Tiana? Tiana!!! What a wonderful surprise!

Thinking back on some of the posts that went down here between me, Ata, you, ETJ, Johobbit, Stargazer, Kingskid, Lindir, and others. We had some wonderful times.

Indeed! Such warm, fuzzy, great memories of the old Town Square. Just popped on the old forum now to be nostalgic. Remember NarniaNut95? He suddenly disappeared, if I recall, after being such a solid 'Square Onion' for years, and we miss him! And lysander, PrinceCor (and Vern!), Faun Fan. Among others. But NN95 was the one with whom we had hilarity about The Cookies We Do Not Name, yes? Ahhh, fun days!

Here is just one of the hundreds of examples of conversations there in the Square. Looks like this one got into talking about old, classic TV shows.

Going to college part time for an Avionic Mechanical Science degree, working full time as a pastry chef in a Belgium bakery ...

Sounds busy! And good. Pastry chef? Oh yum! And your degree sounds fascinating. When do you project you might be finished? Keep us posted on the hospital job! So-o-o-o good to see you!!! Btw, I still have that gorgeous shawl your mom so kindly knit, which often reminds me of you and Ata.

And cep! *waves cheerily to Gorse, as well*

Town Square has never ceased being a place of calm for me.

This is very true. Very special.

Valia! Some huge changes for you with your full-time job, as well as moving in to your own apartment. Thinking of you so much ...

We had a pretty major snowstorm overnight and the town is basically shut down, which is not really unusual even for this snowbelt area. I spent over 2 hours shoveling this morning. A number of people in our village have motorized whatevers to help them plow their driveways, but we haven't gone that route yet. We both enjoy manual shoveling, plus it's good exercise (as long as one lifts that snow properly ). My husband tried to go one way to work this morning, but the drifts were so huge that he had to turn around and try another route. He got into his workplace safely in the end. I had something interesting planned in town today, but it has been postponed because of the bad road conditions. All schools are cancelled, as well. It's definitely winter in Oxford County, Ontario!

Wow, sounds like everyone is getting the wet weather but us. Feel free to send the snow and rain our way--California's snow pack is at minimal, and we're barely maintaining average rainfall. If we don't get a good amount of water in some form soon, we're going to be in for another drought this summer and fall.

Incidentally, that cider looks quite yummy, Jo.

I just turned in my paperwork to walk at graduation this spring. This will be the first time I've actually been in a graduation ceremony, and quite frankly, I'm not sure what to think of it. I must admit that part of the reason I went ahead with it is because I accidentally found out that I'm vying with one other person (who is, incidentally, one of my closest friends at this uni) for highest GPA. So either way, however it pans out, we'll be graduating together. Then she heads off to law school...boo.

I ended up not redecorating my classroom this year, but I think that's ok, as I'm not bored with it yet, and the kids in it will graduate out in a few months. So in the end, it becomes more of a thing to keep me from being bored than the kids from being bored, I think.

Valia, are you liking your new apartment?

Great to see you again, Tiana! You're welcome any time.

We could use some of that snow too. Right now the ski resorts can still make snow, but we've had so little that (unless things change soon) there will be drought concerns come spring.

Tried to spot Comet Lovejoy again Friday with friends. We had to contend with city lights, Moonlight, and rapidly moving clouds. The clouds eventually won. We're going to give it another go after the moon passes full and is out of the evening sky.

Enjoyed a Super Bowl party with friends yesterday. Some of the commercials were mildly amusing and the game was pretty entertaining. It's all about getting together with others for fun. One of their teenage daughters was most interested by the Katy Perry halftime show.

It's all about getting together with others for fun.

That's so true. I never watched a Super Bowl until I moved to WV. Now I watch it every year. And it's only because of the party! This year was especially fun, getting to spend it with a friend who I haven't seen in while. She is a riot and we had so much fun rooting for the Seahawks. We are not football fans, so we randomly picked a team to cheer for. It was an absolute blast! Plus, the hosts made some smoked pulled pork and smoked wings. Soooooo yummy!

Hope you get your needed precipitation, Wren. And how exciting about your graduation!

We're going to give it another go after the moon passes full and is out of the evening sky.

Indeed. I tried last night—it was a very clear, cold evening—but that nearly full moon washed out so much of the sky. Very pretty—with Venus in the west and Jupiter and the glorious Moon rising in the east—but no chance at spotting Lovejoy until the Moon wanes a good deal.

Plus, the hosts made some smoked pulled pork and smoked wings. Soooooo yummy!

Mmmm, fooooooood! Our TV is not operable (except to watch DVDs), so we watched Apollo 13, which is one of my 'favouritest' movies. And, oooh, that soundtrack!

More snow coming our way tonight. Winter has finally hit ... about 2 months later than it started last year. The countryside here is so pristine with all that sparkling snow.

Wow, how exciting, Tiana! Do keep us posted, and I hope things go smoothly for you!

Thanks, Jo. You all still enjoying the snow?

Woohoo, congrats, Wren, on your impending graduation!
My apartment is okay. When I actually have time and energy to furnish it, I think that shall help, as well as taking care of a few other things.

We've been in drought weather too but we got some snow (and ice) this past week, and look to get some more. I got to experience driving on it all on new roads on the way to work; I left early and thankfully there wasn't much traffic, and everyone went 25 mph all the way. I just hope things stay clear, especially with the possibility of more precipitation coming.

Thanks, Valia!

Unfurnished/undecorated apartments can be the worst. Do you have any ideas in mind, or have you been too busy to really sit down and figure out what you want? I usually find that, despite my good intentions, my color schemes/themes tend to vary based on what is readily available and cheap that season. Of course, this may be due to not really staying too long in any place, either....

Yikes about the weather! Thankfully, I have never had to drive with ice.

The beginning of this week is a mess for me. I'm doing a film project at a morgue tomorrow evening, which will be hugely fun, but my prosthetics have not finished casting yet. Fingers crossed they work the way they are supposed to! I won't have time to test them before the event, and I probably won't have them assembled until late tonight. Then, the next evening my fraternity is putting on a murder mystery dinner, and basically none of them have ever done a large event before, since most of the people that did it last year have graduated. Baby steps, I guess--as long as you consider a trial by fire a baby step. Still, we're having fun, and if we pull it off well, it'll be a nice feather in our cap for later in the semester.

I'm currently, well, I will be, once the beginning of this week is past, looking for a show to pitch for the fall. Part of me wants to do a four short plays format and do a horror/thriller theme, but another part of me wants to do a legitimate full production. And then there is another, much more reasonable part of me that says I'm crazy and should not be taking on any extra responsibilities at all.

Hi, Cymru, stargazer, and Ryadian! Thanks for the greetings. Nice to "see" you guys too. Ah, good times.

Lady Arwen, I'm mad jealous of your adventures. 😉

It's sad to see things so slow here, though of course that's the way things go. I can't help but miss the days when one could sit on the forum for hours, chatting away. I think, for me, it began to get unwieldy and hard to follow as it got bigger, which I think is partly why I wandered away. That and the fact that I started liking my Ditto Town character enough to want to save any further story for an actual novel. (I've still got that on my list, though I haven't written it yet.)

I've written a couple novels, though (not counting a significant amount of Harry Potter fanfic that I did for a while there). One that I finished a few years ago was a sweet story about a couple of dorky kids and young love. The other, which I've just finished a big revision on and am still editing--you will probably not be surprised to hear--contains vampires (though not the same sort that I created for the Ditto story). Have not published either (yet, at any rate).

Hey Shawna! I've been AWOL from the Ditto portion of the forum because my life went from college to student to insanely busy. The last 2.5 years I've gone from one job to a new one, started riding lessons, got my professional certification to teach therapeutic riding lessons, started teaching (non therapeutic riding lessons) under my trainer, and now I'm a math teacher for a homeschool student.

Yeah... Free time? What's that?

I've had a tentative story idea kicking around in my head for awhile. I haven't done anything with it, but it's one of those when the idea makes its round through my head, it gets a little more fleshed out each time. So maybe one day.

Wren, to be honest, I'm not sure what I'd do with a color scheme if it hit me in the face. The top of my priority list for the apartment is comfort, and anything else is kinda swimming at the bottom, and I have no time or energy to fish for ideas. I'd like to be more organised and deliberate about decorating, but I'd have to have time and energy, and not sure when I'll get enough of that (plus a higher tolerance for shopping, and a good vision of what I want). Also, my current MO is to do nothing, which has worked out enough so that I'm getting by; maybe I'll slowly get frustrated enough to be motivated to actually figure things out and buy stuff.
How did your film project go? And how's the murder mystery dinner prep going? That sounds like a lot of fun! And what did you decide about a show to pitch for the fall?

Hi, Shawna! Good to see you!

Hey, kat! You're keeping quite busy! I hope things are going well for you, though.

We're getting hit by the big winter storm system making its way across quite a bit of the country, I think. I'm really looking forward to it warming up again! It'll get quite hot here in the summer, but at least the roads won't be the same sort of hazardous...

Hi Starkat! Yeah, life has a way of getting busy. The Ditto story just exploded there at one point. I actually printed out the stories that someone had collected at one point. Stories 1-4 are, combined, shorter than story 5 by quite a bit. I almost wonder if it wouldn't work better to have people group into smaller, established groups in some way and only those people work on that particular story (and could have several going at once if there are enough people who want to participate in stories). That would keep things manageable and also maybe help with consulting each other when someone wants to use another person's character in a part they're writing.

Hi Archer!

Valia, I'm working on learning how to say no to things I may want to do, but would leave me so stretched thin that I wouldn't have anything left if anything else were to happen. I'm not burning out, but trying to keep from getting anywhere near that point. That and if anything family comes up oh say like graduation or family members having kids, I'd like to be able to enjoy those moments.

Yeah Shawna. I know what you mean. I think those stories are still up on my website. Which reminds me... I need to renew my domain registration and whatnot.

Actually when it comes to the ditto story, I'm thinking a return to the way the stories popped up originally may be in order. Someone writes a bit and the next person comes along and picks it up. That's where the Ditto vs. Original war came from in the first place.

Cep, Tiana, Shawna... it feels like a homecoming. I'm really glad to see you all here, even if this conversation has kind of stretched over a couple of months. Ahh, the "joys" of real life and priorities.

I've written a couple novels, though (not counting a significant amount of Harry Potter fanfic that I did for a while there). One that I finished a few years ago was a sweet story about a couple of dorky kids and young love. The other, which I've just finished a big revision on and am still editing--you will probably not be surprised to hear--contains vampires (though not the same sort that I created for the Ditto story). Have not published either (yet, at any rate).

Well, at least you've finished something, which is more than I can say with my writing since last we met. (Okay, to be fair, I've finished one story - a story which I have since decided to completely rework so it's not done anymore. ) Anyways, if any of these become available, you have to let us know. I'm really excited to see the kinds of things you've come up with since your Ditto Story days!

I haven't been around the forum as much as I should lately, in part because of a rather... crazy work schedule. I've been on temporary assignments lately, and almost literally every other week for the past month, I'm either interviewing for a new position or starting one. It's been... interesting. I have a new position which should last longer, but I'll let you know after a couple of weeks have gone by....

My characters have also been a bit obnoxious lately. All of my characters have been demanding attention from me when I'm trying to sleep (one night I was literally up until 7 AM figuring out a main character's back story for the umpteenth time*, at least I didn't work the next day!), but when I'm trying to write them.. oh, then they're suddenly out of ideas. Part of it may be because if I try for 5 minutes and can't come up with anything, the siren song of Netflix begins to drift by.... Why, of course I'm an adult!

*Long story short, I had her back story all figured out until I decided to change a certain aspect of the overall plot, and realized it no longer made sense. Yes, at this point it may have been a better idea to simply drop that back story all together, but I like it too much.

Well, I should probably sign off now. I'm have to get dishes done and do some writing before my sister brings over my nephew, who we're babysitting tonight. Good mortereve, everyone!

(Okay, to be fair, I've finished one story - a story which I have since decided to completely rework so it's not done anymore. ) Anyways, if any of these become available, you have to let us know. I'm really excited to see the kinds of things you've come up with since your Ditto Story days!

Yep, that's what happened to me with this book (which I've now finished editing, so I'm at the stage of writing a synopsis and then trying to query it). In August of 2013 I thought it was done. Then I spent several months trying to write a companion novel... only to realize that it wasn't really working out and what I should do is combine the two. So yeah, about a year and a half after I "finished" it, it's finished. I think.

I will definitely try to remember to come here and mention it when I get published. (Although my vampire story may be a bit too hard-edged for a lot of people here...)

So I'm JUST NOW getting around to coming in here and saying...

SHAWNA!!!!! Goodness it's been a long time. It's so good to "see" you.

Yeah, life has a way of getting busy.

Yeah, I've had two kids since we last talked. How are you doing anyways?

*waves hi to everybody else too and passes around some cupcakes, because cupcakes are the thing right now and I'm not complaining about that. *