Posts made by silverfox

SANTA CLAUS IS IMMUNE TO COVID-19!

https://nypost.com/2020/11/20/santa-claus-is-immune-from-covid-19-says-dr-anthony-fauci/

Please share with all the children.

Arkandel has the right of it but... @tek.

It's easier to describe Sanderson's work by splitting it into different words.

First, the cosmre.
Brandon has built an entire universe that's interconnected and has several different 'worlds.' These worlds all have their own magic systems but as you read the books you come to realize that they are interconnected. It's not always clear HOW, but the more you read the more you find. What seems like a throw-away chapter/paragraph/section in one of the novels will take on ENTIRELY new meaning when you read a separate novel in the cosmere. He's had some drift over the years so if you read some of the earlier books, like Warbreaker, you have a little cognitive disconnect. However, as @Arkandel said, he is a METHODICAL planner. He does pause in some places and reevaluates his overall plan for the universe. Then in his future books he'll work to gather those stray ends back into the fold.

Many of his cosmre books are built in similar ways to the Wheel of Time books (fun fact, Sanderson was the one trusted to take Jordan's notes and finish that series after Jordan died.) There are usually 4-5 main characters who the point of view switches between, though the switching is NOT consistent. You can meet a character in the first chapter of a book, then not see them again until the final third. Often between his chapters he'll introduce minor characters that flesh out the worlds by showing the things the major characters simply wouldn't be able to know. His narration shifts from omniscient to limited perspective depending on the focus he's chosen. I found it REALLY difficult the first time I read A Way of Kings to keep everything straight, and even now, I can't say that I have it solid.

These books are ones I'm going to reread for the rest of my life and find new complexity to every single time.

YA Novels
If you want something less complex, these are the ones you want. They are called YA more because the age of the main characters than the content. These include the Reckoners (a finished trilogy), Starsight (2 books now, 3rd is in production), Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians (these I recommend even to elementary school kids, because they're full of a bunch of zanny humor that younger kids love. They miss the more adult themes, so if a parent can read them WITH their child? 10 points, both people will have fun), and The Rithmatist (a series in perpetual ???? WILL HE EVER WRITE MORE?! mode, it's sad.) With the exception of The Rithmatist you can put these books firmly into the science fiction category.
This is also where I suggest people start with Sanderson if they're not ready for the rest of the WORLD. They're fun, they're quick, and you won't regret the time you spend on them.

Novellas
Sanderson has dozens of smaller less than 100 page books. These are like candy for a starved reader. You can finish them easily within an hour but they tell a full and complete story. SOMEHOW he manages to build a fully fleshed world in these small novels. I've bought every single one I can get my hands on, and I still find ones I don't own and get annoyed that I don't own them already. These novellas stretch between genres, jumping between fantasy and science fiction depending on his whim. Some tie into the larger stories (see Cosmre and the YA novels) while others are totally stand alone.

Other
With all his amazing ideas I find it basically unfathomable that Sanderson can write in ANY worlds but his own, yet he has. There is the aforementioned finishing of the Wheel of Time books, some Video Game novels (seriously, they're like fan fiction but like, polished and published) and a Magic, the Gathering novel. I haven't read these (even the Wheel of Time - I never got past book for, but I was younger and stupider. Someday I'll do it.)

SO THAT IS BRANDON SANDERSON. If I haven't scared you off, I can give you a few starter titles.

@L-B-Heuschkel

okay yes you

ty for reminding me

@Kestrel

Serirously!!

I am missing my OOCly awesome but ICLY fuck you connections lately.

I don't divorce myself fully from my characters - if I did that, I'd be flat and completely boring. IT's my own personal experiences and the abiliy to "act" those out that help me to have any depth at all to my characters.

This also keeps me from being able to divorce myself fully from what they are feeling... and I don't necessarily think that's a bad idea? I mean, it does sometimes lead to consequences IRL (not being able to sleep because of excitement, or straight up crying). It means that when I act OOCly I have to check and see "am I acting this way because something ICly happened, or OOCly happened?"

I'm not always successful.

The inverse is also true. If my RIL has gone to pot I just //can't// RP some of the things I usually would. I don't have the emotional bandwidth - and I think that a lot of people in 2020 who participate in this hobby would agree with that.

I don't want to jump around and have a princess cake omg look unicorn tea party when I just learned about a death in the family of someone close to me. It ain't happening.

... as a teacher I'm use to CPS (child protective services) not doing shit. So when they abruptly step in and do something then you know that something terrible happened.

@saosmash

Those six hours will make all the difference.

You need a couple cross country road trips.

@saosmash

I believe it! But Way of Kings is over 1000 pages, right?

I will cheer you from here!!

@saosmash

..... well

yes

that will take a while

@saosmash

@Cupcake

If you like his Science Fiction books you cannot go wrong with the Steelheart books. 10/10 recommend.

If you like fantasy though? ANY of the cosmre books are amazing. He's up there in my top 5 favorite world builders. I wish he and @Apos could go sit in a room so I could watch them talk.

I'm a huge Sanderson fan. I fall on this side of crazy where I'll chatter endlessly with another fan, but not so crazy that I join the Sanderson forums.

I do have one weird quirk though, whenever a new book comes out I
a) Don't read the advance released chapters
b) Wait till I can read all day because I know that once I start I WILL NOT sleep till I'm done.

So now I have Stormlight #4 on my Nook and it's waiting for me. It's like an itch but I can't scratch it because I ~do~ have to sleep.

If Thanksgiving could come now that'd be ~awesome~.

ANYWAY.... anyone want to talk Sanderson with me until I can read Rhythm of War?

@Macha

I'm going to ASSUME YES, but just in case, you've checked out other locations for testing, right?

https://forward.ny.gov/covid-19-testing#:~:text=Testing is free to all,-364-3065.

That's... strange. At this point COVID tests should be available for... anyone with or without a doctor's note.

What backward ass state/country do you live in where that's still a requirement now that we have sufficient testing supplies?

I've been a Debbie downer lately, and it probably won't stop.

But I'm making a cake and I feel like I should be telling people not to run or the cake will fall. #weirdchildhoodhangovers

@faraday said in Error happening with quotation marks in Ares:

quotecolor

THANK YOU

It has been driving me insane and I knew it had to be something I'd done since it wasn't happening to anyone else.

Does anyone have an idea why this is happening?

For those of you who can't see the picture, every time someone 'speaks' the first set of quotation marks are prefaced by the word "blue".

I thought it was just my chromebook and DuckClient, but it just hit me that the error is happening on the Ares webclient now, and on my Mukluk (my phone client) - and on my Windows work PC. It doesn't happen on Arx at all. I've tried using another client like Edge, but I can't even get Gray Harbor to load there.

It is also happening across my GH alts, and was happening on TC too.

@Aria

I get what you're saying - I really honestly do. It's a good sentiment. But it's too simple.

My my kids are by every definition //clinically depressed// and several of them receive their professional counseling through the school itself. By being outside of school they're not receiving those services.

The kids are building the patterns in their mind that are going to last them for years. So many of us here know how hard it is to shake those patterns, and it's not any different for kids.

We're sacrificing one kind of safety for another.

I get it. I DO GET IT. I'll never judge anyone for making the choices they make. I can't get mad at my district for making this call.

But the kids are not alright. They're not anywhere close to alright. Yes, they're alive... but some of them are starting to think it would be better to not be.

That is fucking scary.

If I thought my kids were okay then I'd be okay. But:

1. (See child above)
2. Lives in a borderline abusive home
3. 3 kids who's parents don't speak English
   3.a Also in charge of her 1st grade brother and two pre-school aged kids (she's 8 guys)
4. Not independent at all and needs a lot of help
5. Can't read independently
6. Mom has to take her to work
7. Aunt got fed up with behavior and kicked her out so she doesn't have a place to do school work.
8. Has several kids running around in a two bedroom house
9. Spotty internet connections
10. Mental illness brought on my isolation

We could say "The kids are alright" in April.

The kids aren't alright any more.

I am utterly shattered right now. We were suppose to go back in person starting Monday, but today they abruptly made the decision not to.

I just had a parent text me (yes, I did give out my cell phone number because parents need every fucking tool they can get their hands on right now) and tell me about how shattered her kid is. He was suspended before we went remote the first time and she just said, "He was so ready to be a good egg" and I'm just... heart broken.