"And in that moment, I swear we were infinite."

THE BRITS HAVE GOT THE MONARCHY THE US HAS THE MONEY BUT I KNOW THAT YOU WANNA BE CANAAAAADIAN!!

2009-07-07T20:45:19Z

Yes, Canada day was a week ago. But I JUST found this, thanks to my favorite honorary Canadian, tamed_fox!!

Made public for reading.

2008-12-05T04:01:09Z

I hadn't really intended to be working my way through school, putting 35 hours a week in at THE STORE when I turned 23. No one had mentioned, when trying to educate me about the perks of higher education, that these perks came at the cost of not only tuition but the majority of your young adulthood. By this point in my life, I had intended to have my career, a few cats and maybe a boyfriend. Well, at least the first two had seemed plausible when I was eighteen. But no, as it turned out, I currently only have the cats at 23. And no social life, whatsoever, between class and work.

But yeah, besides the fact that life didn't exactly pan out as planned, things aren't so bad. I love school; all the facts, figures and numbers in my business classes fascinate me - for some odd reason, since I know that's a sick fascination. And work? Physically and mentally exhausting, but fuck, I love that too. Someone on THE STORE's hiring committee must've thought it would be hilarious to stick all five-foot-nothing and female bit of me in Sporting Goods. At first, this put me off. I mean, I didn't know left from right when it came to basketballs and hockey sticks and golf clubs and hunting equipment and fish bait... or anything else we sold, for that matter. I didn't play sports; I played word games and Guitar Hero. I was skilled in both sarcasm and scrabble. The first four or five times an old man decked out in head-to-toe camo said, "Sweetie, what are you doing down here?" I wanted to quit. But once it happened about a dozen times, this stopped bothering me, and my biting remarks become the best sporting skill to possess when dealing with condescending old men.

In two years, I've learned a lot of new shit. I can recommend the right knife you need to kill basically any animal you name (with the exception of humans, ‘cause I have a funny feeling that‘s illegal). I can also explain the ins and outs of any kind of trail camera, and fit little kids for skates. I've learned about things in different departments I cover, too. I'm perfectly qualified to mix paint for you, and if you need a fish, I'll grab the net and you'll have your little Bubbles or Nemo or other stereotypically named new pet in a matter of seconds..

I've also learned that if something unexpected and potentially catastrophic happens, Sporting Goods looks like a pretty friggin' good place to be. I mean, we're survival in a neat packet of however many square feet of the massive THE STORE in my city. Sleeping bags, flashlights, emergency blankets, camping supplies, hunting knives, pellet guns. The only thing we don't have is food, but with all that survival equipment, you could definitely just wander over to the grocery department.

My inner (but barely concealed, really) nerd had read a few too many Stephen King novels and watched a few too many zombie movies as a teenager - and their messages weren't lost on me. No matter where I was, from school to the mall, I fantasized about pandemics, mysterious fog rolling in, and reanimated corpses thirsting for our Braaaaaaaaaaaaaains! taking over town. If things were too bad on the outside - well, you'd better get used to things on the inside. How well were places fortified? Would we have the right weaponry to deal with the worst (a/k/a zombies)? And what about velociraptors? I saw that movie, those things are fucking vicious.

Unfortunately, my twenty-one-year-old self still was secretly wishing for a zombie apocalypse to happen. I knew I'd be prepared; I'd read every survival guide for every super-natural emergency possible (though for some reason the bookstore had them in the Humor section). So it was no surprise that I spent my first shift at THE STORE scouting out the set-up versus emergency scenario, to see how adequate the place was. By the end of the day, I knew that I was in the right place if anything happened. Sporting Goods was boring to me in every way I could possibly think of - except one. Emergency survival? This place was getting an A+ from me, golf clubs and all.

After that, I didn't think about zombies or werewolves any more. There was no need to. I thought more about school, and I’m pulling in really good grades in all of my courses. And I’m still working at THE STORE, in my beloved Sporting Goods. I don’t really talk to anyone in school, but I have coworkers who put up with my filthy mouth and vulgar jokes, and never say anything about how “unladylike” I’m being. Which suits me wonderfully, thank you very much.

The holidays were coming up, and extended hours were starting. I had eagerly applied for a position on the backshift. I’d been denied the previous year, but this year I was told there was an opening for me. I’d be working midnight til 8AM, hanging out in Sporting Goods and making overtime pay for school and Christmas gifts. I was stoked; I knew there were hardly any customers in the store after ten or eleven PM, and the extra money was much-needed. After a few shifts, I realized the only real downside was how lonely it got.

There was barely half the staff that would be working during the day and evening. It was a Thursday night (Friday morning, I guess) and there were 17 of us in the entire store. Footsteps practically echoed, and I probably could’ve stripped naked and sat on the counter the entire night and no one would’ve wandered by to notice. This particular night, we miraculously hadn’t had a single customer since about twelve thirty.

It was 3AM when my cell phone started behaving strangely. I’d been texting a few of my high school friends who’d moved after graduation, when my phone refused to send any more messages. Normally, this would happen when I’d forgotten to pay my bill, and I’d get an error message saying the service wasn’t available or some bullshit. But this time, I’d hit “send”, my phone would beep two or three times, and then go dead. When I’d boot it back up, I’d have messages from my friends, asking why I wasn’t replying, was work busy, are you made at me? I’d type, “no, my phone is being ridic”, but when I’d try to send the text, it would just do the same thing again. After fighting with it for twenty minutes, I finally said, “Eff this noise,” and tossed my phone in the drawer by my till. I could hear it beeping every few seconds, reminding me that people were indeed trying to contact me at this hour of the morning and were concerned about my lack of response. I heaved a sigh as I looked for something else to occupy my time.

The department was completely spotless. I’d groomed it over and got everything in it’s place about twenty minutes in to each of my graveyard shifts thus far, and tonight had been no exception. However, had I known my cell phone was going to fuck off and die, I would’ve done things much more slowly, and a little bit at a time, so I’d have something to do the rest of my shift. This had been the first night when the store had been completely empty (aside from us 17, hard-working and terribly dedicated employees). Every hockey stick was sitting at its perfect angle, and every fishing rod was in the right place. I literally had nothing to do. Visiting the fish seemed like a wonderful idea, so I headed down to Pets. All I wanted to do was chuck one of the little 50 cent goldfish in pirahnna tank to see what would happen, and now seemed like the best time. .

isaywhatiplease @ 2008-11-05T00:13:00

2008-11-05T05:15:59Z

McCain's concession speech was wonderful. He's a great man, and I don't think anyone can harbour ill will against him. He just wasn't the right man for this job. Obama's speech... he's talking about a 106-year-old woman who voted, and what she has seen and endured over the past centruy-and-some, and I am crying... and it's wonderful. Remember where you were, guys. I... yeah, I'll talk in the morning when I'm coherent.

RESULTS ARE IN

2008-11-05T04:02:52Z

OBAMA!

I'm drinking a beer and playing Battle Tanx while watching the US election results. It's fitting.

2008-11-05T02:56:43Z

I hope you all Barack'd the vote today.
Canada, as great a nation as we are, is very, very dependent on the US.
I... I just want change. It's all I want. Canadians are wonderful people; I couldn't possibly be prouder of my nationality and heritage.
But we, as a nation, are terrified of change.
Come on, neighbors. Show us Canucks how its done. Give us some hope.

Attention everyone who writes.

2008-09-15T00:04:38Z

Listen up!

Remember way back when, when I had started a website for Harry Potter roleplay?
& it was called Hogwarts Reloaded?
Well, it was a nice little getaway, with few rules and lots of freedom.
Not to mention a super tight-knit community, where we could get creative and make some cool friends.

Then one day, everyone just kinda stopped posting.

So last week, one of the board's old members, Maggie, chatted me up on MSN.
& what did we decide?

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Hogwarts Reloaded, v2.o

RULES:

(These were written out by Maggie, but I support all of them.)

1. This board is for fun! This is not a hardcore RP. We're just looking to RP, have fun, and still have lives. However, please NO Insulting other RPers out of character, or excessively for no reason in character. If you have a problem with someone, PM an admin.

2. When it comes to rare items, blood types, things that probably would not ever happen to just anyone, you don't have it. Try to be at least a bit realistic in this world of magic. If you really really want something and are unsure about it, PM an admin.

4. Harry has already saved the world and moved on from Hogwarts, and for the purpose of this RP for the time being, we won't be using canon characters or canon names until further notice.

5. Don't do anything foolish, such as make yourself super-powerful with God-like powers. Come on now, that's just dumb. This is also known as being a Mary Sue. Any characters just *too* tragic will need to be edited. Why? Cause I said so, that's why. [Actually, it's to keep the roleplaying fun and active for everyone.]

6. As long as you know a lot about Hogwarts, you can start out in whatever year your character is in. You do not need to be 11.

7. All new characters *MUST* have a profile filled out before they start posting. If you have any questions or concers whatsoever, PM an admin.

8. The rating of the board is pretty open right now. If you're making a board that will probably be pretty explicit, mark it with a rating EXAMPLE: Pg-13, R, NC-17, whatever.

9. The amount of characters you have does not concern me. However, what does concern me is if you plan on being active with them and also that they're developed. Just keep that mind.

10. We're going to be extremely flexible with activity. Why? Because many of us have jobs, go to school and have plenty of other things that occupy our time and this is purely for fun. Mainly, I just don't want to see someone with 8 characters who posts with only 1 of them every couple weeks. Just use common sense here.

11. Any plot, site, or other ideas, questions, or concerns? Contact an admin. We can help you out.

12. Once you've read these, feel free to head over to the Sorting Board and post your character application

Interested? Apply today!
Even if you've never role-played before, think about it! We're an excellent place to start because of how non-strict we are, and playing a character in a farmiliar setting like the Harry Potter-verse can be a great experience!

Thanks for your time and dealing with my bold-cruise control.

This made me sob with joy.

2008-08-06T13:25:53Z

Once upon a time I was high, and I saw this video, and sobbed my heart out in full-on joy. I have never cried so hard over a YouTube video.

I watched it again, not high, and still cried and cried and cried. So I'm posting it to share the heart-warming joy that goes along with: Christian the Lion.