The Fireworks over the Thames to herald in 2006.

They were bloomin' brilliant. Wish I'd been there ...

Happy New Year to all fellow Downers and would-be Shire dwellers!

:D :smokin:

[QUOTE=Lhunardawen]Is it just me, or did anybody else wonder why a lot more are being sent to Mordor than to the Shire? Is the world generally filled with things that belong to Mordor?

But the other day, while I was contemplating whether or not to send a certain very Mordor-worthy something to the Black Land, a thought came to me so hard I could have touched it. ( :rolleyes: ) [I]Isn't there something in bad things that could make them more appropriately sent to the Shire instead?



Yeah. Gossip. Pettiness. Nosy neighbours - you'd never get THOSE in Mordor! Well, maybe you would - those orcs sure gossip about each other... ;)

Heavy English food, all that fried bacon to start with - erk! On the other hand, if I have to eat bad-for-you food, Sam Gamgee's fish and chips ... mmm :D

Good point.

[rant]
To the Shire then:

Provincialism.

Being so small minded you care more about your son's weskit missing than any world saving he might have helped accomplish.

Being more proud of the brash and brave looking young warriors than the one who did all he could and lost almost everything to save the Shire for everyone else.

That stuff all belongs in the Shire. And there's more of it, not even found in LotR.

Like caring more about music style than the message behind the music.
[/end rant]

All those beautiful, relatively quiet HIs...I mean fireworks I saw yesterday. The noisy ones are a different story.

And having January 1 a second longer due to some adjustments concerning the earth's rotation. Not much, but it's still a second. :)

Finally, having classes the day right after New Year's Day! Don't ask.

Weird stares, especially those that come while you cross the street or walk through a mall while making chicken sounds.

Right, Nilp?

Professors who continually enjoy their holiday breaks when school is supposed to resume on January 2.

Friends you've known for merely months who ambush you the day before your birthday. I was busy celebrating a friend's birthday a while ago (after partly successfully surprising her) when another came up to me and asked me to accompany her somewhere. I ended up being surprised myself as well, although it was rather advanced, but I have no problem with that.

And no classes on the day of your birthday. It protects you from further surprises. ;)

Cool, I get to triple-post...just like in Werewolf!

I send the number seventeen to the Shire. Aside from (and in spite of) being a beautiful unsociable prime number, it is also the sum of two prefect squares: sixteen and one. Also, it is the sum of 2^3 and 3^2. Interesting, ain't it?

And for that, Lhuna, I send you to Mordor.

Well, see if you can find your way to that thread alone.

Friends who give you Christmas gifts that are totally unexpected, but yet absolutely perfect. I would've never expected my friend to give me a sound card, but it was absolutely perfect, considering that the sound on the computer hasn't worked for over a year. It's wonderful when people know you well enough to get you things you'lll actually use.

http://www.freeparrots.net/images/ar...74112459_1.jpg

kakapo,the Hobbits among parrots, definately belong in The Shire.

and furthermore,

- the sight of the rising or setting sun over the sea.
- sleeping long
- storytelling
- romance on the beach,especially when combined with a sunset
- kissing the person you love for the first time
- long walks over narrow paths through nature
- my mother's applepie
- discussing
- reading a lovely book for an entire day
- dodos
- sloths
- the Whoolly Whatsit from 'Teddy Ruxpin'
- very soft beds
- libraries
- a few people I met
- lying in the grass with friends,talking about trivial things
- being on my own,lying down and thinking about numerous things
- hamsters
- starlit skies
- cuddling
- caramel
- chocolate milk

My roommate, who, when she went to Ireland to visit her sister over break, brought me rocks from Dublin and Paris. But she still didn't take me!

Robotics. Especially all the wonderful friendships that come from the competition. Also, when you start a new season and you know you can look fun to all the fun and craziness you'll have in the next 6 weeks.

Due to the miracles of modern communication and the timely intervention of some very helpful soul, my afternoon of 10 January 2006* deserves a place in the Shire. Wow, I'm really going places. Two places in one day.

As a side note, I send mobile phones to the Shire. What do you mean they're already in Mordor?
__________________
*This despite being pushed to the brink of starvation and waiting three and a half hours for someone. I actually got a lot of writing done!

Magnets. Magnets belong in the Shire. Who can fail to be entertained by them? You can take them and click them together to make fun noises. You can set one on a desk and one under it and make them zoom around playfully. You can clean up paperclips and nails and sort metal from paper in seconds with almost no effort. But the best part is sitting and trying to force together the opposing sides of two really powerful magnets. It... just... won't.... work.........

And I send my best friend at school for knowing me well enough that instead of candy or something "typical" of souveniers, she brought me magnetic rocks and glow-in-the-dark nail polish.

:D

The silhouette of a cat in the window over yonder. It is so unbelievably lovely and cool. I could just watch it for hours. And I just might...

Also, water. I know that the Shire already has water but I think we all need to stop and truly appreciate how brilliant water is. I mean, you can drink it and it makes you feel good. You can bathe and splash and sing in it. It truly is a noble thing (and not just water hot). You can also half-fill a bucket with water and place it on the top of a door so that it falls on the person who opens the door. That's amazing fun! :D Plus, rain and rivers and oceans are beautiful.

Shire, don't take thy water for granted!

Baseball.....I am very certain that the hobbits would make excellent baseball players. It is one of the few sporting events where the clock plays no part, and I can't imagine hobbits measuring their happiness with a timepiece.

Smilies. Especially this one. :) I had an especially lovely moment involving this smilie in huge numbers.

Although, this one ;) is quite nice, too. A bit coquettish even, I think.

Maybe they would have played it rather like rounders, the older version of baseball. It's great fun, especially when you have to slide on the grass to get to a post and end up with mucky knees, and you can play it just about anywhere. I remember playing it with a plank and a stone once in the field at the back of our house, with twigs to mark out the posts. :) I often wonder if the game would have died out altogether if it had not developed into Baseball in the US?

I assign the first real snowfall of the seasoon, even if it didn't stick.

A little late, I know, but the full moon definitely deserves assignment to the Shire. It's just... *sigh* ...beautiful. I could spend hours upon hours gazing fixatedly at it.

*howls*

Several slightly planned hours of dreamless sleep deserve Shire-mentioning. Though it's a little sad about missing those classes that I slept through, the well-rested and content feeling that comes from waking up without the headache you fell asleep with is wonderful.

There's something very reassuring about munching half-frozen Indian food at nearly 1:00 AM. The way the ice crystals formed over the dinner you ate yesterday evening, branching and spreading like two-dimensional trees across what you know to be so hot that you can't force away the amazement that comes from there being ice at all. Surely the kind of food that can make you gasp for bread is impenitrable by frost?

The slight burn across your tongue and down your throat as the unidentifyable food stuffs (though no meat... you know because you asked) pass through to your stomach where you are a little worried that it will singe a hole. You think you see a pea, but you don't really know, because you've never tasted a pea quite so zippy before now. You wonder vaguely what spices were used in the creation of this fascinating meal, but don't really care enough to find out. After all, the name of it has escaped your thought and you're content merely to eat as much as you can before searching your cabinet for something to blunt the edge of the sting.

It hurts so good, I suppose. The burn allows you to forget the issues that are clouding your judgement. You know that some things in life are really stupid, and some require a lot more thought. You end the night and the post by putting away your really cold (but so darned hot!) meal that was even hotter served at the correct temperature, and knowing that what's really important in life is to order half portions next time and to know that when they say "mild", they meant "wild". You get a pretty decent idea that you wouldn't last a day with some intentionally "hot" curry.

I assign Taxes! YAY

There can never be to many taxes. *doing my tax dance* I pay 39% and that is not high enough!

Rune, get help.

I assign having the greatest job in the world, which makes income tax slightly more bearable.

but dom't you see? Taxes can be the giver of freedom.

With taxes we can insure that the people in the bottom of society can get by, otherwise they would have to hope that religous or charety orgenisations would help them. Wit taxes we can make sure that people get equal opportuneties, we can help them overcome social barriers, we can make sure that even a child of the poorest family has the same chance for succes as one frome a more priviliged home.
TAXES ARE THE AMERICAN DREAM


(Don't worry I will stop now)

EDIT: Post nr. 900 YAY

The feeling that you have just finished your final paper of the term despite having the flu certainly belongs in the Shire. That sense of accomplishment and knowledge of having a speck of free time is unmatched by anything else!

And Rune, dear, kindly ensure you don't injure yourself! :D

I assign the ability to get an A+ on an acedemic paper written in class on a book that I haven't actually read yet. It makes college so much easier.

Spur-of-the-moment stuff.
 

I assign chocolates to the Shire. Though not just any chocolates, but ones with 'Painettu Suomessa' written on the boxes. Bonus points if they're heart-shaped ones. :)

Oh, indeed. And I assign those who receive them and give some to their lovely little sisters. :D

Ironic, yes, but I assign the "What do you assign to Mordor" thread to the Shire. Especially since I should be pushing myself off the computer right now but, needless to say, I can't. :D

I assign my History professor. He obviously loves what he's teaching, and loves to teach it. And he isn't a boring History professor, either. He's fun, and interesting, and he's always coming up with new ways to get the point across.

Like our discussion of the French Revolution, he assign members of the class to be members in the Three Estates, to demonstrate how the whole thing got started. We had fun getting into our various roles (I got to be a member of the Third Estate, Fight the Power!) If more history professors were like this, maybe my friends wouldn't think I'm so strange for enjoying it.

Well I would definately assign the Shire Canadian beer.....So refreshing,and bubbly.(Yes I like beer,alot I guess. I am Canadian :D )

My local music store. It's very small and rather crowded, but it has so many wonderful things in it. It has every sort of stringed instrument imaginable: violins, violas, guitars, mandolins, ukeleles, harps, dulcimers, the list goes on. There are also penny whistles and recorders, and probably some other wind intsruments I'm forgetting. There's also lots of wonderful books of sheet music (almost all folk music and jazz) and recordings. To make it even better, the owners' two sweet-tempered golden retrievers are always there to greet customers and be petted. The owners are really nice and helpful and don't make me feel like I'm completely ignorant.

My mandolin. Which I just bought at above store on Saturday. It's wonderful the way I'm able to play for an hour and a half and feel like no time has passed. I also love how I can see hear how much better I'm getting at playing it from day to day. :)

I'll assign the only things about winter that I like -

How the snow at night on the edge of the lights is grey and shadowed.

How when you're driving and it's dull or night out, and the powdered snow blows across the road and weaves and roils like poisonous fog over a deadly bog - that's beautiful.

My university's Archaeology department's pet cat, Flint. He's incredibly cute in that orange and white fur of his, and his eyes just sparkle like stars. And most of all, he helped keep me awake while my prof subjected us to a half-hour video on pottery making, by sleeping on top of the projector. :D

Mudcake + tea + roleplaying + friends. Makes a wonderful evening. Especially if you're the GM and can laugh to your friend's confused expressions when something unexpectable happens.

I assign days of small miracles. Nothing that will go down in history. Nothing even particularly memorable. Just the quiet things that make you smile, like those ten extra minutes of stolen sleep before you rise for the day. Like cold spaghetti and peanut butter cookies in forts made of precariously affixed blankets and sheets and decorated lovingly with feather boas, pillows, and silk scarves. Like getting out of work early... and being paid for the whole shift. Like unexpected visitors and finding that your pizza has red bell peppers instead of the gross green kind. Like banana flavored Runts and new books.

And I assign butterflies.

I assign understanding professors who realize that students just don't know some things, don't know where to look to know about those things, and just have to cram. With that knowledge granted only to a chosen few they postpone the deadline of the requirement/s involved to the next class meeting.

Rainbows. Even "artificial" ones, like those you accidentally conjure by holding your pen towards the sunlight.

And beautiful white cumulus clouds that stand out against a clear blue sky and are so dense you think you can scoop a handful of them.

I assign the blissful feeling you get when you have just finished the last exam of the term and you know that you don't have to worry about it again for a month and a half!

Seriously, standing up after a two hour exam and knowing you don't have to do it again til May is wonderful.

turning the poor thread into a blog *rolleyes*
 

I know she's in Mordor - albeit trying to get out of there -, but I assign Alumìne Umfuìl to the Shire.

1. I got a good laugh out of listening to my Chem lab instructor fumble as he tried to pronounce the name, which I chose as a code name for a graded activity.

2. Because the instructor had a hard time saying it (and in front of the class at that!), he retaliated by giving me a (supposedly) difficult unknown solution to analyze.

3. Despite his threat, I figured out all three ions in that solution and was the first to finish.

4. It's just a beautiful name. Very fun to pronounce...and mispronounce. :D

So Alli, if you ever manage to get un-assigned to Mordor, go straight to the Shire. Don't forget your 200 bucks.

P.S. I would have sent Fea as well if I haven't already... :)

It's done! It's done! I love mermaids! They are wonderful! :D :rolleyes:

So now I would like to assign to the Shire that enormous wave of relief, satisfaction and pure joy that comes at the end of a first semester when you know that you have probably passed all courses.

And holidays. Blissful, quiet and undisturbed holidays.

<-- stars
 

I assign stars to the Shire.

. . .

No, wait, it wouldn't work.

. . .

. . .

Okay, I assign the stars back to the heavens, where they belong. They're much prettier to look at from there. And if I did assign them to the Shire, they'd probably consume the land in a horrific explosion of compressed protons and annihilated electron-positron pairs. :D

Then, I'll assign gazing at more stars because some people forgot to open the streetlights to your street to the Shire.

Much better, yes? ;)