TwiLyghtSansSparkles

"Ugh, fine. Free ice cream every Saturday." more whispering "What? Shiny Sparkle is so violently allergic to ice cream that the first time she uses her powers after eating it, she turns into a killer penguin? That...that's actually kind of cool. Free ice cream every Saturday and Wednesday, everyone!"

For the first 10 percent or so, I considered skipping around to just read Shallan's chapters, because I found her story more interesting than Adolin's or Dalinar's. And if I wasn't reading on a Kindle, I might have. But then we got Dalinar's POV during a highstorm, which meant seeing one of his visions....suffice it to say, that's what hooked me.

If my two cents carry any weight with you guys, so far as making a final decision goes, I support the idea of Kobold gaining access to Epic weaknesses in The Dalles. With Vondra as paranoid as he is, it makes sense that he would attempt to discover every weakness of every Epic in his city. That doesn't mean he'll always be successful, but if Kobold knows the weaknesses already, it would be easier to find plausible ways of steering him wrong. Plus, it would keep weaknesses from being set off entirely by accident, which would just be awkward.

I think it is! A restaurant where I live has a Thai pizza with chicken, peanut sauce, and....a few other things I don't remember, but I'm 99 percent sure cheese wasn't one of them.

Wait. You felt differently an hour ago? That means you're still changing, which means you just went through a big change, which means…. HaHA! My new companion is a Time Lord! Take THAT, Masters and Missys!

Three companions in one? That's a little weird, but who am I to judge? Let's go!

Her, then. Honestly, did no one notice the "destroy the world" part? Sure, fine. But if you take over the world, I'll have to stop you, and that won't be very much fun for you, now will it?

Well, this isn't good at all. Rose? Martha? I think I'll need your help.

The Time Lord who foiled a whiny Slitheen with breath spray? I doubt this very much.

Remember what I did to that Dalek, sir.

I have the same personality type as Reed Richards and Hank Pym? Noooooooo why meeeeeee? Edit: Okay, I just found this thing. I have the same personality type as the Ninth Doctor. Much, much better.

Previously, in ​Words of Radiance…. Back to reading.

Doubtful, but I know a lot of gourmet pizza bistros will bake an egg on top of some of their pizzas before adding arugula, so don't give up on that idea just yet.

Should....should we start an "Order Quiver the Tastiest Pizza in His Area" Kickstarter campaign?

I definitely agree that God wants to be, and is, involved in the lives of his people. I could share stories about little things that kept me going, little things that probably couldn't be proven. I don't remember the term Kaymyth used, but I know Unverifiable was one of the words. Unverifiable, but also unexplainable any other way, for me at least. I was more referring to, and disagreeing with, the way some people ascribe deeper meaning to every stick and stone. Can a stick or stone illustrate a deeper truth? Certainly. My pastor at my old church was a big fan of "trail parables," where we'd find something along the path that illustrated something about God, or reminded us of something in the Bible. But do I think my preference for Dry Vanilla Bean Soda is part of a Great Cosmic War seeking to balance light and dark? No. I like Dry Vanilla Bean Soda because it's tasty.

I'll be honest here: I don't have the definitive proof you're looking for that the Bible and other sacred texts are more than stories. I can point to strong archaeological evidence that many of those stories actually happened, though I cannot tell you for certain that the divine or miraculous component was present. I don't have definitive answers, and I don't have authoritative proof. What I know of the Bible, combined with what I know of archaeology, has strengthened my faith rather than weakened it, and that's all I can say on that. I don't think there is a mysterious, metaphysical "reason" for everything. When a family cussed me out because I told them the store was closed and they couldn't continue shopping, I believe that happened because those people were self-centered jerks who didn't bother to read the sign naming our hours—not because God wanted me to learn some sort of lesson. I know there are some people who would say otherwise—I once had a woman tell a friend of mine that his preference for brown soda was evidence of a cosmic war seeking to balance light and dark—but I don't buy completely into that. I believe God exists, and I believe he wants to be involved in the lives of his people, but I don't think he's involved in every little thing that happens on Planet Earth. If a branch falls, it's because of physics and not because of some Great Soda War. However, I do believe that God allows some things to happen, or guides them to happen in certain ways. Perhaps that sounds contradictory, given what I just said, but I believe God's involvement is usually on more of a "big picture" than "all the small things" scale. And I think one of the "big picture" things is the way the Bible is written. I read it for years as a rulebook. "Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth," is the acronym I was taught. And yes, there are morals in that book. Whole letters of morals, and a whole book of rules. But there are thousands of stories. The Old Testament is overwhelmingly stories, with meta-stories involving prophecies for Israel, and a good bit of poetry mixed in. There are some rules, yes—the Ten Commandments and the Levitical Law come to mind. But those rules are part of a story—the story of how Israel came to freedom and how God set them apart from other nations. In the overwhelming majority of Old Testament stories, there are no morals tacked on at the end. We humans like to do that to those stories, and honestly, there's a lot of truth to be gleaned from the triumphs and failures of Old Testament men and women. But I think that by reducing those stories to a set of three bullet points in a Sunday morning sermon, we're doing many of them—and those who would read them—a disservice. What I see in Bible stories—what I'm learning to see—is truth and beauty. I see truth and beauty given in story form, with no discussion guides or sermon points for understanding them. I think God knew that stories speak to humans on a deep and personal level, and so spoke his truth through story. Many stories in the Old Testament especially can be appreciated and interpreted on multiple levels—the story of David and Bathsheba is simultaneously the story of a king allowing his base desires to rule the day, the lengths to which people will go to cover up their wrongdoing, how innocent people are harmed when the powerful do wrong. When the prophet Nathan confronts him, we see David's righteous anger toward this metaphorical rich man who took the poor man's only lamb, we see how he's deluded himself when he doesn't grasp the meaning immediately—and we see him humble himself and admit he did wrong when it's pointed out to him. But aside from the multiple themes that can be gleaned from that story, it's also a good story. It's the sordid, tragic tale of a man who used his authority to get what he wanted, never mind the harm he did. I don't claim to understand why God set it up that way. I have theories, one of those theories being that not everyone understands math (I'm one of those who doesn't) but everyone can understand a story. I think God knew more people would understand stories than would understand math, and so chose to tell his truth through a collection of stories. It was an accessibility issue—an accessibility issue faced by all religions, and solved the same way. I know all this probably isn't enough to convince you, or others. And that's all right with me. I have my perspective on all this—a perspective as incomplete as any human's will ever be—and I know I won't ever have all the answers. I enjoy seeking them out. I enjoy learning things I didn't know before. And I know the human race, as a whole, wants to learn what it doesn't know. I think that's a good thing. I don't think it's wrong to seek out knowledge and to find answers…but I don't think it's wrong to not have all the answers, either.

Quote: "If kids in America go hungry, it's because their parents suck." Not…not because their parents became unemployed and/or got evicted through no fault of their own? Not because they're being raised in a single-parent home and their landlord raised the rent? Look, I know some parents are neglectful, but sometimes, crap happens to the best of us. Show a little compassion, will ya?

Not to mention that… (Firefight spoilers)

I'm sorry. If he values your friendship, I doubt you just lost a friend. He may have felt as awkward as you did. If you give it time, I think chances are good he'll come back.

I love the lack of age bias here. Although I'm well within what most people would call the "typical" age bracket for fantasy readers, I've actually been surprised several times because I'd thought the person I was trading RP posts with was older than they were. And it was a good sort of surprise, a "What the heck? That thing you wrote was so good I could've sworn you were older!" moment.

But where would I even find a suitable arena in this part of the country, let alone enough weapons for-- --er, I mean, noooo....that's so illegal.

That would make it soooo much better some days. And I don't know which is worse: the way they all seem to have a hive mind that compels them to all call or come in at the same time, or the way they all seem to think they're the most important.

Exactly! It's completely plausible, and I see no reason why it shouldn't happen.

No, though I've had that happen, and it wasn't as annoying as it sounds because the customer was really nice about it. I'm at my other job, where I'm a receptionist.