I'm Back

And now I feel a bit like the child who had a tantrum, then hid under the bed.  Oh, well.  What else is new?  Thank you all for your patience and expressions of support.

Here's some links to check out.

Geography Olympics It's a good thing that D. is the one who passed this link on to me, because he can then cancel out my pathetic scores.  Maybe you can do a better job of raising the national average.

Sketch Crawl 2004. The idea is that people around the world spend Sunday, 21 November 2004, sketching, then post the results on their blogs. I encourage you to join me, even if you have doubts about your "artistic ability." Sketching is about more than creating a realistic image on paper; it's about taking the time to look closely and carefully at the world around us. We need more of that these days.

Sorry, World. This is a place for Americans to post pictures of themselves apologizing to the world at large, in wake of the election. Some non-Americans have posted their responses, too. At last visit, there were over 500 pages of pictures.

Pericat has designed a meta-quiz for us quiz nuts.

And, I just have to say "holy moly!" about this result:

YOU ARE MOLY

What herb are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

added: 

what flavor pocky are you?
[c] sugardew

(Good thing, given how much of the stuff I drink.  Tea that is.  Drinking pocky -- ew!)

Yes, it is good to be back. *smile*

Comments

[Jill Smith]

*smiles*

[New Kid on the Hallway]

So glad to see you! :-)

[Paige]

What the hell is moly? I've never heard of it.

I'm catnip, which explains why my kitten, Turandot, insists on rubbing her nose all over my face, and occasionally gently nibbling on my nose.

Might I recommend the Pocky quiz?.

Oh, and hey -- welcome back.

[wolfangel]

Welcome back!

[Harrison]

Ah! Welcome back! That's the first bit of good news I've had in a while...

[JM]

Pocky has FLAVORS? I've only ever seen chocolate and strawberry. Anyone know where can I find this elusive green tea pocky?

ps oh yeah, glad you're back. :)

[Sharon]

Hooray! (Does a little dance.) It's so good to see you!

And everyone should be allowed a tantrum sometimes...

[Chris Clarke]

Ah, so you can take it AND dish it out! Hooray!

[Aussiereader]

Yay!! Rana's back! Yay!!

[yami]

Ahh. Phew.

[Kevin Walzer]

I'm glad you're back. Everyone needs a break. :-)

[DM]

Welcome back. This will probably amuse you. I got one wrong on the Geography quiz, due to a stupid error. I had to click on Italy...on the map there was this little tiny dot near Rome, which I carelessly clicked. When it was too late, I realized I had chosen the Vatican instead of Italy. D-oh!

[Amanda]

You're back! You're back! This has just totally made my day.

[profgrrrrl]

Wecome back! Hooray! (Now's the time when you're supposed to break out the slides and make us sit through 100+ images of what you did during your blogcation.)

[Rana]

Heh. I like slide shows (yes! I know I'm a freak! I like family road trips too!), but these would mostly show me sneezing and popping headache pills in between bouts of too much reality tv.

You folks are all so sweet to care. :)

[Cleis]

Hooray!!!

[Mel]

Glad to see you again!

[cindy]

Thank you for making what's been a really lousy week a whole lot better!

[Elayne Riggs]

Yay! Welcome back, Rana!!

[beth]

So how was it under the bed? I used to quite like it there - I actually had a little twinge of nostalgia and envy when you said that's what it had felt like! Welcome back.

[Rana]

Well, since it was a futon on the floor, it wasn't too comfortable! :)

Now you've made me think of childhood blanket forts and secret nests in trees and shrubs. _Those_ were great fun. :)

[LiL]

Yay! Weeeeeee! Hoooraaaay!

And I hope you're feeling better.

Glad you're back.

[Another Damned Medievalist]

Yay! I'm Moly too. And chocolate

[pericat]

Welcome back! And I'm glad you liked the quiz. :)

[DM]

That geography quiz is addictive. Having problems with locating islands and West African Nations. And then quiz does not give you any credit for ballpark locations, for example, when you have to choose between Swaziland and Lesotho. Knowing that your country is one of those two is sadly not good enough. Oh well...

[Rana]

Yeah, I wish that one got partial credit for the close mistakes -- along the lines of "Well, you can't tell Macedonia from Bosnia, but at least you know that both are in the Balkans."

Plus big "duh" answers (like where's Canada?) should probably be worth less.

[Rana]

Hmm. The comments fields are a bit whacked out today. They do all show up when one previews, at least.

[Chris Clarke]

Hmm. The comments fields are a bit whacked out today. They do all show up when one previews, at least.

Looks OK to me, Safari Mac OSX 10.2... Maybe it's one of those damn MSIE non-standards-compliant things.

[DM]

All right, this is starting to bug me. Where are the Comoros Islands? I get this wrong every time. Stupid, addictive quiz...grrrr!

[Rana]

*snort*

... though I have no idea, either.

At least I don't seem to be making the same mistakes twice. I even managed to get 70% today! EEE!

[LiL]

Just one thing: it wasn't a tantrum. Don't dismiss your genuine reaction even if it made people (among them me) uncomfortable. I do not think that made it matter any less. I mean, you're not responsible for pleasing the world.

[DM]

Victory! I just scored my first 100% on the geography quiz! It helped that there were no confusing islands (I know where Samoa is) or confusing tiny countries from West Africa (the two they gave me this time - Mauritania and Niger - were large countries I could easily find!)

[Rana]

NICE job, DM! *holds up hand for high-five*

Lil, I agree; it wasn't a tantrum. It was the hiding afterward I was referring to, not the outburst. Dealing with people's reactions was -- and continues to be -- emotionally exhausting.

[Clancy]

Just wondering if any of you have seen Apologies Accepted yet.