Friday, 19 April 2024
Life, the universe, pies, hot-pink bunnies, world domination, and everything
Another of Lady Bunniful’s classic pictures from MB history, to ease your way through an unusually hectic month.
(Users’ Manual: Obey The Rules. Consult The Guide. Have fun!
Date: November 15, 2010
Categories: At the Top of the Blog, Random craziness
Ooooh, new thread. And the pic. I think I remember when it was on, before.
So, in other news. I’m rewatching Firefly and Buffy with Alan (because he’s never seen either), and dear god I forgot how absolutely hateable Buffy was in season 1. I want to kill her. Very slowly and painfully. And Alan has expressed a similar desire….Because god she is annoying in season 1….I keep reassuring Alan that she gets more likeable, that season 2 is much better….If for nothing more than Spike, although of course that wouldn’t do anything for Alan, lol.
He is liking Firefly, however. 
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Even if one isn’t busy squealing over Spike, most people who watch season 2 like Spike, because he’s completely awesome as a character. And I approve of your Buffy and Firefly watching.
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Hi! I’m supposed to be working on my writing in Langauge Arts right now… I like the picture!
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Hectic? You can say that again. I’ve been slowly going insane.
Anyways, sorry I haven’t been on lately. I’ve been insanely busy. I was in New York last weekend at an all girls math competition. I don’t know my score yet, but I’d guess I wasn’t *too* far away from an honorable mention. Maybe not as good as I would have hoped, but whatever.
I visited Columbia on Friday. Didn’t like it that much, really. I’m not a big fan of core curricula. One of my best friends (also there for the math competition) was visiting at the same time, so that was cool. (We had not realized that we’d both be visiting Columbia before we got there.)
Oh, and I saw A Little Night Music on Broadway Saturday night. Bernadette Peters was Desiree. It was beyond amazing.
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Any other feelings about Columbia?
And why don’t you like core curricula?
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The school seemed like a pretty nice place overall, but it seemed like a being math or computer science major would be semi-hard. It was like they had two curricula: one for humanities/social science majors and one for engineers.
My issue with core curricula is that 1. I’d rather be able to just take the classes I want, and 2. They eat up time when I could be taking classes I want to take. I mean, I’m going to take a fairly balanced curriculum anyways, and I’ll meet pretty much anyone’s distribution requirements. It’s just that I’m fine with the year-long literature class and then the year-long philosophy class, but then 3 semesters of non-Western cultures and the music class and the art class is going to eat up a significant amount of my time and isn’t going to help me that much with a math major. It goes beyond the “You need to learn to write” stuff (which I wholeheartedly agree with).
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In response to Castle on the previous thread: bunnies are lagomorphs, not rodents.
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Thank you.
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I love the picture! It’s really pretty.
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Hectic? More like completely insane, at least for me.
I’ve been trying to draw in pointilism. It turns out well, it just takes forever. It takes an hour to draw a simple pen (with shading) And I go insane from all the little dots everywhere. And now there aren’t any neutrals in my life. I can always find shading and color and light.
IS THIS HOW THOSE EARLY IMPRESSONISTS FELT?
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You must remember, there was no TV back in those days. People had more time on their hands. 
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I usually don’t watch much TV, aside from shows I get off the internet because BBC doesn’t broadcast freely in the US.
But I get what you mean. But it’s still annoying for my eyes to constantly be analyzing every color I would use to draw it…
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Get used to it…..
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Ohh dear…
Eh, I’ll get used to it and become an eccentric artist…
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Eccentric artists are faaaahbulous. 
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Being one isn’t when you’re misunderstood.
My own dad thought my drawing of a river was a face. Of course, it’s a WIP, and he’s always been a philistine.
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Cool picture!
And that’s all I have to say. *disappears*
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Was this from the thread that was called “Fall Leaf Pile”, or something? I do believe ’twas.
So, remember that photosynthesis test Beeds was studying for? (‘Course you don’t. I never told you about it.) I studied for three hours, and still got an eighty-eight. Everyone got high nineties.
Another *headdesk moment*: My Euro teacher told us that if we’re going to see DH at midnight we can take the test the day before.
Are you caking serious?
And now my ride to Deathly Hallows is taken. My mom said that she *might* *consider* taking me, and my friend’s sister offered to take me to see it at another with her group of friends. I’d definitely go with her, but I’d feel like a third wheel. (She’s a senior, and she’s going with senior friends and some college friends.)
Ack! A great majority of my friends went into the city this weekend, and none of them knew about or went to the Quidditch World Cup! These muggles… They don’t know what they’re doing.
So… anyway… I really apologize for the acrimonious nature of this post.
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This was the picture from the second time I was on the blog and posted.
In other news, I swapped music suggestion cds with someone else. In looking for a blank cd, I found my brother’s music from three years ago. It’s really different. Now he likes Pentangle, the Incredible String Band, Leonard Cohen, Belle and Sebastian, Wilco, and music like that. Then he had these artists (A-Cream)-
AC/DC
Aerosmith
Alice in Chains
Audioslave
Barry Sacharof
The Beatles
Billy Joel
Black Sabbath
Blue Oyster Cult
Bob Mould
Boston
Bright Eyes
Buffalo Springfield
Camera Obscura
Chicago
Clem Snide
Coldplay
Counting Crows
Cream
So a lot harder rock, and more popular music. (And yes I know this should go on the music thread, but I have necrophobia.)
The other cds will come later.
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I am currently reinstalling Windows. Urg, so stressful. I think I have all my data backed up. I hope I do. This had better work….
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Good luck! Having been through something similar this summer, I totally empathize.
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It seems to have been successful. I have yet to transfer my files back over and to reinstall the majority of my software, but I can actually use the computer, so that’s something. Let’s hope it doesn’t break again.
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Yay for Piggy’s computer!
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My cat unjustly attacked me yesterday. I can’t understand her grumpiness. Today she rubbed up on me as if I was her best friend. Je ne comprend pas.
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I love the picture, Lady Bunniful!
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Sometimes it seems like Google Chrome’s “suggestions” can read my mind and I find it very creepy.
I was looking up “Mallory’s Pipe” (A sort-of obscure mountaineering thingy), and when I’d typed in “Mallory’s”, the first suggestion was “Mallory’s body was found in 1999”.
How on Earth did it know I meant George Mallory when I’ve never looked up anything related to him (Or even Everest at all) in the time I’ve had Chrome on this computer?
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That’s the job of Google’s programmers, to make technology seem like magic.
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Also to secretly follow you around and collect all of your information for their eventual world domination.
And yeah, what you said too.
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Oh, for cake’s sake…
I hate people that go around whining about Google and privacy. Every single data-collecting thing Google does is strictly to improve users’ service, and everything is entirely optional. Google collects no more data than Microsoft or Apple or Mozilla or anyone else.
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I was joking. I really don’t care about privacy on the Internet in general, except when it’s deceptive.
But Google does do bad stuff. They were the first major website to give out cookies that expire in 2038.
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How is this bad? Cookies can be cleared at any time.
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I’d disagree. In 2007, Privacy International ranked Google as “hostile to privacy,” their lowest ranking, making it the only company to receive that ranking. Everything is not entirely optional; for instance, there was that incident where their streetview cars collected wifi data. There is no way to delete your search history; they track the links you click on, they do not believe that IP addresses are personal information, and logs are kept indefinitely. Under existing US law, they can be forced to hand over all data to the government. One could argue that the data collected from gmail goes beyond proper use. Streetview is fairly invasive, and is opt-out rather than opt-in. Ditto google buzz. Historically, at least, google does not adequately protect private data and stores it for up to two years.
And I would seriously question the assertion that “Every single data-collecting thing Google does is strictly to improve users’ service.” I’d argue that a fair percentage is to increase ad revenue. And the “improving users’ service” is a bit of a judgment call as well. Take, for example, the way Google tailors results by area or by previous searches. That limits the scope of the information available to me, and one of the things I like about searching things, whether online or in reference materials, is the way you can stumble across material that hasn’t crossed your path before. Also, the tailoring can make it difficult to get as wide a range of views, which is arguably detrimental to society.
And, judging from past actions, I’d argue that google’s violated their “don’t be evil” motto a few times.
Do I need to explain why privacy is important?
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That last little jab was blatantly condescending and entirely unnecessary to the discussion at hand; I’d ask you to rethink it.
As for Street View / wifi data: The incident was completely unintentional, and Google has been up-front about it since they discovered it. They have taken full responsibility for it and are submitting to the repercussions.
As for IP addresses: Every website you visit has your IP address. Museblog, Facebook, CNN, Ebay, everything. Google, unlike many organizations, use that information in a wholly legal way.
As for handing over data: That’s true for any company; I see no reason to single out Google. Your qualm is with the government, not Google.
As for opt-out versus opt-in: I disagree. On most of the Google products I’ve used, the user has been given the option immediately whether they want to send anonymous information or not. Moreover, the tick-box is initially in an unmarked–that is, opt-out–state.
As for user-service improvement: Yes, Google does use much of its anonymous data in order to better its advert service. This success is why almost everything Google makes is free. Gmail, Google Voice, everything–entirely free of charge. Advertisement is how the company makes money. It makes no effort to deny that fact.
As for local search: You’re free to change your settings at any time so you don’t get a “limited” or “detrimental” set of results. Google’s market research concluded that such a search was what would benefit the highest percentage of users; thus, that’s the path they took. That’s how capitalism works.
In general: if you don’t like Google, don’t use it. Its presence in your life is optional. Use Bing, or Yahoo, or any of the thousands of other search providers. Yes, some things are unavoidable (namely, Google Maps and Street View), but they provide no information that isn’t already publicly available. If you wanted, you could go to a local government web page and examine the floor plans of your neighbors’ houses. That hasn’t been labeled a breach of privacy. So why is Google constantly attacked?
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Cake, forgot something I wanted to say:
In the end, this all comes down to trust. I personally trust Google. I really do, more than most other companies. So I have no problems with them storing anonymous information about me–I know they won’t do anything immoral or illegal with that information. Other people don’t trust Google, and so they accuse it of all sorts of things–perhaps rightly.
That is what that is.
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Whining? Really? That last remark may have been condescending, but it may not have been intended so. It looks to me like you’re been hypocritical.
Personal remarks aside, it seems to me like you and Lizzie are approaching the digital privacy issue from different angles. You’re arguing that Google is simply responding to the market- in Capitalism there is no other logical method, and as they have not done anything obviously malicious they carry no blame, only unwarranted stigma. Lizzie is arguing more along the lines of “where will these trends take us?”
I agree with Lizzie. I do not trust Capitalism -the “free” market- to make choices that are good for consumers. Consumers are divided, dispersed, and weak unless unified. Government, ideally, protects them. Producers are by nature centralized, and out for one thing: profit. Google, being a relatively new and strange company, does differ significantly from older institutions who (I almost used ‘which’ there, but Citizens United makes me rethink that word choice) can be very short-sighted and do not plan for the future. Will Google’s thoughtful actions (at the possible expense to the bottom line) always be the case? I don’t know, but pushing the boundaries suggests not. The Digital Frontier is new and expanding every day. Issues still being examined include privacy and net neutrality, and they’ll continue to morph as the technology does. However, just because a company does not break a law does not absolve it morally. Google occupies a unique place, perhaps only rivaled by Facebook in terms of size and data acquisition. The street wifi? Google was consciously harvesting wifi data, the side effects may have been accidental, but not unexpected. Opt-in/out: Lizzie’s examples were pretty clear, local search settings included.
Pretending something doesn’t exist will not shield you from its actions. Google will continue to grow, and push the privacy boundary as far as it can, that is how capitalism works. And it is our job as citizens to defend our rights. Net neutrality is a whole other issue that Google has questionable dealings in, and even if you don’t use Google you may be one day affected. Google is attacked because it is massive and moving fast. Cookies that expire in 2038 are not malicious in themselves, but they do step forward, allowing a company access far into the future. One can opt out, but it is on them to do so. Privacy should be expected.
Sorry, this post is now way longer than I intended. I do trust Google as well, but less and less every day. I do not trust a company to continue to do what is best for consumers.
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How about Google’s “My Location” thing it’s got on the left hand column of the search page? I never opted into it reading my IP to determine my location and doing whatever it is doing with this knowledge (other than stating my location on the side, as if I wasn’t aware that that was my location). And if you try and follow their directions on how to get rid of it? Completely unhelpful, something about a toolbar–I don’t even ahve a google toolbar, and something about going into your account and turning it off–I don’t have an account, either, and that’s just caked up that to turn off their unwanted “helpful” things, you would have to make an account, thus giving them more information about you? Yeah…..Google stuff is totally opt-in, my ***.
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I don’t have time right now to make a full response, but I just wanted to say that my last sentence is probably the most relevant to this discussion. It doesn’t matter how much you personally love google; they still collect reams of personal information about you that is generally inadequately protected. Do you really expect them to be the only people to have access to that data for ever and ever?
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If I may take the discussion in a slightly different direction: what about ISPs? Are you concerned about them?
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I am. I would not use an ISP know to use deep packet inspection, and if possible, one that is not lobbying against net neutrality.
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Again: if you don’t like what Google is doing, don’t use it. That’s how the system works.
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But Google is trying to influence the way all electronic things work. This will affect everyone, whether they use Google or not. Facebook is more responsible for this, but the shifting of what is acceptable, privacy-wise, can’t be avoided by ignoring it.
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I disagree with you because although Google’s actions may be legal, legal and moral do not match up. Smoking a cigarette is not immoral, but it is illegal for me. I think that although most companies do evil things like fake scientific studies (Nestle, Marlboro), aggressive marketing practices, or ads that are downright manipulative*, Google is more evil than the others.
*And I don’t just mean annoying. There are ones that say that this product will make you less effeminate, more attractive, etc. And, somewhat surprisingly, ads are mostly more regressive than the shows they’re on.
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How is Google “more evil”?
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Well, one important distinction is that Google is pioneering abuses in a new medium. Now, I have a somewhat high view of human nature, so I think that whenever there’s a new ‘thing’ out there, it’s always possible ruthless capitalism won’t take over. Example-marijuana. If we play this right, then marijuana could be grown in small amounts by individuals. If not, I will be severely pissed at the first company to take the chance, even more than I would be at a current alcohol or tobacco company. This is the real distinction I would make between run-of-the-mill evil and evil evil, and, even worse, evil evil evil. Don’t even get me started on evil evil evil evil.
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The internet is not a very new medium. Technological advancement is not a new medium. Google may be pioneering abuses, and it may be pioneering technology, but it’s not pioneering technology by pioneering abuses.
In my opinion, a company or group of companies is/are abusing is worse than a company that begins the abuses. Why? Because the abuse is already established. There’s a big difference between new evil and already established corruption that’s taken for granted.
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To cut in on the marijuana issue, I think the monopolization is inevitable. When there was a possibility of legality in California, companies already started to snoop around for who would get control of the product. Prepare to be pissed for the chance of it becoming legal.
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I fail to see why capitalism is “evil evil evil”. Or why monopolization is being discussed–we have various anti-trust and anti-monopolization laws in place to prevent such things.
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I’d actually rate Nestle as more “evil” as Google, although I’m not sure if “evil” has any meaningful value as a rating for corporations. Their marketing baby formula in third world countries where the mothers don’t have access to clean water or the knowledge of / ability to carry out sanitation practices (like boiling the water) is reprehensible, and they do stuff like provide free samples in hospitals and then the parents have to keep buying it since lactation has stopped. I think the number of deaths is something like 1mil infants / year?
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I’m down with Google taking over the world, if they want to. I mean, they’d probably be fine. Their motto is “Don’t be evil”, after all, and that’s one of my three rules to live by for all people, after “Don’t be stupid” and “Don’t grow a beard unless you’re over the age of 25”.
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I know some people with amazing beards who are under 25.
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No. No. No. It never looks good. Ever. It just looks weird. Actually, a better rule would be, “No facial hair in high school.” My brother’s friend is trying to grow a soul patch thing, and it’s just… Ugh. Repulsive. He looks like such an idiot. It creeps me out.
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I disagree with that rule. Some people grow awesome beards in high school. Like the former Philosophy Club chairocrat at my school, who was also an ordained minister and a licensed private investigator in four states. Great beardage.
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Gotta agree with piggy on this one. There was an epic abe lincoln beard at my school last year. It’s not impossible.
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Google’s motto is no longer “Don’t be evil.” Part of their code is “You can make money without doing evil.” However, Google has censored searches and lied about it, later saying that small wrongs may be committed to allow for a larger good.
“If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.”
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The first suggestion I got was Mallory’s muffins!
I’m guessing most Google searches for Mallory’s end in George Mallory. So your search was nothing special.
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Really? It’s a pretty common name for girls, so I wasn’t sure.
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Haha, I guess none of them have done anything as memorable as go on adventures exciting and mysterious as his. Yet.
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My first suggestion was the same as yours, and I’ve never looked up anything about Everest, either.
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The first thing Google suggests in the drop down for me is “Mallory’s hyaline” (????), and then “Mallory’s body was found in 1999”. And I’ve never googled anything related to Mallory, cuz I don’t even know who that is, lol….
I don’t like how Google and everything else tracks your info, though, regardless of whether or not it’s actually intended to be malicious.
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George Mallory was one of the first to to attempt to climb to the summit of Mt. Everest. He died in 1924 in an avalanche, but I believe that he and his team did find the best route to the summit. His death was a mystery for a long time, and I think it’s still debated as to whether he did reach the summit (I think not). Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing were the first to reach the summit, in 1953.
I recommend supporting the EFF. I can suggest anonymization methods as well, but I assume that you don’t really want them. This one is easy though: For securities’ sake please use the HTTPSeverywhere addon for Firefox.
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Actually, the film suggested that due to location of his body, it’s likely that he was actually on his way back down from the peak when he died.
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OMG, we share a historical obsession. This is awesome.
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It could be the fact that a movie about finding Mallory’s body in an attempt to recreate his trip was recently (relatively) released…
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And now I must go Google it. Hold on.
*tick* *tock* *tick* *tock* *tick* *tock* *tick* *tock* *tick* *tock* *tick* *tock*
Five minutes later…
Yup. That’s who he was, I thought the name was familiar. But it did give me that particular page, and also a charming picture of his well-preserved but nonetheless ugly corpse. Great.
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Ah woop. Sorry about that one- I wasn’t aware of any disturbing pictures.
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True, I’d heard of that.
And Castle, my sympathy.
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Ack….
*waves hands in front of eyes*
It’s okay, I’m a little detached from reality, so it didn’t bother me that much.
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It’s not that much psychic- I just tried “Mallory’s Pipe” and it came up with both “Mallory’s body was found in 1999” and “Marshmallows.”
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131.2.2 on the other thread: No, she didn’t. She wore earrings that looked like orange radishes to Harry. It never said what that they actually were, and Dirigible Plums are supposed to look like radishes growing on bushes, and since they enhance the ability to accept the extraordinary, they’re probably what she was wearing, even though it was never specified.
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The Decemberists are going to be in my area in February! *faints with joy* Eep! I love them so much!
Oh, and in other news, the entire varsity boys cross-country team jogged down to the local theater today and bought ten tickets to the midnight premiere of Harry Potter, completely on a whim. I love them so, so much.
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So, today, in Ecological Biology, we started a Research/Literature module. One of the science research librarians came to our class and taught us all about different types of science research, blahblahblah, but she passed out copies of Science for us to look through! I found Robert’s name, and it made me super excited.
The End.
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Cool!
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Several radio stations in my city are already playing Christmas holiday music.
What.
And these are stations I usually listen to. Normally they play good music. I’m confused.
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(Strikethrough didn’t work. HTML gnome?)
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The gnome was happy to oblige
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The worst thing ever is when Christmas prep comes in November.
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Or October…
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Same. *shiver*
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Ackpbth!!!
It is horribly wet. It is miserably wet. My god, is it wet.
It is at times like this that I think, “God, I hate this place.”
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PROS: I have some snow.
CONS: It looks like March around here.
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Did anyone else take the AMC today? It was grueling. And we only had half an hour because the roof of the math classroom started leaking and by the time we had moved into the gym and dried off it was 10:30. Our school is a very leaky place.
But we got popsicles afterward, so not all is lost;
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Oh, right, AMC 8’s today. My sister’s taking it. (I’m too old.) Having a shorter amount of time seems awful to me, though. My biggest issue with that test was always time.
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Oh yeah… I think I took that in eight grade. I was so disturbed. There was a question about a drunk armadillo. (He had to be drunk, the diagram they gave you about the path he was taking was insane.) I guessed on most of the questions and hardly finished the rest, and I got the second best score in my grade.
I DON’T GET IT.
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Oh… that sounds like a fun test. Snort.
I know- on the GAUSS test (no idea what it stands for) you get extra points for not answering a question.
I ended up guessing the last five or so, and some of the questions I know I got wrong. I had double math right after the test, and our math teacher (drat him) was sitting at his desk, marking tests while frowning and tutting and shaking his head. Gah.
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AMC 10 and 12 also do the get points for leaving it blank thing. 1.5 points for a blank, 6 points for a correct answer. (Nothing for a worng answer.) It’s their way of having a guessing penalty.
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Actually… That’s what my teacher called it. “The Fun Test.”
Creepaaaayyy…
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Hehe. The questions in my maths tests aren’t that exciting. Well, the actual math is all right, but not drunk-armadillo insteresting. Also, if we did that here I can imagine my scary math teacher calling it fun.
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What is the AMC?
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American Mathematics Competition 8. It’s a worldwide test for students in grades 7-8 (different tests for each grade) that you send in to the American Mathematics Association, of whose magazine my father is an avid reader (?).
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I took AMC8 yesterday too, but probably didn’t do very well. I guessed on a lot of them…
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Muselover, previous thread:
Who cares? Look at mine! I’ve had numerous Portal-themed avatars, and for a while I had the same one you do. For the Halloween Ball I used Ezio Auditore de Firenze from Assassin’s Creed II, and had Niko Bellic from Grand Theft Auto IV for my first avatar. There’s probably more I can’t think of, but I want to get one that says “You are likely to be eaten by a Grue”.
Speaking of which, I just got Zork, which you can download for free at Infocom’s webite. But Zork is awesome and I figured out a few cool tricks. I don’t want to cheat, but does anyone know how to open the Gilded Egg? I have an Elvish Sword and a Nasty Knife…and some hot peppers.
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ZORK IS TEH BEST. Also, thanks for the encouragement.
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No problem.
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aaahhh bomb threat aaahhh
not in any of the buildings my classes are in though, so i still have to do school :-/
i was thinking of heading to the library this morning to finish my homework though…but nope.
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Oh my god… does that happen a lot? You don’t sound very worried.
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It happened at my school last year. We locked the doors and kept doing our normal activities. Several rumors went around via text message: that the principal was having a Pokemon battle in the halls, or that he was skipping around in a tutu and frilly blouse. We didn’t blow up.
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Oh yeah we had one of those my freshman year. I had been debating bringing my jacket and decided against it and of course that was the day they decided to have us “evacuate to our zones ay-sap” and stand out in the cold for 45 minutes.
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Our school was inside a security zone once… there was an official note for parents to sign if they wanted to keep their kid home from school that day. Out of 600 students, roughly 50 actually attended.
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That sucks.
We’ve had two real bomb threats.They came into effect during the school day, though. The first time, they locked all the doors, turned off all of the lights, and made a teacher accompany us everywhere. There was a rumor that the person was hiding in the air vents (Which is ridiculous, of course, as only the smallest child could have fit in there) and so we were all scared to go into the girl’s locker room for days after. I don’t know why. And the second time it was after school, but the people who took clubs and stuff had to leave.
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Today is a rainy, restless day and I am craving potato chips and Chinese food.
Also, I may be going in to the prison tonight. I forgot and I may have to change my clothes to meet the dress code. *sigh*
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Our graphics card was messing up our computer, so we took it out and put in the one our computer came with, but the lower quality is really annoying me!
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Am I allowed to say that I’m going to Brookhaven National Laboratory tomorrow and I’m psyched about it? Or is that too much detail?
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OHMYGOSH! You have to go to the Summer Sunday programs! I won a tour of the NSLS, and it was absolutely fabulous! My family and I went almost every weekend. It was so interesting! But have fun tomorrow! What are you doing?
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BNL! Are you meeting with a mentor? I attended programs but was never mentored; my brother is in a program right now though actually, building a database for geochemical data.
The National Synchrotron Light Source is really cool! Haha, I know a guy who’s doing electrical work on it, so he was asking scientists question about how it worked. They were talking about how light is shot around the ring at super high speeds and how collisions are used, so the electrician (jokingly) is like “I hope you have a crashpad! what if it spills?” And then the scientist explains “Oh no, don’t worry, we have these huge concrete blocks set up here and here…”
xD
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My school’s Science Research class went to check out the research library. It’s funny how the whole place is like a college campus, but with guardposts outside. We drove past the NSLS, but didn’t get to take inside. (I took a totally-not-zoomed-in-enough photo of the sign outside with my mobile phone, though.)
We *did* get to tour the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, though. It’s a fantastic building, very new, and we got to see the clean rooms and electron microscopes. They do NOT fool around with safety.
Did you know the electron microscopes they use are so sensitive that they work best at 2 in the morning because that’s when there are the fewest vibrations from cars driving by on the Long Island Expressway and planes flying overhead?
I did go to a Summer Sunday program a few years ago to see a show on electricity, and I wanted to go to another this summer after I got back from Yale where they would have actually let you tour the accelerator, but my parents forgot.
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My eyes read that as “the Center for Nonfunctional Materials.” I think it’s time to step away from the computer…
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My eyes read your comment as “my eyes are nonfunctional materials.” XD
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Not far from the truth at the moment.
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One would hope they aren’t researching nonfunctional materials…
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Reason number 184 why I like my high school: Groups of seniors singing a capella Lady Gaga mashups in the halls. ♥
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That would be enough to terrify me out of school forever.
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Reason number 4,200,000 why I love band: our pit’s warmup is Bad Romance.
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Chok- Why would that terrify you? It was amazing. Beautiful. Gorgeous. Lovely. Fab.
Tess- Our band needs that song. It would be. so. cool. We have “Yeah” by Usher in our pep books, but we never play it. We only do about four songs, and I have no clue why.
Reason number 185 why I love my school: my band director. (Before a field show.) “Will somebody please fix (name)’s hat? It looks like he just had jello shots…”
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Ouch. I just sat on a knitting needle.
And ohmigod I am terrified, because the theater hasn’t sent a confirmation email for our Harry Potter tickets. Shiver.
And the stupid caking delightful Singapore army is setting off some sort of heavy artillery in the Live Firing Range near our house, and it’s making the windows rattle.
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The more I study history, Freudian and Youngian psychology, and especially the people around me, the more I’ve convinced myself that human nature is based of a natural desire to dominate. Dominance will take many different forms, varying based on society and how other already dominant people affect their lives. Dominance can also branch out and take the form of many different structures like schools, churches, and governments. Each person, thus, will unwittingly is going to seek out this dominance in some way. At least, this psychological theory seems to make the most sense of other people’s actions to me. I’m convinced by it.
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Sorry for the double post, but Youngian should definitely be spelled ‘Jungian’.
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I didn’t know John Young was a psychologist…
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Exactly… to put it in the terms of an internet meme: ‘derp’.
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Nothing involving John Young is derp, mes ami.
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I wasn’t suggesting that it was, merely that my mistake was. Also, shouldn’t it be: ‘mon ami’? There’s only one of me.
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I guess it should. I don’t know French.
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What about depression and suicide? Are those caused because they were being dominated/ couldn’t dominate anybody?
Meh, I personally think that actions, beliefs, and opinions are all due to one’s social group or families. Any attempt to govern beyond that will leave people unhappy and angry, so we should just dissolve all nations and become city states that each have their own govt and economy. There would be communes, democracies… but they’d all be voluntary. They wouldn’t work if they weren’t.
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That’s an interesting point, actually, that I haven’t thought of before. It’s still a primitive theory… but to address the point, I feel that it would be more inability to conquer, which would inevitably come from being dominated oneself, and other reasons. Along with the inability to accomplish what one subconsciously feels like they must do would follow the depression. Suicides vary from depressed person to depressed person, so I suppose it could simply be a response, or even a last ditch attempt to say ‘if I don’t have control over others, I may as well be certain over control of myself’.
Also, I feel the commune society system is simply too idealistic to survive… naturally people are going to be a little pissed off at the idea of having things decided for them (I think you can see what I could fit this into), but, at the same time, such a government is necessary to keep a group of people in line, and in an organized society. I know it’s a bit of a pessimistic outlook, but I feel that anarchy would arise in competition. Unfortunately, men and women aren’t the angels required for voluntary government. At least, in my opinion.
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Meh. When people start saying that all human actions are guided by a single principle, they’re usually wrong…
Another problem I have with your idea: It seems like it’s inspired by the same ideas as social darwinism, where human society is just another evolutionary “battlefield” where people seek to dominate. Not true- our descendants are not decreased if we’re poor or are unable to dominate. The world has become equalized, evolutionarily. We’re still evolving, because there are pressures such as religion, diseases, etc, but not due to society. Dominance does not really play a factor, the desire to dominate is… not really important.
Also, I personally don’t think that the subconcious can be built into people and control what they do. Sure, it can be influenced, but it’s created by us. And there’s nothing in our society that says “YOU MUST DOMINATE EVERYONE” As far as I can tell.
A commune society is not too ideal to survive if everyone is fully dedicated. There would be governments, but only on the basis of small groups where almost everyone knows one another (Fewer than 4 steps away, preferably).
A government is not necessary to keep people in line. I don’t do bad things not because govt. tells me to, or religion, or any other authority figure. I use my own system of morality- everyone (including oneself) should be treated completely equally. (Which would be the matrix. Everyone living fairly happy, though with enough sadness to make it worth it, lives.)
Meh, I probably made many logical fallacies.
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For the first section, about the theory, you seem to be making the assumption that the subconscious is completely derived from the society. I’m trying to present this as a natural impulse, that affects society, not one that is determined by it. I also didn’t say that failure to dominate would result in genetically inferior offspring. It’s not a matter of who’s superior to whom in the society and how that will turn out, it’s how people are naturally geared to think based off of instinct.
Now, on to part two. To try and prove my point, let’s use an example. Let us say that there is a group of educated people, however with no previous influence from society. This group of people, should they be put into a miniature government commune, could not sustain themselves. None would be willing to be fully dedicated and want the government, because the only way they could is if society explained to them why it would work especially by implanting a set of ethics in them. Without our modern society’s set of ethics, they would have no motivation, thus, In an hypothetical world, clean slate people couldn’t sustain that society, because they would be running off of natural instinct.
Next, a set of morals is because of this society of people who want to dominate. Let’s look at it this way: People want control, thus they look to the best way of control, thus they turn to the creation of governments and morals to a)keep the masses pacified and b)establish the best way to perpetuate what they’ve won. Did you just pull your morals from thinking about what would ideally work? I doubt it, because your daily life and history is what’s giving you example of what works and what doesn’t. Thus, the people and their instincts around you influence what you determine to be good morals. (Feel free to tell me that I’m plain wrong on this assumption.)
P.S. Wouldn’t a society like that not address specific needs, and not make the individual not feel like an individual, and wouldn’t that, creating crises of identity, along with other individual-specific problems, lead to depression and inefficiency?
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Don’t we have a Psychology thread or a Philosophy thread or something?
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We probably do… we ought to take this there…
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Sorry for the double post, but it seems like both the philosophy and psychology attempt died to general lack of interest, except for one or two people who say ‘bah. This wasn’t what I wanted at all. I wanted good debate!’
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A natural impulse? Where does it come from? Our evolutionary history? Evolution favors cooperation, like birds and flowers. Groups of human tribes outfought loners.
My main problem with your theory is that it often seems you are stretching it to try and explain everything- like Freud, Marx, many “science”-y types. Sometimes people just do things because they do things.
I’m not saying that communism will and should work. I’m not saying it’s perfect. There is no perfect system. The best you can do is have people split up by ideology. I’m not arguing all of them should be communes, just the ones that want to be. Humans are not naturally anything. (Aside from humans, of course. It’s been proved that at birth, the first thing we focus on is a face.)
I actually derived my morals from logic. I went through a logical process that we are all essentially the same at birth/creation, so all people should be treated with equal degrees of respect. It doesn’t really matter to me if it works, because the world is already so corrupt that it can’t really work. The best I try to do is not discriminate against people, no matter their opinions or anything.
Which society wouldn’t treat individuals like individuals? A bunch of city states is the most individualistic, since people could choose their government and economy. And the matrix is incredibly individualistic, because each person’s life is suited to them.
One more thing: attempts to move debates between two people seem to die when moved to a different thread. Just saying.
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Wouldn’t the fact that organized groups naturally do better point to a continuation of properly controlled ones, which leads only to the perpetuation of the instinct? I’m not necessarily trying to point to a beginning, just the influence.
Also, I can’t believe you in that things ‘just are because they are’. Each thing has a logical explanation, and what hasn’t been proved yet will be in the future. There was a time when Ben Franklin tried to conduct lightning with a kite-his friends all told him he was crazy, that one couldn’t control the elements because ‘things just are because they are’. If things just happened randomly, science wouldn’t exist or be true in any case. We can’t make any progress in leaving anything and saying: ‘it is because it is’.
On a somewhat separate topic here, if you know that your principles can’t work in today’s system, why stick to it?
Lastly, a perfectly equal society determines no specific treatment for any individual… if everyone’s treated the with respect, how could one teach varied levels of understanding?
Annnnd, I’ll take that as a flat out refusal to move the conversation to another thread, but I understand why.
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Yes, but the instinct to dominate would not be there. If it doesn’t come from evolution, where does it come from?
Ok, give me a logical explanation for the beginnings of the universe? What caused it? I’m not saying everything happens randomly, I’m saying that sometimes, life is just life, and our actions are just actions. Sometimes things don’t have deeper meanings. Sure, we can figure out why things happen in science, but we don’t know why the things that cause things to happen, and we probably will never know why the force of gravity acts like the force of gravity. We just know how it acts.
I took logic. If I didn’t stick to my principles, then I would feel like a complete bastard.
By “equal” I meant “equivalent” Not everybody would live the same, lives, that’s silly.
What do you mean by teaching varied levels of understanding? Why is it necessary to teach them?
Oh, I’ll move but I might forget about it…
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Great. Just great. The four kids in my grade who got suspended for alcohol possession are now back at school. IT WAS JUST GETTING PEACEFUL!
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Ahh… *sympathetic pies* That must be so annoying.
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NÇ hÇŽo, wÇŽnshang hÇŽo!
WÇ’ xuéxà pÇ”tÅnghuà ~
For those who can’t read what I just said, here’s a fact: I’m learning in my Mandarin Chinese class. It’s a lot of fun. MÄ›i tiÄn!
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Cool. I wish our school offered Japanese, at least.(I’d love to learn Chinese, but Japanese is a little more feasible in four years)
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Bù jiÇ”, nÇ huì tÇŽo yà n tÄ. xiÄng xìn wÇ’.
Meaning, soon you’ll hate it. Trust me.
It drives me nuts how you have to select the proper pinyin for every single word.
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Why don’t you just type in characters?
有時候，我覺得它很煩，å¯æ˜¯æˆ‘今年的ä¸æ–‡èª²å¤ªå®¹æ˜“，悶æ»æˆ‘了。
yÇ’u shà hòu, wÇ’ jué de tÄ hÄ›n fán, kÄ› shì wÇ’ jÄ«n nián de zhÅng wén kè tà i róng yì, mèn sÇ wÇ’ le
This reminds me of the Coy Woodnesse thread.
And Thief of Light (boy, this is confusing), by ‘MÄ›i tiÄn’ did you mean ‘every day’? As in, I’m learning in my Mandarin Chinese class. It’s a lot of fun. Every day. Because when I first read that it seemed a bit awkward, but I guess it works. Never mind.
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When I try to copy the characters I type off of Microsoft Word, they come out as random squiggles and punctuation. Hi, by the way!
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Hi! 
I just type them directly into the comment box…no need for all the copying and pasting.
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Harry Potter. I love how in my area it’s not sold out, as far as I can tell, thus making it so much easier for not-on-the-ball people heathens like myself to get in at the last minute with minimal planning. Bring on the inevitable judging that will happen when walking into the theatre, all those devout movie-goers who shun J.K. Rowling and her devil’s deeds shaking their heads at the havoc the satanic film will wreak on my poor immortal soul.
Except that they already know I’m a depraved heathen who *gasp* attends a church OTHER THAN THEIRS and *gasp* must be terribly stuck up because I’ve been outside of Sniptown before and *gaspgaspgasp* just don’t fit in.
Huzzah for living in the bible belt. Ah, the good old days when I had to hide my HP books when our friends would come over because they’d never talk to us again if they saw, and all the other crap we got. Fortunately now I don’t care and I don’t generally associate with such characters anymore, but I still get tired of the incessant judging that goes on whenever I’m out and about, even in the bloody grocery store! *sigh* This turned into more of a rant than I was going for.
Anyway, HP tomorrow perchance, which is good. I guess. I mean, it’s Harry Potter, which is good, but it’s the movie, which will probably be ehhhh. But, RUPERT GRINT, so it’s all good. And I have a totally not gay celebrity crush on Emma Watson too, so yeah. If straight guys can have man-crushes then straight females can have woman/girl-crushes. WOO EQUALITY!
And now, for something completely different; I got some cute shirts today. The one I’m most excited about is a grey waffle-knit three-quarters length henley sort of style but it has ruffly bits on the button part. That probably didn’t make any sense. But it’s cute and I like it and if I wore it with the right things it could look kind of like a cravat, which is a win.
Also, more flannel shirts. I am such a redneck. Either that or I just like cuddly warm things. Possibly both.
If you can’t tell by this wall o’ text, I am tired and my brain could not be more fried if you dropped it in a vat of boiling vegetable oil. But please don’t try that. I kind of like my brain. Sometimes. Other times our relationship is stressful, but I digress. No boiling vegetable oil, por favor.
Goodnight my loves.
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aww boo! move to ohio and live with meeee! we all got together in a group and had a friend get tickets so the lazier among us wouldn’t have to worry about it it sold out a whiiile ago at both theaters nearby. almost everyone i’ve talked to is going in costume or at least knows people who are going in costume. i’m going to the same theater as the cosplay club so there should be a lot of good ones
flannel can be redneck OR hipster. or just fern
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Oh, I totally have a girl-crush on Emma Watson. Not gonna deny it. Also, Daniel Radcliffe singing the elements song reminds me of why I used to be such a Daniel Radcliffe fangirl.
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Daniel Radcliffe sang the elements song????!!!!
Off to Youtube!
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YES. Watched it in AP Chem today. Win.
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Oh man, such a girlcrush on Emma Watson. I think a lot of people have one.
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I have a large girl crush on Emma Watson. Very large. I’d probably go out with her if she asked me on a date.
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GAPAs, I assume Emma Watson is acceptable in an avatar. I can change it if not.
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I think it’s OK. We’ll see what the other GAPAs think.
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Two hours, thirty minutes, fifty-eight seconds until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Which I am Typing Out in Full Again and Again Because I am So Excited!
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Not fair. I have 16 hours and 15 minutes to go. 
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I’m going to see the movie at an IMAX theater on Sunday morning. It will need its own thread, don’t you think?
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Robert–Most definitely. I assume it would be appreciated if I, and others, refrained from posting our enraged rants about the movie until after at least one GAPA, such as yourself, has seen the movie? Because I just know I’m going to have a very, very long rant….
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That’s kind of you, but you don’t have to restrain yourself on my account. The ravings of incensed Potter-fundamentalists won’t spoil the movie for me.
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I’m planning to see it this weekend as well. But spoilers come with the job.
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I am not watching the movie because, sadly, I have not reached the point where Voldemort and death does not make me have nightmares for a week. We might rent in when it comes out on DVD, though…
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Awww. That stinks. I’m a total wimp about scary stuff, but Harry Potter has actually never made me have nightmares…my younger sister has had them, though, back when she first read the series a few years ago.
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I’m not seeing it today either, though maybe I can convince my family that we really need to go fairly soon, or at least some of it…
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My hair is all in braids. 19 small ones. It looks kind of cool since my hair is over 2 feet long.
I braided it for HP tonight I’m dressing as Bellatrix, so I need it to be a lot bigger than it is XD
I’m also going to be doing a flash mob reenactment of the final battle scene from HP at dinner in the cafeteria with a bunch of people from Quidditch, hehe. We have it all choreographed and all the lines figured out, so it should go over okay. I just hope it catches people’s attention and they don’t ignore us. It will probably be fine though.
I am really tired. We did a few run-throughs last night and then watched Order of the Phoenix so I didn’t end up going to bed till 3:30. And then woke up at 8:15. Because I’m smart like that.
I can’t brush my hair though and it’s weird.
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LUCKY YOU WITH YOUR LUCKY HAAAAAAIR D: Mine reaches a bit past my shoulders when I straighten it. I might go vegan for a bit, though, because my mom’s hair grew when she did that…
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I. SAW. HARRY. POTTER. AND. THE. DEATHLY. HALLOWS. PART. ONE.
Epic.
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The Deathly Hallows, Part One thread is now open for business. Spoiler warnings, please.
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IT SNOWED LAST NIGHT!!!
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It did here, too, but it didn’t stick.
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Midnight showing tonight! *excitement* I wonder if anyone else from my school is dressing up.
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I know! It’s going to be a great time. I’m not actually dressing up, though, (too much of a wuss), but I’m going in full Harry Potter apparel: Gryffindor T-shirt, HP jean jacket, Gryffindor scarf around the waist, lightning bolt earrings, lightning bolt necklace, HP ball cap, glow in the dark HP glasses perched on said ball cap, red and gold socks, HP watch, HP charm bracelet, red and gold ribbon in my hair….So yeah.
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Gryffindor colors? Way to betray your house, Luna.
Yeah, I’m wearing my Hermione costume. That is, if I survive until then… I have/had 4 tests today.
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Yay, I’m not the only one with a nn-creepy Emma Watson girl-crush.
Ebeth~ MY LOVE I WOULD TOTALLY MOVE IN WITH YOU. Except that you live in Ohio. No offense to Ohio, it gets major cool points for you and Grantikins and all, but I’m still not the state’s biggest fan.
Heh yeah, only one theatre in my town is playing it (we have two….I think…I don’t go to many movies) and they have it going in three auditoriums for film projection, two for digital, and only one was sold out. Which I guess is good for us and all, but still…. :/
Flannel….I like warm and cuddly things. But yeah, I probably err on the side of hipster when wearing it. DON’T JUDGE ME, OKAY?!
Daniel Radcliffe singing the Elements. My day has been made complete.
Jade~ Flash mob HP battle scene in the cafeteria! You are my hero. Let’s just leave it at that.
Uhm, yeah. HP tonight, which is exciting. Not much else to say, really.
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We’re performing Julius Caesar in English! Three guesses to who I am. Hint: I’m not one of the bad guys. And I’m not Brutus.
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Caesar?
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Can’t all of the characters be seen as “bad guys”? Do you mean the conspirators, then?
Are you Cassius?
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Yep. And of course Octavius and Mark Antony are bad-they kill everybody. Caesar is somewhat questionable. But the conspirators, especially Brutus, are tragic heroes. And why does Cassius have more lines than Brutus? I wish he would just shut up.
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I was Cassius, too! I
Mark Antony was simply trying to protect the memory of his friend. Or was he? I love how everything in the play can be seen from so many points of view, however, Shakespeare left out his bawdy humour that he does so well. We do get a bit of his funny side (not bawdy) in the beginning scene with the shoemaker, though. I love his plays on words.
(Sorry, just went into full literary geek mode right there.)
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Are any of these people really identifiable as “good” or “bad”? They’re all rich. They’re all violent. They’re on different sides, but that doesn’t mean one side is right and the other wrong.
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Yay, it’s my birthday!
We had cupcakes at GSA.
And I got a pair of shiny delicious ear covering headphones.
And now I’m listening to the piece “October” by Eric Whitacre. It’s probably the most beautiful classical music piece I’ve ever heard.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AWESOME ARTIST!
Have a great (well, I was going to say “rest of day”…) night!
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Yay, thank you!
♥
Tesseract: I’m playing October in an audition band I’m in, and singing Lux Aurumque in a chorus. I am happy.
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I adore Eric Whitacre’s music. We played Equus in band last year.
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jade- AWESOME HAIR IS AWESOME
flash mob sounds cool too heh
fiddler – lol my friend’s aunt was like that (being crazy about harry potter being THE DEVIL’S WORK i mean) and i always thought it was ridiculous of her.
like my hometown is pretty conservative but thankfully everyone also has a massive sense of entitlement so they never refuse themselves anything, not even heathen harry!
i’m going home to see the midnight show with my friends, but for right now i’m stuck in the library with logic homework and two essays to work on :/ oh well only a few more hours!
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Pfft. I find it amusing when people think Harry Potter is the devil’s work. Of course, I’m currently at school where approximately half the student body is atheists or agnostics, so there’s not much complaining about the devil going on around here. (Our headmaster president has a cardboard cut-out of Dumbledore outside of his office.)
Oh, but logic is fun… (I feel obligated to comment on anything with logic, since I love mathematical logic so much.)
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I thought all of those protests had died down years ago. I remember them when the books came out, but I didn’t hear of them after that, so I assumed the people had learned better.
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Well, aren’t the Harry Potter books and movies anti-religious? I think one can make a compelling case that they are.
(The GAPA is in provocative-question-asking mode tonight, in case no one has noticed.)
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Anti-religious or advocating devil-worship? The latter is quite religious, albeit not commonly accepted.
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Not really… I think they’re pretty neutral when it comes to religion. I mean, the values that it promotes (love, friendship, etc.) are pretty in line with traditional religious values. And the characters actually are Christian, at least to the extent that they celebrate Christmas. The magic doesn’t come from any form of paganism or devil worship; it’s just part of how the world works.
Also, you could argue that the Harry dying and being resurrected could be allegory, which would actually make them pro-religious. (I’m not sure if that even works, though. I don’t know that much about Christianity.)
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Well… Is anybody in the books religious? Does anybody go to church? Is there any mention of a chapel, synagogue, or mosque at Hogwarts or anywhere else in the wizarding world? Apart from one or two references to Christmas parties, religion doesn’t seem to exist there. Magic is much more important. And if magic powers don’t come from God, where else do they come from?
I’m not saying that this is what Rowling intended, just that religious people aren’t necessarily crazy for reading the books that way. There’s logic behind their thinking.
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Is there any praying or overt Christianity in the Narnia books? I don’t remember any form when I read them, yet they are hailed as Christian literature (and rightfully so).
When Jesus taught he often used parables to illustrate points, and the parables don’t always have to do with churches or religion specifically. Like the shepherd who loses a lamb and goes to look for it, and then he goes on to say that God is like that shepherd.
There are some quite interesting and persuasive arguments about HP actually being very in line with the tradition of Christian literature.
The question I really have though is why so many families that ban Harry Potter happily allow Twilight into their homes and defend it. That’s what really confounds me.
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that’s not anti-religious though. that’s just…non-religious. there’s nothing in the books actively opposing religion, it’s just not there.
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Excluding the obvious Harry/Christ similarities…
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Last year at school excursion week (to a Malaysian island) my heavily Christian cabinmate discovered me reading HP7 and saw my copy of Lord of the Rings, and now she flees whenever I walk around a corner.
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Although I’m not seeing Harry Potter at midnight, I’m seeing it tomorrow, and that’s good enough for me. I don’t know whether or not I should dress up, though… Hmm… I’m definitely going to bring my wand and I guess I’ll make some dirigible plum earrings tonight. And quills! I’ll bring in one to write with tomorrow.
I went to get glasses after school today, and I’m stuck between two pairs of horn rimmed ones. They’re really just fabulous. I’ll go back to choose between the two on Wednesday.
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It looks as though I shall be seeing the movie on Saturday with my sister. Fantabulasticalerrific. A lot of people at school today dressed in costume, and I talked to a good dozen (mostly sports-type males, strangely enough) that were going straight from school to the theatre to wait in line for eight hours. Oh, high schoolers.
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In Biology class today, we did review trivia. We got to pick our teams of three, so I ended up in a group with my two friends. Throughout the entire game we were making unrelated jokes and laughing, and we missed three questions total. One of my friends decided that our team name should be either “Team Awesome” or “Team Ninja.” At the very end, we were found to be 50 points short of a win, shocking everyone – including the team that won! We just had a blast the whole time, and one of them decided, despite the fact that I am a resident Weirdo, to name me an honorary Nerd. Aren’t my friends the greatest?
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Your name is spelled wrong.
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Or is it spelled incorrectly?
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Whichever. Each can correctly be used as an adverb.
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Wow, Piggy. No you’re correcting spelling in people’s usernames? You’re right, though. Somehow my computer keeps remembering my name with the I in the wrong place. Hopefully this post will fix it.
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I’m just pointing it out.
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Basketball started this week, and I’m sore all over…
Also: I will be seeing The Movie Saturday morning. I’m totally jealous of anybody who’s seeing it tonight. (alright, fine, tomorrow. Whatever.) I’m going to have to be careful about avoiding those spoiler warnings… /harry potter attack/
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To the list of Disney songs that sound epic in Spanish, I would like to add “Colors of the Wind”/”Colores En El Viento”.
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Since my brain is currently working well enough to translate effectively into Spanish, that should be “Colores del Viento.”
Where can I find it in Spanish? That sounds cool.
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That is fabulous in Spanish!
I’m not sure, but I think you’re right that it would be Colores del Viento.
However, the lyrics are changed in the Spanish version (which you can find on youtube by searching for “Colores en el Viento”). In the place of “can you paint with all the colors of the wind,” they’ve written “y colores en el viento descubrir.” My Spanish isn’t too good when it comes to prepositions, but for any non-Spanish-learners, I think that means “and discover colors in the wind.”
It’s fascinating how they change certain things in translations.
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Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t believe you’ve been around for ages! 
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It is.
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Hey! Haven’t seen you on in a long time! Welcome back!
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Hey THF! Long time no see.
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ebeth is NOT going to harry potter tonight
ebeth’s friend bought all the tickets ages ago for the group. ebeth and a couple of her other friends were tired of being the ones in charge of everything all the time so they let another friend do it. this friend bought the wrong number of tickets.
basically this girl that hangs around keller all the time wanted in on this, so keller said she could go without telling any of us and then failed to buy the correct number of tickets. esther’s sister decided she couldn’t go, so we assumed we had an extra ticket. i had a friend who really wanted a ticket, so i asked esther if he could have her sister’s ticket and she said she was fine with that. i told my friend he could have the ticket and i told keller that we had given away the extra ticket, which he said was fine because he didn’t bother to count the people, just assumed we had an extra.
my friend was super excited and went last-minute thrifting for a costume and everything. i have been way to busy (and waaay to stressed) this week to bother doing anything to prepare. so keller called earlier tonight (like, three hours to movie) and tells me that we don’t have enough tickets, and that my friend can’t go, which pisses me off to no end. i basically told him there was no way i was gonna rescind the kid’s ticket at the last minute like that and asked why kelsie (the other girl) was going. he said he couldn’t tell her no since he promised her a ticket way in advance, which was just dumb on his end, so i was like “fine, i won’t go then.” this is where i expected him to offer not to go. i might have accepted that offer, i might not have. but instead i got *long pause* “let me think about something and call you back”
he calls back 10-15min later and says “okay i thought about it, i’m the one who messed up, i should stay behind.” internally i was just like “NO, really?” but it pissed me off even more that he had to stop and think about it. so i basically decided he could deal with the crushing guilt and maybe it would spur him into not being such a flake all the time. plus i honestly wouldn’t enjoy it as much as everyone else, especially after that whole deal.
anyway, i’m just gonna head back to b2d and play some board games with some awesome people and then go to sloopy’s and get delicious cake or something. my normal thursdays are pretty awesome as it is.
other things that have sucked this week – found out the reason i was failing so hard at history was that i wasn’t supposed to even have been allowed to enroll in the class – it’s for people with junior and senior ranking only. not that i’m failing THAT hard but there are only two exams (the midterm and the final – i MAJORLY effed up the midterm, barely passed) and three assignments (one of which i did really well on, and one i did sort of okay on i guess) and one is a MASSIVE research paper coming up that’s reeeaaally open-ended (like, “here’s a time period, think up a question” open-ended) and i have class during all his office hours so i have to schedule a meeting with him if i want to talk it through which i definitely do because it’s 30% of my grade. the grading is sorta harsh too, like it’s definitely fair for what the class is but i’ve never taken a history class at this level before so i’ve just been feeling a bit out of my depth. also just to give an idea – the midterm was a list of people and events. you had to write an essay for each one. no prompts, just a list. that was the exam.
i’ve been sick for ages. i’ve basically been on and off sick this entire quarter, but especially the last few weeks.
i’ve been generally irrationally depressed for a while. i sort of just came out of it yesterday, so we’ll see if this holds. (not that i’m in the best of moods right now, but even now with all this suckiness going on i feel better than i have the past couple weeks when i had very little reason to feel like crap besides sleep deprivation)
not directly related to me but REALLY sucky…remember my ex, andy? he’s an RA at his college and jewish and he put up a board in his hall about hannukah since it’s coming up and someone tore part of it down and drew a swastika on the board. they covered it up by taping up a piece of paper over it and whoever it was tore the paper down, so it was very much intentional, not just someone being drunk and idiotic. they’ve been interrogating people and stuff but they weren’t getting anywhere. so he’s having a floor meeting tonight and the campus police are going to be there
so uh, yeah. that’s my life i guess. it’s actually going better than it sounds, like i said i’m in a comparatively good mood. definitely looking forward to break though
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UPDATE: turns out the mistake was a mistake. keller counted wrong. *facepalm* they called right before the movie and were like “we have a ticket, hurry!” but by that point i had stopped caring and i had plans to go to b2d and i didn’t really feel like flipping around my whole night for the second time. so i told them to sell it and called dibs on any profits they might make
b2d was super fun though and i had a delicious brownie and chris and i are gonna start a D&D campaign after thanksgiving
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I’ve been considering changing my username, recently. I don’t particularly like name-changes, (And yes, I’ll admit I like having my name high up on the chart) but I don’t really like my username all that much.
Thoughts?
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Keep it. My name’s not great either, I don’t know why I chose it, but I stick with it.
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At least you can claim yours was created by an interest in literature and not random teenager hormones and very little thought.
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Mine wasn’t created by an interest in literature. I had barely heard of Lord of the Flies when I first visited MB, and the name Piggy had been significant to me and my family for years before that.
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Just wondering, where did your name come from?
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Is Piggy’s name from Flies? I thought it wasn’t, but I don’t remember.
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heh. i changed my real name to my blog name. sort of. i mean some people had called me ebeth before then but now almost everyone does
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I agree with Piggy. I’ve used this username since I started posting here. besides, your name is cool, and it eliminates confusion if you keep it.
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What would you change it to? Personally, I’d prefer that you didn’t change it. (Is that even grammatically correct? *is tired*)
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(It is grammatically correct. You used the subjunctive, which was what “I’d prefer that…” takes.)
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I would keep it. (Speaking as somebody who is often hopelessly confused by name changes and realizes months later that Person A = Person B…)
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Keep it because you’d be nothing if you were’t Sudo. D:
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…says the person who’s switched names far too many times.
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It could be worse; I change names as I change interests. <3 Witchneko doesn't reflect my interests.
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Your new interest is…. stealing light? Okay, then. Whatever floats your boat….
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Keep it. It’s legit.
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We had a fire in our fireplace for the first time ever today.
We’ve lived in this house for almost fourteen years.
And I am obviously not going to HP tonight, because we never do stuff like that. I’m going to try to convince my parents we should on Sunday, after a bunch of stuff my sister is doing Saturday is finished.
I really need to work out going to the midnight premiere of the last half. It’s my last chance of being at all caught up with HP fandom.
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Ebeth~ *hughughughughughughughughughughughughughughughughug* That’s…..yeah that’s really all I’ve got right now, I’m sorry. I do want you to know though that I love you so very much, and tomorrow after some sleep I will give you actual, coherent sympathy. But for now, feel better and buy something cool with the ticket money.
We just got back from HP, and I am quite tired. *falls over*
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OMGOMGOMG!!!!
I almost wish that I’d gone to see HP because last night, the sky was perfect. I mean, it hd some clouds, but the moon kept on peeking out. It was perfect HP sky! Me and my mom started humming the HP theme song in unison!
Ebeth-Oh noes!!!! *hugs and choklit*
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Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow!!!!!!!!
I think I broke my kneecap. I tripped over the doorstep. Now it is worryingly painful, bruised, swollen, and unmovable. And I have to cook dinner before my parents get back, and I really do not want to get up.
Maybe we can order out.
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Ouch! Sorry.
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According to the sacred Kaiser Permanente Health Handbook, it’s sprained. But it hurts more than I remember a broken ankle hurting.
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Aww! *hugs*
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Tired. But has SO MUCH FUN last night. I’ll do a big post later on the collegeland thread.
Flash mob went awesomely. Everyone cheered and booed at all the right parts. Then HP7 was also awesome (don’t worry no spoilers ahead), I got there at like 10:30 and everyone was in costume and we took so many group pictures iwht random people I don’t even know and it was great. I was one of two Bellatrix Lestrange’s there and my costume was better so yay.
Then we all just sort of crashed in a friend’s room after because it was 3 am and no one wanted to walk all the way back to their own dorms. Which was probably a bad idea because it wasn’t the most comfortable, but oh well. So fun.
More later, class now. Oh, all the work I just didn’t do yesterday. Like that essay due at 5pm today. Yeah that’ll be fun.
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I seem to be slipping and falling a lot lately. Last night I slipped on the floor in our living room and hurt my hand, and today in gym, I slipped and hit my head and shoulder on the wall.
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Who’s seen the BBC’s Sherlock? It is excellent, especially if you’ve read the books.
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I think probably most of MuseBlog has seen or will see it. we’re a fairly geeky lot, in case you didn’t notice
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Haha, you make it sound like oxlin is new around here.
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Or maybe I’ve just been oblivious for seven years!
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I recently did, and it was excellent! Thanks for the suggestion.
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Yay! Someone else has seen it now! You’re welcome.
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My dad got back yesterday from a ten-day business trip to India, and today he unburied the souvenirs he bought us. Mine is incredible: an elephant in an elephant in an elephant, all carved from a solid piece of stone. I don’t know how it was made, but it’s beautiful.
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Sounds pretty!
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Ooo…that’s beautiful. I like how it’s reflected, too.
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Sorry, that was supposed to be a reply to Piggy’s post!
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That’s why I didn’t crop the image closer.
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Can I post a picture of it? It’s rather hard to see the innermost and the middle elephants in a photograph, but the latter at least is more or less visible.
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A girl at school got that very same elephant (I think) from India and gave it as a gift to my English teacher, so now it’s sitting on his desk. That is really cool.
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Oops, wrong e-mail address. I was typing it on the iPod touch, sorry!
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Nice elephant!
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:o. And again, :o.
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That’s absolutely beautiful. What kind of camera did you take it with?
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Lessee… a Fujifilm Finepix J10. Just a standard point-and-shoot deal. For this one I turned off the flash–otherwise you just see the shadows of the outer layer inside, instead of the inner layers themselves. I believe I just rested the camera on the counter to keep it steady enough–it was understandably a relatively high exposure time.
Incidentally, if you open the image in a new tab you can see it bigger and thus in more detail. You can also see that something funky’s happening with my sensor, most likely because I don’t take care of the camera.
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You’re referring to that little dot on the ear?
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Yeah, that’s one of ’em.
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That’s a wonderful elephant!
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My dad just told me what this cost: about forty dollars. For an intricate triple-layer elephant carved out of a solid piece of stone. Crazy.
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All former members to the Embi family; we’re trying a minor reboot on it! <3
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EXTENDED ESSAY IS DONE!
AND I’M SEVENTEEN NOW!
Yayayay. Only college applications left to do this semester!
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*makes assumption* Happy Birthday!
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Piggy just sent an email to Larry Gonick asking what he’s been up to lately. Piggy’ll be sure to post here with the update when he receives a reply.
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Let’s hope Piggy doesn’t forget.
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Piggy won’t. It’ll be a momentous enough event that he’ll have no option but to post about it.
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I’m going off to audition for SENIOR DISTRICTS!
EEEP.
I just hope they don’t ask me for an Ab or A major scale… And that I remember to play the Mozart slowly…
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Good luck!
Don’t imagine the audience in their underpants, whatever you do. Trust me on this.
Why people advise that, I can’t imagine.
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Audience? There was no audience.
Only a single auditioner.
And the first scale they asked me to play was an A major. XP
But I played the Mozart and sight reading really well!
The scoring for each part you do is out of ten, and when I was leaving, I caught a glimpse of my score sheet, and I saw a 10 circled on it!
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In their underpants? I thought the whole point was to imagine them without- Never mind.
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Oh dear, bookgirl…
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Sigh… my DS is missing… and my Pokemon SoulSilver is in it… and I had just figured out how to beat the Elite Four without training any new Pokemon.
At least I found a delicious cookie recipe while searching for it.
Oh, and I’m going to see Deathly Hallows tonight!
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Oh noes!!!! *hugs*
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Well, you know what they say… when you lose a DS, you, um, gain a batch of cookies. What kind are they?
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Oatmeal Lace cookies. As they bake, they spread out very thin and look (kind of) like lace.
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Hooray! It has been located. I managed to beat that stupid Houndoom of Karen’s, but then I had to go fight Lance! I totally forgot I would have to 
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Once upon a time, Choklit Orange had a “friend” called A. The friend was perfectly nice at first. As soon as she moved up to high school, and Choklit Orange moved up to 8th grade, A began snubbing C.O. Now she is only polite or kind to C.O. when she wants homework done.
Choklit Orange would really love to scream at her, but can’t, because we carpool twice a day and it would make the rides really uncomfortable. In the meantime, C.O. has no choice but to continue doing A’s homework, because the last time she even slightly suggested that maybe it would be better if A did her own work, A started yelling.
Right before I leave Singapore, I think I’ll go over to her house and rant.
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*hugs*
You shouldn’t be doing someone else’s homework. I’m sure you have enough already.
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*hugs* Have you tried letting her scream at you for a while, then say something along the lines of “Sorry, I’m not going to do your work for you anymore. Stop having a temper tantrum.” ?
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You don’t have to put up with A. I agree with Mikazuki. Let A yell, and then respond to her clearly and logically. You’ve got a right to make your concerns clear and to tell her you don’t think it’s fair.
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Thanks all… on the other hand, 9th grade homework is a lot more interesting than 8th grade.
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Literary analysis essays are always a slog, but once you’ve figured out what they want and it crystalizes in your head and you write it out really well and pick the right words and you’ve answered the question and gotten it exactly as you want it…
It feels good.
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I remember Liv saying something similar about math proofs.
I myself am much more at home with literary analysis though. Argh I need to get back to that.
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64~ I agree with what the others have said, you don’t have to do her homework and you shouldn’t be. Not only is it unfair to you, it’s unfair to her that she’s not learning anything except how to take advantage of people. That’s not a skill anyone needs to have anything to do with. If she yells at you, let her, and then respond calmly. Is there any way you can avoid the carpool? Can you ride with someone else, or, if she’s getting rides from you/your family can you tell them that this is happening? I’m sure they’ll be on your side. In any case, *hugs*
So last night was my choir’s concert, and it went quite well. I messed up on one song that I’ve NEVER messed up on, and it was the one where we were in a circle around the audience, so really close to them and mistakes would be easier to hear. Ack. Oh well, besides that it was pretty good, and there was a reception afterwards with yummy things, which was an extra Good Thing.
Today I went to see the Deathly Hallows again with some friends.
I am a horrible person. I brought contraband into the theatre with me; I stopped at the grocery store and got a bag of my favorite snack food (corn puff sticks with nutritional yeast) and a thing of Honest Tea, which was delicious. Overall I spent way less than it would have cost at the theatre and got way yummier and better foods, not to mention that the packaging on the tea is recyclable, where a cup at the theatre wouldn’t be so much. It was just better in general, so instead of feeling horribly guilty I’m just kind of glad I decided to do it. As far as I could tell no one noticed or questioned the fact that the messenger bag I carried in crinkled or was emptier when we left….. 
Tomorrow I have the GED practice test, eep. 0.o I’m a bit nervous, even though it’s just a practice. Hopefully it’ll go alright. Hopefully my application for the actual test got in in time and I’ll be able to take it in Dec….I haven’t heard back form them yet though, so I’m kind of concerned. I keep thinking about my application and wondering if it got there in time, whether I miswrote my email address (I don’t think so, but still, gah), whether they got the whole attachment-instead-of-filled-out-section bit, even though it said the exact same thing……aaaaaaahhhhhhh. Anyway. The practice test is tomorrow, so that’s what I’ll spaz about for now. *spazzes*
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good luck on the practice test! i’m sure you’ll do great!
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SAT scores on Tuesday ahhhhh
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Really? Shooooooooooooooooooot. Forgot about that. Heh heh heh.
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Ehh, I think I’ll retake it, I got lower in math than I would’ve thought…
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Auditions for musical are today. I got up this morning and had a mini-freak out. I am so, so, SO not ready at all in any way shape or form.
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Yay! It’s the end of the first marking period, and here are my grades:
PE: A 99%
Social Studies: A 95%
Video Productions: A 94%
Math: A- 92%
Language Arts: A- 90%
Orchestra: A 95%
Science: A 95%
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GED practice test results: I passed by a comfortable margin. Uncomfortably comfortable, actually. I can’t help but think if I can easily get good marks on a test there’s something seriously wrong with it. 0.o
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Ahhh, furlow days. Lovely. Causing all my teachers to stress.
But I have the entire week off! DDDDD~
So Yeah. Life goes on.
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I got my first email from FutureMe today. It read as follows:
“Dear Jonah, ((my real name))
Bababa.”
It really brightened up my day. Thank you so much for the obvious thought and effort you put into this, past Sudo. 
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I won’t post this reply back when you were discussing it –
No. Don’t change your name. I like it, but you could always make it just Sudo if you just don’t like the ‘Random’ part. Half the people already call you that. Or it could just be ‘Jonah’.
And as for Piggy, I’ve always liked your name, and have also assumed that it came from Flies.
As for my previous, Eragon, I eventually decided that it was no longer my favorite book and needed to switch. I’m perfectly happy with Castle now.
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The apple thingy is SO fun to make!
Now I’m hungry.
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I live in the Pacific Northwest. It’s November. It’s snowing.
I’m a little concerned.
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I live in North Carolina. It’s November. There was a high of 70 today. I’m more than a little concerned.
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What’s your usual weather in November?
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Mid-fifties, I think.
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Same with us, maybe a bit colder, and a light drizzle. it’ll be dark by now, usually earlier.
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Wait, does that mean where you live that’s really unusual? *is tryinghopelessly to remember wht the climate is like in the Pacific Northwest* *is trying to remember where the pacific northwest is* *fails* *is not smart today*
The weather’s weird this year. it was snowing a bit further upland from here. On Halloween. As in, they actually had enough freakin’ snow to go sledding. Lucky them, actually. Where I live, by the coast, we just get the cold slush until December because the sea warms things up a bit. And as it’s REALLY CAKIN’ COLD right now, so I shudder to think of what things are like up north…
We had the hottest summer I can remember this year too, even though anyone who lives in a hot state would say it wasn’t that hot. Still. For us it is. *shakes fist at sky*
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In short, it shouldn’t be snowing, much less in November.
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I KNOW! It’s the best thing ever!
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Remember when I was a happy person? Ahh, those were the days.
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I know the feeling. Are you still avoiding your friend (?)?
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Well, I don’t think that it was her fault, because she called him a jerk, therefore, causeing me to choose option A. ( Any MBers in [Snip! Sorry, too small a town to be named on the blog. –Admin.]?)
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Still snowing. It’s about 27 degrees outside. I’ve just returned from outside, where we were putting chains on the car. It’s bloody freezing here.
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Coincidentally, it’s 27 degrees here too. Celsius.
Don’t rub it in!
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27? That’s nothing. I don’t think it’s gotten above 15 here all day.
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Guys save me I am bored out of my skull. I’m in the train station, anchored to my chair by a heavy backpack, a bookbag and two gallons of freshly pressed apple cider.
Hark! An announcement over the loudspeaker just informed me that all carry on bags must have luggage tags. I don’t have any luggage tags. Problem? Yes. HOWEVER, the friendly robot-voice also said that tags were available at the info counter. A MISSION! But I don’t want to lug these heavy things across the station again. I really don’t. And there are a bunch o’ peeps kind of in the way. I have an hour and a half, I can wait……….no, I should just go. *groans*
But on the bright side, I’m going to go on a train ride! I like trains.
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oh a train ride! i’ve always wanted to go somewhere by train..tell us how it was when you have time! and freshly pressed cider sounds delicious albeit cumbersome in this situation…:lol:
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It stormed so hard on Saturday it hailed, which was extremely cool but nevertheless pretty weird for mid-November. Downside: I had to walk to my babysitting job through the hail. Upside: I got to walk to my babysitting job through the hail. Which was majorly awesome, if a little painful.
It’s fantastic how much nothing I’ve been doing. I got called out yesterday for doing nothing by my mom, who demanded me to stop writing my NaNo and go out into the world. I was two days ahead, so I complied. I took my notebook for Creative Writing, went two blocks away to the coffee shop with the best hot chocolate in the entire Bay Area, ordered the best hot chocolate in the entire Bay Area (it seriously is, it’s all creamy and chocolatey and sweet and delicious with or without hot chocolate), and planned out and played with my NaNo for another hour. She was satisfied.
And apparently we’re having Thanksgiving at my house this year. Downside: I have to unload every single grocery that my mom buys. Upside: there’s whipped cream in the fridge 24/7 now, which is a very nice thing to have.
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I like it not being so dark when I wake up, but I feel sort of depressed when it gets dark so early in the afternoon. Which I wouldn’t mind if there were stars, but it’s cloudy.
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I got my report card today. Not too shabby for the first quarter, but I definitely could’ve done better.
AP Euro- 93
PE- 100 (Not that I care…)
Honors English- 93
Math- 91
AP Bio- 92
Honors Chem- 93
Spanish- 98
Band- 100
~
I got one of the highest averages in Euro, so that’s good.
My English teacher bumped my average up somewhere from 6-10 points, and I’m not too sure why she did. She said she’d help me out a bit with my grades, but I didn’t think she meant adding any more than a point on my average. I think she did it because I’ve been bombing the essays but getting 100s on the tests and quizzes, and participating a lot in class. I’ll thank her for that tomorrow.
Been doing pretty well in math, and it’s hard, so I won’t complain about my 91.
Bio… *sigh* I could’ve done so much better. My friend got a 97. Once again, it’s only first quarter, so there’s always room for improvement.
Chem is sorta tough. I need to actually study this quarter and I’ll do a lot better.
I don’t even study for Spanish, so that’s why it’s not 100. I don’t really care right now; it’s not an honors class.
Went to all my band lessons and took all my test; didn’t expect it to not be 100. I’m sure I’ll do worse this quarter now that we’re done with marching band. Concert in three weeks… yay… I can hardly play the music.
Now to study for bio, chem, and math. This is going to be six tests between today and tomorrow… ridiculous.
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doing the mirror lake jump tonight…i didn’t do it last year. i’m mildly scared and super excited…it’ll be freezing and gross and full of drunk people but also somehow awesome
for people who don’t know it’s this tradition that ohio state has because we’re all kind of insane…before the osu/michigan football game, we all try to awaken the spirit of woody hayes (a famous coach) by jumping in mirror lake. some of the earth science people always take samples of the lake and it’s somewhat alarming how much of it ends up being ammonia by the end of the night.
anyway this is something that thousands of crazy drunk college students do so i figure i better get in on this being-in-college business. also it sounds fun
i love having friends from different dorms though…taylor is doing free grilled cheese which we’re getting before the jump, and drackett is doing free pancakes that we’re gonna get after the jump
i have a band concert tonight before then though…ergh, should probably get ready for that
one more class before thanksgiving! oh and jake (bf) offered me a ride back to my house tomorrow night so i’m being evil and making him drop me at bill’s and meet all my home friends, since bill’s is obviously the first place to go when i get off for thanksgiving (my house? where’s that again?). wednesday night has been designated party night, but most of the rest of my weekend will be spent on history >.< stupid homework. i don't have that many finals though, because i have all these final papers and projects and things, so that's a plus
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I got my score back from the “Spanish With Listening” SAT Subject Test that I took a few weeks ago – 760 out of 800, scaled. I’ll have to wait for another week to find out how good my raw scores actually were, and I still don’t quite understand what it means, but I think I’m happy with it.
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That could get you college credit! Which is also something that seems good, but might not be entirely so. You can be happy that you’re good at Spanish though!
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Piggy has a migraine with all the symptoms: extreme fatigue, dizziness, inability to think straight, photophobia, phonophobia, and nausea. But no pain. It’s bizarre.
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Marvelous. My migraine ended shortly before midnight with the traditional vomiting. Now I can’t stand up or get my stomach to keep any food in it.
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Argh, I hate migraines.
Weird that you didn’t have any pain. Not bad, I hate the killer headaches, but I think I’d rather have them than the vomiting.
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That is what my migraine meds make me feel like, when I can take them on time. Except I can tell the pain is there, I just don’t care about it.
They’re the only meds that have ever helped them though, so I’ll take it.
Mine also usually end in throwing up for a night/day : P
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Mine used to always end in copious vomiting, but they haven’t for a couple of years. It appears that aspect has returned. As for the lack of pain, I did pop a couple ibuprofen when I first suspected a possible migraine, which usually does little to combat the pain. I guess I just took them early enough this time? Then I think I got dehydrated–that explains my inability to stand.
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Mine have always been too bad for over-the-counter meds to really do much, even when I was taking them at prescription strength (aka 4 ibuprofen at a time). Also there’s like only a 15 minute window I can take any meds at all without throwing them up.
You should look into getting prescription meds for them. It took me 17 years to do so but so far the one’s I’ve been taking (Zomig) have worked really well, when I manage to take them in time. Mine are infrequent/random enough that I only use rescue meds when I feel one coming on rather than taking pills every day.
It was kind of a hassle to get them (doctor appointment, neurologist appointment, MRI, back to neurologist for the prescription) but it’s so worth it. The wait and the shuffling around doctor’s offices is worth cutting off 5 or 6 painful-enough-to-want-to-die experiences a year.
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I got a prescription for something about a year and a half ago but my damned mother was too lazy to run to Walgreens and fill it. Those were a rescue med type thing as well. (My uncle and his son take an everyday pill for their migraines, but I don’t think I’d have to take anything like that. Mine are relatively infrequent, compared to theirs.) I’m going to start bothering my mother more to bring me back to the doctor to get another prescription–my dad has started to mention it to her as well. I’ve noticed that (with the exception of this strange case) the pain’s been getting more and more severe lately–the last three or four have been the worst it’s ever been, with each surpassing the last.
Still, migraines are more solidly treatable than my other main health problem–that is, passing out at church. I don’t know why it happens, and my doctor merely said, “Welp, some people just pass out at church, tough luck.” He did a few blood tests and I got an MRI, but there were no apparent abnormalities. So I just pass out from time to time. But only at church, never anywhere else. *shrugs*
Ha, I’m getting a lot of practice for when I’m a retiree, talking about my health problems.
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guys do you know if there’s anything i can do if i spilled water on my laptop (macbook)? i don’t have screwdrivers and stuff with me at school so i can’t take out the battery and try to dry stuff off, i’m hopefully going to the apple store tomorrow but i just wondered if there’s anything i can do NOW…. god i’m so stupid
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Is it lying facedown (assuming you spilled water on the keyboard) in a warm place? Other than that there’s nothing you can do besides bring it to the Apple store. Unless! If there’s a Duane Reade or whatever connivence store near by- then you can probably get a screwdriver! Those places usually sell eyeglasses kits with small screwdrivers. Good Luck!
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Eek!
Well I know with phones and stuff, if you put them in a bowl of dry rice it can help draw the moisture out… not sure if it’d work with bigger stuff. Also that would be a lot of rice. I hope our laptop is okay D:
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83- Is it malfunctioning? My usual answer to computer issues is to turn the computer upside down and shake it… but I can see that you might not want to do that. You could try putting it somewhere warmish to let the water evaporate.
Speaking of computers, I just downloaded software that changes all Windows messages into Klingon! Woohoo! For example, instead of “The command cannot be performed because a dialog box is open,” it now displays, “ra’ta’ghach mu’mey laH ghobe’ taH TogbeH ra’qoH yuch pa’veH ‘oH poSmoH.”
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So I have a question. Out of all the Discworld books, which would you recommend if I’m only buying three or four? I’ve read Color of Magic, and really enjoyed it, but I’m indecisive as to whether I want to continue with that storyline or move to another.
I’m mostly looking at the ones about Death, the sequels to CoM, and the Tiffany Aching ones.
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Whoops, the italics were supposed to end after Magic.. Gnome?
Also, for whatever strange reason, Target does not have Wintersmith available as a book. Only as an audiobook. 
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Thank you, Mr. Gnome!
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There are, in fact, eight (le gasp) main storylines running through the Discworld novels. There’s Rincewind, of course, who is really what people think of when they think of Discworld. I’m actually not really a Rincewind fan. I’m not sure why, but I’m just not that interested. My favorite book of his is Interesting Times, if you don’t count The Last Hero, which doesn’t really count.
Then there’s Death, and by extension Susan Sto Helit, who have personally made some people feel better about dying. Everybody seems to love Mort, but I don’t. Once again, no idea why. The fantastic thing about Pratchett, of course, is that you don’t have to have read the previous books in any storyline in order to pick one up and read it. So on that note, I’d tell you Hogfather, because it’s poignant and interesting and perfect and seasonal! Also, they made a movie out of it, which was incredibly awesome.
Then there are the witches. I love them so much I cannot describe it in words. There is absolutely nothing about the witches that I do not love. Get something about the witches. If you get nothing else, get something about the witches. I’m not even counting Tiffany Aching in “the witches”, and she’s fantastic. Get something about the witches. Seriously, anything. I don’t have any recommendations, other than you HAVE to get something about the witches.
And the Vimes novels, which are my favorite storyline. Personally my favorite was Night Watch, but I’d recommend starting with Men at Arms, because it’s just such a great place to start. And you really, really, really have to get something about Vimes. I tell you to get something about the witches because it’s the whole “first taste is free” thing that’s going to get you addicted, but the City Watch is my favorite.
And the Wizards. I gotta go “meh” on this one. You don’t have to get them, though that’s just my personal opinion, of course. There are plenty of people who love the wizards as much as I love the witches. So I’ll just tell you Unseen Academicals if you have to and leave it at that.
Tiffany Aching! I’m counting her separate from the witches as a group because she really is. She has four specific books devoted to her, and the witches have cameos. You really do have to read the Tiffany Aching books in order, so it goes The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith, et cetera. She’s pretty cool.
Moist Von Lipwig is another one of my personal favorites. I guess I just like anything set in Ankh-Morpork. He is hilarious and fun and he only has two books, which aren’t exactly stand-alone. Nevertheless Going Postal is another favorite of mine, and it’s another thing that is people’s first fantastic taste of Discworld.
And the miscellaneous books. My first ever Discworld book was The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, which is really, absolutely hilarious and exciting and suspenseful and fun. Recommended. On the other hand, you could get The Truth, which is equally good and should be at least looked at.
Phew. Long post. Final recommendations: Hogfather, Men at Arms, The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, and any witch book ever ever ever.
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My favorites have to be Wizards, Rincewind, and Moist.
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Hm. I’ve already read Amazing Maurice, so I don’t think I’ll get that one just now. So maybe Hogfather, Men at Arms, Equal Rites or something, and either the first Tiffany Aching or Color of Magic? By the logic I used to eliminate Amazing Maurice, probably Tiffany Aching.
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For whatever other strange reason, Target does not have Hogfather either. So my list is, currently; Men at Arms, Equal Rites, Wee Free Men, Color of Magic. Any suggestion on improving this list?
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Meh, Equal Rites was probably my least favorite of the witch books. I’m just not a fan of early Pratchett overall. What about Wyrd Sisters, or Witches Abroad? They were awesome. Apart from that, your list is great.
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Okay, let me see… Ooh, Witches Abroad looks very fun. I think I’ll get that one.
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I loved The Amazing Maurice!
It seems I’m a heretic here. In terms of my favorites (actual arcs, the standalones fall everywhere):
Wizards (Especially The Last Continent)
Rincewind
Moist
Death
Witches
The Watch
Tiffany
I don’t know why I don’t like Tiffany. But I just don’t.
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Tiffany aching is good. So is Nation, but that’s not discworld. I really don’t reccomend The Amazing Maurice. How about Monstorous Regiment? That one’s good.
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Cat’s Eye gets it spot on! The City Watch and the Witches are my favorites as well, I feel Rincewind isn’t as developed. Moist Von Lipwig and Unseen Academicals are good short arcs.
Nobody has mentioned Thud!, which I thought was better than most of Death, it’s really a part of City Watch, but explores the Dwarf/Troll dynamic well.
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Thank you for all your help, everybody! I just finished ordering!
And I was slightly annoyed to discover that despite the fact my gift card covered the entire order and then some, Target still required me to enter a credit card number. Being 14, I do not have a credit card, and I didn’t want to wake the Magial Adults Who Posses Credit Cards. Which left me in a bit of a situation.
Fortunately my sister had some sort of ‘Pre-Paid Gift Card’ which is basically a glorified gift card but still let me order my books just fine. Annoying, but not terribly so.
Thanks again! I’d still be staring at the massive list of TP books in awe and bewilderment were it not for you!
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Tiffany Aching, definitely. The Wintersmith is the best of that series.
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YES WINTERSMITH IS TOTALLY THE BEST.
I’m glad somebody agrees with me on that.
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Today I went in to see another dentist for a second opinion after the dentist I usually see recommended getting my wisdom teeth extracted. He looked in my mouth and said I should, and he recommended an oral surgeon a few blocks away, so we went there. The oral surgeon looked in my mouth and said I should get my wisdom teeth extracted, too, and my mom made an appointment for the Christmas break.
The surgeon said there were three options- to get a local anesthetic on my gums so I wouldn’t feel any pain but still be aware of him poking in my mouth, to have laughing gas in addition so that I’d be sort of sleepy and not think about it as much, or to be totally knocked out with an IV anesthetic.
I said I wanted the local, because it was the simplest way and if I got the IV, I wouldn’t be able to eat for 8 hours before. I just hope I don’t overreact durring the surgery and try to move or something and hurt myself.
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I got my wisdom teeth removed the day after christmas last year.
Not fun, I don’t mean to scare you, though, I’m sure you’ll be fine.
They didn’t give me anesthesia options because my wisdom teeth were so far up in my gums, they gave me laughing gas to give me both local and general anesthetic, and then they gave me pain meds, pain meds to take if the first pain meds didn’t work and pain meds to take if the first two didn’t work. I needed all of them.
Also, never underestimate the power of the ice pack…great at reducing swelling/making your jaw feel better. I’m sure they’ve given you food information, I wasn’t really hungry for the first couple days but ice cream, yogurt, soup…it will be a while before you can eat real food again (although my recovery took a bit longer than most) so make sure you have a TON of soft, tasty food, and eat even if you don’t really feel like it.
I got a black eye because one of my teeth was practically in my nasal cavity, that and the potential bruising along your checks sticks around for an impressively long time, same thing with the swelling.
Flushing out the holes in your mouth is unpleasant (warm saltwater…yuch) but really truly necesary. After awhile it’s easily managable and tickles, also having food in the holes is a nuisance.
8 hours really isn’t that bad, by the way, but I got mine done in the morning.
Good Luck! I hope i’ve not been depressing, my experience was a bit towards the extreme end.
*hugs*
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The laughing gas a good thing to have… I had a few surgeries in my mouth, and I couldn’t do it with just the novocaine. The laughing gas makes you feel really unaware of everything, it’s almost like you’re in between a dream and being awake. I’ve had the IV in conjunction with novocaine and prescription pain meds for after as well, and I preferred that much more. If you schedule the appointment for the morning and wake up late, you don’t have time to be hungry.
*has had far too many doctors prodding around in her mouth with scalpels*
Anyway, good luck! *hugshugshugs*
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Yeah, my mother got the laughing gas when they did that to her and she was loopy afterward. Really, once they get pain medication in you, you don’t really care that much about what they’re poking in your mouth.
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RIP, Freddie Mercury.
We miss you.
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Only the Good Die Young. :'(
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thanks for the suggestions guys! i think it must have dried out a bit over night because before i left school i tried turning it on and it works fine now! once i got home we took it to the apple store and the guy basically said that it could short out at any given time or it might not at all…-_____- so i guess for now i’m good! eh! hopefully it’ll last for a while because the flat rate for repairs is nearly the original cost and i do not want to pay that…le sigh
now to back up my writing!!
piggy – i hope you feel better now! that is indeed very strange (migraine minus pain)…
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I suck and want to die. Yay. :C
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Don’t die! *choklit*
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*10 kittens* *choklit*
Please feel better!
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Cheer up! We’re here for you!
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You don’t suck and we all love you.
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What kind of talk is that? HEre! Have some cheese. Life is good! You are awesome! I know that being a wonderful person is hard to deal with, but trust me, it’s a good thing. And like Princess_Magnolia said, we love you, so you obviously don’t suck.
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No! No! You don’t suck! Why on Earth would you think that?! *hug*
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NO. You most definetly do not suck. *puppies and kittens and choklit and all manners of fluffy things* Please don’t die. It would make us very saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad. D:
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No. You don’t suck. It’s life and the unjustice of the universe that suck. Not you. I mean, you’re on museblog, right? And it is a scientific fact that museblog is cool. Therefore, you are totally awesome.
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*fluffy animal* No you don’t. We think you’re awesome, therefore you don’t suck. That’s just logic right there. *even fluffier fluffy animal*
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Okay, I am cool and don’t want to die. ( Just to fall asleep)
YAY FOR MUSEBLOG!!!!!!
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I’m thankful for historically inaccurate versions of our nation’s past. I’m thankful for the politically correct pedants who spend the entire season complaining about the inaccuracies. I’m thankful for half an hour spent polishing the silverware, and another half-hour spent trying to make pumpkin pie filling. I’m thankful for being two days ahead on a word count, for temperatures so cold I lose all motor control in my fingers, for people singing “Jingle Bells” on the radio and for the same pedants who complain about the historical inaccuracy complaining about how Christmas always starts too early and anyway it’s not PC so we should say “Happy holidays” instead. I’m thankful for a “Preview†button that I should really use more often, for a comment that makes me embarrassed because it’s pretty long, for time wasted on MuseBlog that I should be using to peel the potatoes and vacuum the living room, for a house still not quite clean and for knowing how to fold a napkin so it looks like a flower and for clear, freezing autumn days, and for giving away Turkey Trot T-shirts and horrible, watery hot chocolate. I’m thankful for sitting around a long table, hoping desperately that the pumpkin pie turned out right, wishing that I had some decent formal clothes, and telling my family, “I dunno. Um, I’m thankful for food, I guess.” Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, whether you’re American or otherwise.
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Here, here.
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I do sometimes wish there was a “Like” button on Museblog.
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That thought crosses my mind at least once a day.
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I’ve found one! Let’s see how well it works. Will this be the add-on that crashes the blog?
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Is there some sort of add-on that lets us view the most liked comments?
I have to say, this all looks very strange… Gah.
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It does look a bit Facebookish. Ideally, those thumbs ought to be pies. I’ll look into that later, but it should be easy to change the word. There! Better?
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P.S. There is a way to list the most-pied comments in the sidebar, but I’d rather not turn commenting into a popularity contest (and the sidebar is busy enough already).
Like most MuseBlog experiments, if this one doesn’t work, we can always turn it off.
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I feel that adding the “like” button already turns it into a popularity contest – and I don’t really see what it adds that we couldn’t do with comments. It seems a bit like a content-less way of avoiding actually engaging with someone.
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Knowing MBers, I strongly suspect that anybody who hits the “Pie!” button will also leave a comment. But we’ll see how it works in practice. If it flops, it’s fully reversible.
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I make one idle suggestion, and it magically appears. Whether it proves a triumph or a disaster, three cheers to Robert for heroic coding.
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I agree with Lizzie.
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I finally post! And I am in fact posting, not just lurking. I am not going to half-type a comment, look at it, and click the back button. I am going to tell you all about the wonderful, filling Thanksgiving dinner I had at a friend’s house.I am going to tell you all about trying to find all the traditional Thanksgiving meals in a country that doesn’t celebrate it. (Or grow the foods. Cans are your friend.) I could tell you about how surprising it was that so much of the food turned out well, even if the turkey wasn’t cooked by dinnertime.
It was a very nice Thanksgiving. It left me with warm happy feelings inside. Isn’t that the best sort of holiday?
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Indeed it is. Happy TG, FF!
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Yes, it is.
I’m thankful for MuseBlog.
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Oof. *burps happily* I am full. I love Thanksgiving. It makes me love America, with all its goods and bads. Maybe I’m just a tradition fetishist.
I’m thankful for having a close family.
I’m thankful for having plenty of food and clothing and the like.
I’m thankful for being able to attend school.
I’m thankful for having such freedom to do whatever I want with my life, on a microscopic and on a long-term scale.
I’m thankful for not having to live in fear.
I’m thankful for MuseBlog and all its fantastically flamablamablous people.
I’m thankful for turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and warm rolls.
I’m thankful for A Christmas Story and a fire in the fireplace.
I’m thankful for Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes.
I’m thankful for wool socks.
I’m thankful for fleece blankets.
I’m thankful for snow.
I’m thankful for leaves.
I’m thankful for living right now, in 2010.
I’m thankful for the hardships that help me grow.
I’m thankful for being given the gift of life, that I may use that gift to the fullest.
I’m thankful for pie. 
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Is the “gift of life, that I may use that gift to the fullest.” a quote from the Bible? It sounds really familiar.
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It may very well be cryptomnesia. It does seem like a common phrase–if not Biblical in nature, then certainly originating from some “inspirational” or “motivational” writing.
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Why do you build me up
Buttercup baby just to let me down
And mess me around and then worst of all
You never call baby when you say you will
But I love you still
I’m thankful for band, foot warmers, warm stadium bathrooms, gloves, Mr. Romanoff, and four days off from school during which I still get to be a band member.
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I am thankful for the internet. Love you guys, happy Thanksgiving!
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Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope it was flamablamablous and that you didn’t eat TOO much.
I’m thankful for friends, good food, pianos, and crazy people that stand outside of stores at 12:00 at night in order to get into a store at 5:00 in the morning. You have to honor their dedication.
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No, you don’t.
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I’m thankful for…
NO MORE EXTENDED ESSAY!
My awesome family
My cats
My friends
Snow
Summer
Calvin and Hobbes
The Internet
Frozen Yogurt
Cello
…and much, much more! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I’m thankful for food, family, friends, and life! And the following, which I am shaking with excitement about:
Directly below my apartment lives a charming talent scout for the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. That’s right. Maybe you didn’t see it. TALENT SCOUT FOR THE SINGAPORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. AND HE HEARD ME PRACTICING VIOLIN AND SAID *gasp* HE WOULD RECOMMEND ME TO THE CONDUCTOR! AND THE CONDUCTOR EMAILED ME ASKING ME TO AUDITION FOR PRINCIPAL VIOLINIST!!!!!
No, not the Singapore Youth Orchestra- the actual Singapore Symphony Orchestra!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think I shall audition with “La Folia.”
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Congratulations, Choklit O.! When is your audition?
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Um, I don’t know. I’m supposed to send in the application, and auditions are first-come-first-serve. I’m not sure about auditioning, though- if I get it, it would only be for two months, and everyone else will likely be better than me.
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Oh my gosh! You must be really good! Even if you don’t make it in, it’s nice to know you were good enough to attract the attention of a talent scout. Congratulations!
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Oh my god! That’s the coolest thing I’ve heard in such a long time! Congrats, Chok! That’s fantastic!
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That is so spectacular. Karma. It must be karma.
*HUGS*
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SO AWESOME!!!! *is happy for you*
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Wow, congratulations! What a great opportunity. I can’t decide for you, obviously, but I would seriously think about auditioning. If you were good enough to attract his attention and he liked you enough to give the conductor a good review…well,, I think you have a chance.
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Wow, congrats! How exciting!
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I’m thankful for life, the universe, and everything.
I’m thankful for the good life I’ve had.
I’m thankful for the sad parts of my life, because without them, it wouldn’t be full.
Choklit- How old are you? I thought you were 14ish…
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I’m thankful for all the above, plus the Muser Universe, my cats, my family, and technology.
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Would you guys say that the world “disruptions” has negative connotations when describing changes?
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I would say so, yes. Certainly.
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What would be a more neutral word? (Other than changes itself)
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Modifications, adjustments, alterations, revisions? Though all of those imply intentional, human-caused changes, and that may not be the word you need. Um…variations, fluctuations, deviations.
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I think I might go with either “alterations” or “divergences”.
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I know it’s a day late but…
I’m thankful for:
living in a place where I can be myself and express myself without fear of direct harm
family and friends
Good health to myself, family and friends.
books
MuseBlog
high school
Theater
GSA
technology
interesting weather
the opportunity to learn
art, both the act of making and the work itself
music
color
perception
food
the ability to help others who do not have access to what I am thankful for.
Love, in all forms
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I’m thankful for everything in my life so far.
I’m also thankful for pie.
I’m thankful Mount Desert Island is such a beautiful place.
I’m thankful we went there for Thanksgiving.
I’m thankful I do not have a square toilet.
I’m thankful for listening to Alice’s Resturant by Arlow Guthrie(Spelling?) while driving up to Mount Desert.
I’m thankful it’s such a hilarious song.
I’m thankful I’m not a turkey.
I’m thankful I don’t have to eat turkeys.
I’m thankful the world is so pretty right now, even if it’s not exactly always pretty.
I’m thankful I’m alive.
I’m thankful that the chicken my dog grabbed in his mouth and raced around with for a few minutes wasn’t dead and/or didn’t die of fright.
I’m thankful to be home.
I’m thankful I live in Maine.
I’m thankful I have great friends.
I’m thankful I have an amazing family.
I’m thankful for Doctor Who.
And I’m very, very thankful for incense.
Happy Thanksgiving! (A little late, but I didn’t have internet yesterday…)
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A day late, I know, but I’m thankful for: (in no particular order)
-MuseBlog and everyone here. You influence my life much more than you think.
-my family that’s just fabulous in so many ways.
-my friends that love me.
-having a great mind that works properly (most of the time), gets me through so much, and allows me to think and make rational decisions.
-having such a great life given to me by my parents who love me so much and enrich my life and put up with me.
-being in a great school district.
-having an ridiculously large amount of food on the table yesterday.
-the fact that my mom let me invite my friend over for Thanksgiving. (We goofed off all day, and watched Jonah Hex after everyone left. What a horrible movie.)
-having a good life.
-my flute and being graced with the gift of being able to make music, one of the most beautiful things there is.
-living in a good neighborhood.
-this crazy little thing called love and compassion. It’s what keeps the planet from falling apart, and it’s what keeps me together.
~
I could go on and ramble, but I’ll stop here.
I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.
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*panic* I’m filling out the application for the orchestra… what’s an NRICFIN number?! And I don’t have a registration ID!
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Well, you’re not a permanent resident of Singapore that’s 15 years of age or older, so you don’t have an NRIC number.
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That’s news to me… I guess my mom usually puts down hers on any forms I have to fill out. I shall contact the orchestra. Thank you.
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*bows*
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I’ve been trying to eat healthier lately, but it’s really hard, especially with all of the Thanksgiving leftovers in the house. My brother just had two slices of apple pie covered in Cool Whip, and he’ll still be skinny as ever. It’s not that I’m fat, or even overweight. I’m in the normal weight-height percentile thingy, but I’ve always been chubby. Like I said, not unhealthily fat, but just enough to make me self conscious. I figure that eating healthier coupled with running a mile every day with my friends should help me lose some weight. Even if I don’t lose weight, I’ll feel better knowing that I’m doing what’s better for my body. Okay, I’m going to distance myself from the food. There are desserts strewn all over… I just need to keep on reminding myself that clementines are better than apple pie… *disappears to her room*
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The whole notion of skinniness being desirable is ridiculous. As long as you’re not morbidly obese- which, judging by your comment, you’re not- you aren’t at risk for major cardiac failure and the like- so enjoy desserts!
I saw the most creepily thin woman on the bus today. She looked like she was going to snap in half… and she was going to a beach for a photo shoot. Figures.
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Whoa really? I hope I never get like that…I’m in, like, the 10th or 15th percentile for weight. I’m also in the 25th height percentile, which means my little brother will probably grow up to be taller than me(!!!!!!).
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Actually, even if you’re not morbidly obese, but just overweight, I’m fairly sure you are at a higher risk for heart failure.
Beedle – Good for you for trying to be healthy!
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But I’m sure Beedle knows all this, and it sounds like she’s doing it to feel comfortable with her own body, both the physical limits of it, and the aesthetics of it. Which are both totally reasonable, as long as she doesn’t take the latter to the extreme you’re describing. (Which I’m sure we all trust Beedle not to do.)
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Yeah, it goes the other way too! Anorexic and really, really skinny people have health problems too, you know. Although, no matter how skinny you are, deserts and sugar and processed food still are terrible for you…not that I’m one to talk. *eats quite a bit of sweet things*
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Desserts with two “S”s! Just remember that you always come back for seconds with desserts!
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Sorry for the sort of double comment, but I had to get off and aso I didn’t get to say all of what I wanted to, but anyway, YOU’RE AWESOME FOR DOING THAT!!!
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What Sudo said basically sums up why I’m trying to do this. I’d like to walk into a room and know that people are not labeling me as the chubby girl. I’d also like to be able to find clothes that look good on me for once in my life, and to wear a bikini with confidence. Your teenage years are supposed to be the best time of your life, and that’s not going to work for me if I’m constantly worrying about how my body looks, and that’s what I’m doing right now. I’m so sick of it.
Anyway, thank you for the support. You guys are great.
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And another thing, I posted before saying this:
No matter what you look like-skinny, fat, chubby, tall, thin-you are probably always going to feel unconfident wearing a bikini until you’re twenty. Happens to everyone.
And for a lot of people, teenage years are miserable. I wish you luck in feeling at peace with yourself: because Kokopelli knows that my selfesteem is rockbottom and it hasn’t changed for years.
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ha, you think 20-year-olds feel comfortable in a bikini? they just get used to faking it, is all. just remember everyone else feels as awkward as you do (often even the gorgeous ones. self-esteem’s a…female canine)
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Personally, I HATE wearing a bikini. It does nothing for my self esteem.
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Thanks for the mental image.
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Heyhey, your teenage years are not supposed to be the best time of your life. At least, I certainly hope not! If this is the peak level of awesomeness my life is ever going to be at, life is kind of going to suck! I mean, think about it. We’re teens. We’re trying to make our way through the awkward realm between childhood and adulthood, we’re sitting in a high school classroom all wondering desperately if we’re fitting in enough, no matter what we do our bodies just refuse to look nice (unless you’re one of those few lucky people who don’t get the whole, you know, acne-braces-growth spurt thing), and no matter how we act or what we say, we’ll be automatically dismissed by adults as “just teenagers”. We’re all constantly worrying about how our bodies look. That’s not something that’s making you different from the rest of the teens, who are enjoying their lives. (That last clause was sarcastic.) That’s something that’s making you exactly like most every other teenager on earth.
That said, I get the whole “I’d like to walk into a room and know that people are not labeling me, I’d like to wear a bikini with confidence” thing. Luck with that.
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Not all of us adults are so far gone as to dismiss teenagers. You guys are anything but “just” teens. And I can say that every decade i’ve visited thus far has had its own virtues (and disadvantages, too). Some of my best times didn’t show up until the past few years — and MuseBlog has helped make some of them happen, I might add.
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I think my best times were age 7.
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And I thought mine were second grade until I got to fifth, and fifth until I got to eighth, and last year was pretty high up there too. The best times will keep coming.
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Yeah, you and the rest of the GAPAs are fantastic. It’s a nice bright spot. It’s just that the rest of the adult world seems to take pleasure in making jokes about what arrogant monsters teenagers are, and it really, really grates on my nerves. I mean, when your own parents are constantly saying, “Children! The minute they get worth talking to, they leave home!” in your hearing, how do you think that feels? The message I’m getting from the adult world is that I’m ungrateful for my parents’ gifts to me, that I claim everything is unfair just because I don’t like it, that I think I know everything, that I think I’m invincible, that my brain doesn’t work properly– just because I’m a teenager.
It’s actually really, really hurtful to hear the authority figures in my life (excluding the GAPAs) talk about my entire age group this way.
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In my humble opinion, the people who are most worth talking to are teenagers, and people who refuse to stop being teenagers. Adulthood is seriously overrated.
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Mister Baker, I sense that every comment you make is going to receive at least a half dozen likings.
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Random fact: it seems going vegan makes your hair grow.
Heh. I’m 4’11 and about 96 pounds, and I’m still very selfconscious about my weight (agewise I’m rather skinny, heightwise I’m getting close to the weight barrier). What I just tend to do is not eat: my family doesn’t have mandatory meals, really, and I’d rather be on the computer than actually make sure I eat when I’m not really hungry.
But being skinny may not be how your body naturally works. Just find a good weight for you and work with it.
I should also stop chewing my hair to redeath, but that’s not going to happen.
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Hmmm…maybe I’ll try that. Although if I went vegan I don’t really know what I’d eat, as right now I am a vegetarian and eat pretty much the same things over and over again. I’m 5′ 2″ and I weigh 92 pounds. I’m rather happy about that, as before I was apparently really underweight, and people would make me eat more. Bleh! People! I’ll eat when I’m actually hungry! I’m just not hungry. …Yeah, I’m trying to grow out my hair. /off topic rant
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My mom’s hair grew a few inches when she went vegan, so yeah. *shrug* Wow, Mika, that’s ridiculous. I could probably weight 90 if I exercised a bit more, but I’m lazy and tend to binge!eat when I actually eat, so. So yeah.
x2 Off Topic Statement COMBO!
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Cool. My hair seemed to grow like mad for about a month, then it stopped. It used to be a lot worse… I used to weigh around 70 a year ago. And that’s the thing…I don’t really exercise that much. And I don’t eat a lot, but it’s not the healthiest, as it’s mostly grains.
x3!
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a brief google around kind of suggests that going vegan could actually make your hair grow more slowly / cause hair loss..
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I’ve heard that was a myth. The thing I read said that some people think eating more meat makes hair grow longer because it’s made of protein, but that that’s really wrong since hair is, well, dead. I don’t know how accurate that is, though, because I don’t remember where I read it. I’ve been vegan for years, and my rate of hair growth seems to be normal…
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Well, (after a bit of research that I rather hope is accurate) it seems it depends. A healthy vegan diet is healthier than a healthy meat-inclusive diet. Since hair will grow faster/be healthier/stronger/prettier the more vitamins, minerals, healthier you are, etc. etc. healthy vegans will have faster growing hair. I guess it would depend on en’s diet though; just because someone is vegan doesn’t mean they are automaticly going to have faster growing or longer hair.
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Hey… whatever works. I’ve always been more of an athletic-build type girl and funnily enough, I just end up eating healthier food automatically when I exercise more (this involves a long story about a chinese all-you-can-eat buffet and a run thereafter, which ended up being one of my shortest training runs ever). Not eating… I dunno, but the run on a empty stomach certainly is another dead ringer for worst run (okay, actually the kalbsrahmgulash run probably beats it *wince* I’m never eating that again, ever). Bookgirl–me’s rule of thumb for food; it’s fine if you don’t feel the need to barf on the treadmills afterwards. Wait, why is it that whenever I talk about food I end up on running? I guess a lot of my food anxieties where dispelled after I started my running program last spring and found out that no, my but will always look like that unless I become anorexic so I’ll just have to live with it.
I’m about three inches taller than Mikazuki and weigh somewhere between 120-130 pounds. Which is nice & healthy & average and easy to maintain. Plus cookies and gingerbread and and and… Did I mention that I’m not hardcore at all when it comes to food?
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Hey gais guess what? 8D
I’m really ridiculously excited about this.
I ordered the book Banksy from the library this past summer, and three months later, it came! And it was amazing!
But wait for it; I then had the book lying about my house, forgotten (gasp), for maybe a month now, and I just found it. I checked all of my family’s library cards, and it’s not on any of them. Whoa.
The thing was that the book came from another library, which is why it took so long to get here, and the combined libraries’ catalog for the surrounding area only has 2 copies in all, and I have one of them, and in the online catalog the listing for this copy says “See Librarian” and that means that they have absolutely no idea where it is and and and…
I have complete control over this book.
I have the hat guy-ish urge to call the library and say “I have your book. Bring the money to the park if you ever want to see it again.”
Or maybe to just keep it.
MWAHAHAHA.
But no, that would be a terrible thing to do. Right?
Right?
Right. I’ll return it after I reread it. *manic giggle*
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Oh my god, if you don’t call the library from an anonymous pay-phone, I will.
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I’m thankful for the table of elements, meaning everything on it.
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I just found a fuzzy ball of blue yarn lying in the middle of the sidewalk. It must be a sign. But of what?
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The gods decree you should knit. I suggest not angering them by disobeying their wishes.
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Or possibly crochet?
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It’s a sign that you should knit something… but what?
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I used to crochet hats for my stuffed animals. Those were fun because they were small enough that I could improvise at will. They didn’t eat up much yarn either.
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Aw, that sounds adorable! *wishes she could crochet*
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Or perhaps, the Goddess of Yarn Dolls is angry and wants you to make a sacrifice to Her in Her image.
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SQUEEE
I got a new computer desk!
Well, we moved a computer desk I was using as my dad’s nightstand downstairs to use as my computer desk!
We installed a scanner I got for my birthday! I’ve already scanned a pointalist picture I drew in (it needs little editing, I didn’t have any grey). It’s great resolution!
Oh, and the scanner came with Photoshop Elements 8 for FREE! I’ve installed it and it’s fairly good!
Although, it does make me a little sad- the effects I’ve worked so hard to figure out how to do in GIMP are now fairly easy to get. But then again, it means that in GIMP I can make it very much what I want, it’s not canned
Anyway, sorry for the long post, but I am happy.
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Regarding graphics effects: welcome to my world! Some of the procedures that took me hours in Photoshop CS2 take a few minutes in CS5. And I won’t even talk about ten years ago much less fifteen… Don’t worry, though, there are advantages to figuring those things out the hard way. Over the long run it gives you a much deeper understanding of what you’re doing, particularly valuable when something goes wrong or if you want better control over the canned goods.
Also, congratulations on the workspace upgrade! There is no substitute for having the right tools and a comfortable work area.
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Thanks!
I’m glad I started with GIMP, for the reasons you stated, since when I was messing about with the filters, immediately started thinking about how I could get them in GIMP, instead of just Oohing and Aahing like my father. XD
It’s so much more comfortable. My old computer desk looked like they had just pulled it out of a school from 20 years ago. And I have a place to store my headphones.
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I used Photoshop CS3 when I learnt how to use it (not more complicated stuff, but most of the tools and stuff), and we had a really old copy of Photoshop on disk, but according to our teachers our laptops don’t have enough space for Photoshop, so we have Gimp. There are things that confuse me, but I suppose I’ll figure it out eventually. I don’t use it a lot so I haven’t decided which I really prefer.
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You can also try Paint.Net, which is a bit easier to use than GIMP, and then edit the final, complicated bits with GIMP.
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My littlest brother just got a new puppy! He’s the most hyper terrier mix I’ve ever seen in my life! My brothers, father, stepmother, and I agree that it’s like a canine double of the brother he now belongs to, only a lot quieter and not nearly as picky an eater. (Though it would be difficult for it to be otherwise. Both of my brothers make an art out of being picky, and a lack of volume control runs in all three sides of my family.)
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I’m going to the Explorers’ Club in December!
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[pre-snipped for the GAPAs’ convenience]
Damn and blast and cake it. Only singapore permanent residents can apply for the orchestra. AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!
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I’m so sorry!
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UGH that’s so unfair! After all that… *mutters angrily*
*sympathy pies*
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Oh! That’s horrible! 
I’m so sorry!
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Are you there on a student visa?
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Nope, just some sort of “dependent’s pass” because you can only get a student visa if you’re in college, I think.
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That is so caking UBDAIR!!!!
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Oh noooo! I’m so sorry! That really sucks. That’s comepletely unfair!!! *sympathy pies and cake and cookies and pastries*
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That’s disappointing
But it’s still really cool that you got the opportunity and that the scout thought highly enough of your playing to recommend you.
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Here’s a fact.
At night, like 10 PM-when I’m starting to get tired-this is the worst time for me to do a thing. Because I’m starting to not care, and I’m starting to go crazy.
I get just a bit detached from reality at that point…
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I MADE MY FIRST UN-FAIL CHIBI! OF ME! WITH PURPLE HAIR! W000000T!
*mourns cap lock*
On DeviantARTmuro! w000000t!
I’ll send it to Visual Arts!
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Postulate I
It is impossible to watch (500) Days of Summer and not fall in love with JGL.
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false. i wasn’t terrifically impressed with that movie.
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Why not? I think it’s wonderful.
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the guy’s a weed, the plot is forgettable, and it had no emotional impact on me aside from mild irritation at everyone in the movie
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Okay, to each ens own, I suppose.
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I can see how the movie would irritate some people, but I must say that it was hilarious at times and it had a clever way of telling the story.
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i suppose the format is fairly unique. it doesn’t help that i saw it shortly after seeing memento for the first time. every other out-of-sequence movie kind of pales in comparison
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So I stayed home from church today because I had a terrible cough, and then just after they left my cough mysteriously vanished.
I promise I wasn’t faking it, just maybe not discouraging it as much as I otherwise might have, but it kinda really looks like I was now…
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I hate it when that happens.
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You don’t realize how fragile your world is until your glasses get cracked…
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GRAH! SO…MANY…CHIBI’S…TO…DRAW!
*overwork headdesk*
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OK, this is kind of embarrassing to admit, but I’ve just realized that I’ve been without proper anti-virus protection for a while now. And my computer just started running awfully slowly. A small, pararnoid part of me has started freaking out, wondering what she will do without her precious internets.
The whole reason this started was because I moved to another country. And evidently Norton doesn’t work in Jordan, or it was tied to our home computer network in the US, or something. So I’ve had this problem for months now, and only just now was struck by what all the warning signs popping up on my computer actually mean…Is that sad or what?
Now, I wish to remedy this problem ASAP. Does anyone know any good free antivirus programs, or must I pay to get anything good?
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I’d suggest either Avast, AVG, or Microsoft Security Essentials. Avast is generally ranked and rated as the best, but AVG and MSE are good as well.
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OK. Thanks! I knew there had to be something out there.
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GAPAs, what’s up with the “Currently Popular” bar? Is it on a most-visited basis or a most-posted-on basis? Or is it just inaccurate? No one’s posted on the WIN Thread for ten days, but it’s on the list – it was last, but then I looked at it and it went up to third last. Meanwhile, I was looking to get to R&R and I know that was posted on in the last week, but it’s not on the Currently Popular. Could someone clarify? I’m just too lazy to go looking through the blog for an explanation.
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It’s based on page visits, and spambot visits are counted in that. That’s why it sometimes shows threads that MBers aren’t actually visiting.
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Which is sort of nice, because it reminds me of old threads.
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The random button does that as well, in a more surprising manner.
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Except it often takes you to ancient Don’t Forget These Threads Threads… Or Ebeth’s NaNoWriMo.
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77.1 (Axa)~ It was fun! I love traveling by train, it’s just so much more relaxing than anything else. There’s enough space to move around a bit, it sways gently instead of bumping around, you don’t have to wear seatbelts, and the scenery is fun. We used to always take the train to my grandparents when I was little, but in recent years we’ve driven instead, so I’m super happy to be back on trains.
I was (well, still am for the rest of today) in NC, you guessed it, visiting The Boy and his family.
87 (Kai)~ Wisdom teeth. Ow. It’s unpleasant, but I’m sure you’ll be okay. *hugs*
Choklit Orange~ First of all, that’s totally awesome about being recommended for the orchestra! For principal violinist? That’s impressive and a huge compliment to your playing. You said that you weren’t sure about auditioning because “even if [you] got in it would only be 2 months and everyone else would probably be better” May I encourage you to not worry about that? If you’re not the best player there, then so much the better for you, you’ll have an excellent learning resource, and it will motivate you to your your very best. Never let that be a deterrent when making decisions.
It’s really too bad that you couldn’t play because of your residence status, but I’m so glad that you were going to pursue it. Next time such an offer comes up, jump on it! And best of luck when you do.
Sorry for the wall o’ text.
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I love trains, too. The last train ride I took was the same one you did, probably.
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Trains are the zeppelins of land travel. They’re just inherently cool.
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I am in favor of zeppelins.
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I was just on the train too! Last night. Left Chicago and 9:30pm and got to a town/railroad near my college at 5am. I didn’t sleep much on it, so when I got back to my dorm room I slept from 6am-noon. My sleep schedule is so screwed up right now.
Also oh man all that work, the work I didn’t bring home with me over break or do before. It still needs doing for tomorrow. Oooops.
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121.1~ *high fives* There’s just something about trains that’s so much more appealing that planes. I like flying and all, especially takeoff, but trains are just more comfortable, more approachable. I love the platforms with these huge steaming silver and grey serpents belching out diesel fumes with travelers running this way and that and conductors in their funny hats helping people up into the cars.
Perhaps it’s the Victorian appeal of trains, but even the modern ones with their molded plastic and reclining seats have a romance about them that other modes of transportation lack.
That and environmental concerns as well.
Yes, they take longer and (at least in this country) are rather unreliable (ever heard of an on-time Amtrak train? Didn’t think so.), but they’re fun. It makes the travel a part of the overall trip. *shrug* Trains are cool, what can I say?
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Of course, the only REAL way to travel is by coach. The creaking of the woodwork, the rattle of the wheels, the dull shine of the leather, and the reassuring clip-clop of four sturdy horses conveying one to pastures new in relative comfort. Then there’s the enforced intimacy with random companions, chops and mulled wine at the inns…. Bliss.
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*gaspgasp*
Perhaps I shall be the first to say this- Hello, Mr. Baker, and welcome back!
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Thank you, worthy Orange. Now that my one-legged daddy is a little more settled, I may get chance to drop in occasionally.
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Woah, the Like or Dislike thing is awesome!
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My concern is that people may start liking comments instead of commenting on them. Ideally they’d do both, but you never know…
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i don’t think they’d replace comments. for one thing, with these buttons there’s no way to see who it was liking the comment
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Right, they’d never replace comments, I agree with you there. And now that I think about it, people will probably like comments that they wouldn’t have commented on otherwise, and comment on comments they would have anyway.
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Somehow I saw a dislike somewhere… GAPAs, can it be done? *only sort of wants to know*
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There is a “dislike” option, but it seemed like a bad idea.
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I concur.
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I go away for a few days for a flamablamablously fantastic last few days of Thanksgiving Break (yay HP theme park!!!!!), only to come back and find MB has been fitted with “like” buttons. *shakes head*
I’m reserving judgment on whether or not I like them.
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These are brand new for us too.
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I’m reserving judgement too. I never like these changes when they first come about, but I’ve finally gotten used to replies, so maybe I’ll end up appreciating these too.
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I’m resisting it merely because I don’t like the placement of it. It distracts from what is actually posted, but maybe it will be less outstanding in time.
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Would the buttons be less distracting before the comments? I’ll try moving them there and deleting the word “Pie!” and see what you think.
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Yes, that’s better. Thanks!
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i thought the buttons looked better underneath the comments…they seem more distracting now than they did before
taking off the word “pie” does help though
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Righto, back down they go. (GAPAs are nothing if not obliging.)
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Meh. I’m not so crazy about the “Like” buttons, probably because they’re so …facebook-y. Or YouTube-y. But I’m no anti- like button fanatic, I’m just old-fashioned enough to think that if I really like a comment, I’ll post.
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I use “like” buttons mostly for those times I really don’t have anything to add to a conversation. I very seldom use them as a substitute for commenting, except when it’s impossible to take time to write but I want to acknowledge someone’s comment. People can feel that no one’s listening, and a “like” button at least lets them know they’ve been heard.
But ’tis only an experiment. If “likes” don’t add anything of value to the blog, they’ll go away after a fair trial.
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I liked liking that comment, Rebecca.
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i liked liking your liking of your liking of that comment
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I liked liking your liking of liking of Rosanne’s liking of liking Rebecca’s liking of like buttons.
I like recursion!
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Whoa, like buttons? Cool!
But I’m with Luna – still reserving judgment for whether I really like them or not.
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….You just said they were cool….
( )
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Cool at first glance, but I just meant that I hadn’t really thought about whether or not I would like to have them “long term”.
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Like, I like the like buttons, but like, are they too much like, ya’know, youtube and facebook? It’s like, museblog is sooo its own entity and like, change is hard to get used to.
Ever had to give a presentation to a group while being videotaped? It was amazing how many times my friends and I used “like” “uh” and “youknow.” We were even intimately familiar with the subject matter! It’s like Tourette’s, or something, you know?
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It’s like, very annoying, y’know? (I’ll stop now.)
There was a guy in my committee for congress, and every other word was “like.” He was a heck of a debater, but the likes were so distracting. I started tallying them up, but then he was saying them in such rapid succession that I couldn’t get all of them.
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Piggy has an open hour right now, and he’s trying to figure out the most secluded place to sit. He has a pretty good place right now–the corner of an otherwise unused cafeteria–but there are still a bunch of people around the corner. The library’s always ironically loud, so that’s not an option. Hm…
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Seclusion ♥
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Um…what’s with the “thumbs up” at the bottom of the pages?
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Oh wait, just read about them. But why?
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Because they are NEW and EXCITING and PROGRESS!
Also, why not?
Now go get back to writing! You’ve got several hours!
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I don’t really like the “like” buttons… I’ve often wished there were a “like” function on MB as well, but now that it’s here I feel like it will be likely to lead to fewer postings. For example, if someone posts “I just made the lead role in our school’s production of blahblahblah!” and someone is happy for them, they hit “like” instead of typing out “great job, congrats!” because it’s marginally easier. But then it’s anonymous and loses the personal touch and the person doesn’t feel truly congratulated. Also, it means ranking posts as more popular, in a sense, than others, and that doesn’t feel very MuseBlog to me.
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I don’t think they’ll detract from commenting. A lot of times I’ve felt that “liking” some comment would be appropriate, but not commenting on it, and so I’ve done nothing. I feel that MBers are talkative enough that comment levels shouldn’t decrease. But the GAPAs will be able to tell once more data is collected–if the average comment levels seem to drop noticeably after today, it will be apparent that “liking” has indeed taken the place of some comments. I quite doubt that will happen.
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But dropping comment levels may end up decreasing GAPA work…
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We like our work.
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Hear, hear.
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I think my attitude towards these is the same as my attitude with “Liking” on Tumblr- if I really like it, I’ll take the time to post that I do.
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Posting a favorable comment, however, really draws attention to your new comment. “Liking” might be a more effective way of drawing other MBers’ attention to the original comment. Just a hypothesis.
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True, I guess. It just feels lazy to only “like” and not say something.
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So say something. As I mentioned elsewhere, I’ve often read a comment, liked it, but had no textual response to it–so I did nothing. Now I have another option for feedback. Will it decrease my commenting? Not remotely. It simply takes my past feedback and provides additional feedback as well.
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LBK-
91.2
Reply
Paul Baker (Administrator)
in November 29th, 2010 @ 05:01
I do sometimes wish there was a “Like†button on Museblog.
Pie! +7
91.2.1
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Rebecca Lasley (Administrator)
in November 29th, 2010 @ 05:13
That thought crosses my mind at least once a day.
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91.2.2
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Robert Coontz (Administrator)
in November 29th, 2010 @ 07:26
I’ve found one! Let’s see how well it works. Will this be the add-on that crashes the blog?
Essentially, they were added on the whim of several GAPAs.
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Oh, okay. Thanks!
But I refuse to use them. Too much like Facebook for my liking.
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Just for the record, other sites had “like” buttons well before Facebook got around to adding them.
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I was going to comment on that. Internet forums have had rating systems like this for years, long before Facebook had it. The idea is nothing new–and it’s worked well for hundreds of thousands of sites before MuseBlog. That’s part of the reason I think they’ll not cause problems.
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The buttons are….
I’m not finishing that sentence.
Moving on…
My school just got a new heating system, but they left out this one piece (this is all according to my math teacher, by the way) that actually moves the heat to the class rooms, so we had cold air (something we don’t get during summer) coming out of the vents. Everyone either had coats on or couldn’t pay attention during class because of being cold. I belonged to both of those categories, unfortunately.
Also, on an unrelated note, I have a suitor who is being very, very, adorable right now.
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A suitor. Very nice. I hope he doesn’t get slaughtered by the worldly Odysseus.
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Win.
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Why are some of the GAPA’s comments written on white backgrounds highlighted in light yellow?
Does this make it yellow?
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If a comment gets five pies, it is automatically highlighted.
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I don’t like the highlighting much. I’m guessing that the intent is to draw attention to those posts that are popular, but half of the posts have yellow backgrounds anyways, so it doesn’t really help.
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Robert Coontz, an observational question: If a post has been “thumbs upped” 5 or more times, why does it get highlighted? And why does “Pie!” appear next to the thumb when you said that “Pie!” had been removed?
(Examples: Cat’s Eye’s post 91, Paul Baker’s posts 91.2, 105.3.1.2 and 124, and Rebecca Lasley’s post 128… one or two others…)
Re: Like it discussion: I agree with Rebecca Lasley (post 128), but I do prefer it when someone acknowledges what I wrote by posting that en liked my post; because then you know who liked it (even if it is just a one word post).
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I need a random plot twist. NOW! HURRY! I HAVE ONLY 2K!
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Maybe you could try doing one of the dares?
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Okay, they find a ton of dead fish everywhere. Like, dead fish all over the streets, in houses, on roofs.
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The FBI shows up.
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I like seeing my little ‘thumbs up’ appear on someone’s comment, and thinking I made it more special.
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I have a question regarding the “like” buttons that are oh-so-very fancy and exciting and progressive. Popular threads are ranked by (I assume) how many people are commenting on them. How will “like” buttons affect this? Are we taking “Popular” to indicate traffic, or how many people are actually sitting down and writing something substantial because they feel the thread is worth contributing to? Just wondering…
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The “Currently Popular” listing is based on page views, not comments.
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Re: Like buttons – I now have the urge to click every thumbs-up on the page. *does just that*
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Actually, people will probably get mad at me, so I just did six.
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An heroic act of restraint no doubt applauded by many.
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Or maybe only applauded by six.
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*likes muselover’s comment*
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The like buttons are… strange. For now I dislike them, but this could definitely be because I’m not used to them. Like several other people, I’m reserving judgment.
I spent half an hour in Algebra drawing a little stick figure ninja sneaking out of a door, falling off a cliff, climbing up stairs, hopping over a pirate ship and a sea serpent, and sneaking back into a door. It was the most fun doing something utterly unworthwhile that I’ve ever had.
Hmmm. Blog is working much, much slower for me. Is this because of the like buttons? Not liking the slowness; I’d definitely rather have speed than the ability to like something.
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Were you getting Muse when there was that school issue and the contest was to submit doodles? Your little stick figure ninja reminds me a lot of Stickman, who was the main character of one of the ones that got published. I remember introducing him to my fourth grade class and spending, as you say, lots of time doing something completely worthless and completely enjoyable.
I’ll dig up that issue if I think of it. It was probably 2004ish.
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Yeah, I remember that Muse. I actually based GraphPaper McStickNinja (which is his name) on what I could remember of that stick figure. It stuck with me.
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The anonymous nature of the “+1″s that I see popping up everywhere is a little freaky. With some of these threads, I have no idea who’s even been reading it recently enough to “like” something, yet there they are!
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Me too. It’s wigging me out.
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Kind of like the work of invisible gnomes.
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Augh!
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Like buttons: DISLIKE. It’s superficial. They’re okay on sites that are more anonymous, or one sites (like FB) where you actually (usually) know the people liking your comments. I enjoy seeing people like my activities as much as anyone, and sometimes that’s all that a quick and public communication service like Facebook. I do not think they have a place on a thoughtful, discussion-based forum occupied by a relatively close community of posters.
I think this is too youtube-y or Yahoo! News-y. I don’t think that it’ll replace comments, I just think it’s a distracting and unnecessary feature that has no place here.
I realize that I sound quite boring, since I oppose nested comments as well, but I firmly believe that these things are not improvements for the ‘blog.
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But MuseBlog also includes having fun and the occasional bit of silliness. That’s one way to look at the “likes.” To aid in that effort Robert is trying to find a way to turn the thumbs into something more Muserly. As Piggy mentioned elsewhere, it’s just an additional option for response, not meant to replace comments in any way. More like a tip of the hat, a friendly wave, a nod of the head. Those little gestures have their place in building a community, too.
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*nods in agreement*
*has commented in addition to “liking” a comment*
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I wrote a story for Spanish today about me babysitting two little boys who get in a fight and yell various strange insults at each other. The last one is the funniest- “I hope that when we’re adults, I’ll be rich and you’ll be a cross-eyed hobo with one arm!”
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*actually looks at the blog for the first time in weeks*
…don’t tell me we have thumbs up buttons now 
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Just got ’em in today. *feels vaguely like talking as a storeowner chatting with a customer*
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We do. I threw a random idea into the aether, and Robert and the code wungs had implemented it before I had chance to run it through my critical thought processor. It’s causing monstrous controversy. Which is good.
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Code wungs – (n.) A similar species to the techie wungs only their cargo pockets contain flash drives not screwdrivers and wrenches.
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I think I find the like buttons mostly distracting. On the other hand, often I find my comments seem to have been posted without anyone noticing them and I suspect that people mostly just haven’t mentioned them and that there’d be feedback by little green thumbs.
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Yeah, seeing a +1 appear makes me happy. I think people will still comment and I’d get used to the buttons. I like them.
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That’s true. These might help the community feel of MuseBlog quite a bit.
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What? It highlighted my comment at +4. I thought it did that at +5. I don’t like the highlighting (in general), is there anyway to turn it off?
One thing these like buttons might do is actually encourage people to post because then one can see how many likes one gets. I know it is silly, but that sort of thing (number of comments, responses) motivates me on other sites and I think it’d have a similar result here.
Another thing is that the likes don’t have to be GAPA moderated so they’d appear faster.
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Ooh! Highlighting went away! Thanks GAPAs. Is it now only at +10?
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Juan Uribe, who was shortstop for the Giants all through this season, who was an instrumental part of the team, who hit home runs and such without which we wouldn’t have made it to the World Series, let alone won it, who we cheered for, shouted for, and bellowed “Uuuu!…Ribe!” for, has just sold himself to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
…
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I say! That’s just not cricket!
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Spent several minutes trying to translate this phrase. Am now more confused than ever. So, um… don’t mean to whinge, and call me a googled Joey but I just don’t, um, pony your slovos, um, savvy…?
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Of course not, it’s (American) football!
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No, silly, it’s volleyball!
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Pshaw, it’s Calvinball!
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Is there some way we can make the highlighting for comments with over three likes some color other than yellow? It’s hard to see against the yellow backgrounds. (Either that, or take it away entirely. I’m not particularly attached to it, but it’ll certainly bug me if it stays this way.)
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Fantastic! It was done before this was moderated!
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So today I was thinking about how some of my friends rather consistently make me smile. I then wrote out a list of “people I like bunches”. I liked to look at it and think that, if I find my friends awesome, they probably find me awesome too, to some extent, and it was nice to feel appreciated.
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I had a dream recently that the MuseBlog had reverted to its original, text-only, avatar-free state. I kind of missed those days…
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GABOOMBA!
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Or just MB 1.0.
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Yes, that was when I came on.
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One comment and one question about the like buttons, if only because they’re novel and I keep thinking of more things to say about them:
1) It would be nice if they were more like Facebook and said something like “oxlin and SudoRandom approve!” or whatever. That would make it more personable and meaningful because I’d actually know who was behind the little green “+1″…though I know it’s hard since only some people have accounts and stuff.
2) I notice that I can’t “like” my own posts. Does this track by e-mail or IP? Basically, if I changed my e-mail, could I proceed to “like” all of my own posts and make myself/what I say appear super-popular? Blame my idle curiosity for even considering that.
Somebody please force me to focus on AP Euro. I have a test on Chapters 16 & 17 (Absolutism, hurrah) tomorrow and I really ought to be doing something productive with the time that I never have enough of.
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You will focus on AP Euro, whatever that is.
*sends forceful vibes*
*watches forceful vibes have absolutely no effect*
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Paul, you’d like AP euro. it’s an advanced european history class. you could tudor around, at least at the beginning
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I bet they wouldn’t let me take hurdy-gurdy or iron production as specialist topics. It’d all be about politics. It’s always about politics.
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There’s a little bit about art too, but I have to admit that politics tend to be more emphasized.
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yeah basically it is a modern/future european history class
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FUTURE European history. Now that’s interesting. I’d like to know what happens next.
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I’m pretty sure we have that class at Muse Academy. AP Prescient European History?
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It’s based on IP address.
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So of course, I could go home and “like” all the posts I wrote at school.
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You could, if you considered it worth the trouble.
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I’ve actually accidentally liked my own posts. I’m not sure it works that well…
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Focus on AP Euro! They only offer that for seniors at my school! You’re lucky you get to take it! It’s so cool! And always remember, all the British royalty after Victoria are werewolves!
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Oooh, absolutism. French? Or Russian? We studied French absolutism and English constitutionalism together, and then Russian absolutism separately. We just started the Scientific Revolution. What chapter is next for you?
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Both. My class has apparently been a chapter “behind” all year because of when school started, so my teacher mashed the French absolutism/English constitutionalism chapter and the Eastern European absolutism chapter together to save time. That combined test was today and we start the Scientific Revolution tomorrow.
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That’s a lot of material on one test… Have your grades been good? I got a 93 for the quarter, but that’s because of the curve and fifteen points extra credit. We’re on the same chapter now, we just started the Scientific Revolution. I’m doing the vocab now. Thank God for Wikipedia…
We should have online study parties together.
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Well, my current grade is a 103. However, I think my class is the kind where it’s very easy to get an A if you just do your homework and get decent grades on tests. There are always 20 questions of “bonus” points on tests, and they’re just matching based off of the notecards that we all have to make at the start of the chapter. But yes, my grades have been good, and I’m mostly making sense of it. What book does your class use?
Also, I’m loving the online study parties idea.
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103? Wow. That’s really good. The highest grade was a 96 in my class, but the girl who got it was a senior. The grades were mostly in the high eighties. We’re using McKay’s A History of Western Society. It’s not that bad, but there’s a ton of typos in it, and the index is horrible. Actually, I guess it’s pretty bad.
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Hey, same book here. That makes things convenient. I haven’t noticed too many typos, just the awful dryness of some of the sections. Isn’t it strange how they can make battles and revolutions and power boring?
Like I said, my grade is good, but it doesn’t really mean that much. Before this latest test, there were a couple of people in my class who do NOTHING (one didn’t even read Chapter 16) and were still passing. The grading is really easy.
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Ugh, I know. Did you read the “Sex in the City” section? I still don’t understand why a good two pages was taken up describing sex in the Middle Ages…
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Eww, no. We did, however, read A World Lit Only By Fire, which has a large section about certain promiscuous popes.
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I like the likes.
Exams are over! Maths was horrible- there was one problem I couldn’t even begin to solve. And later my classmate told me you had to find the volume of a cylinder first and rubbed everyone’s noses in the fact that we didn’t get the problem.
Then again, I’ve never been good at Maths.
Must go. I can smell dinner burning.
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My MC’s best friend’s name is Jonah, and I keep wanting to call him Sudo! Ack!
Paramore helps you write plot twists. Really, it does.
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I’m honored to know my real name. Unless you secretly know me in real life?!
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Actually, it’s on Muser Profiles.
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Still.
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144.1~ Did you not see me clearly state “I don’t think that it’ll replace comments, I just think it’s a distracting and unnecessary feature that has no place here.” in my previous post? I don’t think they’ll cut down on comments, and even if they did it would be the short ones that add so much bulk to the threads, so in a way that would be a good thing.
My concern is that MB is in that grey area between friendly and anonymous where anonymous “likes” just don’t seem to fit in comfortably.
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I think they’ll be useful for GAPAs, who do a lot of things semi-anonymously anyway. Sometimes a comment makes me smile and think “♥,” but I don’t feel it’s my place to respond directly. I suspect that if we decide to keep the buttons, a lot of the “likes” will come from us.
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If y’all do end up keeping the “likes,” is there any way to shuffle them around so it doesn’t add more white space? Between the avatar and bigger name, there’s already a lot of fluff around the comments, and I’m lazy and dislike scrolling.
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I’m afraid that none of my comments will get any likes, and that this will make Museblog into a popularity contest that I’m doomed to fail.
…I think I have some kind of complex form certain other websites that use like buttons.
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I’m not totally sure about the ‘like’ buttons, but I think I could get used to them. I enjoy clicking the button and watching a little check mark appear.
I’m not crazy about the highlighting, but I suppose I can get used to that, too.
I don’t know whether it will replace commenting to any extent, but I think it’s a helpful tool. I’m pretty sure that I’ve thought ‘I want to like that’, but I didn’t have an option to do that, and I didn’t want to figure out a complete post. This will be good for then, if no other time.
In other news, I automatically pressed ‘ctrl+s’ twice while writing this comment. NaNo has taken over my life.
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If anyone knows anything about pretzel slime mold, please to tell me now.
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It’s awesome. It looks sort of like a squiggly pretzel.
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shadowfire, on the R&R thread, did you mean, “Yes, your post was pointless,” or “Yes, I created my avatar”?
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Yes, I created my avatar. It was a moderate PoPo, however.
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My good friend was in/assistant directing a play this month (Romeo and Juliet presented as a hilarious farce, but that’s beside the point) and so couldn’t do NaNo, because she was working at school until all hours. However, she decided to do NaNo anyway. Four days ago.
She’s at 47,500 words. Probably more by now.
The mind reels.
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Does she do normal things too, like sleep?
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I think so, actually. She started over Thanksgiving break which would help, but that’s still over 11,000 words a day. She’s superhuman, I have no idea.
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Sleep is for the week!
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Item number 1!
I’m looking to replace my 8-year old laptop. I’m looking for a Windows computer that is is good at documents, storage areas, online stuff, online videos. Pretty much, I want a moderate grade work laptop, not an entertainment graphics laptop. Do you have any advice on this please?
Item number 2!
The Winter play auditions are in two days. The play is the Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged. How should I go about the audition? There are seven spots. I do think I have chance, but…
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My Sky Quality Meter came! I can start my light pollution project!
Also, Robert: did you hear about the astrobiology news conference on Thursday? What do you think?
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Hello, well-beloved MuseBlog!
I am on cloud nine. Why, you ask? Because I did some writing today. I always feel ridiculously happy and calm and fulfilled after doing some writing. I adore writing. I shall never stop wanting to write. Never. So, I felt like spreading a little love and joy!
First off, a message to Choklit Orange: {Hugs.} I am sorry that it didn’t work out. I know this is an upsetting twist of fate, but take heart. You are good enough that you were invited to audition for a symphony! Not just any symphony, but a Symphony with a capital “s”! You are therefore plenty good enough to have other opportunities in the future! Take pride in that, have hope, chin up, and remember that we’re here for you.
Next, the “like” buttons: Um. Well, to be honest, my first reaction is negative. Then, the more I think about it, the more I like ’em. They will be helpful for times when I want to give a shout-out, but don’t actually have anything to say. They will certainly take some getting used to, but I’m fine with them.
121–Midnight Fiddler: Trains! Oh, they are so wonderful! They rank on my list of things that make life fun. (For the record, the list is quite long, but it includes small things like tulips and birdcages and nighttime rain and big things like love and miracles and the ability to wonder. Just in case you were wondering.)
124–Paul Baker: Oh, well met, Master Baker! ‘Tis always good to see you ’round the blog!
Sadly, I have never had the pleasure of riding in a coach, but it sounds lovely.
129.2–Vendeval: Yes. I find myself saying weird things (including “like”) when on camera. I also look paler and sound stupider on film. The camera does not add pounds to me–it detracts IQ points.
135–Beedle the Bard: An adorable suitor? Yay!
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Ooh, I love that feeling after writing.
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And ooh. “Love and miracles and the ability to wonder”.
I really love that last one. It seems to be something that Musers and writers have.
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160- I’ve been very happy with my Dell Inspiron 1545. It doesn’t seem they sell this exact model anymore; the Inspiron 14R or 15R is apparently the progression. Both of those certainly have better processors. I’d recommend those; I’ve always had excellent experiences with Dell computers–no trouble at all by way of physical damage or poor manufacturing quality.
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Yay Dell!
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Hurrah!
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Wait, the like buttons came yesterday? When exactly? And anyway, maybe I’ll know now when people are reading my posts, but I think we should have a ban on any ‘Like this if…” posts, other than on a designated thread. Oh, and if we can have like buttons, does that mean we can have polls? I mean, we could use the like buttons as polls, but ya’ know… I should be in the suggestion box. Any arguments against adding more to museblog, or should it just be left the way it is?
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Since this is the random thread, I am making the following Random announcement.
Attention all MBers involved in the BA thread: THE THREAD IS DYING!!!!!! PLEASE POST! If no one posts, I will just finish off the thread. YES, THAT IS A THREAT!!!!!
Sincerely,
Kittymine
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ummmm…. im going to sound really stupid, i think, but whats the BA thread? and how do i change the picture thats in the upper left of the posts? last time i was on MB everyone was throwing pie each other like, 3 years ago. now i dont see anyone doing that????!!! *pies everyone*
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Hi, Trojan Tiger! Welcome (back) to MuseBlog. The BA thread is “Bunny Apocalypse”, which is a sort of group story/RPG (others can probably explain it better) based around the terrifying hot pink bunnies. 
You can change your avatar by creating a Gravatar account (you can find that by searching) that’s associated with your e-mail.
Also, not to sound too strict, but I recommend good grammar, spelling, and appropriate usage of exclamation points! Putting that effort into posts will make people more likely to appreciate them.
*throws pies of welcome*
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BA is Bunny Apocalypse: The Next Generation. I believe it’s a roleplay. The little pictures are avatars and googling “gravatar” should let you find the page to associate a picture with your email address.
I wasn’t here three years ago, but I feel like the culture of the blog has probably changed since then. We have pie wars sometimes and we’re goofy sometimes but we aren’t flinging pies all over the place on every thread.
Welcome back!
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Speaking of which, when *was* the last time we had a pie war? I never got involved in them myself, but when I was new-ish on the blog, it was near impossible to be around much and not at least know what the two pie armies were.
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I know we had one in May. I’m pretty sure there’s some kind of Pie Wars thread constantly running that gets a little traffic but I could be making that up.
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We had one in May.
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Hmmmm… could we perhaps… start one?
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Okay. Thanks.
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I won!
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I like it when comments that I was the first to like end up with other likes. (I don’t like having to use the word “like” as a verb).
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As a noun, you mean?
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Well, as a verb in the context of “to like” and a noun in the context of “other likes”. Verb in the context of “I like it” was fine.
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Paul, you’d like the class I’ll be taking next semester on reading and books in the middle ages. A bit early for you, but I think we might end up later given that the printing press wasn’t invented until the 15th century (which, admittedly, is still medieval).
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oxlin, I’d love to hear more about this class!
I think it’s time for this thread’s visit from Atropos. Or does she make housecalls? I think it might all be done beforehand.
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