Smiley Town, Episode II: Attack of the Grin [Now with over 1.5 million page views!]

[mr_pikachu]

Well, it's time for a new chat thread, everyone -- in other words, Smiley Town is a go!

This is a chat thread, so you can feel free to go off topic here, since, well, there is no set topic for discussion. I'll quote my fellow mod, Gavin, on this:


While SPAM itself will not be encouraged or permitted in this thread, treat this thread the way you would an IRC chat with your fellow TPMers -- you should feel free to talk about anything and everything, no matter how substantial or otherwise, and it doesn't have to follow a given topic. The only rules are that conversation stays respectful and otherwise adherent to the forum rules.

In other words, while other TPM rules still apply, you can feel free to chat about what you like here, even if it changes the subject. Don't worry about having to follow the current discussion chain if you have something unrelated to say.

So, without further ado... chat! :)

[mattbcl]

As of this writing, I've got the TV running over my left shoulder. There's an episode of Viva La Bam on it. I'm only half-watching, because I consider Bam Margera to be as lacking in inhibitions as Lindsay Lohan, and I wouldn't normally have it on this channel at all... but my girlfriend left it here while she went to go do laundry, and she did a load of mine when she didn't have to. So I'm not going to get upset.

But none of this is what I found to be worthy of posting. What truly got my attention was a commercial that advertised an institute of education called UTI. This stands for Universal Technical Institute, in this particular context... but it made my head pop up and twist around. It struck me as an unfortunate abbreviation - the only UTI I'd been familiar with until now was "urinary tract infection".

"What college are you recruiting at today?" "Aah, I got UTI." "...Dude, too much information."

[Sike Saner]

...Annnnd I just narrowly avoided shooting generic Mountain Dew out of my nose at that.

Research done prior to naming something in order to avoid tragic abbreviations = good idea.

[mr_pikachu]

Has anyone here ever been to Seattle? I'd like to know if you rode one of the South Lake Union Trolleys.

(Also, AcronymFinder.com (http://www.acronymfinder.com/) is fun. :))

[classy_cat18]

Nope, but it must be like Heaven On Earth.

[Gavin Luper]

Okay, just gonna refer to Brian's parting gift before he closed the old thread down:


Gavin, you know my quote is tame by comparison. For years you've been making it look like we're having sex. :P

I just want to add my two cents and say that this is completely true, I sigged that golden, ambiguous years ago with the pure malicious intent of raising eyebrows. BAHA! :P

And the new thread title is killer; glad to see my little quote was mentioned, too.

XD @ all the acronyms!

I think I may have a winner, though.

When it changed its name in 1988, a university in my city became ... Curtin University of New Technology.

They dropped the "new" three weeks later.

[mr_pikachu]

What truly got my attention was a commercial that advertised an institute of education called UTI. This stands for Universal Technical Institute, in this particular context... but it made my head pop up and twist around. It struck me as an unfortunate abbreviation - the only UTI I'd been familiar with until now was "urinary tract infection".

"What college are you recruiting at today?" "Aah, I got UTI." "...Dude, too much information."

I was running a search for more awful acronyms, and I found a top-11 (meh) list that featured your example at #4, Matt. (Here's the link (http://www.11points.com/Dating-Sex/11_Acronyms_Whose_Dirty_Meanings_Have_Usurped_Thei r_Clean_Meanings); be advised that this may be NSFW.)

On a different subject, it was hailing here this morning. Now it's hot outside. Also, the rain and hail combination revealed that one of my apartment's windows isn't properly sealed... bleh. :\

[Sike Saner]

It's been disgustingly hot here lately. There's a sign in front of one of the local car dealerships that flashes time and temperature every so often. I saw 111° pop up on it recently and just kind of went >8( at it. Because ugh.

It was halfway decent this evening, though. Still warmer than I like, but there was a nice wind. And it stormed the other night. There was rain. Yay. :D But we could still definitely use more.

[classy_cat18]

Try having a busted AC. Nothing like being stuck in front of a box fan! But really, we're trying to cool down the whole house with a single window unit, a swivelling fan, a ceiling fan and two box fans. It kinda works for my room as long as it's in the open doorway so it pulls in cool air from the window unit.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Summer 2006 was extremely dry here. It didn't rain at all, except for one July day when we went to pick strawberries. We were on the field, when it stated raining. I said 'We're not made of sugar!' but a minute later, it started hailing. Big hailstones, we had to run inside!

[Gavin Luper]

Egad, hail is the worst!

We had a freak hailstorm last year (in Western Australia, yes) and it was chaotic and damaged so much property. You can still see people driving around with cars that are literally studded with golf ball-size hailstone dents. :S

Horribly, I'd borrowed my folks' car at the time and was driving it here while my car was safe and sound with them in my hometown. They were nice enough to not hate me for the hundreds of dimples all over their new car.

[mattbcl]

I despise extreme weather of any kind, really, but it seems that in the last five years things have really taken off. (Insert eye rolling here.) The reason I hate weather as much as I do is because of my job - as part of it, I'm trained and licensed in water damage restoration and applied structural drying. These processes are horribly expensive, time-consuming, back-breaking, and paperwork-intensive. So when rain comes around, there's always a little voice in the back of my head begging all the sump pumps in the region to, for the love of God, work properly. For those of you familiar with "The Flood of 2008", I live on the Mississippi River and I can't tell you how many water damage calls we got for that event. One of the tools I use for this is a thermohygrometer, which gives me a digital readout of temperature, and specific and relative humidities. I didn't want to see that thing again for quite some time.

[mr_pikachu]

Egh. Hail is the pits, I think we can all agree. Thankfully, I've only been caught driving in severe hail once, and it was back in my hometown, so I knew the roads. Despite being perfectly aware of where everything was, though, I was helpless to pull over until I was all the way home, however, because it was impossible to see the ground amidst the layer of solid white against the ground -- I could've just as easily plowed over multiple curbs as turned into a parking lot.

On a side note, hi Matt. :wave:

[mattbcl]

Hi Brian!

[Gavin Luper]

Went to get a haircut today and the bitch fucked it up. Instead of a blond fauxhawk I now have something completely indiscriminate, something in between a Puck-from-Glee-esque short black mohawk and a (very) short-back-and-sides.

To console myself I spent my tax refund on $500 worth of new clothes, which is something I never do.

So - new question - have you ever had a bad haircut? What was it and what did you do about it to soothe your damaged ego?

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Today, Gavin.

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z83/Mikayuta/Kuva0049.jpg

Not really, but the picture in question looked so much better in my cell phone screen.

[Gavin Luper]

That's not really a bad haircut, though, Mikachu - it just looks curly and messy on top to me? I maintain mine is more traumatic, sadly. :(

I'm debating whether or not to shave my head before work tomorrow. I've had a shaved head plenty of times before so I know I can pull it off and look good with it, but, grrr, it's not what I had planned.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

My hair is naturally curly, and at times I wish it wasn't. They first put up a nice hairdo, but then I myself came up with the weird idea of coloring it and chose dark blue! I have never had my hair colored before, and what's more, they didn't redo the hairdo after the coloring, and again, what's more, the whole deal cost me € (http://www.sysmod.com/eurocalc/eurocalc.php)55.

[Gavin Luper]

It costs a lot, right? I know, I used to bleach my hair quite often and have had a pink mohawk and also a blue fauxhawk previously. So expensive.

Did you find that the blue colour started to fade really quickly?

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Yeah, the same thing did dawn upon me, but I don't know if it's only because I'm getting used to seeing it everytime from the mirror so quickly.

I put the same picture on Facebook but not as my Profile Picture. Now we are discussing in Finnish why my head is leaning to the right. Stupid medication.

[Gavin Luper]

Is it unusual that your head is leaning in the picture? It looks normal enough?

Okay, gonna try to spike my hair up ... if it doesn't work ... time to bring out the clippers!

[Chris 2.1]

There's riots in London. It's so complicated why it's happening, but it's gone beyond protest and justice. People are just losing it. We got evacuated from work and Wimbledon (where I live) is being patrolled, shops are boarded up. Expecting a big scene tonight.

To commemorate, I'm drafting a huge riot into my fic. It's been oddly inspiring.

[Crystal Tears]

I'm worried for all of you near and/or being affected by the riots. o_o You're the third that's mentioned it being close. Samchu told me about it last night and today in Pingchat Becki was telling me how it was headin' for her work. ._. Hope you all keep safe!

<.< On the note of extreme weather, Canada is a lot of fun. Where I live (town near Toronto), we had a tornado touch down a year or two ago, another time giant hail (we have some saved in our freezer), a wind storm that nearly blew my friend's car off the road... Semi-recently we had a storm that didn't really do a lot in the terms of rain or wind, but there was tons of lightning and thunder, and it was frikkin aweesoommmeee.

As for temperatures, Canada can go from 40C in summer, to -40C in winter pending on the year. (admittedly there was one year where we had a green christmas -_-, unhappysauce.)

I love this country XD ♥

[classy_cat18]

I don't think I've ever had a bad haircut, but I don't really like getting them. I like my hair long even though Mom tells me it's "shapeless". It feels weird to not be able to put it in a ponytail.

[Gavin Luper]

Chris: It's scary watching this mindless destruction happen. It makes me so angry: we had half our country ravaged by natural disasters this past summer, and so many people are still a long way from rebuilding their homes and businesses and lives, and here are some dickwads in London voluntarily going around and destroying other people's homes/workplaces/neighbourhoods. It's fucking lame. Stay safe buddy.

CT: Wait - it seriously can get up to 40 degrees CELSIUS in Canada?! Where?! Here I was thinking it was the land of ice and snow.

Shonta: Since when is shapeless a bad thing when it comes to hair? Long hair looks sick I reckon. Keep it!

Re: yesterday's bad haircut: Okay ... I have decided that, with a small amount of correctional scissor work from my bf, and a healthy dose of gangsta attitude, I can make this haircut work after all!

[mr_pikachu]

Riots: I don't really have anything more profound to contribute here, but I wish for the best for everyone in that area right now.


Mikachu: I tilt my head like that all the time. You're in no worse shape than me.


Some of you know that I'm always looking for new ways to tell a story. Well, last night I started training myself in Macromedia Flash. It's a bit of a process, but I can see the advantages that it will have once I've mastered the basics. I'm hoping to eventually program games with nonlinear plot paths... that will probably be a bit cumbersome from a coding standpoint, but not entirely unreasonable.

[classy_cat18]

Oooh, I was in a Flash class. Got an F. That was more of a case of laziness though, and dislike of the teacher. x.x

Gonna use it for War of the Forums?

[Chris 2.1]

Gav: Looks good :)

Riots have calmed here, anyway. Manchester is bad. It's just... Gavin put it so well. Seeing the world get ravaged by nature, and unstoppable forces, it's awful, but when people turn on each other, how can they sleep at night?

The worst part is the pack mentality. Those arrested include teachers, support workers, healthcare assistants. A 39 year old man was in court today because he stole BISCUITS. He got caught up in it, he said.

A furniture store near me was set alight. Nobody tried stealing from it; they couldn't steal sofas or tables. They just felt like torching a 5-generation business to the ground. It was so bad, the railway tracks next to the warehouse melted, an the trains were cancelled.

It's just senseless, it's like society is broken.

[Blademaster]

Maybe that's because society IS broken.

[classy_cat18]

What do they say? "One rotten apple spoils the whole bunch"? That's what it seems like to me. A handful of bad apples spread their rotteness.

[Gavin Luper]

Maybe that's because society IS broken.

I dunno, that's getting too close to the whole victim mentality for me. A lot of idiots have been writing things like "well, they're poor and they've been oppressed, so they're fighting back against rich, white people, good on them".

I call bullshit. Being poor doesn't excuse or justify this kind of behaviour. I don't for a second blame the nebulous notion of "the system" - I blame the morons who think it's somehow acceptable to bash people, steal from them while pretending to help them, set people's homes and workplaces on fire and trash their own neighbourhoods. They aren't hurting anyone but other people: families, workers, blue-collar, poor people like themselves. It's idiotic, it's criminal, and I can't think of any other way to describe it except absolutely disgusting and contemptible.

[Blademaster]

And that description rings of a healthy, unbroken society to you?

[mr_pikachu]

I dunno, that's getting too close to the whole victim mentality for me. A lot of idiots have been writing things like "well, they're poor and they've been oppressed, so they're fighting back against rich, white people, good on them".

I call bullshit. Being poor doesn't excuse or justify this kind of behaviour. I don't for a second blame the nebulous notion of "the system" - I blame the morons who think it's somehow acceptable to bash people, steal from them while pretending to help them, set people's homes and workplaces on fire and trash their own neighbourhoods. They aren't hurting anyone but other people: families, workers, blue-collar, poor people like themselves. It's idiotic, it's criminal, and I can't think of any other way to describe it except absolutely disgusting and contemptible.

Egh. The whole mob mentality. It's... disgusting, yes. I can't think of a better word for it. It's also sad that this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_behavior) continues to serve as one of the most practical applications of social science to date. (Relatedly, thank you, Philip Zimbardo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment).) That fact does, in my opinion, say a great deal about society itself.



Flash: Well, I'm not planning to use it for WotF, no. In my view, one of the nice things about WotF is that it serves as an exploration of narrative through the webcomic format, in addition to being a fun story for me to write. Part of the reason I chose to produce it as a webcomic was that I felt that was the ideal format for the story, and I maintain that belief now, so I don't intend to use Flash in continuing the story. (Besides, publishing each issue in Flash would take a crazy long time.) Maybe I'll do future trailers with Flash, but not the pages themselves. There are other tales that I think are more suited to that medium, anyway.

[ChobiChibi]

Hearing a lot more sirens tonight than last night, and a police helicopter flying around over my bf's house. He didn't laugh when I did a little dance to my car and proclaimed that I was going rioting >_>

But y'know, it hasn't reached anywhere near my home/work yet, and I'm hoping that's the way it's gonna stay. The worst part is the rumours though. Turned out that one of the other stores in the area wasn't burnt down at all, and that they'd barely left the centre the night I was closing. We were just totally on edge and willing to believe anything I guess.

Tis really affecting work though. We're struggling in our warehouse cos we had to bring all the empty pallets in, and the company won't let us put them back outside just in case anything does happen. And we've not been taking as much. Hopefully it'll pick up by the weekend though :)

[classy_cat18]

Hearing a lot more sirens tonight than last night, and a police helicopter flying around over my bf's house. He didn't laugh when I did a little dance to my car and proclaimed that I was going rioting >_>

Awww, I would've laughed. And then told you to get me an iPod or something. XP

[Gavin Luper]

And that description rings of a healthy, unbroken society to you?

No, it doesn't sound healthy or unbroken at all - I'm just saying the problem shouldn't be projected onto "society".

I'm not usually a conservative person (as most of you know), but Maggie Thatcher's famous "there is no such thing as society" quote rings true for me here:

"I think we've been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it's the government's job to cope with it. 'I have a problem, I'll get a grant.' 'I'm homeless, the government must house me.' They're casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It's our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations. There's no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation."

There is a hell of a lot of common sense/pragmatism in that quote, I think.

I'm not saying there aren't real problems here, I'm saying that projecting them onto the illusion of "society" is unhelpful and not going to actually solve the problem. If you're poor, rioting and destroying things is not going to fix that. And, taking one step back from that stage, blaming society for your problems is not going to fix your problems. There is no "society" consciously creating problems for you: if you have a problem, to a large extent I think it is up to you to find a way to fix it.

I'm not an expert in British history, but I know that boatloads of migrants came to Australia over the last century, the overwhelming majority of them poor and with little to no English-speaking abilities, from places like post-WWII Italy and Greece, Vietnam (post-Vietnam War), and so on. These migrants didn't live in a world as tolerant as the one we live in today: they were confronted with outright racism, social ostracision and certainly a whole host of difficulty in succeeding financially.

I'm harping on about this because it's my reference point: those people were faced with a host of problems but they didn't blame it on society and then, in turn, expect society to fix it all for them. They recognised the nature of the beast - as sucky as it is - and went out and did something about it. They got jobs and started businesses. And if the economy went to hell, like it is now, they made the best of their impoverished situation instead of making a bad situation much, much worse by spreading violence, crime, fear, death and destruction.

I might be overreaching a bit by saying "go get a job" when the economy is weak and the job market not faring well, but the underlying point is: your life is your problem, find a way to take care of yourself and your family and fix your problems.


Egh. The whole mob mentality. It's... disgusting, yes. I can't think of a better word for it. It's also sad that this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_behavior) continues to serve as one of the most practical applications of social science to date. (Relatedly, thank you, Philip Zimbardo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment).) That fact does, in my opinion, say a great deal about society itself.

Mob mentality ftl.


Awww, I would've laughed. And then told you to get me an iPod or something. XP

Haha, nice form!

[Crystal Tears]

Yesss, it gets warm here. It must, during the warm months, Canadians forage and frolic, looking for food and mates. When the cold returns, we retreat into our dens and hibernate, working off the fat we’ve built up from summer months. :3

Some of us emerge next summer with cubs. You don’t want to get near a Canadian and her cubs. We’re vicious when defending our young. :mad:


This isn’t defending the morons who burn, pillage and plunder but…

Can’t the mob-mentality be used also for good? When say one or two assailants are threatening a group of people, the victims can form a group or mob and defend themselves adequately. Rally the forces, so to speak?

[mr_pikachu]

Can’t the mob-mentality be used also for good? When say one or two assailants are threatening a group of people, the victims can form a group or mob and defend themselves adequately. Rally the forces, so to speak?

In theory, yes. In practice, no. This has been thoroughly tested in both experimental and real-world settings... I'll explain.

Generally, when a number of people could help, each person is significantly less likely to do so. Each person thinks, "Well, someone will help," and no one does. "Someone will grab that mugger." "Someone will call 911." Etc., etc. The infamous Milgram studies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment) ultimately progressed to the group stage, where a number of people all had the opportunity to save the "learner" who was supposedly being electrocuted. Groups were even less likely to help than individuals. This is why, when you need help in an emergency, it helps to give specific orders to specific people -- it's an implicit statement that the selected individual is the only one who can perform that task (and it's an order, which further plays into Milgram's authority experiments).

Weak humans... always looking for someone else to do the hard work. *shakes head*

[Crystal Tears]

I suppose, I guess I never thought about it because I'm one of those people who stand up and say "Help this person!" or "Don't do that!" Then others follow suit, my friends do this a lot to me. They won't make a sound until I say something.

Either way, was daydreaming on bus, got a new idea for a fic maybe? Probably, I got an RPG already. XD IT ALMOST MADE ME MISS MY STOP! D:

Has that happened to you people? Daydreaming/imagining ideas for something or another and suddenly you almost miss/miss something completely?

Strange question, when you quote something like "Don't do that!" and it's at the end of your sentence, do you put a period after it or just leave it with the exclamation mark? @_@

[classy_cat18]

I think you just leave it with the exclamation mark, but let's see what the Grammar Nazi thinks.

[mr_pikachu]

Grammar: Shonta is correct. In that instance, just let the question mark and the closing quotation mark end the sentence.


Daydreaming: Oh, that happens to me all the time! It's especially bad when I'm driving. I'll be on my way to campus, or trying to go get groceries, and then I'll start thinking about something for, say, WotF. Ten minutes later I'll look around and say, "Wait, where am I?"

Usually I'm at least still on a road at that point.

[Gavin Luper]

Grammar: Shonta is correct. In that instance, just let the question mark and the closing quotation mark end the sentence.


Daydreaming: Oh, that happens to me all the time! It's especially bad when I'm driving. I'll be on my way to campus, or trying to go get groceries, and then I'll start thinking about something for, say, WotF. Ten minutes later I'll look around and say, "Wait, where am I?"

Usually I'm at least still on a road at that point.

XD

Yeah, I do this too, CT. Pretty sure I've had several situations when people have been talking to me at house parties about something insanely dull and, quite by accident, my mind wandered off to a cool idea for a story. I then float back to the conversation at hand and hope that "oh, really?" is an appropriate response at that point.

[classy_cat18]

I have the bad habit of daydreaming while listening to music through my earphones. Mom then gets onto me about not hearing her call me.

[Crystal Tears]

Thanks for the help on grammar. :3

Happened to me yesterday. Was with my friend Brooke at the mall, and she and her friends were talking about something that I found entirely boring (I still have no idea what they were talking about), and suddenly I was off in my own world, explosions tearing about the damn store we were in and aliens dragging costumers away...

Either way, it happened at work too. I was counting the deposit (or supposed to be), and then on this blank piece of paper, words appeared, forming ideas, and a picture to go along with it.

In the car I'm the worst, I'll stare out the window with my music blaring in my ears (slightly safer then mr_pikachu, I don't drive), and then off I go... >_>;

[Gavin Luper]

My next-door neighbour mistook me for a security guard today. I was fumbling with the padlock on my letter box and he walked into his front yard and asked if someone had locked their letter box shut, and offered me some WD-40 to loosen the lock for them. It was only after a minute of me spraying the padlock and muttering "this thing has been shitting me for about a year" that he realised it was me. O_O

So, I've decided that wearing a leather jacket, cap and sunnies is a suitable disguise, for future reference, if you don't want someone to recognise you.

[mr_pikachu]

Gavin, I should adopt that attire when I enter the classroom to teach. Maybe the students would scamper away and give me a free day!

...Nah. I don't think I could pull off that look the way you can, sadly. I'd probably just look dorky. Or emo.

Relatedly, grad school has returned with a vengeance. It's amazing how much time it takes to do all the tiny little preparatory tasks for the classes you have to teach, from amending quiz questions to creating new attendance sheets, and from sending 75 invitations to the course blog to telling the fifth straight student, "No, I'm sorry, but I can't add you to the class -- we're at the maximum enrollment capacity, and I can't really do anything about that."

*sighs* It's been a long two days.

[Crystal Tears]

Bacccckkkk from camping all weekend. My second experience camping and it went so much better than the first... Except for Joel, we all hate Joel now.

Gavin, that's some sort of awesome skill you have there. o: You could be a spy or something, blending in so well.

mr_pikachu you should put up a sign "We have no more room for enrollment in [said class]. Go Away. Now. Or we'll feed you to the school's personal kraken, or something else as ridiculous but no less intimidating."

:3

Anyways…

I refuse to believe our campsite had to be up a cliff. It was murder trying to get up and down that thing, and the higher you climbed, the steeper it became. Honestly, I think I lost ten pounds just going up and down that cliff. There were also no railings, actual stairs, or anything that would make that climb even remotely safe. I'm surprised none of us hurt ourselves, it would've been a nasty fall :/

The worst thing? I was staying with my best friend on another campsite, which was higher then the main one we all used to meet. It wouldn't have been so bad except for when you want to go to bed, it’s up the first death-cliff and onto another steep hill, just to make it to a bed that's on the hard, cold, bleh ground.

So I learned my lesson.

:) Air mattress all the wayyyy. We're going again in September apparently, I am excited! Though my body is sore and miserable at the moment. My nose has a painful sun burn on it! D:

Anyways, good to see everyone’s alive. XD Imma go read a bit, then write, then collapse and sleep on my wonderful comfy omfg great bed…

Random Writing Question Time: The difference between affected and effected. :3 Just a simple explanation please. I'm way too tired to understand big, fancy, words. XD XP

[mr_pikachu]

mr_pikachu you should put up a sign "We have no more room for enrollment in [said class]. Go Away. Now. Or we'll feed you to the school's personal kraken, or something else as ridiculous but no less intimidating."

:3

Oh, we have that sign. It's at the front of the department. No one pays attention to it. :P


[size=1]Random Writing Question Time: The difference between affected and effected. :3 Just a simple explanation please. I'm way too tired to understand big, fancy, words. XD XP

Simple? Okay, I'll do what I can.

Generally, "effect" is a noun and "affect" is a verb. You can affect[/] my nose by punching it.

*gets punched*

See the blood trickling down my face now? That was the [I]effect of your wrath.

NOTABLE EXCEPTION #1: "Effect" can sometimes be a verb, specifically used to describe something that makes something else happen or otherwise brings about change. If you successfully promote legislation that makes punching Grammar Nazis in the face perfectly legal, then you have effected that transition to a new era in anti-Grammar Nazi hate crimes.

NOTABLE EXCEPTION #2: "Affect" can sometimes be a verb that describes the emotional or psychological state and/or response levels of an individual. Low affect levels are common among individuals with autism, for example, although it is very possible that your test will yield a similar result if you just punched the subject in the face.

Confused yet? Don't worry. Just follow the first set of guidelines (before the exceptions), and you'll be fine the vast majority of the time. If you're writing a psych paper, you might also want to know the second exception, but you probably guessed that already. As long as you've learned from this, my nose will not have fallen in vain.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Hm, I have a question too! Does anybody here know what the word 'ansoticca' means? My friend likes a band with that name and just sent me a text message where she asked if 'my foreign friends would know what it means'.

[mr_pikachu]

Hmm, I can't say I've heard the word. Google tells me that "AnsoticcA" is a metal band, but beyond that I'm not familiar with any such dictionary term. My best guess is that it's a corruption of a word like "exotica," although that seems like a bit of a stretch.

[ChobiChibi]

If you successfully promote legislation that makes punching Grammar Nazis in the face perfectly legal, then you have effected that transition to a new era in anti-Grammar Nazi hate crimes.

*glances at her fist* Oh... I thought it was legal >_>

Sorry >_> *goes to wash blood off hand*

This actually made me chuckle.

[Gavin Luper]

Brian, you make grammar fun!

[mattbcl]

I've been struck with a dilemma. I noticed a while back that several authors here have signature banners for their stories, and I got jealous and wanted to do the same for my own tales. Now I have two - but it only occurred to me after spending a couple hours composing one of them that the picture, in and of itself, gives away a MAJOR plot twist that has yet to be revealed! So now I have to wait until I get to that point to offer up the image. Bah, what-a to do.

[Shadow Wolf]

matt: I think you should wait until the plot is revealed. After all, spoilers can ruin the surprise. However, is you truly want a picture, then try drawing a character(s) banner.

Anyway, I have a curious (maybe naive) question....

Based on what I've seen in real life, many guys like to say "weird" phrases (flirting) to girls. To be honest, I can't do this.

So I ask It is necessary for boys to know how to flirt?

I know this might sound naive, but I don't see the big deal in saying something you don't mean. And it gets worse when those same phrases are repeated to every girl (boy) whom you consider attractive. I believe that if a compliment doesn't come from authentic inspiration, is not worth it. So I think that this does not let me be myself.

If you hadn't noticed, well, I ask because some people have told me to try this (even my older brother). And to be honest, I suck at doing that. Unless I have a certain bond of trust with the person and I think very well what I want to say, I can't compliment someone just because they're *insert complimentary adjective here*

So I ask, is it truly necessary to learn to do that?

[classy_cat18]

Depends on the girl, I think. Some can get easily taken in by shallow comments. But if you're not into that kind of girl then it's a completely optional skill.

[Blademaster]

The quickest way to knowing where you stand with a woman is by being yourself. Be direct, but polite, and let her see who and what you really are. It'll save both of you time and energy that would otherwise be wasted by empty compliments and frivolous gestures.

[Gavin Luper]

Louis: I reckon just be yourself, but I also believe it's important to push yourself beyond your comfort zone and build more and more on your confidence. The more confident you feel in yourself and your own self-esteem, I find the more confident you are with letting other people know you are interested in them. And the more confident you are, the more they will likely be attracted to you. (This is based on my own experience mostly.)

Having said that, I think this confidence should be natural and develop organically over time, and you still act as 'yourself'. I always find pick-up lines and cliches come across as really desperate and douchebag-esque and fake; you're better off being authentic. If you want an authentic person to like the authentic you, be authentic yourself. If you want a fake person to like the fake you, be fake.

Hope that helps.

Matt: Urgh, that sucks! How far away is the spoiler? Maybe wait a while until that spoiler is revealed and then plough on with the sig, because I bet it looks good.

Other: I just got a second job (hoorah) so I'm now a student advisor at my uni as well as consultant at the bank. This is good for my financial situation but I'm now gonna be stressed out until the end of October trying to fit in my Honours work around two jobs. Still, the money will be worth it - I hate being a poor student!

[Charles Legend]

Cool Gavin however curse you I wanted to post right after blade. :( Oh well a quote well have to do.


The quickest way to knowing where you stand with a woman is by being yourself. Be direct, but polite, and let her see who and what you really are. It'll save both of you time and energy that would otherwise be wasted by empty compliments and frivolous gestures.

And I suppose you would be an expert on that Blade...

Then again most girls are likely to shoot me down... -_-'

I simply meant most girls would probably reject me and that is what I meant by 'shot me down' not that they would literally shoot me. however I'd suppose some of you around here would be grateful if they would literally shoot me.


~Charles Legend

[Gavin Luper]

Then again most girls are likely to shoot me down... -_-'

I simply meant most girls would probably reject me and that is what I meant by 'shot me down' not that they would literally shoot me. however I'd suppose some of you around here would be grateful if they would literally shoot me.


~Charles Legend

Regarding the text in the spoiler tag: I hope you don't really feel that way, Charles. I want you, and everyone on TPM, to feel safe and included here, especially here in Fanfic where we're such a small community. You don't have to always get along with everyone but you should never interpret that as anyone wishing you harm, because I doubt a single person here would ever wish that on you or anyone.

[Shadow Wolf]

Charles: I think you might want to see my answer to a comment similar to that one (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showpost.php?p=512855&postcount=15)

Switching a bit without going off-topic, I thought that I was rejected by girls because I wasn't "attractive". But I noticed something (if I'm wrong, I'm more that open to be corrected)...

I noticed that some girls (whom can be considered physically beautiful) are just following someone else's lead. What do I mean by this? Teenagers (and adult teenagers) might not know what they want yet. Because of this, they listen to other people's advices. However, if they relinquish their own tastes and likings to follow what other people think, they become a slave.

Again, what do I mean by this? They become empty inside: a "pretty" girl wants to be heard, complimented and loved. And they believe that, if a boy teases them, flirts with them and hears them (hearing being different from listening), they are loved, and thus they become boyfriend and girlfriend ("cute" couples, anyone?). However, this lasts only for a short time, because certain things are brought to light: insecurity, lack of proper communication, lack of respect and of course, lack of knowledge of love....


Anyway, keeping this short... since some of us prefer to be ourselves, we are "rejected" (not accepted for being unique, and even being perceived as "weird") both by these kind of girls and by society itself.

At least, this is what I think, and this helps me to accept me as I am (of course, correcting what I know I have to correct and be myself: the nice, geeky and unattractive guy who like to help people and, even though he might even feel used sometimes, he enjoys being himself and giving a part of himself to make other people smile).

I just saw the movie "She's out of my league" and this movie displays what I want to say here. So I recommend you to watch it. :)


classy_cat18: Thanks for the advice and nope, I'm definitely not into that kind of girl.


Gavin: I think you just described my situation with your comment. I admit that I do have self-esteem issues, and I believe that it is now that I'm learning to overcome them. Developing confidence has been a tough challenge for me, but it has been fun because I am slowly, but surely, seeing the rewards of it. Thanks for the advice too.

Blade: OK, I have to save this for last because this comment was definitely the funniest one of them all. This is another one that describes my opinion on the matter, and it gives an authentic response (with the raw adjectives and all) of what it should be done. So I have to say thanks twice: one for the advice and two for making me laugh. :)

[mr_pikachu]

Charles: Gavin's response mirrors my own thoughts. :)


Louis: I think Blade said it best, really. Also, keep in mind that if you're looking for a real romance -- the kind that lasts years, or when it's the right one, a lifetime -- you'll want to spend your life being yourself. It won't do much good to act like someone you're not, woo a girl, then ultimately revert back to being yourself. Since you're not acting like yourself, that just attracts people who would fall in love with someone who isn't you, and that false front also pushes away those who might be inclined toward a relationship with the real Louis.

[Blademaster]

And I suppose you would be an expert on that Blade...

Is an expert really needed to lay down some common sense...?

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Congratulations mattbcl for the 200th TPM post!

What's up people? As for myself, I'm eagerly awaiting the Silver Pencils and E-zine. How's it going with them?

[Shadow Wolf]

Congratulations mattbcl for the 200th TPM post!

What's up people? As for myself, I'm eagerly awaiting the Silver Pencils and E-zine. How's it going with them?

What he said, but with the waiting of the Writing contest too. :)

BTW, happy 10 anniversary Mika. I wonder what will happen today. *is on expectation mode*

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Thanks! This far, I have only decided to celebrate by posting two new versions for some old Games in GGG, but if someone's planning something, I'm always in for surprises!

Also, I don't think this will be my last post today!

[Gavin Luper]

Congratulations mattbcl for the 200th TPM post!

What's up people? As for myself, I'm eagerly awaiting the Silver Pencils and E-zine. How's it going with them?


What he said, but with the waiting of the Writing contest too. :)

BTW, happy 10 anniversary Mika. I wonder what will happen today. *is on expectation mode*

It's mostly waiting on me, fellas, so my apologies! I've been stuck on a uni assignment that seemed completely impenetrable until I finally sat down tonight and got my head around it at last. So I'm feeling slightly less overwhelmed.

The SP votes are tallied now; I just need to make the results thread and post it up. I'll do it tomorrow.

The Contest Judging has been completed by Brian; I just need to do the same to give it a full review by two judges. I'll TRY to do this tomorrow night, too, after the votes.

The E-zine - that's Brian's territory. I think he might be waiting for the first two of these three pending projects before he posts it ... so it's really on me. As I said, I'll do my best to focus on this tomorrow night.

Cheers!

[Shadow Wolf]

But don't feel pressured by this, OK? We are expecting the results, not demanding them ^_^;

[Gavin Luper]

So I got drunk last night and made a whole heap of drunk posts in Mt Moon.

Question for the glorious readers and writers of fanfic:

1. Have you ever drunk posted? What happened?

2. More broadly, ever done something you regret while under the influence?

[mr_pikachu]

Heh. Actually, I don't drink (though I have nothing against people who do), so I've never experienced this. Unless you include being delirious from sleeplessness, in which case that happens all the time. I imagine at least 3% of my posts on TPM would fall under that definition of "under the influence." I have, indeed, regretted and apologized for a number of those posts.

[classy_cat18]

1. There are probably a couple of fic chapters and/or Battle Range posts that were created while under the influence. I couldn't point them out though. And other posts too but I don't think I've ever been drunk enough for it to make a difference.

2. I often say things that I probably shouldn't say while I'm drunk, although the same thing could be true when I'm on a sugar high.

And now I will find those drunk posts that Gavin made. Those were funny.

[mattbcl]

Like Brian, I don't drink (and have no problem with people who do), so I don't know what drunk-posting is like. But when it comes to sleeplessness, sometimes I'll fall asleep mid-post and my fingers will continue typing - although they offer nothing legible. It's incredibly frustrating as it happens... and incredibly amusing after the fact. At that point, I usually delete the attempt and just go to bed.

[mr_pikachu]

It's incredibly frustrating as it happens...

...It's frustrating while you're asleep? You have a keen ability to get frustrated, friend.

I will admit, there are times in graduate school when I wish I drank, mostly because I know that if I did, I'd be boozing at that moment to forget about the aggravations of the day. (There have been a few moments like that this semester.) Frankly, that's also part of why I don't drink -- I know myself, and I figure that if I started drinking and finding it useful for forgetting my problems, I would be unable to resist using my newfound tool.

[Gavin Luper]

1. There are probably a couple of fic chapters and/or Battle Range posts that were created while under the influence. I couldn't point them out though. And other posts too but I don't think I've ever been drunk enough for it to make a difference.

2. I often say things that I probably shouldn't say while I'm drunk, although the same thing could be true when I'm on a sugar high.

And now I will find those drunk posts that Gavin made. Those were funny.

Haha damn, that would've been fun to read drunken fic chapters. ^_^

Oh, and for the aforemention drunk posting spree and the drunken voice recording that was a gift to shazza, check the post count capsule.

Brian and Matt: In a way I quite admire you guys for your sobriety. I imagine it must be quite hard. What is the drinking culture like where you each live? (And everyone else, for that matter?)

And Brian, there is a degree of truth to your concern about starting drinking, I think. From personal experience, it can be far too easy to drink to numb depression or angst or whatever, rather than just to have fun.

[Shadow Wolf]

Hehe, guess I'm not the only one who prefers not to drink. :)

Well, I've never been drunk... and probably never will be. Alcohol has brought a traumatizing experience in my life. Of course, I have nothing against people who drink, unless they do any kind of harm when they do.

And as for the second question... I don't need to be drunk to say many things I regret later. Spontaneous comments often result in offenses (although unintentionally, it happens)

And this would make me qualify to answer Gavin's question: Puerto Ricans drink a lot. Young people at pubs, adults at social meetings, and since PR is a country with a lot of festive days...

Everyone pops their eyes in amazement when one says: "I don't drink". Then they ask: "Not even one (beer)?" and I say: "Nope". Then they usually wait like 3-5 seconds (while processing the fact that I don't drink) and say: "Well, that's good, I guess..."

[Gavin Luper]

Well, it is good, Louis, from a health perspective: short-term effects aside, alcohol has a whole range of long-term health problems that can be attributed to it.

I suppose my ideal these days is to have just a couple of beers most times when I drink.

Back when I was 16-20 we used to binge drink two or three times a week. These days I would only binge drink maybe once every couple of months. I'm growing up. :)

[mr_pikachu]

Everyone pops their eyes in amazement when one says: "I don't drink". Then they ask: "Not even one (beer)?" and I say: "Nope". Then they usually wait like 3-5 seconds (while processing the fact that I don't drink) and say: "Well, that's good, I guess..."

I've had that conversation too many times to count, myself. When I was working toward my bachelor's (which I completed just before I turned 21, the legal drinking age in the U.S.), I sometimes just told people I was underage to avoid the hassle. Unfailingly, though, they would ask something along the lines of, "Well, you're going to be doing plenty of drinking when you turn 21, right?" and the annoying conversation would ensue anyway. I eventually stopped trying to play the "I'm not legal!" card, because it only made the discuss last even longer.

These days, most people end with some sort of bewildered (or skeptical) compliment. Some instead work all the harder to push alcohol on me. It's strange.

[Gavin Luper]

I've had that conversation too many times to count, myself. When I was working toward my bachelor's (which I completed just before I turned 21, the legal drinking age in the U.S.), I sometimes just told people I was underage to avoid the hassle. Unfailingly, though, they would ask something along the lines of, "Well, you're going to be doing plenty of drinking when you turn 21, right?" and the annoying conversation would ensue anyway. I eventually stopped trying to play the "I'm not legal!" card, because it only made the discuss last even longer.

These days, most people end with some sort of bewildered (or skeptical) compliment. Some instead work all the harder to push alcohol on me. It's strange.

I've never understood why people push alcohol on other people. Or drugs or anything else for that matter.

I had the same experience last year and into early this year when I had 13 months completely sober. People were constantly asking "why?" and "just have one", etc.

Apparently your own health and beliefs aren't good enough reasons for these people.

[Gavin Luper]

Just realised that clip has way too much profanity to be posted in here, so I'll link to the post in Mt Moon instead for people who don't mind language:

http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showpost.php?p=525117&postcount=3080

(Thanks Brian for finding the post ^_^)

[classy_cat18]

I only have a couple drinks at a time, and I can easily go for weeks without alcohol. Add to that the fact that I only go after "sissy" drinks (wine coolers being the norm), and I'm fine. I don't go past tipsy and I've never had to worry about a hangover.

[Gavin Luper]

I always hear Americans talk about wine coolers in movies and stuff - what are they?

I'm guessing there'll be a similar term in Australia for them.

[mattbcl]

Brian: See, it seems like a joke, but in fact I do get annoyed when I pass from the waking world into sleep, because just enough of me is aware of it happening that it gets me incensed. Then typing somehow becomes an automatic thing. My hands keep going. Maybe I should try to save instances where that happens... I can recall three separate cases this past year where my hands were typing out a description of what I was seeing in the dream I was having. For the life of me, I can't figure out why I didn't keep it!

Gavin: Drinking is a prevalent activity where I live, because it's a middling town for size and people who drink excessively justify it by saying, "There's nothing else to do here!" Total BS, of course. But among my circle of friends, there's absolutely no pressure, which I love.

You mentioned peer pressure, and I did experience that for a long while - from my co-workers, of all sources. One in particular was quite adamant that he was going to see me consume a beer before the end of his employment. (He never did. I've never had a drink.) Then he got the axe for calling in sick all the time... dude couldn't hold his liquor. There's a certain poetic justice here, and it only served to reinforce my resolve.

[mr_pikachu]

Brian: See, it seems like a joke, but in fact I do get annoyed when I pass from the waking world into sleep, because just enough of me is aware of it happening that it gets me incensed. Then typing somehow becomes an automatic thing. My hands keep going. Maybe I should try to save instances where that happens... I can recall three separate cases this past year where my hands were typing out a description of what I was seeing in the dream I was having. For the life of me, I can't figure out why I didn't keep it!

...You're actually able to accurately sleeptype? I thought you meant that your fingers kept hitting keys, forming a long string of fggngggggggggghghghhghhhggggggggggggg. How do your hands even stay in the right positions on the keyboard?

Also, I never remember falling asleep. My memory stops at a point that I assume is the beginning of my fade-out period. I have had some rough I-didn't-mean-to-fall-asleep experiences, though... some of the worst were the ones where I was playing Pokemon in bed, I hadn't saved for awhile, and the battery died before I woke. :P

[classy_cat18]

I always hear Americans talk about wine coolers in movies and stuff - what are they?

I'm guessing there'll be a similar term in Australia for them.


They're basically a mixture of alcohol (wine or malt) and fruit juice. Just enough alcohol to make the majority of Adult Swim shows funny.

[Gavin Luper]

Hm. Sounds completely different to anything we have here.

The "girly" drinks here would be Vodka Cruisers or Passion Pop or something like that.

[mattbcl]

...You're actually able to accurately sleeptype? I thought you meant that your fingers kept hitting keys, forming a long string of fggngggggggggghghghhghhhggggggggggggg. How do your hands even stay in the right positions on the keyboard?

Yeah, I can do it, but I'm not sure I would consider it a talent. As for how my fingers stay where they're supposed to, I wish I had a proper answer for you there. The best I have to offer is I did take a couple classes that attempted to, for lack of better terminology, teach our fingers how to remember where they are on the keyboard. Home keys and all that nonsense. Plus, the more tired I get, the more my fingers cling to specific locations on the board... might not be all nonsense after all.

[Shadow Wolf]

Brian: Oh my, you've just triggered my memory lane with that experience. It would be annoying to capture a legendary (after wasting 60 ultra balls), fall asleep without saving and on the next day, plug the GBA, attempt it again and only waste 5 Ultra balls to capture it. :rotfl:

Matt: What an amusing paradox you have there. Have you tried writing a novel while falling asleep? *is serious when asking*

[mattbcl]

Matt: What an amusing paradox you have there. Have you tried writing a novel while falling asleep? *is serious when asking*

Well, I've been in the middle of writing when I got so drowsy that I started to sleep-type, yes (I think that's what you asked). I've never tried compiling anything I write that way, though. Maybe I should do that for a NaNo project next year, just put together everything I wrote while snoozing and try to weave it all together in a massive mosaic of WTF'ery.

[mr_pikachu]

It would still make more sense than The Life of a Headless Mole! (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?t=23924) Not that being more rational than Jimm should necessarily be the goal -- nor that it's necessarily a good thing, as he certainly knew how to draw the laughs from me with his inanity -- but it would undeniably make more sense.

[mistysakura]

Hm. Sounds completely different to anything we have here.



Fruit punch, no?

[Gavin Luper]

Fruit punch, no?

^_^ Well effectively I guess, but I thought wine coolers were like commerically-sold bottles of stuff, kind of like vodka cruisers but like wine instead of vodka and fruit juice instead of syrupy stuff.

Americans, help to clarify?

[classy_cat18]

^_^ Well effectively I guess, but I thought wine coolers were like commerically-sold bottles of stuff, kind of like vodka cruisers but like wine instead of vodka and fruit juice instead of syrupy stuff.

Americans, help to clarify?

They are commercially sold. My favorite brand is Seagrams.

[Gavin Luper]

I think that clears it up then. They are like commercially-sold alcoholic fruit punch.

[Gavin Luper]

:lemoncool:

[Charles Legend]

Gavin your hilarious... :rolleyes:

Anyways I have decide that before I start writing a new story, that I should map out the locations all the locations my story that way no one freaking bits my head off about them when they show up in it. The only problem is I can't find a Pinwheel Forest tile set... :(

I wanted to use the trees as the entrance to the forest makes sense considering the fact most of the maps I plan are going to be loosely based off maps from Legend of Zelda but have a Pokémoness look to them despite the fact there well be a ton of references to the Legend of Zelda, thought I do plan to use tiles from other games such as Zombies Ate My Neighbors if only for some of the tiles namely because I was thinking of having one of the gym leaders is a mad scientist.

I'm debating with myself whether or not to have the story actually take place in the land of Hyrule or just a region Loosely based off of it...

Pro: Most of the maps of the maps I plan are locations based in Hyrule. however I only chose Hyrule do to the fact it's some what based of Europe...

Con: if I go with the Idea that it takes place in Hyrule then I would most likely have to stick with only the canon locations lest the Zelda fans bite my head off if I were to add non canon locations...

~Charles Legend

[Shadow Wolf]

THIS IS THE MOST VIEWED THREAD ON TPM

Woot! Not even ASB has achieve that. :P

Anyway, I've been thinking of making a fiction based on one of my favorite games: Borderlands. However, to be honest, it will be the first time I'll make a fiction (yes I do poems, but the idea of having a big story with a lot of chapters kinda intimidates me). Plus considering that I have grammar problems here and there.... well, I'm a bit afraid to take the chance, to be honest.

On a rambling note: I'm feeling a bit frustrated about my little brother. I don't complain that he talks (argues) on the phone with his girlfriend almost all day... I don't complain that most of the time I have to clean the backyard alone when my dad sends both of us to do it... I don't complain that I lent him my car and, because of his iron foot and his hollow pocket, my car is now broken... but what I DO complain is that sometimes, even though I am right in my reasoning, my mom or my dad defend him.

-This morning, for example, he took my mom's car to university because his "buddy" didn't picked him up. His buddy has done this since the last week. If he's doing that since last week, then you should find an alternative way to go to university (Either contact your friend and talk about it or find another one who takes you there until we can fix the car). He did nothing all day (this is without taking into consideration that he sent my mom to do his homework, which has me very angry too) except talk to his girlfriend on the phone (oh, and before mom did this, he wanted his girlfriend to do it....). He didn't contacted his "buddy" either. And today, he tried to call him at 5am to see if he could take him to university. Of course, he wasn't picked up, and in the end, as I stated earlier, he took my mom's car. What made me mad out of all this is that my mom was defending him, saying that his buddy was acting like that and that he couldn't do anything about it....

I would probably follow all of this with a lot of cursing and swearing, but I know I will achieve nothing by doing this... so I prefer to just write it down somewhere and see if someone has gone through the same situation, so I can feel like I'm not the only black sheep in my house. [/end of rambling]

[mattbcl]

You're not alone here, Louis. I know what it's like to live in the realm of extreme unfairness, and someone being defended when they shouldn't be.

A few years ago, I had a good friend share my apartment with me over the summer. At least, that was the intention. He ended up being the worst sort of deadbeat you could have for a roommate. He threw his trash everywhere but the can and never helped pick up around the house. He used all my dishes, never washed any of them, and broke a couple (they were inherited from my passed-away grandparents). He ate all the food I bought and left me nothing, then always somehow found the money to treat himself to Dairy Queen - but when he invited me along, he always said he only had enough cash for himself. He didn't pay rent the entire time he was here, and he spent almost all his days sitting half-naked in the game room playing World of WarCraft. He didn't even bother trying to find a job - and I prodded him about that repeatedly - until I threatened to kick him out, because I had absolutely no money and he was offering no assistance whatsoever. Five weeks of nagging him to take a full bin of soda cans to the recycling center saw him finally do it - then he used the trade-in money to buy himself a nice big meal at Dairy Queen before I got home from work that day.

He got a job and I confiscated his first paycheck to go towards his 3-months overdue rent. I got his second one, too. He complained I wasn't leaving him anything to enjoy. Well, duh. And the whole cycle still continued; he was still the worst slob. August came around and he went back to his mom's house, which he hated living in because she's very controlling. I didn't get even half the rent money back, never mind all the grocery money I spent on the guy. Financially, I was still floundering. I wrote a letter explaining the situation to his mom. She turned into a mother grizzly on me over the whole mess, defending her poor baby boy from his terrible friend. She did eventually offer to pay me the rent money back, and I accepted - a little is better than nothing. But we didn't so much as say a word to each other for a year.

We hang out now and again, but I've learned my lesson. I get him one gift on his birthday, one on Christmas, and otherwise, he doesn't get a dime from me. And I stay away from where he lives.

[Gavin Luper]

You're not alone here, Louis. I know what it's like to live in the realm of extreme unfairness, and someone being defended when they shouldn't be.

A few years ago, I had a good friend share my apartment with me over the summer. At least, that was the intention. He ended up being the worst sort of deadbeat you could have for a roommate. He threw his trash everywhere but the can and never helped pick up around the house. He used all my dishes, never washed any of them, and broke a couple (they were inherited from my passed-away grandparents). He ate all the food I bought and left me nothing, then always somehow found the money to treat himself to Dairy Queen - but when he invited me along, he always said he only had enough cash for himself. He didn't pay rent the entire time he was here, and he spent almost all his days sitting half-naked in the game room playing World of WarCraft. He didn't even bother trying to find a job - and I prodded him about that repeatedly - until I threatened to kick him out, because I had absolutely no money and he was offering no assistance whatsoever. Five weeks of nagging him to take a full bin of soda cans to the recycling center saw him finally do it - then he used the trade-in money to buy himself a nice big meal at Dairy Queen before I got home from work that day.

He got a job and I confiscated his first paycheck to go towards his 3-months overdue rent. I got his second one, too. He complained I wasn't leaving him anything to enjoy. Well, duh. And the whole cycle still continued; he was still the worst slob. August came around and he went back to his mom's house, which he hated living in because she's very controlling. I didn't get even half the rent money back, never mind all the grocery money I spent on the guy. Financially, I was still floundering. I wrote a letter explaining the situation to his mom. She turned into a mother grizzly on me over the whole mess, defending her poor baby boy from his terrible friend. She did eventually offer to pay me the rent money back, and I accepted - a little is better than nothing. But we didn't so much as say a word to each other for a year.

We hang out now and again, but I've learned my lesson. I get him one gift on his birthday, one on Christmas, and otherwise, he doesn't get a dime from me. And I stay away from where he lives.

Jeez, he sounds like a douche. I would've kicked him out, personally.

And Louis, that sounds rough that your parents don't see him for what he is. I know people who are like that, too, and I find it incredibly difficult to get along with them without calling them out on their shit. These days, I usually end up doing it: my anger will serve me better by being assertive and letting them know how I feel, rather than holding it in and bottling it up and eventually giving myself an ulcer or something.

Even if everyone thinks you're wrong and defends the other person, it's okay to express how you feel. Although I respect that it would be different if you're actually living with the people involved, since you can't remove yourself from that situation if you need to.

[classy_cat18]

I had a roommate I hated too. She was in a sorority so she had a few buddies on our floor she was friendly with. But I wasn't on their level at all. In fact, I was more like...well, you'd think that being dorm roommates would mean there'd be some friendliness but there wasn't. Every thing I did annoyed her. I had to turn on the light when I got ready for my morning classes because my desk lamp wouldn't work, but she reported me for that because she was trying to sleep. Meanwhile when it was the other way around, she had the light on and had the TV on MTV. She'd complain about my making noise while drinking tea. She'd leave stuff on my end of the room. She was completely cold, and didn't want anything to do with me.

I'd rant about my brother but that'd take all day.

[Crystal Tears]

Odd question… have any of you ever had a fan that actually turned you off writing a certain story?

I’m only asking because I just watched the trailer for the installment of STARCRAFT II, and it reminded me of my fic I was writing based on it. I actually stopped writing it because of this one guy (who will go unnamed) on fanfiction.net. Though he claimed to love the fiction, nothing I wrote was ever good enough. It wasn’t even real things to critique, it was nitpicking over decisions I made *in the game*. Most of the things he’d complain about it, it wasn’t worth reading. I don’t know why though I took it somewhat personally (probably because it was constant).

Now, for those of you who don’t know, when I started writing this story, my sister got very sick and I didn’t exactly feel inspired to write. Anyone here would surely understand the reasoning behind my writers block/lack of inspiration. So, when I finally did put together the next chapter (taking me around 6 months), he decides to complain about it (both the chapter, and the gap between chapters) despite him reading my ff.net profile page thing that explained that I was terribly busy, uninspired and overall just not wanting to write.

I sucked up it, attributing it to me being sensitive. My love for the fic dwindled, and then, right when I felt like writing a bit more and maybe resurrecting my inspiration, he sends me a PM.

And tells me, fans (more specifically him) expect to wait just 1 – 14 days for a chapter.

ARGH.

Anyways… Just needed to vent about it, I suppose. Toodles~

[Gavin Luper]

Odd question… have any of you ever had a fan that actually turned you off writing a certain story?

I’m only asking because I just watched the trailer for the installment of STARCRAFT II, and it reminded me of my fic I was writing based on it. I actually stopped writing it because of this one guy (who will go unnamed) on fanfiction.net. Though he claimed to love the fiction, nothing I wrote was ever good enough. It wasn’t even real things to critique, it was nitpicking over decisions I made *in the game*. Most of the things he’d complain about it, it wasn’t worth reading. I don’t know why though I took it somewhat personally (probably because it was constant).

Now, for those of you who don’t know, when I started writing this story, my sister got very sick and I didn’t exactly feel inspired to write. Anyone here would surely understand the reasoning behind my writers block/lack of inspiration. So, when I finally did put together the next chapter (taking me around 6 months), he decides to complain about it (both the chapter, and the gap between chapters) despite him reading my ff.net profile page thing that explained that I was terribly busy, uninspired and overall just not wanting to write.

I sucked up it, attributing it to me being sensitive. My love for the fic dwindled, and then, right when I felt like writing a bit more and maybe resurrecting my inspiration, he sends me a PM.

And tells me, fans (more specifically him) expect to wait just 1 – 14 days for a chapter.

ARGH.

Anyways… Just needed to vent about it, I suppose. Toodles~

He sounds like a douche, and he's not the kind of fan you would really want, although I know that writing fanfic means most of us will take anyone we can get. Nonetheless, I'd put him in his place: you don't deserve to take that kind of crap. If he gets offended and abandons the fic, so be it. If he reigns in his behaviour and stays on, then it's a good outcome. Either way, I'd suggest it's probably better than what's happening right now. You shouldn't have to put up with that shit and personally, I wouldn't. You don't need to be overly confrontational, just direct.

This hasn't happened to me before, although in my years modding here I have seen it happen to other writers and fans (I won't name them). It produces a toxic kind of environment and doesn't make either the writer or the reader feel good. I would just say something directly and tell him its your creation, not his, so if he wants to keep enjoying it, he should back off the nitpicking and show some damn respect.

Hope that advice helps?

[Lady Vulpix]

I had a similar problem once, with someone who used to say he loved my writings. There was a moment when he started scaring me, by saying he worshiped the ground I stepped on (I should have paid more attention to that huge hint that the guy was sick, but I didn't want to believe it). That didn't last long, anyway, and he soon began to say really hurtful things about everything I wrote. That was when we both stopped reading each other's fics (he threw away his own fic around that time anyway because he stopped liking Pokemon). After that, it took me over a year to get back to writing, and I was only able to do it when I realized that he was the one who had a problem, not me.

[Gavin Luper]

I had a similar problem once, with someone who used to say he loved my writings. There was a moment when he started scaring me, by saying he worshiped the ground I stepped on (I should have paid more attention to that huge hint that the guy was sick, but I didn't want to believe it). That didn't last long, anyway, and he soon began to say really hurtful things about everything I wrote. That was when we both stopped reading each other's fics (he threw away his own fic around that time anyway because he stopped liking Pokemon). After that, it took me over a year to get back to writing, and I was only able to do it when I realized that he was the one who had a problem, not me.

That's pretty messed up, Gabi. Glad that experience didn't put you off writing altogether, though!

[Lady Vulpix]

Thanks, Gavin. I'm glad about that too, writing is very important to me.

[mattbcl]

When I try to discuss various ideas I have regarding stories I want to write with certain friends and acquaintances, they seem to inadvertently hijack the idea and twist it all around until it bears little resemblance to the original concept I meant to present. Consequently, I tend to get turned off to writing said tales and the original idea just languishes somewhere in my brain, gathering dust and cobwebs... pretty depressing.

Has anyone else had this experience? If so, what did you do about it?

[Lady Vulpix]

I used to do that back when I thought no one other than me could possibly like my stories (it was mostly due to some destructive criticism from a family member, who years later admitted that she simply didn't like the fantasy genre). But then I found someone who was interested in them and encouraged me to write them, so I gave some of them a shot. After that I had both good and bad experiences, but I don't regret it, and I'll keep writing whenever I can. Just because someone doesn't like my stories it doesn't mean they're not worth writing, and there's sure to be someone out there who can enjoy them.

[Gavin Luper]

Gabi, that's sound advice - and Matt, yes, I've felt that, too.

I tend to avoid talking in depth about the novels I want to write for a number of reasons. One of them is just wanting to keep my ideas close to my chest. But another is definitely the fear that my explanation of a story will be a disservice to the story itself: when I say to someone "oh, it's an action-adventure tale about xyz", I'm not giving them the most comprehensive picture of that story and so I'm putting it out there to be criticised and judged for something less than it is. My story becomes "some action-adventure tale" rather than something rich and nuanced. So when I summarise my plot, people see it in a different light than I intend, because they will have their own frame of reference.

In any case, you're not alone in not wanting to explain your story to others for fear that their interpretation of it will be inaccurate. However, despite not liking this, I tend to not let it get to me: even when someone gets the wrong end of the stick when I'm explaining a story, I just stick to my guns and know that my original idea is still solid and isn't changed by their skewed perception. Maybe just convincing yourself of your original idea's value and worth isn't the most mindblowing tactic, but it works for me.

[classy_cat18]

I tend to refrain from talking about my stories in real life period. It's all fanfiction and they're not going to be published, so no one I know in real life will know or care about what I'm working on.

[mattbcl]

Normally I might adopt that viewpoint, Shonta, and it'd be easy to dismiss fanfiction as an ultimately meaningless exercise, except it was my fanfiction authorship that led to several lasting friendships and two serious romantic relationships with "real life" people. I've learned, sometimes the hard way, not to share it with a few folks who I know won't care or who would want to offer unsolicited alterations, but I like bouncing ideas off friends. For that matter, it's hard for me to make friends at all, never mind establish romances, so fanfiction - whether publishable or not - will always have a special place in my heart and life for being the in-road that connects me to others.

[Gavin Luper]

That's pretty good, Matt - who would've thought Fanfiction could lead on to such positive real-life things?

For me, I keep writing LTL (a Fanfic) because I promised myself and my readers I would finish it, but also because I'm invested in the story and the characters: I have this deep need as a writer to complete it.

But the reason I still write this fanfiction is because, everything else aside, it gives me a great training ground for when I write actual novels. I've gleaned a wealth of knowledge about making and fixing plot holes, planning certain events, how to foreshadow plot twists and drop hints and clues into the narrative without readers noticing upon first read, developing characters, how important it is to have a clear idea of a character's attributes before writing, etc. So, personally, writing fanfiction is teaching me a lot of the things that I otherwise wouldn't learn until I started the first draft of an original fiction novel. And I'm hoping that I will have learned enough here so that, when I complete LTL, that first draft of a novel will then be that much stronger for the years I spent honing my craft here.

[The Blue Avenger]

So! Quick question! I'm stepping into e-publishing, and I was wondering:

Is it acceptable to make a topic in the Writers' Lounge for my book? My gut said no, then I saw another topic that basically did the same thing, so I thought I'd ask. :o

[classy_cat18]

Your book? I don't see why not.

[Lady Vulpix]

I don't see why not. As long as you're providing some information about it and encouraging discussion, rather than just asking people to buy it.

[Gavin Luper]

I've been thinking. I remember being at a local writing awards night when I was a teenager, and the guest speaker (some published author, I suppose, whose name I can't even think of) rambled on about how being a writer was such a lonely, sad life to lead, blah, blah, blah. It was all doom and gloom and I was determined to prove him wrong, and I definitely feel he was way off-base by saying being a writer is all depresso.

So I thought since this is Smiley Town, and we're mostly writery peeps here, we could try a new challenge with this thread:


The Smiley Town Challenge

Every single day, at least one person has to post in this thread and write about something that made them smile/made them laugh/made them happy in some way. Can be absolutely anything, as long as it doesn't break the forum rules: something that happened on the forum, at work, with a loved one, on a TV show, with mates, within your own thoughts ... anything.

Multiple posts from many people each day is even better, and we can all still discuss serious/sad stuff here, but as a group let's aim to ensure that at least one person keeps the thread alive every single day of the year with something upbeat. What do you guys reckon?

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

I'll start: Today I cracked up because I watched this clip:

hl1g4qzG9Ho

Any other Aussies familiar with this movie?

[classy_cat18]

SNOW! IN ALABAMA!

...I dunno about you guys, but that always makes me smile.

[Crystal Tears]

I was at the hospital filling things out before I could see a specialist. I hadn't slept nearly enough (I had about a rough hour) before I woke up and had to go. After I finished the sheet, my mom asked me to check on the back to make sure I hadn't missed anything.

So I flipped the clipboard over and said 'no, there's nothing' without realizing my error. My mother broke out into laughter and I quickly followed when it occurred to me what I had done.

Oops?

(side note: there was actually nothing on the back of the piece of paper, so I wasn't completely wrong!)


@Gavin: HA. I like it. >w>

@Classy: Snow is always awesome. It's too cold here at the moment to snow, so... all we get is wind-chill and frostbite. Wtfffff I'm jelly of you. D:

[Blademaster]

Today came.

I woke up to see it.

[Crystal Tears]

Uhhh, play halo with friends... My sister and I punched each other out.

Fun times.

Still playing too. :3

This feels like spam but this is what the challenge was. XD

[mattbcl]

Dungeons & Dragons with good friends. Lots of pizza, coffee, orange juice, fumbled dice rolls, and inappropriately flatulent players.

[Gavin Luper]

Graduated from my Honours degree last night and had a bunch of family with me to celebrate!

[mattbcl]

Congrats, Gavin, that's awesome! Your hard work is paid off (at least, I hope it is!).

[classy_cat18]

Went out to dinner at Olive Garden yesterday, complete with a free sampling of wine and great service. The best part? I didn't have to pay. ^^

[Crystal Tears]

Congrats Gavin! ^^

I actually finished the first chapter of my novel! This made me extremely happy, but it's rough and it will probably have to go through major changes before it's actually ready and I can move on.

But still...

:3

[classy_cat18]

Today I found out I bowl better when I'm buzzed. Seriously, after the first sip, my ball hopped out the gutter and knocked down eight pins. XD

[Blademaster]

Today came. It wasn't as beautiful as four days ago. But it still came.

And, again, I woke up to see it... Well, technically, I was WOKEN up, but... I could've not woken up at all.

[mattbcl]

I went to work, only to discover that we had no assignments for the day. So we sat in our shop for 4 hours and watched Hogan's Heroes on DVD. There really are worse ways in the world to get paid.

[ChobiChibi]

Hey fanfic! Come to share my happy things for the day :)

Most of you know I bake. Well, I baked these on Tuesday, but I decorated some today...

http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq92/chobichibi/AE18AFF1-9BB4-483F-B6D8-1408DAFD5C54-1134-0000010DAE5F996B.jpg

This one was a treat for le bf. After my housemate had commented that the man I'd made with buttons down him... "Are they nipples?" XD She's German, she no understand...

Also, she's wearing a thong XD *drew on the back*

[Crystal Tears]

Best gingerbread ever. ♥

I woke up today and had text from friends.

This always makes me smile.

[Gavin Luper]

Shonta: nice work with the bowling, woulda loved to see that play out!

Blade: it's the small joys in life!

Matt: man that sounds like a fun day at work! wouldn't say no to that for a change ay

Becki: that gingerbread man is both fantastic and atrocious

Sie: nice sig!

as for me, today I celebrated STRAYA DAY with my bf and some mates at a pool party, had a barbie for lunch, listened to hottest 100, watched the fireworks from a hill near my house with my bf and family, then had another barbie for tea, followed by rockmelon and icecream

fun times:)

[classy_cat18]

Yesterday, during a Big Team Infinity Slayer (Halo 4), I racked up enough points to call for a Gravity Hammer via ordinance and took out someone with it.

...Actually, we took each other out. Which counted as a Kill from the Dead!

[ChobiChibi]

First, to make up for the lack of happy yesterday, I will fill in XD Yesterday I had a dream about Oslo. Asking him about where he lived in Ontario, where is is now, and if that's near Calgary cos my bf might be going there and I was jealous. Then I told him hilarious stories about Magmar and then I woke up.

Today I beat the car insurance game. But that's not as exciting as the dream I had XD I had a dream that Crystal Tears and Pichu Luver came to the UK, and I was all excited and everything (like Squeeing at Sie with all the air in my lungs), but then I hugged Rio and I refused to let her go XD

So I've had dreams about... 6 TPMers over the years. My imagination is far too active at night, clearly.

Gavin, I love your description of the gingerbread :3 Except she is a lady... I have man and lady cutters XD

EDIT: ALSO. I got a B in my first Masters assignment. The one I spent weeks shitting myself about. FUCK YEAAAAH.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

I just won a Legendary figurine in Pokemon BrainStrain. Deoxys, to be exact. I'm not sure if it counts since I'm too amazed to smile. Anyways, Knight of Time let me choose the Forme and I took the Defense one, since, well, I'll need Defense tomorrow. My emotions took control in the library car a week ago, and one of my Aspergerish Facebook conversations from 2012/2/14 was finally reported to a teacher. We shall have a meeting with the teacher in the library tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it full of both excitement and fear.

[mattbcl]

Last night I wrote 3 pages of material. This is pretty amazing, given that I haven't really felt inspired to write until this past weekend.

Why? Well, because of this: my Dungeons & Dragons group is known for epic ridiculousness, but we played from 6 pm Saturday evening until about 3 am Sunday morning with perhaps only 2 or 3 breaks in between. One of our members, a school bus driver, had to go home because he was about to pass out (his biological clock was screaming at him to go to bed), and as these things so often seem to happen, the most epic turn of events began happening after he left. For about 15 minutes during this debacle, everybody in the room - including our fair and benevolent Dungeon Master - was convinced that a member of our PC party was going to die horribly (DM said with finality in his voice, "Oh, he's definitely going to die"). Instead, fate seemed to be on this character's side and permitted him an escape from such an end at the last moment, but his actions have now condemned the entire capital city in which our party has been adventuring.

During this whole exchange, two of us were on our feet and pacing about the room nervously, waiting with total anxiety for the end of the confrontation. Nobody expected this character to survive, and yet he managed to get away from an otherwise inescapable enemy. At the end of it was a large exhalation from the entire group, and we all found ourselves regretting that our bus driver couldn't have been there for it - but I was inspired by the events, and so I said, "Nobody tell him. I'll write it."

You can probably guess that 3 pages doesn't nearly cover everything (you may have noticed my penchant for excruciating detail). But it's a good start, and I'm planning to have the drabble complete by Wednesday evening.

[mattbcl]

I have a day off today. This makes me happy.

[Charles Legend]

I crack myself up...

seeing how I depict the Grays as being a six foot gray humanoid ant like alien with big black compound eyes and three fingered hands and feet. then have one snarl at Charles “Don’t call me a cockroach!”

~Charles Legend

[Lady Vulpix]

Last night I wrote 3 pages of material. This is pretty amazing, given that I haven't really felt inspired to write until this past weekend.

Why? Well, because of this: my Dungeons & Dragons group is known for epic ridiculousness, but we played from 6 pm Saturday evening until about 3 am Sunday morning with perhaps only 2 or 3 breaks in between. One of our members, a school bus driver, had to go home because he was about to pass out (his biological clock was screaming at him to go to bed), and as these things so often seem to happen, the most epic turn of events began happening after he left. For about 15 minutes during this debacle, everybody in the room - including our fair and benevolent Dungeon Master - was convinced that a member of our PC party was going to die horribly (DM said with finality in his voice, "Oh, he's definitely going to die"). Instead, fate seemed to be on this character's side and permitted him an escape from such an end at the last moment, but his actions have now condemned the entire capital city in which our party has been adventuring.

During this whole exchange, two of us were on our feet and pacing about the room nervously, waiting with total anxiety for the end of the confrontation. Nobody expected this character to survive, and yet he managed to get away from an otherwise inescapable enemy. At the end of it was a large exhalation from the entire group, and we all found ourselves regretting that our bus driver couldn't have been there for it - but I was inspired by the events, and so I said, "Nobody tell him. I'll write it."

You can probably guess that 3 pages doesn't nearly cover everything (you may have noticed my penchant for excruciating detail). But it's a good start, and I'm planning to have the drabble complete by Wednesday evening.
Now I'm intrigued. :o

I keep thinking about Quest of Twelve and how I still have to write the final chapter... but then I think about all the other things I should be doing and... I'm afraid it'll have to stay on hold, probably for a few more months. :\

[mattbcl]

Now I'm intrigued. :o

I got the piece done yesterday after a titanic push that involved another 10 pages. Considering posting it here for scrutiny.

[mattbcl]

Another awesome evening of Dungeons & Dragons tonight. Amongst the exchanges:

Little boy: "Look, Grandpa, I'm a knight in shining armor!"
Grandpa: "Get a real job!"

[Blademaster]

...How does this place have more views than every other thread on the site combined?

I've never understood that, but lately it's really been bugging me to not know.

[mattbcl]

If I recall correctly, it had something to do with Jay's hack attack last year. Threads that were deleted were restored into this singular post, but all the viewcounts went here too, and they couldn't be properly returned to their respective origins when the threads themselves were all properly redistributed.

Of course, there's a decent chance my recollection is entirely off.

[Gavin Luper]

If I recall correctly, it had something to do with Jay's hack attack last year. Threads that were deleted were restored into this singular post, but all the viewcounts went here too, and they couldn't be properly returned to their respective origins when the threads themselves were all properly redistributed.

Of course, there's a decent chance my recollection is entirely off.

Your recollection is more or less correct. We had a megathread and after sorting through it all it ended up carrying a whole heap of viewcounts so we gave it all to Smiley Town.

Breaking that thing apart was one of the most painstaking things we mods have ever done. It took about a week from memory, and we were mostly working at it every day for hours. But hey, we got the forum's/world's biggest viewcount out of it, so I figure it's really a win for us.

[Blademaster]

Not fair. :mad:

[mattbcl]

On the negative side: two friends came down with stomach flu this weekend, which means our D&D'ing will likely be postponed until next week. Oh well.

On the positive side: those who made it here are having a wonderful time with us, playing various ridiculous tabletop games, eating soup and cake and ice cream, and generally enjoying each others' company.

[mattbcl]

Do I see a working TPM?

Thumbs up!

[ChobiChibi]

Hooray! We're back! :D

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

My life was empty for few days.

[Blademaster]

Same. I was considering suicide, but I saw the site was back while I was waiting for my gun license to be approved.

[classy_cat18]

Same. I was considering suicide, but I saw the site was back while I was waiting for my gun license to be approved.

Damn paperwork.

Red Dwarf is on Netflix. That's what I have to be happy about. Oh, and I finally got a chance to see the inside of a used electronics store that they advertise on the radio over here. Pure...paradise. Got two volumes of manga for under ten bucks.

[Blademaster]

I apologize in advance for my absolutely abysmal technological knowledge...

What, in simple words, IS Netflix?

Is it movies or TV? Is it ON a TV? Is there a limited selection, or can you pick fom pretty much every movie (or TV show) ever made? How much does it cost, if anything? Does it get cable like HBO and Cinemax, or is it just basic?

SOMEONE EXPLAIN THIS WITCHCRAFT TO ME.

If you really need to laugh/make yourself feel better, I never had TiVo either. And we only stopped using beepers around the turn of the millennium. Hell, I didn't even know what a computer was until the late '90's.

[Crystal Tears]

Netflix is basically a large assortment of movies and TV shows that you can watch whenever you want. You sign up for it, and through their program (that's available on the PS3, WiiU, 360, and the internetz) you can pick whatever movie you'd like and watch it for free (You pay a monthly fee), but if you love to watch movies its a lot cheaper then buying every movie.
I believe it also rotates what movies it has available. Or at least it does for Canada. Canada's choices are severely limited, but we're told that the American Netflix has a much larger database of movies and shows to pick from.

My friends have it, we watch movies regularly through my bff's PS3.

If you want to try it, I believe they have a month free trial.

I GET TO WORK TOMORROW, I'M EXCITED.

*runs off*

[ChobiChibi]

Blade, TiVo only just made it to this country in the last year or so. So don't feel so far behind XD

We've had netflix for a while, but it sucks over here. It's been around longer than TiVo and it sucks. There's not a big enough variety and things take ages to be put on it. So therefore I don't use it.

I'm happy today because today is a stress-free practical music day. I had a singing lesson, windband (I fucking love playing Bari Sax, it's unreal) and later I get to go teach my a capella choir the first verse and chorus of a song I've arranged for them. Tuesdays are good days :3

It feels weird grammatically correcting syllables when you're arranging though XD Do do do do, do do do do do. Do do do do do, do do do do do.

[mattbcl]

There's another bari sax player here? And it's the same person who appreciates bass clarinets? Good lord, woman! *fistbump*

[ChobiChibi]

:D Yay! *fist bump* I wish it was my instrument, I play my housemate's. But I love it. I prefer bass instruments. So one day I will buy a Bari and Bass Clari <3

EDIT: Although, since posting this, I have discovered that the bari made a hole in my top. I caught it on one of the bits that holds the bell to the main body of the instrument, and untangled myself, thinking nothing of it (it happens all the time). Then later when I got home, I found a hole :( It's one of my fave tops! D:

[Blademaster]

...So, Netflix is a pre-chosen selection of movies (no TV) that costs a monthly fee to browse through?

...

What's the point? I can just watch the same stuff online for free. :confused:

[mattbcl]

No, no, there's a plethora of television shows also available on Netflix. I use it all the time. Many of my favorites are there.

[classy_cat18]

They've recently made a deal with Disney to show their movies too. The classic ones, not just the recent ones.

Plus it's legal. No fear of going to look for it only for someone to have taken it down. Netflix's stuff does expire, but they give you a warning and it's usually back up later anyway.

[Charles Legend]

Just asking but has anyone here used Jbox to order stuff from Japan, if so how reliable is it? because I was thinking of ordering the Coro Coro comic, I was namely thinking of getting it so I can help revel information about new pokémon instead of siting on the sidelines...

~Charles Legend

[mattbcl]

^ Never have, I'm afraid.

I wrote a bit on my D&D story the other day, but I'm having difficulty getting back off the ground for it any other day (including today). But I have a two-day weekend coming up, so maybe I'll have some time to devote to it.

[mattbcl]

Yesterday I learned my parents are going to be moving away this coming June (this is thanks to Dad's chosen profession in the ministry), after 12 years of service in our current community. Today he announced it to his church. While most were shocked and saddened by this news, there were some who were happy to hear it. Our youth leader was sitting in front of those people at the time and overheard their elation. He told my mom about it after the service - possibly not knowing that my mom has Sunday school class with those same people. She was understandably reluctant to go to Sunday school after that...

Makes me wish that people wouldn't be so harsh as to want each other to go away and never come back. And then I wonder how much of a hypocrite I am... after all, I've had that same desire about several people who have made impacts on my life.

[Chris 2.1]

I think Netflix is cool. In the UK (London specifically) a cinema ticket can cost you £12-£13 so paying £6 a month for access to a huge database of recent TV and movie releases is great. Also, people are using their laptops for TV and DVD watching so much now; in my flat we just sold our crappy old TV because we never sit downstairs and use it. Also saves on a TV license, which is good!

[Blademaster]

...A TV license...?

[ChobiChibi]

In the UK, you have to pay a yearly fee to watch live TV. It goes to the BBC, which is why there are no adverts on any of their channels. But you have to have one in order to watch anything on TV. Note how I said live TV. You can watch catch up TV without needing a TV license. This is how Chris saves money by not needing to buy a TV license.

But, weirdly, you need one in order to use game consoles. Strange, I know, but hey.

[Blademaster]

...That is absolute nonsense.

[ChobiChibi]

It's interesting, though, since they're calling for the BBC to tell everyone what they spend that money on. It's about £150 per the majority of households across the UK. It would be very interesting to see what it reveals.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Enough with the British TV talk, watching Code Geass from the internet made me happy today, I was actually able to grasp some of the plot and got why one of my friends recommended it to me!

[Gavin Luper]

...That is absolute nonsense.

I have to concur.


Enough with the British TV talk, watching Code Geass from the internet made me happy today, I was actually able to grasp some of the plot and got why one of my friends recommended it to me!

Discovering a new TV/movie/novel/comic book series is great fun. Recently got into Mad Men, now have charged through all five seasons and am hanging out for season six.

Anyone made any recent discoveries that they would recommend?

[classy_cat18]

Anyone made any recent discoveries that they would recommend?

The 70s Lupin anime (both red and green seasons) are available on Hulu. One of the few shows on there that I think is worth the annoying commercial breaks.

Not sure what's available worldwide. I've been watching Classic Doctor Who on Netflix and it's great...but strangely there are no Dalek episodes. What gives?

[Blademaster]

I recently watched the anime Gurren Lagann for the first time.

It's really pretty cool if you can endure the earlier episodes... or if you can't. You won't miss too much.

[mattbcl]

This new format threw me off. It's not April 1 here yet so it took me a few moments to figure out what I was looking at.

[Lady Vulpix]

This new format threw me off. It's not April 1 here yet so it took me a few moments to figure out what I was looking at.
Mission accomplished. :D

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

To me, this was the most obvious April Fools ever, since Ponymasters was mentioned before.

Everypony, somepony and nopony.

I'd like to see if that 'word glitch' stays after today, I have seen something like this in other forums as well but don't know how it works in practice.

[Gavin Luper]

So I have gotten into Doctor Who for the first time ever. Any other Whovians out there?

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

No, I have never watched Doctor Who although I have had months of time after that post of yours, Gavin.

It's so quiet here in Fanfic, which only reflects the general quietness around here at TPM. My writing projects were always too ambitious, it makes them almost impossible to finish. But I somehow was tempted to continue 'Pokemon and Death Note' or 'Sinuhe the Trainer' yesterday, don't know why. The most difficult thing I faced in those crossovers was that I felt like I was just unoriginal, re-doing the original plots.

[Lady Vulpix]

How come no one has posted here since April? Where is everyone?

Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I finally defended my thesis yesterday! So now I only have to write Spanish summaries of all chapters in my thesis (an annoying task, but the last annoying task!) and then it's just a matter of paperwork for me to officially get my PhD!

And then I'll get back to writing again, because I really, really miss writing fantasy rather than science.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Well congratulations Gabi!

I will be busy preparing my Japanese course, but still I think I will have some time for TPM. Some time.

[mr_pikachu]

...It's been years. Far too many years. You'd think that I would have more to say after all this time away. And yet, now that I'm actually here, staring at the blinking cursor, my mind is as blank as the text box before me.

Would it be reprehensible for my first Fanfiction post after all this time to be a surface-level "How have you been?"

I suppose that in a Smiley Town thread that I started over a decade ago, which apparently hasn't received any posts in almost eight years, anything is better than nothing, so let's just go with that.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Welcome back mr_pikachu! I can't find words, it's been so long!

As far as writing is concerned, I was planning a fanfic of some sorts to celebrate my 20th TPM anniversary but I couldn't make it so I just spammed and necroed Pyhätunturi threads. I also plan to write a more extensive and accurate autobiography but I won't prolly release it sooner than on my 40th birthday.

[mr_pikachu]

Yeah, I can definitely understand that, Mikachu. Honestly, right now, I'm just trying not to cry. I'm not having much success in that department.

Even if the sheer volume of activity on TPM isn't what it once was, it's home. That won't ever change.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Yes, TPM is also my internet home. Ever since I joined here in 2001, I wanted to post more and more. Every time when I check Who's Online and when I see the old threads and I click on them and memories flow into my mind. Perhaps it's in my nature, I found TPM a great way to express myself even though English isn't my first language. I have met so many awesome people here and because this forum has users all around the world, it has also had a big impact on my picture of the world. This forum has an unique history and a rich cultural base.