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[pwhodges]

Hi Jens - it's good to see you here occasionally!

I must say that going for a major chunk of education in a different country and in a language which is not your native one is a brave move, and one I admire; I hope it all works out for you.  Remember, you can always get encouragement and support here if it seems a bit overwhelming at times.

(Oh look, I've almost caught up with your post count!)

[Method of Madness]

Good luck, Jeans!

(As for post count, I'm almost at half of yours, PW!)

[Method of Madness]

I know how to view by posts (you're #3!) but not the other two. How'd you find those? (Also by what measure are you a noob?)

[pwhodges]

I know how to view by posts (you're #3!) but not the other two. How'd you find those?

Bottom of home page in the stats section "[more stats]"

(The drop in new members/year from 40,000 in 2010 to 3,500 in 2012 was the effect of my anti-spammer changes - that's how much spammers loved us!)

[Thrillho]

There are people here who were there at the time, Jeans. Me, for one. Patrick too, and others.

[Barmymoo]

I'm kind of disappointed not to appear in any of those lists

[Welu]

From what I've seen in the Back In The Day threads, it's was actually really similar to the last forum I used to frequent, which barely has anyone I recognise any more and the tone is totally different. Doesn't help I think one of the popular people there not so subtly tried to make me unwelcome there at one point.

The people here are a lot more welcoming.

University: Starts on Wednesday. Can't wait to have a bit of structure back.

[Thrillho]

I'm kind of disappointed not to appear in any of those lists

I only listed exactly one other named person and that's because we registered within three days of each other and are totally butt bros.

[Barmymoo]

Oh I didn't mean your list Gareth, don't worry - I meant the site stats ones.

[Thrillho]

I was DynamiteKid. I'd like to think I was never completely a part of that braying mob, and given how much I loathed the likes of tommydski - a loathing I'm convinced was mutual - I'm pretty sure they'd agree. Saying that, I often went with the mob mentality.

Oh I didn't mean your list Gareth, don't worry - I meant the site stats ones.

No problem, sugarbear.

[Barmymoo]

I cannot work out whether or not to be insulted by "sugarbear".

[celticgeek]

I have not looked at the "More Stats" for a long time. 

I was amazed that I am third in total time on the forum.  I am partly appalled, but I suppose that is what happens when you: a) enjoy the forum, b) are retired, and c) have no life. 

But I remember Jeans, DynamiteKid and others from my long association with the forum. 

[Method of Madness]

Occasionally I'm sad that I wasn't around when I started reading the comic (2006), then I realize who I was back then (an annoying teenager) and I would not have done well on this forum, and I almost certainly wouldn't be here now if I was here then.

[Barmymoo]

If you were an annoying teenager, you'd probably have fit right in (or have been roundly drummed out within three posts - one or the other).

[Thrillho]

DynamiteKid! I definitely remember you! How the hell are you?

Older. Wiser. Mid-divorce. You?

Occasionally I'm sad that I wasn't around when I started reading the comic (2006), then I realize who I was back then (an annoying teenager) and I would not have done well on this forum, and I almost certainly wouldn't be here now if I was here then.

Oh Barmymoo was right on the button with this one.

[Jace]

Hey Jeans I'm here too. Also I'm in school. Also what the fuck is a lab report? I've never had to do one of these ever so this is interesting

[Method of Madness]

If you were an annoying teenager, you'd probably have fit right in

That's even worse!

[Jace]

Oh, fuck, I actually did the stuff in the lab

[cesium133]

Lab reports are the things I unfortunately had to grade. I've told you dozens of times and repeatedly marked off points for not including units on your figures, and you still don't bother with them? Zero points for you (seriously, this has actually happened, repeatedly).

[94ssd]

Thinking about it, it wasn't actually the housekeeping department who finally revoked the fine, it was the finance office who were very sympathetic when I explained.

I had a similar thing happen when scholarship money was being held up last year that I really needed. It was the middle of the semester and the scholarship delay was totally not my fault.

The Student Accounts office claimed they only 'credit' scholarships during the first week of a semester. This would have left me $5000 short on the fall semester's bill and unable to register for the spring semester. I desperately e-mailed the Financial Aid office and talked to a staff member in person, and afterwards got an e-mail from Student Accounts saying it would be credited to my account the following Thursday.

Does anyone take photos when moving in?

I snap a "Before" and "After" picture of the room.

[LTK]

Psychological science may have the most egregious publication bias of all the empirical sciences, but I am consistently impressed with the degree of experimental rigour that I'm seeing in the articles I was assigned in the course on consciousness research. I have a neuroscience background so I'm moderately prejudiced against psychology as being a bit wishy-washy, but many of these experiments are impeccably designed and show very interesting results. Maybe that's a result of the well-known publication bias, and the researchers are reacting to it by controlling for very many different criticisms in their studies, which gives us really good articles. Or it could be endemic of the publication bias, in that the most interesting and persuasive articles get published that also happen to confirm the hypothesis. I hope it's the former.

[Metope]

Wait, Gareth is DynamiteKid? It's all making sense now. Also welcome back, Jens, it's kind of funny how we returned almost at the same time.

As to your social uni problems, that's exactly what happened to me to when I first moved to Glasgow. I tried to hang out with everyone and go clubbing every week despite being way out of my comfort zone, which after a couple of way too social weeks eventually ended up with me declining invitations more and more often until I stopped getting invited and I was back to being my usual hermit self. Don't worry, there are other hermits who will enjoy your quiet company, just don't try to be something you're not. The clubbers in my school still go out every week three years later, and I don't really have anything in common with them, so why bother.

[Metope]

Yeah, that does sound like a much more interesting night than just going clubbing. You're not even home that late, so you'll be well rested for lectures tomorrow!

I've spent the weekend in my flat writing and drawing things, look at us being all responsible students. Also I need to visit you in Krakow, I want to see more of it than just the mall, which is all I saw last time I was there 6 years ago.

[Method of Madness]

So wait, Jeans is named Jens? I saw someone else call him that and figured it was a typo.

[pwhodges]

It's a slightly bad habit going back to the old days of the forum that sometimes those who know people's real names (often as a result of meeting them in real life) use them - like some people call me Paul.  I sometimes worry that it can feel excluding to other forum members, though.

In addition, not everyone will know that Metope (Kris) and Jeans (Jens) are brother and sister, studying abroad in different countries.

[BeoPuppy]

Maybe someone should do an illustrated history of the board's largest members.

I actually meant that as an honest suggestion but the dirty joke ran away with me.

[Akima]

Khar is still top poster!

I would feel uncomfortable using anyone's real name, since I conceal my own. I feel slightly uncomfortable using people's handles if they feel slightly disrespectful, but they are self-chosen, so I should probably get over that.

[pwhodges]

Tommy Dski made many more posts than that, reaching over 15,000, but made a new account when his first reached 9,999 in case he ever wanted to make a post special enough to make his 10,000th.  However, over half the posts in his first account went in a purge I made of old posts in Chatter (his combined total is still 10,160, though).  (If a purge on that scale seems harsh, note that I had prevented the previous admin from deleting the whole of Chatter to start me off with a clean slate!)

[Metope]

Oh yeah, I should probably use people's handles instead of real names, it just feels weird going back to handles when I address people I've known for a long time and have met on several occasions, and especially my own brother, but of course most people won't know about that. I only know a very small group of people on this forum now anyway, but I'll try to refer to them like everyone else. It'll probably feel less cliquey for people that way too, which was the main problem this forum had for a long time.

[snalin]

See my personal text if you want to use my Real Name and stuff. I'm not particularly worried about anyone finding out who I am (privileges yay!). I think Paul figured that out once after I posted an anagram or something.

[Method of Madness]

I've used my first name and last initial here (and am Facebook friends with some people here so they know my full name through that). I think the only person whose name I use on the forum is Paul's, mostly because his username IS his name (even if it uses initials). As for me, I prefer Eric or Method, and I really don't care for "MoM", although I can't really stop people from using it.

[BeoPuppy]

It seems a rather ... sweet and apt alias, considering your status as a MoD.

My name is Robert Paulsen.

[Method of Madness]

Ha, when I see "MoD" I think Merchant of Death.

[BeoPuppy]

I must be getting old because I was thinking of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.O.D.

[LTK]

I thought of the Machine of Death.

[pwhodges]

In the UK, the MoD is the "Ministry of Defence".

[Pilchard123]

In Soviet Russia, ban mods you!

[Metope]

Back to uni/college/school/education mode: Here's my new studio space! In the beginning I didn't like it because it's underneath the balcony, and I'd rather be on the balcony since it gets better light, but now I'm getting used to it. It's still a nice space, and I've found a spot that gets good light for painting, so I'll put my easel there (when I get one). Here's to last year of art school, time to pull out the big guns!

[Thrillho]

Wait, Gareth is DynamiteKid? It's all making sense now.

This has aroused my curiosity...

[Metope]

Oh I just remember DynamiteKid, and I had no idea who Gareth was besides it seemed like you had beed around for a long time, but I didn't remember anyone called Gareth at all. Name changes are confusing, if no one had PM'd me and said Zingoleb is now Unicorn I would have been terribly confused about that as well.

[Thrillho]

I doubt you remember anything good about DynamiteKid.

I certainly don't.

[Barmymoo]

I am considering changing my name to Barmymay. But I don't think I could handle an adjustment of that scale - I've been Barmymoo for a decade!

First day of actual classes today. Well, sort of. The first two classes (each 75 minutes long) were spent going over how to use the Moodle website (that's what we spent the entirety of last week doing too) and then talking through the course handbook. Sample five minutes:

Lecturer: This is the module timetable. You can download it from Moodle. The rooms are booked up until December; I'll let you know the rooms for next term in a few weeks.
Student 1: Is there somewhere we can download the timetable?
Lecturer: Yes, it's on Moodle.
Student 2: Have you put the timetable on Moodle?
Lecturer: Yes, that's what we're looking at right now.
Student 3: Are the room bookings set in stone or might they change?
Lecturer: They're sorted until December.
Student 4: What room are we in on January 9th?
Lecturer: They haven't been booked yet.
Me: *explodes*

After lunch we finally did some actual work. It was the physiology module. The lecturer had sent us some workbooks to download and bring. The task was to label the various body systems, muscle groups, bones etc. I had absolutely no idea at all what any of them were, beyond the really obvious ones like "bladder" and "lungs". There was nowhere to look up the information, and no way to learn it other than copying off the people who have already studied physiology. We were told not to do any pre-reading, as the course was assuming a total lack of prior knowledge.

So yeah. Spent most of the day climbing the walls with boredom and then was completely out of my depth doing a label-the-picture task. Tomorrow is a study day; I will be revising the body systems.

[Metope]

I doubt you remember anything good about DynamiteKid.

I certainly don't.

I feel really bad, but besides names/handles I don't really remember anything about most people on this forum, except the ones I kept in touch with personally and I'm friends with on facebook. Don't worry though, if you think you were an asshole at the time, remember that the rest of us were assholes too. You're not alone!

[Thrillho]

This forum's great leap in maturity is nothing short of miraculous. I think someone from the old days who still frequents the music section even has a signature that involves me making a dick joke about Hayley Williams, that can't have been later than 2007.

[Pilchard123]

The best thing to do in situations where you are deliberately out of your depth and have no way of getting back into it? Make stuff up.

"Oh, that's the knee bone. It's connected to the thigh bone."
"An organ on the pelvic floor used to hold waste fluids? I dunno, the heart?"
"Why have I marked the brain as being that far down? See, I thought the figure looked a bit like <arrogant person>."

[Barmymoo]

Well the work wasn't handed in or marked, we were just given an answer sheet to check and alter our answers. It's a very weird way to learn, but actually might work quite well for me - constant mind-numbing repetition is probably the only way I'll learn totally random terms, and I have plenty of self-directed study to teach myself the Latin that will help me figure stuff out (for example I worked out where the sacrococcygeal joint must be).

[LTK]

So yeah. Spent most of the day climbing the walls with boredom and then was completely out of my depth doing a label-the-picture task. Tomorrow is a study day; I will be revising the body systems.

Have 'fun'! I think I have a physiology handbook that I was part of the assigned book list but which none of the courses ever required. Sounds like you're in the opposite situation? Out of curiosity, what kind of physiology were they asking about? I've had courses in physiology of the nervous system but if you asked me to name all 12 of the cranial nerves I'd probably get at most three right.

The best thing to do in situations where you are deliberately out of your depth and have no way of getting back into it? Make stuff up.

"Oh, that's the knee bone. It's connected to the thigh bone."
"An organ on the pelvic floor used to hold waste fluids? I dunno, the heart?"
"Why have I marked the brain as being that far down? See, I thought the figure looked a bit like <arrogant person>."

At one point in high school I greatly annoyed a fellow student by pointing at the gap between the lungs and asking "I wonder what's in there? Liver? Stomach? Kidneys? Pancreas?"

Change of subject: You know how, in a study group of at least two people, there is always a person who works harder than the other(s)? Right now, I'm doing assignments in a group of two, and I am currently not that person, to my shame. My partner works on weekdays and there's a deadline every friday, and even though I try to get the reading done my concentration's just not there. Case in point: I'm posting this instead of explaining how the analytic/nonanalytic process theory by Whittlesea and Price can explain the results on affective priming by Murphy and Zajonc! Argh, back to work!

[Barmymoo]

I have physiology books, but I didn't take them to uni with me because I naively assumed that in the class, the teacher would teach us things. Also they're heavy and the library has loads of copies. We were just doing an overview of the body systems today, but obviously the focus is on the female reproductive system and physiology of pregnancy.

I'm hoping and aiming to get a First in this degree, as well as hopefully a job at the hospital I'm training at, so I have to work very hard and swallow my frustration at the spoon-feeding methods. I can manage to get through fifteen hours of incredibly dull/confusing/unhelpful classes a week for the sake of qualifying, and there's always the possibility if not the probability that things will get better. I think after my last degree, going back to start again was always going to be a little frustrating.

[94ssd]

Okay, for some reason my suite has become the floor hangout. I'm not really in my room enough to be sociable with anyone on my hall, but I guess I don't have a problem with it. It's just a little weird that there's a couple cuddling on the couch in the common space.

The guy lives in a different suite in this dorm and is friends with one of my roommates, but he isn't out there with him. I'm pretty sure he's not even here right now. It's not like they're actually bothering me so I'm not going to kick them out. But at the same time, what the hell? You have your OWN room.

This isn't the first time I've walked in on multiple people hanging out in the common area, none of whom are my roommates. Usually it involves video games.

[Jace]

alright fuck lab reports