The Drop in Centre

[Gary L]

10 minutes ago, kbois said:

Your pups crack me up! I think you should chronicle their "adventures". Lol!

Funny you should say that….. Greta appeared in my first offering here in GA. Neither appears in my tribute to Carlos Hazday for tomorrow but I have the beginnings of an idea to include them in the next one!  We are staying in a castle (think big house walls of stone, rather than Windsor Castle) so it should be fun 🤩 
hugs

[CassieQ]

Spending the last week or so trying to get settled in the new house between all the holiday happenings.  Still doesn't feel quite like home yet, but hopefully time will help.  

[drown]

1 minute ago, CassieQ said:

Spending the last week or so trying to get settled in the new house between all the holiday happenings.  Still doesn't feel quite like home yet, but hopefully time will help.  

 

🫶🏻

[drown]

I packed my bags to go on an adventure and … browsed the Internet.

Everyone had been talking to me about Wattpad for stories, but I never really checked it out. So I went there, LGBTQ+ category… okay… Fantasy… alright… Werewolves (my thing I guess?).

And now I feel old.

Why are literally all famous stories there written in the weirdest first person PRESENT TENSE? Is that what (young?) people read nowadays? I don't like this timeline, can we please go back to liking actual quality? It's like the words don't even matter anymore. Please help me.

Help.

Thank you for participating in this rant. I'm baffled.

I wish everyone a happy Monday. 💙

[drown]

Now with my rant over, I realize it's just a change in times… and maybe just not for me.

💜

[CassieQ]

3 hours ago, drown said:

I packed my bags to go on an adventure and … browsed the Internet.

Everyone had been talking to me about Wattpad for stories, but I never really checked it out. So I went there, LGBTQ+ category… okay… Fantasy… alright… Werewolves (my thing I guess?).

And now I feel old.

Why are literally all famous stories there written in the weirdest first person PRESENT TENSE? Is that what (young?) people read nowadays? I don't like this timeline, can we please go back to liking actual quality? It's like the words don't even matter anymore. Please help me.

Help.

Thank you for participating in this rant. I'm baffled.

I wish everyone a happy Monday. 💙

I would advise against using Wattpad as a literary aspiration.   But that's just me.  

[Gary L]

4 hours ago, drown said:

Now with my rant over, I realize it's just a change in times… and maybe just not for me.

💜

When a student in Rome, our mad Latin teacher used to raise hell about his fellow Americans’ destruction of the English language. “They can’t use the past perfect, they don’t know what it is. How can you learn Latin without it?”  Totally mad.  A total genius.  
Now it seems that worldwide we are losing the past simple as well. And if used, inventing new versions of old verbs. In Spanish the present simple can be used, correctly, to animate a story in the past.  It seems to have entered into English writing as well.  But for everything.
I’m 100% with you on this, @drown.  We are fighting a losing battle, I fear, until I read some exquisite English from @Robert Hugill or @James Carnarvon, or my beloved @Mark Arbour and others on this site. And that lets me live in hope for our language.

Keep the faith!

[drown]

3 hours ago, CassieQ said:

I would advise against using Wattpad as a literary aspiration.   But that's just me.  

Oh Cassie… never again would I go back to that place, it was a dark moment in my day.

There's something worse even called Tapas but I don't want to be reminded of it.

Edited December 30, 2024 by drown

[drown]

1 hour ago, Gary L said:

When a student in Rome, our mad Latin teacher used to raise hell about his fellow Americans’ destruction of the English language. “They can’t use the past perfect, they don’t know what it is. How can you learn Latin without it?”  Totally mad.  A total genius.  
Now it seems that worldwide we are losing the past simple as well. And if used, inventing new versions of old verbs. In Spanish the present simple can be used, correctly, to animate a story in the past.  It seems to have entered into English writing as well.  But for everything.
I’m 100% with you on this, @drown.  We are fighting a losing battle, I fear, until I read some exquisite English from @Robert Hugill or @James Carnarvon, or my beloved @Mark Arbour and others on this site. And that lets me live in hope for our language.

Keep the faith!

My exploration today reminded me that the quality of writing on this site is just exceptional compared to other places. And the barrier to entry (going past the Moderation Team for the first few chapters/stories) is not even that high.

I would never compare my writing to those people you listed or those here I help edit (Hi 🍑), but I'm proud of my assembly of words. Now even more so. Haha.

Learning every day!

And I had Latin in school! For 7 years. Catholic school…

[Gary L]

2 hours ago, drown said:

And I had Latin in school! For 7 years. Catholic school…

Me Catholic seminaries 😭😱😭😱😭😱

[spyke]

Apparently, there's a nightmare reply all apocalypse going on with a listserv at NYU. If you've ever been caught in an email chain or group text where everyone hits the "reply all" button you can appreciate this. 

Laine Nooney @ 🔥🗑️🔥
‪@lainenooney.bsky.social‬
omg a student somehow accidentally wrote an email addressed to a faculty-wide NYU listserv and my inbox is now a master class on who understands the difference between a listserv and an email chain
December 29, 2024 at 7:25 PM

 

But like in any disaster, an unexpected star has risen from the ashes.

Meet Onions. They're trying to get him tenure! 🤣

 

Laine Nooney @ 🔥🗑️🔥

‪@lainenooney.bsky.social‬

 

Follow

Someone just sent a photo of their dog, Onions, to an 11,000 person faculty listserv, adorable

 

December 29, 2024 at 8:43 PM

Take note @weinerdog and @Gary L 

 

 

It's funny as all get out, so if you need a giggle today and have the time, hop on over and find the thread. 

Edited December 30, 2024 by spyke

[Gary L]

7 minutes ago, spyke said:

Apparently, there's a nightmare reply all apocalypse going on with a listserv at NYU.

Laine Nooney @ 🔥🗑️🔥
‪@lainenooney.bsky.social‬
omg a student somehow accidentally wrote an email addressed to a faculty-wide NYU listserv and my inbox is now a master class on who understands the difference between a listserv and an email chain
December 29, 2024 at 7:25 PM

 

But like any disaster an unexpected star has risen from the ashes.

Meet Onions. They're trying to get him tenure! 🤣

 

Laine Nooney @ 🔥🗑️🔥

‪@lainenooney.bsky.social‬

 

Follow

Someone just sent a photo of their dog, Onions, to an 11,000 person faculty listserv, adorable

 

December 29, 2024 at 8:43 PM

Take note @weinerdog and @Gary L 

 

 

It's funny as all get out, so if you need a giggle today and have the time, hop on over and find the thread. 

I’m chuckling as I write.  She/he looks so adorable and innocent.  I just hope the friends are ready for hell on wheels.   We are on holiday in Pyrenees with Greta (the normally good one) and Lilebeth (aka, Spawn of Satan, Lucifer junior etc. etc.). We have a garden.  Great I thought when I booked the apartment months ago.   No. A nightmare of disobedience has ensued since we arrived.   More to be revealed in prompt #260 soon to appear, inspired by @kbois……. It’s a wiener dog horror story…. 

[drown]

35 minutes ago, spyke said:

Someone just sent a photo of their dog, Onions, to an 11,000 person faculty listserv, adorable

Hahahaha. That is so funny.

But yes, you will now see the difference between those who know what a mailinglist/listserv pre-2000 is and those who don't. It's a generational thing. I grew up with dialup Internet. Kids these days think "Wi-Fi" is "The Internet". 🛜 😂

[drown]

42 minutes ago, Gary L said:

Me Catholic seminaries 😭😱😭😱😭😱

Ah, our youth.

I think I was the only out (being outed vs. doing it on my own, so… "yay") gay guy there. Fun times!

[Defiance19]

Hi all, It's been an age. 

Want to wish you all a Happy New Year. Hope everyone is well, and my wish is that the year ahead is filled with only good for you! 

See you around,

Def

[chris191070]

Happy New Year 2025

Hope everyone is well.

[Wayne Gray]

Happy New Year, folks.

Let's commit to doing things that make us happy to be alive. 🙂

[Gary L]

39 minutes ago, Wayne Gray said:

Happy New Year, folks.

Let's commit to doing things that make us happy to be alive. 🙂

That’s my New Year resolution sorted!  Thank you Wayne 🤗

[MichaelS36]

5 hours ago, Wayne Gray said:

Happy New Year, folks.

Let's commit to doing things that make us happy to be alive. 🙂

Happy New Year.  We should all commit to this, I agree but there are those who struggle with inner peace and happiness. 

To them I say your hurt and suffering are part of your life's journey. For 2025 try to embrace who you are, and that includes your mental illness, and those deeply dark days where no light lives. Even on those days where the pain seems endless, you are worthy and loved. Remembering that life is worth the effort and recalling this is especially important during those most painful of times. 

I wish all of you and your families a wonderful New Year. 

 

[drown]

Happy New Year everyone!

You’re all loved, needed, and worth it. Together we can do it!

🍀🫶🏻

[Reader1810]

Happy New Year one and all! 🎉

[CassieQ]

Happy New Year!!

[Cane23]

Happy New Year dear friends! 

Half of the Balkans was part of Habsburg Monarchy, and the other half was part of the Ottoman empire so, we in ex-Yugoslavia countries share both middle European and Oriental traditions... Altogether with Slavic and Christian heritage, we are merry people unless we fight between each other. Then it's bloody... 🤷‍♂️ But that's story for another time...

Anyway, this has been a long introduction to explain why I'm watching the Wien Philharmonic Orchestra Traditional New Year's concert on TV right now. There is some feeling of nostalgy and melancholy watching this beautiful Musikverein hall in Wien, decorated with colorful flowers from Italy, listening amazing orchestra playing waltzes and polkas from Strauss family opus.

Usually not my kind of music but, every first of January, it brings me to childhood, when my parents were, fully dressed, were dancing with the sounds of the famous Blue Danube waltz. 

May your lives be light and joyful as the sounds of Strauss' waltzes!

Edited January 1, 2025 by Cane23

[drown]

January 2!

Hope everyone has recovered appropriately. Please have a calm day, you amazing people.

[Gary L]

On 1/1/2025 at 12:25 PM, Cane23 said:

Happy New Year dear friends! 

Half of the Balkans was part of Habsburg Monarchy, and the other half was part of the Ottoman empire so, we in ex-Yugoslavia countries share both middle European and Oriental traditions... Altogether with Slavic and Christian heritage, we are merry people unless we fight between each other. Then it's bloody... 🤷‍♂️ But that's story for another time...

Anyway, this has been a long introduction to explain why I'm watching the Wien Philharmonic Orchestra Traditional New Year's concert on TV right now. There is some feeling of nostalgy and melancholy watching this beautiful Musikverein hall in Wien, decorated with colorful flowers from Italy, listening amazing orchestra playing waltzes and polkas from Strauss family opus.

Usually not my kind of music but, every first of January, it brings me to childhood, when my parents were, fully dressed, were dancing with the sounds of the famous Blue Danube waltz. 

May your lives be light and joyful as the sounds of Strauss' waltzes!

What a wonderful memory to have!