The happy thread !!

[Serenoli]

Happy because a misunderstanding that was threatening a great friendship has been cleared up and that he's my friend again... happy for Lief... happy because I have exams coming up, and that always makes me very excited and positive (dunno why! weird defect in character ).

Happy because I'm progressing on my slow, much delayed book! happy because I bought two new books to read...

[Nerdanel]

Slobodan Milosevic is dead.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4796470.stm

[littleadanel]

... over the 1992-95 Bosnia war ...

At those times me & my bro were little kids... But later on, my mum told me that she could hear the explosions from the distance (tanks shooting? mines blowing up? ... we live in the south part of Hungary, close to the Croatian border) and she was just lying awake at nights, thinking what she would pack if we had to go away, and when the trains leave to the town where my aunt lives, further in the north...

*think happier thoughts, think happier thoughts...*

[Nerdanel]

Originally Posted by littleadanel

At those times me & my bro were little kids... But later on, my mum told me that she could hear the explosions from the distance (tanks shooting? mines blowing up? ... we live in the south part of Hungary, close to the Croatian border) and she was just lying awake at nights, thinking what she would pack if we had to go away, and when the trains leave to the town where my aunt lives, further in the north...

*think happier thoughts, think happier thoughts...*

.. that must've been a terrible time. i wasn't very old myself (i'm born in 1985) but i remember how scared i was.. i was sure the third world war would start. i can smile about those thoughts now, but i was seriously scared.
we got some bosnian refugees during those years. great people they are. i wonder how they react when they find out.

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by Nerdanel

Slobodan Milosevic is dead.

I'm more sad than glad that Milosevic has died. Now he will never be found guilty of genocide and will never have to claim responsibility for his war crimes and the sufferings of the Balkan people. These people deserved to see Milosevic convicted.

What a disappointing end to the trial at the Hague.

[Nerdanel]

yeah, wasn't sure where to put it. i agree that he should've been convicted.. i wonder when that would've happened though. i just hope they get the situation on balkan solved as soon as possible, not letting his death disturbe it too much.

[Rev. Justin Timberlake]

Yay! Migraine's gone. I think. At least I can hear properly now.

[trolls' bane]

Originally Posted by Nerdanel

Slobodan Milosevic is dead.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4796470.stm

Who?

Genocide! I've heard that word! In fact, I was going to make that a big future history in the MWCs. The Genocide Epoch, where humans have begun using genetic engineering to destroy their enemies, and it will be followed by near-extinction (i.e. "only" thirty billion or so, more than the current population of Earth, but still minute even for a Type II Civ., especially one consisting of ten planets and countless moons and asteroids). After that, there will be the first of five genetic revoloutions, where humans dramatically alter their genetic codes to better live in their environment.
Will copy into a new thread. I should ask any mods first if they would close a general MWC thread if I opened one, since I can't quite fit this into the category of ZAQ-1 nor the Extended Footnote Series.

Not that I'm not going off topic already.

EDIT: I have apparently greatly misinterpreted genocide. Will read further on Wiki.

[littleadanel]

Hmm, I've been pondering where to put these thoughts of mine, but I decided the happy thread would do. It is happiness, in a way.

I often wonder about how words, mere words have the power to make you cry? Or to make you laugh. Or to bring any kind of emotion?...

... For me, crying doesn't come that often, and strangely enough, not really when I'm sad. I cry when I'm upset, or feeling really helpless, but it has to be a great sadness to bring tears, and thankfully I haven't experienced that for a long time now.

... But back to words: how on earth can an author have such power in his/her words to make the reader cry, by depicting beauty, or sorrow, or both? Until now, three authors had that impact on me. (One of them is Tolkien. )

And it can be pretty embarassing if you sit in the main hall of the university, surrounded by people, to kill time until the library opens, totally lost in the book you're reading... and then you just feel your tears coming up. Happened to me today. Pretty damn embarassing.

But, afterwards a really happy thing came... A girl I know from one of my seminars came up to me and asked what I was reading, and I answered "good ol' Tolkien" and showed her the book... one of the HoME books, mind you, so not one of the wider-known ones... and she stared at it and said "Really? That one's great."

I love when this kind of things happen to me.

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by littleadanel

... But back to words: how on earth can an author have such power in his/her words to make the reader cry, by depicting beauty, or sorrow, or both? Until now, three authors had that impact on me. (One of them is Tolkien. )

Who are the other two?

[Nerdanel]

I just watched Conan's Finland episode..

[Rían]

That's cool, addy!

[Farimir Captain of Gondor]

Originally Posted by Nerdanel

I just watched Conan's Finland episode..

It was great, wasnt it? Conan is the man.

"I know your in there Fagstrom! Fagstrom!"

[Nerdanel]

Originally Posted by Farimir Captain of Gondor

It was great, wasnt it? Conan is the man.

"I know your in there Fagstrom! Fagstrom!"

it sure was great! i'm so proud of being a finn..XD

poor guy.. couldn't meet fagström..^^

[littleadanel]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Who are the other two?

The first one was a French girl, with her diary-like book. I know it's silly; but I cried for minutes when I read about her cat dying (hit by a car), and as she carried the little body back home... (All right, all right. I was maybe.. 15 at that time. )

Then came Tolkien... I was reading LOTR for the very first time, and when I reached that part where Aragorn is talking to the hobbits in the Houses of Healing, when Merry's bag has been there all along... Then I laughed out loud with tears in my eyes. (And again Tolkien, a couple of days ago. )

The third one was C.S. Lewis. In Prince Caspian, when the old woman asks Aslan if he will take her away, and he answers he will, but not yet on the long road... Then again I got teary-eyed.

There, you know now.

And RÃ* - yes, it was fascinating. It suddenly turned out that this girl and I shared something.

[Farimir Captain of Gondor]

The only book to bring actual tears to my eyes was Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell. When Karana finds her brother killed by the wild dogs....cried like a baby.

[Count Comfect]

I'm going to be a visiting student at Oxford next year! I GOT IN I GOT IN I GOT IN!

SO happy right now.

Oh, and it is my birthday in 40 minutes. Yay.

[BeardofPants]

'Gratz, that sounds really exciting, and happy birfday as well.

[Rían]

oh Count, that is WONDERFUL!!!!!!

CONGRATS!!!!

(and pre-happy bday!)

[Rían]

happy - dinner for the volleyball team came off great! I had everything ready early and in crock pots so I could watch the game while it finished cooking. My son served 8 aces! I love volleyball - finally a sport I like to watch and my son gets to play a lot (he hardly played at all on the football team - he's a freshman).