#the class i was supposed to have on basic computer stuff

[archetypal-archivist]

I consider myself to be pretty mid when it comes to tech knowledge for my generation (that nebulous early 20s category). I can search my folders, make a backup, edit my computer's settings like resolution and cursor width, and understand some of the terminology for the industry.

I was also never taught any of this.

My understanding of how to work my computer comes from specifically hunting down tutorials and trial-and-erroring things until they worked. For years I knew how to make and sort through files on my laptop but because I had to teach myself, I didn't know the terms. When my dad asked me to do certain steps on my laptop in order to complete a task, I didn't know what he was talking about because the mental terms I had for certain parts of my laptop and its systems weren't the actual standard names.

My generation came to possess the internet at just the wrong time when we were expected to just know how to use all the latest tech simply because we were young and savvy. It's not exactly done us any favors, as you can imagine, so is it any wonder that a lot of the ancient wisdom has been lost to us?

this can't be true can it

[ms-demeanor]

I apologize, do you know anything about "rugged" laptops? I'm an ADHD college student who has a lot of difficulty with spacial awareness and stuff so I have trouble with delicate laptops that break if you set them down too hard and I'd like something that can handle basic coding requirements (R studio, Jupiter Notebook, etc), and preferably can stream video for classes as well, though that's less of a requirement. I emergency ordered a cheap lower-spec used rugged laptop from eBay because my laptop isn't working, but I was wondering if a.) you think the whole thing is a gimmick and there's an easier way to get what I need and b.) if it's not a gimmick which ones actually do what they need to. Thanks!

Rugged/Ruggedized laptops are absolutely not a scam, they are incredible, it's just that the ones that are actually rugged are incredibly expensive.

I have a small collection of used Panasonic Toughbooks that are absolutely positively not functional as modern computers but work great for slowly connecting to the internet and running a word processor or programming radios. They are literally used lineman's computers and are supposed to be able to survive falling off a telephone pole. They're dustproof, so they're great to use in the desert. If I tried to edit raw image files on them they would go on strike. I'm pretty sure I could use one as a hammer.

You CAN get used or refurbished ruggedized laptops that are useable; here's a site that sells them. BUT. BUT. You're still going to be paying a high price for computers that are slower and more limited than a cheaper, more delicate computer.

So basically you're combining two separate needs here and they're not playing together great. A rugged laptop can be a great thing to have if you're the kind of person who drops your phone ten times a day (me!) But it's going to be slower and more cumbersome than a lot of what is on the market and it's going to cost a lot.

Honestly in your situation I'd probably focus on getting better performance specs out of a thinner, cheaper, lighter laptop and maybe maximize performance at the lowest price possible if you know you're a laptop destroyer (there's a reason my phones are always whatever's cheapest and in a protective case; I drop them so frequently and so creatively that I can't afford to have nicer phones).

Either that or throw power into a desktop and get a chromebook or something similarly cheap to carry around campus and have your real working computer live on a flat surface that never moves.

If you're trying to find a middle ground, business-class computers can take a bit more abuse than the flimsiest cheapie student computers because they're meant to last and are expected to move around. ThinkPads are my fallback rec for a bunch of reasons, and "sturdiness" is one of those reasons, but a business desktop is not going to tolerate being dropped. So it depends on what level of sturdy you need.

From an ADHD management perspective, you might want to consider your habits around how/where the computer gets moved; don't put it in a backpack if you're likely to drop your backpack on the ground when you get to class. Don't put it on the arm of a chair if you'll forget and knock it off the chair. Don't put it on your bed if you'll forget and sit on it. Make very specific landing spaces and very specific rules for how it gets moved and where it can go (my laptop can only go in one specific backpack and only if it's totally turned off; my laptop cannot be moved when open, i need to shut it before I carry it someplace; my laptop is not allowed on the bed or the center of the couch, it is only allowed on my desk or on the arm of the couch; I tend to set my laptop down hard so I don't set it down on my desk, it gets set on a stand. Etc, etc, etc)

Hopefully that's at least somewhat helpful. I wish that real rugged computers were more affordable and had better performance specs; if you can find one that will perform to your needs and you can function with linux, you may be able to get a toughbook or something like that for under a thousand dollars but you'll sacrifice processing power to get one that old. Good luck, I'm sorry!

[onelittlespiral]

You should definitely do a preppy boy tf!

FML: Contact

I knew I should have charged my phone before I left, but I was running late and didn’t want to miss my study session. I know, I know it was stupid. But the walk was only supposed to be a few blocks. I have no idea how I got this lost. It felt like I was wandering for hours, but I kept just going around in circles and ending up in front of this gym. Great, just what I needed before finals week. Maybe I should stop an- ugh. My bag spilled out in front of me as I wa a knocked to the ground.

“Hey, sorry bro.”

It seems like on about my third time around the block I finally ran into one of the gym’s patrons, idiot. For the life of me I will never know how those guys will walk out in shorts in December. I started to scoop my belongings back into my bag.

“Here, let me help- Ah fuck, that could be bad.” He picked up my laptop and handed it to me. Thankfully it seems that there wasn’t any real damage, but a few deep scratches were carved in the metal and the screen was definitely cracked.

“Just what I needed today! Look where you’re going next time!” I was nearly in tears. I was lost, I was frustrated, I think the fall tore a hole in my khakis, and now my computer would be busted till after finals.

“Hey, I said I was sorry. Didn’t mean to knock a shrimp like you down. I didn’t even hit you that hard…”

“Well sue me if I don’t have time to get swoll bro,” I spat, “but some of us have finals to study for.”

“Oh dang, that’s where I know you from! English 110, with Professor Kim. Yeah, you’re always in the front and answering shit.” Immediately the puzzle pieces clicked. I can’t blame myself for not recognizing him. He must have been one of the dudes who sat in the back, and they all basically acted, talked, and looked about the same. A bunch of gym rats struggling through the gen eds. I’m genuinely surprised he can to class often enough to recognize me. “Hey man, are you studying for this final later? I’m just like not getting this stuff. Like, why are they having Exercise Science majors out here studying English anyways?”

“Uhh, yeah maybe.” At this point I was past the point of caring about this conversation. It was such a simple class I hardly had even glanced over the study guide. I had packed my things and was making to get up and leave.

“Here bruh, lemme help you up,” and he extended his hand to me. I grabbed hold as a small shock passed between us. It was just a split second, but as his calloused, sweaty had grasped mine, I felt a jolt that stuck my hair on end. I hardly had time to notice as he hoisted me up. “Hey, if you do end up reviewing later, maybe give me a heads up. We could do a study session or something.” He pulled out a pen and scribbled on the back of a receipt. Grabbing my hand again, and pulled me into a bro hug before I could protest. Up close he was warm and humid, sweat cooling in the cold winter air. He left the paper in my hand when he pulled away. He smirked, “You should ask inside, they may be able to help. I’ll see you later tonight.” There was a confidence in his voice that sent a chill down my spine. Before I knew it he had booked it, and I was left with a piece of paper, a broken computer, and a sinking realization I was still lost.

With few options left, I popped into the gym my classmate had just come out of. Maybe they would have a charger I could borrow or be able to help me with directions. At least it was warm inside. I walked over to the man at the desk, asking “Hey, sorry to bother. Do you all have a phone charger? I am completely lost and out of juice.”

“You can bother me any time,” the attendant said with a wink, “We’ve got some chargers in the locker room, but management is struck about people using facilities without paying. You already a member with us?”

“No, do I look like a member with you all? Please, I’m tired and at this point I just need to get home.” I groaned.

“Well sorry bro, you’ve gotta get those gains somewhere… let’s see, a day pass only runs about $5,” he slid the card reader to me.

“Fine.” I thrust my card into the machine and grabbed my receipt, storming off towards the locker room.”

“Enjoy your time! Oh, sir. Those aren’t the locker rooms they are the changing ro-” and the swinging door cut him off. I cut to the first door on my left. The overhead lights activated as I walked in. The inside was warm, hotter even than the lobby. For locker rooms, there were very few lockers. Just cooler with some sports drinks, some mirrors, and a charging station. No one else was inside, so I sat down on a bench and set my phone down on the charging station. With the heat I quickly began stripping layers, till I was down to my sweater, but I was not going shirtless in this place. It looked like it would be a while before my phone would be charged. I tried to put the whole situation out of my mind as I laid back and relaxed, carried to sleep in the thick heat…

I woke up a while later, disoriented and thirsty. It may have been a bad idea to sleep in the sweater, the thing was practically dripping in sweat now. I began to pull off the damp thing when I was shocked to see what was underneath:

Abs. Pecs. Abs and pecs. I had to be dreaming, when did I go from a stick to having abs and pecs. Not only that, but my arms. Thick and smooth, my arms looked swollen, as though I had been working them out for years. And my legs, they felt like lead beneath me, so heavy I could hardly move them. I could crush a melon between my thighs. And my poor shoes, they were practically in tatters on the floor. My toes poked out of the remains, leather torn between my meaty soles. I looked in the mirror to get a full picture. If I didn’t see it I wouldn’t have believed it, I was a whole different man.

I grabbed my phone and booked it out the door back to the front desk. The same attendant was there, looking me up and down as I passed by:

“Well hey there handsome. How are you enjoying our amenities?”

I just about strangled him, “What the hell happened? What did you all do to me?!?”

“I did try to tell you. Locker rooms are the other side. Those are the changing rooms.”

“What’s that supposed mean?”

“Well, look at yourself. Must have gone for the muscle enhancement, eh? Not a bad look on you.” I could just about wipe that smug look off his face.

“Cut the bull crap, I didn’t ask for this. If you all changed me into this change me back.”

“So sorry,” the apology dripped from his lips, “but things don’t quite work that way. For more specialized changes you have to get a full membership.”

“That’s a fucking lie,” I shouted, “You never said shit about this. I don’t need your membership. Change me back, now.”

“Woah, calm down there hot stuff, no need to get so worked up. How about this. My boss is home for the night. I know what you looked like when you came in. I can sneak you back into one of our specialty changing rooms, and I’ll calibrate it myself. Deal?”

I was about in tears, “Deal.”

He took my hand and lead me to the changing room all the way in the back. Same set up, same bench in a mostly barren room. This one was maybe a tad smaller. His voice came on over the intercom:

“Alright, now just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.”

This time, deep red lights came on and that same heat began to fill the room. It somehow felt a bit different. The other heat wrapped around, this one felt like it pierced. In moments my body was flooded with warmth. Sweat rolled down my body as the room began having its effects. But something wasn’t right. Instead of shrinking down to my lithe self, my body felt like it was bubbling, and began to swell even more.

“Hey. HEY! What the hell! What are you doing out there? Wrong way asshole!”

He chuckled into the intercom, “What? I think it’s a good look on you.”

“You’re supposed to change me back!” I shouted

“I said I would calibrate the room. I didn’t say how. You should feel lucky, you’re getting the VIP treatment for free!”

Everywhere sweat rolled my muscles stretched as my body began writhing under the feeling of its growth. It felt… it felt… oh god it felt… so…good. But it had to be stopped. I couldn’t keep going like this. I put all my effort into standing up and lunged for the door handle. It didn’t budge, locked from the outside.

“Oh, is this not to your taste?” he teased “Well, I already did smooth jock tonight. Fine, let’s try this then.”

The red lights switched off as dull LED’s took their place. At the same time, a mist began pouring into the room. The smell made me dizzy as I slumped back on the bench behind me. The haze curled around me and stuck to my skin. It smelled like aftershave, sharp and fresh, with a coolness that made me shiver. My skin began to tingle wherever it touched. I watched as my skin turned to goosebumps, then slowly a fine layer of fuzz began to coat my pecs. It grew and curled wherever the mist lead it. It blazed a treasure trail down my abs and branched out to cover them. I could only moan as my body pushed out my new pelt. It curled around my back as a forest erupted behind me. Working it’s way up, I felt a tickle on my jaw and cheeks. It caressed my face as a five o-clock shadow pushed out from my smooth face, and in moments a full beard was pushed out. It’s curling tendrils even worked on the hair I already had. I felt the hair on top of my head stand on end before following the mist into a thick mop. It worked it’s way into my gapping mouth too, and I felt my throat stretch and adjust, my moans coming out much deeper. Then it concentrated on my groin and pits. My previously trimmed bushes grew wild, quickly becoming a tangle. As my pubes grew around, it felt soooo good. I began getting hard, but the mist only took that as an opportunity. Something else to grow and curve. It stretched 6, 7, 8, 9 inches straight out before curving distinctly up. I was in pure ecstasy, with only the thought of the man outside watching keeping me from fully jacking off.

“Wow, what a grower. I knew you had potential but, woof.”

“You… won’t… *gasp*…get away… with… with this!”

“Oh, still a little rebel in you? Maybe we can bring that out a bit.”

The mist receded, and overhead the lights began to strobe and a loud white noise began to play. The pattern was disorientating and it hurt to watch. But even when I closed my eyes I couldn’t escape. A splitting headache developed as my emotions all turned to anger. I tried to shout, to call for it to stop, but my words didn’t even reach my ears. I watched in glimpses as I began to scream, deep and primal, rage in my eyes. My arm clenched into a fist and I ran up to pound the door down. It still didn’t budge but the shock sent a ripple down my arm. In the mirror I watched as in slow motion a full sleeve tattoo stretched down my arm. I sat down in pain and fear and anger as I grew close to tears. But the back of my mind knew that I could not cry, not anymore. Then, all at once it stopped. I realized I was still shouting. I felt pissed off, aggressive. When I got out of this room, I was gonna pummel that twink into submission.

“God, that one always gets me. I love a man with tattoos.”

“Fuck OFF” I growled. I looked in the mirror at the monster I had become:

My mind was being flooded with emotions, a sense of loss for the person I was, a rage at the man who had done this to me, an animalistic horniness from my sizable new cock, and a deep terror for what else could happen. I channeled that fury and made one last attempt on the locked door. I yanked and rattled the door with all the strength this new body could muster. I felt the handle flex beneath my grip, before a loud *snap* sent me plummeting to the ground. The handle had come off the door. I banging against the door, shouting for anyone to come help me.

“Hmmm,” the attendant contemplated, “I may have gone too far with the rage this time. You’re a beast bro, but let’s reign it in. A healthy dose of this should help.”

A new cloud filled the room, this one thicker than the last. It was damp and sticky and clung to every inch of me. This one smelled rich and acrid, like an arm pit that had long since sweat through any deodorant. It was as though every patron of the gym had joined me in the room fresh from their workout. The fog was so thick I felt as though I was beginning to choke. It slid heavily down my throat and made my eyes water. That’s when I felt it begin to corrupt me. My enraged mind became calm, then addled as my brain filled with the all consuming fog. Memories flashed before my eyes as I felt them slip from my mind, replaced with false copies. I felt my college experience shift from books and classes to working out and tutoring sessions. My classes in journalism and writing were swapped for work out routines and remedial math. Then my cock began twitching as memories of hot workout sessions with my bros filled my mind, replacing my book club. As my mind relaxed and the new memories came to me easier and easier. My IQ was slipping down quickly, resting now somewhere around 75. As my mind relaxed I felt my body do so too. The cloud began seeping into my pores, filling me with its corrupting influence. My body betrayed me, greedily sucking up the cloud until the room was completely clear. I felt warm and tingly, my body pressed flat against the cold floor. I lifted my arm to get a good wiff of my funk. My cock jumped in response. God I needed to fuck. The cloud had saturated me, inside and out, soaking me in a new identity.

“How are you feeling in there big guy?” a voice was on the other side of a speaker in the room.

“Aight I guess man. I’m tired. Guess I passed out in here,” I replied. God, just waking up from a nap and I had my morning wood. The door opened, a cute bro was on the other side.

“Have you enjoyed your day pass sir?” He asked.

“Hell yeah Lil’ bro, it’s been good. This gym is stacked. I haven’t felt this worn out after a workout in a while!”

“Have you considered upgrading that day pass to a full membership? I know I would love to see you around,” he said with a wink.

“Mmm, wouldn’t mind seeing you every day. Gimme the forms.” He led me out to the lobby, I signed a few forms, and handed me a card.

“Now remember next time, locker rooms are over there,” he smirked. “Here, this is free with your sign up.”

He threw a tank top over to me. Good thing too, I think I forgot mine at home. It fit snugly over my huge chest. It made my arms look huge too. Just a shame I sweat so much after a workout, I already had some pit stains going. Shit, I was rank.

“Thanks bro, I’ll see you tomorrow.” I strolled out the door into the cold winter air. I flexed, feeling the breeze wick some of my sweat away.

“Hey, excuse me?” Some dork walked up to me, looking desperate. I felt like I knew him from somewhere, though I couldn’t place it. “Would you happen to be able to help me? I have been going around in circles and can’t seem to find my way. I have an exam in just a few hours.”

“Nah, sorry man. I’m not quite sure I’m able to help. Never been good with directions huhu,” that’s when it clicked, “Hey, you’re in my bio class aren’t you? Ah shit, is that exam today?!? Fuck, I’m never gonna pass that crap.”

He looked a little flabbergasted, but made some excuses and was about to move on when I grabbed him. I felt something pass between us, as his gaze fell onto me, unblinking, “You should check in the gym bro, I know they can help you out.” I pulled away and the moment passed. I reached into my pocket and pulled out two receipts. The first was my receipt for my day pass. I scribbled down my contact info, and handed it off to the nerd. “Here, if you want to talk about lifting with me and my buds later you should give me a call. Looking a little scrawny bruh.”

He took the receipt before wandering towards the gym entrance. I then looked at the second paper I pulled out. Oh yeah, it was that hot gym bro from earlier. Yeah, I could meet up with him for sure. His name at the top rang a faint bell. For a split second, I remembered a friend I would sit next to in class. Smart, nerdy, nothing like the man I had met on the sidewalk earlier... But just then I felt my brain pounding, and I couldn’t focus on… whatever it was I was thinking about. Oh, right. Hot jock. Yeahhh, I’m gonna go see if he wants these rank pits shoved in his face while I ride his cock.

————

Maybe not what you had in mind, but I hope you enjoy anyways ❤️

[mareastrorum]

Story time.

When I was a kid, my mom signed me and my siblings up for Tae Kwon Do classes for various reasons. One of the more fun reasons was that Dragon Ball Z was on Toonami and it was a thing we all enjoyed, so it was easy to convince us to behave for an hour a day several times a week. Easily half of the kids in class were DBZ fans. The owner was a DBZ fan. The giant hulk of a Navy vet who sparred with me was a DBZ fan. We all loved the show.

The classes were taught about half a mile down one road from where we lived, so on Saturdays, we would walk the whole way on our own to and from class. One of the fun reasons was that there was a comic book shop about halfway there that sold manga and Japanese merch, so we left early and spent maybe $1-2 of money we had each hoarded on cards, comics, etc. (I’ve worked since I was 7ish doing stuff for cash.) I had a collection of DBZ trading cards and comics in Japanese. The shopkeeper was sworn to secrecy lest he lose sales because we weren’t actually supposed to have spending money.

One day, on the Computer, I learned that a DBZ video game for PlayStation was going to come out in the U.S. and it was going to have the newest characters in it and some characters from the rumored GT sequel that wasn’t even translated to English yet. HYPE. I eagerly awaited news only to find none. I couldn’t call retailers to check if they had it because this was back when calls were charged per minute and most of the big stores were technically not local even though they were in the same county. I asked the comic book guy if he knew what happened, and since he was also looking forward to the game, he checked around. Not available anywhere nearby. I’d have to go to downtown Los Angeles in person to maybe find a copy. It may as well have been in Siberia.

>:(

I looked on the Computer to see what other people were doing on the various Geocities fan webrings whose URLs I had memorized (because I couldn’t bookmark any of them or my mom would find out I was spending money on stuff). Online shopping wasn’t really a thing yet, and the only thing they could find was that the game was supposed to be available in the U.S., but it was either bullshit or there were basically no copies made. Apparently, it was a hit in Japan, and the most I could find was a picture of the cover art.

>:(

I went to the comic book guy to complain the next Saturday, and he introduced me to a new idea: there’s a Japanese version of the game that he saw on eBay, this new website where people sold their stuff online. But the game would only work on a U.S. PlayStation if I used a kit to circumvent the DRM. It wouldn’t be in English, but at least I’d be able to play.

Off I went home to learn about eBay on the Computer. THERE WAS THE GAME. A whole $20 plus shipping. I had to look up what shipping was because I didn’t know the term. So more like $30. And I needed a bank card or credit card to buy on eBay. (I didn’t care about the 18 or older disclaimer because I had lied about that on every website I had ever visited.)

>:(

I did not make a plan. I went and got my cash box (I’d bought it at the flea market) that I hid in the box spring under my mattress and counted out $30. I then immediately confronted my mom when she got home. I WANT A GAME. HERE’S THE MONEY. BUY IT ON EBAY. I had to explain eBay. She did not ask where I got the money because I had perfect grades and that was all that mattered.

A month later, the game arrived from Asia, and I cannot recall if it was actually Japanese on the shipping labels or if it was Chinese because I couldn’t tell the difference. It had the right box art though. Tried it on the PlayStation, and indeed, it did not work.

Next Saturday, I went to the comic book guy to buy the kit to jailbreak the PlayStation. He did not believe me that I had bought the game. I showed him the error message that popped up on the screen because I wrote it down in my notebook. He eventually relented and sold me the kit. Another $7! (But I’d brought $10 because I had learned this bullshit was expensive, so I got more comics and cards too.)

After class, we ran home. We were martial arts kids, that was practically a cooldown.

THE KIT WORKED. I added a spring to the mechanism to keep the lid open, started with a disk that tricks the regional DRM, then switched the disk at prompting to start the game. We had no idea what any of it said, but it was a simple fighting game, and all the characters had portraits anyway. Button mashing paradise. I was the coolest kid at TKD classes because I was the only one anyone knew with this DBZ game.

I charged kids a quarter each to come with us after class to play my regionally jailbroken Japanese (or maybe Chinese) DBZ PlayStation fighter game. I made my money back by Christmas.

>:)

I was 9.

[sentientcave]

WAIT WAIT WAIT i need to hear about the 141 paranormal investigators omg???

OKAY SO

Basically it's like, a non-military AU where they have a youtube channel and investigate haunted places and look for cryptids and junk. Ghost is the camera/editing guy, Gaz and Johnny handle social media and are the primary faces, and John is a professor of Mythology and Folklore on extended leave that became a permanent fixture after they interviewed him too many times. They're on an American road trip, and they chance upon a hidden town full of actual supernatural people and creatures. Cue shenanigans while the townspeople try not to get caught on camera. Also they meet a hot witch who runs the B&B (the only place to stay in town).

Here's some of all this silliness:

“Relax, Soap.” Price used his stern teaching voice, the one that could command a rowdy hall of college students (most of whom were only taking his class because they thought it would be an easy credit) to be quiet and pay attention. “If we get lost you’ll get to gloat about bein’ right, how about that?”

“Rather no’ get lost, but Ah suppose it’ll do.”

Simon and Gaz exchanged a look, both of them trying not to laugh. They were an odd bunch, by any metric. Gaz had started a youtube channel reviewing local businesses around Manchester while he was attending university, which is where he had met Simon (Or Ghost, as he had introduced himself back then), who had been the butcher at a shop Gaz wanted to review. Ghost had been told to give Gaz a tour, so he had, reluctantly, and Gaz had gone home later that week to find Ghost sitting in front of his computer, editing the video.

“You do shite work,” he’d said, the only explanation he had offered for his presence in Ga’s apartment. “Fine substance, but terrible camera an’ editin’.”

And well, Ghost’s video had done a lot better than any of Gaz’s previous ones, so he’d asked him to continue. Ghost suggested moving on to different content as well, to exploring some of the spookier sites around Manchester (Of which Ghost seemed to be intimately familiar, unnervingly enough), and they had interviewed Price a few times to give the videos an air of legitimacy, since he was a professor of mythology and folklore at Gaz’s university.

Johnny had been their missing link, however. They’d gone to do a video in Glasgow, and kept running into him everywhere they went. He’d provided some useful local knowledge, and had a channel of his own, where he mostly blew stuff up and did parkour around the city. The Glasgow videos all went viral, and the channel suddenly became something they could potentially throw themselves into doing on a more full time basis.

Price, chafing at the routine of teaching, asked to join them on a more permanent basis as well. And since he had the two things that the rest of them lacked (A car and a savings account), they agreed. That had been four years ago. And somehow, it was working. They weren’t exactly making a lot of money, but they were getting by, and Price had written and published two new books, using their travel and research to pad out what might have otherwise been dry, academic work.

Simon flicked the radio back on, the van filling with the sharp sound of static. They’d lost their last station somewhere along the drive. He fiddled with the tuner until an upbeat, overly patriotic country song came in clear.

Gaz made a disgruntled sound in the backseat. He’d made his disdain for country music clear somewhere back in California.

“Just tryin’ to get a traffic report. Untwist your knickers, Gaz.”

“If we’d stayed on the main road we’d no’ need a report.” Johnny could never stop himself from throwing in his two pence. “We’d be in it.”

Price reached over for the volume, and turned up the music, drowning them out as one song switched to the next.

[nyxtickled]

I kind of can't get over you studying freakin' *robotics engineering.* Now I'm picturing you as the cool engineer on some sci-fi show. Whaddaya think? Star Trek? Something with giant robots? Maybe something grittier and more cyberpunk?

Maybe this is making too light of what you're working so hard for. Follow-up and/or substitute question: what's one of your dream projects or goals? What kind of robot(s) does Nyx most want to create, or work on?

🥹🤭 awww jeez don’t make me all fricken bashful on main i’m supposed to be tough !!!! CYBERPUNK PLEASE AAAAH

ok ok but to answer seriously, so far in my academic career i’ve worked on autonomous cars (1/10 scale autonomous racecars built essentially from scratch, a full size autonomous EV gokart, and i’ve even been fortunate enough to work on a fully autonomous indy 500 car…essentially the most advanced autonomous vehicle in the world. shit was one of the most mind blowing things i’ve ever been a part of), i’ve worked on some cool solar stuff (solar water heater for an orphanage in Tijuana, solar carport concept design for a nonprofit who wants to propose the idea of charging EV cars while they’re parked outside at work all day and distributing leftover power to the building), and my personal favorite was this project i did for a class i took where i designed an autonomous campus rideshare prototype on one of the 1/10 scale cars that was able to use facial recognition to identify the student who requested the ride and would essentially drive itself to the drop off location!

the last one was the most fun for me bc it was the first time i really got into the programming side of robotics. the car would have a starting location where it waited for ride requests, then when you submitted one it would drive itself to the location using LiDAR for collision avoidance and GPS path training. but the real doozy was the pickup stage bc i had to develop the facial recognition code to be able to scan the student’s face upon arrival with computer vision in live time with a camera that was attached to the car, and then match it to a photo of the student that was stored in a database, and then try to match the name of that student to the name of the student who requested the ride! if it matched, the screen would be like “rider verified! hop in!” and proceed to the next stage of driving itself to the drop off point. if it didn’t, the screen would read “sorry, we couldn’t verify your identity with the ride request” and drive itself back to the parking spot where it would wait for the next ride request! and the database of faces would basically come from your student ID picture, cuz the rideshare service would be around campus for students only!

god it was so fucking challenging but i had so much fun with it. so uhhhh to avoid writing 18 more paragraphs about all the cool robotics shit that i’m obsessed with, i would say my dream project is definitely something that combines machine learning software, robotics operating systems programming, and mechanical design all in one. something that could take the technological advancements that we have made and turn it into something useful for everyone. fuck i’m such a nerd i’m sorry i did NOT mean to go on like this ahahahahaha

[cozymochi]

Okay gen question, how are you so good at anatomy? like I know its a mix of years of practice and experience. Mayhaps you can spare some tips on how ppl can improve theirs? Always looking forward to your works btw! Even the scribbles you think aren't decent are always such a nice treat to see <3

It being drilled into my system years ago in a drawing class specifically for that 😭 Then a character design class the next semester that added on top of it. BUT FOR CARTOONSSSSS (I have not accomplished anything in my life to utilize any of this.)

My main point of knowledge reference is this book though (OMG FREE INTERNET ARCHIVE PDF? Yes. Though I personally have a physical copy.) We didn’t really read the walls of text so much as just practiced the proportion stuff in the early pages ad-nauseam and some skeletons (not hyper detailed ones just making sure bones were where they should be). Tho admittedly I’ve been neglecting any studying. (This book came out in 1943 brrgh) DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I HAD TO DRAW THIS DIAGRAM? MORE THAN ANY PERSON SHOULD.

But hey, it works. I still sometimes end up referring back to it if I think I’m sucking (disclaimer: i think this often )

As far as I’ve come to know, how something looks visually doesn’t matter so much long as basic proportions are correct. Cuz even people without trained eyes for this sorta thing can recognize when something is proportionately wrong. Like, I guess on you know where everything is supposed to go, you can kinda do anything from there?? I think. It translated well when we were drawing real people who were not the “ideal” presented, and when moving to more stylized stuff with their own rules in a completely different course. So what if that leg doesnt look exactly like u think a leg looks anatomically— IS THE KNEE IN THE CORRECT SPOT? Yes? Then u did it.

Also that eyes are in the center of the face. Not the nose. JUMPSCARE!!!

Aaaa, this isn’t really an interesting answer. If I ever figured out better streaming outside if private discords I could probably make my points better rather than pulling a “here’s a textbook, figure it out” CUZ ITS LIKE. ITS OVERWHELMING WITHOUT A GUIDE AND 😭😭😭

I don’t know. I don’t think I have “anatomy” correct, just “proportions.” Cuz I wouldn’t be able to tell you what something is, just where something goes. Which… I think is a little more important and also a distinction I don’t really see anyone making in drawing.

Though, as much as I wanna be helpful in a more effective way, it’s really really really hard for me to articulate how anyone could improve theirs if I don’t know what the alleged problem areas are 😭 I find all this stuff to be case by case. I kind of do better if i can directly point things out and offer info from there instead of blank slate tips. If I ever figure out streaming outside of private discords it would probably be easier (literally doesnt own a functional up to date enough computer)

I guess focus less on “anatomy” and focus more on proportions since that does more of the heavy lifting? Unless ur a med student, then you probably should focus on anatomy

someone could die because you couldnt identify their coccyx

OKAY THATS IT THANKS AND SORRY

[greennoobartist]

Have some school shenanigans from Thursday and today cus why not :)

Thursday:

Vio and Shadow helped me with my work again :) We had to write a vignette (basically a short story with only two characters) and *sigh* yeah... I chose Vio and Shadow. Fluffy? Nope :) Would've been angsty asf if I didn't remade it to match like slice-of-life style :D

My computer science teacher plays Nintendo music during class and i love it sm ^^ So far she played Courage from TP (i love that song it makes me wanna cry), Mario Galaxy, and a lot of pkmn soundtracks :D Since I only played Kanto and Johto so far, i didn't recognize much but I knew it's from pkmn. And that day, she played a soundtrack of a route from Leaf Green. I don't know what route it is, ill try to find it, but I wanted to cry. It, it brought such nostalgia and memories i wanted to cry right there in the middle of the class. Leaf green is my first pkmn game and I love it sm and hearing that soundtrack was so nostalgic 😭😭😭 I literally barely held back my tears until it was over and she played another soundtrack from pkmn again but with no deep meaning for me. LEAF GREEN MY BELOVED I MISS YOU 😭😭😭 VENUSAUR MY SON I HOPE YOU'RE STILL ALIVEEEEE 😭😭😭💚💚💚

I don't wanna brag but I think im too smart for my class :)

Friday:

I had to edit the vignette for my teacher to grade it and it was actually so hard 😭 Im bad at editing my own work and it was so hard bcuz i love to detail stuff but a vignette is supposed to be short. I barely made it. When I kinda did it, i showed it to my teacher and this is exactly what happened:

Teacher: I see that you're a passionate reader. This is great!

TSoTT Shadow in my imagination: *gently bumps me with his elbow* hehe, told you. I told you your writing is great! Now ya shouldn't doubt TSoTT cuz ya actually try very hard with it!

Me: Yeah, i do love to read lots of stories. Im actually writing one.

Teacher: great job! *writes a 100 in the grade book*

TSoTT Shadow: *grins mischievously at me*

Me: Thank you.

(Yeah im a crazy person I actually imagine my TSoTT boys talk to me and interact with me during regular day. Shadow is most commonly bcuz imagine him coming out of my Shadow and it isn't rare for Vio to be too)

This time my computer science teacher played pkmn soundtracks again, but this time there was no that caused such nostalgia from me. I tried to take my headphones to find what route it is, but my headphones didn't work so i had to leave it for later.

I spedran all of my work as fast as I could just so i can be free for spring break :D I was actually barely able to do it and im so happy :3 I was literally staring at the clock and zapped out of the classroom when the bell rang, i really wanted to leave bcuz this week wasn't really nice to me :(

And again: i think im too smart for my class bcuz this was literally me today:

I literally quoted him without regrets bcuz oh my God why is everyone in my class so immature and DUMB?? Like am I acting WAAAY too mature or y'all never grew up?

Anyways that's it :D

I just had to yap for a bit bcuz when I yap about random stuff it means that im happy and i am actually happy since I have lots of stuff planned out. Everyone continues to be pessimistic around me and today I think it was even worse idk. But I don't wanna focus on that now, i wanna take care of myself and be positive after 3 fucking years :3

(me to all negative people around me: mess up with my mood and you're dead 🔪)

[mitochondriaandbunnies]

Miami Vice S1E18: Made for Each Other

Larry's house burns down, and Izzy and Noogie are sent undercover.

Made for Each Other suffers immensely from coming right after The Maze, which is a true "the system is broken" classic Vice episode. Made for Each Other is a comedy breather, and actually kind of great in its own right, but where it sits in the progression of the series feels more like a deflation than a break.

Made for Each Other is also almost comically homoerotic-- it's the episode that convinced me that Sonny is supposed to be a textually closeted bisexual man on my first watch through of the series, but on a repeat watch it's somehow even more obvious. Why are there all those half-naked bears on a boat? Why is the entire plot basically "Stan and Larry sort of have a breakup because of Stan's new girlfriend and then get back together at the end?" Why does Izzy keep saying things like nubile and anal? Why does the camera linger so very long on his and Noogie's cigarillos touching? What's up with the repetition of 'shafted'? Why are all the guests at Noogie's wedding like, extras from a Boy George video?

Why does this happen?

(plz draw your OT3 like this)

Anyway I actually really like Made For Each Other upon rewatch, it really just should have been placed elsewhere in the season. It's a fun, silly episode, and a little levity is necessary in a series that is often so very bleak.

The episode opens with Sonny and Rico trying to catch a counterfeiter, and Rico is bitchy and condescending to Sonny in a way that I think is supposed to be "ha ha, my criminal persona is a dick," but actually just comes off as "ha ha, I am a dick." It seems like he's trying to impress the counterfeiter by throwing Sonny under the bus. This occasional cruelty towards someone he does genuinely like is a fascinating part of Rico's characterization, and part of what elevates his character writing to "actual nuanced person" and not "nice Black sidekick who always supports the main white guy." Rico absolutely sees himself as more educated and worldly than Sonny, and occasionally he lets that slip. He has a very complicated relationship to both class and geography-- he's a New Yorker (...from the Bronx), he wears a perfectly tailored suit everyday (...and is a poorly paid cop), he idolizes Sonny for his football career but also thinks he's a bit of a yokel. As someone whose own class status is a bit shaky, Rico tends to get a little mean when it seems like he might be 'found out.'

Zito almost gets blown up in the ensuing warehouse fire, and Switek flips out. A short while later, a surprisingly chill Zito says he believes things are "either in whack or out of whack," shortly after while they discover that his entire house is on fire.

Please note the company that moves Zito's stuff to Switek's house:

I am dying

Trudy and Gina, in their only real appearance in the episode, very sweetly present Zito with a new fish as an office gift. Sonny is a dick about it.

Swi and Zito go to investigate BONZO BARRY who is a shady stereo and computer system dealer who has a FUCKING SEAL in his store

Michael Talbott is wildly overacting this entire episode, like to the point that I wonder if they had to turn down his mic

Noogie is marrying a stripper(?) named Ample Annie. They argue about going to Disneyland while she's practicing her routine. She does a striptease down the aisle. She is perhaps the only person bonkers enough to keep up with Noogie.

Stan's girlfriend, Darlene (who was Larry's girlfriend a short period of time ago), is extremely unhappy with Larry staying at their house, and spends the entire episode either complaining or being upset that the conditions are not right to bone; frankly, Stan does not seem to like her and she does not seem to like Stan. The most likely reasoning behind this is "bad 80's hurr hurr the ol' ball and chain" comedy, but considering the homoeroticism of the episode I'd like to think it could be a comment on compulsory heterosexuality

Izzy and Noogie show up at Stan's and, in one ridiculous whirlwind, declare the current case "theirs," ask who is the "Captain Kirk of this Enterprise," and start eating Stan's breakfast

In one scene Tubbs asks Zito and Swi if they want backup and they both very loudly yell NO like he's the reason everything has been on fire in this episode

Switek asks Zito at one point, "do you ever think about the future, Larry?" and Zito answers No.

This is funny the first time you watch the episode!

This is not funny anymore after Season 3.

The bad guy (whose crime seems to be like. Selling stolen stereos or something equally stupid) has a boat full of half-naked men with guns. This is not remarked upon.

Then we get to the Night Talk scene. I've talked at length about this scene before, but basically: Zito has been kicked out of Switek's and is sleeping at the station; Sonny comes in, romantic music plays, Zito basically describes Switek as the perfect man, and Sonny tries to get Zito to come back to his place (and fails.) It's very gay. I like to think that Sonny has a burgeoning crush on Rico at this point but is certain Rico is straight (and also. Y'know. Was a bit of an asshole at the beginning of the episode.) and takes desperate, tragic shot on Zito because of that. Zito politely declines because his heart is already spoken for.

Meanwhile, Stan is unable to perform sexually because he's thinking about Larry.

I'm sure that means nothing.

The outfits at Noogie's wedding are just. They are. Truly they are something.

The priest is a leather daddy. Many people appear to be in space blankets, including Noogie. Annie has a tearaway wedding dress. The pianist has the world's most incredible zebra shirt. There are headbands and weird hats abound.

By contrast, all the members of Vice look like they're supposed to be at a PTA meeting. (Also Sonny looks like he wishes he could ask where the punch is but doesn't want to bother Gina and Trudy, who are clearly each others' plus-ones.)

And the episode ends with Switek and Zito, side by side, at a wedding.

[katyusha454]

In today's episode of Katie Has Weird BG3-Related Fever Dreams: whatever the fuck this was.

The setting was some sort of future Faerûn, with modern technology mixed with lots of magic.

The POV character ("me") was in school; on balance I think it was high school but the whole dream was a disjointed mess and there was some college-inspired stuff going on too. Maybe some sort of advanced smarty-pants high school?

I was taking a class that was a mix of computer programming and spellcasting; basically learning how to write programs that functioned like spell scrolls so you could use digital devices to cast spells. This was apparently a major part of how magic was done in this setting. I'm pretty sure I was flunking this class just like I flunked programming in college.

I was indifferently-Sharran. Not devout, not cloistered, just a depressed edgy teenager into the secretive counterculture aspect of it.

I did however have a HUGE crush on the Mother Superior of the local cloister where I attended services. I was trying to copy her mannerisms and for some reason I was fixated on her habit of tucking her pencil behind her ear, something which I could not precisely imitate because I lacked the long elven ears that I desperately wanted.

For some reason I had the absolutely brilliant idea to show up to school one day wearing a t-shirt with Shar's symbol on it. Naturally some other students noticed and were whispering about it behind my back and then I showed up to my programming class where the teacher, a devout Mystran, was like "Katie what the FUCK is that???" Then everyone noticed and boom, instantly ostracized by the entire school.

In particular there was this one absolute prick who was the son of the head priest at the Lathander temple; this guy was the stereotypical rich and popular antagonist of every coming of age movie, probably a sports star or student council president or something idk. He was especially cruel to me.

There was apparently a small group of other Sharran students and we had a sort of unofficial club. It was secret and we weren't actually allowed to have one but the administration didn't try to ban it, presumably because they didn't want to anger Shar. There was a secret meeting pace accessible through a magic portal located somewhere in the school, but I couldn't find it anywhere and everyone mocked me even more as I ran around all over the place trying to find it. I am choosing to rationalize this as they kicked me out and took my memory of how to get in because I broke the rule of not telling anyone you're Sharran.

Selûnite Shadowheart got mentioned at some point. I was supposed to hate her but I didn't care at all about this random historical figure that died like 500 years ago.

The whole dream was taking place near the end of the school year, which coincided with some sort of light-themed holiday which I, the edgy goth teenager, thought was bullshit.

Perhaps the weirdest part of the whole dream is it's not connected to any real high school trauma. I was never bullied at all, none of my friends were bullied, I never witnessed any bullying other than one singular case of a gay kid getting slur'd at. I'm sure there was stuff going on I was never aware of, but for me bullying was something that only existed in fiction. I was also not any flavor of goth or edgy. So I have no idea why 33-year-old me is having dreams about any of this. (except for flunking a programming class, that is most definitely a thing I am traumatized from)

Honestly, "I want to perfectly imitate this attractive older woman" paired with "crying because I don't have elf ears" is probably the most teenage lesbian thought my brain has ever thunk.

[infwctednyacifier]

henlo it is i ;; that one anon that mentioned having classes with you !! saw ur post abt an ask game sooo here i go :D (we only took one question from the og post and then added some other questions !)

who was your first alter you discovered?

any collective fears?

how did you guys come up with your system name(s)? (since you had mentioned having side systems a while ago i think)

how do you experience switches, and how do they look for you?

ever had a moment where ur like "uh oh im not actually faking"?

AAAAND FINALLY!!!!

do you guys have a system journal?

THAT'S ALL!!!! :D feel free to answer all or skip any questions y'all aren't comfortable with !!!!! have a good day👾

Okay les go :3

WHEN WAS YOUR FIRST ALTER DISCOVERED ?

Okay, so, as mentioned before, this is not muir first time being plural but in actuality, squid's the only person to remember any previous systems and squid doesn't wanna really talk about it with others because it's a sensitive topic but squid will discuss it with them soon because squid feels like they deserve to know. Anyways, the answer is Ephani/Stephani who was the first headmate to establish verbal contact once before falling silent and using shared emotions/thoughts from then on but wei think he locked in this morning because wei cooked during algebra!! 😎

ANY COLLECTIVE FEARS ?

Not that squid or wei know of? There are definitely common phobias, like ones that a lot of residents have and those tend to be the fear of; social spaces, the dark, insects, heights, and getting sick and the last one actually is part of the reason why wei have a Teri from TAWOG fictive! There are also some less common phobias like Price has one related to war and that's pretty much kept to him due to his source memories.

HOW DID YOU GUYS COME UP WITH SYSTEM NAMES ?

Jesus Christ no clue. "The Data System" was the name of a previous system that they made up because we liked computers and AI stuff and still do. The others were obvious;

The Twitch Chat Subsystem is a subsystem inspired by Twitch and the users you'll find on there and may be actually gaining some members soon!

Poi's Sidesystem is, well, Poi's Sidesystem.

Sidemates is because we coined a term to describe them. It's just side + headmates because they're headmates on the side and don't really identify as being in any system.

The Council is just ominous and is our most powerful so it made sense.

The Normal Sidesystem was just they're supposed to be "normal" which squid mentioned after the second system collapse occured and squid discovered them. They're normal because they fulfill basic life stuff like health, love, etc.

The Nightlight Collective is because nightlights and imaginary friends that stem from plushies just go together well. Also wei kinda have nyctophobia as a common fear and slept with a nightlight until wei were like 10-12 but that changed when wei got a lamp that could illuminate muir entire room. We still associate nightlights with safety, comfort, and childhood!

HOW DO YOU EXPERIENCE SWITCHES AND HOW DO THEY LOOK FOR YOU ?

Okay, so, this is a complicated question because wei have undiagnosed but educated self diagnosed partial DID. Partial DID is the little brother of DID with the most prominent difference is a "dominant personality" that basically cannot leave front without a LOT of work to achieve so and squid splitting from Satus sent squid into front and squid've been stuck in here for a while but wei're working on freeing squid! Anyways, wei instead experience blurring though wei basically don't fully front and instead residents will chill outside or inside the fronting room plus there's the issue of squid being a vessel so squid's pretty blurry! But wei can feel when it's different because wei can feel a new presence/part of an identity is the best way wei can describe it. Wei're working towards full or just partial switches + ofc verbal communication!

EVER HAD A MOMENT WHERE UR LIKE " UH OH I'M NOT ACTUALLY FAKING " ?

Yep. Everytime squid or wei doubt muir plurality, we feel something disagree. Like a feeling of just "no, hazard's wrong" (second person neoprn) and squid's or wei're like "oh yeah, wei literally check like every symptom of partial DID and literally EVERY TIME wei question muir plurality, that feeling returns". Just happens every time and as time goes on, wei really don't doubt muirselves that much anymore 🙃

DO YOU GUYS HAVE A SYSTEM JOURNAL ?

Not really? Squid guess muir system journal is just muir notes in Simply Plural but only two residents actually have notes lol. Maybe muir Tumblr could count as a journal? Wei have posts from around back when wei were a system of 7 and maybe some archive has deleted posts of previous systems 🤷🏻

Have a good day too!!! :3

[tinkertechy]

I need to Scream about ChromeOS

It's been a long week and this is something I can rant about without doxxing myself too much.

So I teach kids about computers. And before anyone says 'But they're the technology generation, they know all about it!' remember that you didn't know how to drive a car before you were 16, and cars have been around for over a century. But I digress.

You know why Kids don't know anything about computers? Because we've set them up with the *worst possible computer* to learn about computers on: Chromebooks. Yeah, yeah pandemic and learning form home and all that, but this started well before the pandemic; Shutdowns just exacerbated it.

Chromebooks are designed to be simple. But they're *designed to be simple*. I want to teach kids how to read a file system? Google Drive is all they got. Want to teach kids how to check computer specs and how well their computer is currently running? Nope-you *might* be able to check the RAM if you're lucky. Diagnose how much space is left on your storage? Good luck; Drive doesn't even show how much space they have left. Compare and Contrast different applications for a particular use? It's the Chrome Store or nothing. The entire environment is designed to be a glorified web browser. You never leave the Chrome environment.

There's no native apps on the Chromebooks because they have all the memory and internal storage of a 6 year old with ADHD. Everything has to be through a web browser, and since most of my students are elementary age they can't really make accounts for most stuff without their native school account which, guess what? is through Google. The whole system is designed to be as simple to use with as few buttons as possible. Which, as a teacher managing hundreds of kids, is helpful to a point. But it holds the kids back just as much. When something goes wrong, it's so simple that you feel like an idiot for not being able to figure out what went wrong. There's no room for troubleshooting or critical thinking here.

Oh, and by the way the entire OS is designed at a basic level to be readable by kids who *know how to read*. Teaching the lowest levels how to log in, click on a link for TypingClub or read basic instructions can be grueling. Google Classroom is optimal for middle school and maybe 9th grade and that's about it. They use touchscreens for everything, so it's hard to get them to learn to use a mouse in the first place. (It's also aesthetically ugly, but that's my personal opinion)

There also seems to be fewer resources or standards for teaching about computers; my state's standards are very comprehensive from a programming or analysis standpoint, less so from a 'they should be able to type X words per minute' or 'be able to format a report' or 'write an email with neutral tone' or 'be able to move a file from Google Drive to a flash drive,' stuff that Every student should know how to do. Stuff that most adults take for granted because they were either taught or grew up in an age where everyone had to figure it out for themselves because there were no teachers yet.

And, while this is a more niche one because I don't know how most schools operate, Chromebooks just add to the student's load. They haul them back and forth to EVERY class and were 'supposed to replace textbooks', yet somehow they still have a mountain of textbooks they haul around in a wheeled backpack because *there's so many books they can't use a normal one*. I helped a student lift their bag the other day and it must have weighed 20 lbs! (Definitely more than the car battery I had to haul home from the store, but that's another story.)

I have accounts for kids that can't even spell their own last name yet, let alone know how to type. It's hard to teach about computer security when half the school needs to have a sticker with the username and passwords for up to 4(!!!) different online accounts for various programs. And kids will share that information anyway because they don't think anything major of it yet, and half the time it's not hard to figure out.

(This isn't even getting into side tools and peripherals to teach kids about computers. Anything you want/find is niche and will be extremely expensive)

So how would I fix this? (Because I don't like to rant about something when I can't offer a solution.)

Get them on actual computers and not glorified web browsers.

Assess whether or not Chromebooks are helping students in the classroom or just creating more work. Their primary use should be in the event of a shutdown or virtual school day to allow all students to work from home regardless of personal computers.

Build an Operating System/UI that's designed to grow with the student: Kindergarten and 1st grade are primarily picture based, larger cursor, as little clicking as possible to get to activities. More options and standardized UI appear as the student grows until high school where it's a normal system.

Actual Standards. Not just 'this is a monitor' (Most of my students didn't know this) and 'Here's how to program a thing' (Which is fun, but can be advanced) but 'How to save my work' 'How to write an e-mail' and 'what is a file type?' A minimum typing speed should also be required.

Keyboards designed to teach how to type. Colored keys, letters in a font that match the typing program, maybe a bit bigger than a normal keyboard. And to wrap it up, some fun quotes from my students: "That's not a Computer, that's a PC!"

"That's a TV!" (It's a monitor)

"You're doing a writing challenge? Why don't you just use AI?"

"Ms. Teacher, (That's exactly what they call me) I found a weird thing!" (It was their Drive.)

"Why did you paint all those?" (I pass a hard drive around so kids can see it. They all sniff the yellow paint I sprayed it with last week.)

"I wanna play the ice cream game." (There is no Ice Cream game. They just want to play random internet games)

(Students sign out by turning off the computer)

(A student looks up a minecraft video on YT because he wasn't paying attention when I gave out instructions and thought I wouldn't notice.)

Next rant: The double standards of 'forbidding the use of AI' for students while using it behind the scenes for teachers.

[lazar-codes]

Random Rambles, part 2

It's nearly 10pm on a Tuesday, and while I'm supposed to be doing school-work, I have some thoughts. So here we go!

School

I'm nearly done with my first semester of my Master's in Human Computer Interaction, and I'm excited to complete it. This semester has been tricky, and it's mostly because lectures usually start at 3pm. Sleeping in is really nice, but my sleep schedule is super messed up because I do schoolwork after class, and I want to have some time to do things for myself (read, Netflix, or draw), so I end up staying up until 1am. I did do some volunteer stuff this weekend and so far it has fixed my sleep schedule (working in a festival for the weekend ensures that I'm wiped out by 11pm), but that can easily get messed up again.

My classes themselves are alright, they just require a lot of reading. A lot of the content of my classes is what I covered in my undergrad as a health science student, which is odd. Although, while I took a UXD course in my undergrad, it focused on "task-centred system design", whereas now we're doing "user-centred design". In fact, my group project involves building an app to its hi-fi prototype stage. We're finishing up the low-fi prototype and I'm happy with how it's looking. I might even take it a step further on my own and program it...we'll see. It's a little intimidating to work on this project, mostly because all of my groupmates have industry experience with graphic design and I don't. But hey, I'm learning.

Related to school news; I'm taking a class called "Data and Society" and it's the most depressing class I've ever taken, but I really like it. The themes of this class are essentially that big corporations are taking our data and using it for advertising purposes, or for targeting people, or for separating people. Basically, our data is being used for bad, and rarely for the improvement of society. And the more papers I read on this topic, the more tired I am of being in this type of world. I'm already taking a step back from social media and such (I basically only use it to post art), but there's a part of me that now really, really, wants to live in the mountains away from it all. Of course, I'd still like my Netflix, but the rest can go away. 

That being said, my classes have certainly made me want to look into stuff like data/media preservation, and ethical data collection and such. Does it feel like fighting a losing battle? Yes, but I still want to try. 

Coding

I finally logged onto Github after months. Will I get back into programming soon? Probably not, though I'm tempted to do Advent of Code to dip my toes back into it. Or maybe I'll get into app development...we'll see. Like I said, I have a project for school that I can code in the future, so I might do that. 

Ok, I need to get back to school-work. Those papers aren't going to read themselves.

[theartsanityshoppe]

I like your detective stuff! Does he have a nemesis like Sherlock has Moriarty? And was he born mute or did he lose his voice? The sign language is really nice to see in a character!

Why was this in the 'bashful' gif options

Thanks Anon!! I greatly appreciate the comment~ I myself, also really like my detective stuff and I mean reeeeeeeeeeeeally like it lmao

Otherwise, I'm going to write these answers out as the parts of the story these questions delve into is being currently reworked and some of the answers are kinda up in the air / half canon as of right now. This will probably be a longish answer so I'll put a quick answer up here, and a "read more" underneath that with my ramblings. Quick answers: Was he born mute or did he lose his voice? - He was born mute. Does he have a nemesis? - Yes and no... I've cycled through a few characters but the main one now, without spoiling much, is named F.E.L.I.X.. But I've been working on a couple others who could possibly take over as his main nemesis.

For longer, more rambly answers, keep reading!

So like I said the answer to at least his nemesis part is kind of up the in air atm. I also wanted to expand a little on the mute aspect~

Flint is primarily mute because I tend to view this world in the terms of a video game, in which of course the player would play as the Det. [and as Cy actually who hasn't appeared in the comics yet] and like a lot of video games I always imagined him as being a "silent protag" despite still communicating with the other characters. Like Link in the new BOTW/TOTK games.

The second reason behind it was I just couldn't imagine him with a voice?? No matter how hard I tried, it just felt. Wrong for his character if that makes sense? So I figured "hey why not just give him sign language! How often do you see a deaf or mute main character anyway?" I've started to see more ASL used in shows - most recently in Only Murders in the Building which I LOVE [both the shows and the inclusion/importance of the deaf character in the story] and I thought it would make him a more interesting main character tbh. I also really really REALLY want to learn ASL, as my first grade teacher taught us a bunch when I was a kid but I've sadly forgotten just about all of it as she was just teaching us for fun. It had nothing to do with the class lol.

As for Flint's nemesis[es]! He currently has at least two, one of which is still so under-construction they don't even have a name yet or a design hahahaha.

Originally his nemesis was supposed to be Prof. Specter, aka this guy, whose a literal shadow man. [Cuz. Yah know. Shadow vs Light/Flames?] He was supposed to be almost the Dr. Claw to Flint's Inspector Gadget, but I just never went anywhere with him?? I couldn't really think up anything good tbh, and I felt like Flint easily overpowered him. I also couldn't think up any good reasons for him to BE so evil/want to attack the town etc. So he just became a smaller villain, who currently works under the main big bad. I am a MASSIVE sucker for "opposite" characters - the "good" version vs the "evil" version basically, and I have been actively trying to utilize that in a story of mine FOR YEARS. Think like, Darkwing Duck vs Nega Duck. This shit is my JAM.

For the first nemesis, his name is F.E.L.I.X. [Force Entity Learning Integrating and eXterminating] Flint, and he's a sort of "evil" version of Flint. [These are all cheebs of the various forms Felix currently takes in story]

The littlest dude is ACTUALLY Felix, [he starts off by possessing a flash drive and transforming it] and the rest are just later forms he takes throughout the story. Originally he was just some weird little alien computer virus that landed on earth, a la Invader Zim style, here to prepare Earth for conquer by his Mother Program, which is still more or less the case? The reasoning behind him being in Neo Oldesville and him eventually taking on Flint's appearance have changed a lot though.

The main reason I hesitate to call him a nemesis atm is because he was originally just more of a comedic, but still kinda dangerous, character and Felix Flint was originally going to be a sort of split in Felix's personality/code that took life on it's own, separate from Felix, warped by the internet, others personalities, and probably some other villain's code. He was just gonna go kinda crazy as his coding was rewritten too many times and start attacking... but that idea has been scrapped due to the rewrites.

He was also smart, but not in the same ways the Detective is, so they weren't really butting heads like Sherlock/Moriarty do wherein Felix would be besting Flint at every turn or something like that. Instead Flint actually bested Felix pretty easily originally. Felix Flint was basically my solution to fix that major leveling scale issue lol.

The other character, the unnamed one, is a Mad Scientist/Cult leader, whose become basically the 'secret' big bad of what I would call the first season of the story. Idk maybe longer than that? I haven't decided on how long I want this story to be tbh. I'm still working on the character and their storyline and how it intersects with both Flint's and Cy's, (whose the deuteragonist to this story)... but the most I do know/will reveal here is that this Mad Scientist is the leader of a cult that worshiped two aliens that used to exist on planet who promised to help the humanoids [as people are generally referred to here] "ascend to a higher life form" but were later stopped and destroyed by a group of super-hero like super spy sisters who learned that the aliens were in fact extremely hostile and their idea of "ascending to a higher plan" was just assimilating all of this worlds knowledge/tech and then selling off its inhabitants as slaves. I haven't decided if the rest of the world knows this fact, or if the alien characters are considered martyrs or something yet... or even if the rest of the world knew they WERE aliens. Just that they're eventually defeated by these legendary super-spies, and that a small cult remained behind after everyone else moved on from their teachings.

The leader of this new cult basically wants to bring those aliens back - specifically by summoning one of their kin to the world to help fully restore one of the deceased aliens back to life, but what he summons is Felix instead, as the race of aliens the cult worshiped had all been destroyed and absorbed by Felix's Mother Program years ago. Irony at its finest lol.

This new mad scientist/cult leader character is supposed to have very deep ties with Cy, who in turn has pretty deep ties to Flint, and I've been planning on possibly making him a sort of Moriarty to Flint, but I'm still ironing out details.

One reason I haven't quite finished this all yet is because while I am planning on using some religious ideology [is that the right word here? or would mimicry be better] in the cult, I don't necessarily want to make it a "RAWR RAWR RELIGION IS EVIL RAAAWR" kind of situation, since it's specifically that CULTS are evil. I myself was born and raised without religion in my life outside of just being in America, so while I don't believe in any religion at all, I also don't want to be cruel to anyone who does. I do, however, know that a lot of cults use Christianity as a guise to trick their followers into controlling them though.

Mostly I just really want the two aliens from the original cult to look semi like a devil and an angel cuz I thought it'd be hilarious if they were basically the "angel and devil on your shoulders" lmao.

If anyone wants to know more I'm happy to explain even more in detail. I don't care about spoiling things haha I'm not planning on creating a huge comic or anything anytime soon - I mean I would love to turn this series into a game or something in the future but for now I'm just having fun I LOVE talking about my characters/stories.

[fuzzyfoe]

Alyssa woke up it was the first day of middle school. They were excited, they moved to this town in the summer so it'll be their first time so nobody can ruin it. They got ready quickly and walked there because it was a 6 minute walk. When they arrived something seemed off. But they ignored it and went to their first class. It was art class but they just went over the rules and then let the kids do whatever. Alyssa was drawing a character they made last year. They made friends with a kid named Collin! After art class they put the drawing in their locker and went to the computer class. It was basically a free class so they went on their computer. But something was very wrong. There was this... thing looking at her from it. It was a pixel art smiley face with white skin and a black smile. Then a text appeared that said "prepare for tomorrow:)" But before they could do anything the teacher shut their chromebook because it was time to leave. They went through the other classes skeptical because yesterday and what happened at the chromebook but ignored it after school they called Collin and asked him about the weird smiley face on their chromebook. Collin said something about it being a soul that was trapped in the chromebook but Alyssa didn't believe it and went to bed. The next day at school there was a new student in computer class. The next day Sam was in the bathroom the whole day Alyssa asked them if they were skipping class too but Sam just said "nothing here is even real" Alyssa then got woken up by her alarm clock and realized that was a dream. Then they went to school. At school Sam wasn't there but by like 9AM there were a lot of sirens and noise and the kids all ran out of the classrooms. Alyssa looked the other way and it was the smiley face again. This time it was zround 9 feet tall and had claws. Alyssa and collin looked for a way to stop it and found.. One way. Collin got the materials and Alyssa lured it to the area they wanted it to be in. After they got it in the circle they said the magic word thing and boom it worked! Instead of it being a tall scary happy face it was a small 12 inch plush. It could still talk and stuff. Alyssa wanted to just throw it

outside the school. Collin wanted to keep it because it was still a "sentient" being so they wentwith Collins' idea. After that the school was "safe" But... the happy face thing We'll call it Sam because that's the name of its human disguise. So Sam said that something forced her. Alyssa asked who but Sam just said "their coming. They're mad at us 3." So Collin, Alyssa and Sam were scared. But they just ignored it because they were stupid. They said their name was Sam. Collin and Alyssa were at school And brought Sam along too and were going as normal a couple weeks after the erm incident with the happy face. They were just at lunch talking about how this new game came out until another smiley face came up. This one looked slightly human? But then the 3 just looked at it "ohhhhhh this is what you meant sam!" said alyssa but then sam said "no. its not, it's something FAR worse." The other 2 looked worried but then Collin picked up Sam and grabbed Alyssa's hand and ran. "WERE SUPPOSED TO SAVE THE SCHOOL COLLIN!" alyssa yelled but then a hologram with a computer for a head in a suit appeared in front of them "shoot its my boss you 2 be quiet sam said while alyssa was waving a lot and collin looked terrified but then the hologram talked and it said "sam why are you a plush" and sam just said "a uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh spell!" and then Alyssa just said "omg hi! You must be Sam's boss. I'm Alyssa. That's collin what's your name!?" and the hologram just looked slightlyannoyed and said "im jake" and shot a beam of light at sam making them back into their human form. Then Jake said "i'm gonna have to basically parent you 3 aren't i" while Alyssa was just jumping up and down. Then the chaos just.. Ended? No more sirens, no more of the creatures anymore, just weird silence. Until school ended. The 3 went to their treehouse and were just talking about Sam's boss Sam was cool or at least Alyssa and collin were Sam looked annoyed and said their no angel once you really know them you know" but the 2 just ignored sams warning. The next day everything seemed normal and the 3 went to gym class and were the first 3 they just waited until everybody got there and went on their phones. The next day was well.... terrible! The day started with the 3 walking in and seeing something? I'll give you a description of 5 or 6 feet tall and red glowing eyes and 4 pairs of wings. Alyssa backed away but Collin actually was brave for once. The thing zapped Sam and Sam was in this cage thing so she couldn't help the 2. So collin and alyssa just fought it no special things or luring it just fighting The next day there was a meeting about not fighting them and how they were an important thing in a council or whatever but Sam saw through it. So did the other 2 but mostly sam. They ignored it and just went to class. After school they decided to go to the park! The 3 were just playing on the swings until they got a notification on their phone. It was a text from an unknown number.. The text just said "this school is not what it seems Alyssa was just tired of the monsters and the creepy stuff they just wanted to have a normal school and life so they blocked the number. And then she got like 20 messages at once from like 6 different numbers. Most of them said something along the lines of "get help" or "run" except one of them. This one just said "I see you outside." So yeah not very good! Collin texted back to the number from Alyssa's phone and said "what do you want with us were 12" and then the text said We sense something special in you 2" And sam just yelled "WHAT ABOUT ME?" and then the text said "your already on our team sam but alyssa noticed they heard what sam said so they are actually... here. So the 3

creeped out and went home. The next day Collin wasn't there. Not because lore or anything heereeped out and went home. The next day Collin wasn't there. Not because lore or anything he just had a cold. The day went by surprisingly normal and Sam had to go to a meeting about something about earth and stuff and they asked sam to bring alyasa, Alyssa was thrilled to go but Nam was annoyed. They were at the meeting talking about stuff I guess, until the normal room changed to a weird outside lavender field. Jake just said "well im gonna be doing stuff here so bye". And the 2 were suddenly back at home.Alyssa woke up it was the first day of middle school. They were excited, they moved to this town in the summer so it'll be their first time so nobody can ruin it. They got ready quickly and walked there because it was a 6 minute walk. When they arrived something seemed off. But they ignored it and went to their first class. It was art class but they just went over the rules and then let the kids do whatever. Alyssa was drawing a character they made last year. They made friends with a kid named Collin! After art class they put the drawing in their locker and went to the computer class. It was basically a free class so they went on their computer. But something was very wrong. There was this... thing looking at her from it. It was a pixel art smiley face with white skin and a black smile. Then a text appeared that said "prepare for tomorrow:)" But before they could do anything the teacher shut their chromebook because it was time to leave. They went through the other classes skeptical because yesterday and what happened at the chromebook but ignored it after school they called Collin and asked him about the weird smiley face on their chromebook. Collin said something about it being a soul that was trapped in the chromebook but Alyssa didn't believe it and went to bed. The next day at school there was a new student in computer class. The next day Sam was in the bathroom the whole day Alyssa asked them if they were skipping class too but Sam just said "nothing here is even real" Alyssa then got woken up by her alarm clock and realized that was a dream. Then they went to school. At school Sam wasn't there but by like 9AM there were a lot of sirens and noise and the kids all ran out of the classrooms. Alyssa looked the other way and it was the smiley face again. This time it was zround 9 feet tall and had claws. Alyssa and collin looked for a way to stop it and found.. One way. Collin got the materials and Alyssa lured it to the area they wanted it to be in. After they got it in the circle they said the magic word thing and boom it worked! Instead of it being a tall scary happy face it was a small 12 inch plush. It could still talk and stuff. Alyssa wanted to just throw it

outside the school. Collin wanted to keep it because it was still a "sentient" being so they wentwith Collins' idea. After that the school was "safe" But... the happy face thing We'll call it Sam because that's the name of its human disguise. So Sam said that something forced her. Alyssa asked who but Sam just said "their coming. They're mad at us 3." So Collin, Alyssa and Sam were scared. But they just ignored it because they were stupid. They said their name was Sam. Collin and Alyssa were at school And brought Sam along too and were going as normal a couple weeks after the erm incident with the happy face. They were just at lunch talking about how this new game came out until another smiley face came up. This one looked slightly human? But then the 3 just looked at it "ohhhhhh this is what you meant sam!" said alyssa but then sam said "no. its not, it's something FAR worse." The other 2 looked worried but then Collin picked up Sam and grabbed Alyssa's hand and ran. "WERE SUPPOSED TO SAVE THE SCHOOL COLLIN!" alyssa yelled but then a hologram with a computer for a head in a suit appeared in front of them "shoot its my boss you 2 be quiet sam said while alyssa was waving a lot and collin looked terrified but then the hologram talked and it said "sam why are you a plush" and sam just said "a uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh spell!" and then Alyssa just said "omg hi! You must be Sam's boss. I'm Alyssa. That's collin what's your name!?" and the hologram just looked slightlyannoyed and said "im jake" and shot a beam of light at sam making them back into their human form. Then Jake said "i'm gonna have to basically parent you 3 aren't i" while Alyssa was just jumping up and down. Then the chaos just.. Ended? No more sirens, no more of the creatures anymore, just weird silence. Until school ended. The 3 went to their treehouse and were just talking about Sam's boss Sam was cool or at least Alyssa and collin were Sam looked annoyed and said their no angel once you really know them you know" but the 2 just ignored sams warning. The next day everything seemed normal and the 3 went to gym class and were the first 3 they just waited until everybody got there and went on their phones. The next day was well.... terrible! The day started with the 3 walking in and seeing something? I'll give you a description of 5 or 6 feet tall and red glowing eyes and 4 pairs of wings. Alyssa backed away but Collin actually was brave for once. The thing zapped Sam and Sam was in this cage thing so she couldn't help the 2. So collin and alyssa just fought it no special things or luring it just fighting The next day there was a meeting about not fighting them and how they were an important thing in a council or whatever but Sam saw through it. So did the other 2 but mostly sam. They ignored it and just went to class. After school they decided to go to the park! The 3 were just playing on the swings until they got a notification on their phone. It was a text from an unknown number.. The text just said "this school is not what it seems Alyssa was just tired of the monsters and the creepy stuff they just wanted to have a normal school and life so they blocked the number. And then she got like 20 messages at once from like 6 different numbers. Most of them said something along the lines of "get help" or "run" except one of them. This one just said "I see you outside." So yeah not very good! Collin texted back to the number from Alyssa's phone and said "what do you want with us were 12" and then the text said We sense something special in you 2" And sam just yelled "WHAT ABOUT ME?" and then the text said "your already on our team sam but alyssa noticed they heard what sam said so they are actually... here. So the 3

creeped out and went home. The next day Collin wasn't there. Not because lore or anything heereeped out and went home. The next day Collin wasn't there. Not because lore or anything he just had a cold. The day went by surprisingly normal and Sam had to go to a meeting about something about earth and stuff and they asked sam to bring alyasa, Alyssa was thrilled to go but Nam was annoyed. They were at the meeting talking about stuff I guess, until the normal room changed to a weird outside lavender field. Jake just said "well im gonna be doing stuff here so bye". And the 2 were suddenly back at home.Alyssa woke up it was the first day of middle school. They were excited, they moved to this town in the summer so it'll be their first time so nobody can ruin it. They got ready quickly and walked there because it was a 6 minute walk. When they arrived something seemed off. But they ignored it and went to their first class. It was art class but they just went over the rules and then let the kids do whatever. Alyssa was drawing a character they made last year. They made friends with a kid named Collin! After art class they put the drawing in their locker and went to the computer class. It was basically a free class so they went on their computer. But something was very wrong. There was this... thing looking at her from it. It was a pixel art smiley face with white skin and a black smile. Then a text appeared that said "prepare for tomorrow:)" But before they could do anything the teacher shut their chromebook because it was time to leave. They went through the other classes skeptical because yesterday and what happened at the chromebook but ignored it after school they called Collin and asked him about the weird smiley face on their chromebook. Collin said something about it being a soul that was trapped in the chromebook but Alyssa didn't believe it and went to bed. The next day at school there was a new student in computer class. The next day Sam was in the bathroom the whole day Alyssa asked them if they were skipping class too but Sam just said "nothing here is even real" Alyssa then got woken up by her alarm clock and realized that was a dream. Then they went to school. At school Sam wasn't there but by like 9AM there were a lot of sirens and noise and the kids all ran out of the classrooms. Alyssa looked the other way and it was the smiley face again. This time it was zround 9 feet tall and had claws. Alyssa and collin looked for a way to stop it and found.. One way. Collin got the materials and Alyssa lured it to the area they wanted it to be in. After they got it in the circle they said the magic word thing and boom it worked! Instead of it being a tall scary happy face it was a small 12 inch plush. It could still talk and stuff. Alyssa wanted to just throw it

outside the school. Collin wanted to keep it because it was still a "sentient" being so they wentwith Collins' idea. After that the school was "safe" But... the happy face thing We'll call it Sam because that's the name of its human disguise. So Sam said that something forced her. Alyssa asked who but Sam just said "their coming. They're mad at us 3." So Collin, Alyssa and Sam were scared. But they just ignored it because they were stupid. They said their name was Sam. Collin and Alyssa were at school And brought Sam along too and were going as normal a couple weeks after the erm incident with the happy face. They were just at lunch talking about how this new game came out until another smiley face came up. This one looked slightly human? But then the 3 just looked at it "ohhhhhh this is what you meant sam!" said alyssa but then sam said "no. its not, it's something FAR worse." The other 2 looked worried but then Collin picked up Sam and grabbed Alyssa's hand and ran. "WERE SUPPOSED TO SAVE THE SCHOOL COLLIN!" alyssa yelled but then a hologram with a computer for a head in a suit appeared in front of them "shoot its my boss you 2 be quiet sam said while alyssa was waving a lot and collin looked terrified but then the hologram talked and it said "sam why are you a plush" and sam just said "a uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh spell!" and then Alyssa just said "omg hi! You must be Sam's boss. I'm Alyssa. That's collin what's your name!?" and the hologram just looked slightlyannoyed and said "im jake" and shot a beam of light at sam making them back into their human form. Then Jake said "i'm gonna have to basically parent you 3 aren't i" while Alyssa was just jumping up and down. Then the chaos just.. Ended? No more sirens, no more of the creatures anymore, just weird silence. Until school ended. The 3 went to their treehouse and were just talking about Sam's boss Sam was cool or at least Alyssa and collin were Sam looked annoyed and said their no angel once you really know them you know" but the 2 just ignored sams warning. The next day everything seemed normal and the 3 went to gym class and were the first 3 they just waited until everybody got there and went on their phones. The next day was well.... terrible! The day started with the 3 walking in and seeing something? I'll give you a description of 5 or 6 feet tall and red glowing eyes and 4 pairs of wings. Alyssa backed away but Collin actually was brave for once. The thing zapped Sam and Sam was in this cage thing so she couldn't help the 2. So collin and alyssa just fought it no special things or luring it just fighting The next day there was a meeting about not fighting them and how they were an important thing in a council or whatever but Sam saw through it. So did the other 2 but mostly sam. They ignored it and just went to class. After school they decided to go to the park! The 3 were just playing on the swings until they got a notification on their phone. It was a text from an unknown number.. The text just said "this school is not what it seems Alyssa was just tired of the monsters and the creepy stuff they just wanted to have a normal school and life so they blocked the number. And then she got like 20 messages at once from like 6 different numbers. Most of them said something along the lines of "get help" or "run" except one of them. This one just said "I see you outside." So yeah not very good! Collin texted back to the number from Alyssa's phone and said "what do you want with us were 12" and then the text said We sense something special in you 2" And sam just yelled "WHAT ABOUT ME?" and then the text said "your already on our team sam but alyssa noticed they heard what sam said so they are actually... here. So the 3

creeped out and went home. The next day Collin wasn't there. Not because lore or anything heereeped out and went home. The next day Collin wasn't there. Not because lore or anything he just had a cold. The day went by surprisingly normal and Sam had to go to a meeting about something about earth and stuff and they asked sam to bring alyasa, Alyssa was thrilled to go but Nam was annoyed. They were at the meeting talking about stuff I guess, until the normal room changed to a weird outside lavender field. Jake just said "well im gonna be doing stuff here so bye". And the 2 were suddenly back at homeAlyssa woke up it was the first day of middle school. They were excited, they moved to this town in the summer so it'll be their first time so nobody can ruin it. They got ready quickly and walked there because it was a 6 minute walk. When they arrived something seemed off. But they ignored it and went to their first class. It was art class but they just went over the rules and then let the kids do whatever. Alyssa was drawing a character they made last year. They made friends with a kid named Collin! After art class they put the drawing in their locker and went to the computer class. It was basically a free class so they went on their computer. But something was very wrong. There was this... thing looking at her from it. It was a pixel art smiley face with white skin and a black smile. Then a text appeared that said "prepare for tomorrow:)" But before they could do anything the teacher shut their chromebook because it was time to leave. They went through the other classes skeptical because yesterday and what happened at the chromebook but ignored it after school they called Collin and asked him about the weird smiley face on their chromebook. Collin said something about it being a soul that was trapped in the chromebook but Alyssa didn't believe it and went to bed. The next day at school there was a new student in computer class. The next day Sam was in the bathroom the whole day Alyssa asked them if they were skipping class too but Sam just said "nothing here is even real" Alyssa then got woken up by her alarm clock and realized that was a dream. Then they went to school. At school Sam wasn't there but by like 9AM there were a lot of sirens and noise and the kids all ran out of the classrooms. Alyssa looked the other way and it was the smiley face again. This time it was zround 9 feet tall and had claws. Alyssa and collin looked for a way to stop it and found.. One way. Collin got the materials and Alyssa lured it to the area they wanted it to be in. After they got it in the circle they said the magic word thing and boom it worked! Instead of it being a tall scary happy face it was a small 12 inch plush. It could still talk and stuff. Alyssa wanted to just throw it

outside the school. Collin wanted to keep it because it was still a "sentient" being so they wentwith Collins' idea. After that the school was "safe" But... the happy face thing We'll call it Sam because that's the name of its human disguise. So Sam said that something forced her. Alyssa asked who but Sam just said "their coming. They're mad at us 3." So Collin, Alyssa and Sam were scared. But they just ignored it because they were stupid. They said their name was Sam. Collin and Alyssa were at school And brought Sam along too and were going as normal a couple weeks after the erm incident with the happy face. They were just at lunch talking about how this new game came out until another smiley face came up. This one looked slightly human? But then the 3 just looked at it "ohhhhhh this is what you meant sam!" said alyssa but then sam said "no. its not, it's something FAR worse." The other 2 looked worried but then Collin picked up Sam and grabbed Alyssa's hand and ran. "WERE SUPPOSED TO SAVE THE SCHOOL COLLIN!" alyssa yelled but then a hologram with a computer for a head in a suit appeared in front of them "shoot its my boss you 2 be quiet sam said while alyssa was waving a lot and collin looked terrified but then the hologram talked and it said "sam why are you a plush" and sam just said "a uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh spell!" and then Alyssa just said "omg hi! You must be Sam's boss. I'm Alyssa. That's collin what's your name!?" and the hologram just looked slightlyannoyed and said "im jake" and shot a beam of light at sam making them back into their human form. Then Jake said "i'm gonna have to basically parent you 3 aren't i" while Alyssa was just jumping up and down. Then the chaos just.. Ended? No more sirens, no more of the creatures anymore, just weird silence. Until school ended. The 3 went to their treehouse and were just talking about Sam's boss Sam was cool or at least Alyssa and collin were Sam looked annoyed and said their no angel once you really know them you know" but the 2 just ignored sams warning. The next day everything seemed normal and the 3 went to gym class and were the first 3 they just waited until everybody got there and went on their phones. The next day was well.... terrible! The day started with the 3 walking in and seeing something? I'll give you a description of 5 or 6 feet tall and red glowing eyes and 4 pairs of wings. Alyssa backed away but Collin actually was brave for once. The thing zapped Sam and Sam was in this cage thing so she couldn't help the 2. So collin and alyssa just fought it no special things or luring it just fighting The next day there was a meeting about not fighting them and how they were an important thing in a council or whatever but Sam saw through it. So did the other 2 but mostly sam. They ignored it and just went to class. After school they decided to go to the park! The 3 were just playing on the swings until they got a notification on their phone. It was a text from an unknown number.. The text just said "this school is not what it seems Alyssa was just tired of the monsters and the creepy stuff they just wanted to have a normal school and life so they blocked the number. And then she got like 20 messages at once from like 6 different numbers. Most of them said something along the lines of "get help" or "run" except one of them. This one just said "I see you outside." So yeah not very good! Collin texted back to the number from Alyssa's phone and said "what do you want with us were 12" and then the text said We sense something special in you 2" And sam just yelled "WHAT ABOUT ME?" and then the text said "your already on our team sam but alyssa noticed they heard what sam said so they are actually... here. So the 3

creeped out and went home. The next day Collin wasn't there. Not because lore or anything heereeped out and went home. The next day Collin wasn't there. Not because lore or anything he just had a cold. The day went by surprisingly normal and Sam had to go to a meeting about something about earth and stuff and they asked sam to bring alyasa, Alyssa was thrilled to go but Nam was annoyed. They were at the meeting talking about stuff I guess, until the normal room changed to a weird outside lavender field. Jake just said "well im gonna be doing stuff here so bye". And the 2 were suddenly back at home.Alyssa woke up it was the first day of middle school. They were excited, they moved to this town in the summer so it'll be their first time so nobody can ruin it. They got ready quickly and walked there because it was a 6 minute walk. When they arrived something seemed off. But they ignored it and went to their first class. It was art class but they just went over the rules and then let the kids do whatever. Alyssa was drawing a character they made last year. They made friends with a kid named Collin! After art class they put the drawing in their locker and went to the computer class. It was basically a free class so they went on their computer. But something was very wrong. There was this... thing looking at her from it. It was a pixel art smiley face with white skin and a black smile. Then a text appeared that said "prepare for tomorrow:)" But before they could do anything the teacher shut their chromebook because it was time to leave. They went through the other classes skeptical because yesterday and what happened at the chromebook but ignored it after school they called Collin and asked him about the weird smiley face on their chromebook. Collin said something about it being a soul that was trapped in the chromebook but Alyssa didn't believe it and went to bed. The next day at school there was a new student in computer class. The next day Sam was in the bathroom the whole day Alyssa asked them if they were skipping class too but Sam just said "nothing here is even real" Alyssa then got woken up by her alarm clock and realized that was a dream. Then they went to school. At school Sam wasn't there but by like 9AM there were a lot of sirens and noise and the kids all ran out of the classrooms. Alyssa looked the other way and it was the smiley face again. This time it was zround 9 feet tall and had claws. Alyssa and collin looked for a way to stop it and found.. One way. Collin got the materials and Alyssa lured it to the area they wanted it to be in. After they got it in the circle they said the magic word thing and boom it worked! Instead of it being a tall scary happy face it was a small 12 inch plush. It could still talk and stuff. Alyssa wanted to just throw it

outside the school. Collin wanted to keep it because it was still a "sentient" being so they wentwith Collins' idea. After that the school was "safe" But... the happy face thing We'll call it Sam because that's the name of its human disguise. So Sam said that something forced her. Alyssa asked who but Sam just said "their coming. They're mad at us 3." So Collin, Alyssa and Sam were scared. But they just ignored it because they were stupid. They said their name was Sam. Collin and Alyssa were at school And brought Sam along too and were going as normal a couple weeks after the erm incident with the happy face. They were just at lunch talking about how this new game came out until another smiley face came up. This one looked slightly human? But then the 3 just looked at it "ohhhhhh this is what you meant sam!" said alyssa but then sam said "no. its not, it's something FAR worse." The other 2 looked worried but then Collin picked up Sam and grabbed Alyssa's hand and ran. "WERE SUPPOSED TO SAVE THE SCHOOL COLLIN!" alyssa yelled but then a hologram with a computer for a head in a suit appeared in front of them "shoot its my boss you 2 be quiet sam said while alyssa was waving a lot and collin looked terrified but then the hologram talked and it said "sam why are you a plush" and sam just said "a uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh spell!" and then Alyssa just said "omg hi! You must be Sam's boss. I'm Alyssa. That's collin what's your name!?" and the hologram just looked slightlyannoyed and said "im jake" and shot a beam of light at sam making them back into their human form. Then Jake said "i'm gonna have to basically parent you 3 aren't i" while Alyssa was just jumping up and down. Then the chaos just.. Ended? No more sirens, no more of the creatures anymore, just weird silence. Until school ended. The 3 went to their treehouse and were just talking about Sam's boss Sam was cool or at least Alyssa and collin were Sam looked annoyed and said their no angel once you really know them you know" but the 2 just ignored sams warning. The next day everything seemed normal and the 3 went to gym class and were the first 3 they just waited until everybody got there and went on their phones. The next day was well.... terrible! The day started with the 3 walking in and seeing something? I'll give you a description of 5 or 6 feet tall and red glowing eyes and 4 pairs of wings. Alyssa backed away but Collin actually was brave for once. The thing zapped Sam and Sam was in this cage thing so she couldn't help the 2. So collin and alyssa just fought it no special things or luring it just fighting The next day there was a meeting about not fighting them and how they were an important thing in a council or whatever but Sam saw through it. So did the other 2 but mostly sam. They ignored it and just went to class. After school they decided to go to the park! The 3 were just playing on the swings until they got a notification on their phone. It was a text from an unknown number.. The text just said "this school is not what it seems Alyssa was just tired of the monsters and the creepy stuff they just wanted to have a normal school and life so they blocked the number. And then she got like 20 messages at once from like 6 different numbers. Most of them said something along the lines of "get help" or "run" except one of them. This one just said "I see you outside." So yeah not very good! Collin texted back to the number from Alyssa's phone and said "what do you want with us were 12" and then the text said We sense something special in you 2" And sam just yelled "WHAT ABOUT ME?" and then the text said "your already on our team sam but alyssa noticed they heard what sam said so they are actually... here. So the 3

creeped out and went home. The next day Collin wasn't there. Not because lore or anything heereeped out and went home. The next day Collin wasn't there. Not because lore or anything he just had a cold. The day went by surprisingly normal and Sam had to go to a meeting about something about earth and stuff and they asked sam to bring alyasa, Alyssa was thrilled to go but Nam was annoyed. They were at the meeting talking about stuff I guess, until the normal room changed to a weird outside lavender field. Jake just said "well im gonna be doing stuff here so bye". And the 2 were suddenly back at home.

wow this fan made continuation of the alyssa story is just the alyssa story pasted five times that's so clever and deep. i'm going to write my own alyssa story now you have inspired me

[invincible-selfxmade-punk]

I made it through the day thanks to the 40 oz of iced coffee I had this morning

These kids do not listen. And it does not help that I have a group that requires accommodations. Now last year that really meant nothing other than some were dyslexic and needed a text to speech feature. This year it means that half of them cannot read or write. In with this group is a boy who is one of the most obnoxious 9-year-olds I have ever met. He has to argue with you about everything. No matter what you say he will say it is not true or he seen it or he knows it or his grandmother told him or whatever. Before, when we would have benchmarks and test runs he would argue, comment, generally say things out of the blue and off of the top of his head and not stop talking until we basically just would have to tell him to shut up. And the other test I had someone with me who well she did help but at the same time she left and do stuff that she knew they were not supposed to be doing so it wasn't the greatest but it was an extra set of longs to tell them to stop talking. Anyway he was not with me today I have 2 weeks I'm telling this kid you cannot talk to me and I cannot talk to you during this test he continued to ask me every 20 minutes either what time lunch was or what time it was. I am almost positive his computer had a clock on it.

My group finished pretty early, mainly because I knew they were not taking the time to read every single story and we're just clicking buttons. They were fine until lunch and when we stop to break at lunch I could not get control of them again. When testing resumed even though no one in our class needed to continue testing we were surrounded by rooms of kids that did. I could not get these kids to shut up. And Aid came in and told them to shut up and they ignored it. The assistant principal came in and told them there are still people testing you have got to be quiet you are disturbing them. They ignored it. In fact I had to tell them to get quiet because they were talking over everything the assistant principal said. Finally the principal himself came in and finally they got quiet. But it's like they won't take your word off for it they won't do anything you say they just keep pushing back until maybe seven or eight people told them the exact same thing and then maybe they'll decide to comply. I cannot imagine what these kids are going to be like when they grow up.

Ugh.

I am so glad we only have one of these tests per week. I am DONE