CritterKeeper

I should have specified, you can't change major historical events. No killing Hitler or stopping Revolutions. No telling your younger self to buy the winning Powerball ticket (unless you've already won and recall getting the numbers from a mysterious stranger). This is just places to see, things to experience. ;-P

Not as warm, but no threat of rain, either. Good walking weather, but I only had half an hour at lunch and I'd forgotten my cell, so I just walked around the perimeter of the parking lot and then a few houses down and back a few times to get some exercise. (I also used my hand weights that I keep next to my desk, which I don't do as often as I should.) Supposed to be similar the next few days, gradually warming, then get rainy again next week.

Yup, the local Fry's has plenty of Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Propeller, and various other processors and components. If he had the money, he could probably get a supercomputer's worth of computing power. Or Tedd could just order online if he knows far enough ahead what he'll need.

To borrow a phrase from Douglas Adams, it's an increasingly inaccurately named trilogy. Rogue One is definitely a worthy addition to the series, and I'm inclined to let The Force Awakens count as long as they don't screw things up with the other two planned movies, To be honest, I haven't really seen the prequels enough to have a strong opinion on them. I'd kinda like to try the Machete Order and see if that really does salvage them, I just haven't had the time.

Pasta with olive oil and three cloves worth of the frozen crushed garlic from Trader Joe's. Love the frozen garlic, it's so easy to add to almost any dish!

Not Sean Patrick Flanery and Corey Carrier? I think the two pointy bits at either end of the bat'leth, in the hands of a skilled user, could be used to either snap a light-weight sword in two, or wrench it out of the wielder's hand.

And I've never tied a blue silk ribbon, or discovered a very busy chandler, or blackmailed a bosun, or gone hunting the bonnie black hare, or asked the miller's son to help find something precious.... I guess that last one adds Darlin' Tom to Good Tom and Bad Tom.... >;-)

Nanase is supposed to have dated most of the eligible boys in the school. I doubt there was time in less than one year. I suspect Nanase deciding Elliot was the one to stick with was a combination of how gosh darn nice a person he is, and the physical contact involved in combat practice. They were the only two students at their level, so they would mostly be sparring with each other. It can be easy to mistake the physical/sensual stimulation of close contact with sexual arousal, so Nanase may have thought she had felt some degree of the attraction she was looking for and hoped to feel it again.

I don't see any change in the guy at the counter, though.

Sorry, but I'm not into the Expanded Universe. To me, Star Wars is a series of movies. I did read Timothy Zahn's trilogy, because I knew him from the Central Illinois Doctor Who Appreciation Society, and liked the idea of Leia being Vader's heir instead of Luke, and Luke thinking of training Han and Leia's kids and being terrified of screwing them up like Kenobi screwed up Vader (simplifying things here), but to me books like that are just published fanfic, not "real" the way the movies are.

I dunno, I think Mamma Kitsune would be more concerned with whether Nanase went too far with anyone, rather than with how many boys Nanase "tested out" but never went beyond kissing. Her rather conservative attitudes seem like they would mesh well with teaching her daughter that premarital sex was to be avoided, and a Nanase who couldn't even openly wear clothes she thought her mother disapproved of would see dating and kissing as rebellious enough; she's too strong and self-confident to give in to pressure from a boy to do anything she didn't want to do. Nanase was looking for the Right Guy and believed when she found him she'd be attracted to him; she could tell she wasn't attracted to any given boy without having to go as far as sleeping with him. Of course, it's also possible she was desperate enough to convince herself she was attracted to a boy that she would sleep with one or more of them, but I don't really see it happening, or if it did, it wouldn't happen more than once or twice before she'd wise up.

There can be dark Force users, dark Jedi, whatever, but they've been pretty consistent in the movies that Sith in particular are always two in number, one master and one apprentice. But if you can count the entire collective of Founders as one of those....

I dunno, the original Susan personality might have seen nothing wrong with using boys for sex and then discarding them. She might have seen it as fitting payback for centuries of men using and discarding women.

So, it was dry walking to the train station, and from Union Station to the Daley Center. Unfortunately, I had forgotten how impossible it is to avoid being engulfed in tobacco smoke on city streets. The whole downtown trip I was being passed by smokers, walking past people who turned out to be smoking, or having a smoker in my path and no good way to avoid them. I'm allergic to tobacco, and still had a little bit of a cough lingering from my cold. The combination meant that I was coughing a fair bit by mid-morning. I wouldn't mind serving -- it would be interesting, and I trust my own judgement better than a lot of other peoples' *coughTrumpvoterscough* -- but we were told the trial they assigned my group to was likely to last a whole week, and it would be awfully hard on the practice to have the number of appointments cut in half for a whole extra week! I wouldn't lie to get out of it, even so, but I did manage to get asked a couple of things I could honestly answer that one side or the other might not like. The plaintiff was clearly going for big bucks, including not just medical expenses and pain and suffering but "loss of future income," and I believe that such things are very difficult to predict. (I worked with someone who went to law school, was a lawyer for a few years, then quit and went to vet school, then after a few years of practice quit seeing patients and went to work for a pet food company. Friends with excellent computer skills have been unemployed for extended periods. That sort of thing.) They also asked about hobbies and passtimes, which include a lot of Mensa meetings -- my dad always said as soon as they found out he was a professor of mathematics, one or the other side wouldn't want anyone who could think that logically and he'd get dismissed, so I was hoping the same would apply to Mensa! The girl next to me just slipped in the phrase "tort reform" and was dismissed. I consider the phrase "jury nullification" to be the "nuclear option" so to speak, and wouldn't resort to it unless it was an even worse burden -- one of our techs once got assigned to Grand Jury duty, which meant having to report one day a week for eighteen months! But if I had to, I could honestly say that there are cases where I would not in good conscience follow the law, something the equivalent of antimiscegenation laws perhaps. If the law says it's legal to fire someone for using medical marijuana, or for being gay or Trans, etc. I'd have no problem nullifying. :-) I was in the first group to be considered and questioned, and that took until lunch time. I walked to the food court in the Thompson Center across the street, an architectural wonder I'd seen on TV, and wound up inhaling more tobacco smoke despite it drizzling. I was pretty miserable by the time we resumed. We're not supposed to drink anything in court (although I was annoyed to see that the judge and lawyers had glasses and pitchers of water in front of them!) but I asked the bailiff for permission to keep me drink and take discreet sips as needed. She'd stared at me when I coughed several times, and she reluctantly said okay, as long as it was discreet. Luckily, first thing they did after lunch break was to announce who had been dismissed, and along with the tort reform girl and a few others I knew would get kicked off, they also announced my name. Not sure if it was the lost future income, Mensa, or the fact that I kept coughing while they were talking. ;-) I got my check for a whopping $17.20 for the day. With Metra fare of $7 each way, that will leave a whopping $3.20 compensation -- good thing I didn't take the bus from Union Station! I had originally thought about going to Lincoln Park Zoo or Navy Pier or somesuch, but I was feeling bad enough with the coughing that I decided to just go home. Texted my boss that I was done and would definitely be at work the next day, walked through a very faint misty drizzle to the train, and by the time it got to my stop the rain had let up completely and it was just threateningly dark grey for the walk home. Got home by 5pm, took a long nap, and felt a lot better. I was impressed by the protected bicycle lanes they have downtown now. If I'd known how safe it would be, I probably would have taken a Divvy bike. I may yet do that in some weekend off in the future. Go downtown on the train, get around by Divvy bike, stay overnight at the downtown hostel, and just play tourist! Edited to add: Here's hoping that your grandkids are amazed that anyone would see that as at all unusual!

My Dad used to volunteer to give rides to people who had medical appointments, not just in town but in nearby towns, too. I have no idea what group or charity organized it, but you should look into whether that's an option in your area. If it's someone who volunteers regularly, they might be more flexible about having to know the person, and if not maybe you could take them out to lunch ahead of time and then just describe them as "a friend." Ask your town/village senior services, ask your church, ask the hospital if they have (or know of) any sort of services for those in need. Several towns around here have vans available for transport for seniors even for non-medical things. Your local public transit system might also have something for the disabled, which your doc should be willing to declare you!

Just a small thing, but I was just very amused by the bit about Sith Founders in Justin and Nanase's roleplay. I could definitely see those two groups working together, at the least, and given the bit about there only ever being one master, one apprentice, and the sort of collective mind the Founders had going, it might even be a way to have a whole bunch of Sith to battle at once!

No moreso than the fact that you/we are only just thinking of the idea on these forums, after so many years. :-)

I usually read these on my iPad, which doesn't show me the image name very easily. Hence my being glad the date is on the page itself now. ;-P

Except Little Nase is affectionate to all Susan's friends, so she'd have an excuse. "Oh, is Nase back in 'drunk hippie' mode?"

Yeah, you can see a boob curve next to Justin's left upper arm, and an hourglass waistline is visible on his left side where the open shirt is hanging straight.

Trebuchet ready and waiting! I have jury duty tomorrow, way the heck downtown where the measly little stipend they give for the entire day wouldn't cover half the cost of parking. Therefore, I am venturing to take the Metra train, which involves a several block walk at either end. The past few days have been gorgeous weather, perfect for walking. Tomorrow, naturally, looks like rain. Hopefully a fairly low chance in the morning; if I'm very lucky it will blow over and I'll be able to make it back home relatively dry. If it is really bad when I get up, I think I'll drive to the Metra station, or perhaps to one that has a later return option than the one within walking distance. Then I'd have the option, if it clears up, of staying downtown long enough to visit Lincoln Park Zoo or Navy Pier, although staying later plus train trip might not get me home until later than is good for me....especially considering how early I have to get up.....hmm......

Granted. It is better in the opinion of a hyperactive squirrel on a caffeine buzz. I wish to find Multi-grain Pringles in all the stores that currently carry regular Pringles. And I mean plain Multi-grain Pringles, not the sour cream or whatever other versions they've been making.

Watched the first new episode of Doctor Who Saturday night, in an English-pub-style restaurant with a dozen other fans. We were crammed into a little balcony with far too little seating and even less table space, but it was still fun! I loved seeing the Doctor's desk, which included the typical cup full of pencils and pens except there were several sonic screwdrivers in it. Now I know how to store/display my collection!

If it's windy enough, "sideways" can be on the list too, but that's usually not for very long.....

As has been pointed out many times, there are still video rental places, most prominent chain in the MoperNaperville area is Family Video. And there are also several Malls still in existence in this area of the suburbs, including Woodfield which is two to three stories tall and has a store devoted to Anime.