Kaymyth

I doubt it. . I've always collected weird knowledge like this, ever since I was a kid. And that predates the Mistborn books by a lot.

Nah, I've only got the one spike, and it's for Feruchemical maturity.

Wow. That is one of the kindest ways of saying, "Kaymyth, why are you full of such ridiculous amounts of useless information?!" that I've ever seen.

I reported the spammer. Mods'll take care of it.

Duralumin is correct. The alloy was originally developed on our world by a German zeppelin company for use in building airships.

OK, it's time to put something cheerful on this thread again. Be warned, dear readers, for this post is about to get picture-heavy. That's right. I'm about to inundate you with wedding photos. So! On April 30, 2011, I got married. It was awesome. It was nerdy. It was ecumenical - I'm pagan, and my husband is an atheist, so it only made sense that we get hitched on Unitarian Universalist grounds. We slipped a combination of humanist and pagan things into the ceremony with a geeky twist. (Yes, one of the wedding readings was G'Kar's Declaration of Principals from Babylon 5. We also made the audience do a BSG thing and call out, "So say we all!' at various points in the ceremony. It was awesome and beautiful and completely perfect.) I piece of the invocation: Our handfasting cords (post-ceremony) and the box they were kept in: Also, we didn't have a little boy to be the Ring Bearer, so instead we used a Ring Bear: Yep, that's Spock Bear I borrowed him from my mom. You see, we got our rings from a jewelry store called Vulcan's Forge. Mhm. I went there. It was too perfect not to. One of the rules I had was no dead flowers. My wrist corsage and James's boutonniere were silk, and all of the centerpieces I got from the garden store and planted into pots. Those were live pansies and petunias, and since the wedding was in the spring, the people who took them home got to enjoy flowers all summer long! Also, I named the tables after various spaceships and space stations. And the cake speaks for itself. No, we didn't get a super-fancy expensive cake; we tried to keep this thing on a reasonable budget. Besides, have you ever seen better cake toppers in your entire life? No, of course you haven't. I made the papercraft city myself, lovingly decorating it with Micro Machines and a tiny helicopter for our Bridezilla and Groomera to rampage around in and terrorize. What's that? Oh, you were expecting pictures of us! Oh, well, then, I shall oblige. Look how pretty my hair is! I'm rather fond of this shot of James getting ready: Handfasting cords getting tied: I got a little caught up in things after the ceremony. James later had this picture turned into a jigsaw puzzle for me. Because he's awesome. And watch my dress go floof! Incidentally, do you have any idea how amazingly entertaining the looks on peoples' faces are when you walk into a bridal boutique and tell them, "I want my dress to be purple. Oh, also it needs sleeves." Pretty freakin' entertaining, let me tell you. Of course they didn't have anything, so I had my dress custom made. Fortunately, I wasn't insane enough to try to make it myself (though I did dye the fabric). Unfortunately, I was insane enough to make my bridesmaids' dresses. And the groomsmen's vests and ties. And the flower girl faerie's dress. And while I was at it, I might as well use the same fabric for my dress to make James's vest and tie... The wedding party: We are very silly people. And the obligatory family photo: Finally, me and James in black & white:

I'm not the only one anymore! Not sure how much of the thread you slogged through, but I'm Kemetic.

Would it make you feel better if I waved a cane at you and called you a youngling?

It's like your generation's Highlander 2. For some reason that movie never got made. They just skipped from 1 to 3, it's just so odd.

Saturday-only badge is $35, and you should be able to get it at Registration. There will be signs, I'm sure. If we do something Saturday evening, just know that I'm planning on getting into the Magic draft tournament, which starts at 8:30. So we wouldn't go late, unless y'all just go with me.

Things that happen when Kaymyth watches Daredevil while drunk: Wilson Fisk shall henceforth be known as Evil Bald William Shatner.

So, there are enough of us as definites, and a couple of maybes...you guys want to try and arrange a get-together with the lot of us? Maybe hang out one evening of the con and have dinner together or something?

That would actually have worried me a bit. Bats can carry rabies, and if you're bitten in your sleep those bites are small enough you might not even notice.

Well, there very well could be things. Problem is that I've been playing instruments like the oboe and flute for so long that pennywhistle was easy peasy, so I don't know what people unfamiliar with the woodwind family would want or need to know. Bats are not ugly! They are adorable! But you're right, they should not be in houses.

Aaa! Another pagan!

I do! And, um...it's a pretty simple instrument, really. Is there anything specific you're wondering about? There's actually a little box you can click on your profile that enables DST.

Yeah. Unfortunately with all of the latest pushes to try and bring the US up to standard with the rest of the world, those above the bell curve kids are getting even more shafted. I did wind up having to figure out how to do it just to pass Music History. But I had to have help from fellow classmates to do it. I'm still a bit fuzzy on how it all works, 'cause I'm usually such an information sponge that it doesn't take much effort for me to learn new things. And I still remember things from ages past. I've had more than one conversation at work that has gone like this: Them: *talking about something* Me: "Oh, <insert apparently-esoteric knowledge here>." Them: "How do you KNOW that?!" Me: "How do you NOT know? I...learned it in high school history. Didn't everybody?" Them: "Rosemary, normal people don't remember what they learned in high school history!" Me: I was one of those really annoying kids who did really well on standardized tests, but that sounds like something even I would've had trouble with. That question is beyond stupid.

One other little niggling thing about the AoL cover that bugs me: that train in the background is either built for giants or way out of proportion with the rest of the artwork. I mean, seriously, when you take perspective into account that thing is, what, three stories high? But yeah, the Wayne carrying a gun thing is silly, though it bothers me even more that he's traipsing around with his finger inside the trigger guard.

Heh. I actually meant in the thirdhand sort of way - I even have problems sharing an elevator with people who are just coming in from a smoke break. The thirdhand stuff clinging to them may not be quite enough to trigger an asthma attack, but it does cause some coughing and a general feeling of illness. I have a couple of smoker friends who have learned that they can't even hug me if they've been smoking recently. My lungs are pretty pathetic.

Ugh. He was probably one of those cremhole teachers who got mortally offended every time he came across a student who knew something he didn't. Being stuck where I was at was bad enough; I can't even imagine trying to slog through with that ugliness looming over me. A lot of folks don't realize that gifted kids aren't just smarter; they tend to be a lot more emotionally sensitive and prone to downward psychological spirals. I, at least, appreciate the fact that the vapey thingies don't threaten to immediately shut down my lungs on approach. I could probably walk into an elevator with you and not feel my chest tighten!

There's nothing specifically planned as of yet, but that doesn't mean we could do something. There'll be four or five of us there, I think.

That is insane to me. Of course, I'm a really, really poor litmus test of this sort of thing, because I was that kid who was always reading in class during the lesson, and driving the teachers nuts because no matter what question they tried to catch me out with, I'd always know the answer. And so they'd eventually throw their hands up and let me get away with it. This was a terrible idea on their part. I was reading because I was bored. So much of school was rehashing old material, and I was that kid who didn't need to be taught something more than once to get it. And on those occasions when there would be new stuff, great! I'd pay attention for the first run-through, get it, and then check out again because they had to drill it into everyone else's heads. So I learned at a very early age that I didn't need to put any real effort forth to learn things because it was all so easy. What I needed was an accelerated learning track, but I was stuck in a small, rural school that didn't have the resources. And heck, even in larger schools, so many teachers dismiss the gifted kids as "eh, they're okay, 'cause they're learning everything." They're not OK. They're not even close to OK. My first round of college wound up kicking my chull because I had absolutely no idea how to study. I'd never had to do it before, so it was all just some sort of vague concept for me. And I still thought it didn't apply to me, until suddenly it did, and I had absolutely no idea what to do about it. So I wound up washing out due to being in no way prepared for any of it. And I was one of the lucky ones. So many gifted kids drop out of high school. They're bored, they're ostracized, they're aimless, and nobody seems to know what to do with them. They ought to be getting specialized educational intervention the same as learning disabled kids do (and news flash: some kids with learning disabilities are also gifted; schools have even less idea of what to do with them). But because they're "smart" nobody thinks to do anything with them. The lucky ones get straight A's and zip through and run into a brick wall when they get into college. The unlucky ones lose interest and drop out, maybe wind up in jail or overdosed or outright suicide, and people shake their heads and call them "troubled" without ever giving any thought as to how they're the ones that caused those troubles. We're losing our best and brightest in droves, and all anyone at the top seems to want to do is throw in more standardized testing with one hand and gut all of the funding for what education system we have left with the other. ETA: Sorry, this sorta turned into a soapbox rant.