Arkcher

One of my friends told me about a dream he had a few days ago. an alleged nightmare in which He went to church and EVERYone there was wearing identical neckties to his own. And he woke up crying for some reason. yeah. i thought it was silly.

Actually I have been learning an enormous amount. I will post a nutshell version if you would like. Please do! Hamsters need things to do. So, I would be asking how many things there are in her cage. Does she have lots and lots of things to entertain her? How does he feed her? For example, my hammie friends have corn cobbies, lava triangles, apple wood sticks, popcorn sticks, loofah chews, and a bunch of other food things to keep them entertained. Of the ones mentioned, they each have at least two of each item. Then there are lots of other things for them to do and I rotate the items. I have lots and lots of tubes, a maze, various areas to hide-out, a sleeping triangle, a paper climbing thingy, stuff in the cage to play with such as wheel, other climby things and many chew items. Every night, all the hammies get out and run in the ball with all the other hammies. When they get back into their cage, they have a healthy treat placed on top of their always full food bowl. Raw peanuts and sunflower seeds, are treats that they have to work at to get to the good stuff. I always try and keep them interested and entertained. Of course these hammies rule and the second I put them back into their cage, they head straight for their bowls. Another reason for the hammie to gain weight. As a female, she is storing food to prepare herself for when she has babies. In the wild, this is the action she would be taking prior to having babies. I would actually have to see a picture to know exactly how obese she really is. For example, I had a female who was over 200 grams. She was really big, but this was in the prime of her hammie bearing life. As she gets older, she is losing weight. I see. I wonder if Arkcher forgot about this. XD Probably. naw, I have a tendency to lurk about message boards. Half the message boards I go to Im not even registered for, just never post, so It may come a surprise that I read a lot of topics here, never post, this is the most visited and used site of my bookmarks. or at least its way up there.

[iTS TRUUUUEE! D: ]

*~*The Grand Illusion*~*The Final Cut*~* I wish I could help you, because I ought to repay you for helping me out and giving me advice all the time. But I can't think of anything right now. *~*The psychedelic Luau*~*The astronomy Domine*~* I feel the same way, and really feel obligated but cant think of anything awesome. D=

well, Im not sure what to say about it. What I'd try to do is meet the other guy here, and get on his good side and try to be friends with him. such would prevent any future bashings or destroying of properties as I've seen locally around here. (my sisters boyfriends little brother got his truck keyed, windshield smashed and egged inside and out over something like this.) but other than that, I dont know what to suggest other than just watch things go on their own. for the time being. and watch for potential issues.

['cause Rodney is an arse, and probably intended this to be a silly prank but knowing him it was probably taken too far, and that was all that Eric needed to just lose it.] [though I wont lie about it, All this story was for is so I could write about those two last scenes. just thought of it as a pretty fun thing to write about, despite how depressing it may be, so... yeah, just some of the highlighted scenes were essentially all this story was written for. but who knows, i might continue it. right now I have no plan to do so, however.]

I think you, - Kat - and Arkcher will the prize for thinking of most of it, I get just about 2%. And that is on a good day. lolwut

[Potentially the last post! .. i told you it was short.] The same thing happened over two more days. Eric would check on his crops one more time, hoping dearly they would last. They were due out late today. He didn’t dare hurry the process, treating these beets as if they were fragile, sentient… He caught himself again. He had work to do, and stood up and walked away from his cottage once more. Two more caskets left, and undoubtably the queue would rise up this day. Over a short period of time as two days, he had already repeated the process of making caskets, taking a sorrowed family and their deceased north for a few hours as they were buried. Riding back with one family who generally stayed out of everyones way, back where they wouldn’t be disturbed, they were devastated by three of their family’s passing. Eric glanced behind himself, at the wagon the horses were pulling, and the few remaining of the family quietly rode together, enjoying each others company which may not last much longer. Eric felt their pain. His family was not doing well either. … This reminded him, that not a few days ago he was often visited by Jacob, his brother, but recently he hasn’t heard from Jacob or his mother. With two from his family gone already by means of this plague, he could only hope that it would not affect them any longer. Eric pulled the reins, slowed the steeds and let the accompanying family off, wishing them well. Not sticking around much longer, he turned himself around and rode off faster than usual toward his mother’s home… The fireplace was producing a smokestack as usual. Things looked well… While Eric was here, he decided to stop in and greet them, just check on them… Hoping that this may raise his spirits somewhat, he walked up the small porch and knocked on the door. He could hear a hushed voice inside, but no movement. He knocked again, before reaching for the door and opening it. Eric’s eyes widened, the furniture and household items were knocked over and messy, leaving a large clearing in the one room lower floor, which bore two people… Eric’s mother, kneeling down by Jacob who was sprawled about, face up. Eric said nothing, but loudly stepped toward her to let his presence be known. He stepped back upon seeing his brother- He was twitching and shaking violently, with a thick black liquid manifest from his mouth, nose, ears and eyes. Eric covered his mouth, mainly in shock but in hopes of not breathing the violently contaminated air. His surprised eyes turned toward his mother, who was leaning over her son, and looked up at the elder of two, looking aghast. She was crying uncontrollably, but with multiple inflammations and infections on her own body, most bearing a signature dark purple and black color, and traces of her own blood were visible around her mouth. Neither she or Jacob would live to see another daylight. With mixed emotions, Eric continued staring with his breath withheld, now realizing this was the last time he would see either of them alive. He could not comfort them. He could not hug them. He could not do anything to help them in the least without giving himself the same grim demise. He didn’t know what to do. Should he? He has the chance to keep himself alive, for however long it may be, but it would save him this physical pain which would accompany this emotional pain. Unsure if it was the right thing to do, Eric turned around, and walked out the door, giving his family their last moment together. The rest of the town needed Eric and Ralph. He boarded the stagecoach once more, and solemnly rode back toward his cottage, his haven from this world of increasing grief. Eric had one last hope of getting his mind off of all this… As he slowly rode through the muddy dirt road, he passed one particular man. Rodney, the town’s entertainer, stood tall, smiling, briskly walking along. “That’s all of them, Mr. Packub!” Eric looked down at Rodney as they crossed. That’s all of them? Rodney was usually one for keeping peoples spirits high with humor, the occasional mischievous prank that kept everyone amused. Not amused in the least, Eric rode on, giving Rodney’s appearance little thought. Perhaps he meant to say that it was over… the plague had passed? No more burials, dead families to take care of? That’s all of the people that were to be affected by this terrible event? Eric’s cottage came in to view, with his crops behind it. The stagecoach stopped along side the road near his home, and Eric strode to his beets and vegetable garden. Awestruck, Eric scanned the field for any sign of his food. Every single vegetable had been extracted and taken. Having stood strong and immovable all this time, Eric Packub fell to his knees, and let it all out. Rage, Sorrow, Grief, Fury, It all came out in one long crying shout, Eric, the one who had kept himself in line and stable, the one who had worked endless hours on caskets for half of the town’s population, now dead, He was the one who worked so hard and kept going despite the barrage of deceased family and friends, And this is the payment he gets for all of this?! He… now understood just what was meant by the haunting words, “That’s all of them, Mr. Packub.” His store of food and raiment was gone. Eric leaned forward, catching himself with his hands before falling to the ground, continuing his wails of despair… [This is as far as i've written, lacking any further inspiration on what to happen next. so until further notice, this story is OVER with a very not-happy ending.]

[yeah, so, I have the whole story written out by now, but the ending i have right now doesnt really solve anything so I might rewrite it sometime.] The next morning, the weather was slightly warmer. Eric couldn’t keep himself from worrying over his small crops, as they were vital to the seasonal supply of food, which never turned out very well in their town. Despite this, he found himself alone in the workshop once more, faced with a task he was not used to. He was the only one who could do it… but he couldn’t bring himself to make a casket for his younger sister. With every stroke of the handsaw, as it wore through the lumber, each cut brought back another memory of him with his family. He never realized how much he had loved his sister until now, but… it was too late. At such a young age, too… Eric shook his head after a long moment, and cleared his mind to concentrate on his work. Forcing the thoughts from his head, he continued cutting the wood in to the shape of a lass. He looked down at it, feeling that it was of finer quality than he had anticipated. It was sufficient for a youth great as Elizabeth. Struggling to keep focus, he carried the casket and lid out to a four-horse carriage he had rented, and placed it in the back, and slowly rode toward his family’s house, his heart aching. Rocked from side to side by the uneven roads, he looked up at the sky. He was never one for being religious, but the thought of a plague had brought him new ideas. Was God there? He could be, and this is a punishment of sorts for immoral conduct which was certainly no scarcity. Or perhaps God was not there, and this is a simple course of nature… Pondering for only a short moment longer, he dismounted the stopped carriage and approached his family’s house. He raised a hand to open the door, but before he could, it slowly opened out of his way. And inside stood the mournful mother, and her youngest child Jacob, who accordingly looked rather sorrowful. Eric did his best to keep an orderly conduct, while he couldn’t keep himself from showing emotion, he didn’t want to lose control or sight of his objective. He wanted this to pass quickly and painlessly. “Eric…” “It’s alright, Mother.” The two of them drew closer and hugged once more. “No, Eric…” She continued, “… its Father, as well.” --- Against his better judgement to have proper ceremonies for both members of his family, Eric had not choice but to take care of his younger sister and his own father at the same time. He opened the door to his workshop once more, now revealing Ralph, Eric’s assistant. Ralph was already working hard on what was unmistakably a casket as well. Larger than what Eric had made in the past. Tears dripped from Ralph’s face on to the unfinished project, which looked the right size for a toddler. Wordlessly, the two made eye contact, feeling each others pain. Eric didn’t hesitate, he gathered some lumber and started on the hardest bit of work he had done in all his life… Again, every cut with the hand saw brought back memories. His father had always been there for him. Eric, strong and immovable as he was, looked up to his father and always turned to his insightful views for direction and guidance. He was no longer there for him. Or for Mother. Oh, what she must feel about all of this… After what seemed to be an eternity of sawing and nailing a large casket together, Eric looked down at his work. He was not smiling this time. It was nothing extraordinary, but he could see it serving its purpose well. “… I’m sorry, Eric.” The teary-eyed Ralph came up behind his mentor, and with a hand on his shoulder looked at both finished works. “I’m heading out north to the cemetery. I can take you and… … along with me…” Eric’s voice trembled for a moment, but he caught himself. His father never wavered, always stood strong and moral, immovable, and knew the time and place for everything. Now, It was Eric’s turn to fulfill that role. His family needed him, now more than ever. Eric felt worse about himself, now in the cemetery, about how he didn’t have the means to take a pastor or priest with him to give a proper burial. Regardless, he solemnly performed the burial, looking at the new graves fondly. He sighed, and looked off to the side at Ralph, who was doing the same thing. Neither of the two bore their usual cheery countenance, something that they weren’t used to seeing. They depended on the other to keep them happy, have some positive input when the other was going through a hard time. “We should head back to town.” Eric announced, before he got too sentimental. Wordlessly, the two got back in to the stagecoach rode back in to town, but to an unpleasant sight. Five or six of the towns citizens were wandering about the streets, as if searching for something. As Eric approached, the townsfolk hurried around his carriage, almost all at once despairingly requesting caskets for their passed family members as well. This was not looking well.

IS VERY IMPORTANT o:

[o: What is this? It is posting two updates before Horatio could get on and mod one of them! This is blasphemy! This is madness! THIS IS CAKETOWN] Eric found himself looking out at his small garden later that night. He directed the doctors toward his family, only hoping he could heal them. The doctor had a strange attire. They insisted that if they would treat his family, they must do so in a specific outfit, sporting a bird mask and a beak protruding from the front, containing many herbs and spices to ward off the plague or filter it out of the air. It religiously symbolized something, but Eric didn’t stick around to find out what. He concernedly looked over his crops, mainly consisting of beets. Nobody he knew liked beets. They were very cheap, however, about the only thing he could afford to grow. A select few of them had wilted leaves sticking up from the ground. The few that remained wouldn’t be sweet, but they would have to suffice as food nonetheless. Eric sighed, now realizing just how cold it was outside. He turned around and walked toward the front door, but a voice behind him caught his attention. He turned around, and his little brother Jacob was calling after him while running toward him. “Jacob! What is it now?” Eric knelt down to the oncoming lad as he approached, only to see tears shining about his reddened face. “Eric! Eh… eliz.. Elizabeth…” Jacob stuttered between sniffling. “Mother says.. that Elizabeth died.” Jacob lost control over himself and began crying, and hugged his elder brother. Eric was some 21 years old, and accordingly had enough experience to make him emotionally strong, but… This, and the foreseeable future events may just wear him down…

The next day started off as expected. There was a thin coat of snow on the ground, with small flurries still floating about the grey skies and leafless trees. Eric checked his garden once more, and headed for his workshop. Ralph was nowhere to be seen. His late arrival would be acceptable, though, with his family sick... Eric worked alone for several hours, often taking breaks to throw scrap wood in to the present oven and warm himself up, the wind chill from the windows got to him. Shivering, he heard a knock at the door. Relieved, he called out "Come on in, Ralph." The door slowly opened, but not to reveal his assistant, rather Eric's younger brother. "Jacob? what are you doing out in this weather?" "Mother sent me for you. She wants to see you very soon." Not expecting this, Eric stood up, and looked about his workshop. He shouldnt be gone for very long, his mother knows well that he should be working right now... "Alright. Lets go." Trudging through the frosted dirt road, the two were reminded of the waning quality of their shoes, their feet became frigid with the chilling weather and puddles found along the road that they failed to step around. But in short time, their large cabin soon came in view around the trees. A smokestack rose high overhead, their fireplace actively being used. Emerging through the door, Eric's mother anxiously hurried them inside and closed the door behind them. "Hello. ... What's... going on?" Eric questioned, looking around to see nothing out of the ordinary. "Eric, your father and Elizabeth are both terribly ill. I don’t know what to do…” “Well, I’m certainly not a doctor…” Eric thought aloud, looking over the room once more expecting to see his family. “They’re upstairs…” His mother looked more distraught than she would over something simple as sickness. “… is.. there something I should know?” She nodded, grimacing. “Jacob, stay down here for a moment…” She motioned for Eric to follow, and he acted accordingly as they both went upstairs. In the spare bedroom were two beds, occupied by a small body and a large body. “… They’re both very ill.” Eric didn’t speak. “… but what scares me the most is that I think…” Tears formed in her eyes. Eric looked at her, concerned. “I think it’s the black plague!” She lowered her voice to a fast whisper, and covered her mouth as if uttering something blasphemous by speaking. Eric’s eyes widened, certainly taken aback by this, but also reminded of Ralph and his family. Looking more distressed, Eric’s mother threw her arms around him and sobbed quietly, muffled by his embrace. Not wanting to draw attention to them, Eric led her out of the room and in to an unoccupied one. “Don’t worry, we have an apothecary in town. We’ll let them know. They can heal them!” Eric spoke, trying to get his mother’s attention. She looked up hopefully, apparently that had slipped her mind. [Potential oh noes! Potential hurrah! WHAT WILL HAPPEN o: ]

[wow. This was going to be just a short segment of a story, just a few pages long, but I've been able to make it MUCH longer than I expected. so I'd estimate this to take about five updates worth of content. Going in a bit of a different direction with this story, so let me know what you think. but I can tell you right now its probably not quite as historically accurate as the common non-fiction story. Im just using a real kind of scenario.] Late 1349 Eric Packub, one of two carpenters in a small isolated village in western Europe, had finished another woodwork project. For about three days he had been working on a bedframe, and he proudly stepped back and looked over his work. He couldn't help but smile, it was nothing extraordinary, but he could see it serving its purpose well. "Ralph! I've finished it. Come give me a hand." Eric called to his assistant, his voice ringing through the small workshop he spent so much time in. After a few seconds, the lad emerged from behind a doorway, standing tall at age 18. "Come, lets take this to the back room." Wordlessly, the two hoisted the frame up, tilted it to the side and carried it out and in to a storage room. Eric glanced back at Ralph, and noticed a rather malaised countenance. "Are you alright, Ralph?" "Yeah, I'm... simply concerned. Mother has told me that my younger sister has come down very ill." "Hmm. Uh, Victoria, am I right?" "Yes, sir." "If memory serves right, she's a good friend of my younger sister as well, Elizabeth?" "That sounds right, yes..." The two lowered the bed frame down, looking down on it. "Well, I hope this doesn't get spread around too much." The two reflected on past events, recalling disease affecting their humble town's population. "Ah, I... wonder what time it is..." Eric looked out the nearest window and saw the sun close to setting. "Wow, I need to head out. See you tomorrow, Ralph. Thanks for your help." With that, the two left the workshop, and Eric strode enthusiastically toward his cottage just down the road. He had only just moved out to a home of his own, being age 23 or so. Being one of two carpenters in town, he expected to have a lot of business and work to do, but... well, with that few workers, there weren't many other people to serve. Eric turned just around his cottage to his small field behind his home, growing various vegetables. He felt it necessary to keep a store of food, especially with winter fast approaching. Eric knelt down by some of his garden, feeling the vegetation peeking out from the frost-covered soil. He could only pray that his garden could survive the two days left before he could extract his food. Unsure if they would survive, he stood up, and retired to his bed for the night, wearied from recent happenings. He still lived alone, but anxiously awaited the time when he could find a fiancée, but... He didn't have the means or time to travel, and this small town had limited choices, so to speak.

Popular? I was thinking it was all about the money. People learn to live with it because it is cheap. Windows isnt the cheapest OS. They're pretty costly, but any distribution of Linux... 0$. completely free. every time.

Im not sure how computer-savvy you are, so ask if I confuse you. You have a dual-core processor, which is better than what I have. and with 2GB of RAM, you should NOT be having any issues at ALL. My guess is that unless you have some high-powered antivirus and protection of the like, then thats whats slowing you down. If you reformat your C drive, after backing up your necessary files of course, I assure you that you'll get drastic improvement on your computers performance. The kind of things you're describing match that of my dads laptop- 350MHz processor, 64MB RAM. some odd 3GB drive. Something highpowered like that should NOT be acting that slow, so get some backups and reformat.

Also: Look in to Linux, if Windows is giving you too much trouble.

yeah, That may not be the OS. Its probably your hardware. What kind of computer are you running? (processor, RAM, etc.) As for Alt and Ctrl... Ctrl shortcuts are traditionally program/window related. Ctrl+C, copy, Ctrl+V, paste, Ctrl+Esc, start menu, Ctrl+A, Select All, Ctrl N, new, The list goes on. They are more oriented toward works on the focused window/program. Alt shortcuts are OS-oriented. Alt+F4, close window, alt+tab, switch windows, and... honestly, I dont use Alt shortcuts very often. On occasion, the program you're running will use both shortcut keys, but by default the aforementioned system is how it works.

wow. That happens to me all the time, with the camera and things happening in the other direction. and then not getting a video. by the time you start recording a video, whatever it was stopped or moved. D=

I saw it, but inconveniently stole your attention. D= PEAPLE'S HALP CHEESEMAN

*~*The Grand Illusion*~*The Final Cut*~* In other news: Ghost and Turtle french kissed. Guess who they told first. *~*The Psychedelic Luau*~*The Astronomy Domine~* And in case you were wondering, I have had people say that the stupid definitions above would count as a date, yes.

o: But why not now?

Well, I'm bored and want to get some conversation here going. so I'll ask a question for everyone to answer in their own words. What kind of event counts as a date? Does it count as a date if a guy and a girl hang out with each other? Does it count as a date if a group of friends go casually to see a movie? Does it count as a date if a girl suggests that one of her friends who happens to be a guy, should come to her house and play board games? Does it count as a date if a guy and a girl watch a movie at home together, just as friends... Would it count as a date, in the same scenario, but they both held hands? Does it count as a group date if three girls and three guys went to a putt-putt together? Does it count as a group date if three girls and three guys went to a concert together? Does it count as a group date if three girls and three guys were in the same activity, but paired off? Or if a group of friends all attended a casual dance? Should the same group of friends attend a dance, but paired off with each other? Or the same group of friends, but in a formal dance (prom, for example)? Do they have to like each other? Do they have to formally be a boyfriend/girlfriend? Does the location or activity have anything to do with it? Would physical attraction have any effect? Say two childhood friends, both sophomores, and had met in kindergarten. They're the best of friends, grew up together. They went to an amusement park. Are they on a date? About everyone I've talked to has a different definition of what a date is. Some people say that it only counts as dating if they mutually like each other. Going by that rule, say a girl had good friends at school who were guys. They go to each others houses and have fun. Their respective boyfriends and girlfriends are not allowed in their house, That would be dating...? But their regular friends... are different how? So, What do you, in your own words, define as a date? List one or two scenarios to contrast what dating is and what dating is not. Elaborate.

Amid talking to some of my friends, the subject of our childhood pets was brought up. I made a few mentions of my hamsters and guinea pigs and cats, and one of my friends laughed at the memory of about having seven hamsters in the past, but the most recent one died of obesity. He said that he just filled up her dish with seeds and pellets, the usual, and over time she'd eat it faster and faster, until about the whole dish was empty within two minutes. She ended up about 2/3s the size of his hand, a rather blubberous furball that could hardly walk before it just stopped moving. i dunno, I just thought it was funny. Horatio have any input as to why that would have happened and if there was anything to prevent it?

I would hate to think that it was partially my fault that he left. Likewise... D=

I just had a pretty wierd dream last night. Myself along with about five of my local friends were inexplicably playing some variation of hide and seek. ... something that 16-year-olds dont traditionally do. but regardless, about three of us were all running around a big building giggling like maniacs, opening various doors to search the room, and talking to each other the whole way. ... To my knowledge, I dont think we found anyone. but I was running around and saw a lot of my friends doing the same thing. Every fifteen minutes or so, I would, for some reason, find the bathrooms of this mysterious building, and try to use them but... well, someone with a striking resemblance toward Jay Lenno was standing in front of the door, talking to another man, who looked very uninterested. so rather than break up their merry conversation I'd just go back and search through some rooms, for something, presumably my friends. Only to find that none of the rooms we had searched were there. The doors were in different places, and accordingly all the rooms were different. I found a vast, HUGE... broom closet, full of cleaning supplies and countless mops and buckets. Deciding that to be pretty weird, I went back and in to another door, and it was some form of multi-purpose room, with the content of an army recruitment... meeting, or something. After wondering what it is we were looking for, an intercom announced the game to be over and for everyone to make their way toward the bathrooms. so I did, and Jay Lenno was still there with whoever it was, along with about 20 other teenagers who were involved with this wierd game, none of which I recognized but they all knew me pretty well and decided I should be one of two team captains for the next game of... then I woke up. it was very weird.