Plagiarizing YOURSELF shouldn't be a thing. Ugh. It's hard to keep writing on the same topics without having to think your OWN brand new thoughts each time LOL.

Isn't that SO TRUE. But yeah. they'll penalize you if you self-plagiarize. Its ok if you use some of the stuff, but if too much is the same, then you get penalized. sigh

I have been busy this morning. I finished kumos quests (did not quit any but should have quit 1 I took a risk on, oh well!) and all but Sarah, Drills and Battle on legacy.

And then I moved to classwork. I brainstormed a lot, and have written out most of my lesson plan 2 - I still need to figure out theories, theorists or research based practice information for that last section....and of course finish gathering materials, take photos and insert them, as well as update my assessment sheet (i made one earlier, but then added some stuff to assess as I finalized the lesson) ... and of course, get approval from lead teacher and then professor before teaching this the first week in March (so when I go back to school NEXT Monday it needs to be ready to be approved).

I brainstormed some other assignments too, and skimmed through my philosophy assignment, I added/adjusted a little and I think I am turning it in as it is now. Go me? :P Yes! Go Me! I've been busy and got some stuff done.

Ivy (Matt) came over last night and ate ice cream and waffles with us, then after El and Iz left we played Dominion (that was very fun haha. I love Dominion! It was nice to play something that's an old favorite instead of learning something new).

Today.. I've done nothing except put the laundry away.

Later I'm taking my friend to the airport to get a rental car.

Also.. I'm realizing.. maybe I don't really like any of my friends? Like.. are they all just friends of convience, or like.. because we WERE friends forever? Like in Ivys case.. they were all friends in HS, and then we just.. kept being friends?

Jolie.. the kids are in band together, and we work together.. but it's much more peaceful without her. Danielle..I've never especially liked, but our kids are the same ages, etc.

Ugh, I don't know.

Totally agree self-plagiarizing sounds silly and shouldn't be a thing! Especially for philosophy, which is all about... your own thoughts? Mmmh. I can't quite wrap my head around the logic there. If self-plagiarizing is an issue clearly that just shows they're assigning too many written assignments on too-similar topics.

Today I went to the gym and came back feeling all of my muscles, so - successful workout! Whew! Feels good, but I'm gonna hurt tomorrow, I can already tell :D

Also - apparently my avatar needed resetting! Now the wardrobe fully works and my HA actually shows up on Legacy too! Whoop! That's so exciting, this was such a minor annoyance for the whole month so far that has been resolved really quickly.

Mieke that's a tough position to be in, realizing you don't actually gel well with your friends. Friends of convenience are very real! And in a way also valid, because those are likely people you keep running into, and being at least on friendly terms does make life easier.

Would you like internet hugs? No pressure, but if you would like you can have them <3

Internet hugs are great! Thanks, Berry!

Real life hugs though.. No thanks :P I like hugs in theory more than I like them for real haha.

oooh about the gym. I like those workouts where you feel everything.. I HATE the next day when you can barely walk, though! Though the gym cost went up even more and it was already expensive for my budget so.. I guess I won't know for a while :P

And agreed, it sounds like that's just too many assignments of the same topics. And that it just sounds DIFFICULT. You're doing so well, Kat!

EDIT: and YAYYYYY for your HA showing up on legacy, Berry!

Hmm. The friend thing. I wonder if thats what happened with my friends, they decided they didn't really enjoy spending time with me because it was mostly our kids being the same ages or us doing something similar together for a while.... This one friend, we were friends since Nathan and her son were like 2yrs old. Her older son and daughter were close to Shane and Katies ages. We spent a LOT of time together, parties, dinners, games, just hanging out. She separated from her littlest ones dad, moved, we visited some still, but not as often, and then she just disappeared. I ran into her once years after that (a few years ago now) and told her come on over, I still live in the same place, have the same #, I'd love to catch up - and nothing. shrugs There's another lady like this too, our kids were friends, we stayed in touch and then, poof. Happy to see each other when we run into each other but no other contact. I've just always kind of figured I'm not good at in person friendships. I moved too much growing up, never really connected with anyone. I am still in contact with one person I knew in 6th grade but haven't seen her since her son was born (he's 12!) - she lives in Massachusetts. I am in facebook contact (once or twice a year) with a friend from highschool.... and then there is the ladies I described above. Now I have my neighbor, and the lady who I used to work with - but that one is kind of falling apart too - like since we are in different schools we text every now and then, and we did get together for lunch in January - and we have plans to go dress shopping together for Katies wedding just so we can spend time together while I pick out a dress.... I tried to become friends with Wes's mom (Katies fiance) but that kind of fizzled too, she's always busy and even though she said she'd love to come over and hang out or play games, she never brought up good times for her to do so (I'm pretty much always free because I can do my classwork any other time) Or maybe that is just how adult friendships work now? No idea. anyway. enough of that.

so very glad your HA is showing on legacy Berry!! :) Also yay for a good workout!! I don't much like gyms, I had a membership once and did the classes but never used the equipment...after the year was up I stopped going. I tried walking just around the park or down the street but I find that boring too. I did really get into some walking exercise videos and I even started going walking with my neighbor, but then I got a bone spur and plantar fasciitis and had to stop being on my foot so much, so exercise went out the window since I can't exactly stop being on my feet at work :P

[edit] Ok MAJOR question here. Do you think I should turn my pet Shasuno into a Wild Paralix? Because, Shassy's whole treasure is the zodiac - and that chinese dragon is chinese zodiac-like and why not have a zodiac pet for my zodiac collector!!! Shassy's Page

Yes Kat, I totally think you should!

And hmm.. maybe I'm just not cut out to have friends. More it's me, not them.

BECAUSE LET ME TELL YOU WHAT JUST HAPPENED.

last night a friend called and asked if I could take them to pick up a rental car today, I said yes.. didn't realize it would be all the way at the airport. So I picked her up from work, took her to the airport.. through THREE roundabouts! And city roads.. no thanks. (I didn't cry though!).

Anyway, we get there and.. SHE HADN"T MADE A RESERVATION. And didn't realize that the price was more in person than if you made a reservation prior. AND they don't take debit cards, only credit cards. So I drove 46 minutes each way.. and she didn't even get the damned rental car.

And I'm just so annoyed LOL. And I wasn't very thrilled to spend all that time in the car with her either, tbh :P

Oh my gosh. Who doesn't make a reservation for a rental car??? It's the only way to be sure that 1. You get one and 2. You get the type you want!! And at an airport? Those are all claimed ASAP by people flying in. Good grief. Has this person never rented a car before??

I am your friend. Online sure. But we're friends 😊 online friends are great

And I am reaaaaaly leaning towards changing shassy. I already bought the potion for darayths treasure chest so ... I could use it and then wishlist the potion for later purchase

Yes. I think online friends may be better haha.

I mean, we can't get together and eat snacks and play games but also.. sometimes it's easier to talk to online friends, too! Like, I don't complain about my life to my IRL friends... maybe because I don't entirely trust them. Hmmm.. LOL

I mean, this is a VERY small airport, there's only like 2 flights a day. BUT STILL.

EDIT: WHY WON'T MY HAIR STAY ON.

Also, guys. I finally took down my Christmas tree today.

It was time. I felt glad when it was down. But I'm also glad I didn't do it before now LOL

Girl. My christmas lights are still up on my porch. Its been too cold or rainy or I just haven't felt like going out and taking them down on nice days. Maybe I'll get to it this week since I'm home LOL Keep things up as long as you want to <3

Man I would love to get together with you to play games. I bet you'd love this new game I was introduced do at Thanksgiving - Villainous - you play as the villains in Disney or marvel movies and try to win before the other villains do (each player has their own small game board and cards and token) It was fun. I bought it and played with my neighbor once but she wasn't really into it. But I will play it with Katie and Wes when they come!! I got the Disney one and it has lots of add ons you can buy to get more villains!!

Shane gave me his HBO Max info the other day (I didn't realize Nathan also has it eh!) and I spent the afternoon watching Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. And then I restarted House of the Dragon (I watched the first season and episode one of season two - but started completely over with season one since its been years). Who knows. Maybe this summer I'll actually finish Game of Thrones. I've watched that (I have the DVDs) several times but never got past season 5 I think. But I may also never watch it all, because just what I've heard about the ending pisses me off. AND the final book was never written, so how were the directors/screen writers to know what the AUTHOR wanted done for that final season? I'm the type that gets annoyed when things change TOO much from the books LOL So that kind of aggravated me, that they even did stuff beyond the final written book.

Online friends are great! :D

Mieke that sounds super annoying, so valid that you didn't enjoy the trip. I'd already get annoyed not knowing how far out it is before agreeing... nevermind the complete fumble that came after! It's a nice favor you did for someone, though. If you find yourself constantly doing favors for others, that's also an imbalance in a friendship! And yay for taking down the Christmas tree!

Kat I'm also for changing Shasuno into a Wild Paralix. She'll look so snazzy! And sounds good that you have many fun things to watch / catch up on. I've not watched GoT myself but I'm confident in saying you're not missing out not watching the last season. I remember the internet talk at the time, everyone seemed so disappointed... I scrolled through the HBO series' and personally I'd wanna watch Insecure, The Alzheimer Project (documentary), and Watchmen (superheroes). I don't know what Watchmen is like but I've seen it all over and am curious. And I recommend The Righteous Gemstones, it's very fun, pokes at Superchurch / priest environments though, so only watch if that won't put you off.

I had lunch at the canteen and went to sit back down at my desk. Now I just want to nap. So sleepy. But I have to jot down some notes for the next call I have in half an hour... mmh. Yawn.

That's the mood with me currently haha 😂

Thanks for the input guys - I think I am going to change Shassy. But then I'll need a new minion for her. I also may need some gender berries. Because I usually refer to Shassy as a he....and realized while on the page that Shassy's a she :P Shassy is one of several pets I adopted from the adoption agency, back when there used to be really low pet limits and name limits and tons of pets in the adoption center from people who decided to leave the site or didn't like that name or whatever. And I do the same with Shelli - Shelirious. I say he. Shellis a she hahaha

edit: I just looked it up, and chinese new year starts tomorrow - so thats perfect!! I'll change Shassy tomorrow!! And hmm maybe my pets are just genderfluid eh? I was thinking back and I think I do sometimes say she because I realize the listed gender is a she and other times I say he. I think I do it for Kayano too :P This site has introduced me to more of those concepts than anything else in my life....

I genuinely do love some genderfluidity! :D Also in my previous reply I went and added some TV talk, if you're interested in my thoughts there - of course feel free to take or leave any recs. That's what they're there for.

Ahhh :) Thanks for the update. And recommendations. I honestly don't watch anything very much. I almost NEVER turn the tv on for myself. In fact, the last time I did, was waaaay back a long time ago, a show called The 4400. I would go watch that when the new episode came out. I will watch what other people turn on. Shows that interested me besides the 4400 - Law and Order (especially SVU), and Scrubs. Can't think of any others offhand, but I still remember those. So I know I enjoyed watching them. edit: Oh! And House. I enjoyed House!

I was very interested in Game of Thrones, because I like dragons and it seemed interesting. I read the books. I was still a bit shocked by what all I saw when I watched the first season. I enjoyed it though, so hubby (now ex) got me all the rest of the seasons to that point, which was like season 5. Then later I bought the rest of them to have the whole set but just never finished watching them as I said. (seasons 7 & 8 are still in plastic I think!) But I absolutely loved Dunk and Egg stories (because, yes, once I read ONE book by an author, I usually go find ANYTHING else by that author and read those too and end up with MORE favorites) so when they decided to do a Dunk and Egg show I KNEW I would watch. I didn't actually go turn on my tv either - I uploaded the app to my tablet and watched it in my bedroom lol

I don't really watch tv either these days! My husband introduced me to the Righteous Gemstones, which was the only show on the list I had started watching, never finished either. Maybe I should ask him to continue that, I think it would be fun. I also really enjoyed Scrubs! One of my old favorites I'd say 😆 these days I mostly stick to one streaming app, Dropout. They're doing independent comedy for the most part and I love their content, plus it's reasonably priced.

I'm trying to think of dragon shows I liked but I'm coming up blank... Baldur's Gate 3 has dragons and I liked that very much, but it's a video game with an impressively wide scope, intimidating to start with imo!

My dragon obsession started with books. Anne McCaffrey - Dragonriders of Pern. So when I saw previews for Game of Thrones, and they were riding dragons, it caught my interest! :P And I went and read the books (because they were based on the books)

mmm. Games. I'm more of a board game person. I used to play video games, especially as a late teen/early twenties person. I will sometimes still play Mario with my kids. Mario was my thing. That and tetris lol I was the tetris MASTER in my house growing up. My son video games, but the new graphics sometimes make me feel dizzy, they move around so much. Its better now than it was when they first started doing that, I actually GOT SICK trying to play one game way back when. Now it just sometimes makes me go "oooh time to get off!"

Totally, I am prone to motion sickness in games as well. Some games I just can't play, but often if I just know what to fiddle with in the settings I can mitigate it and play without issue. Mouse sensitivity (turning sensitivity down makes the camera move slower) and motion blur (turn the blur off) are big ones there! There's others too, I think it depends on the game. And Tetris is cool! I never really had the patience for it but I find it fascinating that playing Tetris after a traumatic event makes your brain heal better. That game is just magic in my book thanks to that fun fact.

Oh, if you liked House, which is kind of detective-like, you might like another of my old favorites, "Elementary". It's a modernized version of Sherlock Holmes; Sherlock ends up in New York and Doctor Watson is played by Lucy Liu. I watched a lot of Sherlock series and Elementary was by faaar my favorite! I loved Liu as Watson, too!

Hmm that sounds familiar, like I saw previews and thought it was interesting. Maybe one day. As I said, I don't turn the tv on (or well, anything to watch, I don't turn it on). I'm always on my computer, on here. Or my phone doing a coloring app. But 95% of my free time, I'm reading. On my kindle lately, but used to be actual books. Until I read the library out LOL I mostly like fantasy. Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey and Lois McMaster Bujold are my favorites, but I read a lot of others. On my kindle, well to be honest, I read more .... romance .... smutty romance 😊 LOL I can get through a book a night easily for that type. Or more.

[edit] Crap Crap Crap. Just realized I should have got a bunch of pictures for this stupid project I have to turn in by the 22nd. I won't be back at school until the 23rd. I had all these great ideas for photos as I was writing it out, then looked at the due date and went. CRAP. Guess I will have to find generic photos instead of ones from my classroom or school sigh

I mean - reading is great! If you don't miss the TV then don't turn it on haha. Have you read Douglas Adams? He didn't get to write a lot of books, but the ones he did I really enjoyed. The humor is super British, so might not gel with everyone, and it's space fantasy, so no dragons... but still one of my faves, so it came to mind when you mentioned fantasy.

Aw! That sucks, that you cannot follow the original (more fun, from the sounds of it) plan! Hecking deadlines sneaking up on us.

Rude, really.

Told my manager today I'm worried about this deadline and she told me not to worry because everyone else will be even slower. I'm not sure that makes me feel any better 😅

I had some pictures. So, I used those, and made bits of them work for other parts than I intended, but I also snagged generic photos from online. And for two slides i only used words and the designer thing in PowerPoint to make it look pretty hahaha However, since the photos were supposed to be in addition to the writing, I think it will be ok. I have 15 slides. I think I'm done. Gotta love when I can do something in one day and teacher says "take your time on this, I don't want something that was done in a week" and yet when I do it in one day (or if it wasn't for the fact I'm home all day it might have took me 2-3 days) and I end up with full points.... Next up - an at home learning lesson for parents, kind of like a send home project.

Oof yeah. just because everyone else is behind doesn't mean you want to be!! I am like that soooo much in my classes. All my other classmates seem to be last minute people, and I am usually more of a "get it done ahead of time" type of person.

I have not heard of Douglas Adams. Might have to look him up. Lois McMaster Bujold also did fantasy space stories. I for sure don't really miss the tv. It was always on, always noisy and always distracting. And then ex would get pissy at me because I wasn't watching with him and when he talked to me, I was involved in reading instead of the show. Eh.