Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

@jedgamesguy Hmm...Just pinched myself, which DID feel real, but who knows? XD I wish I could say I did the same after my graduation, but sadly there was the post-graduation handshaking, pictures (Not a fan of getting my picture taken....), the whole "party for relatives" shenanigans....I was exhausted by the end of it all. Though I was relieved when the actual ceremony ended; I had to speak during the ceremony, which I highly dislike doing in public, and the robes were hot.

@Tyranexx yeah my biggest problem during the graduation process was the picture taking, I don’t like it either but it had to be done. Sadly I hadn’t had my hair cut in six months so it had grown to an extraordinary length, at least for guys, it was down to my neck, so my picture has me wearing this tiny hat with my thick, long hair bursting out from behind. Likely would have been wise to actually get it cut. This was done a few months before final exams and then the actual ceremony so the bureaucracy was taken care of in such a way that the ceremony was my last day.

Me, I hated it mainly because I had to wear formal attire, I’m just not a fan. Only time I’ve worn a belt in the last six years was for that event.

Now I'm wondering if some of my early 3DS games still have the inserts, I think I got one with Sonic Generations.

That's nice. Making use of the old bed for others. It's just me and my mom in a small apartment so we don't have room for a guest to stay. Even though I do say "house" a lot given I use to live in one and can't kick the habit, lol.

Awesome, sounds like it was a long wait to play it too. I can imagine that driving yourself is more useful given how you described everywhere is far apart where you live. I think there's a bus service where I live too, every Friday it brings you to the local supermarket. I haven't used it, so the only way I get around is going out with a friend or neighbor, or using Lyft.

@jedgamesguy With pictures, I highly dislike "pose smiling", especially if it's over a long period of time. I do try, but no matter what my mom calls it my fake smile lol. I can smile naturally, but I have to be amused lol. I'd say my hair was a similar length around that time, maybe a touch shorter. Very thick hair too, so I can definitely say I was VERY uncomfortable under the hat. I don't care for formal attire either; thankfully I can get away with jeans and some casual shirts at my current job. I usually just dress up for special events that require it.

@Sunsy I have room for a couple guests, and if need be I could even shove someone else on my couch lol. But it's very rare that I have people stay overnight. Might become a bit more common in a few years when my nephew gets older though! Just to take him off my sister and BIL's hands now and then. XD

Waiting to play BotW was well worth the wait; I was blown away by the game! TotK was worth the wait too. Both games are worth playing because they have different strengths and weaknesses IMO. Everything is indeed very far apart; I can actually walk a few minutes to a Dollar General (no sidewalks, but it's very close), but that store isn't comprehensive and mostly just stocks dried food goods. I mostly use it for cards and when I don't feel like driving all the way to Walmart way across town. The grocery store I go to is just over 10 minutes away by car. I'd love to buy a bike for some travel - mostly to work on nice days- but I live right along a busy highway. There's really no safe way for me to ride it anywhere without worrying about some speeding moron running me down. There are bike paths in the nearby town, but they don't extend out this far.

Was a bit of a boring night tonight, so passed the time with a VTuber on my TV, and played a bit of X-COM: Terror from the Deep on my PC. Guess that solved the boredom problem.

@Tyranexx Nice. I use to have a guest room in my old house, ultimately no one ever really slept over, so it never got used. I eventually moved my room into it to have my room closer to mom's room, only because I wanted to be able to help her due to her health if needed.

Glad you enjoy both games. Cool you have those places close by. For me, I usually go on walks to the local convenient store, usually to pick up milk, bread, and sometimes a snack or lunch (mine actually makes some wraps for lunch). I also have a pizzeria in walking distance (I go here monthly for pizza) and an Italian shop where I get deli meat, subs, or Italian cookies. I miss riding bikes, I haven't rode a bike in a very long time.

I’ve never been able to pull off a natural photogenic smile. With mouth closed it always ends up being so subtle that it underflows into a frown, but with mouth open it just looks like one of those “top ten pictures with disturbing backstories” slasher smiles. No in-betweens. 🙃

It takes true skill.

I was wondering if anyone had seen the new knuckles tv show.

@Eel I am glad to hear I am not the only one who is smilingly challenged!

Good morning.
Today is 1 May 2024, Labor Day.
I'm really busy during May 2024 as I have a deadline to finish my storytelling project before 14 May 2024 as I need to practice at least 1 - 2 days before performing on 16 May 2024
There will be a lot of characters to handle, not to mention the character's switching pose, background changing while delivering the lines and it should be done precisely as I only have 25 minutes by maximum to perform my storytelling then I need 10 - 15 minutes asking my students to review the storyline. After that, they have 20 minutes to do the worksheet from the storytelling.

@Tyranexx Ooooh man I hate those corporate teeth flashing smiles, I never managed to get on top of those at all. I can smile but I’m rarely happy with how they turn out in photos, it can get awkward and even annoying after awhile. Now as I’ve gotten more comfortable with my picture being taken I’ve become less insecure in the way I’m captured in the day to day but it’s still strange sometimes. Same goes for hairstyling, because of how thick mine is, if treated properly my hair becomes hard to style and manage, if I even bother nowadays. Now it’s getting back to a length where I can tie it up again, so I’ll be rocking samurai buns before long.

@Yousef- nice to meet you first off. Haven’t watched Knuckles yet sadly, I’ll definitely do so once we draw closer to Sonic 3 coming out, so I can do the full Sonic 3 + Knuckles treatment like in the 90s

@Eel
There is a difference between smiling and smirking.
If you're smiling with a secret, it will looks like smirking.

I got to play an almost 30 year old turn-based strategy PC game with a friend online. Jagged Alliance Deadly Games co-op is fun.

@Yousef- I don't have Paramount+, but I did see the first episode on YouTube. Surprisingly, Paramount+ officially uploaded the first episode of Knuckles on their YouTube channel.

@Anti-Matter when it comes to taking pictures, I usually don't have much time or room to think about my darkest secrets.

I am bored

I worked so hard in front of my laptop to edit the characters for my storytelling since afternoon until almost midnight with a break from 4 pm to 6 pm. My head felt quite dizzy. 🥴
Tomorrow I have to color more characters to be scanned and edited on my laptop.
But at the same time, tomorrow I have to supervise grade 6 students for having National Exam.
Tough schedule. 😣

@Anti-Matter Wow, sounds busy! 😬

@CaleBoi25
Not just only busy.
I still have to do my properties management which I have to know how to manage my characters in stack and which stack should I use for the specific scenes and I have to Switch the characters with different pose in perfect timing.
Just imagine how to handle more than 30 different pose for 1 character and each character have different pose with different situation. Some scenes involving more than 2 characters so I have to stick some of the characters on the surface while moving other characters for having dialogues. Not to mention the songs that I will play for specific scenes and some scenes have very short songs and must be done precisely.

@Eel ...That actually describes most of my photo smiling experiences. Most of my forced teeth smiles don't look like a psychotic smile, more like I'm in pain lol (Which isn't far from the truth; I dislike pose smiling).

@Sunsy It is very rare that I have guests stay over, but it's nice to have the option. I'm saddened to read your mom has health issues; I hope it isn't anything overly chronic and is manageable. You don't need to elaborate if you don't want to as I know these matters can be private ones.

Seems like you have plenty of decent places within walking distance! Dollar General is okay in a pinch, but they aren't the most optimal. They're the new McDonald's or Subway in my region; they are popping up everywhere. It could be worse though; at least I don't have to drive an hour or more like a handful of people to even access decent food.

@jedgamesguy In most forced smile photos, I usually either look bored, in pain, or some version of under the influence. "Bored" is probably the most accurate in many cases. Not a fan of how some government issued IDs turn out either, though my last driver's license photo wasn't bad. Seems like you appreciate how hard thick hair can be to deal with too; hence why I keep mine short, though I also respect anyone who's going for a bona fide samurai bun! The worst is when I'm in high humidity; my hair likes puffing out in about forty directions.

Good morning.
Today is 3 May 2024.
I have deadline until 14 May 2024 to finish all the things for my storytelling.
It really made me really nervous as I have 11 days left to draw, color, edit, print, cut, paste, a lot of characters, background and 2D / 3D crafting for storytelling properties. 🥴😵
Wish me luck to able finish my big project right on time.

I've realized that I've recently started to close my eyes when I smile, which I don't think looks weird, but I do wonder if it's noticeable. My real smile lasts for about 2 seconds if it's artificial, but it's easy enough to notice or think of things that are moderately amusing for me so I've been able to "real" smile fairly consistently.