Ookla

Hehehe. How did I know somebody would probably do that? Basically, because my dad is an orchestra teacher, he was also my violin teacher, and as such I was required, as a child, to learn to play the violin. But I eventually got fed up with it and quit--then discovered that I was bored without all that time being filled by (admittedly, very, very poor) violin practice and took it up again, only to quit again a few months later because I really, truly don't like playing the violin. And then, because I needed to fill the time, I took up organ, and that is much more fun! Pianists always feel intimidated when they look at the organ and realize you have to play notes with your feet, too, and it is a bit of a different skill, but once you get used to it, playing around with the stops and making big noises is awesome! Totally worth it!

Bit of a necro, but... um, yeah. I am not myself a bug lover, but I know of a place full of 'em: the Butterfly Biosphere at Thanksgiving Point. I have not met a bigger bunch of bug lovers and nerds anywhere. And, to be fair, the stuffed spiders in their gift shop almost make me want to rethink my arachnophobia.

*Reads through entire thread from start to finish* *Nearly dies of suffocation and bawling at the Hallelujah Chorus video on page 21.*

On a stupid day. Having the brains of a genius isn't worth losing my senses of empathy and compassion. WYR be one of Dalinar's bridges or one of Sadeas' bridges? (Bridges, mind, not bridgemen)

Ugly. (As in, an unfair maiden)

I'll do you one better: Squash.

Nope. Don't even know who that is. Pretty sure sabatons are a type of armor though, unless I'm getting myself confused. TPBM speaks a language other than English.

Granted. You now have a phone where none of the apps work except the higher-quality phone camera. I wish to finish more stories.

Princesses and Zombies (Elantris) Color and Smoke (Warbreaker) The Truth About Pancakes or Pancakes Versus Darkness (Edgedancer) The Hair, The Rat, and The Crow (TotES) That's all I've got right now. I'll come back if I think of more.

I have played the violin (for about 9 years; I didn't like it and quit twice [don't ask]), the piano (for about 11 years, then quit due to time constraints), the organ (to keep up the piano skills), and the Irish pennywhistle (I don't play this as much as I should; it's super fun, though!). I also have approximately 30 total minutes, each, of bass and cello experience (because I was helping out with a summer orchestra program and we didn't have enough experienced bassists one of the days to teach the newbies who'd never touched a bass before, and cello looked fun to play with). I've gotta say, my fingers never hurt so bad as when I played the bass for a few minutes. Y'all who play it well are incredible.

I sometimes find them concerning, but at the same time it's so ridiculous that you can't help but stare at it in amused shock. I've seen some weird stuff the bots are trying to tell us about. Also, all their grammar is laughably bad. At least the average Internet user with imperfect grammar has some sense of how to put a sentence together; these things don't, somehow.

Sounds great to me! How does PMing work? Never mind. I figured it out. The only question I have now is about the best process for getting the manuscript to you... Do you mind if I send a link to the Google Doc to you via PM?

Nice! I'm glad I could cause some inspiration. I've gotta say, this is a fun start for a story. I love how it feels like it could be a Mistborn fanfiction, yet brings in its own elements to spice things up and add some variety. It's not Mistborn, but it's reminiscent of Mistborn, and I love the style! You've got some great stuff here!

So, I de-Ookla-fied myself. But I'm still an Ookla. Perks of being a permanent Ookla, I guess. (I really hope Peter Ahlstrom doesn't get mad at me for stealing his username... )

Thank you! It's taken a handful of tries to get it this good, so I'm glad the effort has paid off. Thanks for the tip about fixing the formatting, too. It looks a lot better now.

Hello! Having discovered that this subforum exists, I've decided to post the first chapter of my as-yet-unpublished fantasy novella so y'all can read it. Critique it if you'd like; it's supposed to be in revisions, except that all the people I've asked to beta-read it have promptly gone and gotten themselves busy with other, more critical things. Any feedback or input you've got would be great! Anyhow. Here it is, spoilered for length.

Wow. Just... wow. Not to put any stress on you or anything, but... how would you feel about making the whole movie? It's okay. I'm kidding. ...Mostly.

I have... absolutely no idea how that happened. I don't know what I had to read wrong to think we were in the 300s instead of the 600s. Perhaps I failed to get through all the pages?

My weird food combos: I like to fry eggs (only when I fry eggs, I add water and a lid so the steam can cook the top, so they're half-fried, half-poached), then put them on sandwiches with butter, avocado, and some kind of mild cheese, like a Swiss cheese. I also like to eat sandwiches made of pickle slices on a piece of cheddar cheese, or, if pickles are in short supply, tomatoes or guacamole. (Or guac and pickles on cheese!) I once ate apples and cheese with chocolate chips; haven't had a chance to enjoy it again since, but it was pretty tasty. Mexican spicy chocolate can be pretty good, assuming whoever made the chocolate actually put a decent amount of spice in(!); the last version I tried had no kick at all, and I'm someone who can't handle anything much spicier than an average, medium salsa. Not necessarily a weird combination per se, but I like to put chips in a bowl, crunch them into little pieces, and mix salsa in until the chip-bits stick together. I also enjoy a "taco salad" that's sat overnight, so the beans and salsa and whatnot have soaked into the chips at the bottom and made them soft. I think I need to go eat some breakfast.

Um... sorry, but... well, I'm sort of a permanent Ookla... Even when Koloss Head-Munching Day comes tomorrow, I'll not be losing my Ookla-hood. I might go to being just a plain old Ookla, though, instead of differentiating myself by saying I'm Ookla the Ookla. (All right, too much Ookla in one paragraph. Somebody save my sanity. )

Good luck! Currently, I envision Ookla the Black Sock as a black sock, 'cause I don't really know anybody around here yet and that's all I've got to go off of.

It is true that he makes good stew...

I went with a Radiant. The order doesn't really matter for what I'm thinking, so I'd go with whatever I'm most likely to have (Truthwatcher or Willshaper). No, where the real benefit comes, I think, would be the ability to Awaken a shield with the Command, 'Protect me', then fight with my Shardblade and Awakened shield, sort of like what Nightblood is, but less destructive. I mean, yeah, Nightblood is unusual, but he still (RoW spoilers) Tell me that isn't the perfect combo if you have a Blade and Plate! If you're in good shape. And yeah, it'd take a crap ton of Breaths to do it, but in my opinion, the result would be worth it.

I'm caught between Lift, Siri, and Elend. Lift is the one I voted for, though. Lift: Super fun, potentially annoying little sister who likes to cause mischief and steal my food. Sounds exciting! Siri: Fun, adventurous little sister who rides horses. Also, she's willing to stand up for herself, which I appreciate. Elend: The man loves books. What more can I say?

Eeyore.