Heliomance's Everchanging Thread Title Random Banter #167

[Heliomance]

Your activities in thread naming.

What activities? I haven't touched anything!

[Eon]

*Hugs*

ION: At last, I can see my schedule. Hmm... It appears my second set of classes is going to be annoying. I might actually have to actively work.

[Ranger Mattos]

*Hugs*

ION: At last, I can see my schedule. Hmm... It appears my second set of classes is going to be annoying. I might actually have to actively work.

I have a class at a different school across town. And to do it I had to give up French.

[Mutant Sheep]

What activities? I haven't touched anything!

RAWHIIIIDE! You got some 'splaining to do! I blame him, with his avatar I think I inspired him to do and all. Supsicerous...

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

We should have a Mornington Crescent thread in SMBG!

[Eon]

I have a class at a different school across town. And to do it I had to give up French.

*Comfort*
Now people won't have to pardon your French.

Ooh, and I has an AP computer class too.

[Heliomance]

What's Rawhide done now, Sheep?

[Mutant Sheep]

What's Rawhide done now, Sheep?

Something wonderful Jimmy. Something wonderful. Red Son... I cant stop being amazed that I never read a comic book before The Killing Joke a few months ago...

+awesome hat= unbeatable.

[Ranger Mattos]

*Comfort*
Now people won't have to pardon your French.

Ooh, and I has an AP computer class too.

Yeah, but I bet yours is actually at your school.

[Eon]

Yeah, but I bet yours is actually at your school.

Well, not really. It's online.

[Mutant Sheep]

Well, not really. It's online.

One of those magic academy deals huh? Nice.

[Eon]

One of those magic academy deals huh? Nice.

More of the school district (I hope) realized most of their population would avoid AP Programming like the plague, so they decided the only way they could have the option for the people who might want to take it was to offer it online throughout the district.

[Mutant Sheep]

Didn't Moonie have a post here?? About edits or something? Where'd it go? Ohh..edited it out...clevah.

Night unicorn-avatar! Sleep dreams, kill all the bedbugs, have a nice tommorow!

[Tragic_Comedian]

Today's not my day.

Goodnight guys. Stay groovy.

[Eon]

Today's not my day.

Goodnight guys. Stay groovy.

Good night!

[AsteriskAmp]

How can you be sure it was ever different?

How could you not notice?

[Blue Ghost]

Yes. Unless someone comes and visits me. or if I'm in a particularly good mood and feel like telling someone who asks.

Oh, by the way Blue, this'll amuse you. Two nights ago I was trying to sleep by naming one friend from the forum for every letter of the alphabet. I was stuck on B for an hour and a half before I thought of you.

ION: Guys, what the **** is up with Psychonauts and dowsing rods? Do they WANT you to break your keyboard while digging up deep arrowheads? ****!

There's a possibility of you telling someone? :O

Heh. I used to do that. I might try it again sometime. Let's see where I get stuck...

[AsteriskAmp]

Heh. I used to do that. I might try it again sometime. Let's see where I get stuck...

Spoiler

Show

a is for araveugnitsuga
b is for Blue Ghost
c is for Crimmy
d is for Dragonprime
e is for Eon
f is for Fin
g is for Gorbash Kazdar
h is for Heliomance
i is for Icewalker
j is for Jibar
k is for KuReshtin
l is for LaZodiac
m is for Mooncat
n is for Nerd-o-Rama
o is for Occasional Sage
p is for Prime32
q is for Qwertystop
r is for Rawhide
s is for Strawberries
t is for Tyndmyr
u is for Urpriest
v is for Vael
w is for wxdruid
x is for Xander Morhaime
y is for Yora
z is for Zeb the Troll

There were some letters where I had like 3 or 4 names ready and some letters I had to think for a while. All in all I should have just used the friend list...

[Blue Ghost]

Should I attempt to compile a list now?

Spoiler

Show

A: araveugnitsuga
B: Bor the Barbarian Monk
C: Cobalt
D: Dragonprime
E: Eon
F: Fredthefighter
G: Grim Ranger
H: Heliomance
I: Introbulus
J: Je dit Viola
K: Keveak
L: LaZodiac, Lady Moreta
M: MoonCat, MonkeyBusiness
N: Nevitan
O: ORIone
P: Peregrine
Q: Qwaz
R: Rae Artemi
S: Silverraptor
T: Tragic_Comedian
U: Urpriest
V: Vonriel
W: Watcher
X: Xyk
Y: Yora
Z: Zarae

For the most part, I tried to stick to people with whom I've had personal interaction, though it wasn't possible for all of them (particularly the later ones).

[Zeb The Troll]

So, today my best friend told me all about the joy of basic training, which is where he spent his summer. He said that as soon as he got off the bus, they were throwing things at them and screaming through a megaphone. He didn't get to eat on his first day because a sergeant threw his food onto the floor and was like "PICK THAT UP AND THROW IT AWAY, PRIVATE. HOW CLUMSY CAN YOU GET, BOY?". He said his bunkmate cried every night and he once walked in on a guy who had just slit his wrists with a piece of glass.

That's not going into all the stuff they had to do. You had to do yardwork on Sunday unless you went to church. He said he never went to church but he went to Buddhist meditation because they put you behind a little curtain by yourself and you could sleep. And a Jewish service once where they gave out bagels.

If there was ever any doubt about me not joining the military, it's gone now.

Believe it or not, there is a method to their madness. Basic Combat Training (it's often truncated to just Basic or Basic Training, but for the Army at least, BCT is the full and correct title as of 1990 when I went through it) isn't supposed to be easy. It's emotionally and physically challenging for a reason. It's supposed to make new recruits capable of being passable soldiers in a matter of weeks. All the yelling and degrading at the beginning is to make sure new recruits know, in no uncertain terms, who is in charge. Many a youngster comes in with a big chip on their shoulder and it needs to be removed before a proper military bearing can be instilled. However, the vast majority of the people who've gone through it look back and say "you know, it sucked at the time, but it wasn't really that bad" unless they're trying to impress you with stories about how much it sucked. Yes, for some people it's too much. A secondary function of the stresses of BCT is what they call a gut check. If you can't handle the stress of Basic, you probably can't handle combat either, so it's best everyone figures that out now instead of later.

(As an aside, yardwork? Really? That's part of the "horrors" of BCT? Not even "we had to cut the grass with dull nail clippers while lying on our bellies, in the RAIN!" or anything? Newsflash! Millions of people do yardwork on a weekly basis without a DI yelling at them about it. If he thought about it, that yardwork was probably a light day for him compared to what he was doing the other 6 days a week. I mean, for Pete's sake, if someone's going to tell about how much Basic sucks, at least make it good. )

Well, I'm pretty sure when you try to kill yourself they let you out. (Into the psych ward, but yeah.)

"We were cursed, beaten, kicked, and compelled to go through exercises to the extent that a few were unconscious for some minutes. They kept it up for the greater part of the afternoon, and then those who could possibly stand on their feet were compelled to take cold shower baths. One of the boys was scrubbed with a scrubbing brush using lye on him. They drew blood in several places.” —Mennonite from Camp Lee, Virginia, United States, 16 July 1918.

Some things never change.

You guys can probably tell, I was horrified by these stories.

You can't honestly believe that acceptable practices in 1918 are still acceptable practices nearly 100 years later, or that yardwork on Sunday is comparable to beatings and lye. When my dad went through BCT in the late '60s, the Drill Instructors were allowed to beat soldiers who were not performing to standard and "sock parties" were fact instead of fantasy. When I went through in 1990, both practices had long since been abandoned and outlawed. When I was a young NCO in 1995, fresh soldiers straight out of their job training told me they were allowed to give their DI's "stress cards" that entitled them to a time out from his tirades. (I'm told this practice was short lived.) Some things never change?

Ask your friend if he regrets having gone through it. Ask him if he feels a sense of accomplishment for completing it. Ask him if he doesn't have at least a bit more self confidence because he's been pushed to limits beyond what he thought he was capable of prior to going. Don't just listen to the horror stories. Those are often told so that the listener has a deeper respect for the teller for having survived the nightmare. "Let me tell you how much those 6/8/12 weeks sucked so that you can be impressed that in spite of it all, I didn't quit, I endured and came out the other side."

Don't get me wrong. If the military's not for you, that's fine. It's certainly not for everyone. But please refrain from making snap judgments based on one person's experience and hundred year old diaries.

On a final note, thank him from me, personally, for accepting the challenge and enlisting. Long gone are the days when active duty personnel could look down their noses at the "weekend warriors". It should be no surprise by now that National Guard and Reservists face the same risks as active duty service members these days and I have the same respect and gratitude for them as I do everyone else who volunteers.

Of course, it's on VHS so I have to use one of those VHS players. That's what they were called way back in the day, right? VHS players? I can hardly remember.

They're called VCR's.

[LaZodiac]

Spoiler

Show

a is for araveugnitsuga
b is for Blue Ghost
c is for Crimmy
d is for Dragonprime
e is for Eon
f is for Fin
g is for Gorbash Kazdar
h is for Heliomance
i is for Icewalker
j is for Jibar
k is for KuReshtin
l is for LaZodiac
m is for Mooncat
n is for Nerd-o-Rama
o is for Occasional Sage
p is for Prime32
q is for Qwertystop
r is for Rawhide
s is for Strawberries
t is for Tyndmyr
u is for Urpriest
v is for Vael
w is for wxdruid
x is for Xander Morhaime
y is for Yora
z is for Zeb the Troll

There were some letters where I had like 3 or 4 names ready and some letters I had to think for a while. All in all I should have just used the friend list...

Should I attempt to compile a list now?

Spoiler

Show

A: araveugnitsuga
B: Bor the Barbarian Monk
C: Cobalt
D: Dragonprime
E: Eon
F: Fredthefighter
G: Grim Ranger
H: Heliomance
I: Introbulus
J: Je dit Viola
K: Keveak
L: LaZodiac, Lady Moreta
M: MoonCat, MonkeyBusiness
N: Nevitan
O: ORIone
P: Peregrine
Q: Qwaz
R: Rae Artemi
S: Silverraptor
T: Tragic_Comedian
U: Urpriest
V: Vonriel
W: Watcher
X: Xyk
Y: Yora
Z: Zarae

For the most part, I tried to stick to people with whom I've had personal interaction, though it wasn't possible for all of them (particularly the later ones).

I'm actually shocked that I recognize most of those names. I guess this place realy has grown on me.

*Army Stuff*

What Zeb said. It's a harsh reality, but damned if it doesn't work.

Though I think it does mentaly scar some people. My Dad is disciplined, but he's also the aggrocrag of trolls in this family, and I think the army caused that in him.

[Rawhide]

RAWHIIIIDE! You got some 'splaining to do! I blame him, with his avatar I think I inspired him to do and all. Supsicerous...

Huh? Wasn't me.

[Mutant Sheep]

Huh? Wasn't me.

Ah. Welp there goes my theory on The Case of the Mysterious Chaning Thread Title.

[Ranger Mattos]

Well, not really. It's online.

I would have preferred something like that. Especially because I could have kept French.

More of the school district (I hope) realized most of their population would avoid AP Programming like the plague, so they decided the only way they could have the option for the people who might want to take it was to offer it online throughout the district.

Same here. Including me, there are a whole three people in my AP Computer Science class.

[MoonCat]

Didn't Moonie have a post here?? About edits or something? Where'd it go? Ohh..edited it out...clevah.

No, removed because I decided it was dumb. If I've removed it then you might as well treat it like it doesn't exist, since that is clearly what the author wants to happen.

There's a possibility of you telling someone? :O

Heh. I used to do that. I might try it again sometime. Let's see where I get stuck...

I told you, didn't I? Also, my real name and stuff like that.

[Rawhide]

What is up with good games becoming absolutely terrible (the correct words to use here can't exactly be used in polite company) and absolutely insanely frustrating right at the end? It's much more common and worse on console-esque games (generally with limited saving ability), even if released on PC only. It's not even a gradual thing, it's almost like a, "Oh no, the players are almost finished! What will we do? I know, let's suddenly throw this insane curveball out of nowhere just to frustrate them and artificially keep the game length going!"

I was playing Psychonauts, finished now (Rank 96), and one section in one level in the final world almost completely removed and undid the enjoyment from the entire rest of the game.

Non console-esque games are not immune either, i.e. Half-Life and its Xen levels.

[Form]

We should have a Mornington Crescent thread in SMBG!

I challenge you, good sir! I suggest we use the Old London 1996 rules for this game.

I shall select Westminster bridge as a starting point. Granted, it'll delay me a little in the early game, but it does prevent the most commonly used cut-off strategies to block my path. In addition, it puts me right at the Thames river and near the Westminster Millenium Pier, which will provides me the benefit of being able to use transport by ship. This will give me a decent chance to overtake others who prefer a ground-based route. Now to see how long it takes for people to figure it out...

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I challenge you, good sir! I suggest we use the Old London 1996 rules for this game.

I shall select Westminster bridge as a starting point. Granted, it'll delay me a little in the early game, but it does prevent the most commonly used cut-off strategies to block my path. In addition, it puts me right at the Thames river and near the Westminster Millenium Pier, which will provides me the benefit of being able to use transport by ship. This will give me a decent chance to overtake others who prefer a ground-based route.

Are we going to play with Deuce Trade-ins or not? If we are, then I'm starting at Monument, if not, Waterloo.

Edit: If anyone wants to jump in, you can start at any point! Just pick a station to start at, the objective is to get to Mornington Crescent Station, using a map of the London Underground. The rest you can pick up as you go.

[Thufir]

I think there was a Mornington Crescent thread in SMBG a while back, actually...

[Heliomance]

The old standby of Tottenham Court Road is always safe, but I'm starting to find it a little boring. I think - especially if we're playing with deuce trade-ins - I'll start at Harrow on the Hill.