This is gonna be the thread where we talk about stuff

Nopad!! Hi :D

Hi other people also, and I don't think I have a relevant contribution here.

Uh....I have no idea what nerf modification means unless we are talking about nerf guns

Does anyone have some sweet modified nerf guns?

I have a broken one. You could say it was nerfed.

I wish I even had a nerf gun

Yeah apparently people modify nerf guns to make them shoot harder, etc. It's a whole thing. My friend was telling me how his time on the internet taught him actual mechanical engineering and web development. I told him I could make a picture several different kinds of grainy.

I actually remember reading a really good story re: modification of Nerf guns.

Check it out here. I can't take any claim to it, but it's a really good read.

I like those nerf-darts with the tacs embedded in them.

Which is to say, I don't like them at all, having been hit by one before.

My friend has an array of nerf guns that I'm afraid to be hit with.

My little bother used to be super into nerf guns until he like broke one trying to mod it I think. And he never shared so no cool sibling nerf fights boo D:

I have a large collection of Nerf Guns which has seen precisely two large-scale Nerf Fights, and they were fun but now I have a lot of Nerf Guns and not a lot of Nerf Places to put them.

I had to teach a class of twenty boys solo today - we were reviewing self-introductions and inquiries into how folks spend their time.

This class has one hell of a ringleader, who more than supplants his lack of technical English skill for boundless confidence and the finest gairaigo catchphrases adopted by celebkind. Let's call him Jojo, because the first thing he asked me today was if I liked anime, and what my favourite was and why it wasn't Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. (My choice of My Hero Academia was acceptable, though.)

After a few warmup tasks, I got them to write their own answers so they would have answers to reference when running through their conversations. Jojo rushes to complete what I goddamn asked because he's been clapping and rhythmically calling out classmates' names - on the last beat they're supposed to say "I'm a perfect human."

Thank god for the Japanese friendquaintance who took it on themselves to show me this video a week ago and ask "how good the pronunciation was". I guess it's the hottest new meme over here????

Anyway we wrap up the class by asking students to stand up and share with the class what they've written. Sometimes everyone's really hype to share, other times I have to force students to hot-potato this shit and choose (at so-called "random") who'll next risk public mockery by mispronouncing a word.

This is the first class where students had approximately two bars of clapping to psyche themselves up before leaping from their seat and declaring they're a perfect human, and then presenting their findings.

Of the eight times I've done this lesson, so far this is also the only one where everyone likes to "ORAORAORAORAORA" in their free time. I honestly admire all six kids who got pressganged into this horseshit, but nobody seemed bitter and everyone actually did the goddamn work I wanted, so it counts. It totally counts. I'm totally a professional edumacator.

"ORAORAORAORAORA"

What is this?

It is very interesting to me how much people's - or at least mine, I shouldn't make generalizations - mental health and well-being are influenced by the most basic and arbitrary of social needs. I've been in a truly foul mood all day today for a number of rather serious reasons, and all it took to really cheer me up and get me on a much more even keel was a pleasant and pointless small talk conversation with another customer at a shop while I waited to have my stuff bagged.

Being made of meat and chemicals is weird and our programming is so poor, but it's all so cool and interesting. Especially when you're as full of bugs as I am, elemayo

Lifehax for feelin' bad & wanting company but not wanting to inflict yourself on people: Sitting at a cafe is rly nice, you get a food and you're usually surrounded by people talking but don't need to actually interact any further than placing your order. Its got me through some Times

Yeah it's weird how sometimes no matter how much you try to rationalize it, you just need someone to tell you that things are ok and you're not a piece of crap.

I think a lot of it is just not spending too much time with only your own thoughts. Especially when those are going in a negative direction, what you really need is outside stimulus, if only as a distraction.

That's just me tossing a guess out there, though.

I agree, it's pretty easy to spiral into a cesspit of awful thoughts and anxiety if you're dealing with shitty things on your own.

As much as we like to ignore it, people are social creatures. Our brains are wired to crave positive social interactions and relationships. Early on for people, isolation wasn't survivable and ostrasization was a death sentence. We all come from a long line of creatures that adapted reward centers for congenial face-to-face interaction. Forgetting this is akin to forgetting what it means to be a person.

That being said, I forget this almost constantly. I can't count the number of times I've been home thinking "why do I feel so lousy?" And even knowing all I need to do is call someone up and go visit them, I simply choose not to do it. It becomes self-defeating.

But when I do strike up the motive to get out and about, it is dependibly worth it.

Lifehax for feelin' bad & wanting company but not wanting to inflict yourself on people: Sitting at a cafe is rly nice, you get a food and you're usually surrounded by people talking but don't need to actually interact any further than placing your order. Its got me through some Times

Oh man, that SUPER doesn't work for me. Restaurants, cafes, movie theaters, any place where there are lots of people doing a similar thing (usually in groups) are really stressful places for me to be alone in. I feel watched and out of place the whole time. I love people watching and being in those places as long as there's at least one other person there with me, but doing it alone compounds all the lame parts of being alone with all the lame parts of being social. My best irl friend loves to do stuff like you described, for much the same reason, but I personally hate it.

For me it really comes down to making a conscious decision to engage with people when I don't necessarily have to; recognizing my own social needs and acting on the urges they engender instead of dismissing them or being afraid of seeming weird or annoying. It doesn't take a lot for me: a nice chat with the dude who pumps my gas, a joke about the way people treat service workers while standing in line, bullshitting with a coworker about what they did on the weekend. It has to be direct contact, though, not social osmosis. Very easy needs to ignore or not fulfill, but important.

The older I get, the more I see people like big fleshy bees, tbh

So i had a void week last week (and most of the week before tbh?) and now im going back to school with a bunch of overdue projects and the expectation that my tutors are going to be Pissed

Ive got to put on my adult hat and own the fact that i fucked up here but i really dont want to

Code:

Running!
>hello
Adding period
Processed input: " ~hello~."
:] ..
>tell me your name
Adding period
Processed input: " ~tell~me~your~name~."
:]  me your name..
>what is your name
Adding period
Processed input: " ~what~is~your~name~."
:]  is *****..
>no, that's my name.
Processed input: " ~no~,~that's~my~name~."
:]  is your code..
>true, but what is YOUR name?
Processed input: " ~true~,~but~what~is~YOUR~name~?"
:]  what is your name..
>what is your name?
Processed input: " ~what~is~your~name~?"
:]  green..
>okay, i will accept that.
Processed input: " ~okay~,~i~will~accept~that~."
:] , good bye!.
>bye!
Processed input: " ~bye~!"
:] !.

my chatbot is talking to me, ive never been happier in my life
is this what normal people feel like when they have normal human offspring

some more i thought i should include:

Code:

>hmm. apostrophes are causing issues.
Processed input: " ~hmm~.~apostrophes~are~causing~issues~."
:]  issues. apostrophes are causing issues. apostrophes are there green. apostrophes are my name. apostrophes are there two periods? wow. apostrophes are my favorite color. apostrophes are my favorite color is YOUR name. apostrophes are my code. apostrophes are there should be responding to improve your code. apostrophes are causing issues. apostrophes are causing issues. apostrophes are my favorite color is your name>. apostrophes are causing issues. apostrophes are causing issues. apostrophes are causing issues. apostrophes are my favorite color is green. apostrophes are there. apostrophes are causing issues. apostrophes are causing issues. apostrophes are causing issues. apostrophes are my name? wow. apostrophes are causing issues. apostrophes are there. apostrophes are my favorite color is your name. apostrophes are there. apostrophes are my favorite color is your name. apostrophes are there!

Looks like its name is also apostrophes.

*PRFSHOOOOOSH*
*Bwap* *Bwap* *BWAAAAP*
~Iglood~Iglood~Iglood~Iglood~Iglood~Iglood~

Oh, hum, sorry about that. Lots of stuff going on down there. *closes hatch* Anyway, hi, how are all you lot these days?

hello hello again again

Awkward... I cant go downstairs to do laundry because my roommate is having another Talk on the phone with his girlfriend about their relationship