Actaeon

I enjoyed the one AIM chat I participated in, and visit CalRef primarily for that feature. I would likely pop into another chat system, particularly if there were specifically scheduled times to get folks together. There aren't many systems I'd rule out, but IRC would be my top choice.

I'm falling behind! It may have something to do with me being all along in a whole time zone now, apparently. 

(Also, does anyone know how to easily change font with the new software? Serifs were starting to be, like, my thing.)

Wait, I won? I am the champion! Of course, we all predicted the wrong overall result, so it's a bit of a lukewarm victory.

Hopefully I'm in under the wire. http://www.270towin.com/maps/VgY76

Obviously your primary goal should be to play G4 on your G4.

complain

Living up to your name there, Brevity.

Well, it looks like the departure of the Calref Commune hasn't left me completely alone on this side of the Mississippi. Who's up for a camping meet up for us rugged Westerners?

The Southwest would cover those four plus probably Nevada and Texas. Or just The West, which would also include Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.

Really, I shouldn't be the one complaining (even though you told us to). I feel for the Spiderwebber in Oak Park trying to decide how broad your definition of Chicago is.

I live in Nevada, so I'm not sure which one I'm supposed to pick. Other, I guess.

I feel like Four Corners could have been replaced with a broader category. The way I usually hear that used applies to about a 100 mile radius from the quadripoint or, at most, the whole Colorado Plateau. I see Slarty sorted me there in the meetup thread, but it's probably not a label I would have applied to myself.

As much as I'd like to connect with Nikki, I'm now half inclined to screw the whole thing up by meeting, like, Andra or Eph instead.

Actaeon has the highest charisma score of anyone I've ever met.

This from the person who ran up and gave me a huge hug the moment I stepped out of my car.

If you look back, you'll find I celebrated at 256, 512, and 1024. What makes you think I'd break the trend for 2000?

To be fair, Snoke is a significant person at the start of the movie. He looks old enough to have been around in the original trilogy, so if he isn't someone we've seen before we have to wonder what he was up to.

I like the Plagueis theory, though it's been flatly contradicted a couple times. I was also struck by the similarity of scars to Vader. Perhaps Anakin's redemption separated him into two entities? Obi Wan sort of treated him as such.

In other news, I missed my 10th and am nearly to 11.

I don't know what the statue of limitation is on Star Wars spoilers, so let's tread lightly there. In any case, there are plenty other movies from the last year worth discussing. What has everyone seen? Any must-see or must-avoids?

I'm still hoping to catch The Hateful Eight, The Big Short, Room, Mustang, and Sicario. I'm on the fence about Spectre.

Brief assessments of what I did see:

A friend's dad went from a brain aneurysm on a solo backpacking trip in Wyoming. We was gone so quick the poles were still in his hands when they found him. That trumps dying in ones sleep, in my book.

I admit, there's something to be said for a more dramatic death, but it's not like I'd be around to appreciate it. There's also something to be said for some time to put your affairs in order, except that it often goes with a lot of suffering. My cutesy answer a few years ago was smothered to death by kittens. Then I realized that would be horrible... slowly suffocating, unable to save yourself for fear of hurting the kittens.

In the end, unless I go out doing something really meaningful (pushing the last pair of an endangered species out from in front of a speeding train?), I'm more interested in how I life than how I die. I know that's trite, but it's true.

Never let it be said that the Refuge gives up easily. We're trying out yet another Minecraft modpack and server, and assembling a world we hope we'll encourage people to stick around. There's decorative mods like Bibliocraft, worldgen mods like Geologica, mild industrial mods like Buildcraft, and a smattering of other stuff from AncientWarfare to Hats.

Anyway, we need people. Right now we're in the early stages of gathering resources and building a city at spawn. I've made beginner gear available, and with a little warning one of us would be happy to log in and show the ropes to someone who hasn't played before. We're working on more collaboration and cooperation instead of just solo work, but there will be a chance for both.

How to join:

Download the Technic Launcher here: http://technicpack.net/download

Run the launcher and sign-in with your Minecraft credentials. Once it's up, select the "modpacks" tab if it isn't already there.

If the top-left corner, paste the following URL into the "Add pack or search" box

http://technicpack.net/modpack/commune-solder.754736

An option to install should appear on the bottom right.

Choose multiplayer and enter: te.calref.net

Anyone interested?

Sounds like something I could get behind, depending of course on scheduling.

The Grand Tetons! Have you been?

Not that I've been back in time to Canyon de Chelly when Edward Curtis was there. Glean what you can from that.

I had no idea it would be a bad sign for the forums. Sorry that I had to ask for it.

As Lilith observed, this is on us, not you. Someone ought to have got around to it long before you had to ask for it. Mostly likely, after we dropped the ball initially, we all assumed you'd already been initiated.

Clearly, you knew the drill anyway, so perhaps you've been paying the sanity tithe. If not, we can settle up retroactively.

I consider it a fairly bad sign someone had to ASK for the greeting. The quiet forums are making us complacent. The fluffy turtles will not be pleased.

It looks like he has a colored contact and maybe there's something behind it.

Lemme zoo– OH MY

It was an unfortunate consequence of meeting in a pizza place.

My bad.

Also, please ignore the fact that, due only partially to perspective, I look like I climbed down from a beanstalk.

I'm climbing the charts, baby! The challenge now is to meet up only with people below me to keep the people above me from pulling further ahead.

To be honest, I'm not all that good at video games, so I find the side quests pretty much essential to get the experience and gear necessary to tackle the main campaign.