I guess I'll make the big leap (picking up on the conversation from the Holiday Cup and Platter).

You know most people don't count countries by their falls and breaks? That said, swimming with sharks?! Where could you have done that?

Well, considering my current pair of runners has been in more places than most people go in their lives, I'm not surprised. I have a hoodie that's actually been in every country I have been in, including the two I visited illegally (or at least not quite legally--long story, not very interesting).

Swimming with sharks (not a shark cage--actually swimming) would have been South Korea, but I had the opportunity the exact days that I started stressing over my personal per diem, and so I didn't jump on it, and I should have. I had enough left over to have covered it twice over.

...did you get left behind all by yourself when you were 7?

Fortunately, no. But the airlines was very rude, and we got in to the connecting airport nearly four hours late, and they told us--personally--which gate to go to, and when we got to that gate, it had been changed to the gate literally right next to the one we got off of which half the people got on and we didn't. I remember they wouldn't give us our luggage so I had to sleep in my underwear and use an adult toothbrush. Because those are the sorts of things little kids remember. Although I have clearer memories of being two and three and four than I do of five/six/seven/eight.

We've now failed at that for about three days running, but on the other hand this morning we watched a production of the Nutcracker, so... yay spontaneity?

The Nutcracker is always a good choice. I applaud your decision.

the eInk screen is so much easier on the eyes compared to a regular backlit screen.

I've heard that! I'm still hesitant on getting a ereader at all, though, because on the rare times I do have optic migraines, I can't work with screens at all (although I can only read so much, and then I just have to lay down and wait for it to pass, so I suppose that sort of defeats that argument). I'd presume the battery lasts longer, too?

You getting left behind at the airport feels like a chapter in your supervillain backstory.

My supervillain backstory always sounds a lot better in snips and snaps than in full stories. Like, my first childhood memory was of the Rwanda genocide. Sounds very super-backstory, right? Except it was a magazine my dad had left out that the pictures somehow lodged in my brain from. So basically my earliest childhood memory was of a scary magazine. Which suddenly sounds like the beginning of a comedic bit.

I'd probably be a waterbender, but I love the idea of being a firebender... you could heat water for tea so quickly and it would be so useful for all sorts of things in the kitchen.

For some reason this just struck me as being incredibly Hufflepuff. "I have great knowledge and power. I shall use it to make better tea." And I think that fits you delightfully to a T..ea.

Do you guys have any New Years' resolutions? I know that I'm going to make a point to try to build some muscle.

Ooh, have fun with that! I don't make hard and fast resolutions (because they always fail because I am horrible at that sort of thing) but I usually try to do something like pick up a new defense art. One year I did a thing where each day I would do one more pushup than the day before (the goal being to be able to do 365 in a single go at the end of the year). I think I got somewhere in the 50s before I quit/forgot. Maybe I should try that one again. Totally useless, except perhaps as a party trick.

So I finally got my new boots, and they are delightfully tall. I'm about six feet with them on, which makes me absurdly happy, because I've grown to the point where I actually like looking down on people (as opposed to hating my height and wishing I could shrink so I wouldn't be the height of the average US male). Now just to pack everything sometime in the next week.

I think I'd probably be a waterbender. It would be super useful as much as it rains here. I'd never need an umbrella again; just bend the water away from me as I went.

I've got a Kindle (Voyager, I think is the model name? Not sure, it's the current cheapest one that has a built-in light) and the battery lasts about a month-ish if I turn the screen off when I'm not using it and only use the backlighting sparingly. Even under heavy use it lasts at least two weeks or so though.

I'm not really one for resolutions, but I'd like to write more this year. Finally get my room completely cleaned (lol yeah right). Finish at least a shelf of my to-read bookcase. Simple stuff like that.

I'm Rosie's complete opposite with bending - my personality definitely runs more Firebender, but there's no question that if I had a choice, I'd choose Waterbender. It's my favorite form of bending to watch in the show, and yes, it's also endlessly versatile. Transportation, purifying water, shoveling my driveway effortlessly....

By the way, just as a comment about the comics (since I think that's how this started ) - I think they've been really, really good, though I do wish they would've been made into episodes (a lot of elements don't work as well on paper as they do in motion). Story wise, though, they feel like a proper extension of the original series. Plus, . I heartily recommend them to anyone who likes the original series.

Going back to an older conversation....

Sharing an apartment, even as an introvert, isn't so bad if you like the person and get along well with them. And, of course, if they're responsible for things like paying their share of the rent on time, keeping their stuff clean, etc.

That does make a lot of sense, though admittedly I hadn't thought of it that way before - it wouldn't be that hard to live with someone with different tastes but similar habits/priorities, but the reverse could be a nightmare. I'll keep that in mind while I'm looking for roommates and apartments.

Phew! After basically seeing no one but immediate family (and retail store employees) for the past month, this weekend was a whirlwind of company. We had our traditional New Year's Eve party, which mostly consists of a lot of gaming - after all, we're all planning to be up until at least midnight, so it's safe to break out the longer games. After that, I have a gaming group that usually meets on Sundays, but we haven't been able to meet all of December because of Christmas engagements, so we finally met again on Sunday. After that, my family went up to Duluth for Christmas with my dad's side of the family. It was lots of fun all around, but now I feel like I need a vacation from my weekend.

I have a couple of New Year's resolutions this year, though one of them is the same as it was last year ( ) - finish a draft of one of my books. My original plan was to pick one project and just write it, NaNo-style, from start to finish, but all that accomplished was making me really, really sick of that particular story and all its endless plotholes. I'm thinking of instead focusing more on doing a certain amount of writing per day, probably actually carving out a section of time after work where I have to write, no excuses. I'm also trying to cut down on my pop/caffeine intake, but... well, we'll see how both of those go.

*returns to the lovely Town Square after a far-too-lengthy absence!*

Or maybe the magazine was a portal from Rwanda to your current life, Wren. Which sounds like the beginning of some sort of Sci-Fi/fantasy story.

I would think that an eInk eReader would work well for you... it's very, very paper-like. (Think of the screen of an Etch-A-Sketch.) The battery is supposed to last a good long time with eReaders, but mine dies every couple of days whether I read it or not. It's six years old now, though, and I'm seriously thinking about getting a Kindle. (Don't want to be outdone by Booky and his two weeks of battery life. )

Well, I am a Hufflepuff to a T. I remember a while back they redid the Pottermore quiz and everyone was taking it and getting different results, and so I took it again and... Still Hufflepuff. Just kidding, I love being a Hufflepuff. Loud and proud!

You too, Booky and Rya? Waterbenders unite, lol! Except now I'm seriously thinking about earthbending... I used to make lots of forts when I was a kid, and can you imagine the kinds of things you could build as an earthbender? Your backyard would be the coolest thing ever.

And now I think I reeeally need to read The Search. Ooh. O-O

Rya, whenever you get around to choosing an apartment, you might want to read some articles about the pros and cons of which floor you live on. They can contain helpful information, although I don't think I've found one that mentions the fact that if you're on the first floor, everybody else's water leaks find their way into your apartment. I'm pretty familiar with apartment living and being a waterbender would have been super helpful at times.

Happy 2017 to the Town Square!

As a kid I'd probably have fit best as a waterbender, if I'd known about such things, since my brother and I liked to play in the water so much...on the beach, in the backyard sprinkler, or in the snow. It was all good.

Now I might be a firebender since I enjoy campfires so much.

But I agree with Rya that waterbending is the most interesting form to watch.

Glad you enjoyed your weekend Rya. I did too. Some of the game sessions were absolutely hilarious! Did you have any travel issues on Monday, with the storm predictions what they were? I encountered some freezing rain on my way to southern Minnesota, with some delays due to cars sliding into ditches or medians. It's still quite icy outside now, and with temperatures well below freezing for the next week it won't be improving much.

Except now I'm seriously thinking about earthbending... I used to make lots of forts when I was a kid, and can you imagine the kinds of things you could build as an earthbender? Your backyard would be the coolest thing ever.

This is very true, though I have a feeling non-earthbender parents wouldn't appreciate it much. Though, my mom would've loved to have a child who could till the gardens for her with just a few movements....

Rya, whenever you get around to choosing an apartment, you might want to read some articles about the pros and cons of which floor you live on. They can contain helpful information, although I don't think I've found one that mentions the fact that if you're on the first floor, everybody else's water leaks find their way into your apartment. I'm pretty familiar with apartment living and being a waterbender would have been super helpful at times.

That... is something I never would have thought of. Definitely something else to keep in mind this week - I'm planning to get at least a little bit of apartment hunting done this week. Thanks for the advice!

stargazer, the weather wasn't all that bad coming back home, though we did leave a bit early to try to avoid it (the worst bit was slowing down for a snow plow for a few miles). Actually, it was worse for me yesterday - I almost couldn't get into my car, it was completely covered in a sheet of ice that still hasn't fully gone away.

Well, the new year is off to a roaring start, and I'm already failing on my writing goal. Of course, I also hit a major block right as the year started, because of course I did. I probably won't get much writing done tonight, either, since I'm going to be watching my sister's kids. Oh well - there's always this weekend. It promises to be much less exciting than last weekend - other than getting stuff done around the house, my only real plans are some friends and I are planning to see Moana. I haven't seen it yet but some of those trailers have made me really excited for it. I'm just hoping it's actually going to be as good as I hope it is.

*Dons camouflage gear and goes to hunt down her inspiration before it runs away again* Contrary to what my avatar may indicate, sadly, I am not Batman.

*tiptoes tentatively into the Town Square*

Hello all, it's been a while. It's lovely to see some familiar users on here, though there are many of you I don't know. My name is Ruby, for those of you who haven't met me.

I hope you all had a Happy New Year! I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that it is 2017 already.

As for New Year's resolutions I would say my main goals are to 1) go back to school full-time and 2) move. I have a few other smaller goals / resolutions, but I'm not trying to stress too much about them and instead focus most of my energy toward my big goals.

Ah, Ryadian, it looks like you're going through the less-than-glamorous process of searching for an apartment? I currently live in an apartment with my sister. Our apartment is on the top story of our building which is nice because it means we don't get any thumping noise from the neighbors' upstairs. Instead, we are the noisy upstairs neighbors. I kid. We're not [that] noisy. All of the neighbors in our building are rather quiet, which is nice.

The one downside to our apartment is that it's very drafty and the cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms are all in desperate need of replacement. But it's not too expensive, so I guess that's one of the trade-offs.

Well, I am a Hufflepuff to a T. I remember a while back they redid the Pottermore quiz and everyone was taking it and getting different results, and so I took it again and... Still Hufflepuff. Just kidding, I love being a Hufflepuff. Loud and proud!

*high-fives* I always get Hufflepuff on the Pottermore quiz as well. It's been a while since I was on Pottermore, but I always identified most with the Hufflepuffs even though sometimes I wished I could be a Gryffindor. Have you seen the movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them? It's not really the caliber of the original Harry Potter movies, but I love Newt's character and the fact that he is Hufflepuff.

Now I might be a firebender since I enjoy campfires so much.

*waves to stargazer* I have always thought of myself as a firebender, which I know doesn't seem to be consistent with me being categorized as Hufflepuff. Whatever the case, firebenders are kind of my favorite, especially Prince Zuko.

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful day...or night. Hopefully the next time I catch up with you on here will be sooner than several years from now.

Ruby xoxo

Ah, I forgot to say hi to ceppault in my last post! It's nice to see your face around here again!

As a kid I'd probably have fit best as a waterbender, if I'd known about such things, since my brother and I liked to play in the water so much...on the beach, in the backyard sprinkler, or in the snow. It was all good.

Now I might be a firebender since I enjoy campfires so much.

You could be the Gandalf of the campgrounds, impressing everyone with your fireworks! And making perfect s'mores.

I think it's funny that so many of us reckon that we might be waterbenders. Too bad we can't put together a waterbending act and go on the road.

Well, the new year is off to a roaring start, and I'm already failing on my writing goal. Of course, I also hit a major block right as the year started, because of course I did.

That's always fun. I also made a New Year's resolution to write more, and while I've been failing pretty spectacularly at that so far (babbling journal entries don't count ), I've been plotting more and have had a few breakthroughs on a story that will get me a lot closer to being able to begin the writing process. So I'll take what I can get.

I haven't seen [Moana] yet but some of those trailers have made me really excited for it. I'm just hoping it's actually going to be as good as I hope it is.

Ooh! I'm looking forward to seeing that myself, though I'll probably wait until it's released on DVD. Did you like it? I've watched a couple of clips and some of the music is nice.

*plugs MinotaurforAslan's very nice piano cover of "How Far I'll Go" because why not*

Ruby! It's so nice to see you on NarniaWeb again! Good luck with your New Year's resolutions; they sound like great goals.

Our apartment is on the top story of our building which is nice because it means we don't get any thumping noise from the neighbors' upstairs. Instead, we are the noisy upstairs neighbors. I kid. We're not [that] noisy. All of the neighbors in our building are rather quiet, which is nice.

Ah, lucky! I think we must have some rather passionate football fans living overhead, as they get rather rowdy on Sundays.

*high-fives* I always get Hufflepuff on the Pottermore quiz as well. It's been a while since I was on Pottermore, but I always identified most with the Hufflepuffs even though sometimes I wished I could be a Gryffindor.

*high-fives back* I never actually used Pottermore that much; I mostly was curious about the sorting quiz. I used to not really like being a Puffie because I thought that meant that you were mediocre, and then I saw this video and I felt better about it. I think Hogwarts House is mostly a determination of what your prevailing personality traits are. So a Slytherin, for instance, can be very loyal and hard-working (i.e. Hufflepuff qualities), but their prevailing traits are ambition, resourcefulness and cunning. Hermione, for instance, seems like she could probably outsmart any Ravenclaw, but she's in Gryffindor because her bravery and nerve outrank her Ravenclaw traits. At least, that's the way I've tried to make sense of it all.

Have you seen the movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them? It's not really the caliber of the original Harry Potter movies, but I love Newt's character and the fact that he is Hufflepuff.

I haven't, but I'd like to see it sometime! I like Eddie Redmayne a lot and I feel like I'll love Newt.

I have always thought of myself as a firebender, which I know doesn't seem to be consistent with me being categorized as Hufflepuff. Whatever the case, firebenders are kind of my favorite, especially Prince Zuko.

Some of the things that Hufflepuff House makes me think of are bakeries and warm, cheery hearth-sides, so maybe firebender isn't as far off the mark as you'd think. And yes, Zuko is awesome.

Well, I've got to go see about putting together a batch of sauerkraut for culturing, so I will bid you all a wonderful rest of the week and leave you with this video of a dog reacting to the ending of Homeward Bound, which is the cutest thing I've seen in a while.

Ok, Iceland is pretty amazing. Also, like zero allergens. It's great. Except I've yet to see any sod houses, so you're out of luck on that, Rosie. Sorry.

I've got a Kindle and the battery lasts about a month-ish if I turn the screen off when I'm not using it and only use the backlighting sparingly. Even under heavy use it lasts at least two weeks or so though.

Hmm, that's good to know. I borrowed my dad's Kindle Fire a couple years ago when my laptop was being screwy, and it tended to die pretty quickly on me. I wasn't a fan. Most likely going to for a SurfacePro, though, I think.

It's six years old now, though, and I'm seriously thinking about getting a Kindle. (Don't want to be outdone by Booky and his two weeks of battery life. )

We can never let the Tower of Darkness and Shadow win. But I'll definitely check it out. Paper like is good.

I'm not really one for resolutions, but I'd like to write more this year. Finally get my room completely cleaned (lol yeah right).

The only way I seem to successfully clean is to box things up for moving. On that note....

I don't think I've found one that mentions the fact that if you're on the first floor, everybody else's water leaks find their way into your apartment.

Also, noise. Actually had a situation, once upon a time, where my flatmate and I were getting annoyed at each other for leaving an alarm running on Thursday mornings. One evening we were sitting in my room and a phone buzzed, which reminded me, so I mentioned it to her and asked if she could not leave her phone on the ledge (our nightstands were built into the same wall) if she was going to leave her alarm on. She told me it wasn't her alarm, it was mine. Long story short, we discovered that one of the guys that lived on the floor above us had a late morning on Thursdays, so he would go take ridiculously long hot showers on Thursday morning after snoozing his phone...and it would vibrate down through our wall and wake the both of us.

Maybe the magazine was a portal from Rwanda to your current life, Wren. Which sounds like the beginning of some sort of Sci-Fi/fantasy story.

It would definitely help explain some of the strangenesses that have comprised my life. And the hair. The hair would make a lot more sense.

Contrary to what my avatar may indicate, sadly, I am not Batman.

Coulda fooled me.

As for New Year's resolutions I would say my main goals are to 1) go back to school full-time and 2) move.

Man, it seems like everyone is apartment hunting. I'm still trying to figure out if there is some way for me to manage getting a house in my parents' hometown. Ideally, it would be right close to them so they could keep an eye on it when I'm out of the country, but then I feel that, if I knew I was going to be gone for a year or more, I'd feel compelled to rent it out, which means all of my not-easily-moved items would still end up at their place, which would essentially defeat the purpose of having a house stateside in the first place. But then when I am stateside, it would be nice to have my own house.

I never actually used Pottermore that much; I mostly was curious about the sorting quiz.

Frankly, I only did the Pottermore test because I was pressed to by more than one person. I knew what the result was going to be, and whatdya know, I was right. But I think that it really does come out like a personality test: nearly everyone is going to have some of the characteristics of all of the houses. It just comes down to what happens to be the most dominant at that point in their lives. Who knows? Maybe someday I'll be more of the homestead invested Hufflepuff type and my hardworking traits will overcome my conniving ones.

Alright, I should be up before the crack of dawn tomorrow (wheeeee), so I should go and pretend to sleep so I can hate myself less tomorrow morning.

Facebook is toxic right now. Can I hide out with you guys for a couple of weeks?

*Waves to Coracle, Shawna, and Bookwyrm, all of whom she's not used to seeing in this thread.*

*Also waves to Ryadian, stargazer, and Lady Arwen, and ceppault who always seem to keep the lights on, no matter how much time passes or who comes or goes.*

Hello Rose-Tree and RubyGamgee. I know I've seen you about, but I haven't interacted with you much.

Also Earthbender here. I could make such amazing raised and sunken gardens! And I'm Gryffindor for some reason, at least according to Pottermore. I'm one of the least bold and determined people I know, but the quiz kept asking about forests and campfires (both very appealing) so there I was. I'm much more of a Hufflepuff. It's my love of plants.

Hello to Aravanna and RubyGamgee! Glad to see you stopping by. (And a hearty welcome to our regulars as well )

Aravanna, I find forests and campfires very appealing as well. In a few months it'll be time to go camping and fire-building once more. But in the meantime we have a couple months of winter left (despite the fact that our confused weather is raining right now ).

It's after 1 am local time so I'll keep this short, but we're glad to keep the lights on!

Facebook is toxic right now. Can I hide out with you guys for a couple of weeks?

Indeed, to both statements. I'm taking the full weekend off of FB as well. Nice to see you on here again Sis. And hello everybody! I never post in here either, but it's nice to see some "old-timers" return, so I figured I'd ought to as well. *waves hi*

There is way too much to respond to (even though I'd like to try, but not today ), but a special and hugely warm HI and welcome back to ceppault, RubyGamgee, and Aravanna!!! So GOOD to see you all here again.
Add my name to one of those who treasures campfires and campfires and the night sky and mountains and nature hikes. ♥

*likes the idea of keeping the lights on here*

Happy 2017 to y'all! But I do wish we had snow instead of rain.

Hi Jo, FK, and Ara!

Facebook is nearly always toxic. I'm mainly using it as a messaging platform nowadays, but I think I'm going to switch over to KakaoTalk or something similar for most of my messaging and delete my Facebook and Messenger apps from my phone. I'm just getting far too annoyed with it.

But I'm glad to see y'all have chosen the Square to migrate too. It doesn't feel like it's been this busy for a long time.

I'm one of the least bold and determined people I know, but the quiz kept asking about forests and campfires (both very appealing) so there I was. I'm much more of a Hufflepuff. It's my love of plants.

Perhaps there's a bit of quiet boldness? To me, the thing that has always seemed to be the trademark of the Gryffindors is the sense of adventure, which in my opinion is just as easily obtained through bookishness. But I might be off on that one. But if forest and camping are relaxing to you and you're there more for the trees and nature than the "ooooh scary dark and ghost stories 'round the campfire" (which seems much more Gryffindor to me), then it might fit. Actually, the more I think of it, the less I see how liking camping makes you more Gryffindorish. I mean, honestly, the only reason I chose the sea over the forest is because my allergies go away when I'm close to saltwater, which I think has very little to do with my personal temperament and a lot more to do with being less medicated and headachey.

*waves to fantasia_kitty, and johobbit* Good to see you both! I really need to check in here more often. I missed you all!

It's official, we're going to have to have a massive campfire the next time any amount of Narniawebbers are together. It seems to be a common interest.

And Lady Arwen, it's true that Facebook has never been a great platform, but I used to see a lot more original content from people, taking pictures and talking about their life. But alas, a dreaded tide (which we will not speak of here) has drowned about half my feed and the other half is all people resharing memes and recipes.

Maybe I have a quiet boldness? If I'm poked enough?