General Discussion Thread

[Fimbulvarg]

Stairs without railingsoh hell no. Also I was once on an airplane elevator on an aircraft carrier and it was gigantic but it had no railing so it freaked me the heck out; I had to stand as close to the center as I could and like, grab on to my sister for support. Even the idea of a bunk bed without railings freaked me out (thankfully the bunk bed in my dorm did have railings, phew)... anything without railings... >.<

You would be in trouble on the Øresund base.

Goats are smaller... and the sound they make is not nearly as intimidating as cows'.

Goats make pretty varied sounds. Sometimes they sound like sheep, sometimes they make the Wilhelm scream and other times they sound like a rabid troll from a post-rash metropol.

[Laufey]

I've always found cows really cute... story time! There's an awesome barn cafe at lake Mývatn that we once visited during a camping trip up north. The coffee was really good by the way and when the cows are inside the barn you can watch them through big windows on one side, but now most of them had already been let out.

I remember one of the cows being really, really friendly. It walked right up to the fence and you could pet it. Anyway, a little while later a woman came in the cafe holding her hand like she had hurt it and you could see she was panicking a bit. Then she began to explain to the staff that she had tried to pet a cow outside and that... then... it had licked her hand. Could she please wash it somewhere? The staff showed her to the bathrooms and made some pretty interesting faces to each other (Icelandic customer service entirely lacks in the poker face department).

The lady washed her hand and all was well again, hopefully the cow didn't feel too insulted either.

[FinnishViking]

Birds really can be quite friendly.

My grandpa who used to life alone in his farm had an half-tame seagull named Lauri that he tamed by giving him half of a sausage whenever he saw it .
 
Lauri came did come back to the farm for years and it would even sit on my grandpas shoulder like a hunting falcon, sadly one year he didn't come back.

[hushpiper]

Hushpiper: not sure if i understood exactly what happened but..... *pats reassuringly*?

[...]

as for Real Life Update: the sun is shining, it's not even 8am and i'm up and awake (nor sure how many hours i slept but the answer is most probably 'Not Enough') and should honestly not be on the forum because i need to get dressed and fed and on my way to the bus stop ASAP. I've got a ~*Guidance Session*~ with one of our professors so i can discuss why i couldnt fix my essay and just stared at it for 5 hours and then just sent it in again with only a few words changed..... i have a gOOD FEELING ABOUT TODAY so maybe i won't even start crying!

*accepts the reassurance tearfully* Basically all the things happened at once and the forum went down for a little while (not that anybody seemed to notice! *relief*) and I stressed. Such stress. But now I own a house, so that's a thing.

And GOOOOOOOD I'm glad you feel good! I had a lot of "guidance sessions" with professors myself, cuz anxiety doesn't go so well with a heavy course load, and they were always way more helpful and willing to work with me than I expected going in to it.

Regarding cows: this is basically how I feel about deer. They are lovely animals in theory and from a distance, but up close they are huge and hella intimidating. Birds though! I adore birds

[Piney]

Regarding cows: this is basically how I feel about deer. They are lovely animals in theory and from a distance, but up close they are huge and hella intimidating. Birds though! I adore birds

Ahaha, that's actually kind of how I feel about birds, minus the huge part... I'm not scared of birds, but they do freak me out when they're near me. It's just, they fly near me and I'm all "Ack! Wings! Claws! Beak! Don't touch me!"

[Haiz]

*accepts the reassurance tearfully* Basically all the things happened at once and the forum went down for a little while (not that anybody seemed to notice! *relief*) and I stressed. Such stress. But now I own a house, so that's a thing.

And GOOOOOOOD I'm glad you feel good! I had a lot of "guidance sessions" with professors myself, cuz anxiety doesn't go so well with a heavy course load, and they were always way more helpful and willing to work with me than I expected going in to it.

Well, I was in the middle of sending a message when it went down, but nOO WORRIES EVERYTHING IS FINE NOW
Hooray for owning a house!!!!!

Not sure what the correct term for guidance session is but I cried only a little!! It was also very short because my professor had a meeting, and now I feel both dissapointed in myself and determined to study...... Turns out I have to read the books - I honestly don't know what I expected - and I tried to start on that today. except I kind of fell asleep on the books. i'm doing a very good job

OTHER life update: my uncle might have got me a summer job on a hotel in Prague!
I don't really know anyone in Prague, but Brno is only two hours away by bus, so.... I could deal with that probably. And of course the pay would be a lot less than anything here in Norway, but again - money isn't my first priority. And with my superior trilingual skills I should do pretty good at a hotel I think!
...... I'm not celebrating just yet, I've been tricked (mostly by myself and dumb misunderstandings) into thinking I've got a job before - last year I thought I was getting a job souvenir shop in Finnmark, or a job gutting fish in Greenland.........

Also, my uncle apparently wants me to mow his lawn in return and I've only attempted to mow a lawn once in my entire life and I could barely move the mower because i am very small and very weak

Spoiler: show

Dad: you can charm a boy into mowing the lawns for you?
me: *SQUEAKING DISTRESSEDLY*
Mom: or a girl
me: *squeaking less distressedly*

i think my parents are overestimating my social abilities

[Sunflower]

*accepts the reassurance tearfully* Basically all the things happened at once and the forum went down for a little while (not that anybody seemed to notice! *relief*) and I stressed. Such stress. But now I own a house, so that's a thing.

We noticed (we're so needy!), but it was totally OK.

I can't speak for anyone else, but if you're ever in a crunch like that again, I'd be totally OK with your putting a "Down for Maintenance" sign up and running off to sign the papers.  The SSSS Forum is purely a labor of love for you and Eich (not that we wouldn't like to have you on salary!).  And I for one know how momentous it is to sign the papers for a new home.  Congratulations on that, BTW!

[hushpiper]

Ahahaha well nobody complained and for this I am grateful. Sadly the situation was such that--because of the Awesome Timing--I wouldn't have been able to get back to fix it until Saturday. Just goes to show that making friends with the people you work with is totes worth it!

Congrats on the maybe-job! And ahahhaa, you know, whenever I had to read books for classes I mostly skimmed them. Then I took notes in class (because I like my hands moving while I listen), and an hour before a test/essay writing I would skim them and the relevant chapters of the books. If skimming totally wouldn't work--like with shakespeare--I would read it aloud or type it to some person willing to put up with me doing so, since that helped me stay on track.

Ahaha, that's actually kind of how I feel about birds, minus the huge part... I'm not scared of birds, but they do freak me out when they're near me. It's just, they fly near me and I'm all "Ack! Wings! Claws! Beak! Don't touch me!"

I feel that way about some birds... Ducks and geese can stay waaaaaay over there as far as I'm concerned, but your usual small birds are basically my spirit animal. I had a fledgling swift once that I semi-raised and it was my lovely little alien baby.

[Haiz]

Congrats on the maybe-job! And ahahhaa, you know, whenever I had to read books for classes I mostly skimmed them. Then I took notes in class (because I like my hands moving while I listen), and an hour before a test/essay writing I would skim them and the relevant chapters of the books. If skimming totally wouldn't work--like with shakespeare--I would read it aloud or type it to some person willing to put up with me doing so, since that helped me stay on track.

That's pretty much how I accidentally aced one of my exams last semester, I'm pretty good at taking notes - and gods do I feel you on having to move hands, I sit in lectures with both a notebook and a sketchbook...... except last semester was only about classical + medieval art, and this semester is EVERYTHING ELSE and that is. so much. so much art..........
but I'm sure it's going to go juuuuuuuuust fiiiiiiiiiine

[Sunflower]

OTHER life update: my uncle might have got me a summer job on a hotel in Prague!
I don't really know anyone in Prague, but Brno is only two hours away by bus, so.... I could deal with that probably. And of course the pay would be a lot less than anything here in Norway, but again - money isn't my first priority. And with my superior trilingual skills I should do pretty good at a hotel I think!

Also, my uncle apparently wants me to mow his lawn in return and I've only attempted to mow a lawn once in my entire life and I could barely move the mower because i am very small and very weak

Spoiler: show

Dad: you can charm a boy into mowing the lawns for you?
me: *SQUEAKING DISTRESSEDLY*
Mom: or a girl
me: *squeaking less distressedly*

i think my parents are overestimating my social abilities

Haiz, that's great about the job!  You will have to be persistent about making sure it's actually available (my least favorite part of adult life -- on my other browser I am currently having the world's most boring conversation with "Accounts Payable @ Big Silicon Valley Software Company" about why they don't tell contractors like me *beforehand* how to properly bill). 

But once that's confirmed, I think you'd be a delightful hotel worker.  (Hopefully it's desk work, not  cleaning rooms or something messy like that.)  Think of the amazing range of faces, body types, and belongings you could sketch! 

Would you be staying in Prague, or commuting from Brno?  Two hours each way would be no fun, although some people here in the Bay Area do it.

I wouldn't worry about mowing the lawn.  You may be small, but you are A FORCE OF NATURE YES AND NOT WEAK AT ALL.  Think how proud of yourself you'll feel when you've figured out how to work the mower.  (Or borrowed a goat and dragged it on a leash around your uncle's lawn -- the Sigrun solution.)

[Haiz]

Haiz, that's great about the job!  You will have to be persistent about making sure it's actually available (my least favorite part of adult life -- on my other browser I am currently having the world's most boring conversation with "Accounts Payable @ Big Silicon Valley Software Company" about why they don't tell contractors like me *beforehand* how to properly bill). 

But once that's confirmed, I think you'd be a delightful hotel worker.  (Hopefully it's desk work, not  cleaning rooms or something messy like that.)  Think of the amazing range of faces, body types, and belongings you could sketch! 

Would you be staying in Prague, or commuting from Brno?  Two hours each way would be no fun, although some people here in the Bay Area do it.

I wouldn't worry about mowing the lawn.  You may be small, but you are A FORCE OF NATURE YES AND NOT WEAK AT ALL.  Think how proud of yourself you'll feel when you've figured out how to work the mower.  (Or borrowed a goat and dragged it on a leash around your uncle's lawn -- the Sigrun solution.)

1) sighs, which of you Adult People Species decided to make life so hard

2) according to mom I'll probably end up with both? But seeing as my english skills are very good (especially compared to the average czech person) I guess I'm more fit for desk work? I once travelled with my grandmother and a horde of retired people to Zakynthos, and in the entire group there were only two English-speaking people, one of which was me. I spent a lot of time by the desk, translating all their troubles and woes to the poor confused receptionist. I was 13.

3) My uncle has several apartments in Prague for some reason? He used to live in a small castle actually, right next to the psychiatric ward where he worked (and where we used to stay over whenever we were in Prague). But yeah, apartments in Prague. And there's always my honorary aunt (divorced my uncle but is a better person than him so we stay in touch).
The thing about Brno is more that all my friends live there (okay. mostly one friend. but he's my oldest and one of my very best friends. the number of times we've been mistaken for siblings or a couple.........)

4) I'm voting for the goat. One of our neighbours had a goat in their garden for a while, actually? It was.... odd.... I know I live in the farmlands but nobody has goats. I think they're Polish. Not that i'm judging. I'm all for garden goats

[Fimbulvarg]

Regarding cows: this is basically how I feel about deer. They are lovely animals in theory and from a distance, but up close they are huge and hella intimidating. Birds though! I adore birds

I wouldn't really worry about deer (red deer, white tailed deer, that kind), they're actually fairly skittish. I once ran into a stag (by accident, honestly) on a dark forest road and it immediately charged off into the woods. Another time I encountered one standing two meters away as I rounded a corner. It pretty much turned tail and ran away. So you see, deers are usually really, really afraid of people and unlikely to actually attack you.

Deer ticks on the other hand are nasty business. Makes walking in vegetation a lot less comfortable than it should be.

[Haiz]

deer


edit: so I'm a boring person that talks about the weather, but this week so far is literally going sunny day - grey day - sunny day - grey day - sunny day - rainy day. It's almost as if two weather gods divorced and pass the charge of the weather between eachother like a kid

also I'm going on a sea shanty concert later today!!

[kjeks]

I have reached the point were I actually would appreciate that some people just start conversation with me even if it is just about the weather. The new part of the job is both really interesting and tiring. Seems that regular teachers in germany still are pretty unwilling to communicate regularly with contact persons, especially those whom I tried to contact on several ways. Kinda nasty if parents whose children are in these teacher's care have even less contact than me. (there is also nice ones there but at present the ratio is 12:3 in favour of the negative persons).
Also it is time for application run! How hard can it be?

[Sunflower]

I have reached the point were I actually would appreciate that some people just start conversation with me even if it is just about the weather. The new part of the job is both really interesting and tiring.

Seems that regular teachers in germany still are pretty unwilling to communicate regularly with contact persons, especially those whom I tried to contact on several ways. Kinda nasty if parents whose children are in these teacher's care have even less contact than me. (there is also nice ones there but at present the ratio is 12:3 in favour of the negative persons).

Also it is time for application run! How hard can it be?

What is your new teaching job?  Is it also special education, like your previous work?  I used to write about education as a newspaper reporter, so I'm always interested to hear how schools work.  (And of course, we all want to know how *you're* doing.  I know you lost your mother several months back -- how are you holding up?  If you feel like talking about that.)