((I'm not a big fan of endings, which is probably why I pretty much vanished here - this turned out to be a lot harder than I thought it would.

I very deliberately didn't log in tonight, because if I didn't see the lights go out, well, maybe it didn't really happen. Maybe I can go on believing everybody escaped, that they made it out before the curtain fell. If people can see Elvis, JFK, and Marilyn down at the corner store, then I can damn well pass Carmen and Delia strolling arm in arm along the water somewhere, some day.

I don't know if I'll be able to keep telling these particular stories here. I am beginning to suspect not, but if that's true, I haven't figured out how exactly I'll deal with it just yet. I'll be giving things a go in CO because I needs my superheroics fix, but just which forms that's going to take remains a bit up in the air. In the meantime, here's your actual answer...))

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTJVclgwS5g

Play

I certainly try not to do this! But, conversations generally are a two-way kind of thing. So I do think it's alright to compare notes.

I don't know what that is!

A rift? What the Hell is this all about? I can't say I'm good with anything scientific, or mystical, or whatever the Hell might be causing rifts. But, between Delia and some of the other people out here? I can at least put you in touch with some experts.

For better or worse, it's kind of how I go through life in general!

Pretty damned long, I hope!

Some assumptions I made about... let's call them Delia's (very!) extended family.

I have to say I'm happy to admit I can't really answer this one!

I go to the fuse box and cut off the power. Then Delia has to take her nose out of those textbooks for a little while and pay attention to me!

More seriously, though? You've got to talk to whoever you're feeling neglected by. Relationships of all kinds are mutual give and takes. Communication is key!

I don't know! Somewhere in the low to mid-30s, maybe? I like to think I'm a bit above average. But, there's plenty of people who score a lot higher than me in any of those categories!

I'm really not the best person to ask about this kind of thing. Try the bomb squad!

((Could be better, could be worse. I suspect it's going to be a very unsettled season.

Hope you're doing well yourself.))

I think college is a lot more than just job training. I certainly feel that it helped Delia find something she really enjoys doing! Now, I'll grant you that she's working within academia. So it could still be consider job training! But, her library work, and anthropology, and so on all came out of things like the university breadth requirements. And that's where I think the strength of college is. It's trying to broaden your horizons.

Not that something like trade school can't be very productive! But, you're pretty much there for one thing and one thing only. Which can be great. But it can also mean you never get exposed to other things that might have been greater!

I don't generally play these sorts of things. Although I did go through an Angry Birds phase!

I think that if people behaved better, I might say Hayek. His notions of personal freedom are admirable!

But, from what we've seen in recent years? Letting people kind of do whatever the Hell they please with money in the name of a largely unregulated market somehow sorting things out seems not to be such a great idea. Obviously it's a lot more complicated than that! But, you do often see people saying they're championing freedom, and enterprise, and all that when they're really just looking to get rich at everyone else's expense.

True!

Except when I don't. And then I'm in trouble!

I try to blend out. You want to look appropriate for the occasion. But still make an impression!

I'd say talented means having a knack. We're all good at different things! And I'm not entirely sure you can truly "master" something you don't have a talent for. Even if I were to learn every little technical aspect of painting? I'll probably never have a show all of my own work or anything like that. Let alone match people like Gaugin, or Antay, or Westphalen, or so on!

((I pop in to RP with one (non-FS) character every day or other. She's part of a SG and coalition that remain somewhat active, so there's a not-too-bad chance things are happening at a given time. And I'll run missions with people and such if that's happening, but I didn't really have any remaining 'mechanical' goals in the game even before this nonsense happened. I guess it's a good thing I didn't start on that base project for Carmen and Delia's house. :P

And those two, of course, haven't had a significant in-Paragon presence for a while now, so I generally only log them in if something's planned. It does all feel a little bit weird, though, what with the whole looming doom thing.))

Natural loofah for me!