Masa's Massively Masterful Message Medium - Random Banter #146

[CurlyKitGirl]

Wow. In terms of first cousins + close honourary cousins we have a couple clumps. There's 19 (me), 17, 17, 16, 15. And then the middle bunch are 13, 13, 13, 12, 12, 11, 10, 10, 10, 9, 9. And then 7, 7, 6, and 4. But we all live in different places and only two of my cousins go to school. (As we were discussing today, this is my mother's fault; she has the oldest children and because of her, all her sisters-in-law homeschool. The family of honourary cousins don't, though, nor does my mum's sister.)

Big families lead for strangeness.
F'rinstance, not including my second cousins or great-grandchildren I'm the fifth youngest person on the maternal side, with the other four being my siblings and one cousin who is, I kid you not, merely four days older than Little Sister. In the same form too.
It's iust odd because all my maternal aunts, uncles, mum and cousins (excepting those who lived up country) all went to the same secondary school I did.
Except my two uncles who got into grammar school.
ANd all my paternal aunts, uncles, dad and cousins all went to the other secondary school in the area.
This pattern has only deviated for two local cousins.
We're a weird family.

Oh yes.

I have this horrible horrible memory of about two years ago getting into an all-out screaming fight with my oldest brother (then 15). It got to the point where we were standing in the kitchen and I was threatening to throw a chair at his head, screaming my head off, and then I heard a noise behind me. Turned around. Littlest brother, then age 4, was standing there and as I watched these two big fat tears rolled down his face and he began to sob.

I have never felt so terrible into my life. And that was the last time I had an out-and-out screaming/physical fight with any of my siblings.

But the sugary still sometimes happens.

Ohvey, I get the guilt too. Stupid crushing moutain of guilt for righteous anger. I suppose I have more leeway when it comes to guiltless shouting as we're all so close in age, and we're a shouty family.
But put the tears on and I crumble like a sandcastle at the rising tide.
However, the sugar is a much more effective way to get things done. That or iust assume point blank they'e going to do it - it works surprisingly often.

I'm extremely glad you agree with me on this subject.

Also, we now have a 2:3 girl:boy ratio. 3:4 if you count the parents. Which ain't bad really.

True.
If you include our pets it's 5:4 boy:girl.
I'm lobbying for another cat (female) to bring the balance back up.
Plus perfect symmetry.
One mum and one dad.
Two girls - the eldest and youngest.
Two boys - second eldest and second youngest.
One female cat (hopefully another one soon)
Two male dogs.

[Castaras]

You crazy people with big families.

I have, 4 cousins in total, two from one uncle on dad's side, two from uncle on mum's side, and 1 little brother. I'm the oldest of them all, my brother is the second oldest. My dad has two brothers, my mum has one brother. I had 2 grandmas and 2 grandads, with just my 2 grandmas alive now.

[Phaedra]

I actually have no idea how many cousins I have - my dad doesn't really talk to his brothers so I've never met that side of the family. Most of my cousins on that side were adults when I was born anyway so it's not like we'd have been massively close.

I have eight cousins on my mum's side though ranging in age from 25 to 1, so that makes a pretty nice sized family gathering when we have them, especially when you add in my cousin's two kids.

I'm an only child and The Boy only has one sister, so our children will be a bit bereft on the cousin side. Family do's will be tiny, unless I drag in my extended family.

[The Bushranger]

Only child here.

Also, battleship to aircraft carrier conversions aren't that unheard of.

Yes, but how often did one get changed back?

Mind you, there is one excellent use for a semicolon, as a super comma when making lists that contain items with commas in them.

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's SUPER,COMMA!


In other news, fall migration has started in the avian world. The first Eastern Wood-Pewee, obstensibly a summer resident here in north Florida but one never actually appearing until the end of August, was singing in the pine woods next to the house this morning.

[CurlyKitGirl]

So.
I was walking past the Dog when I decided I wanted a couple of raspberries and a chocolate biscuit.
As is tradition when faced by huge black staring eyes, I caved and gave away about six-sevenths of the biscuit to Dog and Puppy.
Dog then proceeded to eye up my raspberries. Iokingly offering him a bit he then ate one and a half of my raspberries.
My face was: : o.o
Mum's face was:

Who knew that og's would OMNOMNOMNOM raspberries?

[Etcetera]

When I was with my aunt and uncle's dogs they would snaffle up any fallen blackberries on walks, but yeah, it is a bit surprising.
Isn't chocolate bad for dogs?

[Thufir]

Giving away food to dogs? Disgraceful. Don't you know there are cats in the world that would be grateful for that food but pretend to be entirely indifferent?

[CurlyKitGirl]

When I was with my aunt and uncle's dogs they would snaffle up any fallen blackberries on walks, but yeah, it is a bit surprising.
Isn't chocolate bad for dogs?

Dog is eleven years old, Puppy is seven. They've eaten biscuits, chocolate, spaghetti bolognaise, cakes, gateaux, roasts; pretty much any type of human food.
Still alive and kicking, so I say it's all a lie.

Giving away food to dogs? Disgraceful. Don't you know there are cats in the world that would be grateful for that food but pretend to be entirely indifferent?

DemonCat has her own dining table, to which she is carried gently like the tyrannical queen that she is; she has a table cloth, her own plate and cup.
Really, the dogs do iust get the scraps.
Plus DemonCat doesn't like chocolate unless it's hot chocolate.

[Thufir]

DemonCat has her own dining table, to which she is carried gently like the tyrannical queen that she is; she has a table cloth, her own plate and cup.
Really, the dogs do iust get the scraps.
Plus DemonCat doesn't like chocolate unless it's hot chocolate.

I'm iust not much of a dog person. I got lightly bitten by a puppy once, and large dogs seem to like startling me.

So, CV more or less written, I have to face up to the awkward task of asking my personal tutor if I can put him down as a reference. Given I only went to see him once throughout my entire degree...

[Castaras]

So.
I was walking past the Dog when I decided I wanted a couple of raspberries and a chocolate biscuit.
As is tradition when faced by huge black staring eyes, I caved and gave away about six-sevenths of the biscuit to Dog and Puppy.
Dog then proceeded to eye up my raspberries. Iokingly offering him a bit he then ate one and a half of my raspberries.
My face was: : o.o
Mum's face was:

Who knew that og's would OMNOMNOMNOM raspberries?

My cat liked eating mayonnaise (we left a jar open, came back half an hour later and Cleo had her head in the jar eating it up). IIRC, when mum was little she had a cat that ate macaroni cheese. And hoarded apples.

[Teddy]

Yes, but how often did one get changed back?

Okay, that's quite impressive, even though they mostly just slammed on two short bits of airstrip on it and left it like that.

I'm iust not much of a dog person. I got lightly bitten by a puppy once, and large dogs seem to like startling me.

Are you it wasn't radioactive, and now you use your puppy powers (such as the ability to poop at someones shoe and still be totally adorable) to fight crime?

...

I finally understand! It's all so clear: Thurfir is Introbulus! I mean, has anyone ever seen them at the same place at the same time? Eh? Eh?

[AtlanteanTroll]

You crazy people with big families.

I have, 4 cousins in total, two from one uncle on dad's side, two from uncle on mum's side, and 1 little brother. I'm the oldest of them all, my brother is the second oldest. My dad has two brothers, my mum has one brother. I had 2 grandmas and 2 grandads, with just my 2 grandmas alive now.

Big? Big? 4 cousins is to small what 100 is to big. It's ridiculous. I have over 30 cousins (includng kids of children) though, so maybe I shouldn't be talkng.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Bleeeh. Blah

Woke up this morning. Quite normal.

The little toe on my left foot hurt.
*looks at it* Weird, it looked quite normal. Oh well, pain isn't that bad, go on to college. Walk around a lot, carrying stuff occasionaly.
Toe is still hurting, I come home. I look at my toe and it's kinda pink/red and a teensy bit swollen. Moving it or touching it hurts more.

So I figure the walking musta done it. Relax a bit, sit down for a few hours. Pain fades away a bit, but that's generally with every pain I have, because I focus on something else, I don't notice the pain anymore.

Look at it, looks normal now. I walk to the kitchen, downstairs. It starts hurting again. By now, doctors office is closed for the weekend. And if I walk, toe will hurt for some time.

This is annoying.

[Cristo Meyers]

Dog is eleven years old, Puppy is seven. They've eaten biscuits, chocolate, spaghetti bolognaise, cakes, gateaux, roasts; pretty much any type of human food.
Still alive and kicking, so I say it's all a lie.

Better actual food than any kind of insect. I had a German Shepard growing up that loved cicadas. He was never happier than during the cicada population explosion.

The cats were smarter, they'd just wait for me to look away from my plate and then pad in to steal food.

One wouldn't even wait for me to look away. Bold little blighter, that one. Miss him.

[Dr. Bath]

A dog ate my frisbee. I am traumatised for life.

@DD: My toe has hurt for three weeks since I dropped half a ton (well. 390kg) of steel fan on it.

You get used to it.

[Worira]

I have a mental picture of someone dropping an enormous folding paper steel fan on their toe now.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

On the one side of my family, I have 3 cousins. One the other, I have over 30. That's what happens when your mum has one sister, and your dad has 7 brothers and one sister.

[Dr. Bath]

I have a mental picture of someone dropping an enormous folding paper steel fan on their toe now.

That's pretty much how it went down.

Building giant robot Geisha is hard and dangerous work.

[Teddy]

So, my life has decided that I desperately need to join that Facebook thingy, and so it has been hitting me with more and more problems that could very easily be solved though it (communication, mostly). And now, after years of struggle, I'm finally giving in.

The stupidly stubborn and excentric parts of my brain mourn this great loss, while the social and progressive parts cheers. The lazy parts are just going "why bother" over it all, while the logical parts have strayed away to do something more constructive instead of quarreling with the others.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

So, my life has decided that I desperately need to join that Facebook thingy, and so it has been hitting me with more and more problems that could very easily be solved though it (communication, mostly). And now, after years of struggle, I'm finally giving in.

The stupidly stubborn and excentric parts of my brain mourn this great loss, while the social and progressive parts cheers. The lazy parts are just going "why bother" over it all, while the logical parts have strayed away to do something more constructive instead of quarreling with the others.

I've never understood what the big "facebook is ebil" thing was about. If I wasn't on facebook, I wouldn't be going to half the events I do go to, because I just wouldn't know about them unless a friend told me. And even then, they'd probably tell me over facebook, 'cause that's where most communication happens.

[Dragonrider]

I'm back at school!

I adore my new room. It's very cozy. And I have Lord of the Rings maps drawn by John Howe on one wall and Cat Stevens records on another and pictures of my family on the third, so all is well. Also the blanket on my bed is round. This world needs more round blankets in it . . . .

Big families lead for strangeness.
F'rinstance, not including my second cousins or great-grandchildren I'm the fifth youngest person on the maternal side, with the other four being my siblings and one cousin who is, I kid you not, merely four days older than Little Sister. In the same form too.
It's iust odd because all my maternal aunts, uncles, mum and cousins (excepting those who lived up country) all went to the same secondary school I did.
Except my two uncles who got into grammar school.
ANd all my paternal aunts, uncles, dad and cousins all went to the other secondary school in the area.
This pattern has only deviated for two local cousins.
We're a weird family.

You guys have been in one place too long.

Ohvey, I get the guilt too. Stupid crushing moutain of guilt for righteous anger. I suppose I have more leeway when it comes to guiltless shouting as we're all so close in age, and we're a shouty family.
But put the tears on and I crumble like a sandcastle at the rising tide.
However, the sugar is a much more effective way to get things done. That or iust assume point blank they'e going to do it - it works surprisingly often.

I know, there's nothing sadder than a little kid's eyes welling up with tears, particularly when they're tears of fright and it's you that's caused it. Guilt guilt guilt guilt!

I've never understood what the big "facebook is ebil" thing was about. If I wasn't on facebook, I wouldn't be going to half the events I do go to, because I just wouldn't know about them unless a friend told me. And even then, they'd probably tell me over facebook, 'cause that's where most communication happens.

I'm with you on this actually, I use Facebook to keep in touch with people I probably wouldn't get to talk to otherwise. It's nice.

[CrimsonAngel]

I drew the most amazing picture yesterday and now I can't seem to draw anything.

[AtlanteanTroll]

I drew the most amazing picture yesterday and now I can't seem to draw anything.

It happens. It happens a lot.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

So, I said a while ago that I would go buy new guitar strings and a whammy bar from the local guitar store yesterday, cause my experiment in guitar strings did not work.

So I went, having handily forgotten that you need your guitar there to see if the whammy bar will fit into the little hole-thingy. So I said I would go back today, with my guitar.

Of course, my cousins (2 of the 3 maternal ones I mentioned earlier) arrived, and we ended up going around the city with them. Note: 'around the city' does not involve going anywhere near Steve's, the guitar store. Even if it did, that would require lugging my guitar around, in addition to our new tortilla press, and a whole bunch of fruit from the market.

But I swear to you all, I will go tomorrow, and get those damn strings, and maybe even the whammy bar. Because I neeeeed my guitar stringèd, and quite possibly whammyèd, if I want to
a) record!
or
b) practice that bloody song if I'm gonna have a gig at the Skydome!

[randman22222]

@^: Bigsby.

Do you guys get dreams where you have to drive a car, and the thing just won't work? Or is that just me? I hate those dreams!

I caused a three-car accident in a parking lot last night.

Stupid break was incredibly spongy. At like 15 miles an hour, it took me around three meters to come to a stop. And the clutch! What the heck! I have never stalled dream-cars so many times!

[Dragonrider]

Do you guys get dreams where you have to drive a car, and the thing just won't work? Or is that just me? I hate those dreams!

I caused a three-car accident in a parking lot last night.

Stupid break was incredibly spongy. At like 15 miles an hour, it took me around three meters to come to a stop. And the clutch! What the heck! I have never stalled dream-cars so many times!

I do that all the time.

Well, less so now than when I was a newer driver, but dreams where I'm braking and I'm braking and the freakin' thing won't respond . . . yup. In fact I'm pretty sure I've had the exact dream you described above.

[Coidzor]

@^: Bigsby.

Do you guys get dreams where you have to drive a car, and the thing just won't work? Or is that just me? I hate those dreams!

So what's this about Sir Digsby Chicken Caesar?

Oh man. That reminds me of this one night where I just couldn't concentrate and the world kept getting fuzzier and fuzzier like I was inhaling some kind of fumes or going blind and finally ended up running a red light because I ended up hitting the gas instead of the brake.

I flipped out so much from that I spent the next hour alternating between breathing in a paper bag in a grocery store parking lot and walking to clear my head. Best part of all, this all happened IN REAL LIFE! :D /sigh. I'm just lucky I didn't end up puking from all of that stress. Well, that or dying.

[Teddy]

I've never understood what the big "facebook is ebil" thing was about. If I wasn't on facebook, I wouldn't be going to half the events I do go to, because I just wouldn't know about them unless a friend told me. And even then, they'd probably tell me over facebook, 'cause that's where most communication happens.

I dunno, but it might be because everyone expects you to be on Facebook and check it on regular intervals, and thus uses it as the one and only medium of communication, thus escluding those who actually doesn't have it or check it on regular intervals. Then, the "OMG, I'm teh originalz" kicks in and causes people who aren't already connected to stubbornly refuse it, just because that separates them from the mainstream. (It might also be because Facebook claim everything you post on it as theirs and can use it for whatever purpose they like without your approval.)

There is a reason to why I titulated the refusing parts of my brain "stubidly stubborn and excentric", while the accepting ones became the "social and progressive": namely that Facebook is a lot more useful than evil.

Do you guys get dreams where you have to drive a car, and the thing just won't work? Or is that just me? I hate those dreams!

I caused a three-car accident in a parking lot last night.

Stupid break was incredibly spongy. At like 15 miles an hour, it took me around three meters to come to a stop. And the clutch! What the heck! I have never stalled dream-cars so many times!

Never happened to me, and go...odness am I happy for that. Driving is panicky enough for me without having to dream about it.
...
Okay, it's not as bad as it used to be. I'm a lot calmer behind the wheel now than when I began taking driving lessons.

[Quincunx]

Almost every time the car or I have gone wonky, I've had the good fortune of a parking lot nearby to pull into, stop (one time literally standing up and on the brake in order to get it to respond--not fun), and do whatever needed doing. Even when I didn't, the wide shoulder of the American interstate beckoned, and I could wrestle the car over to it and stop. These roads here, hemmed in with unforgiving walls and only the allowance of a car's-length "lay-by" at inadequate intervals, scare me.

[Teddy]

Sounds to me that safety had to give away for... another kind of safety? If they don't know how to balance that right, it will only end up as several levels of morony.