The Good News Thread: I'm So Excited! And I Just Can't Hide It!

[Steeldancer]

13 minutes ago, Shqueeves said:

Did you stay to see the final scene during the credits? 

Yes I did. Why would I not? They've done it in every single movie at this point. 

Spoiler

I deserved the troll I got. Patience. A true virtue. 

I laughed so much. 

[Shqueeves]

1 minute ago, Flash said:

Yes I did. Why would I not? They've done it in every single movie at this point. 

  Reveal hidden contents

I deserved the troll I got. Patience. A true virtue. 

I laughed so much. 

They're becoming self-aware

[Steeldancer]

9 minutes ago, Shqueeves said:

They're becoming self-aware

Or trolls 

[Erandeni]

Good things happen to me lately,the other day I had to go to a familiar reunion, which I hate, because I always end alone reading some book, but this time my uncle brought a boy from New Zealand.He is living with my uncle, it's some kind of exchage program or something alike.The point is this guy don't speak spanish, so I spent the day as his interpreter, which was fun, and taught him some tipical card games, overall it was really fun and I made a new friend.

Besides, today I have found out that three of the worst, more hateable teachers of my colleage are not going to teach anymore, at least not in my course, and even better, two of them have been subtituyed for my favourite teacher.In order to you can realize how much I like this teacher, my average marks are around 68% and in his subjects I have a 90% and a 100%.

[Sparkrunner]

My mom got me the Guardians of the West for my birthday, because the library didn't have it, and I can't start in the middle of a series. SO HAPPY. I finished it because I, quite literally, I measured it, read it in under six hours. (I'm out of practice.)

I finished it and then found out it was one-thirty in the morning.

Now my head hurts a lot.

[Sunbird]

As promised, birb photos from Saturday!

Red-breasted Nuthatches (2 photos and 1 short video):

Spoiler

These little guys are some of the cutest birds ever. Nuthatches as a group are funny; they like to climb headfirst down tree trunks, looking in the cracks of the bark for bugs to eat.

Red-breasted Nuthatches in particular are fun because of the noise they make. Check it out (I did not take this video, BTW):

At one point, I could hear about 6 different birds all making that silly little honking noise at once, and I had a really hard time not bursting into laughter and scaring them off. It sounded like a tiny choir of bicycle horns.

Hummingbirds (2 photos):

Spoiler

Both of these are female Rufous Hummingbirds.

^ This is probably my favorite photo from this trip. I caught her looking right at the camera!

Northern Flicker and Common Ravens (2 photos):

Spoiler

Northern Flickers are a type of woodpecker and seem to be the most common type of woodpecker in Utah, just based on my limited experience. This one's a male because he has a "mustache," the red stripe on his face. Female Flickers don't have that.

I love how easy it is to see ravens in Utah. All you really have to do is get out of the city and you're very likely to see or hear some.

Red Crossbill and Chipping Sparrow (2 photos):

Spoiler

This bird, the Red Crossbill, was definitely my most exciting find on Saturday. Not only is it just a cool bird, but I'd never seen one before, so it was a new addition to my life list. You can see in the photo that the tips of the bird's bill don't line up flat like with most birds; they cross, with the tip of the bottom half coming above the tip of the top half when the beak is completely closed. (Hence the name "crossbill" ) That's an adaptation for prying open tightly closed pine cones in order to eat the seeds inside. Also, the reason this one isn't red even though it's called a Red Crossbill is because it's a female. The males are indeed red.

This young Chipping Sparrow was pretty cooperative; he sat still in this tree for several minutes while I snapped photos. (I say "he," but I have no way of knowing if it was really a male or female.)

I have some more photos of blackbirds being silly in the McDonald's parking lot--puffing themselves up trying to intimidate each other. Y'all wanna see those too?

[Shqueeves]

Yes! 

[Sunbird]

@Shqueeves Your wish is my command. *bows elaborately*

Male Great-tailed Grackles (a member of the blackbird family) trying to intimidate each other in the McDonald's parking lot (6 photos):

Spoiler

First they would stand and strut with their beaks in the air like this...

...And then periodically puff up as big as they could and make a loud squawk:

One strutting, one squawking:

This guy wasn't as interested in the puffing contest as the other two; he was more interested in eating crumbs off the ground:

This picture makes me laugh every time I look at it.

They look really snooty with their beaks up in the air like this. XD

 

Edited August 11, 2017 by Sunbird

[Jondesu]

We finally got a new car, which allowed us to return the one we’ve been borrowing from my sister-in-law for about 2 years (yeah, she’s awesome). 

It’s an old person car, though. A Mercury Grand Marquis, with the cloth covered roof and the big bench seats. Perfect for 3 kids in car seats across the back, which is what we needed.

[Calderis]

18 minutes ago, Jondesu said:

We finally got a new car, which allowed us to return the one we’ve been borrowing from my sister-in-law for about 2 years (yeah, she’s awesome). 

It’s an old person car, though. A Mercury Grand Marquis, with the cloth covered roof and the big bench seats. Perfect for 3 kids in car seats across the back, which is what we needed.

There are lots of pros about driving a tank. 

About the only downsides I can think of are gas mileage and parking. 

[Silverblade5]

I got a 20c raise!  Today was a good day.

[Jondesu]

3 hours ago, Calderis said:

There are lots of pros about driving a tank. 

About the only downsides I can think of are gas mileage and parking. 

It's really not too bad on the parking, actually (though certainly a little harder, but I've been driving a Buick Century, which is only a little smaller).  We haven't really tested out the gas mileage yet, but it'll be similar to or better than the Santa Fe we were borrowing, most likely.

[Hemalurgic Headshot]

I made it into the part I wanted in the school play! This is the first one I've ever done, so I was walking in blind, and I got it!

For those wondering, it's Arsenic and Old Lace.

[Ammanas]

14 minutes ago, Hemalurgic_Headshot said:

I made it into the part I wanted in the school play! This is the first one I've ever done, so I was walking in blind, and I got it!

For those wondering, it's Arsenic and Old Lace.

Congrats! Out of curiosity I was wondering if you have ever seen or participated in the play, "Waiting for Godot". I thought it was ok while watching it, but the more I thought about it and reflcted the more I like it. It was a bit of a odd play...I am not a theater goer, but it was very different than anything I have seen.

[Hemalurgic Headshot]

Just now, Ammanas said:

Congrats! Out of curiosity I was wondering if you have ever seen or participated in the play, "Waiting for Godot". I thought it was ok while watching it, but the more I thought about it and reflcted the more I like it. It was a bit of a odd play...I am not a theater goer, but it was very different than anything I have seen.

No, I haven't even heard of it. That's interesting.

[Delightful]

7 hours ago, Ammanas said:

Congrats! Out of curiosity I was wondering if you have ever seen or participated in the play, "Waiting for Godot". I thought it was ok while watching it, but the more I thought about it and reflcted the more I like it. It was a bit of a odd play...I am not a theater goer, but it was very different than anything I have seen.

It's a classic existentialist play, I studied it in high school. It's deliberately not supposed to make sense. 

[Sunbird]

Ever since my grandpa put up a hummingbird feeder in our yard, we've been enjoying watching their antics as they chase each other around and each one tries to keep it all to themselves. Here are some photos I took of our yard hummers last week (all of these are Black-chinned Hummingbirds):

9 photos under the spoiler:

Spoiler

Female or immature male taking a rest in our front-yard tree:

This is one of my favorite shots from this day:

Adult male on the lookout for anyone trying to drink from "his" feeder:

I think this one's an immature male.

Making a quick exit:

Wiping his/her beak on a twig to clean it off:

My other favorite shot:

Preening. It's kinda ridiculous how flexible their necks are, to be able to do anything useful with that long sword of a bill!

One last profile shot:

 

[Silverblade5]

I talked with my old AP World teacher from last year, and he told me some  crazy things. We got an 83% pass rate on the AP test, and a third of those were 5s. Also, we had a bet that if we got 75% or higher, he'd shave his beard. He went through with it.

[Sunbird]

2 hours ago, Silverblade5 said:

I talked with my old AP World teacher from last year, and he told me some  crazy things. We got an 83% pass rate on the AP test, and a third of those were 5s. Also, we had a bet that if we got 75% or higher, he'd shave his beard. He went through with it.

That's fantastic!! Congrats to you and your classmates for performing so well on a difficult test!

[Silverblade5]

Today, I socialized for the first time in months. I was hanging out with coworkers at a wing place after a closing shift, and we were celebrating the departure of a particularly troublesome coworker.

[Briar King]

I saw the sun!

[Sunbird]

On 8/29/2017 at 11:37 PM, Silverblade5 said:

Today, I socialized for the first time in months. I was hanging out with coworkers at a wing place after a closing shift, and we were celebrating the departure of a particularly troublesome coworker.

LOL, not quite a "going away" party, but more like a "good riddance" party?

[Silverblade5]

58 minutes ago, Sunbird said:

LOL, not quite a "going away" party, but more like a "good riddance" party?

Pretty much. It was a dead shift, so we were able to spend most of it just planning. 

[Darkness Ascendant]

10 hours ago, Silverblade5 said:

Pretty much. It was a dead shift, so we were able to spend most of it just planning. 

I want to make a graveyard shift pun but that would be...a..grave...mistake.

Well would you look at the tomb, I have an appointment!

[Orlion Blight]

My collection of William Golding novels is almost complete! I am only missing the Double Tongue, which was published posthumously... so by some definitions, my collection is complete!