h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think it's quite exciting to say hi to people on h2g2 that I don't know that well, so I thought I'd pay you a visit as you seem like a nice person. As you said "Talk to me, all who feel like it, please" on your space, I didn't think you'd mind me just dropping by to say hello

Anyway, how are you?

Oh! Wonderful! A visitor!



I'm just fine. Starting to find my way round this place. How are you?

*can't get the smug grin caused by the joy of having someone drop by off her face*

I'm fine thanks, if a little tired

I like getting visitors too, although they don't come by that often

How long have you been on h2g2?

I originally registered about two and a half months ago, but I was actively here only about the first week of that time. Then I stopped because sitting at the computer around the clock was starting to take its toll on me.

And now I'm back, and I've learned absolutely nothing. I'm completely stuck here next to my dad's laptop. This is a drug, this is.

And I'm weak, I can't help myself...Somebody should set up 'h2g2 addicts anonymous'.

How much time do you spend on h2g2 more or less, honestly? I'd like an estimated figure to compare my lunacy with.

How long to do I spend on h2g2 a day? Hmm, well that normally varies quite a lot. On weekdays, I normally spend about an hour or so online. At weekends, when I don't have to go to school the next day, I probably spend a bit longer on h2g2. Two or three hours a day, perhaps

I think it all depends on what else I'm doing, and whether I have more important things to do.

How much time do you spend on h2g2?

Way too much. I'm in the middle of exam week and still I spend about two hours a day here. Last weekend it might've gone up to four or five hours... But I guess this all is because I'm still new to h2g2. I mean I *know* that I can't go on like this for the whole winter...I'm starting to have this worryingly blank stare.

Oh, I checked out your site. Forgive me my patchy English, what is a 'zine'?

As I have a French exam tomorrow for which I have studied almost not at all, I will now gather my strength and separate myself from the computer.

Good night to you, Rocket Man.

Ha, not knowing what the word 'zine' means doesn't reflect on your patchy English at all. In fact, if you hadn't said that you weren't English on your space, I wouldn't have even noticed.

The word 'zine' is short for 'magazine'. A zine is like a homemade magazine, except that people produce zines themselves, doing them in a very basic fashion. There are a lot of zines to do with punk rock music and the surrounding culture, and people make them all over the world. I sort of collect them

Good luck with your exam! I didn't revise enought for my exams either

Ah, who needs French anyway...

Our reading comprehension part was about a doctor who taught Gerard Depardieu to talk in English without an accent by making him listen to a tape of an American baby's prenatal sound environment. The stuff they teach you at school!

I hope the French exam went ok. I always hated learning French as our teacher was really boring, and thought I'd completely failed the exam. I did pretty well in the end, which was a pleasant surprise

Why is your English so good? I've lived in England for 17 years, my entire life, and still your English is better than mine

Why, thank you.

I actually lived in America for a year when I was three, but I don't know if that makes a difference. And my family is kinda partially bilingual. But, really, you're not getting the real picture here. You should hear me *speak* English; it's quite a different matter. Like this, I can ponder what to say as long as I like.

Aw, your English isn't that bad either.

Do you have a certain language you have to study at school? They're making English mandatory here, which I find a bit odd.

What part of America did you live in?

We were forced to learn French at my school. Most schools in England either teach the pupils French or German. Fortunately, I finished learning French at the end of the last school year, in August

I also learned Latin for two years, but I gave it up last week because it was just too boring

We lived near San Francisco, in Richmond. We went there for a week in the spring of this year. I think I was now able to appreciate it a bit more than when I was a poor clueless toddler. As a matter of fact I liked it so much I now dream of another trip there.

I guess people in English-speaking countries must to some extent suffer from a lack of motivation when it comes to learning other languages, because they simply have no use for them. I mean sure, it's cool to go to Southern America and speak Spanish or go to Finland and speak Finnish (ha ha), but you would get by just as well with English. So why bother?

Of course some might be like me and study languages just for the hell of it.

But hey , Latin! How long did you study it? Do they teach you to actually speak it? If a worm hole transported you now to Ancient Rome, could you talk with those people...?

x 10

You said already how long you studied it...

Sorry for not replying last night Liekki, I was really tired and fell asleep before I had the opportunity

'Liekki' is a very interesting name indeed. Is it your real name, or one that you made up?

My Latin is very poor, as I didn't put that much effort in to learning it. It was a fun lesson to go to, as all my friends were in my class, but was starting to become way too much work. As I was learning it in my free time, I gave it up. My Latin is nowhere near conversation level; I hardly understand the language at all

How was your day?

Oh, I had a great day!

You see, I had a day off because I didn't have an exam, and this was the last day of exam week so I didn't have to study at all.

So I slept late and read the morning paper in peace and quiet. Then I went for a long walk on the fields and in the forest nearby. (I don't really live in the countryside though this sounds very much like it...)Everything was just astonishingly beautiful. Not a single cloud in the sky, just the most beautiful autumn day imaginable.

In the evening I went to see a quirky Polish movie which was really funny.

So I had an absolutely splendid day. How was yours?

The word 'liekki' isn't my name but isn't my invention either. It's Finnish and means 'flame' (not in the mean sense though ).

Your day sounds really great. Reading your last post has made me want to go for a walk in the woods that are near my house. I might just go and do that at the weekend

My day was pretty cool. I took the train to school, and it was really misty. When I was younger I used to get a free bus service provided to take me to school, but now that I'm older and school is non-compulsory, I take the train. The train journey across the fields is beautiful, and this morning it was really misty.

School was average, and I spent a lot of the time sitting in the library writing a very boring essay

This evening I went out to play football with a few friends, and then came home and read 'The Catcher in the Rye' which I'm really enjoying

How do you say 'hello' in Finnish?

Hi Rocket Man.

Sorry it took a while to reply.

I think I gave up on h2g2 the day before your last post and never got to read it. I've now been back for about five weeks, and plan to stay this time. I've even got an entry in Peer Review!

So how are you?

I'm ok, thanks. I just got back from work, and am writing this post on my new laptop

I'm leaving home and going to university at the end of September, which is why I've bought the laptop. I don't think I'll have much time for h2g2 when I leave, which is a shame. I'm looking forward to it though, as it should be good fun.

I go on huge h2g2 hiatuses too. I haven't been posting that much recently, but I have been trying not to go several weeks without posting at all. I've done quite well so far.

I'll check out your entry that's in PR when I've finished writing this. I submitted an entry at the end of July, but no one has made a comment on it for over a month. Sometimes it feels like my contributions will never get picked...

Anyway, it's nice to hear from you again

Hi

I just posted on your Peer Review thread. As I'm interested in history, your entry was fascinating for me. Especially as I didn't know much about medieval England before. I also liked those names of people - the old Anglo-Saxon ones, and the nicknames like Erik Bloodaxe.

What are you going to study at university? I'm majoring in linguistics, although I haven't had a chance to study a lot of it yet.