animalia

Geez I ended up feeling bad for Diane. In part due to my Asperger’s Syndrome I have my own difficulties with social que, and a lot of social rules seem arbitrary. As a result I ended up taking on the idea of just being myself, not caring about my reputation. This is because those who care about you will care about you will care about you for who you really are, and those who don’t, don’t matter. 
It comes from my DEFAULT. mindset of not seeing the point in pretending that reality is anyway other then it is. What this means is that when I try to relate to others I try to imagine how I would feel in their position. On one hand that’s why I messed up and assumed that Diane didn’t care about her reputation. On the other hand I can easily imagine being hurt and betrayed, when all you want is interpersonal connections.
To give a personal example I wasn’t always (If I even am now) the best judge of character. Once when I was a little kid, I was over in the yard of someone who I, at the time, thought was a friend. He ended up chasing me around this huge field with a board (like a 2x4) with a nail through it. I ended up going up and being scared and telling my mom I never wanted to go back. I didn’t even tell her the specific reason why at that point. It was only OVER TWO DECADES LATER when I ended up talking with my parents about it again. In hindsight I realize that such a person and (another who I don’t want to talk about (let’s just say what he did was less terrifying but just as obvious in hindsight) were never really my friends at all. But I was both so bad with social ques, and wanted friends so badly (and could be a bit of a brat myself back then to be fair) that it took something exteme to wake me up to the reality back then.

This is the first time I’ve appreciated Lucy. I’ve said it before and I’ve said it again, but I appreciate honesty. Even blunt honesty is perferable to me, then to people who mislead me witg good intentions. It doesn’t mean I don’t understand the latter, or even understand why it’s occasionally necessary, just that it isn’t something I like.

I wanna hug Diane soo much right now, cus Rhoda and Lucy aren't...well Lucy I wouldn't have expected to be the type to hug anyone in a situation like this, but Rhoda totally should be.
I'm still torn about Lucy's behavior, Rhoda's said in the past that she never got along with her, and while Lucy is still apparently making fun of Rhoda being short here, she was quite truthful about telling Rhoda what people thought of her. Maybe her snarkiness just hides the fact she cares most of the time.

I'm mostly surprised that Lucy has the most sincere smile I've ever seen out of her.

Someone attacking a child with lethal intent and you stepping in to stop them? I think it would, or some variation thereof.

I wonder if Lucy is going to claim the Queen Bee-atch crown now that Diane is outgrowing it?  She has potential to make Diane's life miserable, if she wants to solidify her position as top of the heap of those who use and insult others to make themselves feel bigger.  And she's already been casually cruel to Rhoda, back when she was mousey and submissive, even though they were supposed "friends"....

Having seen Rhoda and Catalina together, Rhoda seems more like the old days when new kinksters had to spend time as subs before they were allowed to try out being a Dom/me.  She certainly seems to be coming into a more dominant role now!  Then again, maybe she's a switch and enjoys playing both roles in turn....
I feel the same.  The cliche may be to lose one's virginity in high school, but the reality is that I knew a fair number of virgins in college, too, and sometimes beyond that.
Most likely they have, if we apply our world's standards, but not absolutely.  Again, I've known couples who went around more than one base without ever hitting that home run until they were married.  Especially with what we know about sen....seyen....ololu.....part-Uryuoms, they value closeness much more than sex.  I can easily picture Grace wanting to snuggle, hug, and even kiss, without feeling the urge to go further. And Tedd, of course, at first would feel lucky for that much, and later he'd know that Grace didn't want it the same way he did, and might not want to make her feel pressured.  (In other words, maybe he was wiser that Second-Life-Ellen in that regard....look what happened to that relationship when she pushed for sex!)
Now this one I suspect is most likely!  After all, Elliot's main reason not to, according to Nanase at least, was "math."  Ellen and Nanase have zero chance of that problem, unless one of them makes a major change.
Absolutely.  No "things".  Just watching things.  And we've already debated whether solo is likely so no need to rehash here. ;-)
A bit surprising if he's the only "out" boy in his school, that no one else has come to him in private, but not impossible and/or not necessarily leading in that direction if it had.  A pity, because statistically there would be quite a number of LGBTQ+ kids at a school that size.  Heck, in the suburbs any time within the last decade or so, there'd probably be at least one QUILTBAG club!  EGS is showing its age a bit here.  Future kids may (hopefully) not even see such clubs as anything more significant than a chess club or a journalism club, or whatever kinds of clubs non-nerd-school schools have.
Hmm, I hadn't actually thought that relationship through to that aspect before.  Maybe it's because Ashley still seems so innocent.  But yeah, I could definitely see that as being the reason she was so affected by Bad Tom.
Fits with my experiences, too.  Whenever I see those statistics about how many teens have sex in high school, I always see the flip side too, that if X percent have had sex, then 100 - X have *not* had sex!
ADD/ADHD can have similar problems, due to being too distracted to pay attention to social cues.  Interrupting is a classic example.  If you don't notice that people look annoyed when you interupt them, then you're not likely to learn not to interrupt.  And then it's a mystery why people don't want to let you in on their conversations, and it feels like they just exclude you for no good reason.  (And if that makes you all the more determined to be in on the conversation....)
My default tends to be to assume everyone gets along and can be friends, until I get hit with a clue-by-four about it.  Even when I've had problems with someone, I still tend to think, Well, we seem to be getting along now, maybe we can be friends, until something overt happens again.
(Perhaps) Surprisingly often, that turns out well.  :-)

Geez I ended up feeling bad for Diane. In part due to my Asperger’s Syndrome I have my own difficulties with social que, and a lot of social rules seem arbitrary. As a result I ended up taking on the idea of just being myself, not caring about my reputation. This is because those who care about you will care about you will care about you for who you really are, and those who don’t, don’t matter. 
It comes from my DEFAULT. mindset of not seeing the point in pretending that reality is anyway other then it is. What this means is that when I try to relate to others I try to imagine how I would feel in their position. On one hand that’s why I messed up and assumed that Diane didn’t care about her reputation. On the other hand I can easily imagine being hurt and betrayed, when all you want is interpersonal connections.
To give a personal example I wasn’t always (If I even am now) the best judge of character. Once when I was a little kid, I was over in the yard of someone who I, at the time, thought was a friend. He ended up chasing me around this huge field with a board (like a 2x4) with a nail through it. I ended up going up and being scared and telling my mom I never wanted to go back. I didn’t even tell her the specific reason why at that point. It was only OVER TWO DECADES LATER when I ended up talking with my parents about it again. In hindsight I realize that such a person and (another who I don’t want to talk about (let’s just say what he did was less terrifying but just as obvious in hindsight) were never really my friends at all. But I was both so bad with social ques, and wanted friends so badly (and could be a bit of a brat myself back then to be fair) that it took something exteme to wake me up to the reality back then.

Um, yes he did; he said he'd "hit that."

Ummm. Last I checked dating a lot of people, even for stuff, isn’t the same as having sex with them, so yeah they are lieing. 
That being said given the way that people work (i.e. jumping to conclusions) you shouldn’t be surprised when doing the first, leads to a reputation for doing the second. (Hence why I am surprised that Diane cared about her reputation.) Still it does not change the fact that the two ARE NOT the same, and that they are therefore spreading a lie.
 
This isn’t here to point out value judgments one way or the other. Simply here in clarification of details and defense of accuracy.
I feel it is important to have these details down pat, because when you work with different people who all have their own ideals and values they will INEVITABLY make judgments based of off them.
This is human nature the trick isn’t to not make judgments (for example I doubt anyone would disagree that on the judgment “murder is bad” although we might, and do, disagree on what murder exactly is.) but to let judgments be mutable based on new information, and to question weather or not we let our prexisting biases impact our judgments.
This brings me to WHY these details are so important to be portrayed accurately. EVERYTHING begins on a foundation of the truth. We cannot have a dialogue based on lies, or inaccuracies. And while these details might not matter to me, or to you. (I don’t care about these details as how it affects how see Diane as a person,  I care deeply in that I care about THE TRUTH.) The fact is there is probably SOMEONE out there to whom they matter. 
 
Did I ramble to much? I hope I got everything in ok. Before I ended up oversimplifing my posts, and it ended up with my point not coming across clearly. Here I tried to go into more detail, yet I am not sure any better

She's aware that, being adopted, her parents didn't HAVE to care about her. Other children doesn't seem to make that connection and tease her over that.

Maybe he did but couldn't help himself.

But... but he DID dump ice over his head! He just did it into his mouth and put some whisky in it!

I have no idea, everyone just calls her Honey.

Yes ; most people are much more receptive to instructions when they are physically unable to leave.
I wonder if it could be because CCG was more open with it - like, publishing the chances and so. Also, it's TRADING cards - that suggest people are supposed to trade the cards between themselves. In video games that's often impossible.

I know Dan says he's a tutorial NPC, but there are a lot of players that can be that way as well, especially in MMO's where you have a choice of many skills and perks and stuff but you get forced into taking cookie cutter builds or else no one will do group content with you.

Just noticed... the Grace-ratatta is wearing shorts. Must be because they are comfy and easy to wear... 

Yup, I do like that to the Pokemon, fights are just play.  That's how most working dogs view their "jobs," from  taking down bad guys to finding trapped people or bodies or drugs.  It's all a game to them!

Mabey their named Grace-A-Monsters because they're from Graceland?
Thankyouverymuch

Aunti Matter tried to annihilate all the regular matter of the Universe before the place was even one second old.  I think she can be quite easily cast in the role of Villain for that story.

Well no author/artist is COMPLETELY one or the other. For example, Brandon Sanderson while charctertizing himself primarily as Outline stlye, uses discovery style for his characters as he finds it help keep them real, and he will even change the outline as a result stuff he discovers about the characters.

I'm in Chapter 53 or so of Way of Kings.  It was a slow buildup all the way through the book.  Part 1 was OK, Part 2 better, Part 3 things got interesting.  I am getting into Part 4 which is awesome.  Sanderson is really putting his main characters through the wringer, though.  I feel sorry for them both.

Based on euphemism treadmill for people with different skin colors still running (but finally slowing), I expect this one wouldn't stop before consuming half of English vocabulary. Unless the majority of people realize that destroying vocabulary WONT help make people more accepting to differences.
Not necessary - even if by "people" you mean sentient/sapient. For start, Magus might already know. However, there definitely is some big reveal about dragons coming - that dragon behind Pandora was definitely foreshadowing for it, AND if THIS would be it, Dan wouldn't try to deny it. Also, Ellen will certainly transform again.
Yes, but I don't think it makes "Mink" common half-dragon name.

Elliot and Ashley: Rebel/Naughty.

And Ellen is to afraid of bombs.