General Discussion Thread

[urbicande]

So I just downloaded a recording app on my tablet, so that I can record my voice. But the fun thing is I'm soo nervous/can't stand my own voice/etc that I can't bring myself to record me speaking anything before I choke up and sound really forced (which causes me to speak extremely squeaky and does not reflect the natural way I speak). Does anyone have any tips of how to cope with it?

The nice thing about recording digitally is that you can do it over as many times as you want, so the best answer is  to practice and get comfortable with it.  For a while when I was going to open mic night I would do my practicing standing in front of a microphone that was recording me.  It helped me get over the awkwardness of having a microphone sticking in my face.

[Eich]

So I just downloaded a recording app on my tablet, so that I can record my voice. But the fun thing is I'm soo nervous/can't stand my own voice/etc that I can't bring myself to record me speaking anything before I choke up and sound really forced (which causes me to speak extremely squeaky and does not reflect the natural way I speak). Does anyone have any tips of how to cope with it?

Try talking from your lungs instead of your throat or head.  The trick I learned was to try making a Yogi Bear voice, it kinda pushes your voice down into the chest, and then try to keep it there when you speak in your own voice again.  It's also good for projecting!

On a scale from "yo yo yo teabag420dawg in da house" to Moses presenting the Ten Commandments to the Israelites I think your formality level has been just slightly above average on this forum. Sunflower gets the prize for most formal style in my book.

Slightly above average is more than fine with me.   
When I set the place up, I had to write rules and be all legalistic and stuff.  That was actually difficult, and I don't know how people who write contracts continue to live.  u_u  And since being here, I've learned ALL the emoticons!  \o/

[Ana Nymus]

So I just downloaded a recording app on my tablet, so that I can record my voice. But the fun thing is I'm soo nervous/can't stand my own voice/etc that I can't bring myself to record me speaking anything before I choke up and sound really forced (which causes me to speak extremely squeaky and does not reflect the natural way I speak). Does anyone have any tips of how to cope with it?

If I were you, I'd turn the recorder on and then just leave it on as you try to calm your nerves, babble randomly, do the Yogi bear voice, or do whatever it takes to get you comfortable enough that you don't choke up. Then you can start without having to get all nervous by pressing the button again (or am I the only one who gets nervous by way of button?). At the very least, it might help you be a little calmer while knowing your voice is being recorded. And you can of course edit out all the random stuff later.

And since being here, I've learned ALL the emoticons!  \o/

Same here! \o/ I've never written very formally here (at least, I don't think I have), but if there's one thing I don't tolerate for myself, it's bad grammar. Mixing up "your" and "you're", spelling things wrong when I have spell check available, omitting punctuation entirely? Nope, nope, nope. I've got to have that stuff. Though knowing Murphy's Law, I probably messed up somewhere in this post...

[Curry]

On a scale from "yo yo yo teabag420dawg in da house" to Moses presenting the Ten Commandments to the Israelites I think your formality level has been just slightly above average on this forum. Sunflower gets the prize for most formal style in my book.

Ahahahahahaaaa, my typing style varies from slightly below average formality to the ABSOLUTE BOTTOM OF THE SCALE and it's most noticeable when I'm speaking in PMs or chat _{apologies to anybody who I have confused at some point >_> I really do try to use actual real English when posting in the threads where everybody including the non English-speakers speak but my formality is directly related to how tired I am and sometimes you just have to yell in all caps to get your sentiments across ok}

And since being here, I've learned ALL the emoticons!  \o/

I like to think that I've helped here ∠( ~◞౪◟◑」∠)_

[viola]

That sounds pretty good.  U-U  I will finally have some free time this weekend if you want that next lesson!

Ooh yes I think I'm free too. *runs off to practice*

[Haiz]

And Nimphy isn't a super villain.  She's the ruler of the world!

how are those terms mutually exclusive though. this doesn't prove anything

Ahahahahahaaaa, my typing style varies from slightly below average formality to the ABSOLUTE BOTTOM OF THE SCALE and it's most noticeable when I'm speaking in PMs or chat

I think any convos I have with you is like a social experiment in "how much can we dissolve the english language while still understanding one another"

...................I think I've made some efforts in using more punctuation and Propper Grammer Rules since the beginning actually. it's also easy to tell when i'm writing from my phone because it'll correct i's and beginning of sentences to capital letters

[DancingRanger]

Thanks, I'll try those, and see what happens.

[urbicande]

How did I not know that Lola Dutronic had a new album out in June?

[daItrick]

//shrieks
I MOVED HOUSES
OH MY gOD
and I'm sick hah
anyways that's all-
//goes to the shadow again

[Eich]

Same here! \o/ I've never written very formally here (at least, I don't think I have), but if there's one thing I don't tolerate for myself, it's bad grammar. Mixing up "your" and "you're", spelling things wrong when I have spell check available, omitting punctuation entirely? Nope, nope, nope. I've got to have that stuff. Though knowing Murphy's Law, I probably messed up somewhere in this post...

Bleeegh, spelling mistakes are the worst.  I make them all the time though.  ;__;  I used to have a much wider vocabulary, but my knowledge of words has dwindled so much in the last few years.  It makes me sad.  Also, I think my use of punctuation varies wildly.  Sometimes I'll get it just right, but other times I'll be splicing sentences together with all the wrong things.  That makes me sad, too. 

I like to think that I've helped here ∠( ~◞౪◟◑」∠)_

You have.  Considerably.  You monster.  Where do you find all of these characters!? 
You and Owl have taught me much in the way of emoticons.  *bows*

how are those terms mutually exclusive though. this doesn't prove anything

That's... actually a good point.  But I trust the fiery overlord.  \o/

[Sunflower]

It's framing art. I did that in Finland before I moved here and it was my favourite job I've ever had. The shop that I'll be working for is a bit fancier than the one I was at so I'll have to learn to use some new machinery but that won't be a problem, they already let me have a try at their glass- and cardboard-cutting machines (I'm more used to doing glass cutting by hand and cardboard cutting by guillotine) and I almost did well.

Oh yes, it only works if the target likes to give second chances (I did apologize them and explained what happened when I got there today, they seemed to think it was funny).

Congratulations!  I bet they liked your feistiness.  You and RTR can swap war stories about cutting machines.

[Sunflower]

Oh wow, I had forgotten about that issue xD  And then disqus came and all was well (again).  Everyone thought I was old.  You're not alone. 

Anyways,  this week has been failure after failure after failure.  Failed a test, forgot homework at home, couldn't play guitar, couldn't focus, went back to taking my ADD meds to do school work... All the bad things.  Hopefully my meds don't make me depressed like they did over the summer. I haven't taken them in a while because of that.  But through all of that, and working pretty much non-stop for the last two days, today is a lovely, rainy Friday, and I think it's time to relax.  UuU

Aw, I'm sorry to hear about the crummy week.  It's *just* a week, though, and now you can regroup over the weekend.  Everything that happened this week is going to look very small in your rear-view mirror.

Here, have some cheesy '80s synth-pop:  (Billy Joel's "Second Wind")

/>

[Laufey]

Congratulations!  I bet they liked your feistiness.  You and RTR can swap war stories about cutting machines.

Hahah, in Finland at least that's very typical for craftspeople: we like a little bit of temper. Everyone understands the feeling when something you've worked on for a long time just blatantly fails and a few loud curses are in order, everyone likes to hear a bit of fighting spirit. Perhaps the Icelanders aren't that different...

[Dane Murgen]

Totally off-topic, but I just had one of those cringe flashbacks about the weirdest thing:
Back in the ancient* times, before the forum, there was a mysterious* issue with the comment thread where one couldn't edit their comment after someone had replied to it and there was an epidemic* of comment conversations that went like this
"I am in accordance old chum! PS I think you confused this with this...."
"Ah thanks kind friend, but oh golly gee now I can't edit it. Dang dilly ding dong what a pickle this is!"
And so there was a little brainstorm of ideas in how this might possibly be fixed and it was probably mine, but the terrible idea that just insta-haunted me was- get ready- "Maybe we should have a system where if we see a major mistake, we should go to the previous page and via comment-reply, let the person know so they can hopefully fix it in time and all will be well." AKA Plan Why Owl Isn't In Charge Of Anything Ever Nor Asked For Important Input. And then I thought about the current Forum, and was like "How did that era even exist? WAS IT EVEN REAL"
And I just.
The sudden memory.
A sudden facepalm. But like, into this face: "8I"

Just thought...I might share u__u

Those were weird times though. I thought Eich was a 50 year old old man and Nimphy was a college student. Weeeeeiiiird timessss.
______________________________________________
* Probably an over exaggeration

You know, this is what I regret the most about my involvement in the community. I've been reading the comic since the beginning and I never truly experienced that pain. I knew that one day, the comments changed from Intensedebate to another comment thing, back to IB and then to disqus, and that may have been an improvement, but at that time, I didn't care.

I missed so much that I could have been a part of: that guessing the current location based on how well your maps were, the secret Santa, the creation of the wiki and more. I started paying attention to the community when there was enough information about Eich and Nimphy that I couldn't have any preconceived notions about them based on writing style.

I became part of the community when Sunflower was doing individual PMs congratulating people on their promotions, but I only participated enough to barely miss that experience. I remember a time when there were basically no AU fanfics until I started the first SSSS high school fanfic. It's been almost a year and I haven't posted chapter 2. I remember when the Art Museum had 40 pages and Braidy-In-A-Box was the latest art thing, and I really liked it, but I never said anything because I thought I needed to put my own art, which seemed to pale in comparison, out there.

I remember lots of things, but I did none of them and I regret every single inaction I did.

Thank you for making a community so vibrant that I regret not doing anything before. This probably should go somewhere else, but this was triggered by Owl's Nostalgia/Shame Train, so yeah. There we go.

[mithrysc]

I missed so much that I could have been a part of: that guessing the current location based on how well your maps were, the secret Santa, the creation of the wiki and more. I started paying attention to the community when there was enough information about Eich and Nimphy that I couldn't have any preconceived notions about them based on writing style.

Sometimes I also wish I'd jumped into commenting while there was a lot less people, if only for the fact that maybe it would've made me slightly less terrified of commenting. And it would've also been nice to see the community actually growing instead of just glancing at it every now and then. But anyway that's irrelevant now.

(And never fear! Barring any catastrophic happenings, I'd like to run a Secret Santa again this year (or at least see one happen).)