traceria

See, this is why I stink at these geography ones. If the challenge was to identify a state by shape, I'd be great!

Be careful about spoilers. The specifics of White Sand are things you're not supposed to talk about due to its unpublished nature. Other than names, I didn't know several things you mentioned, so just be careful... Thanks! (Edit for grammar.)

#3 is South Carolina. That's impressive, though! I think I tossed that information from my mental storage long ago.

Woo hoo! to being almost done with school! That's great that the director thinks so highly of you and wants you to apply. Do let us know how that turns out!

We might be able to arrange something. Do you want me to PM you the story then?

Alas, I finished up Good Omens (with Neil Gaiman) only a few days before he passed. So sad...

All that up there was so totally adorable. It was so adorable that there is no way I could possible ever tell you the story about our old bunny, Benjamin a/k/a Benny and our old dog Molly (she was half lab, though, and not a pug). I will only tell it to you by PM at special request AND if you promise not to cry floods of tears through the interwebs.

My hope is that this will become a complementary thread to the Bad Day/Rant one. So, let's get this party started... One of my regular rants over in the other thread was about my job, mostly the terrible work environment, where people like to point fingers and generally place blame, even for things that are not under anyone's control but happen in a matter they're handling. So, I've been submitting my application for job openings elsewhere since the beginning of February and have had two in-person interviews and one phone interview. The first interview in February went well, but they basically decided I'd be a great fit for a position they didn't yet have hiring authority for, so it took some time to hear from them. In the meantime, I interviewed at a closer place and also had a great interview. That was this past Monday. On Tuesday morning, I got two job offers. The place I saw in February, I'd already decided that commute would be too crazy, and so I had to graciously decline. The second offer for the closer place, I totally took it! So, I'm out of this crem hole of a work environment next Friday and heading into a less stressful one (I know because my husband works at the new office, he's just in a completely different group. Also, I will have virtually no phone calls to deal with or interruptions of the nature I have in this office on a daily basis, which is where most of my stress originates.) on April 6th!! Woo hoo!! Now, you might be tempted to ask, "Traceria, what do you plan to do now that you're going to be starting a new job in about three weeks?" My answer would be, "Thanks for asking! I'm going to Disney World the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!" So, if any of you happen to be at that park in about two weeks and see a blonde woman wearing a Ravenclaw Quidditch t-shirt, that's totally me. My in-laws live in Florida, so my mother-in-law is having me down for the better part of a week, and we're going to enjoy Universal, mostly for Harry Potter stuff.

Briar King, you and my husband would be in complete agreement on the proper course of action around wasps, and he's only one year your senior. *nods * So, I don't know the family myself, but I do know my assistant... She found out her son's best friend died in a car accident this morning. This guy was about a year out of college. She's friends with his mom, and on top of everything, apparently her son had a disagreement with him not long ago and they hadn't talked before the accident happened. So, they've got some tough times ahead.

When you take a homemade yarn afghan out of the dryer with socks and towels and all manner of other clothing items stuck to it due to static, and you think it's like a laundry/clothing mistwraith.

If Gaea doesn't count, two of the ones I had in mind were a river/water dragon (Japanese) and a dryad. Naiad is spelled with two a's, I believe.

Ah, I did not know that about public Ivy league schools! You learn something new everyday. 7 nature spirits from mythology...I am blanking after four. I will work on this if someone doesn't beat me to it. Edit to add: Titan Arum, I'm also sorry to hear about your grandmother. *hugs *

I have disqualified myself by looking it up, but I will mention that University of Virginia is not in the list I found.

*thumbs up* Mate or Yerba Mate could also have been an option. . (Ugh, I realized I typed 'you're' instead of 'your!' Oh no!)

"Rape culture" is definitely a term that carries a lot with it, and should be used very thoughtfully and probably rarely. I probably wasn't as jolted as you, but it still felt like it came out of left field to me and wasn't necessarily a topic I would have connected to her main points. And I agree with you that it's not just adults that feed the problem. This feels like one of those crazy cycles that it's going to be very difficult to break out of. In order to do so, I think it will take all parties, young peers, parents, teachers, authors, any other adults out there who may not be in the middle of things, but nonetheless are potential role models young boys and girls, publishing companies, etc., etc., to break out of the crazy cycle. I was one of those people who, like you,eventually followed my own interests despite what others approved of, but it takes self-confidence to be able to do that. Support from others is also very helpful. Not, um, to bring My Little Pony into this simply because I like it, but I've seen friends of ours rib my husband endlessly over his love of MLP:FiM. One in particular, despite the fact that he's admitted he's into what might be termed feminine things (he'll watch Project Runway with his mom, for example), will NOT tolerate MLP. His dad was one of those guys who was very focused on macho, manly stuff, and constantly came down on his two sons whenever they strayed from a "manly" path. So, I find it odd that he's managed to accept he has more diverse interests yet will give my husband a hard time about liking MLP, which most now know has a whole brony following. Anyway, your comments, Blaze, are thought-provoking.

It makes me angry, too, for various reasons. One of the biggest reasons is this: Those poor boys/men who could be reading stories they'd probably love and enjoy, if only the world and themselves, too, in many cases, could get over the view that these books are "girl books." And it's terrible that I'm sitting here trying to figure out how you'd get them interested without making qualifications, just like she mentions in her essay. "Even though this has a female protagonist, you'll like it! Really!" So sad.

Aww, thanks! I was just checking out the release date for Interstellar yesterday. So excited it will be out soon!

Delightful, I'm so sorry your friend lost their parent and you someone you were close to. *hugs * Smurf, no matter how terrible your GP is, I'm thinking it might be a good plan to go... Hope you feel better! (Also, since it got buried by a page of posts in the WLIU thread, I agree that Dino Gnar is about the cutest thing ever. ) I kind of want to start a new thread for good news now, too, or perhaps a "Silver Lining" thread where you try to see the best in a situation (not all situations would necessarily have them). For example, my terrible bosses have been making terrible decisions about opening/closing our office given Thor the winter storm's passing through yesterday. First, to provide contrast, yesterday my husband's office closed for the whole day (it is three traffic lights away from mine). Mine opened on time. Then, after we had at least 5 inches of snow and anyone without a 4 or All-wheel drive vehicle was going to be screwed trying to traverse the roads, they closed the office at 1 PM. Snow continued, and we ended up having about 8 inches where we are. It wouldn't be so bad if my town and the next one over actually cared to plow the roads, but basically, they do a once over and let us all slide around out there. Then today, after all that snow arrived, my husband's office opened two hours late this morning. Mine opened on time. Only, because of shoveling and having our Explorer;s doors freeze shut (had to climb in the back window to kick the doors open from inside), I had to take a half day off work. If my office had just opened even an hour late, I wouldn't have had to waste half a personal day. On the UP SIDE, I have an interview on Monday at another place and am anticipating setting up another interview for a second. The second one, I have already had a phone interview and know that the HR person is passing my info along to the local office. So, there's my silver lining in all that mess of being frustrated at my current employers for requiring their employees to waste personal/vacation days instead of considering their safety first and opening late or closing. I think one of these jobs will pan out and I will be out of the crem hole soon.

Expendables (from Pathfinder, three of which are called Ram, Odin and Vadesh) Chappie No. 5 [is alive!] Data (Does he count? Are androids under the umbrella of "robot?") The dude from Wormhold Extreme on Stargate SG-1 who fills the role of Teal'c Data's Mom (Dr. Something-or-other) Data's Daughter, Lal (sp?) K-9 Terminator TARS Bonus: In a story in The Martian Chronicles, there is a whole family of robots made by one of the few people who stayed behind on Mars after most colonists returned to earth. His actual family all died, and so he made replacements of all the members. If androids aren't legit, I'll try to think of three more. EDIT: If my answers are acceptable, here's the next one: WLIU, name five types of tea. By "types" I mean a variety, not a flavor. So, you're freebie example is Oolong.

Here is the link to the Essay. I'm not sure if this should be in this section of the forum (Other Books) or perhaps General Discussion. I was reading Orson Scott Card's somewhat weekly review of anything and everything, and he mentioned Ms. Hale and her essay. I found this really intriguing and also sad. It's sad she's experiencing this phenomenon, but I feel even worse for the boy mentioned at the end. (It also makes me want to go out and read her books.) Since this site is filled with many different people of all ages, I'd just be interested to hear your thoughts and, if applicable, experiences. I'll save any additional comments for the coming discussion. Besides, I'm still kind of mulling things over. (Edit for grammar.)

Oooh, I will have to read that at home (thanks, net nanny!), but thanks for posting!

Ah! You beat me to it! I watch LOL with my husband all the time and have gotten quite good at naming champions. Here's twelve more, though you totally get to pose the next question, Smurf! 12 Additional Champions: Thresh, Ahri, Lulu, Rumble, Nidali (sp?), Calista, Graves, Corki (sp?), Janna, Gnar (my cute, sweet, Gnar!), Jarvis, Zed. (I'm not certain of spellings only because I haven't seen them all in print.)

That is so true. I think it would make an exception for sideways or forward sliding so long as the object/bruising surface is still a part of the equation.

When the weather forecast is calling for freezing everything and you wonder, "Does that mean I'll be able to slide everywhere a la Lift?"

This meme gets used ALL THE TIME in our house. Why? Aliens.