That'd go some way towards explaining why I immigrated, wouldn't it? Interestingly enough, this girl is also called Amy. She appears to be slightly less bat-silt insane, though. I take that as a Good Thing, if you ignore the geography.

Good news: Puyo Puyo 2 for the virtual console.

Bad news: I have 800 Wii Points. It costs 900. And I don't have a credit card.

GAAGAGHGh.

Oh well, I'm going into town tomorrow. I'll have to buy 2000 points when I only need 100, but hey.

I'll have to buy 2000 points when I only need 100, but hey.
Well, I bet there'll be some stuff worth buying in the future to spend the rest on.
Or already available stuff not worth buying to waste them on. :p

WiiWare launches this week doesn't it? at least here in the states is does.

Good news: Puyo Puyo 2 for the virtual console.

Bad news: I have 800 Wii Points. It costs 900. And I don't have a credit card.

GAAGAGHGh.

Oh well, I'm going into town tomorrow. I'll have to buy 2000 points when I only need 100, but hey.

this is pobably way too late, but thanks to club nintendo's star point bull I have a 100 points code you could have had.

Once more I seekd advice, now in matters of the hearth.

There was this girl in my old job which I liked. Sice the very first time I saw her I tought she was beautiful. But she seemed like the cold type of woman. Most girls I met there are the loud, constantly joking type of girls who are allways discussing where they will party next, and she was the only one who wasn't like that on that group I was in. I never quite attempted to talk to her because I expected nothing more than just a cold rejection. Then, she attempted conversation with me. I suck at carrying conversations, so that died out pretty soon. Turns out my first, prejudged impression of her was wrong, she is actually an incredibly nice, warm person. She made a clear attempt to befriend everyone in the group. This is where I really started to like her. But my mind doesn't work right. All I can think of in situations like this is how much I suck. Because I do suck. At that point I had pretty much given up with life, I lost all reasons to live, had nothing to look forward too. I've been pretty much sinking into depression for the past 4 years or so expecting nothing from life, and I don't want that to involve other people so I try to not make connections. So I tought that the best thing I could do was put this out of my mind. Which of course didn't work. Eventually the group was split into separate groups because our supervisor changed schedule, so I tought "great, now it'll be easier to put this out of my mind". But every now and then I kept meeting her at the elevator and stuff, and had small conversations with her, which never went too far. Then it started decreasing into just saying hello to each other.
I don't think she likes me, and I don't think that could change. But still, I have this urge to tell her what I feel, just to let it out of my mind. but I never quite figured how to do this witouth appearing like a crazy person. Shortly before I quit I learned that she is dating someone, so I figured it would be wrong to attempt anything at this point. I quit witouth saying goodbye, even.

But I can't stop thinking about this. The only thing I coud do now to contact her would be having someone who still works there pass on a message to her, having her contact me by email, phone or whatever. But I don't know if that's not appropiate at this point. It's obviously beyond useless, but at least I would get this out of my mind?

K.

1. It's noble of you to want to prevent people getting to know you because you think you might drag them down, but what you seem to fail to realise, Angel, is that if you don't make friends, you will only sink deeper. They can help lift you out of your depression. That's what friends are for. Without them, it would be a very lonely life. Don't worry about dragging people down; they are more resilient than you expect. You will not take them with you. Rather, the harder it is for you to find happiness, the more they will try to help you achieve it.

2. It's never too late. The only thing that's stopping you from getting in contact with her somehow is your embarrassment. You need to buck up enough courage to ask her, if she isn't seeing anyone, if she would like to go out with you, even just for a quiet drink and a chat. It doesn't matter if she's single or not, because if she is as warm as you say she is, she won't be offended. In any case, you describe her as the sort of person you need in your life, regardless if there is no chance of a romantic relationship between you. Making an effort to at least just get to know her is perfectly normal. In life you must surround yourself with good people.

If you remain relaxed and confident, and seek to obtain your goals in a careful manner, I can see this turning in to a Positive discussion, rather than a Neutral one.

Wow. Thanks, Mr. Motivator.

So you think I should give it a try? Wouldn't it be a bit too weird having someone tell her to contact me just like that? :-/
The good thing is that at least the person I would ask this favor off knows both of us, so it wouldn't be quite as bizarre, but then there's also that I might make him uncomfortable too asking this favor... I dunno...

Would it be possible to arrange a group sorta meeting type thing with her so it's not so much like you're quite doing it for her or something?

I mean, what if, for example, he hosted a party or something to which you both went, and you could get reacquanted with her there? I don't really know the full dynamics of the situation, only you do, so maybe this isn't possible, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Nope, that wouldn't quite work out.

Don't you know her email adress?
I mean don't the email adresses in our old company have the same scheme?
Something like surname@angeluscorp.mx...
So if you know her name, that probably could help.

You could also try calling the hotline and wait till you recognize her voice. :)

We didn't get to have work emails, only supervisors did.
And that's customer service for an US based telecom company, with thousands of employees in about a dozen different centers, not likely that she'll pick up. :p

So remember the girl a while back who made me forget about Katie? Well things went nowhere, and that's not the point of this post.

So while I liked girl 1 [Aubrey], there was this girl 2 [Debbie] who was quite flirty with me, however I didn't reciprocate because I liked Aubrey. Things weren't looking too good with Aubrey toward the end of first quarter, and week before finals I finally fell for Debbie. Finals week, when I started to feel for her and reciprocate, was amazing - we hung out pretty much every day and ate together all the time. And then came winter break. And then ended winter break. And things didn't really pick up again after that.

Now we have little more than 2 weeks left of school, and I'm freaking out because I'm terrified nothing will happen once summer rolls around...:p I feel good vibes from her (I don't want to go into too many specifics, but I feel I have far more chance than I ever did in my rantings about Katie - I haven't forgotten how foolish I was)

Now the really awkward part. There's this girl [Katherine] a few doors down from me who likes me. That's not so bad. Her friend [Christine] always tries to hook us up in really awkward ways. That's a little more awkward. Like they'll both barge into my room, and after a while she'll be like "I'm going to leave now so you two can make out" and really awkward things like that. And I don't lead them on - in fact they should know quite clearly that I'm not too particularly fond of their presence because I don't give any positive feedback, I give them creeped out looks in the hopes that they'll figure out I'm not into her [Katherine], but they just don't leave me alone. And it all makes me feel really awkward.

But that's not the worst.

The worst? Christine is Debbie's roommate.:eek: So both Christine and Katherine have figured out I like Debbie, and they're pretty much hellbent on making it not work out between us. And I don't really know what to do anymore. I know Christine has told me things I"m 99.5% sure are lies such as "Debbie thinks you're obsessed with her and she's kinda creeped out." Now I can't entirely discount that she's saying the truth, but really, Debbie acts so sweetly when I talk to her that it makes no sense to me that it could be true, at least to this degree. And this girl [Christine] who says these things is such an awkward character, as seen in her statement the paragraph prior, that really I can totally see her making this crap up. But what I'm worried about is if she tells Debbie crap or that I dislike her or some similar things to try and keep us apart? There's not much I know to do about that. And don't accuse me of being paranoid - Christine is really awkward and twisted.:p

Mehh. I'm thinking one of these days I need to mention to Debbie how weird her roommate is and how she always tries to hook me up with Katherine in really weird ways. Hopefully then if Christine has said anything, Debbie will disregard it, and otherwise, she won't think anything in particular of the conversation.


I just mostly needed to get that out of my system. This should be the "Girl Events and Occurrences" thread...:p

edited: Names inserted for clarity (sometimes put in brackets so as to not disturb sentence structure) and I clarified some of my non-grammatical ramblings...

So remember the girl a while back who made me forget about Katie? Well things went nowhere, and that's not the point of this post.

So while I liked girl 1, there was this girl 2 who was quite flirty with me, however I didn't reciprocate because I liked girl 1. Things weren't looking too good with girl 1 toward the end of first quarter, and week before finals I finally fell for girl 2. Finals week when I started to feel for her and reciprocate was amazing - we hung out pretty much every day and ate together all the time. And then came winter break. And then ended winter break. And things didn't really pick up again after that.

Now we have little more than 2 weeks left of school, and I'm freaking out because I'm terrified of losing her.:p I feel good vibes from her (I don't want to go into too many specifics, but I feel I have far more chance than I ever did in my rantings about Katie - I haven't forgotten how foolish I was)

Now the really awkward part. There's this girl a few doors down from me who likes me. That's not so bad. Her friend always tries to hook us up in really awkward ways. That's a little more awkward. Like they'll both barge into my room, and after a while she'll be like "I'm going to leave now so you two can make out" and really awkward things like that. And I don't lead them on - in fact they should know quite clearly that I'm not too particularly fond of their presence because I don't give any positive feedback, I give them creeped out looks in the hopes that they'll figure out I'm not into her, but they just don't leave me alone. And it all makes me feel really awkward.

But that's not the worst.

The worst? Her friend is girl 2's roommate.:eek: So they both know I like her, and they're pretty much hellbent on making it not work out between us. And I don't really know what to do anymore. I know she's told me things I"m 99.5% sure are lies such as "[name] thinks you're obsessed with her and she's kinda creeped out." Now I can't entirely discount that she's saying the truth, but really, girl 2 acts so sweetly when I talk to her that it makes no sense to me that it could be true. And this girl who says these things is such an awkward character, as seen in her statement the paragraph prior, that really I can totally see her making this crap up. But what I'm worried about is if she tells the girl I like crap about that I dislike her? There's not much I know to do about that. And don't accuse me of being paranoid - this girl is really awkward and twisted.:p

Mehh. I'm thinking one of these days I need to mention to Girl how weird her roommate is and how she always tries to hook me up with her friend in really weird ways. Hopefully then if her roommate has said anything, she'll disregard it, and otherwise, she won't think anything in particular of the conversation.


I just mostly needed to get that out of my system. This should be the "Girl Events and Occurrences" thread...:p

can you rephrase this post using names because i am baffled right now

can you rephrase this post using names because i am baffled right now

Haha ok, done...

I was going to suggest the same. Why aren't you using names? We're not going to tell on you.

Anyway, it seems fairly simple. You don't 'like' Katherine, but you do like Debbie, but aren't sure now if she feels the same, and are upset because you have a limited time in which to do something.

Well, the answer is: do something!

You don't need to worry about what this idiot roommate of hers says. If you can she that she's a silly cow, other people will, too. All you should do is have a serious chat with Debbie, take your time, make sure there is no rush, and do it in a comfortable and private fashion. Explain to her your feelings, and that you were happy with your relationship prior to the break and were hopeful that things would work out between you two, but now don't know what to think and are unhappy at the prospect that you could be letting go of something that could be good. You would like to know her honest feelings on the matter. But before you finish and let her talk, tell her then that you are concerned that her roommate might have been trying to put her off you, because you have seen some aspects of her behaviour that make you think she might be capable of that. If Debbie asks for some examples, tell her she's been making obvious attempts at interfering with your love life by forcing you in to embarrassing situations with Katherine, and this is distressing you because you're worried about the impressions Debbie might have been given. I think it's important to get that in before she answers, because it will prevent her from coming to a decision there and then, forcing her to think about it all. Her current ideas might be based on those possible false impressions.

Ask her to please take some time to think about all the things you've said if necessary. Try to not give her any choice but to consider it all over time. Say whatever is necessary, as long as she doesn't feel like she's being forced to do anything. It's not the sort of thing you can decide upon immediately. It takes time for anyone to gather up their thoughts. It's essential she doesn't come to a negative judgement right there, because you can't guarantee she'll have the courage to change her mind and act upon it later.

See, she might have been feeling the same thing as you - aprehension about the direction of your potential relationship, due to various reasons, but the only way you're going to find out, and she, is if you talk about it. If she gives her reasons why she cannot be with you in a romantic sense, then you'll know enough to bring some satisfaction.

If you aren't happy with her response, don't resent her for it, because you're bound to feel different about the whole thing later on down the line when you're more level headed about it all. So will she.

I'm guessing it is probably way too awkward for me to try to contact her this way(or to try to contact her at all, for that matter).
Then again, you only live once. And it's not like I'll loose anything I've already lost.
Already asked him to pass the message. As always, I'll set my expectations to lowest and expect no response. :p

Good man :)

I just decided to clean out the garbage can under my old desk, which I haven't even acknowledged since I got my laptop.

Inside was an insanely ancient banana skin. It took me like half a minute to realize it was an old banana and not a dead mouse, what with the grey fur and the strange fungal growths that looked like stale green pop rocks. Even the banana tip looked like a little nose.

I suppose that qualifies as a neutral event.

I just decided to clean out the garbage can under my old desk, which I haven't even acknowledged since I got my laptop.

Inside was an insanely ancient banana skin. It took me like half a minute to realize it was an old banana and not a dead mouse, what with the grey fur and the strange fungal growths that looked like stale green pop rocks. Even the banana tip looked like a little nose.

I suppose that qualifies as a neutral event.

You sir are a danger to national safety.

You sir are a danger to national safety.
Nonsense, Banana-rats are a perfectly normal next-step in evolution for rats and bananas.

I just decided to clean out the garbage can under my old desk, which I haven't even acknowledged since I got my laptop.

Inside was an insanely ancient banana skin. It took me like half a minute to realize it was an old banana and not a dead mouse, what with the grey fur and the strange fungal growths that looked like stale green pop rocks. Even the banana tip looked like a little nose.

I suppose that qualifies as a neutral event.I'd comment on how disgusting that is, but I'm friends with taddar.....and mostly kenvarin......mostly him.......

I just decided to clean out the garbage can under my old desk, which I haven't even acknowledged since I got my laptop.

Inside was an insanely ancient banana skin. It took me like half a minute to realize it was an old banana and not a dead mouse, what with the grey fur and the strange fungal growths that looked like stale green pop rocks. Even the banana tip looked like a little nose.

I suppose that qualifies as a neutral event.

Why doesn't this post have an image with it >: [

Sorry.
I put a plastic bag on my hand and rooted around right now, but it's buried too deep in garbage for me to find it.

[EDIT]Holy crap, I can't even find a picture of a similarly rotten banana on the internet. I think I just missed out on a chance to spread needed information. :(

Seriously, an image search for "Really moldy banana fuzzy rotten" and the worst I got was this (http://2happy.typepad.com/double_happiness/images/2007/09/01/rotten_banana.jpg). Pathetic.

"That's no mold! That is mere blackage! Now I once bared witness to a real moldy banana, and hoo boy, it was something else!"

Something to tell the grandkids, then?

The old addage about women and buses is proving to be alarmingly accurate at the moment. I count five at present, with three actually living on the same continent as I am.

I've never heard that addage apparently...

You wait ages for one and then three turn up at once. Or five, in my case.

My women are more like trains. You wait ages for one and find out one went on strike, the other is too late and the one you got broke down on the track.

LOL train puns. Mine never turn up, or when they do they've been off the rails.

I seldom ride the train but when I do I have to get the bus there first.

i have yet to catch a train

I think the addage is "If you miss the train you got to get a cab".

First you get the money, then you get the power...

Then separate an egg...

It's now pretty much a sure thing that Obama is the Democratic presidential nominee.

[EDIT]
GAH.
Obama's speech ended with a song I've been trying to find out the name of for a while, but while the commentators mentioned the name of Clinton's ending song, of course they wouldn't mention that one. Poo.

Obama's speech ended with a song I've been trying to find out the name of for a while, but while the commentators mentioned the name of Clinton's ending song, of course they wouldn't mention that one. Poo.

Could it be The Rising by Bruce Springsteen (http://www.backstreets.com/btx/viewtopic.php?p=1295208&sid=214b45fac99424537c49f51e1c022793#1295174)? Google harder. :p

Could it be The Rising by Bruce Springsteen (http://www.backstreets.com/btx/viewtopic.php?p=1295208&sid=214b45fac99424537c49f51e1c022793#1295174)? Google harder. :p

I suppose I should've waited more than immediately after the speech ended to search around. :p

Thanks, and all that.

Last final tomorrow! But it's also really hard - the teacher usually aims for an average of about 30% or so.

In more neutral news, I decided against telling Debbie about my feelings for her just yet at the advice of a friend who cited that it would be too hard to get into a relationship with her right before we moved away and that I was better off staying in touch with her over summer and see how things go next year. So that's become my focus and I feel at much less of a loss than I did before. Also her roommate next year is really cool and seems somewhat fond of me, which is a good situation. And her current weird roommate Christine is now pretty much officially out of my life - she finished finals and moved home already. Which means when I stop by to say goodbye on thursday I won't have to deal with her.:)

All I meant to talk about was my final tomorrow, how I got to this again I don't know...:p

Last final tomorrow! But it's also really hard - the teacher usually aims for an average of about 30% or so.

30% correct??? holy hell

I've been working on the first Jump Leads book in InDesign. This is a Good Thing. I was working on it this morning from my laptop at work, remote-controlling my PC at home. This is also a good thing.

My home PC has apparently crashed, however, and my connection was lost. It hasn't rebooted so I can't reestablish a connection. This is a Bad Thing. Now all the iLitists I work with are telling me that this wouldn't have happened if I were using a Mac. This is also a Bad Thing.

On balance, this is a Neutral Thing.

Macs aren't bad things :p Mac fanboys are though :p

Yes. I hate iLitists.

Yes. I hate iLitists.

You wouldn't if you had a Mac.

Oh, I would. I know more than a few people who use a Mac but are more than aware that it's "just a computer." They don't have their heads up their arses or anything.

You wouldn't if you had a Mac.
That is correct. You'd despise them so much you'd want to fire them out of a cannon into the sun.

Oh, I would. I know more than a few people who use a Mac but are more than aware that it's "just a computer." They don't have their heads up their arses or anything.
I'm one of those (the former - I have a bad back at the moment and can't bend over that far :p). Yes it is "just a computer", but it's a pretty good looking "just a computer" that doesn't crash too much and requires the odd £200 repair :p

I once used a Mac at my college.

It was hoooooooooooooooooooooorrible.

Oh, I would. I know more than a few people who use a Mac but are more than aware that it's "just a computer." They don't have their heads up their arses or anything.
i think that was a joke
I once used a Mac at my college.

It was hoooooooooooooooooooooorrible.

great thanks for the fyi

Raised my salary has been.

mine too actually. a whole 3.7%...

25% here. :P

25% here. :Pyeah....I work for some seriously cheap *******s...

Well it's an entirely different situation given I work for my aunts, and they are incredibly inexperienced for having run a business for over 10 years. :P

on one hand: danced so hard my pants literally tore apart and i rolled my ankle so hard i fractured it and i can't walk on it for six weeks

on the other hand i got this friend invitation on facebook:
1. you punched my friend in the face at the dance tonight
2. we listen to the same music
basis for facebook friendship.
which totally made my night. i think it evens out to neutral.

Several of my friends are doing psychology PhDs. As such, I now have a wris****ch on, which is programmed to beep randomly throughout the day. This is what I'm told -- in fact it beeps only at inopportune moments. When this happens I must fill in a little book about where I am and what I'm doing. I have no idea what the hell use any of this is to anyone.

The whole thing is just totally odd.

So I thought, first day with the watch on, I went to watch some standup comedy.




It just beeped. While typing this. See how it's programmed..?



Edit: I'm cockahoop about the word filter.

Edit2: How odd.

I wonder what happens if I type cock on its own?

Nothing. It's not a censored word. Lovely - I'm going to call idiots "Cocks" from now on.

Why can the filter differ between words like "parse" and "****" (without the P), but not "wris****ch" and "****" (the middle part alone)?

Such compound words should be white-listed.

It's a vBulletin setting, you can set whether a curse is "bad enough" to get filtered inside words or not.

A cop pulled me over today for my first time. The light that illuminates the rear license plate burned out. Nothing serious. No fine. I am immensely relieved.

The light that illuminates the rear license plate burned out. ...He pulled you over for that? They're not even a standard thing.

...He pulled you over for that? They're not even a standard thing.

I'm pretty sure it is, at least in California.

Someone broke into my aunt's house the other day and stole a laptop and a camera.
I find it hilarious, because she is quite a paranoic security freak. And of course this will only make things worse. :p
She put a lot of effort to make her home safe when she remodeled some time ago. She has a garage entrance, with a large electric gate covering the whole garage entrance(not electrified... by electric I just mean it opens/closes via remote control), a separate door that is quite impossible to lockpick(really complicated system it seems, it's even a pain to open/close it regularly...), an alarm system that covers every door and window in the house, and she even locks every room in the house when she's out.

So they break in trough the backyard (not sure how but it appears they made a hole or removed a piece of glass), first thing they do is destroy the alarm to shut it off. Of course the police still got the call and went there, but as they didn't "see" anything from outside, they left. Just like that. No breaking in to make sure no one's in trouble, no patrolling around the area for a while, not even making sure to contact the house owner... Hilarious.

Someone broke into my aunt's house the other day and stole a laptop and a camera.
I find it hilarious, because she is quite a paranoic security freak. And of course this will only make things worse. :p
She put a lot of effort to make her home safe when she remodeled some time ago. She has a garage entrance, with a large electric gate covering the whole garage entrance(not electrified... by electric I just mean it opens/closes via remote control), a separate door that is quite impossible to lockpick(really complicated system it seems, it's even a pain to open/close it regularly...), an alarm system that covers every door and window in the house, and she even locks every room in the house when she's out.

So they break in trough the backyard (not sure how but it appears they made a hole or removed a piece of glass), first thing they do is destroy the alarm to shut it off. Of course the police still got the call and went there, but as they didn't "see" anything from outside, they left. Just like that. No breaking in to make sure no one's in trouble, no patrolling around the area for a while, not even making sure to contact the house owner... Hilarious.
Hilariously amounts of money wasted for the security system.

Does she not have motion sensors in the house?

Does she not have motion sensors in the house?
first thing they do is destroy the alarm to shut it off.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2002/20020412h.gif

So they break in trough the backyard (not sure how but it appears they made a hole or removed a piece of glass)

And likely not setting off any of the reed switches on the window frames, I guess. If that's the case, motion sensors would likely have provided a secondary layer of detection by picking up their movement in the house, triggering the alarm and any external bell boxes before they had chance to disable it. Angel didn't say the alarm had been set off (as in an alarm state), just that it had been destroyed. The call to the police might have been a silent one as a result of an AC fail or anti-tamper switch being activated. External bell boxes usually have their own backup battery, so if they are disconnected they will still sound. Bell boxes are usually placed highly, so disabling one would have required a ladder and a lot of faffing about with tools, which would have been pointless considering the attention being drawn. I presume nothing sounded.

This sounds planned. Angel?

The alarm was triggered, apparently, and for some stupid reason, the bell box was located inside the alarm box instead of hidden somewhere else.

The alarm was triggered, apparently, and for some stupid reason, the bell box was located inside the alarm box instead of hidden somewhere else.
Probably because the designer of the alarm system is related to the burglars.

The alarm was triggered, apparently, and for some stupid reason, the bell box was located inside the alarm box instead of hidden somewhere else.

Or that.

Seriously, what on Earth?

Or that.

Seriously, what on Earth?

Bonz is probably right.

I just looked at the ingredients list of the Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas I just had. It contains chicken broth. For crying out loud, why on earth do you make vegetable enchiladas and add a meat product? You're being deceptive to vegetarians like myself who mistakenly thought your product was vegetarian...

*sigh* That's the hard part about being vegetarian - avoiding all the meat that gets put in unsuspecting foods. I mean, I thought gelatin in some cereals was bad enough, but something labeled as "vegetable" should be just that...

(when I mention gelatin everyone asks me "so you've gone vegan now?" No. I oppose 'animal slaughter products' but still allow 'animal labor products' whereby vegans allow neither. Gelatin is definetly a slaughter product, so I don't get why everyone thinks I'm vegan)

gaaaahhhh.....

I'm just against animals beeing cramped into very tight living spaces and not getting to wander around outside alot. The animals should live happy natural lives, but then if you decide to kill them in the end that's fine by me. It's proven that animals that get to live in natural conditions produce better products and taste better.

I mean, you grant them life to begin with when having the farm, those cows and chickens etc wouldn't exist without it. So arn't their lives yours to end as well? :p

So by just opposing slaughter but allowing labor products, you completely ignore the issue of the quality of life the animals live. Who cares if they die "naturally" by old age or by our hands? And let's face it, we are doing them a favor, nobody wants to grow old and senile, that must go for cows and chickens aswell :p

personally I look at it like I see in fantasy books from elvish grove guardians or other such. some animals exist to be eaten as food by those higher on the food chain. I don't have a problem with an animal being eaten by another animal. I DO, however, disagree with hunting animals for sport. population control I understand because some can be disasterous if allowed to procreate too much (like humans for instance), and nature will balance those scales by not providing the food for those species, so I'd say killing out of control populations is fine because I konw I'd take a bullet before starvation any day. but if you want to kill something just because you want to kill it, that's just wrong. you want some deer meat? sure, then go kill the deer, nothing wrong with providing for yourself, but needless slaughter irks me to no end.

also, I completely disagree with mistreatment of animals. if you want to raise a cow to be killed that's fine, but if you start beating the cow just to fuel your god complex well then you need to be beaten yourself.

I do not like animal slaughter, but damnit man, meat is tasty. :3

I would be a vegetarian, indeed I used to be one. But dammit, my diet's so unvaried that I need all the variety I can get, and ham is tasty.

I'd never go vegan. I love dairy products too much.

some animals exist to be eaten as food by those higher on the food chainUh, no. They might get eaten, but they don't exist to be eaten. If you asked an animal, and they could talk, their philosophy would be more "screw that, I'm just trying to survive as long as I can and produce as many offspring as I can".

I'm just against animals beeing cramped into very tight living spaces and not getting to wander around outside alot. The animals should live happy natural lives, but then if you decide to kill them in the end that's fine by me. It's proven that animals that get to live in natural conditions produce better products and taste better.

I mean, you grant them life to begin with when having the farm, those cows and chickens etc wouldn't exist without it. So arn't their lives yours to end as well? :p

So by just opposing slaughter but allowing labor products, you completely ignore the issue of the quality of life the animals live. Who cares if they die "naturally" by old age or by our hands? And let's face it, we are doing them a favor, nobody wants to grow old and senile, that must go for cows and chickens aswell :p

Maybe you misunderstood what I meant by labor products. I meant that as a blanket term for everything that's not a slaughter product, mainly milk eggs and honey, not to mean that the animal was laboriously producing the product at all times. I do believe in free-range produce and buy that whenever possible. Sadly this country has terrible guidelines for what can be called "free-range" - if the chicken coop is open for 5 minutes a day they can be called free range, whether or not the chickens actually go outside. :rolleyes: I do tend to feel like I'm more likely to get free range eggs and stuff if I go to a place like Whole Foods Market rather than, say, Costco, but there's no way to be sure.

I'm vegetarian by environmentalism about as much as by ethics. It takes so much more land and energy and grain to produce meat than to produce crops. Cattle ranching is by far the main cause of deforestation of the Amazon. And I like organic more for the environmental impact of indiscriminately spraying pesticides than for the purported health benefits.

But I must admit I'm torn about things like leather. It's definitely a slaughter product, but at the same time it's more environmental to use the cow's skin which we already have than to grow cotton or make non-recyclable synthetic polymers. But then since leather doesn't need to say what animal it came from I've heard that China sometimes grows animals that aren't good for meat just for the cheap leather. Which is bad by both my ethical and environmental standpoints so I avoid leather for now, but I'm still torn...:p

Ultimately unless you have your own chickens and grow your own food there is no way of knowing what is and isn't "good" food. We had chickens of our own for years before my parents divorced, and were I an egg person I'd be incliend to do the same when I'm out on my own. Fortunately for me I don't like eggs.

Uh, no. They might get eaten, but they don't exist to be eaten. If you asked an animal, and they could talk, their philosophy would be more "screw that, I'm just trying to survive as long as I can and produce as many offspring as I can".if they weren't meant to be eaten then damn it they shouldn't be so damn tasty :p

if they weren't meant to be eaten then damn it they shouldn't be so damn tasty :p
Things aren't "meant to be". The basic working of the universe is: Shít happens.

Things aren't "meant to be". The basic working of the universe is: Shít happens.yes, yes, I agree, I was just making a point :p

if they weren't meant to be eaten then damn it they shouldn't be so damn tasty :pThey're tasty because our tastebuds tell us they're tasty.

Our tastebuds tell us they're tasty because they contain the proteins and so on that we need to survive (and they haven't developed any self-defence toxins, that too). They contain those proteins and so on because they need them to survive as well.

I might sound a bit nihilistic, but I wouldn't say I am. The nice thing about realising that the universe has no meaning is that you can invent your own.

(and they haven't developed any self-defence toxins, that too)see? their fault.

seriously. you guys are taking what I said way more seriously than I mean it.

seriously. you guys are taking what I said way more seriously than I mean it.So what else is new? :p

So what else is new? :pyou've a point there.....that does tend to happen a lot...

I blame all of you :p

I blame all of you :pjeez aku relax, don't be such an ass

jeez aku relax, don't be such an assI feel ashamed of myself that i had to think about that for a second before I got it....

My 11 year old cousin went to the airport with my aunt to pick up his stepfather who was returning from San Francisco, and apparently Aerosmith were also arriving here at that same moment. Which is odd, since there's no gig announced anywhere here, they came probably for a private party or something. There was no one expecting them at the airport. So he got to say hi, got autographs and even took pictures with them.
He's really into music. He's like a little walking Beatles encyclopedia thanks to his (real) father being a musician and huge Beatles fan(plays at a Beatles cover band)(also, his real father is a violent fúcktard so he doesn't see him anymore, but that's another story. :p), and he is also learning piano and drums.
I bet it must have been and awesome experience for him.

Nice one!

1234

So, the place I work at belongs to a large market place with over 400 locales, most of them specializing in vegetables, fruits, pet food, etc. And recently, heads of several of the larger locales here have been victims of kidnapping or kidnap attempts. Some of them just receive a phone call telling them they have kidnapping some member of their family, and ends up being just a bluff, but some people have ended up paying the ransom because of not being able to reach the person that has allegedly been kidnapped.
Unfortunately, there have also been real cases of kidnapping. Recently the son of the owner of a relatively large business we often sell to/ buy from was kidnapped, and some other guy that often comes and buys stuff was almost kidnapped. He managed to get away, but they followed him home, and stole his car. However, they got caught shortly after.

Another business we know in another state were asked to pay a monthly "tribute" to local mob or else. They decided to close down.

This all leads to the fact that this makes us a target of kidnapping too, given the place I work in, that belongs to my grandfather, is one of the larger ones.

Hooray for insecurity!

I'm noticing you have a pretty broad definition of "neutral" lately.

I'm noticing you have a pretty broad definition of "neutral" lately.
I'll threat that as a negative event once it actually affects me.

My driving test is on Monday.
I'm not sure if this is good or bad; there's the possibility that I'll be able to drive after, but then there's the fact it's a driving test...

My driving test is on Monday.
I'm not sure if this is good or bad; there's the possibility that I'll be able to drive after, but then there's the fact it's a driving test...

Good luck. I was going to say "let's hope it takes you less tries than it took me", but given that would be anything up to six attempts...

I don't see what's so hard about a driving test... then again, we don't have roundabouts here. And probably tests here are easier, judging by how most people drive.

Granted, I've never taken one, but I've never been worried about the concept, and I'm pretty certain I would nail it the first time. :P

21 years old and no driving license. :cool: For the sole reason that I don't own a car, and having a license would only be used against me in the form of "go buy/pick up/ drive me to" type favors. :p

I don't see what's so hard about a driving test... then again, we don't have roundabouts here. And probably tests here are easier, judging by how most people drive.

Granted, I've never taken one, but I've never been worried about the concept, and I'm pretty certain I would nail it the first time. :P

21 years old and no driving license. :cool: For the sole reason that I don't own a car, and having a license would only be used against me in the form of "go buy/pick up/ drive me to" type favors. :pRoundabouts, manual gearboxes (and all the clutch control and stalling issues they bring), reversing manoeuvres, box junctions, town centres where everyone goes "Hey, let's park on both sides of this already narrow road!", insane drivers who passed the test years ago when it was a lot easier...

I'm pretty certain I would nail it the first time. :P
Hm, aren't we all. :p

I did pass it the first time.

Failing once wouldn't have been an issue, but from the second time onwards, you would have needed to do extra lessons and pay extra fees.

It was the parallel parking test at the start of the thing that led me to fail it some 3 or 4 times. Then once after that for something stupid. Then I passed.

*is glad parallel parking wasn't in his driving test*

In Austria you need to do the parallel parking in one go, i.e. turn the wheel in one direction, then the other, then you have to be in the parking space, with both wheels the same distance from the kerb and not too far away altogether.

Yeah, parallel parking wasn't on my test either, thank the Holy Mog. I would not have passed first go if that had been the case.

Actually, there's a really bad intersection in my hometown, and there was talk at a point about replacing it with a roundabout. It was never done because of fear that people would be confused and not know how to deal with it. We have enough tourists here, we don't need them going the wrong way around a roundabout...:p Although they all mess up pretty spectacularly in the current intersection.

You can see it here (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=W%20Ojai%20Ave%20@34.441430%2C%20-119.260910&mrt=all), but basically, if you're turning left from Maricopa to Ojai Ave, there are 2 left turn lanes. After you turn left, there are still two lanes, but they merge into a single lane in about 2 car lengths. So essentially two left turn lanes turn into one after the intersection, and if you're not used to the intersection you cause problems. People from around here have a system where the cars in the left turn lanes alternate taking off from the line so that merging after the turn is seamless. But then you have tourists who don't know about the merge who stay right next to you and make the situation difficult. It's just a miserably designed intersection.:rolleyes:

In Austria you need to do the parallel parking in one go, i.e. turn the wheel in one direction, then the other, then you have to be in the parking space, with both wheels the same distance from the kerb and not too far away altogether.So... how's that different from any other parallel park?

So... how's that different from any other parallel park?

That under normal conditions, you can take your time? Perhaps try a few times? :p

That under normal conditions, you can take your time? Perhaps try a few times? :p

On a busy road, that's incredibly inconsiderate and a bit dangerous.

On a busy road, that's incredibly inconsiderate and a bit dangerous.
So what are you supposed to do, not park at all, or leave your car parked incorrectly?

On a busy road, that's incredibly inconsiderate and a bit dangerous.

Depends how bad the first attempt was. You could normally just move back and forth a bit to get it right.

I'm also lucky that parallel parking wasn't in my test. Reversing an unexpectedly narrow driveway was though, and I did a relatively bad job of that, but passed anyway. Though I still have another test to go before I have a full licence. I mostly avoid parallel parking and reversing narrow things, but the few times I have parallel parked I've gotten a lot better at it. I find it's more about knowing the car than anything.

So what are you supposed to do, not park at all, or leave your car parked incorrectly?
Most people take the former. :p

Yeah, pretty much everybody I know, myself inclusive, would rather drive around the block six times looking for a better spot than parallel park.

Most people take the former. :p
Strange, in England - or at least Essex, with all the school-run mumns and their "Chelsea Tractors" - just abandons their car wherever they feel like, whether or not it's in a designated parking space (or four :p)

I quite liked doing parallel parking during driving lessons (it's a lot less variable than say, reverse round a corner, given the wide variety of types of corner), although one of the reasons I failed Test #6 was because I did mine without looking directly behind me enough, and relying too much on the mirrors (I did the same thing wrong on the three-point turn in that test).

Parallel parking isn't too bad, but it's probably the most irritating maneuver.
All I really need to watch out for is that I don't accelerate too quickly and go over the speed limit. My instructor's car is considerably more powerful than my .9 litre box on wheels.

Parallel parking isn't too bad, but it's probably the most irritating maneuver.
All I really need to watch out for is that I don't accelerate too quickly and go over the speed limit. My instructor's car is considerably more powerful than my .9 litre box on wheels.

You don't get to use your own car on the test? I find that slightly unfair, because their car may handle differently than your own.

When we had behind-the-wheel training, my instructor's car was miserable. The steering was muddly (I know I made that word up, but it describes it perfectly) and it was like playing a video game with the wheel as a controller. I like to feel the road through my steering wheel, not just give hints to the car as to which direction to go. If I had to take the test in that car I'd have been quite miffed. You could say that one should have to be accustomed to driving more than just one car, but I'll never buy a car with such muddly steering, and I never intent to drive such a car again...



In other neutral news there's a wildfire a few miles away from me. Looks like they have it pretty well contained already, but the air quality is pretty bad.

You don't get to use your own car on the test? I find that slightly unfair, because their car may handle differently than your own.

When we had behind-the-wheel training, my instructor's car was miserable. The steering was muddly (I know I made that word up, but it describes it perfectly) and it was like playing a video game with the wheel as a controller. I like to feel the road through my steering wheel, not just give hints to the car as to which direction to go. If I had to take the test in that car I'd have been quite miffed. You could say that one should have to be accustomed to driving more than just one car, but I'll never buy a car with such muddly steering, and I never intent to drive such a car again...

I can choose. My instructor's car is far superior to my own. It's generally easier to drive and I'm more used to performing the required maneuvers in his than mine.

ah ok fair enough

In Austria you can only do the lessons and the tests in a driving school car.
They have an additional set of accelerator, brake and clutch pedals on the passenger side and also extra mirrors for the instructor.

The trucks even have an extra wheel.

In Austria you can only do the lessons and the tests in a driving school car.
They have an additional set of accelerator, brake and clutch pedals on the passenger side and also extra mirrors for the instructor.

The trucks even have an extra wheel.
Same over here, although there's no second accelerator pedal (why would you need one anyway?)


When we had behind-the-wheel training, my instructor's car was miserable. The steering was muddly (I know I made that word up, but it describes it perfectly) and it was like playing a video game with the wheel as a controller. I like to feel the road through my steering wheel, not just give hints to the car as to which direction to go. If I had to take the test in that car I'd have been quite miffed. You could say that one should have to be accustomed to driving more than just one car, but I'll never buy a car with such muddly steering, and I never intent to drive such a car again...Other way round for me, really. I've spent far more time driving in my instructor's car than my mum's car (which will soon be mine), so I'm much more used to it.

Same over here, although there's no second accelerator pedal (why would you need one anyway?)
So that the instructor can quickly get the car out of a dangerous situation that the completely newbie student can't realise.
E.g. stalling the engine on an intersection with a tank truck about to hit the car very soon.

So that the instructor can quickly get the car out of a dangerous situation that the completely newbie student can't realise.
E.g. stalling the engine on an intersection with a tank truck about to hit the car very soon.

Why on earth would that tank truck be unable to stop? And if so, how quickly do you think your instructor could get the car moving again and reach a sufficient speed in time to avert an unlikely disaster?

Besides, you shouldn't be taking completely newbie drivers to such places in my view. At least teach them how the car works first. :p

Besides, you shouldn't be taking completely newbie drivers to such places in my view.
Fun thing.
For my first driving lesson I had a substitute teacher who asked me if I had driven a car before.
I affirmed, because I had been driving around in the woods and on meadows.
We then took a 20 minute ride through two cities only to stop at a parking lot to do simple beginners exercises.

I had quite sweaty palms when we arrived there. :rolleyes:

New drivers are likely to freeze up in such a situation.

Here the intructor cars only have the brake on the passenger side. No clutch because the driver has no clutch either...:p

edit: First line was @ AK

Major insomnia!
I've been getting late to work way too often recently. Really really late.
I mean, in my old job, I used to be 5-10 minutes late often, occasionally up to a half an hour late. And that was bad.

Now we're talking 3-4 hours late :P, which I can only get away with because it's a family business, I don't really have a contract, and because I can finish all the important tasks from my job even if I'm late, due to their nature.
But it makes it harder for me to try to get a raise. It also causes conflict.

So anyway, this is because I can't freaking get any sleep. I have three choices after I get home from work: Sleep all afternoon, then wake up around midnight and stay all night up then go to work etc; Sleep only a couple of hours, wake up, then sleep again around 11-12PM, wake up for work, etc; and finally, I can stay awake all afternoon and go to sleep early around 7-9 PM, then wake up for work.
Thing is, none of this work out. If I sleep all afternoon and basically become a night person I end up feeling like crap because I always get headaches when I sleep during the afternoon. And I still feel tired in the morning at work. If I only sleep a couple of hours in the afternoon and try to salvage whatever is rest of the day I end up getting a headache and feeling all crappy, and if I stay up all afternoon I feel exhausted all the time. Plus I have insomnia and when the time to go to sleep comes around, I can't friggin get any sleep. Like right now...

The secret fourth option is turn into an android that requires no sleep, but that would take ages of research and will probably end in tears anyway.

If you're getting to work 3-4 hours late, then surely it's because you're sleeping in, not because you're not sleeping? If you can force yourself up a bit earlier then you'd be tired all day but it might help getting to sleep that night.

Because I fall asleep until about 1 am. Then I can't really wake up by 4 am.
Although I have forced myself up but it didn't really help me to sleep that night either.

I've unlocked all the music tracks in SSBB.
Normally this would be good, but it now means I havn't got any left to unlock.

Because I fall asleep until about 1 am. Then I can't really wake up by 4 am.
Although I have forced myself up but it didn't really help me to sleep that night either.

It will if you keep it up.

It will if you keep it up.
I tend to end up falling asleep exhausted after not sleeping for too long, but that will invariably end up happening after I arrive home from work, which then ends in the "slept all afternoon, wake up at night and unable to sleep again" scenario...

I tend to end up falling asleep exhausted after not sleeping for too long, but that will invariably end up happening after I arrive home from work, which then ends in the "slept all afternoon, wake up at night and unable to sleep again" scenario...

Well then you'll be up in plenty of time for work.

And by the next day I'll be back at can't sleep. I can't really go around pulling all nighters every two nights, you know. :p

Yes you can. You just need to believe in yourself!

All right! I can do it!

Two weeks later...

*braindead*

You had a brain? :rolleyes:

Zero says:
my slightly mangled rear bumper and I would like things to not suck so much
Munkee says:
...oi
Zero says:
or: who the **** put a fire hydrant in a parking lot anyway
Munkee says:
lol
Zero says:
could have been worse or whatever but god damn it all the same
Munkee says:
your car has PERSONALITY now
Zero says:
my car doesn't need ungodly holes surrounded by yellow paint to have personality |: /

Edit: I hate this thread for looking too much like the Negative one. Particularly with Angelus putting just about everything here. :p

Feel free to suggest a new name.

Neither positive nor negative enough to warrant placement in either of the other threads Events & Occurances?

:p

In terms of actually neutral events that aren't me backing my car into things, my work schedule has gone back to a 4-ten-hour-days one, meaning I get Fridays off again, the tradeoff being that I have to work 2 more hours a night. In the long run, I'd consider this a Positive event -- it's mainly the transition. It's already feeling pretty natural again mentally, but the extra hours are beating the hell out of my stupid fleshy human body this week.

Feel free to suggest a new name.Unsigned Events & Occurances?

"Not Quite Positive or Negative" Events & Occurances?

"Zeor is confused dot com"

This would count as a negative only if confirmed, so for now I'll leave it here:
Anyone remember me mentioning a minor surgery I had a couple of years ago? Well it seems the thing they removed has appeared again. It could be something else, I haven't had it examined yet, but it looks pretty much the same, feels pretty much the same, and to top it all off it's on the exact same spot.
If it is the same thing, then there's the possibility of requiring another surgery to remove it. Which means negative money will be earned. D:

Feel free to suggest a new name."Events, Occurrences, Situations Or Other Things Which May Be Considered Either Positive Or Negative, Both, Or Neither (Part 1 of 6)"

Ambivalent E&O?
Middling E&O?
Important but value-neutral stuff that I want to mention?

Wibbly :p

Pointless **** and Moan Thread?

What on earth are those four asterisks covering?

Completely off the current topic of conversation:

I got my Wii online, but I've ****ed up our current network set-up in the process.

What on earth are those four asterisks covering?

Pïss and moan.

What might it be, Angel?

What might it be, Angel?
A pilonidal cyst.:mad:

Pïss and moan.that would be the one, yes.

Unsigned Events & Occurances?

I vote this one:D

Only it's spelled "Occurrences" with 2 R's and 'ence' not 'ance' - the other two get the 'ence' right but all three need the 2nd R.

"The 80% Off-Topic Thread" because honestly that's more what it is these days

Additive Identity Events and Occurrences

Only it's spelled "Occurrences" with 2 R's and 'ence' not 'ance' - the other two get the 'ence' right but all three need the 2nd R.I'd better mention that to Worm Mad next time I talk to him, given he's an English graduate now ;).

I find it amusing that I never noticed the spelling mistakes in the titles of the topics. I guess I never really read that far through them.

Pococurante Events & Occurrences
Ineffectual Events & Occurrences
Vacillatory Events & Occurrences
Nugatory Events & Occurrences

Unsigned is good though. :p

If we ever find that this thread gets filled with too many events which aren't neutral, but rather have too many positive and negative aspects to them, we could always start up the Vacillatory Events thread.

Shadowmoon's Idiotic Occurrences

I bet that would disburden the Stupidity on the Forum thread a bit.

I don't see why we're discussing this. If it's positive or negative it shouldn't be in this thread.

I think people think that "Neutral" looks too much like "Negative", given that they both begin with the same letter.

...Where "people" is mainly me. :p

Yin-Yang Events and Occurrences?

ok. since no one can agree, let's just go with Untitled Events & Occurances. we can't think of a name anyway, why not just run with it? :p

Changed to "Unsigned", since that cropped up more in this thread.

So what's off-topic for?

Events & occurrences that don't involve us and thus are off-topic. :p

"100% Off-topic" is the inside equivalent of the outside "Fan Art".
Only with more actual fan art.

100% OT thread is for randomly talking about random stuff.

this thread is for talking about random events that actually happened to us.

it's a rather large distinction, in my mind.

So what's off-topic for?
"Positive Events & Occurrences" is for good, happy and cheerful events.
"Negative Events & Occurrences" is for depressing, bad and sad events.
"Unsigned Events & Occurrences" is for events which are kind of sitting on the fence - they may have both good and bad elements in them.
"100% Off Topic or whatever it's called today" is for Paul to bore us with cricket :p And to discuss any totally random topic which is, well, off topic.

What have we become?

What have we become?
Didn't you mean to post this in the Negative Events and Occurrences thread? ;) :rolleyes:

What have we become?Highly organized ranters?

Highly organized ranters?
I vote we change OD's name to "The Society for Highly Organised Ranters"

"They're chickens, you dolt! Apart from you, they're the most stupid creatures on this planet! They don't plot, they don't scheme, and they are not organised!"

A part of my course is an internship period which starts in January and goes on for 30 weeks. This is unpaid of course, but I will get money from student loans. So today I've been cleaning my apartment and painted the kitchen, just so this place looks nice for viewing.

Getting ready to move even though I have no idea yet were I'm heading :x
I'm aiming for stockholm, hopefully there's a gaming company there willing to accept me for internship..

Too bad Team17 doesn't accept internships :P
Though I'm not too keen on leaving the country for this.

One of our saucepan lids is ticking.

Duck and cover!

One of our saucepan lids is ticking.how many times have I told you, paul? that's a clock! not a saucepan lid!.....sheesh! :rolleyes:

One of our saucepan lids is ticking.
Is it being used when it does that?

My grandad has a lamp in the living room. Even when off it "clicks". It sounds like the bulb cracks, or perhaps like you're flicking it with force. Very peculiar...

Is it being used when it does that?

My grandad has a lamp in the living room. Even when off it "clicks". It sounds like the bulb cracks, or perhaps like you're flicking it with force. Very peculiar...It was washed, and I was in the process of drying it when it started. It kept going once I put the lid on its respective pan.

Haven't heard it since, but then I haven't listened for it since, so...

Now you've got a handle on the situation you can put a lid on it and everything will pan out fine.

Now you've got a handle on the situation you can put a lid on it and everything will pan out fine.******slaps*

Now you've got a handle on the situation you can put a lid on it and everything will pan out fine.

Tell that to Blinx.

Now you've got a handle on the situation you can put a lid on it and everything will pan out fine.
oh for ****'s sake

I may well find myself having to do a System Restore on this PC. Not because it's died or anything, but rather because after more or less a year of continuous use it's beginning to take a little longer to start up.

Tell that to Blinx.
Eh? What have I done now?

m.f*cker at radioshack sold me adapter i dont need... guy trick ed me... pretty cool adapter tho. it puts two thing into one. mIght use it else where if somethings need to be adapted... friends were talking about doing this earlier... developing...

The mistake was yours and yours alone, for you willingly and knowingly went into RadioShack.

The mistake was yours and yours alone, for you willingly and knowingly went into RadioShack.

IT was a learning experience. I am a better man for my adapater

What does it adapt, exactly?

Is there not a no-quibble refund policy?

Most Americans do not know what a Quibble is. Many assume that they're those furry little blobs from Star Trek.

And yet most americans are Quibblers.

m.f*cker at radioshack sold me adapter i dont need... guy trick ed me... pretty cool adapter tho. it puts two thing into one. mIght use it else where if somethings need to be adapted... friends were talking about doing this earlier... developing...
maaan i told you steer clearn of radiohhsack. baaaaad**** going down in htere. jsut sayin.

So been thinking again about getting a PS3. Thing is, I have seen some reports (although a bit dated, mid 2007...) that the PSN and/or PSStore is not supported in Mexico.
And no matter how much I search around I can't really confirm if it's available now or not... :confused:

Whereas the Xbox Live works fine and dandy here, which makes me wonder if I should go for the 360 instead. :(

So been thinking again about getting a PS3. Thing is, I have seen some reports (although a bit dated, mid 2007...) that the PSN and/or PSStore is not supported in Mexico.
And no matter how much I search around I can't really confirm if it's available now or not... :confused:

Whereas the Xbox Live works fine and dandy here, which makes me wonder if I should go for the 360 instead. :(
i'd spring for the xbox if i were you; the ps3 has no real advantages over it

Well it has one advantage - free online play. The trouble is that, from my experience, no bugger uses it. Go for a 360.

Depends on the games you want to play, too. Gears of War is awesome.

It's just too hard to decide. From what I see the PS3 seems more... stable. I know I'd truly totally not enjoy getting a Red Ring of Death.
Also there's some exclusives like Little Big Planet, MSG4, God of War 3, MotorStorm, White Knight Story, etc... that catch my attention, while the Xbox 360 exclusives don't really catch my attention as much. Maybe Alan Wake. And Fable 2.
But then there's price. The Xbox360 is at least $3,000.00 Mexican pesos cheaper than the PS3. Which is a lot. :p And the fact that Xbox live is fully supported, unlike the PSN that doesn't seem to be fully supported as far as I have been able to find out...

It's just too hard to decide. From what I see the PS3 seems more... stable. I know I'd truly totally not enjoy getting a Red Ring of Death.
Much less of an issue with the more recent models. It's mostly the consoles manufactured in the first year or so that had this problem.


Also there's some exclusives like Little Big Planet, MSG4, God of War 3, MotorStorm, White Knight Story, etc... that catch my attention, while the Xbox 360 exclusives don't really catch my attention as much. Maybe Alan Wake. And Fable 2.
LBP is superb. Metal Gear Solid 4 was an abject disappointment and is definitely not worth buying a console for. Fable II is, so far, one of the best games to come out for the 360.

So Fable 2 comes in spanish. Which is a bad thing for me. But then, I hear there's a DLC to get the english audio. Good news. Also, it appears that this dlc also unlocks content from the Limited Edition. :p (much to the annoyance of people who purchased the LE)
Unfortunately it seems that I can only have access to this DLC with an Xbox Live Gold account. And no, the free 48hr Gold trial doesn't work for this. :p

I'm gonna purchase a gold acc first thing tomorrow, hopefully they won't have fixed this by that time. :P

edit: Also, I have connected to xbox live trough an ethernet cable trough my imac trough my wireless connection trough airport... how awesome is that? :D

Gears of War, next.

So there's this girl. Or actually there's two. And that's the problem.

So there's this girl named Maxie. She's the one I mentioned somewhere in the positive events thread. I started to fall for her while teaching her to play Blackbird on guitar. Every time I talk to her it gives me thrills, and it makes my day every time I run into her. She's freaking amazing.

Then there's also Mary Beth. Things are very interesting between the two of us - I don't really know how to articulate it. We're very sarcastic and mean to each other, but then we find ourselves cuddling. I don't get the thrills around her like I do for Maxie, but somehow I'm drawn to her nevertheless.

So when I'm sitting here, I feel like I prefer Maxie. But then when I'm around Mary Beth, I'm nevertheless drawn to her. The only thing though is that Maxie and I aren't very far along, while with Mary Beth I'm pretty certain she likes me, and I'm much further along with her. We've cuddled on a number of occasions, once until 6:30 in the morning, once on the sidewalk in the pouring rain in the middle of the night. On one occasion she pecked me on the cheek, and as much as my lizard brain wanted to reciprocate, I felt that, for me, that would have pretty much sealed it and it would be too late to investigate the possibilities with Maxie, whom I am convinced I have proper feelings for, while I feel like with Mary Beth and I it's mostly physical attraction at work.

So do I go with the girl who likes me, or do I risk it with the one who might? But then there's a big issue of what about Mary Beth if I got into a relationship with Maxie. And now I'm worrying if it's ethical to keep looking for possibilities with another girl when I've gotten so close to one. I really think I'd be happier with Maxie, but I feel like that would be wronging the other girl.

I'm just really confused - for the past 2 weeks or so I've written something like this every day and not posted it.

Listen to your hearth, luke.

Clichés aside tho, it depends on wheter asking one out would rule the other one out, or complicate things more with the other one. If they are friends, asking one out could lower your chances with the other. So if they don't know eachother, then you should try with the one who might, and if it doesn't work, head the other way.

Listen to your hearth, luke.I know people used to try and predict the future by staring into flames, but... ;)

my vote's for maxie. you seem to feel more strongly for her.

I've found a PhD that I like the look of. Problem is it's at Cambridge. Or maybe that's a good thing; that's why I posted it here. Firstly I don't even know if I'm ready for a PhD yet let alone one at Cambridge, although the first year of it is there to get you up to speed. I don't know if I'd be out of my depth. Although if I could handle it then it would obviously be great.

On the positive side, it's similar to my final year project that I'm doing at the moment, and the chap organising the PhD collaborates with one of my ex-tutors at uni.

The application deadline is January, with interviews in Feburary. Everything seems to be moving so fast that I just need some time out to think about the future. I've decided that I'd like to be working in a lab in some shape or form, I just don't know at what level.

Edit: Bollocks. I thought this was 'Unsigned'.

What are you doing at the moment?

I know people used to try and predict the future by staring into flames, but... ;)

Ah. I've been spelling it hearth forever and had never noticed/been told the correct spelling is heart.
Therefore, someone must have changed the universe and I am the only one who can notice the change! :O

edit: Or maybe I've been transported to an alternate dimension...

Edit: Bollocks. I thought this was 'Unsigned'.

...and now it is.

I know people used to try and predict the future by staring into flames, but... ;)
good one

The interview seemed to go well. But I have to do a graphics test before getting accepted.

I'm pretty optimistic about it though. The tough part is the suspense of having to wait for the definitive answer. I already have plans to move back to Stockholm next weekend, and now I probably won't get the yes/no until right after the move. :X

Blaeggdgdfgfhg. It'll be fine :)

The interview seemed to go well. But I have to do a graphics test before getting accepted.

I'm pretty optimistic about it though. The tough part is the suspense of having to wait for the definitive answer. I already have plans to move back to Stockholm next weekend, and now I probably won't get the yes/no until right after the move. :X

Blaeggdgdfgfhg. It'll be fine :)

That's really exciting about the job though, I wish you good luck :)

So there's this girl. Or actually there's two. And that's the problem.

So there's this girl named Maxie. She's the one I mentioned somewhere in the positive events thread. I started to fall for her while teaching her to play Blackbird on guitar. Every time I talk to her it gives me thrills, and it makes my day every time I run into her. She's freaking amazing.

Then there's also Mary Beth. Things are very interesting between the two of us - I don't really know how to articulate it. We're very sarcastic and mean to each other, but then we find ourselves cuddling. I don't get the thrills around her like I do for Maxie, but somehow I'm drawn to her nevertheless.

So when I'm sitting here, I feel like I prefer Maxie. But then when I'm around Mary Beth, I'm nevertheless drawn to her. The only thing though is that Maxie and I aren't very far along, while with Mary Beth I'm pretty certain she likes me, and I'm much further along with her. We've cuddled on a number of occasions, once until 6:30 in the morning, once on the sidewalk in the pouring rain in the middle of the night. On one occasion she pecked me on the cheek, and as much as my lizard brain wanted to reciprocate, I felt that, for me, that would have pretty much sealed it and it would be too late to investigate the possibilities with Maxie, whom I am convinced I have proper feelings for, while I feel like with Mary Beth and I it's mostly physical attraction at work.

So do I go with the girl who likes me, or do I risk it with the one who might? But then there's a big issue of what about Mary Beth if I got into a relationship with Maxie. And now I'm worrying if it's ethical to keep looking for possibilities with another girl when I've gotten so close to one. I really think I'd be happier with Maxie, but I feel like that would be wronging the other girl.

I'm just really confused - for the past 2 weeks or so I've written something like this every day and not posted it.

Brian, look at the facts:
You fancy Maxie.
You don't fancy Mary Beth.
You are leading Mary Beth on. Stop it.
You obviously don't care about what's best for you, or what you want enough to do anything about it, or you're afraid of what might happen to Mary Beth if you put her off. Don't. She's an adult, don't muck her about, give her the truth, let her deal with it. This is your life, no-one else's. Make it.

You've got a choice between a girl you like and a safe bet.

I thought you were a MAN.

Listen to your hearth, luke.

Clichés aside tho, it depends on wheter asking one out would rule the other one out, or complicate things more with the other one. If they are friends, asking one out could lower your chances with the other. So if they don't know eachother, then you should try with the one who might, and if it doesn't work, head the other way.

They're both friends. Which complicates things a little. But I think I can make due - they both know I'm friends with the other.

my vote's for maxie. you seem to feel more strongly for her.

You don't know how reassuring it was to see those two sentences written. :)

Brian, look at the facts:
You fancy Maxie.
You don't fancy Mary Beth.
You are leading Mary Beth on. Stop it.
You obviously don't care about what's best for you, or what you want enough to do anything about it, or you're afraid of what might happen to Mary Beth if you put her off. Don't. She's an adult, don't muck her about, give her the truth, let her deal with it. This is your life, no-one else's. Make it.

My only problem with this assessment is that I do fancy Mary Beth a little. I would never "lead her on" if I had no interest in her. I just feel that I fancy Maxie more. I do think I'd be plenty happy with either, which is from whence much of the difficulty arises.

You've got a choice between a girl you like and a safe bet.

I thought you were a MAN.

I'm not really sure what you're trying to get across here...


Ok, so I've been on Holiday and haven't seen either of them in 5 days. (all three of us live in the same hallway) I'm hoping given the Holiday break that I'll be able to take things a step back with Mary Beth without seeming too sudden or awkward about it. And then I guess the battleplan is to pursue Maxie more aggressively. I do think this discussion, coupled with the holiday break, has allowed me to clear my mind a bit. We'll see how things go - I'm sure I'll come ranting back here in a couple days.

Go for the one you fancy more. Mary Beth is just convenient as you're already past the initiation, you could take the relationship where you wanted. Yes, she may be SUITABLE and inspire interesting feelings in you but she does not MAKE YOU FEEL GLAD TO BE ALIVE TO EXPERIENCE ATTRACTION like Maxie does.

My Cambridge interview is this Friday.
This is both good and bad - I havn't been rejected and stand a chance of getting in.
It does however mean I have to drive up to Cambridge on Thursday, find a hotel and then find my way to Trinity Hall the next day.
Oh, and I have to read through a text on hyperbolic functions they sent me beforehand.

My Cambridge Uni. interviews were hell. It turns out they weren't good enough for me so they decided to reject me so I could do better elsewhere.

Speaking of college stuff I am getting pretty close to getting all my apps in... do you have to do the "carpet-bombing" action I have to do in America by applying to 9 colleges, or are you guys a bit more reasonable? I just want to make sure I get in somewhere :p

Speaking of college stuff I am getting pretty close to getting all my apps in... do you have to do the "carpet-bombing" action I have to do in America by applying to 9 colleges, or are you guys a bit more reasonable? I just want to make sure I get in somewhere :p
lookit this nub

Heh. I still sometimes feel like I should go to college. I figured it was useless because I'm not the type of person that can put any effort into achieving anything, so it's not likely to improve my future or my choice of jobs... but I figure it's a good way of experiencing new stuff, even if I throw the knowledge I gain there to the garbage.

Maybe I'm reaching a middle age crisis here. (Yeah I don't plan on surpassing 50 years of age. :p)

If I remember rightly, College == University?

We apply through a controlled system thing called UCAS. Last year, when I applied, you could only apply to a maximum of 5 unis. It was 6 the year before that, though.

It depends a lot on the subject you're applying for as to how many offers you'll get. For engineering they practically beg you to come to their uni, but for maths, for reasons I don't comprehend, you'll have heavy competition to get in :p

I hate college/uni so very very very much and I wish it would go die in a fire. If that were possible.

On-topic, here you just fill out a form with up to 5 colleges (and respective courses) by order of preference and you'll get in whichever has an open spot for you first. (assuming you meet the requirements)

No order of preference here. Uni's don't know which other ones you've applied for.
They can guess if you've applied for Oxford or Cambridge though by the submition date, but they're not allowed to be biased against you for that.

If they all like you, they all make offers and you then pick which offer to accept if you suceed in meeting their criteria.

So you just list them and that's it? I've written at least 15 essays.

Also you're already supposed to know what you want to do? Because I really have no idea and am hoping to figure it out once I get there...

And yeah, college = university. For the most part, colleges are generally smaller than universities, but there are some very small universities (like Wesleyan) and very big colleges. I don't even know if there's really a distinction between the two. I know in the case of Boston College it's merely to distinguish it from Boston University.

So you just list them and that's it? I've written at least 15 essays.

Also you're already supposed to know what you want to do? Because I really have no idea and am hoping to figure it out once I get there...

Well I've applied for Maths or Maths and Physics. No written work for that.
You have to right a personal statement for your application, but that's a mere awkward 47 lines.
For some subjects, various uni's want to see some submitted work, but that's about it really.

I believe the technical difference is that a university offers graduate schooling whereas a college does not. But everyone calls it "college" and saying "university" sounds a bit pretentious honestly.

I hate college/uni so very very very much
Drop out and work in a supermarket stacking shelves?

I believe the technical difference is that a university offers graduate schooling whereas a college does not. But everyone calls it "college" and saying "university" sounds a bit pretentious honestly.
this isn't really the case though, as there are many colleges that offer post-grad education. "university" is used nowadays to imply prestige more than anything else, i think

Speaking of college stuff I am getting pretty close to getting all my apps in... do you have to do the "carpet-bombing" action I have to do in America by applying to 9 colleges, or are you guys a bit more reasonable? I just want to make sure I get in somewhere :p

Nothing like that here. We call them universities because the word college is usually used to refer to high schools. :-/

Here we figured out what type of course we wanted to take, looked at where we could do it (which might be 2 places or a bunch depending on the subject), and then most people would just fill out one application. A lot of courses essentially have unlimited places, as they can handle the demand. The one I applied to had limited spaces, but I knew that my exam results were good enough to guarantee I would get in.

They're generally all called universities (or "unis") here now, although my parents still tend to refer to them as colleges - some sort of generational thing there, I guess.

Drop out and work in a supermarket stacking shelves?My factory is hiring! :)

They're generally all called universities (or "unis") here now, although my parents still tend to refer to them as colleges - some sort of generational thing there, I guess.

I think that's more a not-knowing-words thing.

No order of preference here. Uni's don't know which other ones you've applied for.Here the "acceptance" lists are publically published, so anyone in the world can know your choices and whether you were accepted, specially those doing the hazing.

Edit:
Drop out and work in a supermarket stacking shelves?I'm not allowed.

My factory is hiring! :)

The Zeor Factory! :D

Back from my interview.
I'm not certain how it went, the first interview was based on the text they sent me on hyperbolic functions - my mind went blank and I forgot half of it, starting with when they asked my to sketch shinh(x). Although deriving arcsinh(x) and cos(3x) was ok.
I did it all ok though, and that's a bit worrying.

The second interview was a bit horrible, the first question they asked me threw me completely - "how has your understanding of mathematics aided you in understanding or comprehending other things", or something like that.
Then the problems they gave me I could either do or not do, and we never spent long on one problem - I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

Well, might as well post it here.

There's a girl that I like (which you know if you paid attention to the offtopic thread). She's in a relationship right now, and it's one that seems to fluctuate on a weekly basis. She's happy right now, and I want her to be happy more than anything. But DAMN, there's this selfish part of me that wishes she'd break up with him. Not to mention that it kills me to never know where I really stand with her, and if anything would ever happen at all. I don't think what she's got will last much longer, but on the other hand... I can't help but think that I've already lost her...

If you think this post reveals some level of insecurity in my personality, you are 100% accurate.

Great. Just bear in mind that she probably doesn't fancy you and won't begin to when she falls out of her relationship. You could wait a long time for her to break up and develop feelings for you, or you could tell her now and see what happens. Maybe you'll get a head start if you do!

The answer was no... But at least I know what's going on.

Indeed you do. Well done.

><

my ModBook is in processing to ship today. it wasn't supposed to do so until the end of january. this is reasonably awesome.

unfortunately, I wasn't planning to get it until the end of january. as such I have $2,189 in my bank account. total cost of my laptop? $2,248........yeah......

luckily I have cash lying around but now I've gotta race to the bank to beat the overdraft charge.....

edit: I made it! :cool:

Well, a rather... interesting new age dawned at work today, I guess. It looks like the granola line somehow finally managed to run itself out of work or whatever, because they went ahead and laid off the vast majority of second shift today. I was among the three spared, for whatever reason -- 3 years' seniority probably doesn't hurt, plus I'm about the only one left with both the know-how and the sheer tenacity to even do my job or any such equivalent...

Speaking of equivalents, that's probably what I'll be doing now, basically the same job with, mostly, very similar or practically identical machines, except for one monstrosity of a thing I know nothing about. I wouldn't call it a change for the better. The room is hotter and far noisier and messier and basically all of the things I actually did like about my old job have more or less been turned around on me now, to include that I'm now gonna be working with a bunch of damn drama queens. I never liked my job, but having been there for 3 years... You know. I'd really rather not be moved, but... I should be damn glad to have kept my job, I guess. Looks like the bosses really do like me.

The main thing that really sucks about this is that most of the guys laid off were really good people, one in particular a good friend of mine, where I really don't have much left for real-world friends. I'm also profoundly bothered on a fundamental level because of just how badly they got screwed. Here, one week left before the Christmas break, they all get politely ****-canned, no christmas gift, no christmas BONUS. It's just plain freaking not right. Assholes, the lot of them.

Only reason this isn't a Negative event is because I'm not certain just how my new job will stack up to my old one. Who knows, might treat me better, might treat me worse. We'll see.

Ouch. At least you get to keep your job, though. Shame for everyone else though, 'specially just before Christmas.

Yep. Christmas bonus?! What's that!

Hey ho. Treat new things as opportunities to have a change. Change is good. Keeps you focused.

I complain about my job more than it deserves.

Christmas bonus?! What's that!
Basically the 14th monthly salary. The 13th being the holiday allowance.

Well, looks like I'm not getting that job I dreaded after all -- they were going to move the guy already there (who, incidentally, shares my name), but he complained a lot about that so they decided to leave him there, I guess. Fine by me. I'll be sticking with the 2 other survivors of the granola line layoff, the 3 of us basically being floaters who'll do whatever happens to be around to be done, usually pretty simple packing grunt work, which is fine by me. Might be a little harder on the arms and back, but easier on the mind by a long shot, and that thing's been aching the most of all for the past 3 and a half years.

Sailing looks pretty smooth, but I'm not completely convinced that I have any job security, and I'll have to take a good look at my next pay stub. If I'm doing a lot of packing instead of machine operating, they might reduce my pay accordingly, which would be a bummer on top of the $100 per paycheck being deducted for the laptop, even though that'll only be for a few months.

I just got ditched at the last second by another company. This time I'm not as sad about it though, since they seemed like a rahter dull place to work. Nice people and a nice offices, but all graphics they do basically is make 3D models of town areas to show community's how areas might look in the future. It's all very lowpoly so they basically just build boxes. They had a really nice rendering thing going, with interiors and highpoly stuff, but then I found out they outsourced all of the modeling in those projects and what do is just decide color schemes and placement. Woho.

So I'm kinda happy I got turned down, but it also sucks because now I still have no place to go.

I just got ditched at the last second by another company. This time I'm not as sad about it though, since they seemed like a rahter dull place to work. Nice people and a nice offices, but all graphics they do basically is make 3D models of town areas to show community's how areas might look in the future. It's all very lowpoly so they basically just build boxes. They had a really nice rendering thing going, with interiors and highpoly stuff, but then I found out they outsourced all of the modeling in those projects and what do is just decide color schemes and placement. Woho.

So I'm kinda happy I got turned down, but it also sucks because now I still have no place to go.
come to america and try to get a job with a game dev company

come to america
That's in no way over the top for a temporary placement.

That's in no way over the top for a temporary placement.

Would look good in my CV though

That's in no way over the top for a temporary placement.
it's also a joke

2 things:

1. I had the worst day at work ever. all 7 shades of craptasticness spread throughout the night, but it was balanced out by the most absolutely hilarious guy ever who entertained us for a good 45 minutes and tipped us all at least $20. I could go into detail about all of this, but none of you care, so I wont :p

2. for the first time since I can remember, my UserCP was empty when I logged in after a break of at least 8 hours. I have never known this to happen. it was strange.