The Topic of Great Randomness

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

I got my brain broken last night at the convenience store. I paid for my food, and traded pleasantries with the clerk. Then he said:

"I really like your recording of celaphain."

I looked blank. "I'm sorry?"

"I really like the you did for Librivox. I actually have it here under the counter."

I was completely boggled. I'm not used to having online and offline collide that thoroughly. I asked if he had recognized the name on my badge from work. "That, and I recognized your voice, too."

Ok, I'm officially weirded out for this week. :-)

Do expand.

*sigh* Not much to expand. I'm doing tech support at a local call center for the OpenTable restaurant reservation system. I love the work, but I feel like I'm only getting paid about half what my time is worth. It wasn't quite as bad when Donna was working regularly as a sub at the daycare, but summer vacation season is over now, and things are starting to get... umm... interesting. :-(

[EricG1793]

Glad to hear things are going better, Garrett, and nice to see you again!

Do expand.

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

I also agree with this hoping that your wife is doing well Garrett.

Yes, Tuttle, she is, thanks. :-) And I'm employed again, after 8 months looking....

(Will probably expand later)

[SpacePen]

accidentally over-read? That is probably the worst concept I can think of.

Fortunately you can now start re-reading the millennium editions.... I'm enjoying reading through them "again" this way but with changes! I get so excited every time I notice a 'new' passage or sentence or phrase or detail.

[96bookworms]

Hey guys! Yeah, it does seem rather slow nowadays. I think, on my part, it was just me getting into middle and high school, and then just kinda drifting away...I used to be almost perpetually rereading the books, but now I haven't read them in years. I think I might have accidentally over-read them...I wish I could enjoy them like I used to!

I too wonder what happened to some of the other regulars from a while back. They seemed to be on here regularly, and then suddenly, they disappeared!

I went to this amazing camp called Great Books Summer Program last week, and it was so much fun! It was on campus at Amherst College, and we basically just had lectures and discussions on different excerpts and stories we read, as well as have a poetry recitation competition, and take art and literature electives. I chose book binding and The Experience of Reading It was great, because everyone else there was also into reading and books and other generally "nerdy" things!

ETA: Oh, and i'm also going to go see Tamora Pierce again next week! This makes the 4th time, and I'm still so excited!

[W.I.T.]

my bad, didn't realize I'd have to go mess with my settings :P it's fixed now (i think)

[EricG1793]

W.I.T., I tried to reply to your PM but got this error:

W.I.T. has chosen not to receive private messages or may not be allowed to receive private messages.

[W.I.T.]

I'm glad i'm not the only one who misses YW and chat, so kudos/thanks to Tuttle and mythbusterfan for the chat room ) this is sweeeeeeeet

[W.I.T.]

lol nice to see you too! your username was one of the first i recognized, i was like "no way, he's still on here!?" haha
I don't really know, honestly i was just bored and i remember awhile back someone saying that users that didn't get on within a three month period risked having to make a new profile, so i was like, "eh, they prob deleted me." tried my login for the heck of it. I've tried to join other forums but they honestly just don't have the charm of this one for me. This was my first forum, so its always kind of felt like home
i had moved down the street from where i used to live, and the people that helped us move stole our computer, so i didn't have much of a way to get back on, and when i got my own computer, i'd log in, see if anything new had occurred, but i didn't really feel like if it mattered if i posted anything or not. So i moved on, and as you said, life got in the way.I graduated high school, got a job, bought my first car _by myself_ with all of my own money (so proud) and paid cash money up front for it, and just never bothered to get on yw since i thought id have to make a new username and stuff. that's what i get for assuming haha.
and now that i have my own car, im doing anything i can to make some amazing memories this summer, just because i hate when you look back and think, "yeah, no, i did nothing that summer, except sleep." that's so bad

[EricG1793]

WIT! Nice to see 'ya.... 5 years, eh? What occurred that made you think to return?

Sometimes I wonder what happens to some of the people on here. They just... disappear. Do they forget? I know that, now that some other forums I'm a member on have dramatically slowed down/basically stopped, I actually forget to go in my daily routine of creeping my little usual fraction of the Internet. Do they have personal issues in real life? Or, perhaps... did they outgrow YW?!! Most likely, I think, is life getting in the way, namely... *dramatic pause* college. Eew. I can understand it having been through my first year of it, but I only took 3 and 2 classes for the semesters and I make my own hours working in the IT department at the high school I graduated from, so I am fortunate enough to still have a life. On the other hand, now I can really sympathize with those who go away to school, have a full-time school schedule, probably work whenever they can, and still try to have somewhat of a social life.

[W.I.T.]

I miss chat, and i have def missed this forum

I haven't been on here in foreverrrrrr, and i got back on and was like, "I'm gonna go see if my login still even works, probably not." Lo and behold, it works I figured there'd be all kinds of different users on here, but i recognize almost everyone's name (which is way cool ), and as i was scrolling through this wonderful forum i was looking at someone mentioning a chat room, and i honestly miss that the most. I miss talking to fans of the YW series in _real time_, and i hate that it got shut down, because its honestly not the same without chat. but at the same time, im afraid its just going to get clicked off and ruined again for people using it for the wrong reasons

[EricG1793]

*Crickets* *Tumbleweeds blow through YW forums*

Uhh, anyone here?

I started reading AWoM for the first time a few days ago! I got it (I waited for the paperback version to match my collection) either for this past Christmas or the Christmas before. This is the first time in a while that I've read a YW book for the first time, and yet again DD has really impressed me with altering my way of thinking about my place in the universe and what happens around me. The concept that we ourselves could be martians is what stands out in particular to me so far (I'm on page 133 now). It is truly enlightening... thank you, DD.

In other random news, my dad and I once again restored the overhead light in our den to operation. The den consists of a couch, TV (which never gets used anymore since he got rid of cable many moons ago), and my desk. My eyes got tired of staring at my computer screen for long periods of time with a flourescent light directly behind it, or of moving the lamp over and having the right one hurt more than the left one, so now I have nice, even, soft ambient light. Much healthier. I also repaired a broken hose today. And, of course, we had my niece's 1st birthday at my mom's today, which was great fun as always. It seems I don't see my mom's side of the family as much since my grandmother passed away 2 years ago. She was the mortar of the family -- not to say that there are any problems; on the contrary, it's fantastic family, but it just happens that we don't get together as often -- so every time I see them is particularly special nowadays.

[EricG1793]

You might remember my surprise at the announcement of Book 10: Games Wizards Play in one of the other threads that I posted several weeks ago. I was appalled at myself for not being around in all that time to hear the good news!

Then I reread this thread, thanks to MetroidMaster, who bumped it back up the list. I was reading through it all, thinking how great it sounds... turns out... I thanked DD for writing the post in January 2012 (which was still 6 months after she posted it...)! I didn't even remember it!

I'm losing my mind....

[96bookworms]

Hey! Not too much going on with me here. School will be over in a few weeks, so I've got a bunch of work to do! I'm really looking forward to having some time off! School wasn't too great this year for me...

I'm going to a literature/book camp in a few weeks, at Amherst University, for a week. I'm really excited! Others than that, I'm working (very part time) at a bakery, and babysitting. And I should be able to get my driver's license in a few weeks! Now I just need to actually, you know, drive...

SilveredBlue- Piano Performance? that sounds really cool!

mythbusterfan- how're the motorcycle classes going?

Also, TOGR and all, has anyone seen/heard of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries? It's an online modernized adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, told through a video blog. It's really well done! They did a fantastic job adapting it, and the acting is brilliant! I highly recommend it.

[SilveredBlue]

Hey y'all! Wow, it's been a while. Anyone remember me? ;P

I've not found that online communities are dying at all. Individual ones wax and wane. This one does that with book cycles. We're currently waiting for a new book release. Because we're in between books, there isn't much activity going on, because there's not a lot to discuss. Last spike was around when AWoM came out.

Very insightful statement, Tuttle, I agree. Just looking around and comparing the forum to what is was like four years ago, too, I see that some of the really chatty people who consistently started a lot of threads (which would then draw others in to respond) have been inactive for a while. Maybe if we try to think of some interesting conversation topics that would kick things into gear again! Personally I've found a lot of material in DD's 30-day OTP challenge to think about- after the requisite squeeing of course! Was so over the moon when I found that; it's what drew me back here again.

Hmm, it is the topic of Great Randomness, so here's a brief summary of my life the past year: had spinal surgery for scoliosis in July, moved to Melbourne AU a month ago, will be attending Biola University and majoring in Piano Performance in August. Yep, the rest of my family will still be in Ozzie when I go back for college (or as Australians say, "uni!"). It's a bit scary but I'm really looking forward to it. ^.^

What are the big events in everyone else's lives this year?