Sara

[size=1]We were never allowed to leave during lunch. Then again, our lunch period was 25 minutes long. I'll be a freshman at UMN (Twin Cities) this fall. School doesn't start until just after Labor Day, which [i]would[/i] be nice...if I didn't have to move in that Friday. So I'll be away (pointlessly) that whole weekend...not to mention the months afterward, heh, but that's not my point. Unlike Japan and Boba, heading off to school means I'll being seeing all my friends a great deal less. We hang out all the time during the summer, but being in different states rather hinders the "seeing each other" during the school year. Oh, well. [/size]

[size=1]Please don't bring back old threads (such as this one) especially if you don't actually have anything to contribute to the conversation.[/size]

[quote name='liamc2][size=1']Sara was my Digimon homegirl[/size][/quote][size=1]Woohoo! That is [i]so[/i] my new title. I don't have much time, but I did want to post here. (The story of my life. ;)) I joined OB...goodness, [i]far[/i] too long ago. It's honestly not even close to the same place it was then--which is good, because if it were, I know I woudn't still be around. It's pretty cool, actually: as my tolerance for pointless internet blather has decreased, so has OtakuBoards'. Heh. The Digimon forum was awesome. You can say whatever you want about v2 being full of spam (and it was), but hey. Grandfather clause, heh. It was good at the time, even if the entire population of the boards would have been banned...or at least under ban warning and/or close surveillance...with the set up we have now. I had a [i]lot[/i] of time and energy three years ago, and OB was a great place to spend time, be a goof, and talk about all sorts of things, from the crazy to--believe it or not--the serious. I hung out with the Digimon crew--primarily Shy, Nerdsy, Ginny, and Ben--pretty exclusively. Certain people downloaded an all-but-unknown chat application so we could talk, because I couldn't get AIM to work, heh. Excite Instant Messenger. It was great. Gin, Ben, and I got to know each other over the course of an AWESOME (I'm not biased!) Digimon RPG known creatively as the Digistory. Heh. I talked with other people on the boards, too. Piro stands out in my mind, as does Justin. Dan L, ~*GaLxY GiRl*~ (or however that went, heh). There are some people I honestly don't think I've [i]ever[/i] talked to off the forums (or maybe a PM or two) that I got to know just by how they posted. I'm not talking a rapport of souls here, people, but it's still a sort of friendship. Most of the old moderators are on that list. (A chunk of the current ones too, actually, although myO helps with that.) I still don't think I've talked to James more than maybe three times. Heh. I'm still around because I'm a moderator--well, heh. That's a part of it. If I didn't have an obligation to find time to review things on here, I doubt I'd be able to right now. But in a little more general sense, I stick around because despite the fact that literally everything on the board has changed (Or [i]because[/i] everything on the board has changed) over the years except the name--members, set-up, forums, member names, moderators, rules, [i]ad infinitum[/i]--it's a pretty good place to spend time. There are people who kinda...[i]flavor[/i]...any given place or group of people. Especially online communities, I guess, because that's really all they are--people. There's no physical object or setting, heh. Anyway, the people who (for lack of a better word) "define" OB have changed a lot over the years, too. (Imagine, if you will, a universe where Ulitmia spammed every other line he posted and was admired for his hefty post count--one to rival thimoc's, my gosh!. [i]Yeah[/i]. Been there, done that.) But yeah. There are people who give shape to the boards at any given time, and I s'pose the "defining group" varies from person to person. But, yeah. If I completely and suddenly left, I'd miss those people. [spoiler]Plus I'm secretly in love with James. Shhh![/spoiler][/size]

[size=1]I've seen this, and I have to say that I liked it. The storytelling was very cool, and just the way the film [i]looked[/i] was fantastic. There are several different sections/stories, and each is told with a different color. It's really quite awesome, especially since the contrast between the different parts wakes you up to the effect color [i]does[/i] have on the emotion being portrayed. Never minding the fact that some scenes are almost painfully aesthetic.[/size]

[quote name='DuoMaxwell1423']I am HAPPY to still be alive[/quote][size=1]Then why do you keep trying to kill yourself?[/size]

[QUOTE=lava lamp]Being lonely is the least of my worries if I were stranded on an island. No TV dinners and my *** couldn't start a fire if you gave me a flamethrower to start one with.[/QUOTE][size=1]Pretty much. To answer the question, though, I'd get bored and depressed. And hungry, you know. On a different note. What's with all this "stranded on an island" conjecture? I can't say that I've ever been on a decently-sized island in my life. [i]Certainly[/i] not one that would qualify as a "desert" island--it rained for a week solid. What are the odds that you're ever going to be stranded on an island? What are the odds that you're ever going to [i]be[/i] on an island without human company? Or without food? I suppose it's the standard "what would you do if..." situation, but it really seems like a stretch. Can't we pull something [i]else[/i] out of the [i]Worst Case Scenario[/i] handbook? I've been lost in the woods before. Never for very long, on account of their not being exactly gar[i]gan[/i]tuan woods, but I'm sure I could pull it off. It's much more likely than my engineering to be on a plane/ship that somehow wrecks and drops me off on an uninhabited island. Or say you were detained at an airport without any contact with the outside world. That sounds like a fun one. ^_^ [/size]

[quote name='`hEvN][COLOR=RoyalBlue][SIZE=1][B]For the record, this one made me laugh [strike]a little:[/strike] [color=#ff6600]a lot[/color] "If this doesn't get James' support. I don't know what will"[/B][/SIZE'][/COLOR][/quote] [size=1]That was awesome. I loved it. *delighted little giggle* The Kill Bill stuff was cool. The ramen line [i]still[/i] has me grinning. It was a joy to watch. :whoops:[/size]

[font=arial][b][center]Issue 3: Morning[/center][/b] The month is August 1967. It is closer to dawn than midnight, but not by much. It is dark at the Key City World War Two Memorial. That is to say, Freedom Park, where the Memorial is located, is dark. The monument itself is bathed in the ethereal glow of ground-mounted lights, its smooth marble face casting reflections back out across the grassy park. The Memorial itself is new. Designed in 1958, construction did not begin until two summers ago...due to lack of funding, perhaps. This is the first season the monument has been open to the public. The public doesn't seem to have noticed, either. It's not the sort of monument that draws a crowd. It lacks the stature of the spire of the Washington Monument or the regal authority of the Lincoln Memorial. The Key City World War Two Memorial is simply...there. It is large, but unassuming. Most people, walking by, do not even seem to see it. You could sit on the park bench across from the memorial for hours on a summer afternoon, and never see anyone stop to look at it. It's as though it weren't there. But if you do sit on that park bench, and if you watch carefully, you [i]will[/i] notice [i]something.[/i] As people walk by, a change comes over there. Slouching youths will be begin to stand a little taller. Whiny children, walking with their parents, will cease complaining and begin to play. Their harried parents will begin to relax. A businessman, walking by, will start to whistle a patriotic tune. People feel [i]better[/i] for having walked past. No one knows why this is--it's likely that no one has noticed. They feel better, of course, but no one associates their mild case of euphoria with having passed by the Memorial. No one realizes they [i]have[/i] passed by the Memorial. It just slips out of people's memories. I had the opportunity, several years ago, to speak with the young man who designed the monument. He had been a student in one of my first classes--back in the forties. It doesn't seem that long ago. He recognized me--that's how it usually goes. "Miss Richards!" he'd cried, running over to me (undignified for the man he now was, but endearing just the same). "Miss Richards! It's me, Ben--Benny Morset. Do you remember me? You haven't changed a bit." I did remember him, although I never would have recognized him. I may not seem to change, but my students do...fourth grade is an awkward stage for children. They no longer look like the child they once were, but do not yet resemble the young adult they will soon be. "What are you doing here?" he'd wanted to know. It was late summer, ten years ago, and we were standing near the Gateway of Freedom, at the head of Bendtson Park. I told him the Gateway was the closest thing the city had to a war memorial, and I'd come to pay my respects. I wonder if he knew about Robert. It's possible...unlikely, though, I suppose. When I mentioned a war memorial, Benny--no, [i]Ben[/i]--had gotten very excited. His face lit up as he told me about his plans. He was an architect now, he'd explained, and mostly worked for a contracting company in the city, but last year he's been chosen to design a World War Two memorial for Bendtson Park, and did I know it was going to be renamed [i]Freedom[/i] Park, on account of its being right next to the Gateway of Freedom... But he also spoke of his design, and of his studies, and of his plans for the monument. He talked of buildings being attuned with their surroundings, how modern construction was ugly enough that you were [i]forced[/i] to notice it, and of people's natural tendancies to accept what was easiest and ignore what they didn't understand. I didn't understand much of what Ben said that day, but whatever he had been aiming for, I believe he accomplished. I've been sitting here since three this afternoon, and have yet to see anyone but myself look at it. It really is beautiful. [right]-[i]Excerpt from the notebook of Elizabeth Richards, August 1967.[/i][/right] [center]***[/center] "You found the monument, I see." Elizabeth slowly finished the sentence she was writing, and filed her pen and notebook away inside her purse. "Walter," she said by way of greeting. "Betty." "Elizabeth," she corrected, standing up. Water Fairbanks smiled. "Very well, Elizabeth." The two stood in silence for a moment. "How is Mount Pleasant these days?" the man asked. "The same as always, Walter," Elizabeth answered. "Small towns never change." "What about your new school building?" Walter ventured. "How's that doing?" Elizabeth nodded. "It's fine. How is your business?" "Oh, it's fine, too," he replied quickly. "My son might be taking over soon." "Already?" "Well, a few more years, you know." Their awkward conversation became an awkward silence as the pair stood facing the monument. "It's amazing how hard it is to find," Walter commented finally. "I must have walked past three times before I saw it." "Four." Elizabeth said. "I watched you." Walter gave her a strange look. "That was this afternoon." "I know," she replied. "I was here." Walter let it pass. They stood in silence a while longer as he collected his thoughts. He was here for a reason--well, so was she. It was the anniversary of Robert's death, and the pair of them had come to this park each year for a very long time. To pay their respects, perhaps. Elizabeth, at least, had many things to think about here. A life with her fiancé that never began. Regrets, Walter imagained, although she said she no longer had any. He, however... Robert had been his friend, yes. And the first few years, the first few vigils, had been for him. But dead comrades fade from daily life, if not from memory. He liked Robert, yes, and respected him, and still occasionally missed him. Was all that, though, enough to come each year for the last two decades? No, he thought honestly. It wasn't. So why was he here? The answer was simple. [i]Elizabeth.[/i] The reasoning behind the answer, perhaps, was not so clear. Walter Fairbanks, the businessman, was not the man his closest allies knew. Walter Fairbanks, the father, the man he was to his family, was not his only private side. Well...[i]private[/i] was a relative term, he supposed. Walter Fairbanks was best known to the inhabitants of Key City as Captain Light, [i]Superhero Extraordinaire.[/i] And as Captain Light, he was here once again to recruit Elizabeth Richards for his team. And Elizabeth Richards, unassuming school teacher with super strength, was here...once again...to refuse his offer. He recalled when Elizabeth had first told him of her power. ([i]Raw power[/i], he reflected idly.) It had been one of the first annual vigils...looking back, they had still been so young. It was 1948. They had met just below the Gateway, as they had in the past (and would continue to do for many years in the future.) They had been quiet, reflective. Elizabeth was still hurt and confused, and had recently started working at Mount Pleasant Middle School...something which, she had confessed, she had never wanted to do. (It made him sad that she was still there. It seemed like such a waste.) It was the end of summer--it was [i]always[/i] the end of summer, Walter thought wryly--and Elizabeth had been getting ready for upcoming classes--moving boxes, rearranging desks, cleaning windows, decorating walls, distributing schoolbooks. Moving a box of books from one end of the room to another, another teacher had walked in, surprising her. She dropped the box, scattering several dozen copies of [i]Adventures in Literature[/i] across the floor. The other teacher had helped her collect the books, but laughed at her. "Elizabeth, [i]be careful[/i]. You can't carry full boxes of by yourself--they must weigh five hundred pounds! Ask me or Mr. Browning for help, or leave a note for the janitor, okay?" The man had been exaggerating, of course--the box [i]didn't[/i] weight five hundred pounds--but it was still far heavier than she should have been able to lift by herself. She had never had a problem moving things around by herself, in fact, although it had never before been brought to her attention. She had spoken to him a few weeks after the start of term that year, as well. She's been experimenting, she'd confessed, and had yet to find [i]anything[/i] she couldn't move or lift. There was a touch of fear in her voice. It was useful, she had told Walter, but strange and a little frightening. That phone call had prompted his first offer to join the Guardians. Alarmed and surprised, she had declined. He brought it up a second time when they met at the Gateway a year later. Again, she had refused. The next August, and the next, and the next, he brought it up again. Her answer was always no. She sometimes became defensive, sometimes melancholy. Sometimes she simply said, "No," and left it at that. Occasionally she laughed. Once she had told him a fable...he was still unsure what the moral had been, but had nonetheless assumed (correctly) that her answer was no. She never gave her reason, although they sometimes argued over petty things. "I am happy where I am," she said once. It was a lie. Walter had looked at her sharply. "[i]Are[/i] you?" "I don't have to wear a mask to do [i]my[/i] job," she had said bitterly. He had left then. "Why not? he had asked another time. "Why?" she had answered. "We need you." "No," she had said, "you don't." She had been right. The Guardians hadn't [i]needed[/i] anyone then. "Then [i]you[/i] need [i]us.[/i]" . "No," she had said again, "[i]I[/i] don't." But that, too, was a lie. And that, perhaps, was the reason he came every year. Came, and offered her a chance to escape the mundane life she swore she'd never lead. The life that she now refused, for some reason, to leave. It was a strange conversation to have each year, and Walter found it increasingly difficult to start it. "Elizabeth," he began. The woman looked at him. He cleared his throat. "My offer still stands." Elizabeth smiled. "I know," she said quietly. He nodded. She turned. He waited. "No," she said finally. "Not this year. Not yet." Somewhere in the east, the sun was rising. [/font]

[QUOTE=Lore][SIZE=1]A form of red With fancy lace Brings greeting sweet and pink Although in truth I'm not as fair As Hallmark has you think.[/SIZE][/QUOTE] [size=1]Rose is a good guess. The answer is actually [spoiler]heart The first part refers to valentines and the like. The last three remind you that the [i]shape [/i] "heart" isn't what a real heart would look like.[/spoiler][/size] [QUOTE=Lore][SIZE=1]Alone I'm made As spoken word Not easy to ignore. With com before I give a little In exchange for more. [/SIZE][/QUOTE] [size=1]I'm reluctant to give the answer to this, because I know that many of you could get it, and it feels like cheating. However, if you [i]do[/i] want the answer, here it is: [spoiler]The word [i]promise[/i][/spoiler].[/size]

[size=1]Yes, the answer is Echo. The last two lines are a reference to [spoiler]the story of Echo and Narcissus.[/spoiler] Here's another. [b]Here I lay, but one of many Not alone; part of a whole Covers pulled up overneath me Sheets surrounding, trimmed with gold Here I lay, in slumber waiting Bound together long, it seems Closed in darkness am I silent But I hold another's dreams.[/b] And a second, easier one: [b]A form of red With fancy lace Brings greeting sweet and pink Although in truth I'm not as fair As Hallmark has you think.[/b][/size]

[QUOTE=Kane][size=1]I guess I'm meant to give a riddle now so here goes: [I]I have billions of eyes yet I live in darkness, I have billions of ears yet only four lobes, I have no muscles yet I rule two hemispheres, What am I ?[/I][/SIZE][/QUOTE][size=1]You were right with [b]Ridge[/b], of course. I'm going to guess the [b]brain[/b]. It has four lobes--frontal, occipital, parietal, and...something else. Temporal. Has two hemispheres, sits in the skull (darkness), and controls various...sensory...things. Which I'm going to say fulfill the eyes and ears requirements. [b]The words I speak are not my own My voice is but a shadow No substance mine, but heart broken By flower at poolside meadow.[/b] Not hard. Most people don't catch all of it, though.[/size]

[QUOTE=Crucifix][COLOR=SlateGray][B]The beginning of eternity And the end of time 5th out of 26 with no [B]end[/B] in sight What am I?[/COLOR][/QUOTE][size=1]The letter [i]e[/i]. The beginning of [b]e[/b]ternity And the end of tim[b]e[/b] 5th letter of the alphabet (out of 26.) I'm not sure about the last line, but there you go. [color=#ff6600][b]Darkmark [/b]and [b]XYZ[/b], I've deleted your posts. As I said earlier (and Panda has reminded you) you may [i]not[/i] simply post your guess.[/color] [b]Alone I'm made As spoken word Not easy to ignore. With com before I give a little In exchange for more.[/b] "Riddle" was guessed for this, but that's not right. As I said before, it involves some wordplay. Here's a similar riddle. (It took me almost three years to solve, but it's not that hard if you catch what it is really saying. I've seen people get it immediately.) [b]Alone I am a cliff Something like a knoll With por I am mush Sitting in a bowl. What am I?[/b] If you want a hint, try to solve the second one. The first two lines tell you what kind of word you are looking for. The last two lines tell you [i]which[/i] word of those is the answer. [/size]

[size=1]A way to link to specific archive posts would be brilliant.[/size]

[size=1]If there are five apples on the table, and [i]you take two[/i], then you have two. The ones in your hands. Here's a riddle. A gold star to the first person who gets it: [b]Alone I'm made As spoken word Not easy to ignore. With com before I give a little In exchange for more.[/b] There you go. This is one of my favorite kinds of word games. (And that's a hint, if you get it.) [color=#ff6600]I'm also going to say that I'm going to let this thread go on a condition or two: [b]Extremely short posts are still not acceptable[/b]. If you have a guess, you can just as easily post the explanation for your answer as you can post the answer itself. Please do so. If you want to post a riddle where the answer is little more than a one or two word pun, just post the entire thing, and use the spoiler tag to block out the answer. Example: What's brown and sticky?[/color] [spoiler]A stick.[/spoiler] [color=#ff6600]Posts that encourage pointless posts in reply are just as bad as one word posts themselves. Let's avoid that.[/color][/size]

[size=1]I read when I have time...which doesn't seem to be very often these days. I do enjoy it, though, and I recently jumped back into the science fiction world, which is a lot of fun. I know I read a lot more a few years ago, but I really didn't have anything else to do. Once I got involved with drama at school, my free time dropped by quite a bit. I can't say I regret it, heh. It's not that I don't enjoy it, I just don't have as much free time. I do try to read a book every week or two, though. More if I've gone to the library recently. I mean, hey...who needs sleep?[/size]

[size=1]For those unfamiliar with the poem, you can read it [u][url=http://hobbes.ncsa.uiuc.edu/desiderata.html]here[/url][/u]. I'm curious about your last remark. [i]Read the poem...for judgement...[/i] It doesn't make sense. I don't believe [i]Desiderata[/i] casts judgement on anyone, heh. It's gentle advice, applicable to anyone feeling receptive. [i]Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism. [/i] Granted, much of it sounds like it's come right out of a fortune cookie, but still. [/size]

[size=1]I agree with wrist cutter. You can tell me that being depressed isn't [i]normal[/i], and perhaps you're right. That entails a tedious discussion of what the word normal entails, and I'm not up for it. I think, though, we can at least establish that it's something the average teen goes through. [quote name='Black Moon][size=1']But don't jump to conclusions if you're thinking about a friend, I have a friend who does thing, like cutting, just to get attention, she may have deeper issuse, but the things she does are to get us to notice her, which she doesn't need because a lot of people notice her, while I, on the other hand, am left waiting for someone to talk to me, which rarely happens.[/size][/quote] ..... You're saying that because she only hurts herself in order to get attention, she doesn't really have a problem? That sounds like a rather dangerous frame of mind to be in. As for people not talking to you...be proactive, kittling. You'll go far. You might want to start by talking to your troubled friend...hit two birds with one stone, as it were.[/size]

[size=1]The highest I've seen gas prices over here (I'm just south of Milwaukee, WI) was probably $2.19. A month ago, maybe? Before that it was $2.09 for a few days. (It jumped up twenty cents overnight..I'd bought gas the day before for $1.89, so I was rather pleased with myself that week.) Gas prices were back in the dollar-eighty-somethings this past week, but they're in the dollar-nineties again right now. [/size]

[size=1]They look good. My only suggestion on the first one is to add some kind of border. The color is nicely done, and I like the muted feel. The text might be a little [i]too[/i] muted; I might try making the color a little brighter...but then again, I might not. I'd also put a border of some sort on the second one. I'd also do something with the background...maybe drop the visibility just a bit, so it's not quite so...there. Right now it's right up next to the picture, and the fact that it's so busy is taking away from the foreground image. I'd try and find a way to pull them apart a bit more. I really don't have any fault with the icons. The hearts and swirlies on the second one are cute.[/size]

[quote name='wrist cutter']No, it's not. It is spelled "arigatou", or some other way that indicates the long "o" sound at the end of the word. Just because vowel length isn't important in our language doesn't mean it isn't in others.[/quote][size=1]My friend Lori--she is from Taiwan--was trying to teach me to count in her language, and I was horrible at it. It took me a while to be able to distinguish two numbers (four and something else) from each other. To me, they sounded the same. I finally "got" it when she used hand motions along with the words. Meanwhile, another exchange student was laughing disgustedly at how ignorant I was that I couldn't tell the difference between the sounds. She wasn't even from a "sing-song" country; she was from Germany, and she picked up on it right away. Then again, she might've just been good at that sort of thing. *shrugs* You hear so many people pronouncing words differently all the time, you don't really notice it. It just seems odd that something as small as an "up" or "down" vowel sound could change the meaning of a word. I suppose there are examples of that in English as well...it's just a matter of what you're used to, I guess.[/size]

[size=1]I use Photoshop Elements. ^_^ Not sure what you mean about the gradients... *tilts head* Anyway, your banners look fine. I'm a fan of simpler compositions, I guess, and these seem kinda crowded/busy to me. I can't really fault them, though, since it's a matter of taste. My suggestion in the first one woudl just be to change the color of the text so it fits better with the greens and blues already in the picture. I don't know if you took the color directly from the images or not, but it seems clashy.[/size]

[size=1]I don't really see this thread going anywhere. In any case, there was a fairly recent thread about posting desktop images in the Art forum. I'm not sure what's happened to it since, but your best chance at such a thread would be there.[/size]

[QUOTE=Daermon_Nashabe]My Friend: You are drunk on your own power, you know that. Myself: And you are bloody ugly, however i'll be sober on my own power tomorrow morning. But you'll always be ugly.[/QUOTE][size=1]Amusing. Also, in its more concise form, widely attributed to Sir Winston Churchill.[/size]

[color=#ff6600][size=1]Welcome to OtakuBoards. OB places a great deal of emphasis on discussion. As such, this sort of thread (an introduction) is not allowed here. If you wish to talk about anime, you can do so very easily in the Anime Lounge. You can also look at members' profiles; many people list their AIM handle there. We also do not allow threads created for the purpose of advertising a site. If you wish to point out your myOtaku site, you are free to do so in your signature. Please take a look at our [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/rules.php?]rules[/url] and [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/faq.php?]FAQ[/url]. They should address any questions you have about the site. If not, please feel free to PM myself or another staff member. -Lore[/size][/color]

[size=1]Valiant attempt, guys, but he's gone now. [/size]