Former Member

Do Coburg residents need to stock their larders up for inevitable days/weeks/months being snowed in and unable to leave the house? ;-)

I’m glad that the administration takes their nondiscrimination policies seriously even with their faculty. There are some in management positions who barely pay lip service to these policies. Many of us intensely dislike religious fanatics, but refrain from calling them names and disparaging them in public. ;-) Instead of looking only for things to cut, is it possible to find additional grant money to subsidize STEM subjects or other areas like library books, sports, and computers? I know that the California Lottery was sold to gullible voters as a source for additional funding for schools. But legislators have used that money as an excuse to slash the equivalent ‘additional’ money from the educational budget. Wealthy school districts can afford to fund grant writers to apply for additional funding sources. Wealthy districts are also able to tap into parental generosity via the PTA to pay for the arts, sports, libraries, and lavish computer labs. Some schools even supply each student with a laptop or tablet. All while struggling, urban school districts deal with crumbling facilities; damaged, outdated, and inadequate supplies of textbooks; and less experienced and less qualified new teachers.

I’m sure I'm tilting at windmills, but I still think the adoption is a really bad idea. If Robbie wanted an out on his promise, I think Don’s irrational behavior is justification for not going through with it. Don hasn’t had an epiphany, he’s just not spewing his hateful opinions out loud! It might only be symbolic, but it’s one of the few things Robbie can do to stand up against Don’s sometimes blatant homophobia. ;-)

Teddy shifted from wanting to be popular in the beginning of the last story to wanting to save everybody. I don’t see him giving up on saving Ryder. Sure he’ll remain angry with Ryder, but I have hope that Teddy will eventually be able to forgive him. ;-) And I did predict that Oli would follow in Ryder’s footsteps in the Comments for the last chapter in the other story! ;-) I think that Teddy will eventually forgive Mike too, but that might take more time… ;-)

I was doing my best to channel you! ;-)

The math of Mozart. Warning, be prepared to get caught up and watch the entire 14 minute animation. It is so fascinating to see the patterns laid out bare like this; fascinating and wonderful. The performance recording is a good one too of the d-minor piano concerto, movement 1.

Well now. How will we get from here to there? I’m sure I’ve read this before too, but I don’t recall what happens right now – it’ll be like reading it for the first time all over again! ;-)

If Ryder does not survive, will Oliver become a Rock Star in Ryder’s image? ;-) Is their Uncle still in the business, or did Ryder’s trail of destruction kill his career too? ;-)

Well that makes sense! The @IBEX lives in the mountains and probably deals with cliffs all the time! The IBEX is probably a cliffhanger himself! ;-)

I hope the twins are not related to Mr Hiscock! That would be a deviously twisted plot development! And might explain why the one twin distrusts adults! ;-)

A new voice in your head! ;-)

Sign language! ASL, I presume? Is Eric learning to sign along with Devon, Colin, Repetate, Iustina, and Ralph? That’s one thing the DelKensie Program cannot do! ;-) It’s good to be back with the VUN gang! ;-)

Love for Teddy and Ryder – they need it! Ryder is in so much pain, he can’t really think clearly! He either has a psychiatrist or another doctor who is prescribing his psych meds, but he really needs psychological help too – desperately! He needs to talk to someone to help him understand what really happened. He really should have been seeing someone beginning many years ago!

Told ya 17 hours ago! ;-)

Blu must have looked over the chapter. I didn’t notice any excess commas! Blu has a lot of students out there who need his help! ;-) When I was in school, I was oblivious to the probability that there were foster kids attending. I never noticed any kids who had difficult family lives beyond strict military dads (Navy or retired Marines), although there had to be at least a few. Of course, since it was the ‘70s, we all wore the same worn-out jeans and non-designer clothes – the only label I recall being concerned about was Levi’s. ;-)

Something to put a smile on your face this fine morning PS. Somehow I feel this is a very 'mathematical' composition, but I'm no expert...

In some ways Makarovia is like the US. Blending holiday traditions from many cultures and religions to create its own traditions. Much more interesting because you can pick and choose the foods and activities that are the most interesting! I helped serve a Tamale lunch to homeless people on December 24th – definitely not part of my own culture, but very tasty! My (white) sister-in-law once complained about always having steamed white rice with every holiday meal. But we almost always have King’s Hawaiian Sweet Rolls* too! ;-) * King’s Bakery in Honolulu created their own version of Portuguese Sweet Bread – a bread that sailors ate because it didn’t get stale as quickly as regular bread. It was originally known as King’s Portuguese Sweet Bread, but to avoid confusion the name was revised to refer to Hawaii instead of Portugal. The original version of the bread is baked and sold in an aluminum pie plate. It’s a very light, fluffy bread that also makes great French Toast! The rolls are a variation that comes in a cardboard tray. Apparently they not only bake their bread in Hawaii and in Torrance, California, but also in Georgia.

Interesting to hear about that site. Do they also automatically change black to "negro", Asian to "yellow", English to "limey" - how outrageous they'd pompously refuse to allow a minority community to be identified with it's self-chosen term, a hard-fought one at that I might add. Somebody needs a calendar so they can see what century it is. (but thanks for sharing this information; I know "Gay" is blocked routinely by so-called security lists of banned internets words [as a 'dirty word'], but to think the h-word is still foisted on LGBTQ youth by bigots is heart-sickening.)

"The craft of writing isn't about the power of ****, it's about the power of the other words and ideas in that sentence." Hear, hear. That's why I consider it among my Sunday-best words

Sorry, I’m crying because Ryder’s grandmother just died. I’m not in the mood for singing. I’m too sad. Sorry. What happened to the Link button anyway? The window is wide enough to have a blank area on the right side equivalent to the Format and Undo/Redo segments on the left side. I had to use the Comment section in a Status Update and Copy ’n Paste.

Oh, and what I said in the Comments for the last chapter… Love for Ryder in his time of need.

So Ryder took what he did at Homecoming and blew it up to the National level! Pence skates along being homophobic because Trump causes so much chaos. The only other similar incident that I can recall took place at Hamilton! ;-) My mother had had a brain tumor that greatly affected her memory. It wasn’t dementia or Alzheimers though. But she left her room at the Assisted Care facility she and my dad lived in and either fell and broke her hip or broke her hip and fell in the parking lot. She was in a coma when they took her to the ER. I got a phone call around 4pm at work and it probably took me at least two hours to get to the hospital. By the time I got there, only my father and brothers were still there. They moved her to a private room and had her on morphine so she wouldn’t be in pain. We stayed with her and I held her hand until she took her last breath around 2am.

I don’t think I’m capable of singing a duet by myself. I don’t know ASL. And my younger brother was very unimpressed with my harmonies anyway!

Who will be singing a duet while flying around on a magic carpet? ;-)

I love that it was über-popular Teddy who told off the school administration and faculty! I’m sure it had a much greater impact that the golden boy called them all on their hypocrisy – without even trying to excuse himself. Had Ryder said the same things in the same way, it could and probably would have been dismissed by everyone as yet another overreaction to supposedly innocent comments. Teddy has really grown emotionally in the few months that this story has covered. Ryder has grown in confidence in that same period. It’s difficult to say who has changed the most. ;-)