HalcyonSpirit

Here's a question. I've never owned a Diablo game, but I've played D2 for all of 2 or 3 hours many, many years ago (and enjoyed that small amount a fair bit); should I bother buying it so many years after it's come out? Obviously it seems worth playing for people who already have it, but what of people who don't?

You know, if you had mentioned that at the time, I would've allowed a little leeway for you to finish up in time. I'm not so strict about times that I'll cut off at the specified time no matter what; whenever I get to the computer after the time given I may end it, or decide I'm too tired and wait until the next morning, or... You get the picture. I just use UTC because it's the universal standard. It's not like everyone here is AN AMERICAN. FROM AMERICA.

I do believe your accusations are baseless! And bitter about what? I don't get it...

That's it! Submission stage is over! We've got five entries this round. Voting begins now, and ends when the clock hits 23:59pm UTC 14 August, 2009. I'll be sending out reminders as soon as I get my computer back up and running so I can access the list of people I need to send PMs to... Current Submissions for the July 2009 Freeform Competition: Way of the Samurai by Zipp The Mind's Prison by wouldntyouliketoknow 7 lbs. by TheHands .rogerG by SoulinEther The Unknown by HalcyonSpirit Good luck, everyone!

My entry. Finally finished after falling asleep for half the day. Oops... It didn't come out quite as well as I had hoped, and of course I couldn't come up with a good title, but whatever. Enjoy! The Unknown DefenTec Corp. Database System “Genesis” Terminal Interface RA-8.2.9 Copyright © 3087 DefenTec Corporation Connecting to central database................. Connection established. Login: ********* Passkey: ********************* Accessing.......... Access granted. >>/fleet/Sansun/log/personal/K.Udan UEF Sansun Personal Log Kathryn Udan, Chief Medical Officer 531 Entries, 04-12-3095 to 11-07-3098 Partial data corruption detected. >>show -r -8 -ae Displaying last 8 files. Audio enabled. Entry Number 524, 11-02-3098 “The monthly health evaluation is finally over. Thank god. Barring a few irregularities, it's always the same thing every month. A few are always sick with a stomach flu, and the rest are generally in good shape. Physically, anyway. Over three years alone in deep space takes its toll on the human mind. I can't deny feeling the effects myself, but some of the crew, well, if this tour doesn't end soon, they'll crack. I'm already seeing it start in some. Ensign Lee is showing signs of depression, and Lieutenant Rodham is getting a little... paranoid. Several others have varying symptoms of cabin fever. I prescribed the appropriate medications, of course, but drugs can only do so much. I'm one of the lucky few on this boat that has an outlet. I was sure to give my husband some extended treatment when he came in for his checkup.” Entry Number 525, 11-03-3098 “Today's little practice drill took everyone by surprise. Even some of the officers were caught off-guard by it. That's really odd, since the captain usually wants them to carefully watch for any men being sloppy. Kevin didn't even know it was a practice run until after it was all over. Captain Reynolds isn't saying why he called for it. Hell, he hasn't even left the bridge since it ended. It's got everyone a little concerned that it wasn't actually a drill at all, but none of the men on watch at the time saw anything. At least, that's what they're saying. I don't know. I have a feeling I'll be seeing more of the men in my office soon due to stress-related symptoms. I better make sure I have enough meds to last until the next supply ship is due to arrive.” Entry Number 526, 11-03-3098 “It's barely been fourteen hours and we've already had another order to high alert. Now everyone knows the first time wasn't just a drill. Everyone's a little fuzzy on the details, but this time apparently there was an unknown ship spotted approximately one hundred kilometers from our position. The officer that spotted it didn't recognize it. There's speculation that the Perseus Alliance has a new ship model we haven't been informed about by Command. I really don't care what it is as long as it doesn't start bothering us. This is a recon vessel, there's no way we'd survive even a mild encounter with the PA. We're too far out to expect any help from the fleet if things turn sour here. Deep space is supposed to be lonely. It was lonely until now. Now we're on edge because of a sighting of something that no one is able to identify. Everyone's on edge. I haven't been able to find Kevin since the alert went out again. I want him to hold me, but he's probably busy managing the situation. Our personal life can't get in the way of our duties. I know I wished for a little more to do around here, but th... Great, what now? Right, I'm on my way.” Entry Number 527, 11-04-3098 “I know I'm supposed to stay professional when dealing with any of the crew. I'm a doctor, I saw the signs, I should've known this could happen. But... but... Oh god. Oh god. I couldn't do anything. I froze. I just stood there. There was so much blood... so much blood. And his eyes... he already knew. He just looked at me... like he was trying to say something reassuring but couldn't find his voice. And then... oh god. He's gone. He's gone. I didn't even get to say goodbye. I can't let myself cry, he wouldn't want... why? Why'd you have to be the one to die? Kevin...” Entry Number 528, 11-04-3098 “Two more. Two more dead. After... after Kevin... after Lieutenant Udan died, the entire ship was put on lockdown. Everyone was confined to their quarters while the captain made the rounds, interrogating every single one of them. And yet, somehow, two more were killed in their quarters. Some of the crew were saying the first death was suicide, but I hope they've been shut up now. I don't know they could've been murdered from inside their own rooms. Everyone's been separated. Only the captain is free to move around the ship... he couldn't have done it, right? He couldn't, he wouldn't... I've seen the bodies, the injuries. It's one person, whoever it is. The wound is the same on each. A single, precise stab wound into the carotid artery surrounded with very slight burns around the wound. There's a killer on the ship. A Perseus assassin? I can't imagine any of the crew doing this. I mean, sure, they were showing signs of cracking, but still... none of them seemed far enough along to even start a fight! And how he getting around? How come no one noticed anything was wrong until... Udan was murdered? Why did he have to die?!” Entry Number 529, 11-06-3098 “Something's happened. No one knows who's responsible for the deaths, but the captain doesn't seem to care anymore. The entire crew is at battle ready and we're making for Federation territory. The captain was in here an hour ago. He was... I don't want to say afraid, but uncertainty doesn't describe what I saw in him. I'm not supposed to know this, but the unknown ship they spotted a few days ago reappeared much, much closer this time. Out of nowhere. Whatever it was, it disappeared again while our guns were trying to get a lock on it. Spooked the hell out of the crew, apparently. Captain says it didn't look like any ship made by either the Alliance or Federation. I never saw it. I don't want to see it. We're a month away from Federation space... I hope it never comes back.” Entry Number 530, 11-07-3098 “I shouldn't be talking about this, but the captain brought some sort of knife to me early this morning. One of the crew found it in the engine room. It's nothing like I've ever seen before. It doesn't have a physical blade. Somehow it just... generates one. Out of energy. I thought that was the stuff of science fiction, but here it is, in my lab... and it matches perfectly with the stab wounds on the murdered crew members. … I'm afraid. There's someone, or something, one the ship. Captain's ordered a full search of every millimeter of the ship. We don't know what's here, but he hasn't said anything about the knife itself to the crew. I think he wants to keep the crew from getting panicky. Too bad almost everyone is getting there anyway. I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out.” Entry Number 531, 11-07-3098 “Oh god, oh god... Okay... this... this is Doctor Kathryn Udan of the United Earth Federation reconnaissance vessel Sansun. Our ship has come under attack by a ship of unknown origin. They appeared out of nowhere and hit us before we could strike back. I don't know how, but they're on the ship! They're killing everyone! I saw them, they're not human! They're monsters! Most of the men are already dead! I'm the only one left on the bridge and they're heading this way! When I end this transmission the ship and crew logs will be sent on all channels to whoever's listening. Please, don't ignore this! These aliens are real! The... oh god, they're at the door! They're almost through! Please, I don't want to die! No, no don't! AAAAAA” Playback ended. >>erase -o “/fleet/Sansun” WARNING Data recovery will not be possible when using Overwrite option. Continue[Y/N]: Y Erasing......... Complete. Overwriting....................... Complete. >>exit -nl Passkey: ********************* Disconnected from central database. Database access log not updated.

One day left for submissions! I'm working on my entry. I would've had it done by now, but I switched to a completely different story about halfway through writing. I just couldn't get the first one to be interesting...

I've been neglecting my Wii for a while now (mostly because of college, but also because of a lack of funds), and I want to get a new game for it. Not sure what, though. I have Brawl, and I've played Prime 3 and Twilight Princess. I'm thinking about getting Mario Kart, Mario Galaxy, or Excitebots for now, but I'm open to other suggestions. I'm mostly on my own, so any multiplayer would have to also be playable online. Any suggestions?

Ha, why's that? Locking is one of the most entertaining to watch simply because of the funkiness. It's even better if you learn how to do it yourself. I'd have been surprised if locking wasn't brought up fairly quickly in some form or another. I'm only just starting to learn the fundamentals (I only seriously started to practice specific moves a few days ago), but yeah, I really am into locking. And yeah, it is awesome. Yeah, it's understandable about the confusion. When people think of locking, they think of "locking the joints" or something, which you tend to see more in popping than locking. Locking is quite a different beast! Hilty and Bosch are definitely superb and fun to watch, but their style is just one of many. I like watching competitions all the way through just to see all the different people dance. You really get to see the variety possible in locking that you simply can't grasp if all you watch are Hilty and Bosch. Take, for example, the second video I linked earlier, between Khan and Lice'Funk. Two completely different styles, neither of which are like Hilty and Bosch, both of which are very enjoyable to watch. All of it locking. THAT is awesome.

Regarding carpeted floors, your best bet is to put on some socks that are moderately thick. They tend to slide the best compared to shoes and barefoot in my experience. As for learning, here's the thing that I've seen and been told by others (like my friend), and this is true for almost all kinds of dancing: there are a lot of moves that everyone does, but almost all have their own personal spin on it between dancers. Between how it's executed and the kind of aura it projects, it becomes a style of your own. This is especially true for styles such as Locking, Popping, etc. *removed because apparently I can't explain crap well enough to show what's going through my mind while I'm learning this stuff* Yeah, it is. I got into it by just letting loose and feeling the groove. At that point I wasn't concerned about styles at all, I just wanted to move. And I did. Now I want to refine it, and I'm finding it just as fun as the dancing itself. I'm not going to take it super-seriously because I just don't feel doing that; plus, that goes against the whole point of Locking: having fun with it. Finding your own niche is one of the best parts of learning, which usually involves experimenting with different styles and coming up with your own moves. It's a BLAST.

Holy crap, someone noticed me on here. I'm moving up in the world! Anyway, yeah, I dance, and I love it. I recently came to a decision on what style to pursue, and it is Locking. I'll also be dabbling in other styles to supplement my less structured dancing I've been doing. If you want to start learning any kind of dancing, you first need to figure out what style fits you best. There's a crapton of different styles out there. Off the top of my head, I know of Popping, Locking, Wacking, Lofting, and Voguing. You're probably going to have to do some research, take a look at examples of each, and then narrow the field to a few different styles. Then try each out for a bit and see which one feels right to you. Like I mentioned, I recently did this. Since I'm most familiar with Locking, I'll give you a few good videos to show it off: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFzJF9DcOAE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9wSeeeKtlI (this one has Locking and Popping in it) Hilty and Bosch are two of the best Lockers out there, right along with the GoGo Brothers. I like both pairs (couldn't quickly find a good GoGo vid, though). Khan is also up there on my personal list. If you or anyone else decides to go with Locking, here's a collection of introductory videos detailing some of the basic moves: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=FavMocha&view=videos That's where I'm learning all my stuff right now. I'll answer any questions anyone might have, but I'll see if I can get my friend on here instead; he's the one that inspired me to start dancing in the first place, and he's been Locking for over a year now. He's pretty good. You'll see him on here as SciRe, if he decides to poke his head in.

Sweet stuff! The first two are definitely going into my "dance practice" playlist. And hey, if you're looking for places to DJ at, you should look into Boogieburg here in Blacksburg, VA. It'd be pretty awesome to have you DJ here!

Don't know either of you in person, and I'm sure neither of you know me even on the forum, but congrats! Happiness all around!

If OVAs count, then 08th MS Team qualifies with only 12 episodes. Also, when I first saw mention here that the new Haruhi season sucked because the past 5 episodes have been the same thing over and over again with minor variations, I thought you were joking. I was wrong. Oh so wrong. It was somewhat interesting to try to note every little change in each episode, but otherwise... DEAR LORD WHY!?!?! Two episodes would've been enough! If they want to pull this season off with even a mediocre rating, the rest of the season needs to be freaking awesome.

Happy Birthday, you twisted music man!

I believe this is the point at which I need to say "One week left for submissions!" I'm still working on my submission, so hopefully the rest of you are too! *hint hint wink wink*

I never got to experience the originals, so if this is true I'll be hoping for the chance to finally play it.

Yes, they can. Freeform is essentially "if it's writing, it's allowed." So if you really wanted to, critiques of past works could be used as a current submission. ... Which begs the question: can a critique be critiqued?

Yeah, I'm definitely guilty of not making critiques either. I'm hoping to change that with this round, though. I'd do it for the poetry, but I'm not good at poetry writing or critiquing. Anyway, the July 2009 Freeform Competition is now OPEN! Write, write, WRITE! *starts writing*

Congrats, OA!

Actually, the fact that both he and SoulinEther placed at the top is proof enough that they need critiques just as much as others, perhaps even moreso. Writers never stop changing. We constantly evolve, adapting our writing techniques and improving ourselves. If no one critiqued a top-writer's work, he/she would never become better. It doesn't matter that they are already at the top, they still need critique. It helps them get better, and it tells them, consciously and subconsciously, that they are not perfect writers and that they need to avoid stagnation of their abilities.

The gloves are off, and THE RESULTS ARE IN! 1st Place: If Sperm Could Fly Away by SoulinEther Runner-Up: Paintings by Random Hajile Here's the vote spread: If Sperm Could Fly Away by SoulinEther: 10 Paintings by Random Hajile: 7 A Black Soul by DJ-Arthur: 2 Java by Washington Maverick: 2 re...(2) by M W: 1 Untitled Haiku by Native Jovian: 1 You are... by wouldntyouliketoknow: 1 There is quite a... bias toward two of the entries! Wasn't expecting it to be quite so lopsided. I'm not too surprised by who won, though, to be perfectly honest. If Sperm Could Fly was genuinely entertaining, and Random Hajile is one of our best poets (in my opinion, anyway). Still, it was a good showing, even the absolutely odd entry from M W. Good job, everyone. Remember, the Freeform competition begins in just over a week, so check back then! Expect to see my return to the competition. PS: I've gotten a few vote PMs the past couple competitions saying something to the effect of "I forget how this goes, but here's my votes anyway." People, if you forget, the rules are right there in the first post! Take a minute - and it only takes a minute! - to read them before submitting a vote! I don't want to have to invalidate votes because of technicalities.

One last day for voting! Don't miss out! Seriously, vote, please. I've only gotten one more person's vote in the extended time period. This is horrible.

... Wow. ... Wow. ... Wow. This song is so very unique in a very, very good way. I'm a fan of these types of songs, but this is above and beyond most of what I've heard in the same style. I have to hand it to Kate, she's made something truly great here. I'll be listening to this for a long, long time to come. I don't think I can think of any criticisms right now. Maybe after I've listened to it some more, but right now... I've got nothing. 5 Stars! Instant Classic!

Yes, well... some of us have been out of the building loop for half a decade and don't feel like trying to figure out power requirements, heating issues, hardware compatibility and other such stuff. Too much work!

You haven't already? Haha, yeah, you can chuck them. Everything seems to be working great. And yes, the total cost, including the fees, was $1110. The system itself was a little less than $1000, I believe.