The Topic of Great Randomness

[Emi]

Trialia: thanks... yeah I guess I'm still a little young. Haha.

Mona!! It's been forever! You must come back more often.

HW: My room is just like yours. Mine's in the "garage" so it's always cooler and warmer when I want it to be. I love it!

Garrett: I tried that... got confused and uninstalled it. I don't really want to install programs because it's my mom's computer so... yeah. I just want to be able to write my music! Haha. Why do things have to be so complicated?

Oh and your edit thing made me laugh.

Ah, I got to get ready for work now.

Dai lovelies.

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

Emi -- if you don't want to install things on your Mom's computer, you could install VMWare Player and have your own virtual machine running inside your mom's computer! Granted, it wouldn't be running Windows unless you paid extra, but for web browsing, Lilypond editing, etc., it would work fine. There's a download for an "appliance" called Ubuntu Studio -- it's "a modified version of Ubuntu Linux with extra graphics, sound, and other media editing capability".

[Mona0622]

My room is generally always cold; it doesn't matter what season it is. Overall though, I'd rather have a cold room as opposed to a warm room - I prefer the cold to the warm.

Emi: It's good to be back and I plan on trying to keep up. I'd say that it's nice to be missed, but I'm not sure if that makes sense.

I know that this is very far away, but I need the help. Every October, my marching band marching in a Halloween parade and dress up in different costumes. I wanted to create a common theme for my section (the flutes) but could not come up with anything that works. There are 6 flutes this year. If anyone can come up with something dress-upable (if that's a word) that comes in six and let me know, that would be great! Thanks.

[Emi]

Mona: How about The Village People?!?!? There is six people in that group... AND they're musical. Haha.

Just a suggestion...

Garrett: Thanks for the suggestion but I'd rather not give my mom a heart attack on things I install on to her computer. She already hates this laptop because of the Vista, I don't think I need to give her a new reason. Haha.

So, I'm watching the RNC... haha. Last week, I think it was last week, I was watching the DNC. It's really interesting. I really don't know who's the "best" candidate because they both have good points and they both have, um, bad ones as well. I'm so glad I'm not 18 this year. Haha.

I just have to say I love Cindy McCain. She's the coolest person ever. She was sitting next to Palin's daughter who was holding her brother in one shot. And then when the camera went back to them she was holding the baby. I laughed... I think I might be the only one that found it funny. Well, me and my mom. Haha.

Alrighty, I'm off.

Dai!

[Mona0622]

I wanted to watch both conventions, but I wasn't able to because I had to much else to do. I did some of the stuff though in my AP Government class.

I was really surprised when I found out last Wednesday that both Obama and McCain are coming to my county. Obama came on Thursday (the day after we found out) and McCain's coming on Tuesday. Having both presidential candidates in my area within a week is pretty crazy. I went to get tickets for the McCain one on Thursday and then walked over and heard some of what Obama said. I couldn't see him, but I have some friends that were inside the park (I was outside it) that got some pictures of him.

Emi: I disagree with you. I wish that I was old enough to vote in this election.

Today it rained about 18 hours non-stop thanks to Hurricane Hannah. It was coming down really hard the whole time. Thankfully though, there was no flooding on my street. I don't know about the creeks near us though.

[Tuttle]

Warning: This will be off topic from everything people are currently discussing.

Oh wow I forgot about my quest to read TOGR with everything that went wrong this summer. I only made it to page 357 then, when I wanted to finish over the summer. Well stuff didn't work out that way.

Anyways, I was just looking back at that and was being amused and am now try to not read that when I have large amounts of homework.

I have to do the homework for my grad class tonight and I really don't want to. This is because all of tomorrow I need to do homework for another class because its the type of programming that requires lots of dealing with little things as well as the whole I'm not a programmer. I don't like this situation...

I think I'm going to give up on my uber post I was thinking of making . I am more likely to not be trying to work on it and reading TOGR if I do. This would make this post rather huge though...

--
I was writing this up to be a post for when I finished TOGR describing thoughts when I was reading it. It is rather long though I didn't make it through everything like my plan.

So people who were around May 2006. I think you'll recognize my posting style...

Those who weren't...well you'll see once you start reading this post. I'll just
say that people have commented on me in related ways before back in May 2006.

I started this on June 16th, have been writing as ideas come to mind, and
generally letting this be my wandering mind. I've not been forcing any talking
though so it doesn't get too long. It's taking so long because its going through
TOGR and I don't even have time to read every day. I may post it before
finishing if I come up with a good reason to, but I don't think it being kinda
absurd will be a question even then... I'm sane, really.

So I had been wanting to not post in here until I finished the whole thing. Of
course I did post once or twice before this after starting, but I still wanted
to focus more on reading than writing. Then I realized around when I got to
where TOGR had been shut down, I wanted to post my responses as I read it, so I
opened up a terminal, opened vim, and started writing. Whenever while reading
togr I had a thought (starting June 16th when the idea came up) I wrote it. If
the thought was triggered by togr but not related it went on the bottom half, if
it was in response on the top. Beyond that was mostly just went as it happened
to go.

Oh and also, I'm curious if that post had been a record (6128 words iirc). And
also if this one will beat it. I'll put a word count in here when I'm done if it
looks close. On June 24th I reach more than 6128 words while on page 329 of
TOGR.

June 16, somewhere around page 250:
That was just a really weird feeling. I was half wanting to reply to stuff in
oldTOGR and almost started typing and was going to be typing to those people, to
those people who not many come on anymore, to PM...

It feels like whenever I'm reading this and there is a serious discussion I want
to jump in. I want to explain Autism and Aspergers and the Autistic Spectrum. I
want to talk about how Autism is getting more common. I want to talk about how
the word disease doesn't feel right. I want to explain that if I could remove my
Aspergers I wouldn't, because its part of me and there are good things as well
as bad. At the same time Darryl in AWAl can truly help to read about. I like
that there was an autistic character - not only those who are normal matter in
these stories. Whether its someone on the autistic spectrum or someone who is
different in some other way you can make a difference in the world, and some of
what you can do is different than others. Darryl's part seem influenced by his
autism, and you can see that the autism didn't make him weak, just different. It
doesn't bother me at all that he removed his Autism. Mostly because when he
became closer to normal he was clearly still different. He didn't suddenly have
none of the problems even if most were removed. And similarly because he didn't
just remove the negative parts of his autism, he removed it all. It shows that
there are positive aspects too. At least I read it like that. The positive parts
aren't as big of a deal, but you can tell with his innocence almost. Or maybe
that's just me. I really liked how he didn't seem neurotypical after removing
his autism. Because it doesn't make autism out to be horrible. Even if it was
possible I'd never tell anyone with autism or any autistic spectrum "disorder"
to get rid of it. But even with the removal its inspiring. I can see how it
would bother people to say the people who aren't the norm can't function without
changing who they are, but I don't think that this book is saying that. I think
its closer to saying those who are different have different abilities which
sometimes are necessary to save the world.

I want to go and explain how depression works for me. I want to learn from
people how they deal, and teach them how I deal. I want to use other people to
make progress on my own improvements. For me its not chronic depression so much
as falling into a hole and not being able to get out. Climbing out slowly, but a
hard journey. I was actually reading through a lot of old posts recently
including some of mine when I was at the worst point for me. And at this point
for me it actually helps me to read those when I start going depressed. I find
it ironic because the one that really helps is an angry reply to someone else on
here, but it helps. It shows me how much progress I've made. It shows me that I
can make it out if I just have help. And I know I have help. I want to talk to
people here about depression. I want to learn about theirs and explain mine and
get suggestions for dealing. I want to know if my ideas of what I'm going to do
to try to help me get back up may work. I want to learn. I want to know. I want
to get better.

Reading it all also makes me think about maturity not of the members but of the
community. It feels like the expectations are a higher maturity now in TOGR. It
doesn't feel like the members are necessarily older or more mature, but like the
community is and like the forum is. We're friends. People can be crazy. People
can post random things. But the evolution to a journal of our lives is an
interesting one and feels related to maturity. Part of it is that as the forum
grew stuff changed. Part of it is as time went on the members who had started it
grew up. But really, I like TOGR as the journal of life at this point. And it'll
probably evolve into something else eventually. But that's what it should do,
and at this point it seems like this is its job for all of us. It truly helps to
have somewhere to go. And this community, this forum, these friends, make a
difference partially through this crazy beast we call TOGR.

--
June 17th:
Reading all PM's posts is going through waves of hardness. At times its like
he's still here, and like I should be talking to him. At others its "aww " and
at others its not affecting me at all. I think the most common lately has been
being convinced he's around still and wanting to go talk to him. I think this is
also being affected by personally wanting to talk to people older than me a
bunch lately and really not wanting to talk to people who feel young to me. I've
been being talking on IRC more lately. Which is connected to both probably.
#callahans still makes me think of PM and GingerBear (his bear who went on IRC
as much as he did). Have been talking to the #callahans crowd a bunch lately
though, and since I didn't talk much for a noticable time after PM's death that
probably affects it.

But still reading posts of someone gone who you knew is really hard. Because you
want to turn around and talk to them. And they're not there. It's even harder
when they're gone from this life as well.

At the same time reading the posts of him shares some of the things I knew about
but wasn't there for. Things like people calling him Pops. It's like I'm
remembering more of his life than I knew. The timing with it being not long
after a year makes me feel like remembering is probably a good thing. But I
really miss that little GingerBear sometimes.

The other thing it reminds me of is
<A HREF="http://filkertom-itom.blogspot.com/2007/06/042-online-ghost.html" TARGET=_blank> this
song </A> - Online Ghost. The song is about the myspace pages, facebook pages,
livejournals, etc, which remain online after a soldier is killed in war. It
really fits with any death of someone with a noticeable online presence though.
PM's posts are his online ghost even though he wasn't in the same situation.
But it really makes you think about how the internet changes how we look at
things. Single stories about situations dealing with people's online profiles
make you hyperconcious of their deaths it seems both in war and out of it. It's
almost interesting and at the same time something I don't want to think about. I
think I'm stopping here before thinking about this makes me feel lonely.


Bah Why is YW has to be down (okay I really know and its a good reason, but I'd
meant to come on before it went down for a while). But got distracted by IRC.
Sadness. Though some really nice IRC conversations.

--
June 19th, page 264

Aurora keeps talking about her boyfriend making her a ring... it is really sweet
but at the same time its making me feel lonely again. Which is really silly as I
am back at my apartment and boyfriend should be getting back after classes soon,
but even a week is a long time to not see each other. I know that there are all
those people with long distance relationships and such, and I think they can
work, but at the same time if you're relationship is of the type you work off of
each other constantly, spend ridiculous amounts of time together, and stuff like
that a week really is a long time. Mainly this is coming up because Jono is not
learning precious metal smithing yet. I'm pretty sure his plan is to not learn
it until he wants to ask someone to marry him and then make an engagement ring.
But he's been talking about casting a silver version of the necklace of his I
constantly wear around so its not something we're both possibly slightly
allergic to (pressed against skin all night has given a small rash for me - if
its in my hand it doesn't, but if it ends up against other skin for that long it
can do something.) And the fact that making person jewelry is just sweet even if
they're not someone obsessed with jewelry. Like personally I can't stand jewelry
in general, but I've basically worn this necklace around constantly since
Christmas because he asked me to wear it as he wanted me to have something of
his. I find that sweet. And I find what Aurora's boyfriend did for her even
sweeter, especially because she doesn't seem so anti-normal girl stuff as me.

The differences between American and British English always amuse me. Spellings
and different words both. Why do people think I'm British? I don't use their
words for things though I generally understand them. But its weird. Apparently I
use very British sentence structure and such. *shrug* weirdness.


By this point I'm seeing certain members having already matured a bunch. It is
interesting to watch that. It's still very different from these people
currently, but its interesting to watch/read.


Everyone's talking about favourite colours. Why doesn't anyone like yellow?
Earlier people were insulting it. Do people now hate yellow too . I likes the
yellow, is pretty happy colour.

--
June 22, page 275

Heh people are talking about whether they should legalize marijuana. In my
opinion it'd not do much of anything. It doesn't matter people will smoke it
anyways, and I don't think smoking it would really go down with the
legalization. Though that argument would be the one that'd be the only argument
I see being a good one for legalization.

However the discussion about tobacco makes me reply. I absolutely think that the
laws dealing with tobacco need to be stricter. In Massachusetts there are laws
preventing people from smoking where smoke will enter commercial buildings.
Nobody respects them and I think at an absolute minimum these need to be
enforced. In my opinion tobacco should be limited such that if someone wants to
be away from it then they don't have to go out of their way at all. If someone
wants to commit slow suicide by smoking then they can go ahead. But they should
not be allowed to be murdering those around them at the same time. They should
not be preventing people with asthma from walking around outside. They shouldn't
be preventing anyone who wants to walk around without breathing in toxins which
have really strict laws in factories in. It is not in their right to be hurting
others and preventing others from functioning. And you can say that I'm limiting
their rights and I'd reply that it is unreasonable to limit 85% of the
populations rights for 15%, especially when 15% of the population is even more
directly and hugely affected due to asthma, migraines, allergies, or other
issues.

In my opinion it should be illegal to force someone else to inhale stuff from
any drug if they want to avoid it, even if forcing them is because you're
smoking on the side walk. That in my mind should be illegal.

I'd allow cigarettes and marijuana to be legal though. People would smoke them
either way, I realize that and wouldn't try to force them to stop, because it
won't work as well as teaching why its a problem, and putting effort into
helping those who want to quit do so.

Alcohol. The interesting thing is that alcohol really shows that prohibition
doesn't work. Alcohol drinking skyrocked while the prohibition existed.

Commenting that illegal drugs are more addicting. I actually think this should
be mentioned even now, because it is interesting and good to know. Cigarettes
are more addictive than cocaine. You can argue they won't hurt you, they will.

Really people, be smart and don't smoke and try to keep those around you from
smoking. It hurts you and others too much. (This is something that matters a lot
to me as I'm one of those who gets migraines and asthma attacks from smoking
near me. I'm actually supersenstive to smoke to the point that I get headaches
from smelling it on someone who hasn't smoked in a while.)



Silly people not liking proofs. Real math is proofs, not arithmetic.


Gah. Having multiple guys like you really is annoying *remembers that*, *thwacks
head* don't remember that now, is too annoying*. Mow *innocent look*.


Some of the stories that were written then are ridiculous. Forum stories. Aww
that reminds me of chain stories we used to do in chat when I first came.


I know I've talked about how "status" on the board doesn't matter before. It
still doesn't, but I just realized what it takes for me to consider someone an
oldbie or a midbie. Oldbie - here before I was. Midbie - remember PM.

This really came up thinking about how the board cycles members. Not many of the
people who I'm reading posts of still come around, and not many of the people
who were regular when I joined post much. But those are the people who in my
mind make up the regulars. Because they're the ones I know. And PM was too much
a part of this board for there to be non-newbies who never knew him. Even if it
has been more than a year, because he was PM, he was a big person on here even
beyond a mod.


Ah WF. I just got to the introducing WF to togr post. It's on the current page
299. So she read about 300 pages when she first joined. That is rather a huge
amount even if we're starting to near 600. Or not so much since we're not
posting much anyways, but comparatively close.

Its actually getting to a noticeable amount of people I know now. I mean there's
M, and Gryph, and Alla, and WF. And some people who have posted since I showed
up. Yay for people I know.

--
June 23, page 304

I wonder if by the time I'm done there will be 600 pages... probably not. But
still, this is taking forever.

PM was linking to his site, it made me wonder, was anything ever figured out
what's happening with that. I know a few people downloaded it (or at least most
of it, everything they could), but wasn't there plans for more to be done.
Especially because of the chat logs and the timeline. I know his sister had to
have some part of it, but was anything ever done? It seems like it'd be good to
have his chat logs up, as well as the timeline. He did so much for the community
it shouldn't just be sitting on a few people's harddrives. hmm. I might should
put this at the bottom. Or ask the mods about it. They'd probably have the best
idea.


The talking about sharing secrets with people who you've never met. To me it is
a different type of friendship. I don't think you can get to be the closest
friends can be with only the internet, but that you can get to be very close.
And that in that type of closeness it is different than a friend which you would
almost describe at the same level of how well you know them if you know them
irl. I know there are times when I need to talk to people online, I need to talk
about myself with people who I don't know irl. Those who I'm closest to I don't
want to burden with my thoughts and those who I'm not I'm not comfortable saying
some things to because what if they accidentally share my secrets. What about
when I know things which aren't my secrets to share but they're eating me inside
to the point I need to talk to someone and figure stuff out? Then there's no way
to turn to someone irl except possibly the person who's secrets they are. And
depending on the situation sometimes that seems absolutely wrong to do. I have
one close online friend who I feel I can talk to about anything, and a bunch I
consider close friends but not to that level. That one person its like we have
an understanding between us, if either of us needs to talk we turn to the other
and talk. Everything we say is private between us when it is serious (unless
possibly you're talking about something which is relevent to a specific other
person they may possibly be told if we agree to tell them). And we will joke
around and be silly and those are sharable to people we're close enough to that
they'd understand how it works. I absolutely feel comfortable telling him
anything that I need to talk about, he knows things about me that he's one of
two people who know with only my boyfriend as the other. Being an online friend
doesn't make me want to hold back, it makes me more comfortable talking to him.
There are other friends who I'll talk to online about specific serious things.
Sometimes its easier. Like you can hide away and at the same time not be alone.
Like you can hide and at the same time share your thoughts. And when boyfriend
is working on something and I feel I shouldn't interrupt him, I need to go to
people I know only online to feel comfortable in some of the stuff. Or sometimes
I need to talk to someone who experienced some of what is going on in my head.
And those people are online. So I go talk to them when Jono's off working on
graduating. Part is probably that I am always more comfortable online. I'll be
sitting next to someone and talking to them using my hands and my keyboard. It
is easier to communicate like that and easier to understand. And the rest being
knowledge that its much harder to mess up and make mistakes when you're in
separate states. It's harder to share secrets accidentally and its harder to
ruin a friendship. It's less risky in a way. Maybe its just me, but an online
friend is no less a friend than someone I know IRL, unless you're comparing to
the people who I would say are my best friends- but that's because my best
friends are at a different level of closeness than anyone else I have ever met.

Ah there is WF starting to read TOGR. On page 308 she mentions she's decided to
read the whole thing and is on page 70. I wonder how long it took to read 300
pages... hmm. I can't remember what day I started this. Well this being the
reading. Probably about 10 days ago. I haven't been reading every day but most
days I've read at least a few pages. First day 125. Don't think I've broken 75
since then though. Of course the posts are longer now too.

The "war" between Gryph and PM is hilarious. The head with arms and legs
fighting a karate cat. Is silly.

And now Rad has joined TOGR... its now PM, Gryph, WF, Alla, Rad, Caitlin, M,
Tui, Kathy, meteorite, diego, hmm... I can't think of anyone else who posted who was active when I
joined, but still lots of people now.

Gah. Too much politics. So much politics *collapses*. And it really bothers me
that it is assumed that Christian = person who loves the extreme conservatives,
or Christian = someone who all they care about is making others believe what
they believe. That's not what religion is about. Maybe I'm influenced by being
in Massachusetts, having a gay friend who is planning on becoming a priest, and
saying the most religious people I know are nowhere near what's being assumed.
But I don't understand why people stereotype that way. Or in general. Am totally
not getting started on talking about anything political beyond that. There are a
few things I'd talk about and I don't want to complain. And even if I did here's
isn't the right place for it. I'm just annoyed at the assumptions dealing with
Christians, because if you are a Christian and you are for gay marriage for one
thing, you're just assumed to be unlike what you are because you believe in God.
People should be allowed to believe what they want for both politics and
religion without judgement.

All the stuff about tumbleweeds of doom is amusing .


WF is hilarious. Page 312 is when she finished reading TOGR. And the comment "
I read all of the TOGR!! All the pages!! Whee. . .Now I have nothing to do! Oh
well. I'll just have to read every topic on the discussion forums." makes me
laugh. Silly WF.

--
June 24, page 322

So many foundations. I was curious what those were all about. I remember hearing
about STTF and of course the tumbleweeds of doom, but hadn't known about them.
Now there are so many foundations. Is insane. I think WF and her STMFF is true.

Also, the history of Poot is another interesting thing to find out randomly. I
had known there was something, but nothing beyond the forum demon who had stuff
to do with oneliners.

I still think wf is lucky for being homeschooled. I really wish sometimes I'd
been homeschooled. Of course I'm closer to it than most people who went to
normal schools. I mean I've had multiple people tell me that they'd thought I
was a homeschooler because I had the characteristics of one. And well my math
basically was homeschooled for years. But still I didn't like school. If I have
children I want to homeschool them at least until they'd make an active decision
to want to go to a normal school. I mean if people want to then I suppose it
most people who went to normal schools. I mean I've had multiple people tell me
that they'd thought I was a homeschooler because I had the characteristics of
one. And well my math basically was homeschooled for years. But still I didn't
like school. If I have children I want to homeschool them at least until they'd
make an active decision to want to go to a normal school. I mean if people want
to then I suppose it works, but there are so many problems with schools.works,
but there are so many problems with schools that can be avoided for a good many
people. I know its dependent on the person, but even (some) people who're noticeably
extroverted do well in homeschooling it seems from the people I know.

I like snow. It's much better than thunderstorms. Thunderstorms give me a
headache; too much energy in the air to the point it is painful. Yesterday I was
barely able to function because it was so bad. It was stormy/about to storm all
day. When I ended up going to the grocery store I dropped the eggs while walking
back because I was so non-functional. Luckily only two broke.
Though I do freeze in winter. But I like seasons. I'd not be able to stand not
having snow for some of the year, even if I do freeze while its that cold. It's
fun even if my family's house gets to -20 F in early mornings.

I am also amused how how many pages used to be viewed at alot. People are
laughing on page 327 about how they used to think 39 pages was a lot. Then 100
was huge, then 200... I remember when we hit the 10,000th post in togr.
Multiple of us were going for the post to have one of us get it. Alla managed to
get the 10,000th post. I'm amused at the reference to diego...or should I say
diegowts still. But I mean we're only on page 574 now.

I'm curious if the comment of togr at some point having more posts than all of
chatter 2 ever came true/is true/will come true. It doesn't seem likely now,
because people post in chatter 2 so much, but I could see it happening. It'd be
amusing.

Whenever I see a post of Gibby's I think of Gryph commenting that Gibby's sig
needing updating. I like long posts though.

I used to be afraid of Disney movies. I couldn't stand them, they always scared
me. Really, they are scary...then I didn't like movies. So I have seen very few
of the common movies people grow up with. *shrug*. It can get strange when
people are talking about The Lion King or Little Mermaid and I'm like, I don't
even know if I've ever seen either of those...

Mermaids and the talk of fairy tales makes me think of selkies. Selkies are so
much cooler than Mermaids. I mean less evil and such. Though the stories dealing
with them are so often very sad . I'd be interested in seeing a story from the
lover in the water of one of the selkies who goes to land. It'd probably be just
as depressing, but different. I also like how the stories of selkies
started...of course my boyfriend's mom called him and his sister selkies when
they were growing up. And its been decided I'm one too. A bunch of the reason
for me being that I am someone who interacts with a kayak in similar ways that
the Finns who the selkie myths started from does (they were seals in the water
they took off their sealskins and became human. That's how you should interact
with a kayak, you should have it be part of you. And I mean the sealskins were
kayaks.) Also am Finnish too, so am even more like those who started the myths.
But me being called a selkie makes it less of a risk of him running off after 7
years on land, 'cause I be one too. Or maybe I'm just being silly now.

Haha, the stories people were writing are still hilarious. Now WF's writing one.
About her and sharky. And everyone else. Is silly.

"You're an old member when someone calls someone a vampire and you know who
they're talking about. You also know what the scrambled egg is, too." Does this
mean that WF was an old member most of the time? And that any newbie reading
togr is like that too. Though I think some of us later would have gotten the
egg reference. Or maybe not many of us, just people who had looked at his
website.

Yay for YW Christmas Carols . They're so good. Of course I read them before in
the YW filk page, but still, impressiveness.

Sharky is so insane.

I didn't realize Gibby is a math major. Weird. I hadn't expected that. Well I'm
of the opinion that a calculus grade shouldn't make a big deal to a math major
as calculus is often taught in ways math majors don't function well with. That
doesn't mean not trying and not doing at least reasonably well, but if you slip
it shouldn't be a big deal to you because at least here its not taught for
people who like math, its taught for people who need that for their engineering
classes.

Haha WF's VGDawn character a penguin. If I had ever joined vgdawn my character
would have been a turtle...named umm...wow flashback...zizzy. Before I joined
here I'd been a member on a LOTR forum, and was a regular in the games part as
well as posting some in the books area. At one point I had the most posts on the
site (it dropped between me basically dropping fromt the site for homework
reasons combined with purging of old posts), and this was a noticably sized
site. Well there there was clubs like the foundations were here, and in one of
them my name for the club was Zizzy. And then Zizzy got to be the ascii art
turtle I had in my siggy for most of the time there. That'd be amusing to make
as a character in an RP. Of course it'd likely be named Tuttle and be a turtle
like I had on that mush I was on for a while. Which reminds me of the discword
mud. I think my account on that mud has been deleted though . I had actually
decent stuff too. Not amazing but I'd been collecting money and a friend had
given me some of her old stuff. I think I was a witch from Lancre.

Foxtrot is the best regular comic ever.

Good thing that Gryph never got Lyme Disease, that isn't fun. Not that I've had
it myself, but my mom did. Half her face was paralyzed for 6 months- bells palsy.

So many Christmasy avies. I think I need to figure out how to make this avie
holidayizable if only to make reference to what people used to do.

Everyone is so hyper and obsessed with Christmas. I suppose its hard to be like
that when you're almost exactly 6 months away, and easier when its December
20th.

Enough hormones in water than male fish are growing eggs. That's pretty
rediculous. Oh that reminds me, soon the first pregenant trans-male is going to
give birth. He's someone who was born a female, became male, and then him and
his partner/possibly husband, wanted a child and so he got impregneated with
frozen sperm. I find this a strange story, but see no problem. The only problem
with having two parents of the same gender is why they try to brainwash the
child, but that's no more likely than when they're of different genders. I know
someone who was brainwashed (or at least somewhat) when young that all males
were evil...she had a strange childhood in general though. Of course I've heard
of someone else who was brainwashed all females were good for was having babies.
So it happens both ways.

Wow I forgot how recent the latter Harry Potter books were. Wait, no, I forgot
how long ago 2004 was. I was only a junior in high school...weird. 2004 seems
more recent than 4 years ago *twitch*. I feel like so much time has passed and
at the same time so little since then.

A lot of people appear during breaks. I'm sad not many people have appeared for
the summer of the oldbies . Of coures they should come back when AWoM is
released. Would be nice. I need to preorder that book as soon as I can. I
wantesess it now. Or you know, I wish I actually had my copies of the Door books
here with me so I could read them rather than have them 25 car minutes away.

I like the idea of everyone having an ornement that is them/theirs and putting
it on tree. That sounds like a good idea, especially when people grow up. I mean
when people aren't living under the same rough it seems like even better of an
idea.

--

June 26, page 351

Caitlin commented back here that she considers it the second or third age of the
forums. I'd think this is the fourth or fifth, or even sixth (I'm guessing
fifth, but this assumes both there not being another entire age before I join. I
think we're currently in the third age that I've been on the forums since
September 2005, one with the people here noticably before me, one with the group
where chat closed down, one with the group of people currently here... I feel
kinda bad saying but I prefered the old ones. I was closer to those people. Am
still closer to those people.) It must be weird for the really old people who
still come around. Like Caitlin and M when they come (not that its very often
) or like Gryph even. Or other peoples.

--

July 11, page 353

Wow I've not been reading for a while. Didn't notice it was nearly that long.
Getting back into it now though.

I wonder how many people in this day and age can say that they've never used a
swear. Mainly of the younger generation. How many people who are say 13-25 could
say they've never swore? Never have personally and know...one or two other
people that way. That's all.

--

Truly reading TOGR isn't something I think people should necessarily do when the
first join. I think for me it was much better for me to wait. But I think that
at some point in your stay everyone should read it all. Its a story of the
board. And it makes you think. And it makes you remember. And it makes you
learn.

---

Off topic of togr but wanting to be talked about:

Some of my talking about depression made me think of polymaths again. I'm
probably going to be doing that a bunch lately, but its interesting. Personally,
it' be amazing to be considered one. I don't want to do everything - I want to
be able to do anything. I want to learn everthing I can. I want to not limit
myself, but not try to do everything. I don't want to go and be doing everything
is one of the difference between me and Jono. I'm slightly more academic about
it, he wants to be able to do anything and wants to actually do a lot, and wants
to teach engineering and stuff. I want to learn enough I can do anything that
comes up.

It is interesting to learn that the whole "Jack of a trades, master of none" is
only part of the quote; "Jack of a trades, master of none, though ofttimes better
than master of one." It really seems to be true to me to some degree.
Specializations aren't a horrible thing, but a well rounded person will often be
able to do the job better. Specializations are a problem when they limit your
mind too much.

Really lately its been weird though. My parents are saying after I get my
bachelor's I should go work before contining to find my specialization. I'm not
sure it'd work though. I really am not sure if I'd find a specialization. I mean
I'll find something for a masters, but I think I'm just as likely to find it in
the next two years. I mean, I could totally see myself going into something like
what I had for a combinatorics class - it was really interesting. It was
applicable to a lot of things, average time runtime of algorithms for one, but
at the same time was a very...mathy way of dealing with combinatorics. I'm still
bitter about getting a C in that class even with the fact the professor is
really tough and the fact the professor knew who I was and had a good opinon of
me. That really makes me happy though - that every math professor I've gotten a
C from has a high opinion of me. I mean I asked one of them to be my advisor
(of course that was also a professor who I had a panic attack in the middle of
the final and he told me to leave, do whatever I needed to do to calm down, and
that he'd let me finish the final later. I just needed to get back to his office
before 4 to do so (the exam was I think 1-2). So yeah, nice professor.)

Anyways back onto the whole polymaths thing. That's the thing about me and
specializations, I want one which allows me to work better -in general-. But I
suppose that partially shows in me being a math major and moreso in the fact
that there was no way I wasn't taking a second major it was just a question what
major it would be.

-
I find it sad that I've not been using linux for a year and a half yet and am
already forgetting how to use windows. I am so tired of needing to help my dad
with his work computer. Am now trying to convince him to convince his boss not
to use Vista (yet at least)...partially so I can actually help some. Though it
being Vista would be an excuse not to help. But really its wrong of them to get
a computer running Vista if they can manage one getting XP (if this doesn't go
up until after XP is discontinued on new computers, this is because this is
before (June 17). Okay this was not so much triggered by TOGR, but I wanted to
mention it anyways.

-

I really want to learn how to use a slide rule. I found two my parents had
growing up. Neither of them can remember how to use them though . I just need
to use the internets I know, but still. I really want to take one into an exam
where calculators aren't allowed. Earlier today someone had commented in one of
their exams calculators had been allowed but if they looked like they were
relying it them too much the instructor would take them away. So that happened
to him, and his response was to pull out a slide rule and keep working. I find
that awesomely hilarious.

--
I think I have finally come to grips with myself with my aspergers. I will now
identify as an aspie if someone asks me or if it seems relevant to talk to them.
I don't want an offical diagnosis but at the same time it seems very clear to
me that if I wanted it I would be diagnosed. Even with the awkwardness dealing
with my history dealing with AS, it seems clear. Partially because talking to
people with it have shown that the big things different between me and the
textbook case are actually things that are different in varying degrees in most
female cases. I am still way more empethetic than normal for an aspie, but some
of how it works with me is related to others who I've been talking to. That
won't make me feel out of place for both NTs and aspies anymore. I will identify
as an aspie who I feel I am and deal with it. This doesn't mean I'll try to use
it as a label except when I really need it. I hadn't realized until reading some
things others were talking about, but my depression feels like its mostly
depression, and partially feeling further down the spectrum. They were saying it
was normal to sometimes be more sensitive to everything than usual. I am more
sensitive. I can tell day to day a difference in that. But generally I've been
way more "autistic" than general for me, and it feels connected to the
depression in weird ways. Like the fact that the general thing that makes me
crash seems to be the normal reason AS and depression aren't uncommon to occur
together.

But now that I identify as aspie, I feel more comfortable asking others I know
for advice, or reading forums for them, or any of that. And that can help
sometimes, but I wasn't comfortable doing that before. That's really the
difference. If I need help I feel it isn't appropriate to ask for without
identifying I can do that now.

At the same time this feels weird, a good number of my friends know how I had
gone through being semi-diagnosed and had it taken away multiple times. I'm not
sure whether they'd assume this means I am an aspie, or that I'm not an aspie
showing symptoms. I think the ones it feels weirdest with either would think its
being an abnormal aspie, or would be easy to have discussions come up with. I
almost want discussions to come up in Jono's family, especially when Maddy's
boyfriend is around. Her boyfriend has bad social anxiety, and I think it'd help
him to realize I also am not normal socially. He is comfortable around her
family at this point, so it wouldn't give him that, but it is nice to know
you're not the only one. I think he may realize some of it though.

--

*innocent tuttle* its not too long, right...

[Hanna - WindShadow]

Hey, why is there something missing? Is it just my computer? I get an email notification once a week, and in the email, there were SO many more posts then there are on the actual forum!!! There's... oh, just one missing. By Tuttle (Who I've never met before; Hi!) which was REALLY really long. Perhaps the longness had something to do with it... I think the FAQ said something about overly-long stuff but I can't remember exactly.

Now, since some people were talking about music anyway, let me tell you about my exauhsting day. First, I had to wake up at 7:30 AM to get ready to go to music classes for the first time since me and my family went to Australia (Did mention AU before? I should have, because I was in Sydney when I joined the forums.) Anyway, then we drove an hour until we got there. Then there was guitar, then violin, then xylophone in Beginning Band, then I had to wait for my friends to finish Secondary Band, which took about an hour and a half (during which my sisters, mom and I got doughnuts), then was Choir, which is a little too "Christian-American" for me; I like it when other countries and religions are included, next was Piano, which is a private lesson and not as fun as the ones with my friends, and then we finally got to go home! I think we got back at about 4:45 PM. IT WAS SUCH A LONG DAY-- but fun.

So, in the subject of politics, I would most definitely vote for Obama if I was old enough. I read an article on his family, and they seem really cool. Plus... Well, I was going to spend all my time typing it, but I'll just copy it from this short article-thing:

Democrats are jumping on a joke made by Republican John McCain as more evidence that he's out of touch with ordinary Americans.

During a forum on faith Saturday night at Saddleback Church, McCain was asked, "Where do you move from middle class to rich?"

"If you're just talking about income, how about five million?" McCain quipped.

The Democratic National Committee this morning released a web video that features that remark, plus one by former McCain campaign leader Phil Gramm, who said that Americans worried about the economy have become "a nation of whiners."

The video points out that only 1 in 1,000 Americans make $5 million or more a year. Democrats say that McCain's plan to make President Bush's tax cuts permanent would give his own family a tax cut of $370,000, while giving the average middle class family only $319 in savings.

"John McCain's 'leave no millionaire behind' economic agenda may make sense to Phil Gramm, but the 101 million households that will get nothing under the McCain tax plan understand how out of touch he is when it comes to the economic challenges facing America's families," DNC spokesman Damien LaVera said in a statement. "Since John McCain thinks only people making more than $5 million are rich, it is no wonder his tax plan would hand hundreds of thousands of dollars in new tax giveaways to millionaires or that his potential treasury secretary thinks our country is 'a nation of whiners.' "

Of course, some of you probably already know this, but if so, I'm making it clearer. Heh heh.
So that's my view on politics! Go Obama!

kk: That's cool! I don't think I know any other homeschooled people online. I think one of my favorite things about homeschooling is that I don't have to wake up early. XD I'm a night-owl.


I would double-check this message, but I've already been writing long enough, and my arm is starting to cramp.

Dai Stihó to all!!!

[Emi]

Mona: Yes, Hurricane Hanna recked havic on my state as well... haha. A part of the road down my street got flooded.

I have a theory about not being able to vote this year, and why _I_ think it's a good idea. You see, I'm not _as_ interested as I should be about these elections because frankly all the talk has been getting frustrating because that's all they talk about on the news. So I lost interest in it. BUT by the time the next election comes out, I'll be experienced, understanding, and I'll actually know what the heck is going on.

Primaries, yes I wished I was a voter, but for the actual election... can't choose. I guess I'm Team Switzerland...

I LOVE Jason Bay! I absolutely LOVE this guy. (If you don't know him, he's a new Red Sox player) Ever since he joined the team, he's been nothing but complete AMAZING awesomeness! Home runs and what-not. Awesome.

That was a little random.. yes, I know, but I just had to say that. Hahaha.

Speaking of sports and New England... Tom Brady... is out for the season. *sob* Curse who ever injured his knee... I hope Matt Cassel can step up to the plate and do well for the team... or we're screwed.

Alrighty... start of the school year, and already I'm getting sick. Greeaat. I have this MASSIVE headache for THREE days. It's still throbbing.

I think it's because I hit the back of my head against the computer desk in TV Production really hard. But that doesn't explain the reason why I'm running a small fever? And I'm starting to sneeze... and my throat is, ick.

Here we go again. Starting the rounds of sickiness.

Dai All.

[kk]

Hanna WindShadow: Yeah, I love not having to get up early. It's awesome...and I can pretty much stay awake really late. See, I have a computer (well, three computers, but two don't work well) in my room...so if I want to talk to someone, or go to a website, I can, at any time of night imaginable...

Emi: Feel better soon!

School is...fun...I'm learning to speak Gaelic, and I got to skip ahead to Chemistry, which is also fun...

Hey, has anyone here read the Series of Unfortunate Events books? And if anyone has, have you thought it a bit peculiar that two of the storms (or hurricanes, or whatever they actually are), are named Ike and Josephine? Who gets to name those, anyway? I wonder...

[marina salem]

KK: I read the Series of Unfortunate Events books, and no, I didn't notice that the storm names were the same. Lists of names are generated by the National Hurricane Center, and they are maintained and updated by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization. Info from here.

A storm is coming, a storm is coming, we must go tell the king! So Ike's supposed to hit late Friday-early Saturday at about a category 3. School's cancelled here for tomorrow and in all likelihood up and down the coast from Corpus Christi to the Texas-Louisiana border. They cancelled our choir retreat, which was really depressing (not so much) and the student-faculty softball game, which was also really depressing (again, not so much). Personally, I can't wait to see the reporters standing on Kemah Boardwalk or Galveston in the 100-mph winds and sheets of rain, shouting that it's not safe to be outside. No duh. I wonder if they get paid extra to do that, and if their families get compensation if the wind knocks them into the water and the 10-foot waves bash them against the seawall. Can you tell I have a strange sense of humor?

So I'll spend the weekend holed up in my house, eating crackers and watching the old movies that my dad ordered last week. I sure hope we don't have too much damage. It'd be a pain trying to collect insurance.

[seabiscuit1009]

Holy cow, how did I miss Tuttle's last post? *hugs* I miss the old crowd too...I know which one you're talking about. And I feel the strangest urge to babble on to Gryph about college for some reason...I don't even understand why. I'm not like a lot of people from that time period-most people here don't know how to contact me outside of PMing me, and I usually only talked to people in chat, so I'm not as close to people as others are. But I still do miss you all...it'd be nice to have chat back. But since that's most likely not happening, I'll have to settle for wishing for AWOM, and hoping people come back once it comes out...

So. You all will like this. I'm writing my first research paper for college on the myth of the second battle of Moytura, from AWAB. Not DD's version of the battle, obviously; I have to go back and read a bunch of Celtic/Irish mythology. Basically, I'm relating the character of Lugh the All-crafted to the Joseph Campbell's hero myth (from his book Hero with a Thousand Faces...you've probably never heard of it) and saying how he does not follow Campbell's cycle. It's kind of fascinating stuff...I wouldn't have come up with the topic if I'd never read the YW books, honestly; I'm more into Greek mythology. But hey...picking up AWAB in 4th grade was probably one of the most significant moments in my reading life. I feel incredibly geeky saying this, but that book changed my life in more ways than one.

Hmm...college is good. Very fun. Although yesterday I had probably the worst run of bad luck ever. Just...so many bad things, I can't even recount them all. It was ridiculous. I never want that to happen again. My roommate and I have kind of been "adopted" by a bunch of people in another dorm, since the people on our floor are kind of mean/rude...so we spend all our time over there, even though our dorm is better and has bigger rooms. *shrugs* No one said college kids are smart...XD

That being said, I can't wait until my family comes down for parents weekend next weekend; I really miss my Mom and Dad. I do talk to them every day...but it's not the same. I guess it's hard to realize how close you are to your family until you're not with them all the time.

Well, I need to go eat something and close the windows...it's kind of getting colder here again. My roomie just left to go eat dinner with the people from one of her classes, so I've kind of got no clue who I'm going to eat with...oh well. It's alright, I really just need to eat fast and come back here to do more homework. Dai all.

[Emi]

Hungry: Yay! It's great to see you back. That's an interesting topic to have an essay on. It's a good thing you know so much about it. I hope Parent Weekend will be fun!

Tuttle: Interesting post. I remember some of the things you said towards the end, because that's when I think I joined the forums. I don't think I'll ever survive reading from the first page.

kk: Thanks, I'm feeling much better now.

marina salem: Yeah, we got hit with Hanna last week. Now the weather is calming... Oh and I love your signature by the way.

It's getting chillier outside now... more Autumn-like. *sigh*

I'm reading Beowulf in my English class. We started off reading it on our own, and then she has us read it outloud during class (boring) and then she makes us read to ourselves for the last five minutes of class (even more boring). So what happened to me? I ended up falling asleep reading that thing! I was like what?!? I tried to keep myself awake, but I think I'm going to end up having to read it again tomorrow before class so I can actually understand what I read before we start class. Haha.

I love the story... but I guess it puts me to sleep???

Oh, I auditioned for the school play yesterday... *crosses fingers* I'm going to find out the verdict tomorrow.

That's about it.

Dai!

[kk]

Emi: Glad to hear it!

I'm not tired...I just saw the movie Flight Plan, and it was good. The rest of my family was weirded out, but I liked it.

So I was mad at Wal-Mart the other day...when they only had New Moon and Breaking Dawn, but not Twilight, which was what I was coming to buy...And I had waited all day, and spent good time convincing my mom to drive me there.

But instead I got her to drive me to Target, and they had about four or five shelves devoted to all four books. It was good to see...

Yeah, that was random...oh well!

Dai Stihó!

[Lazy Leopard]

Hey TT: That was a marathon post!

Slowly I'm getting used to not having Peter to email. Still, I catch myself thinking "I must tell/ask Peter" from time to time. The only person I miss more is my father...

I went down to Dover last month to visit Peter's sister, and try to help sorting out his house. That was sad. I wish I'd had a chance to go down earlier, but I didn't want to push in where I wasn't wanted, and I couldn't tell for sure whether my help was appreciated. Anyway, I ended up bringing most of Peter's SF and fantasy books back to my place. (Peter's sister has kept his DD and TP books.) At the moment they're occupying my hallway, but I guess mostly they'll end up with a friendly second-hand SF book dealer, with proceeds going to Peter's favourite charity.

I did ask about Peter's computer files. I'd really wanted to help with sorting those out, but it seems Peter's computer stopped working (and is no longer available). Sadly, I fear that means that the copies of his stuff we have squirrelled away may be all that's left...

It's been a chilly wet summer here. There's just been another heavy thunderstorm. It could be the very tail end of Hannah having crossed the Atlantic, I suppose. I hope Ike doesn't cause too much trouble.

[Angel_Star]

Life has been all topsy-turvy lately. Nothing too big, but still a confusing ride of ups and downs. My seventeenth birthday was Wednesday, and the people I've gone to school with for years upon years are still surprised that I'm younger than the majority, without having skipped a year. That same day, the National Merit Semifinalists were announced during seventh period, my name being among the four from my school. Of course, being a semifinalist doesn't do much unless you actually become a finalist, but it's a step in a good direction, hopefully leading to a nice scholarship. The "C" word (college) has been freaking me out lately, with all the applications, scholarships, visiting, etc.

Also on Wednesday, my car received a lovely scratch across its side, starting behind the back tire and stretching until the end of the car. I have no idea who hit it, since the parking spaces beside me were empty when I arrived and left school that day.

Yeah, Target keeps the Twilight books stocked pretty well. =]

There was an announcement about auditioning for the fall play. While I'd love to be in it, the possibility of me actually making it is slim to none, not to mention that my two AP classes and work keep me fairly busy. Ohwells.

The psych book sitting next to me is making me feel guilty for avoiding it... Psychology is my lowest grade right now, since I made a C on the last test. Strangely enough, I have a 99% in AP Calculus. Something seems horribly wrong with that. It'll probably change soon. =]