App State Antics!

I'd play if you wanted to set up a server. We could do some sort of communal build or something!

Grats, Luke!

Even though I'm getting really into RS again, I'd be interested in some Minecraft again, as long as you guys are playing. I can't really get into Minecraft without some good friends to be with.

Season's greetings, Bandits! I hope everyone got some cool shit for Christmas. My brothers and I got an xbox one from santa, it's pretty enjoyable.

Anybody have cool plans for New Year's Eve?

That sounds great Luke.
I think I'm staying home for the rest of my winter break just chilling with my family. It's great because any break from school is a vacation I'm glad to have so I don't really mind that we're not travelling anywhere or doing something fun.

In other news..
Sorry I haven't been updating stuff on my account thread lately. I'm getting 99 def soon and will hopefully do a big cumulative post when that happens.

Happy holidays, guys.

Holy shit, you did it! Damn, son, almost 99 hp, too! Masta's gettin' OG up in here. That stat sig is looking more and more impressive with each post.

Thanks, Luke! I'll try to get pics up tomorrow.

I didn't get up to much over break. I mainly worked and played Dota with friends. I unfortunately had work on both Christmas Day and New Year's Eve, but did get extra pay for that so it wasn't too bad.

Sorry for being away for the past few weeks -- my laptop was in the shop on account of a cracked screen. It is now fixed, and the second semester of my freshman year is under way. Here's to hoping everyone is having a good time in school!

So, this semester I've decided to really focus on improving my writing abilities, as I hope to pursue a career somewhere in the broad and uncertain writing field. Since coming back to Boone for second semester, I've picked up a role with The Appalachian, our school's newspaper. I also have an opportunity to write for the Honors College newsletter, which is a quarterly publication. In addition to that, I'm helping with the FIJI newsletter, which will be emailed to my fraternity brothers' parents on a monthly basis. I'm in the interviewing process for a job at Dominoes just down the street -- my plate has piled quite high compared to first semester, but I'm looking forward to it.

I stopped playing videogames -- GTAV Online, primarily -- and I'm now spending my freetime reading books and writing. I'm always trying to pick up something new. The odds are stacked against me, as an aspiring writer, so I need to use every second to my advantage. Already knowing what I want to do is helpful, but it's only helpful if I'm using my time wisely. Hopefully everything turns out alright, and I don't wind up frozen and starved to death, huddled in a rut on the side of some busy highway five or six years from now.

That being said, I've been writing upwards of 1000 words a day (on average) for the past week or so. Here's what I wrote after watching the Super Bowl, if anybody wants some leisurely reading from yours truly:

    "The forty-ninth rendition of the Super Bowl has come and gone; four quarters have passed, and in what seemed like only a few ticks of the clock, the NFL season came to a dramatic close in the middle of the desert state of Arizona. After a drawn-out afternoon of bumbling pregame hype, the main event began with a drawn-out, bumbling delivery of the Star-Spangled Banner, sung by Idina Menzel. Menzel’s voice was impressive, sure, but it was entirely too beautiful, and therefore unfit to portray the emotions of our National Anthem. Since the song’s transcription in 1812, I don’t think any voice has done a better job of portraying the dubious pride of the Star-Spangled Banner’s composition than that of Jimi Hendrix’s Guitar during the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969. The Anthem’s climax lies within these lyrics:
O! say does that star-spangled Banner yet wave,
O’er the Land of the free, and the home of the brave?
    See, the way it’s written is a question; not an assertion. When Idina belted out the above lines, she assured the nation that the Star-Spangled Banner yet waved. In the song, however, it’s a question – maybe even a doubtful proposition – and that’s why the wailing Hendrix guitar so acutely depicts the emotion that Francis Scott Key likely felt as he scribbled down early American poetry under the light of bombs bursting in air. If only there were some talented guitarists in the Top-40 music scene.
    And then it was time for toe to meet leather in the forty-ninth Super Bowl. The iconic Tom Brady and prodigal Russell Wilson lined up to face one another for only the second time; this time, Brady evened the score, but not until several bombs burst through the air that surely made Francis Scott Key smile in his grave. The first half of the game was nothing short of a toe-to-toe showdown between the two high-octane offenses. By the time the first thirty minutes of the game-clock passed, the score was levelled at 14 per squad. After a lengthy halftime show that I will discuss in more detail later, the Seahawks emerged from the locker room and wrestled a commanding ten-point lead by midway through the third quarter; NBC took no shame in showing a brooding Tom Brady browsing the internet on his Microsoft Surface Pro as he sat on the bench.
But the fourth quarter was something different entirely. A pair of masterfully orchestrated touchdown drives negated Brady’s earlier interceptions; a takeaway late into the Seahawks’ last-ditch rumble towards the end-zone served as the dagger to do away with those wretched pescetarian birds. Indeed, it was Tom Brady whose championship-caliber quarterbacking inevitably garnered the Pats with a fourth Super Bowl title since the new millennium. The Seahawks efforts for a second-straight Super Bowl trophy were rendered futile late into that fateful fourth quarter.
    Every play, each tackle, and all the penalties – all of the controversy: domestic violence, drug-policy, overtime rules, and deflated footballs – all of it came down to sixty final minutes of brutish, elegant American football. And what a game it was.
    But who cares, really? Sure, the Seahawks fans are heartbroken, but so are the Falcons fans, and especially the Packers fans; even the fans over in Oakland are upset with the way their team’s season ended. Yeah, the people of New England are probably jubilantly spreading themselves onto the front lawn to create snow angels in a state of drunken celebration right now. Their team was the best this season; now it’s on to the 2015-16 season, where the stakes are as high as ever – there are billions of dollars to be made, and another champion to be crowned and then quickly forgotten.
    But who cares, really? Half of the one-hundred-and-ten-million or more viewers were only watching the game because it is an American expectation. If you aren’t watching the Super Bowl on the first Sunday of February, then what are you doing with your time and why are you wasting it? As such, the white girls and the wives; the homeless, the NBA, MLB, NHL, and NCAA players – all eyes in America fixated on the lush green grass of Glendale Arizona to witness the grandest, most glorious sporting event to ever take place on American soil. …
… for the commercials. The triumph, grit, and glory makes for great sports and all, but some folks simply cannot fathom what it means to win a Super Bowl. The commercials, however, are awesome, because they’re new. On any other day of the Television Year, advertising gets in the way of the programming you’ve sat down to watch – advertisements are a nuisance; always telling you what to buy and controlling what you think during your show’s intermission. On Super Bowl Sunday, Commercials are King. They’re funny, and they’re exciting. But the Super Bowl Forty-Nine commercials were the worst lot yet. I have trouble remembering any specific commercial, because they were all unoriginal do-overs of Super Bowl commercials I had seen before. The cute li’l Budweiser puppy was almost devoured on live television by a savage wolf; Kate Upton endorsed a free-to-play, pay-to-win iPhone App that cannot possibly be making any money, considering a thirty-second opportunity to forcibly advertise your product out to one-third of the entire American Public cost somewhere in the range of $4 to $4.5 million this year . I vaguely remember the aforementioned commercials, but the rest resonated as recycled, overly-patriotic, or sensationalist, and I tuned them out. Some of the commercials were outright depressing, and still others were car commercials.
    Halftime was cool, I suppose, but more disappointing than entertaining. America sighed at the lack of a Katy Perry wardrobe malfunction, although her thighs put on a noteworthy performance nonetheless. Perry’s Halftime Show was – as expected – a rapid-paced medley of her most well-known music. She started the show on top of a robotic lion/tiger thing, donning a dress that resembled a bag of Flamin’-Hot Cheetos. The rest of the Pepsi Halftime Show was an epileptic spasm of trippy floor-lighting and violent, flailing choreography. Missy Elliot made an appearance, but her blinged-out microphone wasn’t loud enough to overpower the booming beats. Lenny Kravitz came out and coolly performed some guitar licks to the tune of Perry’s best song yet, I Kissed a Girl. At one point, I recall cute little shark-men and palm trees with happy faces waddling beside Katy, who now wore a dress that looked like a beach umbrella.
    Yes, the halftime show was weird indeed, and targeted towards the broadest swath of Americans as possible. Across the nation, portly old men sat grumpily through the Pepsi Halftime Show with their arms crossed, scoffing at kids these days and their lewd forms of entertainment. It is interesting to note: Lenny Kravitz was the only musician to actually play an instrument throughout the entire production – every other artist merely sang and flailed her hips.
    And then, roughly an hour and a half later, after a legendary fourth quarter by Tom Brady, the Patriots leisurely downed the ball to tick off the final seconds before a fourth New England Championship. The Seahawks weren’t going to roll over politely, however; a skirmish broke out and fists flew through the air as the tiny zebra-striped referees threw yellow flags and eventually ejected a Seahawk in a brave attempt to maintain order. But the Seahawks defense wasn’t done – they had frustrations that needed to be left on the field. A brawl arose, and fines have surely been assigned in the wake of the throwdown.
    When blurred together, it’s not hard to see that Super Bowl XLIX had it all: anger, triumph, music, advertising, bombs, and men in tights plowing one-another into the ground. Super Bowl Sunday is a day that fills me with pride. The first Sunday in February is second only to Independence Day when it comes to national days of celebration that inject a shot of pure patriotism into the hearts of the American People. I didn’t have a care in the world for the final score; I didn’t care how many pounds per square-inch were in the footballs that flew from endzone-to-endzone throughout the game. The NFL was plagued by controversy this season, but Super Bowl XLIX was a spectacle to behold; a true taste of the American Dream, filled with dramatic action worth huddling around your TV for."

I hope everyone is enjoying the way things are going as much as I am! What's goin' on, my faraway friends?

Way to go, Luke! Keep on doing great stuff. Nothing really new in my life. Same old school grind.

I wish you luck with your writing Luke! Good luck with the job as well.

Damn Dominoes dude has yet to call me in for an interview. Ah well, I'll find a job someplace else. Has anybody heard back from any of the colleges they applied to?

*still a junior*

I've been accepted to one of the four schools I applied to. I won't know about the other three until April 1.

Which one, Raurg? Congratulations!

Sorry Masta, I forgot about your youthfulness. You'll always be a cute lil fourteen year old Phuocboi to me. (:

Centre College, the only in-state school I applied to and the best school in Kentucky.

It's okay, Masta. I'll be youthful with ya.

We're all growin' up, though. I'm proud of ya'll, being successful and stuff. It's honestly terrifying knowing that I don't have long to change my mind about what I want to do for the rest of my life.

Tennessee actually has a nice selection of colleges, I was actually surprised after my search. Although I've really been considering Vanderbilt if I get accepted, I'll probably just go to a place closer to home like UTC or MTSU. I've still got a ton of research before I decide which I'd truly prefer, though.

Congrats, Raurg! Is that your number one or are you hoping for one of the other three?

App State's not far away, Joshyyyy. UTC is only 4 and a half hours away. Come party with me at Fiji sometime! Same to you, Raurg. Kentucky ain't far away.

I'd honestly be happy with any of them.

Hi guys! What's up?

I just checked out some of the more active threads -- looks like some of you have been pretty busy recently... No matter what, though, you will always live on in my memory just the same as you were when I left RS for good. But seriously, it's pretty cool that our clan and this forum have lasted so long, even with just our core group of members.

It sounds like you're on the right track to discovering whether you want to write as a career, Luke. Plus, writing every single day is definitely the way to get better at it and develop good habits for the future.

I'm pretty busy with my new semester as well. I am (theoretically) writing a thesis, plus TA'ing for a stats class. As for post-grad plans, I might want to create a baking start-up...

A baking start-up..? Please, elaborate!

Agreed, I want to hear more about this baking start-up.

Because, y'know.

My Cooking level is 99.

Josh would probably just afk.

Haha, basically my concept is a small, rotating menu of high-quality baked goods [so not Starbucks stuff, think pecan sticky buns, salted caramel apple pie, croissants, etc.] offered hot from 2 - 6 pm, specially marketed for environments like a college campus (lots of offices, etc.) or an actual office environment. For hungry students, yes, but also for profs, staff, etc. and I would offer subscription packages / catering for dept. meetings, etc.

Sounds awesome! And I see your pics of food all the time and it looks great.

That sounds like a really neat idea? What's the process for making a start-up like that?

It's a good question. I've started looking into how to do it on-campus, but still have to focus on coursework and everything else for now.

I dig it, that sounds like it could be a profitable endeavor, especially if you can do it on campus -- especially if you can collect cash from your mealplan system.

My roommate and I have found a small fortune in the online jersey distribution game. Hit up Seventh Floor Fanware on eBay: if you wanna rep a baller, give us a holler!

Good luck to you, send me a box of baked goods so I can taste-test your menu.

It's great being able to log in and see how all of you are doing, even though I haven't played a game with any of you in at least two years. We've turned Luke's App State thread into a general catch-up thread!
I just found out yesterday that a professor selected me for a research project this summer. I totally didn't expect to get the position, so I've been excited for the last day and a half.
Swallow, that sounds like an amazing idea.