What Made you Smile/What Ticked you off Today?

[BoringSupreez]

I've been given an opportunity today that both confused and alarmed me. I was invited to submit some interactive fiction to a site to host and would be paid for the submission at $0.09 per word at a maximum of 5000 words (3500 max preferred). I am hit with an intense anxiety over this as I could do it, I really could, but I am scared to. I am absolutely frightened to.

If I made it at 3500 words, that would be $315. I know that doesn't seem like a lot, but I could get paid to write text based adventure games, something that I do and love doing, but I get so self conscious about showing anyone what I have done. Hell, most of my stuff is far from finished, because of said self-esteem issues.

I might just have to take the games on a hiatus and just try. What harm could it do?

Do it, it's better to take opportunities like these and run with them, than to wonder what it would have been like.

[Blu]

Yeah, what BoringSupreez said. Go for it. Is it trite to say, DO IT!?

Mike, that's awesome. How is she awaiting the announcements? Nerves or is she blue-steel?

[Luke]

Seems like it has been a rough week for most of the racketeers.

Fragems: Usually in one's life, the child must become the parent. Sit your Father down and scold him.

Not sure of your age, but myself and the majority of my friends are in our thirties. Almost all of us have had "a talk" with our parents. I had to tell my Father that I needed to make sure my Mother would take her medicine as prescribed as she wasn't going by doctor's orders and skipping medication. A close friend of mine had to tell his Father that it was okay that his daughter was a lesbian (a really super smoking lesbian with an even hotter partner). Had a friend tell his Mother that if she didn't take chemotherapy he could no longer speak to her. And so on.

He is your Father, and even if he is a douchebag, he is your Father and is family. Sit him down, make him extremely uncomfortable, and tell him how awfully he has been treating you and that you'd like to figure out a solution so that you can love him again.

I know, not as easy as it sounds, but he needs an emotional kick to his balls. I could also be way off base, but it sounds like your Pops is the type of guy who ignores confronting the bad stuff so he can remain happy. Maybe he knows he is hurting you, but hasn't actually heard you tell him.

Wish you the best.




Okay. Attention Parents:

What's the deal with babies and toddler percentile ranges? My Sister told me my two year old toddler nephew was in the ninety-fifth percentile in height and weight. Not having a kid I asked "So, I guess that is good?".

My Sister explained that the doctor weighs and measures her kids and there is a standard BMI and growth measurements for kids.

Can't you just by a scale and measuring tape? Is this a true grade on physical development? And as someone with both trust and body issues, why would ever grade a toddlers body? I'm not joking, I don't see the need for it as I'm a big supporter of "The mirror test". You look in the mirror, and there you are. You don't need a scale to tell you if you are overweight, just look at yourself.

It's a weird thing to me to "rank" a toddler by a number. If I doctor told me, "Well Luke, by girth and length you are in the 95% range in penile ranges" it would still serve no purpose.

Is this just doctors predicting the future and saying "Hmm. 20%. Your kid will grow up to be short and fat"?.

[KalessinDB]

Where are people living that houses are sub 100k?

3rd largest city in upstate New York (Rochester), but in the city which is what makes it cheap. Can't get anything under 100k in the suburbs. I bought this house 5 years ago when I was making peanuts working retail, now that I have a decent job it's time to get something nicer.

[Ziggy]

What's the deal with babies and toddler percentile ranges?

It's not a grade, per se, like "My child got a better rating than yours!" It's basically comparing stats to an average. So, for example, if your child is significantly smaller/underweight/etc at X months, it could potentially be because of an underlying condition that needs attention. Or, if your child is right in there with the national average, you can have peace of mind knowing he/she is growing healthy.

[Luke]

It's not a grade, per se, like "My child got a better rating than yours!"

But it is.

I hear parents left and right touting "Well Madison is in the top 95 percentile".

[MrPopo]

It's not a grade, per se, like "My child got a better rating than yours!"

But it is.

I hear parents left and right touting "Well Madison is in the top 95 percentile".

Percentiles are also used in school, and there it is a statistical measure that you can be proud of.

[Jmustang1968]

It's not a grade, per se, like "My child got a better rating than yours!"

But it is.

I hear parents left and right touting "Well Madison is in the top 95 percentile".

That is usually just school testing. The % from baby measurements is just a size or growth comparison only, not really a ranking. Being overly big could be an issue, or could mean your kid went through a growth spurt.

It is more to catch trends in size or to catch abnormality. Say if your kid is 90th% in height but 8% weight, there might be a digestive or malnourished issue. Or conversely a short kid with high weight % could mean a parent is overfeeding their kid and need to curb that.

[prfsnl_gmr]

What's the deal with babies and toddler percentile ranges?

It's not a grade, per se, like "My child got a better rating than yours!" It's basically comparing stats to an average. So, for example, if your child is significantly smaller/underweight/etc at X months, it could potentially be because of an underlying condition that needs attention. Or, if your child is right in there with the national average, you can have peace of mind knowing he/she is growing healthy.

This is correct. Some incredibly obnoxious parents treat it like a grade, however, and they use it to brag about their children (and, by implication, belittle children who are of perfectly normal height and weight). These are typically the same parents who just can't stop themselves from speaking at length about how their kindergartener is reading at a fifth-grade level, is the star player on his pee-wee soccer team, or other such nonsense.

.....

Smile: Last night, my daughter and I spent a few hours making "art" from scraps of fabric. Her piece was, as always, amazing. (It was some kind of rainbow rocket ship with a brain and a tail.) Mine, however, was inspired by one of my favorite video games:

It is held together with glue, and I am sure it will fall apart in a few days. It has me interested in making sturdier Commander Video placemats at some point.

[Fragems]

Where are people living that houses are sub 100k?

Huntington, WV aka the Detroit of WV or at least the first stop for the Detroit dealers when they come down this way via Greyhound or the Tri-state airport .

Here is one of the houses I'm currently looking at.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhom ... 444?row=32

Basically there are a lot of ancient fixer uppers around for fairly cheap. Towns kind of gone to crap though with the side of the town south of the railroad tracks being quite ghetto with a ton of crime and drugs. They plan to move the projects into the hills in the next few years and turn the old locations into retirement homes so while a lot of the cheap houses are in a crap location at the moment the situation is likely to improve and property values will likely rise once the project is finished.

Renters market is ridiculous around here thanks to the close proximity to the university though so buying a house comes out cheaper then spending $500 + Utilities for an apartment. Only about half our population is working so all the cheaper rentals are filled with people getting public assistance.

: Going to have to go to the credit Union and see whats up with my Auto Loan doesn't look like they took the payments out of the account like they were supposed to in July and August . Seriously getting ticked at these guys this will be the second time their automatic payment system has flubbed on me if my statement is accurate.