Spec Tac

Can they be allowed in any other forums?

Here are the challenge criteria:

- One character is an old woman who obsessively visits pet shops. She may or may not be the main character.

- Setting must be somewhere, real or fictional, that is near an ocean.

- In your story, you must include the following objects, somehow: 'Santa Claus Figurine', 'Expired Debit Card', 'Bleach'.

- The following events must be worked in or referenced, somehow: 'A death', 'A dream', 'painting a picture'.

- The story must be in first person POV.

Best answer will be the winner, and 'points' will be given for 1) Originality and Creativity, 2) Working the elements into the story in a non-obvious but useful fashion, and 3) Overall story quality.

Hoping to find current/new authors along these lines...

This site definitely is not what it used to be. Has anything better come along, or have Facebook and Twitter already sucked the life and creativity out of everyone already?

I was an active user 5-7 years ago, then went quiet for a long time. I have become active again over the past week, and am now suddenly getting a bunch of answers to really old questions.

The answers may or may not make sense, but are usually from an user with an account that was just created (May 17th). Are these bots, or are my old questions being passed off as new because I'm showing activity again?

Are there some kind of Bots that answer old questions, or what ? It is strange.

I used to use Y!A a lot, like 4-5 years ago. Since then I've moved on, to places like Reddit, etc., but I come back and still see this is a fairly active community.

So, I'm just curious who are the people using this site? What is your story, and why are you here?

Trying to create a fun party for an 8 yr old boy. We have rented a school gym, have basketball, and pizza, etc.

Trying to come up with some fun ideas for games for the kids to play as well, or anything else that would be fun for them.

Was thinking of making some game 'stations' based on the games from Minute to Win It, and somehow give out prizes, but not sure of how to structure it or what specific games to make.

Any ideas welcome.

Thanks!

Don't limit your answers to just physical or educational improvement, etc. I'm interested to hear about anything you currently pursue in order to improve yourself mentally, physically, or spiritually, or in any other way!

Thanks

Most of my reddit.com submissions are just questions that I ask, which generate a lot of replies and discussion. (Similiar to how it works here on Y!A, just enhanced communication abilities).

How can I translate this into something more (assuming I keep it up).

Thinking about starting a blog to build hits and subscribers, then going from there, but looking for any ideas.

Also, how could I set it up so that a general question would get hits to my blog instead of just responses to the reddit posts?

Haven't blogged in a while, but want to start one up. Looking for the best site based on the following:

1) Free and Popular (wouldn't mind paying for additional features, but free basic acct.)

2) Best for generating ad revenue.

3) Most dynamic, has the most options.

THANKS

I've asked a question on reddit dot com that would make for a very interesting book. For those who don't know, reddit is a site similiar to Y!A actually, except more of a forum in that people share links or ask questions, then other users can comment, and comments can be responded to, etc.

I'd like to make a book based on the questions I asked. Most likely I'd self publish it. I would probably take the actual comments/answers to my question and use them directly in the book (with maybe some basic grammatical editing).

What legalities are involved? I am thinking I probably have to get the user's permission, but not even sure since it is a public site. I would probably contact the users anyway.

The bigger question is with the site itself. Would the website reddit have any rights/ownerships over these posts that could cause trouble if I published them?

If there are certain people who I don't want to see my posts, shared links, etc, is there any way I can block them from seeing these but keep them as a friend?

I sit in an office all day for eight hours. I'm kind of a one man department and I am fortunate I guess in that i have a LOT of downtime. It's cyclical, and I can manage work as it comes in, but in an average pace, I have half the day free, sometimes more.

I have a computer, internet access, and can even leave the office on occasion as needed without issue. And I completely feel like Im not taking advantage of this, SO IM LOOKING FOR SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS.

In the end, I'm not exactly happy about this because although it might sound great at first, it gets very boring and can make for some dull days. I've even considered a career change to something more rewarding but haven't figured out what that would be. I work as a financial analyst now.

I do enjoy reading and writing, and so I often write or read eBooks, but I'm looking for more.

I've considered getting some kind of education online to make a career change, but haven't found many worthwhile degrees online, and know its a tough time to try and change careers anyway. I've also considered having some kind of online businessness, but have never really found a legit opportunity for this.

So im open and looking for your insight!

I sit in an office all day for eight hours. I'm kind of a one man department and I am fortunate I guess in that i have a LOT of downtime. It's cyclical, and I can manage work as it comes in, but in an average pace, I have half the day free, sometimes more.

I have a computer, internet access, and can even leave the office on occasion as needed without issue. And I completely feel like Im not taking advantage of this, SO IM LOOKING FOR SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS.

In the end, I'm not exactly happy about this because although it might sound great at first, it gets very boring and can make for some dull days. I've even considered a career change to something more rewarding but haven't figured out what that would be. I work as a financial analyst now.

I do enjoy reading and writing, and so I often write or read eBooks, but I'm looking for more.

I've considered getting some kind of education online to make a career change, but haven't found many worthwhile degrees online, and know its a tough time to try and change careers anyway. I've also considered having some kind of online businessness, but have never really found a legit opportunity for this.

So im open and looking for your insight!

I

I know many of us have dealt with this timeless question, but I've still never found that perfect answer...

I'm in my early 30''s, work in finance, and found out within a couple years of entering this field (that I fought so hard to get into) that this type of work is like a trap.

I made the move into finance once I knew I was having my first kid. I needed a stable and good paying career, and for those reasons I entered finance. I work as a bank analyst now, in an office, and I'm good at what I do, even if there's not much enjoyment or satisfaction in it. There's not much room to move up either, and even if there was I don't want to 'change things up' by 'doing a different version of the same kind of 'soul sucking work'. Many know what I mean by this - you need the job for the pay that supports your family with money and health insurance, without it you would struggle. Many don't have a job right now, and I sympathize in my rants, but the issue still remains. The job itself is a lifeless eight to ten hours a day sitting in front of a computer, doing some unsatisfyng work then passing the free time by browsing the internet until you can't take it anymore. Certainly not a bad deal, I know, but doing the same dull, uninspiring, unsatisfying thing every day, over and over and over, leaving you in a semi-worthless state for the few evening hours you have before you've gotta get to bed to do it all over again. It becomes a slow form of psychological torment, dulling and depressing you slowly, one day at a time, so slow you don't even notice it until something snaps you out of it and you stop and think.

Yet, if I quit, it would be hard to get another job in the field. Now is not a good time to try and change careers either, and if I did I would have to take a big paycut because I'd be starting new at something else, and I also worry that what if that something else ultimately leaves me feeling the same way (doing the same thing over and over for 40 hours a week seems like it would end in the same feeling). I'm all for risk and adventure, but with kids to provide for, Its tough to justify taking a chance on gambling our means of support for an increase in my personal happiness in this life. So its like being stuck.

But on the other hand, it's like this: What if you do only get one shot at this life? Or what if you believe in reincarnation, or something, and you had to live through thousands of lives in order to achieve this beautiful existence as a human? One day, you will reach the end of it, and look back on your life. I fear thinking 'This is what you did with it? Spent a majority of your time sitting in a room doing nothing you enjoy, waiting for your days to end, just for some kind of security?'

Thats the part that gets me, too. Waiting for a dull, unrewarding work day to end. Time flies by now that Im in my 30's, and I think sometimes that its even sped up by the fact that many of us are waiting for the workday to end. Waiting for one day to end, then another, seems like we just work into this groove of waiting for it to end - like we are just waiting out our lives instead of experiencing them to the fullest. Thats a scary thought.

I just saw a guy retire from my office. He did this for like 40 years, now he's very old. I put myself in his shoes, and I'm sure he had a good life, but the thought of doing this for another 30+ years terrifies me.

Thoughts?