Vicky

Everyone is worrying about snow/school days off... but has anyone thought of the Auzzies and the storm heading their way? ...and doesn't James live in Oz-land?! :O

[quote name='Boo' timestamp='1296488743' post='704564'] Fix'd. [/quote] Cheers Boo! I forgot that one :P I also dislike banks taking my money three days before my debit date :(.

Boo. (LOL JOKES lav u) I hate the NHS. I hate crappy drivers. I hate facebook whores. I hate doctors. I hate barking dogs at night. I hate unnecessarily loud music in my house. I had slow walkers on the street. I hate train commuters staring at me. I hate people rushing for a seat on the bus when it's empty. I hate overly drunk man-whore-boys who think they're the dog's balls. I hate nosy neighbours. I hate TV adverts that use the non-word "bestest". I hate people trying to sell me things. I hate it when my girlfriend switches the TV to music challenges when I'm watching Star Trek. I hate really really old people talking up the footpath. I hate that scally mother's with prams think they take priority of every human being and therefore have the right to CANE other people's legs with their stanky £5 baby pram. I hate people with hardcore tattoos on their elbows and wear a t-shirt in the snow to show them off. I hate little kids who swear. I hate little kids who scream outside my house. There's a few more but that'll do. Also, people who wear trainers on a night out annoy me. Really? You gunna pull in smelly sneakers with your creepy toes hanging out? No. Go home and dress like a person.

I really enjoyed this. The characters were brilliantly written and authentic; the concept, as well, is ingeniously interesting! I'm really looking forward to anymore of this if it's been written. There's some really great imagery in there -- which is especially challenging for a 'place with no context'. Awesome, brilliant! No more needed to be said :) EDIT: Oh wait. The only thing that stuck out like a sore thumb to me (no matter what I read there's always something; I have to be difficult) was: [I]But he knew he was dead, he had to be dead.[/I] Not much of a problem but I think it was the third mention of 'dead' within the opening paragraph. You can cut out either one of those ("but he knew he was dead" or "he had to be dead") without losing the meaning, or maybe reword it to cut out a 'dead' in there. When you can lose a sentence/phrase without hindering the prose then you're better off throwing it, I think. But otherwise lovely piece -- I was just sketchy on this part. I had to read it twice and then again to see if it felt right but it never did. That's just an opinion, though!

I just saw a advert on TV. It said "bestest". Is it wrong to be annoyed by this?

[quote name='Felix the Cat' timestamp='1296091749' post='704395'] This makes me look forward even more to university. HOHOHO Psychology is going to be so much fun! But if what you're saying is true then it wouldn't be possible to actually comprehend what the other person is saying while there's, let's say, a curve since the driver would have to focus on steering or what? [/quote] I think it's like lightning fast attention diversion. It's sorta selective; if someone calls your name you respond, so the brain processes the meaning first then decides to pay attention. Maybe in the split second the brain is on driving irrelevant words are being spoken, like "a" or a brief pause until a word with an appealing meaning appears. If you're not being sarcastic about psychology take a look at the Deutch & Detuch (or Treisman) filter model :D BUT, on that note, the brain stores info in the short term memory. If the driver has to concentrate on the driving for 3 - 4 seconds then the conversation will still be stored in the short term memory. The brain then diverts its attention back to to the conversation and manages to "catch" whatever was said a few seconds ago because it's still in the short term memory and can now be processed with the brain's attention. Information will disappear from the short term memory if the brain does not allocate its attention towards it after a few seconds. The same doesn't count for like quick reactions though. You'll have a delayed reaction if it goes to the short term memory then attention is drawn to it after a few seconds - but when a kid runs out in front of the car, that few second is the difference between stopping in time and... well :(

On the subject of multitasking, did you know the brain is actually INCAPABLE of multitasking? The brain has a very limited selective attention and cannot focus on two tasks at once; instead it 'jumps' between different tasks but its attention is never 'split' between tasks. Its focus alternates at lightning speed giving the impression of 'multitasking'. So you know when someone is 'multitasking' (perhaps we should say selectively focusing on alternating tasks?) by driving and talking on a cell phone? When they crash their brain was 'focused' on the mobile phone conversation, if not briefly, and when an obstacle appears to disrupt the driving tasks the brain quickly switches back -- but reaction time is still reduced by up to 1/4! :O I LOVE COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY I DO. (I'm so sorry I had to throw this in, I must learn random things and take every opportunity to announce them, forget them and move on with my life).

Sorry, it's not an OB fanfic -- but feel free to comment anyway :P. I thought I might as well post a little bit of my work here and there. Mainly stuff from my journal because I've lost three of those now. I just dot down anything I feel like writing, anywhere, but now I'm trying to type it up to keep a record. Some comments would be appreciated! I thought I'd start off with two pieces, one a poem (which needs considerable work but I do have a warm spot for it) and a short piece of pros for creative writing, which hasn't been edited, either. Here goes! [B]CHANCE - Poetry Piece[/b] Chance was a little frightening. Chance was a little too friendly. He didn't know too much English; He knew a bit of Crass and A bit of Latin of cura te ipsum*. A bit of a caelo usque ad centrum*. He'd spit on his shoes and spit on their sores And scorn all your senses and scratch all your scars He'd scuffle along baroque and bright And change his head to whatever he liked He's symbolise sadistic taunts of ignorance He'd rage against the overture he'd rage against He'd rage against. He'd lose his footing on loose paves He'd lose a little dignity he'd already lost And lose again Lamba's Lambrini and lose his way On lanky lame pavements and shaky footsteps With pulsing figures on his temples he'd lay Wide awake and breaking at midday Clawing dirty nails at grass he'd say Carpe diem carpe diem seize the day. Chance was a little frightening. On twos of menthols he'd draw daunt smoke He knew a bit of Tchaikovsky and A bit of Homer's Illiad A bit of Latin here and there, of cura te ipsum Of a caelo usque ad centrum. [B]SWEET ROSE - Prose[/b] "That dear, sweet Rose; what did you see in her?" She cut like glass; all sharp around the edges... and see-through. I would stare at her sometimes, watch her dance around me in that concrete caged college ground. She'd twirl and wink at me through glassy blue eyes, grabbing my hand in the Autumn park and she'd ask me that phrase the college cruelly echoed about her: "What do you see in me?" That dear, sweet Rose. I would swallow, smile, shake my head away. She would and twirl and kiss my hand. I see nothing, Rose. I came along to her in a hurry. In a hurry to have and to hold and to break and be done. I couldn't really bare the college talks about her in the end. I couldn't bare to be seen with the glass girl they saw right through, to bare down their laughs and sneers on the rusty park swings. Their sharp penetrating grins yellow against the brown wetness of Autumn eventually made me see right through dear Rose, too. Through her luxurious blonde hair and perfectly pale patched skin I saw what everyone else saw: nothing. "Dear sweet Rose, I'll be your world." I made the Autumn so bright for her with those words. She'd twirl and twirl against the playground voices that laughed at her. She'd twirl and twirl but all angles told the same story. "Dear, sweet Rose, what do I see in you?" I stopped staring at her one day when I made the first crack. It was a thin slit of white that ran down her round left cheek; unnoticeable, but glaringly obvious. Her twirling had ceased and her figure was dark, saturated like the eroding grey concrete playground floor. She was shattering; a million pieces had already taken form, ready to take their place on the ground. I let go of her hand. It dropped like the stark gentle dead leaves of August to her side. My eyes fell right through her fog blue stare - I saw nothing. "I'm sorry, Rose." The first piece of sharpness fell out of her lashes, its colour iridescent and its shape a dangerous tragedy. 

Des and Shin would chew a filthy toenail? Ewwww. Disgustingles.

I can give a hand with writing or editing if you like? (I came second in the Prose competition :P lol)

Walk away with the 0.60. Come back, walk away with the 0.60. Come back, walk away.... ...Until I'm a millionaire! In all truth I hate chance games. I only take a chance on an intelligent guess. I'm more of a 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' person - I can get all the 32k plus questions right most of the time, some through a well-informed guess. If the game came down to pure luck though I'd lose if both sides were heads and I picked heads. I'm not lucky. In my 60 lottery games I've never matched a SINGLE number.

[quote name='chibi-master' timestamp='1293858846' post='703526'] 10 Peculiar People Day 10 The Glorious Day of Vicky's Birth [/quote] [img]http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/4167/likec.gif[/img] Vicky likes this.

My resolution is to become a millionaire. Failing that I'd like to start getting some stuff published in a few newspapers and whatnot for the old portfolio and break away from the internet marketing crap.

You forgot "Vicky's Birthday" on the 10th of January :). It's a national holiday in its own right (or at least in my world).

This only makes me think ghost writers should get paid more than they do.... The cheating side is quite annoying; any real student would have some pride and stop cheating themselves. But there are a lot of measures in place at my University against cheating, for one they use about ten forms of Copyscape and process work through that by asking for an electronic copy and a few other measures. However, this just backs up my opinion that writing and intelligence is bought and completely disregarded by society. Most books you have ever read by some famous celebrity or other was probably not written by them; it was written by the ghostwriters who get paid a crappy wage whilst the celebrities rake in the money for the ghostwriter's work. I copywrite, which is a little different but somewhat the same. My name is nowhere on the internet and instead posted under the company's name; I get paid a crap wage, and they don't pay me until nearly two months later whilst they role in their 65k wage as an SEO consultant who doesn't do the work. Content Agencies charge companies thousands of pounds per month for article SEO and marketing but pay writers £1 per article. It's not right, is it? In regards to learning as well this is another thing I feel strongly about. Learning, like Gavster said, is about memorization. You revise before exams, take the exam, forget what you learnt. Higher Education has become a joke as well - the desire to learn and better yourself has become "GET A DEGREE GET A JOB!". A job is important but self respect and self satisfaction should be more important; I see University students bickering about deadlines and leaving their work until last minute because they 'can't be bothered'. That's not the point, they should be doing it because they love it and want to further themselves. Sometimes I wish I was in that movie 'Dead Poet's Society'....

[quote name='Boo' timestamp='1292929740' post='703043'] - Isn't it the job of the schools [i]to teach[/i] people how to use the written word (and stimulate them in the usage)?[/quote] It should be, but have you seen schools these days? I got held back two weeks in Primary School (my first days) for drawing the 'V' in my name a little bit like a 'U'. I knew it was a V, and I knew the difference - and I [i]still[/i] write my V a little like a U today. I missed out on story reading and fell behind quite a bit from two weeks. I help teach my young cousin how to read poetry and books two years above her because she can do it and she should not be held back. Schools teach the... well, I suppose the foundations, but the rest is up to everyone else. Unfortunately. The schools need to kick it into gear because, frankly, the stuff I've seen first hand myself and seen my cousin bring home is atrocious. The schools are probably part of the link here (of course it does depend on the school itself but even the greatest grammar schools don't compare - don't you have to be rich to stretch your limits in those kind of places?). [quote name='Boo' timestamp='1292929740' post='703043'] - Is the written word [i]something of the past?[/i] AND does this mean we'll be using short phrases next, then just pictures, and then go back to "OOGA BOOGA" where we started off?[/quote] It hurts me that phrase, but it's true. Language and literature, or the written word, is pretty much the foundations of every culture. The way I see it is that technology is interfering with this - making things [i]easier[/i]. I can make a small example here: Beveridge created the Beveridge Report which led to our National Health Service, intended to eliminated idleness, disease, squalor, want and ignorance. The NHS, the free service to everyone whether a tax payer or not, started our country's 'Welfare State'. It's an easy ride for people and has eliminated disease, want and squalor... but two remain. Making things easier (in this case through technology) to benefit people inevitably ruins the world. Who needs to send a letter when they've got e-mail? Who needs to send an [i]e-mail[/i] when they have Facebook? Who needs correct spelling with word-check? Who needs to bother reading when they can have it read for them or see it in pictures? Benefits of technology cause idleness and ignorance. Technology eliminates the the effort of intelligence and obscures the thirst for knowledge. Children don't want to learn to read and write properly and will not practice the skills the states want them to learn because it's boring and it's not necessary on chat and text. This goes back to schooling; children should [i]want[/i] to read and learn, children should [i]want[/i] to have good skills in language and the written word, despite social networking. No one should be forced into loving literature or reading, but no one should be driven away from it. I use networking sites but I still try and use good language and good grammar - because I have some sense of pride in this ability, and I'm scared of the Grammar Nazis. Of course, quick typing is convenient, and there's no need to write an essay, but the standards are dropping everywhere. On feeling like I've just jumped into this I'd like to say I still use joint handwriting (they never taught us the real phrase in my school). It's not neat but it's pretty good, except in exams. I'm one of those people who likes to have my handwriting joint and squiggly and nice - even though it's not so good and proper, I think I missed that year in school. It's necessary for my to write quickly and ignore joint handwriting in exams - but I never forgot this trade and I will always use good handwriting when I have time. This should be the case with technology and networking - quick typing when convenient, but elsewhere you should have at least a little pride. I do, however, think it is becoming cultural and although it does depend on the person in this day and age it definitely won't in a decade or two. Internet and networking is too big - kids grow up knowing how to chat before they know how to read a book. That's not a random statement, sadly, it's actually [i]true[/i]. The written word is dying and it's sad. Not a lot of people will admit to this but the standards have fallen through the roof and crashed down through a thousand kilometres of concrete. You'll see people studying the origins of Facebook rather than the origins of poetry soon. To me language and literature is important. The reason being that, again, standards have dropped (especially in England) and I don't want to be a part of that. I suffered in school because of these crap standards and my children certainly won't - they'll know the difference between Tolkien and Rowling before they know how to log on Facebook. I don't understand why people don't see the written word as important - every [i]part[/i] of culture has been touched and influenced by language and literature, and written words. There's no comparison reading handwritten notes from your lover rather than "I <3 U" on Facebook. There's absolutely no comparison to reading the work of the person who pretty much decided what your Heaven and your Hell was than to reading silly Twitter updates. I don't think the written world will truly die in a sense, but it definitely won't have the passion put into it. We probably won't have much good contribution from writers; this disregard for the written world has even affected contemporary authors, who produce some of the biggest crap I have ever seen.

[quote name='Boo' date='13 December 2010 - 02:27 PM' timestamp='1292250447' post='702715'] Thinking about "futer" made me lose [i][u][b]the game[/b][/u][/i]. [/quote] OMGpleasedierightnow.

[quote name='Magus' date='13 December 2010 - 09:18 AM' timestamp='1292231904' post='702710'] Thank you kindly. Now I just gotta find a school to go to for my bachelors (I don't know why I want to go through all the torture again). [/quote] Because learning is earning! I have 60,000 (give or take) words of work to produce for money and a total of 20,000 (give or take) words of assignments due in by the 20th of Dec'. Make or break! I knew I should have done this earlier. But the really really sad thing is I haven't started it yet. (I should probably try NaNo next year no?)

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[quote name='chibi-master' date='09 December 2010 - 11:51 AM' timestamp='1291895503' post='702563'] I love the Santa hat on the OtakuBoards banner! XD Why am I working on Algebra problems when I'm in Geometry this year?! [/quote] It's Mathematics. It does not make sense under the surface of sense. We had to do a module before taking our degree (because I'm hardcore and got in without my A-Levels) which consisted of a few good classes for preperation of University. However, for the [b]Creative Writing or English[/b] degrees there was a very very difficult module of [b]Mathematics[/b]. It included, though no limited by, algebra examinations, quadratic graphs and equations, Pi, powers and roots, trial and error and finding the area of a stupid Church or some crap. It was Level 3, which is A-Level and for someone who nearly failed Level 2 Maths pretty damn hard... Now why on this planet would I need that for a Creative Writing degree? Am I going show my word count in the form of a quadratic graph? No. I am not. POINTLESS.

It's bad that I haven't listened to the Podcast since the first one.... But I'm listening to them all now =).

[quote name='CaNz' date='06 December 2010 - 06:20 PM' timestamp='1291659618' post='702444'] I don't think I ever get hyper anymore. Maybe if I smoked more crack I could pull it off, but for the most part my energy is the same, save for a few giant dips into slug mode. [/quote] Need for speed.