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  1. Oh, hey. I dunno if this'll be a thing, but if you have a few choice words to say about the story, you're welcome to do it here. If you want, I guess. Story:
  2. I just spent the day at my alma matter- we had an Alumni Lunch, catered by Capriottis. (It's a chain sub shop with really good sandwhiches.) It was pretty fun- reliving the good ol' days when I was just a kid and my biggest worries were whether or not I could get away with sneaking out of the boring assemblies without getting caught. After the luncheon I just sorta hung out with a few fellow alumni in the front lobby of the school, singing songs and laughing as we reminisced about times gone by and looking at those high school kids, realizing just how long it's been since we were them. Five years. Five freakin' years. (Okay, four and a half, really, but still.) Still can't believe how fast all those years went by- from auditioning to get into that high school all the way back in January '01 as an 8th grader who just fell in love with that school, to those four precious years of high school that went by much too fast, and all those enusing years since I stepped off of the stage as a newly crowned alumni, 19 years old and thinking that nineteen would be forever. Five years now separate me from that boy. Crazy to think that. Last year, I remarked to one of the teachers, "Did I get old, or are these high school kids getting younger?" She replied, "You got old. That's how it always works." And she's right- it seems every year, those 16-year olds just look more and more like babies to me. But I guess it's just me being a decade away from sixteen. Oh, well. I still have those precious memories of youth, and what it feel like to be a kid with his whole life ahead of him where everything was just full of possiblilites and new experiences. And it's not like it's bad being older- I can legally drink now, my mother can't order me to a curfew, and I don't have those vacilitating, turmultuous moods that come with being an angsty teenager. Still, there's just something about growing up...that isn't half as fun as growing up. Anyways, here's a song for the mood I am in. (The rumination of this post completely justifes me breaking the Monday music rules, I think.) "These are the best days of our lives"...man. In a way, it is true. Because your heart is on your sleeve when you are young...the joys and the triumphs and the laughs...they're all felt so much more deeply, because your emotions are closer to the surface as a teenager. Not that you can't feel joy and all that as you get older...but...it's just not quite the same, I think. That's why I think so many authors write about coming-of-age, because that universial experience that we all go through offer such a rich treasure trove of emotions that can really fuel a story. Is anyone hitting up a reunion anytime soon?
  3. And all that jazz. Hope everyone is happy this Christmas Eve day. As for me, I'm doing good. I had my best semester GPA at UD- getting a 2.975- almost a 3.0! I had two As in my 300-level history class, then a B- in geology and a C- in Italian. I'm satisfied with how I did this semester. My 2.975 brings my accumulative GPA from a 2.42 to a 2.53, which makes me feel good to finally have my GPA over the 2.5 line. Now if I can just get it to 2.66, I'll be good because that takes me into the B- range. I'm doing winter session, if I can get the private loan, so let's hope. And then there's my history GPA, which went from a 2.825 to a 3.1. Pretty happy about that- because it now means I'm eligilbe to apply to schools like Salisbury University. I'm also beginning the grad school application process. I'm going to be realistic- I'm not getting into William and Mary with my grades, but there are some schools I could get into. The plan is to go for whatever grad school will take me, do well there, and then go on to a a really good school for the PhD. If I don't get into grad school, I'll change my graduate date to 2011 and take up a political science minor.
  4. University of Delaware lost the Division I title game last night at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco. We gave up a second-half 19 point lead for Eastern Washington to come back with 20 points. I'm pretty bummed. It would have been great to see UD get a championship. On the bright side, it was great to see the Blue Hens there, and it WAS a great season for UD. But since our quarterback is a senior, it looks like next year's going to be a rebuilding year.
  5. I got 2 A's and a B. That brings my grad school GPA to a 3.66. (IUP does not do A- or B+ grades like UD, so there's a little less inflation here.) I was really hoping I could pull off a 4.0, but eh...I'll live. I have some mixed emotions here- I really did work my ass off in all the classes. I really was hoping for a 4.0. And the B kills it, and makes it impossible for me to ever have a 4.0 accumulative in grad school. I'm pretty disapointed, but I also know that I really did all I could do. The funny thing is that I got the B in the class I thought I'd get an A in, and the A in a class I was sure I was getting a B in. I think if it had been the other way around I could handle this better. Still, it's a good semester, and a 3.66 GPA is pretty good, considering the grading scale at IUP, so I am pleased with myself. I made it through that first semester.
  6. My undergrad, University of Delaware, wants to start a law school by 2015. University of Delaware's Law School Aim I can't tell you how bad of an idea I think this is. Delaware's a small state, and it already has a law school, Widner. Delaware's strength is based on the chemical engineering and business program, and I can't see how adding a law school would do anything to enhance the university. Programs are already getting cut- like the journalism major- and I imagine that will only get worse if they go ahead with the idea. The greater Philadelphia metro area is already so saturated with lawyers. And think about it-Penn, Virginia, Georgetown, GW, Villanova, Temple, Rutgers, American, and the NYC schools (NYU, Columbia, Fordham) are all a train ride away. There are so many top-notch law schools in this area that I can't see how a law school at UD would be anything but a third-choice back-up plan. Plus, University of Delaware no longer offers in-state tuition rates, so why would any state resident want to pay 25k a year for a law school program when they could go somewhere established for not that much more money? University of Delaware is ALREADY planning on building a medical campus(allied with Jefferson), an expansion to the football stadium, expansion to the student gym, a new dorm, a new science building, a new dining hall- all within this decade- and now they want to do this? If UD ends up bankrupt I wouldn't be surprised. I just feel bad for the kids going/will go there who are having to pay for all this stuff. If UD experiences an enrollment drop because of the 1990's baby bust, they're going to be SCREWED.
  7. I'll be working for Habitat for Humanity for spring break '11 in Winter Haven, Florida. We get a pit stop in Atlanta, and we also get that Friday off to go to Daytona Beach. No alcohol, which is a bummer, but overall I'm really excited. And this should go great on my CV. I have never been to Florida in my life, so I'm really excited!
  8. Skidfest, the local charity rock event that has been held every semester in a block of row homes known as Skid Row since 1990, has been denied a permit because of the university bookstore construction going on behind it. I knew this was going to happen as soon as I realized that the construction would take up the two parking lots that surrounded Skid, because it would severely limit access to the event. And you could feel it at the last one that the end was near when the cops closed the event down early because some stupid kid fell off a railing and had to be taken away in an ambulance. This sucks. I went to my first Skidfest when I was a 17-year old reservist townie. I made some great memories there- like when I smoked sage with my buddy Grant while some weird drunken chick kept trying to hit on me, the time I literally got up on a soap box and gave a speech about medicinal marijuana, the time I puked all over my arm because I tried to chug Hurricane, the time I got really drunk and then walked over to the academic building across to Pearson Hall to watch a play...just all those wonderful, precious memories that I owe to this place. The event was more than just a bunch of drunken, stoned kids slobbering over themselves while garage bands played. It was a dedicated charity event in which members of the community-students, alumni, townies- all came together for a cause. It lasted for twenty years, and it became something of an institution not just with the students of University of Delaware, but within the city of Newark. It will be missed, and I hope it can indeed come back in some other kind of fun. The University, in its obsession with obtaining Public Ivy League status, has done whatever they can to kill the party scene over the last 10 years. In doing so they've also killed the local music scene. What they fail to grasp is that it's memories like going to places like , or - those are the kinds of memories that make their average student feel a fondness for the university and turn them into alumni that want to donate. But hey, I guess they're getting what they wanted in shutting down something that was just too great and too wonderful to be allowed to continue.
  9. I had a bit of a faux-paus today where I cracked some joke that I wouldn't let up on, and the professor took me aside and told me that I might not be picking up on the social cues that I was ticking off some of the kids in the class. I felt pretty embarrassed, although it reiterated to me what a great professor I have. It just reminded me that social cues and graces just are never going to be second-nature to me, and that I really have to remember when I should let my guard down and just free-flow or when I should perhaps think about what I'm saying before I say it. She also reminded me that I'm in a different area, and that some things that might be joked about casually where I'm from aren't taken so nonchalantly here. The other dimension to this is that I've been feeling tension with some of the people in my department, and it has been bothering me. There's this dude. I'll call him "Eric". Eric is this arrogant ass who, on the account of the fact that he's somewhat cute and cocky, has several of the girls in our department hanging on to his every word. He doesn't like me, and I've been feeling tension with the guy since week 1. He's got this wingmen, this girl who never leaves his side and likes to snub me right along with him. And they, and to a lesser extent their developing clique, have just made me feel very uncomfortable. I've been snubbed many times before, but experiencing this as a 24-year in the grad school setting just has me flabbergasted. I wasn't expecting to run into that kind of mentality here, and it's left me a little disjointed. I think this, combined with the gentle lashing I got from the professor, really got me down. So tonight after class I just sorta went out with my lone friend there, got drunk, and sang LFO's "Summer Girls" to forget about life for awhile. (As fate would have it, my job is shifting around hours and I don't have the Tuesday shift I thought I had.) I won't make a habit out of Monday Night Drinking, but it really helped to talk my friend and to talk to my roommate. They both basically just said to me, "Don't let the assholes bother you, just continue being you but take a second to think about whether a joke you might crack might rub people the wrong way." Justin, my roomate, was basically like, "JR, you're fine. You're doing your work. You're getting assignments done. You've balancing in your 9-hour job, and you've got the resident hall stuff you're doing. You're making friends. Don't let the few assholes get you down." He's definitely right. It was good to just talk this all out, though- one of the things I learned from life is that not talking about my problems and letting things build- that causes bigger problems in the end. I will take up my advisor/professor's invitation to talk at some point, and just...keep on keeping on, I guess.
  10. So Sister #3 told Sister #1 that I got money from our mother. I got an extremely nasty voicemail from my sister about how I need to stop accepting money from Mom, because I'm too old to do so and I need to support myself. You would think she would have a point, except 1.) the only reason I need money from Mom at all is because my mom used my credit cards for things like keeping on the utilities- nearly everything on my card comes from that, it's why I have to pay 300 dollars a month, and that is why my mom sends me money to pay for it, and 2.) my sister who sent me that nasty voicemail was living with us for very little money when she was bouncing between jobs at the age of 24 to 26. She has no room to speak at all. Sister #3 complains about the power being cut off at the house, but that sure didn't seem to stop her from going on multiple trips to Syracuse, Washington State, and the Outerbanks while not giving any kind of rent money to Mom. And it's somehow my fault that the power got cut off at the house, because of 75 dollars my mom sent to me. Right. I am starting to think that getting away from home for grad school instead of staying close by is the best decision I've made in my life.
  11. Sometimes the best thing to do is face your fear head-on. I've been reading online a bit, about people who are or have failed out of graduate school. What I realize is that I'm not alone at all about feeling scared about failing, or realizing that I went into this process completely blind and uncomprehending about the pitfalls and troubles I could face. There's this interesting site by a woman who left her PhD program four years in. I thought it was pretty interesting: Straight Talk About Graduate School It's good for me to read about a woman who lived through my greatest fear- not succeeding in graduate school- and got through to the other side. This woman was a model student in college- she graduated with a 3.97, and well-loved by faculty. If she could fail, it can happen to anyone- and on the flip side...I remember reading about a guy who graduated college with a 2-something like I did and wound up a tenured faculty member. It really does seem like it's a combination of the individual and the environment they end up in. From her story and from a bit of others....here's what I'm taking to heart, and will keep reminding myself as I go through this experience, for however long it may be. It could be less than one semester or it could be seven years...and I'll keep this all in mind. 1. If I fail, that means that I'm not suited for an academic life. It does not mean I'm stupid or I'm not a talented person. It means I wasn't a right fit. I want a 4.0, and I'll go after it the best I can. If I wind up with a C in all my classes and am kicked out, I will not take that as a mark of me being unable to hold an intelligent conversation or that I have nothing to offer the world because I didn't make it in the academic one. 2. I will not let myself get entirely consumed by academia. I will work my hardest, but I won't make it my entire life. I will try to balance other interests I have- having friends, bonding with family, doing activities like acting, and maybe even occasionally having a beer at the bar. I will not let myself feel isolated, or feel that if I fail this M.A. attempt, I don't have anything else in my life. That could lead to a very dark road with some very dark consequences, and I refuse to go down that. 3. I will continually engage myself into activities that remind me why I fell in love with history, such as going to living history museums and watching re-enactments. I will read or watch something about periods of history that I'm not covering in class for my own personal enjoyment when I have time to spare. There's a Jimmy Stewart museum here, and I'm definitely going to visit it when I get the chance. 4. I will accept that sometimes life takes you in other directions, and what I want at the age of 24 might be entirely different in two years. 5. I will create an escape plan for myself if graduate school does not work out. I'll audit some computer classes, maybe learn about how to temp and work in an office. If I flunk out, I will take community college courses back home and learn some different kinds of trade. Here's a quote from the site above that explains why you need a back-up plan, and it was pretty enlightening: [*]Feeling that you can't leave makes you an easy target for abuse, because the consequences of standing up for yourself could be being forced out.[*]Feeling trapped robs you of perspective on your situation, leaving you with an all-or-nothing, total-success-or-total-failure mindset that is unhealthy and unsound.[*]Feeling trapped adds stress to every decision you make, because when you feel you have nowhere to go, you don't dare make a decision that could force you to leave or get you kicked out. Even relatively minor decisions can carry heavy costs
  12. Okay, so I'm starting school over in western PA at this school called IUP, which is 5 hours away from home. It's pretty far out. I'm not taking my car, so it's not going to be the easiest thing to get a ride to and back. I recently found out that close to my hometown, and at my undergrad school, UD, there are plans to have Jason Mraz perform on September 28th, which is Tuesday. If I skip out on Monday and Tuesday classes, I could prolly swing going to the concert. So herein lies the dilemna. I REALLY want to see Jason Mraz. Like, I love that guy's music. But I also realize that if I'm serious about grad school, it might not be in my best interest to miss two days of school. Do you think if I notified my professors ahead of time that I was going to be back down home, and got the assignments and made sure I did them...it would make everything okay for me to miss school for a truly rewarding, one-in-lifetime cultural experience? *looks at Mark Arbour and Sharon with a hopeful puppy dog face* Hey, I bet you two would think this is a great idea, right? Mark, you would totally encourage me to go, right?
  13. My whole family is bitching at me right now because I'm applying to this school called Millersville Univeristy, which is, at an hour and a half away, 'too far' for me to go, and 'isn't a good school'. They keep bitching at me to apply to a closer school in the area, and look at closer area schools, which I have! They are either too good for me to get into, or they don't have my program. Then they bitch about me about how I need to take educational courses if I'm going to be a community college professor- which isn't even true, because I've asked professors time and time again. They tell me I should apply to my undergad school, like there's a chance in hell I'm going to get in with a 2.64 GPA. They don't seem to understand that I don't have a whole hell lot of options. Ugh, ugh, and ugh.
  14. Does it every just spring up on you? Right now, I'm feeling it. I'm writing up a CV for my professor to get him to write a recomendation, and I realize...I peaked at the age of 20. I haven't done anything noteworthy since 2007. College started out great for me- I was a tutor, I was involved in a sport, I had a job, I was involved in a lot of activities. And then I transfer to UD, and I get it into my head that I'm John Walsh from Fraternity Memoirs, and I don't do anything except party my ass off and go on the occasional burn ride. I was involved with some stuff, but not nearly as much as I used to be. Then I get put on a Dean's Vacation for a year, and I spend it bumming around in community college and partying my ass off in bars and parties. And I come back, and I don't really do anything, at all. I thought I was going to leave behind this great legacy when I graduate from college...and I'm not. No one is going to remember that I was ever there, because I just didn't much while I was there. I had this great opportunity to go to this really fine school, and I didn't do nearly as much with it as I should have. And it's too late now- I'm graduating in 8 weeks baring failing Italian- and when I step off the stage, only my family members are going to clap because they're the only ones who are going to know who the hell I am. I guess all I can do is remember this feeling, and try and do more in graduate school*fingers crossed* than I did during my time here at University of Delaware.
  15. TGIF! Yes, yes, it's Friday! Prompt Day! Thanks to Comicfan, we have many more for you to enjoy. What sort of selections do we have for you this week? Well, it's nothing so interesting as what's for dinner. Oh man, do I hate getting that question at the end of a long day when I have NO idea so sometimes my answers can be a tad... interesting, lol. Did you write a flash piece with some interesting answers as well? Prompt 700 – Creative Tag – School You’ve just taken a class at the local university as a way to better yourself and get ahead in your career. However, when the professor walks in you realize you might have taken the wrong class. Who is the professor and what are they teaching? Prompt 701 – Creative Tag – Curse Before you born, your mother pissed off the local witch. The witch went beyond a normal spell and a curse was laid upon her unborn child, which is you. The curse keeps you silent, ugly, obedient, and can only be broken if the meanest person in the town kisses you, and begs you to speak. If it happens you will regain your speech, the looks you should have had, and be free to make up your own mind and follow others demands. Did you flash for us? *gasp* Post it below!
  16. I've wondered for a while if I should talk about things going on in my, our, lives. I'm not much in the way of an attention seeker. I've always found being who I am attracts enough attention without me seeking it. I returned to school last year, I'm nearly done the first part of the course I'm taking: cybersecurity. It's in line with what I used to do, and what interests me and what I know can contribute. I'll look for a job in that field once I'm done, but I know there will be more schooling to come, likely at night school or distance. I then hope tim can reduce his hours or quit altogether if he wishes. tim's job is extremely stressful. Enough that a month or so ago he attempted to end his life. There was blood and hospital for a week. On my part fear and profound sadness. I was asleep at the time this happened and if it hadn't been for our other partner, Dan, tim likely would not be with us. Dan woke and noticed tim wasn't in bed and he got up to investigate. I slept through it all until Dan had bound tim's wounds, called the paramedics and at that point he woke me up. I think about that. Too much and too often. I wonder if I did so purposely and that thought feeds the sucking guilt in my soul. My more sensible side tells me, you were asleep because you don't sleep enough, you have a chronic disease, you're going to school and you're dealing with your father who has cancer. I try to believe this voice. Dan tells me the same things, as does my therapist. Dan's been with us for a while now. He's a good fit and we have a good time together. He makes my life much easier, as he's home, while I'm at school, so tim isn't alone. More than all of that he's my friend. I hope when I'm working again, that tim will at the very least reduce his hours. Maybe he'll find a way to write and publish again. he says its because he doesn't have an editor, but I'm not so sure about that. I'd like him to have more leisure time, write, volunteer, sleep more, exercise, visit ... whatever he'd like as long as it doesn't involve trying to keep customer's happy. he is very good at his job, but it's taking a toll. I saw a guy on tv last night. He'd been a cop for 17 years, and doing what I'd done for a part of that time. He worked trying to track pedophiles, he worked to help save kids. It's a necessary job but it takes its own toll. He went home one night.. and sat down.. and could not move. He was having a very real breakdown. I was lucky to have left before that happened to me. He had to retire and deal with the never ending nightmares. They are part of the reason I don't like to sleep too early so when I finally sleep I don't remember dreams. Even with all of this .. all of what could be, I'm hopeful that tim will fight back and choose life, I'm hopeful I'll be able to give him and us the life we want and deserve. As I read this over I ask myself why I'm writing this. I don't know really .. better out than in? Maybe someone out there needs to read it? Don't know. But here it is.
  17. http://www.udreview.com/udpd-steps-up-tailgate-regulation-1.2641368 I love reading about how my alma matter has turned into a fascist police state where no students are allowed to have fun. J-walkers and tailgaters get punished, yet that same weekend three students were robbed by gun point and the UD police didn't give a damn because they don't make money off of them like they do fining students over ridiculous reasons. University of Delaware was once a great school, with lots of uniqe and great things about it. But in the school's singleminded attempt to kill off the party scene so that UD will be seen as a serious Public Ivy academic school, they've curtailed the freedom of their young adults to explore their boundaries, create fun memories that they'll laugh about when they're middle-aged and sitting in an office, and meet people in situations that they might otherwise never have met. College tailgating is a time-honored tradition, and gives people a chance to mingle and meet new friends. These freshmen will grow up, become alumni, and when they come back for Homecoming with their own kids while pumped full of nostalgia for their own glory days, their kids just might be persuaded to come here. It's an ingredient in creating a successful football team, healthy alumni giving, and the next generation of students. By making it so that your students are fearful of tailgating, you have essentially cut your nose to spite your face. Especially when you consider that UD has been talking for such a long time about how they want to move up a football division(with a planned stadium expansion to 30k). Guess what? Big-time football universities also have big-time tailgating. You can't have one without the other, and the fact that UD football attendence is down to 1998 levels pretty much speaks for itself. UD can give prize giveaways all it wants, but until students feel like they can tailgate without an arrest, the kids are going to stay away from the games.
  18. I talked to my advisor today, and told her that I was planning on dropping out of graduate school. Going back over my blog, all I ever do is worry about school, and how hard it is, and how much I need to get my grades up. And for what? To service some future self? Become chained to the hell that is academia for another year of my life? I've been in school since 1991. Maybe it's time to finally say good-bye to it all? I was watching an episode of this show called Greek, and the character of Casey decided that she wanted to leave law school, and just go off to D.C. and find herself there. It made me think about my own life, and how maybe, just maybe...I can just go off to a new area and find myself without worry about grades, or papers...and just...be. I plan on selling everything I have, buying a beat-up old van, and traveling the country. Work some odd jobs here and there, and just enjoy my life. I might get into street performance art...
  19. I had my talk with my advisor with my proposed plan for the second year of grad school. Some things came clear. I won't be doing a thesis. I might work on some publications, but it's not really where I want to go. I also don't want to go into a PhD program, at least for a few years. Which pretty much means I really don't have a chance of working in the community college scene because the job market is so bad that PhD's are fighting over jobs in that field. I want to work in a museum, or I want to try consulting. And it might turn out that I'll get into something that I never would have thought I'd get into. Another thing that became clear is that I really won't be able to keep sleeping in until 11. I'm taking a 10 a.m. class next semester, which means I'll have to wake up at 9:30 a.m. or earlier. Ugh. I haven't had a class before 11 a.m. since fall semester of senior year. I told my professor this, and she pretty much ripped me for not wanting to wake up at 10 a.m. She had a good point, and I will take that class. It's scary to think I'm almost done. It's scary to think that I'm graduating in a dismal economy with a hefty student loan debt. And it's scary to admit that I'm 25 years old and I don't really know exactly what I want to do in my life. What I do know is that I'm interested in a lot, and I want to be a guy who can do a variety of things in a variety of fields. It's just weird. I came into grad school thinking I'd have all the questions figured out at the end, but I'm finding out that I pretty much don't know. I have no clue. Which is why I'm pulling back from trying the PhD track, because I think I need to have a better clue of what I want out of life before committing myself to 7 more years of school. Part of me thinks that I need to embrace the fact that I'm going to run out into adulthood with no clue about where I'll end up. The other part just wishes I could go back to my junior year of college where my biggest concern was whether or not I'd find a good party. I'll try and stay optimistic, but god. It's really hard to be, with this economy and with the knowledge that I'm in a field that's getting clobbered.
  20. Just when I thought UD couldn't come up with even more inane ideas...they proved me wrong..... UD Wants to Close Academy Street See, I get the principle of what they're trying to do- they're trying to create a more closed, Ivy-League like campus(like say, UPenn), and what they have to do to achieve that is to get rid of throroughfares. Still, Academy Street is just way too critical north-south route to close like, especially when you consider the fire station and the ambulance station that use Academy. My belief that the university is doing everything they possibly can to discourage people from commuting to campus just grows more and more- between closing down parking lots and now this? Traffic in Newark is already a nightmare. I can't imagine what it will look like if they got rid of one of the few things that relieved congestion on Main Street and Delaware Avenue during peak school hours. UD pulls crap like this that shows just how much they don't care about the students in the pursuit of looking like an Ivy League college, and they wonder why applications are down 5 percent despite the national commericials they spent loads of money on doing? Between this completely unecessary project, the completely unecessary law school plans, and the millions of other projects they're doing, I'll be shocked if President Harker doesn't drive the school into the ground.
  21. I started my second semester of grad school this week. The workload is pretty intimidating, but I think I got it down by this point. I hope, anyway. One thing that struck me is how much more relaxed I feel as opposed to that first week of grad school. Everything- god I just felt like I couldn't breate. I spent the night before my first classes that semester reading the reflections of a woman who dropped out of her PhD program. I was positive that I would flunk out. And I did pretty well. I think that's given me a confidence going forward. Now I just have to recalibrate and figure out how to balance this new semester schedule.
  22. Hey guys, seeing as Gemini is going slow, and I needed a break to get some new inspiration, I decided to translate one of my favorite stories to English. A huge thanks to Amon, the author of "Die Maschine", for giving me permission! And let's not forget MrM, LillyLee and Nostic, who have helped me make this work. Thank you! This is the bittersweet tale of a German teenager's coming of age. When I was translating this story, I quickly realized I was hitting my limits. Some things just cannot be transferred from one language to another without loss. Instead of trying to rewrite the the whole story, I decided to in doubt go with Amon's way to express things. Therefore at times (or maybe all the time), this story might seem like a foreigner is narrating it. I quite like how it turned out and I hope rather than irritate, it will add to the story. This is the place to discuss the story, but also to ask questions about the background or in case you didn't understand anything (be it language or story related). Sadly, the original chapters are short-ish for GA standards. I will try to make up for it with more frequent posts. Have fun! Sammy [sharedmedia=stories:stories:5261]
  23. Here is a test given to eighth graders in Bullitt County Kentucky in 1912: http://bullittcountyhistory.org/bchistory/schoolexam1912.html. How do do you think you'll do? Here are the answers: http://bullittcountyhistory.org/bchistory/schoolexam1912ans.html?as-source=src507ak
  24. California has some of the strongest protections for LGBTQ people and athletes, and yet that hasn't been enough to protect a 12 year old gender-fluid athlete. Junior White was born male and identifies as gender-fluid. The superintendent of the school district has decreed that Junior can only play on co-ed or girls teams because they have started to identify as gender-fluid and more female. Let's be clear. This is a violation of Junior's civil rights, not to mention California state law. https://www.outsports.com/2018/2/8/16989304/junior-white-trans-athlete-football-basketball
  25. When the letter arrived informing you that you were invited to the local school of magic, you were hoping it would be like the movies or television series about magical schools. You forgot that things are rarely so straight forward in life. When you arrive there you find you are not prepared for school, magic, or your powers which began working as soon as you arrived. You are surrounded by werewolves, vampires, witches, warlocks, and more just at the school's front steps. You even accidentally set the cute blond boy's book on fire as he went to introduce himself in the school's courtyard. Just when you are sure things can't get worse you are introduced to both your new roommate who is Lucifer Morningstar's son, Damien and then to your homeroom teacher, who is the Arch-Angel Michael. What are you going to do?
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