Topicless thread

[Chocofreak13]

yay eyebrows!

and HOMIGAWDIT'SACOCKLEGETTHECAR!!!!!!!
srsly. good to have you back. :3 *hug*

[Cockleshell]

yay eyebrows!

and HOMIGAWDIT'SACOCKLEGETTHECAR!!!!!!!
srsly. good to have you back. :3 *hug*

-is squished-
Chris told me you were jonesing to have me back xD
My black cat is waiting here for love so i gotta post and GIVE HER HUGS

[NejinOniwa]

Mountain demon sends his regards. Speaking of which I found a reindeer horn today. It is fabulous, and I'm considering mounting it somewhere on my head just because.

[stewartsage]

Going on "vacation" tomorrow.

[Bella]

Imma go to Rhode Island on Wednesday, still here watching the Massachusetts-people in their native environment though.

Edit: the blog continues here http://cielobella.livejournal.com/1113.html

[Chocofreak13]

i'm going nowhwere......;____; maybe the beach soon, but nowhere.......

@cockle: yeah, yeah. -w- it's a shame to lose a good member of the forum. :3

edit: yet another reason to love new england:
http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/yellow-lobster-1-in-30-million-21178324#video=21191051
:3

double edit: OMG BELLA YOU'RE SO PRETTY O____O and you got long legs. xD
nice pics! i like the stuff around the cambridge area, they have lots of interesting shops and the like (i even saw a midnight showing of rocky horror there once. ^^)
and OMG OWL KAWAII DESU~~

[Acher13]

I just got news that our lecturer had passed away.. tomorrow class is cancelled.

[Red-Machine]

Wow, Bella.  You're so beautiful, I'm lost for words...

[Chocofreak13]

@acher: *pat pat* there, there, it'll be ok.
@red: do i smell a competition....? ^___~*

so one of my friends is missing. me and my friend mel are freaking out, espceially considering no one's heard from her since yesterday, and even then that was a depressing poem (with some slightly suicidal lines...) so everyone's a little worried (mel is more than a LITTLE worried...)

and i'm about to reformat shitty. wish me luck. signing off~ *salutes*

[Bella]

@Choco: Pretty? You think? ;v; Heh, thanks, I'm actually rather proud of my legs. xD;;

Cambridge, from what I could tell, is filled with geeks. I've never seen so many fully-grown people reading comics on a subway as I did when we got near the city! And I think the entire MoS is staffed by MIT students on internships, lol...

Haha, always wanted to see a midnight showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Think there was one at our local theatre once... but I didn't go. D:  

@Red: I don't know what to say. ;////////;

@Red + Choco: Pwese don't fight over meeeeeeeee....

To digress:

Security's not bad. Especially domestic. I make it a point to wear as little metal on my person, so it's just, stand in line and quickly go through the metal detectors.

And aw. I detect hostility to my home state. ehehe... (don't worry, no offense taken)  
I'm not sure about who the hostility is directed to, but there are a whole ton of different people here from so many different places and backgrounds. So we can't be all bad. ^^;

Although that kind of environment does make it very hard to agree on things in politics and pretty much anything else. I wouldn't wish the governor's job on anybody. Since Reagan we've tended to elect a Democrat and Republican to the Governor's and Lt. Gov's positions. Rarely a 1-party executive office.

If you'll allow me to ramble on a bit:
We have a conservative inland area, and a very liberal coastal area (save Orange County). NorCal is more liberal than SoCal overall.  We have  a ton of technology and R&D industries, we have CalTech and Stanford, yet our public education is one of the worst in the country. We have a large number of immigrants from Hispanic countries as well as Asia, yet there are many communities that are nearly all white.  We're health nuts, and one of the pioneers of fast food.  I could go on and on, but think of California as a land of contradictions. Hell, the tallest building in LA always looked to me like someone trying to fit a cylinder block into a square hole. Or you can think of us as a "Land of Fruits and Nuts" haha I guess that's accurate too.

Also, we're rather inward focused, since most residents don't really want to or need to leave (except for financial reasons).  Therefore, most Californians have a very ignorant view of other states in the country.  Californians probably know more about other countries than other parts of the United States.  From my personal experiences, this self-centered-ness and ignorance is generally the root cause of the pissing off everyone else thing. (at both the personal level and at larger levels, like state-to-state interaction. see: Arizona)


...We also host Anime Expo, PMX, Fanime, Anime Los Angeles, Comic-Con, and E3. Come join uussssssss~~~ lol

I'm not really hostile toward Californians per se, I'm just rather quite pissed at the... hijacking of my region's technological culture. It actually pains me slightly to think of how little my people know about their own past when it comes to technology -- New Englanders are a history-obsessed people, but we seem to have lost all knowledge of our own region's role when it comes to the invention of the modern computer.

Thank you though -- I love reading about regionalisms and local cultures and found this quite interesting. Most of my knowledge of CA's culture comes from things like this: http://verseau.wordpress.com/2007/12/05/differences-between-california-and-new-england/ . You seem to have confirmed a lot of the things mentioned here.

I have some relatives in NorCal... an uncle with a wicked temper but who has a much larger bark than bite, a paranoid-schizophrenic/agoraphobic aunt and a couple of cousins who... sort....of.... joined the military for family honour or something. The cousins once spent a summer with us in New England, just to broaden their horizons or something... don't think I'll be doing the same though, what with the crazy aunt and all.

I also have some more distant family in SoCal, but I'm not very familiar with them. :\

[Red-Machine]

@Red: I don't know what to say. ;////////;

Well, you could say "thank you". *mwah*

@Red + Choco: Pwese don't fight over meeeeeeeee....

Hee.  Don't worry; I'll make sure I win! ;010

[Cockleshell]

BELLA IS VURRY PRETTAY. go be a model and make LOTS OF MONEY

[Chocofreak13]

@red: you're on. but i'll have you know, i'm a stubborn-ass bitch. >:3
@bella: i WAS in the market for a girlfriend...... ;3 (due to my past history with guys reading like a bad emo romance novel)
and if you're not too comfy with your family, come to otacon with us. :3 (i'm kidding. you don't really get a choice in the matter. :3)

@cockle: YES, then she can donate it all to the site! >:3

[SleepyD]

haha, you'll find just as many or even more grown men reading manga on the subway in Japan.

Ah cultural differences. It's a very interesting subject, I agree. In recent months I've been observing the differences between Western and Japanese otaku cultures. And oooh, I feel like going into ranting/blogging mode now.

I have some relatives in NorCal... an uncle with a wicked temper but who has a much larger bark than bite, a paranoid-schizophrenic/agoraphobic aunt and a couple of cousins who... sort....of.... joined the military for family honour or something. The cousins once spent a summer with us in New England, just to broaden their horizons or something... don't think I'll be doing the same though, what with the crazy aunt and all.

I also have some more distant family in SoCal, but I'm not very familiar with them. :\

I don't have any relatives in the New England area, and I've likewise never been there. Since most of my relatives are Filipino, they settled in places with similar weather to the Philippines, so if they decided to move from California (the port of entry for ALL of them) they ended up in places like Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and Georgia. i.e. places that get warm and/or humid, with minimal snowfall, if any.  

As a result, NE culture is something I'm quite unfamiliar with.

I'm not really hostile toward Californians per se, I'm just rather quite pissed at the... hijacking of my region's technological culture. It actually pains me slightly to think of how little my people know about their own past when it comes to technology -- New Englanders are a history-obsessed people, but we seem to have lost all knowledge of our own region's role when it comes to the invention of the modern computer.

Also, I can't really say much about those guys up north in the Silicon Valley taking your history away. ^^;  It's not like I can apologize for that or anything. ehe... Although I think we attract a lot of tech people that would like to see that sort of stuff though. Or maybe you can blame CalTech, I hear they have it in for the MIT guys.

Most of California's own history remains unnoticed by most Californians, let alone any tourists.  You don't see any structure that's obviously "old" or anything of the sort.  Relative to NE, our history as a part of America started quite recently. The general sense here is to keep looking forward and never, ever look back, no matter what mistakes we make along the way.  

Thank you though -- I love reading about regionalisms and local cultures and found this quite interesting. Most of my knowledge of CA's culture comes from things like this: http://verseau.wordpress.com/2007/12/05/differences-between-california-and-new-england/ . You seem to have confirmed a lot of the things mentioned here.

That's an interesting article.  I may object slightly to the "shallow" relationships mentioned, but I guess it is true with a number of people I've encountered. I like to think I'm not like that, likewise with many of the friends I've met in my life. My circle of acquaintances may be big, but my circle of friends is much smaller and intimate.  It's a rather nerdy circle, so we have very few, if any, of the habits of a stereotypical young Californian.

And yes, our towns and cities don't have any one center; instead, you'll usually find multiple, smaller city centers spread out over many square miles. The California population is home to a bunch of people from all sorts of places and backgrounds.  It's a very interesting dynamic really, seeing these different groups with completely different and often opposing needs trying to live together.

It also mentions how reserved NE is. I'm considered rather reserved, but I've had to break out of my shell on numerous occasions. I wonder if I'd still be considered a "reserved" person by NE standards. haha...

I mean, really, there are enough anime fans in Los Angeles that even people that don't care for anime have a fairly good sense of what it is.  So, most anime fans here are very open about their hobbies (and i mean at public places not necessarily related to anime). I rarely get that sense anywhere else. To the dismay of many 4channers, many fans here don't "hide their power level"



Of course, I can't really pigeon-hole Californians to any one personality or whatever. There's just too many different kinds of people here. They don't care what anyone else thinks, so the place is indeed much more open and maybe much less polite than say, NE. Reason? I can only think of 2.

2 common mindsets, that is.
1) "Take it easy": No need to get all riled up about rules of politeness or whatever. Just do what you want/need to do without regard for much of anything.
2) "Who the hell do you think I am?!!!": The "I'm better than everyone else here, and my way is the best way" attitude.  
Sometimes both mindsets at the same time. haha...

As evidenced by the fact that these are catchphrases, these are not uniquely Californian. It's just something I've observed while living here.

=============================
=============================
tl;dr
California is an energetic, fun place. It's a bit chaotic, to be sure. As long as you don't mind the crazy, you might enjoy some of its other offerings.


Also, soda or pop?
...or coke?
...or fizzy drink?

[Bella]

Thanks Cockle. ^//^ Um... modeling looks fun and all *tsktsk* but I think I'd rather try to make lots of money using physics or math or photography or something. :U

@Red: I don't know what to say. ;////////;

Well, you could say "thank you". *mwah*

@Red + Choco: Pwese don't fight over meeeeeeeee....

Hee.  Don't worry; I'll make sure I win! ;010

Okay then, thank you. *mwah!* ^^

I'm routing for ya~ :V

@red: you're on. but i'll have you know, i'm a stubborn-ass bitch. >:3
@bella: i WAS in the market for a girlfriend...... ;3 (due to my past history with guys reading like a bad emo romance novel)
and if you're not too comfy with your family, come to otacon with us. :3 (i'm kidding. you don't really get a choice in the matter. :3)

@cockle: YES, then she can donate it all to the site! >:3

...I'm routing for you too though~ :V

Good luck with finding a girlfriend/boyfriend who doesn't make your life an emo novel. .______. Um... my entire history with guys involves getting hit on + being too shy to tell others that I like them. ("Hey I think you're nice, wanna date an asexual?" is kind of an awkward proposition.)

I'm trying to work things out Otacon-wise, it's still dependent on a lot of things that are currently out of my control (money + time being the main gist).

I don't have any relatives in the New England area, and I've likewise never been there. Since most of my relatives are Filipino, they settled in places with similar weather to the Philippines, so if they decided to move from California (the port of entry for ALL of them) they ended up in places like Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and Georgia. i.e. places that get warm and/or humid, with minimal snowfall, if any.

As a result, NE culture is something I'm quite unfamiliar with.

It's interesting how immigrants tend to settle in areas with similar climate conditions to the place they left... the large Swede and Norwegian populations in Minnesota and Germans in the northern part of the Midwest are other examples of this phenomena.

Also, I can't really say much about those guys up north in the Silicon Valley taking your history away. ^^; It's not like I can apologize for that or anything. ehe... Although I think we attract a lot of tech people that would like to see that sort of stuff though. Or maybe you can blame CalTech, I hear they have it in for the MIT guys.

Most of California's own history remains unnoticed by most Californians, let alone any tourists. You don't see any structure that's obviously "old" or anything of the sort. Relative to NE, our history as a part of America started quite recently. The general sense here is to keep looking forward and never, ever look back, no matter what mistakes we make along the way.

Hmm, I did now know about the CalTech-MIT rivalry either (although I am quite familiar with Harvard v. MIT). Just seems that the current popular conception traces the beginnings of computers (or really PCs) to the Pacific Coast-- Apple and Silicon Valley would be the best examples, but there's Microsoft in the Pacific Northwest too.

That's an interesting article. I may object slightly to the "shallow" relationships mentioned, but I guess it is true with a number of people I've encountered. I like to think I'm not like that, likewise with many of the friends I've met in my life. My circle of acquaintances may be big, but my circle of friends is much smaller and intimate. It's a rather nerdy circle, so we have very few, if any, of the habits of a stereotypical young Californian.

And yes, our towns and cities don't have any one center; instead, you'll usually find multiple, smaller city centers spread out over many square miles. The California population is home to a bunch of people from all sorts of places and backgrounds. It's a very interesting dynamic really, seeing these different groups with completely different and often opposing needs trying to live together.

It also mentions how reserved NE is. I'm considered rather reserved, but I've had to break out of my shell on numerous occasions. I wonder if I'd still be considered a "reserved" person by NE standards. haha...

I mean, really, there are enough anime fans in Los Angeles that even people that don't care for anime have a fairly good sense of what it is. So, most anime fans here are very open about their hobbies (and i mean at public places not necessarily related to anime). I rarely get that sense anywhere else. To the dismay of many 4channers, many fans here don't "hide their power level"

...

Also, I can't really say much about those guys up north in the Silicon Valley taking your history away. ^^; It's not like I can apologize for that or anything. ehe... Although I think we attract a lot of tech people that would like to see that sort of stuff though. Or maybe you can blame CalTech, I hear they have it in for the MIT guys.

Most of California's own history remains unnoticed by most Californians, let alone any tourists. You don't see any structure that's obviously "old" or anything of the sort. Relative to NE, our history as a part of America started quite recently. The general sense here is to keep looking forward and never, ever look back, no matter what mistakes we make along the way.

...

That's an interesting article. I may object slightly to the "shallow" relationships mentioned, but I guess it is true with a number of people I've encountered. I like to think I'm not like that, likewise with many of the friends I've met in my life. My circle of acquaintances may be big, but my circle of friends is much smaller and intimate. It's a rather nerdy circle, so we have very few, if any, of the habits of a stereotypical young Californian.

And yes, our towns and cities don't have any one center; instead, you'll usually find multiple, smaller city centers spread out over many square miles. The California population is home to a bunch of people from all sorts of places and backgrounds. It's a very interesting dynamic really, seeing these different groups with completely different and often opposing needs trying to live together.

It also mentions how reserved NE is. I'm considered rather reserved, but I've had to break out of my shell on numerous occasions. I wonder if I'd still be considered a "reserved" person by NE standards. haha...

I mean, really, there are enough anime fans in Los Angeles that even people that don't care for anime have a fairly good sense of what it is. So, most anime fans here are very open about their hobbies (and i mean at public places not necessarily related to anime). I rarely get that sense anywhere else. To the dismay of many 4channers, many fans here don't "hide their power level"

Of course, I can't really pigeon-hole Californians to any one personality or whatever. There's just too many different kinds of people here. They don't care what anyone else thinks, so the place is indeed much more open and maybe much less polite than say, NE. Reason? I can only think of 2.

2 common mindsets, that is.
1) "Take it easy": No need to get all riled up about rules of politeness or whatever. Just do what you want/need to do without regard for much of anything.
2) "Who the hell do you think I am?!!!": The "I'm better than everyone else here, and my way is the best way" attitude.
Sometimes both mindsets at the same time. haha...

As evidenced by the fact that these are catchphrases, these are not uniquely Californian. It's just something I've observed while living here.

=============================
=============================
tl;dr
California is an energetic, fun place. It's a bit chaotic, to be sure. As long as you don't mind the crazy, you might enjoy some of its other offerings.


Also, soda or pop?
...or coke?
...or fizzy drink?

I've heard from other sources that Californians tend to be very socially-gregarious but perhaps not as loyal to their relationships, but not having any friends who belong to the typical CA youth culture I can't make this judgment either. ;P

New Englanders can be gregarious or cold depending on the region-- Bostonians and Eastern Mass-people are very, very talkative, engaging, curious and open, but when you get into the some small-town areas the locals can be suspicious of people outside their immediate social circles. The rural people and residents of tourist areas (like most of central NH, my region) are typically a little more relaxed toward outsiders.

NE is largely Caucasian, but it would be better thought of as a mix of English, Scottish, Irish and French (and French-Canadian, especially in NH and VT), and a large population of Portuguese and Italian (especially in coastal Mass and Rhode Island). There are a fair number of people who've had family here so long that they don't associate with any ethnicity and simply consider themselves... New Englanders.

When they say NE'ers are reserved, it doesn't so much mean that we're prudish... well, maybe just a hint (see: notable lack of nightlife our cities), but we're rather mindful of one anothers' beliefs and feelings and try not to be offensive. Ironically, it's not considered taboo to discuss such topics as religion or politics with strangers, but they are subjects that tend to be approached with sensibility and politeness.

NE I'd describe as being orderly, harmonious and pleasant with a healthy dose of mystery and a hint of melancholy. There are certainly more energetic areas and a lot of interesting places, but for the most part our main source of entertainment is one another-- our neighbors, friends, family. We live in "tough" environment and have learned to live with nature rather than try to overcome it.

If you like nonstop fun and excitement, NE isn't going to be your sort of place... but if you like being able to stop for a moment and enjoy life at a more relaxed pace, this is the place to be.

California is a place I really want to visit, though-- the culture seems fantastic to me, quite foreign, but like something I'd enjoy.

...

BTW, it's soda. Pop is a name for yah fatha, Coke is a brand-name, and fizzy drink'll just get yah weihd looks.