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7:44 AM
0
Q: Should I use "could be" or "could have been" in past-tense narration?

Alexandro ChenExamples: Using "could": I looked at the flyer again, and then back at Mark. Very strange---meeting someone who didn't see me as a weirdo. But could it be true? Could there be a club dedicated to black magic? using "could have": I looked down at the glass table, an onset of tears s...

 
 
6 hours later…
1:19 PM
0
Q: How to write a character's progression

MajujIn my story, the character has to learn a certain skill, with a mentor guiding him. I wrote the introduction and explained some principles regarding the discipline, but I don't want to bore the reader with the practice. And it is necessary that the character improves, in the story. I want to avo...

 
1:47 PM
So I'm listening to Pandora, and an ad comes over: "WalMart is teaming up with some of the biggest names in Hell." I laughed out loud, then realized she'd said "health".
 
lol awww
 
Hi!
I created a Pandora station and seeded it with The Cure. I wanted depressing songs. Instead, I'm getting a ton of retro early 90s and stuff.
I don't know how to tell Pandora what I'm going for.
I mean, I guess Duran Duran is kind of vaguely depressing.
But Depeche Mode and the Smiths? And then Nirvana and Radiohead? What the hell are they thinking?
problem is, I can't really think of any other good examples of depressing music.
But I won't cry for yesterday. There's an ordinary world, somehow I have to find.
flicks lighter
Every world~~~~
is my world.
I can sing as loud as I want in this room. Ha!
 
2:08 PM
Radiohead are classed as quite depressing
 
Really?
 
Maybe even my depressing is cheery.
 
maybe David Bowie would help.
Now Pandora is thinking "wtf am I supposed to do with The Cure and David Bowie?"
so like 80s depressing. with synth
 
2:11 PM
ah
I guess... I don't know depressing 80s music
 
apparently neither do I
I guess Depeche Mode is depressing, just that whole thing with the student my ex was cheating with being sooo into them.
So I roundly hate them.
 
technically pretty hate machine is 80s
 
Really?
Could have sworn that was 1992 or so.
 
wow
 
2:14 PM
it's quite synthy, too, IIRC
 
mind == blown
 
@MattE.Эллен NIN is a good idea. maybe a little too aggressive though
only one way to find out
I feel like telling Pandora "it's not you, it's me." I'm going to run out of thumbsdown.
 
damn. just did.
 
2:16 PM
:(
 
fine. I'll listen to cheery ambient.
 
so much for wallowing in misery
 
maybe just paddle in it a bit
 
...or I could listen to all of Pretty Hate Machine.
 
2:21 PM
portishead?
 
no, you can't take it
no, you can't take that away from me
huge nostalgia rush
omg we should totally play Marathon together RIGHT NOW.
 
Marathon?
Googling seems to indicate a FPS by bungie?
I think it was called Snickers in the UK
 
@MattE.Эллен Sounds right. I was like Doom arena but for Apple machines.
I guess they were Macs by then.
 
yeah
there is a port to Windows, but I hadn't heard of it until now
 
The computers in the language lab were networked -- practically unheard of. We used to sneak in as a group of maybe eight, and play.
At night.
 
2:28 PM
Nice :D
 
First arena game I'd heard of. I played Quake arena a little, but those aren't really my thing.
Except that was fun because we were all in the same room.
 
yeah :D network games are fun when you're all in the same room
 
Oh, of course, it was Downward Spiral that was 1994.
 
I need to buy some food. bbl!
 
2:46 PM
Heaven's just a rumor she'll dispel.
 
3:14 PM
As she drags you though the nicest parts of hell
 
3:30 PM
I had to stop listening. Turns out that NIN is triggering for me.
 
ASMR triggering?
 
No, PTSD triggering.
 
yeah, weird.
not like I haven't listened to some of those songs since high school, but I guess the whole album is too much.
 
overwhelming
 
3:40 PM
well, some tingles should set me straight.
plus, now I've got a nice cuppa
 
because I know you love feeling frustrated: the latest Dr. Who? episode has a great cliffhanger :D
 
We just watched the Season 8 Christmas special.
That's the most recent thing on Netflix.
But we gorged on Season 8, so we couldn't remember what was supposed to have just happened.
"Uh, why did he think Danny was fine?" "...Um, I remember they met for coffee or something...?"
 
"But he knew that Danny spoiler spoiler spoiler, right?" "...Think so. Didn't he?"
 
I was surprised how good the third episode was. it looked like it would be filler
 
3:52 PM
Of season 8?
 
season 9
 
Eh. That's like two years away. You can tell me about it then.
Or send me DVDs.
 
I can't remember the order of the things in season 8, except for the CM and missy at the end, and something with protective trees in the middle
 
Do you have adverts when you watch?
Oh right! That part.
 
@KitZ.Fox no.
Season 9 starts with Davros.
 
3:56 PM
Oh.
 
It's a good opener
I can't figure out what's being forshadowed
 
Well, at some point, he's got to find Gallifrey again, right?
 
right! of course. he mentioned that
 
Unless he's done that in some episode I haven't seen yet.
 
"I brought Gallifrey back, but I don't know where" or something
 
3:59 PM
Well, he said that was a lie.
Same as she was lying about Danny.
 
that he brought it back, or he doesn't know where?
 
That's probably ambiguous.
In the Christmas episode, he seems to be in the place where Clara threw the keys.
So I'm wondering if they are going to pull a "Pam's dream" thing.
but you're ahead of me, so you might know what that was about.
 
not so far!
I should watch the christmas special again...
 
they aren't the kind of writers that do that kind of thing lightly.
> Due to Facebook, when people try to be my friend in real life, I just yell "Not now!"
^from a YouTuber profile. She's very funny.
 
4:22 PM
:D
 
Due to Facebook, I have an incurable disease.
It's called onset stupidity
 
4:54 PM
so I got a new phone this weekend
I should tell @Mr.Shiny.
 
what new phone did you get?
 
Samsung Galaxy S5
Now everyone will know who I am.
I should have made something up.
 
oh! you're the woman with the S5!
now I recognise you
 
haha
I had to cut up my arm holster because the S5 is dimensioned improperly, and they don't make a good holster for the S5.
I may end up getting a clip anyway. Then I think I will probably need to get a shockproof case.
 
sounds like a plan. I should get a case for my phone
 
5:25 PM
something ruggedly handsome, like your face.
 
I use a Survivor case.
Those things look like rubber.
But they can take as much as a brick wall.
 
@KitZ.Fox :D although my face is tired and snotty at the moment
 
 
1 hour later…
6:40 PM
@KitZ.Fox Yay!
I'm getting a new phone soon too. It's ordered, just hasn't shipped yet. And it has a 5 in its name!
We're like phone buddies.
 
lg g2-d805?
 
MS-dos v1.5?
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Oh!
 
@MattE.Эллен heh
It's the Nexus 5X
 
6:46 PM
It will replace my temporary Nexus 5, which will become my wife's phone
 
Sweet!
I only just found out that I could replace my "launcher".
And also, that the thing that sets up my home screen, etc, is called a "launcher".
Because I despised the new one, not that I much liked the old one. Now I have a nice neat interface.
 
nice
which launcher are you using?
I use NovaLauncher
 
Yes! That's what I switched to.
So convenient.
I was so excited, I told my husband about it. He was all like 'hubba-wha--?'
So woo!
 
7:07 PM
I like it because I can control how many screens there are in the launcher... past stock launchers were hard-coded to 5, or automatically pruned screens if there were no icons.
And you can control the grid spacing, so I can cram more icons into smaller spaces.
And you can switch the app drawer to be a vertical scrolling list instead of horizontal pages.
And you can get rid of the search bar.
and you can lock the desktop so that you don't accidentally move icons or whatever.
woo!
 
I know. It's awesome. It's like everything I want my phone interface to do, without all the stupid bullshit other stuff.
 
exactly
It also features a much better wall-paper-setting thingy
Though I am also partial to the Matrix live wallpaper
 
Hmm.
I like my broody autumn image. I keep looking at phone like I want to play something on it, just because I like looking at it and touching it.
 
Hm, found the link too late to edit my msg
 
I think I would get motion sick from that. My ears are sensitive.
 
7:23 PM
That's just because you're rejecting the matrix.
 
right. I have rejected The Matrix since I watched it the first time.
</snark>
 
This lighning live wallpaper is neat. play.google.com/store/apps/…
not sure how well it works on a phone... it seems it'd be better-suited to tablets.
 
That looks cool.
 
It's not perfect... it alternates between a non-lightning shot of a skyline and several lightning shots.
it's very obviously not a video you're watching.
 
7:38 PM
that's too bad. it looks cool.
 
8:32 PM
@MattE.Эллен There's a lego set you'll need to buy in Dec
 
sweet :D
 
8:57 PM
0
Q: Impact of others on you

user268764From the encounters that you have made with a variety of interesting or unusual people, what impact have they made on you? What impact do people with different personalities have on people in general?

 
 
1 hour later…
9:59 PM
NaNoWriMo opens for 2015: nanowrimo.org.
My handle is KitFoxfire if you want to be buddies.
I spend hours on my cover, so please take a moment to admire it.
It was hours because I am not a pro. You will notice this.
 
@KitZ.Fox I can't enlarge it!
 

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