Yep, I had an inkling it was 9th. I feel mature here as well. Everybody is treated the same way, and I think that's why I love this site. I went on one similar a few months back, but I felt like a kid because I'd only just joined, and the mods just treated us newbies like crap. The Elders here can have a laugh with us young'uns, and vice versa. Nobody is left out, and everybody is welcomed with open arms. Can you believe I'm nearly at my 450th post? I only joined this year! I was hoping to get up to 500 before 2006 - but 50 posts in 11 days might be a little impossible. Next year htough, I'll have my custom avvie and everything. (Watch. I bet I don't change it or anything.)
I too, am flatered. The furthest my formal educaction got was an A.S.S. degree (Associates of Applied Science Social Work) and it took me a good twenty years to get that. But I've had a lifelong obsession with "feeding the elephant's child" and a former career in the military that taught me a great deal.
I'm high school level, and I would read this paper right now if it wasn't for the fact that it is in one post on a forum, as I tend to not read longer posts unless they include a lot of pictures. I am 15 and in the 9th grade. I may have feedback after I actually consider reading this paper that I estimate is about 2-3 pages in length. I could probably communicate intelligently with most of the members on this forum, but I prefer a more random and laid-back disposition.
Impressive, WereBear. Goes to show, I think, how much we can educate ourselves. We don't necessarily need the formal classroom. My mother went only so far as high school and wrote beautiful poetry for the rest of her life.
I wish my mother would write beautiful poetry. She finds it impossible to read books, sticks to newspapers and magazines - myself, however, have gone through 4 in the past 2 days alone. I am tired so I'm off to bed now. It's 5 past 1 here. Still, I went to bed at 11 last night, and didn't wake up 'til 12. 13 hours is my longest kip ever!
I used to think I read a lot, but now I just know that our town is highly illiterate. When I tell my friends that I read the greatest book over the weekend, they give me this...look. It's sorta a mixture of disappointment and surprise. Well, I did read a lot more than I do now, since all I do now is play Sims 2, but occasionally I find a book I really love and just dig into it, and all I can think about throughout the day is when the next time I'll be able to read it is. Pride and Prejudice is not one of those books. It's not really boring--well, actually it's not boring at all, to me, but it just..takes forever. You have to wait until you have a good half hour to spend rereading every sentence to fully absorb the meaning and work out the weird grammar. I know it'll help my English in the long run, but I'm a little annoyed with it at the moment. I've been reading it since like September and I'm only 3/4 done. And what is this about a custom avatar? Is it after you get 500 posts? Have I been able to use this feature for the past like month or more and not known it?
Try living in Salford and telling your friends about the greatest book in the world. (If anyone doesn't know, Salford has a big chav reputation. When your on your hols and people ask where you've come from, it's always 'Ohhh right - scruffy Salford!' Salford has given birth to many of the hard-nut families, such as the Mitchells in Eastenders. But you know, better. ) You are exactly like me!!! I read at night before I go to sleep. It's a neccessity. I CAN NOT sleep until I have read from the book I'm going through again. That happened last night. I was up at 2 trying to sleep.
Salford is full of chavs!?!? No wonder Rosie from Coronation Street went goth (Our colonial friends will be having their suspicions about us limeys right ablout now I should think ) 123, I know what you mean about Jane Austen it can be heavy going but it is rewarding in the end. My current bedtime book is The Fountainhead ... I can't say I am much in love with any of the characters. Even the hero is so unlikeable I find I don't much care that the love of his life has just married his arch-rival for reasons I only dimly comprehend. Ms Rand's philosophy is too sterile for my decadent tastes. On the other hand, I've been thinking of building an odd shaped sims house on a steep slope so that it looks like it is sliding down the hill and calling it Roark's Drift
I know that look - I told a friend of mine that I was in a book club where we would get together each month to discuss the book we had all read. He looked at me in amazement and said, "You read a book every month?" "Stu," I answered, "Sometimes, I read a book every week - And I've even been known to read a book in a single day!" He just couldn't believe it!
Well, you're in good company here. I imagine there are a lot of people on this site who've read a book in a day. I've been known to rip through the occasional book in a matter of hours if it's a fast read. I'm not currently reading anything, which is weird for me, but when I'm writing I find it intrusive to read other people's work. I've been working hard writing my second novel. So far, so good. Is laughing at your own writing a bad sign? I hope not.
No but if someone comes in and asks what you're laughing at and you show them and they read and say something like: "yes ... very amusing ..." and slink away all but making the 'she's screwy' sim-gesture ... er, that is a bad sign
I read Harry Potter 5 and 6 in a day. I made sure to start it on Sunday, and I only took breaks for eating and the bathroom. I do feel good that I'm reading Pride and Prejudice and not Inkspell or something like that (I don't like Cornelia Funke very much, her stories are too light-hearted and kid-ish for me. I like my stories to be dark and mysterious and thrilling.) but....yeah. It is taking forever. My sister tried reading the Fountainhead and she stopped really quickly. We both just like Pride and Prejudice-type books, like Jane Eyre and such, about "opinionated" women. That's the third time I've used that smilie in this post. Fourth!
I remember when I joined the library this year (how hard is that to spell?) I took out 5 books, thick ones. Took 'em back the next day. Staff were gobsamcked.
BFA in Graphic Design (Bach. of Fine Arts) from UofW just as computers were developing.... wonder what I could accomplish if I were starting now and could type really fast etc. ah well. love to read. read austin, and a lot of the greats in high school but got hooked on gothic novels when I first read The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart. Aw well.
Jane Eyre was always my favorite book. (so what does this have to do with the impact of Sims2 on society? Uh, let me see--does it relate to the impact of gothic novels on society? Don't rush me--I'm still thinking.)
Hey, consider it training for the Offtopic Olympics. I know what you mean, though. This is like 'The 6 Degrees of Homer Simpson'.
Not to fear...all we need is some circular logic to bring this thread back on topic. It seems that the author of the original article missed a very important example of societal impact caused by the sims franchise. That example being online communities such as this. Thanks to a series of games we now have intelligent young people on both sides of the atlantic (such as Babe and Person) being nurtured, taught and influenced by kind, intelligent adults (such as Lynet, Kristal, SBW, and many others) that they would have otherwise never met.
