Shiny new Smiley Town *bling*

[mr_pikachu]

Tara, I'm sorry to hear you're resigning. It's too bad that life got in the way, but hopefully you'll be able to spend more time with it now without having to worry about Fanfic duties. I hope you do stick around, though. It's nice having people like you here.

I don't have any idea who those people in the story are, so I can't really comment on that.

[PancaKe]

^_^ Ill still be hanging around.

Ill make the effort anyway.

gah, my dog smells.

That chick sounds like she wants to be another Paris Hilton - but that might jsut be my opinion. Paris Hilton looks like a horse anyway IMHO.

Does anybody remember Bronze Umbreon from the boards? Yeah, I met up with him the other day in Parramatta It was cool. Just random infomration

[dratinihaunter13]

lol, i remember bronzie. next time you see him tell him i said what's up =-o!

[Bronzie]

Nothing much, whats up with you?

[Gavin Luper]

LMAO ... excellent.

Anyway: Tara - make sure you still hang around and keep in contact!!

And um ... in other news ... exams finished last week!! So, school is all over, all that's left is my TEE in November. Went to Perth straight after exams too. If any of you here ever happen to go to Perth (in Australia, not the other one) then make sure you go to King's Park, especially if the weather is nice. It's an absolutely beautiful view and the most relaxing time you can possibly have so close to the city.

Hmmm ... that was kind of random, but it is a really nice place ^^.

Cheers!

[Drago]

Wow, Smiley Town. These things still exist? Well obviously. Heh.

It's all spiffy to see all the sights and smell all the aromas of the fanfic forum again after months of actually being outside where the sun lives, though it seems that the tides are a-changin' round these parts again, what with Tara retiring from modism and me noticing that classy_cat18 actually mentioned Minty Thrill in the fanfic trivia section. Wee! Thanks classy. It lives on!!

To describe my week, I went to Wagga to visit my sister. It's a six hour drive each way, which isn't much fun. Though I got DK: King of Swing while I was up there. And it's is SPIFFY.

Say... I just realised something, since I don't write fanfics anymore (or haven't been to TPM for five months for that matter), isn't it improper for me to be socialising with all the writers in the writers lounge? Ooh, suitably cheeky of me.

[mr_pikachu]

Hey, DragoKnight! It's good to see you here. Great to have veterans like you back!

I've had a pretty good day. I got two essays and an exam back, and all were high As. I knew I worked harder than usual on them, and I'm glad it paid off. I also had a quiz which I feel very confident about. But the best part is that it's the weekend! *cheers*

It looks like the Golden Pen Awards are coming to a close, too. Good luck to everyone who was nominated. Let's hope dh and Ada can get those results out quickly!


EDIT: Oh, and before I forget, today's my three-year anniversary of registering for TPM. Woo!

[Lady Vulpix]

Congratulations, mr_pikachu! And welcome back, DragoKnight!
I'm having my first semi-free day in three weeks! Yay! I'll see how much I can write today.

[Edit: I've congratulated you on your anniversary and I've only just realized it's mine too. I've been on TPM for 5 years today! ^_^]

[Gavin Luper]

Congrats to mr_pikachu and Lady Vulpix on your respective anniversaries!

And DragoKnight! Great to see you back here again! How was your exile? And ... why was your exile? ^^ Anyway, welcome back!!

Anybody heard about Bali? A series of bombings tore through Kuta again on Saturday night, roughly three years after the original Bali Bombings. About 30-odd dead, including 3 Aussies, and dozens more injured. But apparently this one wasn't aimed at westerners like the 2002 bombings were - it was mostly local Balinese who were killed. This is apparently going to ruin their livelihoods as tourism makes up 80% of the Balinese economy. They are really devastated apparently.

Terrible stuff ...

[mr_pikachu]

Thanks for the congrats, Gavin!

Jeez. That's awful about Bali. A lot of really small countries thrive on tourists, so anything that keeps them away completely destroys the locals' economy and their lives. Hopefully they can get everything repaired quickly and start some sort of a campaign to draw people back.

[Gavin Luper]

Indeed, but it seems tourism there is going to collapse again. Heaps of Aussies live and work in Bali/Indonesia as it is our closest neighbour. After the 2002 bombings some left but eventually things returned to normal, more or less. Lots of people go over there all the time for holidays now; it had almost returned to normal. And then they go and bomb the place again. Reports are coming in of heaps of Aussie expats in Bali preparing to leave after this attack, especially as there are rumours of more attacks in the next few days. So the tourism and hospitality industries in Bali are going to be crippled, it seems. The poor Balinese people; to a large extent, they are the ones who have been hurt by the attacks.

Hmm ... not really Smiley Town at the moment is it? My apologies.

Cheers!

[Drago]

The recent Bali bombings are most tragic. It's a crippling blow not just now, but in the long run... Twice in such a short span, that's concerning and a serious blow. I remember visiting Bali back in the early days, but I wouldn't dare at this point. It's a sad reminder of the state of things.

On a merrier note, I thought I'd spread the lovin' and also throw a congrats to mr_pika for becoming the new mod of fanfic. Yeah I know there's a topic for it, but I'm a lazy git who can't click that many places at once. I'm damn sure you'll be an active contributor to running this hizouse. And jeez, that means that page 4 of this topic is overflowing with replies from mods and super mods and such. Y'all are like ants. Only with administrative powers...
No, I'm not quite sure what I'm on about, in case you're wondering.

Anyway, my absence is easily explained by my joining a local gridiron team in June. Training takes up a lot of time and I actually discovered myself a life out of the house, causing all sorts of shenanigans and the like. Much less time for the computer, much more time for stealing clothes off clotheslines at 3 AM. Long, long story.
Of course, I'm in year 12 and got this whole studying thing crammed down my throat... So I've sorta almost kinda been studying, too.

In any event, I contemplated dusting off the old writin' pen and jotting down a bit of a fic once more, but until I can decide what it'll be about (Something old? Something new? Something borrowed? Something... blue?), that pen will just be tapping pensively on the desk. ...Aww who am I kidding; I've never had a writing pen.

[mr_pikachu]

Yeah, Bali's in a bit of a crisis right now. Hopefully they can get the economy up and running again.

...Hmm. Gavin was right; this town really isn't very Smiley at the moment.

Thanks for the congrats, DragoKnight! Hopefully we can liven up the forum! ^_^ And yes, it is a little scary now, isn't it? Heh. Lots of administrative ants... I know there's a joke I can make here somewhere, but I just can't seem to find it. Meh, that statement can pretty much stand on its own, anyway.

Stealing clothes at three in the morning? Do tell! I'd like to hear this one.

And yeah, pencils are much better. *nods*

[classy_cat18]

What? mr_pikachu's a mod? *looks at list of mods* You are! Well, well, well. Congrats, mr_pikachu.

On an unrelated note, I started classes yesterday. Intro to CAD (Computer Aided Drafting), Photoshop II, English Comp I, and Art Appreciation I. I'm taking the latter two today. For my last batch of A's I got a $15 gift card to iTunes. I was in the kitchen yesterday singing "Man! I Feel Like a Woman" last night!

[mr_pikachu]

Yeah, I've been modded. It's like being a newbie all over again. ^^; Thanks, Shonta. I appreciate it.

What's Computer Aided Drafting, out of curiosity? I would guess at its meaning, but I already know I'd be completely off target. So, to skip a step, everyone can point and laugh now. (...But seriously, what is it?)

Do you like country music, Shonta? Even though Oklahoma's characterized sometimes as a state full of cowboys, I'm actually not much of a country fan myself. Although a few songs, such as that one, are catchy.

...And now it's stuck in my head. Crud.

[classy_cat18]

I can't really explain what Computer Aided Drafting is. They use it in architectural companies to give their customers a 3D view of their building just by using blueprints. I hope that cleared things up a little.

I like all kinds of music, but I'm not a hardcore fan of country. I mainly listen to mainstream country. I even went through a phase when I was into the Dixie Chicks. But it's mostly hip-hop for me.

[PancaKe]

congrats to mr pikachu!! ^_^ woot

[mr_pikachu]

Hey, thanks, Tara! I appreciate your support. I really do. Thank you!


I think I understand what you mean now, Shonta. I've seen programs like that before. And I understand your sentiments about country, even if I don't agree with hip-hop. To each his own (or in this case, her own).

[Gavin Luper]

Hi everyone, time for my weekly-ish post! ^^

Well, the end of this week signifies my second-last week of school ever. A week from now I'll be getting ready for Graduation! It's the most terrifying feeling, having to leave not only school but so many friends behind, the next week is going to be really shitty, but at the same time, it will be great to finish school, and it's easy to stay in touch with my closest friends, in any case. Anyway, it's a strange thing to experience on top of the exam study/pressure ... good when this is all over.

In somewhat better news, my lack of activity last term seems to have paid off, at least as far as my school results are concerned. I got 4 As (English, Chemistry, History and Physics) and a B for Applicable Maths, so I'm stoked.



^^ Wow, how boring have I become, divulging my GRADES to random people?

More interestingly, I'm going to the Randolph Stow Awards tonight. A short story I entered in the contest has apparently placed quite highly, though I don't know how well it went. In any case, it's great to have a story go well in a writing contest. I'll let youse know how I went later.

ANYWAY ... I just thought I'd post to revive Smiley Town a bit, there's not much smiling/talking going on in here!

Uh ... yes. Back to vegetating/studying I spose.

Cheers!

[mr_pikachu]

Hey, congratulations, Gavin! I hope you did well in the writing contest, and major congrats on graduation! It's scary, but you'll be thankful for the effort you put out to get to it. Especially once the event's over. ^_^;

My week has been pretty cruddy so far... I've had a cold/flu thing, a guy I was supposed to interview for a class let me down (it's not easy writing a story on a guy with only random internet articles to work with, let me tell you), I got a less-than-desirable grade on an exam I took last Friday, and I've got an exam on Monday which I'll be studying for all this weekend. Ugh.

But now that I'm procrastinating on TPM, I'm happy. Long live the procrastinators! Woo!

[The Decapitated Mole]

Hey everybody. Yes, I'm still alive [OH NOES?!?] and yes, things seem to be going well for me?

Oh, and I totally went and saw Franz Ferdinand in Boston last saturday. It was the most amazing fucking thing I've ever seen, let me tell you. They're so much better live than in the studio that it's, like, ridiculous. If you ever get a chance to see them, do not pass it up. And make sure you don't get stuck behind a girl with a MASSIVE FUCKING HEAD WHO WON'T STOP LEANING OVER AND TALKING TO THE PERSON NEXT TO HER FOR FOUR HOURS!!! Jesus christ, woman, if concerts were made for you to have chats in there wouldn't be a band at all, there would just be a big couch. And you wouldn't be allowed to sit on the couch, either, if you did that they'd throw you out. You'd just stand around for hours complaining about how much you want to sit on the goddamned couch. And people would PAY to get in!!!

yes.

[dratinihaunter13]

The album I heard from Franz Ferdinand is great. Every song on there worked for me, which is pretty rare O_o; . good to hear you are doing well mole.
my grades have been good except for biochemistry which is eating me alive. god i hate it. so much. which sucks cuz i'm planning to try med school after undergrad. that might require a little bit a talent in biochem, i dunno maybe. *siiiiigh* getting challenged in a class is such a drag. hopefully whatever i get doesn't sully my med school app. life's been good otherwise. me and three other guys won a volleyball tournament last weekend, which is amazing cuz i'm terrible at the game. as a prize we each get to name a dvd and reslife goes to get it for us. I don't know which dvd to get and my deadline is by tuesday! any suggestions? if i can't think of one i think i'll just make it a free christmas gift to someone. that's always good.

[mr_pikachu]

Jimm: Sorry to hear you didn't get to enjoy the concert to the fullest extent, but I'm glad it was enjoyable nonetheless. And I like the idea of the annoying talking lady concerts... might try to start one of those sometime.


Martin (that is your name, right?): Never heard Franz Ferdinand myself, though I've heard good things about them. I might listen to a CD of them at some point. It's too bad that biochem isn't treating you well. Challenging courses are never any fun, are they? And congrats on the volleyball victory! Hmm... I'd suggest something like The Emperor's Club. Or any Pokemon movie. Whatever works.


Everyone: Sorry I haven't been as active lately; I've been battling some sort of cold/flu thing. It's been driving me nuts. Add a couple of exams, several essays, numerous reports, and roommates who choose the worst nights to watch loud movies at 3 in the morning, and things've been a little tough lately. But I shouldn't have any major obligations for a little while, so once I blast this cold out of my system I should be able to get back into the full swing of things here. Yay! (Or "[random expletive]" if you dislike my reviews... hehe. ^_^; )

[Gavin Luper]

Hi everyone ... another weekly post ^^

Well, I got 2nd place in that writing contest last Friday, which was absolutely awesome, I'm stoked. It was a short story so I might post it up here once I have the time. Anyway, that was awesome for me.

And yesterday was muck-up day (last day of school). Possibly the best day of my school career - we graffitied our uniforms for the day and ran into town from up on a high hill, screaming the whole way. Followed by a day of more screaming and laughing and water fights and mud wrestling. Awesome fun. And then graduation was at night - last night. It is actually quite surreal, the elation of leaving is cancelled out by the sadness of farewelling the place and so many great people. And all the friends...

ANYWAY, it's really weird but good ... it definitely hasn't sunk in that we won't be spending every day together at school anymore. But for now, I have exams to worry about still ... so I'd better get back to studying.

:biggrin:

Cheers!

- Gavin.

[Lady Vulpix]

I finished correcting 2 exams and corrected 2 projects today (of course, they were #0 rojects, which are a lot easier to correct than others). One of the projects didn't even compile. I hate it when students hand in a programming project that doesn't compile, they didn't even care to try it themselves! Of course, they probably couldn't try it since the floppy disk it was on was unreadable. They wouldn't have a copy in their hard disk they could compile, right? Not when it's much easier to hand in a blatantly wrong printed code and a floppy disk that doesn't work. Sorry for venting out, I just hate it when students don't care about what they do.

[classy_cat18]

Gabi: I've seen those kinds of students. But if they're like me, they were probably thinking that it would've been better to turn in something other than nothing.

I made it into the 3D Elite! What's that, you may ask? Why, it's just a group of the most talented computer animation students at my school working on a project to show at SIGGRAPH and the Sidewalk Film Festival that's held in Birmingham! I'm working on animation. I'll have my name in the credits and everything!

[Lady Vulpix]

Wow, congratulations, Shonta! That sounds like a great achievement. What's the project about?

[mr_pikachu]

Gavin: Whoa, that's awesome! Second place in the contest; you should be proud! Obviously, though, everyone here knows you deserved first, without a doubt. *nods*

And good job with making it through to graduation, too! It is kind of a weird feeling, but its got to be nice to move on. Any plans for the future?


Gabi: Ugh, yeah, that's never good. They probably got desperate and looked for a disk that they thought they could use as an excuse... little did they know you'd be able to get the junk file off it! It's pretty bad when they couldn't even get the project to compile. I've had a few projects that still had logical errors when the due date arrived, but I always managed to get them to compile. Even if it didn't work properly, at least it worked somewhat.


Shonta: Hey, way to go! That sounds like a real honor! Congratulations on making it into that group, and good luck in the competition! And like Gabi asked, what are you doing for the event?


Everyone: Well, it's the weekend! Still dealing with midterms over here, but they'll be over at last in a couple of weeks. And then we have to study for finals... bleh. But, I'll be enjoying my freedom (see: procrastinating) while I can.

What are all of you doing for Halloween? I'll probably just be gorging on candy, myself.

[classy_cat18]

Gabi and mr_pikachu: The project is a 3-5 minute animation. The animation is about this animal activist that finds a bird in a pet store and frees it. Unfortunately, the bird gets hit by a truck. All my assignments are animation. No modeling or texturing.

What am I doing for Holloween? According to my church, I'm not supposed to be celebrating it. It's a pagan holiday. I might watch a couple of horror movies and pig out on sweets but that'll be it.

[dratinihaunter13]

congratulations classy! For halloween we got a lot of little kids running around our apartment complex, so I'm thinking we should grab some candy tonight to fend them off come the 31st. My roommate's birthday's on halloween too though, so we're considering taking candy out of the kiddies' bags when they get here, as a birthday present for the roomie . wahahahah

and yea mrpika, i'm martin. originally pronounced marteeeeen but not since my folks came to the US

[Lady Vulpix]

Ouch. Poor bird.

I don't do anything for Halloween, since I'm in Argentina.

Martin, where did your folks come from?

[dratinihaunter13]

Peru - Lima and Puno mostly. Suramerica 4ever Gabi

[Lady Vulpix]

Hehe. I knew two girls from Peru personally. We went camping together once. They were nice.

[mr_pikachu]

Aw, man! Just when I thought we could team up and rock those Aussie mods' world USA style, you tell me about this, Martin! So I'm the only native American FF mod... er, so to speak. I'm not a native American as in "Native American", I'm... augh, I was born in the US, dang it!

*cries at lack of coherency in his own posts*

Aaanyway, shifting gears for a moment, I just got back from helping my grandparents move. My folks have been trying to get them to move closer for ages, and they finally found a house they liked a few months ago. So, now they're living in it. And stuff. ...Yay?

Oh, and Shonta, a lot of churches say that Pokemon is the stuff of the occult. Not saying that the claims about Halloween are nearly so far-fetched as those made about Pokemon... just trying to put it in perspective. Heh, a lot of churches around here are throwing Halloween parties... freaky.

[Lady Vulpix]

And here we don't celebrate Halloween... I'm not sure whether it would be good to have it or not, I think it's good to celebrate as much as possible, but old traditions are getting lost quickly and being replaced with foreign ones, and I don't like that either. I like cultural exchanges, but not cultural replacement, if that makes any sense.

On a completely unrelated note, Brian, aren't you playing Lingo anymore? It was good to have you there, and now no one is playing it.

[Drago]

It all makes sense now! dh is, in actual fact, Martin Gramatica!! Admit it!!

My Halloween was uneventful, as you would expect, the holiday having nothing to do with Australia whatsoever. A bunch of kids from down the road demanded candy at 6:30 (not in costume, not even saying trick or treat. It was all about ze LOLLIES). I chucked a couple Milky Ways their way in the spirit of things, high off nostalgia from my trick or treating days back in Canada (where scamming dear grannies of the good candy was an art).

Of course, while checking the mail later on, I found that the little twerps had left the wrappings in my front yard. Typical. Next year I'll take Blackadder's advice, and make their present a fist. You can use it again, and again, and again.

Then to top off my evening I was attacked in Animal Crossing and had my items turned into pumpkins by a candy-obsessed mouse named Limberg. Never pictured Limberg to be that sort, but now I know for sure.

...I seriously miss the days when Halloween meant something. So what if they laughed at my Sonic the Hedgehog costume, that thing was revolutionary for its time.

[dratinihaunter13]

haha, no thankfully i'm not martin gramatica. he may have a more powerful foot, but i'm more accurage inside 5 yard field goals .

don't worry brian, i was born in Chicago. my parents moved to the u.s. right before i was born though, so my first language was spanish until i started going to school, then i had to learn english, and now my english is better than my spanish >_<. just about everyone in my huge family's in peru though, i miss them i wanna go visit again =(.

[classy_cat18]

DragoKnight: That's why I don't celebrate Halloween in Animal Crossing. You'll never know when your hard earned items will turn into pumpkins. Trick or treat! And those kids had no right to make fun of your costume. Sonic's cool, there's no denying that.

Luckily for me, I had some Buffy DVDs to watch today. I wish I had a party to go to like the one at Birmingham-Southern. They would show a movie on a big screen outside. Last time I went it was Final Destination.

[mr_pikachu]

Gabi: Yeah, I think I understand what you're saying. Better to relish timeless traditions than to say "out with the old, in with the new," eh?

And I'm playing Lingo again, so I hope that is satisfactory.


DragoKnight: Ah, yes, Halloween is indeed an art in more ways than just the creation of costumes. I had an entire system in my mind of routes and alternate routes based upon how many trick-or-treaters appeared to be in each area (for it is of the utmost importance to reach as many houses as possible before the good candy is gone). I remember that some kids used to bring multiple costumes so that they could visit the house of this rich lady (who always gave a wide variety of king-size candy bars) multiple times. But I, finding this a dishonorable method of obtaining candy, resolved to find more honest and efficient ways of gaining the great bounty of All Hallows' Eve.

And Sonic did indeed rock. He was much cooler back in the olden days than he is now, though.


Martin: Well, I guess I'll have to settle for that. Just kidding. Actually, it's cool that you're bilingual. I've always wondered what it might be like to understand other languages, and I've failed quite miserably at learning Spanish in my multiple attempts. And hopefully you can visit your family sometime soon.


Shonta: Buffy? As in Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Meh, I never really could force myself to watch that. Maybe I would have gotten hooked had I watched a little of it, but it always sounded so corny to me. *shrugs*



I really should be studying right now. I mean, I really need a good grade on tomorrow's midterm exam if I want to keep my GPA afloat. ...Aw, heck with it. TPM's of more importance than real life, anyway.

Well, I've just recovered from a cold/flu, and I'm now slightly hyper, though long beyond sanity. I've spent the past few weeks alternating between studying, browsing TPM, and writing a fun little computer program. And now I grieve, for I am forced to study texts I can barely understand - and I doubt I'd want to understand them, frankly.

...Aaanyway, just wanted to know how everyone else is, as we haven't had a Smiley post for almost a week. So... reply, dang it! (And play the FF Trivia Game while you're at it! )

[Lady Vulpix]

Thanks for playing Lingo, thanks for understanding and good luck tomorrow.