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But of course, not extraneous and unnecessary additional words.


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But apparently clothes. Definitely don't need those.


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Vanykrye wrote:
Orthos wrote:
Freehold DM wrote:
Orthos wrote:

So hi, been absent a few days in abject misery.

I have a fractured tooth, apparently! And the painkillers I was given over the weekend did almost nothing for it. I have thankfully since been given something stronger that actually does the job and am going in for surgery in about three hours to have the offending tooth removed.

Which means I'll probably go back to being absent as I sleep off the post-surgery recovery period for the next couple of days.

I know how much that f+@$ing hurts. I wouldn't wish that pain on anyone. In my experience once the tooth is gone you will bleed a whooooooole lot, then pass right out. Sleep well.
Yeah that's about what all I remember from wisdom teeth removal.

I haven't had that pleasure. I have no wisdom teeth to remove. Not a situation of "they don't need to be removed" but an actual "they simply don't exist" situation.

I have evolved beyond humanity's petty needs for extraneous and unnecessary additional teeth.

Envy, lucky bastard.

I at least will be not passing my wisdom-teeth-creating genes on to the next generation, so that's another plus for the kidless life.


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I hope you feel better, soon, Orthos! Been there, my dude!

Grand Lodge

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Man, at least my braces are a torture I chose. Hope things heal well Orthos!


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The Vagrant Erudite wrote:

And speaking of Fool/Venice, Pocket is my favorite protagonist in any book I've read in the last decade or so. He is a genius horny dagger master pissed off jester with a giant mentally handicapped but supremely loyal best friend and assistant, who bangs just about anything that moves with two legs and nothing dangling between them (and sometimes even with - threatened to bugger Kent while he was in the stocks), and manages to talk s+#$ to the face of the most dangerous people alive and get away with it by a combination of wit, charm, bravery, and sheer dumb luck.

Oh Moore, you are a genius worthy to take Pratchett's mantle after his death, if only you could be more prolofic. If we could merge you and Butcher into a single author the world would no longer mourne the late great Sir Terry quite as much.

Pocket is the man, yes.


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More Poe presentations today. At least one of them was Usher.


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I have to get a bus pass for Crookshanks (the only thing we forgot before school).

I can either wait 10 days for it to arrive in the mail, drive to the bus depot downtown and be done with it in an hour tops, or take a bus and make an adventure out of it.

I chose the third option, naturally.

Also, g@$&%*n f*$~ing rain.


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captain yesterday wrote:

I have to get a bus pass for Crookshanks (the only thing we forgot before school).

I can either wait 10 days for it to arrive in the mail, drive to the bus depot downtown and be done with it in an hour tops, or take a bus and make an adventure out of it.

I chose the third option, naturally.

Also, g#+#$!n f&+~ing rain.

ADVENTURE


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Have to say, I'm actually pretty pleased with how some of these presentations turned out. I need to find ways to work more artsy projects into class - they're a lot of fun to break up the monotony, and the kids seem to like them-, but with all the writing standards we have to meet, it's tricky to find time.


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Scintillae wrote:
Have to say, I'm actually pretty pleased with how some of these presentations turned out. I need to find ways to work more artsy projects into class - they're a lot of fun to break up the monotony, and the kids seem to like them-, but with all the writing standards we have to meet, it's tricky to find time.

YEAH


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Woran wrote:

The good thing about having english as a foreign laguage is that I never had to bother with shakespear.

I read lord of the rings, the hobbit and other fantasy works.

Huh? We had multiple Shakespearean plays read and discussed in elementary and middle school on Literature lessons.


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I am,out of surgery and I feel grrreeeeeeeAaaaaaat. At least for now.


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Scintillae wrote:
Have to say, I'm actually pretty pleased with how some of these presentations turned out. I need to find ways to work more artsy projects into class - they're a lot of fun to break up the monotony, and the kids seem to like them-, but with all the writing standards we have to meet, it's tricky to find time.

As a sufferer of near-PTSD from such well-minded projects along with my son, PLEASE don't.

Or at least give non-artistic types a way to opt out.

The only Ds I ever got in school were from well-minded teachers giving me "fun" art projects such as "learn geography by making a pretty map", then giving me harsh criticism because I don't have an artistic bone in my body (my favorite being "a kindergartner could have done better" scrawled across a massive poster I'd spent 12 hours lovingly rendering in scale and coloring to the best of my ability).

Impus Major nearly failed one semester of Spanish not because he couldn't speak Spanish, but because the teacher turned everything into an art project and judged it accordingly. He only passed because he had GothBard's help. Otherwise, he would have failed Spanish class because he has no artistic talent.

So when you speak of adding art projects to English to make it more "fun", keep in mind that 5-10% of your students will suffer horrifically because of it.

EDIT: Even the whole idea of, "Oh, it's OK! I let them use clip art!" is a lie. Impus Major had one Spanish teacher who required a weekly PowerPoint presentation with clip art representing the meanings of words. Sure, he got 80-100% on all his assignments, but each presentation on defining 20 words took him 6-8 hours. His homework schedule was brutal as a result. Just like math, art isn't for everyone. And how would your students feel if you tried to make English assignments more fun by adding math puzzles to them?


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Orthos wrote:
I am,out of surgery and I feel grrreeeeeeeAaaaaaat. At least for now.

PARTY HARD


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NobodysHome wrote:
Scintillae wrote:
Have to say, I'm actually pretty pleased with how some of these presentations turned out. I need to find ways to work more artsy projects into class - they're a lot of fun to break up the monotony, and the kids seem to like them-, but with all the writing standards we have to meet, it's tricky to find time.

As a sufferer of near-PTSD from such well-minded projects along with my son, PLEASE don't.

Or at least give non-artistic types a way to opt out.

The only Ds I ever got in school were from well-minded teachers giving me "fun" art projects such as "learn geography by making a pretty map", then giving me harsh criticism because I don't have an artistic bone in my body (my favorite being "a kindergartner could have done better" scrawled across a massive poster I'd spent 12 hours lovingly rendering in scale and coloring to the best of my ability).

Impus Major nearly failed one semester of Spanish not because he couldn't speak Spanish, but because the teacher turned everything into an art project and judged it accordingly. He only passed because he had GothBard's help. Otherwise, he would have failed Spanish class because he has no artistic talent.

So when you speak of adding art projects to English to make it more "fun", keep in mind that 5-10% of your students will suffer horrifically because of it.

EDIT: Even the whole idea of, "Oh, it's OK! I let them use clip art!" is a lie. Impus Major had one Spanish teacher who required a weekly PowerPoint presentation with clip art representing the meanings of words. Sure, he got 80-100% on all his assignments, but each presentation on defining 20 words took him 6-8 hours. His homework schedule was brutal as a result. Just like math, art isn't for everyone. And how would your students feel if you tried to make English assignments more fun by adding math puzzles to them?

Personally, I understand that argument.

But...

A lot of schools don't have a class or extracurricular activity dedicated to public speaking/presentations/etc, and those skills still need to be taught somehow. The manner in which it is graded and the amount of the work assigned, in my opinion, is a separate conversation. One worthy of having, but I think it applies to all assignments from all classes, not just the art/presentation projects.


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Hello, everyone!


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Yeah. I'm having to weigh both sides of it. We don't have a lot of outlets for the more artsy kids...but I don't want to cause panic attacks in kids in Impus Major's camp, either. Speaking and Listening is actually a category of standards for ELA, so we have to do presentations to meet state requirements.

That said, I don't grade that harshly on actual artistic ability so long as I know they put in the effort. I am firmly in Camp Can't Draw myself.


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I remember reading Shakespeare in school. Would have preferred Lovecraft.

Grand Lodge

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TriOmegaZero wrote:
Okay, if the internet is to be believed, Walmart of all places had it in stock. So $30 bucks later, I should have it next week.

They did not lie. Sealed packaging even! Now to just find my PSP...

Scarab Sages

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captain yesterday wrote:
Woran wrote:

The good thing about having english as a foreign laguage is that I never had to bother with shakespear.

I read lord of the rings, the hobbit and other fantasy works.
The good thing about being home schooled in the States is I also didn't have to read Shakespeare, it was completely voluntary.

I did have to suffer trough dutch literature, which basically falls into three cathegories.

Sex/drugs.
World war 2
Pretentious drivel. In my opinion

Scarab Sages

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Drejk wrote:
Woran wrote:

The good thing about having english as a foreign laguage is that I never had to bother with shakespear.

I read lord of the rings, the hobbit and other fantasy works.
Huh? We had multiple Shakespearean plays read and discussed in elementary and middle school on Literature lessons.

*shrugs* maybe they just didnt bother with me since I read the whole Clan of the Cave bear series when I was 13, for fun. Because I love reading?

(yes, I had transitioned to pretty much full english reading by I was 14/15 because it was the only way I could still get my sci fi/fantasy fix)


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NobodysHome wrote:
Scintillae wrote:
Have to say, I'm actually pretty pleased with how some of these presentations turned out. I need to find ways to work more artsy projects into class - they're a lot of fun to break up the monotony, and the kids seem to like them-, but with all the writing standards we have to meet, it's tricky to find time.

As a sufferer of near-PTSD from such well-minded projects along with my son, PLEASE don't.

Or at least give non-artistic types a way to opt out.

The only Ds I ever got in school were from well-minded teachers giving me "fun" art projects such as "learn geography by making a pretty map", then giving me harsh criticism because I don't have an artistic bone in my body (my favorite being "a kindergartner could have done better" scrawled across a massive poster I'd spent 12 hours lovingly rendering in scale and coloring to the best of my ability).

Impus Major nearly failed one semester of Spanish not because he couldn't speak Spanish, but because the teacher turned everything into an art project and judged it accordingly. He only passed because he had GothBard's help. Otherwise, he would have failed Spanish class because he has no artistic talent.

So when you speak of adding art projects to English to make it more "fun", keep in mind that 5-10% of your students will suffer horrifically because of it.

hmmm...


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Scintillae wrote:

Yeah. I'm having to weigh both sides of it. We don't have a lot of outlets for the more artsy kids...but I don't want to cause panic attacks in kids in Impus Major's camp, either. Speaking and Listening is actually a category of standards for ELA, so we have to do presentations to meet state requirements.

That said, I don't grade that harshly on actual artistic ability so long as I know they put in the effort. I am firmly in Camp Can't Draw myself.

Yeah, the key is to say, "You can do this in pencil as stick figures if you want, as long as it gets the key ideas across."

One teacher let Impus Major do that, and he actually LOVED those projects because he could get across his ideas (AND his humor) without being judged on his "art".


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Freehold DM wrote:
Orthos wrote:

So hi, been absent a few days in abject misery.

I have a fractured tooth, apparently! And the painkillers I was given over the weekend did almost nothing for it. I have thankfully since been given something stronger that actually does the job and am going in for surgery in about three hours to have the offending tooth removed.

Which means I'll probably go back to being absent as I sleep off the post-surgery recovery period for the next couple of days.

I know how much that f+@$ing hurts. I wouldn't wish that pain on anyone. In my experience once the tooth is gone you will bleed a whooooooole lot, then pass right out. Sleep well.

Glad you're out of surgery and recovering. Hope you get to have a milkshake or two while you mend, just don't use a straw.

Orthos wrote:
Vanykrye wrote:
Orthos wrote:


Yeah that's about what all I remember from wisdom teeth removal.

I haven't had that pleasure. I have no wisdom teeth to remove. Not a situation of "they don't need to be removed" but an actual "they simply don't exist" situation.

I have evolved beyond humanity's petty needs for extraneous and unnecessary additional teeth.

Envy, lucky bastard.

I at least will be not passing my wisdom-teeth-creating genes on to the next generation, so that's another plus for the kidless life.

My wisdom teeth never came in. I don't know if they are still lurking below the surface or the tooth fairy never delivered them or how I lucked out. I seem to have dumped WIS in real-life though, so it's possible that a sufficient WIS penalty stops them from sprouting.


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So, I'd never heard of Hasan Minhaj until GothBard started showing me selected episodes of Patriot Act, but this congressional testimony is brilliant. Especially since he basically stole my idea of how to explain housing costs to my mom.


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Polish Romanticism is a school terror...

Polish teaching (and culture) is obsessed with patriotic fervor, patriotic-driven failures, fighting for lost causes, nationalist self-aggrandizement, etc.

Romanticism reached here just as Poland lost independence so many poets focused on exactly those topics.

Yes, that helped retain national identity for 123 years of occupation and forced attempts to eradicate Polish language and culture, but now we suffer from toxicity of certain aspects of our own culture that got ingrained and twisted to the point of harmfulness...


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John Napier 698 wrote:
I remember reading Shakespeare in school. Would have preferred Lovecraft.

...

>.>

<.<

w- ... will... will they say it? Someone's got to say it.

Yeah, for sure. It's okay, I'll let someone else say it.

... yeah. Yeah.

... wh-... why... isn't anyone... saying it?

d-... do you... do you think they know how...?

SOMEONE'S GOTTA SAY IT

John Napier 698 wrote:
I remember reading Shakespeare in school. Would have preferred Lovecraft.

... so you're saying you'd have preferred Shakespear in Lovecraft?! Ah?! Ah?! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh?! :D

don'tsaytheworsepundon'tsaytheworsepundon'tsaytheworsepun
gottabegoodgottabegoodgottabegoodgottabegooooooooooood


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Lovecraft's work is a soothing balm. Shakespeare's? -- bring me the ice pick: i need to floss my brain.


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I've never been able to get into Lovecraft. I've read through a bunch of his short stories, and there's just...nothing there that sticks with me. It's to the point where I can't even remember the names of the stories that things happen in - it didn't even leave enough of an impression for me to complain about. That alone gives Shakespeare a boost in my esteem - at least I can tell them apart.


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The only Dutch fiction I've ever read (in translation) have been detective stories - the rather pervy Judge Dee tales of Robert Van Gulik, set in ancient China, and novels about two slightly racist plainclothes cops called something like de Grijpstra and de Grier - I can't remember the name of the author of those.

I have not read anything Polish I can bring to mind, but would like a go at 'With Fire & Sword'.


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Scintillae wrote:
I've never been able to get into Lovecraft. I've read through a bunch of his short stories, and there's just...nothing there that sticks with me. It's to the point where I can't even remember the names of the stories that things happen in - it didn't even leave enough of an impression for me to complain about. That alone gives Shakespeare a boost in my esteem - at least I can tell them apart.

In short, Lovecraft's stories are basically "Human lives are insignificant and the Universe doesn't care."


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John Napier 698 wrote:
Scintillae wrote:
I've never been able to get into Lovecraft. I've read through a bunch of his short stories, and there's just...nothing there that sticks with me. It's to the point where I can't even remember the names of the stories that things happen in - it didn't even leave enough of an impression for me to complain about. That alone gives Shakespeare a boost in my esteem - at least I can tell them apart.
In short, Lovecraft's stories are basically "Human lives are insignificant and the Universe doesn't care."

I'm aware of this. That wasn't my point.

I've read a large number of Lovecraft's stories out of curiosity as to why he was such a big deal and Kindle had a collection of his for like 99 cents, so I was out a buck. If you gave me the name of any of those stories I read, I would probably not be able to describe them to you because nothing in them actually stood out to me enough to differentiate between them.


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Okay, Scint. Sorry about that. I seem to have misunderstood your post.


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Sok.

Yeah, it's not that I didn't get it. It's that my brain refused to retain any information about it after I put the book down and walked away.


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I also haven't read Lovecraft.

I guess I don't read as much as I thought.

Unless you want to talk Stephen King or early Forgotten Realms.


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Both GothBard and my opinion of Lovecraft is, "Didn't thesauruses exist when he wrote?"

His overuse of the word "horror" is so utterly distracting that many of his stories fell short for us as well. They had fantastic ideas, but continually being told, "And it was really horrifying. You would have really been horrified. So horrified you would have gone mad, it was so horrifying" grates on one rather quickly.


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I got some bad news. I was denied any sort of help from the government again. For the third time.

Apparantly, holding a job for about two weeks or less before I freak out and run home to hide in a literal closet due to bipolar, social anxiety, panic attack disorder and agoraphobia before I get fired from being unable to muster the courage to return, so depressed I don't leave my room for weeks, and so poor I have to start the process over every nine months or so dictates that "SIMPLE ADJUSTMENTS" will allow me to live a normal, unaided lifestyle.

It's the insult of how it was phrased. Also the fact that money goes towards so much useless s!+@ in our country but those with mental disorders can go f%$% ourselves.

Part of me wants to lawyer up and scream. Most of me wants to hide under the covers for a few months...until I rinse and repeat with the s$$!ty job that pays less than the one before it/panic attack/closet hiding/paralyzed inability to leave the home pattern.

I think I'll go sleep for a month or so.

I was doing so well lately. This...this really crashed me hard.


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Limeylongears wrote:

The only Dutch fiction I've ever read (in translation) have been detective stories - the rather pervy Judge Dee tales of Robert Van Gulik, set in ancient China, and novels about two slightly racist plainclothes cops called something like de Grijpstra and de Grier - I can't remember the name of the author of those.

I have not read anything Polish I can bring to mind, but would like a go at 'With Fire & Sword'.

Janwillem van den Wettering. My Mother in law gave me a few of his books one year for Christmas. The novels were okay, but there was a short story collection called "Inspector Saito's Small Satori" that I enjoyed.


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captain yesterday wrote:

I also haven't read Lovecraft.

I guess I don't read as much as I thought.

Unless you want to talk Stephen King or early Forgotten Realms.

You're not missing much. Lovecraft was a great creator, but poor expressor of content. It's like Tracy Hickman, only Tracy was smart enough to get Margaret Weis to do the heavy lifting after he world created Dragonlance.

So...he was Ed Greenwood.

Only I would read a dozen Lovecraft short stories before I read any of Greenwood's bloody Mary Sue...I mean Elminster..novels.


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The Vagrant Erudite wrote:

I got some bad news. I was denied any sort of help from the government again. For the third time.

Apparantly, holding a job for about two weeks or less before I freak out and run home to hide in a literal closet due to bipolar, social anxiety, panic attack disorder and agoraphobia before I get fired from being unable to muster the courage to return, so depressed I don't leave my room for weeks, and so poor I have to start the process over every nine months or so dictates that "SIMPLE ADJUSTMENTS" will allow me to live a normal, unaided lifestyle.

It's the insult of how it was phrased. Also the fact that money goes towards so much useless s~!! in our country but those with mental disorders can go f@%$ ourselves.

Part of me wants to lawyer up and scream. Most of me wants to hide under the covers for a few months...until I rinse and repeat with the s#@!ty job that pays less than the one before it/panic attack/closet hiding/paralyzed inability to leave the home pattern.

I think I'll go sleep for a month or so.

I was doing so well lately. This...this really crashed me hard.

Any significant response I would have would be majorly political, but seriously, FFS.

Sounds just like unemployment. "Did you work this week?"
"Well, I flipped a few burgers at a friend's kid's birthday party and the friend slipped me a $20 to make ends meet."
"OK. You worked. You're ineligible for benefits this week!"
(And if you don't take any pathetic work that comes your way, they deny you as well. Such a bureaucratic Catch 22.)


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I didn't read much Greenwood, Spellfire and one other book.

I was referring to Douglas Niles, the first 7-10 Harper books, the time of troubles trilogy, the Cyric book, Elaine Cunningham, and Salvatore.


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Yeah - you read the good ones.

I mentioned Greenwood becauae despite inventing the Realms he is unreadable.

Such is Lovecraft in a nutshell.


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Sometimes life teaches your kids so you don't have to.

Impus Minor had a strange $14 Amazon Prime charge on his card. Being with a credit union rather than a bank, I flagged the transaction for him. Within a few hours the credit union worker responded with, "Well, we can't access any of the data you're looking for, but from my personal experience that looks like a subscription. Are you sure you didn't sign up for Amazon Prime?"

Sure enough, Impus Minor had hit one of the plethora of buttons that said, "Try Prime NOW!" and ended up getting dinged for it. With the credit union person's help, we canceled the membership quickly and got a near-total refund.

Morals of the story:
(1) Unless you're hiding your porn purchases, USE YOUR PARENTS' ACCOUNT.
(2) Never click "Try Now" buttons, as they are always bad.
(3) Never use a bank, even if the nearest credit union branch is a half-hour drive away.

He learned all three lessons in a single day without me having to do much more beyond type a simple, "Hey, what's with this charge?" note for him...

EDIT: And yeah, that's a big head-scratcher for us. We've got Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, CrunchyRoll, Pandora, Spotify, YouTube, and probably more I don't even know I'm paying for, and the kids don't watch anything we particularly care about them seeing (I've seen his viewing history many times). So yeah, it makes sense as he gets older to start setting up his own stuff, but for gosh' sake never give them your credit card number! Just mooch off of us!


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The Vagrant Erudite wrote:

I got some bad news. I was denied any sort of help from the government again. For the third time.

Apparantly, holding a job for about two weeks or less before I freak out and run home to hide in a literal closet due to bipolar, social anxiety, panic attack disorder and agoraphobia before I get fired from being unable to muster the courage to return, so depressed I don't leave my room for weeks, and so poor I have to start the process over every nine months or so dictates that "SIMPLE ADJUSTMENTS" will allow me to live a normal, unaided lifestyle.

It's the insult of how it was phrased. Also the fact that money goes towards so much useless s#@! in our country but those with mental disorders can go f+$% ourselves.

Part of me wants to lawyer up and scream. Most of me wants to hide under the covers for a few months...until I rinse and repeat with the s$*$ty job that pays less than the one before it/panic attack/closet hiding/paralyzed inability to leave the home pattern.

I think I'll go sleep for a month or so.

I was doing so well lately. This...this really crashed me hard.

I am not qualified to give advice. However, the two people I knew that had PTSD (which you don't have, I know) and/or bipolar both got rejected both of the first two times they applied. They both had to lawyer up to get official recognition to qualify for any assistance. In so many words, their lawyers explained that the current system is deliberately designed to deny needy people they assistance they need until they can find a specialist lawyer who knows all the hoops to jump through and how high to jump. I suspect that unfortunately you're going to have to fight for your assistance, which would be difficult enough on it's own before the bipolar & anxiety/panic attacks.

If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go swear a stream of obscenities for a bit.

Edit: Newer reply again appears before previous reply. Huh. Apparently a stream of profanity is as essential for time travel as a stainless steel car skin or Pym particles. Good to know.


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Tacticslion wrote:

SOMEONE'S GOTTA SAY IT

John Napier 698 wrote:
I remember reading Shakespeare in school. Would have preferred Lovecraft.

... so you're saying you'd have preferred Shakespear in Lovecraft?! Ah?! Ah?! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh?! :D

don'tsaytheworsepundon'tsaytheworsepundon'tsaytheworsepun
gottabegoodgottabegoodgottabegoodgottabegooooooooooood

{blows whistle} Tacticsloin: punsonal fowl. 20 yard penalty, light flogging with a rubber chicken, still 3rd down.


The Vagrant Erudite wrote:

Yeah - you read the good ones.

I mentioned Greenwood becauae despite inventing the Realms he is unreadable.

Such is Lovecraft in a nutshell.

I think Greenwood writes some things well, even quite well, and Elminster isn't always inherently a MS-type character... the main problem is that he simply can't help himself in terms of making his characters (whoever they happen to be for a particular book) The Chosen One (whatever that means), and I think that unevenness is what most people pick up on.

For example, his novel Dark Warrior Rising starts out pretty good, and evinces actually good writing... just before it veers into the out-and-out silly. Orivon is literally called out as "inhuman" in physical strength and endurance.
The setting-building is actually really compelling, but I mean the actual plot elements start off well. It's just that he then veers into nonsense super-heroism.
That said, the characters in the book actually stop to point out that some of the things they do in the story are out-in-out silly. To me, this speaks more of a tonal issue. The first, I dunno, quarter or half or something of the story seems to be working towards grimdark, while the latter parts veer right into the impossible power fantasy of it all... and is more-or-less acknowledged as such by the people in the book, some of which have a decent laugh and a wink at it. To me, the protagonist seems less like a Mary Sue (though he could be read that way, easily) and more of an acknowledgement/enforcement of a particular tone for the story: one of fun and fantasy.
For the record, I don't particularly recommend the story. I found it serviceable. Some of you might like it, but I doubt most of you would find the time-investment worthwhile.

Of his FR writing, his characters feel like a Mary Sue... sometimes. In something like Elminter's Daughter, it doesn't really matter - it's basically a slice-of-life and he doesn't matter that much except as a setting element. Pretty decent use of an Elminster. Narnra felt a little The Chosen One-ish, though (even if her TCO status didn't amount to much more than finally finding a family, spoiler-alert).

The entirety of the Sage of Shadowdale series actually feels pretty solid. Elminster moves and is a little stupidly powerful and becomes victorious, but he fails, struggles, and generally fights for it. It mooooooostly feels earned, and the characterization is pretty decent.

Elminster in Hell often gets praised as "Elminster not MarySue, 'cause struggles" but... eh? That ending is just... just... yyyyyyyyrrrrrrrnah. It just drops straight into such Gary Stu territory, because the motivations involved are nonsense. Is Elminster a Gary Stu in the book? ... no, actually, he's not. Not really. But the ending can certainly feel like it, because it kind of feels unearned, and the characterization of Mystra feels... off.

In the end, I don't think he's a hack, at least not compared to some truly terrible authors that I've had the misfortune of reading, but he flips between really understanding people and psychology and really not understanding the same, and Elminster happens to be the largest focus for this, but is by no means the only example. It seems a quirk of his writing that he defaults to a generic "good time power fantasy" with most of his characters.


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The Vagrant Erudite wrote:

Yeah - you read the good ones.

I mentioned Greenwood becauae despite inventing the Realms he is unreadable.

Such is Lovecraft in a nutshell.

wholehearted agreement on Greenwood.

Completely disagree on Lovecraft.

Then again I love the works of others in the Lovecraft universe....


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Freehold DM wrote:
The Vagrant Erudite wrote:

Yeah - you read the good ones.

I mentioned Greenwood becauae despite inventing the Realms he is unreadable.

Such is Lovecraft in a nutshell.

wholehearted agreement on Greenwood.

Completely disagree on Lovecraft.

Then again I love the works of others in the Lovecraft universe....

Looks to me, per the bolding, that you agree with me. Great world creation is NOT great writing. Imagination alone isn't writing. Making prose that won't put you to sleep is good writing.

Cunningham, Salvatore, and Niles, whom Cap mentioned, wrote great books in Greenwood's world. That makes them great writers, not Greenwood. The analogy extends to Lovecraft.


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The Vagrant Erudite wrote:

I got some bad news. I was denied any sort of help from the government again. For the third time.

Apparantly, holding a job for about two weeks or less before I freak out and run home to hide in a literal closet due to bipolar, social anxiety, panic attack disorder and agoraphobia before I get fired from being unable to muster the courage to return, so depressed I don't leave my room for weeks, and so poor I have to start the process over every nine months or so dictates that "SIMPLE ADJUSTMENTS" will allow me to live a normal, unaided lifestyle.

It's the insult of how it was phrased. Also the fact that money goes towards so much useless s!&~ in our country but those with mental disorders can go f&%+ ourselves.

Part of me wants to lawyer up and scream. Most of me wants to hide under the covers for a few months...until I rinse and repeat with the s@##ty job that pays less than the one before it/panic attack/closet hiding/paralyzed inability to leave the home pattern.

I think I'll go sleep for a month or so.

I was doing so well lately. This...this really crashed me hard.

unfortunately, I do not know the law in your area. I need this knowledge to be better able to guide you on this one. However, Amby has the right idea here, I think.

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