What do you assign to Orthanc?

[Eönwë]

First Bonaparte commanded the international North Army against Napoleon

Wouldn't that be a bit hard to do?

[skip spence]

Surely you mean Bernadotte and not Bonaparte?

and no, the only fighting that the danes did was against the english in the so called "gunboat war". I think you are mixing up the napoleonic wars with some of the earlier Dano-Swedish wars.

Anyways we should move this talk to PMs

Yeah, let's do that. You will receive a PM later on.:)

And yes, I got my Frenchmen mixed up, obviously.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

I'm missing a Tolkien connection in these last posts - please do take off-topic discussions to PM. Thanks! :)

[Oddwen]

Club remixes of a rather...profane...rant. It amuses me rather more than it should.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Crows. I love listening to them greet dawn en masse, but they started this morning at 4:53.

They're an hour and a half early. It's only March.

[Lalwendë]

Crows. I love listening to them greet dawn en masse, but they started this morning at 4:53.

They're an hour and a half early. It's only March.

I love Crows. There's a clan of them living on our office building. They have a big tree in the 'crocodile pit' light well in the middle with two nests in it and two more perched on the ledges, and if you go high enough you can see in to the eggs. They're deadly territorial though, one of them perches above the entrance doors and shrieks at people coming into the building :cool:

Crebain of Government Land! Run for your lives! Heh.

[Mithalwen]

Having beloved books returned after a loan so long you had given up hope of return.... Only not in the Shire because I spent the time I should have devoted to house and garden to rereading....

[Brinniel]

New England weather, which can be very confusing at times. We had some beautiful weather the past few days, which was quite refreshing after months of wearing jackets. Then yesterday the high got to 93F (34C), which was in fact a bit too hot and very unusual for April. Today it's supposed to only get to 59F (15C). How on earth can the temperature be cut in half (and a little more) in 24 hours? :eek: Okay, I know New England weather does tend to be bipolar (much like my hometown of Boise actually), but c'mon this is a bit extreme. Can Mother Nature please decide whether it's spring or summer already?

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

I assign getting a new computer, normally I'd assign this to the Shire, but my lovely father put parental controls on that thing, so now I can only go on at certain times. It also doesn't have internet on it yet, probably will b in a couple of days though.

[Mithalwen]

Customer Services - I phoned 3 lots today. The two where I was ordering / checking progress were super-efficient friendly and helpful. The one I needed to complain about I was hanging on for ages waiting for an operative to be free before I gave up. Funny that :rolleyes:

[Nerwen]

Brushtail possums. They have to be one of the most easily-tamed species on Earth, they're terribly cute as babies and even as adults... and they rip tiles off your roof, eat all your plants (including cacti) and fight with each other all night.

If you're ever in Melbourne and you hear what sounds like a leopard snarling in the night... that would be a possum. Cobra-like hiss? That's another possum that doesn't like the first possum. Horrible, ear-piercing screeching that would put a Nazgûl to shame? The two possums have decided to settle their differences by beating the living daylights out of each other.

Oh, and that's not really a horse galloping up and down on the roof in the middle of the night, just a possum running to... I don't know, express the joy of possum-hood. Or something.

A couple got in through a hole they've made behind the stove and rampaged around my kitchen at about three a.m. this morning. I'll have to do something about that. Like build a new wall.:(

~Nerwen the Sleepless.

[TheOrcWithNoName]

new fangled flat-screen TVs, their huge & overly complex remote controls and the user manual with almost as many pages as The Two Towers.

All I wanna do is plug-in & watch straight from the box, and not spend a life-time sorting out another bunch of cables, scart sockets, RGBs. USBs and a partridge in a pear tree!

Enough of the fancy specs, just give me something functional. Basically, keep it simple, stupid

[Thinlómien]

Computer and xbox and whatever games. They're entertaining but darn time-consuming.

Eurovision Song Contest (I know I've assigned this before) - it's so stupid but such great entertainment! :D

Analysis of poetry. I find it fascinating but some parts of it I just don't understand whatever I do.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Lommy, I second the Eurovision Song Contest - the musical quality is nowhere near as good as the entertainment value! :D

[TheOrcWithNoName]

Lommy, I second the Eurovision Song Contest - the musical quality is nowhere near as good as the entertainment value! :D

I only ever bothered with ESC for the dry wit & cynicism of Terry Wogan.


Replacement Graham Norton, was okay last night but on current form not quite in Wogan's league.

As for the songs? What Songs!

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Computer and xbox and whatever games. They're entertaining but darn time-consuming.

Eurovision Song Contest (I know I've assigned this before) - it's so stupid but such great entertainment! :D

Analysis of poetry. I find it fascinating but some parts of it I just don't understand whatever I do.

I don't think the consept is stupid.

It is just odd that it has to be so tacky all the time. . .

I don't get the people that hate it, and I don't get the peope that are fanatics, I guess Orthanc is just the place for it.

[Eönwë]

Having to stay up late to do coursework... it's late.. but its also kinda fun. (See time now)

[Lindale]

Reaching a conclusion for my literary criticism ii paper... which says that with a certain bestseller young adult short story collection published by our University Press interpellates kids (mostly our univ students) that militants, politically active kids, and kids whose sexual preferences are not strictly heterosexual are to be ignored and are basically an insignificant lot... even though in our college, for example, there is a dearth of straight guys and militants and rallies and demonstrations are part of our lives. Incidentally, the author of the collection is a graduate of our creative writing program.

And my teacher for that subject is a big name in the university press.

[TheOrcWithNoName]

Predictive text on mobile phones

Yes I understand the principles of how it works, but personally I hate using it because it hardly ever gives the words I'm looking for

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

A job offer (finally)...

...that doesn't start until August.

[Lindale]

Getting sick with a mild strain of H1N1... a ten-day vacation that gave me an imperative to clean my room (which it needs badly), spray Lysol all over, and rethink my life, as well as a bit of fever and cough and colds. On the other hand, I miss classes and opportunities to hit our library for my thesis.

[Eönwë]

Thunder.

[Formendacil]

Absent-mindedly noticing the next WW game has started, and--yet again--you're not playing... which is sad, because you miss WW, but is actually awesome, because you realise that, for the first summer in recorded history, you actually wouldn't have time.

Or, to phrase it in a less Downs-centric manner: having a summer social life should be assigned to Orthanc.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Animal shelters.

On one hand, all of the pets I've ever had have been adoptees that needed love, and shelters are full of awesome people who work really hard and don't get nearly enough credit for the amazing work that they do.

On the other hand, I can't take every pet in that I come across and I always feel guilty for not being able to adopt them all.

[Lindale]

The University of the Philippines lost in the cheerdancing competition today. Well, not really lost lost, we just slid from being two-year champions to second runner-up.

We had a tarp, "UP is way beyond the Gold Standard," gold being the color of our rival for the top notch, University of Santo Tomas. When I dropped my attendance card, a UST person picked it up, returned it to me, but gave me a severe sermon about the arrogance of UP, whose tuitions are paid for by them, the taxpayers. He even said something to the effect that they, the Dominicans, are taught good manners while us liberal/free-thinkers have forgotten what sportsmanship is. I was so humiliated, for something that I was not directly at fault. But I did learn a very great lesson in humility.

UST didn't even make it.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

caused by knowing too many people with the same name.

Bad part: thinking my favorite paternal cousin was spontaneously getting married next summer even though it's wildly out of character and really a terrible idea (I was talking to his mom, hence associating the right name with the wrong person).

Good part: the massive flood of relief that came when he responded to my frantic e-mail ("Your mom just said you're getting married. WHAT!? When?! I want details. Spill!") with a lot of laughter.

I thought I was going to have to talk that boy out of some pretty serious stuff. :eek:

[Lalaith]

Added responsibilities at work that bring you a small increase in salary, and that you know will be good for your career prospects long-term, but are so time-consuming that you no longer have a life.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Shameless sequels to already trashy movies. Specifically sequels with all new actors for the same characters, because presumably the original actors had too much pride to take part in the new version.

So fun to watch... So terrible... Such awful acting...

Kinda like the mental equivalent of eating a popsicle.

[Lindale]

Dad eating my precious champorado (http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Champorado). I kept looking for hours where the big pan full of that gooey brown stuff was, until he asked me what I was looking for, and said he ate the entire pan. :(

To add insult to the injury, he also said my cooking was way too sweet, and that I used coffee creamer instead of real milk. He shouldn't complain, when I was cooking I asked if anybody wanted some, and he said he didn't want any!

[Formendacil]

I assign seriously contemplating major life changes to Orthanc. On the one hand, I haven't felt this alive in months.... on the other hand, I haven't had this much sheer fear (aka adrenaline) in my blood stream in months...

*panics*

[Thinlómien]

*hugs Form* It'll be fine.

On the same topic, I assign future. (Philosophical eh?) I should start thinking about picking minors (and thus what I want to do in my life) and student exchanges and whatnot, and it's very exciting but also extremely stressful...

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

The progress I made on my BA-project today. While it was nice actually getting my thoughts organized, it also made me realised just how much work i need to do before I can really start the writting process.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

I also assign google maps.

I think it is amazing that you can navigate arround through the street of cities like New York and London on street level and I am exited that I managed to locate both "my" pub and "my" pizza place in New York, but it also makes me sad that I am not actually there.

[Hakon]

You do not want to be on google maps street view. I read an article a while back about a man in I think it was London who was caught peeing in public. He was only caught because of google maps street view.

[Mithalwen]

The tax return deadline. For some reason even though I have had all documents necessary since May, all those documents located and in a file together with the forms for a couple of weeks, it is only today that I have filled in the dozen necessary boxes (most of which were for routine information like telephone number and only two involved any calculation at all). It took well under an hour including photocopying, triple checking against previous years and finding sellotape to stick the defective envelope. Yet even though I knew there were postal strikes imminent I left it until I needed to cough up for special delivery to ensure peace of mind. Crazy.

[Thinlómien]

I assign deadlines.

I know I need them but it's not nice at all when they coincide. :(

[Lindale]

Grades. I know I deserve a Satisfactory for a subject I slept half the time in, but I poured my heart and soul into that one paper the teacher required, and I have very high confidence in it. But perhaps the prof didn't like me sleeping while pretending to be reading :(

[Aganzir]

I assign poetry analysis. Yeah, there are days you just wouldn't like to delve any deeper than necessary in any work of literature; days you would do anything rather than start writing that essay. But when you eventually grasp what the poet means by her choice of words, or why it is that this one line has been bothering you so - it's pretty awesome, and more or less makes up for all the trouble you have to go through.

[Bêthberry]

Spamming inboxes in a fit of silly boredom. :Merisu: :eek: :o

[Mithalwen]

Trying out some reading glasses and realising that not only is your eyesight failing but you aren't aging quite as well as you fondly imagined because you can now see the first hint of fine lines. Not sure not having to peer at things is compensation enough for that double whammy... :(

[Pitchwife]

I assign binge-cleaning to Orthanc. The satisfation you feel when you've finally exterminated the gathered dust and grime of months, the guilty knowledge that you might have spared yourself a lot of exertion with only a little regular maintenance, and your realism telling you that you're not bloody likely to act on this commendable insight in the future...:rolleyes:

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Winning an election on a general level, but loosing on a personal.

[Andsigil]

The ubiquity of sordid commercials for "Girls Gone Wild" and Extenze.

[kementari]

Wish they were vanished to Orthanc and never unearthed...Don't want to be reminded of my bills!

[Loslote]

I assign skiing on a lake, looking down, and realizing that the lake wasn't actually frozen. :eek: Still, it was a beautiful day.

[Hakon]

I assign skiing on a lake, looking down, and realizing that the lake wasn't actually frozen. :eek: Still, it was a beautiful day.

Are you okay? What exactly happened? It sounds like a good story.

[Pitchwife]

I assign skiing on a lake, looking down, and realizing that the lake wasn't actually frozen. :eek: Still, it was a beautiful day.

So what did you do - go water-skiing?

[Loslote]

In the winter, my mom and I go skiing on the lake all the time. Only, the night before it had rained. So the top layer was slush. There wasn't any danger of actually falling in, but it was scary! My mom was about a hundred feet ahead of me, and I was only twenty or so feet out on the lake, when I realized that her tracks were just two long puddles. So I asked if she was sure the lake was frozen, she looked down, and we retreated as fast as we could go. Looking back, it is kind of funny.

[Laurinquë]

In the winter, my mom and I go skiing on the lake all the time. Only, the night before it had rained. So the top layer was slush. There wasn't any danger of actually falling in, but it was scary! My mom was about a hundred feet ahead of me, and I was only twenty or so feet out on the lake, when I realized that her tracks were just two long puddles. So I asked if she was sure the lake was frozen, she looked down, and we retreated as fast as we could go. Looking back, it is kind of funny.

That has happened to me more than once too. :rolleyes:

I assign searching for a university. It's fun to look at where I could go and do but rather less fun looking at the prices. Why does it have to be so expensive for international students to study in the UK? I may have to actually go to an American school as I lack the $90,000 it takes to do a full course abroad. :(

[Brinniel]

I assign searching for a university. It's fun to look at where I could go and do but rather less fun looking at the prices. Why does it have to be so expensive for international students to study in the UK? I may have to actually go to an American school as I lack the $90,000 it takes to do a full course abroad.
You know, there are a lot of schools in the US that offer programs to study abroad for a semester or year. I spent a semester in Europe and it was an amazing experience. I have friends who have studied a year in Spain taking courses at a Spanish university in Spanish and well, that's certainly one way to become fluent in another language.

Anyway, I don't know if spending four years at a foreign university is the best idea. It's enough of a headache for me to travel across the country during breaks; going overseas would make it really hard to come home very much (expensive and inconvenient). I love living away from home, but I wouldn't recommend studying out of the country for your freshman year at least. Living away from home is a very different experience and it can take a little while to adjust. You never know how you might handle it; some people get homesick. If you move out of the country, you're not just dealing with being on your own but also with culture shock...and that's a lot to handle all at once.

Good luck with the college hunt. Tuition prices in the US can be very high (mine is close to $30,000), but keep in mind that some schools offer good financial aid. And I know the whole application process can be a major pain. But then, every college student has to go through it.

[Hakon]

You can also go for a loan for tuition. Strangely I am already looking at colleges even though I am only a sophomore in high school. As for studying abroad there are great ways to do it as Brinniel said. My cousin did a year abroad in Cuba, another one of my cousins did his year abroad in Australia and my dad did a year abroad in either Denmark or Finland. I am not sure which one I think it was Denmark but while there he took a trip to Finland.

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

You can also go for a loan for tuition. Strangely I am already looking at colleges even though I am only a sophomore in high school. As for studying abroad there are great ways to do it as Brinniel said. My cousin did a year abroad in Cuba, another one of my cousins did his year abroad in Australia and my dad did a year abroad in either Denmark or Finland. I am not sure which one I think it was Denmark but while there he took a trip to Finland.

My best friend is two years older than I. She has a lot of university talk, so I have started thinking about uni and monies to pay for it. It is polluting my mind.

[Laurinquë]

You know, there are a lot of schools in the US that offer programs to study abroad for a semester or year. I spent a semester in Europe and it was an amazing experience. I have friends who have studied a year in Spain taking courses at a Spanish university in Spanish and well, that's certainly one way to become fluent in another language.

That is what I am planning on doing now, but I am still holding out hope for a transfer abroad after two years at an American institution, one year of which would be abroad. We shall see. I have heard word that some universities also allow you to do two years out of the country if you are doing well and plead your case. I will have at least one year abroad at any rate.

My best friend is two years older than I. She has a lot of university talk, so I have started thinking about uni and monies to pay for it. It is polluting my mind.

Well, it is never too early to start thinking. But yes, I will stop talking about it if you want me to. And I am only 1 year, 9 months, and four days older than you though - not two whole years! :p

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Just realize that the average undergrad changes majors several times, so whatever school you settle on, you may wish to be sure that they've got a few programs you're interested in, in case you change your mind. It's usually easier to change majors than to change schools, but that would be especially so if you're abroad and have a change of heart about your course of study.

My assignation to Orthanc: ear drops. Yes, my ear feels better. No, I'm not a fan of squeezing liquid into my ear and having to feel it slosh around in there.

[Boromir88]

My assignation to Orthanc: ear drops. Yes, my ear feels better. No, I'm not a fan of squeezing liquid into my ear and having to feel it slosh around in there.

Hehe, neither does my puppy, who has adorably long and curly ears, but he steps on them and they drag on the ground. To avoid ear infections we have to squirt this type of gel that makes an even unpleasant sound as it's squeezed out the tube into his ears every couple days. And from his reaction, I'd say he prefers the itch the dirt causes.

[Aganzir]

Why does it have to be so expensive for international students to study in the UK?
How about Finland? It's free here. ;) Plus you'll get to see lots of nice people, and even the climate isn't that different from Alaska. :p

I assign staying up till morning with friends, for reasons that should be pretty obvious. It's so much fun... until you have to wake up.

[Hakon]

I am too lazy to quote things. TGEW, all my cousins have gone to college except for one who is a year older then me but talks like an old man. He says stuff like when you get to be my age... Anyway my point is I have been sort of looking for colleges since I was very little.

Agan, I think she wants to escape the very cold weather of Alaska or maybe it is just her Anglophilia (I think that is a word) acting up and making her want to go to the UK.

Boro, you have to post a picture of this puppy.

I have two things to assign. The first is 13 year old girls that are my sisters friends. They are loud and annoying quite a lot of the time but they are sort of my friends which is good since I have none and a few of them are very attractive.

The second thing is my new fictional world I created which has two major sexist nations. The first is one of all men with no women at all since they can grow humans and the second is a woman dominated nation. Men are kept in prison camp like places and...

[Loslote]

I assign babysitting. It's extremely draining, and there's only so much Candyland-type games you can take in one day, but it is satisfying.

[Thinlómien]

How about Finland? It's free here. ;)Not for foreign students....

I assign staying up late and waking up late...

[Nogrod]

I assign staying up till morning with friends, for reasons that should be pretty obvious. It's so much fun... until you have to wake up.I assign the Barrow Downs... for the very same reasons... :)

[Mithalwen]

Why does it have to be so expensive for international students to study in the UK? I may have to actually go to an American school as I lack the $90,000 it takes to do a full course abroad. :(

Unfortunately because of the changes in British higher education we have the situation where the government has insisted on vast numbers going into higher education without funding it properly and overseas (non EU) student are regarded as cash cows more than ever. At the same time we have yet to develop the system of support from Alumni which funds many bursaries in the US.


A British University education isn't what it was - my cousin had to pay tuition fees and received about 5 hours of contact time a week! His mother and I who got free tuition and maintenance grants as standard had over 20.... We aren't particularly sorry that his sister didn't go as things turned out.

Unless you are going to a top flight institution (and may be even - my cousin's is one regarded as inferior only to Oxbridge) I suggest you might get better value for money by either doing the exchange programme or saving the money and just having an extended trip over here maybe including a short course somewhere.

[Mithalwen]

Oh can I assign the fact it is raining again....we had a dry morning yesterday but seriously I am thinking of trying to swap my car for an arc....

[Boromir88]

Boro, you have to post a picture of this puppy.


I've been meaning to do that, thanks for reminding. Although, you'll have to look at them in The Shire, because he is not going to be assigned to Orthanc. :p

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

The COP15 is good in many ways, but from a danish perspective it is also quite annoying. It is not so much all the money we have to spend on it, but more the affect it has on the city. . . you neve know if they all of the sudden decide to close down some parts, so at times it is impossible to get arround.

From a students perspective it is rather annoying having to carry your studentcard visible at all times at university, also they are going to close down the royal libary for some days because they need the facilities for some weird jazz.

The worst thing is that the government has used the COP15 as an excuse to limit our democratic rights. Now it is OK for the police to use preventive arrests and you can get extreme punnishment for civil disobedience, the affect of this is that your average Dane is affraid to even go to a peaceful demonstration.

This country is turning into a freaking police-state, unfortunately most of the western countries are heading in the same direction as us.

[Lalaith]

The BBC series Making of Modern Britain, which has just ended. Absolutely brilliant, but I spent most of the time watching it either in floods of tears (WW1, the Hungry 30s, the Blitz) or shocked to the core -
State-sponsored murder (of Victor Grayson by Lloyd George)
British tanks used on the British people during the strikes of the 1910s and 1920s...etc etc.

I also send the series to Orthanc because it has revealed my own ignorance of 20th century history, something I had thought I was reasonably well-versed in.

[Loslote]

I assign trying to keep up with three separate RPGs that are getting away from me. One because my character wasn't in the thick part, one because it was extremely gory and I could barely read it without puking, much less post about it, and the third because the leader is online sporadically. :rolleyes: Still, they're all great RPGs, and I love being in them.'

P.S., these aren't all from the 'Downs.

[Laurinquë]

I assign ridiculously good books that keep you up until 3:00 AM when you should be doing your maths homework. :(

[Lindale]

Lau, I think you're getting a wee bit too distracted.... if it were anytime of the year. Isn't it your Christmas break yet?

[Hakon]

Most schools in America don't get off until one day before Christmas. Lau, I know what that is like only for me sometimes it can be till 6 am which is bad because on a school day I have to wake up at 6:30 am. What book was it?

[Loslote]

Most schools in America don't get off until one day before Christmas. Lau, I know what that is like only for me sometimes it can be till 6 am which is bad because on a school day I have to wake up at 6:30 am. What book was it?

I have to get up at 6 am, even though I am homeschooled, but Alaskan schools (at least in my district) start and end much earlier than most schools. We started sometime in the middle of September, and we'll end in the middle of May sometime. Our last day of school before break was last Thursday. :D

[Eönwë]

I have to get up at 6 am, even though I am homeschooled, but Alaskan schools (at least in my district) start and end much earlier than most schools. We started sometime in the middle of September, and we'll end in the middle of May sometime. Our last day of school before break was last Thursday. :D

We start in early September and end in mid-July. Well not this year because I have exams, but that's how long the school year is in general.

[Loslote]

We start in early September and end in mid-July. Well not this year because I have exams, but that's how long the school year is in general.

Wow. Okay, I don't think any of the rest of us are allowed to complain anymore...

[Hakon]

I would rather have the school year that Eonwe has. I hate mine, it leaves me with too much time to spend with my family.

[Laurinquë]

Most schools in America don't get off until one day before Christmas. Lau, I know what that is like only for me sometimes it can be till 6 am which is bad because on a school day I have to wake up at 6:30 am. What book was it?

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. And 6 am bedtimes are not unheard of for me either. :rolleyes:

I have to get up at 6 am, even though I am homeschooled, but Alaskan schools (at least in my district) start and end much earlier than most schools. We started sometime in the middle of September, and we'll end in the middle of May sometime. Our last day of school before break was last Thursday.

That's the same as the Anchorage School District, I just have an after school Algebra II class that continues though the holiday break. I'm trying to finish it up ahead of time by doing all my work at once though. Not working so well, books are addictive.

[Lindale]

Most schools in America don't get off until one day before Christmas.

Really? Christmas break for us started on the 18th. :Merisu:

[Ibrîniðilpathânezel]

Ah, for the halcyon days of youth, when such a thing as "Christmas Break" existed, now long, long in the past.... :D

I think I would like to assign snow. Pretty to watch coming down, nice touch for the "white Christmas" effect -- but a pain in the behind to shovel, especially when your hubby gets the garage for his car (must start reliably and be free of snow at the crack of dawn or before every day), and yours is stuck outside, no matter the precip or the temps.

I think I would also assign, in a similar vein, Christmas shopping. I really don't mind the bustle at the stores, it can be entertaining and a little exhilarating -- but at this time of year, rudeness runs at a ridiculously high pitch. Can't tell you how many bruises I have from people hitting me with their shopping carts, or being run over by packs of unruly and unsupervised kids.

And I would also like to assign cable TV. It gives us decent reception, which we can't get even with an antenna where we live, and though much of it is junk, some is quite nice -- until the system decides to freak out and cut out all the really interesting channels because of a stupid "switched digital" system they insist on using. Last month, it did this two days before Thanksgiving. It did it again today, and I think I'm beginning to detect an obnoxious pattern....

It's all life, though, ain't it? :D

[Pitchwife]

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. And 6 am bedtimes are not unheard of for me either. :rolleyes:
In this case, it's a wonder you got any sleep at all that night. I've just finished it, and it was the most gripping and satisfying read I've had for a long time. Now I can't wait for my wife to finish Vol. 2 so I get to read on. Lisbeth rocks!

[Laurinquë]

In this case, it's a wonder you got any sleep at all that night. I've just finished it, and it was the most gripping and satisfying read I've had for a long time. Now I can't wait for my wife to finish Vol. 2 so I get to read on. Lisbeth rocks!

She does, she does! Funny how books are supposed to be educational yet are the worst for preventing you from graduating from high school because you choose to read them instead of doing your maths homework. Not that that has happened to me yet, but it could. :(

[Mithalwen]

I have noticed that this thread has wandered from its original concept of being guilty pleasures to recording the clouds with silverlinings or other bittersweet sting in the tail things of life.

Just to go back to the original for a moment I assign:

shopping channels - I never buy anything but I find it fascinating about how people (who no doubt started of hoping for fame and fortune in more glamorous or prestigious areas of the entertainment industry) can whitter on for an hour about the most mundane and sometimes slightly outdated products using the budget airline principle that features you would think were basic requirements were actually luxuries that demand a premium: "this DVD player has a drawer that opens - AND CLOSES!" . Excellent insomnia treatment...

giving god-children slightly dubious presents. I got this letter from my 9 yearold godson this morning

"Dear Auntie Mith, I love my flying monkey which SRCREEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMS. But it annoys Mum when I fly it around her head.... " :D Mwahahahaha

[Lindale]

I assign going back to school! I don't want to in the slightest, but I'm not the kind who'd cut class.

[The Saucepan Man]

I have noticed that this thread has wandered from its original concept of being guilty pleasures to recording the clouds with silverlinings or other bittersweet sting in the tail things of life.True indeed, although I have no objection to the thread covering any and all of these concepts, since it is still distinct from the Shire and Mordor threads, which are for those things which are either one thing or the other.

And speaking of the bittersweet, I assign giving up smoking (which lends the thread a certain symmetry, as cigarettes were one of the things I mentioned in my original post). It's good for me, it's saving me money and it means that I am no longer an outcast in public places, but I really really miss my cigarettes, even after 9 months, and especially when sitting at the computer and wandering the Downs. :(

I also assign the snow piling up outside at this very moment, the heaviest that I have seen in this country since my childhood, and quite possibly ever. It's going to cause complete chaos on the roads, railways and airports tomorrow and no doubt will cause many problems for a great many people. But newly fallen, and in the quiet darkness of the night, it is just so damn beautiful. :)

[Eönwë]

I also assign the snow piling up outside at this very moment, the heaviest that I have seen in this country since my childhood, and quite possibly ever. It's going to cause complete chaos on the roads, railways and airports tomorrow and no doubt will cause many problems for a great many people. But newly fallen, and in the quiet darkness of the night, it is just so damn beautiful. :)

I would assign the snow to the Shire, but then the wolves might come out of the North again like in the Fell Winter... But it's amazing! :D I don't think there's even been that much here, in my lifetime at least.

Also that my school was one of the only ones to stay open, though I only had to come in for one test. At least when I left there was reasonable traffic.

[Lindale]

My, I'd love to experience snow, even just once in my lifetime... during these months all we get in the Philippines is the cool Amihan wind. I suppose the temperature here right now would be comparable to a cool spring day in temperate regions.

The Amihan wind is Orthanc-worthy--while it is cool and soothing, it makes one not wish to leave the bed and hence be late. :o

[Mithalwen]

It's good for me, .... but I really really miss my cigarettes, even after 9 months, and especially when sitting at the computer and wandering the Downs. :(

I also assign the snow piling up outside at this very moment, the heaviest that I have seen in this country since my childhood, and quite possibly ever. But newly fallen, and in the quiet darkness of the night, it is just so damn beautiful. :)

Tobacco never got a hold on me but while I give up alcohol for lent each year for the sake of my liver without too many problems I like wine too much to give it up forever - the first glass tastes like heaven so ... but you must be saving so much that you could treat yourself to another indulgence?

As for the snow... well we have just got a light covering and I felt young again yesterday ...apart from the falling over is a bit more significant these days... but I know we are the least affected.. I did feel a bit sorry for my cousin who joined the Navy on Monday and has been doing PE in the snow at 6am...... toughen him up a bit ;)

[skip spence]

And speaking of the bittersweet, I assign giving up smoking (which lends the thread a certain symmetry, as cigarettes were one of the things I mentioned in my original post). It's good for me, it's saving me money and it means that I am no longer an outcast in public places, but I really really miss my cigarettes, even after 9 months, and especially when sitting at the computer and wandering the Downs. :(

That's good man, giving up smoking really belongs to the Shire but it takes a long time before you realise it. 9 month isn't quite enough I'm afraid, but you'll get there eventually. The witch-hunt for smokers is worthy of Mordor.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.
I'm staring to think I'm the only man alive who's yet to read a Stieg Larsson book - and I'm Swedish too. That dead man's success is unbelievable, but I just can't shake the instinctive feeling that if everyone loves him so much he can't be any good. It's silly I know, and eventually I'll probably read him, but the whole thing reminds me too much of the mass hysteria another book I haven't read brought on, namely The DaVinci Code.

[skip spence]

I also assign Silvio Berlusconi.

I suppose he really belongs in Mordor but as a resident of the holy land of Political Correctness I can't hold back a certain admiration for the man.

[Pitchwife]

I'm staring to think I'm the only man alive who's yet to read a Stieg Larsson book - and I'm Swedish too. That dead man's success is unbelievable, but I just can't shake the instinctive feeling that if everyone loves him so much he can't be any good. It's silly I know, and eventually I'll probably read him, but the whole thing reminds me too much of the mass hysteria another book I haven't read brought on, namely The DaVinci Code.
I know that instinctive feeling only too well (it kept me off Harry Potter for years, until a friend had mercy and forced The Philosophers' Stone on me as a birthday present), and more often than not the feeling is right. As for The DaVinci Code, all you missed is an entertaining read playing with ideas that have been around for decades. Larsson is in another league altogether. He writes characters I couldn't help but care deeply about, makes them face and swallow every kind of tough **** and has them emerging victorious and changed by the experience. Give him a try, I don't think you'll regret it.

[Lindale]

but the whole thing reminds me too much of the mass hysteria another book I haven't read brought on, namely The DaVinci Code.

Oh, I remember that hype! I was fourteen at the time, and my mother and aunts did everything to forbid me to read it. Naturally it only increased my curiosity about it, and three days after a terrible sermon from my mother I had a copy I read during lunch. :o

[Pitchwife]

I also assign Silvio Berlusconi.
I suppose he really belongs in Mordor but as a resident of the holy land of Political Correctness I can't hold back a certain admiration for the man.
Well, if LotR was set in our times, I could quite easily picture Saruman as a media mogul turned politician - so I suppose S.B. is OK in Orthanc.:D

[Andsigil]

I assign Hugo Chavez to Orthanc.

He's an excellently sordid example of what Bill Ferney or Uglúk running a country would be like.

[Airaloske]

Raistlin Majere.

After reading Dragonlance Legends I know I should hate him more than anyone has hated a fictional character before, but something about him makes it impossible for me to hate. In fact, I could safely say that I was hoping he'd succeed the whole time, even though I knew it would be the doom of the world. Something about him screams "Anti-hero" and I can't help but to place him neatly into my "if he was real we'd be best friends forever" category.

[skip spence]

Oh, I remember that hype! I was fourteen at the time, and my mother and aunts did everything to forbid me to read it. Naturally it only increased my curiosity about it, and three days after a terrible sermon from my mother I had a copy I read during lunch. :o
Yeah, there's nothing that tickles your interest like people telling you not to do something, especially for a teenager. Shocking book that. The Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, WAS NOT A VIRGIN!! :eek:

Larsson is in another league altogether. He writes characters I couldn't help but care deeply about, makes them face and swallow every kind of tough **** and has them emerging victorious and changed by the experience. Give him a try, I don't think you'll regret it.
We'll see, we'll see... I won't buy the books though, there I draw the line. :)

[Airaloske]

Shocking book that. The Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, WAS NOT A VIRGIN!!

people do realize that Dan Brown's novels are works of fiction, right?

just checking.

[skip spence]

I should hope so. Most books are. ;)

[Airaloske]

its just that they are just novels written to make money and entertain people, and people have gone off the deep end because they love conspiracies. it gets irritating.

[Loslote]

its just that they are just novels written to make money and entertain people, and people have gone off the deep end because they love conspiracies. it gets irritating.

People have always loved conspiracies. There's something to assign - theories that are as stupid as anything you've ever heard, but the people who believe in it want to kill you because you've expressed reasonable doubts and issues with it. :rolleyes:

[Gwathagor]

Read "Foucault's Pendulum." The ultimate book about conspiracies.

[Mithalwen]

its just that they are just novels written to make money and entertain people, and people have gone off the deep end because they love conspiracies. it gets irritating.

It is more irritating still when they are as terribly and predictably written as the Brown novels...

[Lindale]

It is more irritating still when they are as terribly and predictably written as the Brown novels...

Once upon a time, they were my guilty pleasures. Well, within a week of my purchase of those books during my early teens anyway. :eek:

[Airaloske]

Once upon a time, they were my guilty pleasures. Well, within a week of my purchase of those books during my early teens anyway. :eek:

ah, the guilty pleasure book.

[Loslote]

ah, the guilty pleasure book.

Guilty pleasure books, I have tons of those. I read a lot of total mind-candy. I know they're written really badly, and that they're predictable and boring, and yet... :rolleyes:

[Airaloske]

Guilty pleasure books, I have tons of those. I read a lot of total mind-candy. I know they're written really badly, and that they're predictable and boring, and yet... :rolleyes:

oh totally. its ridiculous but I can't put them down.

[Lindale]

I assign not coming to ROTC training today! Fell conveniently sick, haha! Our new commandant's getting a bit too queasy and irritating of late, giving one order now, and contradicts it later... it's irksome to be in his presence. But I pity my poor classmates in whom he must have given what should be my task...

[Lalaith]

Now I feel that some of the residents of Sandbanks in Dorset must quite literally be assigned to Orthanc...deeply ironical as it is so close Tolkien's old home....WHAT would Treebeard say to this?
Wealthy residents destroying trees in Dorset (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/8453632.stm)

[Mithalwen]

I couldn't believe it.... but the kind of people who have the money to live there tend to think they can do what they like... infact Sandbanks is Orthanc.... highly desirable location populated by.......

[Bêthberry]

Sort of makes a new definition for lumberjacking, eh, akin to carjacking.

Sadly, though, it sounds from that news report that none of the perps have been caught/charged/fined. So there's no incentive to enforce the laws protecting the trees.

I mean, sawing off the crown of a hundred year old oak can't be done quietly nor in a few minutes, and usually would require someone with some skill in arboreal care, so there has to be collusion in the community or a failure to call in when the attacks are happening, I would think.

[Mithalwen]

I don't know.. it isn't an area with passers by to notice.. big houses on big plots .. if you hadn't a nosy vaguely ecomentalist neighbour like me who reads all the planning apps. around you probably could.. many would assume it was legal surgery ..

[Ibrîniðilpathânezel]

I think just about every place in the world has its equivalent of Sandbanks. For us, it's a suburb called River Hills. Beautiful location, beautiful houses populated by too many people with vastly more money than brains. They get up in arms when the design of a newcomer's house -- by no means a radical departure from anything else in the area -- offends them because they don't like the color of the brick the newcomer chose. They have gotten riled up more than once because someone wanted to -- gasp, wheeze -- build a church in their town, their reasoning being that the church planned to have activities for teenagers, which would, of course, lead to such heinous crimes as playing basketball or baseball, and thereby creating unacceptable levels of noise in the middle of the day. And yet, some of these complainers are the ones who own companies who have been caught dumping industrial waste upstream in the very river for which their town is named.

It takes all kinds to make a world. Don't know if that's good or bad.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

returning home after 3 weeks of traveling.

It is nice, comfortable and safe. . .but you still long for adventure, new experiences (and people) and you miss the ones you left behind.

[Mithalwen]

I think just about every place in the world has its equivalent of Sandbanks. ......
It takes all kinds to make a world. Don't know if that's good or bad.

Oh I know...they changed the licencing laws and system a few years back and I spent six months working for lawyers preparing the resulting necessary applications... because the law was badly framed everywhere went for worst case scenario to cover their backs and so we got loads of letters from folk thinking that stately homes were going to become nightclubs when they just wanted to be able to serve wine in the interval of chamber music concerts.... which attract so many teenage hooligans...everyone knows that early music fans are lethal on that heady combination of harpsichord partitas and cheap chardonnay... :cool:

[Pitchwife]

(prompted by the Rock Bands and Tolkien thread)
Having grown up on punk and new wave, I'd like to assign 1970s 'progressive' rock - a guilty pleasure for me if ever there was one. Those endless songs, those overdressed orchestral arrangements, those self-indulgent solos - impossible to take serious, but still... about once a year or so, a fix of Yes or ELP is just the thing I need.:rolleyes:

EDIT: Is it just déja vu, or have I posted something like this before? Guess I'm getting old... (The pleasures of Alzheimer: you get to meet new people every day!)

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

The unholy little beep that debit cards make when you swipe them to pay for things.

Because granted, today was the most epic shopping trip of recent memory... and it's not even done yet... But I really need to be a little more fiscally responsible and not dissolve into paroxysms of glee when I see grommet bejeweled shirts and little bottles of crackling agent (meant to age acrylic paint) and twelve packs of colored brush pens for $2.99.

[Thinlómien]

Finding comparatively few posts after coming to the 'downs after a week's absence. It's nice to be able to catch up quickly, but it really makes you wonder if it's all dead here (ignore the pun :D) nowadays. :(

[Lindale]

Looking up quotes from my Tolkien books to answer in the Palantir of Fortune thread, instead of writing a very boring paper on Marxist jurisprudence. :o

[Loslote]

I assign cheesy potato soup. Soooo good...sooooo bad for my lactose intolerance. :rolleyes:

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

and my unholy addiction to the purchase thereof.

[Inziladun]

and my unholy addiction to the purchase thereof.

Ah, yes. That addiction of yours has been noticed here before (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showpost.php?p=626917&postcount=80). :rolleyes: ;)

I'd like to assign stormy weather. Good for sleeping, but I'm always slightly nervous about the power going out and the crawlspace sump pump thus not working. Water in one's basement is rather a pain.

[Blind Guardian]

Nice shoes but theyr kinda high :D


I assign cold weather!! Yay!! this heat stinks!

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Bwhaha! There's a reason I said it's unholy. Don't let me near shoe stores!

[morwen edhelwen]

We have Mordor, where we may assign the things we hate. We have the Shire, a veritable repository of the things we love.

But what about the things that we hate to love? Or, more accurately, the things that we know we should hate, but which we secretly (or not so secretly) love?

Should they not be assigned to Orthanc? OK, I was inspired by the "rooting for the bad guys" thread. We know we should disapprove of Saruman. And yet it surely cannot be denied that he is a facinating character. Perhaps the most interesting "baddie" that Tolkien presents us with. Apart from Gollum, perhaps, but the "below Goblintown, the Misty Mountains" is rather too unspecific as a location.

And Saruman had his gulity pleasures too. The Halfling weed, for example.

So, I'll kick us off.

- Cigarettes (obviously)
- Big Brother (the reality show, not the Orwellian creation)
- Reality TV shows in general ... :rolleyes:
- George W Bush (I know I should disapprove of him, but I can't help finding something endearing about him :D )
- Intolerance towards shtoopid people
- Intolerance towards people who dawdle (eg, the "zombie shuffle" in tube stations at rush hour)
- Checking the Barrow-Downs at work
- Playing Werewolf (and making lists pertaining thereto) at work.

OK, that's enough from me for now.

Let's hear those confessions ... ;)

Romance novels. Chick-lit like "The Princess Diaries" . Disney and things meant for young girls aged 11-12-13.

[morwen edhelwen]

sorry. that should be a -.

[Loslote]

Romance novels. Chick-lit like "The Princess Diaries" . Disney and things meant for young girls aged 11-12-13.

I second this. They're oh so corny, and oh so meant to suck money away from people, but you gotta love them anyways. :p

[kementari]

I'd like to dump hair-straightners, hair dryers and all that other cosmetic junk that clogs up my room! I find all items useless to me in my present job.

So I'm having a clean out.

[morwen edhelwen]

hey everyone, got a status update! Pile O'Bones!

[morwen edhelwen]

I second this. They're oh so corny, and oh so meant to suck money away from people, but you gotta love them anyways. :p

Really, Loslote? So do you *like* "The Princess Diaries?"

[Loslote]

Really, Loslote? So do you *like* "The Princess Diaries?"

They're mind candy. They're junky and bad for you, but you enjoy them anyways.

[Galadriel]

1. Chocolate
2. Turkish delight
3. Reading when I should be studying!
4. Lazing around all day when I know I should exercise :p

[Nerwen]

My tendency to dispute statements based on their (lack of) merit, rather than the likelihood of actually getting anywhere. It can lead to some interesting debates.

On the other hand, I just now had to tell myself:
"Wait a moment. I am actually arguing with a person who believes that the problem with the modern world is that too few people are raising families in their teens, and who is wringing her hands in despair over how technology has "broken" all our minds. Yeah... don't think we're going to find much common ground, somehow..."

I always hate walking away, but sometimes you do have to let the other party have the last word.

[Lastande Took]

They're mind candy. They're junky and bad for you, but you enjoy them anyways.

Yeah...sometimes I'll watch a fluff movie, enjoy letting my brain rot, and then wonder why I spent the past hour and a half doing so. :rolleyes:

I assign to Orthanc cheesy, bad, and laughable adaptations of my favourite books. The Bakshi LotR, a 1950s Sherlock Holmes TV series starring Ronald Howard, a radio dramatization of LotR I got at the library (Haldir sounds more like a Hobbit than Frodo does, and Gildor Inglorion sounds like a squeaky toy. They did keep Glorfindel!). They make me alternate between pounding my head against a wall and having fun. But yeah, guilty pleasures if I ever had them. :)

[Galadriel]

Yeah...sometimes I'll watch a fluff movie, enjoy letting my brain rot, and then wonder why I spent the past hour and a half doing so. :rolleyes:

I assign to Orthanc cheesy, bad, and laughable adaptations of my favourite books. The Bakshi LotR, a 1950s Sherlock Holmes TV series starring Ronald Howard, a radio dramatization of LotR I got at the library (Haldir sounds more like a Hobbit than Frodo does, and Gildor Inglorion sounds like a squeaky toy. They did keep Glorfindel!). They make me alternate between pounding my head against a wall and having fun. But yeah, guilty pleasures if I ever had them. :)

They kept Glorfindel? I've got to hear this! He's one of my favourite characters :)

[Lindale]

Paul the Octopus. I won one bet but lost another, because of him. :o

And the fact that half my friends weren't able to understand me when I ranted about the Spanish victory. Football isn't even famous here in my country.

[Nogrod]

I assign to Orthanc the fact of being surrounded by my native tongue after five weeks in the US. It's both soothing and weird...

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

I assign getting awarded the funds for my Erasmus exchange program, but not having heard anything from the host university.

Basically this means I get the money for going abroad, but I don't have anywhere to go. . . University starts in a few weeks, so hopefully stuff will happen very soon.

[Nerwen]

So awhile ago, in the Mordor thread, I talked about a film (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showpost.php?p=634052&postcount=2797) I'd been involved with, in which it became increasingly apparent that the screenwriter/producer, for all she'd won some minor award and had (alleged) contacts in Hollywood, had no idea what she was doing.

Well, she rather suddenly had a crisis of faith and pulled the plug on the whole thing. While this has probably left some people, more closely involved than I was, in the lurch, I'd say it's a good thing.

However, I was just looking at various proposed independent productions, and honestly, it's quite depressing, the number of aspiring filmmakers who don't seem even to know what a story is, or at least how to describe one. I mean, if you're touting for funding, and for people to come on board with the production, and all you can say about your plot is: "X happens. Then Y happens", where X and Y are, seemingly, completely unconnected events... I don't think you're going to get very far.

The upside of this, though, is that if one happens to have some good ideas, there's not much competition.

[Pitchwife]

Surprisingly, I have to assign getting a gastroscopy - not so much the procedure itself, and certainly not the dratted ulcer which made it necessary in the first place (that goes straight to Mordor*), but the stuff they gave me for anaesthetic: woke up feeling all fuzzy, relaxed and blissfully detached from mundane reality for an hour or two, like after smoking a pipe of the best Longbottom Leaf, plus it's legal and paid for by health insurance!

*(and has arrived there by now - today was just a control check, and all is well, no need to worry)

[Mithalwen]

Caffe Nero's Mocha - I shouldn't drink it since I am lactose intolerant so Ishouldn't be drinking it at all, it is expensive and calorific I mustn't make it a habit.. but by golly it is good... I have resisted for ages, well over a year but I had one yesterday and again to day.. far too nice...

[Galadriel55]

I assing hypocrites to Orthanc (seeing as I am one)
Also, history - I know its important, but I couldn't care less about the Constitution and the 72 resolutions and stuff like that.

[xMellrynxMaidenx]

I assing hypocrites to Orthanc (seeing as I am one)
Also, history - I know its important, but I couldn't care less about the Constitution and the 72 resolutions and stuff like that.

Bah! I adore History and would therefore assign it to the Shire :p Just remember without some of those amendments (mainly the first one) in the Constitution being there, you wouldn't be able to freely express your indifference on the subject. ;) Am only teasing you though :) we all have our opinions on the subject.

I assign to Orthanc confectionery goods in general.

I also assign Christmas lights. You love seeing them through the holidays, but oh what a treat it is before hand when you have to untangle them all and check them to see if they work from last year!

[Galadriel55]

I was thinking about this, and I want to assign reading. Yes, reading. I love reading, and I read everywhere at any time. That is how I ruined my eyesight. And I just can't stop reading like that. Not to say that I wasn't forbidden by my parents to read on the bus or in bed or at night using a flashlight or... well, you get my point. :)

[Nerwen]

I was thinking about this, and I want to assign reading. Yes, reading. I love reading, and I read everywhere at any time. That is how I ruined my eyesight. And I just can't stop reading like that. Not to say that I wasn't forbidden by my parents to read on the bus or in bed or at night using a flashlight or... well, you get my point. :)
Cheer up, G55, you were probably going to be short-sighted anyway (assuming that's the trouble). I mean, it does tend to run in families.

I, now, am going to assign books. They multiply. One keeps buying bookcases, and yet there are never enough to contain these hordes of paper monsters. Really, I don't know where they all keep coming from...:eek:

[Galadriel55]

I, now, am going to assign books. They multiply. One keeps buying bookcases, and yet there are never enough to contain these hordes of paper monsters. Really, I don't know where they all keep coming from...:eek:

How true!

[Galadriel55]

I'll assign colds. It's fun to go outside during winter without putting on proper winter clothes, but then you have to stay at home for a few days because you have a cold.

[Galadriel55]

Also, puppies. They are cute and cuddly and fun to play with and all that stuff, but then think of all the trouble they cause all around the house! They ruin furniture, go to the bathroom wherever they want, make a mess with their food in the kitchen, etc *saving you the trouble to go through the whole rant*, and to cap it all when you need them to come, they hide under some bed and won't get out until you move the bed, and then they run under the couch, and so on. I don't own any dogs myself, but my neighbour does, and since we're really close friends I have a lot of experience with them. When she told me that she got two new puppies, I hardly refrained from saying aloud "What new devilry is this?" ;). But puppies are nice, no matter what. After all, they don't really mean half the things that they do... :)

[xMellrynxMaidenx]

Reality TV.

You know you don't want to watch it because most of the shows are pretty...well, stupid. And yet, you can't take your eyes away from it. It's like a trainwreck! :p

[Oddwen]

Piercings!

On the one hand, they are exciting and sparkly and awesome, and on the other hand, sometimes it hurts sooooo baaaaaaad, but on another hand it only hurts for a few hours, and on yet another hand it makes my sister jealous, but on the other hand it makes my Mom freak out, and on another hand they are expensive and I'm saving for a trip, but on the other other hand...I want more!


I also assign not having seven hands. Extra hands would be awesome, but that's just too much hand lotion.

[Galadriel55]

I also assign not having seven hands. Extra hands would be awesome, but that's just too much hand lotion.

7 hands would be great, but I don't have that many gloves! :)

[Nogrod]

I'll assign to Orthanc all new and nice information-technology gadgets!

Well, all the information technology.

It's so handy to be around, solves problems, makes one accesible to hundreds of things unimagined like ten years ago, makes it possible to do things in cosier environments etc.


But when your wireless connection from the laptop which you have been using to hit a deadline story suddenly dies ten minutes before you'd have to send it, and just says it's "checking the connection"...

When your high speed home PC takes 15 minutes to connect to the internet and another 15 minutes to open a one page Word-file from an USB-stick moved from the laptop...

And when your 3G phone is just what it is, aka. not for posting novels from it.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Stoicism.

[Evisse the Blue]

Beer.

[Mithalwen]

Evisse, why Orthanc? Beer is God's proof that he loves us and wants us to be happy. :cool:

[Inziladun]

Evisse, why Orthanc? Beer is God's proof that he loves us and wants us to be happy. :cool:

Pity that I can't rep such an astute comment. :D

I'll assign snow. Nice to look at, but a pain in the posterior for those who must still go to work,

[Mithalwen]

If Ben Franklin ever signs up for the downs (so what that he is dead, aren't we all here?) you can.... but he actually said it about wine (usually my preference but principle holds.

“Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards; there it enters the roots of the vines, to be changed into wine; a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy.”

My best lines are usually someone elses...

[Evisse the Blue]

Evisse, why Orthanc? Beer is God's proof that he loves us and wants us to be happy. :cool:

Well, lots of people were assigning some very positive things, so I got a little confused. :p

[Mithalwen]

Suppose it could get to be a guilty pleasure. :D

[Inziladun]

Noted this thread and, after reading through the many explanations herein, realized that I had not posted. Parmastahir is parma (book) asta (month) hir (to find.) So book of months finder or calendar collector. It speaks to my obsession of discovering, collecting, and cataloging Tolkien calendars. Thanks all!


I suspect you might have meant that to go here (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=3518&page=13). ;)

[Estelyn Telcontar]

That's what I thought too, Inziladun, so I moved it to the "What is the reason for your nickname?" thread.

[Galadriel55]

WW games, even though I didn't play yet (but I keep track as much as possible).

For obvious reasons. :D :rolleyes:

[Galadriel55]

I assign this one time that my computer froze. Normally I would assign this to Mordor, but this time was so hilarious. I was looking at random threads when it froze, and the post that I was viewing had three smileys in it - :Merisu:, :eek:, and :rolleyes:. And all three froze in the weirdest forms: the Merisu had the eyes half closed, the rolleyes - hald rolled, and the eek - half popped-out. It was the funniest thing I've seen in the last couple days!

[Lindale]

Law school, and that I gave up my career, and that I'm giving the best years of my life, for it. I do hope it would get better, not worse; next week we start our second semester. :(

[Boromir88]

Getting calls by someone who had the wrong (or mis-dialed) phone number. Normally, I think I would assign these situations to Mordor because it's annoying getting calls from people who had the wrong number. It takes all of about 3 seconds to figure out "sorry, you have the wrong number." But yesterday...oh my, best wrong number situation ever. And I'm not using "ever" as a hyperbole.

(Names are changed to protect identities...don't want anyone calling these people :p)

I have a voicemail, and it's an unknown number, but the area is from where I grew up in Ohio. So, it made complete sense to me that I could get calls from this area, even though I've moved to Boston.

Voicemail: "Hi John, this is Rick Sharkey, call me back when you're free, I'm looking forward at the chance to talk to you."

My policy on unknown phonecalls is not to call back unless there's a voicemail and that voicemail sounds important. Which to me, this did, wondering is this a job offer, or something? Curious and important enough that I should call back...so I did.

Caller: "Hello, how are you doing?"
Me: "I'm pretty good." (that awkward pause as I wait for this guy to tell me why he called/was anxious to get to talk to me)
Caller: "Oh...pretty good, huh?" (the bitter sarcasm definitely coming through)
Me: "Uh...yes...how can I help you?"
Caller: "Maybe you can explain why ___ (insert girl's first name) came to me crying and upset yesterday?"

At this time, I will break from the story to say, the girl's name he gave was someone who I graduated with and was dating up until November. So, needless to say, my brain goes to concern/panic mode, since I still talk to this girl regularly. In fact, talked to her several times through this week, and not once was she crying or upset. This news came as a shock and now I'm wondering...is this guy...a friend? family?

Me: "I don't know, she hasn't said anything to me? What's wrong?"
Caller: "I think you do know. She said she told you to stop seeing this other girl on the side a year ago, but you haven't stopped. Have you?"

Still it's not registering with me that this is possibly a big, giant mix-up. As now I go further back in time, since I've known the girl I dated since grade school and I try to remember was there ever a time she told me specifically not to date another person? Was she ever upset if I was dating someone else about a year ago? I stumble around some more with this caller trying to figure out why the heck my ex is upset, and what that has to do with me. Until finally the realization comes in...that I'm not dating anyone and my ex would know this because I still talk to her regularly. So, I tell the caller:

"First off, I'm not seeing anyone at the moment and secondly I don't know why she'd be upset even if I was."
Caller: "Because she's your wife for christ sake!"

Now it did hit ME that this was a giant, confused mix up, and I start cracking up with laughter, but the caller is confused now, and gets angry with me as he thought I found accusations of adultery funny.

Caller: "What? Proud of yourself you are...you think this is funny?"
Me: "No, no..see. I am a John and I was dating an ____ up until relatively recently. And she's a very good friend who I talk to frequently, so this whole time I thought you were a friend or family of hers and I was concerned that she was upset with me but didn't tell me...anyway, I've never been married and I'm single now, so I think there's a mistake here."

I thought after the "she's your wife" this might have been a prank call too, but it absolutely wasn't. As he figured out that yes indeed it was a case of mis-dialing (and since I still have my Ohio cell number it was a case of hitting 1 number wrong). He then went to legit "Oh my, oh man...oh wow I feel like an idiot. I'm so so very sorry" apologies."

I said: "Don't be. Good luck finding the right John because he needs to stop cheating on his wife."

----

And that is why I assign this case of a wrong phone number to Orthanc. The most remarkable and hilarious set of coincidences which had me and another guy in a 5+minute tango, thinking I had a peeved off ex who went crying to a friend and this man who thought he was confronting a cheating husband.

[Galadriel55]

Oh. My. Gosh. :D:eek:

'Tis one rare coincidence!

[Galadriel55]

I assign smuggling. It makes me feel proud of myself. :D

Before someone asks if I'm smuggling drugs or weapons, no, unfortunately not. Haven't got any of those, so don't get excited. The story is much simpler.

The school band that I am part of has a tradition on preforming in Wonderland at the end of the year. They preform in the morning and have fun for the rest of the day. The rules of Wonderland forbid food to be brought in from outside, since they want people to buy the overpriced food there. The expected reaction is "oh well, too bad, guess I have to pay". My reaction was "I just have to hide my snacks better". So I hid some in a secret pocket in my purse and put the rest in my trumpet case. The guards who searched the bags didn't notice the pocket and didn't think of looking in the instruments. (I wonder if they even knew there's room left in the cases. You can pack enough snacks for the entire school into a tuba!)

Once we performed, we had to put the intsruments away, so I placed all the food (mine and my friend's - it was also in my trumpet case) into my purse. And then we find out that we are going to have to re-enter the park, and be checked again! I thought, good-bye genious idea. Well, the worst they can do is take away my food. So I covered it neatly with some spare clothing and decided to "be ignorant" if they ask. When my turn came I opened the bag for them nice and wide for them to see, and they saw clothes and a camera and waved me on. And didn't even bother to make sure!!! :D

Although this was my first time ever going on "big" rides and rollercoasters, the highlight of the trip was still getting past the security with so many snacks we didn't even finish them all. :D

[MCRmyGirl4eva]

The TV shows:
Glee
House MD
Once Upon a Time

YA Books:
Percy Jackson series
Artemis Fowl series
A Series of Unfortunate Events
The Hunger Games (Only the first book. 2 and 3 sucked.)

Music:
Eminem
Early Avril Lavigne
Paramore

[MCRmyGirl4eva]

Double-Posting

Cheating on tests

[Mithalwen]

The peculiar mix of feelings inspired by finding stuff as I continue to clear out the ancestral smial. Fascination, and that happy-sadness caused by finding stuff that connects you to people who aren't around anymore.

Yesterday amid bundles of old bills and expenses claims my dear father seemed to think necessary to keep for thirty odd years I found my grandmother's will. I had been very young when she got ill and I had the impression that I was least favourite grandchild.. my older cousins and sister being held up as paragons of virtue while my principle memory was of the regular application of a cold wet flannel being applied to a grubby face and being told I was a mucky pup. So I was very touched that I was the only grandchild who she specified should receive a specific item ... I suppose I was thought too young to appreciate a lace tablecloth at the time but it might have been nice if someone had mentioned it in the many years since.... and I now have to wait til my aunt comes back off holiday to see if I can get a positive ID of which table cloth it is...

[Galadriel55]

I assign riding your bicycle at breakneck speed, while at the same time using only one hand and carrying a delicate package in the other.

I also assign breaking a whole lot of safety rules, especially those concerning bicycling. No, I will not wear a helmet, or walk across intersections, or come to a complete stop before getting off. And yes, I will ride diagonally across a parking lot, use only one hand to steer, and a whole lot of other things that do not include following the rules. :D


PS: Mith, I love old tablecloths! For some reason tablecloths are just so much part of a family, and they can be such a part from very long ago.

[Mithalwen]

Oh do be careful cubby please, skulls are quite useful you know...or at least get a bike basket or a pannier or saddlebag or something.....

Cloth prolly not very old ..well not antique since my Dad sent it back from India but I suppose that is quite a long time ago now!!

[Galadriel55]

Cloth prolly not very old ..well not antique since my Dad sent it back from India but I suppose that is quite a long time ago now!!

Wow!!! Those mathoms definitely belong in the Shire!

[Galadriel55]

I so assign looking for an interaction with another Downer from waaaay back - so far back that the search function does not show those posts, and not remembering which thread it was on, other than it was one of the Quiz/Quotes/Mirth threads that just seem to go on and on. I could even visualize the post, just not find it in like 500 pages of various threads. After 2 hours of unearthing old jewels it finally hit me that I can use the magical site:forum.barrowdowns.com formula on Google, and I found the post in 2 minutes. :S :rolleyes:

But it was fun. And something I would sooo spend my time on. :D

[MCRmyGirl4eva]

I assign feeling pure joy when your dad brings your sister to the VA with him and thus, you are actually able to come on here for a few hours! :cool:

[crescendo.]

I assign Glee and Slash Fanfiction.

(Don't look at me like that, you know you like it just as much)

[MCRmyGirl4eva]

I assign sneaking into your dad's room while he sleeps to use the computer without permission. I also assign using it while he's at school, again without permission.

[Lalwendë]

Song Pop. Especially good when played with all the people I used to share copies of Smash Hits with under the desk at school when we should have been doing work.

But also, addictive and shaming when it comes to 'current hits' :o

[MCRmyGirl4eva]

Inviting friends over when your room is a mess.

[Galadriel55]

Having 5 cats in the house, and a (realistic) potential to have 7. :eek::D

[Mithalwen]

Jealous. Soooo kitten broody.

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

No matter how old that post is, that was hilarious to read, Boro

Having 5 cats in the house, and a (realistic) potential to have 7.

I'm so jealous! We only have two cats now. :(

I dote upon my cats. I know I shouldn't. Our house is full of a constant stream of cats treats, cat nip, and expensive cat food. The cat that adopted me more than anyone else (his name is Scott) was twenty-three pound a few weeks ago, now he might have lost a pound or two, but he is still very big. I assign this to Orthanc, because I really shouldn't take so much pleasure in this (especially watching our cats after catnip ;)). I feel guilty that our spoiling of our cats has lead to lazy cats.

[Galadriel55]

Jealous. Soooo kitten broody.

I'm so jealous! We only have two cats now. :(

Technically, I also only have two... but, well, here's the story.

Our neighbour got a kitten. His daughter discovered she had a cat allergy. So the kitten was passed on to us, and we named her Lucy.

A couple years later, Lucy got friendly with a neighbouring cat called Tucky, and lo and behold she got kittens. Five. We gave 4 away (two went to the other neighbour), and no one wanted the last one, so we kept him. And since we didn't want to name nim at first, when we still hoped that someone will take him, and then just got too used to calling him that, his name is Kitty. (Incidentally, we thought he's a girl at first, hence the girly name - or at least it's girly in Russian)

So then Lucy had another litter, 6 kittens this time. And they all got handed out, half of them to friends and half to random people through advertisements, because we really couldn't keep a third cat.

Our neighbour's cats sometimes come to visit. The girl is called Polly, and the boy (who was - and is - my mother's favourite) is called Jake. However, we call him Chernysh (Blackie, Darkie) like we used to when he was little in hopes that he'll start responding to that name too. He's one bear of a cat! He comes almost every other day.

And for the winter break some of our friends were going away, so they asked us if we could take in their still-kitties (called Moti and Luna) for a couple weeks. So we had two of those.


In conclusion:

Lucy, Kitty - citizens
Moti, Luna - one- and three-week visa
Jake - illegal smuggler. He smuggles food out of our house in his belly without any documentation!
Polly, Tucky - potential tourists

[Mithalwen]

My last cat was a Lucy. A lovely soft tortoiseshell. And kitty is quite girly in English too... can be a pet form of Catherine.

[Lalwendë]

I always find it funny that so many of us love cats and yet Tolkien seemed to dislike them (though I'm actually broody over a black rabbit in the local pet shop)! If I had a Tardis I'd go back and sneak a little kitten into his study and change his mind ;) Hopefully it wouldn't cough a furball up onto the first page of The Hobbit or we'd all disappear out of existence....

[Mithalwen]

He did at least write the poem Cat forhis granddaughter. Did the Tolkiens have any pets? I am not sure i can remember any references. Maybe he came from an age when domestic animals were kept more for use and a cat was more a mouser than a pet. Or maybe cats were just too freespirited for him.

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

How interesting, 55. Our cats have an equally interesting, but non-similar story. It's off topic, so I won't post it here.

One of my cats jumped up on the couch and started grooming the other cat that was already sitting there. They started grooming each other. It was so cute! That would be more of an assigning to the Shire thing.

Lal, if you ever find the Doctor, please take him to do that. I'm sure the Professor couldn't resist an adorable kitten. I thought he just didn't like Siamese cats.

I assign being the fly on the wall for public arguments. It is a very guilty pleasure of mine to hear/read heated arguments, but not to actually be involved in them. I put gossiping in the same category, but I like to affectionately call that "keeping secrets out in the open."

[Aganzir]

Tumblr. Those who know what I mean know what I mean.

[Aganzir]

When you make a joke that's not obviously one and people think you're being serious. And while you may have some explaining to do, it's nice to toy with the idea of what if you had actually been serious.

[MCRmyGirl4eva]

Fast food. It's bad for us, but we still love it.

[Lollipop010900]

Gossip! I listen to it WAY too much... :)

[Aganzir]

The Desolation of Smaug; it can't be completely terrible if it brings the forum back to life. ;)

[Boromir88]

The Desolation of Smaug; it can't be completely terrible if it brings the forum back to life. ;)

This is true. And it's seriously wanting me to attempt to spark a re-read Lord of the Rings group for discussions again. Something about this time of year requires me to get my Tolkien fix. (speaking of sounding like what belongs in Orthanc :p)

[Aganzir]

I know! I'm getting an urge to go back to Middle-earth as I know it; not that I'm not enjoying Joseph Conrad.

[Inziladun]

A three-day work conference in a mountain resort with my employer paying for bed and board. That's the good part, but for the ADHD types like me, the four hour drive is torture. ;)

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Lots of really interesting projects! Making television dummy, demo, pilot or whatever it is called, and attempting to start my own little business. Unfortunately both are really time consuming and demands a lot of research and work to be done. At the same time it is not likely to make me any money worth talking about, for quite some time.

So it would be much more sensible for me, to spend some of the time hunting for a proper job.

[tom the eldest]

I kinda not understanding the rules.can anyone explain it?

[Inziladun]

I kinda not understanding the rules.can anyone explain it?

Rules for what?

[tom the eldest]

I mean,what can you assign to orthanc?anything,or are there some limitations?

[Inziladun]

I mean,what can you assign to orthanc?anything,or are there some limitations?

This thread, What Do You Assign To Mordor (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=11894), and What do you "assign" to the Shire (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=11905&page=45) have no "rules" as such. Just conform to the thread's intent.

[Aganzir]

The tragedy of You cannot give Reputation to the same post twice.

[Galadriel55]

The tragedy of You cannot give Reputation to the same post twice.

This is the saddest-funniest thing I've seen all ! I was about to rep this, but I encountered the tragedy of [I]You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Aganzir again. :D Your tragedy sounds much better, though. ;)

[Inziladun]

Receiving an early Christmas present from a spouse that is very much a wanted item, but expensive enough feel guilty about.

[Aganzir]

Staying up till 2:30 skyping with fellow Downers and reading old threads (if you've received a weird rep point, that's why). Going to work the next morning.

[Inziladun]

Surgery. A necessary evil for certain.

[Galadriel55]

Surgery. A necessary evil for certain.

The other night I've been procrastinating on doing my work by studying various types of bone fractures and their surgeries. Does that make me Saruman?


Also, I assign Werewolf games. So many people online - but everyone is invisible, and ignores all threads except for the game. :p

[Inziladun]

The other night I've been procrastinating on doing my work by studying various types of bone fractures and their surgeries. Does that make me Saruman?

I guess not. Elrond was 'a master of healing', but then the books don't mention Frodo's surgery aftereffects. Hopefully a good supply of 'weed' was on hand for an anesthetic. ;)

[Galadriel55]

I guess not. Elrond was 'a master of healing', but then the books don't mention Frodo's surgery aftereffects. Hopefully a good supply of 'weed' was on hand for an anesthetic. ;)

Nah, they just spat (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opiorphin) in the wound. :cool:

[Galadriel55]

Being done the midterm rush, finally having completed the last one... three weeks before the finals start. :rolleyes:

[Inziladun]

Grass-cutting with a push mower. Pros: Exercise, thinking time. Cons: Heat, bugs, tired legs.

[Nerwen]

Discovering, after driving over a mountain range in a hurry to get to the nearest dentist, that my inflamed gum was not an abscess after all but merely the result of brushing too hard.:o

[Galadriel55]

Discovering, after driving over a mountain range in a hurry to get to the nearest dentist, that my inflamed gum was not an abscess after all but merely the result of brushing too hard.:o

Can relate. I just had an incident with a bitten cheek which swelled and was shooting pain through half my jaw. "It will heal on its own". Yes, so would a broken bone. "You can close your mouth". Well, technically you can step on a broken leg too if you raise the pain threshold high enough. And I *can't* close my mouth completely and unlike you I can feel it, so let me be the judge of that. "You should go to the dentist, normally-shaped jaws don't bite cheeks". Normal legs don't break easily either, so instead of putting on a cast let's go do some tests for osteoporosis. :rolleyes: