The Administrators are still recovering from Halloween, so a picture and theme for this month will have to wait. Meanwhile, this ever-popular image from MB history should mesmerize you while you gibber away.
(Users’ Manual: Obey The Rules. Consult The Guide. Have fun!
I’m a little depressed at the thought of this being the first year in my life that I haven’t gone trick-or-treating. I still dressed up (as a rabid Twilight fan – my Ken-turned-Edward doll, complete with sparkles, stole the show) and went to a friend’s house (we all watched Zombieland), but it’s just not the same.
My brother dressed up as Justin Bieber (I made signed photographs for him to hand out), so we were definitely the most anti-pop culture duo present.
I can’t believe I have to go to school tomorrow.
Ooh, new thread!
Wow, it’s November already?!?! Where has 2010 gone? On the bright side, it’s finally getting colder and starting to feel more wintery here! Summer took way too long to leave…and I finally have a chance to wear my scarf that I bought over the summer and have been dying to wear ever since! (It’s from Oxford, and it’s blue and turquoise and grey striped! Enough about my scarf.) It isn’t really that cold here, not cold enough that I would need a scarf during the day, but at night when it’s windy and chilly it’s nice to have. A tad unnecessary, I must admit, but hey, I like wearing it.
Relating to Halloween, I wanted to post this on the October thread but it closed before I could.
Anyway, my parents didn’t want people to trick-or-treat at our
houseflat, and plus we didn’t have that much candy in the house, so my mom wanted to put up a sign on the door saying No Trick-or-Treating. However, since she is not the most tactful person in the world, it looked something like this:NO [large, bubble letters, shaded in, taking up half the sign]
Trick-or-treating [in smaller font]
Sorry! [in an even smaller font]
My sister and I thought this hilarious. In the end, we didn’t use that sign though, because I had the most awesomely BRILLIANT idea ever for a sign, so we used that instead. This is what it said:
This house is currently under a time warp. Halloween was yesterday. We have run out of candy. We apologise for the inconvenience caused. Please do not ring the bell. Have a nice day!
After 6-ish or so, we started to hear the kids coming up the stairs for trick-or-treating and such. A few examples of what we heard listening at the door:
Kid: ‘Mommy, what does that say?’
Mom: *reads the sign* *sounds confused*
Kid: ‘Halloween was YESTERDAY?’ *sounds like he’s about to cry* Halloween wasn’t YESTERDAY.
Kid: ‘Why does the sign say ‘Have a nice day!’? Shouldn’t it be ‘Have a nice night!’?
Dad: ‘I don’t know, maybe it’s because they’re in a time warp.’
Kid: ‘What’s a time warp?’
Dad: ‘Uh…’
Anyway. It was HILARIOUS.
Oops, I just clicked Preview and this is a sorta long post. I guess I haven’t been on MB that much recently, so this should make up for it?
I’m with you. This year seemed to go so fast!
That’s an awesome idea!
I’m scared about NaNo. 50,000 words is a lot. O______o
GAPA email. Remind me.
Check the Rules page.
Did your “shudders” HPB costume crash, we wonder.
2~ That is indeed an awesome sign.
Last night I went to a bonfire at a friend’s house. It was decidedly unscary. It was fun though, there was a scavenger hunt that she’d set up that was all these “spooky” clues that led us around the yard eventually sending us to the kitchen to “claim our prize”. But she hadn’t left ths bag in the kitchen, she had one of the kids lie under a tree with it so we had to scour the entire yard again and then when we found ANOTHER body (her sister had been a corpse earlier) clutching a bag she jumped up and screamed BOO! So yeah, it was cute.
Then we at around and tried to talk with plastic vampire fangs in our mouths and then laced them with pixie stix so everyone was sitting there sucking the sugar out of them….it was interesting. I was going to dress up as a stick figure, but I couldn’t find my white jeans, so I didn’t. Sad sad. Oh well, I was wearing black and orange at least.
okay so i can’t believe it’s almost the end of the year
i think it’s because the school year doesn’t follow the calendar that i always find that kind of bizarre…
also i forgot to say AHH ENVY to everyone who went to DC, I was reading live updates on the new york times website and it sounded really great! i love some of those signs haha xDDD
anyway all november is to me is THANKSGIVING!!! i am hungry for potatoes and also revisionist history
plus election excitement today/tomorrow/etc, i hope i sent in my ballot in time for it to be counted….
Absentee ballots need to be postmarked on or before Election Day….So if you have already mailed it, you should be good.
Maine: Where it’s 30*F on Halloween and everyone wears winter coats while trick or treating.
It was fun. I wore a lot of layers, so I wasn’t that cold, except for my hands, which froze. This was probably my last year trick or treating, so I’m glad I enjoyed it.
November…ugh. No offense to November, but it’s my least favorite time of year. Bleh. Wet yuck. Of course, it’s been really cold lately, and we had SNOW yesterday further inland, so it’ll probably be less wet yuck and more cold ice/snow/hail/coldness. But anyway. SNOW. On Halloween. Ick. I love snow, but yeesh, give autumn a chance! *shakes fist at sky* Also, NaNo has started! Yayness! I should probably be writing right now!
I hate February the most. There’s nothing good (except for Valentine’s Day, but I’m a little old for that now) and historically, February 9th has been a slow day. The month itself is annoying too. It’s too warm to be winter anymore, but too cold and soggy to be anywhere near spring.
There’s my birthday!
You must have a very slow birthday, then. Plenty of time to open presents, I suppose. *shrug*
Oh yeah, Febuary isn’t my favorite either. January’s okay, because we have lots of snow and it’s fun at first, but in Febuary snow gets really tiring. We have The Big Melting usually in March, but March is nice anyway, because of Saint Patrick’s Day and my friend’s birthday, and you can smell spring, which is my favorite smell.
I don’t like Januaries. The holidays are over, and then the midterms come so fast, and then it’s Space Disaster Week… once February comes, I have my birthday to look forward to, so it feels better.
Did you get the February 08 edition of Muse? That should rectify your complaints.
it was SO COLD in my MN neighborhood, I wore gloves on Halloween.
Holy cake. The spambots are doing NaNoWriMo. I just got a spam comment that’s 1081 words long. From a quick Google search it seems that the exact selection is being submitted around the internet to various things, but I can’t find an original source. It seems like a section out of a legitimate novel or short story, but I don’t know what. It’s sorta reminiscent of either Lewis Carroll or the Wind in the Willows, but run through an internet translator.
It also reminds me of English as She Is Spoke, especially since it seems to be about frogs.
I loved that article!
The WHAT?!
W-what? The spambots? The exact selection? The internet? The wind? The willows? Those are the only the’s I used.
The spambots.
Wow, it is COLD here. I’m going to need to wear a headband to XC practice tomorrow or my ears will freeze off.
STS-133 takes off on Wednesday! (Remember that story we wrote about it that’s now in an Alternate Universe about a thousand times over because of the launch delays, Enc?)
2–Selenium the Quafflebird: Great sign!
7–Mikazuki (and replies): March is the worst month for me. Where I live, it’s a strange limbo between winter and spring, dragging out until things start blooming again. February is my birth month, so that’s not as bad.
Re: Halloween: Well, my Halloween ’twas fun, but uneventful. My next-door neighbors told me I could trick-or-treat at their house, costumed or not, for at least another two or three decades. So I donned my aviatrix outfit and big fairy wings (yes, fairy wings) to trick-or-treat there. I highly doubt that any other Steampunk aviatrixes wearing fairy wings were out on Halloween night, so I felt very extraordinary!
10 – Thanks! It was an inspired moment.
Man, I have not been here in a while…But don’t worry! I’m not gone!
THE GIANTS WIN THE SERIES! THE GIANTS WIN THE SERIES! THE GIANTS WIN THE SERIES! THE GIANTS WIN THE SERIES!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Congratulations on the win! Huzzah! Baseball and such!
(Living in NY, I’m only made aware of baseball when the Yankees lose, or the Mets win.)
Over here it’s… kind of a big deal. *laughs* It’s just we’ve been waiting for 56 long, long years to get a championship for the Giants, and San Francisco as a city has never ever won one, so the whole city and surrounding areas are kind of caught up in it. There are a lot of bandwagoners, but it’s really not that big a deal, because hey, it’s nice to have fellow fans even if they’re only fair-weather fans.
The enthusiasm has kind of been ridiculous, though. Mom says she can’t ever remember the energy being this high, and she’s been a fan for 48 years and was at the 1989 game when the earthquake happened. The entire team pulled through, even the ones who weren’t that good. Heck, even Edgar Renteria, who all the critics said was overpaid and washed up, won it for us with a three-run homer last night. MVP!
And people partied all night, and I think like a third of San Francisco looks like the morning after. You should have heard the screaming at that last swinging strike. Hugging total strangers. Not quite believing it until we saw Tim Lincecum on their shoulders, tossing his hair, holding the trophy in the air. All the Giants fans who stayed at the stadium after the game as the Rangers fans filed out. It was brilliant.
Because my parents are awesome, I might be at the celebratory parade over in San Fran tomorrow. God I love baseball.
GO SAN FRANCISCO! Yay!
I thought of you when I saw the news in the paper this morning. Congratulations to all of San Francisco!
Cool! Congrats!
I have the most awesome homework assignment ever: watch two TV shows in order to prepare for tomorrow’s class.
Nice, I once had to watch Star Trek episodes for English class.
I want your English teacher. I’m currently reading Life of Pi, which, while a good book, has way too many religious tones to it. At the beginning, one of the characters claims the story will make you believe in God.
What if you don’t have a TV?
INTERNET FOREVAH!
And/Or your local library! Both are fantastic!
14 – That is indeed awesome. Lucky thing.
And I don’t think you saw this but I’m GOING TO SINGAPORE.
Let me say that again, so the word catches your attention.
SINGAPORE. SINGAPORE. SINGAPORE. SINGAPORE. SINGAPORE. SINGAPORE. SINGAPORE. SINGAPORE.
Do you see it now?
So you’re going… where?
I’m a little confused, can you please clarify?
Oh dear, was it not clear enough to you? Shall I make the font ten times bigger and bright red?
And SFTDP but Choklit Orange had BETTER see it. She (she, right?) had BETTER.
And yes, she.
Excitement galore!
For Model United Nations, you said?
OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know you can’t post details, but when-ish??????????????????????
Next week.
Anyway, I’ll see what I can do, and I’ll get back to you later on that
I think you know what I mean.
Have fun!
Watching the Daily Show and the Colbert Report while looking up all the candidates on the MD ballot. Weird times.
NaNo is being frustrating. *munches on candy*
Whoops. Wrong username. I changed it to reflect my feelings.
Write!
I am! Am up to 5,362 words now! Only about 00 words and I’ll have reached my goal for today!
Make that 800 words. *facepalm* My 8 key is broken, and I think some circulation has been lost in my fingers. :/
If you had 00 words to go, I should think you’d be done with your quota for the day…
Today is a very special day.
Do you know WHY today is a very special day?
Because today marks 10 years of people living on the International Space Station.
That means that every single second of every single day, no matter what you and I were doing, there were people living in space over our heads.
Wowzer.
Wow.
That blows my mind.
This has nothing to do with space-people (very cool, by the way), but what’s with your Gravatar lately? The pink gear is starting to
infuriatebug me.Science is so fantastic.
Have you heard/read about how there is maybe a possible terraforming plan for mars? As in one that isn’t just hypothetical. I read an article and got really excited, but I haven’t had time to look more into it.
If the GAPA’s don’t mind a link to it:
http:// www .heraldsun. com. au/news/world/nasa-mars-mission-a-one-way-trip/story-e6frf7lf-1225944877007
Fab. Because we really need to mess up another planet. *is in a bad mood*
At least if we did we wouldn’t (well, hopefully we wouldn’t) be destroying any life…
Hm. That’s very true. Perhaps we should all move to Mars and leave Earth alone.
Or Venus.
I’m not sure the Venusians would approve (and you know they exist, how else did the Third Doctor learn all that Venusian karate and Venusian lullabies?).
Ice Warriors. And those creepy things that infect you if you touch the water. Nah, let’s just leave Mars alone.
Yes, for once it’s exploration without conquest.
I thinkt that you’re the reincarnated soul of Carl Sagan. Just saying.
I completely agree.
I wish I was half as eloquent as Carl Sagan.
wordcount: SAME AS YESTERDAY OH NO
voting: hell yes i did it
band: probably not going to it. oops.
sci-fi: will not be paying attention. will be WRITING WORDS
grades: not as bad as i thought they would be (not as bad as they should be, seriously, i am such a slacker)
room: SO MESSY. must to clean.
general outlook on life: better than it has been for a while
This was my day pretty exactly as well, except no band to miss and I also had some cake in the evening.
i ended up having cake tooo! we are such fantastic clones
XD Excellent! We are the best. Clearly.
I just accidently had my character fall off a roof. Yes, it was an accident. My characters do what they want. Now I have to figure out a way to get her not to die…
I have two tests tomorrow. Can someone go and kill them for me? Thanks.
They’re in History and Latin. I *should* be ok in history as long as I review my notes and re-read the textbook sections, but as I type I just remembered that I still have to prepare for the two essays that will be on it. Cake. I’m going to be up late tonight…as far as Latin goes, I should be ok in that too, but I still have a lot of studying to do – there are a few terms I still don’t know yet, and I have no idea what the format is going to be…which makes me a little worried, but oh well. breathe…
Also, starr has two dilemmas. (Why is starr talking in third person? She doesn’t know. *ditches third person and runs away*)
The first is relatively minor, but today I wrote what is probably the worst essay I’ve ever written, and usually I do pretty well on essays at school. This was a creative one (and usually I love creative assignments), and I just completely botched it. My rough draft ended up being way too short when we got to the computer lab and started typing, so I had to make some last minute revisions, and ended up cutting out almost a full paragraph when my real goal was to add onto it. I basically just realized that my thesis wasn’t connected to my first paragraph at all, and my intro paragraph was still way too short. This should have been a simple fix…but somehow I managed to mess it way up. Luckily I still have time to proofread it tomorrow, but there’s still a ton to re-write and edit.
My second is a bit more serious. (and by the way, if you’re still reading this post now…choklit to you. You are obviously a great friend, or just really bored! But choklit either way. *choklit*)
Last year, I played basketball in the winter for my school and absolutely loved it, probably having one of the best experiences I’ve ever had on a sports team. I also participated in my school’s play, which basically rehearses for the same time period as my basketball team’s season…which meant that last year twice a week I would leave basketball practice one hour early and go to my play practice. This was pre-arranged (Since both are school activities) and both my coach and director were 100% on board – or so I thought. I knew that my coach would always be sort of pissed when I had to leave early (it was actually me and another girl who was doing the same thing, but that’s beside the point), but apparently he would get really mad when the other girl and I wouldn’t know the plays that he had taught while we were gone and then have to catch up the next practice, but it was nothing that huge. And then I began to realize that my director was pissed, too, since we were missing the first hour of the play practice and have to catch up there, too. Basically it was a lose-lose sort of thing – and even though I loved doing both, I hated having to do the whole catch up here-catch up there sort of thing, but overall, I had great experiences in both despite it all.
Now this year…the play is a musical. (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, one of my favorite musicals…) There’s going to be more practices, and they ALL are going to conflict with basketball. I really, really, REALLY want to play basketball for my school, and my parents even responded to the sign up e-mail saying I would play. In addition, my younger sister is all set to be the [basketball] manager, and I think it would be weird for her to be the manager with me not playing, but that’s sort of minor compared to the whole decision. At the same time, if I try to do both again, I probably won’t get a prominent part in WW – especially after the director’s frustration (understandable, although she did agree that I could show up late before rehearsals began!) and this year…I just have this feeling. I can’t explain it, but I’m really ready to throw my heart & soul into the audition. I really want to be Veruca or Violet, but there are a lot of other really good people – especially singers – and unless I’m focusing 100% on the play, it just wouldn’t be fair for me to play one of them. But giving up school basketball wouldn’t be the end – I would still [probably] be able to play b-ball for my church without missing many practices…
So basically, I have to decide what’s more important: school basketball or the play? And I have to decide soon.
I know you guys can’t decide for me, only I can, but if you want to give me advice or anything…I would really LOVE that. (emphasize LOVE that!!! Please!!!) I’m just stressing myself out right now…
And even more choklit if you read this whole thing…sorry for the long post, GAPA’s!
No way! That’s our musical, too!
It sounds like you should audition for the musical before you sign up for basketball. If you get a part that you really love, make the commitment. If you get a part that you think someone else could fill, then you should tell your director you choose basketball. Which might be a little awkward. But good luck.
From what I’ve seen, people who quit a play after they’re cast tend not to be cast in subsequent plays. Both theater and basketball are team efforts, and they need to practice working together to make their best efforts. Frankly, it’s very tough on those teams when individuals are missing regularly from rehearsals or practice or even parts of them.
The first dilemma looks like it just needs sympathy. :sympathy pies:
The second dilemma… I don’t know. I would probably chose the play, particularly if you can do basketball at church, but then I’m not really that fond of sports or really exercise in general.
I don’t know much about basketball, but maybe if you can sign up for it in the spring? I don’t know if that’s an option.
Maybe you could try thinking about which you would hate missing more? I don’t know if that helps. Or you could just flip a coin. That’d work too. And if you’re too extremely disappointed by your result, go with the other option.
I hope this helps.
Flip a coin. It’ll let you know which you want more, basketball or the play.
In which would you be more likely to get a good position / have a lot to do? Would not participating in one right now hurt your chances to participate in it in the future? Which has more people that you like?
I got an oboe catalogue in the mail today.
Tuxedo Oboe Cover
Protect your oboe in style with this tuxedo styled oboe cover. The concert black outside is adorned with a black bow tie, white pleated shirt front with black buttons, and a pleated cummerbund.
Words cannot describe how much I want this.
I don’t know what I like more about cummerbunds, the way they look, or just the word.
HAHA, that’s the funniest thing. Oboe catalog…Do those really exist?
Of course oboes wear tuxedos. But what about flutes and clarinets, not to mention bassoons?
I imagine clarinets also wear tuxedos, they look a fair amount like oboes. Flutes would probably wear fancy dresses.
Bassoons… I have no idea.
NO OFFENSIVE MATERIAL INCLUDED IN THIS POST. Sorry, GAPAs about the zilion (1 with1,000 0s behind it.)caps,but a oboe cover is useful,but a tux version is unnessasaryin my opinion.
23- That is awesome. Oboe cummerbunds!!
So, I have what might possibly be a sinus infection. That is not good. That is very bad.
And I don’t want to know how many times I’ve listened to Enter The Haggis’s rendition of “Minstrel Boy” today. Does anyone else listen to a song over and over? ‘Cause I do that all the time.
Koppar! You hardly ever post. We need to have another NC Kokon soon.
Anyone happen to be going to the Fossil Fair on Saturday at the Museum of Natural Sciences?
Oh, I wish. I’m taking the SAT instead. Hm… maybe I could go after the SAT. I’ll ask my parents.
I am not yet… now I might!
I listen to songs over and over very often.
24~ First, HI!
And yes, I often listen to songs on repeat. For days on end sometimes. And then I move on and listen obsessively to something else. The Mistrel Boy is a good song. Not sure how I feel about Enter The Haggis’s rendition, but it’s alright. I tend to sing it rather mournfully, as opposed to yell-singing it. But whatevs.
New phone possibly soon. Amazing, I’ve had mine for 2 years now, which is apparently a long time to keep the same cell phone. Heh. On one hand I’m like “WOO NEW PHONE” and on the other I’m like “but, but…..I like mine. Forget I said anything, I want to keep it. And I’m so used to the keyboard, changing to a different one is going to be like GAHH.” I’m going from a Samsung Rant to a LG Lotus Elite. So it’s a long, spaced out keyboard to closer spaced square keypad. Glarg.
Also slidey vs. flippy. what will I do when I can no longer sit and slide the thing back and forth when bored? HEAVEN FORBID.
Yeah, enough about that.
Uh, I voted today for the first time. That was cool. I need to get myself better informed, seriously.
Also, I need to get myself in gear for schoolwork and general motivation. I’ve been super tired lately for no reason (despite plenty of sleep I’m still dragging) and not really getting anything done. I should impose a internet ban on myself. >.<
But for now, I'm tired (surprise, surprise!) and I think it's time to take a shower and then to bed for z's before I pass out over my laptop.
15.2 (Vendaval) – Yes, Model United Nations. (Sorry it took long to reply, I didn’t see it until just now.)
i am SICK. in a i-cannot-ignore-this-sickness-i-must-stay-home-and-cough-into-everything kind of way. which is THE WORST.
hopefully my profs will accept that, i’m not gonna bother going to the doctor.
might go to bio lab anyway since idk what the policy is and i don’t really have time to schedule a makeup. we’ll see how much snot i can blow out of my head before then (i’m starting to think it’s bigger on the inside)
i also have a history paper due tomorrow and an italian paper that was technically due today but i didn’t do because i fell asleep >.< and i have to clean everything out of the bathroom so housing can clean it for me, which is very nice of them but my room is suuuper messy.
so even my sick day is going to be like half a sick day and then Doing Things
dear lord i so need a break. can has thanksgiving?
ugh, i do have to go to bio…only excused with a doctor’s note and going to the doctor is WAY more effort than it’s worth…i know what’s wrong with me already anyway. i guess i’ll just see how it goes and either go cough on everyone or take a 20-pt hit. i think i have an A in there already
for now, cheerios and demetri martin, and then writing and hopefully feeling well enough for cleaning and homeworking
RE: Terraforming Mars:
Cake. I’m writing about that in my Nanowrimo project!
Perhaps I should move it over to, say, Uranus.
Pronounced ˈjʊərənəs, please.
You really can’t win with the pronunciation of that planet. I think we should compromise on “OOR-uh-nus” and leave it at that.
Let’s just stop trying to pronounce it and just call it ‘that little planet made of gas and ice that would be hard, neigh impossible to terraform’.
But then, a man called Jimmy McMillian ran for Mayor of N.Y.C. under “The Rent Is Too Damn High Party” (do you let that word through?) and actually got over 4,000 votes.
Actually, it’s “The Rent is 2 Damn High” Party. Only seventeen characters are allowed in a party’s name, and because the word “damn” is absolutely vital and clearly could not be taken out without completely destroying the effect given by the name of the party, the too was changed to a 2.
Dreadfully sorry, I forgot to close the bold after the 2. Could this please be fixed, Monsieur HTML Gnome?
[Thought you’d never ask. At once, sir.]
I remember that, I read it on Wikipedia. However, for the sake of correct grammar, I have spelled it “Too”.
It still would’ve been worse had they changed it to “Teh Rnt/Too Dam Hi” Party. Or “7H3 53N7 1S 2 D4MN H1GH”.
Um, Uranus is a gas/ice giant, so terraforming it would pose rather different obstacles than Mars…
I have a question for all the Boston/Cambridge MBers. Does anyone ever remember going to something at MIT when they were younger and playing with something called an “AI 8 – Ball”?
Thanks to everybody who replied to my overly long post. Here comes another long post…
PM (22.1) – I wish that was an option, but unfortunately, basketball practices will have started before the auditions (only a few days before, too), so I pretty much will have to commit to one or the other first. Plus I just generally don’t want to quit the play after auditioning – I feel like even if the part was replaceable, I would still feel very bad about it. I guess I just feel like casting is a difficult process, and there are a lot of very important decisions involved, so quitting after the cast list is already posted (especially in this scenario when it’s not like community theater and they “offer” you the part and would already have a list of other people to ask you next if you rejected it) wouldn’t be right.
Rebecca (22.1.1) – This would be my last play with this director anyway (another reason why I really want to do it, although it’d be the same situation as my last basketball season on this team) because it’s my last year at my current school, and everybody gets in (another thing I forgot to mention I just realized), but at the same time I’d hate to lose this teacher’s reliability on me. She’s my former English teacher as well as my former advisor, so it is definitely important to me. Additionally, although I’m not trying to defend myself (well, ok, I guess I am), but it was not as if I was missing an hour of every basketball practice, because we had four practices per week and the play only had one (I said two before, didn’t I? I was thinking back though and realized that because we had two casts you only had to go to one practice per week), therefore, I did not have to leave early every day. This year it’ll be two play practices per week, though.
Errata – There’s no b-ball in the spring, unfortunately.
Piggy – I’m leaning towards doing the play right now, but I guess flipping a coin might be the only way to decide.
Lizzie – Actually almost all my (close) friends are doing the play. I do have some friends who play basketball, but they’re more my “talk to every once in awhile” friends and not my really close ones. As far as participating in the future, I don’t really know to be honest…typically church basketball in this area is actually more competitive than school basketball, but I wouldn’t be as comfortable there and wouldn’t know as many people.
ARGH I overthink things waaaay too much. And I’m horrible at making decisions. *headdesk*
I just deleted my plot and started over. ood thing a had 0 for word count!
We’re doing the Legislative Branch in American Government AP, so I need to find a good time to say some variation on Grand Moff Tarkin’s “Dissolve the Senate and let the Regional governors keep the systems in line” from A New Hope…
And if he somehow brings up William Proxmire, then I HAVE to do it then.
AAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
I just found out my friend, who is almost entirely awesome, DOESN’T LIKE CHEESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
*screams more and runs around in circles*
*falls down*
*passes out*
*regains consciousness*
*starts screaming and running around again*
Cheese lovers of Museblog, I NEED YOU!
Mmm…cheese. My favorite kind is Armenian String cheese OH GOODNESS IT’S JUST SO GOOOOOD!!!!! But we’re going to Rhode Island soon, to visit my grandmother, and we can get some there! They don’t sell Armenian String cheese where I live (
) so whenever we go there we have to stock up.
Cheese! It’s delicious! I like the goat cheese you can get at my local farmer’s market– it’s sooooo good! Almost sweet!
AM doesn’t like cheese…
No, I don’t. Sorry, Randomosity…
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cheese… Eh. I mean, it’s fine, and I eat it, but I wouldn’t exactly worship it or anything.
Hi all!
Well, I’m here to tell you I’m doing fine, and might be coming on less sporadically! I have a bit more time, because my CORE teachers adore making us type things. I’ll try to reintegrate myself back in, but I feel awfully paleothetic when I look at you all. BECAUSE my blogiversery is the 6th! I will be 3 years old. And I’ll be in Palm Desert, with no computer… *sighhhh* But I’ll make an effort to get on more, and to let my sister have the computer less! *punches fist into the air*
The weather is horribleeeeeeeee.
Zinc! hello, luv, long time no “see”. You should definitely come on when you have the time, it’s always nice to see the return of familiar faces. *hugs*
hullo zinc! glad to see you again
well maybe not about the no interweb part, although…hmm
palm desert! i am envious
ugh to the weather it’s so dry and hot D:
LtL: D’awwww, I’m familiar? *hugs* (
) (Pretend those are going the other way. And do we still need to put in double spaces, because I remember something contradicting that, but I put them in anyway?)
Axa: Robotics. I went as baggage. But I got to go to College of the Desert’s stret fair, and scored a cool handbag (9.99), scarf (4.99), and promise of those Bohemian hair twist things. And here we’ve been switching back from sunshine to rain to sunshine to rain to sunshine to clouds right now; I think that’s the scoresheet. It’s horrible because I’m the only one who hates the rain. Californian, born-and-bred, that’s me.
Of course you’re familiar. You were on for ages.
Ages? Only three out of ten years.
Zinc, you’re definitely familiar. Happy (belated) blogiversary!
Yay! It’s Zinc! Welcome back, friend.
For those of you in Collegeland, what size laptop works best? I know you use it for notes, but do you need one of those puny ones? I like the big screen better.
34-*gasp* Wallace (from Wallace and Gromit, of course :))wouldn’t like en. Goat cheese is very good.
“Not even Wensleydale?”
“What’s wrong with Wensleydale…?” *stares dramatically off into the distance*
“Speaking of which, more for us!” I love how quickly he gets over it all when he realizes that there’s more CHEESE for him.
(By the way, did you hear I was Feathers McGraw (the penguin from The Wrong Trousers) for halloween?)
No! That’s so awesome! *high five*
I have a 15″ Macbook pro, although I rarely use it for note-taking in class. I tend to prefer pencil and paper for taking notes. But in students that I do see taking notes on their computers a lot (or, rather, students I see with computers in class, who really aren’t taking notes, because almost never are the people with computers taking notes–they’re on any number of non-school related sites, usually), the size range varies from disturbingly small (I mean, really small. Maybe 4 by 6 inches) to normal sized, like my 15″. Just whatever works for you, larger ones can be more difficult in crowded lecture halls with itty bitty desk thingies, but you can make it work.
if you’re going to use it to take notes, a notebook (one of the teeny ones) is the most practical. i prefer pen&paper for note-taking though, so i went with a bigger screen (i have a 13”). side note: don’t bother bringing a television. if you are going to watch things with friends, bring a big external monitor, if you’re going to watch things mostly on your own, just use your laptop. there will also be teevees all over the dorm lobbies that you can use, and i know a lot of schools have DVDs in the dorms that you can borrow
i was going to tell patrick to tell everyone that they should get an HDMI cord for the lobby but i forgot :-/ oh well i’ll see him tuesday at the latest. but i feel like that would make so much sense, everyone has a computer and you can stream anything online and the DVD players in the dorms are kind of terrible. although i should really get drackett to do it because that’s where i spend all my time anyway :-/ i don’t know anyone on the board there though i don’t think
ANYWAY. get a 13-15” computer, take notes on paper.
I have a 13″ macbook pro, which lives in my dorm room. I write notes. By hand. With a pen. Most people I’ve seen taking notes on computer, though, have a normal-sized laptop. If you’re planning to take notes on computer, the main thing you want to keep in mind is weight, because you’ll probably be carrying it across campus.
i also prefer to take notes with pen and paper although i am horrible at taking notes in any medium. one word of caution about using a laptop in class/lecture for notes is that you will inevitably want to check the interweb when you get bored, i can’t tell you how many times i’ve look at people’s screens during a lecture and saw they were IMing or on facebook. i don’t even want to tempt myself so i don’t bother haha
I’m pretty sure that teachers just assume you’re on the internet if you’re using a laptop. Can be bad for participation grades.
Thanks guys! My current laptop is an old PC that has maybe two or three years left in it. I rather like a big screen size, so I think I’ll go with that and take notes on paper.
My next question: Mac or PC?
MAC MAC MAC. But wait until you get to high school (or later) to get it. The technology will be better then, and it’ll be more important to have a good computer for high school and college than middle school.
If you like spending $1500 on a $600 product, get a Mac. Otherwise, PC.
who buys macs full price though? get a refurb. or do what i did and buy a regular macbook a few hours after the keynote in which they announce all the macbooks will now be pro.
there are also student discounts you can get, although those generally aren’t quite as good. if you can’t get a deal like i did, go refurb. i’ve never had a refurbished computer but i always get my ipods refurb and they work pretty well, and it’s all still under warranty in case they mess something up. they’re also really nice about retroactively extending your warranty for free if it breaks like the week after (that happened to me a couple times, and both times they gave me a free replacement/warranty extension)
Do you realize what you’ve done? The argument will rage on for weeks, months, maybe, before the GAPAs decide to quiet our raucousness…
Mon Dieu. Why?
Well, if you’re looking for a computer for when you’re in college, some departments actually have preferences on the type of computer. For instance, the journalism school here at my college requires that the students have Macs.
So personal preferences aside, that would be a key factor in the computer you would want at college. but as far as personal preference, well, only you know what sort you’d prefer.
I happen to like Macs. PCs I don’t really dislike, in general, I just don’t like the new operating systems, like Vistas and Windows 7, I like the ancient XP or whatever the heck we have at home that we’ve had for over 5 years…..
13″ macbook here!
It got it free with my scholarship, so in a way all students at my school are required to use macs. Windows 7 really isn’t that bad though.
There will soon be netbooks with Chrome, which look like great lightweight notetakers-webrowsers to me. idk cost/budget, but I bet some people will have cheap tiny tablets/netbooks as well as nice big shiny laptops. I love bigger screens too.
I take notes for some classes (big classroom/lecture hall) on my laptop, and for others (small classroom) on pen/paper.
ebeth is completely right about the tv thing- make sure you can hook up your computer to it. I get all my tv related stuff through the internet.
Now get back to writing, you!
13″ MacBook Pro, mandatorily bought from the school. (I think I may have mentioned this before?) It’s really nice, and I’m very used to Apple now (I used to share a PC laptop with my sister). It’s a good idea for Apple to sell to schools, because it gets a whole new generation converted to their products. My dad says it will be hard to go back to using a PC because he thinks Macs are better. Also, he hates Windows.
And re the note-taking thing – I prefer taking notes on the computer because I can type faster than I can write, and my hands don’t get tired after half a page.
15′ inch macbook pro because I also like the bigger screen XD
For me the mac was an obvious choice because I do a lot of photography/some video editing (hopefully more at some point)/music stuff, and very little gaming/business stuff (which is where PC’s are better).
I don’t use it to take notes in class because I am old-fashioned and use pencil and paper. Also, for chem there’s a lot of formula structures he draws on the board that would take me a while to replicate on a screen. Same for geology–he draws diagrams that I copy down. In theory, you could do everything but that stuff on a screen and then have those numbered on paper and just put numbers into a word document, though.
However, when my Odysseus and Identities class critique each others paper’s, I prefer to have people’s essays on my computer in front of me as we go. Saves paper from printing, and also makes it easy to remember what they’ve said.
I also get lots of complimens on my computer, because there is a Transformers logo sticker over the apple logo because my computer is actually a Decepticon (but shh). When the apple lights up when the computer turns on, the sticker glows as well
I just tried Halloumi. I’m sure it’s dreadful for you, but it also tastes awesomefully good. So creamy and salty and… mmm.
36~ I’m not in collegeland, but on my visits to them I saw different sizes of computers. I also spent one intensely frustrating time visiting a class sitting just behind a guy who was taking notes on his bitty netbook occasionally, and the rest of the time playing tetris. It made concentrating a bit difficult, as colorful moving things on a screen tend to grab your eyes. But yeah.
Given his note-taking style (why yes, I was creeping on the students and their note-taking strategies, why do you ask?) though, computer notes made sense. The teacher had her computer with a class outline projected on the wall, so he’d just type up the outline and then add his own notes in under.
But pen/pencil and paper is still probably your best bet.
Notes. I have virtually no practice taking notes. I have a feeling this is going to be a culture shock when I go off to collegeland. 0.o
I would guess that a normal sized computer would be best. From what I understand (and my information could very well be outdated by now) netbooks (the itty bitty laptops) are primarily for internet browsing. which is good for some things, but I’m going to assume you’ll want enough hard drive to save stuff on. Also, if this is going to be your main computer, how much do you really want to stare at that minuscule screen every day?
Also, if you’re looking to study art, graphics or video or something like that, a bigger screen (15″-17″) could be better, more work area, higher resolutions, etc.
Also, if you’re a Mac fancier, you can’t get the tiny little computers, the smallest is 13″. I have that size, and I find it works pretty well overall. It’s big enough to see clearly, small enough to lug around fairly easily, fits nicely on a lap or table and is spacious enough to feel like you’re actually using a solid computer. *shrug*
Sorry for the rambling and probably not helpful reply.
Speaking of computers, I caved and got a piece of ridiculously expensive plastic. Why do they make computer jacket/cases so expensive? It’s two bloody pieces of plastic! Oh well. No more nasty little scratches and dents now. And it’s satiny black, which is nice. I’m now trying to decide if I’m going to put stickers on it. Probably not for awhile, but meh.
Uhm, and Henry VIII tonight!!
STICKERS. STICKERS. PUT ON STICKERS.
On an unrelated note, when I went to get my PC semi-upgraded, one of the Geek Squad’s (awesome name) monitor image was that blue phone-booth traveling through time/space.
I can’t believe tomorrow is my last XC meet ever.
:O Have fun!
Today in English:
“Oh, hi Gail!
Wow, I almost just called you Grace.”
THIS IS GETTING WEIRD.
I had the most fantastic time in math today. It’s 6th period and was an hour and a half long (we have long period schedules on Wednesdays and Thursdays) and we talked about fun mind games for the entire last part of it. The simplest example is this one:
There is a gate in the wall. Only certain things can be taken through the gate.
I can take books, but I can’t take novels.
(People guess. If they guess wrong, add a clue.)
I can’t take a present, but I can take balloons.
I can take a squirrel, but I can’t take a rat.
(etc. This keeps going until they figure out the rule.)
So, we played the Hat Game, the I’m Going Camping Game, the Finger Game, and so on and so forth until the entire class was completely stumped by everybody else. What a great day.
It’s Faaaannee Doolee!
I’ve never heard it called that before, but yes. Also known as the Green Glass Door.
Ha, Fannee Doolee was from that old show Zoom. “Fannee Dooley hates apes, but she loves Gorillas!” And her favorite word is bookkeeper.
ISSA GREEN GLASS DOOR NOTT AA GATE!
*ahem*
*is slightly insane*
I used AM as a musical instrument by messing with his hair (and mind) today.
Like many games and traditions, there are apparently many versions.
Was it the “I’m Going Camping and I’m taking something.” and people have to guess what it is, or the
First person: “I’m Going Camping and I’m bringing Apples.”
Second person: “I’m Going Camping and I’m bringing Apples and Blueberries.”
Third person: “I’m Going Camping and I’m bringing Apples, Blueberries, and Coconuts.” (and so on, down the alphabet) version?
Nope, you have to figure out the rule, which is that the gate only allows things with double letters to go through. There’s a riddle game that everyone’s playing in my school, and I can’t for the life of me figure out what it is. It’s very obscure.
Oh, that’s the first version. I guess I didn’t describe it very well.
No, it went something like this:
Girl: Um…I’m going camping and I’m bringing my calculator. What are you bringing?
Me: I’m bringing my book.
Girl: No, you’re not going camping.
Me: I’m bringing my chair?
Girl: No, you’re not going camping.
A classmate: I’m bringing your calculator.
Girl: No, you’re not going camping. I’m bringing, um, Sam’s left boot.
(etc.)
The “rule” was that she wouldn’t say we could take whatever the item was on the camping trip unless we had said “um” before it, as in her examples above. It’s silly, but we never would have figured it out by ourselves.
You can’t take Museblog, but you could take a Museblogger.
You couldn’t take Robert or Paul, but you could take Rebecca or Rosanne.
You couldn’t take an HPB, but you could take a Hot Pink Bunny. You couldn’t take a thread, but you could take the Polling Place. You couldn’t take a pie, but you could take a :arrow :. You couldn’t take oxlin, but you could take Piggy.
You couldn’t take Twilight, but you could take Harry Potter.
For Spanish class, we’re supposed to listen to Spanish translations of songs we know the lyrics to in English, because that will help us along. In my case, that meant “The Circle of Life” and “A Whole New World”.
It’s actually very interesting to see the changes in the lyrics that are made to help the song fit the rhyme scheme, while still fitting the spirit of the song. For instance, “A Whole New World” is “Un Mundo Ideal”, which actually means “A Perfect World”, and “The Circle of Life” is “El Cicle Sin Fin”, or “The Circle Without End”.
And I LOVE how the Spanish version replaces an ordinary title drop with “El mundo es un lugar para soñar” (“The world is a place for dreaming”.)
I learned “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” in Spanish at camp two years ago. My French class also listened to the Spongebob theme song in French, though his translated name literally means “Bob the Square Sponge”.
The Spanish title of Finding Nemo is “Buscando a Nemo”, which literally means “Searching for Nemo”.
In French his translated name is “Bob l’Eponge” – Bob the Sponge.
I have the strange urge to get my hair cut up to my shoulders again… I’ve been growing it out for about two years now; just having an inch of so cut off the end to keep it healthy, and I’ve also been changing the layers up a bit. Even though it’s been growing for so long, it’s only down to my armpits. It grows so slowly… Okay, I think I might’ve actually given in to the urge to chop a lot off once, but it really does grow slowly. My goal is to get it really, really long, then get a shoulder length cut when I’m a senior. The thing is, I really would rather have short hair because it’s so easy. I’ll struggle through it, though. My hair looks really nice when it’s long, and BEAUTY IS PAIN, DARLINGS.
I hate that quote.
Here are my thoughts on painful/uncomfortable beauty: If it’s too annoying/painful/uncomfortable, YOU WON”T BE ABLE TO ENJOY HOW PRETTY YOU LOOK. Well, at least, I wouldn’t. That said, I personally am growing my hair out too. Mostly because it’s wavy, but they’re large waves, so it sort of…poofs out when it’s short. It’s like it has a kink in it. So, my two options are either to have it really short or long, and I’ve been living with short hair for a while, and I got really annoyed when I couldn’t hold all of it up in a ponytail at once. Short hair is not easier unless you can tie it up and lock it in a cell. Shoulder length hair is nice, though. Meh. I don’t really like my hair. It’s too poofy. Isn’t it weird that people always want what they don’t have when it comes to hair? Curly haired people want straight hair, straight haired people want curly hair, and people with wavyish hair wish their hair woul make up it’s mind. People with really thick hair wish it was thinner, and people with thin hair wish it was thicker. And length…don’t even get me started! Sorry for the long semi-rant.
Not to break the mold or anything, but I’m perfectly content with my hair. It’s waist length, extremely straight, and other than the fact that it gets dreadfully staticy in the winter months, and also tangles really easily, I’m very happy with it. I don’t want it curly, and I really couldn’t care less if it was thicker….
Lucky.
I APPROVE OF YOUR BEING HAPPY WITH YOURSELF.
people with thick hair are smart, people with thin hair just DO NOT KNOW THE PAIN
i get on alright with my hair. it sort of does what it wants. it’s gotten pretty long now, it’s been staying at shoulder-length for a while. i kind of like the look. it gets tangly/messy/whatever but i don’t really care. my only complaint is that it’s too thick and i have to use expensive shampoo because nothing else will clean it
PLUS IT GETS SO HOT IN THE SUMMER. Bleh.
You should experiment with the poof. Try mousse or something. Poof can work if you do it the right way, and I’m sure you do.
POOF IS EVILLLL. D:
Me? Hair poof? Right way? Trust me, those words do not fit…
Zinc: AGREED.
*nods emphatically* I spent three years- THREE YEARS, MATE (/British)- trying to tame my poof, because I have very thick hair that everyone wants to have and it sucks!
*has a hissy fit*
Indeed. I have Hermione Granger hair. Seriously. Poof sucks.
My hair’s thick, so I got it cut short, and that looked horrendous and coconut-like and poofy. So then I got it cut really short. As in, the back was up my hairline, and it angled so I hade long sidebangs going down to midneck. Looked pretty cool until it started growing again, which my hair does at an astonishing rate, and then it was too short to tie back or do anything, so I suffered. Now my hair two inches past my shoulders and I wear it in a ponytail most of the time. Sometimes I let my friends braid it, but that’s itchy. I like to braid hair.
I found a thing that I think many MBers will like very much: a campaign by the organization Knight Foundation called “Random Acts of Culture”. It’s like a flash mob, but with classical music. For instance, they just had one at Macy’s in Philadelphia–the organ that plays there constantly switched at noon to Handel’s “Messiah”, and 650 choristers spontaneously broke into song amidst a confused but awed crowd. The YouTube video is called ‘Opera Company of Philadelphia “Hallelujah!” Random Act of Culture’. Watch it. Be amazed.
Er, just the Hallelujah Chorus, not the entirety of the oratorio.
That was very cool. The little girl at 5:30 looks a little bit like Newt from Aliens. I just watched it and now I see her everywhere…
But Random Acts of Culture? Perhaps they should storm a crowded GameStop and spontaneously yell “THE CAKE IS A LIE!” or maybe “Luke….I am your father.” Truly, that would have an amazing effect.
But still! Halllllleluja! Hallelujah! Halleluuuuuoooojaaaaah!
…random acts of pop culture? doesn’t sound as impressive. i’ll stick with the hallelujah chorus
What about Random Acts of Science?
That’s an… interesting spelling. “Halleluuuuuoooojaaaaah!”
Thank you.
At my school, there are vague plans hatching to do something like that for a senior prank — perhaps a rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody in the library.
WIN
I plan, that once I get my driver’s license, to drive down the street, blasting Stravinsky’s Rite Of Spring.
That is very cool. *is in awe*
when my family is on vacation we drive around with all the windows down blaring classical music. or sometimes poetry.
Sometimes, I used to get home from school on Fridays to find my father in the kitchen cooking multiple things at once, with loud music in the background. Didn’t seem to matter what, as long as the chanteurs were fully committed; Sex Pistols or Easter Gregorian Chants. Haha, I wanna be Anarchy, Amen.
xP that’s fantastic. god save the queen! no, really!
That sounds really cool!
OHMIGOSH. I can see it now. All of Tri-M gathers in a mall… We suddenly whip our instruments out of our bags…
Awesomeness ensues.
I have to bring this up on the meeting on Monday! The advisors said they wanted a secret handshake or theme song for us, so I’m sure they wouldn’t object to this.
It’s hard to whip a trombone out of a bag.
Or a sousaphone… That’s a good point.
Or a sub-contrabass flute. XD
Oh! I’ve seen those! They’re awesome!
I want one so badly, but I’d never be able to play it.
At band camp, my friend Eugene was walking around with his flute sticking out of his drawstring gym bag thing.
Some days I absolutely love my hair, and some days it’s just infuriating. I cut off 10 inches in July (yes, I donated it) and now it’s short and slightly wavy, especially when I sleep on it when it’s still slightly wet. I would really like a hair straightener or something just to have some aspect of control over it on the mornings when there’s one little section that completely refuses to flip the same way as the rest of it, but my mom isn’t really a fan of them. My hair is also too short to fit into a ponytail without at least two bobby pins, which is really annoying for a soccer player. I’ve had to wear pigtails for most of the past few months.
That being said, I do like the color (I’m a smart blonde, not a dumb one), and I wish it wouldn’t darken! I prefer too short to too long and I kind of think I’ll maintain it at shoulder length for a while, maybe try bangs.
I’ll be surprised if anybody read this. It can’t be terribly interesting to hear a girl talk about her hair.
I have no idea why that wasn’t posted as a reply to 42. Whoops.
I’m a smart blonde, too….And I agree, I don’t want my hair to darken, I’d really like it to stay the color it is, but I doubt that will happen, honestly.
Really? A smart person with….blonde hair? GUYS! GUYS! Come see this!
/sarcasm
Personally, I think if you have enough common sense not to act the the sterotypical ‘dumb blonde’, then you are not, by definition, a dumb blonde.
Yes, please do act the the.
It should say act the or act like the.
I know so many people who live in direct defiance of that stereotype. It makes me proud.
Smart blondes FTW!
And I read the whole thing, don’t worry.
Whew! Big days these past days! Lots of news for MuseBlog!
So yeah, I did end up going to the Giants victory parade. It was pretty fantastic, even if it did all smell like a certain illegal drug that apparently only 56% of the state still wants to be illegal. I saw the back of Tim Lincecum’s head!!!! *freaks out* Tim Lincecum is my baseball boyfriend. And we managed to get a spot right along the barricade, which was pretty lucky since there were over a million people who attended, and we took BART there and I swear the temperature inside the train must have been in the eighties since it was so crammed, and the guy who made the “Don’t Stop Believing” Giants version video went by and made eye contact with me for, like, ten seconds straight! Oh, and I screamed “Marry me, Tim Lincecum!” into a radio microphone twice.
I woke up this morning expecting to have the worst day of my entire month, since not only was the Giants hype over, but today was the cross-country league championship, and I was injured for the whole first half of the season and couldn’t run, so I’m really out of shape. Also, my mom is extremely sick, which makes her voice sound as if it’s been attacked with a lawnmower, and whenever she tells me to do anything like pick up my room or go let the chickens out of the coop, it sounds like she’s nagging me, even if she isn’t. Oh, and I was missing Spanish for the fifth class in two weeks for cross-country, and Senora is beginning to get mad at me.
But I guess the world must have wanted to cheer me up, because this was the most beautiful day of my entire life. I don’t mean beautiful as in good things happen to me, I mean it in a very literal fashion, as in I saw a LOT of beautiful things today. For example, the sunrise. Those deep red tones, that blush of pink and purple across the sky, the gold and grey of the clouds and the rising sun, nearly made me cry. But that was nothing in comparison to the sunset. It was the deepest orange I have ever, ever seen, and all around the orange it faded to auburn, and then magenta, and then thick purple all across the sky. And the sun, it was so bright! I saw it setting over the city and sending out gold rays through the clouds above it, so that there were these pale pillars of light all through the west.
Oh, and in Acting today Orion slapped Montesquieu three separate times so that Montesquieu could get in the right frame of mind for his scene. Then Montesquieu slapped Orion back, and I videotaped it. And then Orion and I, who have a scene together, started rehearsing, and right when my character (Medea) was just beginning to work to get his character (Aegeus) on her side, I burst out crying. It wasn’t for any personal reason, though, it was just because Jason had betrayed me, though I never done him wrong, and had taken another wife and made her mistress of my house, and all that jazz. I think Orion was pretty weirded out.
Good lord, that was passionate. And long.
Yeah, apologies for the length. I’m in prolific-mode cause of NaNo.
Wonderful. The sky is the ultimate art gallery right above our heads, as Emerson said.
I knew that I had a lot of homework today, yet I still made poor use of my time. It’s all catching up to me now.
Don’t you hate it when life comes with consequences?
Don’t worry, I do that all the time. It’s such a bad habit…
Happy Deepavali!
It’s the Hindu celebration of light, removal of demons, and above all, money.
In other news, a Buddhist monk came to give a talk on Taoism at our Unitarian church today.
Hav you ever read “The Tao of Pooh”? It’s a great book.
I have read that, and it is indeed excellent.
Happy Guy Fawkes Day/Night! Not ideal bonfire weather across the pond here (different pond, guys, different pond) – it’s spitting rain, misty, cold and miserable. Not to mention that no one ever builds bonfires in Hong Kong anyway. The closest we get are the charcoal pits people use for barbecues – encased in concrete and tiny.
(I realised that I’m back to posting regularly! Thank goodness for that – I was starting to miss you guys. I still sort of read the threads and all, but it’s not the same as posting and interacting, y’know?)
I went around to random people today, suggesting that we go blow up the king. Nobody got it.
Except my friend C, who took several hours. 
Also, I drew a V and circled it on the announcements whiteboard. Somebody else did the same thing a day too early and it got erased. So I redid it.
Remember remember, the fifth of November…
…Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot… (Or something like that.)
Pretty much.
Wow, I haven’t posted in a while.
We still don’t do much for Halloween here, so I stayed home and procrastinated/ studied for the three tests I had last week. I’m so relieved that’s over. There’s five or six weeks of term left, but we’re already doing our lasts tests for some subjects and our teachers are already writing reports. Also, I’ve joined the see-random-guy-who-doesn’t-look-like-a-jerk-and-stalk-him-until-you-find-an-excuse-to-talk-to-him club. I saw a guy at my bus stop who didn’t look like a total idiot but he’s not usually there at the same time I am… Okay, I’ll stop now.
I totally missed commemorating my 666th post. I was going to. But I forgot. This is my 672nd.
Am I the only one on MB today? Is it because I have no school?
SQUEE
I’m going to visit my grandparents, who I haven’t seen in YEARS, for 2 1/2 weeks-and I’m going out to Idaho to meet my cousins (who I’ve never met) at the same time, so I get to see snow for the first time, and and and I’m staying up there for New Year’s (no matter how inconsequential that is)-
SO YEAH. I’m happy right now.
c:
Happy Guy Fawkes day!
I have this ridiculous fear of getting lost in large buildings. I’m always worried that I’ll get hopelessly turned about and never find my way out and perish in some sort of derelict basement or attic storeroom, bot to mention being terribly late for whatever appointment I was in the large building for in the first place. However, in reality I don’t usually get lost, and if I do it’s minor. In fact, if I’m with others I’m generally the one who has slightly better idea of where I’m going and my companions end up following me. Poor dears, as if it’s an interesting sort of place I tend to explore, like this one fantastic place in Chicago when we were trying to get to the party on the roof. I found the way, through a storeroom, derelict staircase, unlocked glass door and empty observation deck, not to mention the massive ballroom we ran into on a wrong turn. But it was pretty cool, it was a great space and we didn’t get too lost, in all. I mean, we made it to where we were going in good time and had adventures, so it was good.
Apparently my fear of totally bombing on tests is the same as my getting-lost-in-buildings phobia.
Today I went to take the evaluation testing for taking a GED test. I was, as can be expected, more than slightly nervous. But it went well, in fact it seemed frighteningly easy, despite that I managed to miss 2 questions on one and 7 on the other segment (math, surprise surprise!). My scores were still “above average” though, which is kind of discouraging, really. I mean, if I can get above average scores then there has to be something wrong.
Anyway, I don’t have to take any classes before the test, which will be in early December, and the practice test is later this month. So that’s good. I’m glad that’s over, now I just have a bigger and scarier test to freak out over, whooo!
And Henry VIII last night was FANTASTIC. Robert, if you ever go to the Folger, this is a good one to see. It’s a weird play, but they do it very well. The production’s been extended, so if you feel like going to see Shakespeare for whatever reason, do it!
Actually, all the plays at the Folger are fantastic. Except for when they did the Tempest a few years ago, that really didn’t go well. But Macbeth was the best ever, they did it like a horror film, with fantastic special effects.
The guy who played Macbeth in that production is Henry VIII in this one, he’s really good.
So yeah, I’m in a post-Shakespearean-play mood, which means playing with words and prancing around like a dolt and sweeping my pretend cloak around behind me. Basically I’m a 7 year old.
Fiddler,
I’ll add Henry VIII to my list. I won’t be able to see it this weekend, though, as I’ll be traveling.
(I agree about that production of The Tempest. By chance, I wound up seeing it twice, and it wasn’t any better the second time around. By the way, have you heard that a new movie version is coming out in December? It has a female Prospero — Prospera — played by Helen Mirren.)
I’ve heard mixed reviews of the movie, but I’d watch Helen Mirren if she played a bottle cap. The Tempest is one of my favorites, in any case. I’m glad the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival did it proud this year.
You, too? I think The Tempest is probably my favorite Shakespeare play. (We’re reading it now in English, which I love.)
I like nature, I like comedy, I like magic, I like father-daughter interaction, and I like happy endings. So, I really like The Tempest.
Speaking of characters with swapped genders, I had an idea about something called “Sir White”. It was Snow White with all the genders reversed. Sir White’s father dies, leaving the kingdom to him. His father’s relation (brother, cousin? I haven’t decided yet) wants the throne. So he convinces his maid to try and poison Sir White. But she is not an evil woman so she drugs Sir White to sleep and puts him in the care of a family of seven female dwarfs, who do all the housekeeping while he hunts for their food. Later, the evil king asks his maid whether she completed her job. Being a trustworthy woman she replies no, but she tells the king where she left Sir White. The king sets off to find Sir White, bringing along an apple with a deadly poison in it. He disguises himself as an old apple seller and comes to the door of the dwarfs. Being a kind man, Sir White offers to buy some apples. He eats the poisoned one, and is on his deathbed. Now, the maid sneaks out to the dwarfs’ house, and cures Sir White, since only she knows the antidote. Sir White is revived, and he sets off to find the old man, who the maid reveals is the evil king. There is an epic battle of good versus evil, with Sir White wielding his sword and shield and the evil king wielding his maces-and-chains (one in each hand!). Sir White triumphs, marries the maid, and they all live happily ever after!
I have way too much spare time.
Cool! I’d read that!
Same here. I’m afraid of getting lost, but I like to explore.
Well if you can, it’s good. I liked it, at least. And there’s a neat exhibit in the great hall on Henry VIII.
It makes me think, I need to get out a piece of music I have that he wrote. Not Greensleves, which is debatable, but a Pavanne. It’s absolutely gorgeous, enough so that it almost makes up for a tiny bit of his awfulness. Maybe I should send in a recording of it.
Addendum to previous post:
I did not know about the movie, I’ll have to look into it, sounds interesting.
Another Tempest related video is Shakespeare Behind Bars, a documentary about a group of prisoners in a high security prison getting together to put on a production of the Tempest. It’s very interesting and moving, the program used the play as a way for these men to safely emote some of their inner demons. There are some unsavory characters in the play, drunkards and usurpers, and they played them exquisitely. Unfortunately it doesn’t include the entire play once they put it on, but from the clips they do show of the final performance it was incredibly powerful.
I need to dig that out and watch it again, actually…
SFTTP
43~ That is indeed awesome. I’ve been to that Macy’s and heard the organ (it’s fantastic). I also saw some disturbing pink bunny rainboots. This leads me to the conclusion that the Philadelphia Macy’s is simply a place of epicness.
I also prefer a Random Act of Culture to a Random Act of Pop Culture.
43.2~ That would be a wonderful senior prank. Actually, it’s just be a fun thing to do in general.
43.3~ DO IT.
43.3.2~ Sounds like my family. Since we got mom’s new car there’s always classical music playing, often loudly.
If I had a sound system in my car I’d drive around blasting sea chanties with the top down. Unfortunately the CD player doesn’t work at all, but when/if we get it fixed I’m definitely doing it. Or just putting my music on shuffle, that’d be sufficiently weird for most people.
Aaaaand now I’ll stop spamming this thread.
*headdesk* I recently found out that I have to take a TEST this year, and I’m terrified of failing, because then I’d have to go to school, and that’s pretty high on my list of Things I Really Don’t Want To Happen. Eep.
You’re homeschooled? What’s the test on?
Ah… To live a life without taking tests… I have one in every subject next week. Actually, I have two in chem.
I have confidence in you!
But don’t worry, just study and you’ll do fine.
Let’s make this simple: I HATE TESTS!
You’re homeschooled? Really? That is cool. I am too.
There’s a lot of us hanging around here.
When I first saw this in the RC bar, I thought it said, “There’s a lot of hanging around here.” I was wondering what the apparent string of lynchings was all about. (Ha! Pun!)
Huh. “The RC Bar”. Maybe that’s a business Robert should start. Maybe with karaoke? Maybe.
56~ *homeschool high fives*
Read my post 53 as regards to tests. I know, as a homeschooler we (or at least I) don’t take a lot of tests, and so they seem really intimidating, but in my experience they’ve always been frightfully easy once you actually do them. So although you might not get a perfect score, I’m sure you won’t fail miserably.
What is the test on? If it’s standardized testing you can probably even look it up and find practice tests or examples online or in a book somewhere. Or other MBers may have taken it or something similar and could give you some tips.
In any case, don’t panic and you’ll be fine.
Shakespeare+Doctor Who= ♥ ♥ ♥
???
I just finished watching an episode of Doctor Who called The Shakespeare Code, which is just amazing, as I love both things…combined they’re just FLAMMY! Sorry, I wasn’t very specific; I had to get off the computer before I could finish my post.
I LOVE that episode! It’s the only episode I’ve ever actually seen. *dodges grenades* I’m busy, okay? And DW eppies are hard to find on the Internet! And I’m never sure if I should start with Nine or Ten!
Yeah, I haven’t seen too many episodes either, just season 2 and half of season 3 of New Who, plus…oh, what was it called?! *wracks brain* *fails* Well, it was the Tom Baker, anyway. I’ve seen one episode with him in it.
Amazingness, though. Also, so is The Girl in the Fireplace…”I’m the Doctor, and I just snogged Madame de Pompadour!” *Has been wanting to say that badly*
And New Earth. And Tooth and Claw. And now I’ll stop because this could go on for a while.
Start with Nine. Although some of the episodes are better than others, it helps to know what’s going on.
Dailymotion appears to have them.
Oh yeah, Netflix has seasons 1-4, if your parents have a Netflix account.
*1-5
I’m having a really lucky day today.
First, I managed to get all of my Physics homework done in class so I don’t have any over the weekend.
Second, I felt very confident on the Spanish test that I was terrified of and the answers seemed to come rather easily to me. I never really feel alarmed or lost. This is really very big, because I have had SO much trouble with the subjunctive tense in the past and I really thought I might fail the class.
Third, I ran my last XC meet ever much better than I thought I would. (It was really cold, and the whole team had to look alike, so I couldn’t wear a t-shirt under my uniform top. I don’t like going sleeveless.) I set a personal record of 29 minutes 14 seconds for the 5 kilometer course, which was 40 seconds faster than what I got a week ago. And I never have to run up that course’s Big Giant Hill ever again.
Fourth, I was worried that the meet meant I would miss the STS-133 launch, (Aka, the last launch of Discovery, my favorite orbiter) but it was scrubbed, so I didn’t.
I’m studying for the Spanish With Listening SAT Subject Test tonight (it’s tomorrow morning – at 7:45, ugh), and I just love some of the multiple choice answers that my practice book is giving me for the listening portion.
Question: Why won’t you stay with us for a little while longer?
One of theanswers: I am afraid of rats.
Question: It’s been more than a month since you cleaned your room.
One of the possible answers: I bathe every day.
Question: I think you’ve made a mistake.
One of the possible answers: Thanks, I already ate.
I’ll probably start laughing in the middle of the real test.
The AP World History practice book has a few of those…
Question: Why were the launch of Sputnik and the flight of Yuri Gagarin considered so frightening by the United States?
One of the possible answers: Both Sputnik and Gagarin’s spaceship were equipped with advanced laser weaponry.
Question: Are you going to the zoo today?
Answers: Yes, I love the monkeys.
Yes, I love the forks.
Yes, the balloons annoy me.
Yes, the snow cones want me.
(The sad thing about this one is that you actually have to pay pretty close attention to figure it out, since every reply starts with “Si, me [verb] los [masculine nouns].”
I wish I had your book. It sounds like a hoot.
Yep, they’re usually cases where if you weren’t really clear on the sentence’s meaning it might sound right. In the examples above, it was un rato/ratas, limpiar/bañar, and cometido/comer.
What are the chances that your parents will consent to a California Kokon? I only ask again because my family’s flying down on Wednesday afternoon, and the best chance of scheduling something will be before we leave.
I’d say about 50%. How much time do I have to convince them?
Well, my family leaves home in three days, and after that we could be subject to unpredictable Internet access and solidifying schedules. The GAPAs already have my dad’s e-mail address and permission to share it with yours if they contact them, so you could just try that. See if your parents would be reassured by directly talking to mine (which would be needed anyways to figure out a meeting spot/time), with the GAPAs acting as contact information intermediaries.
*Yawns* I’m up at 12:48 AM. I’m still waiting for my mom and dad to come home from the concert they’re going to…
Naming of Names (our MuseBlog band) first practice today!
Awesomeness~!
It’s at 2:00, right?
When you are rich and famous I will gloat because I knew you way back when. I am a groupie!
:C I fail. :C :C :C :C
Just out of curiosity….Is nobody on, or is moderation just slow today?
Not a big deal either way, goodness knows I don’t have time to be on, with all the studying I have to get in for my animal phys test Monday morning. Just curious.
Well, the DSL is down at my house for a few days (O the horror!). Although I do still have a dial-up subscription (O the horror!), I can’t access it because the software is no longer installed on my laptop, and the desktop doesn’t even have a modem. So I’m out and about catching WiFi on the fly at various locations. At the first one the connection slowed to a crawl and died just as I as about to download the AOL software. The iPod couldn’t pick up anything either. Then I stopped at a McDonald’s, but its WiFi wasn’t working right either. At least I couldn’t access it. I was beginning to fear iPod damage. At the second Panera, I finally was able to re-establish contact. Whew. But since then I’ve been running errands, until a few minutes ago when I stopped at yet another eating establishment to complete my downloading chores.
Could you download the software?
Yes, finally. Meanwhile, I had an extraordinarily lucky shopping day; completed my three most hated shopping jobs in one day, entirely by accident in each case. That certainly consoled me midst my Internet woes.
did you get SHOES?
It strikes me that that should rhyme with ‘woes’.
-A
Better than shoes…to my utter amazement, I found BOOTS!
:O I love boots! Rain boots? Hiking boots? Snow boots? Fashionable boots? Knee length boots? Booties? Rubber galoshes? Construction boots? Paddock boots? Goth boots? Ugg boots? Wellingtons? Goth boots? Steel toes? Motorcycle boots? Cowboy boots? Go-go boots? Aaannd… that’s all I have. (Surprisingly, the majority of those were from the top of my head. Wikipedia helped me with the last few.)
Ski boots? Also, you said goth boots twice, Beedle.
Of course ski boots!
Oh, darn it. I thought I had forgot to write it when I wrote it the second time.
Oh my god, you have dial-up? I’m so sorry!
The dial-up is only a stop-gap measure, fortunately. I don’t know why the DSL can’t be fixed sooner, but I’m going to end up with a faster service than what I had before, so I guess it will work out for the best.
Yikes. That sounds like a nightmare come true….No internet, not even the horror of dial up…. *shudder* And non functioning WiFi….Yeep.
I need to write in my journal more often. Last night I ended up covering four pages with small writing, trying to sum up everything that had happened since October 26th, which had also been a sum-everything-up entry. Oof.
Went to see Megamind with a friend tonight, it was fun. Very cute. I ate too much popcorn and now I’m kind of dead. How can I be tired? It’s only 2130! Oof again.
Mm. Journal writing is excellent. I write in mine every night. It isn’t necessarily long entries (sometimes it can be a word, sometimes two pages) but just something to give me an idea of what I did/felt/thought about that day. A good friend that I hadn’t seen in ages visited today and I was able to revisit my memories of him by looking through my journal.
Oh, I love journal writing. LOVE IT. I’ve written in a “virtual” journal (aka on the computer) pretty much weekly (and often more than one entry per week, especially in the summer) for about a year now, which is cool. I’ve written in journals since I was little, but didn’t really consistently begin to write in one until I started about a year ago on the computer, which I found made me much more motivated to write. Although handwritten ones are more personal…I just never had the patience to do that, and honestly, whatever makes me more motivated is good at this point. I love how they’re great in so many ways – you learn so much about yourself and your past as well as it just being plain fun because you don’t need to think twice about what you say, and you can be as blunt or annoying as you like.
I’ve done journaling at various points in the past and really enjoyed it, but it’s hard to start again once you’ve stopped, especially considering how busy I am lately. Reading things I’ve written on past Random Threads on MB gives me the same feeling of revisiting old memories, but it’s not as in-depth.
Lately, though, I’ve done some personal writing on a whim, like the letter to my younger self, and I’ve found that very freeing.
Rebecca~ What wonderment is this?! What kind of boots? you’ve piqued our interest, now we must know.
Um. Earlier today I noticed a Post-It note on my desk with the name “Bucky Goldstein” written on it. I don’t remember writing it and I don’t know why I did so.
Who’s Bucky Goldstein?
Google informs me that he could be either the vocalist/guitarist of a band called Sodajerk, a comedic blogger, or a deer mouse rancher. Take your pick.
TEN DAYS UNTIL HARRY POTTER SEVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry. I’m very excited. Holding an HP marathon before the event, although we have to space it out as it’s on a weekday. Sigh.
Wheeee!
My cat just coughed up a furball in my closet. I am procrastinating the need to go clean it up.
Ugh. I will not watch that movie. If I do I’m going to end up screaming at the screen in the movie theater, and then I will get kicked out. Although, my mom might drag me along anyway.
How…. how can you say such a thing?!
Well, it’s true. I love the books, they are amazing, but the movies…ugh. No offence to anybody or anything, but I think they really sucked. I can’t stand watching movies that are made from books. I see all the differences and the things they did wrong, and it just irritatates me a lot. With a lot of books, the movies are different enough that I can pretend it’s a different story, but I can’t do that with Harry Potter, probably because they TRY to sort of follow the storyline…they just fail.The movies annoy me SO MUCH RAAAR.
Oh, they do really suck. It takes a HUGE amount of self restraint to keep me from screaming maniacally at the screen in the theatre every time I’ve watched one of the movies, from the third one on (that is, from the time I was obsessed on). So yeah, if I’m not muttering things under my breath (my parents would have killed me had I yelled things during the movie), I’m gesticulating violently at the screen….
Yeah……I know the movie is really going to suck, but I can’t not watch it, because as much as it sucks, it’s part of the whole thing, and, well, yeah. I’ll just bitch like mad afterwards at Alan, until he gets fed up and snogs me into silence.
I’ve having an HP marathon too! *highfives* Although that’s going to be on the night of November 19th and then we’ll be seeing it morning of the 20th. We’ve already preordered the tickets.
I’m excited…but a little nervous, as in, they might just bomb it and then I’ll be sad. But whatever, the anticipation is typically better than the real thing, unfortunately.
My friends and I are going to go watch it at midnight! I’m excited. The movies aren’t always great, but watching them is fun, especially when everybody’s in costume.
WHAT? It comes out here on DECEMBER 16TH.
*does NOT gloat*
Excited. Very excited. I’m going to the midnight premiere with a group from my school.
I am facing a hair dilemma.
I’m coming up on “I should get a haircut soon if I want to keep it short” time. However, I’m considering growing it out again. It’s been short for a year and half now, and I like it, I’m just wondering if maybe it’s time to try something else. That something else could be going back to chin-length and straight, and then most likely just growing out long again. Or, and this is what I’d kind of like to try, growing it out to a suitable length and then doing dreadlocks. I’ve done some research and checked out other people’s dreads, and I think it is something I’d like to try at some point, and probably sooner than later.
Blarg, I’m such a wuss.
I have a question for all GIMP geniuses. How do you get the Harry Potter font?
It’s unlikely you can- it’s probably copyrighted, and if it’s not, then it’s certainly not free.
Harry Potter fonts can be found for download to Microsoft Word at MuggleNet, I believe. One of those HP sites.
Yup. They’re at Mugglenet.
@Pie girl: you can probably download it somewhere. My dad’s done the same for unique TV show fonts.
Hey, GAPAs: I sent two Halloween pictures to you through email. Could you put them in my post?
Also: I got three pounds of candy, or around that. HPBs are clearly superior, because I got the most out of my group.
Yay for daylight savings! I have another whole hour to do things!
And a whole ‘nother hour to sleep in!
The search box is dandelion yellow.
Does that strike anyone else as weird?
……it’s always been that way……
I know. But I just noticed it.
Thirty second preview of… Darren Criss… singing…. Baby, It’s Cold Outside…
…
…
…
Words can’t even express anything I feel right now……………..
(Too many ellipses, I apologize.)
Have you seen the video of him singing Teenage Dream? <3
Okay, that is amazing. Does this mean Darren Criss is going to be on Glee in the next episode? *HOPES* *happiness*
Mika- YES, IT DOES. Two more days…
Tess- Not yet… And now I have.
SQUEEEEE
OKAY
Was just at a performance of the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
For those not in the know, this show is about a spelling bee. It’s a musical. You also pull people from the audience and have them spell.
I got all the way until right before the intermission (it’s a two-act show), and failed to spell the chemical name of LSD. That’s a hard three-word thing, and I managed about 96% of it.
The same thing happened to me when I was there. I was only off by one letter too… Did the comfort counselor sing to you? *loves that show*
<3 Yep. It's a really cute show.
It is. “Spell ‘Cow’.”
I got ‘Mexican’, I think.
For further reference: lysergic acid diethylamide. I spelled ‘lysergic acid dythalemaide’ or something close, because I partially threw the word but couldn’t get it right in the first place.
I think I got cow… And lots of other things.
I got GIMP on Friday, and have spent most of my weekend doodling on it. A drawing program! That works! On a Mac! *is happy*
May send some of it to the Visual Arts thread.
A drawing program for a Mac? Cool!
Is there any native Mac counterpart to Paint at all or must something be gotten from an outside source?
Apple dot com slash downloads has some really good things for free, and some good shareware too.
If you do, change the format to a .png, they save better than .jpgs and more programs can read them than the raw GIMP format, .xcf
(66) Midnight Fiddler, ’tis a wonderment indeed! More than twenty years since I’ve found boots I can wear.
(64.1.1.1.1.2.1.) Beedle, I love boots, too — ins spite of the fact that I hate shoes and hate shoe-shopping even more.
So here are some bad, unedited iPod photos of my new darlings (taken in various eating establishments that have WiFi):
NODS OF APPROVAL
I too hate both shopping and shopping for shoes. But boots don’t count in that. Because they are magical.
My shoe size is whatever fits.
I will marry those boots. It will be a beautiful ceremony. I will invite the whole blog.
!!!!!!!!!!
JIMMY MCMMILLAN CAN MARRY YOU TWO!
“If you want to marry a shoe, I’ll marry you.”
You know why?
BECAUSE THE RENT IS TOO D**N HIGH!
Ooh! Excellent! And you have fantastic socks as well!
What delightful socks.
Okay, those are flammy!!
_very_ cool
Lady B! You’re so fabulous! Those boots are awesome, and the socks make them even better.
77~ OH EM GEE. Those are AWESOME! The scrunchy ones are cute and elfish looking, I adore them. They look like they’d be good for throwing on with any and everything and wearing all the time, or dressing up and looking all sophisticated.
And the tall lace-up ones, well they are just incredibly sexy. In a dangerous Victorian-lady sort of way. Or they could be equestrian or military inspired as well. Loads of approval for both pairs.
Also; flammy socks. You have just become my fashion hero of the week.
And post 69, people! What should Fiddler do with her hair? Thrilling, I know….but still.
And yeah, I’m still staring at those boots….. *drool* I love footwear far too much to be allowed.
77-Socks+Boots=EPIC WIN
Does anyone else know of the company Little Miss Matched? It’s pretty cool, I have a few socks from them.
Yeah, I used to have flip-flops from there. But then my feet decided to be mean and have a large growth spurt.
I USED to have a pair/trio but the local dryer mocster ate ALL of them.
Oh Museblog! It’s been forever since I’ve come on here! However since this Sunday I am officially done with my senior project product! Yay! ^^ Now I actually have free time to breathe and come on here again! (until exams again that is) How are you fairing while I have been away?
Hello, kiwimuncher! Welcome back!
I, personally, have been faring quite well.
kiwi, luv, hi! Nice to see you around again.
Kiwi! Hi!!
I’ve been pretty good. I’m finally getting over my cold/sinus infection (yay!).
Also: please go to the Kokon thread.
The weather today was really crazy. First period it snowed and rained, second period the wind was out of control, and fourth period was indescribable. Fourth period is chem, and we were taking a test. The wind was blowing against the windows (there are a lot in the chemistry rooms) and making a gushing noise. The rain was hitting against the window, making a popping noise, the hail was hitting on the A/C with tiny “pings”, the wind was going through the A/C and whistling, and the wind was messing with these vent type thingies that go from the classroom to the roof. The tops of them were getting blown up and clapped down especially loudly with a metallic clap. Very disturbing while taking a test. : /
Despite its being indescribable, you seemed to describe fourth period pretty well.
Piggy… *glare*
I meant that words can’t describe it properly.
The wind was super loud during history today; I never really realized what people meant when they said the wind sounded like screaming. In my old school you couldn’t hear it at all, and in my school before that it sounded like someone blowing over the top of the bottle. In my house it sounds like…a huge gust of wind.
Ok so for a History project I have to highlight six inventions, in various categories, that were invented during the last 10 years. I already have the first five, but need some ideas for an invention in the medical category. I know that there are plenty out there that I can choose from – obviously there are lots that come up with one Google search – but just wondering if anybody has any interesting ideas to share. Thanks.
These probably aren’t exactly what you’re looking for, but Zurovcik’s Negative-Pressure Pump and Silver’s Adspecs are really cool and arguably most effective on a global scale.
Thanks for the all the boots love! Must be doing something right to win the MB seal of approval.
I’m excited about the socks, too. I love colorful socks but the only knee socks long enough for me are made for men — as you can imagine, they seldom come in very striking colors. (“They” referring to the socks.) Then Lo! The day I found my boots I discovered over-the-knee socks — which make perfect regular-style socks for me. I went back and bought some more today. My feet have not been so well brilliantly and variably shod in many a year.
I think I might be able to finally take a TAI CHI course next semester!!!! i am exceedingly pleased by this….like no joke this kind of made my entire day finding out. HURRAH!!! i suppose i shouldn’t be getting so excited if it’s tai chi huh?
rebecca those boots are GLORIOUS! socks too!
fiddler — dreadlocks! *massive respect* that sounds really cool…i totally share your dilemma about whether to keep hair short or cut it, it seems i’m always having to make that decision (well haha because my hair does indeed continue to grow…
)
i say go for something different, though.it kinda sounds like that’s what you’d like to do, perhaps…
on that topic does anyone know if there is a reliable way of adding a tint to your hair? particularly dark brown hair? :s bleaching it first isn’t possible right now so….yarrrr
starr — ….!!!! i feel like i should immediately have some kind of answer for that but i can’t think of anything! how terrible of me…hummm stem cell research? i’m not really sure though
oh what else…yesterday i watched the sou d of music for the first time and recognized some things from when i was in salzburg a few years ago! i really liked the movie and i LOOOOOOOOOVE julie andrews
alright that’s all
Sound of Music! The von Trapp family now runs a very nice lodge in Stowe, VT, with a beautiful flower garden! It is well worth a visit if you’re ever in Vermont in the summer. I’ve also heard some hostels in Salzburg specialize in SoM tourists, haha, with some Mozart too I guess.
Is there an Austrian around with firsthand knowledge?
Oh man, that reminds me about hostels! It’s so strange to think that they’re not that common here in America. And Americans seem to distrust hostels too? Arghghg why do I not understand people. :/
wow i didn’t know they were still running it! i saw that on wiki haha…THAT’S PERFECT BECAUSE I’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO GO TO VERMONT
oh yes there was much mozart silliness during our tour…some girls asked if he really did have an insane laugh in real life which i think somewhat perplexed our guide but you know
yeah it really is a shame that americans distrust hostels cause it’s such a cool idea…
Vermont is beautiful! Go soon! I went there this summer with my friend’s family and we saw the lodge. It’s absolutely beautiful. I could’ve spent hours in the garden.
You could also put in lemon juice and sit out in the sun, but I’ve heard that it really dries out your hair. I’ve never actually tried it. You could also do red Kool-Aid powder, that’s supposed to make it reddish, but I don’t really know how reddish and how fake it looks, so I’d skip on that.
And if you want to tint your hair, you can put cinnamon and cloves in your conditioner. That brings out red and blonde highlights really nicely. It burns though, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Tonight I took a walk and sat in bushes and wrote poetry and looked out over the river. It was a lovely night, despite the fact I have a paper due tomorrow.
I love wandering at night. I said hi to my buddy Orion too. He’s visible in the sky again.
I will have to go out and welcome him back.
84 (Axa)~ Yeah, I’m kind of really wanting to do dreads, but I don’t know who I can bribe to help me put them in, since it’ll be kind of a massive undertaking…..all that backcombing. But yeah. I’m leaning cautiously towards that right now.
As far as adding tint to dark hair….bleaching it first is probably your best bet if you want it to be really visible and vivid. But if you don’t mind a more subtle color you could probably just choose a dark color (maybe dark blue, green, purple or red) and put that in. Your hair is super dark though, right? Nealy black? I don’t know. I’ve never dyed my hair, beyond magic marker which doesn’t really count. Also, I did that on the tips, which were blonde at the time, so it showed up easily. Good luck though, what’s the occasion?
Today I went hiking with my cousin, who’s back in town for a little bit.
‘Twas fun, absolutely gorgeous with the fall colors, and it’s always great to catch up with what she’s doing. She’s the one that’s a sailor, is interested in plants, and generally just does cool things. She was on the west coast working with an urban agriculture program for awhile, as well as sailing, and then after that she was working on hiking trails, and now she’s back on the East coast and about to start her next job working with draft horses for forestry and agriculture. Basically she’s awesome.
So that was fun, and now I’m home and avoiding the schoolwork I desperately need to do. Bleh.
Also, I’m justifying my computer time because I’m kind of looking at college websites and the ASTA billet bank…..but by posting on MB I’m totally undermining any of that. Oh well.
I am TIRED.
85 (Oxlin)~ Orin is my favorite constellation. I actually met a guy named Orion this summer, which I thought was pretty cool. I’d totally name my kid that if I had one/it was a boy.
Factlet: Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) had a brother named Orion.
86.1~ I had no idea. That’s not the brother that died, was he?
Well, he’s dead now*, but he had a long life and an interesting career in what was then Nevada Territory. Sam went with Orion when he moved west. I think I remember hearing somewhere that he pronounced his name OR-ee-un.
*Sorry, couldn’t resist a little Twainian humor.
fiddler – yeah it is pretty dark…x___x HAHAHAHA well i originally thought of it because my friend suggested i cosplay a character with blue hair and that i could just tint my hair if i liked….YEP
but i have sort of been wanting to do SOMETHING different anyway! bah~
your cousin does indeed sound really awesome…draft horses…that’s so cool!!
fall really is great isn’t it? the weather has even been great here, and it’s generally a little hotter and more desert-y here than at home. HURRAH!
alright i need some advice from anyone is is in/has been to collegeland or has taken a night class before…i’m thinking of taking a writing class that looks at long fiction (novels and novellas) and seems to be split between writing and reading. so it sounds cool but it’s from 7:00 to 9:50 PM on wednesday nights….is that bad idea? my first class on thursday isn’t until 9:35 (projected, at least) so i wouldn’t have to be up fantastically early the next morning, but i dunno
87.1~ It’s all good, as soon as I hit submit I smacked my forehead exclaiming “that was dumb, Fern.” I knew I had it coming. but he had a younger brother that died young, I think when a paddlewheel blew up or something…..at any rate, Samuel always felt responsible, since he’d urged him to take the job that ended up killing him. At least, I think I remember that. I could very well be hallucinating too. My mind likes to trick me by making up obscure historical details that I can’t locate the source of and then eventually discover must have been a dream or something. >.<
88~ You'll probably have to lighten it up before dying it then. I don't know though, I've never dyed my hair. Ask Mel or someone who does their hair frequently, they'd probably more help.
If I remember correctly, Samuel Clemens had four brothers and sisters, but only he and Orion made it to adulthood. Your story about the steamboat accident could well be true, but I don’t have time to check it now.
I am now writing 2 stories, to decide which one, for one I have writers block. Also, I have many Ideas.
89.1~ Ah, ok. And I’m too lazy to look it up right now. I’ll probably come back to it eventually, it’s not really important.
Hmmm… I want to do some writing, but I also want to watch Cosmos because it’s Carl Sagan’s birthday… I guess I should just watch clips on the computer while I work.
Okay, I haven’t been on much lately, so I probably missed it, but why is MuseBlog on Wikipedia? I realize that nobody can find their way to the site like I did anymore, but still, we should at least discuss this-or something. And since it was clearly someone here, but I’m guessing not a GAPA, who was it?
MuseBlog is on Wikipedia? Then why am I redirected to the page on Muse magazine (which has been there for a long time) when I try to search for it?
Bibliophile: It’s a small subsection of the Magazine page.
cromwell: Is there an issue with MB on Wiki? I see no problem. In the past it was a much larger page that was queued for deletion.
MBers wrote a detailed description of the blog and the Kokonspiracy, which someone else on Wikipedia decided was too “fannish” and marked for deletion. So I went there and trimmed it down to the bare facts, which seemed to satisfy them. I haven’t checked it lately.
It seems to no longer exist, as far as I can tell.
I found MB in the first place through that subsection.
Who’s going to Quidditch World Cup IV? Anyone besides me?
I just looked that up; it looks awesome! I haven’t heard of it until now. We used to play quidditch as little kiddies in elementary school in gym. I’d definitely go, but I have to march this Saturday. Maybe I’ll try to get there Sunday, but I doubt I’ll be able to.
Please excuse the horrible grammar and sentence structures of that post. It’s too late. I’ve been going to sleep at 9:30…
I wiiiish! D:
My team doesn’t have the resources, sadly. We went to a tournament earlier this year though, and we’re playing a nearby school around the same time as it to make up for it.
Have fun! Tell us all about it!
I am now in Singapore! Committees start tomorrow, with General Assembly on Saturday…I am excited, yet nervous, being one of the few freshmen here. I have to say, though, Singapore has a year-round summer – hot, humid, and sweaty. I miss the ‘cold’, ‘dry’ autumn/winter of Hong Kong. My host family’s really nice. Nothing much has happened yet, since we only arrived today, but I’ll be sure to let you know once we start doing some interesting stuff.
*waves* Oh! I hope you have fun! Debate and speak your heart out!
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Um, gee, how nice of you to point it out… I really hadn’t noticed the weather… *pant* *sweat* *gurgle*
Okay. I’ve started reading Homestuck.
This is a marvelous thing.
See you later, reading the wiki.
Whoo! Just got back from my first academic team competition. We kicked butt. I answered a good fifth of the questions that were open to the four people on my team and the four on the other team to answer. Needless to say, we won. The coach said I did really well, and our team captain was joking around that I was a question hog, but he said he wanted me to compete for the rest of the season. I didn’t realize that I’m on his AP Bio team, and he asked me who had the highest average in the class, except it went something like this: “So, who has the smartest person in your class? I mean, other than you. We all know you’re the smartest, Isabella.” People seem to resent my talents. XD
Nice win! *high fives*
Congrats! That sounds great!
My brother told me all about how he wants to make his own replica Spartan armor (As in, based on the armor the soldiers called Spartans wear in the video game Halo, not as in ancient Greek armor.) He found really detailed instructions online, and he wants to do it in time for an SF convention in April on Long Island.
He also said that once he makes the helmet, he could show me how to make an astronaut helmet in the same way, so that’s cool.
Will it be iconic?
*Gives brownie*
: D
You had me excited until you told me it was a video game thing.
I kind of lost interest there too.
Astronaut helmet is cool, though.
He already has armor for looking like an ancient Greek Spartan.
Ooh, how do you make that?
Did you say/type SPARTAN ARMOR!? How would you make it?
I don’t know about the rest of the armor, but if you download a special program, he says you can print out all the parts of the helmet on paper, glue them together, fiberglass it, and put in the visor from a motorcycle helmet.
MuseBlog, some help with a thing, plzthx? We have an assignment in Acting to find a song to sing. This alone would be bad enough, since I occupy that strange half-world between being able to sing and not being able to sing where I’m not quite sure if I can sing or not and no one will tell me if I can or not. But the assignment is to find a “ballad” to sing on Friday, and the implication was that we are expected to emote with this song. I’m not quite sure what I’m going to sing yet, but I’m leaning towards “I Will Follow You Into The Dark”, by Death Cab for Cutie. Is that a good choice? Is that even a ballad? Should I sing it?
What is a ballad? I do not really know! I assume it is longish and romantic. So, I Will Follow… is a good choice then! Good luck?
Depends on how strictly you define the term. The word can describe a verse form — often but not necessarily in stanzas of tetrameter quatrains (i.e., verses of four 8-syllable lines) in which the 2nd and 4th lines rhyme. Traditional ballads were narratives, stories of battles, relationships, disasters, legends…sort of the tabloid journalism of its day. (And yes, many ballads went on for numerous stanzas. As a storytelling form, it is not the most direct.)
When I proudly bought my first Simon & Garfunkel album, my mom glanced over the lyric sheet and sniffed, “Hmph. Ballads.” To this day I don’t know why she thought there was anything wrong with that. Of course, I may have mis- or over-interpreted her reaction. But, yes, many of S&G’s songs fit snugly into the ballad tradition.
Though many ballads told stories of love (especially love gone wrong, as in “Barbara Allen” or “Frankie and Johnny”), “ballad” as a synonym for “love song” is a fairly recent development, coming into use sometime in the 19th or 20th century.
I was totally going to do Simon & Garfunkel, but then I tried a few of their songs out and they didn’t work for being all emotional for me. Which is a pity, because they’re awesome.
I’ve never heard of emotional engagement as a prerequisite for a ballad (in the older sense of the word, anyway). The ballad I wrote for a Structure of Verse class was definitely not an appeal to the emotions. Then again, I don’t know what your teacher has in mind.
It’s for Acting. We don’t even have to sing it well, just to sing it with emotion. Unfortunately, most of the songs closest to my heart are either not ballads or need serious instrumental backup to be any good.
Did the teacher specify what type of emotion? Or was it meant more in the sense of acting it out?
By the way, many great musical stars, of both stage and screen couldn’t really sing. But they knew how to deliver. And then there was the baffling mystery of Ethel Merman, whose voice sounded like a crow’s interpretation of a cat screeching after someone stepped on its tail.
I think it was meant in the sense of “sing it emotionally”. She did say it would be best if it was a song that had personal meaning for us. The point is to deliver well, I think… we just got finished with Greek dramas and we’re working on stage presence, catharsis, emotional communication, that stuff.
Robert’s advice: Don’t start with the song; start with the emotion. Pick one that would be fun to express in front of other people. Grief? Heartbreak? Wounded pride? Vengeful anger? Then find a song that gives you a chance to express it. MBers can undoubtedly offer suggestions, and if you don’t know the song, you can learn it online. Something that works well a capella would be best.
Then, as you sing, let the character or characters take over. Inhabit them, as actors do. Summon the emotions. Let them well up and overflow. They’re in there; you just have to find them.
But she did say the song was supposed to be one that had personal meaning for us, like a song from our childhoods or something. So I started looking through some of my favorite songs of all time, since they nearly all had emotional meaning for me.
I see. Then I suppose all we can do is tell you whether they qualify as ballads or not.
For a singer who couldn’t sing (and also had ballads) look no further than Bob Dylan.
His lyrics are poetry. His vocals, not so much.
bob dylan covers are the best. the magnificence of bob dylan without the terror that is his voice
That’s because he was a Time Lord.
Nowadays, it seems “ballad” is often used losely to mean any slow, relatively quiet rock song. That gives you more options. But I’d think it would be more fun to sing one of the old ballads, maybe a supernatural one like “Tam Lin.”
several things…
1) so HP7 midnight showings, who is going? (rhyme somewhat intended haha
)
i’m hoping to go but i’m not quite sure how it’s going to work out…anyway
2) what kind of library doesn’t circulate its books?!?! FIE! i found this really cool book that is actually a compilation of this one woman’s letters and diary entries of her experience teaching and whatnot in wyoming during the homesteading days…thankfully there are some nice couches and things to sit in at this particular library but still! INCONCEIVABLE!
3) GAPAs i hope this isn’t zap-worthy, but i found this cool website that uses google maps to take you to random places on the globe… it’s called map crunch and it is terribly fun. it can take up ridiculous amounts of time, actually
i think it would be helpful for nano for some people, perhaps, new scenery and inspiration and all that 
for example i thought i was on a freeway in taiwan at night but it turns out i was in a tunnel! and when the side wall opened up you cans see the ocean! it’s really quite marvelous
1) I am. Me, Alan, Steph, Steph’s sister, and a friend of Alan’s are all going. yayness.
Map Crunch is all sorts of fun. My sister and I went and found it, and tried to guess where in the world each location was. We were right surprisingly often. Then we utterly failed a couple times, I think we once guessed Florida when in fact it was Brazil.
Actually, we did that several times. To the point where I said that if we think it’s the Southern United States, we better think about it a hundred times and dunk our heads in cold water before seeing where it was.
Te other interesting thing was that three times we came out on Macau, in view of one certain tower. Twice even on the same street. It was surreal.
1. me and a large, unspecified group of friends. for once i tossed organizational responsibility onto someone else
2. LAME ONES! no actually yeah special collections type stuff…the cartoon library here doesn’t circulate, and i’m sure there are a few others on campus that don’t. but i can forgive them because i can also order books from the Vault and have them sent to the closest library (yes we have a vault oh man i love the fact that we have a vault. there are TOO MANY BOOKS TO FIT IN ALL OUR LIBRARIES *nerdgasm*)
i just looked it up, 22 libraries not counting the depository. some of those are on regional campuses though.
i feel like i’ve geeked out about the vault on here before :-/ i don’t remember
aaanyway. yes.
Does anyone know what Larry Gonick’s been up to lately, other than Koko & Co. and Raw Materials? Is he thinking about or working on another book? Or maybe he went away to save the ninth dimension?
Why? What’s happening in the ninth dimension?
Why don’tcha email him?
Awesome word: Mellifluous! I have no idea what it means. But it sounds awesome.
A polar bear just floated across my mind.
It waved.
Then it floated away.
I have to give a presentation tomorrow… in Mandarin. Kill me now.
Mellifluous means sweet-sounding or musical. Thus, it can be used to describe itself.
Poor you. I’m starting a Mandarin Chinese class on Monday; and we have to do all our spoken assessments in Mandarin. Is it really hard to learn?
(ALSO I CHANGE MY USERNAME WAY TOO MUCH)
Yeah, it’s really confusing. I probably would never have any idea who you were if it weren’t for the distinctive avatar.
<3
I've gone through about five in three years, and on another site; I've been…four different names in three years.
My name changes with my interests, and on that other site, it changed from Witchneko when someone told me it makes me look like a total otaku. So it became Spiritwitch of Awesome, and then Player Character – Spirited.
So I'll probably change back, but I do like Thief of Light better than my old ones.
And my interest, right now, is Homestuck and Vriska.
Just keep the avatar- otherwise I’ll be hopelessly confused and haunted by deja vu of this new person strangely resembling
AvalongirlWitchnekoThief of light.Yes, please keep the avatar or just stick with one name – like everybody else said, it does become very confusing.
Please, just change it back to Witchneko. It would make much more sense.
Dear College-Age MBers (Ebeth, axa, Jadestone),
Thank you so to the 193838 power much for convincing me to stay in AP Euro. I’m actually doing halfway well in it; my curved (very very curved) average should be in the nineties this quarter, and I got a 97 (uncurved!) on the last quiz we had. Sure, the class can be like hell sometimes, but I’m learning so much. I wanted to let you guys know that your convincing was the primary reason I didn’t drop the class. Thanks again!
Love, ♥
Beedle
(P.S. Did I write you a thank you note already? I probably did. Take this one too.)
and it still ranks as one of my favorite classes!
what are you guys studying right now?
Thank you again! We just finished French absolutism. I think the next chapter we’re doing is Russia and Prussia, from the fourteen hundreds-ish to the seventeen hundreds-ish. I actually really enjoyed the chapters on French absolutism and English Constitutionalism. Louis XIV is fascinating.
My class is still exactly a chapter behind yours! We’re just starting French absolutism. What book are you using?
McKay’s A History of European Society since 1300, but the teacher has also been copying entire chapters of another textbook for us to read? Go figure. That’s four books to read, McKay, the other book, my review book, and the other review book that she said was better than the one she made us buy.
For me sticking with AP history was the HARDEST THING EVER, but it worked out in the end, and I’m so glad it did for you too! It’s very worth it in the end.
Gosh, it’ll be weird to go back to school just for tomorrow and then have the weekend.
I know. I really, really don’t want to go. I hope there’s a totally freak blizzard…or…a tornado warning.
No! Then I wouldn’t be able to go to Wind Ensemble in Boston that I’m playing 1st horn in with a solo!
But it would be perfectly fine with me if the school felt like turning into an enormous basket of jellybeans. I honestly wouldn’t mind at all, as long as I could could get to Wind Ensemble.
I hope your area gets that, but I’m supposed to see my astronomy teacher and maybe get to use the planetarium, so I hope mine doesn’t!
IT’S DONE. THE BRACES ARE OFF.
I am so, so, SO happy. I feel prettier than I have in years. I can’t help but smile.
Yay!
That’s awesome! Congrats!
<<braces-free smiley for the occasion. We should really have a smiley with braces! Kidding. Sort of.
When my friend recently got her braces off, she was literally walking around our school smiling.
Good for you. I hated my braces. You look excellent, by the way.
Keep the confidence up.
Awesome! I got another novel spam message. This one is obviously from Alice in Wonderland, but run through a translation machine again–seemingly German, as the word “freulein” is left untranslated at one point. The rabbit, at the very beginning, says to himself, “Oh dearly! Oh venerated! I shall be late!” As Alice is falling down the hole, we get this selection: “She took down a agitate from individual of the shelves as she passed; it was labelled `ORANGE MARMALADE’, but to her great calamity it was forsaken: she did not like to dram the grate someone is concerned bugbear of slaying notable, so managed to gain d stage it into an individual of the cupboards as she demolish times gone by it.” And as she’s planning what she’ll say to the person on the other side of the planet, she wonders if it’ll be Australia or “Recent Zealand”.
Spambots are hilarious at times.
106- That’s great!
107- Hee hee hee. Translation machines are so fun. ‘Recent Zealand’… That’s just wonderful.
The trailer for the 2011 Winnie the Pooh movie is up on Youtube now! I am indescribably pumped. The voices for Owl and Christopher Robin seem to have changed noticeably, which I dislike; but it looks to be an Actually Good Movie.
In this flick, Daniel has kissed co-star Emma and has revealed that it was very vigorous.
Wait, what? What the bleeding cakity cake? Are you freaking caking kidding me? WHY [snip] WOULD HARRY BE SNOGGING HERMIONE?!?!?!?!
Okay, you know what? I think I take back what I promised Alan months ago about not screaming during the movie. Because this is just not right. I’m am quite sure there was no snoggage going on between the two, ever. Possibly a friendly kiss, but not a face devouring snog. So yeah. Pretty caking sure I’m going to go bleeding mental during the movie and get my butt kicked out, but WHAT THE BLEEDING CAKE IS WRONG WITH YOU, [snip] DAVID YATES, HAVE YOU NOT DONE ENOUGH DAMAGE ALREADY??????????
Two words: dream sequence.
Oh, hang on. Luna just thought of something. And then proceeded to look it up. If said snoggage occurred in a very certain instance, I take back my rant…..Harry and Hermione, in the locket Horcrux had some snoggage going on, it just wasn’t real Harry and Hermione, but obviously it would be the same actors….So nevermind. I am chilled. Ignore above rant, I got a bit ahead of myself there…..
Whew.
Thank goodness!
Got another 43 pages of HP read during physics lecture this morning….Yes, I am a horrible role model. I never listen during physics–it’s the only class I’ve ever done that with, though.
Only 449 to go (I’m 310 in).
I’ve read entire books during school, and I still pass. Sometimes I’ll look up and the teacher will be talking about something and I’ll have no idea what s/he is talking about.
I say you shoud start reading Calvin and Hobbes.
Love letters are the best. I got an email from my soul-grandma (not blood related) today, she is sending me a box of old shoes in the hopes that I’ll find some I like and be able to give the rest to a thrift store or friends. Which is fun, but just the way she ended her letter: “In the meantime XOXOXOXOXOXO Never doubt that I love you incessantly and you are precious to me.” makes my day go from “good” to “light years beyond flamablamablous”. I haven’t talked to her in ages, it’s just so nice to know that she hasn’t given up on me despite that. I think of her often too, just haven’t gotten in touch for various reasons.
And other days have been similarly improved by just a quick text message or call from Pip saying something along the lines of “I just want you to know that I love you.”
Or from other friends, near and far, just some kind of “Hi, you mean something to me and I’m glad you’re in my life” message.
These things really can make such a big difference in one’s day/week/month/year/lifetime. I need to remember that more often and make an effort to let people know I love them, without worrying they’ll think I’m weird. (If they know me at all, they should be aware of that fact already.)
So that is my project, starting today, with shoes.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Awww.
all of that is absolutely wonderful :3 :3
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
My brain…is melting.
Sudoku+NaNoWriMo=BRAIN ESPLOSION
I feel very sorry for you, LBK. Has your brain repaired itself yet? If not, chocolate works well as a sort of glue for mending it….
yeah, I had some chocolate and am chatting to an online friend and my brain feels better.
Oookaay, here’s some encouragement.
What are you talking about?
Look at LBK’s name.
Thanks. Will write more tomorrow!
Qwerty, if you’re going to respond to someone or reply to someone’s comment, please specify either the person’s name or the comment number. And please, shorten your name–it’s taking over the RC bar.
As a dog person, it’s painful to admit that the way cats drink is pretty cool. I just read about it in the New York Times. They apparently touch the tip of their tongue to the water and pull it up quickly, drawing a column of the water up behind. Then they snap their jaws together just in time to catch the water before it falls back down.
I still like dogs better, though.
I like the robotic cat tongue used for testing. I was about to post a link to it, but one of my cats walked across the keyboard at that precise moment. The address bar now says: “ooop”
Okay, I’ll try again. Here’s the article from Science, complete with video of robotic cat tongue: news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/11/cats-tongues-employ-tricky-physi.html?ref=hp
How silly of me not to mention that the report of the experiment first appeared in Science, where Robert edits so GAPArifically. Robert is a cat person (at least I think so). He’s probably behind the whole thing!
I wasn’t responsible for the cat-lapping paper (I’m in the News department, a different part of the magazine), but I heard about it a couple of months ago and knew it would be a hit.
Incidentally, writers and editors at Science love to sneak pictures of their pets into the magazine. Jasper, the cat in our online news story about the paper, belongs to our Web news editor, David Grimm. (My cat, Mishmish, has not yet made her Science debut.)
Mishmish is such a cute name!
116- That’s how cats drink water? Huh. I could never quite figure it out–they didn’t seem to cup water in their tongue or anything. *finds and reads article*
I sent a question in via email for the Q&A. I hope it’s chosen to be answered. The question’s been bothering me for a long time.
Orion is back, and the Peiades, too, and they look marvelous. Also, the moon was really nice tonight.
I have to spend half of my day marching tomorrow. Normally, I don’t mind field shows, but about half of the band is going to be missing. The sax line has two people in it. >.< I couldn't march because I was laughing so hard in practice today.
Tomorrow, I plan on taking a nice long walk through the preserve after marching. It's been so warm and sunny; it's just lovely, mellow weather.
SFTDP
I’m not going to see Deathly Hallows at midnight. *sigh* It’s not a big deal. I mean, I’ve only been planning out my costume for about three months, and begging my Euro teacher for the past two not to give us a test the next day. And she’s a fan of Harry Potter herself. Very. very. very. very. mad.
Oh, Beedle. *hug* *adorable ball of fluff* That’s terrible. I’m so sorry.
Oh, no, that’s terrible! My friend has to sneak out in secret to see it because her parents are extremely religious and somehow think anything to do with magic is harmful and dangerous.
Apparently the pope saw the HBP movie and decided it was a good representation of good vs. Evil and teenagre relationships or something and he decided that it was ok for religious catholic peoe to read/ watch HP.
OMG HI MARFY. I HAVEN’T SEEN YOU IN, LIKE, FOREVER.
Yeah, I read that in MentalFloss. He found it a good representation of good v. evil and liked the movie’s chaste depiction of teenage romance and how they cast Voldy’s hunt for immortality as bad. So it got a glowing review and endorsement in their Latin newspaper.
Oh, that’s really annoying.
I’m not sure whether I’m going or not. We don’t usually go to the movie theater, and I’ve never been to a midnight premier of anything, but I’m hoping I can go to this. We’ll see.
*hugs* I’m sorry, luv, that really, really, really sucks. *more hugs and choklit*
Oh, poor Beedle.
Will you get to see it on Saturday? …Wait… Isn’t it coming out on a Friday night?
No, Thursday night. The release date is November 19, a Friday, so midnight showings are Thursday November 18, right at/right after midnight (so really very early Friday morning).
It starts on Thriday nighning!
Or on Fursday mornt!
Or Thriday mornt.
Or Fursday nighning, I guess.
Thank you for the chocolate and the adorable balls of fluff. I guess I don’t really mind that much because I probably won’t be able to understand what’s happening if I’m too tired… Which I will be. I’d have to see it again at a normal time, so I’m really just saving money by doing it this way. There’s always part two.
What if you were a limerick-composing gopher?
I mention this because there is a small, unidentified rodent perched on my windowsill.
It squeaks.
There are no gophers here, so I wouldn’t know.
(Although I’ve always found them irrationally annoying.)
Got my report card today! I surprised myself- not even an A minus! All A plusses or As!
*happydance*
I mean, I usually get around 1 B or B+, especially in 1st term, but I was magical (or something)!
Sorry if it sounds like I was being a braggart. Or a black hat guy.
Congatulations! That’s great!
Speaking of which, I should really go do my homework.
Good for you, Enc!
There’s no shame in doing well.
Oh, I’m not ashamed, I just realized that it could be interpreted really rudely.
But thanks, everyone who has and is going to respond!
*dances off singing Sondheim*
Saying “I got all As!” is no different than saying “I scored the winning touchdown!”
And saying that sounds a bit obnoxious to me.
Eh, it’s probably better to be a bit too polite than possibly rude.
I mean that if you did, it’s perfectly fine to announce it once, and only once.
Congrats!
Hoorah!
In the American system, what levels are attributed to which letters?
Levels in which country/system?
Generally:
A 95
B 85
C 75
D 65
F below 65
with +/- being about 5 points.
The 4.0 GPA scale is also widely used. (Multiply the GPA by 25 to get the grsde out of 100.)
Yeah, our school does:
97-100 A+
93-96 A
90-92 A-
87-89 B+
83-86 B
80-82 B-
etc, etc
Hm, our school gives A+’s only if you have 100%. I have a 99 in PE right now, and it’s a plain A…
Some teachers used to do that, but now it’s regularized.
Apparently some teachers would only give you an A+ if you do extra credit work, and get greater than 100%
Our school uses the seven point system. (So an A is 92-100, B is 84-91, etc.) Although the ten point system would be a lot easier…
Our school does:
93-100 A
86-92 B
79-85 C
72-84 D
and so on. But I think Maine’s different.
Oh, and I’m especially happy since I’m taking all honors classes! (Aside from study XD)
Went to a great astronomy lecture tonight! Very funny, very entertaining professor from a local college explaining why none of the 2012 doomsday theories are anything to worry about.
Caaaaaaaake. Piggy’s computer is very broken.
I was installing the newest version of iTunes, as it requested. At the end it said I had to restart the computer to have it take effect. So I restarted the computer. However, instead of booting into Windows, it went to a Windows Startup Recovery thing, saying that Windows was unable to start. It went through its thing and said that it was unable to automatically repair the problem. So then I did a system restore, thinking that I’d just be able to have my computer as it was two days ago. But that also failed. So I went on my iPod to look for other ways to solve the problem. I tried a few, and nothing helped. I can’t even boot into Ubuntu now. So it looks like the only thing I can do is:
1. Borrow an external hard drive from someone
2. Boot up my Ubuntu flash drive
3. Get to my old files through Ubuntu and copy them into the external hard drive
4. Wipe the hard drive and reinstall Windows
5. Put back my files
Cake cake cake. I don’t know if anyone I know has a hard drive I can borrow, and I really would rather not wipe my hard drive, even if I can back everything up. It’ll take weeks to get everything back in order, reinstall all my old programs, etc.
Caking iTunes.
124~ If I had a hard drive lying around I’d totally let you borrow it, unfortunately, I don’t. Sorry bud. :/ Good luck though, I hope all turns out well. (Just get a mac…..
)
I discovered an Interesting Thing. GAPAs, may I include a de-linkified link? It seems mostly harmless, but if not, that’s okay. www. no-place .org/open_house
It’s a foreclosed house that has been set up to have certain things controlled by an application you can download onto your computer. The house itself is in Florida, but from anywhere on the globe you can open and close the doors and shutters and flicker the lights. It’s just kind of interesting, as the website says “Virtual markets transformed this otherwise livable property into a ghost house.” But now people can virtually occupy it. I find it interesting. It’s something of an art installation, and if for no other reason it’s cool because you can make things move in a house hundreds of miles away. I’m still fascinated by things like that.
Anyway, I think it’s worth a look.
[We haven’t had a chance to check this, so please proceed with caution. This site involves downloadable software, which we can’t guarantee to be Mostly Harmless. –Admin.]
I have a flu.
Or “microplasma”- apparently no one knows if it exists, yet our school panicked enough to scrub down all the desks.
It’s a funny word, isn’t it- flu? Flu. Flooo. Floooooooo!
I helps if you boil some water and put the pot partly uncovered in your room (or use a humidifier, but only if you’re a corporate sellout).
This kind of reminds me of a conversation where I made fun of my friends for buying bread from a store rather than making it themselves.
Powder.
Powder?
Flooooooooo powder.
Floo Powder Power, Floo Powder Power, Floo Powder Power…..
I am going to see Harry Potter 7 with one friend at 12:00 AM on Friday the 17th!
I am going to see West Side Story that same evening, after a day of school on 3 hours sleep!
I am going to Manhattan for my mom’s-cousin-Annie-whose-wedding-I-went-to-in-Rhode-Island’s-sister-Stephanie’s wedding! (I have millions of these kinds of relatives. They’re all Jewish and live either on the East Coast or in Iowa and they do nothing but get married and have naming ceremonies for their children and have funerals for themselves. It got so bad that at mom’s-cousin-Annie-whose-wedding-I-went-to-in-Rhode-Island’s wedding in Rhode Island, the groom’s brother Mark had the same first and last name as my uncle Mark, because we’re all Jewish and do that kind of thing.) MANHATTAN! Eee! I’ve never been to New York before! The wedding might be black-tie! I’m not really sure what black-tie means! It’s going to be so awesome!
all of that sounds excellent!
THE DAYS ARE JUST PACKED
hmm i don’t think i’ve been to a wedding since i was really young…do tell us how it is!
Have fun! Manhattan is a great place. (But then, I’m biased, because I’m a New Yorker…)
Manhattan is the BEST urban area.
(I only have tremendous bias.)
San Francisco, darling Vendy. But let’s not start this.
Black tie means that it’s semi-formal to formal wear; men wear tuxedoes with black ties. I don’t really know how women’s formal wear tiers, dresses are the best I can advise there. Black tie is one of the highest levels of formal dress, below court dress and formal wear. It’s gonna look fancy!
I AM SO HUNGRY I AM EATING POWDERED DOUGHNUTS (DONUTS) FROM A VENDING MACHINE
UGHHHHH
in other news i watched the extended versions of the two towers and the return of the king yesterday IN A ROW and a little bit of fellowship…i came late to the marathon otherwise i’d have seen all three in one day. i always try to watch all three with my mom but we always fall asleep or go to eat and forget (much like hobbits)
THAT REMINDS ME I AM SOHUNGRY
NEED ELEVENSIES
THREE MEALS IS NOT ENOUGH!
I try to eat at least four everyday. Big ones take too long to prepare but little ones aren’t as filling. SO, HUNGRY.
excuse me while I go make some toast and tea.
Oh! How I have been storing up reasons to post! I shall do so now.
77–Rebecca Lasley: I see that we are members of the Eye-Catching Hosiery Sisterhood! I rarely wear matching socks, unless they are over-the-knee and bold. Yours are fab, as are the boots. I actually recognize the second pair of boots shown (the black ones), as I tried them on in a store a couple months ago! I didn’t buy them, because I needed funeral shoes and not vintage-inspired rather punk shoes of epicness (what? Epicness is not a word? It should be. Epicness, epicness, epicness!), but seeing them again has caused me to reconsider owning them. Hmm… I would certainly wear them… Are they comfortable? I remember thinking they were, but I didn’t have them on for very long.
88–Axa: Though I have never taken a night class, I do have some advice for you. Try doing a mental activity, such as doing a logic puzzle or something you else you like, at the time of night the class will be held. If you find that you can focus and not want to collapse during that time, go for it! Otherwise, skip it and try again another time.
103–Choklit Orange: Mellifluous is one of my favorite words!
106–Agrrrfishi: I’m so happy for you! Enjoy flaunting your newly straight smile!
Random thought:
I like rotary dial telephones ever so much more than button-dialing ones. Ever so much more! I like the way they click and whir and spin and they’re just so satisfying!
CP, yes, the boots are comfortable, easy to slip in and out of. And I’m very excited that the advent of over-the-knee socks has allowed me to uphold the values of the Eye-Catching Hosiery Sisterhood during the cooler months. I especially like wearing unexpected color combinations. For instance, a black-and-white tuxedo cries out for hot pink socks, don’t you think?
Speaking of boots, when you’re wearing them with pants (I don’t know if you always wear yours with those fabulous tights, but for anybody who does do the pants/boots combo) how do you keep your pants from being wrinkled right above the boot? I just got a new pair of winter boots that are really cute with jeans and such, but they’re always wrinkled from my knee on down if I tuck the pant legs into the boots. I’m not sure if there really is anything you can do about this anyway, but suggestions?
*Sorry, socks. Or tights. Those are fabulous too.
Thanks! Knowing that they are comfortable long-term is causing me to consider them more seriously. They do seem so lovely…
I am so glad that you found cold-weather socks to pass the approval of the Sisterhood!
Unexpected color combinations are always wonderful! A tux with hot pink socks sounds perfect. A black dress with electric lime green tights would be fantastic, too!
I intend to get some black-and-white striped stockings to wear with…well, just about everything, but particularly a red shirt and black shorts. Oh, or my plum-and-black striped shirt, black shorts, and aforementioned stockings. {Envisions self wearing said outfits.} Mm-hm, I really must find some to my liking…
You used the word “hosiery” in a sentence. I’m in awe. I can’t even spell that word.
So, I found out something really cool!
I want to be a Remote Sensing Archeologist- that is, someone who uses satellite images to help find, map, and understand archeological sites, and this is still sort of a new discipline in archeology, so not a lot of colleges have programs in it.
But while doing research for my application today, I found out that not only does Boston University have a Center for Remote Sensing, the director of that center is FAROUK EL-BAZ! (A famous Egyptian-American geologist who was really big in training the astronauts for the Apollo program.)
Bubbles has been Harry Potter geeking today. First, I convinced my mom to download a Harry Potter Spells app to her iPhone and it is SO COOL! You can duel people and everything! You can either wave the phone around in a specific shape for each spell, or trace the shape onto the screen, and the animation is really good.
I also found a really awesome sweater for my Luna Lovegood costume to wear to the movie (!). I wish I had the ability to wear radish earrings (or any other kind of earrings)…sigh.
But mostly, I was bouncing off the walls in anticipation of the movie. Squee!
Ha! I got the app while it was FREE!
I’m very sorry I had to bring this up, but Luna doesn’t wear radishes for earrings. She wears DIRIIGIBLE PLUMS.Which resemble orange radishes. Sorry if I seem angry, I’m not really. It just bothers me when people refer to Luna’s earrings as radishes.
Yes, but bubbles wasn’t referring to Luna’s earrings; she was referring to a hypothetical bit of a costume. I don’t expect she’d manage to actually find any Dirigible Plums even if she could wear earrings, so presumably she’d want to just find something that looked as much like a Dirigible Plum as possible, which would presumably be a radish.
There are dirigible plums in the Lovegoods’ garden:
Three hand-painted signs had been tacked to a broken-down gate. The first read, “The Quibbler. Editor: X. Lovegood,” the second, “Pick your own mistletoe,” and the third, “Keep off the dirigible plums.” (HP7)
I think I’ve completely memorized the book.
And she does wear radish earrings when she first tells Harry that he believes him that Voldemort’s back in OotP.
Hi, I’m back! I spent the last four days touring colleges in Pennsylvania. We were staying with my grandfather, but I gave up on using the internet for more than a couple of minutes after I waited ten minutes for a site to load.
On Thursday we visited Swarthmore, which I loved. Friday was Bryn Mawr and Haverford. I didn’t like Haverford much; the general summary of everything seemed to be “We have an honor code! Did we mention we have an honor code? An honor code, we have one!!!!” Bryn Mawr I did like fairly well, but I really don’t think I want to go to an all-girls school, so I’m not sure where I stand. Princeton was okay, as well. I didn’t like the eating clubs, which seem like toned-down fraternities/sororities, or the fact that they said they weren’t really looking for well-rounded people, but otherwise it seemed fine. Swarthmore was definitely my favorite of the group, though.
(Because people will, I’m sure, ask, I’m a junior.)
Now, for all of you eagerly awaiting the next harry Potter movie, I present Vendaval’s 2010 Quidditch World Cup Report!
Day One:
(I only attended Saturday, and have been very busy ever since, but I followed Sunday best I could online)
So I arrived at the Tournament Grounds around noon, after taking the bus uptown (busses are so sloooow). Walking towards the park I began to see lots of red & yellow scarves, then some wands, and finally arriving at DeWitt Clinton Park’s gates: brooms and capes! The park was filled with people, all seated around the four oval pitches arranged in a larger oval. Four games took place simultaneously, but not always synchronistically. All around the edges of the park were the team’s dugouts, hung with banners declaring team names and schools- Harvard Horntails, Stony Brook Bolts, NYU Hipster Horcruxes, NY Badassilisks, Villanova’s Augustinian Aurors, etc. The announcers were all student standup comedians, so their commentary was fun, if not always accurate (sometimes even the refs were confused by the action all across the field). This was the first year the event was held in NYC, previously it’s been a Middlebury tradition- Midd has won every WC to date. I thought Emerson had a good shot at the title, and then Tufts was looking really good, but Midd looks unbeatable for now.
I’m sure Jade can fill in more details related to game play if anyone’s interested (I’m not really sure how to describe it- lots of action all over, and the snitch running free in very fun!). A good time was had by all!
Please ask any questions…
wow!! that sounds really exciting! i love the names….:)
how does the snitch work though? is it a person running about? and yeah i remember when i was reading about middlebury during college nonsense there seemed to be a lot of quidditch stuff (quidditchery?) around.
were there any confused muggles around?
The snitch is a person usually a gymnast or crosscountry runner or wrestler, I’ve been told, wearing all yellow. Sparkly golden spandex leggings are also in vogue! They put what I guess is a tennis ball into a sock, and tuck the sock into their back waistband- this becomes the snitch’s flag, like in flag football. The snitch, as well as the seekers, and a referee, can of course run anywhere about the tournament grounds. I remember a seeker with a very pointy moustache almost running into me at one point, while I was well away from the sidelines. I also saw the snitches performing quite gymnastic feats- walking on their hands, leapfrogging standing stationary people, and twice they grabbed seekers who were lunging at them and curled back, rolling head over heels backwards.
Middlebury alumnus founded and now run the IQA- International Quidditch Association. They’re a Quidditch powerhouse!
There weren’t as many confused muggles as I was expecting, the media seemed to be the most confused. Clueless, but also patronizing. Some parents were also confused, but cheering in an amiable “I’m not really sure what’s happening but Go Team!” way.
Now now, Vendy, “alumnus” is singular. You used it as a plural.
I had a delightful evening mauling apples and then squeezing them to make apple cider, as well as exploding bamboo in the bonfire. It was most enjoyable. Blowing things up is so much fun. If you bury the bamboo under a bunch of coals when it explodes it shoots sparks everywhere and is quite impressive.
So I log onto MuseBlog and am greeted with a
. Oh dear.
Ah. *rubs eyes* So bright and vicious.
When you see the blog graced by large, pink rodents of unusual size you know the administrators are having a bad day.
Well, everybody asked for a picture…
Fortunately, it was almost time to start Part 2.
SFTDP:
I’m sorry, but I have something just so wonderfully cool to post right this second. It’s a Swedish dude who calls himself FreddeGredde playing guitar and keyboard to create a TV show theme mashup. He does Firefly and How I Met Your Mother and about sixteen more.
The link is right here (youtube . com/watch?v=8i7u3fl-hP8) [No live links, please. We’d prefer no links at all. –Admin.] so check it out. He’s very talented, and has more or less no accent.
I just realized that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY AVATARS has to do with video games. I need a life.