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Is Anybody There?
Mar 31, 2011

Hello? Helloooo?

Long absence. Come back to find things different.
Okay, can adapt. Just a question: are any of you really here?

Why does it always say on a PS that someone (including me) has posted "Just Now" or "One Minute Ago" when that's patently false (as evidenced by lack of activity in their conversation pane)?

While I'm at it, another question: in this new interface, did anyone think to include a mass unsubscribe option? Or am I stuck going through all my accumulated conversations and deleting them one by one?

I'll probably think of more, but there's no point in asking if none of you are out there...

(22 replies, Latest reply: Apr 28, 2011)

That was Fun!
Aug 31, 2009

I don't know why I never dropped in over the summer - I had so little to do and so much time to do it in. But there was a certain lethargy that came with having nothing to do that left me spending my time doing relaxing things like watching the rabbits hop across the front lawn, floating in the local swimming hole with a dragonfly perched on my nose, and watching a lot of Seinfeld while sampling my own cooking.

Yes, Leo has been Out Of Town. For the first time in about... six years, I spent a significant amount of time outside of NYC, and for the first time in my life, that much time outside of a metropolis.

There were some distinctly different species of life out there. In the urban, downtown area, all the local dwellers were black. The suburbs and surrounding areas were white, dark-haired people, with a solid smattering of Asian, Indian, and international types. A subclass in this region wears a mustache, drives a pickup, and has an accent. And then out in the rural areas everyone was white, either blond or pretending to be, and startlingly overweight. And they had even heavier accents.

It kinda gives you a different perspective on this country. And life in general.
It was enormously pleasant to be a five-minute bike ride from a state park. Or any park, for that matter, that doesn't have more bodies per square foot than a rabbit hutch.
It was enormously annoying to be within walking distance of absolutely nothing - not even the bus stop. (Not that it mattered, since the bus only came once an hour and didn't go anywhere useful.)
It seemed an oversight that there was no free Shakespeare performance for miles around.
But you could buy sweet corn from a stand on the side of the road, and that was certainly worth the trade-off.

Entertainment was definitely different. Not too many cultural events, and obviously lacking in Broadway, variety of museums, and so on, but there was plenty of local history, a demolition derby (the first of my life!) and a county fair (also a first!), and a polo club (yep, first for that too), and a renaissance faire (we have a Medieval one in NYC).

Remind me, one day, to do a post on things for an intern to do while in Wilmington, Delaware for the summer.

(9 replies, Latest reply: Oct 25, 2009)

Stretcher?
Feb 16, 2009

Huh? I seem to have missed some massive event... what was it?

(20 replies, Latest reply: Feb 24, 2009)

I'm Back...?
May 29, 2008

Phew - it's been a packed three months during which, for all practical purposes, I fell off. A36169293 sort of gives an explanation why.

Now I'm back - so, what's changed?
More or less crisis in the h2g2 volunteer community?
What happened to the Photographers Group?
Why has Skanky still not finished the Spanish Uni project I was supposed to sub 4 months ago?
Are any of my ol' campfire friends still around?
What have the AViators been up to?

Questions for myself -
dive back in? Sub again? Write an entry on durian mornthongs? Photograph stuff? Collaborate on what? Sub that superannuated Spain project without Ferdinand and Isabella? Should I care?

It seems the longer you're away, the easier it is to leave. Once out of the loop, it's so easy to stay that way. So, should I come back or just sever the cord? Why or why not?

(13 replies, Latest reply: Jun 2, 2008)

Oops, I'm Doing It Too
Dec 25, 2007


Haven't been on in almost a week. Maybe a full week. It's odd. I've seen people drift in and out, but never thought I'd do it myself.

I'm busy, that's true. If I ever thought I was busy before, it was nothing compared to now. Transferring colleges, looking for a summer internship, writing personal statements for pocket money, applying for scholarships, trying to pass a college programming course given by an apparently non-existent professor, working on a business venture, and writing term papers. There are stacks of books for an entry on Pecos Bill next to my bed, untouched for weeks. No time for casual reading.

But it's also that there are fewer and fewer conversations that draw me back. There are no threads I come rushing in to check. A few friends with active journals have disappeared. Right now h2g2 is just a place for writing and reviewing, and I don't have time for either.

I'm not handing in my badges <possessive clutching/> - that's too final. I'm still here and if I've got a spare half hour I'd love to spend it reviewing or subbing an entry. I'm still here, but temporarily out to lunch.

See ya around, sometime.

(15 replies, Latest reply: Mar 27, 2008)