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Kenzi

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Posts posted by Kenzi


  1.  

    (Ohh, almost forgot I could just not post the quoted parts.  Might have been able to avoid double posting if I did that.  Might have…)
     
    That is pretty lucky to have an information session so close by!  I’ve never attended a college info session that wasn’t on campus, so I’m not too sure how informative those are, but it might be worth checking out.  Of course, it could also be a bit of a waste of time if the info session that you’ll be seeing in August is identical to the one you’ll see in Troy.  Hmm, I guess in Michigan there aren’t many viable options that would be worth checking.  The good thing about living on the east coast is that there are a lot of really good schools located in roughly the same area.  Maybe you could fly over to New York City and visit the schools there, as well as rent a car up north to see the ones in the Boston area?  Ehh, that does sound like a hassle though and it’s not like you have a ton of time this summer.
     
    My OnePlus One just arrived in the mail a couple of days ago, though I won’t be opening it and using it until my phone case arrives.  Sigh, as much as it pains me to join Facebook, I am consoled by the fact that I got one at 18, so I can convince myself I didn’t just get one to waste the time away like all my friends did back in middle and high school, heheh.  Same with the whole phone thing.  It just seems like a silly way to distance myself from the rest of Generation Z though.  I may add some of my friends, but I’m afraid friends of those friends will start adding me, too.  I just want to start fresh and avoid any old clutter.  And I still keep in touch with my really close classmates through e-mail, if there’s anything pressing we need to talk about.  I’ll see how into it I get in college, and if I feel it’s worth it I’ll friend some of my high school friends.
     
    I’m glad you’re staying positive about your SAT IIs and everything else that’s going on!  Hrm, though the essay topic is still giving you some trouble it seems.  And you’re one of those people that can’t relax if there’s work to be done, nagging at the back of your mind, huh?  Gosh, I’m the exact opposite; I’m really unproductive because of it, too.  Maybe I can turn things around in college, eheh.  Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to think of any good topics myself.  And I wouldn’t say it’s stupid having trouble thinking of something you’re passionate about.  My stargazing thing was pure luck, and all my other interests are all geeky and probably off-putting, so I’d be having as much trouble as you right now.  Hopefully the UMich summer program does you some good.
     
    And as for your name, I’m going out on a limb guessing right now, but does it happen to be Jessica Zhou?  As for how I came about that answer, I realized your initials were JZ when I dug around your art posts.  One of your DeviantArt accounts is jzcool123, right?  Well, it’s pretty self-explanatory, but that’s what tipped me off.  Regardless of whether or not that’s what you made your account name, JZ was the most likely combination anyway.  PU obviously doesn’t work (brings me back to elementary school, so I couldn’t resist) and not many girl names start with E (okay, fine, there's Emily and Elizabeth, I suppose).  I personally don’t know many Chinese folk with T’s as their last name initials (three off the top of my head), though I suppose MT was the second most likely guess.  I just didn’t see how “MT = empty” would be much of a conversation starter either.  However, JZ works really well.  Popular girl names like Julia, Jennifer, and Jessica (as well as their alternate versions like Julie, Jenny, and Jessie) aren’t uncommonly paired with popular Chinese surnames like Zhou or Zhang.  Since that didn’t narrow down your name a whole lot, I did some research on your school and found this newspaper article thing online.  On page 7 (page 6 of the pdf), there’s a list of a bunch of names.  Under the “Symphonic Orchestra/Troy High” category, the only name that fits the “JZ” bill is “Jessica Zhou”.  Heck, that’s the only name that works for all four letter combinations.  So that’s pretty much how I came to that conclusion, haha.  Not the neatest or most straightforward line of thinking, but it gets the job done.
     
    I guess I would be lying to myself if I told myself most people did extra-curricular’s because they wanted to.  I wouldn’t suggest you go so far as to get yourself down about having ulterior motives though.  It’s more a fault of the education system if anything; it’s not like you’re a bad person for only volunteering because it looks good on your college apps.  While it’s good to admire and look up to those that do things because they’re legitimately interested and passionate about the subject matter, there’s no point in looking down on anyone who’s not.  Goodness, and why do you feel that it was wasted effort?
     
    Eheheh, I’ll admit it, I cried when I learned of Iwata’s passing.  It was a pretty bad bout, too.  By the time it dawned on me just what had happened, I was still on my laptop and the stories and art tributes were just starting to pour in.  I cried all over my computer and my clothes, and goodness me, I was a mess.  Then I managed to calm down enough to take a shower, but made the mistake of letting my mind wander and started crying all over again.  Stopped for a time, but once I was in bed and started tossing and turning because I couldn’t sleep, I started once more.  By the next morning I was fine though.  Sigh, geez, it’s a bit embarrassing to admit since it’s probably unseemly for a guy to get emotional over stuff like this.  I thought I was desensitized by all the things I’ve seen on television and in movies and books and anime and video games, so this came as a bit of a shock to myself, ahah.  This is the first time I’ve cried over someone before, and it’s a bit scary to think how I’d react to the loss of someone I know personally.  Well, there’s no point worrying about that now; I’ll deal with those emotions once the time comes.  I tried following your advice by thinking of the simple things in life, but it was difficult since I was getting upset for someone else’s sake and not my own.  And yeah, I do muscle exercises like that, but it’s not very impressive.  All of my efforts are canceled balanced out by my poor eating habits, soo, hahah…
     
    Mhm, no problem; I’m glad I could help!  Though I would like to know why you’re interested in this.  Is there plastic you’re also looking to remove from something specific or is it just scientific curiosity?
     
    They could have just been appealing to a wider audience I guess?  With one of those 18+ ratings, or whatever it is in Japan, there would be a smaller market to purchase the Blu-rays when they come out and I guess when it comes down to it that’s their main source of income.  To limit it all to just handholding (and I guess that one moment when Rin was laying her head on Shirou’s lap) is a bit much, for the sake of making it all-age friendly.  Fate/Zero is one of those anime most appreciated the second time through.  Though the info-dump in the first few episodes may have felt difficult to digest initially, upon rewatching it you’ll find that none of the dialogue is wasted.  There is just enough background info of the Holy Grail and the Servants and the participants for it to make sense, with the perfect amount of foreshadowing and references to Fate/stay night.  There is no more or less than is needed, and overall it’s a job well done by ufotable and the director and the screenwriter.  A lot of the scenes in UBW did seem out of place, especially some moments between Shirou and Rin.  You could try and chalk it up to the fact that it’s an adaptation of an aged source material from a time when things like this were better accepted, but still…  Even for a tsundere, Rin isn’t a very good example of one executed well.  And nothing lighthearted was charming or funny either, but eh whatever.  As for why Shirou seems to get lucky breaks all the time and not die, VN readers tend to use the excuse that in the VN, there are a ton of instances when the wrong choice is made by Shirou and that he and/or those close to him pay the price for it in bad ends.  The good ends are the only instances amongst many others where he just so happens to make the right choice.  Every time.  Some of the things he’s survived through still seem a bit farfetched, but I guess I’m willing to accept that answer.  I’m just trying to find solace in the fact that UBW was never meant to be the finale.  Right after that route, you were expected to jump into HF, where Nasu pulls out all the stops and brings the story to its true climax.  Here’s hoping it can live up to the hype, haha.  And yeah, the VN is really daunting, even in playthrough form.  Though experiencing the original source material of something you enjoy is recommended, in F/sn’s case it may not be the best course of action.  Especially with how busy you’ll be in the coming months and years.  Even though I was in the whole “I’ll play the VN later” boat as well, I don’t know if I have the time or patience to get through it.  And downloading it on my computer sounds like a hassle, too.  It’s really low priority on my list of things to do, so I guess we’re just going to have to see.  Most people agree the Fate route is the weakest, and if the HF movies are good enough then there may not be much need to experience the VN.
     
    Woah, I didn’t expect you to like 999 that much, haha.  I’ve always thought it was an amazing game, and I’m stoked for VLR and the third installment as well, but for whatever reason I wasn’t expecting such a strong response from you.  Ahhh, I’m really glad you liked it!  I agree, it’s criminally underrated and underplayed.  At the very least those who play it end up really liking it, so that’s worth something.  The 9=q makes even more sense in Japanese, since Zero said that part over the loudspeakers and “nine” is pronounced “kyuu”, which obviously is the same way you’d pronounce “q”.  I thought it was also fantastic how digital roots were used in tandem with the doors.  The way the plot was so intricately reliant on a perfectly set up ship layout and order of the doors was phenomenal.  How certain people were only able to enter certain doors with specific people and how the game weaved a narrative around that blew my mind.  It was wonderfully symbolic to end a 9-based game with a standard 9x9 Sudoku puzzle as well.  The way they tied science-fiction elements into a story otherwise rooted in logic and referencing the real life Rupert Sheldrake and his concept of morphogenetic fields was really neat.  The OST is rather fantastic as well, especially the few melodic pieces like Morphogenetic Sorrow and 9 Years.  And oh my gosh, that puzzle behind door 9 gave me so much trouble, too!  I thought I was the only one, but I just straight up didn’t get what I was supposed to do for the longest time, eheheh.  As for the Cap plot hole, the main theory is that Clover killed him when no one was looking.  I can’t remember the circumstances of the game and that moment specifically, but that’s what it seems most people agree happened.  I think there are a few iffy instances where certain circumstances seem a bit farfetched or outrageous and too paradoxical to be plausible, but that’s what makes it so fun to analyze and talk about, ahah.  It’s still so well-crafted overall, that a flew slipups in logic here or there are forgivable.  Once again, I’m so happy you liked it!  I guess VLR and the third game are high or your 3DS wish list now.  And as flattered as I am by your thanks, I’m just the messenger so I don’t deserve quite as much praise as you’re giving me, hahahah.  Do you plan on jumping right into Ace Attorney or will you take a break this summer and maybe start it up after college apps?
     
    I don’t have any idea what Ao Oni is about; I’ve just seen it mentioned on occasion so no I’ve never watched a play through of it.  I can imagine in movie form it’s not very good.  Japanese cinema struggles with CGI and even the to-be-released SnK films are getting some heat from the west because some people are dissatisfied with how the titans look.
     
    If you turn off Exp. Share the game becomes a bit harder.  Enough to be somewhat challenging and require grinding every once in a while, but that was mainly because of my silly alternating Amulet Coin and Lucky Egg setup.  If you start working at the hotel as early as possible and check back every day, you’re going to buy out all the clothes faster than you’d think and the rest of the money just goes to hording Potions, I guess.  The Lucky Egg can then be the only hold item you use, and at that point the game becomes really easy again.  I can’t even imagine how much easier it would have been if I kept Exp. Share on the whole time, geez.  It’s not a terrible choice of a game to Nuzlocke run, though.  Speaking of which, I haven’t touched Y in a long time.  I’m just at the foot of Victory Road, and with how daunting those always seems to be at first (especially ones that I’m clueless about like Kalos’s) I’ve lost all motivation to continue.  I will eventually, but Sm4sh 3DS is so easy to pick up and just play………  Likewise, I’m standing in front of Kyogre in my umpteenth Sapphire run, and I’m just too lazy to RNG for a shiny, eheheh.
     
    Gagging on water??  Either you’re not good at swallowing or you’re allergic to water (neither of which is a good thing as they’re kinda essential to living).  Do you usually drink tap or bottled water?  If it’s tap is it school fountain tap or home fridge dispenser tap?  If it’s bottled what brand is it?  Not all water is created equal of course, as the concentration of dissolved minerals and other invisible stuff in some water can give it a funky flavor.  Maybe you’re sensitive to tap water, like my mom is.  She only drinks bottled water, and drinks tap only if it’s used to make tea, or something.  I’m always so thirsty, so I drink all kinds of water just fine, eheh.  I do have my limits though, as in Magic Kingdom their filter must not have been working correctly the day we went because their water tasted like that nasty stuff they use for the Splash Mountain ride and wasn’t consumable (would have made for some interesting scientific testing though).  Maybe you could try coconut, mineral, or hint water as an alternative?  Can’t personally vouch for anything, but they’re worth a shot if you’re really repelled by the thought of water 7.8/10 too much water ufufufufufufu joking joking
     
    I’m definitely going to still go for that black trainer card, but I’ll be working toward that goal slowly and surely during my time at college.  There’s definitely not enough time right now.  My parents made me sign up for these random online summer courses in accounting and QuickBooks (the Excel of accountants) and it’s taking up quite a bit of time from a summer break that I’ve been anticipating for a while not that I’m salty or anything why would I be.
     
    The characters may be flat and the plot may be a bit too simplistic, but there are still plenty of chapters yet to be released and mysteries yet to be solved.  Maybe I’m just being a bit too optimistic, but I’m hoping by the time everything wraps up it manages to provide a satisfying conclusion.  Ah gosh, I remember the SnK opening used to be parodied all the time.  Goodness, I don’t even know why.  I liked the second opening far more than the first one, but I guess others didn’t because it just wasn’t as catchy or something like that?  The Internet will never cease to be the Internet…
     
    The water probably weighed us down the most.  We brought in one bottle per person each day we were at the parks, though they were finished almost immediately.  That was the case for me at least.  Oh gosh, once I start drinking I can’t stop and before I know it the bottle’s empty and I’m still thirsty (out of context that sounds terrible).  My mom also always brought a ton of snacks to eat.  And by snacks I mean fruit, like oranges.  And of course, we always had to have umbrellas and rain ponchos handy in case Mother Nature decided hit us with a big one.  All that paired with the random stuff my parent put in their bags, and it ended up being quite the hassle, ehehe.
     
    Soarin’ is always a long line, though we used a Fast Pass so it wasn’t so bad.  Even if you ended up waiting, there was an interactive game during the line queue you can play for a bit.  Nothing as fancy as the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train line or even Space Mountain’s line, but it’s something.  I’m not sure if it was already installed when you visited with your family.
     
    The turkey legs I forgot to mention don’t actually seem to be a Disney exclusive thing.  They’re more like a Florida theme park exclusive thing, since I saw them sold at Universal and SeaWorld as well.  Hrm, weird.  And of course, there’s no need to be reserved about asking for stuff like that, haha.  On YouTube, I managed to find a quick “unboxing” of the very same scroll I got.  You can watch it here.  As you can see, it’s not the best looking scroll.  Just a quick Google search and I’ve already found posters I’d much rather have instead, but beggars can’t be choosers.  My parents would never have let me buy a scroll if we weren’t at Dinsey and if I had instead asked them back at Edison to order one online.  The art for this poster is weird, too.  It’s neither ufotable’s standard art style nor Takashi Takeuchi’s work.  But it’s definitely official and it has “ufotable” printed near the bottom in small font, sooo…  I’m guessing this was a very early promo poster back when they first announced ufotable would be making a Fate/Zero adaptation, and they hadn’t yet settled on artists yet.
     
    We didn’t literally do nothing… we sat down and rested which counts as something……  But yeah, it was just a round trip to a small monkey themed area and back to the main park.  There was nothing to actually do on the train, haha.  Oh gosh, I don’t know if I’m any good with little kids.  I’m afraid I’d just come off as creepy and scare them away.  I never interact with anyone much younger than me on a daily basis, so I just don’t know how to act around them, I guess.  It sounds just like you to talk to little kids though, haha.
     
    It was less a Frozen theme park as it was just the fact that Hollywood Studios was Frozen-ed up from head to toe.  Frozen-esque decorations on the lamps, Frozen posters and signs, Frozen fireworks and singalongs, that kind of stuff.  It’s nothing permanent and can be removed and replaced with other stuff on short notice (not that that’s what Disney will do), but the theme does permeate nearly the entire park.  I don’t know if it’s worth checking out, but Fantasmic is pretty cool so if you’re going to Hollywood Studios for anything, do it for that.  This was the third time I’ve seen the show, and I guess it’s just boring because it’s the same old stuff.  They didn’t change up the tricks so you know what to expect, and once you know what to expect it’s just less exciting and seems “slower” for lack of a better word.  I dunno, but it’s kind of how like action scenes in movies seem fast at first because your eyes don’t know where to look, but once you have an idea of how things play out your mind anticipates them upon rewatch and your eyes follow the action better.  The Tower of Terror is a neat ride, you should check it out!  It’s a classic, too.  The fireworks weren’t really that exciting because there was no music to go with it (or rather we couldn’t hear the music from the parking lot) but I guess the smiley faces and hearts were nice.  Were your Independence Day fireworks this year really that boring?
     
    It wasn’t really anything that happened on the rollercoaster as it was something that happened while in line.  So we were already waiting in front of the tracks waiting for the coaster to come rolling along and load us in, and I was leaning against the railing looking toward the front of the coaster, toward the direction of my siblings since they were in the very first row.  I could see the girl out of the corner of my eye, and I believe I may have considered talking to her, but before I could, she just takes out her phone and snaps a “secret” picture of me.  Just straight up holds her phone away from her body like she was preparing for a selfie, angled it so it was facing my direction, and *snap*.  Left the flash and shutter sound on and everything.  I of course wasn’t looking directly at the phone, that would be weird, but I’m positive she caught me in her picture and that she did it on purpose (was in a similar situation at graduation when some of my friends tried taking a secret picture of me because I didn’t have a Facebook and I refused a selfie with them…).  At this point, I didn’t know how to react.  I obviously couldn’t acknowledge the fact that she took a picture of me; if she didn’t realize her flash and shutter sound were on she’d be even more embarrassed at being found out than she probably already was.  Since I’m not “in the know” of what people my age take pictures of, I wasn’t too sure why she wanted a picture of me.  You’d think it would be rude to sneak a picture of a stranger like that.  It wasn’t because she found me attractive, and I’m not just saying that because ten times out of ten I believe a stranger looks at me because they think I’m derpy.  Though the line queue was inside and I wasn’t sweating, I rode the coaster at the end of the day so I’m sure my face was still somewhat flushed from a days’ worth of walking outside and my hair was definitely mussed around by the wind.  I didn’t feel very presentable, and I don’t think I looked it either.  So then I started getting paranoid thinking there was something wrong with me.  After all, there are a ton of pictures online of random people with weird getups or doing silly things or looking funky (it’s the Internet after all).  Was there ketchup on my face?  Was there a spider crawling up my shirt??  Was there a bird making a nest of my hair???  If I tried making small talk with her now, would she interpret that as my noticing she took a picture?  What if she thought I looked derpy and if I talked to her she’d just run off to her friends and gossip about the stupid looking Asian kid on the ride who tried to start up a conversation?  What if she was actually Russian and couldn’t speak a lick of English?  While I was worrying about what had just transpired, we boarded the coaster, set off, and returned before I knew it.  We didn’t say a word to each other or even make eye contact.  I can barely remember what she looked like apart from the fact that she had blonde hair.  We went our separate ways, and that’s that.  Goodness, what a mess.  In retrospect, she was probably just surprised to see an Asian with wavy and semi-curly hair……  Bleh, was that an entertaining enough story to satiate your curiosity?  Ahahah, now that I think about i,t I don’t think I talked to a single stranger the entire trip…  I’m sorry Kenzi, I feel like in a way I may have let you down…
     
    Waaahhh, you didn’t go on any of the classics!  Geez, Splash Mountain is a staple of Disney.  I mean, sure it wasn’t the best ride and the line queue was more outdoors than indoors, but it’s worth your time just because it’s so popular.  And getting wet isn’t always too bad of a thing, especially on hot days.  You’ll most likely completely dry off by the end of the day.  And yup, the Mine Train is a must see because it’s so new!  Actually, if classics and new rides should all be on your checklist, might as well go on every ride because that covers the whole scope of things, heheh.
     
    I figured you wouldn’t have time, but keep the movie in mind!  Even if it stops airing in theaters and you have to torrent it (do you torrent movies or is that also something you’re scared of doing?) it’s still worth a watch.
     
    Ahh yeah, the urge was strong but I somehow suppressed it.  My sister and brother didn’t seem too interested in buying a stick, regardless of how cool they were, so I reluctantly passed on the opportunity as well.  I wonder what wand you’d end up getting?  The love potion was just candy, haha.  The jar you can keep as a trinket I guess, but since it wasn’t see-through I couldn’t tell what the candy looked like specifically.  Pretty sure it takes more than just candy to win a person’s heart though, ahahaha.
     
    Your new haircut is “growing” on you?  (icwahtudidthar arharharharhar)  I remember noticing you when you first joined, but I don’t know why.  Maybe it was the Mai picture that stood out because I recognized it from Nichijou and was constantly reminded it was something I needed to watch?  That paired with your signature gifs that never change, and I guess you ended up being someone hard not to notice?  I don’t know what I’m saying, hahah.  And I can barely remember what my most recent profile pictures were, ahah.  Also, wouldn’t a genderbent Lucina just be Marth??  And as for what I look like, you’re “quite curious” about this, too?  Gosh, first the roller coaster and now this, haha.  While you’re the only person on the Internet I’d trust with a picture of me, I still can’t get over how I look in photos.  I know we’ve been through this whole photogenic debate before, but ehhh I’ve always been pretty self-conscious, so…  If we ever meet in person though, you’ll see what I look like!  Not to mention I’m also curious to see exactly what you look like myself, eheheh.  For now, to quell your curiosity, I guess the best I do is provide examples.  Some of my friends have told me my hair is kind of like Gilbert Nightray’s from Pandora Hearts, or Tyki Mikk’s from D. Gray-man.  It’s closer in “waviness” to Tyki's, but it’s closer in length to Gilbert’s.  Even then, my hair isn’t nearly as long as Gilbert’s, since anime hair, especially in guys, can be rather misleading.  It’s already becoming a nuisance to deal with, sigh.  When I take a shower and it temporarily "straightens" out under the heavy water, they become bangs that go way down to my eyes.  I really need to get my hair cut soon.  Ahh, so Gilgamesh and Santa, hrmmm??  I see, I see, so you’re into guys with their hair flared up most of the time, ohhhohohoho!  Aww, your English teacher sounds nice.  My English teachers all sucked.  Nah, just joking, I somehow managed to avoid bad English teachers all four years of high school, which is something I’m proud of, hah.  I only saw that Ping Pong thing because I was trying to rep and quote you, eheh.  I didn’t even notice the extra space below your links initially.  And you say that you can’t choose a profile picture for me even though I asked you because I can’t think of anything myself gahh!  Ah, there’s no helping it I guess.  I’ll think of something eventually.  Nothing particularly exciting is happening in the world of anime, so it probably won’t be related to that.  Splatoon perhaps?  Finally started playing it and I’m loving every second of it, though when I go off to college and leave my Wii U behind my interest in it will most definitely tank.  Hrm, wouldn’t be a bad placeholder for now a least.  If that’s what I decide to change it to, I’ll get around to it when I have the time.  I’ll match it with my signature as well.  Might throw in some links or a quote if it looks good.
     
    Uwahhh, you were that stressed?!?  And I told you so firmly not to let it negatively affect you like that!  Kenzi, geez (don’t make me use your real name with you, young lady)!  At least now you’re eating better, though you say you’re “forcing” yourself just to so as to not get hypoglycemic symptoms again, which is kind of questionable, but alright.  And for someone who’s so open to talking to strangers, you didn’t have the guts to tell your coach you weren’t feeling well??  Sigh, there you go again, making me worry, ahah.  Ohh, though I haven’t been sleeping well myself either, eheh.  I used to fall asleep immediately, but lately I’ve been tossing and turning all over my bed.  Sometimes I try to play Smash for 3DS to get myself tired, but then I underestimate my own abilities and play until daybreak.  Then I know I’ve really messed up and fall asleep only to wake up super late.  Ughh, I need to fix my sleep schedule.  Hopefully you can do the same.  Try going to sleep and waking up nice and early, if you have energy to spare!  It came out a year ago, but I didn’t pick up Ping Pong for the same reason most people initially skipped it.  No one had heard of the manga, so it didn’t have any street cred and the animation was weird.  Last time someone tried odd art/animation, it turned into Aku no Hana.  I haven’t watched that rotoscoped anime myself so I can’t really judge, but it received a lot of criticism back when it first came out.  It’s nice to see Ping Pong was eventually accepted as rather superb by most when it finally finished at least.  Oh, and because I was under the false impression that it would just be a normal sports anime (since no one was there to tell me otherwise), it was a pass on my list.  It was a missed opportunity for sure, but such is the life of someone like me, sigh.  I’ll definitely watch it eventually, but probably not for a while.  I’ve had a lot of things on my mind for far longer, and the older an anime gets the less relevant it becomes and the harder it gets to watch, eheh.  I need to save those that are really falling behind, even if they have less potential than the ones that you recommend.  And speaking of recommendations, I never got to play Super Beat Boy or Cave Story yet!  Aggh, damnnit, I keep on putting that off, too!  I’m really sorry about that, but I swear I’ll get to them!  I feel terrible about it, since you already got through 999 and you have less time than I do.  Hmm, it would be nice if Gigguk posted more videos, but sometimes I remember to check his Twitter and he posts some funny stuff there occasionally, so it’s fine in the end.  Ah, the background of your MAL is a lot better now, though the picture starts to repeat on the right side.  Only a little bit though.  Goodness, what are your laptop dimensions anyway?  They’re completely different from mine it seems.  I chose a minimalist Saber style for my list, so it looks good on any device.  Still though, just a bit more tweaking and yours should look great!  
     
    There’s no need to apologize for not getting a reply out on time.  You sent it the next day and early in the morning at that, so it’s really no big deal.  I can totally relate with signing up for something last minute, and I know how much of a hassle it can be.  How did that go?  Aww, and I was really hoping you’d write in more detail than just a few sentences!  Heh, I’ll take what you gave me and be happy with that.  Woah, a grad party so late into the summer?  It’s already past the Fourth of July.  Either someone really procrastinated or someone was just looking for an excuse to have a final get together with friends, haha.  Hope you had a good time to relax and not be all stressed about your Common App essay like you’ve been lately.  Ohh, David Sedaris, huh?  If you want me to be honest, I have no idea who he is and have never read any of his books.  (Speaking of books, I have less than two weeks to get around to Whistling Vivaldi…)  Woah, the UMich summer program starts tomorrow!  Hopefully I haven’t sent this out too late and you’re still awake to read this.  I know how busy college summer programs can get, so if you don’t have time to respond this week or next week I’ll totally understand.  I haven’t been able to get into convenient contact with some of my friends who are also making the transition into senior year because they’re busy with similar programs.  As much as it’s a place for learning, don’t forget to meet new people, have some fun, and de-stress!  I’d love to hear all about it when you have time, but once again don’t feel obliged to reply until after you’ve settled back home!
     
    A-and you didn't have to rep both of my posts, b-b-b-baka!

     

    Even if the info session is just a repeat (and for all I know, it might not be), I figured that I would go just because it's conveniently located in Troy. Yeaahh, I think I'm done visiting colleges at this point since I need to prepare for the upcoming school year (wtf, it's almost August already, help). I also rescheduled my visit to Case to August 6th for convenience purposes, but it probably won't make much of a difference.

     

    Ohh, how is your OnePlus One working for you so far? I was peer pressured into getting a Facebook (I hope that wasn't the case for you, ehehe..), but I don't regret my decision. Despite the stigma it receives, I found the site to be convenient and helpful. I didn't play any of the games on there (don't do it, lol) and I average 10 to 20 minutes a day on the site since I rarely post anything, so it's not a huge timewaster for me. Nah, you don't need to worry about friends of friends adding you. If/when they do, you don't have to accept their friend requests if you don't want to, haha.

     

    Since I didn't bring my tennis racquets to UMich, I just stared intently at the courts watching a bunch of others play (like everyday, argh). It was then when I decided to lie down on the grass, stare at the clouds, and try to generate some essay topics since it was a really nice day. It didn't work. It even made me a bit depressed. I was there doing nothing for a good one hour before I decided to get up and leave. I think my main problem is relating ideas to the prompts and trying to find the meat of a story. I could write about how I'm a night owl or something, but it has nothing to do with any of the prompts. I can't seem to find an interesting life story or experience to write about. Gosh, your stargazing essay was brilliant and so profound. I'll be lucky writing something even half as good.

     

    Geezus, I really wasn't expecting that response from you, lol. Once again, you never cease to amaze me, ahahaha... That is indeed my name. But what made you assume that my DeviantART account username would tip you off? Actually, why did you think my art posts had the answer? Or was this blind digging, haha. You got lucky there, heh. Oh dear, my old username is pretty embarrassing (it was made for the sake of neopets back in elementary school. I don't know why I still use it for so many sites. My friends constantly tease me about it, ehehe...). As for your name, I'm pretty sure I have it figured out. I messaged you my answer since I figured you wouldn't want me to publicly post the answer to your puzzle, not that anyone bothers to dig through our responses anyway, lol. 

     

    The thought of helping or lifting someone's burden is a nice feeling, but I guess I just feel kinda bad since I'm not volunteering because I truly want to. It seemed like a wasted effort because I was jumping from place to place. I would've been better off volunteering at a local hospital or shadowing an engineer if I really wanted to show colleges what I was into. Instead, I just volunteered to help out teachers and tutor students. While the experience wasn't all for naught, I definitely should've done something I enjoyed more. I recently got a volunteering opportunity as a casual graphics artist for the local nature center, so I guess that's a nice way to continue this little hobby of mine.

     

    I was pretty devastated about Iwata's passing as well. My DeviantART feed exploded with tributes to him and a few of my YouTube subscriptions also addressed it. I was trying to hold back a few tears because my parents were home, but it wasn't anything serious since I tried to push back the thought in order to keep my sanity intact. When I got into bed, it finally dawned on me that the man responsible for the much of my childhood is gone. I had a nice solid silent cry in bed after that. God bless you, Iwata. But enough of that, I don't want to remind myself about this during the middle of a summer program I'm supposed to be enjoying myself in, haha. I'm glad that you tried thinking of the simple things, but I guess it's true that it can be a bit difficult to do for someone else's sake. 

     

    It's just out of scientific curiosity, heh. Interestingly enough, we've been using acetone to clean/rinse our used materials in the orgo class/lab everyday. And yeah, it reeks. Thank goodness we have fume hoods, lol.

     

    Ehh, it still doesn't make sense though. Servants were speared, limbs were severed, bloodshed was commonplace (all of which are far from all-age friendly), but as soon as they are forced to adapt any intimate scenes, everything becomes G-rated? Just handholding? It almost feels insulting, lol. It's not a big deal though, I suppose. It just felt a bit underwhelming after seeing how far Shirou and Rin's relationship has gone, haha. Without prior knowledge of any sort, it was pretty difficult for me to have a grasp of what was going on during the first few episodes of F/Z. The info dump was a bit too much for me, but I suppose it got the job done for the most part. Hmm, I guess Shirou's lucky breaks can be forgiven since F/SN is based off of a VN. Much of it still seems farfetched though. Yeahh, I don't really see myself watching or playing the VN any time soon just because of how long it is. Maybe I'll check it out if HF doesn't deliver.

     

    And if you multiply 14383421 with 9, you get 129450789?? And the digital root of the North American release date is 9?? (may or may not have been a coincidence since this isn't the case for the JP release date). It's unbelievable how thought out this game is (I really love the recurring 9 theme). But the story is what I loved about the game so much. There were no significant loose ends, but the little ones can be easily forgiven. My favorite OSTs from the game are Septenary Game (holy crap even the OST names have a 9 theme), Recollection, and 9 Years. Morphogenetic Sorrow is just too depressing for my taste, ahahaha. Never mind that. Quite a few of the OSTs are really depressing (Recollection and 9 Years included), but they're all fantastic. I still can't get over the fact that the whole purpose of the game was just to help Akane solve a sudoku puzzle, lol. Well, even if you are just the messenger, I'm really grateful that you introduced this game to me and even went through the trouble of sending me the files. I didn't even know that this game existed until you told me about it, so once again, thank you, haha. I haven't gotten into Ace Attorney yet, but I probably will after the stresses of senior year begin to die down (winter break maybe? Oof, that's really far away, gah). 

     

    I'm not sure why the developers decided to tweak the Exp. Share (heck, even catching a Pokemon grants exp). Well, at least it's possible to turn it off, lol. But even then, Nuzlockes wouldn't be that big of a challenge since the gym leaders and elite 4 members are pushovers. Yeahh, going through Victory Road is the most frustrating part of the games (HeartGold was a struggle). Also, I read your OMM post, and is Splatoon really that good? Between gen 4 remakes, smash, the next two ZE games, etc. (and the fact that I might not be able to afford all of them + a 3DS or 2DS) I really don't want to get another console, ahahaha......

     

    I usually drink filtered tap water from home. I don't mind drinking from the public water fountains though. Oh, lol this reminds me of the time I tried to convince my parents that I was allergic to the sun because I would sneeze every time I looked at it (don't worry, this was back in first grade, haha). It's not necessarily the flavor of the water that bothers me. It's a lot better than European water, that's for sure (I didn't know it was possible for water to be even more stale than it already is). I've also encountered instances when the public water tasted like blood. That, and the time I was in Europe were the only times when I would avoid drinking water altogether. Nah, I'm not the one to consume flavored water. Much of it is just artificial flavoring and carcinogens, which isn't exactly a better alternative. I'm not repelled by the thought of water, I promise, lol. and wow, I just realized that I missed a perfect opportunity to crack the IGN water joke, ahahaha.... I'll try to get it next time, heh).

     

    Oof, you're forced to take online summer classes? How is it going so far?

     

    Yeah, SnK can go in any direction at this point. I'm just hoping that the plot won't deviate too much because it seems to be following the path of Naruto from what I've seen so far. I'm still salty that they haven't revealed anything about the basement yet. I like the first opening more than the second opening simply because it feels more fitting. It matches the atmosphere of the show better since the second opening sounds a bit too optimistic (the first twelve seconds also sounds strangely patriotic, lol). You liked the second opening far more than the first one? Hmm, what was so bad about the first one then?

     

    Did each one of you guys have to carry a bag? If that was the case, I would've brought as much water as I could carry. I probably wouldn't have brought any fruit though, since they can get easily bruised from the water bottles ricocheting off of each other with every step you take. The fruit would bake in that kind of weather as well. The umbrellas and rain ponchos might've been a good call though, haha (how often did it rain?). And what kind of random stuff did you guys bring?  

     

    I don't remember waiting in a queue area for any of the rides I rode in Disney World. It was mainly waiting in line, lol.  

     

    Ohh, the scroll isn't bad. You're right about the art being a bit off, but I like the way it's designed (Saber in different outfits). It bothers me that the text is placed plainly in the middle since you won't be able to flip the poster interchangeably. Still looks like a great addition to your dorm though!

     

    I don't blame you for not wanting to talk to the little girl, haha. I understand how it can be a bit out of your comfort zone talking to someone too young or old. I probably wouldn't find myself striking up a conversation with some random adult who's sitting next to me. And I can imagine that a little girl or boy could feel uncomfortable no matter who approaches them if they've been given the "stranger danger" lecture. Ahaha, it sounds just like me to talk to little kids? I mean, it's just that I enjoy talking and getting to know people, but I'll take that as a compliment, heh.  

     

    I don't know when I'll get the chance to visit Disney World again so I don't want to get too ahead of myself, ahaha (your suggestions are definitely going on my bucket list though). Ehh, funny story... I didn't get to see Independence Day fireworks. We drove to a nearby city to see some (about 20 minutes away) since Troy wasn't hosting any. A few of the roads were blocked off for some reason so we had to take quite a few detours. My dad was fed up. Even though he knew we were close to the site (we could see and hear some of the fireworks), my dad drove back home. Logic, right. He does this all the time so I'm not surprised, sigh. Once he's made up his mind he's as stubborn as a mule.

     

    Hmm, well if the girl was a foreigner, maybe she was fascinated that she encountered an Asian? Ahaha, I'm not quite sure what to say here. She might've been using snapchat. Maybe you were wearing an interesting shirt? Nah, you didn't "let me down", lol. Don't force yourself to make small talk if you don't want to! I've had instances when I just wanted to be alone and take in the scenery, haha.

     

    I went to Disney World in the winter so the temperature stayed in the 70s and 80s. I wouldn't consider that "hot" seeing as you were experiencing 90+ degree conditions. My parents are a bit overprotective. If I went on Splash Mountain, they'd worry about me catching a cold afterwards. Then I'd get into a huge argument while trying to convince them that you can't catch a cold from getting wet. I'm pretty sure I didn't bring extra clothes with me at the time, so changing clothes wasn't an option. Gah, I have so many things I want to do in Disney World now.

     

    I deleted uTorrent from my PC after the trojan virus incident. Photoshop CS6 was the only thing I torrented (which, surprisingly, wasn't the cause of the virus). I'm probably not going download the program again just to torrent a movie, but I might find a site to watch it on if I have to. 

     

    I'd have to look at the wands myself if I had to get one, haha. Gosh, I haven't read the books in such a long time I'm not sure which wand I'd want.

     

    All I got from those examples you gave me is that you must have some pretty nice hair, ahahahah.... If you do plan on getting a haircut though, I suggest you do so before heading off to Case. Gotta have a fresh start, ya know, haha. Is it weird that I'm even more curious to know what you look like now? You didn't do a very good job of quelling my curiosity, heh. As for what I look like, I actually don't know. My mom once jokingly told me that my dad probably hates me because I look Japanese. I've also had friends who've told me that I look Korean. Another friend and even my sister once told me that I could pass off as a Vietnamese (ehh?? They had to have been joking). I guess it can be hard to differentiate between Asians so I don't blame them (I still don't understand the logistics that determine what ethnicity someone looks like). I don't look like anyone in my family (except maybe my grandfather, or so I'm told). My hair is closer to Yuuko's than it is to Mai's at the moment, and I also have a side parting. Okokok, the fact that Gilgamesh and Santa both have their hair flared up is completely coincidental, hrmph. I liked that Gilgamesh referred to everyone below him (which is...almost everyone) as mongrels--it's pretty funny. He's an arrogant jerk, but something about his character was oddly intriguing. I didn't pay much heed to Santa until I reached the Safe and True endings. I loved seeing his character blossom, reading his backstory, and just his involvement with the game in general. I guess having Lancer as another one of my favorites doesn't exactly help my case either (maybe I use the term "favorite" too lightly, ahaha...). Nah, who am I kidding. Their hair's fabulous. jkjkjk, I promise that hair isn't the deciding factor of whether I like a character or not, lol. Nope, my English teacher is the very opposite of "nice". He's incredibly sardonic, his humor is quite crude, and he's one of the bluntest people I know, which is why his class was an absolute pleasure to be in. The only English teacher I didn't like was the one I had for the first semester of freshman year (she was "nice", but annoyingly biased). Ohh, I like your new propic and signature. How did you decide on them? 

     

    Well, I've dealt with hypoglycemia on several occasions so the experience was nothing new. It was just a bit gruesome since this experience was held over a much longer period of time. But yeah, there's no way I could find the courage to tell my coach. I would look pretty stupid asking him for a break just because I didn't eat enough lunch, lol. There's no need to be concerned, honest, haha. My sleep schedule is wrecked; sleep late, wake up late. I'm trying to make the most of it before school starts. Then it'll be back to sleep late, wake up early. I'm not a morning person (or at least not anymore) so even when my body naturally wakes up early on some days, I force myself back to sleep believing that I haven't slept enough (it's messed up, I know). It's nice to hear that you're going to give Ping Pong a chance once you get the opportunity! Be sure to let me know how you felt when you finish it! No worries, if I were you, I probably would've passed it as well (I can't blame you, haha). The controls for Super Meat Boy are best on actual controllers as opposed to the PC. It's a very rage-inducing game so it's fine if you skip it (no, really, just watch a playthrough instead, lol). I mainly watched a Let's Play of it because it gets extremely difficult towards the later levels. Check it out yourself if you don't believe me. There's not much plot to the game either, and it's notoriously known for the difficult gameplay. It has about as much plot as the Super Mario Bros series, but the black humor in the cutscenes is worth watching. And if you're well-versed in the realm of gaming, you'll also notice that many of the cutscenes are simply parodies of other games, haha. Depending on which path you take, Cave Story may only take a few days to beat (the only way you can take the other path is to restart the game). So take your time, play it whenever you want to, and don't worry about it! There's a lot more plot to this one, so I think you'll enjoy it more. My laptop is 1366 by 768 pixels (14-inch display). I always thought that it was a pretty standard size for a laptop, lol. I don't have time to fix the backdrop at the moment, but maybe I can toy around with it after I get back, haha. 

     

    Even though the program I signed up for last minute was directed towards high schoolers, it was just... too basic. I already learned most of the stuff they tried to teach us in my sophomore year so it was relatively boring (blood typing and gram staining kinda stuff). They also tried to simulate urinalysis at one point. I could tell the urine was fake since it didn't have an ammonia odor to it. It also smelled unusually sweet, so the glucose test I did didn't provide any "shocking" results. Yeah, I know I wasn't supposed to smell the chemical, but it was more like a whiff rather than straight up sticking my nose into the container. Finding out that it was fake ruined the fun (I was only suspicious because they supplied us with an excessive amount of this "urine"). Aside from the free stuff they gave me, the only good thing I got out of the program is that I have an official document stating that I'm certified in CPR (I guess I can be a lifeguard now?). I also found it hard to want to talk to some of the students there. A lot of them seemed like obnoxious underachievers who were there because their parents forced them. The UMich program is a lot more enjoyable (complete understatement). The orgo stuff is hard, I'm not gonna lie (I'd be completely lost without remnants of prior knowledge from AP Chem). The professor is fantastic though! The students here are a lot easier to talk to than the ones from the previous program, and I made a few friends from Arizona who I hang out with regularly now. My roommate is an international student from China, which is kinda cool. It's hard for me to strike a conversation with her though, since English isn't her native tongue. Ahaha, I love it here! The campus is huge and the food isn't half-bad. There's A/C in the dorms and the building bathroom is top-notch (the showers are all separated by walls and doors, awesome!). There's also a really neat farmers market nearby and there are restaurants everywhere! There are people from California, D.C., Tennessee, Massachusetts, Japan, China, Brazil (and loads more), and I even had some small talk with a few people from Colombia! I met two people from Troy as well, haha.

     

    (separated paragraph)

    Oh, and funny enough, you know how chemicals like hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide are really corrosive? The professor and her TA allowed us to work with stuff like this without any given warning. They treated us as if we had enough common sense not to consume them or touch them with bare skin. Awesome! It was such a nice change of pace compared to the previous summer program that didn't let us work with anything authentic other than the mannequins and bacteria (yeah, I guess it'd be kinda weird if they supplied us with stuff like real urine and blood). The classes run from 9am to 12pm, and then from 1:30pm to 4:30pm (with a lunch break in between). There are loads of activities to do after class like scavenger hunts, strolling around town (like a visit to the farmers market), movies (on campus, so I wasn't able to watch Inside Out), etc. I watched The Uninvited (2009), which is a psychological horror movie, after a few friends pressured me into watching it on Friday night. It actually wasn't too bad. Only a few jump scares got to me, but the overall movie...geezus you should've seen my reaction. The movie was so messed up, but it was actually surprisingly thought out. I still don't know how I feel about it. Hmm, maybe I should dive into the horror genre a bit more. But I'd probably only be able to watch the movies if I'm with others, ehehe... The movie would've been a lot scarier if I wasn't sitting in a room full of people. Oh, and I went to a minor league baseball game yesterday. It was... rather boring. I'm sure it would've been a lot more entertaining if it was a major league game. Honestly, I thought that the breaks between the innings were more fun to watch than the actual game itself, which I think says a lot. Well, I only went for the experience so at least I can check that off my bucket list now. I only found out about David Sedaris through my English teacher (we read a few of his pieces in the class). He's a great humorist and my English teacher is awfully fond of him. Good luck with Whistling Vivaldi! Let me know how it went once you've read it!

     

    Argh, sorry for replying so late. I didn't have much time to sit behind my laptop until the weekend hit. I hope your summer is going well so far!

    • Upvote 1

  2. Fandoms are only bad if you don't know how to avoid the fans that are really loud. If you can find people around your age though, fandoms can be pretty enjoyable. Tumblr's pretty great and you can't really find similar humor on any other site (at least not to my knowledge..) but it is really time consuming orz

    I used to be part of the Hetalia fandom during some dark times in middle school. It was bad. It was so bad. All they did was spam ":3333333" and "OMG ITALYYYY<33333" and...I just couldn't take it. It completely ruined the series for me. The fans acted like a bunch of 7 year old fangirls, and it even rubbed off on me at one point (just kill me already). It's a pretty extreme example of why I avoid fanbases now. I know it's bad to place fandoms under this generalization, but I'm not kidding when I say that the experience really killed it for me.

     

     

    Well, I guess so. I probably won't meet any ":pure trolls" here.

     

    I see now. Meh, just expected from Google. This is really why it's hard to work with large corporations like this. They just can cut you off without giving much detail on why they did that. But, oh well.

     

    Hmm... Okay then.

     

    I already have some plans on using Kickstarter in the future actually when I'm in the legal age. I mean it's not like I'm risking something if I give it a shot.

     

    Haha, I can but I'm too lazy to do so. I would definitely get a job, I think. Also, it's not that easy to get a job even for a minimum rate since as I said, I'm not studying college right now which for some freaking reason is a requirement even for most of the minimum waged jobs but thanks for reminding me anyways. I'll probably checking on some stuffs, right now :P

     

    I would surely split the work load and that's the reason why I'll make a dev team & pursue business, in the future. I mean what's the point of making one if I'll do it all by myself? :P

     

    Meh, I don't enjoy bossing around other people either. It's just that I believe that allowing people to do what they want to do and allowing them to make mistakes really does improve people and also promotes creativity and positivity. I mean I can be authorative if like someone breaches the boundaries I have placed but other than that, I'm gonna be surely democratic. But well, I still like to be the one who has the final say in everything or the main decision maker, whatever.

     

    And, Haha, who likes being bossed around anyways? Everybody hates bossy individuals. They're like the ones who accumulates alot of secret haters and death threats. :P

     

    I thought you also need Credit Card other than Debit one for PayPal? But anyways, I would surely do soon since I would really need it plus where in the internet age :P. I'm gonna have to make a bank account and get a credit card first tho which costs something something and I also have to ask my parents about this first since it needs parental consent if you're under 18. :V

     

    Well, thanks again :3

    Well, what are the requirements for getting a job in your country then? Dog walker? Babysitter? Fast food worker? Cashier? I'm pretty sure you don't need a college degree to work at any of those, lol.  

     

    "If someone breaches the boundaries"? A leader isn't needed to call out someone's bs, haha. And if that would be your only job as a leader, wouldn't it be better to work on equal ground with everyone else then? Ehh, well, it is your project so I guess I don't have much say in this. But let me know how it goes if you ever get around to it!

     

    No, I have a debit and my PayPal is perfectly functional. I think you're better off getting a debit card first since you're still living under your parents and because you're not 18 yet. So yeah, go ask your parents and get one! PayPal is pretty nifty and quite convenient for stuff like online payments. Heck, you can even make your own donation button on the site and ask for donations for your project, haha.

     

     

    OMM: Finally started playing Splatoon a few days ago, and though I sucked initially because I've never truly played a third person shooter before, I'm hooked.  Real bad.  Like, drugs bad.  Like, alienated all my other video games to play it bad.  Somebody help me...........

    note to self: buy Splatoon once you get a 3DS

     

     

    --

    OMM: so I was biking up a few inclines with a flat tire and now my right knee hurts a lot

    I also ended up with two bruises on my right knee and one on my left knee even though I didn't bump into anything

    ??


  3. (had to remove quotes in order for post to fit)

    Well damn, I just got an email saying that Case is holding an information session just a few minutes from where I live. I was surprised that it wasn't in Detroit since that's where most of these kinds of sessions are held, not that I'm complaining or anything. I just think that it's funny that of all cities they decided on Troy--it almost seems too convenient. I guess I'll try my best to attend that as well, haha. Maybe I'll take another look at UChicago if I have the time since I already visited it the summer before sophomore year. My parents seem to be fond of the Boston schools (mainly because my sister is going to reside there these next couple years), but I don't think I'm going to visit any more this summer. I'm not going to visit any colleges around here other than UMich either since that's the only college that I'm truly interested in within Michigan.

     

    Good luck with an Android! Let me know how it goes once you get one! In all honesty, I only used Facebook for joining private groups for certain classes (homework help, updates, complaining, etc.), keeping in contact with old friends, and chatting. Hehehe, you finally joined the dark side. While it's true that friending a bunch of random classmates probably won't accomplish much, you should still keep in contact with a few of your best friends! After all, if they're your best friends, you wouldn't want to leave them entirely, haha. 

     

    Because I haven't ridden a rollercoaster in such a long time, I really don't have an idea of what I'd be able to tolerate. The Kingda Ka looks like fun, but also a little intimidating, lol.

     

    Haha, I'm not too bummed about my scores. I really appreciate your concern, so thanks for the motivation, heh. Writing my essay (or at least cranking out a rough draft), ACT, and finishing my summer reading is still top priority for me. I haven't taken any practice tests yet because I still need to finish going through all of the material, plus ACT, bleh. I'm working my way through them though, slowly but surely, rest assured!

     

    I know there's a crap ton of things I can write about, but I just can't think of any that clicks with me. It's pretty frustrating since I've been thinking about this nonstop. And while a stress-reliever sounds nice, I can't relax knowing that there's still unfinished business to do. As stupid as this sounds, I can't find anything I'm "passionate" about (barring stuff like orchestra and tennis since those seem like overused topics). The worst part is, it's probably some everyday experience I take for granted and haven't realized it yet. Hopefully something will come to mind during that two week summer program I'm attending soon. Maybe the change in environment will help me think of a topic, haha. And about my initials, ahahaha, I'm actually rather surprised that you got it with only four guesses! It's one of those, but you'll also be able to eliminate one based on Chinese surnames alone.

     

    Gah, I still can't get over how uncomfortable you guys must've been coming out of phys ed without any A/C. The aftermath of body heat permeating throughout the hallways and classrooms must have felt suffocating for both the students and faculty, especially considering how stuffy the atmosphere of the building was to begin with. Well, at least you'll be able to leave all of that behind you now, so that's nice! Ahaha, thank you for your kind words, but most of the things I managed to accomplish really isn't deserving of praise. A lot of what I'm doing during school isn't out of my free will. Let's be real here: barely anyone would volunteer if it weren't for colleges (I would've loved to volunteer as a camp counselor otherwise). It's nice to give back to the community once in a while, but not when it feels like a chore. Same with a few of the clubs I joined. Although some of the stuff I did looks nice on paper, I did most of them with an ulterior motive in mind. It makes me feel ashamed that I'm not devoting my time to a club out of free will. It's kinda messed up if you think about it. People are tearing each other apart running for president of clubs for the sake of college applications. Do their speeches really represent how they feel about running for this position? "Volunteering to clean up spilled crayons at a local elementary school was quite the humbling experience for me. I believe this makes me a qualified candidate for president." Yeah, right. Meh, I'm just rambling on at this point. I also dropped out of quite a few clubs because I lost interest. I've volunteered to help out teachers on many occasions and I learned a lot about what happens behind the scenes. It truly has helped me empathize more. Volunteering as a NHS tutor has also done the same. I guess that's something good that came out of the experience. I really admire people who do these kinds of activities out of pure interest and nothing more. Funny enough, it seems that most of my effort was wasted. I wish I knew earlier to purse my true passions and interests more. 

     

    Ahaha, I'm rarely able to time my cries. It usually happens in bed when I have the sudden realization that everything's falling apart or something along those lines. It's easy for me to get over it since I'm usually overdramatizing in those situations, but it still helps to let loose on occasion. From an evolutionary perspective, crying is just a distress call. It's awesome how it has turned into a stress-reliever as well. Ohh, you also do muscle exercises? Like weights and curl ups? That's pretty neat! Ahaha, it's crazy, isn't it. I haven't even known you for a year (heck, I don't even know you in real life), and you've made me happier and know more about me than many of the people I see everyday. Never in a million years would I have thought this to happen.

     

    Hmm, getting 100% acetone seems kinda difficult since it's usually diluted with water. I'll have to take a look around next time I visit CVS. Thanks a bunches for the info!

     

    Yeah, I was reading some of the episode discussions and I felt kinda left out as an AO watcher, ahahaha. I guess I felt that Shirou and Rin's relationship was too platonic. It's obvious that they developed feelings for each other, but the fact that the only romantic gesture they had was hand holding is kinda underwhelming. Now, I'm not asking for a full-on, overly dramatic shoujo-esque embrace (I actually dislike shoujo quite a bit), but the hand holding really threw me off. I also can't see any reason why they censored the sex scene. An implied sex scene wouldn't have done any harm since Mirai Nikki managed to pull it off with 14 year olds somehow (except that the scene was way too forced and such an obvious form of fanservice--what awful writing and execution). I wouldn't have minded much in Shirou and Rin's case, to be honest. F/Z overall felt a lot more streamlined than F/SN. The only things I didn't like about F/Z was the anticlimactic ending (so much wasted potential), lack of focus on certain characters (understandable though), and sudden relevance of stuff like Dead Apostles (but loved the backstory). The packing of textbooks worth of information within the first few episodes gave it a pretty slow start as well, but I didn't mind that too much. And admittedly, I couldn't keep track of the types of servants until a few episodes in because of how rushed the delivery of the information was (didn't have enough time to sink in). But at the same time, an intro any longer wouldn't have done F/Z much better. F/SN, on the other hand, had a strong introduction, but fell apart in the second season. Lack of focus on certain characters was also a problem, but again, understandable (it's like Sakura and Fujimura never existed after the second season). Oh, and the corny Shirou scenes made me cringe (like when he was telling Lancer not to get "chummy" with Rin). Oh my gosh, it was so misplaced and completely ruined the serious atmosphere; same with tsundere Rin. I don't know what they were trying to attempt there, but it was laughable (if it was an attempt at character development, I wasn't impressed). The disjointedness of the second season was a big turn off for me, more so than the anticlimactic ending of F/Z. However, with wide range of fans they had to cater to, it was an okay effort, I suppose. Still wasn't as strong as it could've been though. If I were to have watched F/SN before F/Z, I would've been pretty disappointed. The prior knowledge from F/Z provided a huge boost of enjoyment for me, and if it weren't for F/Z, I would've rated it a lot lower, so there's that. But as I've stated before, I'll take the time to re-evaluate them both eventually. While I understand Rin and Kuzuki's fight with servants (thanks for the explanations!), Shirou just seems like the kind of character that should've been killed off ages ago (compared to characters like Rin and Kuzuki, he had little to no fighting skill until the mana transfer). If you ignore that he's the main protagonist, the bottom line is he should've been dead by now. He was constantly putting himself in situations that he shouldn't have survived in, and the fact that he's still alive is absurd. You know, scenes like where he rashly charged towards Gilgamesh to "avenge" Illya while fully aware that he didn't have a servant. In this case, Shinji conveniently interrupts just in time to stop Gilgamesh from killing him. wow. Yeah, I get that he needed to survive for plot progression, but it was just carried out so poorly. Luckiest man alive, I guess? The final battle with Gilgamesh was solid though. His pride was his downfall and I loved it. But the thing with Waver and Ryuunosuke is that they never acted as hastily as Shirou. Waver was actually more cowardly (still more realistic than Shirou though). Ryuunosuke was the oddball and never really had any ambition to participate in the war, and even then I still don't see him acting as recklessly as Shirou. As for HF, I also hope that it'll be split into multiple movies so that the information is more spread out, haha. So I tried looking for some playthroughs of the VN and I found a few, but geezus, they're reaaaallly long (each video is at least a few hours). The text moves nauseatingly slow, even at x2 video speed (it's really discouraging me from watching them). I'm not sure whether or not to play it for myself since I heard that it's mostly reading anyways. Plus, I don't feel comfortable downloading an intended hentai VN on my PC.  

     

    I finished the game, and I....

    It was really good. It was really really good. The plot twist got me bad and when I reached the True Ending, I thought the game broke the fourth wall after it started referring to me. And then I realized that it was Akane's viewpoint all along, and everything she saw was through Junpei, and the 9th door was actually a q, and the Nevada desert twist, and the branching world lines, and the upside-down sudoku puzzle, and Akane's fever, and Alice in the desert??????? and and and it was all so brilliant and I haven't felt this much satisfaction from a game in such a long time. I'm still in utter shock. The puzzles were also loads of fun to play but the ones I had the most trouble with were the "switch puzzle" (behind Door 2) and the 3x3 = ALL puzzle (behind Door 9). I already told you about the switch puzzle, and I had an idea of what I wanted to do for the 3x3 = ALL puzzle (isolate D, B, 4, 5, then click on D and B) but getting to that point felt a bit luck-based (it still made more sense to me than the switch puzzle though). After I finished the game, I tried looking up ways other people approached these puzzles and I couldn't find much. If I had to go through those two puzzles again, I probably wouldn't be able to solve them much faster, to be honest. I was also intrigued by the continual references to the base-#/hexadecimal system (it was a fun aspect, haha). Geezus, this game is absofreakinlutely brilliant and unbelievably underrated. I still can't get over the plot twist or even the game in general (and the world lines gave me Steins;Gate vibes, hehe). The only thing I don't get is how Cap was murdered whenever Ace didn't go through Door 1. But still. so. much. mind. blow. asldfjhldkfmnvvmldf. The entire game is just a humongous paradox and it's incredible. Thank you so much for letting me experience this!! Gah :'D AND a third game is coming out?? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

     

    Ao Oni was tons of fun to watch even though the jump scares could've given me a heart attack (have you ever played/watched a Let's Play of it before?). I'm also quite surprised at how popular it has gotten especially since the premise is so simple. I watched clips of the movie and it isn't nearly as scary as it could've been. The special effects weren't that great and the game itself was loads freakier.

     

    The games these days aren't nearly as challenging anymore (op exp. share, easy gyms and elite 4 members, pushover champion, etc.), but they're still far from bad. The introduction of the Fairy type was nice, and I'm kinda happy they nerfed crits and the Steel type. I also had pretty high expectations for the game, and the only thing I was disappointed about was how unmemorable the rivals, gyms, and elite 4/champion were. I guess Team Flare was also a bit underwhelming. The music was stellar and the graphics blew me away. I don't see much else to complain about, lol. Hmm, in that sense, I guess Lysandre and Gilgamesh are also alike. Both hated the human race and wanted to destroy the world in order to start fresh. Except that no one really bothered to reason with Gilgamesh. I've never considered the similarities between Lysandre and Archer (or even Lysandre and Gilgamesh for that matter). Archer never struck me as the antagonist of the series, and thinking about their parallels feels farfetched at first. But yeah, the two are eerily similar, haha. 

     

    I've forced myself to drink water when I didn't want to on occasion, but it usually leads to some form of gagging because of how tasteless it is. I also usually don't drink juice or soda for its source of water. I'm not a health freak or anything (I have pretty bad eating habits), but 24g of sugar from one cup of apple juice is a lot. For me, the only time water tastes good is after a meal or some exercise, but even then I still don't drink as much as I should. I'll try my best to down some more water from now on because I'm pretty tired of these headaches. Thank you for your concern!

     

    You still have a month to go before heading off to college, so who knows, haha. Best of luck to you hunting down that black trainer card, and let me know how it goes if you still plan on aiming for it! Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of the SnK characters. Eren is a generic shonen lead with aspirations bigger than Gilgamesh's ego. Mikasa is portrayed as an overpowered prodigy, and it's no fun watching her kill titans knowing that everything she does is executed flawlessly; the situation just doesn't feel threatening enough (the fight scenes are still badass though). Same with Levi (is he even human?). Armin is cool (he grew a bit). And all the other characters are usually left in the dust. Hange is my favorite character but she doesn't get enough screen time. The anime also dragged on way more than it should have when chasing after Annie. Plus, the sense of terror that's created in the first few episodes is treated like a joke as the series progressed. How am I supposed to take this seriously (good use of dark humor though). The titans no longer feel as serious of a threat as the anime makes them out to be because they seem about as frail as a Mario goomba towards the end. The first few episodes were fantastic (10/10), but everything after that was pretty lackluster. I won't deny that SnK has killer AMVs though, heh. But did you know that SnK's opening also goes well with everything?

     

    --

     

    Damn, I don't remember Florida ever being that hot. Perhaps the crowdedness accentuated the heat? You know, that feeling when everyone comes out of phys ed all sweaty, and everyone's body heat makes the environment seem twice as hot as it should be. I'm pretty sure I visited Disney World during the wintertime (thank goodness) so I don't remember having suffered as much as you did. And you guys were carrying heavy bags? Water and cameras? Geezus. 

     

    Oh my gosh, I remember riding on Soarin'! It was one of my favorite rides (which I guess isn't saying much since I didn't get to ride on too many of them, ehehe...).

     

    Ohhhhh, I also remember traveling to the Showcase! I don't think we got to visit each place, but I remember that we spent a lot of time in China for some reason. I vaguely remember eating a turkey leg. I don't like turkey either (I'm a ham person, ahaha), but I think the whole family shared one leg. And congrats on the find! Is it okay if I asked you what the F/Z poster looked like?

     

    Ahaha, I remember reading an article that selfie sticks were banned for safety purposes not too long ago. I thought that was pretty funny, lol. If I were in your situation, I also probably would've chosen to stay on the train. What did you end up doing on there though? Or did you literally mean nothing, haha. I know this might sound weird, but I might've talked to that little girl you sat next to on that Legend of the Forbidden Mountain rollercoaster. I love talking to little kids because it's so easy to hold a conversation with them. They'll talk about anything, and it's fun going off on tangents with them. Ask them their favorite color, and the next thing you know, you guys are talking about their sticker collections, haha. Whaaa... they're creating Avatar Land? I liked the movie a lot so hopefully it won't disappoint! 

     

    Overall, would you say that the Frozen theme park was worth the visit? I thought it was a fun little movie, and I'm considering whether or not to go the next time I visit Disney World. Ahhh! I remember both the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular and the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show! I especially loved watching the latter, and the car driving backwards completely blew my mind until they revealed the trick, haha. And the whole guy-catching-on-fire gimmick was also amused me a lot. How many times did you watch the show for it to be unentertaining? I don't think I'd ever get tired of watching live action stuff, lol. I also remember watching the mini-documentary of Walt Disney! I don't remember the content too well though. Gah, this was all so long ago. I'm surprised I even remember watching it. Odd and complicated circumstances? Aw, you can't just leave it at that and expect the comment not to pique my interest. I'd love to hear about what happened on the rollercoaster! I'm quite curious, haha. Ohh, I remember seeing the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror whenever we drove up to Disney World, but I guess none of us wanted to ride it at the time, haha. Ehh?? You got to see smiley faces and heart shaped fireworks? I'm envious :c Ahaha, one of my earbuds is also broken. But it normally doesn't hinder the experience for me (maybe I've gotten too used to it).

     

    Hmm, I've never tried Frozen Dole Whip before, but I've heard of it. I don't like pineapples that much either, but I love the flavoring. I'll be sure to try it out when I have the chance! Ah, I don't think we've gone down Splash Mountain. We were thinking about it, but our parents decided that it'd better if we didn't get wet, lol. Wait, you don't mean to tell me...they might've used real instruments to create those sound effects? ;c Ahaha, thanks to you, I now have a laundry list of rides I want to go on now. I guess the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is going to be at the top of my list, haha.

     

    Geez, Space Mountain sounds all too familiar, but I don't remember riding it. This is really bugging me. Okay, so I looked up a clip of the Wishes Nighttime Spectacular, and the projections ohmygod. akldjsklfadklfhkdsghklhsfkl

     

    Whoa, I think I saw my friends playing The Resistance during a grad party I attended a month ago. It was an interesting game, for sure. I've heard a lot of good things about Inside Out. I'm not sure if I'll be able to watch it any time soon since I'll be heading off to the UMich summer program on Sunday. I'll try my best though!

     

    Damn, why is Universal Studios so strict about loose items? Like geez, if I read your descriptions out of context, I really would've ended up thinking that it was at an airport. But anyways... interactive wands?? Man, if I was still in middle school, I probably would've pestered my parents to no end to get one of those. The extra money would've been worth the experience, in my opinion, haha. Love potions? Like stuff you can actually consume, or just a trinket kind of thing? Oh, and I bought a pack of the every flavor beans at the Sweet Factory once! I gave it to my friend who's a huge Harry Potter fanatic, so I never got to try it for myself (almost don't want to, actually, lol). Butterbeer and Moaning Myrtle too? Ahaha, they really do have everything! 

     

    I think it's really neat that they simulated the train ride! And the fact that they included dementors sounds awesome! Gosh, they really went all out with Harry Potter World. The airport-like security measures does sound like a huge turnoff (I'd also be pretty salty about if I were you), but hopefully it didn't hinder your experience too much!

     

    Whoa, one of the kids there announced that she was from Edison? Wow, it's a small world, isnt it! Okayokayokay, sorry, I know, wrong park, but I had to, ahahahaha....... Yeah, I'm not too big of a fan of club music either, and the fact that these animals probably have to deal with it on a regular basis also feels a bit off putting.

     

    Geezus, that rain was horizontal? Thank goodness you managed to make it back safely, haha. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been driving in those conditions. And you managed to see lightning up close? That's awesome! Although thunderstorms aren't uncommon around here, I rarely get to see lightning. My hair was at its longest when I typed that post (still shorter than Mai's though). A few of my friends were shocked when they saw my haircut, haha. But I guess my new-ish haircut is kinda growing on me. I'd say that my hair is a mix between Yuuko and Mai's at the moment. I'm a bit surprised that you remembered what my first profile picture was since I don't think we began talking until I switched to Mio, lol (the farthest I can think back to for yours was Sherlock from Ace Attorney). Because no one knows what anyone looks like on the internet, I sometimes use people's avatars as a reference to what they look like as well, haha. I guess that means you would be a genderbent Lucina then, heh. Actually, I really don't have any idea what you look like either. You mentioned something about long wavy hair, but it's hard for me to picture that since most Asian guys around here have undercuts or layers (I'm quite curious!). I've been meaning to switch my profile picture for a while now. I was thinking about someone from Korra, then maybe Gilgamesh, or Santa from 999 (favorite character from the game), or possibly Akko from LWA. Then I watched Ping Pong and now I don't know what to change my propic to, lol. Oh, and the Churchill quote I added to my signature was inspired by my English teacher. He had that quote pasted next to the classroom door, so it was the first thing I saw every time I left the classroom. It didn't mean anything to me at first and I thought he pasted it as a joke to mock us (he actually has a fantastic sense of humor), but the quote began to feel more inspiring with every passing day. The links I added were pasted there because my signature felt a bit empty, haha. I'm also somewhat surprised that you caught that little bit of Ping Pong on the bottom right corner of my signature since most people don't bother to look there. It was one of my favorite quotes/scenes from the anime, heh. I also wanted to add a Ping Pong gif or two, but I decided that it'd probably take up too much room (as you guessed already, I'm pretty attached to the Nichijou gifs and didn't want to remove them). As for what you should change your propic to, maybe from a recent anime you watched? A game? A movie? Inanimate object? Ahahaha, jkjkjk. Choose whatever you think fits! I can't choose for you since only you know what would fit best, haha. For your signature, maybe you could also add your links. Maybe paste a few of your favorite gifs and quotes? Completely up to you, lol. My signature is just a silly hodgepodge of a few things that kinda mean something to me.

     

    Ehehe... my OMM posts... well, you hit the nail on the head, haha. When I wrote that first OMM post, I could only eat half as much as I used to for a few weeks because of how stressed I felt. Ultimately ended up becoming hypoglycemic during the middle of a typical two-hour tennis practice, and I didn't have the guts to tell the coach and ask for a break. I had to plow through the rest of it while feeling light-headed, fuzzy-eyed, exhausted, and dizzy. It went to the point when I would purposely untie my shoes while the coach wasn't looking just so I could have an excuse to crouch down for a few moments. I'm quite surprised I didn't have a headache that day since my head was throbbing intensely every time I bent over to pick up a tennis ball. I forced myself to fix my eating habits so I wouldn't have to experience that again--it was absolutely dreadful. I'm also not sleeping as well as I used to for the same reason. During the school year, I would be out cold the moment I jumped into bed regardless of how stressed I was (probably because of sleep deprivation). Now I feel like I'm tossing and turning for at least an hour before I can sleep. At least it could mean that I'm a lot more well-rested than I was during the school year, haha. And yup, I was fishing for essay topics with that second OMM post you mentioned. As much as I would love to complain about the napkin dispensers, the admissions officers probably wouldn't be amused, lol. And of the three anime you mentioned, I would suggest Ping Pong above all. If you're not a fan of sports anime, I'll tell you right now--it's not really a sports anime. The ping pong is just a medium the anime uses to convey its message, and the storyline is beautifully written (so it's not anything spontaneous like Nichijou, lol). The art (even though it seems rustic at first glace) was brilliantly used to craft metaphors (kinda like Tatami Galaxy). That's what I think made it stand out the most. The realism used is also a breath of fresh air from the usual polished art of anime, so maybe watch an episode or two when you want something new! I'm curious though, since it is a fairly recent anime (2014), what made you turn away from Ping Pong when it first aired? Oh, and I'm not an active watcher of Gigguk, haha. I've only watched him for his reviews, and since I had a bit of free time this summer, I figured I would dig through a few more of his videos. Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed. OMFG, the Otaku Lyrics 101 video. Thank the lord my parents didn't walk in while I was watching it. I was trying to stifle my laughter and I felt like I was going to burst. And geezus, now the lyrics of all these anime have been ruined (RIP Death Note, I'll never be able to watch it now). Definitely made my day, heh. Hmm, the MAL layout was fine on my laptop. Our laptop dimensions are probably different then, so I tried fixing my layout and adjusting the background color (previously the "white bar") so that the image would feather out better. Also, was anything out of the ordinary towards the left and right edges of your screen? The original coding also made it so the image would repeat horizontally. I didn't change that aspect of the code thinking that the image I used would be big enough. Let me know how it looks! The Nichijou gif wasn't meant to fit in, lol. I didn't want my layout to be too serious so I just added that in for the lulz, haha. 

     

    Ahh, sorry I wasn't able to post this on time. I was attending some random summer program I signed up for last minute these past few days, so I didn't have as much time to type this up. Oh it's not a bother at all! Although I wasn't able to respond to every paragraph, it most certainly was an interesting read! It was written in great detail and I loved reading about your experience there! It seemed that you had a pretty good time overall (despite the oven temperatures), and I was also able to flashback a few times to when I last visited Disney World--quite refreshing, if you ask me. Though I'll admit, I was really taken aback by how much you typed up, haha. Ah, not much happened while you were away. I went to a grad party on Saturday if that counts as anything, lol. Watched some anime, read a few David Sedaris pieces at the bookstore, nothing unusual. The program at UMich starts this Sunday. I'll be staying at Ann Arbor from July 19 to July 31. Let the good times roll!

    • Upvote 1

  4. Facebook's definitely a lot more private.  Anyone with enough dedication could dig through just about anyone's twitter. Due to how casual twitter is though, anyone willing to snoop would probably have to dig through a lot of mundane tweets before finding anything interesting. Yeah if don't feel the need to share little things that happen throughout your day or don't want to be active in a fandom, personal twitters aren't that appealing and are easy to forget about. those kinds of tweets are what make twitter great though

     

    Almost 2 million euros? Wow... that's a ton of money and the fact that it's not even close to the goal is mindblowing. It is pretty amazing some average guy set it up and random samaritans donated to it despite there being no way it would reach the goal though.

    No one seems to know what'll happen to Greece. It sounds like Greece leaving the euro would be bad but them staying on the euro is probably hurting the euro (...maybe? I'm assuming it would. I don't understand economics). It also seems that this is a problem that Greece has had for a while so fixing its economy will probably be a long process  :wacko:

    lol, that's pretty much the reason why I don't have a Twitter. I used to be in a few fandoms (just thinking about it makes me want to shoot myself), but I think tumblr would be more fitting? I've always wanted to try out tumblr (some of the posts I've seen are absolutely golden) but I'm afraid that my productivity levels will drop quite a bit if I decide to join (jk, my productivity levels are practically nonexistent at this point). 

     

    I have little to no knowledge about economics (planning to take the class this coming school year) so I don't have much to say about Greece's crisis. Most people around here aren't making a big deal about it though, so it's kinda hard for me to get an idea of how serious it really is. I googled it and some think that it's worse than the Great Depression?

     

     

    I wish I could stay in bed all day. Actually I do. Most of the day. Then I get out at night.

    just wanted to comment on your username, lol

     

     

    That's like every forumer's story :P They just wanna discuss stuffs and they end up leaving the community with a bunch of new friends. It's a cliche. xD

    Yeah, true. One must avoid spilling info or they are in some danger, lol. Heh, I rather not make new totally anonymous internet friends anymore than to meet more people like this and kinda get attached and just end up knowing that they're just pure trolls.

     

    I see.

     

    Oh... I remember reading that in your bio. I mean the thing about you being a Graphic Artist. Welp, Did you report about this stuff on Google? I mean they could have probably tried helping you out. Oh btw, since your Youtube Account was hacked that means it's still active, isn't it?

     

    Anyways, I remember watching one of the videos by Markiplier where he stated that he had a first youtube account where it reached a substantial amount of subscribers but thing is, he got banned by Google for violating Copyrights and he like gave up on the whole Youtube thing since he completely lost contact to the community he built. So he suffered the same thing as you did but difference is yours got hacked.

     

    Anyways, his friends pushed him to make another Youtube account under the name that is somewhat close to his older account's. In all goodness, everyone who subscribed to his old channel before did really subscribe to his new channel. He reuploaded every video he had in his first channel and gah... those every single subscriber took time to 'like' every single video again. And this is amazing. And, hah, just look at his channel now. He's one of the most subscribed youtubers, currently.

     

    Relating to your 'ordeal', I dunno. But did you try creating another Youtube account under a name that is somewhat close to your old one's and reuploaded every video you had? Those people who subscribed  to you before might have actually jumped back on to your new youtube account and things might have went smooth again. But I dunno. You probably done that already with no luck.

     

     

    ----

     

    Of course, I always plan ahead. I never just dive in without any plans. Nah, thing is with Kickstarter is that you must be somewhat 18 (I read their terms and conditions) and they really verify that, I think. So yeah, I'm out of question. I don't want to get to any legal trouble even if other says they don't actually verify your age. Plus, I remember that Kickstarter doesn't support my country but yeah, of course there are alternative mass fund raising campaign websites out there that supports my country. Same thing tho, must be 18.

     

    And also, haha, I just don't know what I would really do with the money that I will get from such campaigns since I don't have much idea about anything on Indie Development and I don't have a super intricate plan. I only plan ideas, generally.  Also, I don't think the idea that I have is appealing and will benefit anyone since it's just something something. So yeah, I'm sure that there will be no pledges made nor any exposure. Haha.

     

    I already finished something and I didn't have any budget for it haha :P I didn't have actual solid plan on how I'll promote. I'm just like, screw it. I'll read an article about how to promote my thing with limited to no budget. Well tho, I realized it's almost impossible to do. You're never gonna get that much exposure no matter how hard you try without any actual financial investment (on advertising on google ads for example). There might be one to two in a million developers who somewhat gets lucky and just explodes but it's never gonna be you.

     

    And I have actual long term projects in mind, thing is gah... parent's expectations. I feel like that I must prove to them withing a specific time frame that I made the right choice about dropping out of college by having a stable income or something. If I can't do that, I have no idea what's gonna happen to me really. So, I'm  like rushing everything out but thing is nothing good comes out of rush so it's really sad. Plus, just can't ask them for money. I mean I dropped out and asking for financial backing would be just too much BS for them.

     

    Yup, haha. I know. I'll never trade my dignity for anything. I actually see some people who markets their thingies successfully by spamming others sad though, coz I'll never do that.

     

    ---

     

    I know that having a team is better since there is an off loading of duties so one would just completely focus their attention on this and one on that. And there just tends to be more motivation when you are in a team compared to being alone. But as I said, I wanna learn the ropes on my own for now since if I'll ever be in a dev team. It's pretty sure already, I'm gonna be the acting leader :P (I just don't like working for others. I mean I can work for others but still. ( I know it's a bad trait. :P)) So yeah, some, of course, in the team will be like looking up at you and ask you what to do. And I don't want to be that person to say "I really have no idea what to do. I've never faced this before" since I'm the freaking leader.

     

    And also, I'm still below the legal age. I'm still 17. So in majority of the country, I cannot work yet. (Here, I can) Heck, I don't even have a paypal or bank account. Everything, actually, is on the behalf and approval of my older brother. I use his paypal to recieve monies and he is also the one who's gonna receive the cheque if I ever earn anything. He's the only one that I could really rely on to this stuffs.

     

    Welp, summary is my life is freaking hard right now. :V I just hope nothing or no one adds more to the problem.

     

    ^Didn't check for any spelling or grammatical errors.

    I've already spilled enough info about myself around here, haha. And I've never actually met a catfisher before, or at least I don't think I have? It's way too much work to pretend to be someone you're not, so I generally trust people when they talk about themselves. DCW doesn't seem like the kind of place that attracts catfishers either since this forum is pretty laidback. You're probably not going to end up meeting any "pure trolls" around these parts.

     

    My channel was suspended from violating their guidelines even though I wasn't active on my account the day before. I received an email saying that there was a suspicious sign-in, which led me to believe that I was hacked, and that it was the hacker who got my account suspended. Google was absolutely no help when I contacted them about this. I managed to get my account back for one day, then they suspended my account again without warning even though I had proof that I was hacked. So to answer your question, nope. Everything's gone. Videos, channel, everything. 

     

    I've seen loads people restart their channels, but rarely any of them were successful in bringing their channels back to their former glory. Plus, I was entering my junior year at the time so there was no way in hell I'd have time to restore my channel. I've accepted that it's gone now. I'm just really grateful that I was fortunate enough to be able to experience what it was like to be a YouTuber. I've also learned quite a bit from this experience (lots of RL uses in ways you'd never expect).

     

    I guess you would use that money to hire people and buy the equipment you'd need to build your project, haha. If people like your idea, they'll donate (you would need really good advertising and perks though). And you never know unless you try! Maybe give it a shot once you're of legal age and try another fundraising campaign since Kickstarter doesn't work in your country, lol.

     

    Hmm, why not get a job then? It's good that you have some long term projects in mind, but if I were you, I'd feel a lot safer if I had a job to fall back on--even if it's minimum wage. I know you mentioned that you're below the legal age (weird, since the minimum age around here is 14), but you also mentioned that "here I can". So does that mean you can get a job?

     

    It's also good that you're a natural born leader, but it's a lot easier when the work is split evenly throughout the group. Asking for each other's help will be a lot easier because if you don't know how to do something, someone else might. And if no one knows how, you guys can problem solve as a team. I like being on equal terms with everyone because it feels more like a teamwork project rather than having one person pulling all the weight. I don't enjoy bossing people around, nor do I enjoy being bossed around (mainly depends on the circumstance though). To each his own, lol.

     

    The only reason I have a PayPal is because of YouTube. I was forced to get one if I was going to get paid. Which also led me to getting a debit card so I could reap the full benefits of the site. Definitely get one. I've had instances when my sister had to borrow my PayPal account because she didn't have one, haha.  

     

    Well, whatever you end up doing, I hope it goes well! 

     

     

    OMM: whoa, Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata just died. He was only 55 too... RIP

    "On my business card, I'm a company president... But my mind's that of a game developer... And at heart, I am a gamer." -- Satoru Iwata, December 6, 1959 - July 11, 2015

    Not gonna lie, this is getting me very very emotional.  Crap, I think I'm going to cry.........

     

    ;~;

     

    >enters into fetal position


  5. welp, I started on the new season of Hetalia

    it was awful

    my full thoughts are in the other thread

     

     

    and while I said that I was finished with my summer bingeing, I completely forgot that the sequel to Little Witch Academia aired not too long ago

    so I made an exception, hehehehe...........

     

    the Disney vibes were strong in this one

    the characters were so imaginative and bubbly and I loved every single one of them

    I had the stupidest grin on my face while watching this

    the plot and concepts are so simple, but the art/animation, music, and dialogue made everything alive

    it was so colorful

    it was so wonderful

    IT WAS SO MAGICAL

     

     

    oh, and #tbt to the second season of Fate/stay night 

    Somethings+just+dont+change+8+years+and+


  6. Well, it depends on the theme on the signature. I can do glow effect in the same time.

    Two years I'm using CS6.

    I just edited your image to give you an idea of what I meant (sorry if it's a bit sloppy. I was kinda speeding through it with a mild headache)

    CdMKW5L.png

     

    -refined edges around Conan and Ran

    -added an inner shadow to Conan and Ran

    -evened out color pallet throughout image

    -removed where username used to be

    -added username to bottom right corner of image

     

    and in case you aren't a fan of the even color pallet, I made another one that kept most of the original coloring:

    YsnZjOv.png

     

    -toned down Conan and Ran's jacket color because it stood out too much

    -added graphic flare onto username

     

    I'm not sure what your "theme" is, so these edits I made were just in my taste.

     

    I used to use CS6, but the .dll file of the program got deleted after I cleaned out my PC (the computer thought it was a virus file and deleted it automatically even though I didn't have problems with my PC for months). I still have CS6 on my PC, but it's useless without the .dll file. I only have CS5 that's properly working now, but I do my main editing on Pixlr.

     

     

    Well, I'm also not that interested in making new friends anymore with a "completely anonymous Internet person", actually :P I never ever ever really joined another social site or forums or whatever on the internet, for the sake of making new friends or discussing a bunch of stuffs, other than this site. It's just that I have developed this unexplainable fear throughout my journey on the internet that the person I'm talking to might be actually a psycho, a criminal, a schizophrenic person, a backstabber or any other crap or just someone who is a fake or using escapism. Haha, I could actually be one of them since you don't have any actual proof that I'm a real person. :P

     

    Heck, the old members here who is still active knows how many times I've left DCW. I never stated any actual reason behind but the truth is, I left DCW becoz of these stuffs getting into my head. Still, I return to this place lol, after awhile :P

     

    But I'm still open to befriending Internet people as long as they have a logical proof that they're someone you can trust just as much as a person IRL. Just like a startup youtuber in twitter who has their voice and facecam on videos. I just don't think these kinds of people could actually be a criminal or an escapist, lol. Just who the heck is dumb enough  to show off their identity knowing that they're actually not real? :P Same goes with other internet people who does stuffs which really risks their real identity or their reputation.

     

    (GAH... THIS IS GONNA BE A LONG POST AGAIN :3)

     

    Heh, I'm also curious... ehrmm... may I know what this last ordeal is? :3

     

    ----

     

    Twitter is also a good way to have a personalized news source :3 Kinda true about Kickstarter campaigns but the thing is the real purpose of it is to raise money and also one must has a really appealing project.

     

    On Twitter being a platform for those people who are already established, yes, that's actually true. Most of the people who joins are already established but as for me, who of course is just starting up, I didn't make my twitter account to actually beg for publicity or beg to be followed. I made my twitter in case that in the future if I ever become somewhat established ("IF" :P I'm not delusional.), I don't need to hassle myself in making a twitter account and knowing how to tweet lol. :P

     

    Plus, it's Advertising 101. xD Have a twitter or any social media platform so that if you ever have gathered a following who actually follows you for your product and if you are about to release something new, you don't actually need to promote your product super hard like when you started. Just tweet/post about it and your product will have a guaranteed success. :P

     

    ----

     

    Haha, I already encountered some people who actually begs for follow or retweets lol :P I really feel bad about them lol since only few actually gives in to their requests :P

     

    ---

     

    Thanks :D

     

    Nah, I'm a solo Dev and I'm still very new.  :P Well, I don't think I'll be working with anyone in the near future haha. it's not because I'm egoistic or something or I'm Mr. I can do it all. xD

     

    It's just that I want to learn the ropes on my own, for now. I'm currently doing everything by myself lol. Development, Promotion and some other related stuffs. It's super tiring. But yeah, ofc, I'll form my own Dev Team and work with other people in the far future and probably start a business on it and cause a chain reaction, lol :P

     

    Meh... I'm chattering.

    (spoilers to save space)

    Yeah, when I first joined DCW I didn't have any intention of making any internet friends. I only joined so I could discuss DC with others. Lo and behold, I ended up meeting some really awesome people, and I'm quite grateful for that as well. As long as you're not freely spilling out personal information and your social media, there's not much to be afraid of. I've encountered my fair share of psychos and pedos but all I had to do was flag or block them. I guess the experience of meeting them was a bit jarring but I don't think it's that big of a deal. I mean, for all you know, I could be a 67 year old serial killer under a teenage facade. I could be your worst nightmare.

     

    Haha, it's a shame some of the old DCW members aren't as active anymore. I would've loved to talk to them. 

     

    As for my "ordeal", long story short, I used to be a graphics artist on a YouTube channel. I made loads of friends on there and built the channel up enough to make myself a name in the community I was in, but the channel got hacked. I lost almost all contact with these people and it was as if everything I put into the channel never happened. Being a YouTuber was a good experience though since I learned a lot. Got my channel partnered, got paid for my work on occasion, and made a bit of money off of my videos. I'm just a little ticked off that my channel is gone now.

     

    Since you said you were an Indie Developer, I assumed that you had something planned out already--which is why I mentioned the Kickstarter campaign. Isn't it kinda hard to gain followers if you don't have a project yet? That'd probably be my main concern at first. And I'm sure you know this already, but never beg for anything. Your reputation and humility is far more important than a few people who followed you out of pity.

     

    A solo Dev? If I were you, I'd gather a team of people and start from there. Programmer, designer, treasurer/promoter, etc. Your project will end up getting a ton more exposure right off the bat, haha.

     

     

    Yuuupp, we have a lot of catching up to do, hahah.

    My next response is going to be unbelievably long, so sorry in advance...

     

    OMM: Can somebody post something in this thread, even if it's kinda spammy?  I need to post my spring season final thoughts as well as summer season initial impressions.

    there's no need to apologize for that, lol

    take as much time as you need!

     

    and I gotchu, heh.

     

     

    I can't seem to get on the DCTP forums or main site the last few days. Does anyone else have this problem?

    1VuAGfz.png?1

     

     

    --

    OMM: Pixlr finally removed that obnoxious ad that covered up a third of the usual workspace :')

    ty Pixlr, you da real mvp

    even though you guys shouldn't have placed the ad there in the first place but hey, I ain't complaining


  7. Ping Pong the Animation

    holy frick it's a masterpiece

    definitely going on my list of all time favorites

    11 out of 10

    the art/animation is also fabulous, not even kidding

    also, best ED

     

    Little Witch Academia

    was predictable as hell but I still enjoyed every second because Disney vibes

    I have a soft spot for those, heh

     

    Wolf Children

    When I first heard about it, I thought the movie was going to be some screwy Twilight and Princess Mononoke crossover, but it's actually pretty good.

    It lacked depth though

     

    Fate/stay night

    oh man, I really felt like I was missing out since I was an AO watcher

    and the more I think about it, the less sense it makes

    I still can't get over how the masters seem to be more powerful than the servants in certain scenes. I mean, if that's the case, why have servants at all. Fight scenes were still fantastic though, no doubt about that.

    The suspension of disbelief is also really strong in the second season. Might have to revoke my 9. The first season was a lot better after some thought.

    actually, it's probably because my anime bingeing finally gave me a point of comparison for this

     

    Levi's backstory

    Pretty predictable, but I've always enjoyed watching backstories and the inner workings of characters

     

    Hetalia: The World Twinkle (wtf kind of title is this)

    bored to tears, and I'm dropping it.

    the fandom is disgusting for eating up all this bs the creators pull out of their arses

    the fact that the creators will cater to the fandom's every whim by creating this bs is also disgusting

    honestly, look at how completely one-sided this chart is

    really? you're going to blindly rate 10s all for a 5 min cat rendition of the characters??

    all logic has been thrown out the window. the fandom is insane. I don't know why I even bothered.

    (sorry for this random wall of text; I was just really frustrated with what this series has become)

     

    SAO loljk

    gigguk killed me a 4:05

    had to pause the video at 4:27 because I was laughing so much

    I know SAO is supposed to be really bad, but if I ever decide to watch it I'll never be able to take any scenes with this OST seriously

    RIP SAO's supposedly meaningful fight scenes

     

     

     

    ...and that's about the extent of my summer bingeing

    probably not going to watch anything else for the rest of the summer unless there's something that really catches my eye

     

    oh, and because it's summer, I finally took the liberty to use a customized MAL layout

    really digging it at the moment


  8. We're actually the same. I rarely even update statuses in FB or post anything other than changing my DP once in awhile. I just PM my RL friends or comment or lurk on random pages. Duh. I rarely even visit it.

    Anyways, FB is really designed for a more personal use and twitter on the otherhand is for publicity. Just compare the word "friends" with "followers". So yeah, would like to keep my FB as personal as possible and will only be for those people who I actually know and trust. On the otherhand, one of the uses of my twitter would probably to meet new people.

    ---

    Well, if you remember, I dunno if you actually read my bio before, I am already working as an Indie Developer (or programmer/coder whatever you want to call it) :3 so I use twitter, mainly, as my Dev's Platform to reach out other people and people who are also indies like me. Plus, some other people related to the field.

    Thing is, you cannot just find these people on just social medias like Tumblr and the likes. Twitter is like the destination of those big professional peoples so that's the only place to contact them. Example of those biggies are game/app reviewers from a certain website. They might have email but expect a freaking slow response... so yup, Twitter is the answer. :P

    Anyways, wouldn't give anymore info other than me being an Indie Dev and having a twitter. That's just it. :3

    Aside from that one photo I tagged a bunch of people in a month ago, I don't think I've posted anything in years (except for changing my profile pic every once in a while). I'll make occasional comments on other friends' posts if that counts as anything. But I still check my fb daily since I use the chat function regularly.

     

    Ehh, as promising as that sounds, I'm not really interested in making any more new "internet" friends since I still feel a bit scarred from my last ordeal. In hindsight, I should've made a Twitter back then so I could keep in contact with them and tell them what happened instead of abruptly disappearing, but it can't be helped anymore.

     

    Twitter is a good way to update people, but there are loads of other ways to publicize your project. Kickstarter campaigns tend to help a lot (UnderTale is a great example; I'm anticipating its release). And, well, the thing with Twitter is that these people usually make an account only after they've made a name for themselves. Anything before that just seems like desperate begging for publicity if they're just starting and/or have nothing planned out yet (unless it was a personal account to begin with). Ahh, but then again, your description was really vague so I don't know if what I just said was even relevant, haha.

     

    Regardless, best of luck to you and your adventures as an Indie Developer, lol.

    Is there anyone you're working with?

     

    People not using their actual names on twitter probably does make it more likely for anybody to say something personal. But from what I've noticed at least is that quite a few people have fandom accounts and then locked, personal accounts that they only let their friends have access to. Because of that, if people do post stupid stuff, a lot of it seems to be on those personal accounts so there's not too many consequences. There's also favorites on twitter which a lot of people seem to use instead of RT-ing more personal things. If you scroll through Cross the Line's page, most of the tweets probably have higher favorite counts than RT counts so it's possible to have personal things connected to your account without it being super noticeable.

    That being said, that's just my experience. Twitter's accessibility and casualness does make it really easy to post embarrassing stuff though. I have no idea if posting too much personal stuff is a problem for people who use twitter similarly to facebook. 

     

    Oh wow, really? I didn't hear they'd gone as far as to cut off certain companies in Greece. It just seems like things are worsening there with each coming day. On the national news earlier, Greece's current crisis was compared to US's Great Depression which really puts things into perspective since it pointed out that after 5 years, the US was on the rise again economically whereas Greece's situation over the past couple years has not been improving. With the recent vote showing 60%+ voting "no" to a bailout I wonder what sort of agreement the talks with other countries will reach since it sounds like them not reaching an agreement would worsen the situation tenfold.

    I'm very tired so I hope that's not too incoherent

    I've never had a Twitter account, so I don't have much say in this. I just prefer fb's variety (and the fact that most of my friends use it). Plus, it's also possible to make your account private on fb, making it a lot harder for outsiders to stalk profiles. Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I've seen it seems really easy to pry through Twitter accounts that aren't on private. And while it's true that it's easy to access past posts with fb's timeline feature, if you're not fb friends with the person it's rather hard to "stalk" him/her. Even if I were to get a Twitter, it's most likely going to sit in the dust, haha. It's not in my nature to tweet or post statuses in the spur of the moment. I can't help but feel bad for the people who end up having their posts pedestaled and ridiculed by the internet for posting something like "i want my first daughter to be a girl." 

     

    Hmm, well the Indiegogo campaign didn't reach it's goal but it's not like that was unexpected. I was more surprised from the money it actually managed to raise. Still not even close to the goal, but nearly 2 million euros? That's freaking insane. And the fact that some random guy from the UK set this up himself. I think that's pretty noteworthy, so good on the people who donated. I'm not sure what's going to happen to Greece at this point, but I guess there's not much we can do other than wait it out.

    geezus, comparable to the US's Great Depression?

     

    OMM: Marathoning all these episode ones of summer anime is so satisfying.  It's so good to be back home!

    omg yey ur bak

    marathoned a bit myself, hehehe..

    Ping Pong the Animation best animu

     

    OMM: Just draw some signature here.

     

    realbadman_by_kaymanovite-d90e8vs.png

     

    nayemnik_by_kaymanovite-d90dpnd.png

     

    gtava_by_kaymanovite-d90e4jh.png

     

    Currently working on custom desktop with my CS6

    The first two images look like you kinda just toyed around with the hardness of the eraser.

    For the first one, I think giving the character a bluer offset could help a bit. Either that, or altering the hue of the background to give a greener tint.

    For the second one, maybe make Conan and Ran fit in with the setting more by utilizing hardlight or a sepia filter, and just go off from there.

    The third one just looks like a bunch of pasted renders so I'm not too sure what to say for this (maybe add drop shadows?).

    Oh, and some flares. You can never go wrong flares, heh.

    This is just in my taste, but overall not bad.

     

    How long have you been using CS6?

    I like how clean most of your renders are. Erza could use a bit of sharpening though.

     

     

    --

    OMM: wtf it's July already


  9. Twitter is way more sleeker and simpler in design. It's just tweet, your timeline, follow and DM. No other unnecessary stuff.

    Plus, as I said, I need it for some important stuffs.

    I'm not the person who enjoys tweeting/posting statuses at impulse, and the only reason I have a Facebook is to keep in touch with my friends (I don't need it for anything else, tbh). There's no reason for me to get a Twitter, even if it does seem more polished by design.

     

    and what do you "need" Twitter for?

    I'm just curious, lol

     

     

    I'm glad you don't dislike of your high school self if given the chance I'd go back in time and punch my 14/15 year old self square in the face haha

     

    Ah yeah, it makes you wouldn't be as interested in twitter if none of your friends use it. Twitter is pretty spur of the moment and while that could potentially lead to posting something regrettable it more often results in something unintentionally funny. It is a kinda daunting thought that you could possibly saying something stupid but that really applies to all social media/networking since the internet is forever after all. 

     

    I heard about that Indiegogo campaign. It's up to 1.7mil+ euros now but it still says it's 0% funded which is just crazy. I've seen some people sort of joking about how pathetic it is that there's indiegogo thing for an entire country but they probably need all the help they can get. 

     

    and uh, , , , , how about writing about marionettes or something idk

    I do dislike my high school self to an extent. It's just that I don't spend much time dwelling on it, haha.

     

    Yeah, I sometimes catch a few people posting some really cringe-worthy statuses whenever they're in a mood on fb. Especially ones that dive into personal problems in the most passive aggressive way possible. I understand that the same could happen on practically all social media, but I feel like it's a bigger problem on sites like Twitter since your whole timeline is basically dedicated to whatever you tweet+retweet (same could be said for fb, but status posting usually isn't as frequent).

     

    And I heard that Greece is being cut off of sites like the Apple Store and PayPal in order to prevent money from leaving the country. yikes.

     

    ahaha, marionettes?

    interesting idea, I'll keep it in mind

    thanks!

     

     

    --

    OMM: i cant belive today is americas 2015th birhtday!!!!!!!


  10. The person I hate the most is Gin, for obvious reasons. He hurts my two favorites and stands in their way to freedom.

     

    wyMVVfK.jpg

     

    Gin is a demon in human body. Only a demon would separate those two.

    that's funny because Gin is one of my favorite characters

    the BO is the only thing that adds excitement to the series nowadays

     

    actually, the whole point of the BO is to add conflict to the show

    if everything were rainbows and gumdrops, that wouldn't be very interesting, now would it

    • Upvote 1

  11. You've got to meet new people 100x more compared to Facebook. If you're an extravert like me, it's a great thing.

    The same could be said for tumblr, reddit, or even the YouTube comments section, lol.

    I consider myself an extrovert, but I don't see myself getting a Twitter account any time soon.

     

     

    ah youth, thinking about it is just a constant reminder of how stupid you were/are

    fortunately not all my middle school stuff was terrible like 6th and 7th grade were mostly fine but 8th grade was just not... good, , , ,

    it's good you aren't already embarrassed of your high school self (assuming you will be embarrassed of your high school self in the future)! My freshman year/early sophomore year self was terrible and embarrasses me fairly often tumblr_m42qzrJMNM1r58lid.jpg

     

    And it's nice how casual twitter is in comparison to facebook, tumblr, or even here. Like it feels like there needs to be a point to my posts on other sites/forums but on twitter I can just tweet a warthog emoji or post multiple pictures of my cat and no one cares and it's great  B)

    Middle school was fun and all, but it makes me cringe whenever I look back to it. There are a few things I'm rather happy about though.

     

    I guess I'm not exactly embarrassed by my high school self; I'm just rather stoic about it.

     

    Most of my friends don't have a Twitter so it's pointless for me to get one unless I'm in the mood to follow some "big" people.

    I'm perfectly content with a Facebook, though I'll admit I like the format of Twitter and how it looks a lot more tame.

    Also, Twitter is the kind of site where you post at impulse, meaning it comes with the risk of tweeting some pretty regrettable things, haha.

     

     

    about the Greece bankruptcy thing, there's an Indiegogo campaign called the "Greek Bailout Fund"

    it managed to raise >1.5mil euros, and while it's still nowhere near the goal the campaign itself is pretty inspiring

     

     

    --

    OMM: can someone spout out some really bizarre or boring topics/ideas to write about (preferably nothing too large in scale)

    doesn't matter if it sounds like rubbish

    like the history of pencil shavings or something


  12.  

    Ah, well this is looking a bit far ahead, but if we ever do meet in real life, I wouldn't mind letting you play my oboe.  You'd probably just be derping around on it for the most part though, since I don't really trust my abilities as a teacher, haha.  I'll be bringing it with me to Case, even if I don't currently plan on participating in any music programs.  My parents feel that it would be doing less good stored away at home than at college, even if all I do is crack it open to casually play something on occasion.
     
    I definitely considered getting a used iPhone, since I'd be able to use whatever muscle memory I have left from my second gen iTouch days to get by.  But used phones come with their own problems, and four years of use is bound to take a toll on it.  Though I don't plan on abusing my phone by downloading a ton of stuff on it, I also don't want to limit myself and regret not investing in something more powerful if I end up needing the extra processing power.  I'm only a bit concerned about the interface of an Android phone, since I tried my hand at navigating through my friend's OnePlus One and it was a bit confusing.  There's a lot of customization you can do with Androids as opposed to the generally consistent layout of Apple phones, so I guess it would just be difficult to use someone else's personalized phone.  If I set up my OnePlus One to fit how I intuitively think, it'll be fine, haha.  And don't worry, every little bit of your advice is appreciated.
     
    Geez, your sister actually starved herself like that?  So much for the freshman 15.  More like the freshman -15.  I'm not much of a picky eater at all.  I only tried one meal at Brandeis, and I can imagine how I'd lose interest in the food pretty fast, but I wouldn't say it's inherently bad or anything.  I guess the Batman ride only looks appealing because it's so different from anything else I've ridden.  I've tried all kinds of roller coasters, in Great Adventures, Dorney Park, Universal Studios, Disney World, and SeaWorld.  They're all pretty much the same when you get right down to it, so for something so unique to be made is pretty exciting.  It's in San Antonio, so in all honestly I have no idea if I'll ever get the chance to ride it, but if the opportunity ever presents itself I'd definitely give it a go.
     
    It's perfectly fine if you don't want to share your scores with me and there's no need to feel like you aren't sharing enough either.  I don't expect anyone to be as naively open about personal topics as I am, and you've already confided in me more times than I could have imagined.  It's awfully flattering in fact, ahahah.  That's really good of you not to pry for grades and the like.  I disappoint myself more times than not, and I'm most definitely not one to brag because there's usually not much to brag about, so it's reassuring to know there are people like you who are considerate of other's feelings.  If anything, I should apologize for pressuring you to disclose your scores.  Ahh, sorry about that.
     
    Ohhh, you've already made more progress than I ever did.  June hasn't even ended and yet you've already written a rough draft of a potential essay, haha.  Really good work, even if knocking down the word count can be one of the hardest parts of writing a college essay and 100 words is more than it seems on paper.  It's hardest with essays you have a strong emotional attachment to.  I wouldn't say your topic is necessarily cheesy or anything.  I mean sure, an Asian girl who plays piano, oh boy what else is new?  But with how you're attempting to relate it yourself and show how you learned and grew from the experience, it may end up working if enough effort is put into it.  It's only your first idea and first draft, so there's no need to get yourself down about it now.  There's plenty of time to fix this one up or write a completely new one.  You'd have to tread very carefully with that YouTube GFX topic if you decide to expand upon it though, because as you said some saltiness my leak in, ahah.  Well, I wish you luck in the coming days!  You still have plenty of time as I've said before, so don't stress out too much.  A really good topic may randomly come to you when you're just relaxing and letting your mind wander, you never know.
     
    My district isn't poor, I guess, but they aren't using the funds they do have to their fullest potential.  They're building a greenhouse for the science classes of all things.  That's right, a greenhouse.  I have no idea how this will serve to better the education here.  Just seems like a gimmicky move if you ask me.  They could probably save money by integrating the greenhouse into the hallways of our school.  It's so hot the plants will be just fine.  Even just a few years ago the football field was upgraded with turf instead of just good old grass and dirt.  That wasn't too bad of a change, though the bleachers in comparison look kinda rusty now.  I just wish this money was put toward getting A/C installed.  Or fixing up a dated curriculum, which doesn't require ton of money either.  Awful handling of funds, all in all.  Some of my classmates really are phenomenal.  Almost makes me wish I had put more effort into reaching my fullest potential, but ehhh I did good enough.  Ahah, so I guessed right.  And yup, John P. Stevens High School it is.  Usually called JP Stevens or JPS or just JP, it's Edison's northern high school and the place I'm glad to leave behind, haha.  Listening to your complaints is no problem at all.  It's also a pleasure having a friend outside the confines of JP to converse with.
     
    Oh gosh, I'm fairly certain you know more about me than any of my other friends as well.  Likewise, you're really easy to talk to and you don't seem at all bothered by my ramblings.  I don't know anyone else who'd respond with such thoroughness to all that I type, and I'm really blessed to have met you.  And yes, I do know what you mean by those little bouts of depression.  I don't get like that very often, but I do know just how disruptive it can be when I get really moody.  Depending on the situation, I either sleep it off or cry it off or cry until I fall asleep.  If that's not good enough, I find that exercising is a decent way of getting my stress out safely else I risk punching a hole in a wall.  Sometimes watching a quick funny video on YouTube lightens my mood.  For bigger slip-ups, I need an entire episode of anime and for life's biggest boo-boos a comedy movie generally does the trick.  I don't usually have time for that though, and the movie may end up having the opposite effect by getting me to feel even worse about my situation, in which case it's back to sleeping and/or crying.  I'm really glad you're training yourself to look up a bit more and I have to say your efforts to think to yourself and mentally raise your spirits that way are admirable.  In comparison, I'm far more of an emotional wreck that just idly waits for things to boil over, eheheh.  Oh goodness, I never expected you to open up to me like this.  I didn't realize you had come to trust me this much and I am more than just honored, believe me.  I'm having trouble putting how I feel into words.  To expose your mind like this is a very personal thing indeed, and for you to tell anyone at all is very brave of you.  Humans are social animals by nature, so though you may think talking about this defeats the purpose the fact that it feels like a weight off your chest is evident of the importance of bonds between two people.  However, for you to choose me of all the people you know, that's just... ahh, I'm speechless.  I don't have enough faith in my own ability to form coherent sentences to correctly express how much this means to me.  There was really no need to force yourself to reveal this if it made you so uncomfortable.  I feel that in order to effectively get across how much you in turn mean to me and to portray just how much I've come to trust you as well, I need to tell you a personal secret of my own, ahah.  Ohhhh, and I have this really strong urge to give you a nice big hug for some reason.  *hugs*  This can't compare to the real thing, but a virtual one will have to suffice for now.
     
    I use one of those really precise and sharp knives with replaceable and retractable blades, specifically made by the company Olfa.  I just stick the blade into the plastic box as close to the cardboard as I can possibly get without damaging the artwork and ease my way around the perimeter until I come full circle and the box comes loose.  Of course, that leaves a plastic rectangular ring glued onto the cardboard, but it's transparent so it's not like it gets in the way too much.  Some guy on reddit figured out a way to detach that stubborn bit of plastic by submerging the cardboard in some chemical.  It apparently stinks a lot, but the plastic softens and peels away, leaving the cardboard intact.  As long as you let it dry out naturally, it will end up undamaged by the chemical.  I wish I had saved the link to show you, because it was really impressive.  I won't be going as far as him, but it's interesting to see that these things are possible, given you have the resources.
     
    The first few episodes were kinda disjointed.  A lot of it has to do with the cut scenes.  The creators wanted to add in extra scenes but were only given a 24 minute limit, 21 if you count the opening and ending as wasted time.  The uncut versions, with louder music, better sound effects, and brighter flashy scenes will be available on the Blu-ray.  The first season's BD was already released and there weren't many extra scenes.  Just a few extra minutes in episode 0, 3, and 12.  Through ufotable's Twitter account, it was confirmed a ton is missing from the second season, especially from the first couple of episodes.  That's why it may have felt a little janky or rushed, because parts were literally missing.  The BD for the second season is coming out early October, so once that version is fansubbed I intend to rewatch all of UBW, haha.  And the television broadcast was still pretty good.  I really liked the expansion on Caster's original Master, though I probably would have liked her more if they had taken the time to explain Medea's legend.  Illya's backstory was handled pretty well, though the missing scenes crippled the flow a bit.  I also really liked all the scenes with Lancer, especially his interactions with Shirou, Rin, and Kirei.  The subtle chivalry between Saber and Assassin at the very end was nice as well.  Shirou's fights with Archer and Gilgamesh were amazingly directed and animated, which made up for some of the poorly drawn scenes during the final Caster/Kuzuki fight.  As for Shirou and Rin's romance, if you haven't already figured it out, the Magic Crest mana transfer was supposed to be a sex scene in the original VN.  In the all-ages version of the VN, it was a Magic Crest transfer, which is what ufotable adapted, though some of the more diehard fans wished that it was at least implied sex.  Magic Crests are only allowed to be passed down between blood related family members, which is why Shirou doesn't receive the Emiya Crest from Kiritsugu, so mana transfer in the form of Magic Crest implant throws a wrench in the world building and continuity.  Sex would have made more canonical sense, but admittedly I don't know how comfortable I'd be with that and I don't think you'd have liked it that much either (especially because in Mirai Nikki... ehem).  Also, Archer's stern facade existed only because he became disillusioned with his own ideals.  Deep down he was always the Shirou we've come to know, and his final moments with Rin were evident of that.  Not only did he lose his hair gel, but he also smiled a lot more and called Rin "Tohsaka".  I don't know if you noticed this, but Shirou has always called Rin formally by her last name since episode 0 and likewise Archer has only called her by her first name ever since she forgot to tell him immediately after he was summoned (until his last moments of course).  It just symbolizes his reversal back to his Shirou-like self, which is pretty neat.  To answer your question about how Archer survived for so long, there are two major theories since it is never explicitly stated why it happens, not even in the VN.  The first one is that Archer goes into spirit form just as Gilgamesh skewers him, and he's so deprived of mana that neither Saber nor Gilgamesh sense that's still "alive".  The only class that can go into spirit form at full health and avoid detection by other Servants is the Assassin class, so that part's kinda ehhh.  He conserves the last drops of mana via his Independent Action skill, specific to Archers, before popping up at the last second to save both Rin and Shirou, then goes back to the Heroic Spirit world for good.  Independent Action is apparently a broken skill that gives Cu Chulainn's Battle Continuation (allowing him to live for a few minutes after sustaining a fatal wound, which is how he killed Kirei) and Heracles's tendency to surpass his own legend (which gave him a 13th life against Gilgamesh instead of his usual 12 Labors) a run for their money.  The second and less popular theory is that Archer was killed for good by Gilgamesh at the castle and that as the Grail neared it's completion and human extermination became more and more of a threat, the World summoned Archer as a Counter Guardian to assist in preventing the Grail from releasing any more mud.  After his job as Counter Guardian was complete, he was summoned back to the Heroic Spirit world where he would continue to be summoned whenever humans are in need of assistance.  Both theories have their own merits, so you can believe whichever one you want to believe in.  Ahah, I'm really glad you enjoyed the series (or rather are enjoying the series)!
     
    Hmm, the Axe end seems to be the most popular of all bad endings.  It was also the first one I got, and it was my brother's and one of my other friend's first as well.  Maybe more combinations of doors and choices lead to that end than all the others?  Only a single combination of choices leads to the True end, so it's a very specific path you're going to have to go down to find it.  I personally never anticipated a jump scare, but then again I'm not one for horror games (or even movies for that matter), so I'm not hardwired to expect one, haha.  Still, I'm glad you like it so far!
     
    Huh, I must have been really lucky then.  I didn't really care about natures at that point because I was pulling an all-nighter and it was nearing four or five in the morning and I just really wanted to hit the credits before I went to school the next day, eheheh.  I was really fortunate to have caught it in one try with a Pokeball.  I just threw it for fun and didn't expect it to stay shut.  Hrm, I've actually yet to find a need to breed Pokemon in Y yet, so I don't know how difficult it is to breed in that game.  I'm generally pretty patient, so I don't think I'll ever utilize that coin trick, but I'll keep it in mind.  Ever since I started playing Smash on my 2DS (which is actually quite a lot of fun) I've been exceedingly concerned about the state of my circle pad, ahah.  The Pokeball Factory's song also took me by surprise with how good it is.  Do you plan on getting either X or Y once you get a 2/3Ds?  Also, I'm assuming you've already watched a walkthrough of XY, so I can talk in detail about Team Flare without fear of spoiling you or anything, right?
     
    It’s usually 1 swag buck = 1 cent, but there’s a monthly deal where you can cash in 2200 swag bucks for $25, which saves you 300 swag bucks worth of time and effort.  The deal is only available for $25 purchases and you can only purchase it once a month (or else it’s the original 2500 = $25 thing again), but I find I can only save up less than 2200 bucks a month anyway, so it’s not like it really matters.  That makes the conversion rate a bit better, hahah.  Also, the referral rate is 10%, and most of it counted.  I got 1 swag buck for your efforts, which means 10-19 of your swag bucks counted in my favor.  Here’s a breakdown of the activities that count and the ones that don’t.  Also, it’s really nice of you to be concerned about the swag bucks I’m receiving from your pool, but honestly just do the activities for yourself and not for me, hahah.  I have plenty, and if I could I would share some with you.  As for the fake information, I think that as long as you remain consistent by filling out surveys with that identical info, you should be fine.  If you put in random stuff every time, they’ll catch on and ban your account, or so they say.  Also, there isn’t any connection to the gift cards you redeem and your online accounts (for the most part).  If you redeem a $25 Amazon gift card, you receive a code in your e-mail that can be used by any Amazon account.  The only exception is Paypal, where your redeemed "gift card" money is sent directly to the account that is tied to the e-mail you used to make a SwagBucks account.  As long as your e-mail matches, you should be fine.  However, if you want to delete this account or something and make a new one, don’t forget to use my referral link to sign back up, haha.
     
    To have gone all the way to 48 is rather amazing without EV trained Pokemon.  I couldn’t even beat Palmer the first time with just a makeshift team, eheh.  And wow, all the Unown?!  Twice??!  That’s crazy, I don’t know anyone else who’s played Pokemon and loved a single game to this extent.  You’re an amazing girl, ahah.  And yeah, you might have mentioned that you won a Master Ball before.  I won’t deny it, that makes me pretty envious.  Maybe it’s the competitive side of me talking, but I matched up to 4 digits about 3 times myself.  Geez, to think I was so close three times…  Grr, it’s not like I’m salty or anything, hmph.  Hahah, nah, I’m kidding.  As long as I try as many days as I can remember, I’ll hit the jackpot eventually.  I know I’m close after all.  Mhm, nothing can beat the feeling of pulling an all-nighter like that.  I’ve tried making new memories with my 3DS games by staying up as late as I dared, but it’s not the same anymore.  I’m always worrying about how I’d be affected the rest of the next day, even though it’s summer break.  And I also feel I might be wrecking my health.  Sigh, reality can be a bummer.
     
    Huh, you seem set on not seeing a doctor.  I feel that you’re a bit too nonchalant about your crippling headaches; I can’t even imagine what your mom is like.  I mean, sure, it may not be too bad all the time, but it still looks like it’s getting worse instead of better.  And the problem doesn’t exactly seem “silly” to me.  Any discomfort should be reported to a doctor you know.  But if you really think you can just weather it out, then so be it.  I can’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do after all.  Just know that I’m concerned about you and that I’ll be hoping your condition improves in the future.  And if you ever are inflicted with a headache, know that I’ll be praying for a swift recovery!
     
    Ah, I haven’t heard of those books.  Your district is choosing some interesting stuff.  I won’t be able to start Whistling Vivaldi any time soon because of the Disney trip, but I’ll be sure to keep you posted when I get around to it, haha.
     
    Hmm, it’s getting a bit late, but I feel like I have time to reply to your OMM post, since it’ll just be easier to transfer over that conversation here.  Xenoblade Chronicles doesn’t take that long to beat I guess, if these numbers are anything to go by.  I may have been confusing its length with that of Xenoblade Chronicles X, the Wii U spiritual successor, which took the director of the game over 300 hours to playtest.  That’s honestly pretty insane.  I actually plan on getting both XC and XCX eventually, but goodness, it’s going to be quite the monetary and timely investment.  Maybe if more than just XC 3D was released exclusively for the New 3DS I’d be more open to considering it.  I guess Houndoom might prove to be a problem if I ever ran into it, but the guy who made the team conceived of it years ago (back in 2008 before the game was RNG abused, I believe) and it’s still the most successful Diamond/Pearl Battle Tower team ever recorded at 499 victories (looks like the magic number 500 eluded him).  I’m fairly certain he took a lot into consideration, including how often certain Pokemon appeared.  There’s even this database that contains every single trainer as well as their Pokemon, hold items, EV spreads, and moves (they all have perfect IV spreads...).  So for those who are willing to literally sit there and calculate the best course of action by knowing how much is required for an OHKO and how well a Pokemon will be able to tank a hit, they can do that.  I’m not nearly that crazy and will go in blind.  A lot of people have found success with the Cresselia/Latios/Scizor team, and since I’m just aiming for 100 I have faith and won’t risk making any changes.  Also, that Subaru commercial was actually made by the team who’s making the SnK live action moves.  That commercial was a sneak-peak teaser at how they’d be handling the movies, and I’d say it’s pretty impressive.  It’s not Hollywood level, but Japanese cinema has definitely come a long way and the CG effects could have been much much worse, admittedly.  Hrmm, you may not want shinies now, but if we ever meet in real life I’d be more than willing to RNG a few for you.  You know, if you ever want to try your hand at a Battle Tower run in your Platinum version or something, haha.
     
    Soooo, yeah.  You’re probably wondering why I actually sent this while I’m on vacation of all things.  Well, I managed to find time during the car trip when I wasn’t sleeping, and I think about 75% of it was typed up on my old 2nd gen iTouch (yeah, I still have that lying around).  That being said, I apologize for any typos or oddly worded sections or my usual language and prose just being a little off.  It’s rather difficult to keep my mind focused while fighting off carsickness, haha.  I don’t know if I’ll find the time to reply to next week’s response on time though.  I only managed this time because of the car trip, but since all of this week I’ll be at Disney and not traveling very far, I doubt I’ll have much time to get anything done, not even EV training.  So in advance, sorry for not sending a response on time next week!  I’ll be back in the swing of things on July 6th, which is when I believe I’ll be back home, so you have plenty of time to respond to this.  Take advantage of this chance and take your time if you need to!  Play as much of 999 as you can!  Also, I would have loved to start telling you about my trip, but it hasn’t really started yet.  Today and yesterday (or rather yesterday and the day before) was all driving, and tomorrow (err, today) we’re starting off by going to Epcot.  All I can say is that Florida weather really is unpredictable, with thunderstorms one minute and clear blue skies the next.  Also, it’s crazy hot here.  It’s going to be 90+ degrees all week which kinda sucks.  I’ll try to make the most of my time here regardless!
     
    And before you criticize me for blatantly ignoring your request to delay a response until I have more time, in my defense I have to say that reading and replying to your posts makes me happier than you can imagine.  It’s really no work at all, and missing any more weeks after we had already taken a break at the end of the school year would just be too cruel.  So though I won’t be sending a reply on time next week (Ohh, happy Independence Day in advance!  Let me know if you’re doing anything special like seeing fireworks and/or barbequing!) I felt the need to at least send this one on time (or rather significantly earlier than usual, haha).  Just know that there are few things in this world that make me as happy as talking with you, ahaha.  Until next time!

     

    Getting to meet you in real life would be unreal, haha. Don't want to get too ahead of myself though, eheh... It's nice to hear that you'll be bringing your oboe with you, even if you're only planning to play it on occasion. I'm still debating on whether or not to bring my violin when I head off to college, but chances are I probably will. Even though I don't think I'll be playing it too actively, you're probably right seeing as it won't be better off collecting dust at home. Oh, and I scheduled a campus visit to Case on August 7th! 

     

    I think you'll be fine with a used iPhone 5s though. My used iPhone 4's home button is constantly unresponsive and laggy (pretty confident it's going to give in soon), but I'm sure that problem was fixed after the iPhone 5s. And remember when I said my sister was the only person in our family who doesn't have an iPhone and said that she preferred her Android? Well, I just discovered that she got herself an iPhone 6+. Since you're familiar with your iTouch, if I were you I'd probably stick to an iPhone for consistency purposes. Then again, I've always wanted to get an Android because it's more powerful, but I'm just so used to the iPhone layout I don't think I'll ever find myself adapting to an Android. Even if it takes some getting used to, it is your phone in the end. You should be fine getting a OnePlus One then. I might even find myself switching to an Android after my phone dies out if I ever feel ambitious enough, haha.

     

    My sister is an especially picky eater so I wasn't too surprised. But to think she starved herself because she disliked the food that much... Although I'm not a picky eater myself, it still kinda scares me. Ahh, but even if the Batman rollercoaster looks unique, it still looks like a torture machine to me. Its turns are steeper than 90 degrees. And geezus, even if you're perfectly fine with that, there's bound to people who're peer pressured into riding this, and the next thing you know there's puke and should-have-been-digested food flying everywhere behind them. Not my ideal kind of ride, to be honest, lol.

     

    Well, I got my scores back, and I'm not terribly impressed. I'm certainly surprised, but not the "pleasantly surprised" kind of surprised. I scored higher on Bio M even though I spent far more time cramming Math II material. Perhaps I was horribly misled thinking that Math II would be easier (I still think it is), or maybe I just got lucky with my guessing on Bio M. I even felt that I scored worse on Bio M after I left the testing facility. Gee, I guess that just goes to show where studying will get me. Nah, I'm joking. I'm still going to study for the October tests.

     

    While it's true that an Asian girl playing the piano is nothing out of the ordinary, I figured that playing these songs with virtually no experience would provide some merit (unless you count half a year of lessons in second grade). I only took interest during early high school, so the most I could remember from those lessons was where the keys were located. It took me a month to learn how to play Greenwich in the Sky from self-teaching but I couldn't recognize a single bass clef note on the sheet music so I had to label them all by hand, ahaah... But yeah, I see what you mean. I'm not awfully attached to the idea either and I scrapped it not too long ago. My experience on YouTube is probably going to be my last resort if I can't think of a topic in the near future. I really want to write about something quirky. Something like "my obsession with OSTs is like a cocaine addiction" (maybe not that extreme, lol). To be honest, I don't think I'm making much progress. A lot of the topics I'm coming up with seem really bland and I'm always finding myself back at square one. I could write about how my initials always turn into a topic of discussion once someone says them out loud (it's been following me since elementary school), but how would I relate it to myself as a person? Geezus, this is really stress-inducing. 

     

    Damn, your district is building a greenhouse? I don't see how this is going to help the curriculum, but I guess it's kinda nice. Also, a bit of your saltiness leaked out (gotta admit I chuckled at the "It's so hot the plants will be just fine" comment, haha). Don't the teachers at your school care about the lack of A/C though? Possibly enough to push the district to install some for once? Ahh, part of me also wishes I could have put more effort these past few years. Nothing I did really stands out much: orchestra, tennis, volunteering, clubs (officer for one of them), NHS, a few awards, nothing out of the ordinary. I could've had a leadership position as captain of JV tennis, but I opted out for varsity instead. A few of my friends are a lot more proactive. One of them placed in Siemens Nationals, and another one was a 2014 Quora Top Writer; it's insane. Really wish I did more with my past three years (I wanted to join the robotics team pretty badly), but I'm still grateful that I was active in orchestra and tennis throughout high school. Hmm, so not only did we manage to deduce each other's city locations, but we also know each other's school locations now. It's only a matter of time until we figure out each other's addresses.

     

    Ahaha, I read somewhere that tears have the ability to carry certain toxins and hormones out of your body, so crying is almost like a de-stresser. I don't do it as often anymore, but I used to silent-cry myself to sleep whenever I felt down. I wouldn't be sobbing (in risk of waking up anyone) but I would just let my tears flow down my face to help myself de-stress. I think it's amazing how our bodies have these abilities; it almost seems mechanical. I normally don't use exercise as a means to de-stress. My main source of exercise comes from tennis and I've found that stress affects my playing negatively, which, in turn, causes me to be even more flustered, eheh. I also love listening to upbeat music because it helps to lift my spirits a lot. I try to avoid depressing music as much as possible for this reason. But it really is awesome to think about the things we usually take for granted. Like how the contraptions we use in our everyday lives were made to make our lives better. Doorknobs, clocks, sinks, etc. It's this primitive way of thinking that allows me to feel grateful for everything I have when I'm down in the dumps. And I don't think you're an emotional wreck at all. Nothing you've said has made me think that. I've done almost everything you've done to de-stress. If you consider yourself an emotional wreck, then I'm not any better. Although I haven't even known you for a year, I've grown to trust you a lot--far more than I should for being a random stranger online. But this continual exchange in replies has made you more than just another person I've met on the internet; you're so much more to me. And I know that I don't need to force myself to open up my mind, but something was telling me to do so. If I didn't need to post all of that, what was compelling me to type it up in the first place? That was the conflict I was having with myself before I posted that previous response of mine. If I was going to confess about this to anyone, I figured it'd be to you, haha. *hugs* And there's no need to tell a personal secret of your own. I'm just really happy I was able to confide in someone for once. Not only that, but you were surprisingly accepting as well. That, in itself, is more than enough for me.

     

    Whoaaaaaa, you can remove the plastic without damaging the cardboard by submerging it in some chemical? That's awesome! Do you remember if this was some everyday chemical or if it's one that's mainly found in laboratories? I kinda want to try it out myself, haha.......

     

    Oh man, I completely forgot to mention Illya. Her character really grew on me during the second season and I was a bit disappointed that we didn't see as much of her as I would've liked. Ahh, I see. If parts of the plot were actually missing, then the VN should fill me in just fine. Speaking of the VN, I definitely feel like I missed out on some Easter eggs for being an AO watcher--especially after watching the epilogue (I checked your MAL just in case you didn't have time to finish it, but seeing that you did I'm just going to ramble on now, haha). I'm also quite disappointed that I didn't recognize Waver until someone pointed it out. I re-watched the scene and it made much more sense afterwards (yay Kiritsugu reference). Seeing Saber's grave was good closure, and I'm a lot more satisfied with Shirou and Rin's current relationship with each other. As much as I dislike certain cliches, I was a bit disappointed when they just held hands instead of having the typical kiss to end things off, haha. And that last bit with Archer was also nice. Hmm, there's a lot more I want to say but I really don't have much to add. VN watchers are probably gushing over all the Easter eggs laid out in front of them while everything just flies over my head. Ah well, it was still a nice ending overall and I guess I'll be re-watching this too after finishing the VN, lol. And yeah, I was anticipating the Magic Crest mana transfer to be a sex scene judging by how things were going at the time (tsundere Rin made it seem terribly obvious). I was a bit surprised when it just turned out to be a harmless little "PG" scene between the two. Hmm, I always thought Shirou called Rin "Tohsaka" out of respect, which I guess makes sense since Archer only called her by "Rin" until the very end. It's still a really neat detail. As for how Archer survived, yeaahhh, I'm not a big fan of the latter theory. It screams deus ex machina. The former theory is also in the same boat, but to a slightly lesser extent. His survival was needed for closure though, so I'm perfectly fine with whichever happened since both theories don't seem too far-fetched. Also, any idea when HF is coming out? I couldn't find any leads.

     

    Do you remember which doors you went through to get the Axe ending? I went through 5, 7, and 1. I finally got the knife and sub ending, and wow this game is depressing, haha. The switch puzzle behind Door 2 mainly felt like trial and error to me and I had to write down a bunch of notes to keep track of the changing squares after a while because I couldn't keep up (the puzzle itself also didn't make much sense to me). It's probably my least favorite puzzle so far since it felt kinda luck-based at first. I also found it strange that Lotus volunteered to sit on that chair in the Torture Room since she seemed pretty stubborn about interacting with anything in the Confinement Room. I guess it was needed for plot progression since Junpei couldn't be the one sitting in that chair (Seven was apparently too "big"). Oh, and the continual references to the hexadecimal system are interesting. Also, I'm not too into horror either. But Ao Oni was a lot of fun to watch (the jump scares would make me crap my pants if I actually played it for myself). Corpse Party was kinda like a VN and the storyline wasn't half bad. And of course, Slenderman and Five Nights at Freddy's because I wanted to know what the hype was about, haha. Thanks to those games, I'm now hardwired to anticipate jump scares. Every time a door opens in 999, I'm expecting some Oni-like creature to pop out with a chainsaw or something. Geezus.

     

    Whoa, you were pulling all-nighters for games during school nights?? As much as I love playing games, I could never do that to myself because of how drained I would feel once school starts. I would never be willing to pull an all-nighter during a school night unless it was for an assignment. Man, you're a lot more ambitious than I originally thought, haha. I'm not sure whether or not I want to get X/Y once I get a 2/3DS. I'd rather save the money for games like 4th gen remakes, smash, and other potential games I haven't spoiled for myself yet, ehehe... And yup, feel free to talk about any aspect of X/Y in detail, lol.

     

    I can't think of anything that I'll need swagbucks for other than some extra spending money. The whole 1 swagbuck = 1 cent seems a bit inefficient since a part-time job paying >$7 an hour gets you money loads faster. It's nice to get some cash just from watching ads and taking surveys, but I'm probably not going to take advantage of this too often unless I really find myself in a pinch. I'll keep my old account for now and maybe I'll find myself looking for an Amazon gift card in the future, haha. Thanks for the info!

     

    Since my goal was only to reach 49, I made my team specifically to counter Palmer's. It was the result of watching dozens of battle videos on my DS, but I guess it didn't work out too well. I just loved the idea of keeping a box full of Unown for some reason. Plus my middle school self had too much free time. It wasn't as hard to do in HeartGold since there was some mechanic that made finding the yet-to-be-captured Unown easier. Thank you though, haha. Yeah, I just can't bring myself to pull all-nighters for games anymore. It just doesn't feel the same. Stressing about my state of mind for the following day doesn't help either. I couldn't care less about my health when I was pulling all-nighters with my Platinum game in middle school, you know, back when nothing I did really mattered that much. I couldn't agree with you more; facing reality kinda sucks at times, haha.

     

    The main reason why I'm set on not seeing a doctor is because I have a good idea of what the underlying problem is: I'm not drinking enough water when I'm playing tennis. I'm pretty sure my water bottle can hold up to 24 fl oz but it's hard for me to force myself to drink all of that in a couple of sittings (mainly during the winter). And by the time I feel my head throbbing, I know it's usually too late to stop the oncoming headache. My mom has it a lot worse. Her headaches come in more often than mine even when she's not exercising, and she probably drinks more water than I do. I've tried talking to her about it on many occasions, but she keeps dismissing me and telling me that she's fine. For me, I don't think these headaches mean anything other than not drinking enough water. For my mom, I really don't know how she's getting them. But if my mom says that she's fine, there's no reason why I should be concerned about myself seeing a doctor. Thank you for the sentiment though, haha.

     

    What the....... it takes over 200 hours just to play XC for leisure? Dear lord, that's... a lot longer than I thought it would take. I suppose watching Chuggaaconroy's Let's Play of it is always an option (he was one of my favorite Let's Players back in the day). Dang, this guy managed to hit 499 victories with that team? Five bucks says that the 500th trainer had a Houndoom. jkjkjkjk. Well, if that's the case, best of luck to you! Be sure to keep me updated on your streak because I'm quite interested in how it goes as well! As much as I'd love to take you up on your offer, I don't think I'll be opening my Platinum game any time soon. I'm kinda treating it as a time capsule at this point and would rather leave it untouched. I'm also not ambitious enough to go for the 100, haha. Thank you for the offer though! Ahaha, the guys who made the Subaru commercial were the same people who're making the live action movies? I didn't realize that the commercial was supposed to be a teaser since Japanese commercials have notoriety for being... strange, lol. I still can't see how SnK managed to garner so much attention though. It was far from a bad anime, but it wasn't anything terribly outstanding either (I laughed at the black humor though). I guess the giant rampaging humanoids was an interesting concept, and maybe the art also stood out, but it still strikes me as odd how popular SnK has gotten.

     

    Ehhhh? You managed to type up most of this on your iTouch? And you did this while fighting off carsickness? Geezus, that's insane. As much as I appreciate your efforts in typing a timely response (heck, you even posted early) it really wasn't necessary. In fact, I'm a little annoyed that you ignored my request and even went above and beyond when doing so :c Ahaha, you're too much, and you never cease to surprise me. But in this case, that wasn't necessarily a good thing. Still, it would feel wrong not to thank you for your efforts, so thank you, b-b-b-baka. I'm not planning on doing anything special for Independence Day other than seeing some fireworks. Hopefully the weather is working in your favor for the rest of your trip! Be sure to drink lots of water in those 90+ degree conditions and I hope all goes well for you!

    • Upvote 1

  13. OMM: I was looking through my old stuff from grade school and I found a bunch of stuff from 8th grade including the little autobiography I had to write for the little yearbook-esque thing my entire grade got and I started off my one paragraph with "I don't know if you've heard about this thing called the internet but it's pretty much my favorite thing."

    tumblr_m42qwlOnrQ1r58lid.gifwhy didn't anyone stop me

    nothing good has ever come out of digging through middle school stuff

    I'm not proud of my middle school self, nor do I want to be reminded of that.

    It's kinda like scrolling through your Facebook timeline and wishing that your past self never even discovered the internet, haha

    and in 10 years, I'll look back to my high school self and think, "man, was I an idiot"

     

     

    --

    OMM: I can't eat or sleep anymore, ahaha......hah.......

    but to think that I'm going to have to deal with this for the next six months, possibly longer

    ah, I'm a wreck

     

    also, what's so great about twitter


  14. *points to the sky* YOU GET A GAY MARRIAGE

    *points to a tree* YOU GET A GAY MARRIAGE

    *points to the westboro baptist church* AND YOU GET A GAY MARRIAGEEE

     

    to think that we are living through actual history

    now whatta bout that

     

    :')

    • Upvote 1

  15. Seriously, guys, why don't you try googling it out instead of always asking me why I think these, why I think that? :V

    I'll give you all a head start: Here and here and here

     

    I'm just trying to be open minded. I'm not the kind of person who easily believes the status quo, what other says or what the news says. I really dig into it.

     

    Also, I didn't say that I'm completely bought by the "Global Warming is a fad" theory. It's "I wonder" not "I really do believe".

    you misinterpreted my question, though I suppose it's my fault for not wording it better

    I asked you why you think global warming is a "fad" because you used "fad" in a strange context

     

    and to answer what you thought I said, believe what you want to believe

    CO2 emissions have increased beyond the normal fluctuations of CO2 earth regularly undergoes every thousands of years because of human activity

    if this isn't evidence enough, I'm not going to bother arguing with you on this issue anymore

    Carbon_Dioxide_400kyr.png

     

    and in accordance to your avatar change:

    amazing.

    such wow.

    much color.

     

    I wonder why Leonardo DiCaprio has never won an oscar. He's such a great actor, no debate.

    EPj5M3L.png?2

     

    sorry, I needed something more lighthearted to post 

    haha, no hard feelings, bro


  16. Ah crap, I almost forgot XC was on the New 3DS.  Damn, it's like the only New 3DS exclusive game, too.  But I was too poor to afford that so I settled for a 2DS...  Would the extra $100 spent have been worth it?  Maybe, I guess, but then I'd also have to buy XC 3D which is another $40.  That and the time it takes to complete the game is pretty insane.  Aghh, I'll just focus on what I have to get done first before I worry about that, hahah.

     

    I remember posting Destroyed Skyworld a long while back in the Last Song You Listened To thread and saying it reminded me of Fate/Zero, and you commented on that but since you hadn't gotten into Fate yet you couldn't also relate.  Haha, it's good that you can relate now!

     

    Ohhhh, Route 10 was my favorite, too!  It was such a short route but the music was fantastic.

    And nostalgia already??  Kenzi, you're growing up too fast!  These games are only 4 years old (okay that's actually quite a bit of time the more I think about it....)

     

    Your comment on Valedictory Elegy reminded me of those comments people used to make years ago on YouTube videos with epic music.

    "This song makes eating a sandwich epic!!"

    Man, good ol' YouTube.

     

    Ah geez, you're giving me too much credit for just posting links to video game soundtracks, haha.  Though, I suppose you're still welcome!

     

    I know, I'm crying, too.  Thank goodness Garchomp isn't part of my team, because he would have ruined the sparkly color squad's flow.

    488.png381.png212-m.png

    (hory shet they look so good lined up like that)

    I can RNG abuse a shiny for you if you want.....

    It just needs to be 3rd or 4th gen.......

    hmm, does XC really take that long to complete?

    I like a nice long game, and it seems to get a lot of positive reviews so it can't be that bad.

    I'll admit that the extra $140 would be a bit much...

     

    haha yup. 

    I wasn't familiar with the Fate series at the time so I figured it could go well with FMAB as well. 

    That post you made was what inspired me to make that comment after all, heh.

     

    oh geez, B/W is four years old already?

    I haven't listened to the B/W OSTs for such a long time. It was only now when you reminded me that smash made an arrangement of Route 10 that I decided to check it out again.

     

    I vaguely remember those "epic" comments from YouTube, but now everything is filled with "hurrhurr u guise dis is obvs sandstrom darud"

     

    your dark type weakness bothers me a little

    if you happened to encounter a Houndoom...(I know it's very situational, but still)

    I feel like Suicune would be a better wall (and its shiny isn't half bad either)

     

    nah, it's cool.

    I don't need any shinies at the moment and it's not like there's a way for us to trade, haha

    thanks for the offer though!

     

     

     

    Still I ship KenZora

    *elegantly sidesteps this post*

    Have a piece of the real OTP right here:

    il_214x170.765086122_50w4.jpg

    Akazora, pls

    true OTP:

    enjwbF2.jpg?2

     

     

    OMM1: The new trailer for the live action Shingeki no Kyojin movies was interesting.  There's a lot of negativity regarding how cheesy it looks, but Battle Royale had some weird moments and yet it became a cult classic.  I'll check it out once it's officially licensed or fansubbed.

    omg, this reminds me of that SnK Subaru commercial

     

     

    --

    OMM: .........and it blistered


  17. I wonder how likely it is one can actually improve the situation on an individual level to begin with.

    Improve the situation by him/herself only? Not a chance.

    If this individual was really determined, he/she could start a movement. That would end up making a difference.


  18.  

    Ahaha, maybe one day you’ll get the chance to mess around with an oboe or bassoon.  Because it’s a wind instrument and double reeds are fragile, precious little things, you’re going to have to find a very willing oboist or bassoonist.  I’ve never tried my hand at the bassoon or even English horn for that matter, though I can imagine they’re just as difficult if not more so than the oboe.  Oh, and just getting to the top of the section doesn’t mean a whole lot.  I didn’t have much competition as oboe players are kinda running dry in my high school and all the really amazing players were my seniors.  The people who graduated over the course of the past 3-5 years were the really incredible ones.  I think about four years ago, every single all-state oboe seat was filled by someone from my school.  I was like the oboe dynasty, it’s crazy.  I can’t hold a candle to them, for sure, haha.  If anything, I was a bit of a disappointment given that I couldn’t fill the hole that those oboists left behind, but ehhh whatever.
     
    The thing is, touch screens just aren’t nearly as responsive as actual buttons, so games like Smash or even Super Mario can’t be replicated on mobile devices to the satisfaction of fans.  Pokemon can be emulated fine, but it’s still a bit wishy washy when it comes to inputs.  Personally, I’m hoping Nintendo goes with intuitive touch screen controls for their mobile games rather than try and put buttons on the screen.  After all, they were the ones who popularized the touch screen concept in the first place with the original DS and they led the interactive gaming “revolution” with the Wii not long after.  If anyone can do it, it’s them.  Ah, speaking of smart phones, I’m actually in need of one now.  I need a way to contact my parents when I’m in college and I’ve been looking around for something good.  The phone my parents bought for me and my brother is a low-end budget smart phone that looks good on the outside but is really weak and flimsy on the inside.  My brother is fine with that for now, so he’ll be using it, but I need something I’m willing to invest in.  Ideally, something that will last me all four years of college (is that reasonable?).  My parents refuse to buy me anything like an iPhone, not even an older used one, because those are just way too expensive.  I’ve been eyeing the up and coming “flagship killer” OnePlus One, which seems to be the next big thing for my friends in the know.  I’ll most likely be getting that given how powerful and relatively cheap it is, but I wanted to ask your advice just in case.  What smart phone do you have and would you recommend it?  I just want to weigh my options is all, haha.
     
    Aw shucks, it would have been nice if you had the chance to let loose a bit right now, but I guess when you go to Cedar Point next year it’ll be that much sweeter.  It seems like a go-to place for people around the Cleveland area as well, so I’ll definitely be checking it out myself when I get the chance.  Hm, people say college food can be kind of bleh but I don’t mind it.  I tried food at both Case and Brandeis, and both had solid selections.  Of course, I haven’t eaten a lick of high school cafeteria food, so maybe I’m just not numb to the mundanely mass produced stuff yet, but I guess we’ll find out soon enough.  Oh pooh, I take great offense at being called crazy; I’m hurt ya know.  Nah, in all seriousness, it takes quite a bit to faze me, which is why that Batman coaster looks like it has the potential to give me a bit of jolt, ahah.
     
    Ahh, it’s bad how things went with the subject tests.  And I really was wishing you the best of luck that Saturday, haha.  Apart from the extra time that needs to be invested, there’s nothing inherently wrong with taking the SAT IIs again.  Now with that extra experience gained, you’ll be better off in the future.  From the looks of it, you just didn’t study enough and it’s not like the tests were anything out of your league, so you’re in a good place.  Hit the books the best you can, and just practice practice practice.  It’s tedious and annoying, but you know how it is with standardized tests, haha.  I’m sure you’ll be just fine, and it doesn’t look like you’re beating yourself up over it too much, so that’s good.  Scores come out soon, don’t they?  You never tell me exactly how you do when it comes to these things, but maybe when you get the scores back you’ll surprise yourself!
     
    Mhm, the bragging essays never really rubbed me the right way either.  I’m not really comfortable selling myself that kind of light anyway.  I can’t imagine you saying anything more than modest about yourself as well, hahah.  The immigrant story is probably the most used essay, so as long as your friend can make it stand out above the rest that’s definitely an option.  There are plenty of Ivy Leaguers who used that idea, so even if it wasn’t the reason for them being accepted into a prestigious school it definitely didn't do anything to hurt them.  I really don’t know how I was able to secure an essay topic so fast and so early.  It was mainly up to luck, honestly.  The question just happened to be perfect for my stargazing hobby.  Speaking of which, why did I start stargazing I the first place…?  If I was forced to answer any of the other questions, I wouldn’t have been able to throw together anything nearly as impressive.  Anyway, it looks like you’re having some trouble.  Apart from some of the exercises in the book, feel free to brainstorm here, haha.  I can’t give you any direct answers since words from the heart have much more meaning than just borrowed phrases, but I can try and talk you through things.  At the very least, I’d love to read your essay once you write it and proofread or give some advice.  I’m really glad you decided to pick up Bauld’s book!  It was a far more engaging and helpful read than all the other petty college essay books I had ordered online.
     
    Ahahah, there’s no need to get all worked up over my high school just for my sake.  I do appreciate the sentiment, but I’ve learned it’s not worth the stress and salt.  The textbooks are changing all the time, but many teachers just ignore them anyway and teach whatever the heck they want.  Might as well have just not handed out the text books, Mr. Physics Teacher…  Other times text books are crazy old and despite complaints to get newer ones (to at least get some of the typos and poorly worded parts out of the building) new ones are never ordered.  There’s a big divide amongst the staff and nothing at all jives the way it should, hah.  Bad teachers are interspersed with the good, nice ones can be found with the pricks, and it’s all up to luck how well your year will turn out.  There’s no consistency or standardization, which is a crippling part of our school system.  I was lucky enough to at least not have straight up a-holes like some of my friends did, but I got the short end of the stick when it came to just quality teachers).  It’s an even bigger problem than the nonexistent A/C.  Speaking of A/C, the good side is that you’re used to the heat.  Because we’re all acclimated here in sad old Edison, we can save on energy costs at home in the summer, hahah.  But really, that’s the only upside.  It’s not a very happy situation for someone who’s prone to sweating and just not stopping, like me.  A good healthy sweat never bothered me when exercising, but damn in public during the day while trying to take a test it’s brutal and embarrassing.  And I’m nothing special, really.  Being able to survive in my high school is one thing, but being able to thrive is another thing entirely and it’s far more impressive.  There are plenty of people who have made it big in high school.  There’s that potentially Olympic-bound swimmer I’ve mentioned before, another guy who’s apparently part of a crazy good curling team that’s been around the world to foreign competitions, and even the 2014 Jeopardy Teen Tournament Champion (You can watch the tie-breaking last few moments right here.  Jeff’s a quirky kid, but he’s going off to his dream school, Columbia, and I’m proud to have shared some classes with him and to have been pretty good friends with him as well.)  To not have been crippled by a mess of a school and to still achieve great things in high school, that’s truly praiseworthy.  I just trudged along, occasionally cynical, and did alright in the end I suppose, eheh.  It really would have been awesome to experience high school the way you are in Troy High School (That is your school, right?  I just cross referenced some dates [ex. prom, the orchestra trip] with the info on their site.) but alas something like that isn’t possible.  I appreciate your enthusiasm, it really does mean more to me than you think.  Though, there’s no need to hold back with complaints of your own.  Pushing yourself and dealing with the stress of a rigorous schedule isn’t a walk in the park, so complain and cry and punch the wall as many times as you need to make yourself feel better.  I’m willing to listen, and I don’t want you to feel bad just because you think I had it worse.  We’re all dealing with our separate problems, but they’re problems nonetheless, and they all deserve attention.
     
    Ohhh, it’s interesting to see how you think, haha.  In all honestly, I’ve never really taken a chance to really admire just how amazing humans are and to appreciate how far we’ve developed, at least not to the extent that you have.  Sure, I may have those moments of “Woah, isn’t it crazy to think people made this?” but apart from that I ignore the wonders I should be paying more heed to.  Because thinking about it, all those little things really are rather incredible.  Hmm, I’ll be sure to pay these things the respect they deserve and note them more often.  There’s no need to feel dense for thinking this way at all.  You say it’s liberating, and so it is.  We’re all a little bit weird, and we’re all born with our quirks and oddities, so even if most people don’t think of things like this it doesn’t mean you’re worse off for doing so.  If anything, it makes you that much more special, that much more amazing.  I wouldn’t want you to be any other way, that’s for sure.  If the Kenzi I’ve grown to like so much is the one that contemplates the complexity of the human psyche, then so be it.  I wouldn’t like you nearly as much if you were just like everyone else.  You wrote a lot, but it’s nothing to be embarrassed about and it definitely isn’t silly.  It was worth the read, and I’m glad you took the time to type it all out.  Ehem, though I do wonder, what do you mean by “the dark”?  Just daily stresses, or…?
     
    Ah, about the amiibo, there was an issue with them that took (or rather is taking) a bit of time to clear up and completely rectify.  Both my Lucina and my Splatoon 3-pack came in damaged.  Both of their cardboard backs were bent forward, tearing and wrinkling the artwork on the front and back.  My Lucina was shipped perfectly fine from Walmart, but it seemed that they just happened to have a beat up supply from the start and I just happened to receive a bad one.  On the other hand, my 3-pack was forcefully shoved into a box that was too small for it, and it was damaged that way.  As a person who’s planning on carefully cutting the plastic covering away from the cardboard to display the cards on a wall or something (after all, this is official Nintendo merchandise and the artwork is far too good to pass up), having any part damaged would ruin my plans.  You wouldn’t hang up a crinkled diploma proudly, would you?  Not to mention, my OCD didn’t want to have anything to do with a less than perfect product even though I paid full price (plus tax and shipping!) for them all.  I didn’t stay up late into the night and stress about these for weeks on end to have it ruined by bad luck and an incompetent Amazon packager.  So, first things first, I needed some money back.  After contacting customer service, within one night I was able to get a full refund for Lucina and half off for the 3-pack.  This meant the original $47.98+tax+shipping price was reduced to about $17.49, which is crazy cheap.  Four amiibo for that price?  One of which is a unicorn?  Nothing short of a steal.  I almost felt bad about it until I remembered I got damaged merchandise while others who don’t care if the box is bent to hell and back as long as the figure itself is intact got cardboard in perfect condition.  Now that I got money back, I still wanted to make an amiibo card display.  I went on amiiboSwap and I just traded my Splat 3-pack for a perfect condition Lucina.  She just arrived yesterday and is indeed in perfect condition.  It’s glorious, how not-bent it is.  Heck, even her sword is straight.  That means I won’t have to use the boiling/iced water trick!  I will soon trade my damaged Lucina for a perfect 3-pack, and this tedious exercise will be complete.  I’ll finally be able to enjoy my amiibo the way I’ve wanted since winter break, by actually opening them.  I have only Saber and Assassin to train for now, and my brother will work on Lancer and Rider.  In July I’ll get Archer and he’ll get Caster, and in September he’ll get Berserker on his own while I track down a Gilgamesh somewhere in Cleveland.  That being said, I’m also almost done unlocking everyone’s custom moves.  It’s taken many hours, and I never thought I’d have to grind in Smash.  I only have four of Link’s moves to unlock.  He’s taken the longest only because we didn’t realize we were going to get a Link amiibo until later, so the other characters were already well on their way to completion.  (Phew, sorry for going on a tangent.  Speaking of Servants…)
     
    It’s great that you’ve finally caught up with UBW!  I can’t believe it’s almost over.  Today’s episode was nothing short of amazing, and it’s sad knowing next week is the final episode.  Well, time to wait for Heaven’s Feel!  The thing with Archer’s betrayal of Caster was that he didn’t do it because he wanted to win the Grail War or because he wanted to defeat Caster.  He did it because he wanted to kill Shirou, and I think that’s where the brilliance of the moment lies.  He was under a Command Spell by Rin to not harm Shirou, which prevented him from killing Shirou which was his only wish.  He explicitly stated not wanting the Grail.  Because he can’t kill Rin (after all, his past self was in love with her) and sever the contract that way, his next best option would be to temporarily join Caster’s side and have her use Rule Breaker on him.  After offing Caster and Kuzuki, he was free to do whatever he wanted without a Master or Command Seals in the way.  It was a very interesting twist on the classic trope, which was neat.  I’m glad to see that you’re appreciating F/Z more now that you’ve almost finished UBW.  After Heaven’s Feel comes out and you finish it, take the time to rewatch F/Z.  You’d have forgotten most of the things by then, especially the subtle conversations that harken back to and foreshadow events in Fate/stay night, so it’s definitely worth your time.  People say HF is even closer of a “sequel” to F/Z than UBW is, so by the time you’re done with that it will be the perfect time for another run through.  If you’re going to have a busy summer, then don’t force yourself to play/watch the VN right now.  The HF movie(s) may not come out or at least finish any time soon, and there’s no need to rush the series.  If anything, focus on the DS games first.  That being said…
     
    You’ve said an awful lot for being speechless (twice; once here and another time in the PM), haha.  Oh goodness, I didn’t really expect such a strong response.  Of course, that’s not a bad thing.  I didn’t do this out of self-gratification and wasn’t looking for praise, especially of such high caliber; I’m just happy knowing that you’re happy.  I’d do this ten times over if it guaranteed your happiness.  You mean a lot to me, in ways you don’t know, and this is only just a small token of my appreciation for being such an amazing friend these past few months.  It can also be seen as a reward for getting through junior year, haha.  Gosh, if I’m this happy I can’t even begin to imagine how elated you are.  You really do flatter me.  You may praise me for being selfless but in turn I must say you’re equally as thoughtful for showing your appreciation so opening and thoroughly.  A simple “thank you” would have been just fine, but you went above and beyond my own expectations.  It’s not every day I’m thanked so gratefully; it’s making me blush, heheh.  I don’t ever post emoticons, and it isn’t really my style, but I feel the need to right now.  This is going to be extra special since it’s my first and all, so here goes: <3 right back atcha’, haha.  Anyway, have you started playing any of the DS games yet?  Keep me posted with your progress and let me know if you need help with anything!
     
    The legendaries are definitely loads easier to catch in the newer games than they were in third gen.  I know for a fact that Dialga and Palkia’s catch rate is 30 (in the original games) whatever that means.  I caught Zekrom on the first turn with a single Pokeball, no damage done and no status effect inflicted and similarly Yveltal could be snagged within 3-4 Pokeballs once you’ve paralyzed it and knocked down its HP bar to the yellow or red.  I guess some random wild Pokemon have low catch rates for some reason, notably Misdreavus (Seriously, 45 for that little thing? I looked it up and that’s literally exactly the same as Yveltal, wut).  Oh, and silly me, all that Amulet Coin use went to waste.  I should have just stuck to using Lucky Egg the whole time.  I didn’t realize there was a luxury hotel you could work at in Lumiose City that paid you a truck load of money every day if you did small tasks for them.  There are three “mini games” you can play once each day, and you can play them again the next day for as many days as you want. When you first work for them, they pay 5,000 Pokedollars a job, so 15,000 total.  Not much, considering the pants at Boutique Couture are a whopping 180,000 Pokedollars.  But if you keep at it and continuously perform “perfect” jobs, they start jacking up the salary.  After all the raises are in place, you earn 50,000 a job, or an insane 150,000 dollars a day.  You can go from dead broke and in debt to max money in exactly a week of doing nothing but hotel work.  Holy crap.  Silly me for not realizing the hotel even existed until one day I sat down and told myself I would memorize the entirety of Lumiose City by roller skating around and visiting the sites.  It’s times like these I wish I had spoiled myself of some of the in-game features…  But ah well, saving it was still worth it.  Some parts were a lot better left a surprise, like Snowbelle City.  Gosh, that music is good.  Oh, and maybe it’s because I had UBW on my mind, but Team Flare’s boss’s motives and struggles strongly resemble that of Archer’s, especially as XY reaches its climax.  So anyway, I’m at Snowbelle City’s Gym’s front door and I’m ready to step in.  I took a break to get back to RNG abusing that shiny Latios for my Pearl Battle Tower team all of yesterday, but I hit a roadblock and after being kind of salty over my bad luck at being unable to complete a certain step, I’ve taken a break.  I might get back to Y, buuuut…
     
    Smash for 3DS just came in the mail a few hours ago, and even though I’ve already played the Wii U version and it’s been months since the game first came out, I’m getting giddy and hyped just thinking about playing it myself.  Part of me really wants to open it right up and play it tonight, but I also kind of want to finish up Y as soon as possible, just to get it out of the way.  Hmm, I guess I’ll see what mood I’m in as I prepare to go to sleep.  My mom is unreasonable and won’t even let me reclaim my Pikachu 3DS for good until after all four years of college.  That’s why I couldn’t wait and went to such lengths to get a 2DS, ahah.  Not to mention, even though I kind of see the Wii U as “mine”, I’d be perfectly fine with letting my brother have it and just getting one for myself.  I’d probably have to get my own copy of Smash for Wii U and everything as well, which means I’ll have to save up a lot of Swagbucks.  Swagbucks is pretty useful, but you definitely can’t use it as your only source of income for fun stuff.  Even if I buy the cheapest one on the market, the Wii U + Nintendoland refurbished bundle directly from the Nintendo website for $200, at the rate I’m earning Swagbucks it would take me an entire year of buying nothing and only saving just for that.  Granted, with a part time job, I’ll save enough money significantly faster, but it still goes to show Swagbucks has limited potential.  It’s very good if your parents keep close track of the money you earn from any jobs though, so there’s that, haha.  Log in and play around with the site if you have time, haha.  Every little bit will slowly amount to something in the end.  And as for favorite Pokemon game in general, it may just have to be Pearl for sentimental reasons.  It was my first real Pokemon game, since XD: Gale of Darkness for the GameCube doesn’t really count (still amazing though) and similarly to your Platinum version I’ve clocked in hundreds of hours.  I’ve said this before, but all I really need to do it get a 100 win streak in the Battle Tower in the game, and I’ll be done.  Of course, I could get picky and try my hand at catching every iteration of Unown and showing it to that Ruin Maniac, or maybe winning every Master ranked Super Contest, which I don’t think I’ve done yet.  Objectively though, there are probably better Pokemon games out there.  Every game has something that makes it better than the rest, and it’s hard to quantify which one has more of those “somethings”.  And yes, I’m also really excited for the up and coming Sinnoh remakes, whenever they may be.  I’ll be exploding into fireworks right along with you, ahahahah.
     
    Yupp, my class is full of a bunch of lazy bums.  And it’s not like we aren’t aware of that either.  We’re always agreeing that we’re one of the weakest classes our school has had in ages and that we seriously need to get our act together… but we never do, or rather never did.  Gosh, we would make terrible politicians.  If I ever show interest in becoming one, please talk me out of it.  I know I’d up of regretting it, hah.  Hrmmm, your mom also has these headaches and they’re even worse?  Geez, maybe it’s genetically linked?  I’ve never heard of chronic headaches being passed down from parent to child, but maybe that’s just the side-effect of an underlying problem.  Either way, you both should get it checked out.  Even if your mother is a doctor (good for her, by the way) it doesn’t mean she always knows what’s right.  She should definitely seek other professional and expert advice.  Since it looks like your headaches are getting worse, now would be a good time to get it looked at, given it’s summer break and all.  I won’t be able to rest easy knowing you may be going through bouts of headaches that you’re not telling me about.
     
    Ohh, it’s nice to see that you like Atwood’s style.  After Oryx and Crake, let me know how it was and if you’re up for it definitely check out Handmaid’s Tale.  If you’re really into it, you can finish it in a day or two if you really just sit down and read all day long.  Let me know which of the other books you end up getting!  Also, Case’s common reading book just came in the mail, Claude M. Steele’s Whistling Vivaldi.  It came shipped and it’s a bit beat up, but still in better shape than my amiibo, pooh.  I haven’t started reading it yet, but I’m looking forward to it.  Apparently Dr. Steele will be at Case to talk at the fall convocation, whatever that is.  If I end up liking the book, then awesome!  If not, then, well…
     
    Wow, I expected to post this a lot sooner.  I know I still made my “deadline”, but it’s still cutting it close considering it’s already summer break.  Ahahah, it really is great to type up these long responses again!  Unfortunately, I’ll be leaving for my Disney trip with the family this coming Thursday.  I may or may not be able to write up a response to whatever you post this Wednesday.  It really depends on how much I can get done at the hotel or in the car.  I don’t know how long it will last, but it might affect the Saturday after that, as well.  Yeah, so if I don’t manage a reply on time, I apologize in advance.  I will try my best though.  Until next time!

     

    I think the only band instrument I got to try (and was seriously considering) was the clarinet. It was back in fifth grade when the district forced us to choose an instrument to play for the year (and possibly continue in middle school and high school). I was already playing violin at the time, and I think that may have been the only reason why I turned down the clarinet. I don't regret my decision but part of me wishes I could've had some experience playing a band instrument, haha. I'm not sure how I'll get my hands on an oboe or a bassoon, but I'll be sure to toy around with one if I ever find the opportunity. I still find it rather impressive that you managed to make it to the top, even if it doesn't seem like much of an accomplishment to you. An oboe dynasty, huh. That's an interesting way to put it, haha.

     

    I think Nintendo is going to be just fine! I don't see any reason to fret since the video game industry is practically dominated by Nintendo. They'll think of something for sure. As for the smart phones, I currently have an iPhone. It's a used phone so my parents got it for a pretty reasonable price. The prices tend to get a lot higher if you want more storage space, but if you're only planning to use it casually (text, call, check email, etc.) I think 8GB is sufficient. With that said, a used iPhone 4 with 8GB will probably cost you around $100. Personally, I don't think that's a terribly unreasonable investment for four years of college. Now, I've never used a OnePlus One so I can't persuade or dissuade you from getting one, but judging from the reviews it doesn't look too bad either. iPhones are very easy to get accustomed to, and maybe not so much for Androids. My sister claims that Androids are more powerful than iPhones, so there's that. I prefer the iPhone interface just because it's a lot easier to use (feels "neater"?). Ahh, sorry that I can't help you much. I guess it mainly depends on how you plan to use your phone for the next four years, haha.

     

    You didn't think Brandeis food was bad? My sister complained about it nonstop, lol. She found herself eating out more often than not because she absolutely detested Brandeis food. I remember she lost a lot of weight when she came back home after her freshman year because she starved herself--that's how much she hated it. Maybe my sister's just a picky eater, but that fact that she had to starve herself was a huge red flag for me. When my physics teacher showed that Batman coaster teaser, the majority of the class said that they wouldn't ride it (of course, I was one of them). And I remember reading somewhere that it's guaranteed to make you puke? Ahahahaah, nope. I'm the person who'd avoid riding that at all costs. Is there a reason why it looks so appealing to you?

     

    The subject tests aren't my top priorities right now, but I'm definitely going to go through a few practice tests soon. I'm not too worried about them either since I'm confident that I'll have it under wraps after summer ends (or at least I hope). I doubt that I'm going to be pleasantly surprised, and it's not like I'm going to mind retaking them October, lol. I usually don't tell anyone how I do on tests, even if I do well. Sorry if I haven't shared much with you, ehehe... I don't like bragging, but at the same time, I don't feel comfortable sharing a cruddy score either, haha. And for this reason, I usually don't ask people how they do on their tests. If anything, I'll probably ask something broad like "how did the test go?" so I don't get too prying. That way, no one I ask is cornered into having to share scores. Maybe they'll reply with something like, "it was easy!" or "didn't go so well" and they don't have to share any specifics unless they want to. But back on topic, yup, definitely did not study enough for those tests. It's cool though--second time's the charm. Hopefully I'm not being overly optimistic here, haha.

     

    I'll let you read my essay once I have something I want to work with; it's the least I could do since you've been such a big help lately, haha. There's a few things I have in mind. I already wrote ~700 word essay about something I thought would work, but it's very, very rough and I'm a bit disappointed with how it came out. I could work with it, but the topic itself....I'm trying to find a way to relate it to myself as a person. It's about how I self-taught myself piano (with all the wrong fingerings) for a few songs, and that goals don't always have to be reached through conventional ways. I'll admit it's kinda cheesy and the topic also feels a bit narrow. I also don't know how I would explain certain jargon like clefs since I'm assuming that some of these readers might not be familiar with what I'm talking about. I could also write about my experience as a GFX artist on YouTube, but it might turn out into a rant and I'm not sure how I would format it, if that makes sense. I'm not sure how I would use that to project myself either. I'm still trying to brainstorm some more ideas but it's pretty hard.  

     

    If this counts as anything, my physics teacher didn't pass out textbooks either. He told us to use them as a resource if we ever needed to, but I don't think any of us ever got around to it. Our textbooks are constantly being swapped out. Last year new calc textbooks came in, this year new English, chem, and precalc textbooks came in, and next year new bio textbooks are coming in. I'm absolutely clueless how our district has the funding (especially since our school building is also being renovated), but they manage somehow. Aw man, I don't think I'd ever get accustomed to the heat at your school, especially with three years worth of phys ed. I still don't know how you survived, lol. I probably would have been too distracted by the sweat trickling down my temples to divert my full attention to whatever the teacher's talking about (yeah, our school spoiled us to pieces). It's really impressive that some of your friends managed to make it so far! Columbia? Jeopardy? Geez, these are some pretty crazy talented people, haha. Ahh, I see you managed to figure out which school I go to. Is yours J.P. Stevens High School by any chance? Thank you for being so accepting and considerate about my complaints, even if some of them sound fussy. It's nice to have someone to talk to outside of school friends to help me better put things into perspective. 

     

    Ahahah, you probably know more about me than most of my real life friends, to be honest. It's so easy for me to confide in you and you're surprisingly tolerant of all the rants and nonsense I spout out. I haven't told a single soul about what I just told you in fear that I'd be labeled as dense. With that said, it means a lot to me that you were so accepting when I typed up that paragraph because half of it probably didn't make any sense at all. Haha, thank you for that. Oh, and "the dark" refers to the little bouts of depression I experience on occasion (everyone has those, I'm pretty sure). I used to be in a really crummy mood quite often, and I'm trying to train myself to be happier. Every slipup I had felt magnified and it didn't help that my parents would shoot me down if it ever pertained to academics. I wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything else I did afterwards; the only thing I could think about is that slipup I had. I guess thinking about the little things helps me realize how fortunate I am. And even if I'm having a rough day, others out there could be having the best day of their lives; I like thinking about that. Then I tell myself, "is this screw-up really going to matter in five years?" I'm lucky to have a roof over my head, clothes on my back, food to eat, and a good education. So even if I'm having the supposed "worst day of my life" others may have it a lot worse (I know it's selfish to derive feel-betters from others' misery, but I assure you I don't mean it that way). And then I think of the little things like how I am literate, mobile, and have the luxury to appreciate such things. If that doesn't help much, it still helps me feel a bit better. I don't do this to run away from my mistakes. I do this to make it easier for me to move on and focus on other tasks on hand. I do this to tell myself that it's not the end of the world. This is why I love thinking to myself. It's private, and no matter how "loud" I think about these petty matters, no one will ever have to hear or know about it. It definitely feels strange "hearing" myself in my head, but it almost feels therapeutic. Perhaps confessing about this defeats its purpose, but it sure is nice to confide in someone for once. Gosh, I never thought I'd ever tell anyone (it even feels a little embarrassing). In fact, I was re-cutting and re-pasting this portion of my response many times because of how conflicted I was about posting it. I figured no one else would bother digging through our conversations so I guess I really am going to end up posting this. I was seriously considering cutting out the majority of this paragraph because of how personal it felt, but I trust you a lot.

     

    Still, I think $17.49 is incredibly cheap compared to a typical scalper's price. I can imagine how stressful it must have been to hunt down people willing to trade their Lucina or Splat 3-pack. I'm glad everything managed to work out in the end though! Hmm, how would you cut out the plastic covering from the cardboard though? The leftover remains of plastic surely would have bothered me, and I can't imagine you ripping off every inch of plastic in risk of damaging the cardboard. Unlocking custom moves must also have been a tedious process (I could tell from your OMM posts, haha). Kudos to you for being able to get through this ordeal! 

     

    Personally, I thought that the beginning of the second season was a lot more disjointed and unorganized compared to the first season, and I was thinking about giving it an 8 at best after finishing it. It's most certainly not the case anymore so you needn't worry, haha. I suppose the twist on the overused TV trope was a nice touch, but the idea itself is still kinda stale. I would have preferred if Archer found an alternative (sorry this is just me being picky), but the betrayal was carried out okay. I especially loved the character development towards the second half. Lancer got more screen time and it was nice seeing Shinji getting his butt whooped (he was really getting on my nerves with that overly pretentious attitude of his). I really liked how everything went full circle by the end of the episode and how Archer was drawn to resemble Shirou a lot more (his face was so sincere it caught me by surprise). Oh, and Archer's interjection was hilarious. Good timing, good timing. Also, how did he survive for so long? Wasn't he almost out of mana during his previous encounter with Shirou? Rin was becoming increasingly tsundere as the show progressed (it was expected, but it wasn't to my taste and it ruined the atmosphere at times, to be honest). I'm just glad that the romance factor didn't play a huge role and was more like a subplot (still salty about Mirai Nikki). Shirou was beginning to exhibit a lot Eren Jaeger traits (actually, I think it was mainly his overconfidence that bothered me) and the fact that he actually saw through to them was kinda corny. But I will admit that the Shirou vs. Gilgamesh battle was awesome. Gilgamesh was so flustered it was hilariously entertaining even though he's one of my favorite characters from the show. And that's about all I wanted to say. Maybe I'll have a few more comments after the last episode airs, but I think this just about sums it up. I'm really glad that you recommended this to me and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. I'll definitely look forward to HF and I'll re-watch F/Z for sure.

     

    Oh gosh, you're far too kind. I'm especially honored that you used your first emoticon in one of our conversations, heh. Reading that paragraph made me very happy, haha. Your happiness brought me a ton of joy, especially because you mean so much to me. And likewise, I didn't expect such a strong and heartfelt response from that little thank-you paragraph I typed up. Once again, thank you so very much for going out of your way just so I can experience the games firsthand, and thank you for being one of my best friends these past few months<3

     

    Yup! I've started on 999 and I'm really liking it so far. I got the Axe ending first time through so I'm trying to work my way through the other endings before I reach the True ending. I love the puzzles and how the game is so interactive. The characters are also a lot of fun and the storyline is very thought out (fingers crossed that the True ending will not disappoint). I can't help but anticipate a jump-scare every time a door opens though. It's so suspenseful and everything behind the door is pitch-black so what else would I expect? Or maybe I've seen too many horror Let's Plays......... Oh, and the childhood friend cliche though, ahahahaha............. I really hope it has some relevance to the plot and wasn't just thrown in for the sake of creating some romance.

     

    Ehhhhh? You managed to catch Zekrom on the first turn with a Pokeball in full health without any status? It took me a Great Ball to catch Reshiram in red while paralyzed (I was very, very reluctant though and was just trying to reset for natures until I realized that I wouldn't be able to find out what nature it was until I beat Ghetsis, but the game would've already saved by then soooooo....). I think Reshiram was the only Pokemon I caught in a Great Ball in B/W so it bothers me a lot. Ahaha, Murkrow has a catch rate of 30, which is the equivalent of Dialga (quite silly, if you ask me). Pokemon never makes sense so I just learned to roll with it at this point. Geezus, I didn't know that making money in X/Y was that easy. But I remember seeing a video that showed you how to breed Pokemon a lot more efficiently. All you had to do was slip a coin under the circle pad once you're at that roundabout in Lumiose City. Then your character would go run around in an indefinite number of circles while you could leave your 3DS alone and do other things like reading a newspaper article or something. I know you care about the condition of your 3DS a lot so I wouldn't be surprised if you were against this method of breeding. I just thought it was an interesting little trick I stumbled upon, haha. Snowbelle's theme was one of my favorite tracks in XY along with Professor Sycamore's theme and the Pokeball Factory theme. Actually, never mind that, Masuda outdone himself with the 6th gen music. Gahh, I'm missing out on so much. Hmm, I'm not too sure how I feel about Team Flare. I guess their sense of fashion was interesting but their motive was kinda stale in my opinion.  

     

    Man that sounds so exciting! I didn't realize how helpful swagbucks could be. I tried it out recently and it's not bad. Though 1 swagbuck = 1 cent makes it seem pretty difficult to accumulate much money. I did the "Check out this Activity and Earn 2 Swag Bucks!" and eventually reached 31SB in total. I'm not sure if this method is part of the 15% back for referrals, so let me know if it's working. I'm probably not going to be too active on there since I'm not in need of it at the moment, but I'll use it whenever I'm watching a Let's Play and feel like "multitasking". I know it looks like a safe system, but I'm not too comfortable entering in a bunch of my personal information for money gain. Call me paranoid, but I still haven't fully recovered from that trojan virus incident and the idea of having random ads pop up every few seconds or so on my PC makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. I also screwed up when entering in my birthday and age because I thought it didn't matter. But then it dawned on me that I might run into some conflict when cashing in SB with an incorrect birthday. If that's the case, I might have to create a new account entirely in order to reap the benefits. Gosh I'm an idiot, haha. I think Platinum was my favorite for the same reason why Pearl was your favorite. I never treated HGSS, B/W, or B/W2 the same way I treated Platinum. Still though, you're quite ambitious for going after that 100 streak. I was going to give up after 49 but Palmer's Cresselia was a pain and my streak stopped at 48. I was a little ticked off, but in hindsight I was lucky to have even made it that far since none of my Pokemon had good natures, IVs, or well-spread EVs (didn't EV train them at all). Haha, I tried completing every event I could for Platinum. I caught all of the Unowns (I'm quite proud of it as well) and I did the same for HeartGold. I don't know what compelled me to do so, but it sure felt gratifying for some reason. I can't remember how active I was in Super Contests, but seeing as I can't recall much I don't think I participated a lot. It probably slipped my mind, lol. I was more into sweeping the Elite 4 with my Kyogre and rebatting gym leaders and handing Pokemon I needed to "train" an Exp. Share. Oh, and GTS trading. I managed to win the Master Ball in Jubilife City if that gives you an idea of how much I used the GTS, haha. A lot of people think that 5th gen games were the best, others think that HGSS were the best. Platinum was my favorite out of pure bias simply because nothing can beat that feeling of pulling near all nighters on Saturday nights. Being propped up on a pillow in bed, playing to my hearts content, realizing it's 6AM and not giving the slightest damn. Ahh, how times have changed. 

     

    To be honest, I don't think I could ever see you turning into a politician. You just don't seem like that kinda person. It's an interesting thought though, haha. Nah, I don't think being headache-prone has anything to do with genetics. My dad and sister rarely have them, if at all (I can't even recall the last time I saw them experiencing one). My mom is surprisingly lax about the issue even though I know she suffers a lot. I've asked her about it before and all she tells me is to drink lots of water. I still don't think that dehydration is the underlying problem for her. She often goes to the bathroom in the middle of the night so I know she's well-hydrated. She also keeps dismissing the idea of visiting a doctor, and I can't blame her. Seeing a doctor just because of recurring headaches seems a bit silly, and it's not like we're completely impaired just because of a few headaches. They're just little hindrances we have to deal with. Worst comes to worst, we'll take in an ibuprofen pill (though I'm starting to worry that it's becoming more and more ineffective). I mean, we've learned to cope with these headaches over the years so I guess it's not a big deal. Thank you for your concern though; it means a lot to me, haha. 

     

     

    I like taking my time when reading books and Oryx and Crake is really...interesting. Very unique plot and setting and it almost feels like science fiction (it isn't though...it's hard to describe, haha). I want to finish all of my required reading before focusing on other books for now, so I'll keep Handmaid's Tale in the back of my head in the meantime. Thanks for the suggestion! The other books we're required to read are The Road by Cormac McCarthy, How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C Foster, and a book from the first list which I still haven't chosen from yet. Oh, and let me know how Whistling Vivaldi goes!

     

    I'd be more than happy receiving a late reply if it means you'll be enjoying your trip to Disney a lot more. Please don't feel obligated to write a timely response! I especially wouldn't want you to force yourself into typing one up in the car if you're prone to getting carsick, or even in the hotel after an exhausting day. And with that said, I hope you have loads of fun in Disney! Let me know how it goes once you have the time!

    • Upvote 1

  19. Not really. We use technology to "adapt" to the ever changing environment we have.

     

    I don't think any specie in this world can do that.

    yes, because playing on our smart phones and complaining about the conclusion of How I Met Your Mother is adapting to our environment

     

    see where I'm getting at here?

     

    was NYC the way is was thousands of years ago?

    was Berlin the way it was thousands of years ago?

     

    skyscrapers, buildings, factories

    we changed our environment so that we wouldn't have to "adapt" to what the environment was originally

    the most I've ever "adapted" to was moving to another state

    you know why?

    because it only takes a few seconds on google to locate the nearest grocery store, library, school, etc.

    this is not adaptation

     

    please feel free to elaborate on how we "adapted" to our environment compared to other species

    please feel free to explain how hard our lives are compared to the species that have to scavenge on a daily basis

    hell, we barely utilize our fight/flight response anymore because of how much we changed our environment

     

    you know how our body efficiently stores fat as an energy source?

    the majority of us are well-nourished if not over-nourished

    our bodies have not yet "adapted" to the changes we made to our environment

    in other words, we did not "adapt" to our environment; we changed it

     

    We use technology to "adapt" to the ever changing environment we have.

    "ever changing"

    lol you've gotta be kidding me

    we're the ones who caused the changing, if my previous point didn't sink in enough

    yes, yes, because us getting used to the changes that we made is such a big accomplishment

     

     

    Honestly, if you guys don't know, there are alot of organizations or scientists already out there who have proposed ways on defending our planet if this imminent danger comes. Using nuclear warheads, for example, to destroy an asteroid. Or, using spacecrafts to deflect it away.

     

    Haha, I dunno if anyone is blind here or not, but I'm really sure dino or any specie before had technological capabilities or had ability to communicate clearly, before, Seriously, if anyone is gonna argue to me that we are just as fragile as any species, they should have their eyes checked. I'm sorry for being blunt but that's being ignorant. You're completely ignoring the fact that I had in bold above.

     

    And if the thing you have said really just happens, I mean if we aren't successful at nuking an asteroid down or deflecting it away, I'm pretty sure the governments out there would have plan B for this. They would've probably relocated those people on the impact zone to a safer place and we're all probably gonna be all living on underground bunkers, on impact and on the aftermath for a very long time. Many would surely die but our species would survive, for sure. Yeah, it would take years to recover but still.

    you're putting far too much faith in the human species

    are you not aware of how massive the meteor or volcano must have been if it had the power to cause a mass extinction?

     

    ahahaahahaha....haha.............................ha......

    that's far more powerful than any nuclear bomb we've detonated, if that puts anything into perspective

    "The release amounted to about 10^23 joules, or 10^8 megatons of TNT. This energy is 10,000 times greater than the world's total arsenal of nuclear weapons at the height of the Cold War"

    feel free to try and stop that with our "technology"

     

    technological capabilities and the ability to communicate clearly, huh.........

    well let me know how that goes once another super volcano erupts or another meteor the size of Chicxulub hits us 

     

    and yeah, "plan B" isn't gonna work here

    if another meteor the size of Chicxulub were to hit us, it'd rip through any underground bunkers we build like wet paper

    let me paste that quote again:

    "The release amounted to about 10^23 joules, or 10^8 megatons of TNT. This energy is 10,000 times greater than the world's total arsenal of nuclear weapons at the height of the Cold War"

     

    Yeah, We are somewhat responsible for this mass extinction, if it's really true. (Feel like this might be just another "Global Warming" thing) But I dun think we, alone, is the cause of this. I mean we have been existing for ages and this just happened now? Seriously? I would believe that if the mass extinction started/was noticed sometime ago not just today or something.

    I don't know why you're treating it so casually because we're the ones who caused it.

    humans ---> global warming ---> mass extinction

    humans caused the mass extinction

    what is there not to get, haha

    • Upvote 2

  20. just goes to show how collectively intelligent we are and how capable we are on adapting with our environment

    just wanted to point out that we didn't actually "adapt" to our environment; we changed it

     

     

    I'm sorry man, I usually don't like to start with stuff like this because it can be time consuming and a hassle, but I couldn't resist.

     

    Humans are going to survive this 6th mass extinction?  Well, no duh, it's because we're causing it.  Wow, isn't it crazy how the Aryans weren't killed in the Holocaust?  Gee, just goes to show how collectively intelligent and capable they are!  They definitely one-upped dem gypsies and Jews, didn't they?  Us "surviving" has nothing to do with our innate skill or prowess.  Also, this is nothing at all like how the dinosaurs went out.  They were hit by an asteroid that caused worldwide megatsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and wildfires.  The emitted dust particles caused a dramatic drop in temperatures and disrupted photosynthesis.  If that asteroid were to hit Earth today, humans would be royally screwed.  All forms of electronic communication would end, never to be repaired.  Forget trying to communicate with anyone more than a few miles away from you, because don't expect the gas in your car to last very long.  There would cease to be order.  Politicians?  Policemen?  Who cares?  No one is there to enforce the laws.  Money would be worthless.  Food and shelter go a lot farther than just coins and paper.  Mass produced animals and crops that have been acclimated to rely to humans would eventually perish and we'd start struggling to find food.  With our over reliance on technology, no one has any street smarts.  Wikipedia won't be there to tell you which berries are poisonous and how to start a fire in subzero temperatures.  You're injured and need a doctor?  Your stomach is giving you cramps and you don't know why?  Well, it's a shame all the doctors are dead and the CVS down the street was raided well in advance.  And I'm sure you'll have all the supplies you'll need to purify your own water, right?  Cause last I checked water was pretty damn important.  It will be every man for himself, and there would be no shortage of troubles.  All those third world countries that rely on superpowers to supply aid after a single earthquake strikes today would be wiped away if an asteroid the size of the Chicxulub one were to hit.  When thousands of those earthquakes happening simultaneously, no one's going to send the Red Cross anywhere.  Even if humans do manage to miraculously make it through an impact of that scale, the genetic pool would have been drastically diminished and they wouldn't have managed by just holding hands and singing Kumbaya.  You'd be gravely mistaken in thinking humans are any less fragile than any of the species that have come and gone before us, especially the dinosaurs.  They lived for 165 million years, and we've only been here for 200 thousand. 

    couldn't have said it any better myself

     

     

    It's still a crummy feeling knowing we humans are directly responsible for this for the most part. :unsure: The previous mass extinctions were the result of natural disasters whereas this one's the result of humans being uncareful and unknowingly irresponsible for a long time.

    The part that nags at me the most though is that species we haven't even discovered yet might be ceasing to exist because our actions...  :(

    hey if it makes you feel any better, gladiators unknowingly sped up the extinction process by slaughtering animals for the sake of entertainment back when Nero first opened up the colosseum (e.g. the Caspian Tiger and Aurochs are extinct now thx to Roman gladiatorial shows)

     

    human impact today isn't nearly as barbaric!!!!

     

    jkjkjk, but in all seriousness, I think it's because there's a lack of conventional ways to dispose of our waste.

    Thousands of species are negatively impacted by our carelessness, but our efforts in fixing this mess have improved loads.

    A few decades ago, littering in streets was acceptable and the norm. Banning CFCs have also helped a bit.


  21. XXpax.jpg

    ahahahah, reminds me of the time I argued with my teacher back in middle school that global warming didn't exist. I tried to point out that Earth was just going through a period of warming and that it was natural. I was mainly referring to this chart at the time (idk where I saw it though; this one just happened to be taken from google).

     

    I didn't believe that humans had the capacity to speed up the process so much. I thought our impact was insignificant compared to what the Earth regularly underwent every thousands of years. Silly middle school me.

     

     

    I wonder if Global Warming is a fad.

    I think I'd be better off asking why you think global warming is a "fad"


  22. I like this quote a lot more:


    "It's hard to win an argument with a smart person, but it's damn near impossible to win an argument in the YouTube comments section"


    ty /r/showerthoughts


     


    Original:


    "It's hard to win an argument with a smart person, but it's damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person"


     


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