-
Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
-
Congrats to the winners of the 2023 Smog Awards!
The Well #36 - bojangles
- Thread starter bojangles
- Start date
- Status
How did you get into premed/why do you enjoy natural sciences over other subjects?
How many times per week do you jack off?
Do you still play Pokemon?
Who do you look up to both irl and on smogon?
What's your opinion on nuggets? Nugget bridge? Hairy dozz of shame?
Does posting with proper Capitalization, grammar, and punctuation make you respect the opinion of the poster to a greater degree?
What job opportunities do you have lined up for both summer and research during the school year (related to your field of interest, not work-study office jobs or something) and how did you get them?
Why doesn't Elena love me?
How many times per week do you jack off?
Do you still play Pokemon?
Who do you look up to both irl and on smogon?
What's your opinion on nuggets? Nugget bridge? Hairy dozz of shame?
Does posting with proper Capitalization, grammar, and punctuation make you respect the opinion of the poster to a greater degree?
What job opportunities do you have lined up for both summer and research during the school year (related to your field of interest, not work-study office jobs or something) and how did you get them?
Why doesn't Elena love me?
Ah, the oldest question ever. No, I live in the North and have never been to a Bojangles restaurant. I had actually never known that such a thing existed until one day when Goldenknight posted a picture of it on my visitor wall. My name originated back in middle school when my friends and I were coming up with silly names. Bojangles was one of the ones that was suggested and I've been using it for most things since.
I'm a big fan of bands with strong vocalists because I think that that can produce more powerful songs than just guitar virtuosos alone, although they can do some pretty sick things. My "favorite" bands have shifted a lot in the past, but I would say my top few of all time are:
Shinedown - found out about these guys ages ago and since then I've accumulated pretty much all of their music. Brent Smith has a really powerful voice that lends itself well to the kind of music he does. My favorite song for a long time was the acoustic version of I Dare You (hence my IRC vhost), but they have a lot of great songs like Second Chance, Soon Forgotten, and Break.
Soundgarden/Temple of the Dog/Chris Cornell - Kim Thayil was great in Soundgarden but I would be kidding myself if I said I thought the best part wasn't Chris Cornell's vocals. The man can do the most amazing things with his voice. Beyond the Wheel at around 1 minute still sends shivers down my spine. His solo album, Songbook, was also a masterpiece IMO. One of the best covers of Imagine I've ever heard.
Iron Maiden - Bruce Dickinson has a very unique voice that you either love or hate. It doesn't work as well for me as Cornell's but I have to give the man respect. Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, and Janick Gers are also pretty awesome on the guitar. DoomVM and I both agree that Hallowed Be Thy Name is possibly the greatest metal song of all time.
Jeff Buckley - Just picked up Grace recently but Grace (the title track) is already one of my favorite songs. The guy is so talented.
For most cases I would say Kurt Vonnegut. He has a style that not everybody likes but I think its wonderful. Cat's Cradle is, IMO, one of the best contemporary novels ever and something that everybody should read. The Sirens of Titan is also a fantastic one by him.
Michael Crichton is also pretty good when I don't want to put a lot of thought into a book. He writes that kind of junky sci-fi thriller stuff but he does his research and it does show.
That's a hard question but the first thing that popped into my head was a quote from The Charge of the Light Brigade by Tennyson:
"Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:"
For some reason this quote has always struck me as strangely profound. I put a lot of thought into most of my actions so this kind of speaks to me.
In terms of a real quote, I like "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." from Edison because that's what science is all about, and I fancy myself a scientist.
Please do not besmirch my good name.
You should take a look at your requirements and start to plan it out a bit. This is a big issue for me since I have to complete the Core Curriculum as well, meaning that with premed, the Core, and a major (even in the sciences), I won't have many spare credits to shop around much. If you have a bit of a plan as to your progression it'll be a lot less stressful during registration.
I don't know. You moved to Boston so part of me thinks you hate me :(
I'm 6' 3" (1.905 m according to conversion software!) but I am very curious as to why you are so drawn to how tall I am. Last time you came down to NYC I had a paper and a midterm due/happening on the following Monday :/
You know, I'd probably agree with that. I feel like English in high school was very set in its track and pace and it was a lot about learning specific things about the novel and regurgitating it. I didn't find the novels to be particularly interesting so it made writing the papers very hard. In addition, I was always stuck with a teacher who hated my writing so I felt the brunt of the subjectiveness of grading. In college though, Literature Humanities (the English Core class) has actually been one of my favorite classes in retrospect and I feel more cultured for having done it. Our discussions are many times deeper and more interesting and it's much more mentally stimulating. We read a lot of stuff.
There have been a fair amount of mildly stressful days over the past few weeks but I'm still around so I'll take that as a sign that I'm in it for the long run, or at least as long as I can balance Smogon and college work.
2330
I don't really read manga but I'd have to assume this one is fantastic.
I don't really know what this question is asking?
I can't even begin to explain how many times more amazing college is. Choosing a school in a city, NYC no less, was one of the best decisions I ever made. Columbia does a great job of establishing a campus and a tight feel but there's still a lot of room for exploring the city. We actually don't leave campus overly often but it's the things like going down to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge at night and then coming back and getting food from the 24 hour deli that makes the experience worthwhile IMO.
It also really enriches the classes. In my Literature Humanities class, when we were studying ancient Greek literature, we took a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to go see Greek art, which isn't something that you can easily do at other schools. We also went to the Museum of Natural History, one of my favorite museums, for my Frontiers of Science class (Core science class).
Unfortunately it's in a kind of weird limbo between submissions. I'm working on another with another group in the meantime though so it's very possible that I'll have two publications before the end of the year!
I explained "bojangles" above but once when I was registering for something (I think AIM?), bojangles was taken so my friend told me to add an i. I registered as ibojangles initially but I changed it back to bojangles once I realized that it wasn't taken because I was tired of sounding like an Apple product. I never changed it on IRC because it's not worth it.
http://www.columbia.edu/
Well, as a C&C mod I was just uploading analyses and a member of QC; I was also head of the GP team, but that's not a standard thing for a C&C mod. I became "leader of C&C" along with Great Sage about a week before I was promoted to Super Mod (I don't think it was a coincidence). Honestly, I did not take on a single extra piece of responsibility in the continuum from mod -> smod -> admin so I'd like to think that it was just because I was finally being recognized, although that does make me sound pretty pompous.
Super Mod is a really weird position and, although I'd heard that for a while, it never really struck me until I was actually a Super Mod myself. In the past, the only things that differentiated Super Mods from Mods was that Super Mods can ban spambots and see all the forums on the site, aside from some useless things like editing avatars and signatures. Back in January though we sort of redefined their position as "community leaders" so theres a Super Mod representing most important things on the site (tiers, The Smog, Tournaments, etc) to participate in upper staff discussions since admins don't look at every part of the forum.
Being an admin is amazing because I can get stuff done by myself if necessary. I don't have the access of users like Doug, meaning that I can't edit huge amounts of content on the site itself but those channels are pretty easy to activate if necessary.
South Africa. My dad is South African and we've been there twice. It's amazing, and although there are parts that are somewhat unsafe, you can see things there that you'll only ever be able to experience in other, much less safe, parts of Africa. The food is amazing and the game reserves are really lasting experiences.
Unfortunately, college work has made it difficult for me to really spend a lot of time doing photography. I like to do a lot over the summer, and especially over vacation, so I'll be doing some more when I go away soon! I've been meaning to make a SS thread for photography and tablet art for a while but I've just never got around to it.
Currently I think I want to be a doctor. I'm really interested in the natural sciences, specifically biology, and this way I also get to have a job where I interact with, but more importantly help, people. I have a huge amount of respect for doctors and it fits in line with my pacifist nature. Where I want to work is uncertain but I'll probably want to stay in NYC since it's such a great place (other than Times Square UGH) where a lot of interesting stuff happens.
Just for you.
I haven't had the pleasure of infracting you and it looks like I still won't.
According to your information, you are under 18 so I am legally obligated to say "no." Maybe in a few years!
Manaphy is a pretty easy choice. It's pretty adorable and fairly good if you can eliminate killjoys like Palkia. It worked fantastically on a team I built for Bloo so people should use it more! Plus it gives Drown All terrible trouble and people love spamming that team on the ladder.
They need to stop throwing themselves at me.
Thank you o wise one.
This is a really interesting question actually and I ruminated for a while before coming up with my answer.
I would go back to the time when it became "accepted" to be an outright douche/antagonist to other people, either because you're a "good battler" or because of silly things like what tier people play and stop that before it got going. Lots of people have quit in the past few days and I think most, if not all of it, can be traced back to people just being assholes and having some sort of God complex based on what tier they like playing most. My ideal Smogon would be one where each metagame is absolutely equal and gets similar amounts of play, but I've accepted the fact that the culture of OU is so ingrained in peoples' minds that equal amounts of play will never actually happen, but I'm not going to give up on the equality in respect thing.
I never really posted that much in Firebot so I can't really comment. A Forum is an interesting forum but it does seem a bit confused about what it is. It looks a lot like Firebot with a touch of Internet Renaissance thrown in and only very small amounts of Cong.
I'm more struck by wondering why you thought this was a good question. If this is a mod stealth editing, though, good show.
I could never get in the middle of true love. If The Cicada and Eo are having a rough time, I'm sure they'll get through it because love is powerful. Thank you to Chou Toshio for illustrating this literally and in song.
I have to say that I don't really know the version specifics yet. I'd probably get whichever one has Black Kyurem because I have high hopes for that monster.
No, I haven't used a DS since early DP. I think I lost mine actually. I don't really know what a Scramble Challenge is but I think that the Nuzlocke thing sounds fun, if not a bit frustrating. My standard requirement is that you name a legendary Pokemon of great power after me.
I've always really liked aamto's avatar of the GIF of the guy expressing some sort of horrified surprised upon walking through a door. Unfortunately I think it was wiped when the avatars were cleaned up.
Cyndaquil, Larvitar, and Pidgeotto. Cyndaquil is adorable, Larvitar is pretty spunky and badass, and Pidgeotto is a simple yet very nice design only improved by how cool he was in the anime, which I watched a lot when I was young.
I don't really read book series anymore just because I've sort of moved onto more mature novels and they don't exist as much. When I was young though I really liked the Pendragon series and the Harry Potter books obviously.
Thank you -
As I said in the OP, I really like MtG. We have an IRC channel of #mtg and it's pretty paltry in size but we manage to get an EDH game going every so often. There are 693 Pokemon as opposed to about 12000 unique MtG cards (I think) so you can just imagine how involved it can get.
I'm currently playing Diablo 3 with some IRL friends as well as, from time to time, mingot, but I haven't picked it up since Tuesday when patch 1.0.3 was issued because I think that that patch is destroying the game.
I'm a big Halo junkie as well. I used to be really good at that game but then I took a long break from it and now I'm above average but nothing super special. I only play it with friends though. Great fun when you live with friends in uni but when you're alone at home its less enticing. I hope 343 Enterprises doesn't totally fuck up Halo.
I don't like making these lists because I'll invariably miss somebody and make them feel bad, but suffice it to say that if I want to meet you, we're probably good friends and you know that.
That being said, if the meetup planned this August doesn't happen I will be very upset with a certain group of people. You know who you are and this is your warning.
Honestly, probably not, but I'm open to trying.
When I first joined I have virtually no responsibilities so I'm a bit biased. I've noticed a lot more people are burning themselves out now, or at least people whom I interact with, so it's possible that less people are doing more work but I don't know if that's exactly true. For whatever reason, people are getting more stressed out. If I had to guess a reason, it would probably have to do with one of the consequences of the issue I mentioned in response to Lady Salamence.
[youtube]iwz8aqiWOsk[/youtube]
~1:30-2:00
I don't know, you'd have to ask Bloo. I had to make the trophies for ST13 and VGC2 yesterday because he doesn't know how.
Will you come meet me?
We can pretend we're on Scrubs.
Acids because bases are bitter and slippery. Acids also get a much cooler rep.
So... furry....
Rayquaza. There's a definite "Oh Shit" moment when that thing comes in.
As a standalone the SOp or Contributor badge looks the nicest but the Researcher is the prettiest in a set.
I voted for trickroom and I stand by that answer.
Any halfwit who uses Charizard.
I enjoyed DW because it was basically Ubers-lite, but that is a tier with an expiration date by its very nature.
I played OU once and was bored to tears.
Better. It'll never be perfect until we can think about HP Steel Dragonite and laugh because it doesn't happen anymore.
Read up to one of the earlier answers.
Human biology has always interested me and being a doctor means that I can help people in a more readily fashion than as a straight researcher.
The natural sciences are cool because I like being able to find a concrete answer, something you'll never be able to get in English or even History, but it's not as abstract as things like pure Mathematics.
Almost definitely less than you.
Yeah, I still play Pokemon. I play a lot of Randbats and CC but I can still play Ubers just fine despite my somewhat shoddy performance in SPL. I don't feel really driven to ladder much because of the really low quality of player.
Like most guys I look up to my dad. He's a doctor and a researcher and that almost definitely had an impact on my interests. He's extremely caring and I can't imagine what my childhood would've been like without him.
I also have a lot of respect for my uncle. He's not a blood relative but he left the Soviet Union when he was young and moved to America, despite not speaking any English. He taught himself to speak it while he worked as a hospital orderly before he got to a level where he could resume his normal job... as a nuclear physicist. That's some pretty amazing patience and dedication.
On Smogon I still have huge amounts of respect for Doug, especially the fact that he's stuck around and helped us out even after his falling out with chaos.
I don't eat fast food that often but I prefer burgers to nuggets.
Nugget Bridge is neither here nor there to me. While in a lot of ways it looks like a sour grapes website, I'm fine with it because they finally feel like they're doing something that's going to get somewhere, and hey, we're all here to have fun at the end of the day.
I will never really understand that LoA stunt because it did them more harm than good IMO. The Dozz thing is a case in point. Dozz always struck me as a pretty level-headed guy and then he went and did that and now he's been turned into a meme. Apparently he apologized to Great Sage, which is fine and all, but he won't be able to escape his new fate for a while.
If you speak English fluently, then yes, posting with proper grammar and spelling will make me take you more seriously. Nothing irritates me more than people thinking they're funny by typing like a 5 year old.
That being said, I have a lot of respect for the many Smogoners who have taught themselves English to participate in the site. They've done something that I probably can't do and I can look past their sometimes broken grammar pretty easily.
I don't have a job but I do some research now. It's a bit nepotistic but my dad is a somewhat-important person at a research hospital so he has people he can put me in contact with. As bad as it sounds, saying "Columbia undergrad" does influence people more than you may realize.
I don't know who Elena is but I suggest sending her some pictures of bunnies.
Cyndaquil, Larvitar, Pidgeotto for cute Pokemon.
Rayquaza, Kyogre, Dialga for competitive Pokemon.
You didn't ask me this but my least favorite Pokemon is Ferrothorn. That thing should be burnt at the stake.
GSC by a longshot. Something about that game seems exciting even after all these years. I remember seeing Ho-Oh and Lugia when I was young and fawning about how cool they looked. Plus, running into the legendary dogs for the first time was always a heart-pounding experience.
My favorite spinoff games are Pokemon Snap and the Gameboy TCG game.
That's hard to say, as it'll depend on how much work I encounter in life and whether my friends are still around. If I wasn't such good friends with a lot of people here, I probably would've permanently quit last summer instead of returning.
Note to self: answer questions more frequently.
What are your thoughts on love? That is to say, do you believe there is that moment where a spark of "true love" hits and people fall in love? or do you believe that love is something that can be worked at and can build through time and trust? Are either more effective than the other? What is your take on the media's representation of love and the public's perception of love as a whole? Are you in love? What advice would you give to anyone about love? If there was a girl you loved who was in a relationship she wouldn't leave with someone else what would you do? Do you believe that two people can be destined for each other?
I read Cat's Cradle last week for my English summative ._.
Ever played RU? If so, why? If not, why not?
Do you like me?
Best infraction you've ever seen/given?
Favourite Smog article?
Opinions on the current US presedential race?
European debt crisis?
I read Cat's Cradle last week for my English summative ._.
Ever played RU? If so, why? If not, why not?
Do you like me?
Best infraction you've ever seen/given?
Favourite Smog article?
Opinions on the current US presedential race?
European debt crisis?
Words of wisdom, relating to life in general?
Dream house?
Dream house?
Can't say I have. I think I've played a Megaman game though.
In 10 years I'll be 28 so...
Hopefully with some sort of graduate degree, working at a job I like. I guess it'd be nice to have met somebody ~really special~ but, unlike school, there's no set timeline for that so it'll happen when it happens I guess.
Current plan is that in 10 years I'll be entering the medical profession in some manner. That's subject to change though obviously. I've given a lot of thought to Computer Science as well but I keep coming back to natural science articles, specifically medical/human biology. I could also become a physicist, but the part that interests me is the really strange and abstract part and the combination of having to wade through all the physics that I don't like and having a job that deals with what is, for a while at least, the purely abstract probably isn't for me. The fact that I dont want to have to deal with prerequisites for physics while I'm willing to do so for premed is a sign in and of itself.
Pokemon will be alive and kicking since its a major cash cow but it just as likely that I won't be involved in Smogon. Hell, I don't even know if Smogon will last that long.
Well, I answered with trickroom to Furai but I'm going to expand a bit on that answer. I think it's trickroom because to be "the best battler" in any generation you have to not only be good IN battle, but good OUTSIDE of battle, such as with teambuilding. The other person I would consider for this title would be Hugendugen, who's amazing at battling, but I don't think many can compare to trickroom's teambuilding skills. His stall teams are incredibly thorough and hard to crack, and Drown All is one of the most remarkable teams in the 5th Gen, and easily one of the most pervasive. Seriously, you can see the statistical impact of that team alone if you know what to look for.
Like many people, my first instinct was to go with DPP OU. I was actually fairly decent at it and I can still play the metagame if I want to, but not even close to the level of people like Gouki or Earthworm.
I moved to Ubers pretty quickly because I just found it a lot more fun. DPP Ubers is still one of the most fun metagames IMO.
Florida's a really nice place provided you get away from the really classless tourist traps. If you find nice, low-key places then it can be very pleasant. Since I was little my family would go to Sanibel Island in the February, March, or April break (depending on which was offered by whatever school I was at) and it was always very peaceful and relaxing.
It started when I first joined IRC back in what had to be either the end of 08 or the very beginning of 09. I joined the #ubers back on Dejatoons and was greeted to a bustling chatroom of about 5 people. It was me, Addie, Gen. Empoleon, Theorymon, and some combination of AM, vashta, macle, and Jibaku. We played ubers like 10% of the time, otherwise just messing around kicking each other and typing "/me nipple". This kind of community was really great and suddenly there was another reason to learn a metagame. We got frontrow seats to Theorymon's concoctions and would test them with him and the like. When we switched to SynIRC I remade #ubers to get that community back. It never really did, but we were a pretty big channel for a while.
This is a question that I definitely can't answer really properly because I'm just not at the right point in my life. I don't know if there's a single moment when things "click" and you fall in love, but I think it's a process that eventually sneaks up on you when you realize "wow I think I'm in love" and you've gotten to the point where you feel totally comfortable and safe with your partner and couldn't imagine a life without them.
I haven't experience what I would call love because I don't think that teenagers in general are really ready to make that sort of commitment, especially in terms of the life we live. People in late high school and higher educations are in a phase of discovery (wow I actually just said that) and so much of their identity is changing rapidly. I have a friend who came to university thinking that she wanted to study chemistry. She then switched to Poli Sci and then again to English, which is what she thinks she wants to study. I don't think you know yourself well enough at a time like this to be able to fall in love because you're just trying to figure yourself out and are too consumed with that to do the same to another, something that I think is a prerequisite of love.
The idea of being "destined" for somebody is a comforting thought but again I don't know if I can really answer that. Aristophanes' speech from Plato's Symposium talks about how people are destined to fall in love with a specific person because they were once a single being with that person and wish to reconnect. I don't know if the destiny part is true but the second part about wanting to reconnect with their lost half is how I have to imagine "true love" feels: somebody that you don't think you can (or want) to live without. It's really quite a beautiful piece of literature that you should read if you're interested in these kinds of things. As a side note, it's interesting how he puts both homosexual and heterosexual love on the same pedestal. Food for thought.
Initially I thought that "._." meant that you didn't like it and that our friendship would be called into question, but then you PMed me on IRC so it's all good.
I have not. It's a matter of comfort I guess. I don't really like floundering completely when starting a new tier. In the past when I've wanted to get into a new tier, I talk to somebody with a lot of expertise in that area and get a team and the basics of the tier. That's how I stomped prem in LC. I'll probably end up doing this with RU, since I've already done it for UU (to an extent, lol) and I don't want to be a one-trick pony with Ubers.
Yeah. You've come a long way from when I nominated you for Pre-Contributor.
In terms of funniest I think the one where Firestorm got a response after 2 or 3 years was pretty rich. In terms of actually the best, I don't really know, but there is something really satisfying about getting somebody when they post really dumb/unacceptable shit on the forums. I know that sounds bad to hear but it's like a private call-out of somebody when they think that they're above the rules.
For example, I infracted somebody whom I won't name in a DW thread about Darkrai because their post simply said "Stop comparing Darkrai to <Pokemon> it's really fucking stupid" (I'm paraphrasing) and that was a good infraction because that is an entirely contentless post and that user should've thought for a single second before they hit the reply button.
I really liked the Smogon Tabloids one(s?) that Jabba did a while back and I hope he returns to do those. He also had a twitter that somehow went the way of the dodo, which is really a shame. There's nothing worse than somebody trying too hard to be funny and failing but Jabba does it right. That's not to say that this happens on The Smog but you know it when you see it. He also did one about overhyped Pokemon or something in the style of Cracked that was a great laugh.
I obviously think that my articles are good or else I wouldn't keep writing them!
I'm extremely liberal and thus am backing Obama, and I plan to vote for him come November. The nasty thing about this election is that the Republicans are totally two-faced and crushing bills and motions in Congress and then turning around and complaining that nothing is getting done. America's totally hyperpartisan and the country's going to go to shit if people don't start thinking about what's best for the country and not for their campaigns. Congress also needs to learn a word called "compromise." I don't know why they skipped the grade when I learned it but it's clearly a fault with their education or their ideals.
It sounds kind of bad for me to already say that I'm backing Obama no matter what despite the fact that campaigning is just beginning but I just can't get behind any Republican candidate because their stance on social issues is out of whack with mine and, frankly, antiquated. The whole debate on gay marriage disgusts me and I think it's about damn time that we STOP (edit: OOPS) hard coding discrimination into our laws. People like to brag that America is the one of the freest countries in the world but I can't agree until its government stops denying people civil liberties based on sexual preference. The whole contraception and abortion date is equally revolting and I just don't see how the public buys that men legislating what women can and can't do to their bodies is in any way appropriate. I don't want to go on a tirade but people should learn where their opinions are justified and where they are not.
I'm a Canadian by birth if you didn't know ;)
That reminds me: universal healthcare is something that really improves the quality of life and another thing that I think should be seriously considered instead of just being tied to the current buzzword of "socialism." It's interesting to note that the people who are the most against it are those who can afford their healthcare... compassion is good.
I'm not really well-enough informed on the issue to comment much. I hope that the Eurozone doesn't fall apart as a result though because I think the easy transfer of culture that comes with it is really fantastic and enviable.
Luckily my family is in a financial state that allows us to go to some fairly exotic places for vacations. Traveling in general is an amazing experience because you get exposed to lifestyles other than your own. Other than just being interesting, it really gives you other experiences and ways to consider things. I think a lot of people could use such a thing.
I want to leave some sort of mark, preferably helping people. You can make oodles and oodles of money but it's really no good unless you use it to benefit somebody other than yourself, is it? There's a reason why lots of corporate America that is absurdly wealthy is painted as evil (think the 1%) whereas somebody like Bill Gates, who gives tons of money to charity, is not.
To take a break from being serious for a moment, I'm terrified of heights.
No, I'm an atheist. Certain things have happened in my life that have made it really hard to believe that a God exists, or, if one exists, that he is worth worshipping. I would love to be proved wrong on both those accounts but that's where my position stands.
I have a lot of respect for people who are religious though. I can see why they would find comfort in the idea of an omnipotent being guarding and guiding them, even if I can't myself. The only time when I don't respect religion is when it is used as an excuse for hatred or violence. You can read up to my mini-rant on anti-homosexual marriage above or really any sort of war that is driven by differences in religion. Religion is something that should comfort or "save" people, not condemn them or cause them to condemn others.
Pre-contributor. Aldaron joined #ubers one day after Jibaku had apparently linked it in what was then #stark and he came in to see that I was the owner. I was completely unknown at the time and after he asked me who I was, I linked him some grammar checks and a guide that I had done. He nominated me for ladybug soon after that.
If there's any chance that you could enjoy or learn from something, do it. Unless, of course, you put others in danger.
Not something I really think about from day to day. I just want somewhere I feel safe and can relax after I do whatever I'm doing with my life.
Nothing would make me happier.
Your trolling escapades in #grammar are really entertaining. The kids there are really kind-hearted but very gullible. I think sirndpt is onto your stuff though...
If you destroy sandshrewz's innocence though I will never forgive you.
You're a dedicated and likable man -- I can see good things in your future if you do the work.
Hey another pre-meddie! Though I'm not doing it at Columbia haha.
What kind of Doctor do you want to be? Or are you still undecided?
What was your research paper on?
Is it weird being on a college campus smack in the middle of the city?
Do you dorm at Columbia? Or are you in an apartment?
Who is a better user? Hugendugen or Violatic?
What kind of Doctor do you want to be? Or are you still undecided?
What was your research paper on?
Is it weird being on a college campus smack in the middle of the city?
Do you dorm at Columbia? Or are you in an apartment?
Who is a better user? Hugendugen or Violatic?
Do you think I am a good user and what do you think of me?
Will you eventually like trance music?
How many of your friends know you play Pokemon?
How is it being an administrator? What is your biggest challenge being one?
What do you see as the biggest shortcoming or issue of this site?
Who do you think will win in the 2012 presidential election, and why?
Will you eventually like trance music?
How many of your friends know you play Pokemon?
How is it being an administrator? What is your biggest challenge being one?
What do you see as the biggest shortcoming or issue of this site?
Who do you think will win in the 2012 presidential election, and why?
Say that you have absolute power over Smogon as such that nobody will object to anything you do.
What exactly would you change to our tournaments/ladders/forums in order to achieve this equality between metagames?(eg: having 14 official smogon tournaments instead of 2 or having none at all; Make the World Cup have the same format as SPL; etc)
What is the most enigmatic and/or interesting part of your character?
On a similar note (sort of): are you content with your current social and/or physical status?
What has been your biggest social faux pas?
On a similar note (sort of): are you content with your current social and/or physical status?
What has been your biggest social faux pas?
What are your thoughts on the band: Rainbow?
On average, how much time do you spend on Smogon a week? A day?
Have you ever been to the UK?
How many more years can you see yourself remaining at Smogon for, and how many of those years do you think you'll be able to uphold the responsibility of being an administrator?
Top 3 RPGS?
Thanks for the well ibo, has been an interesting read so far.
On average, how much time do you spend on Smogon a week? A day?
Have you ever been to the UK?
How many more years can you see yourself remaining at Smogon for, and how many of those years do you think you'll be able to uphold the responsibility of being an administrator?
Top 3 RPGS?
Thanks for the well ibo, has been an interesting read so far.
I SEE A RAINBOW RISIIIIING! LOOK UP ON THE HORIZON!
...oh I guess I have to ask some questions now.
What's your current favorite band?
What was your first favorite band (be honest)
5 desert island albums?
What is it about the newfangled hippity hoppy thing that all the youngsters are raving about that you don't like?
Are you going to the NJ/NY meetup next month? If not, is there any chance we could meet up in the fall/winter? I could really use some tips from a smart person.
pick a song?
/me hi5
Still undecided. I'm really into neuroscience so that's cool, but I haven't ruled anything out. I don't want to be a "vanity" doctor, so no cosmetics or specialities like dermatologist. The list is being narrowed down but since I'm still not positive I want to do premed I'm probably jumping the gun a bit.
The first one is on whether suicidal ideation (thoughts, actions) when you're a teenager impacts your later life in any way (it does). It's kind of scary and was really surreal because when I was doing the research I was in the area of the ages being polled. It's weird to not only consider that some people want to kill themselves already at my point in life, but also that it could really mess them up for their life beyond.
The second topic is about whether atypical antipsychotics can have bigger health risks. That's still underway. We're merging massive data sets (~12 million observations in some!) and are about to move into the actual statistical procedures.
Both of these are obviously pretty firmly in the psychiatry area but TBH I doubt I'll end up doing that. The physiological stuff still appeals more to me.
When I applied to college I knew I wanted to be in an urban environment. Going to school in a small, nowheresville town would just get boring. Columbia is amazing because there's always something to do or places to go in the city if we're bored on campus. That being said, Columbia does a great job of having a strong campus vibe, and it gets weaved in quite well with the city beyond. For example, one Friday (we get Fridays off, woo!) my friends and I went a few blocks from campus to a Korean restaurant that has really great food for college kid prices and really just stuffed ourselves. We came back to campus and then played football on one of the fields on the main quad. Definitely regretted gorging myself on Korean food right before that but it was a pretty stereotypical "college" experience with a nice flair that only a real city can provide.
Yeah, I'm in a dorm. Living in a dorm, while it had its downsides (no a/c was dreadful in the summer months), was one of the most fun experiences I've ever had. Some of my fondest memories are walking down the hall to my friend's room and going to Tom's Restaurant (famous facade, average food) or a local deli for food after midnight before coming back and playing Halo until like 3 in the morning.
Columbia guarantees housing for all 4 years because Manhattan real estate is ridiculous. Some of the housing is pretty nice and TBH I don't really want to stress myself with finding an apartment, as fun as living in an apartment with some friends could be.
Australians are descended from British convicts.
I think it's pretty unfortunate when parents force their wishes upon their kids, especially when the kid hates what is being forced upon him/her. Lots of people feel forced to go premed because of that weird doctor/lawyer/banker mentality that is pervasive in America. I want to become a doctor because that's where my interests lie. It's pretty obvious to me that the environment I grew up in predisposed me to science in general and specifically medicine, but my parents have never actually told me "we want you to become a doctor." In fact, they encouraged me to shop around a bit more with my courses to see if I have other interests, like with my Computer Science class.
To be honest I haven't had much interaction with you but I know you're one of the best and most reliable tournament hosts we have. Major kudos for bailing me (and rey/undi) out so many times during the LNT season that went so poorly.
No guarantees.
I am a closet mons player. It's a secret that I don't intend to tell anybody about!
Being an admin is awesome because I have the power to do something instead of having to push it on somebody else and wait for results. I spent a lot of time as a moderator (more than just a normal user or badgeholder I think), in C&C no less, so I have a lot of experience with the bureaucracy of waiting for somebody else with higher auth to do something for me. It's much more satisfying to be able to do it myself and on my time.
One of the most challenging parts of being an admin is deciding what the right move is. Whether they admit it or not, a huge amount of people look up to or rely on the words of admins, either to get through specific situations or provide a plan. With so many people expecting you to lead them, you need to plan your actions carefully or people will lose respect, or worse, trust in you and then everything can fall apart.
How badly we treat each other. Anybody who's spent any time in IS can see how nasty some of us are with each other (some more than others). Specifically, if you read the Leaves of Absence thread, there are many more "tired of this site" posts than "IRL getting in the way" posts and that's because people are burning out over how tired they are of being treated badly. Lots of Smogoners have a terrible sense of entitlement and as a result our contributors are treated like slaves when they should be celebrated as volunteers; this is especially bad for Programmers.
Historically it's extremely difficult to beat an incumbent and I hope this year is no exception. As I said in an earlier response, the country is hyperpartisan, so anybody with any inkling of a preconceived notion of what party they support will almost definitely default to that side, and the moderates will be left deciding whether they dislike the economy or the attitude in Congress more, the former meaning that they'd vote Republican (not that I think the Republicans could or would do any better) and the latter meaning that they'd vote Democrat. I'd like to think that people realize that although the economy is still in turmoil, Obama was handed the problem and has stopped us from plunging into a greater depression, but that may not be the case.
Tournaments, whether we like it or not, is really the driving force behind this site. It's why our tiering and our analyses matter. Changing this problem would require working in Tournaments to establish more of an equality. I would equalize the tiering representation in official tournaments. Right now the official tournaments are OST, Tour, Frontier, OVGC, SPL, WCoP, and now Grand Slam. Out of those, OST, Tour, WCoP, previously Frontier, and much of SPL are totally OU with the other metagames represented sparsely in the others. Having completely equal representation, or even slightly more (which the TDs are working towards) would probably go a long way to inspiring people to play metagames other than just OU.
The other thing that would need to be worked on is the rampant "OU is supreme" mindset that a lot of battlers have. For some reason, playing OU seems to make people feel entitled to totally disparage players of other tiers because they are less popular. Cracking down on this would be a really big step forward for Smogon IMO.
No.
I wouldn't classify myself as particularly enigmatic. That being said, there's a lot you don't know about me!
Despite the common stereotype of "Pokemon players are social rejects," my social life is very active (more so during the year when I live near/with my uni friends but that's to be expected) so I can't really complain.
I'm pretty comfortable with my physical appearance. I'm very tall and very skinny, but ideally I would have a bit more muscle mass. That's something to work on myself I suppose.
I thought for a while on this one but I can't think of something that really sticks out. Like everybody else, I've had some times when I really put my foot in my mouth but thankfully I havent done anything really ridiculous!
I haven't heard of these guys, or they're slipping my mind. If you could provide a link then it'd probably help.
It's hard to give you a real answer on this one because Smogon runs on one of my tabs whenever my computer is on since I never close Chrome. The same thing is with IRC -- it logs me in whenever an internet connection is established, whether I'm watching it or not. I usually at least browse Smogon most of the time when I'm not doing anything, but unless I'm actively doing something a lot of things take priority over it, even reading a book. During the summer my hours are inflated because I'm not doing much.
Yeah. I've been to England, but not really outside of London, and parts of Scotland. London and Edinburgh are both amazing cities that I really enjoyed. It's kind of unfortunate how far North America is from Europe since there's so much culture and things to see/do there. Part of me wishes I had grown up there. I have a close friend who is British but lived most of his life in Paris. He speaks both English and French completely fluently and lives down the street from the Eiffel Tower. I'm pretty envious of him that he can travel around such an amazing continent so easily.
That's a hard question. Last year around this time I was gearing up for university and just sort of assumed that it would consume my life to a point where I would either just stop coming on Smogon or at least phase out of all my responsibilities. Obviously that didn't happen but I guess it could happen any year so it's hard to look that far into the future. I've been steadily taking on responsibilities over the past few months and at some point I'll either have to start turning things down or pushing some stuff on other people.
As cheesy as it is, I have to say Pokemon, specifically Gold/Silver versions. I played these when I was very young (if GSC came out in 2000 then I would've been about 6 or 7) and I had huge amounts of fun playing this game.
Another RPG I remember fondly was Golden Sun. I don't remember which one I had exactly but I had it for the GBA and I remember getting pretty far before getting stuck on a Magician boss who would summon elemental Orbs.
Paper Mario on the N64 is definitely up there. The combat system was a lot of fun and there was a lot of creativity with the storyline and how they worked in the little nuances about his paper powers. Super Paper Mario is one of the few games I'd consider getting a Wii for.
As an honorable mention, I've been having a lot of fun playing Diablo 3 but it's pretty impressive how much Blizzard can piss people off with their patching. Hopefully something will get fixed with that soon.
Glad to hear.
THIS IS MY WELL DON'T ANSWER MY QUESTIONS.
I'm pretty sure I answered this question for Zacchaeus!
Back when I was in early middle school I really liked Linkin Park. My friend and I thought Hybrid Theory was a pretty incredible album and I think that's probably a phase that most teenage boys go through.
Let me go through my iTunes library:
Songbook - this is probably my favorite album. The only true competition in terms of vocals for Chris Cornell is Freddie Mercury IMO and unfortunately he's no longer with us. Songs like Wide Awake are really powerful while songs like The Keeper, Cleaning My Gun, and Imagine are just nice to listen to. His acoustic takes on his old Soundgarden and Audioslave stuff is also really spectacular and gives new justice to the latter, which is during his least popular time probably other than like Scream (which was just a dumb album). His cover of Led Zeppelin's Thank You is seriously one of the most beautiful songs ever. Seriously go get this album if you don't have it.
The Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden's big hits are pretty well spread over their albums (The Trooper, Wasted Years, Aces High, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, The Wicker Man, HALLOWED BE THY NAME, Run to the Hills, Number of the Beast, and their later stuff like When the Wild Wind Blows [IMO one of their better ones] and The Talisman) but The Number of the Beast just has the most and probably the best.
Grace - I don't need to tell you why Jeff Buckley is amazing.
Leave a Whisper - Shinedown's first album and still their best work IMO. While it doesn't have their "ballads" like I Dare You or Second Chance, it has some really great ones like No More Love and the deluxe version has a really wide repertoire of what they can do.
The last slot is a tossup between Superunknown by Soundgarden and Led Zeppelin's Mothership.
IDK, give me some good Hip Hop and I'll listen to it and see what happens.
I don't know what meetup you have in mind but I'm going to be away for much of July.
If you need college/city tips then there's probably a way we could get in contact in some way.
Listen to Chris Cornell's version of Thank You from Songbook and pleasant memories of loved ones will come flooding back to you.
is this standard/ou smugness a recent thing? i have to say i never really noticed it, and i played fucking cap of all things. how does cap fit into your "equal smogon" dream?
props to doomvm
Rainbow was Ritchie Blackmore's thing after Deep Purple, and I'm sure you'll know their original singer, Ronnie James Dio (Rainbow was where he got his first big break)
Songs:
Sixteenth Century Greensleeves
Long Live Rock and Roll
Man on the Silver Mountain
Stargazer
A Light in the Black
Kill the King
Catch the Rainbow
The Temple of the King
I'm a complete Maiden nut, so it's nice to see that you also like them.
Rainbow was Ritchie Blackmore's thing after Deep Purple, and I'm sure you'll know their original singer, Ronnie James Dio (Rainbow was where he got his first big break)
Songs:
Sixteenth Century Greensleeves
Long Live Rock and Roll
Man on the Silver Mountain
Stargazer
A Light in the Black
Kill the King
Catch the Rainbow
The Temple of the King
I'm a complete Maiden nut, so it's nice to see that you also like them.
- Status