Top Ten Signs You're Addicted to the Barrow-Downs

[Diamond18]

Rolling eyes man is yellow!

[Lalwendë]

When you even go on walks to see Barrows!

It was not foggy, but there was bright sunshine, gales, hail and rain all at the same time and we had to shelter under the embankment of Arbor Low. Bizarrely, one side of the ditch was dry and I was able to sit on the ground, nice and warm, whereas if I stood up I almost got blown off my feet - but the Barrow Wight did not appear.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

When your RL friends know of certain 'Downers by name and sometimes location though they have no interest in Tolkien or his work, it perhaps goes to show that your hobbies have infiltrated your daily life.

"What do you mean you don't know much about Catholic dogma?" she asked, surprised that she'd asked a random question and I didn't actually know the answer. Brainwave! "Can't you ask that guy? What's his name... the Canadian one. PM him."

"Why do you keep hitting refresh?" she asked in my dorm room, irritated because my mind is on things I've not disclosed, rather than on the conversation I'm almost having with her.

"I'm waiting for a response." I reply simply, irritated that I'm not multi-tasking as efficiently as usual: she actually noticed that I'm doing like ten things at once.

"Oh, did you send that draft to LMP, then?" She figured it out.

"What do you mean mormegil helped get you killed?" she asked in the middle of campus on our way to the post office by way of a large group of lacrosse players. Stares ensued, though perhaps that had more to do with me tripping over my own foot, my flip flop mysteriously flying away, me chasing it, spinning excitedly (due to non-wolvery) and nearly falling over again, all when completely sober. "Oooh, next time you're up against him, you should kill him. What's he thinking. Him and Boro... So what if the Seer dreamt of you! They should have let you live. I was living vicariously through you!"

"You could always register and play." I offered. It would be fun to play a game against someone I'm with every day.

"No!" she responded really quickly. "The phantom would kill me."

"Of course he wouldn't. He hasn't played lately. He's been busy." My logic was infallible.

"Then TORE would. You remember when the two of you almost pulled off that trick in WWJ. He's smart! Or Nogrod would kill me. I'm quiet and nobody knows me. They'd kill me to simplify things." A dean walked by with the president of the school. They politely pretended not to hear.

"Somebody actually bothered debating the existence of good and evil with you? Oh, it was Eomer. Never mind." She rolled her eyes and changed the subject deftly to that paper we should have written while I was busy explaining the non-existence of social constructs.

Maybe I should get a life.

[Hookbill the Goomba]

it perhaps goes to show that your hobbies have infiltrated your daily life.

Or indeed, Hobbits.

[Lhunardawen]

I'm in Mordor, anyway...

While watching the local version of the Big Brother show one boring night, I found two people tasked to name 50 eggs (among others), and right away I began reciting names of BDers.

I wonder how those 50 people I came up with would feel...

On a more serious note, you know you're addicted when you and your mom had a Downs-related argument, and out of her earshot - and your sheer annoyance at her stubbornness - you mutter, "I'm definitely siding with Fea now." You even contemplated sending her to Mordor...

...nah! *hugs mom*

[Gurthang]

You know your addicted when you stay up until 2:30am every other night for a week, just so you can be on the Downs for a Werewolf game.

Nice that it was Spring Break so that I could sleep in at least.

[Cailín]

When your brother contacts you on MSN because you have not posted on the Downs for four days (stalker!)

And when you admit to not having time for the Barrowdowns presently, he says (and I quote) "Wha? There's always time for the Downs!"

In short: when you are so addicted that it somehow has passed on to a brother who does not even have an account here.

[Celuien]

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

When your RL friends know of certain 'Downers by name and sometimes location though they have no interest in Tolkien or his work, it perhaps goes to show that your hobbies have infiltrated your daily life.

On a related note, when your sister (who doesn't even visit this site) asks you what your RP characters have been up to lately and what the RP characters of other Downers (identified by name) have been doing.

When your other sister walks up to you whenever you're on the computer and says "Let me guess. The Barrow-Downs." And she's usually right!

When a major motivation for you to register your Pocket PC with the university computer services department is so that you can check the Downs on any slow moment during your workday, even if the screen is too tiny to post efficiently. And when you're annoyed with the new site where you're working, even though it's a really nice place, because it doesn't provide a wireless network for said activity.

[Lhunardawen]

When your mother's incentive for you to do a certain task in her office is giving you time to spend on her computer...

...you know what comes next.

Geesh, mothers. They're so confusing.

[Eonwe]

When your dad insists you need to break your addiction to 'that Lord of the Rings site', and you argue that you have no addiction. Why, I could stop coming here tomarrow, if I wanted to! No, really, I could!

... ... ...

Ok, I'm hopelessly addicted. But I like it that way!

[Kath]

When your dad understood so little of the conversation you had with him regarding werewolves and various forum members that he almost joined just to be able to know what you're talking about!

Poor guy