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http://andrewbarnick.tumblr.com/post/87440485002/pixelkitties-askasanebrony-retake-the I was happy to see this on my twitter and tumblr. There's still not much I can do on my own to make bronies and non-bronies alike reconsider what the fandom really means—but hopefully by sharing this I can add my voice to the choir.

:C

well i'm in hawaii now and the plane flight was great. why? free movies. what movies? pacific rim, the lego movie, and the avengers. i am happy. and tired.

You simply have to go there next time your family has Chipotle. For science. -

The main reason I like the show is indeed the show itself. But the fandom helps, too. It helped at the start (I might never have tried watching the show had I not read about how amazing it was and how it was attracting an audience well outside its target demographic of young girls), and it helped moving forward (the Boston meetup group I joined to watch episodes with while at my last college comprised the only actual friends I made while at that school, and I joined a similar group when I got back home). And when I was between seasons and needed a dose of happiness, the online community typically delivered with amazing fanart and creativity. It's true that the brony community may have gotten a disproportionate amount of exposure thanks to its novelty ("Look at these boys who like girl things!"). But honestly I don't see how that's a problem. If anything, it's brought exposure to a generally good cartoon, the likes of which is typically ignored by most news media as "kids stuff" (or worse, "girls stuff"—it's certainly regrettable that one of the best girls shows on TV gets the majority of its coverage due to male interest in it). As an example, you mentioned Powerpuff Girls in your post. When I was young and that was on TV, I generally dismissed it outright as a dumb cartoon. I only learned how ignorant I had been much later, when reading about the genuinely good humor and educated references shows like that made on sites such as TV Tropes. Realizing that that kind of snobbery had made me miss out on a lot of amazing stories was part of why I was willing to give MLP a chance—but I may have realized it much sooner if I had seen shows like PPG discussed in the news back in their heyday. Fans of specific media labeling themselves is really nothing new, nor is it exclusive to MLP. Star Trek fans are "Trekkies", Firefly fans are "Browncoats", Lego fans are "AFOLs" (or "TFOLs" for the younger set), and Homestuck fans are, apparently, "Homestucks". A label helps to connect fans of a niche interest to one another, to create an automatic connection between people ("You like that thing. I also happen to like that thing."). For a person like me, who is socially awkward and has trouble engaging with strangers, that kind of shared experience is priceless. As for people using the fandom to get into arguments, while that may happen, that's certainly not why I brought it up. I brought it up because people I'm close to were stereotyping the fan community as a whole, and it hurt. I don't care whether all my friends like the show—I just want them to understand that it and the fandom surrounding it can be a positive thing, and that it certainly has been for me.

We're traveling back to the States today, so I'll be inactive for the next couple of days. -Rez

We left Ellsworth before noon, gassed up amidst what appeared to be an octogenarian biker gang, then braced ourselves for a drive on "the Airline" - the local name for Maine Route 9. The moniker doesn't refer to air travel, but in the sense that predated mankind's first flight; it's because it's a faster route to Canada than going up and around on the modern Interstate route. The grades were steep and there were a few potholes, but it wasn't anything like the 20 miles we had to traverse on Route 179 in order to get to Route 9. The frost heaves had frost heaves and the potholes went down multiple layers. We survived this hilly and bumpy route intact, and the Airline was a smooth ride all the way to the New Brunswick border - but we did top off our gas tank. Our trip odometer at 1,668 miles, we experienced what was our easiest and quickest border crossing ever, then got to New Brunswick. New Brunswick is in the Atlantic Time Zone, so we skipped an hour ahead as we looked for some kind of visitor center. We exited at one of the first opportunities, at St. Stephen, the Canadian chocolate capital. As is the norm with cities on this edge of New Brunswick, it's named after a saint. After getting a massive amount of information on New Brunswick from a particularly bubbly Wicker, we crossed the street for a late lunch at a place called Pizza Delight. Pizza Delight, it turns out, is a small chain with locations around New Brunswick. We were the only people in the whole place, and after admiring my extremely bent fork, we decided to split something called a Donair. A Donair is kind of a local thing - you don't see them much outside New Brunswick. It consists of a pizza crust, a little tomato sauce, Donair meat (similar to the thin lamb meat you'd find in a gyro), pepperoni, and cheese, all baked like a pizza. On top go fresh lettuce, tomatoes, and a thick, sweet garlic sauce called Donair sauce. It's fairly hard to describe, but just think of a meat lover's pizza with a minimalist salad on top and you'll be close. I was skeptical at first but then came to love it. We entertained the two waitresses there for a while before getting back on NB 1 to Saint John, which we got to and passed through within the span of five minutes. It's the largest city in New Brunswick, which tells you a lot about the population of this province. There wasn't much in the way of scenery between Saint John and Moncton, which is the largest city in the tri-province area where New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island meet. The number of hills was surprising, as was the dearth of birds. I got us from Hampton - just a few kilometers from Saint John - to Moncton. The lack of traffic on main Canadian corridors always surprises me. Two lanes in both directions and you still wouldn't see a car for long periods of time. We rolled into Moncton - where the hotel has almost no one in it aside from us and the staff members - and entertained the girl at the front desk who was obviously bored out of her mind before our arrival due to having no other human to talk to. She suggested a few places to eat in downtown Moncton, and we chose a place called Catch22 - a lobster bar just a short drive downtown. We also got three complimentary beers (!) and some maple candy. We took a picture of her posing with the one and only Yoder the Duck. My mom got a lobster roll, and my dad and I both got the same thing - the massive Fisherman's Platter. Each had half a lobster, shrimp, scallops, haddock, crab cakes, rice pilaf, and a roasted vegetable medley of broccoli, zucchini, and carrots, all served on a massive translucent fish-shaped plate. The utensils in the place were worse than the demented fork I'd experienced at Pizza Delight - the knives, while cool-looking, had their handles twisted 90 degrees around their axis. Ergonomically sound, there was just no place to put it. My dad knocked his first knife clear off the table, and I nearly dropped mine into the booth cushion - only some catlike reflexes prevented a second mess. We started a few running jokes with the waitress about seeds, the utensils, and a few other things. After we'd cleaned our plates, we got a banana and strawberry flambé, set aflame right at our table. We also got their last peppermint crème brûlée - but this was complimentary. Upon our return to the hotel, we got some more maple candy from the front desk and learned a few interesting tidbits regarding the non-standard operation of our hotel. Suffice it to day that the inner workings of this place sounds like a mix of McHale's Navy and Fawlty Towers. Tomorrow: we make the drive to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where I am bound and determined to get my dad to try a poutine.

No. Mine was the only one... I may have to do that. for science. I may or may not have stuck the sticker on my dresser...

I am always confused. Confused is good. Wait, or is it? Ah well. Anyway, did any of the others have a face on them? If not, then I agree with Burnman. For delicious science!

Just placed my order on shop@home, and I decided to apply some VIP points towards it. 1300 VIP points, to be exact. So yeah, I just bought the Spaceship for $38 after taxes. ... I cannot wait for this set. It will be glorious.

So I commented on this great post by Aanchir and realized, first, I wrote a lot, probably more text than my last couple months of BZP activity combined. Second, it would make a decent post here. So. I'm all nostalgic now. The Rahksi and Vahki were just so cool.

I'm afraid to ask how Lego overlooked that

So, I haven't had wifi access at work for like a month now, so that's put a big dent into my activity, considering it's not only cutting me off from BZP but other websites, so I have to catch up on those first and make content for those so I end up not having very much time for BZP, and then I'm so worn out and beaten down that I don't really have the motivation to sit down and contribute here. Blah. I'm gonna be gone for a solid month, visiting my girlfriend on the opposite coast, so that's gonna be fun and I'll prolly not get on BZP much in that time either. But when I get back in July, I am def gonna make some Bionicle arts 'cause I have been dying to get some done I promise I'm not gonna disappear for half a year again

Wait, you're only a freshman sophomore? Wow. Wouldn't have expected it. Anyway, heed Black Six's advice above, but I must put in my two cents -- if the teachers know the material and can help you become acquainted with it, AP Calculus and AP Physics are must-takes. I took them junior year and really enjoyed them, because my teachers were knowledgeable and helpful. (It also helped that my dad has a Ph. D in Physics and my mum teaches calculus at university, haha, but it was mostly the teachers.) With that lineup, it looks like your high school years are going to be very engaging and stimulating, so... have fun!

sup well we are talking now I like talking with people. =D

Woo! Who's bringing the marimba?

THEN I WILL FACE TOHU AND WALK BACKWARDS INTO MASK OF DENSITY that sounds like a plan a bad one but a plan.

I don't think that'll fit on the badge.

While I'm obviously no good for GMing at this point in time, I'm always good for bouncing around story ideas if you need them.

Prologue, What Has Gone Before, and Chapter 1 posted! Enjoy! =D