Legolover-361

OOC: I'll take you up on that offer.IC: 03608Personnel Deck / Recreational AreaThere were voices from beyond a door opposite the one she had entered. She approached it with small steps.They could be friends, she thought.Another thought interjected, Or they could be enemies.She traced the word HOPE on the door frame with her finger before opening the door.OOC: 03608 is now in the Starboard Lookout.

Great song.

As BZPower's Anniversary Week is drawing to a close, I'd like to say thank you to those of you who have read my few pitiful blog entries. Since BZPower's advertising policy has changed, and since I'm looking to start an off-site blog anyway, I'll probably link to the blog on BZPower once it has been created. In the immortal words of Tigger, "TTFN -- ta-ta for now!" (P.S. Is it just me, or is it funny to see the amount of BZPower members saying, "Welp, can't link to my other sites here!"?)

OOC: I hope that some of the "recreational areas" in the Personnel Deck are workout rooms so this post will be fine. IC: 03608Personnel Deck / Recreational AreaShe advanced around the corner and into a smaller area. One of the light bulbs was dimmed, but the others provided suitable illumination for the dumbbells, weight machines, resistance bands, and other exercise equipment gathered in a haphazard sort of organization: each type of equipment in its own section of the room. Kind of like thoughts in the brain. She stepped into the room and looked about curiously.Everything seemed so empty. Her footsteps echoed. She could still hear things in the distance -- creaks and hums and other, less audible, more sinister noises -- but hadn't a clue how to get to them, or if she should even try.

I'm glad to see this policy change. I probably won't make too much use of it, but it's great that members now have the opportunity to link to any BZP-appropriate site.

I'm about three and a half minutes in now, and the composition is great so far.

Okay, thanks for the answer. I'll consider joining.

All the young'uns are doing it. I'm getting hip with the times. A couple of the links below are for the electronic musical group Forward, which two friends and I formed. If you're into an electronic progressive neoclassical sort of hybrid, do check it out. My YouTube channel Forward's YouTube channel Forward's Facebook page Maybe more links are forthcoming. I'm looking into establishing a blog and / or writing some stories to sell, and Forward might (key word: might) get a Twitter account. If any of that happens, I'll probably notify y'all on my profile page and / or in my signature. Speaking of my signature, I should make a new banner...

Considering how leery I can be of screaming, I don't know why I liked that song so much. Maybe it's because I'm playing it at a safe volume.

Just popping in to say that video is brilliant. Also, a question -- is the BZPower Facebook group generally clean?

Retweeted by Legolover-361.

OOC: I don't know if anyone else is on the Personnel Deck in sight of 03608. For now, I'm assuming that she's alone. I'd like to properly participate in this RPG after failing to post anything but an introduction. * * *IC: 03608Personnel DeckAfter a time, she lifted herself so she was kneeling upright. A curious feeling permeated her limbs. Numbness? No. More like absence of purpose.She stood but was unsteady upon her feet.Legs sore with disuse brought her round in a circle and then again; disoriented eyes drank in every detail of her surroundings. The lights flickered. Her pace did not falter.On the inner surface of her helmet visor, dials and displays flashed and adjusted. Text near the top read "WARNING -- UNSAFE AIR LEVELS."Now she wasn't walking, only spinning in a circle like a malfunctioning automaton, eyes and mouth wide. Whoosh went her surroundings. She grew dizzy but didn't stop -- the feeling was, though odd, pleasurable.When she finally toppled, vertigo tilted the floor beneath her so that she cried out and curled into a ball until the undulations ceased and stillness had returned."No more spinning. No spinning. Spinning..."As if from inertia, her focus spun till it landed on the serial number imprinted upon her suit's wrist. She stared at it again, mouthing the numbers. Zero, three, six, zero, eight.She stood up again, eyes roving, and let her feet take her down the corridor of canisters so that she came to an intersection of rooms. Were those voices in the distance?She halted on her toes like a child unwilling to approach a stranger.

Cultural differences are more significant than racial differences because they pertain to lifestyle rather than appearance. I personally think skin color shouldn't be considered as any more important than the rest of someone's appearance (note that one's overall physical features can be indicative of heritage just as skin color can be). If people are proud of their skin color, that's fine. People just shouldn't draw lines where there ought to be none. Take the U.S.A. A lot of people of different races can coexist in an American culture. Sure, their family histories are different, but differentiating them on the basis of race goes against their unity. I'd say it's not "boring" to consider race of secondary or tertiary importance. Gah, I think I just derailed the discussion. I'll stop.

Probably over a year ago now, I was talking about releasing a solo instrumental album. While that plan hasn't yet come to fruition, a couple friends and I have completed a group album that I would like to share with you all. We've named our group Forward. The album is called Interminatis (pronounced "in-ter-min-ah-tee"), which is Latin for "endless". It's a concept album; we have a companion booklet included with the download that should help clarify the plot a bit. The album is six dollars, but it also has fifteen tracks and a run time of one hour, six minutes, and ten seconds. Even if you don't buy it, we'd appreciate a listen and some feedback; you can stream the album through Bandcamp here. We also have two name-your-price singles available for download if you'd rather get something free. To those of you who listen, thanks a ton.

Okay, thanks for clarifying. I think the term "ignore" is what threw me off. I'm of the school of thought that race really shouldn't count for anything significant. Culture and race, while they can be linked, are separate (I still agree that differences in both should be respected).

Congratulations to the other winners! I'm still surprised that my story got so far -- it was spur-of-the-moment, written because I had no idea what else I could write.

I personally dislike the idea of Superman needing to hibernate, though I think giving him a nightly sleep quota seems sound.

May I just point out that the only universal differences between people of different skin colors are appearance and heritage? I can't speak for everyone, but being half "black", I don't want people to think I'm different because of my skin color no matter what happened to some of my ancestors or what other individuals of dark skin identify with / as. There are cases where a race is closely tied with a culture, but I'm confident in saying that there are exceptions to the rule. I'm just saying that, if my skin color were "white" or "black" instead of tan, I wouldn't be any different save for appearance and heritage. What I'm saying is that treating people of other races like they're different sounds -- and I mean no offense by this -- vaguely racist. I'm probably misunderstanding something, but if I am, correct me. (Yeah, I know this isn't very relevant to the discussion. I just wanted this clarified.)

Will a Toa of each element be able to control that element's isotopes, or will we need to create separate Toa for the isotopes? I could imagine a Toa of Deuterium.

Secondhand Lions is a good film... but, yes, I too wish I could know what that speech is.

Last night, I watched Serenity, the film sequel to the unjustly aborted TV series Firefly. It was painful. It was intense. It was amazing. If you watched and enjoyed Firefly, I highly recommend Serenity. Just be prepared to have your heart nearly break. One last note for those who have already watched the film:

First and foremost, happy anniversary, BZPower. May you survive to see many more influxes of wannabe bloggers exploiting Premier perks. * * * I'm writing this entry to talk about something I'm sure a lot of writers struggle with -- namely, finding the initiative and motivation to write. (Incidentally, authoring this entry is part of my attempt to find both.) For over a year now, a plan to write a novel has been fermenting in my mind. I told myself at the beginning of this year that I would plan it and write it. As of this writing, I have done neither. Admittedly, my lack of progress is mainly due to procrastination; however, I probably would not be procrastinating if I had the motivation to write something and the determination to follow through. Of course, a diagnosis is only half the battle. Where can I find a cure? The most obvious panacea is writing to provide a message. I don't necessarily mean morals in the style of Aesop or Ayn Rand, namely, blatant and spelled out for the reader; I also mean messages like a warning about dystopia (George Orwell, 1984), the allure of evil (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings), what we're likely to find in the universe (Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey), etc. If you understand your message well, it can provide a skeleton framework for your story and, if you're lucky, inspiration. But messages don't always work. Maybe you're too leery of being heavy-handed; maybe there are a few different messages that could or could not work, but you can't select one just yet; or, most likely, maybe your mind hasn't paired a message with a plot. What do you do? The second cure I know for lack of writing initiative and motivation is adopting a habit of writing. This might seem contradictory at first -- how can you habituate writing if you can't write? -- but think about riding a bicycle, or swimming, or even math: You couldn't do it at first, but you learned. You can't write anything if you don't try to write anything, so write something. A third option is to make writing into a challenge. Some people are motivated by deadlines; though I don't find them particularly inspiring, they can spur writing, especially in the case of a contest. Other people may write stories to incorporate new words into their vocabularies, try out another writing style, etc. The fourth and final thing I can think of is to write whenever you feel emotionally charged. I find writing an excellent means of catharsis. If you feel particularly happy, sad, angry, whatever, try to translate your emotions into words. Okay, this isn't a great blog entry, but I figured I should take advantage of having Premier perks and write another rant after such a long hiatus from written ramblings. Now I just have to see if writing the above inspired me at all...

Why am I not surprised that Hubert reached this goal? :PCongratulations, Hubert!

Because of the very small number of entries, there will only be one winner. All the stories are being judged in the same group.