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trialbymagicks · 2 years ago

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Revisiting Hidden Expedition: Titanic (2006) [PC, Steam]

Valentine's Day is about self-love too, so I'm treating myself by revisiting the beloved Hidden Expedition series of hidden object games from my childhood, starting with Hidden Expedition: Titanic! 💘

Plot

The Hidden Expedition Adventure League (H.E.A.L.) has received word that the Queen’s crown rests in the wreckage of the RMS Titanic and they are enlisting the help of the most daring treasure hunter they know to retrieve it. So, it’s up to you to dive into the remains of the sunken ship and salvage as many antique artifacts as you can for the Titanic Museum Foundation during your search. How nice of them to pay you for your trouble with as many gems as you can carry!

Introduction

On July 19, 2006, Big Fish Games launched Hidden Expedition: Titanic for Windows and this charming hidden object game quickly found a resting place in the hearts of its players.

I have very fond memories of playing it on an old secondhand laptop late at night, fascinated by the chilling atmosphere and the concept of unraveling mysteries from a long-lost past. Unfortunately, I hadn’t been able to finish it, so for over a decade my mind was filled with burning questions about what treasure awaited me at the end. It wasn’t until the hidden object bug bit me again back in 2019, bringing that memory back into the forefront of my mind, that I learned that this simple game about a famous sunken ship had become the flagship for an entire series. So, I scoured the internet for this beloved relic of my past and, when I finally realized that Titanic was on Steam alongside a handful of other games from the series, it felt like the catharsis I’d been waiting for.

Some reviews on the store page addressed a concern about the game not opening to full screen, which initially worried me. Would I have to manually adjust my screen resolution in order to play it or would I simply not be able to play it at all due to the objects being too small to see? As it turned out, I never encountered either problem – even running it on a Windows 10 system – so it’s possible that that aspect of the Steam port was fixed.

Fair warning: Upon first startup, you are required to grant the program permission to make changes to your computer. This appears to be what allows it to change its resolution and open to full screen, but if that makes you uncomfortable, you may want to pass on picking it up because the game will not run if you don’t give it permission. You can, of course, choose to play the game in windowed mode later on if that is a more comfortable fit for you.

Whatever the case, I am grateful that my experience playing Titanic now was just as I remembered back when it first came out. Having sparked a love of hidden object games within me, this is the game that instantly comes to mind as the primary example whenever I think of the genre.

Review

As the first game in the series, Hidden Expedition: Titanic may not possess the larger than life cast of characters, grand sweeping story arcs, arsenal of brain-teasing puzzles, and fully voiced cutscenes of later installments, but it is a charming example of what a hidden object game is at its heart.

The gameplay is intuitive and the rules are simple to grasp:

Complete all scenes (plus bonus round) in each dive to move on to the next dive.

Each dive is timed, allotting a certain number of minutes to complete.

Find all hidden objects in each scene before the timer or oxygen level runs out.

Clicking on the wrong object uses up oxygen.

A small amount of oxygen can be replenished by finding the hidden oxygen tank in each dive.

Bonus: Challenge yourself to find all 5 gems in each scene.

The nonintrusive plot offers a humble explanation for the underwater Titanic theme and a reason to play as an explorer embarking on this dive – the promise of a secret treasure at the end and the reward of knowing you found it – which it gracefully follows through on.

The simple melody that greets the player on the opening menu sounds like a promise of adventure and the eerie repeating tune that plays during dives provides a mysterious atmosphere of wonder as well as urgency the lower the oxygen level gets. Of course, there is also a collection of Titanic facts to discover for anyone who may find themselves hungry for knowledge about the topic.

What really tripped me up as a kid was the fact that I had never seen nor heard of a lot of the antique objects on the item lists, so I wasn’t sure what to look for and usually ended up clicking around aimlessly and running out of oxygen once I had found everything I recognized. Even the hint system, which will show you where a random object is, uses up oxygen per hint!

Replaying the game as an adult was remarkably less stressful. I’m sure this is because I have learned more since then and am also much better at guessing what an object’s purpose is by its name, which makes them infinitely easier to spot in the scene. There are also plenty of occasions where it helps to know that a word could represent multiple images (for example: bat, pipe, fork, spade, plane, note, and compass), so don’t be afraid to utilize that pause button and a thesaurus if you need to!

At the end of each dive, there is a bonus puzzle to solve. The player will have to either restore an old photograph by putting its pieces together in the right order or locate a collection of silhouetted items based on a fictional passenger’s profile, no more no less.

Be aware that the final mini game before the game’s conclusion takes a surprisingly different approach!

For me, it was a little confusing at first. I failed a few times and was forced to redo the final dive after every failure in order to try again.

But that’s what I get for not paying attention! If I had taken my time, I might have realized that I wasn’t supposed to guess the numbers by clicking on random items and hoping for a clue. Instead, the numbers that appear on the combination are the hints for each object I was supposed to find. This experience did teach me that the numbers are completely random for each attempt, just like how the item lists for each scene are randomized.

Note that, to complete a dive, you must fully explore all 2 or 3 scenes labeled on the blueprint of the ship and the bonus puzzle at the end. There is no way to save your progress in the middle of a dive, so if you return to the menu or exit the game before completing it, the game will require you to complete all scenes of that dive again when you re-enter.

But this does also mean you will get new item lists when you replay the scenes, so the replay value of the game in general is pretty solid! If you were interested in farming gems this way to increase the number displayed on your certificate when you complete the game (since there appears to be no other purpose for them), you could choose to take advantage of that feature rather than rushing through the game.

Overall, this game is great for anyone looking for a simple (and lightheartedly gimmicky) hidden object experience!

The Story So Far...

While Hidden Expedition: Titanic provides little establishing lore for what would become a series set in an alternate timeline version of reality and begs us not to throw our suspension of disbelief out the window, there is still a tasty chunk of information to read into. So, let me gently take you by the hand and guide you on this journey into the great unknown…

The player character, henceforth referred to as Eris for reasons that will soon become clear, starts out as a (morally questionable) treasure-hunter-for-hire who comes highly recommended by the Hidden Expedition Adventure League (H.E.A.L.) as someone who would “appreciate embarking on [the] grand, yet perilous adventure” into the wreckage of the RMS Titanic on behalf of the Titanic Museum Foundation. Does Eris work for H.E.A.L. as an agent or just a contact? We have yet to know!

Regardless, Eris’ goal is to retrieve an unspecified number of artifacts – namely the Queen’s crown, which had been on its way to a New York exhibition at the time of the ship’s tragic first voyage – and how do you suppose the museum plans to pay for this life-threatening mission? Not with a guaranteed lump sum of money, but rather with as many gems as Eris can salvage from the wreckage themself! Of course, these gems aren’t the priority of this mission, but they’re Eris’ to keep if they can find any before running out of oxygen.

That’s not even addressing the fact that the Titanic Museum Foundation somehow expects its hired hand to swim into the wreck with nothing but scuba gear for protection against implosion-inducing pressure at 12,600 feet below sea level. Either H.E.A.L. is leaps and bounds ahead of society’s technological advancements in underwater exploration or this character is indestructible.

Oh, and another little detail that Director J. Narl Spurdly doesn’t share with Eris before sending them into the depths is that, if they happen to run out of oxygen before finding all of the artifacts on the museum’s list… the Foundation isn’t reeling them back in. Totally not morbid at all! Game mechanics aside, it’s more likely implied that they do let the player character return to safety with whatever had been salvaged in the given amount of time, but they are inevitably sent back out with a new list and renewed oxygen for another attempt.

Evidently, the chance to see the wreck up close must have been too tempting for the immortal Eris to refuse because they agree. It is at this point that I must wonder if the random Titanic facts that appear on screen during dives are meant to represent 1) the Titanic Museum representatives sharing information with them or 2) the notion that the player character is a trivia lover who is reflecting on their knowledge as a distraction from the very likely possibility of a nightmarish death before drowning. Either way, the crown is recovered, Eris is presumably a hefty pile of gems richer, and the Titanic Museum Foundation has bragging rights.

But of course staring down the face of imminent death beneath the sea for the hubris of a vain humanity wouldn’t be enough to satisfy this adrenaline junkie – because the next time the H.E. challenge comes calling, Eris is ready to set their sights on a much grander prize at Mt. Everest’s summit.

Resources

Screenshots are a mix of my own and from Neoseeker’s gallery.

For more information on the series, check out the Hidden Expedition Wikipedia page, the Big Fish Games Hidden Expedition Website, and the Hidden Expedition TV Tropes page.

Note: This article was originally posted on WordPress on February 14, 2023.

#Hidden Expedition #Hidden Expedition Titanic #Big Fish Games #hidden object games #games #posts on trial

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nasoleil · 8 months ago

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Additionally, in regards to the fact that necessary items are what's being targeted here: younger people have been Making Do for a while now. With a shitty falling-apart 20-30-40 year old car (got a 2001 Ford here that we bought secondhand with already 200k miles on it over here bay-bee). With a 10 year old broken laptop and phone. With clothes they've been wearing for a decade. Replaying old games; rereading old books; spending leisure time in a way that increasingly doesn't require much money. Thrifting or buying secondhand for hobby items. Trading things within communities rather than buying new.

A lot of that is obviously because we simply don't have the money to spend, but also at least within my immediate circle, a lot of us are refusing to engage with the system to whatever extent our individual privilege allows. The expectation capitalists have of ever-increasing profits was already not being lived up to, and COVID made everything sharply worse. We lost over a million people, and many more became sick or disabled and saddled by medical bills. There's no way in hell that didn't cause a deep disparity between their projections/goals and the reality, which they seem to have taken personally.

So they raised prices specifically on necessary items, because fuck us. Fuck the fact that we're still not even done processing, let alone mourning. Idk man, I'm not an economist, just an autistic writer, but it feels personal. It feels like punishment.

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beholdingslut · 4 years ago

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since you talk about the dishonored franchise a lot i'm now desperate to play it but unfortunately i don't have a console or pc that can & i was just wondering what system you play it (or just games in general) on? trying to buy any console or parts for a pc still seems like a nightmare right now because cryptocurrency mining yikes but i'm still out here looking because i wanna play an almost decade-old game 😔

i played it for the first time on a ps3! and then at some stage i bought the remastered version for ps4 so i could play the dlcs and also because i like remastered versions. a ps4 will also support dishonored 2 and death of the outsider so definitely go straight for that one if you get a chance. obvs things change country to country but we got our ps4 in 2017 secondhand for about $300 and it’s still going well! i have recently started playing dragon age 2 on my laptop and it works okay so you could also get dishonored through steam and play it on a laptop if you have one. obviously that’s not thee ultimate gaming experience but i think functionality and accessibility are important ❤️

#ask #dishonored

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avaantares · 5 years ago

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My New Ventilated Social-Distancing Movie Theatre

(or, how I bought a 2020-proof social life for less than $100)

So the USA is (still) a hot mess in terms of pandemic response. Because both my father and I are at increased risk for complications from COVID-19, and my sister and I have to work together in person to run our workshops, my entire family has been in a state of self-quarantine for six months straight (with no end in sight). But it’s hard being in constant isolation, so the four households that comprise my local family have been doing weekly outdoor gatherings -- with plenty of hand sanitizer and safely-spaced tables -- so we can see each other and socialize at a distance. However, that’s only feasible when the weather cooperates.

I’ve also really missed watching movies with friends, which prior to the pandemic had been a regular activity. I have a 70-year-old tripod screen I inherited from my grandfather and a projector I use for running panels at conventions, so we’ve watched occasional DVDs outdoors, but we could only do that on evenings without wind (which could tear the brittle screen) or rain (which would damage the projector), and we have to be careful not to have the sound too loud because it might disturb the neighbors.

A couple weeks ago, when our city delayed reopening again due to rising COVID-19 case numbers, I decided to convert half of my garage into an outdoor movie theatre. It turned out pretty well, and it only cost about what I would spend on movie tickets in an average year (and since I’m not going to any movies in 2020, it’s pretty much a wash). I’m sharing the details in case it gives anyone else ideas for making a health-conscious social hangout!

Obviously YMMV, and in areas with higher case numbers (hi, FL & AZ), this still might be too much contact. Be safe and follow official recommendations to prevent viral spread, folks!

The Space

Before I settled on the garage, I considered building a movie space under a tent canopy (nixed because they’re almost impossible to anchor through Midwest storm winds) or carport kit (too expensive and high-maintenance for me), so there are definitely other options depending on where you live, your typical weather, and what space you have available!

My garage has an unusual layout that allows for better-than-average ventilation. When it was first built, it was a 2 1/2-car garage with the doors facing the street and windows on the side. About 40 years later, the owners decided to move the driveway to the other side of the house, so they built a second garage attached to the drive-door side and knocked out an end wall to put in a new overhead door. This means that by square footage, the garage could hold four cars, but the way the drive doors are situated, it’s a divided two-car garage with a bunch of extra space at the far end. The two sides are connected by one of the original overhead doors, which means that three of the four walls have openings that allow for air movement. (More on that below.)

Normally there’s a car in each side of the garage, but I decided I was willing to park outside all summer for the sake of having a social life. Over the course of a week, I emptied and thoroughly cleaned the half of the garage that has the windows.

Air Flow

Constant fresh air flow is critical to flushing aerosolized particles that can spread the virus, so in order to make a safe indoor space, I had to simulate outdoor air movement. I opened all three overhead doors and both windows, then placed several fans to draw air through the building: One in each window, one along the side wall, and a box fan in the connecting door between the two sides of the garage to pull more air in from the outside. To make sure air was actually moving through the building and not just circulating within it, I turned on all the fans while I was sweeping the (very dusty) floor and walls, and adjusted the fan angles until the dust blew straight out the overhead door, rather hanging in the air or gathering in the corners. (Experts recommend that to prevent virus transmission, indoor spaces should have 100% air turnover every 10 minutes; obviously I have no way of testing that in a garage, but there is a constant light breeze through the building and stuff seems to be blowing out, so I feel pretty good about it.)

Projection Setup

I already had the projector and DVD player (I took the one out of my living room, since I usually just watch DVDs on my game console anyway), but I wanted a larger wall-mounted screen, since my grandfather’s 1950s screen was designed for showing vacation slides in a living room, not wide-screen films. Hanging fabric screens are very cheap, but I opted for a 120″ retractable screen so it would stay clean in the dusty garage. I also have an old set of monitor speakers that provide nice stereo sound.

Seating

The beauty of setting up in a garage is that it’s basically outdoors, so you can use lawn furniture or bean bags or old chairs you pulled out of someone’s trash (I do this regularly; it’s how I got my entire patio set). Measuring out at least 6 feet between each table and staggering their positions so nobody was directly downwind of another table, I set up all the card tables and folding tables I owned, and put a pair of chairs by each one so that couples from the same household could share a table but not be in close contact with any other groups. I put my largest folding table (which was also salvaged from the trash -- seriously, it’s the best way to get stuff!) against the wall right by the open door to serve as a snack table, so it’s on the opposite wall from the seating and nobody would be breathing on the food. I covered all the tables with decorative heavy-duty vinyl tablecloths (mostly for sanitation purposes, because those tables have been sitting out in my garage and I know I’ve had raccoons and opossums out there -- not to mention the colony of bats that lives in the loft off the back of the garage).

This setup can seat up to eight people, and even provides a place for serving food. (I put pump bottles of hand sanitizer on each table and on the food table, and people wear face masks when they’re loading up their plates, so there’s minimal contamination risk there.)

Total Cost

My out-of-pocket cost for this whole project was only about $83, though that’s because I already had a lot of stuff lying around. Here’s a more complete breakdown:

Fans: I already owned the box fan ($25 new) and a couple other fans that I’d picked up super cheap at garage sales ($5 or so), because my house is old and the HVAC is not very efficient. The only new fan I bought for this project was a refurbished air circulator from Amazon ($14), because I needed a small but high-velocity fan to fit in a window.

Projection setup: The only new thing I bought was the screen, which was $65 including shipping (though non-retractable fabric screens start around $10-15, so if you’re on a budget you can get one very cheap). I bought the projector used on eBay about eight years ago. I think I paid around $40 for it then, but prices have come down since; I’ve seen discount projectors for as low as $20. The DVD player is a cheapo region free model, which I got a decade ago for maybe $30. The speakers were secondhand; I’ve also used an old set of external PC speakers ($10 from Goodwill) when running video off my laptop, and they worked well enough in the indoor space.

Seating: Almost all the outdoor furniture I own came from other people’s trash, so I didn’t pay anything for it! Any kind of seating or tables will work, though. I did invest about $4 for new tablecloths, which I got on seasonal clearance.

Bonus Perks

I’ve discovered that the garage walls block a LOT of light and sound unless you’re standing directly outside the drive doors, so we can watch movies for half the night or stay up late chatting and we aren’t disturbing the neighbors! We couldn’t run movies out on the patio late at night because the sound would carry to neighboring houses.

Also, when we’re watching a film in the evening, we get to watch my bats fly through the garage on their way to and from dinner! (Which might be an annoyance to the bats if we were out there all the time, but we try to keep our volume low and we’re only out there about once a week, so I don’t think we’re disturbing them too much.) Bats are protected in my state, as some of the native species are critically endangered, and we try to encourage nesting as they’re essential to pest insect control. I love watching them fly around!

The setup also works well for video games. A local friend and I had been playing online, late at night because it was the only time we could get enough bandwidth to maintain connection (the ISP in my area is not super reliable), but now we can sit on opposite sides of the garage and play local co-op with no lag:

So, in summary, my “movie theatre” is by no means a luxurious setup, but it was cheap :) and it’s a great way for my small pandemic social bubble to get together and chat, have a movie night, or play games without risking being in a closed room together.

#social distancing #home theatre #my rock star life #2020

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annypuff · 4 years ago

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Hello! How are you? I hope you are doing well ☺ i had a question for you! I want to get into digital drawing, but I don't have a tablet, and honestly not much money either HAHA. Do you have any recommendations on what type of tablets I should be looking at? Or even some tips? I would really appreciate it! Your art is amazing

hi!! i can tell you personally what i’ve been through if that will help! sorry, i get super into these things!!! lol so this is gonna be long, sip some water and grab a snack lol

i started digitally drawing in 2005 on ms paint with just a mouse haha.. and it wasn’t until maybe like 2009 i got a wacom bamboo fun tablet! which isn’t the kind with a display. I got it for like, $60-70CAD at the time, at one point had to replace it but it was still the same style of tablet.. and i had been drawing with it for over a decade! I was using ms paint but at some point i switched over to adobe’s flash (like an old version that i was able to get for free) and then paint tool SAI (which i got a “portable” version of... aka pirated lmao) anyways, wacom is on the pricier side but ive heard many great things about the brand huion? they’re a cheaper alternative and i believe they’re just as good! you definitely should watch some youtube videos about them though! so many of my friends (who are just casual artists, or just starting out!) just bit the bullet and got huion branded stuff and they love it so far.

however, some people have come up to me about how they can’t seem to fathom drawing without looking at their hand, so they opt for display tablets. this is where even ipads and other mobile tablets can come into play to. so i bought my display tablet, an old wacom cintiq, secondhand, just like, 2 yrs ago and i love it so much and i totally understand why people would rather skip the regular tablet “phase” and go straight into display tablets. it’s pretty much the closest thing to putting pen to paper except, digitally! but it is EXTREMELY pricey! you’re essentially buying a powered monitor lol depending on the sizes and brand, it can go anywhere between $300-2500! im going to mention huion again bc, yup!! very good alternative, more affordable brand! now if you’re thinking mobile tablets, i just recently got myself the samsung tab s6 lite, it’s a good mid-tier price and they support many other drawing programs and recently they released clip studio paint (what i use) for android and its fine so far! there’s many other mobile drawing software out there too, i suggest looking up on youtube as well as i cant seem to recall the names lol. but honestly, i only ever use it if i wanted to draw digitally on the go lol. this is very privileged of me. i know a lot of artists solely use their ipads and procreate, which i get why it’s so amazing but literally like that post i reblogged had said, it doesn’t matter what you have, it’s how you use it!!

currently i use clip studio paint as my software, but i bought it (on sale!! it goes on sale a few times a year) lol after i started making a stable income (again i feel very blessed) i also got SAI officially hahaha. i literally don’t know how to use photoshop properly :’D GIMP is a free drawing program, i think it reminds me of photoshop though so i didn’t really use it much. I actually haven’t gone around looking at any other drawing software, as i just keep advertising CSP to my friends and they also bought it.. so i would once again resort to youtube for that lol but i love CSP bc they have built in 3d models you can pose!! lol and backgrounds and other assets you can download, etc... when it’s on sale i goes down i think to 70? maybe less, i can’t recall. i don’t wanna advocate uh.. “portable” versions but uh... there’s that option too ;) (not sure if CSP has it but i think SAI’s is around somewhere on the internet...)

in the end, it really is an investment if it’s something you want to hone!! huion is something you should definitely look into and if you want to keep doing it in the long run, you can upgrade much later! I would say, if you can somehow test how well you can do with a non-display tablet, i would just go with that for budget purposes. if it wasn’t for my impulsive nature, i probably wouldve stuck with a non-display for a very long time lol.

oh also this is me assuming you have a laptop or a computer, if you’re running solely on mobile then an ipad alternative would be the samsung s6 tab lite, or anything similar, esp if you’re just going to be using it for drawing!

im so sorry this is so long LMAO my INFP ass just wants to be as helpful as i can... TLDR: try huion! LOL and trial versions of drawing programs!! to see which you feel more comfortable with hehe

#omg im so sorry anon i jsut flooded with so much info #i get REALLY passionate about this shit #if you have any SPECIFIC questions PLS dont hesitate to ask!!!!!

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purplesurveys · 5 years ago

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718

If you lived in Bikini Bottom, would you befriend Spongebob or Plankton? Obviously Spongebob. I’m there to have a good time and catch jellyfish, not eat holographic meatloaf and make it my life’s goal to steal a secret formula. Do you have any bananas in your house right now? I think we still have some left. My dad bought a pack? a group? a bunch? of them so he can make banana cue and turon for my mom and sister while we’re all stuck at home for the meantime. Which overrated tattoo are you sick of seeing? Eh I don’t judge this easily since I assume tattoos mean a lot to people but where I’m from, line tattoos are pretty overused. They DO look nice and I get why they’ve been trending for a while, but yeah they’re evvvvvverywhere. Is it easy to distract you? Yes haha I have a rather quick attention span. Do you prefer to drink from glasses or mugs? Depends on the drink. I drink my water from a glass but I prefer my coffee in a mug, that sort of thing.

What was the last thing you taught a younger kid? I don’t feel confident teaching kids just yet, huhu. It usually works the other way around: when I’m with kids, they teach me how to play their toys or whatever game they’re playing on their parents’ phone/iPad. Are the clocks in your house mostly digital or analog? We only have one analog clock. We mostly tell the time from our phones. How long have you had your television(s)? Answered this before but we have two TVs that are 12 years old and two others that were bought within the last decade. Do you like watching movies made with CGI or do you prefer hand-drawn ones? I don’t care. As long as the end product is done well I can enjoy the movie. Where did your parents buy their car(s)? I know for sure the two family cars were bought directly from the official dealers. I think mine was a secondhand one. Do you know why your grandparents chose your mother's name? No. I think they just liked the name. That makes me want to ask my grandma though. What is your favourite kind of soup? Miso is the only one I really like. Have you ever made your own musical instrument? Nope. What do you think of Leighton Meester's singing voice? I only know one song of hers and I reeeeeally loved that when it came out, but I don’t think it’s enough for me to have an opinion for her music altogether. I definitely don’t hate her voice though. Do you think you'd do well at teaching the English language to a foreigner? Yeah, it’s my other everyday language and I’m a little bit more fluent in it than I am in Filipino. How long have your neighbours lived there? About the same time as us, I think. We all moved in at sort of the same time when the village was newly developed. Is it weird to hear your name in movies or TV shows? It’s not a very common name so it does feel a bit weird to hear, yes. It’s weirder if I have to refer to the character in third person cause I never liked saying my own name :/ Why do so many people seem to hate the Jonas Brothers? Am assuming this refers to the Jonas Brothers pre-reunion because I’m sure no one hates them and their new music now lmao. I think, simply put, it was because they were teenagers then, and pre-teen and teenage girls was their main fanbase? Most people liked to shit on that category of celebrities, even today – case in point, Justin Bieber, 5SOS, One Direction haha. What is a store you like that is exclusive to your country? Fully Booked! It’s the most complete, up-to-date, and chic bookstore brand we have. The Fully Booked branch in BGC in particular is a partnership with Starbucks, so you can immediately walk over there to get a coffee and read after buying a book heh. If you attend school, what time do you usually get home after? I always have extracurriculars like org stuff, meetings, or fieldwork after my academic schedule so more often than not I’ll get home by 9 or 10 PM, which leaves me feeling exhausted as fuck at the end of the day. When was the last time you really needed to just let loose? Like two weeks ago? I was bored out of my mind being stuck at home so I chugged a lot of soju that I asked my dad to buy so I can at least be drunk while being bored lol. Have you ever been blackmailed? Kinda. There was a time when I didn’t talk to my sister and didn’t really feel well enough to reconcile with her yet, but my mom threatened to go to our class guidance counselor and expose me and ‘the kind of older sister I am’ if I didn’t make amends with my sister immediately.

This might sound sarcastic but thanks, survey, for reminding me what kind of mom my mother actually was during the years that were the most critical to my development lmao. I always need reminders like this because despite how our relationship has ‘improved’ now that I’m older, I shouldn’t forget the trauma she caused me and the fact that I had always planned to detach myself from her as much as possible once I’m fully independent. I can’t disappoint my younger self by keeping her in my life as if nothing happened.

Do you suffer from Restless Leg Syndrome? No. I keep forgetting what that means. Would you rather have novels based on your life or a series of comic books? Novels, so I’d be more interested to read it. Have you written a resume before, either for yourself or someone else? I did a resumé when I applied for my internship. Did you know that they plan on releasing a movie based on The Smurfs? This survey is sooooooo old hah they’ve made a bunch of films on it already. Do you ever wonder what it would be like to live underwater? Not really. Mostly I’ve just wondered what it would be like to be a creature from the deep sea, where it’s totally dark and most of the animals there look prehistoric as fuck lol. Have you ever worked in a bakery? If not, would you like to? No but this question reminded me of Harry Styles, aw :’) ANYWAY if I did I’d probably take up a job in the office, since I can neither bake nor deal with people on a regular basis even if one argues that bakeries aren’t really particular spots for angry Karens or Barbaras. What is your favourite thing about snow? I like that we don’t get them because it’s bound to make my first encounter with snow in the future magical as fuck. Is there a big personality difference between you and your sibling(s)? Yeah. I tend to adapt to new environments way better than they do and I’m definitely the most extroverted of the three in all aspects. Do you enjoy decorating things with stickers? Hahahah yes, it’s an uncontrollable urge. I keep my stickers to just my laptop case these days, but back then I used to put stickers on my phone case, my ID case, clipboard, wallet, etc. Did you lose anything recently? Did you end up finding it? I lose my hair tie every now and then; my hair’s a bit short for a ponytail now so my hair tie gradually slips out my hair with me barely noticing it, so it always ends up in random places around the house. I do end up finding it after a while but it gets frustrating whenever I realize it had fallen off again. What colour oven mitts do you have? We don’t really use the oven so we barely use the ones we have. I don’t even know the color of it.

Why do you/don't you watch award shows? Because there are sooo many commercials in the middle of it, some presenters are awkward as fuck and I’d rather save myself from the secondhand cringe, and most of the time the choices for the winners are undeserving and end up pissing everyone off. It’s always easier to just wait a few hours and check the results on Google; and besides, the only fun parts are seeing what everyone is wearing and who attends to begin with hah. What do you think of Ellen DeGeneres as the new judge on American Idol? God this was a lifetime ago. I think I mostly didn’t mind it but I never did get over the replacement of the OGs Randy, Simon, and Paula. Do you ever do the exercises featured in some magazines? No. Have you ever watched What The Buck? What do you think of it? I don’t think I’ve heard of that. How long ago did you switch from cable to satellite, if you did? We didn’t make a ‘switch,’ per se. We had cable in our old home but when we moved to our current house in 2008, having extra channels wasn’t really the priority as moving already entailed a whole lot of expenses to begin with. That meant we only had free TV for a while which was extremely fucking boring, but eventually my dad got us satellite in like 2011 or 2012. When was the last time you partnered up with someone to complete something? I decided to partner up with Andrew for my undergraduate thesis in like August last year. Do you consider Lady GaGa's appearance artistic, or just plain weird? Artistic. What do you usually do when you have trouble sleeping? I put a lengthy YouTube video on so I can fall asleep to the background noise. At least that’s what I do these days - I always thought I needed complete silence to fall asleep, but apparently that’s not the absolute case. What was the last thing you used scissors for? I opened a sachet of 3-in-1 coffee.

Have you ever used some kind of food as a facial mask? Nah I always just use Korean sheet masks. How many USB cords do you have lying around? I personally don’t have any but I do have a hard drive. Are you satisfied with your social life (or lack thereof)? I’m very satisfied with it and I’m glad I got to open up in college. Do you know anybody whose initials spell something? Sure. What is your favourite flavour of Kool-Aid? I’ve never had Kool-Aid. Is there a specific food you think NEEDS to be at Christmas dinner? My grandma’s steak. Would you be able to re-string a guitar? I wouldn’t even know where to buy guitar strings. What TV show do you just assume you wouldn't like? How I Met Your Mother, just because their fans love to make fun of and compare their oh-so-great show to Friends so much when I’ve never seen a single Friends fan make fun of HIMYM like ????? Why the one-sided, unsolicited hate??? I was always planning to watch the show and appreciate Friends and HIMYM at the same time but because the fans are so pathetic I just stopped wanting to watch it altogether. Do your friends have more money than you? Seems unfair to pit ourselves against one another when we’re all still depending on our parents’ money lmao. Who always has the power to make you feel intimidated? Ate Frances has always had a very strong personality. Do you have more bread or cheese in your house? Bread. What was the last movie trailer you saw? Not sure. I don’t really like trailers since most of them give away too much of the plots already. Did you purchase any meat product when you were at the store last? My dad did. Have you ever been told that you have chubby cheeks? Well I don’t, so no I’m not usually told this lol. Do you know how to properly use a saw? Nope. Isn't it a shame that what Kanye West did at the VMA's overshadowed what was supposed to be a night dedicated to Michael Jackson? Hahahaha not really, I found it hilarious and so so stupid. There were a billion other tributes to MJ that year that went smoothly so it doesn’t really matter to me if the 2009 VMAs will always be known as the Imma-let-you-finish VMAs.

#survey #surveys

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callmenickk · 5 years ago

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MERRY CHRISTMAS DARLING

Hi. It’s me again and my old exhausted laptop to write you a Merry Christmas. :)

You can’t find me in my feed right now. With my long overdue social media detox entry better and why not apply it for the last Christmas season before entering a new decade. Given you’ve found me here...in my blog, I mean wow, I appreciate you my dear readers.

Every year I find myself sitting away my thoughts at Christmas season. It’s become a personal ritual of some sort. And it’s nice too looking back at my old entries but sometimes it makes me cringe as well because, wtf am I blabbing?

This Christmas, Mom & I did our tree together. At the dawn of the season she kept asking if will we be ever buying new ones or just stick to the old ones cause she wanna start decorating already. (Patience, mom.) This morning while we were cooking, mother was talking about how at the very last minute after work before Christmas eve, she finds time to put up her own tree no matter how poorly it might look. Pretty explains the photos I recently found of her with some humbling trees. (Oh, you can look them up in my feed.) I hope you get it. This isn’t petty. If there’s anything I can do within my reach that’ll make my parents happy, I will do it.

I grew up living with nothing much. Nothing grand. I remember our old nipa home vividly. I don’t see my father as often then but when I do, he tucks me in bed at night before sleep.

I do remember how life was back then and how my parents raised me. My mother is the most frugal mother you’ll ever meet. I grew up using things that are mostly secondhanded. But she is never selfish. She’ll mostly show her care for you in food. And so I gained weight. (For the update, I can manage now.) My father also is like a bomb with his temper. When he’s angry I get scared. He would mostly punish my Ate then but with their tantrums I just cry loudly you know? Now older, I’ve got his soft spot. When the manghud is angry, papa shuts the fuck up.

They’re never the perfect parents. Loving them for better has always been an easy job but loving them for worst has and still been a challenge for me. At times, I fall short in patience, understanding, and caring for them. Thankfully this year, even with the many trips and flights I took with my work, I kept coming back home. I’ve got more time for them. I buy bread after work whenever I get the chance. Because when you love your parents, the best way to show it is to be there right?

And if in my age my world only revolves most to my family - mama, papa, ate, Pitchie - that is more than enough.

Merry Christmas everyone and always find time to show your love ones how much they mean to you!

All my love, N

#christmas2019 #nikkicelebrates

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irish-nlessing · 8 years ago

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Making the Grade - Ch. 1

The only sound Poppy Miller could hear was the pounding of her heart in her ears. The words were swimming in front of her eyes. “Clerical error...unable to complete graduation application...missing credits.” Reaching up with a trembling hand, she pulled her laptop closed with a quiet click. “No no no no no. This is not how this is supposed to go. This is not how this is supposed to happen.” Her voice was thick, the words tinged with panic. She rolled away from the small desk in her cramped office and dropped her head between her knees and started counting. “100...99...98...97…” The numbers had always soothed Poppy, even when she was a small girl. They never changed, there was always order, and they never faltered. Saying them out loud made her feel like she was in control and centered, even when things in her world were spinning into chaos.

“25...24...23...22...21...20.” Poppy took a deep breath, feeling her heart rate slowly return to normal. Her ears were no longer ringing and making her feel as though she was listening to the sounds of the bustling newspaper office from under water. Sitting up, she smoothed her hair and opened her laptop back up with a purposeful flick of her wrist. She grabbed the phone from it’s cradle on her desk and punched in the direct extension to her academic advisor’s office. For the past three years Poppy had spent countless hours in Professor Williams’ office, pouring over class schedules and timelines. He’d always been supportive, if not a little bemused, by Poppy’s fervent need to graduate early. Early on he’d tried to figure out why she was so focused on it, but he’d given up quickly after realizing that once Poppy had made a decision, it was done - never to be altered. Her drive and stubbornness had helped propel her to the top of the Dean’s List and had made her the youngest Editor in Chief of The Monitor, the weekly newspaper of her small liberal arts college. On the third ring, Professor Williams finally picked up. “Ms. Miller. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Poppy scowled - she forgot about the caller ID function. She hated not getting to lead conversations. “Professor Williams. I’m currently looking at very disturbing email which seems to indicate that my application for graduation confirmation has been denied due to an unfulfilled credit requirement.” She heard a sigh through the receiver and then Professor Williams’ deep timbred voice speak soothingly into the phone. “Poppy, this is not a crisis. I promise. There is time to fix it.”

“This semester?” Poppy demanded. She could hear her advisor carefully mulling over his words. Her belly filled with dread as she waited for him to respond.

“Poppy, I’m so sorry. But, barring some extraordinary solution, I just don’t see how we can fix it this semester.”

“No.” Poppy said, simply.

“Poppy, I’m not sur-” Professor Williams was mid sentence before he was cut off, unceremoniously.

“No. There has to be a way. The email said I was short four credit hours in a political science elective. There has to be a class you can get me into.” Her voice had lost some of it’s authoritative edge. Fear and desperation were starting to creep in, softening her plea into a whimper.

After an agonizing silence, Professor Williams finally spoke. “We’re two weeks into the semester. But, let me see what I can come up with. I’ll call you as soon as I have some answers. Ok?”

Poppy let out the breath she’d been holding. Her lungs burned with relief as she blew the air out across her lips. “Thank you. I’ll speak with you soon.”

Across campus, Niall Horan sat in the tiny graduate student office he shared with two other graduate student assistants. It was little more than a glorified closet with harsh overhead lighting, a tiny desk and two old tattered chairs. The walls were littered with schedules, post it notes, and memos from the university. Niall knew each crack in the wall, every pin hole and knick in the heavy wooden door. This tiny place had become his home, almost more familiar than the narrow streets that wound through the tiny hamlet in Ireland where he grew up.

Niall sighed and slumped back in his desk chair, rubbing his huge hands across the two day stubble on his jaw. The past two years of his Ph.D. program had been a whirlwind and he had jumped in head first to his studies, almost to the complete detriment of his personal life. Only his flatmate, Harry, had managed to pull him from the brink of complete social suicide by insisting Niall join him once a week for pints at the dodgy bar just off campus. But even Harry, with all his charm and joie de vivre, couldn’t help Niall land a date. In fact, in the two years Niall had been working on his Ph.D. he'd been on exactly one date. It was such an epic disaster that it had almost become Niall’s claim to fame among the other doctoral candidates, who had gone so far as to affectionately refer to it as “the negative date”. Every time Niall brought it up, Harry couldn't stop himself from cringing at the secondhand embarrassment. Looking back, Niall realized that maybe taking a girl he met in a bar to a student documentary screening wasn’t the best idea. It also may have been a bad move since the documentary was an expose about the recent plight of a newly-discovered South American tribe and their disastrous exposure to twentieth century technology. Turns out, watching a native healer try to treat a snake bite with a makeshift surgical kit wasn't really a turn on for most people. The girl had fled ten minutes in, muttering “you’re hot, but you’re not that hot”, leaving Niall perplexed. All in all, it wasn’t a total loss. Niall thought the film was a fascinating anthropological look at indigenous politics.

Niall shook his head at the memory and pushed back the fringe of his bleached blond hair. It was starting to grow out a bit and he'd been toying with the idea of just letting it go. His older brother, Greg, had insisted it would help him with girls back home. It didn’t work when he was fifteen and it was not helping now almost a decade later. Now it’s mostly out of habit. He tugged on the ends and wondered if anyone would notice if he showed up to class one day a brunette. He was startled out of his day dreaming by a sharp rap on the door. “Oi! Professor Horan, hard at work I see!” Niall snorted and rolled his chair back further into the office so Harry could come in and sit. Harry always seemed to take up as much available space as possible - and not because he was a few inches taller than Niall. Niall envied the way he seems to effortlessly occupy any space he’s in, spreading his calming aura to everyone around him. Niall had never been able to command space like that, always preferring to stay at the peripheral and ease his way into situations. Niall motioned for Harry to sit and leaned back with his long fingers laced behind his head. “Mr. Styles, slummin’ it in the political science wing today?”

Harry picked up a stack of papers and plopped them on his lap as he made himself comfortable. “Well, there’s only so many freshman papers on Phoenician pottery I can read before my eyes start bleeding. Thought I’d pop over and see what you’re up to.” Niall shrugged and sucked a breath in over his teeth. “Not much, I’m afraid. I’ve only got the two sections of senior political theory and my dissertation meetings. M’actually not sure what I’m gonna do with all the spare time.” Harry was only half listening, he was flipping through the stack of papers on his lap. They were quizzes from Niall’s classes and he was perplexed at what he saw.

“Niall?”

Niall hummed in response, but didn't look up from where he was absentmindedly scrolling through emails on his laptop.

“Why are there phone numbers on these quizzes?” Harry’s shuffled through most of the pages to make sure he was seeing correctly. Sure enough, on more than a handful of pages there were phone numbers inked neatly underneath names. Some had a smiley face doodled next to them, some had tiny hearts. “Looks like they’re all next to girls...wait, nope here’s a couple guys too.”

Niall spun in his chair and glanced at what Harry had in his hands. “What d’ya mean? I always get phone numbers on papers. Have since I started teachin’. Do ya not get those as well?”

Harry huffed out a laugh and raised his eyebrows. “Only from the students I end up shagging.”

Niall missed the last part of Harry’s response when his office phone rang. “Niall Horan here. Professor Williams, how are ya sir?” He tucked the receiver into the crook of his shoulder and motioned to Harry that he needed to take the call. Harry nodded and dropped the stack of quizzes back on the seat. Before turning to leave he tapped at his watch and stage whispered, “Eight o’clock, Griffin’s Lair, don’t forget!” Niall nodded and shooed him off, a silent promise to meet up at their usual spot.

Poppy’s phone blared from her desk, drowning out the chatter in the small office. She and her assistant editor, Sabrina were in the middle of a layout meeting for next week’s issue. There were mock ups and articles strewn everywhere, with clippings and glue sticks littering every surface. Poppy groaned and shuffled papers around finally grabbing it panting out a greeting. “Poppy. Glad I caught you! I have good news.” Professor Williams filled her in on how he’d been able to pull some strings for her. He’d managed to get her into a senior seminar political theory class. Poppy collapsed into her desk chair with relief as he told her. But before she could launch into thanking him a hundred times, he gently stopped her. “Poppy, listen. This isn’t going to be a walk in the park. This is a senior seminar. Technically it’s for political theory majors only, but I happen to know one of the graduate assistants that’s teaching it this semester. He’s agreed to override your enrollment status and let you in. It’s the only way you can earn the credits you need this semester. It’s going to be tough. I’m just warning you.” Poppy waved off his cautious tone and tried to reassure him. “I’m sure I’m up to the challenge. I’ll just have to put in some extra work at first to get caught up. I’m just so relieved, honestly. Thank you so much!” Poppy scribbled down the class information on a scrap of paper, silently cursing that she was going to have to cut the layout meeting short if she was going to make it to this new class on time. Sabrina stood and peeked over her shoulder, plucking the paper off the desk to read it. Poppy dropped the phone back in its cradle and spun to face Sabrina. “It’s a goddamn miracle! I’m going to graduate this semester if it kills me Sabrina.” Poppy started shoving notebooks, pencils, and her laptop in her messenger bag, while Sabrina’s eyes darted back and forth from the scrap of paper to her phone. “What? Why’re you staring at your phone? Did you hear me? Williams got me into another class - I’m going to get my credits!”

A smirk spread across Sabrina’s face and she turned the phone to face Poppy. “Poppy Miller, you lucky son of a bitch.” Poppy was wrestling with her jacket and threw a glance at Sabrina’s phone. “What am I looking at?” She was struggling to get the zipper to catch and was only halfway listening.

Sabrina groaned and pushed the phone closer to Poppy’s face. “How dense are you? Niall Horan. You ended up in Niall Horan’s class, Poppy! Look at him! Every undergrad who’s even thought of taking a poli sci class has tried to get him as their teacher. He’s fucking gorgeous, and he has an accent. AN IRISH ACCENT!” Poppy was staring at her friend in sheer bewilderment. Sabrina’s face was flushed and her chest is heaving with each breath she took.

Poppy took the scrap of paper out of Sabrina’s clutches and squinted at her carefully. “Are you gonna be ok?” Sabrina growled and threw her hands up. “You’re hopeless, Miller! You’re graduating this semester, you need to live a little! And here’s the perfect chance! Dazzle him with your wit and intellect!” Poppy laughed and shook her head at her friend’s desperate pleas. “He’s hot, I’ll give you that. But I hate to break it to you, I’m not using this class as some sort of twisted speed date. I just need the A.” Sabrina dropped back down to the floor to finish the layout, waving Poppy off without another glance. Before the door clicked shut, Poppy heard her friend sigh heavily and mutter, “She’s a lost cause.”

Sweat prickled the back of Poppy’s neck as she trudged across campus. It was only the second week of the term and the weather hadn’t yet cooled down from the summer doldrums. Despite Poppy’s tendency to be pulled together and in control with almost every aspect of her life, her appearance was usually the first thing to go to pot. It wasn’t as if she was slovenly by any means, and she cleaned up when the occasion called for it. She actually had a whole closet filled with beautiful suits, flowing summer dresses, and piles of expensive shoes her mother insisted she needed, and refused to stop sending to her. But for days filled with classes, and nights filled with her duties at the paper and studying, Poppy was most often found in flip flops, old chuck taylors, running shorts and whatever college t-shirt or hoodie that happened to be clean. She kept her long, wavy hair meticulously washed, deep conditioned, and trimmed, but you’d never know it since she almost always had it thrown up into a messy knot on her head. Sabrina often referred to Poppy’s outfits as “athletic hobo chic”, which Poppy insisted was a compliment since it contained the word “chic”.

Weaving through the late afternoon throngs of students, Poppy passed through the center of campus. There were groups of students huddled on the steps of the library, talking and sipping on coffee. A few guys that looked a little younger were tossing a frisbee back and forth across a grassy lawn while a few girls sprawled out on a blanket to watch. Dodging a couple walking hand in hand, Poppy stopped to hoist her bag back onto her shoulder. She tucked a few loose pieces of hair back into her hair tie and sighed. For all of her success, Poppy had never quite mastered the art of “college life”. She’d gone to one or two parties freshman year (waste of time really), had a few sour dates and hookups (not all it’s cracked up to be, if she’s honest), and a few close friends (better than a lot of fair weather acquaintances, she’d told herself). It wasn’t exactly that she harbored any regrets really, but on sunny afternoons surrounded by carefree laughter and people actually living in the moment, she couldn’t help but feel like she’d missed out. She shook her head and glanced at her watch, silently cursing herself for getting distracted. “Nice, now you’re gonna be late because of a stupid frisbee. Way to go, Poppy.” She muttered to herself tersely while she jogged down the path to the small brick building tucked behind the graduate library wing. Taking the stairs two at a time, she slid into the classroom with the last few stragglers. Since this was technically a senior seminar, there were only about twenty students milling about. Poppy spied an empty desk in the front row, but off to the side of the room. She hoped it would give her a good view of the board, without drawing too much attention to herself.

Busying herself with pulling out her laptop and getting ready to take notes, Poppy noticed about four or five girls huddled around a desk at the front of the room. Each girl had a reverent sort of look on their faces, and Poppy snorted and rolled her eyes. Looking more closely, Poppy could just make out a pair of long, lanky legs poking out from the desk clad in skinny jeans and trendy hipster chukka boots. One of the girls turned to head back to her her desk and Poppy was suddenly staring into the clearest blue eyes she’d ever seen. Poppy felt the air sucked from her lungs and every cell of her body burned as if they were on fire. His bleached blonde fringe fell flat against his brow, with his thin pink lips parted just enough for Poppy to get a peek at a row of perfectly straight, immaculately white teeth. The moment was shattered seconds late when another student cleared her throat loudly, finally prompting Niall to look away. “Sorry, wha?” Poppy could hear the timbre of his accent carry over the chatter of the the other students. He pulled the pair of round framed glasses from the collar of his shirt and slid them on, trying to see what the other student was showing him in her textbook. Poppy let out the breath she’d been holding and tried to get a hold of herself. She wasn’t here to ogle at the TA, she was here to pass this class and graduate early. Silently chastising herself for letting her hormones get the best of her, she refocused and pulled up a fresh word doc to start taking notes.

Niall cleared his throat and shuffled some papers around on his desk. His throat felt dry and constricted, like he was starving for a full breath of oxygen. He tried swilling water from his green Nalgene bottle and focused on the peeling sticker of the Irish flag plastered to the side. This girl had completely captivated him and he had absolutely no idea why. He assumed she was the last minute addition Professor Williams had phoned him about, but she hadn’t said a word to him yet. For all he knew, she could just be in the wrong room. He became conscious of the room falling silent, signaling the actual start of class. Running his long fingers through his hair he passed out the sign in sheet and went up to the board to start his lesson. “Ok, so last week we talked a bit about how politics interacts with economics. Today we’re going to start our discussion on how that interaction affects relations between industrialized nations in the West.” Niall continued through his bullet points, citing examples from the assigned readings and asking for the students to contribute their own thoughts. For the first time since he started teaching, he found himself drawn to one student. And, as luck would have it, he was drawn to the one student who hadn’t said a word the entire hour. He desperately wanted to hear her voice, but she could hardly be expected to contribute on her first day after the rest of the students had over a week’s worth of lectures. Every few minutes he would allow himself a quick glance to her desk, watching her delicate hands fly across the keyboard of her laptop. She seemed completely focused on the task at hand, looking back and forth from the board to her screen. Niall realized that she seemed hell bent on not making eye contact with him.

With ten minutes left in the class, Niall announced a pop quiz. He was met with a few scattered groans, which made him laugh. He saw the girl’s head pop up over her screen at the sound of his throaty chuckle flowing into the room. She looked a little dazed, like she couldn’t reconcile the sound he was making with his physical appearance. Harry had once told him something similar, that his laugh “sounds like a bunch of angels havin’ a group orgy”. Niall had curled his lip at his friend’s crass description, hoping the mental image it gave him would fade quickly after a few more pints. Niall passed out the quizzes, going over last minute instructions. “Ya got ten minutes to finish this up, you’re free to head out when you’re done.” As he passed Poppy’s desk he placed the paper in front of her carefully, holding his breath so he could hear her whisper a tiny “thank you”. He sat back down and chewed on his nail thoughtfully, watching the her hem and haw over the questions. He silently cursed at himself for giving it to her, it covered material they had discussed last week and he should’ve made an exception for her. “Stupid Niall.” His eyes widened as he looked over and saw her tip her head to the side at him. He thought he’d muttered that under his breath, but apparently he was a little louder than he wanted. He felt his cheeks go hot in embarrassment and stared back down at his hands.

Students started filing out of the class, dropping their quiz on Niall’s desk. Poppy was feeling hot and her palms were damp. She knew exactly three of the questions on this quiz. For the first time she was unprepared for something and she hated the feeling. She closed her eyes and quietly started to count. “10...9...8...7…” When she got down to “1” she took a breath and filled in the rest of her answers. She stood up and gathered her things, suddenly noticing she was the only student left in the room. “Oh. Oh, um, sorry….I’m probably over the time, but I um, didn’t know some of the - well anyway. Here.” She slung her bag over her shoulder and thrust the paper towards Niall. His mouth was open, and he was searching her face, seemingly struck speechless. She tipped the paper a little closer to him and that seemed to shake him out of his silence.

“Oh, right, sorry. Yeah, don’t worry about this one, I’ll give you the points for it. Shoulda told ya that earlier ‘cause ya know, you’re new and I’m sure ya haven’t gotten the text yet.” He swallowed heavily, his eyes never leaving hers. Poppy picked at her cuticle, not sure what to do. The silence was awkward but she didn’t want to look away. He seemed genuinely kind and sweet and a little naïve. He smiled at her and nodded, and she ducked her head and turned to walk out.

“Oh! Poppy, wait!” Poppy spun and walked the few steps back over to Niall. He pushed her quiz back towards her and handed her a pen. “You forgot to leave your phone number at the top.” Poppy’s smile faded and her stomach suddenly turned sour. Of course. He’s trying to hit on her. She glared at him, her eyes trailing from his clear blue eyes down to his thick fingers gingerly offering her the pen. She leaned back and jutted out her hip, crossing her arms in defiance. The placid expression on Niall’s face started to falter and he limply dropped his hand away from her. Confusion was written across his features, and his brows began to pull in slightly. “What’s the mat-.”

“You know, everyone said you were hot. But nobody said you’d be sleazy. If you wanted to ask me out, you could’ve been a gentleman about it.” Without another word, she spun on her heel and stalked out of the room, leaving Niall a little red in the face and a lot confused.

He slunk down into his seat and stared after her. Running his hand through his hair he breathed out, “What the fuck just happened?”

A/N: This would not be possible without the help, support, and encouragement of my dear friends and betas, @dibsonthat1d / @lucyvanpelt78 / @squirrely83. Massive thanks to you!

#making the grade #my writing #Niall and Poppy #Niall fic #niall au #uni niall

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culturecomp · 5 years ago

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Emulation Today?

My mind got to thinking about Dolphin emulation, the project that purports to allow GameCube and Wii software to run on your personal computer. I don’t recommend installing this or attempting to get HD-sizzle when it comes to Nintendo’s overall style and the composition of classics, even modern ones. I’ll sooner invest in a CRT TV or monitor.

It’s similar to that RPCS3 emulator. No, I don’t want to bother with it. No, I don’t think the Call of Duty emulation scene compares to the contemporary game on current hardware. You know, if you had to play Uncharted, 2, and 3 on your laptop while flying over the Atlantic ocean you could but... I mean, Sony and Naughty Dog just gave that collection of games away FOR FREE because we’re all sick. Stealing it after a license lands in your lap? Stealing it just before or after a promotional giveaway? It could make sense, but it doesn’t. Theft being a primary component of any emulation or rom-software discussion is the starter. Thou shalt not steal, right?

Can we measure that breaking a license agreement benefitted anybody or profited anybody, like if everybody en masse downloaded RPCS3 and one particular game or the same was said of Dolphin and the game stolen just happened to be a cult classic, so the whole thing is really veiled in vanity, literally consumers hoping to communicate with a corporation that they want more of some work or another?

gamesasartdebate.jpg

No, I mean it. When there were going to be a few “hardcore” RPGs available on Nintendo Wii towards the end of its relevance, but those games weren’t going to be ported for Western gamers, it was collective action that let creative people know there was demand. You could say publishers aren’t creative people like developers are, but quit your bull shit. Acceptable reasoning for support of intermittent ROM or emulation software use, it is not. The radio doesn’t play the Metallica song I want to hear, but it is still illegal to steal their albums. It just took 10 years too long for Apple Music or Spotify to become viable. Y2K still buggin’.

If you feel like you’re not getting through on Twitter, it wasn’t in my eyes that a massive emulation protest took place to legitimately bring Bayonetta and Vanquish to modern video gaming hardware. I bet Kamiya-san still noticed people talking about Vanquish though.

Once I was working a job and my main responsibility was simply to look out for the safety of everyone but also the retail store itself. So I’m watching and watching and then boom, I see this dude stealing a CD. Shit.

I love to go see live music performed, whether it’s a cover band in the park or a major-label-debut artist opening for an even more multi-million-dollar headliner, but it’s true I had stolen plenty of music off of the Internet. I basically quit doing that with this and other jobs growing up, though there was less a discount on media at this retail store. When they had me awkwardly sit with the perpetrator in an office despite the uniformed officers almost permanently parked just outside the location, I didn’t know what to say but “I’m just doing my job.”

Ten dollars an hour was pretty good over minimum wage better than a decade ago, you know? (Minimum wage could be better today.) I really didn’t have a choice but to do my job. What’s the guy gonna think if I stumble through denying I saw the act through my physicality? I’m at the door, I’m trying to look over him as he’s leaving the store with stolen goods? I’m trying to talk to a coworker? I’ve got a headset and a microphone, I’m more official than I want to be for the store, so I let the manager know there’s shoplifting going on. Was the perpetrator a mystery shopper? I don’t know. That retail job really beat me up. I continued school and graduated.

OK, so back to the subject of the Dolphin emulator. I frankly love the project and hope it succeeds in numerous and varied ways. If RPCS3 gets someone to make their own PlayStation game the way you hear nerds talk about how they always dreamed of making a Nintendo game, then good. I hope that emulation can act as a standing guard so that computing hardware can be such a canvas as the purple box that gave us Super Smash Bros. Melee or even broader graphical trends like cel-shaded modeling and animation. I’ve seen purple-lit personal computers before. Alright, that said there’s simply no way that it’s necessary if something like the composite-video-out cables that were proprietary so many years ago are super cheap to buy today. I got a brand new GameCube out of a GameStop years after that scenario with the shoplifter. It was only $20. I didn’t have composite cables for it, but I did purchase a set for the Wii during the height of all that. Things matter to consumers.

What... like 2007 or 2008 and then... 2012 or 2013. What is the actual cost of emulation? What’s the actual cost of secondhand video game sales? I’ve double dipped too often now. Buying the CD and the Vinyl release of a brand new album... can the members of Metallica promise me they do that on a regular basis? May I please inherit the music collections of members of Metallica, before they smash it all to bits hearing how it’s all going to some loser who leeched the self-titled and didn’t seed?

The dude took the compact disc out of the jewel case, put that in his coat, put the case and shrinkwrap back on the display rack, so you know you’re wondering if he and I are any different except that I could be such a rat. I don’t worry about it except for what I know I’m deserving of. This country fails to preserve youth and then derides that group for not acting old enough, being old enough, or agreeing to repeatedly outdated terms. We could never grow out of it! The discussion around online-piracy isn’t changing enough and it isn’t challenging anyone. For the record, there’s little I want to “steal off the Internet” that isn’t available on Apple Music, Apple TV, Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, Crunchyroll, Spotify and I’ve never successfully “cracked” a game.

#emulation

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