The Topic of Great Randomness

[bookgirl]

still refer to myself as a Californian. Or, as I like to call myself, a rare breed of people who cry when the weather drops below sixty.

Haha. I woke up to lovely 15 degree weather this morning. I don't mind so much though, I just really dislike having to scrape the windows of my car. I'm just grateful that they fixed the heater in the Arts building on Campus. Most of my classes are in that building and we were freezing, we all kept our coats and gloves on during class. lol.

[Dragon Writer]

I lived around San jose - the weather hits sixty, and you're diving for a jacket. Now I have to deal with weather in the fifties, daily. Mornings are just plain evil, these days.

[alla]

I can top you all on the weather at the moment; its Summer here Average of temperatures in the high 20s at the moment, though, which is really strange for this time of the year. Usually January temperatures are in the mid to high 30s, but for the past two years they've struggled to break 30 on any given day. Not that I'm complaining. 30 degrees and humid is a pain until the afternoon thunderstorm hits.

But you're not YR anymore, Dragon Writer , you've changed your name, so we can't call you YR. DW will just be confusing, cos it already has two meanings on the boards (Deep Wizardry and Doctor Who)...

So what is the big deal with the Superbowl?

Kathy: That's sad news about your camera. I hope it can be fixed. Sounds worse than a blue screen of death; at least you can restart a BSoD, and be fairly sure the computer will keep working.

My friends and I are starting to plan our Big Europe Trip Second half of this year, a whirlwind tour through UK, Europe, Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Should be awesome. If anyone out there has traveled in those regions and can offer some advice for what to see and where to stay, that would be awesome

Jacq: there's a whole section for Fanart; feel free to go in there and start up your own thread. New fanart is always awesome

[Daisy]

In December, NW Washington (where I live) had 19 inches of snow. My family couldn't get out of the house for 2 weeks. It was about 15-20 degrease most of the time. When the snow was finally gone, in rained for about a week. As it washed all the snow away, all the rain was great. But, there was major flooding everywhere. So, we couldn't get out of our house again for several days because all the roads were flooded. Hearing about all the snow made me think of it.

I'm learning Latin at the moment. It's really funny because I can almost never remember prepositions in English, but I can always remember them really well in Latin. If only I could remember more of the meanings of the Latin prepositions...

[Kathy Li]

Also: kli? Is that you? If so - hi! If not... Hi!

Hi! Yeah, it's me; kli6 has been retired. I caved to the peer pressure and did like all the other admins. A board switch seemed like a good time to do a login switch as well.

Kathy: That's sad news about your camera. I hope it can be fixed. Sounds worse than a blue screen of death; at least you can restart a BSoD, and be fairly sure the computer will keep working.

Yes, it's more like the frowny mac and that diminished chord that freezes your marrow when your Mac goes wrong or the OSX kernel panic screen, vs. the oh-so-common BSoD. Although I've also had the BSoD where a simple reboot does =NOT= help. At which point my work computer then has to go through the UoD (upgrade of death) they reimage the hard drive, and I have to spend two days getting all my tech-writer-only apps back again...

The nice part is that Canon's policy is that if they can't fix it, they'll just give you a new or refurbed camera in the same model.

My friends and I are starting to plan our Big Europe Trip Second half of this year, a whirlwind tour through UK, Europe, Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Should be awesome. If anyone out there has traveled in those regions and can offer some advice for what to see and where to stay, that would be awesome

Sweet! I have no advice, really other than to have fun and don't be afraid to talk to strangers. I'd also recommend doing reading ahead of time if you can. Travel tends to work best when what you see lights your imagination and has personal meaning for you. A lot of the sights I love to see in London aren't in a guidebook and wouldn't mean much to most people, but are significant to me. I know there were people looking at me like I was crazy for taking a picture of myself outside the Mornington Crescent tube station, but I'd been addicted to ISIHAC for three years. I'm a sucker for Christopher Wren, so I loved visiting St. Clement Danes on its traffic island in the middle of the Strand.

When I went to Antarctica, it was with a bunch of mad birders. But I'm a beach girl--I was the only one who could spot the minke whale tailing our zodiac, and I loved looking at the algae and kelp and jellies as much as the penguins. Find out what sings for you, and do that, and ignore the guidebook bits that bore you.

I'm learning Latin at the moment. It's really funny because I can almost never remember prepositions in English, but I can always remember them really well in Latin. If only I could remember more of the meanings of the Latin prepositions...

[grin]. Once you get them, though, some English words become a lot easier. Like intermural vs. intramural. My problem was remembering if a specific preposition took the ablative or accusative.

[Gwendi]

Here in CT, we got a lot of snow, and then more today. We had an early dismissal from school because of it.

Originally posted by Jacq
I'm laughing my Canadian butt off at all you people. (while slowly freezing to death )

Hmmm....Is it cold in Canada Jacq? Call me a weird American if you wish, but I absolutely love Canada. I have a friend on World of Warcraft who's also Canadian, and all of my other friends here in Connecticut also like Canada. I actually forget the first reason we started to like it, and now it's just kind of a normal obsession for us. Don't ask why I just wrote an entire paragraph on that.... I'm weird.

More randomness: I loved the superbowl commercials, and Bruce Springsteen, although most of my friends, who have never heard of him, thought he was an "old guy with a bad voice" Needless to say, I took offense at that. I get offended when people diss my obsessions, especially since Bruce Springsteen's "Greetings from Asbury Park" CD was the last one my dad listened to. My friends don't care though. *is very annoyed by my awesome friends' personalities and lack of caringness*

I'm done ranting. How is it that everything i start with "I liked" or "I loved" ends up as a rant? HELP ME!!!

[alla]

Sweet! I have no advice, really other than to have fun and don't be afraid to talk to strangers. I'd also recommend doing reading ahead of time if you can. Travel tends to work best when what you see lights your imagination and has personal meaning for you. A lot of the sights I love to see in London aren't in a guidebook and wouldn't mean much to most people, but are significant to me. I know there were people looking at me like I was crazy for taking a picture of myself outside the Mornington Crescent tube station, but I'd been addicted to ISIHAC for three years. I'm a sucker for Christopher Wren, so I loved visiting St. Clement Danes on its traffic island in the middle of the Strand.

I'm going to be of the mind when we go, that there's nothing gonna get me down I've got places that I want to go to from lists that I made when I was 12. Most of them are the usual touristy places though, eg Loch Ness having been in the list since I was about 7 years old XD. I'd like to get to some places off the beaten track, though. I'm hoping to have only a few hard set plans, so's we can talk to locals and other travellers and see what they have to suggest (though I know that half of our group wants to have a little more planning ...). Hmmm... I wonder if I can get a photo of me at each of the monopoly locations... There's family history stuff in Scotland, including a headland in the northwest that bears the family name, so I'm hoping to be able to get out there. There's good bird watching there, apparently, so that'd be a nice change of pace from castles and landscapes, but according to the website, its not puffin season when we'll be there... that made me sad . We're going to book a couple of tours; one from istanbul to cairo, cos it actually seems to be the cheapest way to get through that area, and still see stuff (like Petra ), and one in Egypt.

When I went to Antarctica, it was with a bunch of mad birders. But I'm a beach girl--I was the only one who could spot the minke whale tailing our zodiac, and I loved looking at the algae and kelp and jellies as much as the penguins. Find out what sings for you, and do that, and ignore the guidebook bits that bore you.

YOU'VE BEEN TO ANTARCTICA!?!? That is so awesome, I can't find the words for it! Was it amazing? Do you have any photos online that you could share?!

Oh, and Frowny Mac is scary... I've had something like that (didn't get far enough in the boot to get a frowny mac, just a 'do not' symbol; circle with a line through it where the apple usually shows up). Oh, and I've had an unhappy folder on my first iPod. both of them related to drops.

[Kathy Li]

... YOU'VE BEEN TO ANTARCTICA!?!? That is so awesome, I can't find the words for it! Was it amazing? Do you have any photos online that you could share?!

Wait... didn't I already do that upthread? And yes, it was completely awesome. I'm really grateful to the friend who "dragged" me along, since I would never have thought to go myself.

Yes, you want to go with a balance of planned/not planned. You want enough structure so that you don't feel you're wasting your time/money, but you also want to be loose enough so that you don't stress out.

[alla]

Wait... didn't I already do that upthread? And yes, it was completely awesome. I'm really grateful to the friend who "dragged" me along, since I would never have thought to go myself.

Yes, you want to go with a balance of planned/not planned. You want enough structure so that you don't feel you're wasting your time/money, but you also want to be loose enough so that you don't stress out.

I wasn't here in 2003, and unlike WF, I haven't read all of TOGR. That is an awesome photo. I'd love to get down there. Antarctica is so intriguing and awesome... and beautiful.

[Jacq]

Gwendi, I love my country.
I may squek about it because it does get very cold in winter where I am (Calgary) but I don't know if I could live anywhere else for a long period of time. I appreciate that you appreciate it, if that makes sense.
And the winter can be fun sometimes:


If you're up for it, Alla, I would highly recommend getting out into the bush for a tramp or a walking tour. I've never been to Europe (though Cyprus and Wales are on the "places to see before I die" list), but nearly all of my favourite travel memories are camping. The Abel Tasmin, the Rockies, and oh my gosh there's this place about 30km east of Las Vegas that's like sleeping on mars </babble>.

[grin]. Once you get them, though, some English words become a lot easier. Like intermural vs. intramural. My problem was remembering if a specific preposition took the ablative or accusative.

Arahrahrargh I hate the ablative. I also hate that latin-izing my name makes it sound like you're saying "Yuck". But I love everything else, especially neuter words and the dirty poetry.

[alla]

If you're up for it, Alla, I would highly recommend getting out into the bush for a tramp or a walking tour. I've never been to Europe (though Cyprus and Wales are on the "places to see before I die" list), but nearly all of my favourite travel memories are camping. The Abel Tasmin, the Rockies, and oh my gosh there's this place about 30km east of Las Vegas that's like sleeping on mars </babble>.

Do Canadians call the bush 'the bush' too? I'm up for going out into the back 'o Bourke, but I don't think my friends are that much. Not camping properly anyway. I've done the Routeburn Track (NZ), several cadet camps, and three field trips into Outback Australia (not technically camping, but walking around in the field all day), and they're memories that I plan to keep for the rest of my life.

Then there's the fishing trips off Hervey Bay (highlight being 3 sharks caught in 15 minutes in a 12ft tinnie), mucking around in the scrub behind mum and dad's (ahhh, so much fun...). I'm an outdoorsy kind of girl.

[Jacq]

Eheh, no, not all Canadians call it that. My boyfriend is a Kiwi and I guess some of it's starting to rub off. Sorry ^^;; (though it's working both ways - I caught him saying "toMAYto" the other day.)
We [canadians] generally call it hiking or camping. The 'bush' is normally called "out/up/down __" where __ is the cardinal direction of the destination. "We're going camping out east this summer." or "There's a biiiig kegger up north for May Long, eh?"


HOOORAY my Amazon.ca order finally shipped. Stuff's been back-ordered for like three weeks. I'm so excited. X)
Feel free to laugh at my book choices.

The Plague, Clem Martini (third of a trilogy)
Idaho Falls: The Untold Story of America, William McKeown (about a nuclear accident. Rec'd by a friend who was a nuclear sub technician in the navy - also the one in my current sig)
The Confusions Of Young Torless, Robert Musil (part of a personal "obscure classics to read" list)
Sickened, Julie Gregory (Curiosity purchase, a memoir of a victim of Munchausen by proxy)
The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (recommended by another friend, when I needed another few bucks-worth-of-book to get free shipping. I don't even know what it's about.)

[Dragon Writer]

amazon isn't going to be shipping to Reno anymore. *sigh*. But on the bright sorry, I'll have contacts in a couple weeks! Plus, since my dad works at a gaming company, he's been bringing home the glasses of Casino games - he gave me a couple wonderful ones with dragon's on them.
Yes, I can be dragon obsessed - but what do you expect? Look at the screen name!

[Emi]

Jacq: That picture is cute. Did you do that?!? Haha. and I love your sig, where's that from? It just made me laugh...

Kathy: Antartica? *Just read the thread* Wow! That's sooo cool. I love the picture! So cute!

My friend wants to go to Canada for her 18th birthday... I want to go with her, but I don't have a passport yet. I should get one. Haha. Hm...

So... new news? Um... My second semester is wicked easy? I guess I am so bored by the end of the day and the class that I wanted to take all year just so happens to be my D Block class (I end up falling asleep). I'm trying to stay awake but it's hard... It's Holocaust Studies by the way... my favorite subject. Yeah I know it's a depressing subject- but I find it intriguing.

gotta go. food!

Dai all.

[bookgirl]

Emi: Holocaust Studies? I think that would be so amazing! I've always been fascinated by the Holocaust I'm not really sure why, but I love learning about it. I love reading books that are placed during the Holocaust. Have you ever read "The Hiding Place"? Or "The Devils Arithmetic? Both of them are excellent books.