Absolute Chaos Discussion Boards
Fic Talk => General Discussion => Topic started by: mare on May 28, 2025, 09:39:38 AM
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I can't seem to find our thread we were posting on. This is the first time I'm coming on today and it was there when I last read it last night. I'm not sure what happened, so I'm starting a new one.
I did see where Julie mentioned school wasn't done yet. This seems later than usual for you. Am I correct in that thinking? I feel like you were usually done before Memorial Day.
Sorry about that, guys. I really have no clue what happened. I would even blame my sausage fingers, but I was only reading last night and didn't come on to post anything. :shrug:
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Oh, and I got my elastic, so I was able to redo my bracelet.
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That’s weird… the thread really did just disappear… has this ever happened before?
My last post from last night was asking everyone what their writing process was.(some writing YouTubers that I follow have done challenges in the past like “writing like Stephen King for the week”. I’ve been toying with trying it to up my productivity.
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You're right; the thread is gone! Weird. That has happened before, and we can never figure out why. I posted my thoughts on AI and a response to Lindsey's question about writing process that I don't feel like retyping right now LOL.
I'm glad you got more elastic, Mare!
Some years we do get out before Memorial Day, but we started a little later this year and then had two snow/cold days, which pushed us back an extra two days. Tomorrow would have been our last day otherwise.
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Threads have vanished a few times before. I have no idea how or why. That sucks when you write out a long reply and it either erases or the thread disappears.
That's a good question about writing processes. I don't know if I've ever really thought about that. I've never been one to map out a story by outlining what I want to cover or anything like that. I usually come up with an idea but don't really act on it unless it just won't leave my head. A lot of times, I'll have a thought, "Oh, this would make a great story!" But then that's as far as it gets. Other times, I find myself constantly thinking about the what ifs of it. That's when I actually start writing it down. Sometimes the Title comes first, sometimes that's the hardest thing to come up with. Generally, I know what direction I want the story to go. I'll have specific parts of the story all done in my mind, but the process of getting there is very spontaneous. A lot of my plot twists happen as I write, never really intending for them to happen until they show on the computer.
I know I've mentioned this before, but "Why I'd do it all Again." Originally started out as a - what would happen if Nick and Kevin went on the Amazing Race together. That then morphed into the idea of having cameras surround them 24/7 as if a documentary was being filmed, which morphed into each one having their own Pov about a day in the life while on tour. That's a lot of unplanned morphing. lol but then ironically, I went back to the Amazing Race idea but then just changed it to fly fishing. I have yet to actually do the Amazing Race. lmao maybe one day.
I have never attempted to write in the style of someone else. I would find that too difficult. It would make sense for someone who is trying to find a voice of their own maybe?
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Threads have vanished a few times before. I have no idea how or why. That sucks when you write out a long reply and it either erases or the thread disappears.
That's a good question about writing processes. I don't know if I've ever really thought about that. I've never been one to map out a story by outlining what I want to cover or anything like that. I usually come up with an idea but don't really act on it unless it just won't leave my head. A lot of times, I'll have a thought, "Oh, this would make a great story!" But then that's as far as it gets. Other times, I find myself constantly thinking about the what ifs of it. That's when I actually start writing it down. Sometimes the Title comes first, sometimes that's the hardest thing to come up with. Generally, I know what direction I want the story to go. I'll have specific parts of the story all done in my mind, but the process of getting there is very spontaneous. A lot of my plot twists happen as I write, never really intending for them to happen until they show on the computer.
I know I've mentioned this before, but "Why I'd do it all Again." Originally started out as a - what would happen if Nick and Kevin went on the Amazing Race together. That then morphed into the idea of having cameras surround them 24/7 as if a documentary was being filmed, which morphed into each one having their own Pov about a day in the life while on tour. That's a lot of unplanned morphing. lol but then ironically, I went back to the Amazing Race idea but then just changed it to fly fishing. I have yet to actually do the Amazing Race. lmao maybe one day.
I have never attempted to write in the style of someone else. I would find that too difficult. It would make sense for someone who is trying to find a voice of their own maybe?
It’s not really trying to copy the chosen author’s voice from the vids I’ve watched… more like hitting a certain word count or following their writing schedule I guess would be another way to word it.
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Oh, okay. I know I usually aim for at least 500 to 1,000 words a day and usually anywhere from 3500 to 4500 words a chapter. As far as schedule, I always write this time every day (9:30 - whenever) fluctuates depending on my schedule. But if I didn't have a regime, I could see me looking for guidance from someplace else.
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Oh, I misunderstood the original question about writing process and writing like certain authors, too. In the first response I posted on the last thread that disappeared, I talked about how I used to unintentionall y emulate authors whose work I'd been reading a lot of. When I first got into Harry Potter and was obsessively reading and rereading the first four books while waiting for the fifth one to come out, I started using some of JK Rowling's techniques, such as parenthetical inserts in the middle of sentences. Similarly, when I was reading a lot of Stephen King, I found myself describing settings in more detail, like he does.
I haven't intentionally set out to follow a specific writer's process, but I've definitely picked up tricks and habits from different writers over the years, both published authors and other fanfic authors. I read Stephen King's book "On Writing" years ago, so I know I've gotten advice from him. If I remember correctly, he's one of those authors who writes every morning. I'm a night owl and used to do most of my writing late at night, but a few years ago, I started writing every morning instead. I've found that it's easier to stay consistent if I do it first thing in the morning, before I get too distracted by anything else. If I wait until after work, I'm usually too tired and brain dead to do anything that requires mental effort or creativity, so I write before work when my mind is fresh. I don't set a daily word count goal like Stephen King does, mostly because I usually only have 20-30 minutes to write while I'm getting ready for work. If I can get 100 words written in that time, great! On weekends when I have more time, I try to get more like 1000 words written. Sometimes I'm way over that, and sometimes I'm way under. My goal is really just to write at least one word a day to stay consistent with it. I hit Day 1225 of my daily writing streak yesterday!
I started tracking my daily word count on NaNoWriMo a few years ago, thanks to a suggestion from Dee. I'm sad because the site just shut down earlier this week, and I lost all my stats. I found another site called TrackBear that is similar, so I may start using that instead.
Another habit I've gotten from other writers is celebrating with a glass of wine when I finish a novel. It doesn't happen very often because I write such long stories LOL.
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I didn't realize NaNoWriMo went away. That's something I always said I'd do but never did.
I definitely prefer writing in the morning. I find that by the afternoon or evening, my mind starts to wander, and I find it much harder to concentrate.
The glass of wine thing is a great idea. Maybe I'll start something like that when I finish a novel I'm about three chapters away from finishing the one I'm writing now. I am not a fan of wine of alcohol in general but perhaps doing chinese takeout would work!
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I never did the actual NaNoWriMo contest in November; November is such a busy month that I knew I would never be able to write 50k words. I did a couple of the "Camp Nano" ones in April and July and had a bit more success with that, thanks to spring and summer break. But 50k a month is still a lofty goal. I didn't even write 100k words last year (for the whole year), and I'm not on track to make 100k this year either. But I care more about being consistent than burning myself out trying to reach a high word count. I'm like the tortoise - slow and steady LOL.
You should definitely treat yourself with something to celebrate finishing a story! It doesn't have to be alcohol. But, seeing as how you're not going to get paid for finishing a project, and praise from readers isn't guaranteed, you should find a way to reward yourself for a job well done. Only other writers understand how much time, effort, and creativity goes into the work we do, even if it is fun work.
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I agree with treating yourself to something when you finish a story. Chinese takeaway or bottle of wine sounds good :)
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Okay wish me luck, ladies! Tomorrow is the big day, and I am mega anxious! It'll be my first time just using the wheelchair. I'm not used to it. I'm treating this trip like a leg of the Amazing Race. (I bring up the Amazing Race a lot lol)
Leave Buffalo at 7:30 - arrive at Penn Station at 3:45
Take wheelchair taxi to hotel at 5:00
Play is at 8:00
Take Wheelchair taxi to Penn Station at 8:30 am
Leave NYC at 10:30 am - Arrive in Buffalo at 6:45 pm ???
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You've got this, Mare! I've been lurking on your journey on Twitter and I think it's going to go great!
I attempted NaNo like five or six times during my life and only won one year, the year I started writing PNecklace again. But when you go way over what's "industry standard" for word counts, that ended up only being 20 chapters and a little less than halfway through the story. haha.
I think that year was just lightning in a bottle, since my work-load was a lot lighter based on what I was teaching that year. In the years since, I haven't even been able to keep up with a "write anything a day, even a sentence goal." Though that's probably a combination of child and work more than just work. But every day he's getting more and more independent, so I'm hopeful he's nearing being more independent soon (in an age appropriate-way, not like leaving him alone at the house and working at a coffee shop)!
As an aside, I hated the in-sentence parenthetical when Faulkner did it -- could your sentences be any longer, sir?
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So exciting, Mare! I hope all goes well, especially with transportation, and I hope you get to interact with Kieran at the stage door. Can't wait to hear all about it!
Welcome back, Dee! I'm still feeling a little lost without NaNo. I never even did it for real in November because that is one of the busiest months of the year for me, but even in the summer, 50k in a month is very ambitious for a slow writer like me LOL. I didn't even hit 100k words for all of last year. Some years are better; I was writing more when I was in the honeymoon phase of my current story. I love those rare "lightning in a bottle" times when you get the right combination of inspiration and time. Hopefully more of those are coming now that your son is getting more independent!
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I'm back! I've clearly been very busy watching mundane documentaries about Big Foot and the Bermuda Triangle, so attempting to do something slightly more productive with my summer schedule.
It's definitely sad, but from what I read about it, it sounds like there was a lot of issues on the back end and lawsuits and things going on that weren't great. I think it's a shame that the young writers program is gone, if for nothing else but to inspire future writers. Maybe teachers that did it in the past will keep doing a loose version without NaNo's oversight.
I agree, 50K is an undertaking! You almost need to make it your full-time job. And even if you get those lightening in a bottle moments, there were definitely days when I didn't hit the minimum suggested daily word count. I always felt like when I looked at 1,667 I always thought it wasn't that much, but there were definitely days where I would stare at the screen and think "I will never be able to write 100 words, let alone 1,667!" And then there were days where I forgot to eat lunch and chunked out several thousand words without pause. Writing -- a fickle master.
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I hear you! My goal is to do at least one productive thing per day this summer. This week, that has been deep cleaning and organizing my house. I love being able to do that while still having plenty of time for leisure activities. I allowed myself to open The Sims 4 the other day for the first time since last summer and was immediately reminded why I didn't let myself play it all school year when I was up until 4 a.m. redecorating rooms. 😬 As a result, I haven't gotten much written this week. Are you writing again? (Or trying to?)
Yes, I don't remember the specific details, but I heard there was some controversy involving underage users in the NaNoWriMo forums or something. Hopefully an alternative will emerge to inspire young writers.
The minimum daily word count badge is the one I never earned for any of my goals LOL. These days, I only hit 1667+ words on a really good writing day, and it's just not possible to have those every day. I can stare at a screen for hours and still not make that count if the words just aren't flowing that day. But I love those days when I forget to eat because I can't tear myself away from it! Those are usually Sundays for me. I think it's the combination of being well-rested and knowing it's my last day to write a lot before the work week begins that makes me more creative and motivated to keep going while I can. I feel like Hamilton: "Why do you write like you're running out of time?" Now that it's summer and I can write whenever I want, I don't have that same sense of urgency.
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Ooh, that's a good goal to have! I should adopt that one. I spent all of Spring Break deep cleaning our house because my MIL was visiting and then I ended up getting absolutely no time to myself to recharge. So I committed to doing nothing to start the summer. But I did end up doing laundry, regular normal level cleaning and taking up Duolingo again to refresh on my foreign languages. So I guess I haven't done nothing-nothing. And in one of my documentary sessions, I found out that I somehow missed that the Dominican lawyer-archaeologist that had been excavating at Taposiris Magna has found a tomb with some mummies with golden tongues and a new 1305-meter tunnel, that was probably for water. Probably. So caught up on my archaeology news too. :D
Trying to. Had a few nuggets of things I was inspired to research, but nothing had stuck out quite yet. I think I should probably do some rereading and then hopefully that will inspire something. I'd like to get something finished this summer while I have the time. And so my husband doesn't think I'm totally useless. Though right now, he's encouraging it.
We're always running out of time, obviously! I've stopped staring at the screen for long amounts of time. I'm just telling myself that if it's not there, it's not there. But I think inspiration will hit eventually. Probably. I wrote a little in February and March, but it was on my phone, which I feel like is unsustainable for a longer stream of ideas. I don't know how the kids do it these days! lol
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Sounds like you've done plenty! Parenting is also a full-time job, so even if you do nothing else, that's enough. How many different foreign languages are you learning?
Rereading usually helps to reinspire me. I hope it works for you, too! Are you trying to finish the next Pandora story or wanting to start a new project?
I tend to stare at the screen for longer on weekends during the school year because I know it's my only chance to have a nice, long writing session and feel like I have to take advantage of it. But now that it's summer, I'm more likely to write a few sentences and call it good for the day if I'm not feeling it, knowing I can always come back to it later or the next day. That's how this whole week has been. But, like you said, inspiration will strike eventually; it always does.
I also don't know how these kids write whole stories on their phones LOL. I could never! The only time I do is when I'm traveling and trying to keep my writing streak going.
Mare, I can't wait to hear all about your trip and the play!
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Finally I'm able pop in and not get a service error! :)
Mare, I'm also equally excited to hear about the play and stage door experience (I hope to see Andy Mientus on stage someday -he played the pied piper on CW's The Flash; but he does a lot of stage acting too- hearing your experience could help me plan for the future...)
I have some answers to what went down with Nanowrimo... Savywritesbook s on youtube has a wonderful vid if you want more details... but, basically, nano as a company became majorly poorly managed after the original owner walked... then the forums ended up full of predators and emotional abusers; (and the official school edition of nano wasn't vetting if actual teachers were running the 'virtual classrooms', the final nail in the coffin so to speak was how the company handled all of this coming out and their stance on AI writing overall...
I discovered another piece of Nick's acting career... I was reading through the official backstreet boys biography that released in 1997 (Man, I love the internet archive) and in the Nick chapter it mentions an indie art film called Electra. I found the film its on Tubi under the title 'Electra Love 2000'. It was an interesting watch that I haven't ever seen anyone talk about (Nick's probably nine or ten in the film depending on when filming took place.The film released in 1990.) Fair warning though it earns the MA rating there are some intense and graphic scene's but then again it is the tale of Electra so I wasn't too surprised) I plan on creating a full review I think...
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Hey guys! Here is my rather long review of my trip to NYC!
First of all, it almost didn’t happen. We live about 5 minutes away from the train station and it’s really bad that my sister knew that because the train was scheduled to leave at 7:30, but my sister spent so much time lollygagging around we didn’t end up even leaving here until 7:20! There was a light that we hit at the end of our street but luckily there is a pizza place there, so instead of waiting at the light she cut through the pizza place’s parking lot and I swear to GOD that was the difference between getting there on time or missing the train. When we got into the lobby it was final boarding call. Jesus!
The trip was exhausting. It felt like we were on the Amazing Race. The whole Amtrak experience going there wasn't too bad. They had reserved seats for us right next to the bathroom and there was plenty of leg room for me and my sister. The only bad thing that happened was getting off the train, the ramp was really narrow and I had to guide myself down using my legs as my sister gently pushed from behind and I was wearing really long pants and I was rolling down the ramp, my pants got caught in the wheels so badly that we had to borrow the train conductor’s knife to cut the one pant leg so I could get myself free! I am going to ignore the fact that the man just happened to carry a knife with him and instead be thankful for it. So, I had to throw out those pants. Lol
Coming back was a completely different experience. They were rude and unwilling to help in the slightest way. They didn't mark any seats reserved so this one lady who actually cut in front of me while I was trying to get onto the train proceeded to take the seat right next to the wheelchair accessible one, so my sister couldn't even sit by me which is bad because I needed her help to get stuff out of bags etc... We asked the lady if she would mind moving, but she refused so yeah, most likely a Trump supporter. They also sat us two cars away from the restroom which with a wheelchair was a death sentence. We had to go through the snack car which was always crowded. I pretty much held my pee in for about 6 hours before I couldn't handle it anymore. I don't know how I managed to do that every day of my life while teaching. Getting off the train, they deboarded us from business class where the opening was way narrower and it took forever to get me off the train because again, we got no help! as we were leaving one of the attendants was complaining about how now they were running off schedule. Not my problem lady maybe if you offered to help in any way.
The hotel was a complete nightmare! I booked a hotel right across from the theater (which I'm glad I did!) because it boasted about its ADA rooms and how accessible it was. I paid over $300 for one night and reserved an ADA room. It was pricey but for the center of Times Square not too bad. When we got there, the front desk said, "Oops sorry, I see that on your reservation it's noted that all the ADA rooms were sold out at the time of booking so we had to give you a regular one." so the DAY I booked it, they knew the room wasn't available but let me book it anyway? And then didn't even bother to let me know at any time before I arrived so I could cancel and go somewhere else. They seriously acted like this was no big deal. "Oh, it happens all the time" she laughed. "We'll just refund you the $50 for the ADA room fee." Are you serious lady?
So, there are 2 elevators to get upstairs. One was so narrow I wasn't able to get in there with my wheelchair. The other we barely fit. I had to be pushed all the way to the very back and my feet just got in there, and then my sister had to literally climb over me to get in. No one else was able to be in there. The actual doorway to get into the hotel room was so small I had to stand up, and she had to fold the wheelchair so this way it could fit in the room. But that's not even the WORST part. There was a step leading into the bathroom. A step! Thank GOD I'm not in the position that I am completely immobile and thought to bring my cane, because otherwise whenever I would have needed to go to the bathroom, I would have had to go down to the lobby. I didn't get to shower or anything because there was no way I would be able to get into or out of the shower without killing myself. We were on such a tight schedule there was really nothing I could even really do about it. We got to the hotel at about 6:15 and we needed to be down to the play by 7, by the time stage door ended it was nearly 11.
The actual play was the best experience. The theater was completely accessible. They let my sister, and I wait in the lobby and skip the line completely. Everyone who worked there was super nice and helpful. Our seats were great and even though the actual play was not that great, everyone who was in it was stellar! They let me right in the front by the barricade for stage door and everyone was so kind.
The play ended at around 9:45 and by 10:00 the first people came out. I already knew they weren’t coming out together which is great because it would have been complete bedlam. It was packed! I don’t know if it’s like that with every show but because of the star power of this one there were about four rows of people just standing and waiting. Luckily I was right out in front. You can tell by looking at my videos how incredibly close we were. So, I would say, if you want to stage door, you should leave right after the bows or maybe even before they are over. Bill Burr came out first followed by Michael McKean. Bill was nice, he asked me if I enjoyed the show. Michael McKean called me sweetheart and showed me his dog. I was too afraid I’d miss a Kieran sighting, so I didn’t pull up a picture of Chloe, but I told him about her. I also talked to Donald Webber who was really awesome in this. You can tell he is a Broadway veteran. He seemed completely comfortable up there. I asked him what was next for him, and he said they were going to start filming season three of Severance soon. He’s got a little part in that show. The other minor cast person I talked to, John Petruccelli, noticed my shirt and asked if I was Kieran fan lol I said I love how he towered over Kieran on stage and he really does! He’s got to be about 6ft5 at least to Kieran’s 5ft5 He said even though he towered over him physically Kieran’s stage presence makes him larger than life.
Bob came out next and was very nice. He was getting over being sick and was very hoarse and the stage manager announced that Bob wasn’t going to be talking to anyone and just signing, but he started a conversation with me. Asked me if I thought there was too much cursing in the show. Lol
And then we waited and waited and waited. Kieran was nowhere to be found. At one point the security team all went inside and the lobby lights shut and my heart just dropped. I was sure that meant he wasn’t coming out but then luckily almost 20 minutes after Bob left, he finally came out! He was being super apologetic for being late. He said he had multiple guests tonight. I think Macauley might have been there with his wife and her family because while we were waiting in the lobby a whole lot of people who looked like Brenda Song were being led into the theater and to the elevators.
As you saw, I had quite the lovely and perfect fan interaction with him. I will try to link all my videos in here if I can figure out how. He gave me one hundred and fifty percent of his attention. His eye contact was amazing! I felt like we were the only two people there and he made me feel like that. He was so excited about the bracelets and LOVED the Blork one, which is great because that was a last minute choice. He got a kick out of my Roman Roy eras shirt. And gave me two high fives, one of which he held onto my hand as if his life depended on it. I was so flustered by the experience, I forgot to ask him to sign my playbill and when I did he said “NO! Fuck You!” lmao but then of course signed it and also signed the bookmark I brought as well. My favorite part happened at the very end and I am so sad my sister didn’t get it. The video cuts off just as he’s saying to the person directly behind me who tried to get him to sign something other than the playbill he said “Sorry, I’m only supposed to sign playbills well except for her because she gave me stuff” and then he made a cringey face at me and winked. My whole life was made! After that, everything that had happened at the hotel was forgotten and I have been floating on cloud nine ever since.
One thing that was scary, when getting home, I found it very difficult getting up the steps to get inside. It's always been a struggle, but I was having a really hard time getting my leg high enough to step up and the other one literally just drags behind me now, so we are going to have to problem solve that. It's time to think about getting a ramp because soon I won't be able to leave my house, not that I ever really leave all that often, but still. So that was my trip. Sorry it was so long and ranty lol
I don’t think I’d ever be able to do anything like that again. I was completely out of commission yesterday and am barely up today, but it was worth it! So worth it!
I wrote this in word and it’s 4 pages long lmao I guess this counts as my writing for today! :shrug:
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Glad the forum is back online!
I couldn't remember the details but read the gist of what happened with NaNoWriMo after they announced they were shutting down. It's too bad that they let it fall into chaos like that.
Wow, Electra is a Nick project I've never heard of! And I even have that biography - the one with the red cover, right? Good for you for finding it! How big is his role in it? Does he have a speaking part? My favorite early Nick acting project is "Reach for a Book," the L-I-B-R-A-R-Y video. It's hilarious! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTIo5INXwtg
Mare, I've been looking forward to reading all about your experience. And what an experience it was! Sounds like it was worth it for the Kieran interaction, but some of the other stuff sounds like a nightmare. I saw your tweet and was wondering what the deal was with your pants! I'm glad you had another pair to wear to the show.
That is infuriating that the hotel had no ADA rooms and didn't communicate that with you. If they were all sold out, they should show up that way on the website and not allow you to book them. I believe it does happen all the time, though. A couple I follow on YouTube, Cole and Charisma, just posted a video about that a couple of weeks ago. They had reserved an ADA room with a roll-in shower weeks in advance and called the hotel after booking to confirm that they did, in fact, have a room with a roll-in shower reserved. They were assured they did. The day of check-in, they called the hotel again to double check that they still had their room and were again told that they did. Then they arrived at the hotel and were told that their room was no longer available because the people staying in it the night before had decided to extend their stay, and there were no other rooms with roll-in showers available. They also said that this happens a lot, and even calling to confirm the reservation doesn't guarantee that the right kind of room will be available once they get there. Absolutely frustrating and so very wrong! I'm glad you were able to make it sort of work for you for one night, but sorry you experienced that.
Also sorry for your Amtrak woes! I'm glad the trip there was mostly okay, but the trip back sounds terrible. I can't believe how rude people are. The woman who sat next to you and wouldn't move to let your sister sit by you? What a bitch. It's not like she paid for that seat specifically, like on an airplane. You should have started asking her for help with stuff until she decided to move LOL.
After all that, I'm glad the play was worth the trip! I loved the videos you posted on Twitter. So cool that you got to meet all those actors and have such great interactions! Like I said on Twitter, they all seemed genuinely nice. I'm sure you were on cloud nine after your encounter with Kieran!
I bet you were exhausted by the time you got home. So many highs and lows. Sorry to hear about the steps! It would probably be good to look into getting a ramp so you can leave the house without having anxiety about getting up and down the stairs.
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I’ll respond in more detail tomorrow, but before this site goes away again, I wanted to link my videos so this way those of you who do not to Twitter can see them.
https://youtube.com/@egypt18015?si=2N4iBchi8PsV1T9h
When you go there, they are all under the shorts. It opens on my Jean birthday video.
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Yay! It's still here. I'm not sure what's going on with this site. It's annoying.
My Kieran interaction definitely made the trip worth it. I almost booked it for today instead of last Friday and I'm so glad I didn't because Kieran missed the play for the first time ever last night and I can't even imagine the amount of anxiety I would have had traveling all the way to NYC today knowing that. It's a little worrying because of how late he cancelled. The outside door still announced he was going to be there. It wasn't until about 20 minutes before showtime that the understudy found out he would be going on and it was finally announced. Alan Ruck was also there in the audience, which tells me he really did plan on being there. Hopefully he's okay and or Jazz because now there's also speculation that she might be pregnant, because when Kieran got his Sardi's portrait unveiled, Bill Burr mentioned this was an incredible year for him both professionally and personally. And yay for him getting a Sardi's portrait. That's a big deal.
Anyway, we all know how that goes. When one of them suddenly no shows or something. All the negative thoughts that fly. Hopefully he'll show at tonight's performance.
The hotel was the worst! Some of my friends recommended I write up a yelp review about the experience, so I did that, and it made me feel better. It really does amaze me how ambivalent people are about things like that. I mean, I guess I get it, because until you find yourself in this situation it is really hard to understand all the little hinderances there are throughout the day for people who are handicapped and especially wheelchair bound. I honestly don't know what I would have done if I was completely immobile. There were so many times during this trip that I was forced to get out of the chair to be able to get into someplace or get down from someplace. The sidewalks in NY for instance. Even at the end of every corner, there wasn't always a natural slope to go down. Not that we had time to go exploring, but to get across the street to the theater, there was nowhere to even cross that didn't involve going over a step, even a small one. And the train as well. Even though there was a handicap accessible bathroom, an actual wheelchair would never fit in there so I would have to park the chair and then walk inside.
I'm figuring out it's not my legs that's the problem, but my arms. I don't have the strength I used to. So, pulling myself up is getting increasingly difficult. I went to sit outside yesterday, and I almost wasn't able to get back inside because there's one big step up into the backdoor. By big I mean normal sized. I can do small ones with no problem; it's the big ones that are killing me. I wasn't able to really push myself at all in the chair either. I have wrist weights so I'm going to start using those to see if it helps.
I am so glad we live in an era where it's easy to document your experiences. I love that I can watch those videos whenever I want. I swear I watch it every night before I go to bed. lol Although with that comes the paranoia about that damn dumb but smart bracelet. I was so taken in by him, I didn't think to make sure he understood that reference as a Roman quote. The way he read it and nodded, the more I watch it I'm like...hrmm did he think that was a backhanded insult? lol but he tends to have a good memory and if he got the Blork one, He had to remember that line, right? Hopefully. He was wearing my Blork bracelet when he got his portrait at Sardi's.
Today is the first day I feel like myself, so I'm actually going to try to write a bit. I really hope the forum stays up. Now that we have people active again on here, I don't want it to disappear again!
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Hey guys! Here is my rather long review of my trip to NYC!
Mare, I also loved lurking on your video. What an amazing experience -- I'm so happy for you! I think a lot of shows are busy at the stage door like that depending on the star power of the show and/or the performers. Like I would imagine something like Hamilton or & Juliet right now with Joey Fatone in it is crazy busy like that, but maybe not something like Avenue Q? lol I'm so glad that the extra 20-minute wait ended up positively! How exciting that he was still wearing your bracelet a few days later!!
That hotel and train experience is wild! I'm so sorry you had to deal with that. That Amtrak from the city to upstate is the worst. And now I feel vindicated in that belief outside of the horrible hangover I had that day. lol Which I realize is not the same thing, but I did complain to my husband about the size of the bathroom door for ADA accessibility. For the hotel, could also be worth it to call their corporate customer service number? If for nothing but the cavalierness of "it happens all the time."
In addition to the wrist weights, you could also look at getting a resistance band and working your way up to hand weight exercises. If PT is part of your doctors appointments (or if its not), your care team may have some good suggestions on working on arm strength.
ETA: And on the bathroom thing. It's because you weigh: is my day going to be worse if I stop what I'm doing right now to go the bathroom or if I don't stop what I'm doing to go to the bathroom? I usually find that 9/10, my life will be easier if I just put off going to the bathroom. Add to that that for whatever reason, being in the midst of teaching usually makes me forget I have to go to the bathroom anyway. :shrug:
I have some answers to what went down with Nanowrimo...
I discovered another piece of Nick's acting career... I was reading through the official backstreet boys biography that released in 1997 (Man, I love the internet archive) and in the Nick chapter it mentions an indie art film called Electra.
That's what I'd heard as well. When your main mission is working with kids, you really have to do everything you can to keep that safe and above board. I think a little more transparency in their actions could have helped a lot as well, but it would be difficult to start a new version with the way it ended.
Always love a good Greek mythology-based project. Add that to my watch list this summer.
Sounds like you've done plenty!
I should get paid more for this full time job. The other day, I got yelled at because I kept insisting the letter "eluex" was actually "W, X" in the alphabet song -- the audacity! And for some reason, the argument that I'm an expert on early literacy does not work on a Toddler. ::)
Just brushing up on my French and Japanese! 16 days so far!
I have a couple of things in-progress that I'm bouncing around... PBox, snails, that 5 POV thing I started a few summers ago. Also considering a horror-movie watch and dropping a snippet in on you and Rose. We'll see. ;) I did take my computer on our little vacation and opened it exactly zero times, so I'm doing great! But I have been percolating a lot on Nick's new album and how it resonates with me and my thoughts.
Is it because they see phones and fun and computers for school? I know they're basically tiny computers these days, but my thumbs can't type nearly as fast as my fingers on a full keyboard. Even when I had a tablet instead of a computer for a couple of years, I used a Bluetooth keyboard when I wanted to type anything -- a story, an email, lesson plans, whatever. I watch my husband do his weird two finger typing and think that's what the kids are doing. How do they get anything done, let alone in a timely manner. Do schools still have Mavis Beacon? Are the kids just swyping or using auto-predict or are they leaving themselves voice to text notes? I need an AMA with a teenage author. lol
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I'm glad the forum is back!
Hopefully all is well with Kieran and his family. Good thing you went last week, just in case!
Good idea to write a Yelp review for the hotel! I'm sure other people who are looking for accessible rooms will appreciate knowing about your experience. That's crazy that there weren't even curb cuts at every intersection in NYC. Of all the ways to add accessibility, that seems like it should be one of the easiest ones to do. But you're right; until you've been in that situation or known someone who is, you don't even think about it.
Trying the wrist weights sounds like a good idea, as does Dee's PT suggestion. Hopefully you can find some simple exercises to help you maintain and build on the function and strength you have.
I have a couple of things in-progress that I'm bouncing around... PBox, snails, that 5 POV thing I started a few summers ago. Also considering a horror-movie watch and dropping a snippet in on you and Rose. We'll see. ;) I did take my computer on our little vacation and opened it exactly zero times, so I'm doing great! But I have been percolating a lot on Nick's new album and how it resonates with me and my thoughts.
All this makes me happy to hear! Especially the horror movie plan! You sound just like me whenever I'm between projects, bouncing here and there and everywhere. It always takes me some time to settle into a new story (or back into an old one I started and didn't finish). Keep percolating! No pressure to write on vacation though. I can never focus well enough to get much done when I'm away from home.
What are your favorite tracks from Nick's album? My favorite of the new ones is Storms. I could definitely see that one inspiring a story someday.
According to comments I've seen on Reddit, there are definitely teenagers who type all their fanfics on their phones. Maybe they're better at typing that way because they grew up with it, whereas we didn't have smartphones with full keyboards until we were adults. The phone keyboard is just too small for me; I make so many typos that I would be incredibly frustrated trying to use it as my main writing device. We've been one-to-one with Chromebooks at school since Covid, and I use Typing.com with my students for keyboarding lessons and practice. I have them type all their published pieces in writing, so they get faster at it over the course of the year.
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Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I don't have a team of anyone to help with anything, but I have been looking up YouTube videos for building upper arm strength. We'll see how it goes. When I taught, my classroom was up a flight of steps and to get to the bathroom, I had to go down and walk across the gym floor to get to the bathrooms behind the bleachers. I only had about a five-minute gap between classes and it would take me that long just to make it down the steps, so I would have to wait until the end of the school day before I got to go. I can't even tell you the number of times I almost peed myself. That was another place that was not handicap accessible. They were the barest minimum to get the ADA approval. There was an elevator and a ramp leading into the gym, but there was no way for someone in a wheelchair to get to the main school from the gym without having to climb steps. :shrug:
Kieran was at the play yesterday, so it was probably a stomach bug or something. I'm sure a video of a fan asking will pop up at some point.
I love that you are lurking on my videos, Dee. lol I keep forgetting to ask my sister for the one where I actually interact with Bill Burr.
Stage Door has become a whole culture now. I know the Outsiders, even though there's no one famous in that show, they have a bunch of groupies that go to the plays all the time and religiously wait for them afterwards. Apparently, they are rude as well. They treat the play like a rock concert and yell out the actors' names. Since Broadway is right now comprised of a lot of A list celebrities it's been kind of crazy, although not many do stage door regularly. I think George Clooney comes out once in a while. No offense to Joey Fatone, but nobody seems to care about him. I don't even think they have a barricade for & Juliet. I might be wrong, but who knows? lol
When do you guys go to Vegas?
I can't type anything on my phone. Even to post here, I have to be on the computer. The only time I post from my phone is on Twitter and sometimes FB. I don't know how people write on their phones, but I guess if that's all your used to. So many people I know who write also don't do it on Word, but directly on the AO3 site. I would be way too paranoid to do that.
I'm glad you're both writing. I have about two more chapters to write on this one and then I think I'm taking a break. I've been wanting to paint again, and I can't do both.
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YouTube is a great starting point! I learn so much from YouTube LOL.
Ugh, the bathroom situation at your old school sounds like a nightmare. I am fortunate to be in a fairly new school building (built in 2001), where there is a staff bathroom located in each hall. The building is also very accessible; it has two stories, but there is an elevator to get to the second floor and a ramp anywhere that requires a few steps up or down. My classroom is on the first floor and is closest to the nurse's office, so I tend to get the students with physical disabilities. The one problematic thing is that the art room is on the second floor, so once a week, those students have to take the elevator to get upstairs to art. Not a big deal, except for that if there were ever a fire and the elevator were out of order, no one has ever been able to give me a satisfactory answer as to how we would get students who are, say, full-time wheelchair users downstairs and out of the building. "Have the art teacher carry her" was the answer I got the last time I had a student who used a wheelchair and couldn't walk at all. Our art teacher is close to retirement; I'm not sure he could carry some of these kids. They really need some kind of stair lift that could be operated manually in case of an emergency.
Glad to hear Kieran is back!
I've only been to two Broadway shows (on actual Broadway), and both times, I was on a bus trip with a big group of people, so I don't think waiting at the stage door was an option, if that was even a thing back then. I haven't been to NYC since 2009, so I'm sure the culture has grown since then. That's crazy that people are yelling out the actors' names during the show. No matter what kind of music it is, a musical is not the same as a concert. I've been to musicals where I know every lyric and would love to sing along, but I don't because we paid to hear the actors sing, not random people in the audience LOL. I do sing along at concerts, but quietly - and not when someone is recording next to me. We're doing the July 27 and 28 shows in Vegas.
I only post here on my computer too. I occasionally tweet or comment on Reddit from my phone, but that's about it. Writing directly on AO3 is idiotic! Rookie mistake! Wait until they accidentally lose everything, and they'll learn. I've switched to Google Docs out of convenience; I don't even have Word on my desktop computer anymore (well, I do, but I haven't paid for it, so I can't edit documents on it). The only thing I miss about Word is that there's no limit to how long documents can be. Google Docs can't handle some of my docs. 🙃
Does that mean you're two chapters away from finishing your story? That's exciting! Painting sounds nice. Maybe you could paint something related to your stories and say it's inspiration for writing. That's sometimes how I justify playing The Sims instead of writing in the summer LOL.
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I wish I was talented enough to paint freestyle. When I say painting, I mean those elaborate paint by number ones I make. They are hard and look really good when I'm done but I could never do it freeform. I would love to do that. I have so many visual images in my mind of certain scenes in my stories that I'd love to see come alive. Yes, I only have two chapters left of this story I'm working on. Technically I could finish in one, but I have had an ending in my mind from the start and time has to go by between the second to last chapter and the last chapter, so I'm stretching to two more.
The last time I went to Broadway before seeing this one was when I went to see Kevin in Chicago. There were only a small handful of people waiting at the backstage door and no barricades at all. When I was very young and living in the Bronx, we used to go very often to see a lot of shows and we almost always waited backstage afterwards. I was so young though, I don't really remember caring about anything except getting a NYC pretzel afterwards. lol
We did quite a few trips into the city to see shows when I was in high school, but like you, because it was an entire marching band or chorus, we never did the stage door.
You were told that the art teacher should carry them down? Wtf? Jesus! The kids who were in wheelchairs because of injuries wouldn't even be able to come to music class at all because the only way to get up to my classroom was an entire flight of steps. I used to physically wince when a kid came up on crutches. Afriad that they'd fall and break their little necks. I know they have since FINALLY moved the music room into the main building where there is an elevator and they turned my old room into a storage closet, which is what it should've have always been in the first place.
End of July is a good time for a concert. I don't know about heat wise with Vegas, but it'll be a nice way to bring your summer to an end. Are you guys doing the whole Meet and Greet thing? I'm sure if they are even doing those, it will be off the wall expensive.
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Happy Brithday, Lindsey! If you haven't disappeared again because the forum is being stupid! lol
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Happy birthday, Lindsey!
Ah, paint by number sounds fun! I'm not a good freestyle painter or drawer either. It is fun to bring your stories to life in a visual way. That's what I do with The Sims. My characters and settings never look quite the same as they do in my head, but I still have fun creating them and playing with them in my game.
Yay for being so close to finishing your story! I know you said you'll probably take a break to paint, but do you have more ideas waiting to be written when you're ready?
Yep, no one had a better answer than to have someone carry the kid down the stairs. Let's hope there's never an actual fire. 😳 Putting the art room on the second floor (with no windows, I might add) was a dumb decision in the first place. But he has a kiln in there and his own storage closet, so moving it downstairs isn't really an option either. Clearly, no one considered the logistics of having students with disabilities, beyond meeting the basic ADA requirements with the ramp and elevator. That's terrible that your students who depended on a wheelchair, even temporarily, couldn't even go to music! I'm glad they've since moved the music room to a more accessible location.
Yes, the Vegas trip will be a nice way to sort of close out my summer before August hits and I have to get into back to school mode. We are not doing a meet and greet because of how expensive it is. The last time I went to Vegas in July, it was 120 degrees, so that's what I'm preparing myself for. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be because of the lack of humidity. I never felt sweaty because it was so dry that the sweat evaporated instantly, and we were only outside for a few minutes at a time while walking between casinos. The only thing we're hoping to do that's outside is the Neon Museum, which we'll do at night if it's not too hot.
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Thank you so much for the birthday wishes :) (I noticed that the main page said the most online the other day was like 900 something… have bots finally discovered the forums?)
Mare, I watched through your vids so cool!
And Julie, if you need a more powerful word replacement libre office is a free open source word clone. I personally use scrivener on both my iPad and my Mac. But my brother uses the google suite stuff a lot. I had no clue about the word cap.
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A'ight, I tried to catch up in one post. :D
Happy (belated) birthday! Hope it was a great one!
All this makes me happy to hear!
What are your favorite tracks from Nick's album? My favorite of the new ones is Storms. I could definitely see that one inspiring a story someday.
I actually wrote about 450 words on Friday, so I'm calling it a good start. I was at least able to finish off a chapter I've been working on on-and-off for... oof, looks like four years. :D Well, little celebrations. lol
I also really enjoy Storms from the newer ones! I'm sure y'all have chatted ad nauseam already, but I overall enjoy the rawness of the album. It feels like a journey through trauma responses, but with a hope spot and some catharsis mixed in. I think that's what I enjoy in Storms is the narrative that you've got your guard up, but you're trying to take action, and also still believing there's some peace in the end. Very beautiful stuff.
Don't Let Go gets me, because I always feel myself saying, "You're so right, Nick. If you do your job correctly, you're raising a person who'd got their own stuff to do besides being your baby." I don't think it was intended, but it also makes me think of the opposite, being the child who's, in some ways, also not wanting their parent(s) to let go.
I still love Hey Kid, even though it wasn't "new" when the album dropped. Right before the song came out, I got asked what I'd go back and tell myself in high school or what I'd try to change for myself. And you know I love a good joke, so I said "Don't worry, you still get to go to Backstreet Boys concerts, but you didn't get to marry Nick Carter." But my actual more serious answer was that we're who we are because of our journey and the people who help us through. And it's not so much that life only gives us things we can handle, it's that we're able to handle things and get stronger because of our journey. I did say I would tell myself to be less hard on my mom though.
And you know I love a good bop, so Made For Us is my jam. I think the only songs I'm lukewarm about are Easy and Dirty Laundry. And it's not that they're bad, they just feel kind of "eh" compared to everything else. :shrug: Could be chord progression maybe?
According to comments I've seen on Reddit, there are definitely teenagers who type all their fanfics on their phones.
I hate the typos too! Those kids are brave. Especially the ones that use their phones to write on AO3 like you said. The rookiest rookie mistake. You forget to save one draft and poof! Good on you making your kids practice typing. I have the opposite problem where families will ask me for tech options for helping fine-motor skills and I'm like, uh, no... An app won't help with that. Go play with play dough or climb the monkey bars. :D
There was an elevator and a ramp leading into the gym, but there was no way for someone in a wheelchair to get to the main school from the gym without having to climb steps. :shrug:
"Have the art teacher carry her" was the answer I got the last time I had a student who used a wheelchair and couldn't walk at all.
These sound like nightmares! Schools that are multi-level make me so nervous for ADA stuff. I'm so blessed that my kids are small, so our bathroom is in our classroom. Add to that that our school is only one level, except the gym/auditorium is a bit sunken, but has a ramp no issue.
"Just carry the kid" makes me so angry on multiple levels. That's not a feasible emergency solution and probably a clear violation of many ADA or OSHA policies. When I had a classroom on the garden level (see: basement), I had a student that was very concerned about what would happen if a fire was in our hallway and we couldn't get out our door. They were adamant about getting an answer, so I ended up saying that I would probably throw a chair at the window and we'd all climb out that way. I was never positive that the chair would break the window, but a couple years later, a car did crash into that window and break it (luckily, no one was in the room at the time, so there were not injuries), so my solution may have been feasible.
Stage Door has become a whole culture now. I know the Outsiders, even though there's no one famous in that show, they have a bunch of groupies that go to the plays all the time and religiously wait for them afterwards. Apparently, they are rude as well. They treat the play like a rock concert and yell out the actors' names. Since Broadway is right now comprised of a lot of A list celebrities it's been kind of crazy, although not many do stage door regularly. I think George Clooney comes out once in a while. No offense to Joey Fatone, but nobody seems to care about him. I don't even think they have a barricade for & Juliet. I might be wrong, but who knows? lol
I've only been to two Broadway shows (on actual Broadway), and both times, I was on a bus trip with a big group of people, so I don't think waiting at the stage door was an option, if that was even a thing back then. I haven't been to NYC since 2009, so I'm sure the culture has grown since then. That's crazy that people are yelling out the actors' names during the show. No matter what kind of music it is, a musical is not the same as a concert. I've been to musicals where I know every lyric and would love to sing along, but I don't because we paid to hear the actors sing, not random people in the audience LOL. I do sing along at concerts, but quietly - and not when someone is recording next to me.
The Outsiders is part of our touring ticket package this year. I'm pretty excited for that one. For better or for worse, as far as I know, stage doors aren't a thing locally, so it's not really an issue. I've only been to one show on actual Broadway and I probably couldn't have convinced hubs to go to a stage door if I tried.
I was this person. :( I'm normally very good for all musicals I love. Like I've seen Les Mis several times and have never sung. But my Backstreet-loving heart could not help mouthing the words to the Backstreet Boys songs during & Juliet. I didn't actually say a word, so hopefully I did not bother the people next to us, but my BFF about died trying to hold in her laughter. There was a woman that sat in front of us when we saw The Wiz and she was dancing and having a great time; we joked about how many times she must have seen it or whether she was a huge MJ or Diana Ross fan. And my BFF was definitely like "You're The Wiz lady" after the show. :blushes: Don't judge me too much. :D
The last time I went to Broadway before seeing this one was when I went to see Kevin in Chicago. There were only a small handful of people waiting at the backstage door and no barricades at all. When I was very young and living in the Bronx, we used to go very often to see a lot of shows and we almost always waited backstage afterwards. I was so young though, I don't really remember caring about anything except getting a NYC pretzel afterwards. lol
Snacks afterward are the best part. 100%.
YouTube is a great starting point! I learn so much from YouTube LOL.
I have learned so much useless junk from YouTube and it has been wonderful. How much it helps my normal life is iffy. In theory, I could mount a horse without a saddle. But, I have also gotten some great cleaning and simple repair tips. lol
The only thing I miss about Word is that there's no limit to how long documents can be. Google Docs can't handle some of my docs. 🙃
And Julie, if you need a more powerful word replacement libre office is a free open source word clone. I personally use scrivener on both my iPad and my Mac. But my brother uses the google suite stuff a lot. I had no clue about the word cap.
Yeah, phone is definitely short and sweet. If I could text it, I can use my phone. If it's serious, even emails, it's a computer thing.
I used Scrivner once upon a time when it used to be free. Oh the good old days. I think the limit on Google Docs is less about how many words you've written and how much data you're storing. So if you get into the habit of "suggesting" changes to your work, so you can see your original thoughts and also your edited thoughts, it takes more data storage than just deleting and starting over. If you're also making several changes over several days, it will store a new version each time, making more data storage. So if you write it all in one go and edit it all in one go (or don't edit thirteen-year-old style), then you can probably fit more words into one document without it lagging. If you're writing and doing anything else that would hold extra data, you can fit less words.
It's not an exact science, but I've gotten about 15-20 chapters into one document before it lags, but then it may or may not open. The longer the word count of each chapter plus the amount of edits could make it less. I find ten chapters per document is usually a good chunk when I've mostly finalized things -- feels like an even amount of work and the document still works the way I want it to.
I'm glad you're both writing. I have about two more chapters to write on this one and then I think I'm taking a break. I've been wanting to paint again, and I can't do both.
You've got this Mare! May inspiration strike you! Painting would be fun too. Sounds relaxing.
I wish I was talented enough to paint freestyle. When I say painting, I mean those elaborate paint by number ones I make. They are hard and look really good when I'm done but I could never do it freeform. I would love to do that. I have so many visual images in my mind of certain scenes in my stories that I'd love to see come alive.
Ah, paint by number sounds fun! I'm not a good freestyle painter or drawer either. It is fun to bring your stories to life in a visual way. That's what I do with The Sims. My characters and settings never look quite the same as they do in my head, but I still have fun creating them and playing with them in my game.
I think painting by numbers are great! You get the relaxing bit of painting and end up with something cool. Freestyle painting feels more difficult than all other 2-D art forms and I have no idea why that is. I've drawn a few things for stories to work things out, but they are never immaculately beautiful, they're just sketchy. Julie can vouch for this. lol
I know there's people who are really dedicated to seeing their stories visually and commission people to help them out. I think there's many of us who think of our stories in a visual medium when conceiving them and not just as words on a page, so I think it makes sense that we'd want to see certain things visually.
Yes, the Vegas trip will be a nice way to sort of close out my summer before August hits and I have to get into back to school mode. We are not doing a meet and greet because of how expensive it is. The last time I went to Vegas in July, it was 120 degrees, so that's what I'm preparing myself for. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be because of the lack of humidity. I never felt sweaty because it was so dry that the sweat evaporated instantly, and we were only outside for a few minutes at a time while walking between casinos. The only thing we're hoping to do that's outside is the Neon Museum, which we'll do at night if it's not too hot.
It's going to be hot as hell, but the lack of humidity out west 100% helps! It's supposed to be 105 here by the weekend and I just want to hide in my house. Luckily, Vegas makes it really easy to avoid the outdoors whenever possible.
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When I went to go check in here yesterday the site was down again! Luckily it wasn't for too long this time.
I hate when we turn to another page on here before I respond because at least when everything is on one page I can constantly go back and read what people said, now I have to depend on my memory, and we all know how that goes. lol
I only have one and a half more chapters to go for this story and yes, even though I am taking a break, I do have another story all plotted out. I am going to work on it from time to time over the summer and hope to start posting it either in August or September. I want to make sure, I have enough of an idea for an entire story. There's also this little fear in me, that the farther we get away from the actual show the less people will want to read, but every fandom still seems to have a good amount of readers even long after the show fades away. We shall see.
The Sims does sound like a fun way to bring your characters to life. I have thought about getting into video games a bunch of times, but I remember even with the Sims when I did have it set up on my desktop forever ago, I lost interest pretty quickly. We shall see. Getting a game console might be worth it. Maybe when it's time to get a new laptop I'd just download some games, but this one is getting up there.
At least the Vegas heat is dry. It's the humidity that tends to kill me. And like you guys said, pretty much everything is indoors. I can understand why you'd skip the VIP. I was pretty sure it would be outrageously expensive, especially because of the nostalgia of it all. The show is probably going to be spectacular in that place. I hope you guys have the best time. I'm sad I never got the chance to do anything like that with you guys. I even have the panda skunk tee-shirt and everything. lol
I hope you had a great birthday, Lindsey. I'm glad you got a chance to see my videos. For some reason the Kieran one was fuzzy on the You Tube one. It's clear everywhere else. I've always had a love hate relationship with You Tube.
I haven't heard Nick's album, but I know he's released cartoons to go along with it. I thought I'd be inclined to want to listen to it on the train ride there or back, but nope. Didn't happen. I still haven't watched part two of that documentary yet. I keep forgetting about it. I really do keep waiting for my BSB spark to light up again. I thought maybe with everyone talking about the new album and them showing back up in the spotlight it might have happened, but not a thing. Maybe I need them to intertwine with Kieran. Maybe if they work on the Hungar Games soundtrack? I have no idea how my brain works. I am happy for their success though.
Dee, I've heard The Outsiders is a great play. I think the younger girls are attracted to the cast because they are all pretty young and cute. I loved that book. It would be one of the musicals I'd be interested in seeing. It's hard for me to picture it as a musical though.
Okay, I need to get a little writing done and then catch up on my book.
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Oh man, I scroll down and intermittently quote like it's my job to try and help us all remember the conversation thread. lol!
I think all fandoms sort of wane over time in the writing world, but I think the ones based on media like books/television/movies tend to last a bit longer past the source material ending. I haven't deeply looked into this, so cannot confirm, but I think some older fandoms are still the most popular for works -- even new works. I think it depends on how much it all resonated with people. And on our end where it's quiet at times, I think it's good to write what brings you joy. You're the story's first reader, after all.
I have never been able to get into video games either! Even something like The Sims, which in theory feels enjoyable. Mario Kart is about where my interest ends. I think there's a lot of platforms these days for all that. I know during 2020, I was really into Jackbox Games -- which made social party games that you could connect to with your phone, so it was a great thing to do virtually with several people. And you could buy them on an online gaming platform (can't remember the name) or a console, like a Playstation. The ones I enjoyed were more things like trivia or superlative type games. In one round of the superlative game, you had to sort your friends into boy band roles -- I was dubbed "the cute one" -- and we all changed our names on Zoom to our boy band roles because of it, lol. At the end, you could feed your winnings to the mascot and it was so delightfully stupid to hear a bunch of 30-somethings chanting "feed the mouth" on a Zoom call. I'm sure they still make games, but it's obviously less of a thing in our lives these days, or at least mine personally.
Yo, I will take 100 in dry heat over 80 and humid any day of the week. You shouldn't feel like you have to take a shower just from stepping outside. We were on a trip last week in the South and you could just tell it needed to rain, it was like being in a greenhouse.
Overall they're good videos, but the story beats are a bit off because they're trying to match up with the songs versus what's coded in the visuals. Also there's a really stupid cat. Maybe once 2.0 is out, it'll spark again -- IWITW is what got you originally, yes? But just keep manifesting them crossing paths with Kieran! That would be cool. Although, I think he and Nick are worlds apart in the acting department. lol!
I haven't read the book, but the movie is great! I have yet to be disappointed by a musical based on a movie (or based on a movie based on a book) yet, which seems to be most of them these days. Mean Girls was amazing -- helps when the original script writer is writing the musical script. Back to the Future was great from a tech standpoint, but probably would have been less enjoyable if I didn't already like Back to the Future; the songs were only okay, but it was still a fun nostalgia romp. Beetlejuice was also fantastic. For all three of those, just enough changed that they still felt fresh even though the basic plot and ending were foregone conclusions. I think my favorite musicals that I've seen in the past year or so have been Gutenberg! The Musical and SIX. As a Shakespeare nerd and pop aficionado, I really enjoyed & Juliet too. I did also see a really great revival of 1776 where the cast was all women, trans, or non-binary actors. It's been nice to see so many revivals getting cast updates -- I like to think Hamilton had hand in all that.
Good luck with your writing today! May the words flow on the page like a river meeting the seas. ;D I wrote 1000 more words yesterday, so things are brewing.
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And I thank you for your scrolling and quoting.
I do enjoy trivia games. I had one on my phone for quite a long time. I think it was called Trivia crack. I played it all the time, and it was one of those where you could challenge other people, but unfortunately, I don't like people, so I always just played by myself. lol I do the whole Wordle, Connections and Phrazle thing every day. I used to love Zelda. I played it a lot in college, but it's been a while. If I start feeling like I need some kind of change, I might try video games. I also have all these damn bracelet making accessories too now.
It's so humid here today, that my bedroom window is a tiny bit open, it's right by my desk, which is where I am sitting now, and I keep having to stop typing because my glasses keep fogging over!
Good lord, I do not want Kieran and Nick EVER in the same movie acting wise. Lord only knows that would mean that Kieran's acting career has met a huge downward spiral. Can you imagine, The Hollow 2 starring Nick Carter and Kieran Culkin? lmao yikes! A soundtrack would work. Since the Hunger Games is all I got at the moment, that's what I'll hope for. Animal Farm is coming out soon. (He plays one of the pigs) so no chance for a collab for that one.
I loved The Outsiders movie as well. A story about brothers and found family? That's my thing. I'm there for it. Tracy loved Beetlejuice too. That's another one that I can't seem to picture as a musical. I wish they would come up with some more original ones. Noone seems to have any creative ideas anymore. It's all just Disney remakes or old Movie remakes or Jukebox musicals. I hate the idea of a show with no original music.
We need Lin Manuel to stop with the Disney soundtracks and get his butt back to writing musicals. I bet that's a whole other kind of stress. Can you imagine trying to top Hamilton? Nonbinary 1776 sounds interesting. Seeing GGR has made me want to see more shows now. I really want to see Hadestown, it's one I would have seen if we could have stayed in the city for a few days. I love the music in that one. I also just watched Next to Normal on PBS Great Performances. I highly recommend that one. It was fantastic!
Good for you writing 1,000 words! I find when I'm nearing the end of a story I start slowing down. Reading has been distracting me from my writing, but I did write about 3 pages yesterday.
I am currently reading "The Reformatory" and it's SO good, I just read from 7 to 9:30.
Speaking of reading, I just spent way too much on books. It's Amazon's fault. I needed a playbill picture frame for my signed copy and of course, if you spend so and so dollars, delivery is free, so with my one little frame I bought 11 books. lmao that's a lot but all my favorite authors have new books out. I had to. :shrug:
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I used to have Trivia Crack on my phone too. I liked it a lot, but I stopped playing it for some reason. I can't remember why. Ads might have made it unplayable? I know so much useless stuff, I am fantastic at trivia. lmao I suppose if phone games count, I have a couple I play. Tetris, there's one like Connections, but it's gotten more ad-heavy. I have one where you have to match colored squares to the rows in numbers and columns to turn it into a picture and that's pretty enjoyable. I should get back into the NYT games, I enjoyed all of those and Sudoku. And I've got plenty of time these days.
I'm in pants and a sweatshirt because hubs keeps our house at like 66 degrees year round.
I would pay so much money to go see the Hollow 2. I don't care who else is in it. I need The Hollow 2: But Was It The Good Side of the Bridge? in my life as soon as possible. If Justin can be a troll, I don't see why Nick couldn't be a talking pig. Feels like he would fit in more in a Babe-type movie than Orwell, but... stranger things have happened.
Yes, found family is my absolutely favorite too. If a story has that, I am in! With Beetlejuice, I think it really depends on the hammyness of the actor playing Betelgeuse. That really makes it or breaks it since the musical leans into that. I wish there were more original ones too. The ones I liked best were all original things, so I'm sure someone is working on something new and interesting. But I'm also really hoping to see Death Becomes Her soon, lol. Although as I'm thinking about it, even ones we would consider classic and original are derivative works. See: Phantom, Les Mis, shoot even Miss Saigon is based on Madama Butterfly.
Jukebox musicals have been around forever -- at this point, I would call Rock Of Ages a classic. My BFF and I chatted about this since she's not a huge fan of them either. We saw Jagged Little Pill and she loved it, but hated Margaritaville . We settled on it probably depends on whether you like the original version of the jukebox setlist and how much the story they pick feels interesting to you rather than how well it fits the music. Because I pointed out that Margaritaville's story really fit the music, but she is the opposite of a Parrothead and thought it was really stupid. We did both agree that without the stage show included, it's not worth it to buy a cast recording of a jukebox musical, though.
I'm sure that would be so much pressure to top Hamilton. And it's not like his other stuff was not well-received. In The Heights was very popular as well. So going from a good musical to an international phenomenon and then whatever is next would be tough. But heck, even Andrew Lloyd Webber has a Starlight Express for every Phantom or Jesus Christ Superstar -- and I love Cats, but it is very divisive on whether it's actually good or not.
Hadestown is fantastic; I would see it again in a heartbeat! It's very visually stunning and the underworld as an unending factory is a fantastic metaphor/allegory. The update of the myth to an industrial revolution/depression-era setting makes it feel modern/updated, but true to the ancientness and timelessness of the myth. You would already know it from the Soundtrack, of course, but those Orpheus actors have chops! (As far as originality goes, still derivative though, lol.)
And this has been my diatribe on musicals. :shrug: Thanks for the recommendation on Next to Normal. It looks like our local company has it on the schedule this year. We recently saw them do Little Shop and it was fantastic, so I would go to a show put on by the theater company again as opposed to sticking with only the touring productions.
Three pages is great! I did a little over 1000 words yesterday too and finished up a chapter, so something is cooking. It feels nice to be writing again and doing research. Makes me want to go to the library and sift through reference books like ye olden times. There was a testbook-esque book called "The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt" that I used to check out from the library all the time and I ended up buying it a few years ago. Thank goodness for the internet though! Can you imagine buying every reference book you wanted for research?
That book does sound interesting! And clearly if you committed to it for two hours! My reading goal this summer is to finally finish American Gods. I've gotten into this bad habit of only reading on airplanes and it's hard to finish things that way.
I pay for Amazon Prime, so I get it. The lure of free shipping is too good.
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Just finished three days of professional development, so trying to catch up on what I've missed here!
And Julie, if you need a more powerful word replacement libre office is a free open source word clone. I personally use scrivener on both my iPad and my Mac. But my brother uses the google suite stuff a lot. I had no clue about the word cap.
I haven't used Libre Office. Is it all online or downloadable software? I do have Open Office, but I prefer Google Docs because it's cloud-based, so I can easily move between devices without having to use a flash drive or send myself documents the way I used to when I was using Word. But a similar free, cloud-based option that did not have a word limit would be worth looking into. I'd heard Google Docs' character limit was around 1.02 million characters, but I made it to 1,506,283 characters on my current story before it cut me off and literally wouldn't let me edit anymore. I knew there was some kind of limit because Drive wouldn't open the largest Word Docs I'd uploaded when I backed up all my fics there. I had to split my longest stories up into several different documents to be able to access them through Drive.
It's not an exact science, but I've gotten about 15-20 chapters into one document before it lags, but then it may or may not open. The longer the word count of each chapter plus the amount of edits could make it less. I find ten chapters per document is usually a good chunk when I've mostly finalized things -- feels like an even amount of work and the document still works the way I want it to.
The longest story I've written all in one Google Doc is My Brother's Keeper, which was 50 chapters and over 218k words. It got very laggy toward the end. Curtain Call is the only story that's longer (about 250k words) that I've been able to keep all in one doc, but I wrote that one on Word. Once my current story, TWWBW, hit the character limit, I started breaking it up into separate documents by year so I could keep track of my annual word count more easily. I'm on my fourth one now. They're all of varying lengths, but none got long enough to be super slow to load.
I actually wrote about 450 words on Friday, so I'm calling it a good start. I was at least able to finish off a chapter I've been working on on-and-off for... oof, looks like four years. :D Well, little celebrations. lol
450 words is a good start! That's not a bad day of writing for me lately, depending on how long I stick with it. And finishing a chapter after four years is a major accomplishment! Yay for you!
I also really enjoy Storms from the newer ones! I'm sure y'all have chatted ad nauseam already, but I overall enjoy the rawness of the album. It feels like a journey through trauma responses, but with a hope spot and some catharsis mixed in. I think that's what I enjoy in Storms is the narrative that you've got your guard up, but you're trying to take action, and also still believing there's some peace in the end. Very beautiful stuff.
Don't Let Go gets me, because I always feel myself saying, "You're so right, Nick. If you do your job correctly, you're raising a person who'd got their own stuff to do besides being your baby." I don't think it was intended, but it also makes me think of the opposite, being the child who's, in some ways, also not wanting their parent(s) to let go.
I still love Hey Kid, even though it wasn't "new" when the album dropped. Right before the song came out, I got asked what I'd go back and tell myself in high school or what I'd try to change for myself. And you know I love a good joke, so I said "Don't worry, you still get to go to Backstreet Boys concerts, but you didn't get to marry Nick Carter." But my actual more serious answer was that we're who we are because of our journey and the people who help us through. And it's not so much that life only gives us things we can handle, it's that we're able to handle things and get stronger because of our journey. I did say I would tell myself to be less hard on my mom though.
And you know I love a good bop, so Made For Us is my jam. I think the only songs I'm lukewarm about are Easy and Dirty Laundry. And it's not that they're bad, they just feel kind of "eh" compared to everything else. :shrug: Could be chord progression maybe?
We really haven't discussed Love Life Tragedy too much here because not everyone has heard it. I agree with you about the rawness of the album. It has a completely different feel from All American, which makes sense, considering it's ten years later, and a lot has happened in Nick's life since then (mainly having kids, but also losing more of his siblings and all the legal drama he's had to deal with). It's a lot deeper, more serious, and very personal. Don't Let Me Go is another one of my favorites; it makes me cry! I'm obviously not a parent, but looking at it from his perspective, or even just from my own as an aunt, I can empathize and relate to how fast kids grow up. I also can see it from the kid's point of view, watching my own parents age and knowing they won't be around forever. It's a tearjerker for sure. Hey Kid is also great! I still really love Superman too, and Made for Us and Nothing Without Your Love are bops. I wasn't crazy about Dirty Laundry at first because it felt almost too simple compared to the 80s catchiness of the original. But it has grown on me, and I've come to appreciate that it's just Nick's vocals and the guitar. I don't like it better than the original, but I do like it as a cover. I also enjoy the 80s rendition of Help Me - again, not better than the original, but it's fun as a fresh take on the original. The only tracks I'm still not big on are Wild Heart and the two Cold Nights. I tend to skip them so I can listen to Storms again LOL. I'm kinda "eh" on Easy too, but I do like this solo version better than the original collab version.
I was this person. :( I'm normally very good for all musicals I love. Like I've seen Les Mis several times and have never sung. But my Backstreet-loving heart could not help mouthing the words to the Backstreet Boys songs during & Juliet. I didn't actually say a word, so hopefully I did not bother the people next to us, but my BFF about died trying to hold in her laughter. There was a woman that sat in front of us when we saw The Wiz and she was dancing and having a great time; we joked about how many times she must have seen it or whether she was a huge MJ or Diana Ross fan. And my BFF was definitely like "You're The Wiz lady" after the show. :blushes: Don't judge me too much. :D
No judgment! I would have a hard time not mouthing the words to the BSB songs in & Julie too! As long as you're just mouthing and not singing loud enough to be heard by others are a Broadway show, I think that's fine.
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Just finished three days of professional development, so trying to catch up on what I've missed here!
I haven't used Libre Office. Is it all online or downloadable software? I do have Open Office, but I prefer Google Docs because it's cloud-based, so I can easily move between devices without having to use a flash drive or send myself documents the way I used to when I was using Word. But a similar free, cloud-based option that did not have a word limit would be worth looking into. I'd heard Google Docs' character limit was around 1.02 million characters, but I made it to 1,506,283 characters on my current story before it cut me off and literally wouldn't let me edit anymore. I knew there was some kind of limit because Drive wouldn't open the largest Word Docs I'd uploaded when I backed up all my fics there. I had to split my longest stories up into several different documents to be able to access them through Drive.
The longest story I've written all in one Google Doc is My Brother's Keeper, which was 50 chapters and over 218k words. It got very laggy toward the end. Curtain Call is the only story that's longer (about 250k words) that I've been able to keep all in one doc, but I wrote that one on Word. Once my current story, TWWBW, hit the character limit, I started breaking it up into separate documents by year so I could keep track of my annual word count more easily. I'm on my fourth one now. They're all of varying lengths, but none got long enough to be super slow to load.
Libre Office is a downloadable program/application suite it is the successor to OpenOffice and it’s made by the same team. They were working on a cloud version and an android app but, they had to stop and focus on the main office suite instead.
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Look, I'm far too lazy to go and quote things so just know I'm talking Broadway now. lol
Obviously, almost every Broadway show comes from some other form. Mostly books - like Les Miz, Phantom of the Opera, My Fair Lady, Cats, even Hamilton to a point. In that case, to me it's still original because they added brand new music which brings the plot together and enhances it. Unlike shows that come directly from Disney movies that already contain the music and all they are doing is bringing it to the stage, maybe only adding one new song just so they can be considered a new musical when it comes to Tony considerations . Or the Juke Box musicals where they take a catalogue of work by one person or genre and from that try to stretch it into some kind of believable plot. I would imagine if you're a big enough fan of the artist, you'll love the musical but otherwise my guess is no. I love Alicia Keys so Hell's Kitchen might be fine for me, but no thanks to almost every other one.
I don't think I've ever shared this story before, but when I was in high school, for an end of year class trip for our music department, we went to go see Cats on Broadway. We had mezzanine dirt cheap tickets. What I did not know about this musical is that during the Overture, all the cats sneak out into the audience and sit in the aisles. I had an aisle seat. I was so engrossed in watching the orchestra, or trying to anyway, that I didn't notice the cat sitting right next to me. Towards the end of the Overture when it starts playing memory all of these cat's eyes start glowing. Anyway, I heard my friend gasp next to me and when I looked up, she was staring past me so when I turned, all I saw was this furry person with glowing red eyes and I screamed! And because I screamed and startled her, the poor cat screamed lmao EVERYONE looked at us at that point. I'm just glad the orchestra didn't stop. I was so embarrassed. She patted my shoulder and said sorry about that before she ran out the door to get to the stage. :patpat:
I also have to admit that I actually really enjoyed Starlight Express. I saw it twice. Once in London before it came to Broadway and then once on Broadway. I think it was the roller skating I enjoyed watching and I did like the songs as well. I have to say for the most part, Cats was the only show I've seen that I didn't really like all that much. South Pacific was another one I could have done without. I haven't actually heard the entire soundtrack of Hadestown, but from what I've seen (mostly on TikTok videos of it being illegally recorded) I have really enjoyed it and the whole concept. The revised Sunset Blvd looks pretty good too, but I doubt they would be able to recreate the outdoor walk at the beginning for a touring company. There's still a lot of popular musicals I have never actually seen live like Hamilton or Book of Mormon or Wicked. (I saw an entire illegally tapes version though lol) I kind of wish I had gotten a chance to see The Picture of Dorian Gray, although I hated the book. I heard from everyone it was amazing.
My theater bug has returned because of me fully emerging myself into Broadway again. I have been in a lot of plays and musicals. I would never be able to do it now, but perhaps I'll try to catch a show or two if they come touring up this way. Who knows, maybe The Hollow - the musical starring Nick and Kieran will make its way up here someday. Then you guys can all road trip up here to see it with me! :D
12 more shows until Kieran goes back into his hidey hole. :'(
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I only have one and a half more chapters to go for this story and yes, even though I am taking a break, I do have another story all plotted out. I am going to work on it from time to time over the summer and hope to start posting it either in August or September. I want to make sure, I have enough of an idea for an entire story. There's also this little fear in me, that the farther we get away from the actual show the less people will want to read, but every fandom still seems to have a good amount of readers even long after the show fades away. We shall see.
That sounds like a good plan! I also like to get a good start on a story and make sure it's going well before I post anything. Better odds of seeing it through to completion that way. I can understand your fear about interest dwindling the longer the show is off the air, but I think the die-hards will stick around. I discovered when I posted my ER crossover that the ER fandom on AO3 is similar to the BSB fandom in terms of size and activity - 1700-some stories with new chapters still being posted daily. Not bad for a 30-year-old show that ended in 2009. I frequent the ER subreddit, and that show has seen a resurgence lately because of The Pitt - a lot of younger people who watched The Pitt are now watching ER for the first time and loving it - so I could actually see that fandom growing exponentially if these younger first-time viewers get into writing fic for it. Similarly, it seems that the Millennium nostalgia has brought some old-school BSB fanfic writers - and probably also readers - out of retirement. My point is that you never know what might happen that would spark new interest and bring new readers to an "old" fandom.
The Sims does sound like a fun way to bring your characters to life. I have thought about getting into video games a bunch of times, but I remember even with the Sims when I did have it set up on my desktop forever ago, I lost interest pretty quickly. We shall see. Getting a game console might be worth it. Maybe when it's time to get a new laptop I'd just download some games, but this one is getting up there.
I go through phases with The Sims. I will play it obsessively for days, sometimes even weeks, spending 8+ hours a day glued to my computer without even realizing it, and then I'll abruptly stop and go months without even opening it. I was the same way with the original Sims back in the early 2000s. I stopped playing it for probably about 15 years because I knew what a time suck it can be, but I downloaded The Sims 4 three years ago to pass the time while I had Covid and discovered that it was just as addicting as the original game was when I was a teenager. I enjoy building and decorating homes and other buildings the best; that's usually what I'm doing when I get super addicted to it. I've built or redesigned multiple houses, an apartment building, a hospital, a funeral home, a movie theater, a couple of restaurants, a bakery, and a record shop in my current game. I enjoy playing with my Sim characters, too, but that is usually not as addicting for me. You can download the base game for free, so it might be worth trying when you get a new computer. It does take up a lot of space, especially if you start buying the expansion packs and other add-ons. You can play it on consoles, too, but I think it's better on a computer because you can download free custom content and mods from the internet that won't work on the consoles. I don't really play any other video games. I still have a Wii and my old Nintendo 64 and will get on those once in a blue moon, but otherwise, it's pretty much just The Sims. I don't even play games on my phone very much anymore.
I'm sad I never got the chance to do anything like that with you guys. I even have the panda skunk tee-shirt and everything. lol
Maybe someday! Next time they play Buffalo on a summer tour, we could come to you.
I've gotta run, but I'll be back to reply to more posts at some point soon. It's been a busy week for me!
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I do enjoy trivia games. I had one on my phone for quite a long time. I think it was called Trivia crack. I played it all the time, and it was one of those where you could challenge other people, but unfortunately, I don't like people, so I always just played by myself. lol I do the whole Wordle, Connections and Phrazle thing every day. I used to love Zelda. I played it a lot in college, but it's been a while. If I start feeling like I need some kind of change, I might try video games. I also have all these damn bracelet making accessories too now.
I used to love Trivia Crack too! I enjoy trivia in general; I like to play bar trivia with my teacher friends. We're pretty good! I also play Wordle and the other free NYT games sometimes, not every day like I used to. I used to be pretty into Harry Potter Puzzles and Spells (a Candy Crush type of game), but I haven't even opened that app in months.
Good lord, I do not want Kieran and Nick EVER in the same movie acting wise. Lord only knows that would mean that Kieran's acting career has met a huge downward spiral. Can you imagine, The Hollow 2 starring Nick Carter and Kieran Culkin? lmao yikes! A soundtrack would work. Since the Hunger Games is all I got at the moment, that's what I'll hope for. Animal Farm is coming out soon. (He plays one of the pigs) so no chance for a collab for that one.
LMAO!!! I would love to see Kieran co-star in Nick's next SyFy movie! Maybe his acting talent will rub off on Nick.
Side note: I was over at my parents' house today, helping them put together this pergola they bought for their patio, and we ordered carry-out for dinner. My dad rode with me to go pick up the food, and I had Nick's new album playing. He was like, "Dirty Laundry by Nick Carter? Wonder what Don Henley has to say about this..." and was teasing me about Nick, as he tends to do. (He's also an Eagles fan, so Nick could never compare to Don Henley in his eyes.) I was like, "If you think the song is bad, you should see the video" and was trying to describe the low-budget green screen effects to him.
I would pay so much money to go see the Hollow 2. I don't care who else is in it. I need The Hollow 2: But Was It The Good Side of the Bridge? in my life as soon as possible. If Justin can be a troll, I don't see why Nick couldn't be a talking pig. Feels like he would fit in more in a Babe-type movie than Orwell, but... stranger things have happened.
I would also love The Hollow 2! LMAO. Too bad Melissa Schuman probably ruined his memory of the first film. I still want him to do a follow-up to Dead 7. Not a sequel, since his character died, but another campy horror movie starring fellow boyband singers would be right up my alley! I was really excited to meet Jeff Timmons at 90s Con a couple years ago and have him sign my Dead 7 poster that was already signed by Nick, AJ, and Howie.
I don't think I've ever shared this story before, but when I was in high school, for an end of year class trip for our music department, we went to go see Cats on Broadway. We had mezzanine dirt cheap tickets. What I did not know about this musical is that during the Overture, all the cats sneak out into the audience and sit in the aisles. I had an aisle seat. I was so engrossed in watching the orchestra, or trying to anyway, that I didn't notice the cat sitting right next to me. Towards the end of the Overture when it starts playing memory all of these cat's eyes start glowing. Anyway, I heard my friend gasp next to me and when I looked up, she was staring past me so when I turned, all I saw was this furry person with glowing red eyes and I screamed! And because I screamed and startled her, the poor cat screamed lmao EVERYONE looked at us at that point. I'm just glad the orchestra didn't stop. I was so embarrassed. She patted my shoulder and said sorry about that before she ran out the door to get to the stage. :patpat:
Um, that sounds terrifying! I've never seen Cats - never had the desire to, honestly. The latest movie version also looked terrifying.
There's still a lot of popular musicals I have never actually seen live like Hamilton or Book of Mormon or Wicked.
Your conversation about musicals is making me realize how many of the newer ones I haven't seen yet, but I have seen all three of these, and they live up to the hype! I've only seen Wicked and Hamilton once each and am okay with that now that you can stream them anytime, but I've seen The Book of Mormon four times so far and will happily go see it again any time I can. It's coming to my town in December, so maybe I'll get tickets for it. That was the last live show I saw before Covid hit. If you ever get a chance to go see it, do it! It's brilliant and hilarious, of course!
Who knows, maybe The Hollow - the musical starring Nick and Kieran will make its way up here someday. Then you guys can all road trip up here to see it with me! :D
Yes!!! Honestly, if they made a musical of The Hollow, it would have to debut somewhere in New York because Sleepy Hollow is in New York! Wrong part of the state from where you are, but same state, at least. It would probably be an off-Broadway show, in any case LOL. We'll have to get Rose to suggest this to Nick the next time she does VIP; she's never afraid to ask questions or make suggestions. I would love to get his reaction to the idea of The Hollow: The Musical LOL. His character would probably do a delightfully cringey rap!
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Yay the site is working again, it was down before I went away on holiday so I missed a lot!
Mare, I'm so glad you got to the show and mey Kieran and all the other cast members, but not happy to hear about the train and hotel experience. How awful that the train staff didn't help you, they would over here. And that woman who barged past you and took the seat, how selfish of her when there were probably lots of other seats she could've picked! But the hotel's attitude was really bad, they should've let you know there were no rooms so you could've booked somewhere else. $50 refund is not good enough. I'll have to look at your videos.
I've been away to Spain for a week and it was lovely there, although too hot for me which I knew it would be. Thank god for aircon in the hotel and my little portable fan! I've decided the next time I go away on holiday it will have to be somewhere cooler like Iceland lol.
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That sounds like a good plan! I also like to get a good start on a story and make sure it's going well before I post anything. Better odds of seeing it through to completion that way. I can understand your fear about interest dwindling the longer the show is off the air, but I think the die-hards will stick around. I discovered when I posted my ER crossover that the ER fandom on AO3 is similar to the BSB fandom in terms of size and activity - 1700-some stories with new chapters still being posted daily. Not bad for a 30-year-old show that ended in 2009. I frequent the ER subreddit, and that show has seen a resurgence lately because of The Pitt - a lot of younger people who watched The Pitt are now watching ER for the first time and loving it - so I could actually see that fandom growing exponentially if these younger first-time viewers get into writing fic for it. Similarly, it seems that the Millennium nostalgia has brought some old-school BSB fanfic writers - and probably also readers - out of retirement. My point is that you never know what might happen that would spark new interest and bring new readers to an "old" fandom.
Yeah, I'm sure there will probably be people around to read the story. I bet there are a fair share of The Pitt stories on there by now. Probably some crossovers between the two. I'm glad the whole Milennium thing has brought some old fanfic fans out of the woodwork. I still get random kudos from people for my BSB stuff.
Yes!!! Honestly, if they made a musical of The Hollow, it would have to debut somewhere in New York because Sleepy Hollow is in New York! Wrong part of the state from where you are, but same state, at least. It would probably be an off-Broadway show, in any case LOL. We'll have to get Rose to suggest this to Nick the next time she does VIP; she's never afraid to ask questions or make suggestions. I would love to get his reaction to the idea of The Hollow: The Musical LOL. His character would probably do a delightfully cringey rap!
Yup, Sleepy Hollow is in the Catskills I believe which is upstate as opposed to near me which is western NY. That's something that riles up the Buffalonians, when they call Buffalo upstate NY lol These people are easily ruffled. They also hate when people use ranch instead of blue cheese for their chicken wings. I'm serious they will publicly shame you if you ask for ranch here. I can't see anyone funding The Hollow musical unless it's off off off off off Broadway, like in someone's basement. True story, the only reason I used The Hollow was because I couldn't remember the name of his other movie, but since you said it, now I know. Dead 7 lol I forgot he does die in that, but does that really matter? He could just come back as a really bad acting zombie. You're right though, I bet he has blocked that one out of his head because of Melissa.
I used to love Trivia Crack too! I enjoy trivia in general; I like to play bar trivia with my teacher friends. We're pretty good! I also play Wordle and the other free NYT games sometimes, not every day like I used to. I used to be pretty into Harry Potter Puzzles and Spells (a Candy Crush type of game), but I haven't even opened that app in months.
All this Trivia Crack talk is making me want to go back to playing it again.
I didn't realize Nick covered an Eagles song. That's interesting. And people are worried about his weight? Why? He looks perfectly fine.
The Book of Mormon never comes up this way for some reason, but if it ever does, I'm going to try to get tickets to go see it as long as the whole accessibility issue is fine at the theater here. If it went to where we were going to see Macauley when he came for Home Alone, I know that would work, otherwise a lot of the theaters here are really old. I love that Hamilton was ProShot. I watch it every fourth of July. I've only watched the Wicked movie once. I heard they did a ProShot of Hadestown and Merrily We Roll Along with the original cast (Jonathan Groff and Daniel Radcliffe.) So, that's something to look forward to. There was a rumor that they ProShot Glengarry too, but I can't see it ever being on Great Performances, they'd have to bleep out every other word. Maybe HBO? I hope that's true. I doubt it though. We shall see. I would think more and more shows would do it because Broadway is so inaccessible to so many people. I love the fact that they are doing a version of Evita in London where every performance, she comes out and does the biggest song from that show out on the real balcony of the Palladium theater to all the passersby outside as part of the actual play. It pisses the people off who paid for a ticket because the one song everyone knows from there is being sung outside so they only see it on a huge screen, but it makes it accessible to people who can't afford a ticket.
I guess you can't please everyone.
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Yay the site is working again, it was down before I went away on holiday so I missed a lot!
Mare, I'm so glad you got to the show and mey Kieran and all the other cast members, but not happy to hear about the train and hotel experience. How awful that the train staff didn't help you, they would over here. And that woman who barged past you and took the seat, how selfish of her when there were probably lots of other seats she could've picked! But the hotel's attitude was really bad, they should've let you know there were no rooms so you could've booked somewhere else. $50 refund is not good enough. I'll have to look at your videos.
I've been away to Spain for a week and it was lovely there, although too hot for me which I knew it would be. Thank god for aircon in the hotel and my little portable fan! I've decided the next time I go away on holiday it will have to be somewhere cooler like Iceland lol.
I loved seeing all your pictures while you were away, Steph. It looks like a beautiful place, but I can only imagine the heat. Was it humid? Hopefully you got a chance to be in many pools and thank goodness for air conditioning. I've always wanted to go to Iceland! That and Alaska! Nice and cold.
Yeah, that whole experience was pretty horrible. Kieran made everything else not feel so bad, although I cannot see myself ever doing it again. I watch my video at least once a day like a lunatic. My life sucks, everything sucks, but then I watch Kieran staring at me and smiling and it's all worth it. lmao I'm so grateful for that. If it was a meet and greet situation it would only be some kind of generic picture with no video. I'm going to be very sad when he's done with his run a week from tomorrow.
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Just finished three days of professional development, so trying to catch up on what I've missed here!
You deserve a break! Go do nothing. And then more piles of nothing.
The longest story I've written all in one Google Doc is Once my current story, TWWBW, hit the character limit, I started breaking it up into separate documents by year so I could keep track of my annual word count more easily. I'm on my fourth one now. They're all of varying lengths, but none got long enough to be super slow to load.
450 words is a good start! That's not a bad day of writing for me lately, depending on how long I stick with it. And finishing a chapter after four years is a major accomplishment! Yay for you!
I agree, it's the multiple platforms on Google suite that make it the most accessible.
Ooh, documents by year, interesting. I have a spreadsheet that does math for me. :D By year isn't a terrible idea if you're writing regularly, but I'm just imagining a document with like 500 words from writing here and there for a year and that sounds pretty silly.
Y'all, I got two partially started chapters done. I'm killing it; I've written like 4500 words over the past week. Apparently, I just need uninterrupted time to myself and no other looming things and I can just crank things out. I think it helps not having to look at a computer for work for the bulk of the day too. I wrote a lot less when my role involved more computer work for sure. How much of that was computer work versus small child versus general life stress is a toss up though.
We really haven't discussed Love Life Tragedy too much here because not everyone has heard it. I agree with you about the rawness of the album. It has a completely different feel from All American, which makes sense, considering it's ten years later, and a lot has happened in Nick's life since then (mainly having kids, but also losing more of his siblings and all the legal drama he's had to deal with). It's a lot deeper, more serious, and very personal. Don't Let Me Go is another one of my favorites; it makes me cry! I'm obviously not a parent, but looking at it from his perspective, or even just from my own as an aunt, I can empathize and relate to how fast kids grow up. I also can see it from the kid's point of view, watching my own parents age and knowing they won't be around forever. It's a tearjerker for sure. Hey Kid is also great! I still really love Superman too, and Made for Us and Nothing Without Your Love are bops. I wasn't crazy about Dirty Laundry at first because it felt almost too simple compared to the 80s catchiness of the original. But it has grown on me, and I've come to appreciate that it's just Nick's vocals and the guitar. I don't like it better than the original, but I do like it as a cover. I also enjoy the 80s rendition of Help Me - again, not better than the original, but it's fun as a fresh take on the original. The only tracks I'm still not big on are Wild Heart and the two Cold Nights. I tend to skip them so I can listen to Storms again LOL. I'm kinda "eh" on Easy too, but I do like this solo version better than the original collab version.
I think overall, All American is my least favorite of the albums overall, but when I think of it as experimenting with different styles and genres, I like it a bit more. Plus if you just looked at the cover, you'd be like, sure All American kid, whatever. But then you've listened to it and remember that the title is from a song about butts and you just go "Oh Nick..." and you can't help but laugh at the humor of it all. Plus 19 in 99 is a bop, so. :shrug: For some reason, I forgot that I had heard Dirty Laundry before. I was trying to figure out why it was so eh to me, and I was thinking about the track list and was like, well of course Easy feels kind of eh, because Hurts to Love You comes directly after that. But Dirty Laundry, that's not the case. Now obviously, of course it didn't sound quite right when it's a cover. Makes so much more sense.
And yes, just listen to Storms like four times in a row.
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Look, I'm far too lazy to go and quote things so just know I'm talking Broadway now. lol
lol! This is the perfect way to summarize. In your honor, I won't quote you either, aside from the above.
Yeah, I also don't love when they're like, better add a new song to this so it's up for award contention! In a weird turn of events, Moulin Rouge the musical did not add a brand new song like the movie had originally, which I thought was odd.
lmfao! Your Cats story! I feel bad laughing because that's what I hate about Cirque Du Soleil. Just the fact that you both screamed is hilarious. My mom had mentioned that once when I used to watch Cats on PBS growing up, that Rum Tug Tugger originally entered from the audience and did a coat swagger to her. Anyway, all this to say, please share this story more often.
Okay, so my soapbox about Cats. It's just... it's just a musical about cats. But the cats in the musical are having the best time. It's a Chorus Line for why certain cats should get to go to cat heaven. That's it, that's the musical. But the songs are great and the actors just lean into the fact that they're portraying cats who think this is serious business, but it's all a little wink wink nudge nudge like, yeah we know, it's just about cats. and it's just fun. The movie, in addition to having weird CGI, was missing that wink wink nudge nudge bit, so it just came off like they were taking themselves too seriously and it didn't work. Except in Skimbleshanks. That's the only song I will recommend from the movie because it had the same flair as the musical.
They roller skate in Xanadu too and it is fantastic. Something about high energy singing while roller skating just feels mesmerizing.
I've seen Hamilton twice. It's definitely worth it. What they do with a minimal set is wild. Obviously the subversive casting choice. The evolution of hip hop. That rotating stage though has really changed how they stage shows from a technical standpoint. Just fantastic.
Wicked, also fantastic. Worth seeing.
And like Julie said, Book of Mormon is hilarious. It's the only show I've seen on actual Broadway and not as a touring production. Just great. It comes around here every couple of years, so I don't think they'll stop touring any time soon. On a whim, I googled their touring website because I was like, yeah, they probably don't go upstate/western because they figure you'll just get to the city and see them, but then they have Elmira listed as a touring stop. :shrug: Which according to my Google search they like to say they're near all the major metropolitan areas, including Toronto and I'm just over here like, I guess, Elmira.
And as an aside, Gutenberg! The Musical. If you like a stripped down show, it's The Producers, but if it was about the writers of the show (which just so happens to be about Johannes Gutenberg) and the titular writers are played by Elder Cunningham and Elder Price. Just go see it if you get a chance. You'll laugh until you cry.
My other high recommendation s for "newer" musicals (both are almost ten years old in their current form at this point) are SIX and Hadestown. Go see them if you can.
Who knows, maybe The Hollow - the musical starring Nick and Kieran will make its way up here someday. Then you guys can all road trip up here to see it with me! :D
OMG, The Hollow the Musical! lmao
LMAO!!! I would love to see Kieran co-star in Nick's next SyFy movie! Maybe his acting talent will rub off on Nick.
Side note: I was over at my parents' house today, helping them put together this pergola they bought for their patio, and we ordered carry-out for dinner. My dad rode with me to go pick up the food, and I had Nick's new album playing. He was like, "Dirty Laundry by Nick Carter? Wonder what Don Henley has to say about this..." and was teasing me about Nick, as he tends to do. (He's also an Eagles fan, so Nick could never compare to Don Henley in his eyes.) I was like, "If you think the song is bad, you should see the video" and was trying to describe the low-budget green screen effects to him.
I would also love The Hollow 2! LMAO. Too bad Melissa Schuman probably ruined his memory of the first film. I still want him to do a follow-up to Dead 7. Not a sequel, since his character died, but another campy horror movie starring fellow boyband singers would be right up my alley! I was really excited to meet Jeff Timmons at 90s Con a couple years ago and have him sign my Dead 7 poster that was already signed by Nick, AJ, and Howie.
Yes!!! Honestly, if they made a musical of The Hollow, it would have to debut somewhere in New York because Sleepy Hollow is in New York! Wrong part of the state from where you are, but same state, at least. It would probably be an off-Broadway show, in any case LOL. We'll have to get Rose to suggest this to Nick the next time she does VIP; she's never afraid to ask questions or make suggestions. I would love to get his reaction to the idea of The Hollow: The Musical LOL. His character would probably do a delightfully cringey rap!
I can't see anyone funding The Hollow musical unless it's off off off off off Broadway, like in someone's basement. True story, the only reason I used The Hollow was because I couldn't remember the name of his other movie, but since you said it, now I know. Dead 7 lol I forgot he does die in that, but does that really matter? He could just come back as a really bad acting zombie. You're right though, I bet he has blocked that one out of his head because of Melissa.
He would probably never do it because of Melissa. Suggesting it would get Rose back on his list of people to exact revenge on, probably.
(lmao, your dad reacting to Nick's version.)
I mean, it turns out that our favorite Western zombie apocalypse hunter had a twin brother, but he's been running a hoard of zombies and then Kieran pulls him back to the good side and they visit Nick's original charter's remains and then he absorbs his essence and somehow two Nicks makes him a better actor? It could work.
Conversely there's a lot of campy horror films that could be made. Maybe the Backstreet's Back video could be a whole movie, but it focuses on the monsters long-term goings on. Brian and Kevin would never, so someone's gotta play Wolfman or Jekyl/Hyde. :shrug:
OMG, a rap! I'm ready!
[beatboxing] Yo, Crane, I bet ya gonna go insane listening to tales of ghosts insteadda the mundane. Best believe it ain't no fantasy, it's straight up horror in da Hollow but if you follow dat bridge you might see tomorrow. [/end beatbox] And then somewhere he drops the line "I ain't afraid of no ghosts" because obviously.
Yup, Sleepy Hollow is in the Catskills I believe which is upstate as opposed to near me which is western NY. That's something that riles up the Buffalonians, when they call Buffalo upstate NY lol These people are easily ruffled. They also hate when people use ranch instead of blue cheese for their chicken wings. I'm serious they will publicly shame you if you ask for ranch here.
Okay, I have two related things here to this upstate/western New Yorkness.
1. We were driving on the highway on a foggy day between two cities where hubs' family lives and he looked at me and goes, "You know what I always think of when it's foggy like this?" "How a deer could jump out at you and you would never see it?" "No, the headless horseman. I bet it likes foggy days like this. You'll just pass a bridge and there it is." And then I tried to start a conversation about Washington Irvine and his works, which as a non-literary type hubs' was not at all interested in. I think Washington Irvine was from Westchester County if I remember correctly? That's near the bottom of the Catskills, yeah?
2. Buffalonians should publicly shame everyone because they're absolutely correct. Ranch sucks. Sucks. Bleu cheese is the superior dipping sauce/chicken wing accompaniment. Why would you even consider having ranch when you could have bleu cheese? Ranch doesn't even stick on your celery spoon, so what's the point? Plus, why argue with the originator of a dish? They know how to do it correctly. I always thought ranch sucked, but I have been thoroughly indoctrinated at this point. I will die on this hill.
I've been away to Spain for a week and it was lovely there, although too hot for me which I knew it would be. Thank god for aircon in the hotel and my little portable fan! I've decided the next time I go away on holiday it will have to be somewhere cooler like Iceland lol.
Spain sounds amazing! Have also always wanted to visit. What was your favorite thing you saw/did?
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Welcome back, Steph! It looks like you had a nice (but hot) holiday in Spain! So pretty! Iceland looks absolutely beautiful, too; that sounds like a good option for your next vacation!
The Pitt already has almost 3000 fics on AO3, which is up from the last time I looked at it. I could definitely see doing a Pitt crossover someday when I'm in the mood for some serious medical drama. I'll have to think of a different idea from a bus/van crash, though, so it doesn't feel the same as my ER story.
I will apologize in advance for asking for ranch in Buffalo LOL. I can't help it; I was born and raised in the Midwest, and we love our ranch here! I guess that's the equivalent of putting ketchup on hot dogs in Chicago.
Hopefully you get Book of Mormon someday! I originally saw it in Chicago, but it's come to my part of the state at least three times in the last ten years or so and always does well here. I just heard that Merrily We Roll Along was filmed; I'm looking forward to watching that. I've never seen that musical, but Daniel Radcliffe and Jonathan Groff is a good combination. I love that they're making more stage productions available to watch on a screen. Like you said, it makes it more accessible for people who can't get to a show. People who watch it that way and love it will still go see it live if they get the opportunity. That's how I fell in love with Hamilton, and I did go see it live in St. Louis the first chance I got after watching it multiple times on Disney+.
You deserve a break! Go do nothing. And then more piles of nothing.
I agree, it's the multiple platforms on Google suite that make it the most accessible.
Ooh, documents by year, interesting. I have a spreadsheet that does math for me. :D By year isn't a terrible idea if you're writing regularly, but I'm just imagining a document with like 500 words from writing here and there for a year and that sounds pretty silly.
I'm dog/house-sitting for a week starting today, so I'm treating it as a staycation and using it as an excuse to hopefully get a lot of writing done while I'm away from my Sims and housework LOL. It's a cool, rainy day today, and I'm sitting outside on her covered back porch, listening to the rain and the wind chimes while I write. I absolutely love this kind of weather!
Yeah, I started breaking it up by year and setting annual word count goals on NaNoWriMo instead of monthly. Each year's document is shorter than the previous year, but I've kept up my daily writing streak for about 3.5 years now. A spreadsheet sounds like a good way to keep track of your word count. I haven't been keeping track since NaNoWriMo went down, which is actually kind of nice. I deleted half a scene that wasn't working the other day with no guilt or pressure to write enough to make up for it so that my word count wouldn't go backwards. I would have had a harder time doing that when I was entering my word count each day.
Y'all, I got two partially started chapters done. I'm killing it; I've written like 4500 words over the past week. Apparently, I just need uninterrupted time to myself and no other looming things and I can just crank things out. I think it helps not having to look at a computer for work for the bulk of the day too. I wrote a lot less when my role involved more computer work for sure. How much of that was computer work versus small child versus general life stress is a toss up though.
Wow, 4500 in a week is great! Big chunks of uninterrupted time and little stress definitely makes it easier. I do most of my writing on the weekend during the school year, but even then, writing for long periods of time means ignoring other obligations, like errands and housework and a social life, and I always end up feeling guilty for whatever I'm neglecting or overwhelmed by everything I still have to do before the work week begins again. Much less guilt in the summer. This time of year makes the worst parts of teaching worth it.
I get the computer thing too. I didn't write a lot of fanfic during the first couple months of Covid, when I was working from home, for the same reason. I had so much more time, but I couldn't focus on fanfic while I was technically on the clock and responsible for keeping up with Google Classroom, and once I was done with that for the day, I just wanted to get off the computer and do something else. I still don't write after work very often because I'm brain dead, but at least I don't have to spend entire work days staring at a screen anymore. I'm sure having kids makes it even harder to find the time and energy to write.
I think overall, All American is my least favorite of the albums overall, but when I think of it as experimenting with different styles and genres, I like it a bit more. Plus if you just looked at the cover, you'd be like, sure All American kid, whatever. But then you've listened to it and remember that the title is from a song about butts and you just go "Oh Nick..." and you can't help but laugh at the humor of it all. Plus 19 in 99 is a bop, so. :shrug: For some reason, I forgot that I had heard Dirty Laundry before. I was trying to figure out why it was so eh to me, and I was thinking about the track list and was like, well of course Easy feels kind of eh, because Hurts to Love You comes directly after that. But Dirty Laundry, that's not the case. Now obviously, of course it didn't sound quite right when it's a cover. Makes so much more sense.
And yes, just listen to Storms like four times in a row.
I honestly didn't love All American overall the first time I heard it, but it quickly grew on me. It's a really fun album! And I love the song All American, even if it is about butts LOL. I love all of Nick's solo albums; they're all a perfect reflection of the stage of life he was in when he released them. We have really benefited from him being such a workaholic and using music as an outlet for all his personal stuff.
Which, speaking of which, I'm surprised by the media/fan reaction to him losing weight. He has obviously been working hard to get back into shape for the residency, and he looks great! It's interesting to see how that is being twisted into "He looks unhealthy" or "He must be on Ozempic" this time around, whereas when he lost all that weight in 2008-2009, he was praised for embracing a healthy lifestyle. He can't win! And anyone who actually keeps up with the Boys can see that Nick looks completely normal; he just knows the right angles and/or filters to make his face look even thinner in his selfies LOL.
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OMG, a rap! I'm ready!
[beatboxing] Yo, Crane, I bet ya gonna go insane listening to tales of ghosts insteadda the mundane. Best believe it ain't no fantasy, it's straight up horror in da Hollow but if you follow dat bridge you might see tomorrow. [/end beatbox] And then somewhere he drops the line "I ain't afraid of no ghosts" because obviously.
Amazing! LMAO
The forum literally went down yesterday as I was trying to post my last post - like, I clicked post, and it tried to load forever and then finally put up an error message. I didn't think it went through. I was glad to get on today and see that, not only is the forum back, but my post did post!
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Every time I come here, the forum isn't working so when I saw it was finally back up, I quick jumped on the computer. It's going down more and more often now. I'm not liking that. :-[
My sister has been having multiple mental breakdowns because of stupid google. She's on a board and she's the secretary so she's supposed to take notes, and the president told her to use the Gemini function but when she goes on to the teams or whatever the hell it's called, she can't find it. I looked and I didn't see it anywhere either. It's supposed to be there, but it's not. Anyone know what the heck to do? If so, can you explain it to me like I'm in kindergarten? So, I can explain it to her like she's in preschool.
I just finished my last real chapter of my story today. Now all I have to do is write the epilogue and I'll be all done. Feels good. I'm glad you have your writing mojo back, Dee. And now you have the whole summer to write at your own pace, Julie.
Hey, I can't really judge about the whole chicken wing thing because I actually HATE chicken wings. I hate them with a passion. I also hate blue cheese so if I had to eat them, it would be with ranch, holding my nose and grimacing. In fact, when it comes to Buffalo I unilaterally fail by every account because not only do I hate chicken wings, but I also don't enjoy beef on Wek, sponge candy and hate hate hate hate hate football. I'm as anti-Buffalo as they come. My sister is always like no matter what when someone says Go Bills to you you say it back. Because honestly that's the way people greet each other here. I wish I was kidding. I'm not.
I can totally see Nick putting a really bad rap in the middle of a movie, whichever one it would be. I say for The Hollow, instead of Nick playing both twins, we might as well have Kieran play the other identical twin. I mean why not? Sure, one is 6'2 and blonde and the other is barely 5'5 and brunette. It would still work in Nick bad movie land. I was just thinking about this yesterday "Ah yes, they could be brothers!" but then it hit me that Kieran could play Nick's younger brother because he's three years younger than Nick! Like OMG I am lusting after someone younger than Nick. :crazy: It's all good. After you hit 40 age doesn't matter anymore, right?
Kieran and Jazz's anniversary is today. They've been married for 12 years. Sorry, bad mental health day so holding on to my little gremlin tightly today. Wonder why my mental health is bad? I wonder what could possibly be happening. :shrug: I hate Trump!
I have heard about Guttenburg the musical but didn't know anything about it. I'd also love to see The Producers. Dee, I forgot which town you mentioned for The Book of Mormon, but it's not really that close to me. Buffalo has it's own mini theater district so I would imagine some of them would come all the way up here. And yes, the other town you mentioned is in the Catskills as is Sleepy Hollow. I do live by Jamestown, which is where the Carters lived.
Good Night and Good Luck is on Youtube now, I wanted to see it when it was on CNN but it was showing the day I got back from NYC, and I missed it. I might watch it later. Just another random Broadway mention, just cause. lol
Okay, I think I'm going to take myself and my book and go read outside. I bought a little step, and it's helped tremendously with my back door situation, now instead of one big step to get inside its two really little ones. Much easier. I wish I could do that with the side door entrance and the three steps I need to take there. One dilemma at a time.
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I know, the forum has been down a lot lately. That always seems to happen when it's finally somewhat active again. AC (both the site and the forum) has lasted a lot longer than I thought it would, but at some point, it's going to go down and not come back. We have a plan for the main site with the move to AO3, but maybe we need to start thinking of a backup plan for a discussion forum, too. A new message board, a Discord server, a subreddit, a Google chat, something. Any thoughts?
I've never used Gemini to take notes on Google Meet, but I googled it and found this help page: https://support.google.com/meet/answer/14754931?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid It does say you have to have an eligible Google Workspace subscription, so that may be the problem. I opened a Google Meet while writing this response and did not see the options it describes on the help page. I thought maybe it was because I'm on a free Google account, so I switched over to my work account and tried it there. Still no option to take notes. So either my district doesn't pay for that option either, or this help page is full of shit LOL. If I were your sister, I would check with the president to see if they're paying for that feature as part of their Google subscription. He may not realize it's not a free feature.
Congrats on getting to your epilogue! That is a good feeling.
I like chicken wings, although I rarely order bone-in wings at restaurants because they're so messy. I make them at home in my air fryer from time to time, though. I prefer BBQ sauce on them to Buffalo sauce. I'm not a big bleu cheese fan in general; I don't bleu cheese crumbles on a salad, but I don't really like the dressing.
LOL at Nick and Kieran playing twins. Maybe you should write a Nick & Kieran brother/buddy dramedy. Happy anniversary to Kieran and his wife!
I'm glad the little step is working for you to make getting outside easier. One thing at a time!
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The Pitt already has almost 3000 fics on AO3, which is up from the last time I looked at it. I could definitely see doing a Pitt crossover someday when I'm in the mood for some serious medical drama. I'll have to think of a different idea from a bus/van crash, though, so it doesn't feel the same as my ER story.
I will apologize in advance for asking for ranch in Buffalo LOL. I can't help it; I was born and raised in the Midwest, and we love our ranch here! I guess that's the equivalent of putting ketchup on hot dogs in Chicago.
Hey, I can't really judge about the whole chicken wing thing because I actually HATE chicken wings. I hate them with a passion. I also hate blue cheese so if I had to eat them, it would be with ranch, holding my nose and grimacing. In fact, when it comes to Buffalo I unilaterally fail by every account because not only do I hate chicken wings, but I also don't enjoy beef on Wek, sponge candy and hate hate hate hate hate football. I'm as anti-Buffalo as they come. My sister is always like no matter what when someone says Go Bills to you you say it back. Because honestly that's the way people greet each other here. I wish I was kidding. I'm not.
Nick keeps wearing pants in Vegas summer. lol
I was updating hubs on this conversation, and he said it was the hill I should die on. And we discussed how the ranch with wings phenomenon is probably due to Buffalo Wild Wings and the Midwest. I'm pretty sure Midwesterners love their ranch and mayonnaise. lol Also Mustard is the superior condiment. A hot dog is basically an American sausage, and what do Germans put with sausage? Mustard. Chicagoans got that correct also. I don't dislike ketchup with like... fries, tater tots, potatoes? But there's other condiments that go better with everything else. I also don't really like hot dogs, but that has nothing to do with ketchup. Tomato juice is my most disliked tomato-derivative.
I'm judging no one for disliking chicken wings or bleu cheese, because I get so much hate for disliking hot dogs, but I will still defend bleu cheese, lol. Beef on Wek is okay? I think it depends on what type of horseradish you use? It's better than a garbage plate, though. I've never had sponge candy (I googled it, lol), but I'm a little hesitant to eat spongey-texture inside chocolate; I'm not a huge toffee person. The greetings by football team is so true though. I first started noticing it with hubs and his hometown college team, but the more I get used to it, the more prevalent I notice it everywhere. It feels really welcoming, I really like it. But, I've only really seen it if at least one of the people involved is wearing gear. It would be a little odd going to like the grocery store or wherever and having someone say "Go Bills" if I left and was just wearing a regular coat or something.
Hopefully you get Book of Mormon someday! I originally saw it in Chicago, but it's come to my part of the state at least three times in the last ten years or so and always does well here. I just heard that Merrily We Roll Along was filmed; I'm looking forward to watching that. I've never seen that musical, but Daniel Radcliffe and Jonathan Groff is a good combination. I love that they're making more stage productions available to watch on a screen. Like you said, it makes it more accessible for people who can't get to a show. People who watch it that way and love it will still go see it live if they get the opportunity. That's how I fell in love with Hamilton, and I did go see it live in St. Louis the first chance I got after watching it multiple times on Disney+.
I have heard about Guttenburg the musical but didn't know anything about it. I'd also love to see The Producers. Dee, I forgot which town you mentioned for The Book of Mormon, but it's not really that close to me. Buffalo has it's own mini theater district so I would imagine some of them would come all the way up here. And yes, the other town you mentioned is in the Catskills as is Sleepy Hollow. I do live by Jamestown, which is where the Carters lived.
Good Night and Good Luck is on Youtube now, I wanted to see it when it was on CNN but it was showing the day I got back from NYC, and I missed it. I might watch it later. Just another random Broadway mention, just cause. lol
I think the accessibility is nice! It's not any different than the PBS sweeps ones they did when we were growing up -- didn't make me want to see them in person any less. After you mentioned it, Mare, I saw some articles about the Evita balcony performances (mostly due to the heatwave) and I have mixed feelings. I think if I paid for the show, I would want to see it on the stage and not via streaming, but I like the idea of bringing it to the people (a big part of the story/real life person). It's complicated. I'm sure the actress wouldn't want to do it twice, so I wonder if there was something they could do with the understudy, either on the balcony or on the stage. Or they made the intermission longer so that anyone who paid for the show could also go out and watch it. Logistics, am I right? :shrug:
Oh, don't worry, I googled Elmira when I was trying to figure out where in the state it was as well as it's driving distance from the various metro areas in Upstate/Western NY, mostly because they listed themselves as close to several of them that are very spread out and Toronto and I was skeptical that any of it was true, lol. It wasn't quite like saying somewhere like Pittsburgh is right by Buffalo, but it's only a hair better.
I'm dog/house-sitting for a week starting today, so I'm treating it as a staycation and using it as an excuse to hopefully get a lot of writing done while I'm away from my Sims and housework LOL. It's a cool, rainy day today, and I'm sitting outside on her covered back porch, listening to the rain and the wind chimes while I write. I absolutely love this kind of weather!
Yeah, I started breaking it up by year and setting annual word count goals on NaNoWriMo instead of monthly. Each year's document is shorter than the previous year, but I've kept up my daily writing streak for about 3.5 years now. A spreadsheet sounds like a good way to keep track of your word count. I haven't been keeping track since NaNoWriMo went down, which is actually kind of nice. I deleted half a scene that wasn't working the other day with no guilt or pressure to write enough to make up for it so that my word count wouldn't go backwards. I would have had a harder time doing that when I was entering my word count each day.
Wow, 4500 in a week is great! Big chunks of uninterrupted time and little stress definitely makes it easier. I do most of my writing on the weekend during the school year, but even then, writing for long periods of time means ignoring other obligations, like errands and housework and a social life, and I always end up feeling guilty for whatever I'm neglecting or overwhelmed by everything I still have to do before the work week begins again. Much less guilt in the summer. This time of year makes the worst parts of teaching worth it.
I get the computer thing too. I didn't write a lot of fanfic during the first couple months of Covid, when I was working from home, for the same reason. I had so much more time, but I couldn't focus on fanfic while I was technically on the clock and responsible for keeping up with Google Classroom, and once I was done with that for the day, I just wanted to get off the computer and do something else. I still don't write after work very often because I'm brain dead, but at least I don't have to spend entire work days staring at a screen anymore. I'm sure having kids makes it even harder to find the time and energy to write.
I just finished my last real chapter of my story today. Now all I have to do is write the epilogue and I'll be all done. Feels good. I'm glad you have your writing mojo back, Dee. And now you have the whole summer to write at your own pace, Julie.
Yaaaaaas, staycation! I'm sure dog/house sitting is pretty relaxing as far as taking care of things goes. I could go for some rain. It's finally under 100 here, but not by much!
And a toot for you, Mare! Great work finishing your last chapter!
I think our brains are pretty anti-screens, overall, and the more we deal with them, the more they want to do something else. I'm curious if TV does the same thing or what it is about computers specifically. I'd love for my brain to be like "don't look at that phone," but you can't even really keep up with the news without a screen these days.
I'm of the opinion that the deleted scene still counts in your word count. You wrote it in service of the story and I often find that I have to write something down or several versions of something to find the one that works best, so if you don't commit to writing it, you'll never know if it was or wasn't the right choice. Some food for thought. :) And I certainly don't delete anything from my words written when I'm editing, I just have less new words to add on editing days.
What I'm taking from all of this is that we need less hours dedicated to working and more hours dedicated to living. Then we could write and not feel like we're neglecting anything, lol.
I honestly didn't love All American overall the first time I heard it, but it quickly grew on me. It's a really fun album! And I love the song All American, even if it is about butts LOL. I love all of Nick's solo albums; they're all a perfect reflection of the stage of life he was in when he released them. We have really benefited from him being such a workaholic and using music as an outlet for all his personal stuff.
Which, speaking of which, I'm surprised by the media/fan reaction to him losing weight. He has obviously been working hard to get back into shape for the residency, and he looks great! It's interesting to see how that is being twisted into "He looks unhealthy" or "He must be on Ozempic" this time around, whereas when he lost all that weight in 2008-2009, he was praised for embracing a healthy lifestyle. He can't win! And anyone who actually keeps up with the Boys can see that Nick looks completely normal; he just knows the right angles and/or filters to make his face look even thinner in his selfies LOL.
I can totally see Nick putting a really bad rap in the middle of a movie, whichever one it would be. I say for The Hollow, instead of Nick playing both twins, we might as well have Kieran play the other identical twin. I mean why not? Sure, one is 6'2 and blonde and the other is barely 5'5 and brunette. It would still work in Nick bad movie land. I was just thinking about this yesterday "Ah yes, they could be brothers!" but then it hit me that Kieran could play Nick's younger brother because he's three years younger than Nick! Like OMG I am lusting after someone younger than Nick. :crazy: It's all good. After you hit 40 age doesn't matter anymore, right?
It grows on you, lol. And yes, I love that each of his albums really represents where he was at the time. Part of me wishes he felt like he had more time to devote to downtime for his own sake, but then I think, well, he knows what he needs best. I think he has a healthier balance these days.
Yeah, genetics work that way, they could definitely be brothers! And I think age is just a number over 18. :shrug: It really depends on the people involved.
My sister has been having multiple mental breakdowns because of stupid google. She's on a board and she's the secretary so she's supposed to take notes, and the president told her to use the Gemini function but when she goes on to the teams or whatever the hell it's called, she can't find it. I looked and I didn't see it anywhere either. It's supposed to be there, but it's not. Anyone know what the heck to do? If so, can you explain it to me like I'm in kindergarten? So, I can explain it to her like she's in preschool.
Kieran and Jazz's anniversary is today. They've been married for 12 years. Sorry, bad mental health day so holding on to my little gremlin tightly today. Wonder why my mental health is bad? I wonder what could possibly be happening. :shrug: I hate Trump!
Okay, I think I'm going to take myself and my book and go read outside. I bought a little step, and it's helped tremendously with my back door situation, now instead of one big step to get inside its two really little ones. Much easier. I wish I could do that with the side door entrance and the three steps I need to take there. One dilemma at a time.
We all gotta take care of our mental health. I think reading a book is a good way to do so and glad you were able to problem solve a workable solution too!
As for Gemini, most importantly, she needs to be sure that she's trying to access all of this through an account that's on Google Workspace and not a personal account. If she's using her work email to do everything I list below, then she should be fine.
Does she need to update her Google Meet extension/app? Or the Gemini extension/app. If she needs to update either of those, they're in the "Play Store" (the sideways triangle icon), which you get by clicking the nine dot Google suite drop down menu that's on the right hand side of the browser in any g-suite application (Gmail, Drive, Meet, etcetera). She can figure out what apps she has by clicking on her profile (the circle with her photo or initials in the upper right-hand corner), then clicking "Manage Apps and Device." This is also how she should be able to get to the settings for any other App she's using, like Google Meet (see below).
My quick Google search says that she likely needs to 1. Make sure the setting for Gemini is on in her Google Meet settings, then 2. Make sure it's all updated on the app store (see above), and 3. that she might also need a different add-on/app called "AI Meetings and Messaging."
If none of those work, she should contact Google Workspace support for help.
Hope that all helps and is explained easily enough for the low-tech users!
Every time I come here, the forum isn't working so when I saw it was finally back up, I quick jumped on the computer. It's going down more and more often now. I'm not liking that. :-[
Amazing! LMAO
The forum literally went down yesterday as I was trying to post my last post - like, I clicked post, and it tried to load forever and then finally put up an error message. I didn't think it went through. I was glad to get on today and see that, not only is the forum back, but my post did post!
Glad you didn't have to retype it. I saw it was down and hit the back button so fast, so that I could save the work of art that was my rap. lmao
Poor forum. We've broken it. I always copy my posts before I hit "post" just in case!
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I know, the forum has been down a lot lately. That always seems to happen when it's finally somewhat active again. AC (both the site and the forum) has lasted a lot longer than I thought it would, but at some point, it's going to go down and not come back. We have a plan for the main site with the move to AO3, but maybe we need to start thinking of a backup plan for a discussion forum, too. A new message board, a Discord server, a subreddit, a Google chat, something. Any thoughts?
I thought the same thing. If this is an ongoing problem like it seems, is there some other option? Not sure what the most similar and long-term solution is. Something to look into collectively, but I have no good ideas at the moment.
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Yes finally once I'm on the forum is live and not error-ing out on me... i knew the site was on its last breaths from bots and tech advancements but I never expected this.
Loving the idea of a Hollow musical not so much the rap though... (I'm just not a rap gal... I like the beats but most of the lyrics annoy me. Eminem's stuff is about all I can stand.)
I love all of Nick's solo albums for different reason's. I just hope that we get love life tragedy on a physical disc; but I guess I could always diy one if I had too.
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I completely forgot to mention your house-sitting adventure, Julie. Sorry about that! That's what happens when you do not go back and quote things. You would think I would learn my lesson, but nope. I think it's great that you're having a little staycation. Those are sometimes even better than the hassle of going away.
Also, thank you both for your help with the stupid Google thing. Those directions are the same ones I found when I did my search and I'm kind of glad to know you couldn't find it either. Those directions are probably old. I did tell my sister that most likely her board president had paid for the google office where I know for a fact it's not on my computer. It's not a work thing for her. It's something separate so chances are that's why we couldn't access it. I am so glad I don't have to deal with that nonsense anymore. The technology stuff was my least favorite thing I had to do when it came to teaching. I always had to have the kids help me! Dee, I copy and pasted what you said so this way, we have it if another meltdown occurs if she does decide to purchase it.
Nick and Kieran buddy dramedy? I can't picture the two of them being friends. They are so different. lol
Looking into another way to keep the MB going is a good idea. I've been thinking about that a lot lately. I know nothing about discord, I've seen people mention it, but no clue. They used to have circles on twitter which probably would have been a good thing, but that's gone now. If google chat is half as confusing as google meet, I'm not sure if that would be a good option. I'll have to do some research.
Dee, I am not that big of a fan of hot dogs either. on the very rare occasion I eat them, they have to be turkey dogs, and I like the mustard/ketchup combo. I am very used to being shamed for my lack of normal food choices. I HATE steak and the only kind of burger I will tolerate is if it is very very well done. Like bursting into flames well done. Crunchy well done. I prefer my chicken and pretty much all of my food that way. I also only drink coffee cold. I'll make a pot of it; let it sit out all day and then put it in the fridge and not drink it until the next day. I'm weird, I know this.
And Buffalo people do say Go Bills! Even if you aren't wearing anything Buffalo Bills related. You'll be at a restaurant and if you make eye contact with someone they will say "Go Bills!" lmao I belong up here with all these weirdos, I guess.
I'm with you on the whole Evita thing. I can see both sides of the argument. You pay all this money to see it but the most popular song is sung out of the theater. The best solution would be to sing it outside then go inside and reprise it. It is one of those songs you could easily add a repeat to the first verse and chorus. It's still in previews so maybe it'll be something they work out before it's official opening.
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Nick keeps wearing pants in Vegas summer. lol
I was updating hubs on this conversation, and he said it was the hill I should die on. And we discussed how the ranch with wings phenomenon is probably due to Buffalo Wild Wings and the Midwest. I'm pretty sure Midwesterners love their ranch and mayonnaise. lol Also Mustard is the superior condiment. A hot dog is basically an American sausage, and what do Germans put with sausage? Mustard. Chicagoans got that correct also. I don't dislike ketchup with like... fries, tater tots, potatoes? But there's other condiments that go better with everything else. I also don't really like hot dogs, but that has nothing to do with ketchup. Tomato juice is my most disliked tomato-derivative.
I'm judging no one for disliking chicken wings or bleu cheese, because I get so much hate for disliking hot dogs, but I will still defend bleu cheese, lol. Beef on Wek is okay? I think it depends on what type of horseradish you use? It's better than a garbage plate, though. I've never had sponge candy (I googled it, lol), but I'm a little hesitant to eat spongey-texture inside chocolate; I'm not a huge toffee person. The greetings by football team is so true though. I first started noticing it with hubs and his hometown college team, but the more I get used to it, the more prevalent I notice it everywhere. It feels really welcoming, I really like it. But, I've only really seen it if at least one of the people involved is wearing gear. It would be a little odd going to like the grocery store or wherever and having someone say "Go Bills" if I left and was just wearing a regular coat or something.
Nick doesn't seem to have normal temperature sensitivity LOL. I don't know if it's from growing up in Florida or three decades of performing in too many layers of clothing. Or maybe he's secretly part reptile.
Midwesterns absolutely love their ranch! Mayonnaise, not so much, at least not for this Midwesterner. As a kid, the mere sight of mayo made me gag. As an adult, I can tolerate a small amount of it on some sandwiches or burgers to keep them from being dry, but it's still low on my favorite condiment list. I really only buy it for recipes and making RANCH! Because ranch made from a Hidden Valley packet with mayo and fresh milk or buttermilk is way better than ranch from a bottle.
I've obviously never been to Buffalo. I'd never heard of beef weck or sponge candy, so I googled them both. Beef weck sounds similar to a French dip but with horseradish. I don't like horseradish, so I'd probably pass on that. I do like toffee, so I would try sponge candy.
As for the sports thing, people here greet each other with "Go (team)" if one of them is wearing that team's apparel. But where I live, it's split between Bears and Packers fans during football season and Cubs and Cardinals fans during baseball season, so you can't assume who anyone roots for. Even Chicago people are split between the Cubs and the White Sox.
I'm of the opinion that the deleted scene still counts in your word count. You wrote it in service of the story and I often find that I have to write something down or several versions of something to find the one that works best, so if you don't commit to writing it, you'll never know if it was or wasn't the right choice. Some food for thought. :) And I certainly don't delete anything from my words written when I'm editing, I just have less new words to add on editing days.
I counted it as writing on the day(s) I wrote it, not knowing I was going to scrap it, but I wouldn't have wanted to keep it as part of my total word count after deleting it and rewriting it. It would have been fine if I'd rewritten the whole scene in one day, but it took me a few days to get my word count back up to where it was before. I get your logic, though, and agree that it was a good exercise to write it the way it originally went and then edit it. I'm actually proud of myself because the original version of the scene was more dramatic than the version I ended up with, and I rarely edit to make things LESS dramatic. I'm glad I can tell when things are getting over the top and out of character because that was something I used to struggle with.
What I'm taking from all of this is that we need less hours dedicated to working and more hours dedicated to living. Then we could write and not feel like we're neglecting anything, lol.
Absolutely! I would love to see this country's work culture continue to evolve to prioritize a better work/life balance and more personal/leisure time. I feel like things have been a little better since Covid, with more people working from home and some places going to a four-day work/school week. I would happily work longer days to be able to do a four-day week, but that's not something any of the school districts in my area have adopted yet. My own work/life balance has been much better since we went back to in-person learning after Covid. I turned my work email and Remind notifications off on my phone and forced myself to stop checking it from home so I wouldn't be tempted to reply to parents in the evening. I try not to stay at school much later than my contracted time, and I rarely take work home anymore. My to-do list is never done, but it was never done in the days when I would stay late either. That's just the reality of teaching.
Part of me wishes he felt like he had more time to devote to downtime for his own sake, but then I think, well, he knows what he needs best. I think he has a healthier balance these days.
I think Nick is a "workaholic" in the best of ways. Music may be his job, but he obviously enjoys making it and performing, or he wouldn't choose to "work" on solo stuff when he doesn't have to. I'm sure he wants to make as much money as he can to support his family, but mostly I think he uses it as a creative outlet to express his emotions and distract himself from the negative things going on in his life. He's had a lot of ups and downs, especially in the last few years, between losing his siblings and the ongoing legal drama. It would be easy for him to slip back into his old bad habits as a coping mechanism, but I'm glad he's using music and exercise instead of drugs and alcohol. Music is to him what writing is to us. I absolutely use writing to avoid/escape my real life problems, too. My characters are almost always dealing with something worse than me, which is both cathartic and therapeutic.
Glad you didn't have to retype it. I saw it was down and hit the back button so fast, so that I could save the work of art that was my rap. lmao
Poor forum. We've broken it. I always copy my posts before I hit "post" just in case!
I absolutely saved my last post when it didn't load right away. Thankfully, it did end up posting, but I had it backed up just in case it didn't. I am also getting in the habit of copying my posts before I hit the button, just in case.
Yes finally once I'm on the forum is live and not error-ing out on me... i knew the site was on its last breaths from bots and tech advancements but I never expected this.
Loving the idea of a Hollow musical not so much the rap though... (I'm just not a rap gal... I like the beats but most of the lyrics annoy me. Eminem's stuff is about all I can stand.)
I love all of Nick's solo albums for different reason's. I just hope that we get love life tragedy on a physical disc; but I guess I could always diy one if I had too.
The forum has been doing this off and on for several years now. It's been especially bad the last few days, but maybe I've just noticed it more because it's been more active, so I'm checking it daily. Because it's connected to the same domain as the main site, it seems to be related to the issues the main site has been having.
I would love a physical copy of Love Life Tragedy, too! BSB are the only ones I still buy CDs for, even though I don't have many ways left to play them. I miss having a CD player in my car! I still have a stereo at home that's probably around 20 years old and still going strong, but that's about it. Maybe, with all the 90s nostalgia, CDs will come back the way vinyl has. I've noticed more and more people talking about ditching streaming in favor of DVD/Blu-Ray because of the increasing prices and ads, so it seems physical media is making a comeback. Makes me glad I've never gotten rid of my CD and DVD collection. Hell, I still have one of those giant CD binders full of all the mix CDs I burned back in the early 2000s LOL.
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Nick and Kieran buddy dramedy? I can't picture the two of them being friends. They are so different. lol
That's exactly what could make for a good story! LOL
Looking into another way to keep the MB going is a good idea. I've been thinking about that a lot lately. I know nothing about discord, I've seen people mention it, but no clue. They used to have circles on twitter which probably would have been a good thing, but that's gone now. If google chat is half as confusing as google meet, I'm not sure if that would be a good option. I'll have to do some research.
I'm the same with Discord - never used to myself, only seen people talk about it. I never used circles on Twitter either. Google Chat is similar to instant messenger, so it would be more of a private group conversation than a public forum. Or we could just start a new message board. I used ProBoards for my site's forum, and even though it's old school, it still works fine.
I also only drink coffee cold. I'll make a pot of it; let it sit out all day and then put it in the fridge and not drink it until the next day. I'm weird, I know this.
I love iced coffee! I drink hot coffee at home most of the year, but in the summer, I prefer it cold. I usually order cold coffee drinks over hot when I'm out and about, too, unless it's the dead of winter and I'm going to drink it outside.
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I'm the same with Discord - never used to myself, only seen people talk about it. I never used circles on Twitter either. Google Chat is similar to instant messenger, so it would be more of a private group conversation than a public forum. Or we could just start a new message board. I used ProBoards for my site's forum, and even though it's old school, it still works fine.
I’ve used discord in the past a little bit; but I watched my brother use it more when he borrowed my Mac for school. I’m not a fan because of how it stores messages on the Mac version of the client it used up so much of my hard drive space (I assume the windows version might do something similar… just something to think about.)
Nick posted today about special vinyl versions of the six comic book songs for love life tragedy… so I have more hope at manifesting a physical cd release :)
I second the Nick and Kieran buddy fic Mare… I have no idea at all what the plot would be; but it would be an instant read from me :)
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I’ve used discord in the past a little bit; but I watched my brother use it more when he borrowed my Mac for school. I’m not a fan because of how it stores messages on the Mac version of the client it used up so much of my hard drive space (I assume the windows version might do something similar… just something to think about.)
Nick posted today about special vinyl versions of the six comic book songs for love life tragedy… so I have more hope at manifesting a physical cd release :)
I second the Nick and Kieran buddy fic Mare… I have no idea at all what the plot would be; but it would be an instant read from me :)
Oh, that's not good that Discord takes up hard drive space. I didn't realize that. My desktop doesn't have a lot of space left to begin with, so I don't think I would like that. Thanks for letting us know!
I thought the same thing when I saw Nick's post, not long after we were discussing a physical release. I still need to watch all those videos... bad fan LOL.
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Nick doesn't seem to have normal temperature sensitivity LOL. I don't know if it's from growing up in Florida or three decades of performing in too many layers of clothing. Or maybe he's secretly part reptile.
Midwesterns absolutely love their ranch! Mayonnaise, not so much, at least not for this Midwesterner. As a kid, the mere sight of mayo made me gag. As an adult, I can tolerate a small amount of it on some sandwiches or burgers to keep them from being dry, but it's still low on my favorite condiment list. I really only buy it for recipes and making RANCH! Because ranch made from a Hidden Valley packet with mayo and fresh milk or buttermilk is way better than ranch from a bottle.
I've obviously never been to Buffalo. I'd never heard of beef weck or sponge candy, so I googled them both. Beef weck sounds similar to a French dip but with horseradish. I don't like horseradish, so I'd probably pass on that. I do like toffee, so I would try sponge candy.
As for the sports thing, people here greet each other with "Go (team)" if one of them is wearing that team's apparel. But where I live, it's split between Bears and Packers fans during football season and Cubs and Cardinals fans during baseball season, so you can't assume who anyone roots for. Even Chicago people are split between the Cubs and the White Sox.
When I think of the Midwest, I always associate you guys with cheese for some reason. lol Butter and cheese.
My sister got so offended when I told her how you guys also greet each other with Go! *insert random team here* lol
Sponge candy has a very odd consistency. It kind of feels like a heath bar when you bite into it, but then it kind of melts in your mouth. I'm not a fan. The other weird food thing which I forgot to mention is something they call Bison dip. It's just French onion dip. It tastes exactly like any kind of French onion dip you've ever had, but if you call it French onion dip, they get mad. It's labeled Bison dip.
I am not a horseradish fan either. Nothing spicy for me. I do enjoy Mayo though. It's my condiment of choice over everything else. I even used to dip my fries in it when I was in college.
What I'm taking from all of this is that we need less hours dedicated to working and more hours dedicated to living. Then we could write and not feel like we're neglecting anything, lol.
I second this, even though I no longer work. lol and even though I do not work, I STILL feel guilty or feel like I'm neglecting something when I'm on the computer. That feeling never goes away, I guess. :shrug:
I’ve used discord in the past a little bit; but I watched my brother use it more when he borrowed my Mac for school. I’m not a fan because of how it stores messages on the Mac version of the client it used up so much of my hard drive space (I assume the windows version might do something similar… just something to think about.)
I second the Nick and Kieran buddy fic Mare… I have no idea at all what the plot would be; but it would be an instant read from me :)
That's good to know about discourse. Maria, Mersey and I use WhatsApp, but like google, it's just a chat, we leave it constantly going and go in and out whenever we want to say something. The only bad thing about that, is only those of us on here would be able to access it. I looked at pro-boards and it seems like it might be the best bet. I'm going to make one today, just to see how simple/complex it is and if it works, maybe we could switch to that. That might also get more people to come on board who for whatever reason no longer come here. We shall see.
As far as Nick and Kieran, I don't see it happening. lol maybe Nick and Roman, but I would definitely feel weird making a real person fic with Kieran because he would detest it! I think Nick and the guys are aware of fanfic and probably think it's overall weird, but okay with it. Kieran would most definitely not be. And with knowing that, I don't think I could write about him. Even though I really want to. Maybe someday. Who knows? If I ever get my BSB mojo going again. Like I said, I need them to all work together.
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Yay the site is back again! I read a few posts and then when I came back I got an error and can't remember everything I read.
I did see about Nick being accused of losing too much weight and being on Ozempic. If he is, it's up to him and not fans, that's what I don't understand. But he looks more like someone who has lost weight through hard work. He's done it before.
I think there was something about where I went in Spain. I went to Malaga in southern Spain. It's a really nice place with a beautiful old town. We also went to the beach but I sheltered under a palm tree while my husband swam in the sea. I'm not a very good swimmer and so won't go out of my depth in water.
I've had a bit of a stressful week since getting back. We had meetings in work about redundancies and then found out yesterday who was going. Luckily it's not me, but I feel sorry for the people who are going to be out of a job next month. I've worked at the company for over 20 years but doesn't mean anything when it comes to cutting costs at work.
Sorry I'll try and re-read back what I missed but hope everyone is doing OK :)
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I'm sorry to hear about the cuts to your work but I'm happy for you that you were spared. It's so sad that no matter how loyal or how long you have been at the same job and in the same place, that nowadays it doesn't even matter. They'll still get rid of you just like that! We love in scary times. My sister is afraid she's going to lose her job because it was a grant funded position. You shouldn't have to go to work every day and fear that it might be your last.
I still haven't done the forum thing yet. When I do, I'll post a link in here so we can test it out.
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When I think of the Midwest, I always associate you guys with cheese for some reason. lol Butter and cheese.
We absolutely do love cheese, too! LOL My friends and I always order some version of fried cheese (mozzarella sticks, cheese curds, etc.) with ranch for appetizers when we go out for happy hour.
That's good to know about discourse. Maria, Mersey and I use WhatsApp, but like google, it's just a chat, we leave it constantly going and go in and out whenever we want to say something. The only bad thing about that, is only those of us on here would be able to access it. I looked at pro-boards and it seems like it might be the best bet. I'm going to make one today, just to see how simple/complex it is and if it works, maybe we could switch to that. That might also get more people to come on board who for whatever reason no longer come here. We shall see.
Dee, Rose, and I had something similar with Google Chat when we were working on 00Carter. It was just a running group chat. We've since switched to group texting for just general conversation and planning for BSB trips. I still miss the days of late night IM conversations, though. Texting never feels quite the same, maybe because it's on a phone compared to being on the computer.
ProBoards works very similarly to this forum, so hopefully it will be fairly easy for you to get one up and running. I'm happy to help if you need it! The forum was down yet again earlier today, so the sooner the better.
As far as Nick and Kieran, I don't see it happening. lol maybe Nick and Roman, but I would definitely feel weird making a real person fic with Kieran because he would detest it! I think Nick and the guys are aware of fanfic and probably think it's overall weird, but okay with it. Kieran would most definitely not be. And with knowing that, I don't think I could write about him. Even though I really want to. Maybe someday. Who knows? If I ever get my BSB mojo going again. Like I said, I need them to all work together.
That's understandable . After seeing all the criticism of RPF on Reddit, I think I would have a hard time writing it for any other celebrities. I'm already in too deep for BSB to quit now, so it is what it is LOL. I've learned to get over the guilt I feel about some of the things I write about the guys, telling myself they'll most likely never read them. And if they do, that's on them. I remember when they were asked about fanfic in that Perez Hilton interview years ago. Nick had no clue what fanfic actually was; he talked about it spreading gossip and rumors and seemed to think it was more like tabloid stories. Kevin had clearly come across some slash because he told Nick we write about them hooking up LOL. As long as they steer clear of it, it's all good. I hope you do get your BSB mojo back someday!
I did see about Nick being accused of losing too much weight and being on Ozempic. If he is, it's up to him and not fans, that's what I don't understand. But he looks more like someone who has lost weight through hard work. He's done it before.
Yeah, I really don't think Nick is on Ozempic or anything similar. Like you said, he's done this before. He always talks about trying to get back in shape before a tour/residency, and we all know his weight tends to fluctuate. I hate that he's being criticized instead of praised for being in shape, but it fits the media narrative of shaming celebrities who have lost weight with Ozempic. Really, though, the particular selfie people were so concerned about was just taken at a weird angle that made his face look thinner than it really is, on top of whatever filter he may have put on it. He looks healthy and normal in the other pics and videos that have been posted.
I've had a bit of a stressful week since getting back. We had meetings in work about redundancies and then found out yesterday who was going. Luckily it's not me, but I feel sorry for the people who are going to be out of a job next month. I've worked at the company for over 20 years but doesn't mean anything when it comes to cutting costs at work.
I'm glad to hear your job is safe, but that really sucks for people who are being let go, especially if they've been with the company for a long time. Same with your sister, Mare. That kind of uncertainty is so stressful!
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When I think of the Midwest, I always associate you guys with cheese for some reason. lol Butter and cheese.
We absolutely do love cheese, too! LOL My friends and I always order some version of fried cheese (mozzarella sticks, cheese curds, etc.) with ranch for appetizers when we go out for happy hour.
That's good to know about discourse. Maria, Mersey and I use WhatsApp, but like google, it's just a chat, we leave it constantly going and go in and out whenever we want to say something. The only bad thing about that, is only those of us on here would be able to access it. I looked at pro-boards and it seems like it might be the best bet. I'm going to make one today, just to see how simple/complex it is and if it works, maybe we could switch to that. That might also get more people to come on board who for whatever reason no longer come here. We shall see.
Dee, Rose, and I had something similar with Google Chat when we were working on 00Carter. It was just a running group chat. We've since switched to group texting for just general conversation and planning for BSB trips. I still miss the days of late night IM conversations, though. Texting never feels quite the same, maybe because it's on a phone compared to being on the computer.
ProBoards works very similarly to this forum, so hopefully it will be fairly easy for you to get one up and running. I'm happy to help if you need it! The forum was down yet again earlier today, so the sooner the better.
As far as Nick and Kieran, I don't see it happening. lol maybe Nick and Roman, but I would definitely feel weird making a real person fic with Kieran because he would detest it! I think Nick and the guys are aware of fanfic and probably think it's overall weird, but okay with it. Kieran would most definitely not be. And with knowing that, I don't think I could write about him. Even though I really want to. Maybe someday. Who knows? If I ever get my BSB mojo going again. Like I said, I need them to all work together.
That's understandable . After seeing all the criticism of RPF on Reddit, I think I would have a hard time writing it for any other celebrities. I'm already in too deep for BSB to quit now, so it is what it is LOL. I've learned to get over the guilt I feel about some of the things I write about the guys, telling myself they'll most likely never read them. And if they do, that's on them. I remember when they were asked about fanfic in that Perez Hilton interview years ago. Nick had no clue what fanfic actually was; he talked about it spreading gossip and rumors and seemed to think it was more like tabloid stories. Kevin had clearly come across some slash because he told Nick we write about them hooking up LOL. As long as they steer clear of it, it's all good. I hope you do get your BSB mojo back someday!
I did see about Nick being accused of losing too much weight and being on Ozempic. If he is, it's up to him and not fans, that's what I don't understand. But he looks more like someone who has lost weight through hard work. He's done it before.
Yeah, I really don't think Nick is on Ozempic or anything similar. Like you said, he's done this before. He always talks about trying to get back in shape before a tour/residency, and we all know his weight tends to fluctuate. I hate that he's being criticized instead of praised for being in shape, but it fits the media narrative of shaming celebrities who have lost weight with Ozempic. Really, though, the particular selfie people were so concerned about was just taken at a weird angle that made his face look thinner than it really is, on top of whatever filter he may have put on it. He looks healthy and normal in the other pics and videos that have been posted.
I've had a bit of a stressful week since getting back. We had meetings in work about redundancies and then found out yesterday who was going. Luckily it's not me, but I feel sorry for the people who are going to be out of a job next month. I've worked at the company for over 20 years but doesn't mean anything when it comes to cutting costs at work.
I'm glad to hear your job is safe, but that really sucks for people who are being let go, especially if they've been with the company for a long time. Same with your sister, Mare. That kind of uncertainty is so stressful!
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When I think of the Midwest, I always associate you guys with cheese for some reason. lol Butter and cheese.
We absolutely do love cheese, too! LOL My friends and I always order some version of fried cheese (mozzarella sticks, cheese curds, etc.) with ranch for appetizers when we go out for happy hour.
That's good to know about discourse. Maria, Mersey and I use WhatsApp, but like google, it's just a chat, we leave it constantly going and go in and out whenever we want to say something. The only bad thing about that, is only those of us on here would be able to access it. I looked at pro-boards and it seems like it might be the best bet. I'm going to make one today, just to see how simple/complex it is and if it works, maybe we could switch to that. That might also get more people to come on board who for whatever reason no longer come here. We shall see.
Dee, Rose, and I had something similar with Google Chat when we were working on 00Carter. It was just a running group chat. We've since switched to group texting for just general conversation and planning for BSB trips. I still miss the days of late night IM conversations, though. Texting never feels quite the same, maybe because it's on a phone compared to being on the computer.
ProBoards works very similarly to this forum, so hopefully it will be fairly easy for you to get one up and running. I'm happy to help if you need it! The forum was down yet again earlier today, so the sooner the better.
As far as Nick and Kieran, I don't see it happening. lol maybe Nick and Roman, but I would definitely feel weird making a real person fic with Kieran because he would detest it! I think Nick and the guys are aware of fanfic and probably think it's overall weird, but okay with it. Kieran would most definitely not be. And with knowing that, I don't think I could write about him. Even though I really want to. Maybe someday. Who knows? If I ever get my BSB mojo going again. Like I said, I need them to all work together.
That's understandable . After seeing all the criticism of RPF on Reddit, I think I would have a hard time writing it for any other celebrities. I'm already in too deep for BSB to quit now, so it is what it is LOL. I've learned to get over the guilt I feel about some of the things I write about the guys, telling myself they'll most likely never read them. And if they do, that's on them. I remember when they were asked about fanfic in that Perez Hilton interview years ago. Nick had no clue what fanfic actually was; he talked about it spreading gossip and rumors and seemed to think it was more like tabloid stories. Kevin had clearly come across some slash because he told Nick we write about them hooking up LOL. As long as they steer clear of it, it's all good. I hope you do get your BSB mojo back someday!
I did see about Nick being accused of losing too much weight and being on Ozempic. If he is, it's up to him and not fans, that's what I don't understand. But he looks more like someone who has lost weight through hard work. He's done it before.
Yeah, I really don't think Nick is on Ozempic or anything similar. Like you said, he's done this before. He always talks about trying to get back in shape before a tour/residency, and we all know his weight tends to fluctuate. I hate that he's being criticized instead of praised for being in shape, but it fits the media narrative of shaming celebrities who have lost weight with Ozempic. Really, though, the particular selfie people were so concerned about was just taken at a weird angle that made his face look thinner than it really is, on top of whatever filter he may have put on it. He looks healthy and normal in the other pics and videos that have been posted.
I've had a bit of a stressful week since getting back. We had meetings in work about redundancies and then found out yesterday who was going. Luckily it's not me, but I feel sorry for the people who are going to be out of a job next month. I've worked at the company for over 20 years but doesn't mean anything when it comes to cutting costs at work.
I'm glad to hear your job is safe, but that really sucks for people who are being let go, especially if they've been with the company for a long time. Same with your sister, Mare. That kind of uncertainty is so stressful!
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When I think of the Midwest, I always associate you guys with cheese for some reason. lol Butter and cheese.
We absolutely do love cheese, too! LOL My friends and I always order some version of fried cheese (mozzarella sticks, cheese curds, etc.) with ranch for appetizers when we go out for happy hour.
That's good to know about discourse. Maria, Mersey and I use WhatsApp, but like google, it's just a chat, we leave it constantly going and go in and out whenever we want to say something. The only bad thing about that, is only those of us on here would be able to access it. I looked at pro-boards and it seems like it might be the best bet. I'm going to make one today, just to see how simple/complex it is and if it works, maybe we could switch to that. That might also get more people to come on board who for whatever reason no longer come here. We shall see.
Dee, Rose, and I had something similar with Google Chat when we were working on 00Carter. It was just a running group chat. We've since switched to group texting for just general conversation and planning for BSB trips. I still miss the days of late night IM conversations, though. Texting never feels quite the same, maybe because it's on a phone compared to being on the computer.
ProBoards works very similarly to this forum, so hopefully it will be fairly easy for you to get one up and running. I'm happy to help if you need it! The forum was down yet again earlier today, so the sooner the better.
As far as Nick and Kieran, I don't see it happening. lol maybe Nick and Roman, but I would definitely feel weird making a real person fic with Kieran because he would detest it! I think Nick and the guys are aware of fanfic and probably think it's overall weird, but okay with it. Kieran would most definitely not be. And with knowing that, I don't think I could write about him. Even though I really want to. Maybe someday. Who knows? If I ever get my BSB mojo going again. Like I said, I need them to all work together.
That's understandable . After seeing all the criticism of RPF on Reddit, I think I would have a hard time writing it for any other celebrities. I'm already in too deep for BSB to quit now, so it is what it is LOL. I've learned to get over the guilt I feel about some of the things I write about the guys, telling myself they'll most likely never read them. And if they do, that's on them. I remember when they were asked about fanfic in that Perez Hilton interview years ago. Nick had no clue what fanfic actually was; he talked about it spreading gossip and rumors and seemed to think it was more like tabloid stories. Kevin had clearly come across some slash because he told Nick we write about them hooking up LOL. As long as they steer clear of it, it's all good. I hope you do get your BSB mojo back someday!
I did see about Nick being accused of losing too much weight and being on Ozempic. If he is, it's up to him and not fans, that's what I don't understand. But he looks more like someone who has lost weight through hard work. He's done it before.
Yeah, I really don't think Nick is on Ozempic or anything similar. Like you said, he's done this before. He always talks about trying to get back in shape before a tour/residency, and we all know his weight tends to fluctuate. I hate that he's being criticized instead of praised for being in shape, but it fits the media narrative of shaming celebrities who have lost weight with Ozempic. Really, though, the particular selfie people were so concerned about was just taken at a weird angle that made his face look thinner than it really is, on top of whatever filter he may have put on it. He looks healthy and normal in the other pics and videos that have been posted.
I've had a bit of a stressful week since getting back. We had meetings in work about redundancies and then found out yesterday who was going. Luckily it's not me, but I feel sorry for the people who are going to be out of a job next month. I've worked at the company for over 20 years but doesn't mean anything when it comes to cutting costs at work.
I'm glad to hear your job is safe, but that really sucks for people who are being let go, especially if they've been with the company for a long time. Same with your sister, Mare. That kind of uncertainty is so stressful!
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Testing
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I'm sorry to hear about the cuts to your work but I'm happy for you that you were spared. It's so sad that no matter how loyal or how long you have been at the same job and in the same place, that nowadays it doesn't even matter. They'll still get rid of you just like that! We love in scary times. My sister is afraid she's going to lose her job because it was a grant funded position. You shouldn't have to go to work every day and fear that it might be your last.
I still haven't done the forum thing yet. When I do, I'll post a link in here so we can test it out.
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Update: I tried to start one yesterday. I would go through the entire process and then when I got to the very last step it just made me start all over again. I felt like all I was doing was going around in a very annoying loop. I made it on my phone so I'm going to try again on the computer, maybe I'll have more luck.
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Update: I tried to start one yesterday. I would go through the entire process and then when I got to the very last step it just made me start all over again. I felt like all I was doing was going around in a very annoying loop. I made it on my phone so I'm going to try again on the computer, maybe I'll have more luck.
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I wrote this post yesterday, but it wouldn't post. All day, I could get the forum to load, but it would time out before my post went through. Let's see if it works this time.
When I think of the Midwest, I always associate you guys with cheese for some reason. lol Butter and cheese.
We absolutely do love cheese, too! LOL My friends and I always order some version of fried cheese (mozzarella sticks, cheese curds, etc.) with ranch for appetizers when we go out for happy hour.
That's good to know about discourse. Maria, Mersey and I use WhatsApp, but like google, it's just a chat, we leave it constantly going and go in and out whenever we want to say something. The only bad thing about that, is only those of us on here would be able to access it. I looked at pro-boards and it seems like it might be the best bet. I'm going to make one today, just to see how simple/complex it is and if it works, maybe we could switch to that. That might also get more people to come on board who for whatever reason no longer come here. We shall see.
Dee, Rose, and I had something similar with Google Chat when we were working on 00Carter. It was just a running group chat. We've since switched to group texting for just general conversation and planning for BSB trips. I still miss the days of late night IM conversations, though. Texting never feels quite the same, maybe because it's on a phone compared to being on the computer.
ProBoards works very similarly to this forum, so hopefully it will be fairly easy for you to get one up and running. I'm happy to help if you need it! The forum was down yet again earlier today, so the sooner the better.
As far as Nick and Kieran, I don't see it happening. lol maybe Nick and Roman, but I would definitely feel weird making a real person fic with Kieran because he would detest it! I think Nick and the guys are aware of fanfic and probably think it's overall weird, but okay with it. Kieran would most definitely not be. And with knowing that, I don't think I could write about him. Even though I really want to. Maybe someday. Who knows? If I ever get my BSB mojo going again. Like I said, I need them to all work together.
That's understandable . After seeing all the criticism of RPF on Reddit, I think I would have a hard time writing it for any other celebrities. I'm already in too deep for BSB to quit now, so it is what it is LOL. I've learned to get over the guilt I feel about some of the things I write about the guys, telling myself they'll most likely never read them. And if they do, that's on them. I remember when they were asked about fanfic in that Perez Hilton interview years ago. Nick had no clue what fanfic actually was; he talked about it spreading gossip and rumors and seemed to think it was more like tabloid stories. Kevin had clearly come across some slash because he told Nick we write about them hooking up LOL. As long as they steer clear of it, it's all good. I hope you do get your BSB mojo back someday!
I did see about Nick being accused of losing too much weight and being on Ozempic. If he is, it's up to him and not fans, that's what I don't understand. But he looks more like someone who has lost weight through hard work. He's done it before.
Yeah, I really don't think Nick is on Ozempic or anything similar. Like you said, he's done this before. He always talks about trying to get back in shape before a tour/residency, and we all know his weight tends to fluctuate. I hate that he's being criticized instead of praised for being in shape, but it fits the media narrative of shaming celebrities who have lost weight with Ozempic. Really, though, the particular selfie people were so concerned about was just taken at a weird angle that made his face look thinner than it really is, on top of whatever filter he may have put on it. He looks healthy and normal in the other pics and videos that have been posted.
I've had a bit of a stressful week since getting back. We had meetings in work about redundancies and then found out yesterday who was going. Luckily it's not me, but I feel sorry for the people who are going to be out of a job next month. I've worked at the company for over 20 years but doesn't mean anything when it comes to cutting costs at work.
I'm glad to hear your job is safe, but that really sucks for people who are being let go, especially if they've been with the company for a long time. Same with your sister, Mare. That kind of uncertainty is so stressful!
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Before I respond or do anything else, I wanted to post this link. I created a new forum. It’s through pro boards so if you already belong to a pro board, you’re going to have to use that password to get on. That took me awhile to figure out.
https://marescorner.freeforums.net/
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I’ve never had cheese curds. I do believe they have them here, but I’ve never seen that down in PA.
I get what you’re saying about it being too late for the boys. I never even thought about the weird factor until I saw the discourse. Fan fiction seems to be more mainstream now than it ever was before so the odds of them not knowing what it is are less greater than it was a decade ago.
I’m writing this on my phone because I felt the urgency to while the board was up. Warning if you see a ton of typos lol
So far pro boards does seem easy. Can people upload their own images or do I have to do it? That’s one of the things I was confused about. You can answer over there if you’d like. As we go along I might have more questions about maintenance and things like that.
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People can upload their own images. I think you can also upload a selection of avatars for people to choose from, but you don't have to do that.
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Okay. That’s good to know. Tracy said she tried to upload a picture but she couldn’t. I’ll just tell her try again.
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I’ve never had cheese curds. I do believe they have them here, but I’ve never seen that down in PA.
I get what you’re saying about it being too late for the boys. I never even thought about the weird factor until I saw the discourse. Fan fiction seems to be more mainstream now than it ever was before so the odds of them not knowing what it is are less greater than it was a decade ago.
Cheese curds are good, whether they're breaded and fried or just plain lumps of cheese. Some places around here call the fried version "cheese balls," but I didn't want that to be confused with the Cheeto kind because they're totally different (and much better).
Yeah, I never thought writing fiction about celebrities was any weirder than writing it about other people's fictional characters. No one's getting consent for that either. I can definitely see why said celebrities would be uncomfortable with some of the stuff people write about them, but I can also see published authors, screenwriters, etc. being uncomfortable with what people do with their characters LOL. With RPF, the general rule of thumb is "Don't share your fics with the people they're about," which I totally agree with. I would be mortified if I thought any of the Boys had actually read any of mine. But you're right; fanfic in general has become a lot more mainstream than it was when we first got into it, so they might be more aware of what it actually is than they used to be. Has anyone from Succession ever commented on fanfic?
I hope more people join the new forum so we can move the discussion there!
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I just made an account over on the new forum. But it sure is a change having it all be white. I'm so used to AC's dark mode aesthetic. But the blue and white is unironically perfect timing for 2.0. lol
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Actually, J Smith Carmeron. The woman who plays Gerri. Not only was aware of fanfics and all that people that ship Gerri and Roman, but she was also known to like people's posts on Twitter when they mentioned their fanfiction updates when it came to those fics, which tells us that she most likely reads them as well. Personally, I'm pretty sure she has a little crush on Kieran in real life just by the way she talks about him, so it makes sense. lol No one else as far as I know from the cast has mentioned them at all.
Yeah, I don't know why anyone would try to share their fics with the people they are writing about. I know there was supposedly this girl who gifted Tom Felton a Harry Potter fic when she met him, and it wasn't even hers! It was just her favorite fic so she had it bond into a real looking book and gave it to him. Yikes! And can you imagine being the author and then finding that out?
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So, it seems this forum is fine until someone tried to post something. Then it gets all wiggy. I posted a response to your fanfic question, Julie but then it disappeared. I answered it over on the other forum. Now I'm just testing to see if this goes through or not.
Today is the last performance of GlenGarry. :'(
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The forum seems to be working now, but I know what you mean. It did that to me a couple of different days this past week. Everything seemed to load fine, but then it wouldn't let me post.
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And I saw both those posts actually did go through. This place is weird. If you talk to Dee, give her the link to the new board.
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As this place seems to be slowly dying, I really do recommend anyone who may just come here to browse, come on over to the new message board which you can find here:
https://marescorner.freeforums.net/
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I've been trying for days to get on here and been getting that error message. I thought it was gone for good until I just tried again. I'll join your new one Mare :)
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Good, yeah, this one is all but dead