I think Gwenno said something about starting [the secret santa] up when its closer to Christmas. So I suspect we'll have that started around mid-end of the month?
Umm... I wonder if we'll have an SSSS Advent Calendar and/or forum Secret Santa this year...
Are we in need of bold volunteers to organize these?
I was actually planning on setting up both at the start of the month but my computer charger broke (and my poor old computer doesn't work when not plugged in). Seeing as I really didn't want to produce all that text and cross referencing stuff on my phone I figured I'd wait a few more days until a new charger had been delivered
The advent calendar signups have been set up and I'll go ahead and create a secret santa thread now (maybe tomorrow if it takes too long, it's nearly bedtime for me here >"< ). It's good to see there's so much interest in this ^_^
I've lived there, a few times, as did my older brother. The cities always felt awful, barring Seattle, bits of San Francisco and bits of Boston, and the bush usually felt okay. But to me, America always had this sensation of something boiling underneath, ready to burst out and tear things apart. Not just the human part of the cities either - I always had this sense that the land underneath was about to pick itself up, have a good shake and knock off all the stuff that was crawling on it.
Los Angeles and bits of Chicago just made my skin creep, as did New York. I think I'd settle for our wild extreme weather and venomous wildlife any day. Europe seems more welcoming to people, Australia is too old and tired to really care, for the most part, though parts of the land here are really hostile and will kill you if they can, and other parts are oddly welcoming - often areas quite close together, strangely. But I doubt I could live in America again, except maybe the Pacific North-West, or around Big Sur, or just about anywhere in the desert.
Well technically, the US is sitting atop of one of the most badass volcanic eruptions that could potentially happen based on current understanding of threat levels posed by tectonic activity, so your feeling of the land just waiting to explode isn't far off
(My friends and I created a climate model of the potential outcomes of Yellowstone exploding for a uni project one time, and it was absolutely fascinating!). I agree that Seattle and Washington State are pretty lovely though, especially the Hoh rainforest. I have family in that area and I always felt that if I had to end up in a city, that wouldn't bee too bad of a choice