse beliefs, even though scholarly texts are supposed to be objective (If my Bible uses BCE instead of BC in the footnotes, these people can at least have the courtesy not to insult the culture they’re supposed to be informing about). I know that very few people have those beliefs today, but there were plenty of people who did, and they were ordinary people. They could be a bit extreme at times, but they were worthy of more respect that that.
Also, I found out what my number will be in the regional spelling bee, and for some reason, that made me more nervous. It’s a good number–close enough to the beginning that I don’t have to wait so long at first for my turn but far enough that, should the worst occur and I miss a word in the first round, I almost definitely wouldn’t be the first to do it. (I always feel sorry for number 1 because if they miss their first word, they were the first to lose just because they went first, which might lead to more pressure, which might lead to a higher likelihood of that happening). Still, it feels so much closer now. It’s on the 31st. I’m a repeat speller, and there aren’t many, but last year was hard. And it would be so amazing if I won and went to nationals! That won’t happen, of course; I haven’t studied anywhere near enough. But if it did…! I just want to do better than last year. I missed the first word I was given that hadn’t been on the list of words that might be used in the first 2 rounds: parallax. That didn’t seem so bad at the time, but my science class learned that word this year, so apparently, I missed a word that was only a year beyond my grade level–maybe 2 because it’s an honors class, but still, that’s embarrassing. It doesn’t matter, of course. It was an honor to get there. But this is my last chance; I’ll be too old next year! Agh… But last year, the words at the last few rounds were things like ‘cymotrichous,’ which spellcheck doesn’t even recognize, and my grammar is falling apart, and of course it doesn’t matter if I don’t win because it’s so great that I even got there but…
0
0
I just got back from our school’s Battle of the Classes, which was somewhere between awesome and terrifying. The noise. Actually, the awesomeness really outweighs the terror; it was fantastically exciting. We freshman lost badly, of course, but I don’t think the freshmen have ever won.
Now, of course, I have to go write an 800-word article on Battle for the school paper until the wee hours of the morning and get up at some ungodly time for a stupid orchestra thing, but who cares, tonight was great. Who knew high school could be so much fun?
0
0
Quick question that just occurred to me. GAPAs, are you ever disappointed that you have to moderate a comment that is a spoiler for something you want to see?
0
0
Gah so much behindness. O.o
Yeah, so, uh, this whole having basically nothing to do thing is pretty spiffy. I need to reschedule my work around my classes though, so then I don’t end up with all these awkward hour and a half long segments of nothingness.
Spring is like ‘I’mma get all up in yo mountains!” and the cherry blossoms are almost over. It looks like it’s snowing with all the blossoms on the ground.
On the official first day I spring I went swimming in the river, which was glorious. People are running around campus barefoot now, it’s wonderful. Here people go to classes, work (if it’s safe), etc. with no shoes. Only one of the cafeterias will gripe at you if you go shoeless. It’s a pretty good place for going barefoot.
Later today I’m going to go play music with the guy who wants to start a Celtic contra band, so that’s exciting.
It’s going to be interesting to see if I can stay awake for the entire day, I went to bed around 6am and woke up around 9. Does that even count for going to bed, or is it just a nap at that point?
I’m starving, but I’m really not thrilled about the prospect of weekend food at the cafeteria. In general this school has fantastic food, but on weekends it sinks to the level of most institutional food, which is to say pretty gross.
Tomorrow SUPER EXCITING THINGS. That you’ll hear about tomorrow.
There you go, that’s your update on Fern’s life.
Re: Hunger Games:
I think parts of it were filmed around my school’s city. I don’t know anything else about it, though.
0
0
Yes, some of it was filmed there. And a local group from my area called the Carolina Chocolate Drops has a song on the soundtrack. Almost everyone from our contra dancing community knows at least one member of the group—she’s one of the nicest people ever as well as a flammy musician—so there’s a lot of excitement about all the attention they’re starting to get.
0
0
Huh. I think I’ve heard of that band. Mostly when I was in DC, though. I remembered them because they had the word “chocolate” in their name.
0
0
Oh, I know of the excellent Carolina Chocolate Drops from NPR! I assume the contra dancer is Rhiannon Giddens?
0
0
Yes, they’ve been getting national attention since their album “Genuine Negro Jig” won a Grammy last year for Best Traditional Folk album.
And yes, I was referring to Rhiannon Giddens. You can find some of her solo work on YouTube in a variety of genres. In one she plays a gourd banjo. I first heard of her from some acquaintances on the Celtic music circuit who’d been in a group with her before she went off to form CCD. One of them said she was “too good to stay with us for long.” Then I kept hearing about her when I took up contra dancing several years ago. One night there was a buzz of excitement that she was at the dance, which didn’t happen very often by then. During a break, my partner of the moment introduced me to her, and that’s how I found out I was dancing with her husband! Still, another year or two passed before I realized that the musician I kept hearing about through different channels was one and the same woman. She’s an unusual figure. There’s not a lot of racial integration in traditional music circles, at least not what I’ve seen around here.
0
0
“Genuine Negro Jig” is the CD I have heard–I thought it was unusual and well thought-out. There is a definite Celtic influence in the CCD, so I am not surprised Rhiannon Giddens has been involved with Celtic music. I haven’t heard any of her solo work, but I shall investigate! In addition to music, I have been impressed with her when I’ve heard her interviewed. (And such a lovely name!)
0
0
post about my life
I’ve been back at school for a week now and things have been insanely busy and I thought I went on leave so I would be less stressed not more…
good news: found a therapist walking distance from school, back home with my friends (the computer interest floor is a home to me as much as where I lived for high/middle/elementary school)
bad news: HOUSING FOR NEXT YEAR WOES, MAKING UP WORK WOES, SERVERS GOING DOWN RANDOMLY WOES, not really being any more stable than when I left
I have to finish this semester because if I drop out I lose all my scholarships in the future and I have to live at home again and get a job and transfer somewhere less ideal and closer to home and I will be a failure. But I’m not sure I can. I guess the time will just pass as I worry about this and before I know it the semester will be over. At least, that’s what I hope.
0
0
I just discovered Archive. It… is amazing. It takes all the free ebooks/audiobooks/etc from Project Gutenberg and similar organizations and puts them on the same website. Well, really, my brother discovered it yesterday; he was ecstatic, and he doesn’t get ecstatic very often, so I knew it had to be great, since he has good taste, but–today I went, and it’s amazing; there are so many books the Kindle doesn’t provide for free that this does, and you can put them on the Kindle so that you don’t get headaches and so on, and it’s just excellent, but that’s not even the best part! The best part is that they have a whole, huge subcategory for just biology. They call it the Biodiversity Heritage Library. And it’s free, and there’s so much there! I’m currently reading a lovely long paper about tardigrades in Scottish lochs from 1905; it’s quite possibly the best scientific paper I’ve ever read about tardigrades; there are a few annoying things like so many typos (seriously, how do you get from shoulder plate to shoidder jylif-te?), the fact that a few things have now been proven inaccurate (For instance, the author didn’t think they were actually arachnids, like many writers half a century later, but en did say arachnids were their closest relatives), and the fact that my Kindle won’t show the drawings (that can get confusing when it talks a lot about anatomy, but I don’t mind much because I’m good at visualization and have seen plenty of pictures of tardigrades before), but it’s so well-written! It isn’t any less formal or professional than modern scientific papers, but it is less dry. I’m not sure how much is really the writing and how much is the fact that it’s so easy to look up unfamiliar (except when they’re misspelled) words in the dictionary on a Kindle, but either way, I love it! The way it explained just how they chew was especially insightful. Of course, I’m only about 12% through so far; my brother wanted to use the Kindle. It annoys both of us when we both want to use it at once, and–get this–his birthday is coming up, and he brought up the idea of asking for a second Kindle! It may not happen, but it would be just so convenient if it did because I happen to want it just as much as he does, and since I’m only asking for money for my birthday, which I’m saving for a summer camp that will take years to afford, as well as all other money that I receive any other way, which means no new things for years, for the most part, not counting free Kindle books, so I’d be delighted if that happened!
0
0
So…I cut off my hair and donated it to locks of love. Well, not me, obviously, a hairdresser cut it off. Still, it is now gone. Mostly, anyway. It’s in kind of a layered bob. I was only able to donate 10 inches, but that was enough.
This feels really good.
0
0
Congratulations! That’s a big decision to make, but you won’t even miss the hair most of the time.
0
0
I did locks of love in third grade!
I want to do it again, but I hate how I look with short hair. I think I’ll grow it out super long so it isn’t as short.
That’s gonna take a while…
0
0
Awesome! I should send in the braid sitting on my desk…
0
0
I went to the Museum of Fine Arts today with some other kids from the archeology department! The Mesoamerican room was really cool, as were the 18th century landscapes. And the restaurant in the courtyard is really, really nice.
0
0
Last night I slept outside with my youth group in order to try to experience a night of homelessness.
It was an interesting night, even though it was obviously different from actual homelessness in a lot of ways, especially mental ones. Luckily, it wasn’t too cold, though it was difficult to get to sleep. I was also previously unaware (consciously, at least) how much noisier it is outside than inside. It’s sobering to think of having to sleep like that every night.
0
0
I can’t stand how everyone is talking about The Hunger Games and I’m still waitng to read it.
0
0
I’ve been waiting for the paperbacks to come out for… I’ve forgotten for how long. I bought the first one in paperback in December, and I recently found the other two in paperback. I think they’re from the box set edition? I don’t know. All I know is they only cost six dollars now.
0
0
I know how you feel. Even my little sister, who isn’t very literary, has read it. And tonight a whole group of my friends went out to see the movie. I’ll get around to it. Someday.
0
0
Yeah.
0
0
Spring breaaaaak
Back home for the week.
Tomorrow I go see Starkid’s Batman/superhero musical for free in the city and I am SO EXCITED AHHH
Wednesday going to the Museum of Science and Industry
Friday/saturday visiting my friend in the city
Sunday driving back with my roommate (who will be visiting other friends semi-near me).
A GOOD PLAN SO FAR, NOW TO ADD IN MANY MORE THINGS
0
0
Aaaaaaugh I’m so jealous! I was supposed to be in Chicago visiting one of my top colleges this weekend and I was going to go see the Starkid show, too. Then State Solo and Ensemble happened and my director legitimately threatened to fail me if I didn’t participate with our show choir, so I had to skip the whole weekend. I could have seen you there!
Have fun and let us know how it is!
0
0
Aww! That’s too bad. Let me know if you visit it over the summer or anything though, I’ll almost certainly be around then.
Leaving for B@man at 5 or so. SO EXCITE.
0
0
CY Leung won the election for our next Chief Executive. Well, “election” consisting of 1,193 electors essentially chosen by Beijing…He did say he’d work towards universal suffrage by the next election in 2017 (5-year terms here). But they said that once about 2012, too, and look how many people voted today. Not seven million, that’s what.
0
0
My roommate and I are sitting in our room in our pajamas enjoying the cool rainy day outside out open window, listening to the Avett Brothers. ♥
0
0
Hi, Everybody! Vendaval and I just had lunch at Midnight Fiddler’s favorite noodle place and are now blogging from the naval memorial in downtown Washington, D.C. Over to him…
Hello from a nicely shaded day in D.C! Fiddler and Robert have great taste in restaurants, and it’s been delightful walking around town. Makes me wonder why I don’t kokonvene more often… but I hear there’s something brewing south of here!
0
0
Aha! Sounds like fun! Are the cherry blossoms out there? Probably too early, even with such a warm, early spring.
0
0
The cherry blossoms are at their peak. (It has been a weird year.) Vendaval timed his visit perfectly.
0
0
Yeah. They were starting to bloom when I was out there in early March!
0
0
Is it still warm and sunny there? Boston has gone back to being cold and cloudy.
0
0
It turned cool and rainy yesterday and this morning but then cleared and warmed up again.
0
0
Lucky! I hope you’re taking full advantage of the nice weather.
0
0
Is my favorite noodle place too! Well, in DC anyways. Enjoy DC! It is probably getting rather hot out now, judging by how warm it was when I was there!
0
0
As I was sitting at a red light today, some gentlemen tried to start something with me. “Hey, nice Toyota!” they shouted. I thought this was odd, considering I was driving a Honda. It’s not particularly nice, either, although their Nissan was in even worse shape so I suppose it was, relatively speaking, “nice”. I chose not to respond. “Hey shades!” they tried again. This was less off the mark–I was indeed wearing sunglasses at the time. Again, I refrained from acknowledging their salutation. They gave it a third attempt. “Hey, turn the music up!” While the music I was listening to at the time was some rather respectable rock they might have enjoyed, I left the volume as it was and continued waiting for the light to change. Defeated, they drove up a bit to try the driver of the car ahead of mine. He seemed inclined to immediately engage them in dialogue.
Anyways, I’m back at college now, though I’ll be going home again on Friday. And the weekend after that. And the weekend after that. I’m starting to think it may be easier to just live at home and commute to my classes every day.
0
0
Grease closing night went wonderfully! Afterwards was a cast party and Altosax and I hung out in the tech booth where they were taking requests. We started a flash mob and put on colored spotlights… it was lots of fun. Also, lots and lots and lots of people said the pit band was really great and made the show a lot better! I’m very happy about that. Then I went and slept over at Altosax’s house. And it was all very flammy. I’m happy.
Okay, next week is the end of the quarter. Bring up algebra grade! Open for big jazz band fundraiser thing! Borrow ALL the plunger mutes!
0
0
Fern: Today is a good day for Kokonventions, it seems! I went to see a concert that Lizzie played for, that was lovely, and then Rebecca and I stole her away for dinner and a visit.
Lizzie: I don’t know what to say. But it’s been really nice seeing Fern and Rebecca, even though it required spending the entire yesterday on a bus.
Rebecca: Today is a day for kokonventions and noodles, although ours were Thai. For our after dinner entertainment we’ve been popping bubble wrap in the stairwell of Fern’s dorm and meeting the assorted Colins.
0
0
Ahhh! So envious! That sounds like so much fun
0
0
Envy!
0
0
Had a semi-Kokon with Selky today. It’s not as big a deal in Kokon terms because, y’know, we already knew each other, but it was still fun. And we took a hike into the woods and took pictures with the oldest issues of Muse I could find! I also wore her black hat, because Hat Guy.
0
0
Aw. You already mentioned it. But I’m still going to post the post that I wrote and things.
Today WAS INDEED a day for kokons
Me and Castle met up (although we knew each other before I came here, but that’s not important)
We acquired coffee, internets, awesome musical things, and pretty pictures of a sunset over a very aesthetically pleasing lake. There were also several encounters with a very enthusiastic golden retriever who weighed only 15 pounds less than me.
We became wilderness explorers of the most daring variety (Google maps is fantastic) whereupon I tripped, cut my lip open, and bruised my leg really badly. This did absolutely nothing to affect how awesome everything was. I made garlic chips, he played guitar. Cuddles were had copiously. Literature of a certain sort was brought along on our wilderness exploration trip, and we took the customary pictures with it.
I gave my black fedora to him and told him it was his, simply for the purpose of being able to steal it from him the next time I see him. He is Hat-guy. Now I can be Hat-girl, I think.
Aaaahhhh I’m so happy. Life is fantastic. Everything is wonderful. :3
0
0
There are garlic chips? How do you make those?
0
0
You just make garlic into little slices and sautee them until they’re crispy. It’s really easy to burn them, so I have no clue how I manage to make them properly.
And Castle, I just realized I forgot to sing at you. Merrrr.
0
0
That sounds delicious.
0
0
Three Kokons in one day, involving seven people! Amazing. You’re all very lucky.
0
0
I hate weekends …
0
0
You can’t be serious!
0
0
Augh! Someone else who hates weekends! We should start a club or something for this.
0
0
Disneyworld this Friday!!!!! *bounces in chair in excitement*
People who’ve been to the Harry Potter part: how high should my expectations be?
0
0
I’m going to Disneyworld this spring break, as well! I’d suggest we meet up, but I don’t actually know who you are, haha.
0
0
The Harry Potter park is at Universal Studios, not Disney World.
0
0
I know. Sorry, my wording was a little weird. I couldn’t think of the term, so I just put “part”. XP
0
0
So what you mean is, you’re going to the city of Orlando, where you will visit both the Universal Studios Orlando and Walt Disney World parks.
0
0
Eeyup.
0
0
Watch out for my cousin! She’ll either be Aurora or Rapunzel!
0
0
Marcus Mumford is God.
Seriously though, I don’t think I’ve yet heard a bad Mumford and Sons song. Their music is incredible. Needless to say, I’m developing an unhealthy obsession.
Favorite songs of theirs at the moment:
-Home
-Timshel
-Lover’s Eyes
-I Gave You All
-White Blank Page
0
0
Aaaaahhhhh White Blank Page how I love thee
0
0
All the feels in one soooong
0
0
I listen to After The Storm whenever I’ve had an emotionally rough day and it always helps.
0
0
Mumford & Sons! Such loveliness. Have you heard “Ghosts That We Knew” yet? I’m also enamored of “Thistles and Weeds” and “Winter Winds” at the moment. “Lover’s Eyes” and “White Blank Page”, yes, yes! I haven’t heard “Timshel” or “Home” yet….
0
0
Home’s brand new and Timshel’s on their album Sigh No More, both reaaally good. And I love Ghosts That We Knew! All of their songs are basically made of win.
0
0
I sang After The Storm for a solo concert that my choir did.
There will come a time you’ll see
With no more tears
And love will not break your heart
But dismiss your fears
Get over your hill and see
What you find there
With grace in your heart
And flowers in your hair
Brilliant.
0
0
((I’m not sure as to whether this is too much information, but I really wanted to tell you all about this.))
District History Day happened, and WE’RE GOING TO STATES!!!!!!!! Every two minutes afterwards, one of my friends whom I did the project with would turn to me and say “Hey [SilverLeopard], guess what? WE WON!” The best part, though, was that three of my friends also won, including two who had been griping about how “awful” their project was. So after the million times I told them how great their project was, I got to tell them, “I told you so!”
0
0
Having injuries can be fun sometimes. I mowed my grandparents’ lawn on Saturday, and since I haven’t mowed since last year I didn’t have calluses on my thumbs. As such, I rubbed/tore both of them open a bit in the process. But that means that I get to watch the healing process, which is great even at the cost of having two thumbs that I can’t bend much or brush against anything. The wound on my left thumb is slightly larger but doesn’t seem quite as deep. I seem to have slightly reopened the wound on my right thumb last night or this morning. It’s also interesting to take note of how the pain fluctuates–yesterday evening they barely hurt at all unless I curled my thumb all the way, but when I woke up this morning it was a constant stinging regardless of position or movement. I didn’t bother with any antibiotic stuff, and it’s impossible to put a bandage on ’em because of the awkward positioning, but I’m not seeing any signs of infection or anything. Still a little bit of exudate, but I think that’s because I keep tearing them slightly.
Only a Muser would be fascinated by this sort of thing.
0
0
Woah I totally do the same thing
My lip, despite being cut open on a rock yesterday, is already better, and I’m kind of disappointed. Conversely, my leg still really hurts, which is no fun because from looking at it, it isn’t apparent that anything happened to it.
0
0
As long as it isn’t anything I’m tempted to pick at and make worse, that is so me.
When I’ve been given injections, I’ve actually watched.
0
0
Hello, my Muserly friends. Some of you may have noticed that I’ve been absent from the ‘Blog recently (though I certainly won’t blame you if you haven’t). My laptop has given up the electronic ghost (I’m posting from a library computer) so my ability to post will be rare at best.
Anyway, I’m posting today to reassure anyone who needs reassuring that I am still alive, and still completely addicted to Muse. (I will next post on the Addicted thread, in fact.)
0
0
Poor laptop! I hope you get a replacement soon, we’ll miss you.
0
0
Thanks, and I hope so too. (Sent from my 3DS which has finally decided that MB is acceptable to load appreciably. I may not dissapear entirely after all!)
0
0
*joke about dissing a pear goes here*
0
0
Oops. Sorry about that.
0
0
So everyone talking about the Hunger Games has finally made me get started on the actual book. So for the past two and a half hours I’ve just been reading. Done with The Hunger Games, now have Catching Fire and Mockingjay on my bedroom floor waiting for me to pick them up.
And I want to read them now, but at the same time I want to let the first book digest in my brain first. I tell you, reading is like my crack. Or just plain, feel-goody brain sugar, except healthier for you. And I have not had enough of it lately.
0
0
I need that on a poster.
“Reading Is My Crack”.
Yeah, that sounds about right.
0
0
I really like the song Alligator Sky by Owl City. It’s just so happy.
0
0
So do I.
0
0
Saw this poster on a wall in my future English teacher’s wall:
I’M SO ADJECTIVE! I VERB NOUNS!
At last, a teacher who understands how teenagers (Muser and otherwise) can manage to verb almost every noun and adjective!
I can’t wait to take her class next year.
0
0
This certainly isn’t a new feature of language, I hope you know. Shakespeare did it a lot, I believe. Quite a few verbifications have been around so long we don’t even realize they used to be solely nouns (access, host, drink, lure, sleep, etc.).
0
0
Table, chair, head, hand, finger, thumb, toe, eye, bowl, bag…those are some that occur to me just glancing around the room. Transforming one part of speech into another has always been one of the major engines of linguistic vitality.
0
0
And since English has a grammar based in large part on word position, as well as a simple inflection system, it’s particularly flexible with these sorts of things. I know that in Spanish it’s somewhat more difficult to make innovations like this, which forms a bit of a problem considering how much English has been entering into the Spanish language lately. You have to mess around with a more rigid syntax and set of inflections, and oftentimes there’s really no graceful way to, say, pluralize a new noun or conjugate a new verb.
0
0
I know, but “kids these days” seem to make a verb out of pretty much everything and everything.
0
0
I know, but “kids these days” seem to make a verb out of pretty much everything and everything ,even acronyms (I loled).
0
0
That always bothers me–I mean, Laugh out louding?
0
0
Verbing weirds language.
0
0
I AM ALL THE ADJECTIVES
0
0
That’s impossible! You can’t be good, bad, big, small, alive, inanimate, evil, compassionate, normal, unusual,and everything else all at once!
0
0
Ah, young padowan, but you can. You can have all of the colors, that’s a given. Good and evil are opinions, so you be good by one opinion and bad by another. You can be big in relation to an atom, and yet small in relation to the Earth. You can be a normal teenage boy, and yet you are unusual to the aliens living in whatever galaxy. Perspectives matter
0
0
Yes indeedy, apprentice. Koko has taught you well.
And then there’s, ah… “Schrodinger’s Selky”
0
0
You didn’t explain how one could be both alive and inanimate.
0
0
A robot?
0
0
They aren’t technically alive, though.
0
0
Ahem…
0
0
Why can’t I hold all these descriptions?
0
0
You can make a verb out of anything, in cultural context.
e.g. on MB we ‘pie’, ‘squid’ or ‘pink’ posts. On the rest of the Internet, you can ‘google’ something, when out of context ‘google’ is a misspelling of a large number.
However, ‘laugh out louding’ is pretty ridiculous.
0
0
WARNING for semi-gross medical stuff? Not really bad but I know some people can be ultra squeamish.
Speaking of medical things, my dermatologist likes fun toys to fix stuff. She used a laser on the scar/patch of skin where I had a wart before to make it normal, and a while ago she used electricity to zap these little red dots on my hands that get caused by blood vessels being weird or something.
It was cool. The laser felt like a sharp rubber-band snap. She did it like 3 times. It started bruising right away, and apparently over the next couple days will turn black/scab-like and peel off.
0
0
That’s awesome! Do you know what the laser was specifically doing to your skin, and why it bruised so suddenly?
0
0
It basically destroyed the blood vessels that were directly below it and in the area around it. That’s why it bruised right away. Dry ice on warts is good for the top layers of skin or areas where skin is thin, but since this was on the middle crease of one of my fingers where the skin is thicker, she wanted to use the laser.
0
0
Owl City just makes me happy in general, but none of my friends like it.
0
0
Hello there Melody! I didn’t have a chance to say hi on the Neophyte thread.
Owl City is pretty much the greatest thing ever. Sadly, most of my friends are under the impression that the greatest thing every consists of three words repeated over and over again and autotuned to oblivion…
Anyways, if you like Owl City, you should look at LIGHTS and The Postal Service, if you haven’t already. They’re both pretty similar to Owl City, but different at the same time. Oh! And there’s Sky Sailing, which is what Adam Young called himself before Owl City. Those songs are cool too.
Sorry if this posts seems kinda ramble-y, I’m just excited to meet another Owl City fan.
0
0
None of my friends like it, either.
But I like his music.
0
0
Owl City makes me happy in general, but I still don’t like him.
I dunno. As music, my brain KNOWS it’s dumb and autotuned and everything I dislike about music, but my heart says “YES HAPPINESS FLOW INTO MY SOUL”. Or something like that.
0
0
I know how you feel. A lot of music makes me think “AAAAAGH AUTOTUNE THIS IS NOT GOOD” but also makes me happy.
That’s what music is about, isn’t it? It shouldn’t matter how it sounds or how it’s made as long as it brings happiness to people. I dislike the autotune and overproduction as much as you, but if it makes you happy there’s no reason to dislike it.
So if my Spotify feed has Lady Gaga on it, it’s because I’m listening to something I enjoy, not expressing my love for autotuned pop in general. That is all.
0
0
YES
I LISTEN TO PINK AND LADY GAGA AND OCCASIONALLY OTHER THINGS PEOPLE WOULD CONSIDER TERRIBLE POP MUSIC AND I’M PROUD OF IT
Although those are some of the least objectionable ones, in my opinion.
0
0
That sort of music just doesn’t ever give me that happy feeling. It puzzles me. It’s inconvenient for me to be that way, because whenever people listen to pop music around me, it is awful for me, and they often are unwilling to turn it off.
0
0
Autotune wasn’t even my issue. I just generally don’t like anything about his music. I don’t like his vocal quality, his songwriting, his composition, anything. It just makes me really happy for some reason, unlike most pop music.
*probable rant about pop music ahead*
It’s not that I hate pop music, it’s just that so much of it makes no attempt to be catchy whatsoever. For example, I can get behind “Born This Way”. It’s fun to listen to, and you can sing along with it. I can’t, however, listen to “E.T.” all the way through. There’s simply nothing catchy about it. It seems to try to slam you in the face with the music, like Katy Perry really just wanted it to be a single…because.
Another excellent example is LMFAO. Their new album has two absurdly popular singles. One is “Party Rock Anthem”. That song is admittedly musical garbage. It’s everything I dislike about pop music turned up to 11. But you know what? I enjoy listening to it. It’s a great song to dance to, and it’s a heck of a lot of fun. Now, let’s talk about “Sexy and I Know It”. Actually, let’s not. SBF might be able to give some comments of her own, but I am DONE talking about that song.
One bizarre thing about pop music today is how many great voices are wasted. Take Rihanna, for instance. Specifically, take her guest appearance on the song “Fly”. Her chorus on that song is some of the best vocal work I’ve heard from her or anyone in a long, long time. However, she doesn’t get to take center stage, and the result is another entirely mediocre Nicki Minaj song.
In short, I don’t dislike popular music, despite what I might often say about it. I just think that there’s so much that could be improved, and that most artists out today seem to have the capacity to do so. It’s just that they don’t seem to want to, because what they’re doing now sells. Sad, really.
*end rant*
0
0
Musically speaking, pop’s got nothing on Zeppelin and RHCP and Nirvana and such. But it can be – it isn’t as a rule, but it can be – very fun to dance to and listen to. And I’m not insulting pop (or…maybe I am). It’s a completely different kind of music. But it takes so much less skill to write and perform, say, Boom Boom Pow than it did to write and perform a song like The Battle Of Evermore or Heart Shaped Box or Under The Bridge. Take this for example:
I’m so 3008
You’re so 2000 and late
I got that boom boom boom
That future boom boom boom
Let me get it now
Boom boom boom
Boom boom boom
Boom boom boom
Boom boom boom
(repeat)
And compare that to this:
The queen of light took her bow
And then she turned to go
The prince of peace embraced the gloom
And walked the night alone
Oh, dance in the dark of night
Sing to the morning light
The dark lord rides in force tonight
And time will tell us all.
Oh, throw down your plow and hoe
Rest not to lock your homes
Side by side we wait the might of the darkest of them all
I hear the horses thunder down in the valley below
I’m waiting for the angels of Avalon, waiting for the eastern glow
To me, it’s a big difference. One song actually makes me cry (inexplicably every time I listen to it, which I’m doing now) and one makes me think “Dear god, Fergie, stop hatin’ on the chickens that are copyin’ your swagger.” And I realize that certain music is more appealing to some than others, but the truth is that a lot of new music is in fact easier to mass-produce because it’s not as well made. It’s like music has been outsourced to computers and crappy lyrics. Comparing Led Zeppelin and the Black Eyed Peas isn’t even fair. It’s a computerized microphone versus Page’s intricate guitar parts that he wrote himself and didn’t autotune.
And those are my feelings.
0
0
Honestly, I don’t really see the issue with autotune. I think it allows people who are great at songwriting or playing an instrument but maybe don’t have a great singing voice to have careers in music that they might not have been able to have otherwise. Just because someone uses Autotune doesn’t mean they don’t have talent.
0
0
YES SAME I AGREE WITH THIS A LOT
0
0
I only recently discovered Owl City, but I quite like it. The whimsical lyrics especially.
It probably helped that the first song I listened to (Fireflies) almost instantly reminded me of Doctor Who.
0
0
I reread The Report Card by Andrew Clements today, just for fun, and ended up spending two hours writing a 2200-word set of opinions about success and school and grades and intelligence instead of studying for the statistic test I’m making up tomorrow. Oops?
(I can post it if anyone is interested in reading it. What thread would that go on anyway?)
0
0
Oooh, such a good book! I read it a long time ago, but I REALLY like Andrew Clements.
0
0
I do too, usually (A School Story is one of my favorite books from my childhood), but this one made me kind of uncomfortable. In some ways, anyway–in others, I liked it very much. It’s complicated.
0
0
I should probably read it again, seeing as I read it before report cards were important to me. I clearly remember something about her doing a puzzle when she was little and yeah..
I think out of all of them, I liked Frindle the best.
0
0
Which parts did you like, and which made you uncomfortable? It’s been a while since I read that one.
I know this is a strange way to put it, but his books (Frindle, The Report Card, The Landry News, The Last Holiday Concert, Lunch Money, No Talking) are like the anthems of my childhood.
0
0
I definitely agree. I loved those books.
I can post my massive opinion thing if you want. Where would be a good place for it? Bottom of the random thread seem okay?
0
0
I’d love to hear your thoughts on it, but maybe Books and Reading would be a better place?
0
0
I would agree. Thanks!
0
0
I spent a hour last night watching a very funny TV special made in 2001 to celebrate the opening of the Disney’s California Adventure theme park.
0
0
Yesterday I went around my homeschool co-op asking people to vote on which is better, Harry Potter or Twilight. Final score: HP-43, Twilight-4.
0
0
Quick: let’s get this to exactly 43 pies and 4 squids!
0
0
…But no one will want to be the squids.
0
0
They can be congratulatory, and we already have 2.
0
0
The squids can represent the regret that anyone at all voted for Twilight.
0
0
Why is it that whenever I try to write my french term paper on Sartre, “Les Feuilles Mortes” starts playing as background soundtrack in my head?
0
0
So I spent 22 hours on a bus this past weekend. The school orchestra went on tour to North Carolina, so we left early saturday morning, played the concert sunday afternoon, I met up with Fern and Rebecca, left early monday morning. It was really long and tiring.
And now I’ve got a midterm and a 10-page paper tomorrow and my lesson is Friday and I’m completely unprepared and ughhhh.
Also, past two hours:
-go over to friend’s apartment to study for midterm
-get back to my place, find that I don’t have keys
-freak out
-call roommate, no answer
-go back to friend’s apartment to look for keys, fail
-call landlord to let me in
-get in
-freak out
-find keys under my beethoven quartet score
0
0
By the way, I still have “Kodachrome” stuck in my head.
0
0
Chasing the Sunset is uploading remastered old comics! They look very pretty, and so much better than the old ones!
0
0
I was just else-internet and suddenly wished I could sympathy squid something. Other sites have no squids! It is too bad.
Also, had a job interview today. I think it went well? I have no idea how to tell.
0
0
I often feel like commenting on things saying “*sympathy squids*” because of the lack of squid buttons.
0
0
YAY! I’m sure it went great, that’s so exciting!
0
0
Another busy day today. Class, class, class, then homework. I read all of Chretien de Troye’s Perceval. Now I have to write a paper on it. And study for a midterm, and do al the other minor bits of homework floating around.
But you know what? I’ve been busy nearly all day today. I am going to take a break. And start up again later.
0
0
I have to write a science fiction short story for English … Ideas I have already: In the future, all national space agencies and a few private companies have melded into the World Space Agency, mainly devoted to finding a new habitable planet since Earth is becoming so polluted/overpopulated/devastated by nuclear war. Luckily, wormholes are found to exist. Terraforming is possible and is their general plan once they’ve found a planet. The two global languages are English and Russian.
Unfortunately, the story has to have at least two characters, dialogue, and an actual plot. And be linked to current science/issues. Help?
0
0
If it’s supposed to be linked to current reality at all, I’d suggest making the languages English and Chinese.
0
0
How do people feel about the World Space Agency? Is there anyone who doesn’t like it? What kind of control/influence do they exert over the non-space-related government, and could that influence be misused? Is the global psyche one of despair, or one of hope– do people honestly believe that they will make it off Earth before the planet dies? Is your world more of a utopia, or a dystopia?
I don’t know enough about current science to help you there, but those are some plot-building questions that might be helpful. I also highly recommend Patricia C. Wrede’s worldbuilding questions, which can be found easily on the Internet and may generate some plot ideas.
0
0
You’ve already got environmental destruction and the usefulness of space exploration in a time of crisis, aren’t those current issues?
And, like Lizzie, I would suggest adding Chinese to the list of major languages, and maybe introducing a Chinese-English-Russian hybrid language spoken in space, like “Runglish” on the ISS.
0
0
does my icon make you happy, homestucks
;;;)
;;;)
;;;)
0
0
Birthday was good day. Thanks again for all the birthday wishes, love love love to all.
I would have posted something yesterday but my kindle wasn’t loading MuseBllog, but.
I had two cakes. Two. Cakes. Chocolate mousse and a cheesecake. Very delicious.
I went through the day mostly unnoticed, which was a yay, but Swalot. Oh my, Swalot. Just. Swalot. Happifies me. (One of two people who remembered it was my birthday, out of my IRL friends. XD)
I shall be headed to R&R to melt now. Apologies for a semi-incoherent post, more love to all.
0
0
Maine has the weirdest weather. A week ago it was 80. Yesterday it snowed–not a lot, but snow. Right now it is hailing. I went outside and stood still while tiny balls of ice bounced off my head. It was really cool.
0
0
That moment about eight or nine pages into your french paper when you’re getting down to Sartre’s Existentialism as depicted in Huis Clos and you realize that you’re not exactly sure what the last paragraph was about anymore and everything turns into fuzzy logic…
Ah well, time for some black tea.
0
0
Regrettez-vous rien?
0
0
Non, je ne regrette rien.
0
0
OH CAKE IT ALL
I MISSED THE KICK
0
0
Ni le bien qu’on ma fait
Ni le mal, ça c’est bien égal!
0
0
So, I was babysitting my little cousin today and we were watching tv, and he had me watch this show called Adventure Time.
Now, I myself am a strange person, but that was by far the weirdest cartoon I have ever experienced in my entire life. Kind of an endearing weird, but just so…out there.
0
0
The spirit of American animation is alive and well!
0
0
There’s some “back in my day” bias implicit in my views, but I think Cartoon Network shows are so weird these days. I’ve heard good things about Adventure Time, though.
0
0
Fly-Up happened today!
Fly-Up is this thing the high school chorus organizes for all the chorus students in the three districts that end up at that particular high school. Each school chooses a song, and we learn all four songs, and then we go sing them together. And each school sings some of the music they’re performing for the other schools. Some Chamber Choir friends and I were talking about how you think you’re really good at music and everything and then you hear the high schoolers and you’re all like “Whoa! I am not as brilliant as I think I am!”
It is so much fun to sing in a huge group. There was one song that one of the middle schools chose, called Lamentations of Jeremiah (which is old and in Latin), that sounded spectacular with so many people. It was practically made for large groups.
But the most fun part of today was the people I met. There was one high schooler in particular, who got to know each of us in our row in the auditorium, and was always asking if we were having a fabulous time. The whole experience was really great. I’m glad I signed up for Chorus in high school.
0
0
I finished my hammock today, and I’m going to sleep out tonight.
0
0
I was in the pit for our school’s production of Cabaret this year, for which we had rehearsal for 4 hours every day last week and three performances over the weekend. These songs are never leaving my head.
0
0
I know how you feel. I did Beauty and the Beast weeks ago, and I still can’t hear, “That’s alright,” without thinking, “I’ll borrow this one!”, “Clean it up,” without singing, “We want the company impressed! We’ve got a lot to do; is it one lump or two for you, our guest? She’s our guest! Be our guest”, and once, I just saw the person who’d played Lefou and started singing, “Gosh, it disturbs me to see you, Gaston, looking so down in the dumps!”
0
0
A few minutes ago, it hit me that I will never have another band camp. I won’t spend hours at a time in the hot sun or doze through afternoon rehearsals. I won’t stand in line for showers for half an hour while comparing tan lines with my friends or collapse into an uncomfortable dorm bed way later than I should be up only to get up earlier than I’d like. I won’t explain learning drill to freshmen; I won’t even read drill. I’ll never have a whole show ahead of me or pages and pages of drill to learn or rhythms to sync up or technique to fix.
No more basics blocks or “this one time at band camp†jokes, no more watching people’s sweat lines take over their shirts, no more getting caught in downpours in the middle of rehearsal, no more touch-steps, no more hypocritical room checks, no more stupid conversations late at night, no more box drills, no more setting up the scaffolding, no more lining the field.
No more marching band.
It feels like I’ve been kicked in the stomach.
0
0
I know exactly how you feel – I felt exactly the same way when the debate season ended. No matter what you do, you never get to come back – and even though you just wanted it to be over at the time, now you wish that you’d made more of every moment.
0
0
I loved every second of it. Even the parts that were awful. I loved all of it.
0
0
I loved every second of it. Even the parts that were awful–and somehow there weren’t even many of those. I loved all of it.
0
0
Children say “when I grow up†with the easy assurance that it’s never going to happen. They know that eighteen is unattainable, that graduation is something other people do, that in some way, somehow, the days when your homework is to tie your shoelaces and your best friend is whoever’s sitting next to you simply aren’t going to end. They understand, as all children understand, that the future will always wait until tomorrow.
And it does wait. It doesn’t step around a corner and spring on you. You don’t open the door of your bedroom one day to find that it’s become someone else’s bedroom, your house someone else’s house, your street someone else’s street. It waits, watching you, as you go to class each September and pack away your stuffed animals and outgrow each new pair of shoes, one by one.
Because that’s what life is. It’s the things that happen when you aren’t looking. It’s the view that goes by out the car windows, the unfocused extras in the background of the camera shot, the designs on the stained-glass windows that you’ve seen a million times and never really looked at. Life is the moments when you’re standing in the kitchen, wondering what you came in there for. It’s the little things.
And it’s the big things, too, sometimes. Your first day of kindergarten. Your first day of middle school. Your first graduation. Your first breakup. It’s bowing to the audience and letting the curtains close in front of you. It’s the day that the college sweatshirt arrives in the mail.
Life is falling in love. It’s falling in love with your bedroom, with each pair of new shoes, with tying your shoelaces and the view outside the car windows and the stained-glass windows that you’ve never really looked at. It’s falling in love with the easy assurance that growing up is never going to happen. It’s falling in love with the glorious, impossible ordinariness of each other, falling in love with the home you make, day after day.
And even though the hardest part of love is leaving, we wouldn’t miss it for the world.Â
0
0
This is gorgeous and wise and perfectly encompasses so much so well. In particular, the paragraph about life being falling in love speaks deeply to my own being. Don’t you ever let anyone dissuade you from writing, Cat’s Eye, because it’s a treat to see your experiences of the world.
0
0
Of all that has happened in the past few days of my life, this alone welled tears in my eyes. Thank you for writing. It’s truly beautiful.
0
0
GAPAs, could you remind me what the email is to send pictures to? I have a picture of me and Meow from our recent, brief, kokon that I’d like to send to
0
0
gapa (at) musefanpage.com!!
0
0
For image files, it’s better to send them to thegapas (at) gmail.com. Google can handle bigger files.
0
0
Gooooood morning!
Sleeping outside is the best.
0
0
Song-Ye: “In fact, I’m actually wearing a cocktail dress.”
Dylan: “An alien-fighting cocktail dress?”
Star Challengers is the best.
0
0
applying for internships D: D: D:
This so scary and I’m not sure what to doooooooo
My application has almost no work experience on it
Also having to email professors to ask if they’ll be my references eeeeeeeek
0
0
Home for spring break, where it is snowy and the weather makes sense. Wrote four papers in three and a half weeks and my brain is deader than dead, so yay for break!
0
0
You’re lucky to be on break now, ours was two weeks ago.
0
0
That awkward moment when the song that reminds you of Amy and Rory turns out to be from the Twilight soundtrack.
0
0
I have to know what song this is.
0
0
A Thousand Years, by Christina Perri.
0
0
That is the most awful realization humanly possible.
0
0
Worse than the time when I woke up, looked to my left and realized Edward Cullen was in my bed?
0
0
0
0
DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE UNDER A POST ON THE R&R THREAD?
SCARRED
FOR LIFE
0
0
What about spidertroll in your 8ed, friiiiiiiiend???????? ;;;;)
Wait a minute, that’s just awesome. I was mistaken. Carry on!
0
0
Yeah. Yeah, I do.
Egh, my pillows are absolutely SHREDDED.
0
0
What are you talking about?
0
0
Wait, what?
0
0
There are a lot of songs I like on the Twilight soundtrack! Supermassive Black Hole, Flightless Bird American Mouth… Whoever chose the songs for that soundtrack has similar taste in music to me.
0
0
Note to muselover: I see your comment about posting the image waiting to be moderated. Rebecca and Robert are the image-posting GAPA’s, though. So I’m leaving it for them to take a look at. I imagine they’re asleep now and I don’t know how busy they’ll be tomorrow. So we must wait and see.
0
0
Going to Disneyworld brb in 5 days.
0
0
Have fun!
0
0
Of course, we don’t really need to tell LBK that, do we…
0
0
Got up early to see if I could get raw milk from the farm (not early enough though, I was about half an hour late), had breakfast, and I don’t have class until 2:30. I feel like I should go back to bed, since after 2:30 I’ve actually got things to do that I need to be sentient for, and I only got five hours of sleep. But that walk down to the farm and back on this gorgeous morning made me really awake. *sigh*
Rebecca, did you get the pictures of our Kokon with Lizzie? I emailed them the other day, but since I haven’t seen them up here I figured I’d mention it.
0
0
Yes, I got them. Thanks! I’ll have to unzip/download them on my home computer—where I haven’t been all week. I haven’t even been able to look at them, this week has been that crazy.
0
0
Going to Taipei for five days for spring break and I think I’ll be Internet-less, so I’ll be back online Wednesday. ~more travelling, woooo~
0
0
Taipei is a fun place. A word of caution on the traffic, though, if you haven’t been there before— just… TAXIS. Absolutely everywhere.
0
0
Thanks – but I’m sure I’m quite used to traffic in Asia! I’ll keep that in mind, though. I suspect we’ll be taking [whatever the MTR equivalent is there] somewhat as well.
0
0
It’s confusing how public transport systems in different cities all have different names, isn’t it? When I was at the Intrepid with my cousin, I heard two British guys behind us in the ticket line saying “Oh, it’s quite far from the Tube station, isn’t it?” in reference to New York’s subway. (Given that the nearest Tube station to the Intrepid is in London, it’s quite far indeed!)
0
0
Ever tried to cross a main street in Taipei? SCARY.
0
0
SFTMC
0
0
My regional spelling bee is tomorrow. It’s extremely difficult, and the winner goes to nationals. If I don’t win, which will probably be the case, this’ll be my last year being eligible for this. Anticipation and nervousness are fighting for the top position among my emotions; I’m not sure whether to scream, “EEEEE!” or “AARGH!”
0
0
Good luck!
0
0
Break a leg!
0
0
Best of wishes!
0
0
Scream both.
Good luck – hope you have fun.
0
0
Best wishes!
0
0
We’re rooting for you, Bibliophile!
0
0
Good luck!
0
0
Best of wishes, Bibliophile! *support squids*
0
0
I got third place! I don’t believe it! I definitely didn’t expect to get that far, especially since it took 2 full hours longer than they thought it would. I never expected to actually win because the person who won last year was amazing (and he won this year, too, incidentally), so really my goal was to do better than last year, when I got to the third round. That certainly happened. Third place! I’m really sad that I’ll never be in another spelling bee again, but at least my last went very well.
The word I missed was ‘psilosis.’ Part of my doing so well was luck; other people were getting words in the very first round that I would have missed, yet I was still getting things like “shuddering” and “mellifluous” for hours. Eventually, though, they gave me ‘liaise;” I had never heard it in my life and cannot believe I actually managed to figure it out. I did, though! And now even though I won’t be able to do the spelling bee anymore, I’ll still have Science Olympiad to work on; I’m quite excited about that. I’m told they have Water Quality almost every year, so I’m studying for it already, because I got 4th place this year, so next year, I want to go to state and maybe even beyond! I’ve also heard about a UIL spelling contest, so I’ll look into that. I’m just excited! And I won a $20 gift certificate to Half Price Books!
0
0
Congratulations, Bibliophile!
0
0
For my chorus concert, we are singing Les Mis songs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *FANGIRL MOMENT*
0
0
Cornell MUN! It’s really late, so I’ll post more later. Having an amazing time so far.
0
0
Helloooooo…
It’s Choklit! Ohmygodsohappy. Today is a miracle of public transportation, for the three of us managed to get to San Francisco together without getting lost even once. Cat’s Eye is even lovelier than I imagined (so is Cskia, of course). We’ve been wandering around the the waterfront and Chinatown chatting like crazy and singing- Cat and Cskia have amazing singing voices- and it’s finally stopped pouring rain!
Cskia here. Happyhappyhappy. Somehow we managed to get to San Francisco, now we are sitting here drinking bubble tea. Chok and Cat’s Eye are so amazingly fun and nice, but of course you all knew that already. The weather here is actually nice; just a bit of rain, even some hint of sun. Good day.
Oh my god, hi guys!! It’s Cat’s Eye and we’re sitting in a wonderful cafe drinking wonderful bubble tea hanging out with wonderful each other! Choklit Orange has rainbow painted toenails and *Cskia says her name is pronounced “skia” because the C is silent. We found the sparkliest purses in the world. I’m kind of incoherent right now because the two people I am with are SO cool. I can’t believe we managed to finally meet up. Um, Chok probably wants her phone back, so I’m going to post this and we love you all!!!!!
0
0
I WANT TO BE THERE
HAVE EXTRA FUN FOR ME
If you’re gooooooing to San Franciscooooo
0
0
Hahaha, sounds great!
0
0
You managed a kokon?
I always pronounced it Siskia.
0
0
I always pronounced it that way too! I still kind of do, in my head.
0
0
Sounds fantastic… I love San Francisco.
I hope you went to the stationary store in Japantown… Not to mention the store Baby the Stars Shine Bright (yes, real name), which I find personally significant due to the amazing book (and movie) Kamikaze Girls…
0
0
Whew! Back at my house now.
Quick recap: Choklit and Cskia met me at the BART station and we went on a Whirlwind of Adventure from BART to the Ferry Building to Chinatown to Pier 39 to Ghirardelli Square back to the BART station. There were Quests! I had an umbrella! Choklit sang “For Good” repeatedly, over and over! It was awesome.
Highlights:
Walking down the street by Fisherman’s Wharf, we all spontaneously break out into a round of “I’ll Make A Man Out Of You” in the middle of the street We get to the last “mysterious as the dark side of” and then Chok and I crack up and cannot sing the last word.
Orthodox Chews. That is all.
It’s 4:30ish and we have to get home by 6 and we haven’t seen Ghirardelli Square yet, so we decide that we should just go straight there. And then in the three blocks we have to walk, there’s a candy or chocolate store every few feet. The universe knows our weaknesses. We had to avoid them.
I ran into a Coldstone, grabbed some kid by the shoulder, and demanded to know what year it was. When he answered with “2012”, I yelled “It worked!” and ran out again.
On the BART back home, Chok and Cskia decided to mess up my hair and make it all fluffy. Thanks, guys.
Seriously, these two are the best people you will ever meet. My feet are killing me and it was worth it a hundred times over. I love you two so much. Let’s do it again.
0
0
FOR APRIL FOOLS I’M TOTALLY JUST GONNA RP ON MB
ALL DAY
JUST A WARNING
0
0
They turned out the Citgo sign for Earth Hour! Yay!
0
0