For the last in our series of space-themed Random Thread pictures, we go back to the beginning. This image, taken by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile, shows the protoplanetary disk around HL Tauri, a young sunlike star 450 light-years from Earth. New planets forming around a new star — is that amazing, or what?
I just can’t believe it’s December already. Time really flies.
Yup. Feels like September.
Same.
Not here! “Wintry mix.”
I meant what day it is, not weather-wise. Pretty cold here too.
Here it was sunny spring yesterday, grey winter today, back in the 60s tomorrow.
In England, it’s grey and chilly. And dark.
Dreech?
Or dreich?
I think it was spelled “dreech” in Jane Yolen’s Tartan Magic series, but that may have been just phonetics. “Dreich” does seem to be the more common spelling.
It has been raining since Sunday here, which is extremely odd for Southern California. We’re supposed to get 3-4 inches of rain between Tuesday and Thursday of this week, which I thoroughly believe since it’s been pouring.
Now, just a half dozen more weeks like this, and we’ll start making up for the drought!
I can’t believe the semester is almost over. Next week are finals. *wut*
A contestant on the Jeopardy kids’ tournament named Cerulean just had a runaway 25,000 score in a quarterfinal match and bet 42 dollars on Final Jeopardy. I am so!!!
So my friend is in France meeting Allie Brosh. NBD.
…
…
aaaaaah!
hour two of studying for my music history (19th century grad-level) final: watched approximately a million covers of “let it go,” read two pages of notes
I am both super ready for the semester to be over and also not at all ready.
So much to do, and now I’m sick, which puts a damper on the whole productivity thing.
Being sick is worth it though, because I got to spend the week with the girlfriend and it was absolutely lovely.
Quick update: Thanksgiving break was great! I went to NYC because my sister was in the Macy’s parade as a dancer. So that was pretty cool. I saw Book of Mormon and Wicked (hilarious and dazzling, respectively) and the parade live (of course), and visited Roosevelt Island on the recommendation of a friend (highly recommended!!!) as well as a bit of Central Park and midtown Manhattan. Times Square was less overwhelming and scary than I remembered from my last visit to NYC six years ago; I think I’ve gotten a little less sensitive to loud noises and bright lights and lost of people since then, which is good, I guess.
Unfortunately, the tons of people and public transportation I encountered in NYC, combined with coldness and wetness, have given me a cold. I haven’t been sick in the last couple years, so I’m being a complete wimp about it, but I think I’m on the upswing. Hopefully I’ll be better by the weekend.
Finals next week. Rainy here in NorCal, thankfully — maybe that horrid drought will be over soon. I head to the Philippines for Christmas, then LA for New Year’s, both to be with family.
Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes that I missed responding to on the last thread!
In less than two months I start work???? I’ve been like “oh, once finals are over I’ll consider moving etc” but this is halfway through the last full week of class and finals start in about a week. My first day is 2/2, and yesterday was 12/2, and I’m not above admitting that I’m scared of the huge looming changes in my life.
On the plus side:
I got invited to an event on campus of some sort for “outstanding students” graduating in August or December, so uh I guess my department nominated me for something? Sorry, every other CS student graduating with me, sucks to be you I guess! (no but actually I’m grateful)
On Black Friday I impulse bought… *coughs delicately* a wii u… and *gets something caught in throat* a new HD television that’s compatible with it… and *hacking coughs overtaking my voice* six games… I’d been meaning to buy them anyway, but all at once is a bit much. Hopefully they don’t arrive until after finals, but the last stuff ships today, so who knows.
Ways in which a job is better than school: (1) There’s much less homework. (2) You get paid. (3) Aren’t 1 and 2 enough?
1: But instead of homework, you have mountains upon mountains of paperwork that will take up just as much or more time as any homework ever did. That, and the phonecalls. The piles upon piles of phone calls.
I think I’d rather homework.
Depends on what kind of work you do…
Veterinarians must have it worse than most people. That doesn’t sound like any job I’ve ever had, and I’ve had a lot of them.
I wouldn’t be surprised. For starters: days off? (Like weekends) aren’t really days off. If you have a patient that’s hospitalized you have to go in and take care of it and update owners on its condition. Depending on how good you are at staying on top of charts for your daily cases (which judging from te stacks of most vets is pretty darn not good), you’ve got charts to finish filling out. And while some phone calls can be delegated, such as follow up calls to check on how a patient is doing, others should be done by the vet–like calling with results of bloodwork, and biopsies, etc.
And odds are you rarely get off on time, due to cases taking longer than anticipated or emergencies coming up. And if you work somewhere that does after hours emergencies….there goes even more of that after hours free time to work
/have six page research paper due tonight at 11:59
/have one paragraph written
/have not read all sources yet
/does anything BUT write or work on said paper
/brain is dead
/cry
I know how you feel, but please try to get more done. It doesn’t have to be good, just done.
Okay, so, I was randomly tossed into writing a story and collaborating with a friend of mine.
It started when her and I were just talking about random stuff, and I mentioned a character of mine that I had created, and she mentioned one of hers, and we started a bit of roleplaying with the two. Once we were done goofing off, we were like, “We should write that into a story!” and we both agreed. We created a collab account on this website that lets users upload stories to the internet, and then she had to go.
We stationed each other with tasks; I would do the writing and part-time plot director, and she would manage the account and do other-time plot directing.
Getting to the point, how do I get myself motivated to write a story about two characters, that I only really know one of? I don’t want all the hype about Predecessor (we have a title already) to just go down the drain from my procrastination.
Well, get to know the other character!
Also, set some things up before you write one single word. Be able to answer all of these questions:
Is it in past or present tense?
Whose perspective is the story from? Is it in first person? Second person? Third person? (Probably first or third. Second person is kind of rare.)
Will the story change perspectives between the two characters?
If you don’t finalize these questions, you’ll end up skipping around a lot.
Get to know your friend’s character! Ask your friend if she can write a small piece about her character (even if it’s not a full fledged short story and just drabbles) that would give you an example of the type of character she is. For example: what guides their morals? How do they react in different situations? What are their pet peeves and quirks? How do they react to threat, pain, etc?
Fill out character sheets for each character with things like physical characteristics, emotional and mental characteristics, and backstories.
I finally got an answer concerning the question of sending me letters in the monastery. During the postulancy and novitiate, letters are only permitted from the immediate family. That’s the first ~3 years, if you’ll recall. After three years you probably won’t feel like writing to me anyway, so it all works out pretty well.
Less than six weeks! Plane tickets for the four of us have been bought and a hotel room reserved for the night before my entrance. The rental car I’ll let my mom handle. It’s such a long time to wait, though…the monastery is all I can think about. Well, luckily I still have a lot to get done, so hopefully I’ll stay busy-ish.
Piggy! We will never forget you! Just tell us when the three years start so we can set a timer and mail them after it ends.
Hey! You gave away my secret plan!
Great minds think alike?
Oh, shoot! Can the GAPAs put in the calendar to write to you around 3 years from now?
Piggy! Why would 3 years make a difference in whether any of us wanted to write to you? In the big scheme of things, three years isn’t very long, and you’ve been a good friend to many of us for far longer than that.
Speaking of, I recently came across a transcript of an online conversation you and I once had, and I wanted to thank you for being such a good friend and just providing a sympathetic/empathetic ear when I was feeling down and sad and saying all the right things at all the right times. You are a wonderful amazing person and friend and while your presence on the ‘blog has not been as frequent in recent years, that in no way diminishes the impact you have had on all our lives, nor the amount that your presence will be missed.
While we will be sad to see you go, I am very happy on your behalf that you will be doing something that calls to you and means so much to you. I hope that you find that it not only lives up to your expectations/imaginings but that it surpasses them and that you find peace and happiness there.
Here’s to wishing you a very happy life! *pies*
You do know that this just means you’re going to get a mega-letter composed of (condensed versions) of all the other letters I’d have written during that time span, with annotations from the future?
They’d better be in either Quick Reads or Six-Word Stories format. Or SSSS.
Haiku!
I realize that I don’t know you as well as certain other people around here, but I’d still like to keep in touch with you. Expect envelopes with Israeli stamps after three years!
Be sure to stop by the H&H for a cuppa before you head off. Be aware that you may find some wungs in your luggage.
We’ll miss you a lot, and we sure as hell won’t forget you! Three years will fly by.
I’ll miss you, Piggy. ;_; I hope you find the monastery to be fulfilling and the right life for you, and that you won’t mind us all sending you letters in three years.
I’m glad you’re getting to follow your calling, I hope that it’s everything you want it to be. Good luck, and I’ll look forward to hearing about it in three years.
Can we sneak notes into letters from your parents?
I’ll miss you, Piggy, and your perspective on life that has always enriched mine. Even so, I’m incredibly proud that you’re doing something that means so much to you. When I was thinking about your entrance, I remembered how you’ve always talked about wishing you could live in a little isolated cabin in the woods and spend most of your time quietly thinking, and I realized that the monastery is a real way for you to do something like that. No wonder you’re so excited! I wish you much fruitful contemplation, good company, and happiness for the rest of your life.
Woo woo!
I will in no way impersonate any of your family members to send you letters. No way at all. Incidentally, do you mind if I borrow your address book for a moment?
I am either secretly a really superb actress (without even knowing it) or the perception of my default I-don’t-know-you-I’m-on-my-good-behavior personality is very much at odds with any portion of my real personality.
Because one of the third years that I first met yesterday when I started a new rotation at school after having been gone on free block, thinks that I have a personality such that I would be happy/could enjoy anywhere I ended up on a not-so-great externship and that I am bubbly/outgoing, and am someone who always is looking at the positive side of things and can find the good in any situation.
Which…Let’s be real. Not a single statement in that description fits me. I only remotely come close to being bubbly/outoging around really close friends/family, and around people I don’t know typically am fairly quiet and closed off. I am a very negative person, and definitely do not find the positive sides of less than ideal situations. I very much definitely tend to dwell on and focus on the negatives. So while her description is far more flattering….I seriously cannot fathom where she came up with this.
I like her. She’s cool.
Just speculating here, but maybe it has something to do with the color of your hair.
What, people assume that since I’m blonde I’m a positive person? She’s blonde, too (albeit more of a bleach blonde and probably dyed that color as opposed to natural dishwater blonde like myself).
That’s right: type-casting.
Just watched Mockingjay. And holy hell when did Liam Hemsworth start to look so much like his older brother [Chris, not the other one]?! Because woah. I had always been partial Chris and rather felt Liam kinda missed out a bit in the looks department, but he looked SO MUCH like Chris in this movie (and sounded. He’s got the same voice; well the same one as Chris used for his role as George Kirk in Star Trek 2009, anyway, which obviously isn’t his *real* accent). I think I may have drooled all over. Gayle was more likeable in the movie than I remembered from the book.
Also. When did I become one of Those People. Who cry at everything. Because I have. I teared up at least half a dozen times during the movie. And about half the time I watch TV anymore even the littlest not that emotional thing makes me cry. What happened to the Luna who could watch Old Yeller and read books like Where the Red Fern Grows, and other stuff that by all rights probably should make you cry, without shedding a single tear? I’m becoming over emotional in my “old” age.
WOO! Orion made it! The first flight of NASA’s new space capsule went swimmingly! (Literally– it splashed down in the Pacific after orbiting!)
Can I still get mad at “haha young people don’t know what x is” jokes even though I’m 21 and the intended targets of the jokes are probably younger than me?
The main clue would lie in this question, do you know what X is?
I do, and that’s why I get mad. Because just because I haven’t personally used a spinning dial phone or a record player, doesn’t meant I have absolutely no idea that they ever existed. And I just bought the newspaper this morning.
Who doesn’t know what spinning dial phones and record players are? I mean, young people know how to watch movies and read books. And I’m younger than Kai is.
And I’m younger than both of you are, and I have actually used a gramophone once. My uncle had one, and I was asking questions about it, so he showed me how to use it.
And I’m younger than everyone! I haven’t ever used a gramophone before, but my grandparents in Rhode Island have one of those spinning dial phones. It doesn’t work anymore, but I think it once was their home phone. I used to play with it all the time, because it made that cool noise and it felt weird when I stuck my finger in the little hole and spun it around. Now they have iPhones and everything, but I still think it’s really cool!
I do think it is condescending when people talk as if younger people wouldn’t have heard of old technology, but I think it is fascinating to think about what we’ve used and not used. My parents had a record player while I was growing up, but mostly we used tapes and CDs. No one I knew had a dial phone, but one of my friends had one for her dorm in college. (though most dorm phones were just regular old house phones, or people didn’t have one and just used cellphones. Well, even if you had one often you just used cellphones.) I did have a friend who had a hamburger phone in her room. We also used payphones if we needed to. I was with someone 6 years younger than me at a museum recently and I found it interesting that she says she’s never used a payphone. It is fascinating how quickly some things become obsolete!
pretty sure I’ve never used a payphone and I’m, what, a year younger than you? I have used those speaker phones they had in school, though, that were really hard to hear on.
also, everyone: just for the record, it’s called a rotary dial
Ah. My high school had pay phones. Used them to call for rides sometimes.
My middle school had payphones I’d use for rides sometimes too, but only if no one was in the secretary’s office, where they’d let you borrow a phone to call for free. I also used one just this past summer in the London airport though when I arrived.
I don’t think the main thrust of the articles is “haha.” It’s more like, “Look how many things you grew up with are now obsolete. Doesn’t that make you feel like a relic?” (I.e., those articles are directed at people like me, and by the way, no, it doesn’t.)
Well, with jokes like “Today I asked a youngster if he’d read the newspaper and he said, ‘What’s a newspaper?'”, the teller presumably does expect the audience to find it funny. But I don’t, because I see it as insulting my intelligence and the intelligence of other young people.
Yeah, I really get the “look how fast technology is changing!!” angle and I do think that’s super interesting, but like KaiYves, every article I’ve seen manages to throw in at least one bash against the younger generation for not knowing technology that’s not around any longer or has an otherwise super condescending tone.
though bashing millennials is like the national pastime of baby boomer article writers, so. (“millennials won’t make smart investments like buying houses!” “millennials are getting HIV because they don’t care!” “millennials are growing up in a different economy with different values than I grew up with and everything they are doing is wrong!!”)
Well, I didn’t mean in those articles specifically, just jokes like that in general, be they in print, online, verbally, etc.
(If it’s any consolation to you, the writer probably was following orders and didn’t enjoy it. A lot of writing jobs are like that nowadays, I’m afraid.)
I didn’t know that was a big problem! I’ve heard of the “no one will read this, take this out” angle, but not much about the inverse. I’m not too surprised, sadly.
You know a lot of junk gets published, both on paper and online, and you can be sure that a lot of people don’t feel wonderful about writing it. They do it because it’s their job.
(In my job, fortunately, I get to help publish things that at worst are Mostly Harmless and at best make the world a much better place. But not
allmany writers and editors have that luxury.)I have a bit of a question about genetics.
My dad has curly hair, my mom has curly hair, my grandmothers on both sides have curly hair, and so do my grandfathers, my great-grandmother has curly hair. So far, every relative that I know and that I am a direct decedent of has curly hair. So, why do I have straight hair?
Simple genetics would dictate that curly hair is a dominant allele.
A dominant allele means that if expresses itself whenever it is present in a genome. Each person has two copies of each gene. Each copy is an allele. so whichever allele is dominant is what appears in a person’s physical characteristics.
For example, my father has two different eye color alleles. One for brown, and one for blue. Since brown is dominant, he has brown eyes. However, when he passed genes on to make me, he passed on his blue gene. My mother did the same: her eyes are hazel, but she also gave me a blue gene. Since I now have two blue genes and no dominant brown ones, my eyes are blue.
A similar model could be used for curly and straight hair. However, hair comes in many different shapes and textures, so it’s not quite that simple. There are possibly several genes controlling hair color. These genes can also depend on your heritage and many other factors. it’s a combination of all of these: your parents had enough curly haired genes to make them curly haired, but happened to give you the few genes that would combine to give you straight hair.
tl;dr: it’s complicated, but genes can “hide” in people’s DNA and only be expressed when they are combined a certain way in offspring.
I wonder if personalities have something to do with genetics as well. Or does that only apply to physical appearance? Because my dad is a guitar player, and m mom is an artist; I think the two personalities may have combined to make me a writer. I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works, but that sounds logical to me.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a professional scientist. I am a casual. I am a fan of science but don’t have all the answers. There are probably others on the blog who could explain this better than me, and they are invited to correct me if I get something wrong.
It’s a very hard question for science, and there is no clear answer any which way.
Lots of people are artsy, and have artsy parents- but that’s not nearly always the case! I want to be a music composer, and my parents are both engineers.
Maybe they had ‘good at math’ genes and didn’t happen to pass them on to me. Maybe I have the ‘good at math’ genes and don’t express them because I don’t pay attention in math class.
Science knows that creativity is probably at least partially genetic. There are many mental conditions which people can have propensities for due to their genetics: Depression can be genetic in part, and so can alcoholism. But people with genes for different things may not always express them: it depends on the environment they’re in. The way you express your mental genes is due in part to your surroundings.
Also, artistic inclination and analytic math skills aren’t oil and water; in fact there’s quite a strong connection between musical skill and math/academic skills. The connection was lost on me, but I know many very talented musicians who also excel in levels of calculus that would be lethal to my mind.
I hope this helps?
I don’t really know anything about genetics, so there could very well be some reason in that field, but I feel like your family has a lot to do in the arts. I think it’s much more likely that that sort of living style or state of mind often accompanied with art-loving families, if there is one, rubbed off on you – just like AL said, it has to do with the environment. Now, I could be wrong, but that seems the most likely to me.
I think this may have more to do with environment than genetics — perhaps your parents strongly pushed you toward the humanities while growing up (only natural, if they’re both artists) and so you were just more exposed to those fields. My parents were both engineering majors in college, so I was exposed to more math/sciencey things growing up and generally, logic and science were valued in the household. My sister likes writing, but we were also raised to be avid readers, so that might also be environmental.
But who knows! Maybe it is genetics, or inherent personality. Look up “nature vs nurture”; this is an ongoing debate in biology.
I’m really not convinced on that one, sorry. Obviously, some mental health stuff which can influence your personality is hereditary, but I think that personality is shaped by a lot more than that.
For example, I have a friend with two very fundamentalist religious parents (evolution is a lie, homosexuality is sin, etc…) who, while being religious, is passionate about science and finding the -logical- truth about things. I have a sciency dad and an artsy mom, true, but both of them bailed on their original colleges/majors to settle for something easier, so I don’t really care to credit them with my success in mathematics.
tl;dr I think that you can obviously nuture kids to be better at something, but there’s more to it than just that.
So the other day I was having a conversation with my dad, who started off studying physics, took the exact same subject combination in first year that I did, allowing for changes in computer science, except that I did honours everything, then switched to engineering to get an actual job. He was telling me about a paper he had a copy of, by one of those physicists that likes writing about things other than physics. I asked him if he’d heard of the Great Filter / Fermi Paradox arguments.
Yes. He had a paper on that.
And biologically he’s my grandfather. How does that even work.
I’m safely different from my mother, but we had disturbingly similar fandom tastes.
As for my actual point: confirmation bias seems relevant here. We expect to be somewhat similar to our parents, so we notice the interesting similarities more than the ways in which we’re different from either. But it’s hard to quantify personality.
Out of curiosity, and if it’s not too personal, would you mind elucidating “And biologically he’s my grandfather. How does that even work”, please? I am confused.
ML’s actual father is this man’s son, but he raised en as his own child? I guess?
You would think that having come out to both parents, sort of, about the usual thing that phrase refers to would make it easier to talk about other weird stuff. Even accounting for the non-negligible differences between talking about believing or doing something weird and being weird in a way you can’t control.
Haha, nope.
(I’m making incremental improvements, so I’ll survive. But ugh.)
For the record, I feel like I have been unable to tell my parents most things about my life for a very long time, ever since my mom teased me mercilessly for having a crush on someone in kindergarten. My trust faded further when she got angry at me for kissing my then-boyfriend senior year of high school.
So now they don’t know too much about my personal life. I’ve learned my lesson. If I weren’t straight, I’d have a hell of a time telling them so, so props to you for coming out — I haven’t even really “come out” as nonreligious.
Protip to future parents: Don’t tell your child “tell me anything!” and proceed to use that information to make them feel bad or — even worse — tell someone else information you thought was told in confidence. Overprotective parents raise the best liars.
I know what you mean. My dad’s fairly chill, but I still get too anxious in most situations.
I’m out as an atheist (to anyone who cares enough to notice the implications of various things or actually ask). I think that’s just because I spend enough time around similar people that it feels like the default, but the first thing that came to mind was that I belong to a group where most of us are nonreligious and that’s not the interesting bit.
(My parents are pretty much nonreligious, so possible conflict was Catholic-school-related, keeping in mind that the US ones are probably stricter than mine.)
So, to feel less weird about my current weirdness levels, I need to secretly become more weird. Genuinely so, and without signing up to get brainwashed by anyone. (insert hpb here) Or, go for broke and convince my brain to start ranting about the weirdest thing I can think of so I’m desensitised.
Hmmm… in ninth grade I because the resident SF nerd because no one ever told me that wasn’t normal until after I’d started rambling about Doctor Who. So there should be a clever talk-about-it-through-mutual-fandom-scheme here. But that tends to require being the sort of person who’d like those works in the first place. But I’ve actually heard anecdotes of people making this work.
Ah, I see. Most of my family is either devoutly Catholic or faking it, and no one is willing to tell who is who, so we all just seem devoutly Catholic, even though that is very very far from my true feelings.
Well, good luck to you then! I don’t know what you mean by “weirdness”, but I’m sure your parents will come to accept it over time. Me, I’m banking on becoming financially independent, and then showing my parents more and more of who I really am.
“banking” I see what you did there. I’m being vague on purpose
because it’s classified.Good luck to you too!I finished my thesis. I probably could have done a lot more research, and a lot better and more thorough editing, but I didn’t, and it’s done and I’m going to print it out tomorrow and I’m going to hand it in and I definitely have felt way worse about papers than this one before, so I’m hoping for the best.
Now I have to write another research paper. And present that thesis. And other stuff, but it’s almost looking do-able.
I have a final tomorrow but at least I kind of finished my paper? It’s supposed to be min ten pages but I only go maybe a line and a half onto the tenth page. But my midterm was only three lines onto the fifth page and it was supposed to be five pages and I got a 53/60 so…? All I’m shooting for is a B in that class and I got a 9/10 on the final short essay which was awesome and should bring my average up.
But whatever what is clearly most important here is that Ace Attorney Trilogy comes out tomorrow (Tuesday).
1. Why
2. Why
I had this thought going that it came out on the 6th (Saturday) but it comes out on upside-down 6th (Tuesday). Why does it come out on a Tuesday.
And I probably shouldn’t even get it because I have more final-y things to do that I shouldn’t procrastinate on. Which I might even end up procrastinating on because they aren’t as large and looming as the final-y things I will have finished this morning.
^^Look! Up above! It’s another late-night procrastination ramble that comes out when Kyra’s filter goes down! Though I kind of wish I made the time to write down more stuff when my filter isn’t down.
Does anyone have any ideas what to do with a 2gen I-pod touch that can’t upgrade past 4.2.1? I’ve found a grand total of one app that I can actually still download, and thus far it crashes and renders the screen unresponsive about halfway through each game (of cards). I mean, I can still listen to music on it so I guess that’s something.
Well, you could always just use it for music, maybe while running. I believe in using electronics until they absolutely cannot be used anymore, just because electronic waste is such a problem.
That’s what I’d do with it. Or you could load it with classic rock and give it to your parents.
I have an old ipod touch that I use for music! It’s great since it’s 16gb instead of my nano’s 8gb.
Isn’t music what they’re meant for?
I know! I keep it on airplane mode all the time and it last for about a week! It’s great to be able to use a product past when it would appear to be obsolete. My dad had stopped using it after he got his tablet and I only had the idea to snag it after my amount of music exceeded 8gb. I just checked and it’s a second generation, too!
If you’re behind the curve with electronics, it’s absolutely amazing when you get something new.
Re: KaiYves: Don’t worry, I’m definitely not going to trash it- I was just mainly thinking of app suggestions or something like that. I’ve gotten it to run some card games without crashing and I think it might be able to do other apps too, if only I can find them. ((I run with eight-year old I-pod shuffle and wouldn’t swap it for the world))
Robert- My dad’s more tech-forwards than I am!
He has an I-phone that he eventually wants me to jailbreak (I should probably tell him that it really isn’t that hard) and is currently messing around with the apple tv. For reason, he seems to enjoy deciding that he wants some apple product to do some specific thing, complaining that it doesn’t do the thing he wants to it do, then tinkering around with it for hours until it does something tangentially related to what he started out with and then feeling ridiculously accomplished for bending the i-whatever to his will without resorting to boring measures like “reading the instructions”.
I guess other people his age do crossword puzzle or something…
Or moderate blogs.
Angry birds works on my 4.2.1
It snowed a little bit today, just enough to fill the cracks between sidewalk slabs. Now I think it’s stopped, but it’s still biting cold.
By a show of pies, could I see how many people occasionally look at-/enjoy reading-/like-/love-/adore xkcd?
I generally like it, especially “What If”. Some of the computer science jokes and the more cynical ones aren’t my cup of tea, but in general I enjoy it greatly.
This is a frequent conversation around my house:
Dad: *talking about science or whatever*
Me: There’s an XKCD about that!
Dad: Of course there is.
I KNOW! I do the same. Exact. Thing. In fact, I can go for hours on end just hitting that ‘Random’ button over and over and over and over… And for the (many) ones that I just don’t understand at all, there’s always handy-dandy “Explain xkcd.”
I prefer just archive binging. I’ve probably read the entire archive… Three? Four? I don’t actually know how many times.
Something to know about me: I am incapable of being a ‘casual’ fan.
Alright! We’re in the pink! Okay, the reason for all of this is that I was wondering if there’s some sort of xkcd (and/or What If) discussion page around here somewhere, and if there isn’t, if people would think that that would be an awesome thread to have (like me…).
Anyway… maybe?
Generally, if we find the days’ xkcd particularly noteworthy, we’ll bring it up on the Random Thread. You’re welcome to start discussions here like this yourself! The blog doesn’t get quite enough traffic to warrant a whole separate section for discussion, but if you’d like to talk to like-minded fans on a more consistent basis, xkcd does have forums, where you can make an account and discuss things
The more I learn about computer science, and life in general, the more I appreciate xkcd. At this point, the comics that I really don’t understand are only the physics and theoretical math ones. (I do enjoy “What If”; in fact, my roommate got me the book for my birthday this year, not knowing that I’d already been following the blog since its inception. She knows me very well.)
I love xkcd! It taught me lots about many things when I read the entire archive (twice) at the tender innocent age of thirteen. I still dont’ know anything about computer programming but it taught me what Linux was, so occasionally I’ll make a comment around all of my computer-programmer friends and they /won’t/ give me the weird “that’s completely wrong” look.
There was a time when half my internet usage was physics/math/SF webcomics. I don’t regret it. Much.
Are there any “How to Draw Ligne Claire” books in English? I mean, with how many there are for manga, I thought it would be easy to find, but apparently not.
I didn’t find any tutorials, but I did find a blog post that shows Hergé’s artistic process. http : // tintinology . poosk . com / 2011 / 06 / 30 / missing – page – from – start – to – finish /
*watching video from ghost hunting show for some reason*
TV Lady: “Okay, see, this is the weird thing, I’ve been whistling and we hear whistling back.”
Me: “No possible natural phenomenon that could cause that, no, certainly not…” :rolleyes:
TV Lady: *whistles*
*whistling sound*
TV Lady: “If you mean us any harm, whistle.”
*whistling sound*
Me: “Okay, you didn’t whistle just then so that one wasn’t an echo, but you’re the only person on camera right now so if one of your crew was whistling, we wouldn’t know.”
TV Lady: “Please play with us. I’m going to throw a marble, please throw it back or throw something else at us.”
Me: “A ghost said it wanted to harm you so you throw a marble at it and ask it to throw things at you? No possible way that can go wrong…”
*watching another episode while doing grad applications because grad applications are not fun and I need to laugh*
TV Lady: “What made Sarah Winchester build such a formidable house? Some say it was ghosts, some say spirits.”
Me: “In that context, those are the same thing.”
TV Guy: “And this wasn’t just a house, it was also somebody’s home.”
It’s an intelligible distinction. A house is just a building; a home is a habitation with strong emotional connotations. It’s like the distinction between a random stranger and your mother. No?
True, but by this point I think we’d already heard about Sarah Winchester and how it was *her* home, so it just seemed a little silly.
Being an adult is complicated. I have a bunch of insurance and banking stuff to sort out…which I keep putting off…which is not good…sigh. I don’t know how anything works.
Attention all other writers. Is it hard for anyone else to write hurt/comfort scenes? For me, it just fills me with emotion and makes me type really slow. Or are there certain scenes that are hard for any of you to write?
I cannot write fight scenes worth cake.
Same. I can’t even follow them on television. (For example. I adore Evangelion and all of its related movies, but all the mecha fighting- which makes up a good part of the show- just kind of gets tuned out in my mind. Like the first ten minutes or so of the third Rebuild movie, where it’s just a big fight scene? It went completely over my head.) I can never see fight scenes as actual events that I can follow: I need them to be interspersed with dialogue (and intelligible dialogue, not just status updates on made up pieces of technology from officers like in Star Trek). It’s like my brain isn’t wired for it.
Back when the official Marvel site had forums for fanfiction, I think my stories went more installments (or “issues” as we called them) between fights than anyone else’s, both because of that and because I just plain don’t like violence.
I sometimes try to add comedy into my stories, but the style of it I use most often is deadpan/dry and it doesn’t really work in writing as well as it would on a TV or radio show.
Well, TV and radio writing are two other very valid genres of writing. Perhaps you should try writing a screen or radio play, and see how you do. Expand your horizons!
Maybe I will. Thanks
Absolutely. I’m sure you’ve read lots of these scenes (glances guiltily at fanfiction document open in another tab, hastily hides it) but for me it’s always been the structure. you need a scene around which to build the raw emotional angst (or whatever sub-sub-genre of hurt/comfort you’re writing).
Read some hurt/comfort scenes- some really good ones- go to AO3 and sort by kudos and choose the ones at the top, they’re really good- don’t go in any tags of something you’re uncomfortable with, though, learn their colors and tagging system so you’re not traumatized and scarred for life (Sorry, I’m an AO3 elitist, really you can use any site. I’m using fanfiction as an example here because so much of the good hurt/comfort I’ve read has been in fanfiction. Also AO3 has an entire “hurt/comfort” tag you can search by.)
And read hurt/comfort scenes. Figure out how they’re structured, what the characters are doing, where they are, how they’re situated. Read them in the present tense, the past tense, first person, second person, third person. When trying to write such a scene for your characters, establish what they are doing: where are they? How are they situated? Are they sitting or standing? You don’t have to explicitly state every tiny detail of their environment, but the more you know and visualize it, the more you’ll be able to use descriptions to your advantage. Scenes or stories without a strong basis of knowledge of where they are, exactly who is involved, what they are doing- will fall flat, and aren’t good for much except just prose. No story comes out of it, and the more of a plot you have, the more the readers will get invested. Why do you think novel-length fanfictions do so well? It’s because the fic writer builds up an AU, an alternate universe within the universe of the canon, and the readers get invested in that, building on top of their prior investment in the canon. (See: Like a Drum. Has anyone here read Like a Drum? It’s great. I care about the characters’ fates in LaD even more than I do about them in SnK canon, because the writer built up a universe within a universe, and made the characters and places real.)
If I have two characters, and write a hurt-comfort scene between them, just the interactions, and nothing else, they’re just floating in the void. What has affected character A in a way that character B feels the need to help them? How long ago did it happen? Was it recent? Where are they now? Flesh out what’s hurting your characters.
Then flesh out where they are. Is one of your characters sitting in a chair? Now you have a plain, nondescript chair and a floor in the void with your two characters. Are they in a room? Describe the room. If not in explicit detail, at least use words that will give the reader an idea of the room’s aesthetic. Is it a sterile hospital room? A wallpapered kitchen? A messy bedroom? A stony dungeon?
Take note of what sort of the words the writer uses to convey certain emotions or feelings. Get out a notebook while reading, and if a word or phrase makes you feel a certain way, write it down to remember. What emotions are the characters feeling- how does this express in their physiognomy and actions? Take the emotions that you feel, and find words that describe them. Use those.
Often, I feel awkward writing those kinds of scenes (see: why I’m bad at them) so I close my eyes and hold my laptop at arm’s length and tap away without even looking at the screen. This is kind of a problem because it means i never want to proofread my fics.
Also: typing fast is actually pretty important if you want to write on a computer. Maybe someone disagrees with me, but in my experience I’ve always found it much easier to write if I can get my thoughts straight from my mind to the keys without having to think about where my fingers go.
Anyway!! That was really long and rambly. Does it answer any of your questions?
Well, if this didn’t answer my questions, I hate to see what the response explanation post will look like
Would it help anyone if I posted a snippet of story here to look at and see how I did at a hurt/comfort scene?
Sure, I’d love to read some more of your work!
Sure, we’d love to see it.
Well, then, alright. The part here isn’t the full story, of course, just the part I thought I had trouble with.
~
Before the man could fire a shot, the door burst open. A blue-gray animal figure only had to take one look inside before pouncing on Isaac’s father, knocking the gun from his hands. The animal was slender and reptile-like, with metallic blue scales all over it’s body. Long, curved horns grew proudly from it’s head, and fiery hazel eyes glared with hatred for whom he was fighting. Long silver claws refrained from cutting flesh as much as they could. Huge bat-like wings raised in defense from under the animal’s long, straight, blond hair.
Also from the door, stepped Katherine, large, black, catlike ears sprouting from her head, and an extraordinarily long black tail from her back. Jake was behind her, pointed silver fox ears lowered in apprehension.
As soon as the pair set eyes on Isaac, their entire expressions changed. They immediately rushed to his side, kneeling down to see if he was alright.
The old man unconscious, Megane – now back to his human form – got up and looked over to where the others were. Kat gently scooped Isaac up in her arms and held him close. He was awake, but still a bit shaken. He tried to stop trembling, and when he couldn’t he began to silently cry, choking back audible sobs. Megane stepped over to them and knelt down to look at Isaac. He was definitely hurt; especially his hand. The palm of his hand was almost completely red with fresh blood. Megane reached into his pocket and pulled out a scarf which he wore once in a while and tied it around Isaac’s hand.
Isaac didn’t want to cry, but he couldn’t help himself at the moment from burying his bruised face in Kat’s shoulder, letting everyone hold him for now. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the rifle, laying on the floor with a large chip in it, suddenly remembering the experience. Nothing like that had ever happened before; it was mostly just punches or a piece of furniture. The boy whimpered, squeezing his eyes shut. He heard Kat whisper into his ear, “Shh, now. Everything’s okay, now. He’s not gonna hurt you anymore…”
That looks pretty good- you moved right from an action scene to a slower change of pace. One thing I’d suggest is: what are the characters thinking? Is this a specific third person, where you can only grasp at the thoughts of one character, or is it omniscient, where the narrator can reveal what everyone is thinking? Once you’ve answered that question, begin to flesh out: are your characters worried or confident in battle? Which ones are comfortable and uncomfortable in what situations? If you have a limited third person, express the other characters’ feelings as they become relevant via body language and other physical cues.
I liked the language you used- you had some good choices in words. Keep it up!
I am a senior majoring in archaeology writing graduate applications and I still cannot spell “Mycenaean” on the first try without looking it up.
I find myself extremely fascinated with human nature. I mean, not like a ‘mad scientist’ type of interest where I experiment on putting humans in random habitats to see how differently they respond. I mean like, I analyze people. I analyze people. I take what I know of a person and judge what they would do in a certain situation.
Stemming from this might be my interest in people’s personal lives. Someone’s feelings interest me. I could look at someone’s dictionary for hours if I could. I would love to just read a famous person’s personal notes just to learn more about what kind of person they are.
Does this say anything special about me? Am I a generally nosy person? Or am I just going to become a psychiatrist when I get older?
Or both?
Being able to read people and predict what they’ll do in certain situations is a very useful skill, both for getting what you want/need and for figuring what other people want/need and how to help them.
I presented my thesis on Friday and it went really well. Yesterday I slept all day because I could, and it was great. Then I went to winter formal with my suitemates and friends and it was a lot of fun. Today has been lazy, but now I need to finish writing a research paper.
I can’t believe there’s just one more week of the semester.
Also, my hair is turning gray. Not a lot, but there are multiple gray hairs appearing and it’s weird.
HIIIIII
(that was Oxlin)
Hi!
(that was THF, this is Oxlin)
Apparently all we know to say is Hiiii. But we have met! And we may meet again sometime and everything is awesome!! -Oxlin
There are no words!!! Too much excitement! -THF
Oh, wow! This is cool! You both will have to come back with the details soon, I’m interested in what you’re both up to!
“Too much excitement” sounds like a typical Kokon. Are there pictures?
There are a couple! Oxlin has them all; I’m sure they will provide them in some form soon!
Have fun!
So, who else has seen “All About That Space”? It’s catchy!
True story: I started to watch it and my first thought was “I bet Kai is loving this.” It’s great, isn’t it?
Hey all!
Here’s another one of these posts where I say I might return and I never really do. But I always have the hope, with each one, that I will have the fortitude to do so!!
Talked with Fireh recently! It’s interesting to see how everyone has developed over the years. Recently passed my 7th blogiversery – dang.
I’m drum major at my school’s marching band, although the season is basically over, ahaha. It was stressful – we had a VERY weird season – but overall fulfilling. I really grew as a person because of it, and became a lot more confident in who I am.
Also!! Our Disneyland trip is this Friday yessssssss
Senior year of high school!! Submitting apps, aaah. I’ll probably go to CSU Chico, though Western Washington is my second choice. Staying on the west coast!
Interesting thing – my school district passed out laptops to all the high school students this year. I’m currently typing on one. It’s interesting, I suppose. Useful, definitely. Distracting? Oh, yes.
In other news, I’ve been listening to way too much Fall Out Boy recently.
It’s nice to see so many old names, perusing the Random thread! Hopefully I can remember my Paleo account…
Great to hear from you, Zinc! Say hello to Disneyland for me. It’s home to some of my earliest memories.
Mine, too! I spent a good chunk of my childhood trying to recreate the Swiss Family Robinson’s treehouse.
I haven’t been to Disneyland, but I loved seeing the model at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom when my family visited. I’d read some of the book and wished I could have such a cool treehouse, so actually seeing it was amazing.
ZINC! You’re back! *jump-hugs*
HI ZINC!!!
Hey, Zinc! It sounds like you’re having a very exiting life
Welcome back.
Two job interviews next week? No big deal…. *whimper* Real life is scary.
That moment when you’re trying to figure out what looks good for interview attire, and you realize that you look about 16 when you throw on your black dress pants and a cute sweater scarf combo.
Would you trust your veterinarian if she looked 16?
Well, if I was conducting the interview, I would probably ask how old you were. But that’s because I also suffer from “looks-younger-than-actually-is” syndrome, so I know not to jump to conclusions about someone’s age.
As for making you look older, do you have (or can you borrow) a suit-looking jacket? It doesn’t have to be a real suit, just a jacket that looks vaguely like one.
I actually don’t think you’re allowed to ask that, I feel like that was one of the (many) things that when I was studying for boards was highighted as a no-no of practice management, b/c it’s illegal to discriminate based on age, marital status, number of kids, etc etc, so they probably aren’t even suppose to ask that of me during an interview.
So I don’t think it would impede my ability to get hired, just might impede how trustworthy/knowledgeable i look to future clients.
I will def make a mental note about suit looking jackets.
Today is… Cat Herders Day. Interesting….
GUESS WHICH PERSON NAMED LUKE MADE IT INTO COLLEGE AT HIS FIRST CHOICE SCHOOL
AND OUT OF NOWHERE GOT A $15,000 PER YEAR SCHOLARSHIP FROM SAID COLLEGE
IT AIN’T LUKE SKYWALKER THAT’S FOR SURE
Congratulations!
If you chose a private school, then from what I know about the US situation you’ll need all the money you can get your hands on.Awesome! Congratulations!
Congratulations!
it is 4am and I’ve just finished my extended editions marathon of The Lord of the Rings
…time to start The Hobbit movies!
(this isn’t a joke. i’m never joking where tolkien marathons are concerned. also I’m finishing sewing/painting my smaug costume to wear to the last section tomorrow.)
Fortunately for all my offline friends who’ve had to hear me complaining about my post-Orphan-Black fandom withdrawal, I found another show to watch — Dollhouse. I couldn’t not watch more Joss Whedon after Firefly, and Buffy’s seven seasons is daunting. Yep, I prefer to get into things that have fewer seasons, then rage against whoever got it cancelled.
Oh my heavens are you in for a treat. Severely underrated show. Severely overrated lead actor. What a trip that show is. Enjoy it to the utmost.
It’s been proven multiple times, but today I finally realized how opinionated I am. One guy shared his essay and that started a long series of debates and I wanted to speak about three times, but the topic changed before I could. After class I ended up ranting and letting my opinions out to my friends, but I wanted to be part of the actual thing. And that’s saying something for me, since I’m normally too anxious to speak. But I like to argue and get my point across and the only reason I’ll ever stop is if I get tired. Most of what I do say is neutral and tends to calm a debate, but the opinions are strong.
I’m glad I realized that. Though you guys here have probably noticed since day one
sorry.
Yesterday (and the night before) I binge-watched Carmilla. Hello, new fandom.
Um, GAPAs, I can suddenly see some people’s email addresses and have the option to unapprove their posts. Whence stems this mystical power?
Interesting. The latest upgrade must have redefined the Roles. I’ll look into it. Meanwhile, all of you, please use this great power for good, not
.
Actually, when an MBer creates a thread, they have mod powers in that thread.
Piggy’s post- Oh, that makes sense now. (I can only see the mod options for posts on the movies thread)
Yeah, and I can see those options on the NaNo thread.
In another semester, I will officially be a Master of Music. Weird.
Hey! It’s “Wright Brothers Day” today!
I was going to post about that but I got too busy with my graduate applications.
Happy Belated Wright Brothers Day! Pretty incredibly how far we’ve come in 111 years!
Lesbian friend is on her fourth “girlfriend”
The “girlfriend” who has admitted to me that she has a crush on multiple male celebrities.
Going down heartbreak road once more, I don’t know if I can take much more of lesbian friend’s tears on my shoulder. This has happened too many times.
Just….
Why…?
She has more friends, why must it be me every time she needs a dry shoulder to wet?
</personalrant
Non-monosexuality is a thing, thanks.
Oh… er… I’m afraid that I’m not familiar with that term
If I’ve managed to offend anyone in any way, the GAPAs have my permission to remove my above post.
As in, some people are attracted to multiple genders (I am! I call myself pansexual, because I’m attracted to all genders (there are more than two); some people are attracted to more than one but not all and some people like bisexual or polysexual or…). Your friend’s girlfriend (why the quotation marks?) can be genuinely attracted to her as well as to men.
As others have pointed out, there are people who are attracted to multiple genders, or usually one gender but sometimes others. There’s also different kinds of attraction, like you can have a crush on someone and be attracted to them, but not actually be super into the idea of actually being involved with them in a sexual way, and I think sometimes celebrity crushes take that sort of meaning, but crush is the shorthand term for it. Your friends girlfriend might be bi- or pansexual, which means that she’s capable of being attracted to any gender, or she might identify as a lesbian but also be attracted to some men, or only attracted to men in a specific context that might be described as a crush but be more aesthetic attraction and less sexual attraction. Either way, it’s totally normal and fine. If your concern is that she will hurt your friend by turning out to be straight, I would say if you really want to talk to either of them about it that you encourage them to communicate. If she’s not entirely sure of her orientation that’s okay too, it’s fully acceptable to try things out, as long as it’s clearly communicated.
Catwings–Fiddler’s explanation here is a good one, and what I would have said had I moderated my own exasperation better. You’re just looking out for your friend, I know it was not meant from a place of condemnation. I’m sorry for being snippy.
I personally just identify as “queer,” and for me that means something along the lines of–I know I am romantically and sexually interested in women. I had crushes on boys in high school, and at the time was 100% confident in their validity, but looking back I’m really unsure of the extent to which they were real vs. something I constructed in my mind. I have a “type” regarding men I find attractive, and there are guys I know that I think are cute, but I don’t know whether this is an aesthetic thing or whether I’d actually want to, y’know, be with a guy in that way. I also have occasional feelings of some kind for men, but it’s also very unclear to me whether those are squishes, or crushes, or friendcrushes, or what. I say “queer” because I don’t know.
So basically, your friend’s girlfriend could be bisexual. She could be pansexual, or asexual but romantically interested in women, or even mostly attracted to men but for whatever reason fell for your friend specifically.
Or she could be confused, and yes, that might turn out to mean “not actually interested in women in the long run,” but it also might mean that things are unclear so she just kind of rolls with what she’s pretty sure of.
Does that make sense?
Sorry again for being short with you!
I feel like I’m butting in but I want to add that there’s also a spectrum on which people fall that shows what gender they’re more or less attracted to. You can be bisexual/biromantic, pansexual/panromantic, or something else and have a preference toward any gender. I have a friend who thought she was pansexual (she now realizes she’s panromantic asexual) and has a preference toward girls. I think I might be biromantic heterosexual with a preference toward guys. So not only can you have both a -romantic and -sexual suffix, but you also fall on the spectrum.
I have something to say to all people in this conversation stream since I am pretty sure you are talking about me. She’s not my girlfriend. She isn’t because she told me she doesn’t know how she feels about me. Now, if she loved me back, then I could count her as a girlfriend. I have never had a girlfriend and I doubt I’ll have one any time soon. I apologize for eavesdropping, by the way.
I am sneakily making my way back to being a programmer at work! Yay!
Cool, what kind of programming things are you doing?
PHP, MySQL, a little bit of JavaScript. I’m writing a webpage that will parse emails and determine what country the email is from, among other things, and then save all the data to a database. It’s nothing spectacular, but I’m enjoying it.
Note for anyone going into web programming: Javascipt is evil, but it’s also useful, so prepare for a love-hate relationship there.
Do you wonder what being a science writer is like? It’s like this:
http :// www . lastwordonnothing . com/2014/12/18/how-to-write-a-science-feature/
I sympathize, writing for a deadline can always be frustrating.
I wish more people knew about axolotls so that you could buy a non-super-deformed stuffed animal version of one that was under 30 dollars.
Oh! I know about those, kind of! I didn’t quite remember the name, so I just looked it up, but those guys are cool. They’re right up there with giant salamanders and Spanish newts… Heck, I just love amphibians as a whole!
They are cool, and so cute, too!
And they never grow up. They remain in their larval stage for their entire lives. Metaphor?
What exactly are you implying?
i had an animated conversation about axolotls and other cool animals with a kid at the Halloween open house at the radio station. That kid knew a lot!
Er. *taps mic* Hello? Gonna follow Zinc’s lead and stop in to say hello to everyone, although I’m not sure if I’ll be active after this. It’s so weird to see how little everything’s changed!
I guess I’ll just sort of reintroduce myself. I’m a sophomore at Northwestern (yeah, I know, I’m OLD) majoring in film, English and Classics. I’m not sure if anyone saw that coming. I sure didn’t. Uh, what else? I’m asexual, I’m 5’8″ now, I look slightly less like a giant dork (I found those old Kokon pictures…. yikes). My hair is almost to my waist, so I’ve almost achieved my original goal of becoming Lady Galadriel. I still write and I still don’t know when to shut up. I spend a lot of time over on Tumblr–Zinc, Fireh and I have found each other on there; if you have my email from Kokons or some such, you could probably also find me, if you wished.
Um, I guess that’s it! Hello again, everyone!
RQ!! It’s great to hear from you! (I used to be Ducky)
Hi, RoseQuartz! Glad you see you again!
ROSEQUARTZ! Hi!!!
If you’re old, then I’m old, so you’re not old. Welcome back!
Yay! *glomps*
I love watching glomps.
Yes, indeed.
*falls over* Er, hi!
(Also, hi, Robert! Are all the GAPAs still here?)
Oh, yes. Some lurk more than post, but we’re all around.
She lives! *classics major high-five*
*high-fives* I remember talking to you about Latin at some point! Guess we both followed through on that.
Good to see you around! and if you’re old, i’m ancient. so you are forbidden from being old.
Welcome back!
Hey!
I was traditionally mid-age-range and have just finished my first year at uni. Not quite to timeless-elf territory yet. 
I finished my last final exam of undergraduate studies yesterday, and I’m pretty sure I have A’s in all my classes for every semester since transferring.
Today I am going to visit some of my former high school teachers at the high school. I decided to go on a whim when I saw one of them post on a social networking site that they’d write visitor passes.
This morning, getting dressed: “Do I look successful?” “You always look successful.” “Do I look better than everyone else?” “You always look better than everyone else.” “No, I need to be more better than everyone else than usual.”
I… may be nervous about seeing people I haven’t seen since 2011. I am looking forward to telling them about how I graduated in 3 years, though, and how I’m going to work for a startup in the city. I mean, as far as traditional definitions of success go, I’m there.
Would anyone be interested in some kind of laidback RPG-type thing? Or maybe it’s just me who’s bored over winter break. I’m guessing we’re all too busy with Real Life to do anything too involved, but… a Yule Ball? *nostalgia*
I’d love it too!
*snaps fingers* Done!
So. I just had a sudden realization. Star Trek replicators are essentially 3D printers.
Sure, they definitely do some stuff that is impossible such as magically produce food (since every one knows creating food from nothing violates Gamp’s Law–yes i’m mixing universes deal with it).Apparently there are 3D printers that print food. Obviously it requires “food” ingredients being put into it because you can’t transform nothing into food, but. Yeah. And apparently clothing to. So. Yeah.So. Replicators are a thing now. If I ever own a 3D printer I shall call it a replicator and never refer to it as a 3D printer.
No but seriously google foodini. This is a thing. I need one. And i would never ever call it a foodini, it would be my rpelicator and i would replicate the hell out of every mealtime because god i hate cooking so much it takes too much time and i’m totally lazy and surely osmething it makes would be something i consider palatable.
At BU, we have several people working with 3-D Printers in the engineering department, and there’s a poster outside one office about making chocolate sculptures with a chocolate 3-D Printer. That must have been a fun experiment!
My cat is in the hospital back home and probably will be for the next couple days. He has a lower urinary tract obstruction which is one of those things that once he gets it he’s more likely to get it again in the future. From what my parents said it sounds like they caught it early and he should hopefully be okay and doesn’t sound like his bladder has ruptured, but. Super worried about him.
I’m back in Hong Kong for the holidays! It’s nice to be home.
Laughing and joking with my family. It’s good to be home.
I’ve been appreciating moss lately. Let’s hear it for moss! It’s a rain cloud’s silver lining (except it’s green, and it’s on stones, tree limbs and my driveway, not inside clouds – as far as I know.)
Luna – Sorry to hear about your cat. It’s so hard not to worry! I’m glad they caught it early, though.
Thanks! I was able to call and speak to the vet who is treating him, and I feel a lot less anxious now that I know what all the lab tests showed (my dad didn’t ask them about any of that) and I feel a little more in the loop. It definitely sounds like he wasn’t obstructed for very long prior to my parents picking up on something being wrong which means his recovery should be a lot faster than it could have been.
He’s going to be in the hospital probably through Monday and then discharged with some antibiotics (in case a urinary tract infection is compounding/contributing) and pain meds and is going to need to be fed a special prescription cat food diet now, instead of his old brand of cat food.
I’m glad it’s looking relatively good.
Bryophytes are the best! Being a biologist researching bryophytes was one of my most tempting potential career paths.
Here’s to hornworts! Laudemus liverworts! Moss, moss, moss!
Could I also add a cheer for lichen? It’s unobtrusive to the point of obsequiousness, but it has hidden depths.
And incidentally, I think it rhymes with “kitchen”. I know that defies the scientific consensus, but I’m a radical.
Are you a math nerd? A capella nerd? One or the other? Please go to youtube and search for the song Finite Simple Group (of Order Two) by The Klein 4. Go. Now. There is no time to waste!
I’m home for the holidays! I finished my last final on Friday morning, spent the weekend with my boyfriend’s family, and flew home today. It’s very nice to be home. The house was silent and dark by 10:30pm, which is super different than what I’m used to for school, but that’s a good thing because I generally like to go to bed earlier than people at school! So, home, my own bed, early bedtime, nothing to do tomorrow…I like this.
I do plan to sit down for a while tomorrow to reflect on my semester and set some goals for winter break. My primary goals will be to spend time with family and recharge, of course, yet I’ve also been looking forward to free time to get started on some projects!
Every single time I reread Sorcery and Cecilia, I inevitably want to play the Letter Game with someone. *loud sigh* No, self, we do not have time for that!
In other news, winter break is quite boring, but not as long as most people’s. I’m excited for my classes next quarter–to combat burnout, I’m taking all School of Communication classes, which are less academic than Arts and Sciences classes, although not less objectively “hard.” I get three hours of screenwriting once a week (starting at 9 AM, kill me), a course on African American folklore, an intro to performance studies type of thing that I’m mostly taking because a) it’s supposed to be INCREDIBLY easy and b) it involves some kind of thing about cultural myth, and intro to design for theatre, which should be really fun. I’m looking forward to getting to do things instead of just write 8-10 page analysis papers about them all the time. Also, classes that actually reflect my career goals as a folklorist and screenwriter!
I may or may not have taken on way too many extracurriculars, though. I’m treasurer of the Classics honors society, Programming Chair of the Student Advisory Board, design staff on the lit mag and a new member of a sorority….. and somehow, I thought it would be a good idea to also become a costume assistant for one film, DIT/PA for another, sound recordist AND designer for another and an inbetweener on an animated film. Oh, and I might audition for another one, because I could literally play Athena. In terms of actual time, I think it’ll probably be okay, because none of these things takes up all that much on their own… but I’m not sure how much time I’ll have for my friends. The non-sorority ones, that is. I’m moving to the sorority house, so I won’t run into them all the time any more, and I’m a little worried that I’ll never see them. We seem to be growing apart a bit anyway, though…..
Update: I’ve quit the lit mag. The last straw was my editor sending me an email with the design templates for the upcoming issue, at 2:30 AM this morning, after she’d said it would be there “Monday at the latest.” She then proceeded to text me at 3:05 AM or so to ask if I’d gotten the email. (This was not the first time she’d been self-absorbed and inconsiderate. She hosts design staff meetings in her dorm, which is quite possibly the most inconvenient and inaccessible place on campus.) Understandably, I was not happy. They didn’t really give me the full picture when I signed up for this at the beginning of the year, and I’m not going out of my way to get to a computer at my dad’s workplace that may or may not have InDesign just so I can get the sections to her before January 3. It’s a caking extracurricular, not a class, and even if it were a class there shouldn’t be required work over break. And it’s not as if there’s some kind of external schedule we need to adhere to in order to get the mag out on time. *LOUD SIGH*
(If this is too rant or plaint-y, feel free to move it to the appropriate thread, GAPAs! I figured it might be better here as it’s an update on the extracurricular situation, but do as you think best.)
Something odd happened to me earlier.
My dad, the dog and I drove up to the store to get a ham and some other food items for Christmas. I stayed in the car, because I hate stores.
So, anyway, I was just sitting there when this old man parked a little ways away from my car, and walked over and opened my door. All he wanted to do was tell me that he liked my dog, and that he had one that looked just like him once.
That was, I think, the oddest thing ever to happen to me in a long time. Basically, I just sat there grinning and awkward.
Oh, by the way, he also said that he has a cat, but would prefer a ‘doggie.’
XD I’d call that creepy.
What are everyone’s plans for the holidays?
Stay home and eat and play games. I would do that all Christmas long, but my mom is picking me up to go with her to be with her new relatives.
Hanging out with my family and our friends!
We went to the Nintendo World store at Rockefeller Center yesterday and I got my picture taken with a bunch of Pokemon plushies. Charmander is as cute as ever. There was also a shelf full of Link (the character) plushies, and I took a picture so that whenever people on other sites complain that I am posting too many links (hyperlinks), I can post the picture and go “No, that’s not a lot of links, this is a lot of Links!”
So cool!
On Sunday I went to Sydney to catch up with the people I know there, and it was awesome. We held a secular solstice event, basically celebrating all the good things that we’ve done or have happened this year, and discussing things like making good resolutions for next year. We attempted to light candles, but the wind was too strong for them to stay lit, even with our dodgy cups with holes in the bottom. Then in-group jokes that made sense in context ensued. One of guys I met in May, the one who built a CT scanner using cobalt-60 that he ordered through the post, brought his solar telescope and sextant and let us play with them.
I stayed in my friend’s (who I have something of a thing for, but it was totally PG!) house, slept in till 11, and dragged myself around the place before I had enough coffee to be able to do anything. I eventually decided that what I’d most like to do before heading back to the bus stop was… go to the local mall. In my defense, Sydney has better shops, and things are on sale, and I’ve seen the place a lot before. Disappointingly, it looks exactly like the one in what passes for our town centre, just two stories taller. And there is a place that exclusively does falafel burgers. Good falafel burgers. (Although I only had one…)
Cool! The solar telescope must have been great!
Enjoy your Christmas Eve, folks!
Thanks, Catwings! You have a great one, too.
Although that’s Christmas Day now, for me at least, here in New York (I’m staying with my older cousins in the state, before we go to The Big Apple itself in a couple days and then fly back home to the Oregon Coast. Yay!)
(etc.)
So. Happy/Merry Chrismas//Holidays, and then the New Year in the future!
Mmmmm, the baked-sweet-potatoes-with-apples-and-cranberries thing in the oven smells delicious. Best Apollo 8 Anniversary wishes to all of you, MuseBlog!
Finally got around to resetting my Gravatar password. Apparently I had quite a few images in there–this one (assuming “this one” works) seems best, since it does reflect my name….
Just came from a Christmas Eve party; I am PROUDER THAN I SHOULD BE of the socializing I just did. I asked questions! I started conversations! I was incredible. Merry Christmas to all Christmas-celebrating people!
I know! It feels good, doesn’t it? Last time I met someone at an event like that, I actually shook their hand! And introduced myself! Crazy, right? Or is that just me…
Yay for you guys.
Social interactions take practice like anything else, and I’m glad your events went well for you!
My dad is a real man and is sick of the same Christmas traditions being played over and over again. So, we sat up and watched Creep Show for Christmas.
Somehow, I got into watching the first two episodes of the Gilmore Girls with my parents, older (female) cousin, and sister. It actually wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It’s interesting watching something completely from a female perspective (is that the right word?). I also played lots of Ping Pong with practically every member of my dad’s extended family. Today was fun.
Gilmore Girls is great. My mom, brother and I would watch it together all throughout my high school time.
Ping Pong is the best!
I have to admit to a penchant for Gilmore Girls – especially the razor-sharp writing in the first two series.
Does it seem to you guys that 2014 was an especially negative year in terms of news events? I’ve been watching a lot of “year in review” videos and with all the stuff like Ferguson, the Ebola scare, protests in the Ukraine and Venezuela, shootings and terrorist threats, landing on a comet was almost the only positive thing.
It’s true, a lot of bad things did happen, but there was also the Orion test flight and India’s success with MOM.
To quote “Scholastic News”‘ Year in Review for 2003, another year with a lot of bad news, “Life is always a mix of good and bad news… It’s important to keep up on all sorts of stories. That way, things don’t look impossibly gloomy or too good to be true.”
¡Feliz Navidad para todos!
Y tu tambien.
Espero que hayas tenido una buena Navidad tambien.
I hope everyone celebrating had a very merry Christmas today!
My parents and I played clue last night (I won twice) by candlelight, and this morning after opening presents we played bananagrams, because mom’s friend gave it to us. None of us are very good at it, it turns out. Then mom and I made two pairs of earrings.
I’m all packed and ready to go to Minnesota tomorrow morning early. Hopefully while I’m there I’ll get to visit Oxlin! That’s the plan at least.
I’m excited! Safe travels!
For Christmas I didn’t get much in the way of presents–understandably. I have two and a half weeks to enjoy them, after all. My mom gave me two books I asked for that I’ll be able to take with me; unfortunately, I realized that one of them wasn’t what I thought it was, so I think it’ll be going to the Goodwill. My dad gave me a little photo album of pictures of me and him, plus some old pictures of him, his dad, his dad, etc. I’m not sure he knows that I can’t bring it with me, but I think it was really more for him than for me. My sister gave me a gift certificate to Whole Foods; “I wanted to get you some beer but I didn’t know what kind you wanted.” And for the very first time in my life, my grandma meant it when she said, “I didn’t get you guys very much.” Thank goodness! She doesn’t know exactly when I’m leaving, but she treated this as a conditional “if this is the last time I see you” and she handled it far better than I anticipated. She’s hard to deal with, a very eccentric woman, and quite unhappy with this whole monastery business.
We had her over for dinner, turkey, mashed potatoes, my mom’s bread stuffing (the best in the world), etc. Sort of a Thanksgiving 2: Electric Boogaloo. One of our neighbors baked us a rum cake, like she does every year. Tonight my dad and I drank two of the Bourbon County stouts my cousin managed to acquire for us. Oh man, that’s a heck of a beverage. It’s the kind of beer that you want to eat with a knife and fork, it’s so rich. Also, strong; I’m quite pleased with the scarcity of typos I’ve made.
What else do I have to do before I leave? Not a whole lot. Mostly just cleaning my room, which hasn’t really been thoroughly cleaned since I went to college (yikes). I’ve been insisting that it would be a worthwhile investment for our family to rent a dumpster, but my mom’s not going for it.
Oh, yes, Christmas. I served as thurifer for the Midnight Mass. My parish’s assistant pastor is from Italy, and so he went big on the candles. My mom and I helped decorate the church yesterday morning. Father had me climbing all over the altar to put candles up. I’m sure the candle count was into triple digits. Mass was very lovely, especially since we have an abundance of clerics crawling around the parish right now–a rotation of four deacons, one each from Austria, Quebec, the US, and England, plus a priest here on medical leave, and a diocesan seminarian. We even managed to avoid setting any altar boys on fire. A successful Christmas!
I need to buy the new “xkcd Phone 2: A phone for your other hand!” It looks even better than the first “xkcd Phone: Your world just went digital”. It’s everything I’ve always wanted, after all!
Also, I got the “What If?” book for Christmas! Yaaaaaaa (…) aaaaaay! And Kerbal Space Program! *more ‘yay’-ing ensues* And I still have more stuff waiting back at home for me, so I’m really excited about that, too! This year is an awesome holiday season, even though (or maybe because) I spent more money on other people than any year in the past. Anyway, goodnight, and Happy Christmas/Holidays!
SFTDP: I just realized (after I posted, naturally) that I said “goodnight” rather than “good night” I don’t think it really matters, though, does it?
While I always write “good night”, I’ve noticed before that some people I talk with will write “goodnight”. You can do a search on “good night vs. goodnight” to get some interesting perspectives on how they might mean slightly different things, although it seems there’s no consensus at all.
An editor’s opinion: The two-word version is more consistent (good morning, good day, good evening, good night). “Goodnight” written as one word becomes an adjective, e.g., a goodnight kiss.
But if you say “Good night kiss,” it could be somewhat ambiguous: You can never figure out if it is a kiss of good quality that happens to be at night, or a kiss to say ‘good night” (or ‘goodnight?’). I, personally, like reading those statements, as it really makes you think for a moment.
That’s why editors say “good night” with a goodnight kiss. See? No ambiguity.
Wow, did I get cool stuff for Christmas
If nobody minds, I am just going to list all of my new items.
Metallica shirt. It’s black and purple, which my dad new were my favorite colors. And Metallica happens to be my favorite band, so you can tell that I love that shirt. My only problem with it is that the collar is so high that whenever I sit down it feels like I’m being strangled.
Lego Chima, Hobbit, and Ninjago sets. Yes, I still play with Legos. I and my dad both do not think one can be too old to play with toys.
And from the maternal part of my family, I got:
Tex, Rumble Fish, and The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton, and The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima. I will not be bored for a while, I have too many books to read! Oh, along with those, I got a little booklet of bookmarks to use!
Knitted fingerless gloves with a little owl on the backs of them. My cousin is, like, the best person that I know for crafts involving yarn or thread.
Also, my other cousin made me a little rainbow scarf. I’m not much for rainbow, myself, but she did do a very nice job on it.
Overall, I had an incredibly fun Christmas this year.
Awesome!
I was too busy with finals and graduate applications to submit my list in time, but my dad ordered some Jurassic Park buttons on Etsy and I got a lot of gift cards, so I can get some things for myself, hopefully.
Had a good Christmas–I got a new camera for Paris, like I asked for. Also got a big puzzle of a map of Paris that is currently sitting on the coffee table. All the pieces fit together regardless of where they actually go… makes it difficult to figure out where to put the similarly-colored river pieces.
Lots of Paris-themed gifts, since nobody really knows what to get me. I’ve resigned myself to never getting anything that I actually want because my parents deem my interests childish and a waste of time. I just buy stuff I actually want with various gift cards I receive.
Also didn’t go to Christmas Eve service for the very first time–my parents went to the early service and apparently it really is exclusively for families with young children, so I’m especially glad I didn’t go.
We watched Deathly Hallows Part 2. My mom finally finished all the Harry Potter books after starting them when I left for college (three years ago). It’s nice to have one thing to talk about with her. She said she likes books that have a lot of characters and focuses on the relationships between them instead of the adventure. It was pretty difficult picking out something to recommend her from all my favorites–most only have a few main characters. I finally chose Watership Down.
Watership Down… I keep hearing that name. I’ve heard it was good, would any of you recommend it?
Yes! It’s a heroic epic tale of adventurers in the wilds.
It seems that I always get lonely at night, though as soon as I finally start talking to someone online, I end up falling asleep. :,(
Staying up too late alone isn’t good for anyone’s mental state. Getting some sleep is usually helpful. <3
Yeah… I’m not exactly mentally healthy currently. Yet another case of depression is striking.
I never had any real friends.
Um…*hugs?*
What about us? Or do you mean in person?
Anywhere. Everyone deserted me. Or lied.
I haven’t. I’m here. *hugs*
I have done neither, and I find it deplorable that others would do such things to you. *hugs*
I’m here for you, Catwings. *hugs and squids* What’s up?
What about me?! I care about you so much! DX
What the others said. I’m sorry that happened, you’re awesome and don’t deserve to be lied to or abandoned. <3
I very mildly can relate to you… kind of. Recently, (meaning the past couple years) I’ve noticed that I’ve been kind of moving away from my old group of friends that I’ve had since kindergarten. They all do other stuff together nowadays, like birthdays and parties and everything. In fourth grade, we all used to sit at this one table at lunch, and after school, several of us were in this FIRST Lego League robotics team for two straight years. That was really fun, but things were a little strained (just a bit). After that, my now-still-best friend began “officially” “dating” my crush for the past seven years (who was in the robotics team as well… hmm…). Now, I kind of try to span the gap between us. I’m certainly not involved in everything that they do, but we’re friendly to each other. This year, our middle school also split in half, and some of us went down the “Prep Academy” by the high school, while myself and some others (including the best friend I have) stayed up at the main building. I walk down to the bus every day at the high school, and see some people I know over there, but it’s just not the same. I wouldn’t say that I really have a lot of great friends, but I know almost everyone at both schools (it’s a small town) and have small relationships with a lot of people. I’m sorry to hear about your predicament, Catwings, but I used to think that I didn’t really have any friends. In fact, in the process of writing this, I realized that I have a lot of people who love me. I bet that if you really look a lot deeper, you’ll find that you have so much more than you expected, even though your situation is a lot worse than mine. Squids and hugs.
I got to see my friend Hannah again, and we went ice skating and walked in town and now I’m home watching “Storm Chasers”! This is the life.
Paul, do you by any chance listen to Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review on BBC 5? I subscribe to their podcast, and the most recent one mentions a Paul Baker.
I occasionally catch bits of it in passing. I think there must be another Paul Baker, though, I’m not mainstream enough to be of interest to Kermode and Mayo.
Fiddler:
I’m kokonviening with Oxlin! We’re at the Minneapolis Art Institute, & we spent several hours looking through the European gallery, which was exciting because of history nerd reasons. Some of Oxlin’s friends (who are also hisory & museum people) & my girlfriend are here too, so we had a delightful time looking at the art & also talking about history & the ways in which the pieces are displayed. Then Oxlin & I waltzed in a period ballroom with red curtains and gilded accents, & it was like a live-action Yule Ball.
Hi!!! Everyone has been nerding out and at least 4/5 of us have subscribed to muse. I will away now to the art!
Oh that last bit was me. The part where I started with hi
And now more! The museum was awesome. It is the museum I’ve been attending since childhood. We went with Fern’s girlfriend and my good friend A and her girlfriend K and it worked out really well! The five of us quite got along and it was lovely to go through the museum as a group. A and I separated at one point to go write in Our Room, and Fiddler’s girlfriend went and sketched and K wandered around and Fiddler wandered around but for the most part we hung out and figured out which of us had subscribed to Muse. Turns out A had actually also once ordered the stickers Robert made, which I had not known before. Kokons are wonderful.
By the way, THF, you should go to this museum sometime if you haven’t already been.
Awesome!
Because it’s become such an entrenched custom, I missed my blogiversary yesterday. Eight years on MuseBlog! Golly. That’s all of college, all of high school, plus half a year of middle school thrown in for good measure. Here’s to another eight years with all of you fine and wonderful folks–in spirit if not in pixels!
Of course – we all know MuseBlog is bigger than the ‘blog these days.
*pies*
I’ve stopped trying to guess how big it is. All of my estimates turn out to be underestimates.
Speaking of which–are we taking bets as to who’ll be the first MBer in space?
Would Robert count? I think he’s most likely, as he’s already established professionally in a field where he could have the opportunity.
Unlikely — I’d probably let one of my writers go instead. (I’ve already sent one of them up in the Vomit Comet.)
“Let” makes it sound like you wouldn’t *want* to go…
Hm, really? What if we all wanted to go but it made more sense to send someone else?
True, true, and this has me thinking of that short story about all of the people who promised one other person that they would ask aliens to take them with them…
What about Lizzie Wade?
Good idea! She would have such fun up there. And she’d say such funny and interesting things about it later.
So a book about the making of the IMAX film “Everest” that I bought at the Goodwill in September turns out to have been signed by the author, at least three members of the filming expedition, and another climber not part of the expedition. Holy cake.
What an awesome surprise!
So. Totally planning to pay to go watch Into The Woods for a second time, just to rewatch a less than 3 minute scene (Chris Pine’s first musical number). Which, if you’ve seen the movie, you will understand my motivations.
Plus, I wouldn’t mind watching the whole movie a second time with less obnoxious theatre goers. Because while the obnoxious tittering/giggling/that horrible squeaky high pitched fake laugh thing that psychotic fans do when they see an actor they like? While I could half understand it during Pine’s scenes (and as they were doing it during his scenes, I’m not convinced they weren’t there for Pine alone), as annoying as it would have been if limited ot his scenes, had already driven me up a wall before he even made an appearance, as they spent the whole scene with Red Riding Hood stealing pastries doing it. That scene while perhaps mildly amusing was not nonstop “heeheeheheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee” at a horrible shrill pitch amusing. Actually, nothing is that amusing, I have never heard that sound come out of any self respecting female’s mouth, even fangirls. Even at conventions. I was ready to go postal on them.
I also did not get the number of chidlren in the theatre. I mean I knew next to nothing about the movie going in, but even I knew that it was not children appropriate. Nor did I understand the gasps of horror when parts of the script adhered to original Grimm’s versions of the fairytales being portrayed. I mean, seriously? Have these people seriously not read the original fairytales, and even knowing nothing of the original Sondheim musical, not realize just how dark these fairytales are and just what occurred in some of them?????
Also. Dad sneaking glances at me during both of Pine’s musical numbers was rather awkward. Actually, there were multiple bits to the movie that were awkward sitting next to him. Turns out he only went to ITW with me, instead of watching a different movie by himself, because he’d looked up stuff about the musical/movie and realized that it was not just a fluffy disney fairytale musical and was dark as *beep*. (he doesn’t like fairytales or musicals).
And I was all set and planning to go see this again tomorrow, at a time where I was hoping that between all the college kids having vacated town for the holidays, and late enough that hopefully children would be in bed if their parents were foolish enough to bring them, and on a day where hopefully people wouldn’t be movie watching (I figured New Year Eve was less ideal, that probably more people might go to a movie), when I realized I’m on call tomorrow, and I can’t go to a movie. So that sucks.
New Year’s Eve, then, I guess? Make myself a new tradition, since this will be my first New Year’s Eve spent away from family? There have only been 2 NYE’s in my life that have differed from our normal tradition up until now. One year when my sister and I were in gymnastics, we went to the overnight lock-in party at the gym, where we made cool forts and stuff out of gym equipment and mats and slept there overnight. And one year, we spent the Christmas and New Year’s Eve holidays at my aunt’s in Oregon when I was 10. Every single other NYE of my life has been spent at home, with my sister and parent’s, playing board games/watching TV/watching movies/playing videogames up until midnight, at which point we would switch over to watch the tape delayed recording of the ball dropping in Time’s Square. And munching on snacky foods all day long/all evening.
This year will be spent all by my self, with no snacky foods to be had, because I’m too lazy to cut them up and make them and all of that.
So maybe watching Into the Wood’s that day would be good. I just don’t want it to be like watching ITW Christmas Eve where the other people in the theatre pretty much made it a sucky experience and I was wishing everyone a speedy trip to that very special hell for people who talk at the movie theatre, but which should also include those who giggle stupidly and pointlessly and those who munch their popcorn/open celophane wrappers at ridiculously loud volumes, and always during the quietest/saddest scenes of movies.
It’s just become 2015 here, so Happy New Year!
I’m too sleep-deprived to say anything really reflective, so I’ll just wave my vaguely staff-like disco stick thingy.
How’s 2015 looking like over there?
Happy New Year!
It’s already 2015 here too (Hong Kong)!
I will wish everyone Happy New Year 5 hours in advance. I intend to fire up Skyrim in a while. I may be unaware of the turning of the year unless I am alerted by distant fireworks and don’t mistake them for dragons.
Happy almost-new-year! I’m hoping that the weather turns out better than predicted and I can make my new year’s day flight back to Cleveland..
this past year:
-gave two recitals
-ate a ton of soup
-ate a ton of korean food
-went to Canada for the first time
-saw a grizzly bear (from a bus window)
-worked with a lot of groups I really admire (Brentano Emerson Tokyo Takas Juilliard Cleveland etc)
-Pete Seeger died
-got my first smartphone
-did my best to stop following the news (I decided my mental health couldn’t take it)
-played and was broadcast on NPR
-met my boyfriend, started dating him (still am, can’t wait to see him hopefully tomorrow assuming flights work out)
-ate more korean food
-ate more soup
-ate lots of dessert
-passed my master’s comprehensive exams
-hiked a lot
-moved apartments into a beautiful single that I love a lot
-spent a lot of time on airplanes
next year:
-I want to start exercising regularly (running, yoga, resistance band exercises). I did pretty well at the beginning of last semester but then I got sick and then I got busy. Goal is to reduce stress and improve general level of fitness – I can feel that my body is less resilient than it was a year ago, and I want to make sure it can hold up to the strain that my profession puts on it (violin is surprisingly hard on the body).
-I’ll graduate with my Master’s degree! (Will I be the first MBer to get a graduate degree? Luna, when do you finish?) I’ve completed all the requirements at this point – got my comps and my recitals out of the way – so all that’s left is another semester of lessons and an elective history course. Should be easy.
-I want to get a job. Goal is full-time 2nd or 3rd tier orchestra, with benefits. My teacher assures me that there will be openings listed in the February issue of the union magazine, but if there aren’t openings I can audition for right away I want to put myself in a position where I can win anything that opens up. I’m on a good course to win an audition, I just have to keep working on learning and polishing excerpts.
-Get through another semester with my quartet without major drama or explosions
-Vibrate first finger.
-Keep personal relationships going and happy
-Be prepared for my lessons
-Really I just want to get a job because if I don’t I have no idea what to do next fall.
It’s still 2014 for a few more hours here, but Happy New Year! May the year to come be full of fun, adventure, happiness and harmony for us all!
Decided to not be uber lazy, and cut up a bunch of snacky food for myself. And over the last 3 or so hours have gorged myself on slices of cheese, summer sausage, crackers, some (way too salty and not good at all) smoked salmon (guess that’s what happens when you by smoked salmon in the middle of the midwest), 4 sodas, and at least a third of a bottle of sparkling (non alcoholic) apple cider.
I am now way way way way too full. And aside from my roommate having decided to come back from break early and have 4 or 5 friends over (and I know I’m just being antisocial and people-hating, there’s no real reason for me to be irked by them hanging out in our living room playing boardgames and laughing loudly, but I am a bit), it’s a good New Year’s Eve so far.
The vetmed hospital closed down at noon today except for emergencies, so being on anesthesia and not on call today, I got out of there about 12:15. And we have tomorrow off, although I am on call, and wouldn’t be surprised if I got called in, but it’s not a full day at least. So I can hopefully sleep in. Which is good. Since I have no intention of going to bed at even a halfway reasonable hour.
Also. Probably going to go see Into the Woods for a second time tonight. Hoping it’s not super crowded/busy. I’d like to think most of the college kids are out of town, and that those who aren’t would rather be boozing it up with a night out on the town rather than goign to a movie, and that hopefully any parents who ahven’t gotten the memo about it being a kids movie will be doing other things with the kiddos, and that any fangirls who might squeal-giggle the whole time have already watched it by now.
So. yeah. Enjoying the last day of 2014 so far. Gonna be in the middle (well closer to the end) of Into the Woods when midnight hits (considering being a bad person and having my phone vibrate at me at midnight). Not ready for 2015. Too many big things happening that year. Finding out board results. Me turning a quarter century old (?!). Me graduating and being a freaking DVM. People are going to call me doctor. What. Having a real job. Moving out of my parents house permanently (well, this may or may not actually happen in 2015, but 2016 at latest).
My prediction: “Into the Woods” will not be crowded on New Year’s Eve. Enjoy!