Tesh

Did I just spend at least an hour moving all my pictures of quotes from books into a Google Doc? 

Noooooooo...

Google Lens is a fantastic invention.

Time to go format all of the quotes!

I finished reading The Anthropocene Reviewed.

All I shall say is that every copy of the first printing is signed (in the US, at least), and that you should all read it, and I shall leave you with a quote.

"What does it mean to live in a world where you have the power to end species by the thousands, but you can also be brought to your knees, or to your end, by a single strand of RNA? I have tried here to map some of the places where my little life brushes up against the big forces shaping contemporary human experience, but the only conclusion I can draw is a simple one: We are so small, and so frail, so gloriously and terrifyingly temporary."

I have this weird obsession with looking at really old cave art. This has been going on for a while but last night in The Anthropocene Reviewed I read the essay about Lascaux, and so far that one has been my favorite and it has renewed a frenzy of looking at pictures of all these things and reading all sorts of articles.

Whenever I have had the opportunity, I have gone to look at old petroglyphs (which I highly recommend), but none of those were ever even close to as old as some of these sites like Lascaux. (Although after a brief google search I found record of some petroglyphs that are just a few thousand years younger than Lascaux (the paintings there are about 17,000 years old). The petroglyphs I have seen have all been younger than about 1,500 years.)

I'm not completely sure why I bring this up. It just really... Puts things into perspective.

Here's a quote from the essay that I loved. (Note that due to humans frequently visiting Lascaux, mold began to grow and damage the paintings, and so replicas of the cave have been built so people can still see the paintings even though the actual cave is closed off from the public.)

"The cave paintings as Lascaux exist. You cannot visit. You can go to the fake cave we've built, and see nearly identical hand stencils, but you will know: This is not the thing itself, but a shadow of it. This is a handprint, but not a hand. This is a memory that you cannot return to. And to me, that makes the cave very much like the past it represents." 

(I highly recommend reading The Anthropocene Reviewed as well. It's written by John Green, and is absolutely fantastic. I can't bring myself to read it quickly because it's just so beautiful, and so I'm only a few essays into it. I'm trying to savor every moment.)

I am now Most Ancient. 

You can all bow to me now. 

Also, I am now a kakapo. They are tied on my "best bird list" with kiwi birds and Kaladin. 

So, my Shardiversery is tomorrow, but tomorrow I'm probably going to be too busy freaking out about my AP world history test that's on Monday to write this, so I'm doing it now.

Over the last year, a lot has happened. I have made some really good friends on here through Discord, and a few other things. I discovered there was a really good chance I was on the autism spectrum (I still don't have a diagnosis, but we'll see what the future holds), and I realized the stress of life goes down tenfold if you don't have to worry about friendships you were single-handedly holding up. I started taking AP world history, as well as two other history classes, with the best teacher ever, and my view of the world has completely shifted. It's awesome, and I'd happily discuss anything from the Abbasid Caliphate to tsarist Russia to human rights with anyone who wants to join in that conversation. I also am now a proud Nerdfighter!

As I mentioned earlier, I got on Discord a while back, and through that, I got to know a lot of people. To all of you Discord people, you're all incredible. You're some of the most amazing human beings I know. Thank you all for putting up with all my weirdness.

And here are some notes to individual people. I apologize to everyone I forgot. There are too many awesome people on here to remember everyone off the top of my head. 

@The Awakened Salad You are such an awesome person, and such a good friend. I am so grateful for your willingness to talk about anything, and for being there for me. Long live The Awakened Salad Co! Also STAELSAHD! (We need to figure out the overlap between those two things...) 

@Channelknight Fadran It's been so great getting to know you over the last few months. In all honesty, when I first started seeing you around on Discord and stuff, you really didn't seem like the type of person I would really get along with, but now you get frequent Kaladin pictures and we're writing buddies, and I am so glad that I can call you a friend. 

@Hentient Hennnnnnnn! Thank you for sending me bird pictures! Toto is such a pretty little bird and she brightens my day like almost nothing else.

@FriarFritz Fritz, you are one of the kindest people I know. The world is so much the better for having you in it.

@Shard of Thought You are a fantastic human with incredible talent, and your drawing of Kaladin is still one of my favorite things ever.

@Knight of Iron Koi, keep on pulling teeth and being awesome. You're fantastic.  

@Chasmgoat I thoroughly appreciate your weirdness and just... You. Every conversation with you is fun.

@Flying Flying, you're also amazing. I'm so glad I've been able to get to know you better over the last few months.

@AonEne I remember back when you were a young child just getting involved in TUBA... Hehe. Ene, you're awesome. I don't know how you do it all. I mean... Being a mod and maintaining your sheer levels of awesomeness alone... 

@Emi Emi, you are such a talented artist, and everything you draw is amazing. Keep being awesome.

@Vapor You are an amazing person, and I'm so glad I've had the opportunity to get to know you. 

@Mist Mist, you are so kind, and it's always a pleasure to talk with you.

@Doomstick Thanks for talking about books and Nerdfighter stuff! I'm so glad I've had the opportunity to get to know you. DFTBA!

@DramaQueen Thank you for screaming Hunchback lyrics with me! It's always a ton of fun.

@Onimur It's so great that you joined the Shard! Thanks for joining this cult of weirdness.  

@S4S You are such a talented writer, and it's been such a joy to have the opportunity to rp with you for so long.

@theTruthshaper Truth, you're awesome. Thank you for always being willing to talk and just be awesome.

@JesterLavorre You are such a kind human, and I've thurougly enjoyed every conversation I've been able to have with you. Thanks you. 

Everyone in Knights of the Cosmere- You guys were my first friends on here, and, for the three-ish years that was going, it was a blast to rp with you all. Thanks for making the Shard awesome.

Everyone in Let's Go Find a Dragon- Thanks for making my really random rp a huge complex thingy with stuff I still can't remember! Thanks for keeping it going and keeping it fun. (If anyone wants to join, there's a link in my sig.)

And also I want to give a huge thank you to everyone I forgot, as well as everyone else. There are too many people to name, but you all are what makes the Shard the place that it is and I will forever be grateful to all of you for that. Thanks for being so willing to put up with me and my weirdness.

Also thanks to the mods for keeping this place going and keeping it great. None of this would have been possible without you guys.

Thanks again to everyone for being awesome!