August Random Thread: ???
The renewed suspense is excruciating, isn’t it? But that’s life here on MuseBlog.
Date: August 1, 2012
Categories: At the Top of the Blog, Random craziness
Friday, 26 April 2024
Life, the universe, pies, hot-pink bunnies, world domination, and everything
The renewed suspense is excruciating, isn’t it? But that’s life here on MuseBlog.
Date: August 1, 2012
Categories: At the Top of the Blog, Random craziness
Anyone else doing Camp Nanowrimo this month?
no
HELLO
Last night of vacation, kind of. This morning was the last. Now we’re in a hotel in… Nebraska? Iowa? I don’t even remember. The rest of the family is sleeping but I”m wide awake (surprise surprise) which is good because I’ve been getting CABIN FEVER having to be around family nonstop.
Castle: POKEMON YES GOOD
I had to stop because vacation/no internet but I am about 20 or 30 episodes into season two. WIll be starting up again soon!
Choklit Orange: My college when promoting their anti-stress thing finals week gave out little colored stress balls with our college president’s face on them. Marginally better attempt?
Littlebasementkitten: I had a similar problem last summer! There was a hoodie online that I desperately needed but it was custom made and $300. I ended up making one myself for about $20, and love it/wear it a lot (it is designed so the wearer resembled Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon).
Also… I’ve been playing Dragon Age. I still am not a video game person (by necessity–too much work) but this was $10 for it + expansion pack + downloadable content that would originally have been $114 and I have spent a lot of time in a car this week. Fun!
Hi everybody!!
Wow, it’s been a while. I’m sorry for my abscencensencscsenesece I can never spell that correctly
I felt I was obligated to at least pop in on MB’s birthday! So I did. I don’t know if I’ll be around more, but I think I might try!
I am feeling a bit better. I do have an appointment with my psychiatrist tomorrow (although she’s kind of annoying) and I am on medication! Thanks to everyone for all the support you’ve given me over the past few years; it really has helped.
Wow, it’s almost my fifth blogiversery! There should be some new faces around, shouldn’t there. Hello to the phytes and the other paleos!
I had to do summer school for geometry, but the good news there is that I got 103% in the class. I’m very pleased with myself, and will hopefully continue to do well in school!
I might look around a little more before I depart. See you around!
Aha, and since there is now a Random Thread I can post on:
I have returned, after a delightful month away from home! I cannot overstate how much I love Europe. (I am going to England in a month’s time, it’s not quite the same as the Continent.) I’ve got a month till school starts (previously I’d only have two more weeks) and I’m hoping to be able to read lots. Daphne du Maurier – I first heard of her when we were visiting Cornwall, appropriately enough, which makes sense. How I’ve missed being able to make rambly posts.
Anyway, how is everybody?
Posting from a plane. About to go on a road trip with my grandmother!
WHAT THE CAKE IS WRONG WITH GRAVATAR?
i tried to make a new one, and they won’t pop up. Decidedly less than happy.
Sometimes it takes a while.
I looked a bit closer when I went to change mine, and saw that all of mine turned to X. Can’t use any of them here. I made new ones, and even though I hit G, they were still X. Must be a bug orsomething. Am very mad.
I don’t drink tea too often, especially during summer, but when the morning is relatively cool and I’ve given up trying to sleep by 6:30 (insomnia strikes again), nothing else will work for me. I keep a container of teabags hidden in my room, and as soon as I opened it it was like spice-aroma heaven. Tea and bagels. Nom.
The caterpillar escaped. *facepalm*
I’m sorry. I almost said it would be easy to find again because it was bound to have returned to the milkweed, but then I remembered how many plants you’d have to search.
Oh, I found it again. It didn’t escape very far, just across the table. But the question is how it did it. The thing we are keeping it in is made of mesh, but the holes are too small for it to fit through. And there are no gaps.
I am thinking of calling it Houdini.
Also, Houdini is in a chrysalis now! He went in earlier today. It was really cool, I got to see him form it.
How are your caterpillars doing?
Killer is really big. REALLY big.
You just wouldn’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big he is.
He’s about 4.3 feet long. Rounded.
I didn’t see this, oops! Anyway, there were some slight difficulties. They were eating up everything we gave them really quickly, and I was afraid there’d be no milkweed left if I kept this up, so I put them back, assuming I’d get to keep watching them, just from a different location. Unfortunately, they mysteriously disappeared. I am miffed and slightly worried; I really regret not keeping at least one. Congratulations on it working for you, though!
ugh i feel awfull
my allergies are bad. i have a slight cold. i can hardly talk because my throat hurts. my dose id plugget do i dalk like dis. vicks helps (a salve that somehow clears sinus) but right now my eye is watering so bad i can hardly even see. i hate myself now <sickface
I’m really sorry; I know what it’s like to have such awful allergies. But don’t think for a moment that it’s your fault. You didn’t choose this to happen. It certainly isn’t worth hating yourself over.
Don’t hate yourself for something you can’t control! I really do think there is something going around (even though I probably live on the other side of the country from you). My dad found out today he has strep and one of the girls in marching band doesn’t feel well (although that might be because she’s in the piccolo section).
☕
?
♪
Special Characters
Is that tea, or soup, and either way, can I have some?
It’s all mine. MINE MINE MINE!
SFTMP! I certainly don’t understand your post well enough to pie or squid it.
â˜
HOOOOME
till uh
like 8pm tomorrow
then I leave for another 10 days
but in fact this is an example of EXCELLENT PLANNING, because getting away from my family after 10 days of cars, tents, and hotel rooms with them I have SEVERE CABIN FEVER. I’ve already declared myself an only child so it’s good to leave before things get even more drastic.
Hi MuseBlog! It’s been… awhile since I’ve been here, but I guess I’m nostalgi, because I’m back. I don’t know if I’ll stick around, but for now, hi! It’s me!
Um. Anyways. Let’s see. What should I say in this post and will it stop being stream of conscious-y at some point? (Answer to the second part: probably not. It’s almost midnight.) Anyways, I’m headed off to college at the end of the month, which I’m very excited about. Other than that, this summer has been really low-key, and a lot of my time has been spent doing chores and such. Let’s see… I have developed an appreciation for superhero movies recently (thank you, Avengers), but otherwise, I’m the same as always.
So… yeah, I’m back. This was relatively incoherent.
Welcome back! I’m glad to see you!
I find stream of consciousness posts are some of the nicest to read, since I get to see the random stuff in people’s minds.
Tell us about college!
Hi, speller! What piece of the world are you dominating nowadays? Had any good pie lately?
AVENGERS HAS MADE ME LIKE SUPERHERO MOVIES AS WELL.
Anyways, hi! I’m Agent Hippie and I hope you’ll be able to post more so I can get to know you!
Totally Avengers’s fault. Like I planned to watch it because Joss Whedon and in any case my friends were really into it, so we went to see it together… And then I wound up watching a bunch of the recent Marvel movies. And loving them.
I still need to watch Thor and Captain America. I DON’T CARE HOW NERDY MY FAMILY THINKS I AM, I WILL WATCH THEM.
I still need to watch Captain America. Thor is… okay, it’s not good, but it’s totally worth it for Loki and Darcy and Sif if you’re able to put up with some cheesiness.
Captain America wasn’t Iron Man, but it was wonderful in a very specific kind of way, where the hero is a Hero and the villain is a Nazi and everything is as 1940s as it gets. Also, Steve and Bucky’s friendship is basically the greatest thing ever and makes me feel so warm and fuzzy it physically hurts. (Oh my god the title Captain America 2 made me scream aloud when I saw it I’m so excited)
Captain America is my favorite of the Avengers because he so gosh-darn AMERICAN.
Wait…they’re making a second one!? *head explodes*
Right now what’s scheduled is Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Captain America 2, Thor 3, Captain America 3, Avengers 2, Avengers 3, and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Because Marvel loves us and wants us to be happy.
I heard that Christopher Eccelston might be in Thor 2 as the villain? My reaction was a mix between “WOOOO NINE” and “But … what about Loki?”
*grumbles loudly about how there needs to be a Black Widow movie because seriously she is awesome and there should be more superhero movies with female protagonists (especially ones who are as awesome as Black Widow)*
I mean… I totally don’t have a favorite at all.
I’m hoping she’ll show up in Captain America 2, since Winter Soldier and Black Widow canonically have the greatest history, like, ever. Dangerous Communist Russian superspy brainwashed assassin makeouts forever, please.
Or hey a SHIELD movie can we have a SHIELD movie I want to see what happened in Budapest um yeah. Yeah. More Black Widow forever please? yes good.
I desperately want to know what happened in Budapest. Like… just give me a movie that explains that in some way. I don’t care if it’s a SHIELD movie or a Hawkeye movie or a Black Widow movie (but mostly I want a Black Widow movie because she is amazing).
I didn’t realize until much later* that Thor’s rowdy companions were copied and pasted from Hal’s pals in Shakespeare’s Henry IV. Volstagg… Falstaff… coincidence? Thor’s relationship with Odin was also a blatant theft from the play.
I’m not blaming Marvel. I think it was classy of them to borrow from the Bard.
*(I mean, later than when I was a kid reading Thor comic books in the 1960s.)
Thor was pretty awesome, if you were wondering.
AVENGERS. SPIDER-MAN. BATMAN. FOREEEEVVVVEEEERRRR.
And welcome back, I suppose.
FIND THE V’S N THESE W’S!
VVVVVVVVVVWVVVVVVVVV
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVWVVVV
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVWVV
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVWVVVV
WVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
VWVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
SHOULD BE EASY
B@MAN!
Ohmygod, Speller! Hi! It’s been a while!
speller73 ummm… nope don’t know you. i don’t think you know me either
my name is Catwings. i have started a little “Water Clan” in case you would like to join. also i want nothing to do with dogs but want to be buried in cats. i usually pretend to be a cat with wings. with my friend Venus. and my favorite food is cheeseburgers i am on a diet my favorite color is blue i have 2 cats named Sweetie and Warriormygrandpa hasdozensofcatsathishouseandmyaunddoestobutshehasdogsandBULAHMULAHMULA *long gasp* so how’s your day?
You have a cat named “Warriormygrandpa”?
Stop making me laugh! I did a million sit-ups yesterday and my abs are still sore!
Was that was a million situps, or did it just feel like it? Either way, ouch.
Even if she managed to do a situp every second for 24 hours straight, that would only be 86,400 total, so it can’t have been literally a million. I agree, though; it still must have felt awful.
Hey, it’s an original name for a cat.
just Warrior
Hi, speller! Great to see you dropping by!
Oh my glob you guys. San Fransisco in two days. *hyperventilates*
YES YES YES
COME TO USSSSSSSSSS
Guys guys YOU GUYS
spurred by the falling apart of my old concertina and my having been desirous of an upgrade for a long time and being restricted in my playing by the instrument itself……
I have a new concertina!
It’s gorgeous.
It’s a newly made one, 45-key English tenor.
The action is so light and quick! The sound is so clear! The bellows don’t leak! I can be expressive on it! It sounds so much more crisp! It is GLORIOUS.
It’s so exciting. I played it pretty much the entire day yesterday, and I can do so much more with it! It’s wonderful!
Getting a good instrument and finding out that you can do so much more than you could previously is such a wonderful and exciting feeling. I remember when I got my current violin and couldn’t stop playing it because it was SO GOOD.
I’m going through that again, only with concertina.
EEEEEEEEEEE!
In other news, I’m home again, then off again in a week.
Glarg I need to unpack and then repack, but I don’t want to. I will just sit around and concertina forever.
Photograph?
Yes.
NO HOMEWORK
…I shouldn’t have to be happy about that. School hasn’t started.
Still, though, it’s the first day of the week I’ve lacked it, since I’m at my school’s camp. And I was Sorted today! That’s not the proper terminology, but I don’t care about that for once, because I like to pretend I’m starting Hogwarts. Anyway, my school has 10 Houses–actually, they’re called families, but I don’t care about that, either; they’re essentially the same. The difference is that A) My school doesn’t have a talking, telepathic hat, and B) It chooses which students go where randomly instead of based on qualities. My house was named after a type of M&Ms, which is ironic, because I’m allergic and also vegan, but at least I know where I am now. I don’t know anyone in it, unfortunately, and what’s worse, someone does remember me, so I had to tell him I kind of have no recollection whatsoever of him. There is someone who wants to become a marine biologist, though! Except she’s a sophomore, but I’ll still get to know her because she’s in my House–and maybe we’ll be in the same Spanish class or something.
Anyway, I am itching for tomorrow because that’s when I’m interviewed for the chance to volunteer where I want and find out whether I get in; also, I’m taking a test that I really want to pass because although we aren’t expected to until the end of sophomore year, I have to by the end of this year to in order to get dual credit for my (advanced) Spanish class–and also, I just want to get it out of the way.
And the zoo is taking teen volunteer applications! I really, really want to get in. I’m only 14, but I’m technically allowed to apply, and I plan to. Unfortunately, the deadline is a few days before school (and my service learning volunteering) starts, so I can’t wait until I have one more volunteering credential. It’s a very competitive program; I applied for the (slightly less awesome but very similar) summer volunteer program, and that didn’t work, so I’m not getting my hopes up.
my cat is a ninja! =3
just now my cat Warrior was staring down at Sweetie my other cat and was staring at her (he is a black kitty he looks like a ninja!) so… dad made a noise in the kitchen and Sweetie looked up just for a moment and Warrior leaped up in the air did a backflip and landed on her and they started fighting, no kidding
I AM BREEDING A NINJA
To my greatest surprise and utter delight, I managed to get a 5 on the AP European History exam! I was quite literally running around the flat with joy when I found out. I’m still finding it hard to believe that a whole year of ceaseless slog and hard work and teacher scare-tactics has finally culminated in this! I don’t think I could have been happy with anything less, which sounds a tad self-important of me but I tend to hold myself to ridiculously high standards, especially after a year of non-stop essays and general stress!
Congratulations!
Well done, Selenium! For is it not truly said: “To dominate a world, one must dominate its history”?
Actually, I’m not sure anyone has said that or how true it would be if anyone did, but a 5 is an impressive feat in its own right. Pies to you!
Congratulations, Sel! I know you worked really hard for that.
Congratulations, Sel! I knew you could do it.
*highfives*
Congratulations! That’s awesome!
Thank you so much, everyone! Robert, if someone hasn’t said it (Google returns no results) then someone should (and you just did). I like that phrase very much. I feel like the study of history is too often underrated or deemed less significant a discipline because it’s seen as being in the past and so irrelevant, which couldn’t be further from the truth.
I wish I could take a year or two off and do nothing but study history. People in the past weren’t aware of being in the past — just as we aren’t aware of being part of someone else’s past (as we surely will be). I find them intensely interesting.
PLEASEWORKPLEASEWORKPLEASEWORKCAKINGGRAVATARTHINGY!
noooooooo…
What is your gravatar supposed to look like, Prussia?
Oh, I changed it , it’s supposed to look like this, but the first changed to this too. Bonus points to whoever can guess who my gravatar actually is .
England/Arthur Kirkland, from Hetalia. He’s my favorite. ^^
Mine too. Although I also like Prussia
Tea! Four ounces of genmaicha with matcha, two ounces each of Royal Yunnan and Dark Goddess Oolong, and an ounce of Tieguanyin. One of the employees recognized me and asked, “How often do you come here?” “Pretty often,” I answered. “I thought so,” she said, and so she set me up with a rewards account–for every dollar you spend there, you get one rewards point (worth ten cents) which you can spend at any time. So I’m getting ten percent off every purchase there, in effect. The guy at the coffee place this morning recognized me as well. I’m starting to become a regular at all of these places, and in two weeks I’ll be moving back to college. What perfect timing, eh?
Man, I’m ready to get back to school. I still have a lot of paperwork to iron out with the music minor (figuring out what choir to be in, testing out of some classes, etc.), but I love campus life. Three of my classes this semester are being taught by professors I already know, which should be fun as well. I am disappointed I won’t have any classes with the director of the honors program this year–I really enjoyed both of the courses I had with him, and he’s a good person to have connections with. Oh well, I should see him around campus now and then. Oh–I just realized that I could go to this year’s honors symposium too, which he runs and attends. I don’t know what this year’s topic is, though. Something about religion? I’ll keep my ears open.
You’re double majoring, and you’re managing to slip a minor in, too? Congratulations!
That’s the plan. Who knows whether I’ll actually complete everything.
I did it!
I got through the Interview and was accepted! I get to volunteer at a nature park removing invasive plants every Friday instead of taking classes! (My school is so awesome).
Congratulations! That sounds wonderful.
That is AWESOME!! I wish I’d been able to do stuff like that in highschool. Not only will it be an awesome experience, but you’re going to be able to put awesome stuff on your resume when you apply for internships/REU’s.
Congratulations, Bibliophile – a thoroughly well-deserved achievement!
I will now keel over from sheer flamminess.
That’s so cool! It’s educational, helps the local environment, and is hands-on experience– we all wish our schools were that cool.
Awesome! You are so lucky!
Well, my previous malaise about helping the world has ended and has now morphed into resentment that I can’t really seem to do anything as I am right now. This has been fed by my inability to properly pad out the resume I need to make to apply for a work-study position. It just seems like I’ve done absolutely nothing.
I’m aiming for a lab job, but if that’s not available I’d like a position in the library or bookstore. I just don’t want to be one of the people at the cafeteria or gym who spends hours just swiping cards.
There are three labs in the environmental studies department–one dealing with gorilla poop, another with West Nile virus, and the third with bees. I’m aiming for the last one–partially because less ick, and also because it requires the least experience. Like, the gorilla poop lab requires to have previous research lab experience. The bee lab you don’t even have to be a major to apply.
JOB ACQUIRED
I am now a page at the library the next town over.
Well done! Jobs are hard to find. Well, in my area at least… I don’t know about yours. (My town actually is tied for the worst hiring prospects in the nation, so that could have something to do with it…) I’m looking for a job for the fall at the moment. Isn’t job hunting awful?
A page?
Basically you do a lot of shelving and filing and help with whatever miscellaneous jobs more senior librarians throw at you. I was one for two years, it’s a lot of fun.
My first job in high school was as a library page. It was great fun — highly recommended.
I was a library page 2 years ago at my old school, and I spent most of my time reading, not shelving. Now that they’re depending on the self checkout instead of an actual librarian. I’m starting to see a window of opportunity.
I apologize profusely for my (semi) long absence from the blogosphere. Various vacations have made it hard to keep up with posts and other stuff here (And band. Lots and lots of band.).
Anyway, I just got back from camping! Yea! It was fairly uneventful, save for one severe thunderstorm that knocked over a tent (while unoccupied, thank goodness). Now I’ve just got to do band every week until I get back to school. Fun!
Your band seems a lot more intense than mine. In fact, I just finished band camp yesterday (it was a week long) and now we only rehearse three hours every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Hi everyone! It’s AL! Bandcamp ended yesterday! It was pretty much a giant moodswing the whole way through (going from I LOVE MY BAND I LOVE MY SECTION I LOVE MY LIFE THIS IS SO FLAMMY to I CAN’T MARCH TO SAVE MY LIFE THIS IS BAD I WISH I COULD DO SOMETHING RIGHT BWAHAHA)
But it was really fun! Now I have to go get ready for a confirmation retreat for church… the cherry on top of my extremely busy summer…
I cannot hear “We Are Who We Are” without hearing the “Astrobiology” parody lyrics.
I hate it when parody lyrics replace the real ones in your head. ( i.e. “Rolling in the Deep” now sounds like ” I was an Angry Bird”. I deeply apologize if this happens to you.)
With songs I dislike like that, I don’t mind, it’s just interesting. With songs I like, such as We Didn’t Start the Fire, it gets annoying.
That’s started happening to me with American Pie and the Weird Al Star Wars parody. And the sad part is that I actually know at least 75% of the lyrics to the actual version of American Pie.
PI, PI MATHEMATICAL PI
THREE POINT ONE FOUR ONE FIVE NINE
TWO SIX FIVE THREE FIVE EIGHT NINE SEVEN
NINE THREE TWO THREE EIGHT FOUR SIX TWO…
SIX FOUR THREE THREE EIGHT THREE TWO SEVEN
The suspense…
Hey everybody! Guess what? I think I’m probably going back to college next year! After five psychologist appointments my mom seems convinced by the psychologist that not having the best first year at college is normal. Which I kind of knew already. But my mom didn’t understand, and I don’t know why. I guess she was just so great in college.
SAAAAAAAAAAN FRANCISCO!
Chok here! This is the most awesome thin- we’re in the Mission District, and we’re going to a sea shanty singing thing, and everyone here is SO WONDERFUL and this is the first time I’ve met LBK and she is funny an brilliant and charming! Also, Cskia has a steampunkish outfit of awesomeness and is sitting here looking rational, and Cat is just the most awesome, understanding, cute person ever, and R101’s hair is just indescribably cool.
Hi its LBK! I have little time to talk. Everyone is flammy.
Hi! Cat’s Eye here. We’re heading down the street to drop off LBK at BART. I can’t even how wonderful everyone is. Chok’s and R101’s friends are absurdly awesome; we’ve been walking around and talking about all the things. Right now there’s a guy with an accordion playing at us and it’s awesome. I’m looking forward to sea shanties so much, it’s crazy.
Hi, this is Cskia! I am with awesomely squidtastic people and we are currently in a cafe. We saw LBK a while ago and she is so flammy and adorable! SF has a lot of Muserly places, cephalopods and books and all. We shall soon be off to sea shanties!
Hi, gang! I guess it’s unnecessary to tell you to have fun. That’s guaranteed.
Cskia rational? Psssh.
Anyways, I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS POST FOR SO LONG.
Glad to know you guys are having fun!
It sounds like you are all having so much fun, as you know how to do! Also you are inspiring feelings of Kokon envy but have a flammy time, and do tell us all about it!
WOOO RECAP POST. I won’t do the whole thing because it’d take too long, but I’ll tell up to Sea Shanties.
So I met up with Cskia at BART and then R101’s mom was amazing and drove us to San Francisco, where we met up with Chok and some of her/R101’s (I wasn’t quite clear on who knew who) friends, who were awesome, and wandered around the city for a while having fun; we found this cafe/restaurant/bakery/we just don’t know in the Mission District that sells delicious buns for a quarter, and tostadas for just a dollar! Augh beautiful.
Then we went to go see LBK! Who is the coolest, by the way, and has the greatest Portal T-shirt. We headed back to meet up with the friends and then had to drop off one of them at BART so he could head home; sad. Then we made the above post at a cafe and ate really good food. Chok was amazing and bought me a tamale. R101 played the devil on her shoulder and got her to buy cake; I played the angel on her shoulder and said “wings! halo! wings!” a lot.
At that point LBK had to get back to her parents, so we BARTed her back and went into a lovely rendition of “I’ll Make A Man Out of You” on the train. It was pretty darn cool. We got looks that were both appreciative and strange.
We got bubble tea and squid balls and popcorn chicken in Chinatown and hung out at another cafe for a bit, then headed down to the sea shanties! Which was incredible. Some of them were really funny and some of them were just really good and all of them were really Muserly. Also we got free hot cider and hot chocolate, be jealous. After the break we had a cuddle pile in the storage hold below decks, and then went up on deck and talked about superheroes for a bit.
It was a lovely night. The fog was laid over the hills, and the Ghiradelli’s sign had a golden glow that bled through it, and the lights of the cities and the buildings of San Francisco looked as if you were seeing them through the lens of a dream; and the water went on forever and ever and ever, with lights glimmering on it from distant ships. Cskia and Chok and I watched the waves on the shore, and I wondered how something as enormous and magnificent and frightening and beautiful as the ocean could have an edge so small and hushed. And the night was quiet, and the city was glowing golden, and inside the ship people were singing.
Went backpack-hunting with Dad today, and after several hours finally found one.
But it was fun to spend some time with him. I grumped about everything because I hate shopping and we laughed a lot.
I have a bit less than a week left at home before I’m gone again. I appreciate being home, but I really prefer being on my own. I like being in charge of what I do and where I go, which I am not when I’m here. Ah well.
It looks like I’ll have a roommate after all, one of my friends realized she didn’t really want to live where she’d been planning, and since I needed a roommate and she’s friends with my suitemates, it all worked out. I think we’ll be fine.
Is the rest of the country as overrun by yogurt places as southern California is? Because there is literally one every block.
They’re in vogue here as well, though not that severely.
Like, frozen yogurt? We’ve got at least four I can name off the top of my head in our area. And that Greek yogurt stuff seems to be making a comeback, too. I was listening to a radio show about food and somebody said, “Yogurt is like the soccer of the culinary world” in that it’s a so much bigger thing in the rest of the world than it is in America.
Froyo is the new TRENDY thing. Almost as trendy as fancy cupcake stores. They spring up seemingly overnight, and stay until just past they are hip. Then the next thing crawls in, seemingly overnight.
We did recently acquire one in our town. Apparently it has pistachio flavored yogurt.
There are a quite a few in the Minnesota metro region. GAPAs, can I include that?
Hi y’all! I didnt have much time to post yesterday, so I’ll just say things now.
Everyone was super amazing and R101 had a cool shirt and Cskia gave me a squid drawing and I love Cat’s Eye’s hair and Chok’s shoes were purple and drawn on, which was flammy. We walked for a little bit, and just when we had found a cafe with WiFi, I had to leave. But it was fantastic to spend time with like-minded people.
Also, I live on the East Coast and it’s been hot and muggy there, so this San Fransisco weather is a bit of a shock to my system. But my family and I are going for a bike ride today, so that should be neat!
Help, does anyone know how to pack for boarding school? I haven’t got a clue about how to begin, and my parents want me to have made a full list by tomorrow night (because apparently everything needs to be labelled). I feel like there’s loads and loads of things I need because I’ll be living there for so many months, but I don’t know how to start… Advice appreciated.
1. Clothes. What will the weather be like? Will you need to pack for more than one season, or will you be coming home in between and able to take more clothes back then? Have more underwear than you think you need. I like to do laundry about once a week but have two or so weeks worth of clothing. Will you need more formal clothes for anything? How formal?
2. Toiletries. You can probably buy most of these there, but is there anything that would be hard to find?
3. Electronics / cords. Don’t forget your phone charger.
4. Comfort items. Do you have a pillow that you like? Books? A stuffed animal or two? Some non-perishable snacks from home?
Also, check regulations at your school – you may not be allowed to have that coffee maker, or that clubbing shirt.
Basically anything you can’t imagine living without. hahahahahahaha
1) Clothes! I’d try to grab at least one of every type of clothing. And your favorite ones of course. And yes, bring more underwear than you think you’re going to need. And don’t forget towels! And sheets! And a pillow! (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve left my pillow at home and was miserable for a week or so until I could go back home to get it) Because they’re important too!
2) Yes toiletries! toothbrush, shampoo, soap, shavers, hair dryer, etc. Will your own toilet paper be provided there? And bring paper towels! They always come in handy!
3) Bring cleaning supplies! Clorox wipes are amazing! And a broom is nice.
4) What is being provided to you there? Maybe you’d like a lamp. Light is always nice, especially if you have roommate who might go crazy and go to bed at 8:30 pm when you have to stay up and study for a test the next day. Maybe you have a comfy chair you like? Something to play music/radio?
5) Bring a few dishes! At least something to drink out of for that moment where you wake up in the middle of the night and your mouth feels like it’s been shoveled full of sand.
6) Bring homey things. This may be your room for a while. Maybe you have a poster on your wall at home or a pirate devil duckie that you like to place on your dresser? Picture frames of people you may miss while you’re there?
7) Things you like! ARt? Bring a few supplies. Books? Bring 3 or 4 you like/are planning on reading. Pie baking? Bring your cook book! Underwater basket weaving? … you may be out of luck, sorry. lol
8) Wander around your room/house and look at random things. Think to yourself… do I use this/something similar on a regular basis? Will I die if I don’t have this? If the answer is yes, please bring it. We don’t want you to die. And just so you know, this is how I packed for college the first time.
Thank you everybody, this is really helpful. I’ve got a sort of general impression of the things that I’ll need (clothes, toiletries, the obvious) but you know how sometimes when there’s so much to do it’s difficult to start the whole process? Well anyway, here goes.
Good luck, Sel!
I have now completed a highly important and infinitely significant rite of passage:
I shaved for the first time today!
*crickets*
I have no right to be as proud as I am right now.
This is the most adorable.
Can I just say, as a girl, it’s fairly recently come to my attention that a handful of guys my age that I know have fairly impressive beards, and it seriously wigs me out.
I have always associated beards with, like, older people.
But now I am the same age as beard-enabled people.
It’s definitely a “huh, am I old now?” moment.
Blame the hipsters. They seem to be the ones pushing the younger-people-beard thing. It seems to be an increasingly popular thing at my High Schools(s), and I thougroughly agree with your wigged-outedness.
I started shaving at the very end of being 13 (or the very beginning of being 14, but it was somewhere within that month).
Since then, I have determined that A. razor burn sucks and B. at the current rate of growth I’m going to be able to grow a full (albeit mildly scraggly) beard by the time I’m 16 or 17 or so.
This is a slightly disconcerting thing to determine.
Also, you have EVERY right to be that proud. It’s pretty cool. Congratulations on your newfound…uh…cleanshaven-ness?
I’ve only ever cut myself shaving once, and that was the second time I did it. Nobody ever taught me how, so I sort of just did what seemed right and I went at a bad angle and gave myself a paper-cut-sized slice.
Same goes for me, I’ve only cut myself once (also on my second time).
Only I started shaving about a month before I turned 16, and I only have to shave about once a week even now (a whole 2 months later). I’m only able to grow sideburns and a very faint mustache though.
Remember, just because you’re able to doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.
Whenever I grow facial hair, no matter how slight, I look terrifying. I wouldn’t recommend it.
THIS PLEASE
SFTMC.
I’ve had the same feeling going to band camp and seeing seniors with beards and realizing, “Whoa I am in the same school as people who have beards.”
I am continually amazed that I am the same age as 20 year olds.
When Sel turned 16, I was confused because I’d thought she was only 2 years older than me. Then I realized she was.
I suppose I should also mention that despite being wigged out by it, I will admit that well-done facial hair is an attractant.
Hahaha, you should be proud!
The first time I shaved, I thought it was awesome, but now, it’s just a hassle cause I am never able to shave the hair on my neck area properly.
The weird thing is I have to to shave daily when I’m just sixteen and I’ve heard from other students in my school that they only have to shave once a week or so.
You are no longer hairy. This is a good thing. I never really liked beards. Probably because I’ve seen too many guys who attempt to have beards but really shouldn’t. Tis the curse of the neck beards. And also the fact that some guys I’ve known for some reason have red beards when their hair is not red. It looks strange. I’d think they’d at least dye their beard/hair so that they were the same color…
Hahaha. Dying a beard… that would be hard and tedious I bet. But yeah I know several people with the brown hair/red beard thing going on.
So I just got home and finished eating after nearly two hours of commuting/walking. R101’s mom was so kind to allow us to sleep over.
I can’t possibly recap it all, but although I don’t like big cities (and San Francisco in general), there are some really nice places there. Like this cozy little bookshop with an octopus cardholder and a lot of gorgeous little notebooks too expensive to buy but still beautiful nevertheless. And a display of shiny, pointy things and a photo of a squid right above it. Whee!
To meet LBK was wonderful. She got us these really, really adorable dolphin erasers that I am never going to be using because it’s just so cute. I only wish she could’ve wandered around with us for longer.
Sea Shanties were indeed wonderful. It’s so nice sitting in a cozy room in a ship singing loudly without fear of being off tune or whatever, with other people doing the same. It’s such a warm feeling. Plus the ship is gorgeous, as Cat mentioned.
We enjoyed delicious, free hot cider/chocolate and wandered around the ship, which smelled so nice and welcomingly wooden. And then we found squishy bag things, and Chok, Cat, and R101’s muserly friends started a cuddle puddle while R101 and I watched amusedly.
And the fog was gorgeous, and all the lights on Ghirardelli Square were just masked in this delightful haze, and the Golden Gate Bridge was half hidden by the cloudiness, and the waves crashed lightly on the shore and the foam swirled and vanished and made quiet bubbly noises as they dissolved away.
And I might come back to type more later but I think I need a nap. Kokons are amazing.
Guys guys guys! I’m at violin camp and I may only have a few minutes because I’m in the mini-Apple Store at the bookshop, pretending like I’m legitimately shopping for a computer so I can use the iMacs. This means that every few minutes, I frown, make a “hmmm” noise, and act like I’m reading the computer’s specifications.
Anyway, yesterday was quite possibly the best day this summer. I had the most amazing time- scampered around the city, wandered into bookstores and an incredibly cheap Guatemalan bakery, got to meet LBK (an experience I highly recommend), sang I’ll Make a Man Out of You(loudly) and Do You Hear the People Sing (off-pitch) with Cat and Cskia while walking down the streets and standing on the subway. We pretty much traversed Chinatown and half the city on our way to Sea Shanties, through the Italian District, and we stopped at a Trader Joe’s to buy chocolate. Sea Shanties was just. Oh my god. So much fun. Any evening involving a song that features castration by shark is a good evening.
Cskia, Cat, and I went out onto the pier and watched the ocean in the dark. We could see the outline of the Golden Gate Bridge looming through the fog, and the lights of a boat far out in the bay, and hear the foghorns of enormous ships that we couldn’t see. The water was quietly, rhythmically crashing onto the dark beach, the lights of the city were behind us, and it was sort of magical.
R101’s friend bought a cup of whipped cream at Ghirardelli Square, and we all shared it in the dark at a bus stop. On our way to the BART station in a streetcar (sort of like a non-expensive cable car), Cat stood there as though she was surfing, staring into the distance and pointing a spoon in front of her and talking about how we’re basically in the future, right now, which is COOL.
And then we all stayed overnight (well, overmorning- we stayed out past midnight) at R101’s house, because she’s awesome and her mother is awesome and picked us up, and she has the cutest puppy. We formed a sort of cuddle quadrilateral on a bed, too.
By the way, R101 is just cool, and has awesome hair and is full of science, and Cskia is still adorable and funny and actually, I think we all decided that she’s clearly plotting something devious, and that’s why she’s so quiet and sensible on the outside.
So, SO MUCH fun and SO MUCH cuddling with SO MANY wonderous people, and I am so tired, so tired, so tired, you have no idea, I’m jetlagged and haven’t eaten in ages and basically got home at 11 this morning and fell asleep for hours.
Ghiradeli square sounds flammy. Nom, choclate
MMMGH GHIRADELI *drools* CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE CHOCOLAAATTEE
That all sounds so cool particularly, well, everything, but especially the chocolate and the shanties! Which shanties did you sing?
ALL THE SHANTIES. ALL OF THEM. There were the well-known ones like “Drunken Sailor” and “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore”; there was “The Ballad of Captain Kidd” and “The Mary Ellen Carter”; there was one very funny one that’s apparently called “The Limerick Shanty”, which involved the aforementioned castration by shark. Those are just the ones I can remember. It was wonderful.
What boat were you on? I’m interested because you might have met people I know!
It was the Balclutha! (I hope I spelled that right.)
Ooh, lovely! No one I know then I guess. But that’s super awesome! Are shanties a regular event on board? I’m guessing she doesn’t sail?
SQUEEEEEE! CURIOSITY!
Have to go print my boarding pass for tomorrow, and then bed, but then… CURIOSITY!
34 (Cskia)~ What ship were you on for the shanties? That sounds awesome!
Okay ‘blog people, here’s a mystery for you. We (my family) just found a line of worms or caterpillars or something going across our driveway. That would be uneventful, however this is a TON of them, they’re very small, and they’re all crawling together and on top of each other and creating a chain that’s moving at a fairly good pace (for how small they are and since they don’t have legs and all that). They’re small, yellowish with brown on their backs, and have a kind of transparent look to them. Black heads.
What I also find interesting is that traveling on either side of the chain are smaller brown critters that look segmented and that have legs. But they definitely seem to be traveling with the chain.
Anyone know what this is? I took some pictures which I can send in if anyone’s interested.
Hm–I had an enormous horde of caterpillars once. It wasn’t just in my driveway, though; it was all over my yards and (to some extent) my house. It was also a different kind, from your description.
I can’t tell you what they are, but I would love to see pictures and would like to ask if you are certain they don’t have legs.
Enc (33)- Woohoo! If you have the genes for it, facial hair is a great artistic medium, in my opinion. I call my current work “Weekend Détente”, by which I mean to say I haven’t shaved since Friday and so I’m thoroughly stubbly. I’m thinking of shaving an impressionistic interpretation of Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” into it.
Yesterday I got to chop down a tree. I even managed to pull it away from the power lines on one side without hitting the shed on the other. I also got to put my new boots through a real baptism by fire. I now know that they can protect my feet from falling wheelbarrows holding tree stumps.
This afternoon my parents and I went to Wilber, Nebraska, the presidentially-confirmed “Czech Capital of the USA”, to their yearly Czech festival. The dinner we had at the old hotel there was fantastic. Roast duck, sauerkraut, dumplings, gravy, rye bread, applesauce, and kolaches. As I was eating the duck I ran into a piece that seemed to have a different texture from the rest of the meat. I poked at it, examined it, and finally popped it into my mouth. “Oh! Liver!” I don’t know how I got lucky there. The applesauce was phenomenal–I didn’t think it was possible for applesauce to be so good. I don’t know how they did it. The kolaches were top-notch too. None of my ancestors are actually Czech, as far as I know, but I’m part Polish and I figured that was close enough.
i have something to ask you guys.
i can’t seem to get my favorite character from my favorite movie out of my head! i can’t seem to get him out of my head! everything i do or say makes me think about this character. is it a bad thing to think about him all the time?
Hm. How often do you watch this movie? When was the last time you saw it?
it’s a show actually and every Saturday it’s on in the mornings. but sometimes i record it and watch it a few times. but they have a movie. when i was like, 6-7 i watched it EVERY HOUR OF THE NORMAL DAY. it is a really cool movie.
If the character you are referring to is Wolverine, I understand entirely. But that’d probably be too much of a coincidence. And no it isn’t bad to think about him a lot. As long as you aren’t a crazy fan girl who follows the actor relentlessly on twitter, sends him letters every day, writes songs about him, watches the movie 5 times every day, has installed a hidden camera in the actors house, and has a cardboard cut-out of the character in her room with which she has conversations with on a regular basis. If you did all those things, I would be worried. But I’m sure that’s not the case, so you are perfectly fine. ^_^
its a cartoon… and the voice person is probably dead so no! i do not follow him on twitter, send him letters. but i do love the moovie and i WANT to watch it 5 times a day. but i can never find the time.
oh it’s awesome
search videos/pictures/web and type “She-Ra Princess Of Power Movie” i think. that is the movie i love! if you ever get a chance to watch it the one that stammers every time he talks, has 4 legs and has big ears. that is my… i want to say “Crush” which is true but that’s not the word i am looking for really. that is my favorite character i talk about earlier. his name is Mantanna and for some reason i can’t stay away from him =3
SFTDP
search his name in pictures with “She-Ra princess of power” then you will get a better discription because he is undescribeable
i cannot spell ANYTHANG!
well… i did write a song
Well, nothing’s bad about that! I believe Robert wrote a full musical based on Lord of the Rings when he was about 10 (is that right?).
I completely understand you
it’s not BAD unless it’s somehow detracting from the quality of your life in some way
it is not really… Mantanna IS my life basically.
i think it is maxed out totally to the aawesome
I LOVE GUMBY HE-MAN SHE-RA COOKIES AND OLD 60S-80S TV SHOWS aaaaaaahhhhhh
Is it normal to dream about movies one has never seen?
I’ve done it before, if I’ve heard a lot about them.
When I was eleven, I started to read Eragon for the first time, got through around three paragraphs before I went to sleep, and had a dream about the whole book based on those paragraphs.
I’ve done it before.
I’ve had Twilight nightmares.
I volunteered at the Conservators’ Center today, and I got to visit our baby Geoffrey’s Cats, Tango and Clara. They were so adorable! Tango liked to jump on my shoulder and bat at my pigtails. ^_^
Hey guys! Just wanted to let you knwo there’s a cool cgi tool that’s like an acompaniment to go with the control room reactions for the Curiosity Landing. You can get to it here:
http:// eyes.nasa. gov/player/launch2.html?document=%24SERVERURL%2Fcontent%2Fdocuments%2Fmsl%2Fedl .xml
It is mostly harmless and a cool way to “watch” what’s happening, along with nasa tv!
I wholeheartedly recommend Eyes on the Solar System.
Oh, and, incidentally, hello from NASA HQ!
Flammy to the ^nth!
HELLLOOOOO
SOO COOOOOOL
HAVE FUUUNNNNNNN
In the cgi, not realtime:
SEPARATION HAPPENING!
The parachute is open and in the cgi I can see the little rover inside! It’s so cute!
SEPERATION AGAIN! ANd thrusters manage to push it away!
LOWERING NOW!!! Aaaand landed. Can only hope everything goes as well in realtime!! Hoping for pictures!
Hmm. My view has a cat in the middle of it…
Cats know that where there’s water, there might be tuna.
It worked this time, as it happened.
So Curiosity did not kill the cat — au contraire.
In fact, you might say that Curiosity filled your cat.
Woo, pictures! And–a higher res one now! And everyone at NASA is crying and hugging each other and–here’s picture #3! The rover’s shadow in the late afternoon sun! But Odyssey’s leaving now so we’ll have to wait for Mars to spin some more.
Good luck, Curiosity!
ENTRYYY!!!!!
TELEMETRY DATA!
PARACHUTE! AND DECELERATION!
SEPARATION NOW!
AND POWERED FLIGHT!
TOUCHDOWN CONFIRMED!!! YOU DID IT, LIL’ ROVER! CURIOSITY HAS LANDED
Wow! The crazy gadget worked!
Wheels down on Mars!
PICTURES!! SO COOL!
I am waiting for them to be posted on their site so I can stare forever dfbjsknaA SO COOL
I hugged random strangers and patted the head of the Science Mission Directorate on the back! And clapped my hands into hamburger meat! And there were peanuts!
I wonder whether any of our New York MBers are in Times Square.
at first I read that as you patted him on the head, not you patted the back of the person in charge But so exciting! I’m happy you could be there!
I read it the same way.
As did I.
Same!
Kai, you are incredibly lucky. I’ve probably said this to you about fifty seven times over the years.
But wow, it worked it worked it worked!!
I am TOO EXCITED TO SLEEP
I guess I’ll play dragon age to calm down or something
I JUST WANT TO SEE PICTURES AUFIBNDJSANKG I LOVE TECHNOLOGY SO MUCH
Me: I can’t believe the crazy gadget worked.
Pollyhymnia: Must be because everybody wore their lucky blue shirt.
Richard Kerr [our planetary-science writer]: nah, had to be the lucky peanuts, or that engineer’s lucky mohawk haircut with the stars on the side.
Don’t forget my fingerless gloves.
♥
I’ve been looking for you on the video feed, but it keeps showing pictures of engineers.
There’s a video feed of HQ? All I’ve seen is JPL.
No, it’s all JPL, as far as I can tell.
Then you wouldn’t have seen me, but I can send you a picture.
I LOVE YA DOC ELACHI!
?
Dr. Charles Elachi, JPL’s awesome leader.
(Things that sound reasonable when posted at 3 AM but silly in the morning.)
*can’t think of a clever quip about this* (oh well) Yay, Curiosity!
I love it when MuseBlog is so excited about space-related things. It’s just the greatest atmosphere. <3
CURIOSITY YAYYYYY
But of course, we are the RATS of SPACE!
Who is Mrs. Frisby?
Urania?
Curiosity! Yay! Space is just so cool.
WOOOOOOCURIOSITY!
Sarcastic 3PM JPL press conferences are the best.
What happened?
My BFFL, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and Presidential Science Advisor John Holdren gave nice speeches. Then Charles Elachi, the head of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said that the people on the podium were the ones who had been in charge, but everyone who worked on the rover deserved to be recognized, so he invited the whole control room out for high-fives and cheers of “J-P-L! J-P-L!”
Then the heads of the team were talking about how excited they were, and one guy flat-out said: “That rocked!” And when they were answering questions from the press, they were all happy and silly and sarcastic because WE HAVE BEEN UP FOR HOURS AND WE JUST LANDED ON MARS.
I have to go back to bed now (we Ancient Ones need our sleep). Before I do, though, I’ll post this picture Midnight Fiddler sent of her new concertina:
Her description:
Here’s the new family member at the Fiddler residence…
45-key tenor Morse “Geordie”, and a complete dream to play. :3
That’s beautiful!
Great to see, Fiddler!
Isn’t a Geordie someone from the Newcastle area in the UK? Or is Fiddler’s concertina from Newcastle? I’m confused. Either way, it looks fun.
Morse is the maker, Geordie is the name of the model that this concertina is. It’s a 45-key tenor English concertina, and from Massachusetts.
ALSO I AM IN LOVE WITH IT.
AS WELL YOU SHOULD BE!
Ooh, gorgeous! Can it be used for sea shanties? (We need to have a band practice!)
Hello, I’m testing my new Gravatar…yay, it works!!
Also, I would like to take advantage of the random nature of this thread and the current discussion on it of space-related things, and just say how FREAKING EXCITED I am that they’re rebooting Sailor Moon next summer!!!!!!!!!
Sorry if this has been discussed, but….I just don’t care.
WAIT WHAT
wow that’s like a blast from the past
GUESS I’LL HAVE TO REWATCH ALL THAT TOO
You didn’t know?? Haha, yes! And I guess they’re not continuing the storyline (with all the Sailor Stars and crap, lol), but making new episodes? It’s a little confusing…but GOOGLE IT!!!!
Also, a confession: I have Sailor Moon sheets.
>.>
Wait, did “c-r-a-p” seriously just get auto-edited?? O.o
Some people are uncomfortable with it, and it’s not as if any harm is done by the editing, so there isn’t really any reason not to.
Interesting…..well, ok. I just found the fact that “cake” got randomly inserted into my sentence a little…..odd.
Cake is an all-purpose mild oath here, as is explained in the MuseBlog Glossary (which I believe is in HG2MB).
One time I said I was “barely scraping an A” in a class and it autocorrected it to say I was “barely scakeing an A”.
We’ve tried to fix that.
Actually, I’d forgotten we still had the filter activated. It’s nice to know that it works.
I had a truly inspiring experience this morning (despite having to get up at 6 am), watching the video from JPL, and swapping excited comments with Rebecca and a few veteran MuseBloggers. The euphoria almost dissolved my British reserve. I had to go and make tea.
Woohoo Curiosity!
“Who are you? What is that? Oh, what’s that? What is that? Ooh, that thing has numbers on it!”
Hm? Wrong Curiosity?
No, no, long live humanity’s curiosity in all of its forms, most recently represented by the Curiosity rover which successfully landed on Mars last night.
SPAAAAAAAAAAACE
SO MUCH SPACE
HAVE TO EXPLORE ALL THE SPACE
SPACE
SPACE
GUACAMOLE AND NACHOS
NOM NOM NOM NOM
Also my sister just got her trombone! She’s going to play it in band since she’s going into sixth grade and she’s polishing it and giving it a name and it’s just making me so happy.
I LOVE guacamole! Just fyi. lol
did anyone even read post 39.1.1 to 39.3.1 ?
i kind of wanted viewers to read that! you could know something about me
I read it! It is interesting to know.
NASA is today’s top Google search. As it should be.
Where do you get the top google searches for the day? I’ve always been curious about that sort of thing but never found it.
Google Trends.
CURIOSITY oh my god I cried when it landed, it was just that cool! Kai, I can think of no better person to be at NASA headquarters for that. Just. WOW.
There’s a guy standing behind me who looks like Inigo Montoya.
INCONCEIVABLE!
YOU KEEP USING THAT WORD
I DO NOT THINK IT MEANS WHAT YOU THINK IT MEANS
Okay, a question related to NASA and Curiosity:
Does interest in these matters seem to be growing among the general populace? Or am I just surrounded by like-minded people? I know that last night’s landing was a pretty big topic on Twitter, which is populated by a wide range of people, which suggests that it’s not just my friends that are interested in what NASA’s doing. Is this a recent development? Obviously back in the ’60s, for instance, interest was much higher overall, but it seems like Atlantis’ last flight and Curiosity’s landing have been talked about more than earlier missions I’ve seen in my short life.
The “leave a comment ” button wasnt’ working, so I’m hitchhiking on Piggy’s comment. Anyway, Curiosity is so flammy it pretty much deserves it’s own thread, like the Higgs-ish particle.
It really does, but I think all the GAPAs were too excited watching it land to think about making a thread for it. Now that’s a real compliment to Curiosity.
I’ve just made one.
Here’s the link
I just noticed that you altered your name for the landing, and I must say, I approve.
you didn’t notice mine!
you notice everyone else exept me!!!!
Unless I’m mistaken, your name change is unrelated to the Curiosity landing. Mantanna is a character from a TV show, yes? Kai really loves everything to do with space exploration and tends to comment favorably on others’ excitement about it, simply because that’s what interests her. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t appreciate other comments and name changes. However, none of us have time to comment on everything. It’s like how you might comment if someone changed their name to Cats=Awesome but wouldn’t necessarily feel the need to comment on every name change that occurs.
Bibliophile, may I say how I envy your ability to be articulate.
Now, that just isn’t true. I comment on your posts when I have something constructive to add, just as I do with everyone else. I don’t know very much about She-Ra, so I didn’t have much I could say in response to your previous few posts, but I do see that you’ve changed your name.
I apologize for any unpleasantness, I know what it’s like to feel ignored on a web forum.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I HAVE AN UNDERLING!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!
I STOLE YOUR IDEA MWAHHAHAHA!
I’m watching Doctor Who for the first time! It’s awesome.
Yay! Which Doctor did you start on? Which season? Which episode?
9th Season, Episode one. xD
Do you mean the Ninth Doctor?
Must…watch…Doctor…who…
Yes.
It only gets better from here, Cinnamoon.
Good! I’m excited to get to the 10th doctor BECAUSE DAVID TENNANT. The next episode up is Father’s Day, though, and I’ve heard that’s really sad, so I’m nervous.
AHHHH It is sad.
But I’m freaking out now because I just realized that you’re Cinnamoon. Yup. I totally identify everybody by their avatars now instead of their names, and I didn’t recognize yours.
I’m a dolt.
Anyway Doctor Who is amazing and David Tennant is even more amazing. NuWho series 3 ♥♥♥
Yup, that’s me.
I just got back from sailing on my friend’s schooner! ‘Twas really fun–I sang a lot of sea shanties and swam a lot.
Also, my friend’s mom said I could maybe apprentice on the boat next summer. Which would be really cool!
What happened while I was gone? Other than Curiousity, I mean. (I missed a spacey event last year when I was on the boat, too. Hmm.)
RANDOMRANDOMRANDOMRANDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry, little hyper right now. I’m at work, and I only have 10 minutes left, and I felt like popping in!
So, what’s everyone’s favorite nerdy/geeky TV show??
Come on, we all know you have one…don’t be shy. :b
Mine is a tie between “Firefly” and “The Big Bang Theory”. ^_^
you… like… the big bang theory?
ME NO LIKE YOU NOW! I HATE THAT SHOW!
BTW my favorite nerdy-geeky TV show is Gumby. we are getting reruns of them on one of my channels
Why do you hate The Big Bang Theory?
How could you hate The Big Bang Theory? Or, why? It’s one of my favourite shows. (Also, Jim Parsons is mine.)
HOW COULD YOU NOT ABSOLUTELY ADORE THE BIG BANG THEROY!?
Who doesn’t worship a comedy about smart dumb guys in love?
I was first shown the Big Bang Theory by my math teacher on a day when there were only four people in class. T’was amusing.
there’s a commercial on for it right now as i type and i am not even watching the channel it’s on… that’s why!
SFTDP
it is also annoying and they make weird racist/sex jokes that are stupid
Yay! I have my very own doppelganger!
However, they do have Mike Massimino as a reoccurring character, and that surely must be counted as a point in their favor.
don’t know ’em
Mike Massimino is… well, let’s see, how do I put this simply… Mike Massimino is an astronaut from the New York area who was on the last mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope and was the first person to Tweet while in outer space. He’s become a spokesperson for NASA because he’s very polite and laid-back and funny.
My friend says it’s all stereotypes and doesn’t at all represent what nerds are really like. But I’ve never seen it, so I can’t judge.
Well, kind of…but I go to nerd central, and trust me, they’re not that far off. =b
The people I know who LOVE the show are self-proclaimed nerds, and the people I know who HATE the show are self-proclaimed nerds, too. I don’t hear much in between.
Interestingly, my dad loves it, and he doesn’t consider himself a nerd, nor do I consider him one. On the other hand, I am a self-proclaimed nerd and am largely apathetic about it. We may be the exceptions rather than the rule, though.
Out of curiosity, do you have an opinion on it that you would like to share?
Let’s just say I have a very low tolerance for sitcoms…
I am in total agreement with you there. It’s just a sitcom, and it has the most unfunny jokes of almost anything I’ve ever seen. And a laugh track. Ugh.
And yeah, AL, it totally does perpetrate a negative stereotype about nerds.
Actually, it’s taped in front of a live audience.
It’s still quite plausible that the audience includes a claque.
(Actually, I’m just posting this because ‘claque’ is an awesome word that rhymes with ‘quack,’ but still).
There’s also the possibility (likelihood?) of post-production “sweetening.” Furthermore, studio audiences are warmed up by comedians before the taping begins. It’s much easier to find things funny when you’re already laughing.
…I doubt a totally live audience could laugh so convincingly at so many incredibly humorless jokes.
Perhaps not everyone finds them totally humourless.
Woah, I’m sorry, that sounded really angry.
I’m just not a sitcom person, sorry!
Don’t worry; everyone has different interests. Personally I would prefer it without the audience laughter too, but it doesn’t matter as much to me because I enjoy the show.
Laugh tracks (or any disembodied laughter at jokes in sitcoms) makes me feel like the television people are trying to tell me when to laugh.
If the joke’s funny enough, I’ll laugh on my own.
I think the first couple seasons are hilarious, but the newer episodes not so much. It’s like they ran out of actual nerdy references, so they just make sex jokes and Sheldon-is-crazy jokes. Also, they called the Doctor “Doctor Who”. *facepalm*
The sex jokes drive me crazy, but that’s been a part of the show since the start. My family managed to record the entire first season one night during a marathon, and we’ve been watching through it since. It’s a fun show to watch as a family.
Some episodes are stellar while some are less than hilarious – I guess that’s just the way it goes.
Then again, any show that can get such a rousing endorsement from my science teacher and my Knowledge Bowl coach is definitely worth watching. I do enjoy it, and I’m not one for sitcoms or serial TV in general. I love watching Modern Family at my friend’s house, though. Does anyone here like that one?
My parents do. I’m less enthused about it, myself.
I think it’s pretty funny.
Well, that’s harsh…especially when we’re both cats.
i have a good reason for disliking that show
THIER STUPID COMMERCIALS INTERRUPT MY SHOWS AND THE CHANNEL THEY HAVE THEM ON ARN’T EVEN THE CHANNEL THEY SHOW THE ACTUAL SHOW ON! WHY WOULD ANY IDIOT PLACE A COMMERCIAL FOR A SHOW ON A CHANNEL THAT DOSN’T EVEN HAVE THE EFFING SHOW ON IT?!?!?!?!?!
They do it because the chow pays them to do it.
Anyway, no-one is objecting to your hatred (I think/hope), but maybe we can all try and accept others’ opinions and not judge them for disagreeing about a TV show.
…The show pays them to do it, not the chow.
“Will laugh for food.”
I was actually talking about putting commercials for shows on channels without those shows. That’s a funny thought, though.
why do you always think that someone is yelling or frustrated because someone else is “jugeing” them for something?
You misunderstand. I was actually trying to find a polite way to tell you that although your dislike of the show is perfectly legitimate, saying, “ME NO LIKE YOU NOW! I HATE THAT SHOW!” is a bit much. I understand that you were (probably) joking, but Shadowkat didn’t seem to find it funny, unless she was completely joking, too.
i was joking…
WHY NO BODY UNDERSTAND ME?!
Catwings, it’s often hard to tell whether someone is joking when all the reader has is text to go by. This is especially true when the comment is a short outburst written in uppercase letters. Since capital letters often indicate shouting, in such cases you have to take even more care to be sure your meaning comes through. In person, we could probably tell from your tone of voice, facial expressions, and other clues. Emoticons can help clarify intent, so can “JK” (for “joke”) or other indicators.
Don’t worry, though. It’s something everyone has to figure out at some point or another. You get better with practice, especially if you pay attention to the kind of responses you get. When in doubt, you can always ask for advice.
One of the things I regret about the Internet is that your thoughts and feelings come in only 5 categories, lowercase, ALL CAPS, italicized, bold, and crossed out.
Makes it pretty hard to convey humor.
they should have a special font for humor.
by the way i don’t have any of the codes for the different fonts anyways
i can only do CAPS
Comic Sans should be the sarcasm/humor font since no one can take it seriously.
IT WORKS! THANK YOU!
Catwings- Check the Smileys and code tricks thread, under the HG2MB
Rainbow- SPLENDIFFERIOUS IDEA!!!! We should really get the GAPAs to do that. The only question is how.
I… CAN’T… FIIND… IT!…
last night i dreamed that i had kokon with the Muser named ShadowKat
and i was having fun shopping with her and we went to her house and suddenly we were at MY house and it was on fire!
AAAAAAAARRRRRRRGLARBARGL!!! i meant that to be a single post not to be a REPLY!!! argh! i am stupid
I think the GAPAs did something with the whole blog in Comic Sans for April Fool’s once. Maybe they could add it as an HTML code? Although with the amount of sarcastic comments on the blog, I’m not sure I could stand looking at that font every few posts. >_<
What if we used the green font for sarcasm? Twilight is a quality piece of modern literature that deserves to become a classic. Its likable characters and interlocking plotlines make it far superior to Harry Potter.
We do have a hidden html tag, “upsidedown,” which turns text, well, uʍopǝpısdn. But it looks pretty bad at the best of times, and some browsers (especially mobile ones) don’t show it at all.
The GAPAs don’t like the green font, though. What about this?
…because the “green font” is not a font, nor a decoration; it’s instructions to make a link. It shows a lack of courtesy to lead people to expect a link where there is not one.
I think that’s a good solution, if you need one. It’s readable, and it accentuates the text without wrecking the blog’s color scheme.
The HTML tag is <code> , for those who haven’t seen this before.
Catwings- look up top, near where it says Museblog. If all else fails, here you go .
Robert- sʇǝʞɔɐɹq ǝʃƃuɐ ɥʇıʍ ⡽ǝɔxǝ '[uʍopǝpısdn/] uʍop ǝpısdn ʇuɐʍ noʎ ɟɟnʇs [uʍopǝpısdn] ǝs∩ ˙ǝƃɐssǝɯ ǝɥʇ sdıʃɟ osʃɐ ʇı ʇnq 'pǝıɹʇ I I apologize if that was hard to read.
I’m sorry. Won’t happen again.
yay it works thanks
I thought JK stood for Just Kidding.
Yes, you’re right, slip of the keyboard.
Well, it doesn’t make much difference to the meaning either way.
I feel like I just got here–I suppose that’s not too far off, I got off the boat 7 days ago.
Now I’m packing to be off again, leaving on Thursday morning to go to Ohio and then to North Carolina again. It feels like I’m going home. I actually find driving for hours by myself comforting, does this mean I’m turning into a gypsy or something?
In related news, I have SO MANY clothes. I seriously need to get rid of some of them. I have two large duffels that I think I can fit pretty much everything into that I’m taking back for the next year. So I guess that’s an improvement from last time. But still. I love all my stuff, but part of me really wants to get rid of everything but what I can carry and set off adventuring.
OHIO!!!!!
chill!
Sorry for the lack of posts, yesterday I was coming home to NY, and today I was recovering and unpacking.
Robert, I loved my time in your city, and thanks for ordering up such nice weather while I was there.
I had the best weekend. On Friday, my family drove to Portland, playing Disney songs off Pandora on my dad’s phone most of the way. I’ve been to cities like Portland and Seattle a fair amount through the years, but it is very, very rare that the occasion isn’t a soccer tournament for either my brother or I. This was a wonderful change to relax, enjoy a city for its own sake, and indulge a little! Literally – it’s great to be able to walk into a food establishment without having to worry about being on a training diet. My brother and I took advantage right from the start with a giant hot fudge and caramel sundae, yum.
The next morning, we kidnapped Alice from her cute little blue-trimmed house in the city and made her go to the zoo with us! The Oregon Zoo in Portland is fantastic. We saw giraffes, polar bears during feeding time, hippos, lorikeets, bats, a vinegaroon, Amur leopards, ZooTeens in their natural habitat, and lots more. Right before lunch, there were two black bears fighting over a swimming tub in their exhibit. The little one (two-and-a-half year old Taco) was trying to get in, and the bigger, older, stronger one was trying to keep him out by pushing and dunking and grabbing around the neck. We must have watched for half an hour, and the sparring continued all the while. They would sometimes pause, seeming to agree on sharing the pool, but then the little one would nip at the older one in a “play with me! pay attention to me!” fashion, and it would start up all over again.
The zoo was very warm by this point, and we had seen most of the animals, so we made our way to Powell’s bookstore! It really is a city of books, and if you don’t go in with a plan, you will wander around aimlessly like we did. First my brother and I followed Alice around, since she’d explored it previously, and then we resorted to pointing to random categories on the map and heading there. My family ended up buying several collections of comic strips (Zits and Foxtrot), a paperback copy of Les Miserables (my new project – I figured it was better to own one than to have to return it to the library halfway through), and a bunch of the books I need for school this year. Powell’s also had amazing T-shirts that were based on book covers, and I badly wanted a Charlotte’s Web one (or anything else), but none were available in my size. We had to let Alice go home at that point; for some reason, she didn’t want to be kidnapped all the way to eastern Washington with us.
Sunday might even have been a little bit better. My family went to OMSI (the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) in the morning, and it is amazing. I think I am in love. I adore science anyways, and it was so interactive and well-curated. And my brother and I didn’t even make it to the exhibits! We spent the entire time in the “Turbine” gallery, which was incredibly exciting all by itself, including activities like robot arm Connect Four, a paper airplane wind tunnel, and earthquake-proof building engineering. There were also separate rooms for Chemistry, featuring labs, periodic tables, and an atom/bond model-building kit, and Physics, with all sorts of musical instruments, a strobe light shining on a stream of water, a telegraph, a Newton’s Cradle, a Van de Graaff generator, and so much more. In the Chemistry Room, my brother and I correctly named 6 elements found in the human body, and in reward, we each got a “Periodic Table of the Elephants“, which is one of the greatest things I’ve ever laid eyes on. There was also a hallway upstairs of beautiful photographs from National Geographic. I absolutely need to go back there some day and make it to the other exhibitions, especially the life sciences room. This long-distance relationship is already paining me!
Then, we took mass transit to the Portland Timbers (Major League Soccer team) game against FC Dallas. Because we were invited by somebody important in the Timbers organization, we had access to sideline hospitality – catering, drinks, close-up view of the players during warmup – before the game started! My brother and I got our picture taken with Timber Joey. Great seats, too – close enough to the “Timbers Army” that we got a taste of that excitement, but far enough away that our eardrums stayed intact.
The game ended (1-1 tie, but at least the Timbers didn’t lose again), and we headed back to OMSI to watch the Curiosity landing in the planetarium! There were so many people there that the planetarium overflowed into an auditorium where there still weren’t enough seats. We were in the planetarium, though. They had a speaker beforehand, and then we watched the NASA coverage as well as the simulation right up through when the thumbnail pictures started coming through. Everybody cheered along with JPL when the landing was successful. Basically, the universe is beautiful.
Sorry for MONSTERPOST, but I want to share everything awesome with you, and this weekend was a whole lot of awesome. Cookies if you read all of that.
WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ALICE TO TELL ME WHYYYY
NOOOOOO
OH DANG. I WOULD HAVE IF I’D THOUGHT OF IT, I SWEAR!
I didn’t know Alice had a way of contacting you, and we only planned it the night before. I don’t think I’ll be back in Portland this summer, but next summer my brother and I will likely have tournaments there, so maybe we can all make plans much farther in advance. Even before that, there’s quite a good chance that I’ll end up visiting UChicago.
OKAY YAY
WAIT WAIT ARE YOU STILL THERE LET ME COME
Wow, a suprise Kokon! Are there pictures?
Hmm…I think so! There’s at least one of my brother, Alice, and I sitting in a nest. I’ll see what I can find.
That sounds so fantastically awesome!! =D
AWESOME! You guys are so lucky! I now need to visit that museum if I am ever in Oregon! (I’m not sure why I would be in Oregon, but one never knows.)
It’s wonderful!
I’m also happy because I just remembered that the brand new science center in my city is having its grand opening in less than a month. It will be much smaller, of course, but it has the advantage of being HERE!
Top 3 reasons going back to Boston won’t be so bad:
3) Destination Station NASA traveling exhibit at the Museum of Science.
2) BU’s library apparently has a really extensive collection of materials related to the MOS’s superawesome mountaineer founder Bradford Washburn, including “correspondence” between him and Alan Shepard.
And the number one reason…
1) I get three weeks at home relaxing first!
That wasn’t supposed to be a reply…
My brother is really weird. When we were watching the Olympics, he only cheered for the American athletes. And we’re half Canadian. When I asked him if he would cheer for a terrible American or a awesome guy from somewhere else, he chose the American guy. All I can say is he’s kinda nuts.
i am rooting for China. wait… is Ireland in the games? if they are i would root for them because i a mostly Irish. part American Part Canadian Part German Part Hawk Indian but mostly Irish
In general, my brothers cheer for the US, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, and Australia.
The reason I say he’s crazy is because he’ll only let me in to the room if i say I’ll cheer only for team USA, but I’m glad he doesn’t understand sarcasm.Which is mostly bad.
Also if you don’t regularly check the paleo thread (which is pretty much everybody) I’ve posted a bit there because of reasons. Yeah. So. If anyone wants to go read it. :/
Plz link me, GAPA’s! =)
* “p*ease”
You can’t link someone to the paleo thread. What you do to see it is log in if you haven’t already, go to Paleostuff in Categories, and click on the thread. If you don’t have a paleo account, you and the GAPAs will have to make you one. If you have a chess account, this consists of reminding the GAPAs that you’ve been on here for more than 6 months. If you don’t, you have to make an account and then tell the GAPAs you’ve been on for more than 6 months if you can’t access the paleo thread already, and then wait until they’ve allowed you to see it.
Packing for college is hard. :/ My Mom wants to turn my room into a guest room (with my full agreement, not against my will), so everything I own either has to go into the tubs going to my dorm room or the tubs being stacked in my closet. That means a lot of stuff that I probably won’t use again is just getting thrown away, and deciding what’s worth keeping is hard and emotional and such.
Ah, well, must move on, I suppose.
You know what’s interesting? I was just going through an old HT thread from September 2006, and dark lord of darkness said that Bush would never invade Iran…and now look at Obama, on the warpath to Iran. :p
Soooo……..can we have another HT thread, please? =]
We said a lot of stuff that looks weird in retrospect, like Robert’s suggestion that Michael Jackson would be President in (I think) 2024.
Ah, yes, I said it would be either Michael Jackson or Madonna. I guess I know where that leaves me now…
In a collaborative Marvel fan-fic I was part of, I was going to have Sally Ride as NASA Administrator in 2015. For once, I’m glad that story died, so I’m spared that awkwardness.
Did you know they filmed part of the Avengers movie at a NASA facility? And then they sent the movie to the ISS for the crew to watch.
I knew the second part, but not the first. (My friend told me NASA is involved in the plot, but I haven’t seen the movie yet, so no spoilers, please!)
I think lizard people will be president in 2020.
Has anyone heard of the lizard people ballot from Beltrami County? Besides Me?
Wasn’t lizard people part of a Daniel Pinkwater story? No one liked the lizard people but they weren’t going to vote for someone who wasn’t a lizard because then the wrong lizard might win.
No, that was in one of the Hitchhikers’ books. One of them. Possible SLATFATF.
Pretty sure it was Pinkwater – Lizard Music, maybe?
I just looked it up, and everything is saying that it’s So Long and Thanks for All the Fish.
The 2008 one that was a practical joke? I just looked it up and I guess it’s kind of funny, but less so since I was aware of the relevant conspiracy theory and thus didn’t find the word combination as random and funny.
I will do a quick explanation for everyone else:
Some joker in Beltrami County, Minnesota (my state!) filled out their 2008 ballot write-in slots with “lizard people” for every write in candidate. And they also bubbled in the bubbles next to the write in. Except the bubble for Senate. They chose Franken ( vs Coleman, or vs lizard people). The election was getting really close at this point. And this is also when the MN Senate race got ugly. MN law says that when you write in a candidate, your vote goes to them (meaning that lizard people “ate” a vote for Franken). So there was a big legal battle over that one vote. This is where it starts sounding really stoopid. There was a big legal war battle over that on vote and if a Mr.( or Ms.) Lizard People actually existed. The verdict was that Mr. Lizard People was a real person. So there went one vote for Franken. It went downhill from there.
True story. I apologize if you laugh so hard it hurts.
In fifth grade for the 2008 election, our class had to do this “Kids Vote” thing and we all filled out ballots.
I didn’t know who I should choose (in the history books it always looked like there was an obvious “right” or “wrong” choice) so instead of Obama or McCain I chose Bob Barr, the Libertarian who I’d never heard of before.
I think that was a more sensible choice than “lizard people”.
My Dad Predicted Obama To Be Shot Like Kennedy If He Was Re-elected!
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^ newspaper article my dad made
Well, let’s hope that’s incorrect. (I gather he probably won’t vote for him even if he thinks he’d be a better president than the other candidates)?
But Kennedy wasn’t re-elected…
yeaah… it’s kind of hard to be re-elected for president when your DEAD
Talking about assassinating presidents is just so hilarious.
I can’t control my laughter over here. Oh, my sides.
/sarcasm
Oh dear. I’m terribly sorry, I posted that in an almost-zombified state at about 1 in the morning.
Excuse my sarcasm. Yesterday was a bad-mood-day.
Before he died.
but he would be dead while he was presedent then. no one to take our money!
oops! usually when i reply to Prussia=Awesome’s post i go with the name “Mantanna=Awesome. or sometimes i could go as Mancata. i don’t know… but i forgot sorry
I think I would have trouble misreading “Mancata” as “Mancala”, like the board game.
If a president dies in office, ens vice president becomes president. I think, though, that while our government isn’t ideal, it would just turn into chaos if we removed the president and kept everything else the same, so no president at all would be a bad idea.
too bad we didn’t keep England’s rules then instead of a presedent we would have a king
Are you thinking of the prime minister? (e.g. Winston Churchill, David Cameron)
Well, England had a king with absolute power when we broke away from it. I don’t think that would be preferable, though; kings tax just as much as presidents–generally more, actually, because they don’t have to worry about not being reelected/otherwise continuing with their political careers if they do things their people don’t like. That was a major reason why we broke away from England at all: it was taxing us heavily, but we couldn’t vote and had no say in who taxed us.
Actually, the English monarchy was not absolute, particularly in the area of taxation which required Parliamentary approval. Kings complained about this quite a bit, as you can imagine. Of course, some of them were quite good at getting their way in spite of legalities.
That’s true; I shouldn’t have used the word ‘absolute.’ I think I just meant ‘more absolute than it currently is.’ We didn’t have any say in taxation, though, since we weren’t represented in Parliament. Still, it’s technically true that if we had copied England’s system when we broke away from them, tax rates would probably not be much different. I still don’t think it would be preferable, though; governments do things other than taxing that also require voters to worry them into doing them properly. Of course, there are other solutions, some of which I consider even better, but none of them (that I can think of) are compatible with monarchy. Also, I don’t think any individual should be trusted with that much power; the separation of powers was one of the better principles in our Constitution, I think.
well if we had a king we wouldn’t have STUPID ELECTION COMMERCIALS EVERY FOUR YEARS EVERY YEAR!
I’ve just learned to tune them out.
My solution is that I rarely watch TV.
That’s true; they ought to be banned. At the very least, corporations should not be allowed to donate to political parties. But I don’t think monarchy is the solution. If rulers are just chosen on the basis of who their father was, then we’re going to end up with some really awful ones eventually (even worse than the presidents we tend to get).
Monarchy to remove election commercials is like cutting off your right arm to have fewer fingernails to paint.
What do you think the effects of that would be? Would they be good or bad?
Ah, alternate history. If we did have a hereditary throne instead of a president, we would still have annoying commercials. Either way it would have been bad, because even if your grandpa was smart and a good ruler, it doesn’t mean your dad will be any good.
Then the vice prez would complete their term. I think…
meant for that to be at the top. Sorry.
So I took this online “Empathy Quotient Test” (no idea how official it is), and I got a 9 out of 80. Which is lower than most people with Asperger’s/high functioning autism. Huh.
I got 32. Right on the edge of “lower than average.”
I took that at one point, too, and my score was only a few points higher than yours. Granted, I actually have been diagnosed with Asperger’s, but I think my social skills problems are much less severe than a lot of people with it, and yet my score was low even by Asperger’s standards. My conclusion is that it may be age-related–most of the people with Aperger’s/high-functioning autism taking the test were adults and have had much more time to develop their social skills. (It does work like that; people on the autism spectrum tend to learn more about how to interact with others as they get older). I’m hoping that by the time I reach the age of most of the-takers, my score will be much higher. I can’t know for sure yet, though.
(If you’re wondering if you have Asperger’s/high-functioning autism, I don’t really have anything to say at this point; I have no idea how likely it is because it’s impossible to tell from the Internet).
By the way, did you take the Systematizing Quotient, too? Many people with low scores in empathy get high ones on that. (My own was more than enough to counterbalance any embarrassment I received from the Empathy Quotient).
Anyway, I’m not sure what you mean by ‘official,’ but it was created by psychologists, and it does seem to be pretty reliable. But it’s not as if when you apply for something they’re going to check your Empathy Quotient scores or something.
20 on Systematizing. In the average range, but slightly lower than the exact average for women, and far below most autism-spectrum people.
Your hypothesis about age-related result made it impossible for me to resist taking the test, even though a sample of one is obviously not very meaningful. For what it’s worth, my score was about the same as yours. My first time was the same as your second: 19. Then I decided to retake the test with a more consistent methodology. To my surprise, the second round was only 2 points higher; perhaps I was more consistent than I thought.
Methodology: I based my answers on in-person situations, not online. The skillsets are so different, in spite of a certain amount of overlap, that the restriction made sense to me. Writing affords time to reflect and interact at a more controlled pace without the pressure of being observed while working out my thoughts. Furthermore, online I’m more likely to be interacting with kindred spirits whose behavior makes sense to me more often than what I encounter elsewhere. Another factor I considered was my experience conducting tours. I trained myself to read tourists pretty well, within that specialized situation. While some of that transfers to informal situations if I make the effort—in particular it removed most of the anxiety from social situations, allowing me to keep my head better—for the purpose of the quiz, I based my answers on my instinctive reactions in a general setting.
Age-related observation: Some answers would certainly have been different if I’d taken the test as a teen, but the differences were not all in the same direction. I suspect they would have cancelled each other out, leaving the score more or less the same.
Aside: There really should have been a question about over thinking the questions on psych questionnaires! THAT’s something that definitely has not changed over the years. I spend half my time wondering if I’m responding to the intended reading or to an inadvertent alternative reading of my own. Too many wobbly words! (What did it mean by “always,” “often,” “precisely”? &c) I did enjoy the fact that the SQ portion asked about always noticing correct grammar in what I read, because elsewhere I had noted a grammatical error in the test itself.
tl;dr First round score was EQ:19; SQ:47; retake, EQ: 21, SQ:52
Interesting: Your SQ scores were around the same as mine, too.
Mine was 27. I think that the test might be a bit biased towards lower scores.
Also 27. I don’t think of my self as low-empathy, though. Tests aren’t everything.
I question whether empathy is actually what’s being measured by this test.
What do you think is being measured, then?
Maybe how many questions you got “right”.
It gave me 34. Some of the questions didn’t seem to have anything to do with empathy, though (what do practical jokes or risk-taking or dreaming or being a morning person have to do with empathy?), and the test pretty clearly favors extraverts (e.g., enjoying being the center of attention) even though introverts can be just as empathetic as their extraverted brethren. In any case, social skills are just that: skills. You learn them, you practice them, you improve them. I’m sure the score it gave me was higher than what it would’ve been a few years ago, and I’m sure that in a few years it would give me a higher score yet.
I got a 27. I do agree with Piggy about some of the questions – like, what does being a morning person have to do with empathy?
Cinamoon: Or maybe MuseBlog is not as good at (cognitive) empathy as the general population, or maybe we just have too small a sample to be accurate. I’ve read about overall scores, and they don’t seem too low.
Piggy: I didn’t remember questions like that, so I looked for the test. When I tried to access the site, it said it was having difficulties, so I gather you were using a version from a document about research related to it (correct me if I’m wrong). If so, it’s likely to include questions that experts agree are not related to empathy for… I don’t actually know the reason (distraction? trying to stop people from just choosing the answers they thought would give them a high/low score?), but those questions aren’t used in evaluating test scores.
Actually, I did an Internet search and found the test you’re using, and I remember some of the questions from a list of distractors, so the unrelated questions do not take away from the accuracy of the test. I’m not sure about whether it’s biased towards extroverts; it depends on how many of the biased questions are distractors.
Also, SFTTP, but my Empathizing score is now 19 as opposed to 14! Yay!
I got a 36, and I’m still on my high from camp in terms of being confident in starting conversations and participating in social interactions.
I think Bibliophile’s suggestion that scores correlate with age is probably true – I know my score would have increased steadily over the past few years, and I certainly don’t expect adolescents (even wonderful ones like MuseBloggers who are mature for their ages) to be as well-developed socially and empathetically as the average adult.
I wonder what definition of “empathy” they use for this test.
It’s designed to test ‘cognitive empathy’ (social skills) rather than ‘affective empathy’ (sympathy, basically). There is an argument that you have to have some level of cognitive empathy to experience affective empathy, which I suppose is valid, but the writers of the test acknowledge that people with autism spectrum disorders are no less inclined towards affective empathy when they can correctly recognize others’ emotions than anyone else even though their cognitive empathy is impaired, and sociopaths don’t tend have an impaired understanding of others’ feelings and behavior even though they have less developed affective empathy.
…2. Which honestly doesn’t surprise me at all. And a 42 on the Systemizing Quotient.
24. Didn’t see that one coming.
I got a 43, which is, I suspect, around what one gets when one is extreeeeemely socially awkward in real life but nevertheless notices almost everything that’s going on (watching from the outside has its advantages) and is the go-to person for friends’ personal crisises.
Then again, I tend to break most quizzes, so I don’t know. *shrug*
41, which is surprising to me, since I may not be practical or courageous or clever or hardworking, but empathetic is something that people tell me I am. Eh, it’s an Internet test, and I put only mild faith in those things anyway.
I got a 61 on the EQ, on the higher end of “higher than average” and a 18 on the SQ.
Yeah, I got a 56 on the EQ and a 12 on the SQ.
I got a 27. Honestly, I was expecting lower.
You may have noticed I’ve been trying to turn my perception of high school (which I’m about to start) into something out of a book; the grading system at mine mirrors Hogwarts’, and it’ll even have ‘families,’ which are the rough equivalent of Houses. I’m thinking of those things in Harry Potter terms as much as possible so that I can love them, but of course, there are still the actual classes to convert. English is about books and so on, so I needn’t worry about that, and Biology is so awesome I’m just going to let it be. World Geography is crucial preparation for world domination, so that’s good, too. But my other classes had yet to be converted into their fantastic equivalents. However, I have finally figured out how to love my geometry class now matter what it’s actually like: I’m going to view the entire thing as reference material for Flatland.
I can’t even tell you how delighted I was when I realized that would actually work.
Perspective-tilting moment of the day: I was using for instructive purposes playing with a microscope, enjoying comparing the textures and structures of leaves collected from my yard. While looking at the leaf from a pear tree, I saw movement. There was a creature on the stem. So small that I would have been unaware of its existence, had I not chanced to be using the right equipment to focus on the right spot at the right time. Usually, when I think about the scope of the universe, I feel tiny. Today, I am enormous.
It’s a wonderful world out there.
I HAVE A BRAND NEW, FIRST ONE EVER LAPTOP!!!!!!!!!
*types away madly*
Thank you very much, college savings account.
Move in is complete! I think I’m really going to like my room mate. She came in to unload her stuff with a family army. You could tell that she was the first to go off to college because her mother was what I could only describe as a frantic mother, cleaning everything in sight. lol They were all great though. ^_^ And I am absolutely determined to focus on how awesome they were and not on how I moved myself in, no family around whatsoever. Because I was perfectly capable of moving myself in. So there! *end of mini rant to self*
My first roommate came in with her mom, stepdad, grandma, and boyfriend, who promptly created a family whirlwind of activity and setting up on her side of the room, while my parents dropped me off and went for a walk, leaving me to sort out my own stuff because they didn’t want to get in my way.
It was kind of funny, really.
I actually preferred setting my own space up, because then I knew exactly where everything was.
That’s certainly true. I like knowing where everything is. And my Dad has a bad back anyway, so him helping would have been bad for him anyway.
Has anyone here mentioned what happened in Wisconsin? I looked throughout the thread and the recent comments bar, but didn’t see anything, although it’s possible I missed something while scrolling.
For those who didn’t know, a gunman attacked a Sikh temple and killed six people and himself. It’s a terrible thing to do, and authorities are treating it like a domestic terrorism case, which means the FBI are helping. Also the crime probably had typical hate crime causes.
Also, a mosque in Joplin, MO burned down. They don’t think it was an accident because in July someone tried to torch the building and failed. It looks like this time they succeeded.
I don’t know, guys. This is just a really depressing time to live in.
I heard about the first one… It’s just really indescribably awful. I’ve never even heard of prejudice against Sikhs. (Perhaps they mistakenly thought Sikhism was a Muslim sect, as I did until very recently–which would probably make it even worse, if it was founded on such ignorance).
Ignorance is bliss terrible.
I’m being serious
I’m disturbed that the comment got 2 pies.
I pied it because I agreed with it, not because I’m glad it’s true.
FOUR pies!
sorry… had to
In recent years (most notably after 9/11, but also before then) hate crimes against Sikhs have increased dramatically, because people mistake them for Muslims. Not only hate crimes, either, but also general rudeness and prejudice. It’s sickening and terrifying what people will do based off of an ignorant assumption.
Though even if they were Muslim, it still wouldn’t be ok.
No, it’s never okay. At all.
Of course not. The reason I said the crime would be worse if it was based on the incorrect assumption that they were Muslim was because it would be not only hatred and violence and prejudice and malice and death but all that plus factual inaccuracy, The latter isn’t nearly as bad as the other things I mentioned, but I’d prefer as few of them as possible. That doesn’t imply I wouldn’t be horrified if the factual inaccuracy was absent, because I certainly would.
Such cases merely emphasize the corrosive nature of prejudice–it really doesn’t care whom it hurts.
“You’re an interesting species. An interesting mix. You’re capable of such beautiful dreams, and such horrible nightmares. You feel so lost, so cut off, so alone, only you’re not. See, in all our searching, the only thing we’ve found that makes the emptiness bearable, is each other. ” — Contact.
I just
some days the news makes me want to throw up.
Yeah. I’ve heard about these things.
News just keeps getting more depressing.
I believe this comic is relevant:
http:// www. dorktower.com/2012/08/06/curiositous-dork-tower-06-08-12/
(Can’t add spaces to break the link up on my phone, sorry.)
This is just depressing. *sigh*
And the whole prejudice-against-one-ethnic-group-because-of-a-few-extremists thing is just wrong. I mean, I know people can be stupid, but I’m just amazed that enough people can be ignorant enough to… grr. It’s just very upsetting.
LES MISERABLES.
Holy heck, it was so frickin’ good. Joseph Spieldenner (sp?), who played Grantaire, did one of the best acting jobs I’ve ever seen– the Enjolras/Grantaire relationship is so complex and strange and good and he portrayed it so well. And Eponine’s voice was beautiful, and Jean Valjean was just astounding.
AND I GOT SIGNED PLAYBILLS.
I went around to the stage door and met Joseph Spieldenner and Enjolras and Jean Prouvaire (one of the revolutionary students), and I got one playbill signed by Joseph Spieldenner and one signed for Terpsichore by Joseph Spieldenner AND Enjolras AND Jean Prouvaire. I could not be happier. I hinted to Terpsichore that Joseph Spieldenner had signed something for her and she’s so excited already, I’m ridiculously pleased.
A good day.
IN COLLEGELAND
VERY BRIEFLY
in about an hour a MYSTERIOUS GENTLEMAN YOU ALL KNOW will be picking me up, and then we will fly to a secret location to meet other people many of you know and I AM EXCITED WOO
Jadestone you never told us you were part of a secret spy agency
MOHP– the Muser Organization for Human Protection. (“Mop” even sounds better than “whoop”.)
I skimmed down the Broadway Musicals thread and didn’t see a single mention of the musical Hair. It’s the only fictional thing I’ve seen recently that has made me cry.
Today, just for the heck of it, my mom and I drove down to a little town in southeastern Nebraska, just across the border from Missouri. In one of the shops we visited, we chatted with the owner, whose son studied classics at the same university as myself and who’s now doing an archaeological dig in Turkey. She also gave me an old prayer book for free and tried her hand at translating the Latin on my shirt. Then we went to my all-time favorite bookstore. It’s the kind of bookstore that’s obviously just a way for the owner to store all his books, and selling them is secondary. Luckily, he happened to be around, so he got out of his recliner and gave us a tour of the place. The best room, of course, is the rare book room. They had some original Mark Twains, a beautiful, enormous illustrated copy of Dante’s Divine Comedy from the early 1800s, as well as Captain John Smith’s Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles, which looked to be a very early edition if not an original. The owner of the place apparently used to be a monk in Poland and can speak eight languages. I wonder if he’s written anything–he seems fascinating. Bookshop owners tend to be, I think.
It rained today! There was a big shower in the morning, and it continued to drizzle throughout the day. Is this the end of the dry spell? I hope so!
I finally get chance on the computer. Yesssss!
My long term goal is to learn the six most-used langueges in the world. So far I know English, and am halfwayish through Chinese. I will learn Spanish at school. Now my brain feels like oatmeal.
A rather impressive goal. I know what you mean with the brain thing, though for me that’s usually brought on by math.
Go get ’em! Those languages won’t know what hit them!
All I can picture right now is my fist hitting a bunch of characters, and miscellaneous other words in other langueges.But it’s a good image.
The easiest way to learn languages fast of course is to actually go somewhere they speak it and immerse yourself for a while. You should totally study abroad sometime!
I’m just back from dinner and a movie with an old but really good friend that I’ll probably never see again.
I feel like there’s something deep and meaningful I could say right now but honestly I don’t know.
*gives friendship squids*
Well you never know what life will throw at you! You might see them again. It isn’t Goodbye! It’s just “Goodbye for now, but we’ll meet again!”
Hmmm. I have a few things to say, once I actually organise my thoughts. Starting with this:
I rewatched the Korra finale just now. I didn’t like the idea of rewatching it discovering that something I was including in my fanfic was wrong, and not being able to change it without ruining it, and I decided I needed to confront that now while I can more easily change it.
I definitely enjoyed watching it again, but I didn’t have those wonderful strong feelings I did the first time. Is that kind of thing really based so much on suspense? It happens with any fandom– I reread Foundation and wasn’t that moved, I’ve watched about 5 seasons’ worth of Star Trek:TNG and no longer get chills from the opening sequence.
As it turns out I did get something wrong about the Avatar universe, but correcting it basically fixes a bigger problem, so that’s okay.
It feels so weird actually writing a story, and espending this much time on it.
YELLOWSTONE! HIKING! SORENESS! SOON MORE HIKING/KAYAKING/SWIMMING! WOOT!
*headdesk* Yosemite, not Yellowstone…I feel like a total nincompoop. *multiple headdesks*
At least you didn’t say “Inca” when you meant “Maya”.
Or Opportunity when you meant Curiosity
You guys always know just what to say.
Yosemite is one of my favorite places. <3
This is a fairly shallow update, but I thought I might mention that I finally got my ears pierced two days ago, before I go off to England.
Good for you!
More importantly, can you make a decent cup of tea?
Or a good curry? When I went there, I tried one, and have loved curry ever since.
Oh, good for you! Now I can make you earrings out of seashells and stuff!
I’m considering getting a second piercing, although my mom wants me to wait until I’m 18, and frankly I’m not too eager to make painful, irreversible changes to my body- but I’d like to be able to wear dangly earrings and studs at the same time.
Back from violin camp.
It was basically THE BEST THING that I’ve done all year. There aren’t words for the awesomeness. I can do so many things on the violin that I couldn’t do before and I had the time of my life with all my friends and made up with my former boyfriend (after he maintained a relationship with another girl for a grand total of two hours- long story there) and ran around Stanford and got to play under the best orchestra conductor, ever, at all and ohhhh god it was fun.
Also I was rooming with a slightly crazed Australian violist, so we had this ongoing friendlywar going (because she’s Australian and I’m from New Zealand, and she’s a violist and I’m a violinist).
The teachers were incredible- they basically got the really good Suzuki teachers from around the West Coast, and also some from Boston, and other teachers come to observe them. My technique and repertoire teacher was none other than Barbara Barber, who is apparently a big name in the Suzuki world because she wrote a book called Fingerboard Geography, which I actually didn’t quite see the point of, but she’s a great teacher.
And my Ensemble teacher was hilarious and my Master Class teacher improved my posture a lot, and I made so many friends and it was awesome.
This has been an extremely busy summer.
I’m glad you had a good time!
I just came back from the dentist’s, I had to have a cavity filled. It was rather a large one, and Iv’e been nervous about it since I found out that I had such a large cavity. So far, I’ve only had little ones, and that scared me into taking really really good care of me teeth, so at my last dentist appointment on Monday I was actually hopeful that I would get away free.
No such luck. But now it’s filled, and the drilling experience wasn’t nearly as bad as some of the other times for one reason. See, there’s a TV screen in the dentist room, and today the dental assistant gave me the remote, enabling me to change TV stations from disney or whatever it was to something else. I flipped along the channels until I saw a Dalek.
That’s what made my dentist appointment bearable. Doctor Who. The drilling didn’t seem so horrendous when you’re busy focusing on what happening in the TARDIS. Although I could only see a tiny chunk of screen, because the dentist was in the way. And she was asking me things like, “Does it hurt?” because I’d been really worried about hat earlier but just right then I just wanted to say, “Huh? What? Can you please get out of the way so I can have a better view of Donna and the Doctor?” Also, David Tennant has very expressive eyes. You notice that thing when one of his eyes is the only thing you can see and you can still tell what’s happening.
So now I think I’m going to demand that one of my favorite TV shows be playing every time i have a dentist appointment.
Waiting to be whisked away by a MYSTERIOUS GENTLEMAN YOU ALL KNOW…
I was watching some miscellaneous British detective show the other night. At one point the cops on the case were discussing where the various suspects were located at the time of the murder and one mentioned that “well, ___ couldn’t have done it without a TARDIS.” The best part was that the line was delivered as just an ordinary part of the conversation, straight-faced without a blink.
I guess it’s the same as a comment about “beaming up” in an American show– the one sci-fi series everyone in the country who grew up in the 60s or after will recognize.
In Britain, EVERYONE knows what the Tardis is. Even in the long years of Wholessness, the memory remained strong. It was part of the culture.
Oh, I know. I was just enjoying an affectionate moment of recognition that I knew MuseBlog would understand.
Comments 91, 92, and 93 are all Doctor Who references.
Well, actually Lizzie’s comment probably refers to something different.
But still.
Also, baking! Monkeyboy and I bake now! Baking is cool!
And I made spice tea cookies.
And they’re pretty good.
I think.
And I did a carwash for band! We made money! And washed cars! It was fun!
Hmmm… even though I visit it a lot, MB does not show up in my “Most Visited Sites” opening window in Google Chrome. Is this related to MB’s “un-Google-able” status?
Is that the same set that shows up “New Tab”?
Yes, it is.
Sometimes if you close the thumbnails you don’t want, something you prefer shows up. I forget how many layers you can close before spot goes blank. I do wish Chrome allowed more customizing of that page. I use the Incredible Startpage extension, which has been pretty handy, although I had to disable it for a few weeks during Chrome’s recent update.
It shows up in mine. Chrome’s just a bit finicky about that sort of thing, I think.
“Finicky” being nice for “annoyingly inconsistent.” For me MuseBlog shows up regularly but some frequently visited sites never seem to show, at least not when I’m looking for them.
I think that’s it; I use Firefox, and MuseBlog is the first thing that shows up for me.
I’ve always set my browser to open with several essential windows. MuseBlog is the one I keep pinned.
Good idea! I’ll do that myself when I have my own computer. (Doing it now would really annoy everyone else).
I also have the blog pinned, due to it’s ungooglable status. Makes life a lot easier.
So tired…but now I have WiFi! And tonight my dad, brother, and I are all going to watch The Dark Night together!
I was going to start this post off with “I’m still alive!” but somehow I started humming “I Will Survive” in my head, and it all just started going downhill from there…
Anyway, yes, I’m still alive and well – I’m about to enter my sophomore year of high school, and feeling a tad nostalgic-y thinking back to when to I started posting on here as a wee 6th grader. (6th?!?! For the love of all things good, bad, and awkward… wait, mostly awkward. XD) Things, for the most part, are going well. This is the first summer in a VERY long time that I’ve actually not wanted to end – most of the time, I’m pretty excited about school, but this time around, I could definitely use a few more weeks to just relax, which is something I definitely haven’t done enough of so far, and I’m only now realizing there really isn’t any time left. I’ve also been in one of those weird, human-deepness-we-are-weird moods lately, but I’ve been flip flopping between that and stressing about work, which has put my emotional state into a bit of a mess. Oh, yeah, and I’m also taking APUSH, and I have summer work to do… maybe I’m not nearly as content as I think I am. XD
Back to the blog and already rambling – enough about me, though, how is everybody doing on here? I can smell new inside jokes already, heh.
no worries… i am in 6th grade and i think i am appreciated around here… i think
Meh new sarcasm face>
Starr! Welcome back!
Welcome back!
I’m typing this from my new laptop! The impetus behind getting it is school this fall, so my life will be easier, but it is wonderful on its own as well. It is an HP Ultrabook, black on the top and red on the bottom and oh-so-shiny.
I like starting with a clean slate.
I love meteor showers.
The most gorgeous one with a long blue tail just streaked past a while ago. The night is cool and the sky is clear. How perfect.
In Kingswinford, the night was perfect, except for a light covering of fluffy clouds which HID THE METEORS. I was very slightly miffed.
Thank you for alerting me! I was able to go out for a bit and saw a couple of meteors.
It was cloudy here last night and looks to be tonight as well. It figures–the first time it rains in months just happens to be the night the Perseids peak.
There’s too much light pollution here to see anything but a couple of stars.
It was OVERCAST in my area for the last few days, so no Persids for me.
Me too. Though I didn’t even know that was happening. Alas.
I’ve just had a phone call from an undisclosed location in the wilds of Ohio. Apparently a Mysterious Gentleman Known to Us All has been collecting MBers and whisking them off to spend a weekend swimming in a lake, paddling kayaks, and watching meteors. There may have been other details, but they were lost in a torrent of laughter from eight sleep-deprived MuseBloggers. It all sounded quite jolly and, of course, Mostly Harmless.
Can someone please tell me who this Mysterious Gentleman is? Is he Grant O? Because I’m feeling a bit left out, due to all the references about how Known he is.
He is indeed Grant O.
He should really come back here and post sometime. I only know about him from hearsay, and he sounds awesome.
I found a strange message on my phone with a high laughter-to-speech ratio; basically indecipherable as to literal meaning, but perfectly clear in the general sense.
Great!
I baked a strawberry rhubarb tau ( 2 pi) the day before yesterday and it is soooo good. I ♥ pie. Especially strawberry rhubarb.
I love strawberry rhubarb pie. Though I haven’t any this year. Sounds really yummy!
Although a little pale, it was!
Hey all! Had the best weekend Kokonvention. I’m so glad this is a yearly thing now, seriously it’s the greatest.
Grant’s cabin was lovely and LAKE ERIE. I love big water. Even though I got my boat fix on Clearwater this summer I hadn’t seen a true horizon or real waves for so long. Ahh, so lovely.
I’m now spending the night on Lizzie’s couch, because to spend maximum time with everyone I’d have had to start late on a looooong drive to NC, so I’ll head out in the morning.
There was just so much wonderful at the kokon. Today a handful of us were sitting around playing solitaire in a group. Only the internet. ♥
Pictures will come at some point!
~Fern (the rake)
Sorry I missed your call! But it was fun to listen to!
Closing ceremony: a dedication to British rock and roll.
Popular bands from the 1980’s: Great!
One Direction: Um, excuse me?!?!?!? WHAT IS THIS? THIS IS NOT A DEDICATION TO BRITISH ROCK AND ROLL!!!!!!!!
Maybe some One Direction fans blackmailed the people who made the closing ceremony.
INDEED! The kokon was flamablamablous, of course. I got ~4 or 5 hours of sleep last night so I can’t do a huge post right now (as well as on the boyfrined’s very slow internet), but suffice to say it was SO MUCH FUN. There was swimming and food and a dragon egg I bonded with and lots of fun and awesome people. We wanted to do a group post but could not find internet! Alas! Last year there was a café, but this year we had to make do with random calls this morning before we all left.
Will do a better post later probably? for now I am being called away by video games and the promise of faster internet tomorrow
Did you take the dragon egg home or is it still in the cabin?
I believe it had been left behind in Grant’s vehicle — er, the Vessel of the Mysterious Gentleman.
MuseBlog is still a thing! awesome. It has literally been years since I’ve stopped by. eep. It’s nice to see a bunch of the same people still around these parts.
I don’t know if any of you guys remember me, but I was pretty active around the end of middle school/beginning of high school, I think, and since then I’ve graduated, lived in Germany for a year, and finished my first year of college. My oh my. So, it’s been a while, but I saw that someone posted about strawberry rhubarb tau and I couldn’t resist saying hi. (and I tip my hat to you, Prussia=Awesome)
Hello, I’m Kai. I came here at the very end of 2007, so I may have missed you, but I’m always happy to get to know MBers I don’t already know!
Hi, Margaret! Thanks for filling us in. We always love hearing from MuseBloggers who haven’t been around. Glad things are going well for you. What’s your major, if you’ve declared one?
I think our paths may have overlapped very briefly, but if I remember you it’s not well at all. I went by eragon then.
It’s good to see you, though – I’ve noticed your name on the Who’s Here list before. My name is rather self-descriptive, but hi! Nice to possibly re-meet you!
The tau was really good. Nice to meet you!
Welcome back! I’m Cat’s Meow, and I might have been around but surely wasn’t very active when you were. Nice to meet you, then!
Hello there! It’s good to see you again.
Hello! I’m Bibliophile, and it’s nice to meet you. I’m 14 and analytical, and my avatar is a tardigrade, also known as a water bear, a microscopic animal capable of surviving various extreme conditions. I’ve only been here for 2 years, so you don’t know me. There’s quite an age range here now, if you haven’t noticed, from about ages 11-24. (Is Catwoman 11 yet? Do we have any 24-year olds or even 23-year-olds? I’m not really sure; maturity matters more than age here, anyway).
What was it like, living in Germany? I’ve never been outside the U.S, personally, and I’d really like to.
i am 10 but 11 in september 13 remember?
13 on the 22nd (Sept.)
hey! how goes it! i am a winged cat who likes CHEEZ!
CHEEZ CHEEZ CHEEZ!
ok now that you know the *snap* WHEEE! FUN FUN FOR EVERYONE WHEEE! *snap* place to go to museblog you might as well know me.
just so you know i am a winged cat with wings that are feathered. and i am a human-sized cat (who has wings) so you might want to get used to me… again you might not… who knows…. hmm? oh yes i do have a happy place! it is in my bed! my soft little bed! where those pesky dogs next door. i am TRUUUULY a nature person
oh, and you might want to read posts 39 through 40 of this thread to know more about me. and i will be off
CHEEEZZZZZzzzzzzzz…………
Hello again! Of course I remember you! I’m glad to hear that Germany and college have been treating you well!
Once when I was at a marching band competition a couple years ago at your high school I said hi to people who knew you. Since then I’ve completed a year of college, although no Germany for me :/
in conclusion: we should talk more often. sorry for rambling.
Welcome back! I don’t remember seeing your comments, and I’ve been here since the end of 2008. Apparently that’s not too old to feel young!
Welcome, Margaret!
I’m AL and I joined around a year and a half ago so you wouldn’t remember me.
Glad things are going well for you!
Hi, I’m Agent Hippie. I joined a few months ago so I’m pretty new.
My fellow MBers have summoned me from out the Ether so that my account of this past weekend’s Kokonvention might be passed on, but I find myself in dire need of (yet more) sleep. In short, we konvened with one another and convened with nature, and now there’s a henna Kokopelli on my arm and a lightness in my soul.
That sounds wonderful! I’d welcome you, but it would all be basically a repeat of what I said to Margaret minus the bit about Germany, so I suppose you can just read post 105.7.
Ether? where’s that?
Like Aether, but in a chem lab.
I’m getting my hair cut tomorrow afternoon. It’s nineteen inches right now, and I’m taking off a foot. Kind of excited.
You’re taking off a foot? Won’t that make it hard to walk?
…I’ll show myself out.
A foot? That’s probably enough to donate, I think (?). Have you considered doing that?
It is, and yes, I am.
Awesome!
That’s really cool, TNO!
I made dahl today! It is pretty tasty and there are now leftovers for my lunch tomorrow.
Nom, dahl.
I’m going to start writing again, on a regular basis, hopefully. Not stories, though, just reviews. Of things.
I wish I could write stories. People tell me that I’m good at it, but I don’t know. I always wonder whether my story is original or good enough… For my philosophy final project we had to write a story, and though I’m usually not good at finding a specific topic to write about (more plot-driven!), I managed to find something and actually get pretty into it.
But it was weird. What I ended up writing probably wouldn’t be something that I would seek out to read myself (it was a little cliche), I really invested myself in it and enjoyed writing it.
I do like writing. It’s just all of my ideas never get out of the idea stage.
this might be my last time on Museblog!
we are having troubles with our computer. and Dad says we might loose it. might,
so just in case i don’t see any of you musers again Goodbye Museblog. i give a sad farewell to all my friends. too bad i always never had anything good to say. or anything encouraging. or anything inspiring. i always asked for help. and i will miss you greatly. if in case we get this computer fixed or get a new one my name will still be CATWINGS. i will remember you in my magazines. i want to give a thanks to my best friends of the musiverse:
Castle, my welcoming comitee
Jadestone, good reader (listener)
Bibliophile, my helper and suggestion giver
*Cskia, nice and fun loving sarcasm maker
KaiYves, very nice person
Piggy, typical type but nice to be around
Prussia=Awesome, funny. always good to me
Dodecahedron, inspiring. crafty
Rainbow*storm, comforting. reading her posts make me happy
Agent Lightning, very helpfull
and LittleBasementKitten, one word, Sarcasm.
and no offense if i left your name off of the list! really i mean that! i love you all!
so as we draw to a close i shall say Goodbye to all
Bye And Lots Of Pie
Catwings
Oh dear. Computer loss is never fantastic. That makes me a saaaad panda.
I’m sure you’ll be back. Just remember the URL and write it down somewhere. We look forward to welcoming you again when your computer is new/fixed!
your a panda? i thought you were a stick figure with a hat.
You can’t see it in the picture, but my lower half is a panda.
Creepy picture.
Goodbye!! Hope your computer gets fixed or you get a new one!
Aww, Catwings.
*hugs*
You always brought your personality to the blog, which was always bubbly and uplifting and excited.
We really enjoyed having you around the blog.
I really hope your computer survives, because we would hate to lose you here on the ‘blog.
If later in life you find yourself with a computer, please think of us and come back on and tell us how your life has been! It has been a pleasure getting to know you and watching you become a part of the ‘blog.
What? I’m sarcasm? Oh, we’ll that makes me feel great. Glad to know I’m appreciated.
We’ll miss you Catwings! You were really awesome while you were around!
I’m pretty sure she meant it in a positive way, since A) She described Cskia as a “nice and fun loving sarcasm maker,” and that is obviously meant as a compliment, B) She used sarcasm a lot herself, so she would probably appreciate it in other people, and C) she described her message as “a thanks to [her] best friends of the musiverse,” so if she didn’t like your sarcasm, she probably wouldn’t have mentioned it there. Or maybe you knew all that, and it was double sarcasm; as I’m sure Catwings could tell you, I sometimes make mistakes about that sort of thing. Then again, someone else has squidded you, so even if I’m wrong, at least one other person came to the same conclusion (unless it was an accidental squid).
I was attempting double sarcasm, but I maybe didn’t do it right.
Apologies if my poor sarcasm offended you, Catwings. You’re totally flammy.
It happifies me that you think I’m nice to be around. I hope you’ll come back when you’re no longer computerless! MuseBlog won’t be the same without your posts. May all your pies fly straight and true!
Don’t say that about yourself, Catwings. You were the first neophyte in months on a blog somewhat filled with oldbies, and you brought a new energy to the blog. I liked your ideas and funny comments. Hopefully you can come back soon, though! May StarClan light your path.
OH YEAH!? AND WHAT ABOUT ALL OF MY OTHER QUALITIES!? LIKE MY APPARENT FLAMMINESS, WIT, SARCASM, PIE-BAKING TALENT, AND HUMBLENESS!
*sob* I will miss you, Catwings.Use the library computers, if your library has them, or get that computer fixed. Or you can bribe a random stranger with a laptop.
our library has computers! but we only have 2 cars and one of them the motor needs fixing and the other one don’t have any license plates on it so if we drove it we’d be arrested and mom doesn’t want to waste money on computers but when i can i will be on SOMEONE’S computer! besides if this computer breaks down i don’t think i will still have gravitar so… y’know
Fortunately, your gravatar is linked to your email address rather than your computer. On the other hand, you might not want to use your email address on a public computer, in which case your gravatar would be the question mark of question marks (assuming you use the anonymous gravatar email). You’d still be able to post, though.
I think the license plate problem will be the easiest to fix. Bike?
Goodbye! I hope you can get a new/fixed computer soon. Maybe you can use library computers?
My best friend, with whom I’ve been practically twins since seventh grade, just informed me that her family decided two days ago that she’ll be going to a public high school in California. They’ve already been there for around a month, but only made the final decision a couple of days ago (this is the family that plans their vacations super last-minute; I don’t know how they do it.)
I know I’m going to school in England, but I had never imagined that she wouldn’t be at my old school whenever I’d come to visit – I was even looking forward to seeing her on Thursday and Friday, when I visit my old school. It’s a little disconcerting to now hear that she’s halfway around the world, with plans to come back to Hong Kong only for Christmas (when I’ll be staying in Europe). Essentially, I have no idea when I’ll next see her again, and it hasn’t even begun to sink in. We’ve been so close for so long (in so many of the same classes, etc.) that it’s unbelievable I don’t know when we’ll next meet. It’s just…odd, so odd and so strange that I don’t even believe it yet.
I’m sorry, Selenium. Not seeing friends really sucks. *hands squid*
I hate being apart from my friends. *hugglehugglehuggle* So sorry to hear that. I really hope you guys manage to see each other soon.
*huggle* Being apart from friends can be so awful.
Okay, this is slightly awkward but the above post may be wholly irrelevant now, because I’ve heard (not directly) that she’s coming back to Hong Kong and staying at [my old school] after all. I’m really not certain about anything, but this is typical of her last-minute family. If she is coming back, she’ll have missed about the first week of school.
Is there anything I can say if I overhear someone saying something ignorant and prejudiced to someone else on the other side of the room? I don’t want to let something like that go, but I really don’t know what I can do about it without them just thinking I’m rudely interfering. I’d love advice. Please be specific, and don’t assume I’m familiar with basic social conventions, just in case.
OMG! we will have the computer for a little while longer. (i still meant what i said in post #110) but i don’t know how much longer the computer will survive in the desolate place called “My Desk” living with the “Free Virus” that somehow got installed into our system.
here’s what i think happened:
i went to a website where people blog and upload photos and someone uploaded a picture that said “Downloading free virus. Upload Complete! Enjoy your junky computer!” and i think it was more than a picture…
so now what do i do? find a picture that says “uninstalling a Virus. Deletion complete enjoy your good-as-new computer!”
well gotta fly! glad to be back for a little while longer. sorry i worried you
iPhone or a phone with an internet browser? Kindle Fire? New computer? Said random dude’s stolen laptop?
i don’t have a tech family. my family is the Cabin-Out-In-The-Woods-type family. no IPad no cell phone. not even a HD-TV
BTW, i like your name Cats=Awesome Meowers Unite!
CLANS UNITE Meow
*meows*
I keep getting the MBers with cat names mixed up. Meow!
Season five of what?
Hetalia (if you don’t know what it is, look it up). Season Five was just announced.
Kai is to Space as Prussia is to Hetalia.
But “Kai” is not a space-related username…
and you should know!
Maybe she was referring to herself with ‘Prussia’ and to you with ‘Kai’, rather than to her namesake and yours?
I’m aware of that, I was pointing out that because “Prussia=Awesome” has a Hetalia-related username, but I do not have a space-related username, she could be considered a bigger fan of Hetalia than I am of space.
I’m not sure it always works that way. Do you consider yourself a bigger fan of Kaiulani than of space?
I’m sorry, I should have indicated from the beginning that I was saying all of this in jest, and didn’t intend for it to be taken seriously. My name reflects that I am a fan of *history*, and since so much of my interest in space is in space history, there’s too much of an overlap for me to be able to determine if I’m a bigger fan of space or of history.
YOU LIKE SPACE. THAT IS MY POINT.
Yeah, everybody has been confused since the start about Cat’s Eye and I. Now there are even more cats around!
Catwings –
There are a few ways you can get a virus.
If you download a type of program called an .exe (it’s commonly used for games and programs but can be made specifically to be a virus) and run it, it can install viruses to your computer.
If you download certain documents, they can exploit vulnerabilities in the software used to open them and get to your computer from there.
If you visit a website with malicious code on it and allow it to run the code with your browser’s Java plugin it can exploit vulnerabilities.
Just visiting a site like that and looking at a picture can’t give you a virus any more than me visiting a morgue could kill me (I mean, you could go to creative extremes with that example, but you know what I mean).
I highly reccommend running Malwarebytes anti-malware (it’s a free download and is used by millions of people – just google it), Avast! antivirus, which is also free (again, google) and Microsoft Security Essentials. Run some virus scans, delete stuff in your downloads folder, etc. etc.
There’s a lot of things you can do before you send it in to get fixed (where you’ll probably pay $$$$ for it). It’s worth trying what I’ve said before you shell out big bucks to get some computer techs to remove what could be a single, small virus.
Sorry I haven’t been on in a while, I was out on Sunday visiting the American Museum of Natural History and getting a haircut (both of which I thoroughly enjoyed.) Going to AMNH is always fun, and it made for some really great bonding time with my mother, who I hadn’t seen for ten weeks when I was away in DC, so it was our first real chance to hang out for a while. I got to see almost everything I wanted, which is saying a lot in such a big museum!
I watched the Perseids with my dad on Monday morning– I don’t know why I didn’t think of lying in a sleeping bag to watch years ago, but it neatly solves the cold problem, the wet dew problem, and the tired neck problem all at once. We were out for about two and a half hours, and my dad estimated we saw about 50.
Kai, I put up my posters and decorations today (most of them, at least) and your earth through saturn’s rings was the first to go up–last night, significantly before everything else, actually. It’s right above my head on the wall in my bed-cave (I’m on the bottom bunk).
I also watched the Perseids, we all laid out on the pier and watched the sky over Lake Erie. The clouds came in after about an hour, but we got to see a fair amount. It was lovely. I like meteor showers.
I went hiking today. I forgot that that’s what we do for fun here, climb up mountains, admire the view, and then go right back down. It was absolutely gorgeous. It’s nice to be with my friends again; I’ve missed them so.
Highlighted the parts of the play I need to re-memorize. Didn’t do any other work than that. It’s going to be an interestingly empty two weeks. Right now we’re working on figuring out what we need to do and when/how to do it, so hopefully things’ll pick up soon.
Until then I’ll probably just skulk around trying to figure out things to do.
I’m glad to hear you put up that poster with pride, and that you got to see the Perseids.
Reporting in from Amsterdam! It’s nice to be back in Europe again, even though I didn’t really intend to go to Amsterdam. It just sort of happened. ((And it really wasn’t my fault, honest))
But there’s free wifi in the airport and I have 10€. I’m still not sure if it’s a good or bad thing that my sister and mother left and stuck me with the dog. Somehow, my luggage and the nice service desk attendants who were supposed to find it have vanished deep in the bowels of the labyrinthine airport, but I think it was mostly my sister’s stuff anyway. Anyhow, I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen and this sure beats another car accident.
So I had time to kill and 10€ worth of tea to drink, even though the cow painted with a local landscape on my right makes a good companion/coexilee. I tend to agree the windmill is overkill, but there’s no accounting for dutch artists. There’s kids headed our way- gotta run, will explain later.
I can’t wait for this explanation!
Have you been to the part of the Amsterdam airport that’s made to look like a forest? Complete with background noises like chirping birds?
AMSTERDAM! *flails* Is there any must-sees there? My family and I are going there over Thanksgiving break.
What ho!
I’m actually kind of intimidated by my own reputation on here, which I suppose lends to my mystique by keeping my appearances rare. I’ll try not to think about it.
Kokon was wicked! I, also, am glad that it is an annual event; I get fonder of my Friends From the Internet every time I see them.
Not much is going on right now; until the fall semester at Hiram starts I have one class (Contemporary Issues in Bioethics) on Saturday mornings.
Things to look forward to: Tyr, one of my favorite metal bands, is playing in Cleveland at the end of the month. It’s going to be wicked! Also, there’s this gaming convention, the Escapist Expo, happening in mid-September in NC, which I may attend, because it sounds amazing.
‘Bye for now, though I may stick around. A fellow could get used to this sort of thing, haha.
-Grant O. (The Charismatic)
Hello, Commander.
Some day I will have an actual Kokon, and it will be fantastic. For now, though,
I can settle for hearing about the awesomness of yours.
We should have a game where we make backronyms out of your prefix.
Universal Senate Editorial Committee Grant O.
United States Energy Commissioner?
I think I may actually enjoy high school.
If I can fit in “enjoy high school” with my business and money and Being An Entrepreneur and following the ten million laws they have and baking.
It’s all good though; I’m sure once we work out an initial business plan it’ll get easier.
Also I got Speech, which was the elective I wanted, and I’ve heard the teacher is good.
And I have geometry second semester, which is good because marching band season will be over!
And I have a fairly even distribution of classes (I’ve heard horror stories of having all your cores in one semester and the other being basically fluff.)
So that’s good.
I think I might like high school.
Except for the small caveat that all the annoying kids I thought I had escaped when middle school ended are going there too. But I have band. So that’s good.)
Do you think you could pass on those good feelings to me? I’m starting high school in September.
Looking back on my post, it looks like I’ve actually started high school. That was actually just orientation that I went to today; it starts in two weeks and I’ve been on campus weekly for marching band.
*encouragement squids* I’m confident you’ll do great! High school has lots of clubs and activities you can join to meet new people, and there are people to help you in your classes and figure out your workload.
Also from what I’ve heard there’s not as much cakey drama cake as middle school, or it’s easier to avoid such drama.
I know you’ll do great in high school!
Things improved for me when I went into year 9 and I was at the same school. We had two electives each and I was in the nerdiest math class, and I guess the separation made it too much of an effort to pick on me as much. Not that all the drama was over, but it was better.
The workload isn’t great, but you both should survive! No matter what the teachers say about expectations and your future and time management…
I’m feeling similarly! I haven’t started yet, either, but my school had a week-long camp. The worst thing about my otherwise really awesome school is that 9th graders don’t actually have electives (we all take Pathway to Success and Computer Information Systems, which are dual credit, Spanish, which in my case might also be dual credit if I do really well on 3 tests, and Service 9, which isn’t really a class but the volunteering we do on Fridays instead of taking classes). I’m excited, though; Service 9 sounds awesome, and almost all my teachers whom I’ve met are, too, and there are awesome clubs, and it’s easy to make more, and it’s tiny (which means less terrifying loud noise and a greater likelihood of having friends in multiple classes), and none of the annoying kids from middle school are going there (as far as I know–none told me they were going, and I didn’t see any at camp, which was mandatory).
What’s the business you’re talking about? I’d love to hear about it. And you get to take Geometry in just one semester? I wish I could do that! Math classes in my district are so slow; the only one that’s one semester is AP Statistics, and that’s only at my school. If they were just semester-long, I’d be sure to take math in the first semester and take next year’s math class in the second; then I could be completely done with math (through AP Calculus BC and AP Statistics, because I’m crazy and want to take both) by the end of my sophomore year, if I took calc and stats in the same semester–assuming I didn’t need college algebra and/or Calc AB, but even if I did, I’d be done with math by the middle or end of junior year.
That sounds like a really good school for you, Biblio!
The business I mentioned is a bakery Monkeyboy/L and I are hoping to start as soon as we can get enough money.
Also, each course (except band which is year-long) is only one semester at our school and we only have four classes each semester, for a total of eight courses per year.
I laughed at my own “art” that I made yesterday when I wrote “police public call box” on our new dishwasher’s packaging.
GAPAs be willing, I want to share with all of you a fantastic health and goal-setting tool that a friend showed me recently. It’s called “SuperBetter”, and teaches you how to achieve your goals for physical and mental health by increasing your personal resilience in four categories: physical, social, mental, and emotional. It is “Quest”-based, so it basically asks you to do incremental steps each day that work towards whatever your goal is. For example, I picked a “Power Pack” (pre-set sequences of quests focusing on things like “Emotional Resilience in 5 Minutes a Day”, “Realistic Optimism”, and “Your Body Rocks!”) that is called “Simply Connected”, and one of my current quests is about noticing and commenting on commonalities that I have with people I’m interacting with.
I haven’t spent a lot of time investigating every feature on the site, but here’s what I have figured out: it’s a lot like the Coping thread here on MuseBlog. It’s a lot of the same advice that I see GAPAs and MuseBloggers sharing. It’s interactive, personalized, manageable, and enjoyable. And it works: literally hours after I made an account and started messing around, I got into a fight with my parents, and some of the personal strategies SuperBetter helped me come up with for feeling better (called “Power-ups” on the site) helped me calm down and become a human being again.
I’ve seen a lot of sadness and worry on MuseBlog over the past few years, and I hate that such wonderful people have so much going on that they don’t deserve. You all are wonderful, and I truly mean that. I hope that this site will be helpful to some of you in combating the “Bad Guys” you’re facing, as it already has been for me.
Jane McGonigal, the creator of SuperBetter, gave a cool TED talk called “Gaming can make a better world.” There was also a good article about her and her project in the NY Times a few months ago, “She’s Playing Games With Your Lives.” Her personal journey and ideas about what games should be are both intriguing!
I was surprised when I saw letters to the editor in the next issue of the Times, complaining, of course, about Kids These Days. There was the usual speculation that we’ve got our heads in the clouds, distracted by virtual worlds that yield little beyond pixels. While I think modern attention spans are a legitimate issue to study, the older readers’ response to this game verged on bizarre. Maybe they’re set in their ways and have forgotten what it was like to struggle for your Self? Maybe on some level they just can’t take the idea of computers or games seriously compared to books? I think that’s just silly, but also understandably ingrained in some people; the intangible, invisible nature of modern computers is so abstract as to be alien. But so are books, in a similar way, perhaps stepped down an order of magnitude. It’s funny then, that the core of the game hearkens in my mind back to Benjamin Franklin and Jay Gatsby, two characters I’ve met in books, who used their own games to self-improve. For Franklin it was 13 Virtues and a calendar to track progress; Gatsby kept a schedule full of work and amelioration. So determined, so American! If they were alive today I think Jay and Benjamin would use SuperBetter, and maybe they would learn to not only push themselves, but to take care of those restless bones as well.
TED? I’m guessing you don’t mean Turtle Excluder Device…
“Technology, Entertainment and Design” but everybody knows the conferences by the acronym name.
Guess who’s in Washington DC??
I love this place. It reminds me of nothing so much as Minas Tirith, advanced about 700 years into the future. Or like San Francisco, but cleaner and with less children and very hot.
Museums we’ve been to: the Smithsonian American History, the Holocaust Museum, and the Air and Space Museum. (Cue joke about how there’s no air in space, well there’s an air in space museum, ahaha.) Also the Lincoln, Jefferson, FDR, Martin Luther King, Korean War, and Vietnam War Memorials. My feet hurt a lot.
Top cool thing I saw: tie between the actual top hat Abraham Lincoln was wearing when he was shot at the Ford’s Theatre, and Neil Armstrong’s actual astronaut suit, which still had moon dust on it and was basically the most amazing of all time.
This reinforces my theory that I love the East Coast a lot more than the West Coast. We were in Philadelphia a few days ago, and I adored it. Everyone we met and saw was really, absurdly, aggressively friendly, and we went to a Phillies game and I enjoyed it almost as much as a Giants game, which is definitely new. There are a heck of a lot of Phillies fans in Philadelphia, definitely more than there are Giants fans in San Francisco.
I really want to live out in the East when I grow up. I love it out here.
Glad you enjoy it, Cat’s Eye! If you and your family stop by the AAAS building, I’ll give you a tour of my office, with its thickening jungle of Dieffenbachia plants.
I’d like to, but we’re pretty packed schedule-wise (and there’d be the matter of explaining to my family who on earth you are). We’ll have to wait until the President summons me to receive my Medal of Merit and/or I’m brought up on charges of high treason.
I’m definitely a west coast person. But I’m not saying that out of ignorance; I have been to the east coast multiple times because my mom’s side of the family all live on Long Island.
There’s a lot of history over there. I’m glad you’re enjoying it!
I do miss that city.
Glad that you enjoyed the monuments and Air and Space. Remember, the NASA HQ librarians are always there to geek out with on weekdays before 5 PM.
HOME
train since 4am last night and didn’t really sleep on it much (maybe 1-2hours) but felt fine when I first got home. Then I got weird and didn’t feel like my hands were attached to me and was having trouble seeing so tried to nap. Got maybe 1.5 more hours of sleep (the sibling started loudly watching videos in spanish and wouldn’t turn down the volume/move to another room). Woke up with a headache/stomachache but both have cleared up by now.
IN OTHER NEWS…
I have figured out all the things I need to make my mermaid tail. I’m getting a Finnis Wave monofin, crimson and metalic gold Jacquard Lumiere fabric paints, and a shiny orange miliskin fabric for the main part of the tail (like swimsuit materialbut a bit heavier). Also think I’m going to get a yard of shiny daffodil yellow for fins. All together… it will probably cost about $114. Which is a lot of money but… ever since I found out that mermaiding was a thing I’ve been wanting to do it nonstop. And I’ll have leftover paints I can use for other projects. The gold I would definitely use in the future.
ANYWAY. I… am really excited. MERMAIDING YAY!
MONOFIN OFFICIALLY BOUGHT
I am so so so excited. 5-8 days why will you feel so long. But I have another project to work on then anyway, which will be good. After I’ve started that tomorrow I’ll buy the fabric and the paints.
BECOMING A MERMAID GUYS
I’M ACTUALLY DOING IT
YOU’RE MAKING THIS HAPPEN
So exciting!
Congrats, Jade!
How does one go about ‘keeping in touch’ with former teachers? Email, of course, but how often is it appropriate to write (and how long/detailed should those emails be?)
I visited my old school (I’ve got to get used to that) today, and I’m going again tomorrow (if school’s not cancelled because of the impending typhoon). It was so odd being in school because I kept thinking ‘Oh, what class have I got next?’ when I didn’t actually have any classes to go to.
I did go to my friend’s BC Calculus class, primarily because of the teacher (none of which I understood, but that didn’t stop me from feeling like I ought to be working on some kind of assignment), and another friend’s APUSH class (I had to restrain myself from raising my hand to answer his questions/participate in the discussion.)
Tomorrow my friend’s coerced me into going to my old Strings class with her (a class which is now almost entirely made up of freshman, seeing as most of the upperclassmen have quit because of the teacher), and I’m going with another friend to her French III class, which will be easy for me but I’m not really there to learn, after all. It’s the same teacher who taught me for AP French, so she knows me. I’d also like to visit some of my middle school teachers (a few of whom I haven’t seen for years).
I haven’t the foggiest, but good luck.
The visits also seem like a good idea!
Y’know, I’ve been wondering the same thing myself. Visits, of course, will be mandatory for me because of my brother and the concerts and all, but I also don’t know how frequent e-mails should be. Once or twice a month, maybe?
Speaking of which, I promised my awesome Social Studies teacher I would keep in touch with him. I should probably make good on that promise.
When I put my contacts in this morning, I blinked and excess contact juice squirted out of my left eye and hit the mirror. It was strangely awesome.
It’s an unusual superpower, but I guess it could come in handy in just the right circumstances.
If you can aim it into the eye of someone facing you, it could be a good distraction.
“Ah, we meet at last, Ms. Bond! Prepare to be incinerat-”
*blink*
“AOHOHAHAHAAAAAA GOD MY EYES”
My thoughts exactly.
Think it’s time for another back to school thread? Since many musers are heading off to college for the first time I’ve been thinking about making a list of less-thought of items I found really useful to have freshman year.
/casually rolls onto the blog
So my mom put a timer on my computer, for 3 hours. Which really really sucks. And then also she’s using this other program, gotomypc or something to watch what I’m doing sometimes, and it really bugs me and I can;t do anything because it slows down my computer and messes up my sound and arrrrrgh.
My mom does the same thing– internet-stalks me, reads my emails and MB posts, etc– so I sympathize. *hugs* If you ever need to put something on MB you don’t want her to see, there is always the paleo thread if you have an account, and if you don’t, I think you’ve been on long enough for the GAPAs to make you one.
I have a ONE hour timer on mine. Paleo tread, please?
You have to apply for an account to access the threads, and the GAPAs will only give you the account once you’ve been on for six months. This is basically to make sure you’re going to stay for a while before letting you into the deepest darkest secrets of the ‘blog; it’s not to make ‘phytes feel excluded!
Actually, the purpose in a way was to exclude ‘phytes – the paleo threads were started because people wanted a throwback to the early days of the blog / gaboomba, when posts were a lot less frequent and so you could go for weeks without checking and then come back and be able to catch up on everything you missed. A lot of the older people were getting overwhelmed by the flood of new posters, and felt like they couldn’t catch up. I think the six months was to give newer posters time to acclimate to the blog and realize that they didn’t actually need to treat it like twitter, but could condense multiple thoughts into the same post. Also it was a nice break from the nesting replies, which make tracking a conversation chronologically kind of difficult, plus lead to a lot of shorter, one-subject posts. I don’t really think the blog has “deepest darkest secrets.”
also, get off my lawn, whippersnappers
I got the impression, though, that any deliberate exclusion was because if they wanted a place that was slower with fewer posts, they’d have to exclude someone. But of course they just didn’t make the distinction arbitrarily; you make good points about getting caught up in the flood of new posters who were treating it like a twitter account. But even if part of the reason for its creation was to exclude neophytes, there certainly wasn’t any intention to make them feel excluded, which is all AL said wasn’t the case.
As for the blog having “deepest darkest secrets–” maybe not exactly, but if someone is worried that someone they know in real life is reading their posts, it’s a place to put something they don’t want that person to see.
Mainly the threads were a response to the sheer number of posts and neophytes that made some people feel overwhelmed and frustrated that they couldn’t have sustained conversations with their friends. (The H&H was also one of several earlier efforts to accomplish the same thing.) There was no intent on our part to exclude anyone for any reason other than to create a slower space; the 6-months requirement seemed to be the fairest way to do that. I can’t remember now whether hiding the thread was our only technical option, but even if we’d had the choice, hiding it would have seemed more neighborly than displaying conversations that not everyone could participate in. (I doubt Twitter ever entered our thoughts as it was barely on the MB radar in mid-2009. And as for chatspeak—the complaints about it were always more numerous than the actual instances of such.)
In sum, we regarded the paleo threads as an experiment that was designed to minimize any sense of exclusiveness as much as possible. The experiment would have been shut down without hesitation had it been misused. But, as we anticipated, Muserliness prevailed from the start.
I was still relatively new at the time, but I do recall that there was some concern about the “nature” of the blog changing along with its’ demographic, since the eldest/Gaboomba-era musers were getting older and the newcomers to the blog were getting younger.
It’s not that there were two distinctive “rival” groups, but a broadening spectrum of musers who had different views and perspectives on the blog and different attitudes towards the future development of said blog.
At the time when the paleo threads were created, there’d just been an influx of neophytes from the Chatterbox forum, Muse’s sister magazine (I think) and the nested comments were introduced, changing the flow of posts and conversations. The Chatterbox followed somewhat different rules and conventions than MuseBlog and some of the older MBers felt somewhat swamped.
The nested comments largely increased to volume of posts, speeding up the blog again, and burying the posts of those who chose not to use them with tons of short, individual replies to every post. Since the newer bloggers in particular (and those who followed RPGs) would post several posts on most main threads every day, a paleo posting once or twice a week would get completely lost.
And, of course, a lot of newcomers used chatspeak at first or shunned capital letters. Basically, I’d say some people felt the spirit of the blog was being buried under “omg lol me2!!!”. Hence the paleo threads to give neophytes a chance to cool their heels and integrate a little and paleos to design their own, more slow-paced environment.
((Of course, I only joined in ’08- I’ve only been around a fraction of the time that Lizzie has, so I can’t claim to know her perspective.))
you’ve got the right idea, eternal september, blah blah blah.
I have been on here for a while,
It looks like your six-month anniversary is in late September — just a little while more!
No, it’s not internet stalking.
It’s a program that she downloaded on my computer while I was sleeping that basically allows her to me on my computer when I’m on it to see what I’m doing.
Like at all times.
( this post was just sitting on my computer for like 2 days whoops )
AGENT’S MOM;
IF YOU ARE READING THIS STOP BEING SO STRICT!
Being yelled at by strangers on the Internet might not help her relax…
There should be a food thread.
What’s that you say? A food thread?
I was hungry… Thanks.
did I mention I finally started my cuttlefish plush
It’s yellow with green/gold/blue inner arms and fins. Whee!
Pattern almost all drawn out, then will cut it tonight. Miiight start sewing? Maybe. Depends on how forever awake I’ll be tonight (answer: probably a lot since the last 3 nights I was up to 5:30 or later…).
Also, my monofin shipped! It says it’s arriving tomorrow though I suspect that is a lie. But it’s okay since I didn’t expect it for 5-8 business days so wow.
This has been such a sea-themed summer. So great.
so
I’m still working on that
FOREVER AWAKE
sooo I didn’t intend for this to turn into an all-nighter
I was just going to be awake and eventually go to bed
but uh, dad’s up now and walking around upstairs
so I can’t sneak to bed anymore
…I’m trapped.
guess it’s awake for the day now….
Do you have a pattern I could use? I really want one!
Fiddler and Pan, I finally had the time to respond to your insightful comments on the Writing thread.
Anthem came from the library, so I can get started on my essay soon. There are all these essay contests on Ayn Rand books for high school and college students (the Anthem contest is also open to 8th-graders), and there are so many prizes it’s ridiculous (literally hundreds of people will get money for their essays on Anthem alone). Fortunately, it’s literary analysis, so they don’t have to know if you disagree, because I have a feeling they’d be less likely to award essays that did so vocally, although I don’t actually know. Anyway, it’s really convenient for anyone who isn’t horrified by reading Ayn Rand’s works; there’s no entrance fee or anything. But it is kind of surprising, the lengths they’ll go to in order to persuade people to read her books; these contests must be extremely expensive for the Ayn Rand Institute. It’s a bit amusing, actually, because isn’t it altruistic to spend money on exposing strangers’ minds to your ideas? But I already knew her philosophy wasn’t consistent, so that shouldn’t be a surprise. Anyway, I’m certainly not complaining about such an easy monetary opportunity.
Finally got around to visiting a bookstore downtown that I kept forgetting to visit last year. Bought a physical copy of Walden as well as a William Butler Yeats collection, Fall Sanctuary by Jeff Hardin, and Unexpected Manna by Gary H. Holthaus. So much poetry to read now. Huzzah!
WHOOPS
the cuttlefish was supposed to be SMALLER than the squid
instead it’s just got shorter tentacles
…there’s not going to be room for me in my bed.
You are seriously one of my favorite people. I mean, how many people have I known that not only make giant cephalopods but ARE giant cephalopods?
Giant…SPACE cephalopods?
THERE IS ONLY YOU
Jade I love you so much
SLEEP ON THE CEILING
AND DON’T FORGET TO PACK YOUR ANTI-GRAVITY UNDERPANTS!
(Heh. Just a byproduct of a joke a friend made ( “You can sit anywhere you want” “THE CEILING!” Hahahahahaha.)
Ask Midnight Fiddler about hammocks.
So right now my hand hurts a lot and only some words will be capitalized because Im only typing with one hand that hurts but that is fine and dandy. Because my other hand is covered in henna, because eid is in a few days.
But my hand is killing me, And ive only got the left one done. so i think im going to to do that hand and my feet tonight and my right hand and my hair tomorrow. I cant do my right hand anyways when my left palm is covered in goop.
particularly since im right handed. im a bit worried how itll turn out…but at least i have improved a lot from the first times i tried to do henna on my own. my hand has gotten much less shaky, and my fine motor control in general has improved.
You squid weird things. Despite the pain, I was actually fairly optimistic about the whole venture. (Correctly, as it turned out.) I guess that tone didn’t make it through, though.
also okay so
I get that I’m forever awake. Sleep is for the weak. I embrace it.
But I slept two hours this morning after not sleeping all night I should be a little tired at least. I kind of really don’t understand this anymore. The whole point of not-sleeping was so that I’d be tired tonight and force myself into a more normal schedule (or at least before 6am, though there is hope for that part still), but I guess if I do that in the future I’ll have to make sure not to get any sleep at all maybe. Already don’t ever drink caffeine.
I guess I’ll go lay in bed and play Dragon Age in hopes that I can manage to fall asleep before 3? Have to be up early tomorrow, and I have no problems being tired while waking up -_-.
Just in time for no one at Kokon to see it, I’ve acquired a new auto! It is a 2009 Subaru Impreza, bright blue, and it eats up hills like they’re the last cookie and nobody is looking. The only thing I like about it less than my previous car is that it cannot fit nine people in the back. The Kokommune may have to buy a bus.
And paint it bright colors.
OH MY GOD LET’S BE 2009 IMPREZA TWINS ♥
(mine is silver though I wish it were blue)
We should have a Mystery Machine!
Having read The God Delusion, I think it has essentially confirmed what I now think about the universe/religion. I feel as though Dawkins articulates well vague notions I’ve been having for a while now, but I was never able to present them to myself logically as he does in the book, where he addresses nearly every argument (against his case) that I can think of. I’ve always ‘believed’ in science, anyway. (This may be a controversial post, but I’m not too worried about expressing my honest thoughts here.)
I felt more or less the same way. I was later disappointed to learn that he doesn’t really think about morality much and is even consciously irrational on the subject, but everything in that book, at least, seemed logical. (Along with everything in his other books that I’ve read, although I haven’t read all of his books).
ROAD TRIPPINESS!
I cleaned my room to a passing degree, loaded my stuff, ate a doughnut, and waited a long time to actually know when we’ll leave. Going up north to see cousins and go to superflammy science camp. The only problem is that the streets are so bad, the potholes have a few roads. And it’s like that ALL THE WAY THERE. So I won’t be on here (?) for about a week or so. Will try to post from up there.
Bye And Lots Of :arrow:,
Prussia
I hope you have a fun time! Good luck with the potholes.
Have fun!
OMG LOL…
my eyes arn’t to great and i read kind of fast so some of the words seem to be not what they are in my mind. and i thought prussia= said
“TOAD RIPENESS”
ripe toads? really?
(P.S. prussia you stole MEH idea! =[} )
There really was a lot of pie. (Thrown)
Oops, forgot the obligatory kokon brag post. Probably because i’ve been gone forever
but yeah, it was really awesome to see everyone and the lake was wonderful, and the fact that it happened again this year makes it officially a tradition, so that’s nice. i have a quickly-fading henna kokopelli on my ankle as proof of the experience. also puppies. puppies everywhere.
also since i’m here (for once), i had an impromptu MBer meeting earlier – turns out Mattathias of Modin and i have a few mutual friends, and he just got back from india and showed up at my friend’s house while we were there. we didn’t really chat much because i was headed out, but we were like “hey! the internet!” etc
in other news if anyone has been dying for an update on my life the past couple years i just got back from a fantastic internship in london with the institute of historical research (and i got to see the doctor who experience its opening weekend in cardiff, left a flower at the ianto wall on mermaid quay, and got to see awesome live irish music in dublin by the strenuous effort of not blindfolding myself and plugging my ears constantly while i was there (seriously, its at every pub and there’s a pub every two feet, it was great). bet you missed these double parentheses without me)
i’m going into my last year of undergrad so i’m taking fun classes like the mongols and old english and i’m gunning for an MLIS program next year so that should be cool. trying to teach myself guitar, knitting a ton, and have just poked my head in to the strange world of working out so i can get as buff as mel
hearts and things from ebeth, the anti-seducer
oh yeah and after all this time, that avatar is still appropriate. i’m just a few serials away from hitting the fourth doctor, but it’s been slow going due to life and stuff
my tom baker scarf that i’m knitting is getting exponentially more awesome though
Enjoy Old English! It was one of my favorite classes. I can’t help but love a language that has words like “hwæt.”
“got to see awesome live irish music in dublin by the strenuous effort of not blindfolding myself and plugging my ears constantly while i was there”
I am laughing so hard, I love you
OH HAI GUISE. I MADE IT HOME SAFE.
Pro: My cat was very happy about this.
Con: My cat drools when she’s happy.
Ebeth: (d’aww, you think I’m buff <3) I am too lazy to write a longer Kokon post but I think I was supposed to refer to myself as "the Dandy," so there you have it. And I swear, Tom Baker is so much better than Pertwee. Who is simply painful in every regard. You can do it. We can geek out so much.
Are we doing life updates? I really want to get internet-forum-active properly again only I am so very lazy and so very busy. Busy being lazy. Sleeping. Not entirely. I spent the last year finishing up undergrad, and somehow my school entrusted me with degrees in math and German, so there's that.
Oh, and I spent almost a month this summer on an TESOL practicum in Shanghai, which was fantastic. And included the obligatory trip to the Great Wall because, omg, THE GREAT WALL. There are no words. The world is an amazing place. Only, the food did not agree with me. I have now decided that I do not wish to be a foreign English teacher. Or, maybe just not one who can't take the local food. And the fact that she got extremely weird looks when powerlifting over there. Welp.
Now there's waiting on paperwork concerning graduate school. Because I'm useless at anything that isn't loads of mathematics. And I doubt myself with that as well. I think everything but my visa's settled now. I even have a flight over to the UK, and they had better send my passport back before it takes off. Things got weird with the entire process, but everything should work out okay in the end. That's how stuff goes, right?
Today, an old HS friend and I went to an amusement park which was really more of a permanent carnival. Every time I leave the US or come back, I go on an Epic American Food Binge because I miss that stuff sometimes. I still need to hit up more diners and Mexican places. But I got carnival food out of the way, and everyone appreciates having a person to hold their stuff while they ride. Then we went home and visited her neighbor's camel. His name is Humphrey Bogart, and, honestly, there is no more perfect camel name aside from perhaps Lawrence. But I digress. CAMEL!
Sounds like you’ve been having some great adventures!
Pertwee was much better in The Navy Lark.
Wolfram Alpha is officially the Most Helpful Thing.
(Normally this would feel a bit like cheating, but I have 75 polynomial function problems before school starts and OH MY GOD IT FACTORS YOUR EQUATIONS FOR YOU.)
So, anyway, the last week has been a combination of rushing to finish all this summer homework that I was not aware of (okay, I was aware of it, but I actually did not have time to do it, I’ve just been so busy). Also, I went to an Actual Baseball Game featuring the Giants and the Rockies (a couple of days before Melky Cabrera was caught doping), which was way more fun than I thought it would be, and the entire game was preceded by a troupe of Indians dancing to Punjabi music because it was Indian Heritage Day (I was there with three other Indians, so that was fun).
Also I made a cake with a squid design iced on top! It was sort of messy, but it was the tallest cake I’ve ever made- three layers!- and tasted pretty darn good. Today I made pizza muffins, which sound disgusting and probably are to the rational mind but I AM NOT A RATIONAL MIND and they were delicious.
So now, I am attempting to finish these Precalc Honors problems (because oh hey I am taking four AP/Honors classes this year, oh my god, and all of them had summer homework), but one of my neighbors has been outside chainsawing something all day (actually, he seems to spend pretty much every day chainsawing something- I can’t imagine there’s much left in his yard to cut down) and my other neighbor has been repeatedly playing Good King Wenceslaus on the piano, so concentration is not an option.
School starts Monday. Drums, drums in the deep.
Guys, I am on my new tablet.
IT IS SO GORGEOUS AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
*coughmyphoneisstillbettercough*
My friends and I just crocheted 10 2″ x 25″ strips of various colors and then sewed them onto a bike rack outside of the dining hall on campus. Because we’re cool.
Earlier today Taylor suggested that we do some yarnbombing around campus, the rest of us energetically agreed, and so we did that all in a matter of a few hours.
Yussssss. We have plans for a lamppost (that will be challenging, since the surface we want to cover is roughly 8′ tall), a tree outside of the dining hall, and a metal post on the bridge over the road. Also maybe one of the lights on the bridge, complete with a yarn spider web.
This is so exciting.
okay so
I got my monofin on friday, HOORAY
…a strange man (hired by my parents) has been painting our house/working on our roof all week
I want to go swimming and test it out and play with it but I don’t want to do ti while a stranger is there D: I’m too shy/self conscious
I think he’s coming back tomorrow too
I think I might just try… swimming tonight? Like nowish. I’m a good swimmer, the first 6 or 7 feet in don’t have too many weeds, and even though it’s dark I’ve swum here uncountable times, it’s my house.
Anyway I guess this is just to let you all know that if I go missing you know where to dredge! I jest, of course. The DANGERS OF SWIMMING AT NIGHT ALONE are probably not as applicable in a tiny shallow backyard lake XD And YAY TRYING MY FIN.
Actually first I am GOING TO BUY MY MATERIAL. AW YEAH. Here goes…
PURCHASED
AW YEAH
guys I am SO CLOSE. I had to wait until cuttlefish would definitely be done before ordering more material or parents would have uh, not been fans. And I had the chance to check joann fabric’s and confirm that they do not carry the material I need. BUT SOON.
Will probably need to wait a few days to order paints, just in case, but material+fin is all the stuff I need to get started
DID NOT DIE
I CAN GO SO FAST IN THAT THING
WHEEEE
can’t wait to try it moooore can’t wait for my faaabric so exciiiited
Sounds great! Will you share pictures of the fun when it is painted?
Absolutely. My roommate has an underwater camera so once it’s done you guys may even get to see it in action!
Hey.
I’m back! Sorry for my sudden disappearance a while ago. I feel bad about deserting all of you, but I’m back now!
Welcome back!
Thanks!
Welcome back, Ooba!
Is this NaMbResMo ( National MBer Resurfacing Month)?
OMG!
COMPUTER IZ BACK!!!! YAAAAAY!
repaired computah! been not working for awhile! it shut down and we couldn’t log back in for a few days. it finally worked. Dad typed the password and it didn’t work. but he didn’t know he typed the password for his old computer accidentally. he found the password for this one and typed IT and NOW it works… ugh.
My gallbladder seems to be twitching. Is this normal, or am I dying?
Um?
awkword posts…
i doubt you are DYING see if any other people’s are and if they are then you are fine. but you might need to see a doctor if this is not normal. or, if you are a girl you might be having a baby
Gotta watch out for babies, I hear sometimes you don’t even know you’re having one until it’s too late
Weird…
Cuttlefish eyes are strange! Adorable, but strangely set up. But, I’ve figured out how to recreate the look with fabric and am almost ready to attach them to the body. Yay!
Hi everyone! It’s Hippie and Lightning and also Llama.
AL here: Hippie and I just spent the day ziplining with an off-blog friend and it was awesome! Llama was too light to be able to go ziplining but she was missed. Ziplining was awesome and I definitely want to go again– also I got to talk with awesome friends and laugh at dirty jokes without having to hide my laughter behind a badly designed smirk. Now it’s night and we’re all roasting marshmallows in my backyard.
Hippie here! It was so much fun hanging with AL and IRL friend. In addition to them, I was with my friend Video Game and his dad. His dad is the kind of person that is a really nice guy but cares nothing about what others think of him and likes to say things that will shock people. And I have had way too much sugar with Jolly Ranchers, Milk Duds, and s’mores, so I will hand the keyboard to Llama and go look at AL’s sister’s trombone case now that she isn’t cuddling it.
HI its Llama! Sorry I haven’t been on much; I’m busy. We need to make gluten free s’mores so bye for now!
Gluten-Free?! so one of you has gluten intolerance too?
so i’m not alone in this… this… madness called a diet
SFTDP, but gluten free isn’t all bad. mom just handed me a gluten free cookie and it’s delicious.
I eat my mother’s gluten free stuff all the time. I have no problem with gluten, although I recently discovered a mild dairy allergy. I can eat ice cream and cheese, but drinking whole milk straight up gives me a headache later in the day and the next morning. I stopped drinking it last week and I’ve felt great.
I mean, it’s not a good idea to eat like a gallon of ice cream and a block of cheddar, but they don’t bother me in my regular serving amounts.
Dude, i drink like, a gallon of milk in two days. (around 5 3in. glasses every 4 minutes) and i am fine. exept a cough but mom says that’s because of Hot Cocoa and Nestles Quick. never did like Nestles, to me it sticks to the bottom of the glass and it chokes me at the end because the chocolate at the bottom makes the chocolate taste extra strong. but i could easilly down a gallon of milk in numerous short glasses in a day.
That sounds awesome. I’ve always wanted to go ziplining!
woot! testing out my new Gravitar!!! cool!
i have my own email and i made a new account with GT (GraviTar).
i just got back from a party where me and my friend went. and they had a playground with “Gasp” TEETER-TOTTERS!!!!! are you looking at this post like “What is this cat’s problem?!?!” well i havn’t been on teeter totters in awhile and my friend who was with me really loves them and they are fun! the only problem is that they left sores on my legs from sitting on them.
Hey, teeter-totters (or as I call them, see-saws) are fun!
Have concluded that my organs are not rupturing/imploding/melting/being slowly devoured by an alien parasite, but that I have some sort of muscle cramp possibly caused by terrible posture. I should probably start being less paranoid and just sit up straight.
Did some more yarnbombing tonight! It’s funtimes.
Move-in for transfers is tomorrow, then the freshmen arrive Tuesday. WHUT. It’s so weird to think that I was one of them just a year ago. A whole year ago.
Huh.
Ugh ugh ugh school tomorrow ugh ugh ugh. In other news, it’s nearly 11 and I have to get up at 6 and given the amount of stuff I have to pack before then, I think it’s better if I just don’t try to sleep tonight.
Oh yeah, I was writing this post because I saw Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog for the first time last night and oh my lord I am a convert to Whedonism. Firefly almost had me, but this is epic.
Back-to-school outfits. Is wearing a long skirt+tucked-in shirt+knee-length sweater+sneakers a thing? I think if not, it is going to be a thing by tomorrow afternoon.
So I have sort of been thinking a lot about something lately but I’m not quite ready to post it. Not really sure where to begin. It’s actually quite an old thought, though it’s evolved throughout the years. I’m just not quite sure where to start, because it’s a huge issue, and intersects with a lot of things, and it’s very important, or at least a large part of my life and certainly my recent thoughts and google searches. And i haven’t really talked about it at all. To anybody. And all this has been bottled up inside and I think I should probably get on it already.
But when it comes to typing the words out, I’m at a blank. Should I just start, then, and end up where my stream of conciousness takes me?
*hugs* Whatever you need to say, whenever you decide to say it, we are here for you!
If you do say it, we’re here to listen!
So I helped with freshman move-in yesterday, which meant carting their stuff up up to four flights of stairs from 8-2:30. If you’ve seen me, you know that I am not exactly the most muscular creature, so I was expecting to be pretty sore today. So I woke up, and was like “huh, I’m not actually that sore, that’s cool.” Then I tried to get up.
So hopefully I’ll be able to like lift my arms again in the next few days.
but soon you will be STRONG LIKE OX
and SWIFT AS A COURSING RIVER
MYSTERIOUS AS THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOOOOON…
Sorry, wrong song?
No, no, that song is always okay.
Anybody else think August days are only half as long as those of any other month?
I don’t know about “anybody,” but I don’t. It’s nowhere near winter solstice yet.
Why the squid? Long days are nice, but I can live without them.
One out of two-a-day soccer sessions completed!
Yes, folks, the beginning of high school soccer season is upon us once again. We hit the pitch from 9-11 and 2-4 for three days in a row, plus an extra half hour this morning because of paperwork. There’s also more conditioning now because we don’t have a game coming up for a little while. Yippee.
This morning actually wasn’t too bad. I’ve been playing in this heat all summer, often for three hours a day with only a half an hour break, so I’m sort of used to it. Then again, your body never gets used to being pushed to its limits. It just means that I recover faster than a lot of the other girls. (Protip: sometimes in these situations your relative fitness is more important than your absolute fitness) I also made my honorary sister puke, oops. But that’s what family is for.
sitting around in my swimsuit hoping it’ll make me feel silly enough to force me to actually get into the water
the water is cold
In other news today I went to the craft store/generic large chain store with the sibling and mom, and convinced her to buy me E6000 glue, an avengers calendar, and avengers folder, and glow in the dark dinosaur skeleton stickers. Mom also commented on how the little kid who was getting super excited over batman pajamas reminded her of me when I found a batman lunchbox two weeks ago.
I am basically a 6 year old boy.
Taking a shower after not having one for five days is the BEST THING IN THE WORLD. Even if staying in a cabin in the woods is lovely, having no running water is not.
Sounds like my week! I just came back Sunday from canoeing through Canada. We got back to base and there were finally hot showers!
CUTTLEFISH DONE
WOOOO
PIX PLZ
PICS OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN
Things I come up with on long car rides when I’m bored…
Cal-i-forn-ia nerds, they’re unforgettable
Blue po-los and Mohawks on top…
I love you.
Apparently, I’m going to need a TARDIS to get to classes on time.
It’s really annoying how teachers are so unforgiving about these things. *gives squids*
Sorry, I think you guys misunderstood. It’s just a joke because the “current” class schedule posted is from 2007. There are two of my classes that might clash, but I can move one of them to a different day so I’ll be fine.
At my school you get “tardy” stamps, and if you get 3 in a quarter you can’t go on a field trip just for your entertainment, which is sad.
My fabric shipped!!
Now I can make the pattern… and order paints…
eeeeee getting closer!
PAINTS ORDERED
now uh
I guess I just won’t sleep until I have my stuff
because how can I knowing it is SO CLOSE TO BEING IN MY GRASP
D:
You know, on the sidebar, I could have sworn you said “PANTS ORDERED”. I was wondering why you needed pants.
Those would be kind of inconvenient in a mermaid costume (or on a stuffed cuttlefish).
Hahahaha, you guys.
well
PANTS PAINTS SHIPPED, MATERIAL ARRIVED
As did I.
I actually just saw your PANTS ORDERED in the sidebar, and did a bit of a double take. Then I saw PAINTS ORDERED and though it actually said PANTS ORDERED because of what you said…
Headed to DC tomorrow! Still so much to plan and write into little trip planners for my mom, but excitement!
I’ll regain internet access in maybe ten days? Although I might find some ways to pop in from time to time.
Trips! <3
I hope you’re having fun! (I’d hope you have fun, but this is late…)
OH ALSO CUTTLEFISH PICTURE I will send that in now I guess
I don’t want to wait until next week to learn if I got into the ultra-competitive, awesome volunteer program for youth in the fall at my zoo! It is just amazing, and I want to know if I can do it! </petty rant that doesn't bother me enough to go on the rants and plaints thread>
So I just made a bunnified squiddle! It is completely horrifying! May I send it to you, GAPAs?
That depends. Are you talking about a picture, a pillow, or an actual bunnified squid? It makes a difference.
The sight of a bunnified squid would probably render me twitching and gibbering in a straightjacket inside of a padded room.
I’ll take that to mean I should send a picture?
Attack of the BunnySquid
Movie title says all.
This creepy, horrible, and utterly unexpected thing just happened wherein I enjoyed doing my math homework.
HELP
WHAT. How does that happen??
On a related subject, has anybody else seen Vi Hart’s new video about connecting dots?
Well, December 2012 is drawing inevitably nearer after all…
THIS is what the Mayans predicted.
You mean the Maya predicted MuseBlog? We’re the culmination of history? Hm… I’ll bet KaiYves hasn’t been hearing THAT.
Ugh, no, no, no, as an archeology major and an amateur astronomer, I hear far too much of this to find it funny.
Oh my god, you enjoyed Precalc? *eyes bug out* Well, if you like that, you’ll have an easier time than I did. Wait until you get to Calculus proper– that stuff is brilliant.
WELCOME TO MATH
We love you!
I know the feeling. I’m used to it. Join the club!
Yes! You cannot escape loving math! You will be assimilated!
First day of school was lovely, despite a weird first-day schedule where we had every single class. (Usually we work on a block schedule, where we have four classes per day and spend 90 minutes in each of them.)
I’m required to take Economics this semester, which is a subject I hadn’t expected to enjoy at all but to my surprise I’m finding pretty interesting. It’s not as good as actual History or Psychology or Sociology, but it’s a lot more of a social science than a mathematical one.
Also wonderful astounding things are happening in A Capella, which you can see on the Back to School Thread. Absolutely stunned by the end of today.
My goal for this year is to have fun. I think that’s a good goal for senior year; I’ve spent twelve years putting academic ambition over everything else, and that hasn’t actually gotten me anywhere. So this year I want to try to enjoy class as much as possible. It shouldn’t be hard! Learning is actually pretty nice, and I enjoy doing it! And I’m doing college applications, which are my ticket out of my town/house/life, so I ought to be able to take a certain vindictive pleasure in them if nothing else. Besides, the more I enjoy doing something, the more I’ll want to do it and the better the quality of it will be, so having fun in class will likely pay off with grades.
So before my intro-level chemistry class, we had to take an exam that tested how much we already knew, as pat of an online course designed to bring us up to speed before class started. I took the test and got 42% right. Ouch.
So obviously it’s been a while since I took chemistry, and in the intervening 3 years i have clearly forgotten everything. I hate forgetting stuff. This at least will be a good way to bring me back up to speed.
I actually thought I was going to do well. My poor hopes and dreams. It reminds me of the way I’m always confident in my math skills when I haven’t done any for a while, before my ego get’s popped like a balloon. It’s been two years since my last math class. And I’m going to take statistics next semester, and probably calculus too.
*sigh* I like the idea of being good at math. But when it actually comes down to it, I struggled with that class much more than I did with any of the others. And while I do feel a certain sense of accomplishment and fun, I suppose, when I know how to do the problems, all too often I get lost the minute a problem differs from the example set in any way. I can’t think creatively in math, can’t rearrange the equations naturally in my head the way I do words. I mean, every one has different skills but it’s so frustrating. Particularly on Museblog where so many people love math(s).
Back to chemistry again, and that practice test where I actually did best on math–but worst on stoichiometry. I really hope this online thing actually improves my skills, because right now I’m just embarrassed by them.
Don’t squid this, please. I know it’s a depressing post, but I don’t need squids, and I am ultimately optimistic, at least until I have to solve a stoichiometric problem.
I like maths and think I’m pretty good at it (As, 100%, the whole nine yards at school), but scored abominably on math on the SAT. Moral: one test does not a talent break. You can do this!
SFTMC, and good luck.
Well, more premature than misplaced, since I hadn’t read the last paragraph. SFTDP(which is the appropriate acronym!)
I’ve got an apnea (free-diving) workshop this weekend and I can’t wait! Our instructor used to train the national team (small country, even smaller diving world) and I’d really love to actually learn some proper techniques so that I can finally beat the 30ft “record” I set up when I was twelve, for crying out loud.
This year, I’ll even be able to train, since I can officially join the university gym and won’t have to sneak in through the cafeteria anymore and I’m going to be spending a lot of time at the pool anyway to get my diving instructors license. Now I can work towards getting an apnea license (yes, such a thing exists) as well- and, should I ever get really good at it, I have the perfect excuse to buy a monofin!
I suppose some people might consider it blasphemy, but I’ve always preferred apnea to scuba anyway because it’s just you and the water without the burden of dive equipment. Of course, I’m not going to get better overnight, but I knew/know people who can do 80ft fairly comfortably so it is humanely possible. Besides, most of my apnea career was when I was barely starting puberty, and I have grown a good bit taller and stronger since then so I’m excited to see what I can do now.
Free diving! Wow, oh man, I am so envious. And being a diving instructor! That’s so awesome. I’ve always loved swimming/water and did swim/dive (as in, diving board) lessons all growing up but I’ve never been scuba diving. There’s a class at oberlin that lets you get your certification and I LONG for the semester when I’ll have enough time to do it. Apnea sounds SO AWESOME because you don’t have equipment and it’s just you and the water. Ahhhh it’s so cool and I’m so vicariously excited now. Keep us updated Do you live on a coast/dive often??
Sorry for being so weird about this but it’s something I always wanted to do growing up (I watched so many ocean documentaries and it’s all I ever wanted to do for hours/days afterwards) but I’m in the middle of the US No oceans for me.
(AND NOW YOU ALL KNOW THE REAL MOTIVES FOR MY WANTING TO BE A MERMAID)
I live about 6 hours and 1 country away from the nearest coast so I haven’t been diving much, but I used to snorkel almost every day when I was a kid because I was pretending to be a mermaid.
They do have lake-diving here, which is better than nothing, I guess, but it’s cold and dark and every time they have to dredge one of the lakes (murder case, that sort of thing), they tend to find several more bodies than anticipated.
You should totally do the certification class- it’s all pretty easy stuff and once you have your license, you can go on dive tours (or maybe your college already has someone organizing those, I dunno- it’s usually cheaper that way) and dive tours are the pwnage.
I would love to take a scuba refresher course, my certification dives were a lot of fun… alas, diving is expensive.
That’s so cool!
Stared at a chart of Greek noun declensions for an hour trying to figure out the pattern so I wouldn’t have to just memorize them without understanding them. The book (a reprint of a 1926 translation of an 1884 textbook) didn’t help a bit. But I figured it out! I think I know how long and short syllables work and whether to use an acute accent or a circumflex and why α changes to η and why accents on the ultima are so weird!
In other news, our first choir rehearsal is tonight. The last time I was in any sort of a choir was back in sixth grade, and at that time I was a soprano. It’s been a while. For our first concert we’ll be singing Schubert’s Mass in G. We’ll see how it goes.
THIS IS GREEK.
PLEASE STARE AT THE GREEK.
*tick tock tick tock*
*buzz*
YOU SHOULD NOW FEEL MENTALLY REINVIGORATED.
…sorry. Choir! Good luck!
So now school has started and I have my computer back from being repaired and I can write my first coherent post in a while.
My schedule is pretty good; although I likely won’t be able to take English at home like we planned, my fallback teacher is much, much better than my English teacher from last year. Our school is changing the schedule so that we have longer periods and more classes, but only 4 per day. It’s stupid, but it’s there and it gives more time to do homework.
I’ve started getting interested in theater, which has a lot of people I know so I won’t be alienated. At a meeting they did today a guy came up and asked me if I wanted to be in his DnD group and so I may have an excuse to make a dwarf named Carlos in an RPG. (I believe only Robert will get that.)
So. I’m back. Hopefully this’ll be better than last year.
We are going to visit my high school today to look around. Also, my bus comes at 6:33 in the morning, a full hour earlier than last year. What.
I guess this is the year I start using the alarm clock I got a few Christmases ago.
noofcourseI’mnotprocrastinatingonmyBiologywhatareyoutalkingabouthahahaha
AT CAMP!!!! Last day! will tell later
I didn’t know that author John Green, of Looking for Alaska fame, had a popular set of Youtube videos made with his brother.
I used to not know this, but I do now. And let me tell you, I think that they are awesome. Particularly the newest set of videos, called Crash Course World HIstory and Crash Course Biology. I’ve been watching the world history ones in particular, and I think they are awesome and Muserly and flammy and they cover a lot of topics sadly not often seen in American history textbooks, like the Latin American Revolutions and African Kingdoms and Mohenjo Daro and really cool things like that.
And even the regular, less than five-minute set of videos are great to watch, and amusing, and I am very very glad one of my friend slinked me to them, and i think you should all watch them. I mean, some of the science videos mention tardigrades, and ugh I will stop now.
They’re funny and informative. What more could you want?
Vlog Brothers!! Nerdfighters unite!
I too read a couple of his books before finding the online videos, but they’re great.
DFTBA!
I was the opposite; I only started reading his books after discovering the videos, but still! Very awesome videos!
DFTBA!
It’s also incredibly exciting that they’re pioneering vlogs and internet tv, etc., because everything that follows will be held to their standard. Sure, eventually there will be awful Disney Channel Youtube shows, but they’ll have to compete with excellence like The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and SciShow, not the other way around.
I got myself into a car crash. Whoops.
Yes, I’m okay. It was really more of a fender-bender.
It was a weird situation because I thought somebody was covering my shift at the museum today but I found out this morning that he couldn’t. So, I had to leave soccer practice half an hour early in order to go home, clean up, change clothes, and drive to the museum. Now, the parking at the soccer fields is really a pain because it’s on a two-lane road and everybody parks diagonally, so when you get out, you have to either go down and around to go back the direction you came from or awkwardly turn around in the middle of the street. Other players’ giant trucks are also blocking your view to either side, so you have to be really careful and look both ways to make sure no other cars are coming. Well, I was fixated on that part and kind of forgot to look behind me. I slammed my taillight/bumper right into the side of my coach’s silver Mini Cooper…
I pulled around into the supermarket parking lot, and the coach came over and gave me a hug, saying that he’s done things like that countless times before, and that it’ll be okay, and that if I have insurance that will help pay for it., but I was still about to cry. Well, luckily, I do have insurance – my mom just recently (within the past week or two) added me to my parents’ policy.Phew. I made it home, kind of shaken, and called my dad. Luckily, he called me back before I was going to leave for my shift, because he told me that he knows how stressful it can be to have something like that happen, and he just didn’t want me driving at all right then, certainly not all the way downtown. He also said it was going to be okay and that it’s better to get this out of the way now while I’m still in the house. He’s going to come home from work after his phone call to have lunch with me, look over the car, and tell me all his stories about parking lot fender-benders. So I e-mailed my supervisor and told her that I won’t make the shift after all. If only I could have decided that in the first place and not have any of this happen! But I’m okay, and everybody’s being really understanding, and I think everything will turn out okay.
*hugs* I’m glad you’re okay!
Follow-up comment:
My dad came home, and my mom was already on her way home, and my brother was home, so we all went out to lunch together at a local burger place. Nobody was worried about where they had to be next, or when. We even walked down the street to a garage sale and bought some pink lemonade from the little boys who were saving for a trampoline. I’m not saying this is who I am or that it’s good to act in such a way, but now I understand why some people act out for attention. Sometimes it takes something terrible that you can’t even believe you did for some parts of life to come into better focus.
I am currently at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. It is so nice and big and EVERYTHING here and I need to take a break because SO MUCH TO SEE AND WALKING
I’ll be off to Air and Space next. White House tomorrow, and then more museums. I love museums.
THERE ARE GIANT SQUID SPECIMINS HERE I LOVE IT
/endsqueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
It really is awesome, isn’t it! Did you see the dinosaurs and the ancient seas room?
Yes! So gorgeous. I especially enjoyed the squids.
Tomorrow, off to New York!
I think the Smithsonian hit on the perfect way to display giant squid specimens– in a case with enclosed sides and a clear top, so that those who wish to see can put their faces right up to the glass and those who don’t wish to see it can simply walk by, going about their business, no awkward eye aversion maneuvers required. (I’m looking at you and your ceiling-hanging models, AMNH and Yale Peabody Museum.)
Have almost everything I need to start sewing tomorrow
Spent today cutting the plastic ridges off my monofin and sanding down the leftover edges. It’ll give it a nicer look overall once it’s inside the tail, esspecially since I’m planning on expanding the overall area of the fluke by gluing zip ties to the monofin to give it a more fish-like shape. I don’t think I explained that very well but maybe I’ll take pictures it will show up better in XD
GUYS GUYS GUYS
I HAVE 58$. I NEED 60$ FOR MY RAINBOW DASH HOODIE.
AHHHHHHHHHH.
But my bunny bank has at least two dollars in pennies in it, and I read ten books so I can get ten dollars from the bank for their “Free Money Giveaway” “Reading for Money” program-thing. Also, it’s allowance day. But ARGH CAN’T WAIT.
Cskia-Your excitement is infectious. *jumps up and down*
Jadestone-YES PLEASE PICTURES
R.I.P. Neil Armstrong
one of my personal heros, and a hero of the human race in general
♥ He will be missed
Neil Armstrong is dead.
Rest in peace.
R.I.P. Neil Armstrong.
I swore I wouldn’t do it, but maybe I did it again… or maybe I didn’t. After Congresswoman Giffords, I don’t ever want to jump on news before I know for sure, so many people get so embarrassed because they race to report and turn out to be mistaken and it’s just awful all around…
But if I did… then I jinxed again, and I did something truly horrible.
Not your fault. Never your fault.
And now I feel rude and stupid for waiting to make sure. Ugh.
No, it’s always best to check. I went to at least 3 different articles before I could really believe it
Agreed agreed agreed. And Kai, you’re not stupid or rude. You’re careful.
Neil Armstrong
I didn’t start crying until I went to his Wikipedia page and saw that all the references to him are in present tense. He was an incredibly brave man and an all-around champion.
I wonder if Neil Armstrong has gone back to the moon…? That seems like a cool place to spend eternity.
Gluing things gluing things why did I forget how long it takes to do that
oh well
also it appears the solution for having more months than Muses is to just not name them eh don’t think I didn’t notice
Pasted from else-Internet, a poem of mine…
Neil Armstrong on the Subway
I always wanted to turn these thoughts into a poem.
I always had something else to do.
I guess it doesn’t matter now
Because it’s only imagination.
It never happened and it can’t
And it doesn’t rhyme and I wrote it fast
And now it’s not like I thought it would be
But here it is, all the same.
I always wondered what I might do
If I was riding on a subway or a bus
And I looked across the aisle and saw that old man’s face
I’d seen in pictures so many times before.
–
I thought about that a lot.
Even though it wasn’t likely.
I still wondered what I’d do.
Now guess I’ll never know.
–
But I liked to think that first I’d look and stare
To be sure it was him.
Look-alikes and wishful thinking, you know?
And if I was as sure as I could be, then…
–
Then the hard part would come.
Then I’d have to force myself to stop staring.
To look at my feet, to open a book,
Stare straight ahead, out the window, anything.
–
And bite my tongue.
Not scream, not point, not say a word.
Because I knew the worst thing I could do
Would be to treat him differently than anyone else.
–
How many thousands had said words of thanks?
How many thousands had called him a hero?
How many thousands had given hugs or gifts?
How many thousands had given attention he didn’t want?
–
So, if I really respected him
I knew I’d have to stop staring.
The greatest show of respect I could give
Would be respect for privacy.
–
When I imagined it, I was always the one
Whose stop came first.
The first to get up, and
Leave him to go wherever he was going.
–
And, the hardest part of all,
To walk past him to the exit, and do not a thing
Except— for just a moment—
Turn, smile, and walk out.
–
Maybe he’d know that I meant I knew.
Or maybe he’d think I was smiling at someone else.
Or I was just smiling at the world, or at an old man, to be nice.
But maybe he’d know that I meant I knew.
–
And in that case,
Who would need an autograph, a photo, or a hug
When I would know I had something so much rarer?
I would know we’d shared a secret.
(Er, forgot the indents for the first few stanzas…)
It seems to me so rare that there are people who aren’t just national heroes, but world heroes; that there are people who are celebrated not just by a few, but by the entirety of humanity. That as one planet among many, we are able to say with a single voice: courage and goodness and brilliance exist, and we know because we have seen them.
David Mitchell says in Cloud Atlas, “One writes music because winter is eternal.” We are a single speck of light in a universe that is enormous and dark; we are a single speck of life among wheeling and mechanical stars and galaxies. We are unimaginably small, and we are unimaginably insignificant; and it is good to know that we are, as well, unimaginably brave. And it is good to know that though winter is eternal, and though heroes die, there are footsteps on the Moon where no wind will touch them. And that one writes music. And that there are heroes who have walked among the stars. And that they will, again.
RIP Neil Armstrong.
I read The Fault In Our Stars tonight.
It’s been awhile since I’ve sat down and read an entire book straight through.
So many feels.
I guess I should go to bed now, what with it being after 4am and all.
Classes start Monday.
I’m pretty sure I’m not ready for this.
Good morning, this post brought to you by Forever Awake and John Green’s genius as well as Fern’s Lack Of Self-Control When It Comes To Putting Down Books.
I know. I would much rather rad a stolen-from-my-friend copy of the book all through algebra class than do my worksheet like a Good Student.
My teacher exploded at me but I didn’t care! Because that book is so caking good! and so many feelings do not need to wait for shallow things like quadratic equations.
Muahahaha.
How do you know that it was my friend’s book? 0.o
It was on her bookshelf, so I just started reading. I didn’t mean to read a book last night, I meant to start one.
Oh well.
Also fortunately no math classes for me, but I know at some point I will have to, and I’ll also have to take a math placement test and my friend took it the other day and I’m pretty sure I’m going to completely die because I am entirely unprepared for it.
Ugh.
I stayed up until 1AM reading a book a few weeks ago. On a school night. While I’m proud of such acts of nerdiness, I don’t recommend that if your body actually needs more than 6 hours’ sleep.
As for reading in math class, which I actually enjoy, never! Really, never, I tell you!
Goodbye, Neil Armstrong.
You made the world a better place.
And expanded its horizons.
There’s a statue of him at Purdue University. Just sitting there on a low wall, like a normal college student.
It’s a really great statue.
I just felt I should mention that.
So just as an update I’M AT COLLEGE WOOHOO, typing from my desk in my still-disheveled room but I love this place and I’m freeeeeeeeeee, oh my gosh how did I ever NOT live like this.
Welcome to college, Aggie. Don’t go too crazy, remember to call home every few months, and learn to be a hardcore cheapskate.
Enjoy yourself!
Yay!
Back to school shopping! Normally I wouldn’t be excited about this, but my mom took me to {City} to go thrifting and go to the mall. Yes, I know, the mall, ugh, etc. but they actually have things that fit me there. This is good because it means I don’t have to spend five hours trying stuff on for two pieces of clothing.
Also, I got some really cute dresses thrifting. Pretty clothes, eeeee–I think my head is going to float away, this makes me so excited.
So I moved to college today. Everything went well, but I haven’t really been doing any of the catching up with friends yet because about four hours or so ago I fell asleep and I only woke up recently. Which is not surprising when you consider that I was up till five am packing.
#my dorm floor is twitter-themed. #the dorm theme is social media #Facebook above me and stumbleupon below # the hashtags are intentional
hello everyone! i haven’t been on much but just stopping by to say that both my mom and grandma were reading some back issues of Muse the other day (the one with the birds saying “what a people-brain!” which they both thought was funny)
i hope everyone has had a great summer!
AXA HELLO MY LOVELY ♥
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
BACK HOME!
Longish post ahead, proceed with caution.
So my family and I were driving to ________ to visit my awesome cousins ( And go to said SUPERFLAMMY SCIENCE CAMP!!! ) And maybe eat a little ice cream while I’m there. Drive there was better than last year, by a lot, even though the potholes up there have a few roads . In camp I got to play with non-Newtonian fluids, dissect starfish, play real-life Angry Birds, and and make a cardboard suit of armor. I wished i could pie someone this year. Yes, pie. was all that I thought about during the week. Pieing at SSC ( SUPERFLAMMY SCIENCE CAMP!!!, not real name) is when your name goes into a hat if you are good, and the counselors draw 2 or 3 names, and if you are picked, you get to pie a counselor.Did not get picked. The pieing was oddly entertaining. The trip was fun, but I missed the blog. YAY DONE!
So did anyone hear about the Tesla museum? I absolutely cannot wait until it opens!
From what I understand, they now have enough money to buy the land, and all other proceeds are going towards making it a museum — which is an expensive proposition, and not one that is guaranteed to happen, because it hasn’t been determined how much it will cost/we don’t know if the internet will donate enough (although I certainly hope they do).
In related news, the Museum of Math opens in New York City in 2013 (okay I just checked, actually December 2012!!!) and I have been excited to go there for literally years, since George Hart gave a talk at my math team regional competition in Spring 2011.
I’m seriously considering going over my winter break — I live a couple hours from NYC, so it’s a day trip.
I was hoping to donate to The Oatmeal, but my parents weren’t too comfortable with the use of their cards of credit.
Juno probe cameo on The Newsroom last night! “NASA Solar Powered Jupiter Probe” was written on a whiteboard of the day’s stories for August 8, 2011.
Last night at about 10:30, after finishing up some Spanish homework, I decided to get some organ practice in. I’ve only ever practiced in the lesson studio, so I decided to try out one of the practice rooms. The building was empty, of course, and I had to search for a couple light switches, but I got there and my key worked on the practice room I chose at random. The organ inside was really cool. I read a letter posted on the side of the instrument detailing what little we know of its history: it was probably built around 1886 or 1887 for a church in some little town near here, and when the church was closed a couple decades ago the organ was donated to the university and reinstalled here. It’s kind of a rickety old instrument, and apart from the electric pump for the bellows it’s apparently all original. Especially in the empty basement, it really had a lot of character. After I decided to call it a night, I squeezed behind the facade to take a look at the inside and back of the organ. All over the woodwork was graffiti scribbled in charcoal and pencil and chalk, mostly by kids in the early 1900s, if the dates and ages I could read were accurate. No doubt the pastor of the church spent a lot of time chasing the hooligans out of there.
Augh, I can’t wait for autumn to get here. I mean, a lot of trees are already losing their leaves because of the drought, but it’s not really the same, is it?
Alright! So after a lot of duct tape and zip ties my monofin is now more fish-tailed-shaped. Woo!
Have now cut out the pattern for the main tail… I might start sewing tonight? Not sure if I want to add the side fins in before or after I sew the main part. Doing them now means less stitching/work later buuuut I kind of want to make sure it fits and everything before details go on. So I’ll probably just go ahead and seam rip later to put them in. Okay yeah decided.
My paints should arrive tomorrow… not that I’ll be ready to start painting then, but hopefully by Wednesday or Thursday I will start that Then it has to dry for a day at least, then be heat set… then should be pretty much done. Woo!
So I bought the cast album of Bonnie & Clyde from iTunes about… an hour and a half or so ago because I listened to Dying Ain’t So Bad on youtube and started listening through it. And I got stuck on This World Will Remember Us, which now has a play count of almost 30. And I know all the lyrics, and have been singing along for half of that.
WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME.
70% MERMAID
First sewing went well!! Left it open at the end of the fluke because I’ll need to put the monofin in through there, and I’m having sealed with velcro instead of sewing it shut so I can take it in/out easily. Still need to go through and adjust it still, it’s a little loose in places. But overall, going well!
I may even be able to attempt adding the fins tonight… we will see
Started watching Hetalia yesterday. I’m not really sure how to describe this experience.
SFTDP:
Started my first attempt to make bubble tea. So far, I ruined half by putting them in the water before boiling it, then boiled the other half for ages and now I’m just letting the rest of it sit in the black gloop it turned that water into until I think of something clever. But I still have some left over if this too shall fail…
Speaking of bubble tea, I’ve been trying to drink as much as I can (not really) before ze big move to Europe. Where any attempt at replicating the joy of bubble tea, if such attempts are to be found, will probably be shamefully pathetic.
Then again, you’ll be in England, which I hear isn’t too shabby in regards to other kinds of tea.
True.
Think tapioca.
PANTS PAINTS ARRIVED
the colors look good! I got metallic gold, crimson, burnt orange, and metallic copper Jacquard Lumiere fabric paints. They’re so pretty! Before I paint though I’m going to still be making sure all the material is the way I want it and stuff. Going to swim with it today to test First with just the modified monofin, then with the tail itself once everything’s in place…
Trying to convince myself to get in the water to test my monofin out on its own before with the tail, but it’s cold x_x
Yes you can! Do it!
((Part of the free-diving workshop was practicing static apnea: imagine floating face-down in a cold, dark-green lake with rain pattering on your back, holding your breath and looking for all the world like a dead body while you try to relax, relax, relax to waste less oxygen and think of nothing in particular or at least anything but “When will this be over?”. I’m going to practice in my bathtub instead from now on.))
Great, Jade!
Today I declared my major, went to the library, stopped at a random floor, walked down a random aisle, and read a book pertaining to the traditional textiles of the Andes. Then I read another on Bedouin weaving. I had to pass up on the Etruscan jewelry, however. Didn’t have enough time. And them I checked out Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns, on the basis that if I spend my entire day watching a guy’s Youtube videos I should probably do him the favor of reading more of his books. I like libraries. I want to do more of the random aisle searching and interesting book finding. I bet I could discover a lot of books on really cool and/or obscure topics that way.
Also I have stuff to do, and classes start tomorrow, but I’m not going to talk about that because my thoughts are too scattered right now.
What is your major?
Environmental Studies (BS)
I definitely want to double major, though, but I’m not sure in what.
Yeah Environmental Studies!! I considered a double major for awhile, then considered switching my major; but at the moment, I’m content with ES. I think I will also end up with a minor in Outdoor Education and another in Biology.
It is about music I wish to enthuse!
Today, three days before the Tyr concert, I discovered that Ensiferum released a new album! Yesterday. This is the first chance I’ve had to sit and listen to it, and so far it presses all the right buttons. When it comes to metal, this is apparently my week! \m/
Also today, my first class was my class on Heidegger’s Being and Time. Really interesting and sort of fun in a way, but hoo boy will it be challenging. On a related note, I’m considering “Dasein” for a general term to be used as a mark of respect, like mate or buddy.
I had the overture from “La Gazza Ladra” stuck in my head afternoon, starting when I bought “A Clockwork Orange” for one of my other classes.
I had an artsy-crafty day, finishing two jewelry projects I’d been working on for a while, and hung my “Landing was just the beginning” Curiosity mission posters up all over the neighborhood.
Accidentally woke up at noon…Ah, last days of summer.
I didn’t feel like following the JV boys around in cross-country today, so i just kind of deliberately got lost and wandered up to the cemetery. It turned out they were also running to the cemetery, so I spent about ten minutes trying to hide from them, and in the process wandered really far into the mausoleums, and the gravestones on the hills.
It was really peaceful there. Not in a morbid way, even; just sort of in the way that in the Jewish section there were a few stones on every headstone, and some people had put vases full of sunflowers around, and in the back alley behind the mausoleum I found a discarded ladder and some boxes, and it was like the quiet, forgotten corner of one of the quiet, forgotten corners of my city.
Cemeteries are just some of those places where you feel as if at any moment you might take a wrong turning at some moss-covered tree and wander into another world.
Hello, all!
I’m back from my vacation in Florida. It was fun, especially the Wizarding World.
I was actually at the Kennedy Space Center watching a re-enactment of the moon landing when Neil Armstrong died. It was… shocking.
Was it the show in the Saturn V center with the model LEM and Gene Cernan’s tearjerking speech at the end?
The Wizarding World looks like so much fun! My family is starting to plan a trip to Florida for this fall or winter, and since there’s a good chance we’ll be there on a low-traffic weekend, we’re going to try to visit all of those theme parks while we’re there. I’m so excited! What was your favorite part?
Ooh..how did they break the news to the people at the Space Center?
Kai- it was at the Saturn V center, but it was the one recreating the mission headquarters.
Meow- The “Forbidden Journey” ride was really great. Dragon challenge is good if you don’t get motion sick. The butterbeer is good, but not what I imagined.
During the show, one of the staff members went over the speakers and said that he saw on CNN that Neil Armstrong just died.
So, this is not the music thread, but that thread never gets enough attention, so I thought I would list this here. This is a list of my absolute favorite albums of all time (in no particular order and subject to change), why I love them, and a quick description of the genre.
Neutral Milk Hotel – In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
Fuzz-folk? Fuzz-acoustic-rock? I don’t even.
The first time you listen through, it’s an eclectic mix of instruments and…well, everything, really. You might think that Jeff Mangum’s voice is a little funky, or that he really shouldn’t try to hit the high notes if his voice is going to crack that violently, but the more you listen to more you grow used to it. The more you start to actually love listening to his voice, even when he tries and fails to hit a high note. When you start to listen to the lyrics, it becomes a strange album about the journey from childhood to death to thinking about death to rebirth to Anne Frank to life again. Worth a listen or 400.
Guts – Freedom
Sample/electronic, indie-alternative.
Guts’ music consists of heavy vocal sampling mixed with original and sampled instrumental compositions to create songs that are truly unique. It’s not Vanilla Ice brand sampling (take a Queen/Bowie song and slap some new lyrics on it), it’s sampling that actually samples something and then mixes it up with a really wonderfully original set of sounds that somehow all fit together perfectly. His official page on voldynet has only 5000 likes which I suppose makes him the only unknown/underground artist on this list, and he’s deserving of far more.
Rage Against The Machine – The Battle of Los Angeles
Political lyrics, rap-rock, rap-metal, heavily distorted guitar
Their second album offers a slightly more polished and mature sound than their debut without having the amped-down feel that their third and final album did. It’s massively politically charged, energetic and loud. Their guitarist, Tom Morello, experiments extensively with strange and unique combinations of effect pedals, presenting a guitar sound that sounds more like whatever he wants it to at any given moment.
The lyrics are almost always blasting away at war, oppression and censorship, and when they don’t seem to be it’s only a thin veil covering more of the same. That said, every song manages to be noticeably different and fun to listen to. Every single song on the entire album is worth listening to. I could sit and listen to it straight through for hours, and I have. It’s replayability and the fact that I can sit through the entire album without skipping ahead or disliking even one song is what makes this one of my favorites.
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Funk-rock
If I had to put the albums in order, this would top the list. It’s funky, it’s mellow, it’s downright strange. It’s ideal not only for sitting in the dark and listening to in order to analyze every aspect of it, but for playing at parties, and its versatility is one of the things that sets it apart. Aside from being well-suited to many situations, the talent of the band is incredible. Flea, on bass, seems to have a rare link to his instrument and consistently invents funky, loud basslines that pull the entire song together. John Frusciante, on guitar, is skilled and inventive, and while his guitar has a fairly subtle (or at least more rhythmic as opposed to melodious) feel on this album (it comes out and takes the stage during their later albums), and their vocalist, Anthony Kiedis, really opens up on this album and begins his transition from funky funk-rapper of funk to someone who actually has an amazing singing voice. On “I Could Have Lied” and “Under The Bridge” he breaks away from funk and produces two songs that are lovely and serene while still sounding like the Chili Peppers. Absolutely amazing album, and it’s worth listening to in pretty much any situation.
Frank Zappa – Hot Rats
I don’t think anyone really knows exactly what genre of music Zappa produced, but this album is rock/instrumental/spoken word.
There are no words for the amazingness of this album. It’s like some amazing orchestral composer had a child with John Lennon and then they stuck a guitar cable into the baby’s ear and gave it a musical gift and named the baby Frank Zappa. I’m struggling for words trying to describe this album. It’s not as full of emotion and feels as In The Aeroplane, and it’s not as versatile as BSSM, but it’s far more…musical. Taking the focus off of vocals and putting it on the instruments is something that Zappa pulls off without for one moment being boring or repetitive. One of the best moments (for me) in the album is when a song suddenly launches into a long guitar solo where previously there was only trumpet and piano. It’s fantastic. For a good example of what I’m talking about, listen to Son of Mr. Green Genes at about a minute in. The way the guitar just takes off from the rest of the music is really…I’m out of words.
I have more, but that’s all I’ll list for now to avoid cluttering up the thread. These are all albums that I sat in the dark and listened to at some point or another and they’re all worth listening to. These musics are fantastically fantasical and I hope that one of you decides to have a listen to some of it and that you find something you enjoy.
And with that, I’m out of breath. Off to play capture the flag!
I just said goodbye to my sister, as she’ll still be in school when we leave tomorrow afternoon. She can be annoying sometimes, but it was still hard, and I teared up a little. I’m going to be a wreck when I say ‘bye to my parents, I know it, and I’m not looking forward to that moment at all. The saying ‘bye thing hasn’t really been something I’ve thought about in connection with going to boarding school, but it will have to happen, sadly. Sigh.
Woo! Will.i.am’s Curiosity celebration song is awesome!
I’m listening to it now, and I must admit, the violins are out of this world.
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GET IT!? HAHAHAHA I MADE A JOKE.
Neil Gaiman is doing a reading next week in my state.
An hour north of my house, actually.
Which places it about four and a half to five hours away from where I am now, at my university.
But I have a car.
But it’s in the middle of the first full week of classes and I can’t drive five hours alone without taking probably an extra day to travel because I’d need to take breaks.
But it’s Neil Gaiman.
I am torn.
Choose Neil Gaiman.
With the political elections in the news, my brain interpreted that as a political slogan.
My friends have been on another Black and White kick lately, so my brain interpreted it as Pokemon.
Neilimon, I choose YOU!
… would make a great bumper sticker for the Gaiman/Amos 2012 ticket.
Agreed. Assuming you don’t have any major tests or whatever.
I haven’t even started college and I’m already planning to blow off the last two days of the semester to go diving in Egypt. No, I don’t want to be that person, but I guess I sort of am.
That sounds like an awesome and totally valid reason to blow off college.
I am currently in the American Museum of Natural History. I cannot stop squeeing.
THE CEPHALOPODS. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
AND HUGGGGGGGGEEEEEEE WHALE
THEY EVEN HAVE A TARDIGRADE
The whale is awesome! The Hall of Ocean Life is really incredible, I love the two-story coral reef diorama.
Even though cake is going on (paleo thread for anyone who has an account and feels like reading through a wall of rambling), I feel compelled to say something good about my day.
-We were rehearsing the opening song in marching band and in the very last set which I ALWAYS mess up and it always messes EVERYONE up, and I NAILED it. And the section leader (who was behind me and therefore is the one who primarily gets messed up the most when I mess up) came up to me when we were done and I said, “What did I do wrong?” because I am ALWAYS doing something wrong and he’s like “THAT WAS AMAZING! YOU NAILED IT!”. I think that was the first time all season my section leader has not had to correct that. So hooray!
-My biology teacher seems really chill and he only took one day on the Scientific Method And Safety In Labs unit, where all my middle school teachers took maybe a week. (All my middle school teachers took it really seriously while this guy was like, “Okay, here’s the scientific method, you basically know it, now let’s have a race to see how quickly we can read through the rules, half of which are common sense and the other half do not apply to us because we are not a college chemistry class and will not be working with anything super dangerous) And we’re moving on to biochemistry, which is really cool and awesome. Hooray!
-We read “The Most Dangerous Game” in English and I walked out of the trailer holding the book reading it because it’s that suspenseful. Awesome, awesome story if you’re into twisted stuff. Seriously twisted. I will not say any more because if anyone had spoiled anything for me about it I would have raged.
I agree, “The Most Dangerous Game” is a real cracking read.
I have a paleo account, but I don’t remember how to find the paleo threads when I’m logged in. Can you help?
See “Categories” in the right-hand column.
Should I see threads besides “New MuseBlog Experiment” in the “Paleostuff” category?
Try again now.
I just had my first day at school. Wow. Uh, whoever’s idea it was to put half our school in lunch at the same time…um. Not a good idea, okay? Our cafeteria is too tiny to support 150+ people.
I feel like the world went mad there.
On the bright side, my teachers seem really nice, and I have lots of classes with my friends.
They don’t make you all have lunch in the cafeteria, do they? Because it wouldn’t be as bad if you could eat other places on campus.
Glad you have classes with friends though! That’s always nice.
I was looking in a mirror today and noticed something weird. I have spots only on the right side of my face. I don’t know why. Zits and moles only on the right side. It’s very asymmetrical. I’m glad that I’m not too bothered by it, but still. It’s weird.
Something to do with which side you sleep on, maybe? Or sun exposure? (I know increased sun exposure clears my pimples up.)
Good morning from Dubai airport!
Connection to London leaves in an hour or so. The free wi-fi here is really quite slow and unreliable, incidentally.
Update: The flight’s delayed by about forty minutes, but I’m now sitting in the business class lounge enjoying an excellent buffet and much faster internet.
I’d call that adequate compensation.
I really enjoy that going out and taking pictures is homework for one of my classes.
However, I just got to the “upload” stage and I’m the first one to do so, which is a little scary.
First home football game is tomorrow!
Early in the day is the pep rally, and then after school low brass has a polishing party. Then brass babes are doing a polishing party too (they’ll overlap, I guess?) and then brass babes dinner… we’re going to the same restaurant as the flutes… that must be so awkward for our one male flautist… and then I go back to the school and football.
I get to wear my uniform! It’s so spiffy and I have shiny shoes!
I’m not sure how my weak arms will hold out with nine and a half minutes of drill plus pregame, but the upperclassmen have assured me that performing at a football game is more like being high than wondering when they’ll let you have a water break. I’m not quite sure what to think of this, but it sounds preferable than bailing for a long hold and gasping for air instead of playing, like I usually do.
I went to eighth grade night last year as an eighth grader and that was really fun. I’m looking forward to this but I’m a bit concerned about my horn angle; up till they were mandated by the section leader I was pretty much physically incapable of doing a push-up. So yeah, I’m not exactly what you’d call strong. Hence the horn angle ’cause a baritone is heavy. Really heavy. Now off to do homework and get to bed at a reasonable time since I was just talking to Monkeyboy. While correcting grammar in sentences. Okay homework, Al, Homework!
Hetalia! Fullmetal Alchemyst! Water breaks! Dripped water on my shirt! Enchiladas! Deep heart-to-heart conversations! …Biology? Brain fried.
So I decided to go and audition for Sweeney Todd yesterday with a song from The Jungle Book and Ian McKellen’s monologue on acting from Extras.
As of now I am the Judge.
What is this I don’t even have acting experience how did I get a major part in a play when so many other people auditioned was it my low voice I don’t know but YEAH I’M IN A PLAY.
Today in English we decided that William Shakespeare was Batman.
Well, have you ever seen them in the same place at the same time?
There WAS a proposed comic starring Batman in an adaptation of Hamlet that was never published.
…We just figured that they both ended up marrying Anne Hathaway. But that works too.
I ended up drawing a rendition of Shakespearean Gotham (which is basically, uh, Gotham City with Shakespeare in it) featuring Batshakespeare, Talia al Ghul as the Dark Lady, and Robin as the Fair Young Man. There were ruffs. It was amazing.
That oddly makes sense, in some twisted way.
Good Things About Today:
-I spent three hours this morning at work, which consisted of playing with the instruments in the college’s collection and writing down their condition and what needs to be fixed/replaced for them to work again, which is significantly more fun and more productive than most of my work last year.
-I went contra dancing for the first time in months, and got complemented on my dancing (which made me a bit more proud than it probably should have). I also avoided dancing with skeezy old guys and instead managed to dance with friends and attractive gentlemen.
-I successfully added practicum credit for the play I’m in, as well as another class, and got my books chosen for that class. I’m a bit apprehensive about how it’ll affect my workload, but I’m optimistic.
-I took pictures, edited them, and uploaded them FOR HOMEWORK.
-I have three hours of work tomorrow but no classes, so I can get started on reading and doing other work and then I should have a much freer weekend for partyin’ partyin’ yeah.
-I was able to help out a friend who was going through a really rough time.
Now, to bed! Because if I actually am going to be productive tomorrow I need to get some sleep.
85% mermaid!
Yesterday I got clear retainers. Today I have a bit of a lisp, one ill-fitting retainer, and am going to Hershey Park. So overall, I have no feelings.
Jadestone-W00t!
The cafeteria’s website says that the vegan option for tonight is “polenta alla funghi”
I really don’t know what to make of that, and I’m not even sure if I want to.
Well, here’s one description: “A classic from northern Italy, this dish will warm you nicely. With wintry mushrooms and a rich cream sauce poured over parmesan grilled polenta…”
Yeah, I know what polenta is. It just sounded funny. It turned out to be better than most meals at that cafeteria on the weekends.
But still.
Polenta Alla Funghi.
Also I don’t want to be warmed, nicely or not–it’s hot out enough already.
Ugh.
Better than cold polenta. It sort of semi-hardens if you leave it out too long and feels very strange.
Cold polenta isn’t so bad after it’s cooked, especially if you have sautéd it on both sides first to give it a bit of a crispy edge. Tastes even better when you’re rummaging around in the fridge looking for something edible but feel too lazy to cook.
I assumed you knew what polenta is. I was curious about the dish as a whole, which sounded delicious to me (of course, I’m one who likes hot soup on hot days, so…). “Funghi” is simply the Italian word for mushroom.
I think we need a new thread.
Patience, Grasshopper. Have you noticed what day it is?
So… this month doesn’t HAVE a Muse!?
That’s right. It’s August, so your leisure-loving GAPAs took the month off. Imagine an empty chair…
That is completely justified, all of you work very hard and put up with reading a lot of silliness from us, so you’re well-entitled to some relaxation, I’d say!
Oh, putting up with silliness is the easy part. We’d do that anyway. We just got lazy this month.
You mean all that excitement of celebrating MuseBlog’s birthday…