selusa

Gah. I watched in despair as it landed on the big 'X', just on the line next to a bag o' NPs. What a waste.

Mmm, now I want coffee, but I'd be up all night if I made some. I usually go nuts for just a strong cup of coffee with a bit of Bailey's or Amarula in it (don't worry, I'm not an alcoholic or anything XD), but when I went to Italy I got totally hooked on cappuccinos (with just a touch of sugar), and that's usually what I order when I don't get regular drip coffee. I can't drink Starbucks because their espresso is all pre-made and bitter, and I worked in a coffee shop that pulled it fresh for every order, so I can definitely taste the difference now. I'd hate to think of myself as a coffee snob, but once you work in a coffee shop for a while it's kind of hard not to be. XP

I have about 6 of these huge, fat pillows on my bed, and they are always oozing out of their pillowcases like an overstuffed sausage, so before I can even think of going to sleep I have to jam them back in, because I the thought of sleeping on an uncased pillow freaks me out. Also, when I'm eating, I must always eat the dish that I like the least first, so that I can get it out of the way. That way I can finish eating on a good note and have the deliciousness last longer. XP

For me, it's a bit of both. I definitely have my favorite boards that have the best and most efficient paths to take. But of course, a random event that changes your direction or moves you around could totally annihilate that plan, so a lot of it is just playing the game as things come up and knowing how to adapt to changes and whatnot.

Here is your set~

I had fun with this one and I hope you like it. Also, no need to give anything in return xD

*flails*

This is absolutely gorgeous! You win 10000 internet points. Whatever those are. Thank you x infinity, and I will cherish it always. XP

Religion is a really touchy subject, if possible I try to avoid any political/religious as they almost always end bad...If people can talk about it without influencing others on what they believe then I don't see the harm in discussing it, but once you start adding peer pressure someone can lose their open mind.

I'm sorry, what? You're saying that in order to avoid hurting someone's feelings or influencing others, you should just keep silent on the issue? Avoiding an uncomfortable or divisible issue has never solved anything. Besides, isn't the point of a debate to try and make a good argument about why your side is the better one? You're basically saying that everyone in high school (or anywhere else, for that matter) has a mind like play-doh that will immediately mold to whoever dishes out their opinion first. Please try to treat teenagers with a bit of respect -- just because someone states their opinion doesn't mean they're immediately going to get in line behind that person and convert their entire belief system. I've been out of high school for 2 years, but I know that even in middle school I wouldn't have been so easily swayed by an exuberant debater.

As far as I'm concerned, there's no need to apologize. I am well aware that I am not an exceptionally nice person to people I don't know, and maybe that's just my love of arguing or my general misanthropy. Obviously I could have made my point a little less harshly, but I didn't because I guess that's who I am. So I shall call a truce and extend a metaphorical "no hard feelings" handshake.

Yeah, like I said, if it's therapeutic or whatever, then by all means have at it. I'm certainly not going to stop you. Obviously you value Neopets more than me, and that's cool. Like hrtbrk said, we play Neopets for different reasons and in different ways. I do have real life pets, so maybe that's why I don't understand your attachment to them. But anyway, in my defense, it's not like you gave me eight paragraphs about why you're so angry at your therapist in the first post. All I saw was a bit of a temper tantrum with no other information to go on.

I'm not trying to be overtly rude here, but you do realize that Neopets aren't living, right? Unless caring for them is in some way therapeutic for you, in which case go for it. But whether or not your fake pets are fake hungry should not influence your real life at all. Your therapist is right -- real life > fake pets that can't die. Even if you can't get on the internet for a month, they'll still be there, unchanged save for their hunger levels and whatnot. They're not going to attack you for neglecting them or anything like that. Sorry to sound so harsh, but you shouldn't be freaking out over such a blandly true statement from your therapist.

Personally, I have a hard time turning down anything that's free, even if it's something stupid like a bag of decade-old candy. Perhaps it's because my dad is an accountant. But anyway, the fact that you won free tickets to Coco is amazing, and I know how awful I'd feel if I had to turn down such a cool prize. It's so upsetting because there's a huge, tantalizing "What If" hanging out there now, and you're not going to get to experience it like you thought you would.

Harry Potter is utterly amazing. Nobody is too old to read them! X)

As for my favorite books, I'll always be able to read the Secret History of the Pink Carnation series again and again. I also love Meg Cabot's Mediator series, and a bunch of other teen fantasy books. Ooh, and books about pirates. I just finished "The Pirate Devlin" by Mark Keating, and it was all swashbuckley and dashing and brilliant, and I'm just cracking open "Flint and Silver" by the rakish-sounding John Drake.

Keladry, I know exactly how you feel. I'm 19 too, and whenever I tell people I love to read, it seems they always assume I'm out perusing Hemingway or Proust or something, but I'm all, "Sorry guys, it's teen lit and fantasy all the way for me." (Also your avatar makes me sad about Moonlight all over again. At least I can watch Alex O'Loughlin flail around shirtless in Hawaii Five-0 ^_^ ).

Oh my goodness, you are just an awesome person for doing these. They should give out medals for nice people like you. Also - Culinary Arts student high-five! I'm taking that in September and will most likely end up slicing my hand off, but hopefully not before I make a really excellent pie or roast or something.

I'd like to request a set as well, since I made my current on in Word and it's starting to bug me. XD

Name: Selusa

Quote: I really like two lines from one of Walt Whitman's poems: "Raise the fang'd and warlike mistress" and "Through the battle, through defeat, moving yet and never stopping" (although I am slightly worried that the word "fang'd" makes me seem a little bit pretentious. Oh well). I can't decided between the two, so just the one that looks best or is easiest to work with.

Size: A little bigger than most of the others you've done. Say around 325 x 100?

Theme: I really like the image from my current avatar (Mucha's "Zodiac"), so if it could sort of have that same look/feel.

Colors: Kind of warm and vintage-y? Burnt orange and the like.

Images: Here's "Zodiac". I love the image, but all I'm able to do is crop it and it's kind of blergh and boring. If you can find a way to jazz it up, then I applaud your skill. Otherwise use whatever random/stock images you see fit.

Animated: No thanks.

Extras: I'm not sure if avatars are included, but if possible I'd love a matching set. Also, I really like collage-type designs such as this and this, just to give you an idea of what I like. ^_^

Please let me know if I can do something for you in exchange, as I am somewhat jaded and always feel weird having people do stuff for me for free. My specialties are correcting grammar and being witty on the internet.

When I lost my Deadly Dice Avatar, I was not at all happy. When you get the Deadly Dice Avatar, do not play Deadly Dice ever again.

I had to learn that the hard way.

Urgh, I know exactly how this feels. Not fun. I luckily was able to get the avatar back pretty soon afterwards, but I have learned my lesson and am not going near that creepy coffin again.

I've been trying to get the BTY avatar for a while now, but it's not going well because I suck at any and all games.

This topic reminds me of last night's episode of Survivor (don't worry guys, there is a point forthcoming), in which Phillip was having an argument with Steve and the former turned an argument about rice distribution into a racially-fueled attack against his person. Phillip (who is black) went into an impressively vigorous tirade about how Steve's (who is white) comments about Phil's demands were nothing less than Steve tossing around the "N" word at him, and all the while Steve was sitting there with a bewildered look on his face, wondering how on earth the topic had jumped from rice to race.

Anyway, my point being that if, in the midst of a debate or argument, one side starts taking stuff being said personally and turns their opponent's words into a direct attack on their person, that's when the line is crossed. If a debate/argument (and I'm using the two terms together because a debate, in my mind, is an educated discussion, with facts and sources to back up your points, whereas an argument can still be a rational disagreement with both sides making good points, but perhaps lacking in evidence and facts) gets heated and one or both parties start to raise their voices and get passionate and emotional about their cause, then I say more power to them. As long as the debaters are fighting fairly and don't start taking everything their opponent says personally, then I think there's room for shouting and getting loud. It serves to show the other side your passion for your stance on the issue, and if it's a 'fair fight', so to speak (both sides are equally passionate, and one isn't drowning out the other and not letting him or her get a word in edgewise), then why not let the debaters go all out?

I've had experiences where I've argued with someone and she began to get frustrated and started to belittle me about everything from my age (I'm a teenager, so obviously I know nothing about anything) to my intellect (and since I'm a teenager, I obviously don't know what "self-aggrandizing" means), even though I tried to bring her back to the original topic at hand (which was religion, I think). You can't argue with someone if your opponent basically stops listening to you and starts attacking you or twisting your words. To me, that's when the line between debate and irrational disputation is crossed, and not when things get heated and maybe a little bit loud.

Oh my goodness I love television. Thank god I have a PVR. XD

My favorites are: Supernatural (oh my god tonight's episooooodeeee), Nikita, True Blood, Bones, Hawaii Five-0, Modern Family, Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs.

A ghost stole 88 neopoints from me. Like, dude, why bother? What are you gonna buy with that? You are a ghost.

This board is officially the Cutest Thing Ever. Everyone's pets are so adorable!

I have a dog named Laptop (god knows why my parents named her this. I guess because she's small and portable and my parents didn't want us 8-year-old kids naming her "Fluffykins" or something) and a cat named Mr. E (like 'mystery'. Geddit? So named because he was a stray that wandered into our house one day and decided he liked it.)

Pictures!

Laptop

My dog enjoying a car ride.

A Standoff

My dog and cat looking at each other for some reason

Pewpewpew!

My cat can also shoot lazer beams out of his eyes, which makes up for the fact that he's 20 pounds and psychotic. (That's my cousin's boxer Casey warily eying Mr. E)

I work in a kitchen, cooking for both a cozy little restaurant and the rowdy western bar it's attached to (don't ask me how that happened). I'm going to culinary school in September, so I'm just gaining experience for that until I leave in a few months. Perks: free food, but we just came out with a new burger menu and I've cooked so many of them that if I never eat another burger again I'll be happy.

For the new board, I played a few games (not looking to win) just to map out where all the portals go. So now I have a post-it note beside me with arrows and circles and it's really helpful. It's super fun now that I know where I'm going, and even more so when it's clear that my opponent doesn't have a clue. XP

I just got the Snowbunny one, which is cute but a little late since all the snow is melting here. :P

I haven't gotten one yet, but I got a Faerie Queen Quest on the first day this event started, and that was the first one I've ever gotten from her, so I'm staying hopeful. I have no idea what I do with the reward if I did complete a FFQ though. :P

As someone who has peripherally suffered extreme annoyance and rage due to the presence of halfwit teenagers (I was never one of them, of course), I must applaud your Da for doing what I'm sure most of us long to do, and put butt-faced miscreants (thank you Rory Gilmore) in their place. I've never really seen a brawl before (everyone in Canada is too polite to do anything but apologize profusely at the first sign of trouble XP), but I have no doubt that that would've been entertaining as heck to see. There should be a holiday named after your Dad with drinks all around and fireworks and huzzahs and so forth.

The biggest mistake I can remember making (recently, anyway) was trading a Starry Bori MP for an item that was TP priced as worth at least a million, but actually only about 20k on the Wiz. I only checked the TP and the person offering was rushing me by withdrawing and bidding again and saying there was another buyer (pff). Lesson learned: if the deal is too good to be true, IT IS, FOOL.

I am weirdly drawn to the Spotted Lupe. Probably because it looks like my own dog. XP

It snowed again for us last night. Really pretty and fluffy, but of course the roads are horrid. Our snowplows don't really do their jobs here. It was about 10 degrees C two days ago, and this morning it was -30 C. I had to scrape the *inside* of my windshield because apparently frost on the outside just wasn't cutting it. XP