I took my cousin and her friend to Sea World today. It was brutally hot and we were out there burning in the Texas sun on and off for nearly 6 hours, but it was fun. My cousin has massive energy and is immune to the heat (she runs track), so her friend and I were constantly lagging behind and sweating. Despite it being the weekend, there was barely anyone there (we were expecting huge crowds blocking up everything) and we only had to wait a few minutes before getting on the rides. We kept going on the Steel Eel, a roller coaster with a massive 150-foot drop that made us float away from our seats for several terrifying seconds.
We had mangonadas, a kind of spicy mango smoothy with chamoy and chilies, and some terrible Chinese food we had to eat with plastic knives because there weren't any forks or spoons (I got to talk about my trip to China and act like a worldly bigshot in the process). We hurried around the aquarium and the girls furiously snapped pictures of each other along with every remotely colorful or pretty object in the park, from the fish in the aquarium to a painted Sesame Street wall to a bubble machine to a pair of stuffed octopi that they tied over their heads like helmets. My favorite picture, though, was when her friend caught my cousin eating lo mein with her fingers while we were still waiting in line--she caught the exact moment when my cousin realized she was being photographed.
We happened to share a cruelly sarcastic sense of humor and poked fun at each other and everything around us the whole time, but both of them were rather sweet at heart. Both of them expressed sorrow for the killer whales and dolphins at the park for not having enough room to swim around in--showing a lot more environmental and humanitarian consciousness than I expected from two people so young. I was glad to see that her friend shared her warmth and sense of empathy.
We were tired and burned when we got home, but then my cousin's mom came home and I got to see her two beautiful baby daughters, who absolutely adored our little toy poodle. We all hung out as a family for a while, and one of my other cousins (there were a bunch of them today) pointed out that we hadn't seen each other in seven years. Even after all that time had passed, it didn't take long for us to get along just like family again.
School's starting up again, but I'll be able to see them again in three weeks.
I just logged on twitch for the first time since december last year, and apparently I won a Neverwinter t-shirt from beamdog but I completely missed the message. I am beyond pissed right now, lol.
@voidofopinion Nice. It's a fun language to learn. I took only took two semesters in college but found the spoken language to be easier than others I had tried (French, Latin, & Chinese). The kanji we really didn't get into much, as the focus was mainly the Japanese alphabets and writing using only the hiragana and katakana. Those were easier than the kanji as well.
I've always heard from people who learned Chinese that the major problem is that it is a tonal language so a small variation in pronunciation completely changes what you are saying. I don't know anything about Chinese so I have no idea if its correct.
Funny thing is, when i was theist I was miserable. Now, I prefer to accept responsibility for my failures but also take credit for my achievements, instead thanking some kind of deity, or assuming it was its plan.
But since this is a happiness topic, I'll shill my achievement From the middle of April this year to today, I lost 12 kilos of weight, while my muscle mass increased. I am actually proud of myself
I've always heard from people who learned Chinese that the major problem is that it is a tonal language so a small variation in pronunciation completely changes what you are saying. I don't know anything about Chinese so I have no idea if its correct.
I didn't have that much trouble with the tones when I was learning Chinese. What I struggled with was the script. My sonic memory is stronger than my visual memory, so I remember sounds pretty easily (my teachers always said I had excellent pronunciation), but trying to commit each new character to memory was a constant struggle. I could pronounce everything perfectly, but I could recognize fewer words than my classmates and my reading was slower.
The tones are definitely a mess for most people, though. Compounding the problem is that most of the tones are pretty muted in everyday speech (it takes less effort to do a more flat tone) and many of the tones can waver depending on context and tone of voice. My first teacher said that Chinese could be very "fuzzy" in that way. Most news stations in China use subtitles to make things more clear.
Financially things have been going pretty okay for us. Nothing long term, but we at least don't have to worry about necesseties for a month or so. We were even able to treat ourselves a little bit. I picked up Hollow Knight on sale and have been obssessed with it this week. My wife picked up Donkey Kong Country Returns for her 3DS and its been helping her mood swings.
I try not to double post, but I have a twofer today. Thanks to the very kind efforts of @Shandyr and @fluke13 , I have not only an awesome portrait for my kobold charname, but also a wonderful paperdoll for the inventory screen. My current run s going to be the most kobold-tastic run yet!
After the better part of a year (9 months) I've finally cleared that section of property that me and my kiddo call "the jungle" I'm going to have to rent a wood chipper because I'll burn my house down if I try to burn all the lumber I cut, but it's finally free of trees. It turns out Mulberry turns a really beautiful red when it dries. I've been trying to think up wood working projects that could be made with them, but I'm not too handy with that kind of stuff.
I did it only with 3 tools, a scythe with a brush blade, a Huqsvarna forest axe, and some beat up old loppers. I lost a bunch of weight in the process too and got a decent tan. I didn't even chop my own leg off or anything! I got pretty good at felling trees too lol.
Also, being a mere someone who has lived *all* her life in the suburbs, I was absurdly happy to find out that, nonetheless, I can tell a Sikh from a Muslim merely from their turbans. There are people who have lived in the city all their lives and are much more cosmopolitan than me who can't tell the difference. This leaves me feeling quietly pleased for some reason.
Point is... if the Turban comes to a point on top and has a small white ver in front? Sikh. Turban wrapped around a small, flat cap? Muslim. Two pattern Turban? Afghan. All black or all white? Irani.
There's a fairly large Sikh community in my city. They have a booth open during a local yearly fair where they offer free food and water to anyone. Despite there being several religious groups offering food, they are the only ones who offer it for free. I visit them every year.
So a little bit of positivity, or a mixture of positivity and some negativity.
So I've been working on the penciling of my comic after having the script was written for weeks and the main character designs down for weeks. Unfortunately I'm freaking slow when it comes to drawing, and working on page 1-2-3 and the cover at the same time.
I am feeling good. I can actually walk to the local market, shop and walk back in under an hour. And I managed to cook an entire meal tonight without having to sit down in the middle to rest! This, for me, is huge.
Also, I got into contact with a friend in England and we will online meet next week on Thursday at 4 AM my time. I am very happy to see him again, and feel rather jubilant.
Been playing Pathfinder Adventures Card Game (That's a mouthful!) with my dad. He can be hard to relate to sometimes, but we have been having a blast playing together. Its been a long time sonce we have been able to enjoy something together.
I have been hanging out with my family all week, and practically everybody was here. I've mentioned before how much I love spending time with my extended family, and I've just gotten to see so much of everyone for so long.
I just feel very much at peace. It's good to be so close to the people I love so much.
I met with my friend at 4AM today, and it was *So* good to see him, I cannot tell you how happy I was. He said that my writing has made my character a canon part of his universe... and I felt really, really happy! It was so good, we are meeting again at 4AM tomorrow as well.
He also was amazed at how many ideas I came up with for his universe and his character. He even dressed up for me! We had a small glitch that tiny chat somehow banned his room, no idea why, so we are meeting in mine from now on.
I just saved my dog from a scorpion! He saw a scorpion wandering along the porch, he started sniffing at it, and then I saw him. I yelled at him, he backed off, and I stomped the scorpion into oblivion. If I hadn't noticed him, my dog might have gotten stung right in the nose!
@fluke13: Maybe people who've never been stung. After being stung by a scorpion three times in a row on the thumb, I know how painful they can be. It's absolutely horrific.
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We had mangonadas, a kind of spicy mango smoothy with chamoy and chilies, and some terrible Chinese food we had to eat with plastic knives because there weren't any forks or spoons (I got to talk about my trip to China and act like a worldly bigshot in the process). We hurried around the aquarium and the girls furiously snapped pictures of each other along with every remotely colorful or pretty object in the park, from the fish in the aquarium to a painted Sesame Street wall to a bubble machine to a pair of stuffed octopi that they tied over their heads like helmets. My favorite picture, though, was when her friend caught my cousin eating lo mein with her fingers while we were still waiting in line--she caught the exact moment when my cousin realized she was being photographed.
We happened to share a cruelly sarcastic sense of humor and poked fun at each other and everything around us the whole time, but both of them were rather sweet at heart. Both of them expressed sorrow for the killer whales and dolphins at the park for not having enough room to swim around in--showing a lot more environmental and humanitarian consciousness than I expected from two people so young. I was glad to see that her friend shared her warmth and sense of empathy.
We were tired and burned when we got home, but then my cousin's mom came home and I got to see her two beautiful baby daughters, who absolutely adored our little toy poodle. We all hung out as a family for a while, and one of my other cousins (there were a bunch of them today) pointed out that we hadn't seen each other in seven years. Even after all that time had passed, it didn't take long for us to get along just like family again.
School's starting up again, but I'll be able to see them again in three weeks.
Well... Look what came in the mail today.
Beamdog, you guys are great!
I have always wanted to learn Japanese and now instead of just saying I want to do it I am putting in the work!
Out of the 80 or so first grade Kanji I now have down a good 20 of them on sight and can do another 30 as multiple choice.
I had a supreme moment of joy that I haven't felt since I was a child when I learned tree, grove, and forest.
But since this is a happiness topic, I'll shill my achievement
The tones are definitely a mess for most people, though. Compounding the problem is that most of the tones are pretty muted in everyday speech (it takes less effort to do a more flat tone) and many of the tones can waver depending on context and tone of voice. My first teacher said that Chinese could be very "fuzzy" in that way. Most news stations in China use subtitles to make things more clear.
I did it only with 3 tools, a scythe with a brush blade, a Huqsvarna forest axe, and some beat up old loppers. I lost a bunch of weight in the process too and got a decent tan. I didn't even chop my own leg off or anything! I got pretty good at felling trees too lol.
I had some beer to celebrate.
Point is... if the Turban comes to a point on top and has a small white ver in front? Sikh. Turban wrapped around a small, flat cap? Muslim. Two pattern Turban? Afghan. All black or all white? Irani.
https://identifyasikh.blogspot.com/2014/02/all-turban-men-are-not-muslim.html
So I've been working on the penciling of my comic after having the script was written for weeks and the main character designs down for weeks. Unfortunately I'm freaking slow when it comes to drawing, and working on page 1-2-3 and the cover at the same time.
Also, I got into contact with a friend in England and we will online meet next week on Thursday at 4 AM my time. I am very happy to see him again, and feel rather jubilant.
Work continues on my stories apace.
All these are reasons to celebrate, for me.
I just feel very much at peace. It's good to be so close to the people I love so much.
He also was amazed at how many ideas I came up with for his universe and his character. He even dressed up for me! We had a small glitch that tiny chat somehow banned his room, no idea why, so we are meeting in mine from now on.
I feel like SnoopyDancing!