Nov 2009 Archive, part c

Welcome back! ...Think I remember you, in a vague sort of way. Probably.

...bad with names. That's my excuse.

Anyway, have a towel and some bleepka! (The good stuff, made from gen-yoo-wine bleeprin and... well, it's best not to contemplate what else went into it, honestly.)

I don't think it's possible for me to have seen you on the boards- I started lurking only this summer, and made meself known only recently- but, hey, is that a reason not to chuck a present at you?

*chucks*

That would be a softnose laser, perfect for getting bit character Sues in the heart. Or gut. Or any other organ, for that matter. Hehehe. ;)

Hello, I don't believe we've met!

You won't have a clue who I am - I don't even have Permission yet - but it's good to see a veteran return to the fold, even if it's only to share accumulated wisdom with us newbies rather than to take to the field. And now that you're here, I'll have to read up on the DCUP, if only to find out what exactly you do there. :P

So. Hi!

Greetings, O venerable inbetweenbie!

You won't know who I am, because I've only been loitering and being the Board's Resident Alcoholic since the start of 2008, but hello nonetheless.

Re: your question, have you tried the wonders of google for finding the lost badfics? When I was on one of my regular organisational sprees and sorting out Trojie's livejournal, I discovered she'd totally failed to note title, author or links to her first few missions sans me. Most of them remain lost in the ether, but I managed to find a couple of them by googling bits that she'd quoted.

Here's a dagger set from the Raven Armory!

Have a Bengal Tiger and some Anti-Lustin. What are your opinions on the former?

I do believe I remember you. Funstuff.

Have an egg whisk. They're pretty darn nifty, and useful to bot. Welcome back!

Hihihihihi! *glomps and hugs* Hi! Have some coconuts!

I'm rather new here, too. I've come in April 2009, and I have a team of three Agents, originally tall ships. I tackle many SF universes, TV shows and RPF about U2... well I would tackle them if I actually wrote missions, lol.

*hug* We finished the TS Group Mission since you left ^_^ I remember your agent was one of the background characters in the intro. Nice to see you again!

...and greetings from a recent newbie.

Good luck with the Lost Tales; I'm looking forward to reading some of the older missions!

Hey, an oldbie. Awesome.

Yeah, I'm far too new for you to recognize, seeing as I joined this month, but welcome back!

Welcome back!

Protocol is thus - add what you like - if there's no link to the original fic, well, oh well. Feel free to add and edit anything that takes your fancy on the Wiki as well, and please feel free to investigate the list of Wanted Pages :)

- Trojie, pimping the Wanted Pages List since 2008

Muahahahahahaha! My evil plan worked! Muahaha--

Um. I mean. >.>

Welcome back! ^_^

And yeah, like Cassie said, better to have a link to a mission with no fic than nothing at all. After all, if the badfics disappear, it must mean we're doing our job, right?

Anyway, have some welcome-back Galadriel-brand™ lembas!

~Neshomeh

You won't know me either, I think, but that's okay. Very nice to meet you; remind me to thank Neshomeh :)

I think Cassie's already said about the wiki, but if there's no link, there's no link; better to have the mission linked than nothing at all, methinks.

Anyway, cheers!

- Sedri

You won't remember me, I only joined April 2008, but hey, it's awesome to see old names from song and legend reappear!

(Or, well, okay, maybe just legend. But the first version sounded better.)

Nice to meetcha. =D

And, uh, I think if you can't link to the fic per se, you should at least put the name of it in, and the author if you can, so people know it's not your own stuff and you don't get smacked for plagiarism, y'know?

TFTD is set on near-future earth, and centers on a cross-national force with no particular naming patter. You don't need to know the cannon to help out.

US attack submarines come in three classes - the old workhorse Los Angeles class, the aborted Seawolf class, and the new Virginia class. The LA boats are named after cities (there's a lot of them, list here), the three commissioned Seawolves have no naming system (Seawolf, Connecticut, and Jimmy Carter), and the Virginias are named after states (list here), so depending on what you want, any name not on the above lists would work.

From a broader historical perspective, most attack subs before the LA class were named after fish, a tradition that stretches back to before world war two. When the LAs were comissioned, submarine tactics had changed to the point where they were considered important combat ships, and thus given names of cities (equivalent to traditional cruiser names), and now, they've taken over the traditionally battleship-only state names. So, depending on how old you want your boat to be, you could call her Seattle, Salem, Worcester, or Cleveland for an LA boat, Washington, Delaware, Oregon, or Arizona for a Virginia. Just note that with the Virginias, the Ohio-class ballistic missile subs were also named for states, so you'll want to check against the list. (Older ballistic missile subs were named for historical figures, so no need to worry about them.) For an older boat, it quickly gets hard to pick an unused name - there were a lot of WW2 subs.

Sorry this took so long. We had an early Thanksgiving with my fiance's parents, so I didn't have a lot of time.

Anyway, I don't know much about Halo, but speaking just to the writing, you'll want to watch out for little errors of punctuation and spelling, and make sure you're clear about who's who. In the second chapter, you don't really introduce Wings at all, you just drop the name in. I had to guess that it was the same boy from the first chapter, which I couldn't do until it was clear that you were following him and not just mentioning the name in passing. Remember, the readers are smart, but they can't read your mind. {= )

As for the fic, I can't really help because I don't know the fandom. Sorry. Good luck with the mission.

~Neshomeh, who wonders where the other PGs are.

Although... no crossovers or cross-posting? I am so going to hell. I see no problem with uploading fics to multiple sites to reach a wider audience.

~Twiggy, who has an ulterior motive for thinking this, since she does it herself

a site to be able to view the material.

...your mention of "Dark Yagami".

Dark Yagami?

Dark Yagami?

I'm imagining some kind of YuGiOh! crossover and a Yami Yagami, but I doubt it's even as sensible as that. o_o

I have just wasted my day on this. Dammit. {X D

The comic and the "autopsy," that is. I just... couldn't look away. It's so mind-bogglingly awful. o.o Wow.

~Neshomeh

I don't recognize it. I would laugh at it if I hadn't read the tvtropes page first.

I don't really swear in RL or online, but I have noticed that the way I speak and the way I write or type is different. I normally attribute it to the extra half-second or so between my brain and words appearing on the screen compared to my brain and mouth. This becomes even more obvious than normal when I have to do a speech or something, because if I try and write an actual script for myself, I end up re-writing it in my head while I'm giving the speech.

As you can imagine, I don't bother with scripts anymore.

I don't swear much in RL anyway, but I almost never use swear words online. That's mainly a familiarity thing, though, because I do use them with people I know well.

But what I have noticed is that my grammar somehow becomes more formal online. Most noticeably, I have a tendency to write things like 'it is' out in full, when I would always use the contracted forms in speech. (It only happens with some contractions though, for some reason). And this is when I'm IMing a close friend, so it's hardly a familiarity thing, or a case of reading over my words carefully before I post them. For some reason, my brain automatically converts things as I write them. But then, I write in a very formal style anyway, (the product of several years' worth of lab reports), so that could be something to do with it.

Weird. I never noticed that before.

(Also, online I do not have the bad habit of dropping the occasional 'like' into my sentences. And now that I think about it, I don't think I would actually use the phrase 'most noticeably' in regular speech).

I swear more online mostly because I feel more comfortable with it, but -- the tangents? The derailings? The RANDOM CAPSLOCK? Pretty close to how I talk. It's easier to understand because you aren't getting (many of) the dropped letters/syllables, there's not the Sarcasm Inherent In The Capital Letters Dammit Jai It's Your Fault I Do These Title Caps, and online I'm more likely to do separate sentences instead of trying to make a point in one long sentence that I shouldn't be able to get out without breathing and asIfinishitIendupspeedingandhighpitchedandlikethis, but other than that -- pretty close together.

...I apologize more online too, probably because there's more of a lag for me to do it in.

...What?

I know what you mean. I swear like a sailor offline (or used to; my friend has been guilting me into the cessation of that habit), but other than that, I think my speech patterns don't change much. I stutter a bit, or stammer, but still occasionally speak in couplets or break out archaic language patterns-- which actually makes the swearing that much more fun, honestly.

I think it's easier to swear out loud, because speaking is such an effortless part of your brain, it's practically a subconscious effort, especially if you get into any kind of a habit-- goes for any expression. Typing, on the other hand, you get to see what you've put up (if you do the very tiniest bit of proofreading, anyway) before it actually goes up, and also as you're typing it-- and it's not nearly as subconscious a means of communication.

Plus when you get into the habit of writing for different audiences, and literacy becomes a point of pride, it's harder to do a lot of things-- swearing is just one of them.

to use proper spelling and grammar in e-mails and other on-line texts. This is because I sometimes come across articles in magazines about how careless people are in e-mails causing their message to get lost in the mess. Although I do have the habit -- mainly in Dutch -- to leave the subject out of the sentence (e.g. "Went to the shop" instead of "I went to the shop"). And I think I do this too when speaking, though I've never really paid much attention to how I use language when speaking.

In general it can be said though that Dutch people are very careless about their language. They only half-pronounce words, leave out words that a "good" listener should be able to pick up from context.

As for swearing, probably do that more off-line, but that's because I can't actually drop something on my foot on-line.

I don't swear much either way, so there's not much difference there, but there is a difference in my language overall. For one thing, I can always get a coherent sentence out on the first try online. {= P IRL, I have a tendency to misplace words. I'll be talking along, all innocent-like, and then I'll say kumquat when I meant kiwi. It's incredibly embarrassing, because I know what I mean, but it comes out wrong, like I reached for one thing and grabbed the one next to it instead. It's almost always something that begins with the same sound. More often, though, I just can't string the words together the way I want to, so I end up saying "I mean" a whole lot in an effort to clarify and correct myself. If I get the chance.

The big difference is that online there's time to think everything through before it goes out where other people can see it. Out loud, you can't think about it too much before speaking, or you look like a moron.

Another difference is that most of the talking I do offline is with close friends and family, who will forgive me (or won't even notice) if I use informal/nonstandard language, including the occasional swearword. Most people's language gets more formal/standard when talking to people they don't know, and for me, that extends to the internet, where most of the talking I do is right here, on this Board, where it's in public and everyone can see. I'm less formal on AIM or in e-mails with good friends.

I think that about covers it, though. My language is different online both because I have the luxury of being as proper as I want to be, and because the situation calls for it.

~Neshomeh

I try really hard not to swear in RL, to the point where I occasionally spew an incoherent stream of gibberish when I get upset with something, in an attempt not to swear. I do swear at inanimate objects, but only when I'm alone (it's a victimless crime, unless you count my laptop).

I do swear in front of my old high school buddies (all guys, like me), but usually only when quoting dialogue or otherwise being humorous. In college I mostly hung out with girls, who swore more than me (and taught me some new ones), but I still tried to avoid a lot of casual swearing out of politeness (probably unnecessary). I very very VERY rarely swear in front of my parents, even with minor curses like damn or hell.

I don't often swear in online writing because when I'm typing, I have more time to compose my thoughts and think of the right words to use. I don't have that luxury in RL social situations (my kryptonite). I also tend to swear more over instant messenger conversations.

I talk like this all the time, really. Online and IRL, I'll quote random things at random times and try to make people laugh.

I swear pretty much equally online and in real life. The only difference, I think, is my tendency to shout a bit more (i.e. all caps) when I'm swearing online. Interestingly I've been swearing less at uni, since one of the group I hang out with there doesn't like people swearing and will object to it.

As for grammar... definitely better online. Especially when talking to people I know are ESL.

Hard as I try not to, I do sometimes find myself muttering bad language in real life, and I think that's because there's so much less time taken to vocalise than to type, and when typing you can almost always take it back. I hear people swearing around me all the time, and feel like the habit's been forced into me, and I hate it, whereas when typing I have much more control and can use language (like "bloody") when I choose.

Of course, I'm the odd one out, but it could work both ways. For cases like yours, Pads, I think maybe it has more to do with effort? Not to call you lazy, of course, but if you do swear that much in a verbal sentence, then to do the same in text would take a lot more typing time (even with shorthand), which would make it a lot less efficient for you when you're trying to get information across - whereas in verbal conversation it takes a fraction of a second and can be easily screened out by someone trying to understand you.

As for grammar, I think that any text-based medium is always going to be closer to Standard English just because we can't be understood if we don't conform to more of the rules. In face-to-face conversations we have body language and tone and so on to help. Here we have to use Standard English or else people get confused.

Or so I think.

Mind, that's partially because most of my online time is spent talking to people who swear every few sentences when they are angry, which is a noticeable portion of the time.

I do cuss in RL, but generally not in front of people. Online, though, I have no trouble using strong language (not the C-word, though, for some reason - in one of my missions the victim character started to say it and got cut off, but I've never actually typed it out). I think it's probably the anonymity factor in my case - people online mostly don't know who I am in real life and don't judge me if I swear. Plus most of the places I hang out online are unlikely to have unsupervised children reading so I'm okay with it. Then again, Cassie and I did end up laughing about the Dube Lube page in public at the last Gathering ... on reflection I think it's more likely to be the comfort level. I don't know many people in real life I'm comfortable swearing around.

That and the characters I write have excuses for swearing like sailors, so I can blame my muse ;)

Welcome back to the Board! I may be a little late to wish you a happy Thanksgiving, but that doesn't mean I can't throw at you a huge, feathersome, gobbling turkey. Quick, catch it before it gets away!

Happy Thanksgiving, happy late-anniversary-of-my-joining-the-Board, uh, my hand is cold?

Okay! *throws toast hither, thither, and yon*

^___^

Happy Thanksgiving! I bring awesome mashed orange-y sweet potatoes with a sweet pecan topping. Dig in. It's good, and definitely the real deal, unlike that turkey-shaped whatsit. *pokes so-called turkey with a stick and watches it jiggle*

Also, Lost Tales update: SIELU is up and mostly running, and I'm almost done tweaking Aerilyn and Zera's four missions into shape, too. Anyway, it's all legible; it's just the minor details that need working out. So enjoy. {= )

~Neshomeh

*places pumpkin bread on a table* I mostly grateful for eh... New books to read and good school grades. Also, "A Very Potter Musical".

At least, that's what they told me it was in the cafeteria. It is turkey shaped. That counts for something, right?

and realizes somebody already brought alcohol. Never mind. There's still a dinosaur to eat.

To the PPC!
*drinks*
And a happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Ah yes, I remember that fic. Lovely work, that.

And it also sporks the Twilight Series, of which I absolutely can't stand. Maybe it's the whole "Sparkly Vampire" thing that bugs me the most, since I happen to be very fond of fantasy/supernatural stuff.

I really hate tweenies, and the fact that a few (young adult female) acquaintances of of mine actually //like// that series doesn't help either.

*Sigh*

Nuthin' more to say. ^^

I dig the pun. ^^

Perhaps this is a good time to share other Twilight mockery I've found on deviantART. I have no idea if any of it is mature or whatever, so apologies if anyone can't view these.

Showdown: HP vs. Twilight

New Moon: A Summary

... And I can't seem to find the one that was a demotivational picture of a bunch of women with a sign that said Twilight Moms, with the caption of "If these were 40-year-old men acting like this over 17-year-old girls, someone would call the police."

Enjoy. ^^

Have I mentioned I love you?

It was pretty funny, but rather morbid. I like that style of parodies sometimes better than the other exaggeration styles. It just depends. :D

I don't know the canon as well as others would, but I can handle the spelling/grammar side of things fine. Would that help? tiroth@hotmail.com

May I mention that I love you so very much?

Because I do.

I've only played a bit of FFVII, so anything after that is kinda lost on me. What's a Tonberry, why can it kill instantly, and how will you avoid all your missions ending in "and then the Tonberry killed it instantly"?

That fic does look like a mega-Sue, though. I love the author's note in Chapter 2: "and thanks to some advice from a reviewer Im going to let Lena be skilless until Zidane and the others give her a few pointers in fighting." *snerk* At least she's receptive to advice.

~Neshomeh

This Vertigo song makes dizzy, it may be that.
OK just kidding because I have no idea beyond see an ORL.

However, it is pretty much beyond home cures. It might be caused by a medication, but unless he falls down sometimes as a result, the best solution is probably to ignore it. If he does fall, or if it is getting worse, he should see a doctor.

That's about all I can think of. It just depends on what's causing the dizziness. If it's a mechanical problem in the inner ear (I have one of those) there's very little to do except avoid dangerous situations when it happens. In my case I'm lucky that it's only an intermittent problem and it usually only affects me when I'm lying down--but I'm still not too eager to be on stairs on those days.

If it's caused by something else, like an infection or a problem in the brain, there might be medications or therapies to try.

Mind you, I'm not a doctor--I don't know if anyone here is. If it's something that's interfering with your friend's life, they should ask a professional. If it is something really serious, we can't help.

~Neshomeh

And thank ye most kindly for linking my ol' MST! Cassie gave me the news, and I confess myself most honoured. Never thought it'd earn such acclaim.

Was loads of fun to write, even if I did eventually give up in the end to save my own brain. After the initial (and the continuing) fury, it sort of sapped my will to mock.