Erunion

Fair enough (not that I'd steal it - I'm a little busy making my own. Or more accurately, finalizing a professors design. Cuz that's how you get funding for $1,000 linear actuators....)

@TwiLyghtSansSparkles - remember, brain weasels are bad. Don't listen! Bruce is your dog, and you are his human. Are you abusing him (obviously not)? Otherwise the life he has with you is 100% the best life he could have. Can you make his life better? Sure. But only by being happy. You have a dog. Dogs are happiest when you are happy. They can sense/smell/notice human emotions, and they respond. So you want Bruce to be happier? Do what makes you happy. And dating experience? I don't have any. I have 'dated' one person in my life and we were lab partners who transitioned from studying together to being in a relationship. I firmly believe that dating experience is unnecessary (otherwise, I'm hooped!). What matters is making a connection. Get that down, the rest will happen. Dating 'experience' will only help you present a polished, practiced, appealing and fake version of you. That's only useful if you're into one-night stands or short term relationships. What you do need/want is self-confidence/self-esteem, so that you can go out there and meet people. I need it too. There's no easy way to get it though. And I'm not the best one for that advice And Twy? You're writing a book. That's awesome. While you may not like the Sanderson path (a dozen or so unpublished works...), don't freak out about the response to this (your first?). Unless it becomes a best seller. (Which it just might ). In that case, feel free to do happy freak-out dances, or whatever floats your boat . Cheers, and down with the brain weasels! Slay them! Hunt them into oblivion! Make lovely scarves and muffs out of their coats! .... hrmmm, weasels aren't exactly mink, but it's the 'wearing the corpses of our deceased enemy' thing that really matters here. Scare the rest of them off.

Conversely, as a mechatronics/robotics engineer, it is an unsurprisingly fitting name...

Wait wait wait... foo-bar? As in fubar? Or, in the 17th shard parlance, subar? (Stormed Up Beyond All Repair?!) thats an interesting name for a robot? But good luck! (also - Stormed Up Beyond All Repair makes a lot of in-universe sense)

They tend to get a different affliction. Something that tells them that they can take. That they're more important than others. That they can hurt, and harm, and steal - as long as they get away with it. That the rest of the world doesn't matter; only them.

So apparently I am now a Stormwarden. I can live with that.

So I have a super important thing going on this week. I'm flying to Vegas for a two day work seminar, a super difficult testing with a fitness test attached, and then competing in a tournament. And I'm sick. Ugh. What lovely timing.

..... that is so, so much a lie of the brain weasels. Thats exactly what they tell everybody. Me especially. For the record, I wasn't 'noticed' until I was 19-20. Also, for the record, saying "I'll be a burden" is the brain weasels favourite lie. If they can make you feel useless? Make you feel that the world is better without you? That's their whole plan. That's their goal. And it's a lie. Its a thrice cursed storming lie. It's the lie they tell me. That they told me for years. It's the lie they told my mom almost every day of her life. Still tell her when she listens. It's the lie they tell you because they want you gone. The brain weasels want you out. Personally, I am a devout Christian. If you are religious, this may help. If not, then up to you. To me the 'brain weasels' are the tools of the Adversary, the devil. And you know why he would use them? Becuase he knows that you make the world a better place. Because he knows that you will make the world a better place. And he doesn't want that. Dont listen to them. (If you're not religious, it may help you psychologically to personify the brain weasels as an enemy anyway.)

Usually whoever still needs to react to the situation, or would naturally go next in conversation/etc.

Yeah, I miss snuggles. They were pretty great. Snuggling while reading was one of my favourite activities. (Add snow, blanket, fire and hot drink for Best Quiet Afternoon). But it's not worth being in the wrong relationship. There are relationships that are clearly, obviously damaging. Get out. More insidious still, there are relationships that seem good, but are not - where it feels good, but you know it's not good. Where it can only hold you back. Trust me, I know. I know all too well. I know far too well. The longer you stay in the wrong one? The more it hurts when it ends, and the more opportunities for the right one that will slip by. Don't stay when it's not right. Don't stay when you know it won't last, can't last. Please. I've been there. I lied to myself that it would work, that I could make it work. All I bought myself was pain, pain and regret. To all my unwillingly single buddies (with S.A.D day coming up! The anniversary of my rejoining the shard... for some reason). Don't settle guys (and gals. And Spren). Don't go for a relationship. Don't go to fill that lonely hole. Go for love. Real love. Go for something that makes you a better person. Go for something that will change your life for the better. Don't settle. Don't feel pressured or rushed into a relationship. Don't feel like you have to. Because you don't. To others, don't fall into the lie of loneliness - that you deserve to be lonely. That you're unlovable. That you aren't pretty enough. Or strong enough. Or smart enough. Or clever enough. Or tall enough. Or rich enough. Or fit enough. That you're never going to be loved because you aren't good enough. That's a lie. It's a storms cursed bloody lie from damnation itself. Don't listen. Don't give in. Don't let the brain weasels get to you. Because they squirm and wriggle and tear into you. And the more you give them; the more you listen, the hungrier and louder they get. Shut them up. Shut them out. Shut them down. I'm talking to you @Kestrel. I'm talking to you @Silverblade5. I'm talking to all of you. And I'm talking to myself.

Totally agree with that

@Oversleep - Nice But I almost wanted him to say 'Science!' and leave. And have the theorem be just an interaction of the traditional physical sciences and a magical source.

Dogs are the best. No hesitation. Cats are good and all, but Dogs? Dogs are wunderbark. It's like Wunderbar, but bark. So it's better. (Also - as cute as smooshy faces can be, they're super unhealthy for the poor animal so I don't recommend smushy faced dogs).

@Deliiiiiightful - hugs. This almost happened to me too, once. I got lucky. I was about to buy when I realized that I didn't quite have the money on me (I would have had to do some juggling with cards at the time), and was able to back out with a 'I'll think about it and come back'. Once I'd left I realized that they weren't what I needed at the time, and it was a bad idea. So I didn't come back. But they weren't nearly as pressure-ey as what you're describing. So relax. It's normal. I've gotten better at dealing with these things, but better does not mean good. Have a hug

/hug ouch dude. If its any consolation, if they're breaking up with you over a mistake, then you probably shouldn't have been together in the first place. That relationship would not have lasted. Nevertheless, you're probably feeling like you've been left in damnation. Have a hug, and find yourself a shoulder to cry on. Close friends/siblings recommended.

@Arraenae - what @Elenion said. If you don't feel comfortable asking him out, tell him 'you know, I think I'd really like it if you asked me to prom' with a smile, and, if you can pull it off, a wink. Guys are terrible at hints. Teenagers are worse than most. Make it obvious, spell it out, but make it fun.

For most students, exams aren't usually enough to cause serious trauma (and the other symptoms associated with PTSD). However, as someone who's mother has PTSD (not war related), it's really nice to raise awareness - PTSD is common in soldiers because of the amount of stress they are under. It is not, however, unique to soldiers. Far from it.

No, that's exactly how I thought of it. Well explained. Plus, by now all those who aren't hardcore nerds have already fled.

@Glamdring804 - great explanation, and especially the clarification on my point! While I knew higher velocity = slower time, is it then because we are moving constantly at the speed of light? So any physical movement will slow down our movement through time (as our actual velocity in space time would be constant, c?). That explanation would make a lot of sense. And has this corollary: were I to leave planet earth and the solar system, and somehow make my spatial velocity == 0 (with an arbitrarily defined centre of the universe as my absolute reference point), then I would experience time at its highest possible velocity? Obviously, this wouldn't significantly change my 'time velocity' as our planet/solar systems velocity is insignificant w.r.t c, but it would make the wait for Doors of Stone & Winds of Winter feel a little faster.

AFAIK it's more of a simplifying concept. So Space isn't really flat. But you can compress 3D space into a 2D model in order to use Time as the 3rd dimension, so you can visualize what things are like.

Good! And be careful. And don't go on the Oregon Trail.

I was about to say 'Go see the doctor immediately' then I remembered that you guys have to worry about insurance. Are you covered? If not, can you afford it? Then go see the doctor immediately. If you have concerns about dehydration then you are in seriously bad shape. Also - *puts on Hazmat suit /hug *takes off hazmat suit

Just to add to what others are saying. Time is just another dimension. Up/down, forward/back, left/right. Those are the three dimensions you can manipulate pretty easily. The fourth dimension, time, you travel through at a near-constant rate of 1 second per second. When trying to understand space/time, you just have to plot the fourth dimension, time. We can't really visualize that though, so we make a simplifying assumption that space is 'flat', with time being the z-axis (so where the flat surface changes Z-height then time changes). We can then use that simplification for calculations and modelling. (AFAIK, space isn't actually flat - it's 3D, and roughly spherical. However, for the sake of simplification, this model assumes the 3rd physical dimension to be irrelevant and plots time on that axis). This is all very rough. Someone who knows more, feel free to correct me. Fun Fact: The Christian God (and likely many other religions' gods') is considered to exist outside of space-time, and is supposed to be a being who can 'see' and interact with time the same way we can see or interact with distance; hence His omniscience/omnipresence. (This is a fairly old conception too, I know Lewis held it, and I believed he was referencing Augustine, but I could be wrong there). Why is this fact fun? Because as this is a Sanderson forum, it really makes you wonder what happens when you interact with the Spiritual Realm.

*looks at title ahahahahah. HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA! MUAHAHAHAAHAHAHHAAH!!!! *a bunch of skeletons march in Phear me, if you dare! For I am become a Bloodsealer, and am on my path to being a true EUOL!* *(Evil Undead OverLord)

@Oversleep ahahaha understood. And I am excited. Very, very excited.