Cutlerine

Collective painting, then? That sounds like an awesome way to spend time. It sounds really fun, but what happened to the paintbrush? Probably went right back to class.

Somehow, adding more leaves seems like it would make it look even more like a tree.

So, what awesome unbelievably amazing fanfics are you writing now? n_n

I'm neutral on weird people. Some of them do their own little thing that I don't particularly mind, but others are just annoying.

Was this machine for a class, I wonder? But that does sound like a lot of fun. A massive drawing machine made of people and leaves. It sounds like a human tree or something.

I kind of worked around my schedule by doing homework early and during class. So far, I've spent maybe an hour writing overall. Just goes to show that my plan needs some fixing, like actually executing it.

Sounds like a wonderful, relaxed atmosphere, especially if there are drugs involved. It does seem nice, although I'm not sure how lovely weird people can get. There's only so much potential! Then again, I'm quite 'weird' so I have no right to judge.

Ah, that's exciting. I started school last week, so I have next to no time for writing except on weekends. I might have an hour on a good day. It's a pain to realize that my occupation is actually a student. No wages and a lot of work.

Best of luck for your English app then! I'm sure you'll make it. Still, that's a long wait. It's the same over here for college apps in America, though. Unless you manage to apply for an Early Action/Early Decision app that lets you know if you get in during December-ish.

Hey, how's university treating you so far? Or are you not in yet?

Failed attempt at a joke :c

Being in an American school system, we never studied Joyce or similar authors. Mainly we read works that pertained to American history with the exception of Shakespeare, of course. I don't think I ever had a good English teacher. Nevertheless, one teacher ranted on about John Steinbeck, but that's as far as drooling over authors went from my teachers. I haven't been in an English class since December 2011.

There is a lot of time to think about what you want to do. Three years is plenty, isn't it? When it gets down to it, I don't want to work or get a job or anything. I'll only work to get enough money to retire, or if it comes around, to support my family. Then again, that's probably everyone's reasoning as well. If I somehow win the lottery, I'd invest some of it while the rest goes into an early retirement so I never have to work again.

Hmm, I can't imagine what I'd do with an English degree. Maybe if I wanted to take up teaching, I could go there, but teaching doesn't appeal to me in the slightest. It already seems like you know what you want to do after university, or have a general idea of what you want to do.

Simply put, I hated The Old Man and the Sea. To me, it was dull, although I wouldn't go that far, haha. I prefer his short stories more than anything.

That's quite a long gap from reading that book. But even if I read his works on an e-reader, I still wouldn't be able to read something in its entirety in one sitting. It must be something psychological within his prose, lurking behind his words. Then again, that's a bit too clever for Joyce.

That sounds... fun? So you're basically going back to school. Are you hoping to get a degree in English later on? But it is good that you're reading. The books I'm reading right now are for summer reading, most of which that are concerned about how the internet is changing the way we think. Kind of interesting, but not really literature – it's basically reading a research report. In any case, I can't imagine myself getting a career centering around literature, to be honest.

I like Orson Scott Card, who is an extremely modern author, and Hemingway, while I do like Dickens as well, so it probably is a preference. I like Joyce a bit, but I have yet to finish A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. After I got halfway through it, it's been collecting dust on my bookshelf.

I'm not much for poetry overall. Poetry and I never clicked. We don't speak much anymore.

I was terrible at planning, especially during NaNo last year. I had a single idea and wrote 50k words out of it somehow. It didn't turn out as I wanted it, though. I'm getting better at planning, though. Recently, I've come up with story ideas so I've written them down somewhere, then I'll add a plot to it along with characters some time later. But still, I end up changing too much or I don't plan enough, because I mainly plan the premise and the ending. The middle is a jumbled mess.

I feel like I have to lie to myself to get my working, because I always work a few days before the deadline without a plan or anything in mind. It's the same case for school projects, unless it's a group project, and I have an organized person in my group. Other than that, I wing nearly everything.

University, huh? Are you applying to an actual university or just for a course? In any case, I never liked English history as much as I liked military history or political history. I find them more interesting. I read too many modern texts.

Yeah, I know about the Yetis, too, haha. I can still dream, can't I?

I'm almost envious of your imagination! That's good that you come up with intricate ideas. I guess writing shorter one-shots is part of limiting that imagination and working with what you have. Kind of like efficiency or something. I'm pretty static and consistent when it comes to world-building, because in most of the stories I write, they aren't exactly relevant or anything. But in turn, I don't get too many ideas to write about, so it makes it a bit hard in the planning stages, because of the lack of substance in the story's plot.

I'll probably send Astinus a message about it. It would be a great way to get people active in the forums, too. A lot of people signed up for the Writing Blitz, but afterwards, the FF&W section has been the same as ever. Contests do force me into writing in a certain way, but more times than not, I can't deal with deadlines too well. I typically write my stories about two-three days before the deadline, and that leaves me a day to proofread. Contests are still fun, though.

Planning to rewrite a story is pretty lazy, now that I think about it. It is a preference to do so, though.

Call me a sadist or cynical, but I find that it's easier to review stories that I don't like. When I don't like reading a story, I try to pick out even the tiniest things. On the other hand, the reviews I leave for stories I do like are either nonexistent or very short, so I don't like to write them that often. And reviews do take a long time. I used to be able to finish reviews in under an hour or so, but the process continually gets longer.

I've been trying to cram, so I have about five books I'm trying to read simultaneously, and it isn't working quite as well as I would have expected. I'm writing less, although I'm playing more videogames than ever.

Ah, Don Crimbo was back in 2009. He was a penguin, so there goes my penguin fantasies. And I know the Penguin Mafia had a huge part in 2004, but I didn't remember whether or not they were involved in Crimbo, since that would make perfect sense. It did happen, so I guess I'd be satisfied with a polar bear invasion or something. Maybe Yetis.

I can see where you're coming from in regards to one-shots. I don't tend to do world building in one-shots, because I use the established Pokemon world, which goes without much explanation, and focus on drama or whatever I'm writing about. I'm sure you can finish a drabble or a one-shot close to that length! Exactly 500 words... We should have a contest like that.

And I hear you about the reviews. The FF&W forum gets slow unless people start posting or updating stories. There aren't as many reviewers or writers as much as before. I don't even think we have a consistent reviewer anymore, unless icomeanon counts, but he doesn't go to the stories that need help. While it's true that some stories need outside help to improve, most of them can be better if the writer reads the stickied thread Writer's Resources, or if they Googled on writing effective prose. That's also a big reason why I kind of stopped reviewing for the most part. Hell, maybe even linking the author to that thread would be just as good as giving an effective review, but that comes off as lazy.

And the only way to fix the third chapter for Some Stars would be to rewrite it, but, honestly, I don't want to since I want to move on and finish it. I might have to rewrite the whole story when I'm done with it. Oh well.

Hackers has an interesting world. I'd elaborate in the thread, but I'd pretty much repeat what icomeanon said anyway.

Your Christmas SWC was pretty long for a one-shot. It did take up two posts. Come to think of it, I read most of your SWC entries, so I guess your suspicions are correct. I'll have to break them some time. And I never get around to following stories. Typically I read the first few chapters and then I completely forget about them, because I get interested in a different story. It's a never-ending cycle.

I think it would have been nice if there was a penguin event for Crimbo, unless that's already happened, and I somehow forgot all about it. For no real reason, obviously.

The fact most stories that need help tend to have the same sort of problems turns me off from trying to review. It gets dull repeating the same thing over and over as well as aggravating when they don't understand what the review said.

I'm extremely glad that you enjoyed it, though. Oh, and Hackers was exciting to read.

Crimbo is a magical time! Ah, the Jabba Candy King was definitely a sight to see last year. I think his name was Big Candy.

To be fair, I feel like the people who praise Razor Leaf do it because they're suck-ups. The praise is usually spelled horribly and not worth much mention. And thanks for the lovely image! I'll be sure to keep that in mind when I want to stay up all night. I'd like to imagine they're dolls, though – it makes it creepier.

And I appreciate the review! It's been a while since someone left me something constructive. But you make me feel guilty because I haven't finished anything you've written, and I've been meaning to for quite some time. Summer made me terribly lazy.

It's a great concept. But unless you're serious about it, like doing 3 day hardcore runs, then it's certainly not as engaging. The events always manage to get me interested for a week, such as the one that ended two days ago.

I haven't went outside the writing section that much either. Then again, I only have like 25 posts or so there. There are other skins, which I finally realized and I changed it to a simple blue/white theme. Still, the skins are all terrible compared to, say, PC. Razor Leaf hasn't gotten any better at making them. I mean what's the point of making a theme for every single type if they're all the same in different colors? It doesn't help that the people who express their dislike for them are immediately bashed, and a lot of members praise the skins mindlessly.

My first account was made back in 2006, but it got deleted because I got inactive after a while. It's hard for me to stay focused on the game. Sometimes, the gameplay gets dull and bland, so I try mixing it up by making multis and doing completely random stuff. I don't work on runs as much as I used to, though. I've done five ascensions on my main, three of them in HC, so my interest waned a bit after I finished them. My first ascension was hardcore, so I know how you feel. It was like starting out fresh minus the mall and the flea market.

Hobopolis and the clan basement are fun, but like most parts of the game, get dull unless you try doing serious runs through them, such as Imaginary Hamster or Whackin' Stick runs. At least they're a nice change of pace.

I don't go on SPPf that often. I don't particularly like the community, since 90% of the people there are idiots, to put it bluntly. The writing section is a lot better, of course, but the skins really turn me off.

Oh, a few years, on and off. I tend to go through phases of intensively working at one run, ignoring other games and distractions, and then completely forgetting about it for periods of up to three months. This explains why, after so much time as an Adventurer, I'm still only on my third ascension.

I completely agree with you about Hardcore Oxygenarian. They're incredibly annoying, but I thought - for some unfathomable reason - that it would be the best idea ever for a second ascension. You know, without any of the permed skills to make it easier.

I think my location on SPPf has been Seaside Town pretty much since I joined the forums there, actually. I suppose it isn't very noticeable.

My brother does a ton of OxyCore runs, for whatever reason. I can't stand them, to be honest. I didn't do the Way of the Surprising Fist, although I did do the Avatar of Boris. It was fun, except using only Trusty gets annoying. For now, I've just been power leveling on a main, which got to 39 this morning.

And I never find any other Adventurers. Then again, I don't actively search, but I noticed your avatar and your location on SPPf, which said your location was Seaside Town. How long have you been playing?

Well, I guess your avatar proves it. I finally found someone on a Pokemon forum that plays KoL!

Oh, Donnie. You're so freakin' weird. I like that. And Gretchen - you're not so weird, but you make up for it by dying-and-not-dying.