You Know You're an SSSS Addict When...

[Sunflower]

As the chapter break approaches, I think we need a support group to help manage our addictions to "Stand Still, Stay Silent."  (It will meet nightly in the Forum's oak-beamed lounge over coffee and cake.)

How do you know if you are addicted to SSSS?  Here is a handy screening tool.  Please feel free to add to this list!

hushpiper kicked it off on p. 220:

I convinced my husband to read the comic... and so he said to me, "Do you know which panel has the Finnish wizard with the troll above him?"

Friends, I now have read this comic so many times that I knew immediately it was right around page 160.

I knew I was addicted when I found DISGUSTING BUGS in my kitchen and shrieked.  And my first rational thought after that wasn't "Damn, where's the Raid?" but "Damn, I screamed like Emil meeting Heart-Earrings Troll."

Other signs:
* You know who/what the Cattank, Klonk-Head, Admiral Shouty, Agneta, and Handsy Moose are.

* You always know what time it is in Finland and/or Mora, Sweden, and are almost inappropriately familiar with Minna's sleep/wake/posting schedules.

* Your search history includes terms such as "thigh-high PVC boots," "Oresund cable-stayed bridge," "Nobel + dynamite + history," "tunnel + explosion + fireball", or "Devil Facial Tumor Disease."

* Bonus points if such searches have put you on the watchlist of the NSA, or your friendly local spy agency. 

* You find yourself reading long screeds about the history of Icelandic patronyms, the Svalbard seed bank, amphibious river-based warfare, or the psychology of trolls and giants.

* You find yourself writing such screeds.

* You have strong opinions on Emil's hair, the way Tuuri treats Lalli, and Sigrun's leadership philosophy.

* You have had inappropriate thoughts about some member(s) of the cast.  (I do NOT want to know.)

* You suddenly have dozens of friends whose "real" names and faces you will never know. 

[Fimbulvarg]

* Your search history includes terms such as "thigh-high PVC boots,"

I've actually been getting adds for "thigh-high PVC boots" on the Wiki. At some point the ad-trackers must have decided that I was really into that kind of kink.

I suppose you are a fan if geographical terms like Mora, Keuruu-Pori, Aurland and Östersund are intimately familiar to you.

[Solovei]

You start learning semi-obscure European languages and your friends make fun of you for it

[OurAdversarialSystem]

You know you are an S4 addict when...

Your grasp of Scandinavian geography is better than your knowledge of your city.
You are familiar with questions about Finno-Ugaric and the debate about whether it is a real family group or not.
You actually pay attention to neo-pagan revivals asking how it would impact a post-apocalyptic society.
You are glad it's cold in your little bit of the world.

[Nimphy]

As the chapter break approaches, I think we need a support group to help manage our addictions to "Stand Still, Stay Silent."  (It will meet nightly in the Forum's oak-beamed lounge over coffee and cake.)

How do you know if you are addicted to SSSS?  Here is a handy screening tool.  Please feel free to add to this list!

hushpiper kicked it off on p. 220:

I knew I was addicted when I found DISGUSTING BUGS in my kitchen and shrieked.  And my first rational thought after that wasn't "Damn, where's the Raid?" but "Damn, I screamed like Emil meeting Heart-Earrings Troll."

Other signs:
* You know who/what the Cattank, Klonk-Head, Admiral Shouty, Agneta, and Handsy Moose are.
* You always know what time it is in Finland and/or Mora, Sweden, and are almost inappropriately familiar with Minna's sleep/wake/posting schedules.
* Your search history includes terms such as "thigh-high PVC boots," "Oresund cable-stayed bridge," "Nobel + dynamite + history," "tunnel + explosion + fireball", or "Devil Facial Tumor Disease."
* Bonus points if such searches have put you on the watchlist of the NSA, or your friendly local spy agency. 
* You find yourself reading long screeds about the history of Icelandic patronyms, the Svalbard seed bank, amphibious river-based warfare, or the psychology of trolls and giants.
* You find yourself writing such screeds.
* You have strong opinions on Emil's hair, the way Tuuri treats Lalli, and Sigrun's leadership philosophy.
* You have had inappropriate thoughts about some member(s) of the cast. (Do NOT share the details.)
* You suddenly have dozens of friends whose "real" names and faces you will never know.

The last one is SO, SO true. (Although I do know some names...) Most of the others, too! Might I add:

- A "cleanser" is not some kind of cleaning product, it is now a pyromaniac fighting trolls.
- Scouts wearing shorts and going out camping? PFFT.
- Whaddya mean Swedes have ten toes? They have eight!
- The last one was a joke, by the way. This one too.
- You have a nordic flag in your signature, preceded by the word "Learning"
- You now can say "good night" in five languages at least. English, you native language, Swedish, Finnish and ULFS (Universal Language of Face Shoving).
- You can brag about knowing cities none of your friends know, like Mora, Saimaa, Keuruu, Dalsnes.
- You are planning on getting a cat, if you don't already have one. And possibly planning on naming said cat Lalli.
- You are keeping in touch with the latest news on possible Apocalypse-causing illnesses, and are not too worried: you know people will survive and rediscover magic, after all!

[Clayres]

The last one is SO, SO true. (Although I do know some names...) Most of the others, too! Might I add:
- You now can say "good night" in five languages at least. English, you native language, Swedish, Finnish and ULFS (Universal Language of Face Shoving).
- You are planning on getting a cat, if you don't already have one. And possibly planning on naming said cat Lalli.

pffft, ULFS, hahaha!
On the topic of cats, there are a lot of them in our neighborhood, and I actually contemplate whether they would be a suitable Grade [...] cat or not. Also I found myself watching a puss on mouse hunt in the leaves today, which again proves that cats are sadists who love to play with their victims.

On the topic of addiction signs:

-On train trips, you pray to Kuutar that you survive said trips.(I actually did, but I included every god/dess who felt responsible in my prayer, also it was more a figurative thing because there were people I absolutely did not want to run across, does that count?) Possibly in sung runo form.
-You start to worry if ebola mutates into the rash illness and possibly take precautions, such as escape routes etc.

And I had another one, but I don't remember it, oh well...

[Sharion]

Your fingerprints look like this:
   
@ @ @ @                 F5 @ @ @
               @         @

[kjeks]

You are addicted if you skip learning a language you did for nearly two years and catch up the amount of knowledge with the new one (finnish, swedisch, norwegian, icelandic, danish).

Also you open your knittwork any time a mistake occurs no matter how long it will do to cover lost time up...

Family members start noticing weird behavior similar to your teens (if you have not left them, they will say, lurking at an online board will pass by), meaning your unability to leave your computer alone for gathering some sleep...

[mithrysc]

- When you go to a restaurant that lets you draw on their (paper-covered) tables, while everyone else plays tic-tac-toe, you draw a Sparkly Emil against a backdrop of FLAMES
- You really would like to visit Scandinavia, if you're not there already
- Cats make you feel safer
- Every time you hear about quarantine you immediately think of the Rash Illness
- You check the site several times a day, even if a new page has already gone up and you know that nothing else is going to update
- You are trying to figure out how to transform a white coat into a crew uniform (if they can even be called uniform)

[Nimphy]

Oooh, I'd add: You have taken the habit of refreshing the forum twice a second, and are very frustrated when nothing new comes up.

[Clayres]

Oooh, I'd add: You have taken the habit of refreshing the forum twice a second, and are very frustrated when nothing new comes up.

The thing is, my browser is weird in a way that it's actually mandatory to click the refresh button twice before it shows any changes. But only on the index page.

[OrigamiOwl]

My weird list:

* Like Clayres said, you have assessed and appropriately graded your cat, and any other cat you see.
* You've thought about your grade if you were a cat
* If anyone spills food, the automatic thought response is "you Messy Swede"
* You tend to go "What an Emil/[Someone's] such an Emil" instead of 'what a moroon' and 'oh that was socially awkward haha'
* Money problems are Västerström problems
* You budget like the Quartet
* You know who I mean by "Quartet"
* There is no man in the moon, only Kuutar
* You have one-sided conversations with Kuutar
* And cats
* Also eagles but that's another matter
* You consider more places as possible sleeping places, like tables, and under them
* You bring up Finland and Scandinavia so often that people have asked concerned questions
* You fight the urge to yell "ONNNNIIIIIII" upon entering a large space
* You lose the fight
* Horses are now ugly moose
* While fixing hair, or a kitty's fur, you think "You look like a bum"
* You prefer "kitty" over "cat"
* Whilst writing a stressful paper you debate running away to join the Cleansers instead
* Showers are now Decontamination units

[Solovei]

- When you go to a restaurant that lets you draw on their (paper-covered) tables, while everyone else plays tic-tac-toe, you draw a Sparkly Emil against a backdrop of FLAMES
- You really would like to visit Scandinavia, if you're not there already
- Cats make you feel safer
- Every time you hear about quarantine you immediately think of the Rash Illness
- You check the site several times a day, even if a new page has already gone up and you know that nothing else is going to update
- You are trying to figure out how to transform a white coat into a crew uniform (if they can even be called uniform)

Oooh, I'd add: You have taken the habit of refreshing the forum twice a second, and are very frustrated when nothing new comes up.

Who are you people? Are you ME? Because you sound a lot like me

[Nimphy]

Who are you people? Are you ME? Because you sound a lot like me

YeSsS... wE aRe AlL ONe...

[OrigamiOwl]

- When you go to a restaurant that lets you draw on their (paper-covered) tables, while everyone else plays tic-tac-toe, you draw a Sparkly Emil against a backdrop of FLAMES

* You write FLAMES and FIRE in all-caps, always.