how have you changed since you first came to this forum? [Archive]

underground

11-06-2006, 05:36 PM

at the risk of showing my narcissistic side, i'll go first.

when i came here: i was a pretentious high school student who would only read books by dead people, always noting literary experts' opinions and trying to pass them as my own. i spent a lot of time reading because i was socially challenged and had very few friends (the reason i stumbled upon this forum in the first place). i was almost emo but without the wrist-slitting thing.

now: i enjoy reading juvenile fictions and fantasy books and rarely read one of those must-read classics novels. i don't feel obligated to like books because they're written by hemingway or faulkner or whoever. i also do a lot more than just reading now. i'm generally a productive human being except for when i suffer a random bout of internet addiction every now and then.

RobinHood3000

11-06-2006, 06:01 PM

I'm a little naughtier. :D

ElizabethSewall

11-06-2006, 06:04 PM

I'm a little naughtier. :D I guess that goes for me as well.
I met some of my best friends on this forum, and feel no more lonely.
Plus, it's great to interact with people about literature, being able to accept different opinions (even change your own sometimes) is important.

Mark F.

11-06-2006, 06:24 PM

I think I was becoming an alcoholic when I first came here, I'm not anymore. I'm not sure whether that's a step backwards or forwards mind you. Other than that I read a lot more than before, maybe three times the amount I used to read.

Evi

11-06-2006, 08:55 PM

When i entered this forum ( two weeks ago approximately) i was the same as i am right now. I just have the dissapointment that in a forum about literature are so many youngsters ( the majority of the members are between 15 - 25) that a lot of them are fanatic or with religion ( the good Christians and the good Muslims etc) or with politics ( the good Americans that they saved the world etc) . It is a pity , not for the forum, but for the society. If these are the people who read ...can you imagine how are all the others? Sorry , this comment isnt for the forum and for many members but it is the truth.

Evi

Mark F.

11-06-2006, 09:12 PM

Hey, I'm an atheist and I think politics should be left to those who know enough to actually make the right decisions. Maybe we should start a club, Evi?

Evi

11-06-2006, 09:24 PM

Mark F,

Yes, i think that it is the right time to start our club.

Evi

Shannanigan

11-06-2006, 10:25 PM

okay....

well, before I found the forum I must admit that I was losing hope. My university has a total of 16 English majors...none of which seem to share the passions I have for analyzing works of literature and reading and learning as much as I can. They all basically took the "easy" major...since our English major requires the least amount of credits to graduate. ~sigh~ I was rather dissapointed and contemplating leaving my boyfriend and moving back to California (he would never come with me).

Towards the end of the semester (that I was planning on leaving after) I found this site while researching for a final exam. I saw what awesome conversations were going on, how intelligent and opinionated most members seemed, and how positive the vibe was...and I felt so happy that there was a group of people like me on the net.

Finding this site didn't change my mind about moving...really, I think it just gave me an outlet to talk about literature and intellectual things without people groaning at me. Having that improved my attitude about my situation, and soon I fell back in love with the beaches here, the melting pot of culture, and realized that I really had a good life going for me that I shouldn't give up just to be around more people like myself...

So, I'm still on a Caribbean island, and I get to talk literature. YAY! :D

RobinHood3000

11-06-2006, 10:41 PM

We're glad to have you, Shann. :)

cuppajoe_9

11-06-2006, 11:04 PM

When I came to this forum I was a pretentious high-school student. Now I'm a pretentious college student.

Hey, I'm an atheist and I think politics should be left to those who know enough to actually make the right decisions.

And who, exactly, might those people be? They sure aren't the people who are making the decisions.

Evi

11-07-2006, 03:53 AM

Cuppajoe,

They are the people that the nations elect!! Only the 50% of people vote in each country. And most of them are old ( they yound people have detested politics and they are not going to vote anymore) and stupid. As a lawyer i help at the elections every time( here the lawyers have to check the procedure of the elections) and you cant imagine what i am seeing and hearing each time. It is the same everywhere: most of the politicians generally who govern this world are crap!!

Evi

Nightshade

11-07-2006, 03:54 AM

Well in the year and a half Ive been here Ive changed alot . my typing speeds gone up, my spelling has improved enormusly ( which youall will have noticed isnt the greatest of things still..) Ive made friends, and I trully belive ( scoff if you like) that being here has helped deal with people more, now that Im at uni I actually have RL friends and the truth is I wouldnt hvae had the confidence or even the desire to go up and sya /hello/ help people before..of course that could have somthing to do with a year working with 'the public' , but having this helped me along through that so now as my boss said recently--weve all noticed how much youve changed in the last year youve really matured :D:D
Ive learnt to walk away from arguments and how tolose my temper and still come across as being nice and diplomatic when Im really thinking:crash: :crash: :crash: :crash: :flare: :flare: and I made lots of freinds who might one day wake up to find me on thier door step ith a box of choclates....:D:lol:

Madhuri

11-07-2006, 03:58 AM

I wish to be at the recieving end, Night...:D :D

Nightshade

11-07-2006, 03:59 AM

you never know you might just but getting to India will take me a few years at least

Pensive

11-07-2006, 06:55 AM

Before Joining The Forum: I was happy.

After Joining The Forum: I am the happiest girl in the world. :D As I have more opportunity to write, even if through posts, but still it is one of my favourite activity to express my thoughts with the help of writing. :)

Shannanigan

11-07-2006, 12:31 PM

We're glad to have you, Shann. :)

Awww, thanks Robin :)

Laindessiel

11-07-2006, 01:00 PM

;)

Before I joined in -- which was just exactly a week ago-- we had no Internet connection yet (because of the people in the company). So I have become hesitantly accustomed to just going to Internet cafes to do my research work and emailing (while Toni was skimming through this forum) to satisfy the Internet maniacs in us.

I still had the time to email and read books, newspapers, and everything that has letters on it, watch Lost on time, guide my sibs with homeworks at home and still do some iron work.

After I joined in when we had the connection already -- more than a week ago -- I had not only become the worst insomniac panged with guilt everytime my mom would give me a-scolding every night for staying up so late (I have NEVER, EVER went against her rules, so this forum is to blame for that), but now I also have zits that could spew magma at any given minute and eyebags the size of politicians' lies. :bawling:

But the serious side, I am super entertained when I get to read and post, and having people coming from different parts of the world and knowing what they have to say about certain things is one of the closest things to travelling around the world. :blush:

I wish this forum would stay here forever and I also wish to meet all of you in person!!! :lol:

(Oh yeah, I still have the time to email and read books, newspapers, and everything that has letters on it, watch Lost on time, guide my sibs with homeworks at home and still do some iron work, but an hour less. ;)

mir

11-07-2006, 01:25 PM

i don't know . . .i've gotten older! :D

but actually i think i might have become a bit more self-confident . . . i'm a pretty inscure person, and making so many friends here has really been great for me. thanks so much, everybody here . . .i feel like ive gained a new big (VERY big :p) family! :)

underground

11-07-2006, 02:58 PM

c'mon, people! i told you the story of my life and most of you refused to elaborate? i need details! gossip materials!

Turk

11-07-2006, 03:03 PM

Before joining forum: i had sinusitis.

After joining forum: i still have sinusitis.

I'll tell other changes on me soon.

miss tenderness

11-07-2006, 05:33 PM

Mark F.

11-07-2006, 07:13 PM

So they say. Thanks. On the brighter side I had a girlfriend when I first came here and now I'm single again.

Idril

11-07-2006, 07:25 PM

On the brighter side I had a girlfriend when I first came here and now I'm single again.

Ah yes, enjoy your freedom while you still can. ;)

Mark F.

11-07-2006, 08:38 PM

I'm trying, but I'm still in a state of shock, it's only been a month.

subterranean

11-07-2006, 08:41 PM

...can't think any.....

Wait, I know. Orwell was not as poor as I thought he was and that kind of change my view on him a little bit.

papayahed

11-09-2006, 11:28 AM

How long have I been here?? Holy Carp!! It'll will be 3 years next febuary. Let's see, since I joined:

I moved
I bought a new car
I sold my house
I changed jobs
I've been dumped and been the dumpee several times

In the literature world, I've read way more books and more of a variety then I would have if I hadn't stumbled onto this website. None of my Real Life friends are big readers so I really couldn't talk about books with anybody until I got here.

Pendragon

11-09-2006, 11:34 AM

How has the Old Dragon changed since he's been here? Well, I act more like my old self, have fewer episodes with my illness, and generally just have a darn good time and meet a lot of friendly people world wide! A toast to you all! http://www.invision.smileyville.net/smilies/fnd (9).gif

toni

11-09-2006, 11:45 AM

A toast to Uncle Dragon too!
Toni greatly wishes that Uncle Dragon's illness would cease soon....

Scheherazade

11-09-2006, 02:31 PM

Nightshade

11-10-2006, 07:00 AM

papay doesnt have a computer?! :eek2:
how do you survive?!

SleepyWitch

11-10-2006, 09:26 AM

I've read a few books I didn't even know existed
I'm interested in books from all cultures now (which doesn't mean I've read any), before it was only English and American ones.

Before I joined LitNet I hated my literature courses; I still don't like them now but I've found out I can even enjoy reading classics as long as I read them for pleasure (vs courses) and can discuss them with cool people
LitNet has even made it easier for me to talk to some English Lit M.A. students I met in my courses. Before I joined I wouldn't have known what to talk about with them, although I've always liked reading.

I've become seriously addicted to this forum and spent way too much time on the internet

EDIT: I've also taken up writing stories again, which I hadn't done since I was 15 (i.e. 10 years ago)

Idril

11-10-2006, 10:24 AM

Well, my interest in Russian Lit has become a full blown obsession that has gone beyond the 19th Century authors that I was most interested in when I came here to include Soviet lit...by the way, I'm always open to suggestions. ;)

And I spend more time on the general and game boards than I used to and less time on the Author and general lit boards. Being a very non-confrontational person, I get frustrated with the fact that people often don't so much as discuss literature as argue about it so I've become quite selective about when and where I post. There are occasionally some profound insights among the arguments so I do still enjoy reading them, I just have no desire to partake in them.

And I have made a couple of great friends here, expanded my horizons a little bit and that's all good. :D

grace86

11-10-2006, 12:54 PM

I've become an escapist.

Taliesin

11-10-2006, 03:34 PM

We were an escapist before and are still one now.
We were 15. Now we're eightteen. That is actually quite a lot of time.
We changed schools and became from the silent kid at the corner who never spoke to anyone but a few another people to a social person with a bit strange imagination and strange sense of humour.
Became a role-player and met lots of them.
Met with lots of people on this forum.
Just grew.
Wrote short stories.
Quit writing.
Started writing again.
Wrote music.
Started blogging.
Read stuff then and read stuff now too. Only there is more stuff to read.
And we also became plural in this very forum. Does anybody actually remember the post where we said that we would go plural?
Thereare probably even more things.

underground

11-10-2006, 09:32 PM

i wish something as drastic as becoming a we could happen to me too. :(

Shalot

11-10-2006, 09:56 PM

EDIT: I've also taken up writing stories again, which I hadn't done since I was 15 (i.e. 10 years ago)

Sleepywitch, how did you take up writing again after being away from it from so long? I am only a couple of years older than you, but when I was in high school (and grade school too for that matter) my English instructors would encourage me to write and I did so while I was in highschool but not in college and I don't do it now. I will attempt to write and when I go back to read it later it's just so crappy....I just can't get back to where I was then.

Do you think writing is a "use it or lose it" talent? How do you reconnect with your creativity or your muse?

Pensive

11-11-2006, 12:14 AM

We were an escapist before and are still one now.
We were 15. Now we're eightteen. That is actually quite a lot of time.
We changed schools and became from the silent kid at the corner who never spoke to anyone but a few another people to a social person.
Oh, it actually happened to me too....hmmm.....but I was never too silent....was I....:idea:..........but more quiet than I am now....:p

papayahed

11-11-2006, 11:35 AM

But you *still* haven't got yourself a computer!

:D

Yeah, I'm working on it........:)

SleepyWitch

11-11-2006, 11:55 AM

Sleepywitch, how did you take up writing again after being away from it from so long? I am only a couple of years older than you, but when I was in high school (and grade school too for that matter) my English instructors would encourage me to write and I did so while I was in highschool but not in college and I don't do it now. I will attempt to write and when I go back to read it later it's just so crappy....I just can't get back to where I was then.

Do you think writing is a "use it or lose it" talent? How do you reconnect with your creativity or your muse?

ahm, I'm not sure... heehee, I'm not even so sure I've got any talent for writing :) it's not like I've written lots of stories since I joined the forum. Actually, it's only 3...
I've found that I'm most creative when I've got hundreds of other things to do, for some reason. E.g. when I have to study for exams and don't have any time to write, a story will pop up all by itself. Then one of my brain cells goes off somewhere to think about the details while the other keeps studying and after a couple of weeks I type the story up on the computer.
.. nope, I don't think it's a "use it or lose it talent". Of course you can practice your style and improve over time (i.e. nobody's born a perfect writer), but I think if you wrote well once you'll be able to do it again.

Koa

11-12-2006, 07:30 PM

Taliesin, I wish I remembered the very moment you multiplied, but it happened out of my attention.

Nighty, with that box of chocolate, my address is... :D

Me? Changed?

Well sometimes I look at the forums I frequent and see how they have changed and my life hasn't. But well some things have changed I guess...

I don't read as much as before lol
I was at uni, still had to make the most amazing experiences of my life... now i'm a graduate...but still a student lol trying to take advanatge of it as long as I can :nod:
I was dreaming of going to England, and now I'm in England :)
My English improved of course
And I'm not the depressed 22-year-old who ranted on the forum in 2004, but I enjoy things around, despite remaining the cynical me.
And I'm still hopelessly single but it's probably better.

subterranean

11-12-2006, 08:27 PM

I was at uni, still had to make the most amazing experiences of my life... now i'm a graduate...but still a student lol trying to take advanatge of it as long as I can :nod:
I was dreaming of going to England, and now I'm in England :)
My English improved of course
And I'm not the depressed 22-year-old who ranted on the forum in 2004, but I enjoy things around, despite remaining the cynical me.
And I'm still hopelessly single but it's probably better.

Good for you, E :).

Virgil

11-12-2006, 08:47 PM

I was dreaming of going to England, and now I'm in England :)
My English improved of course
And I'm not the depressed 22-year-old who ranted on the forum in 2004, but I enjoy things around, despite remaining the cynical me.
And I'm still hopelessly single but it's probably better.

(1) Yes, you're dream has come true.
(2) Your English is excellent.
(3) You do seem happier than even just last year. :thumbs_up
(4) I don't think you're as cynical as you used to be. I haven't seen any outbursts.
(5) Still single, but you're still young, and it's never hopeless.:)

I'm glad to see you're doing better.;)

Bluebiird

11-13-2006, 06:03 AM

I don't really think I've changed yet, perhaps in another year or so. But, I am a bit more confident about giving presentations, and that's down to Lit.net, otherwise I'd have been completely stumped for some of them and I'd have written three pages of drivel and nonsense. So, I suppose I have changed a bit :D

Nightshade

11-15-2006, 06:22 PM

. Does anybody actually remember the post where we said that we would go plural?
Thereare probably even more things.

How sad is this? I actully DO know....rember the forum quiz I set up?
http://www.websmileys.com/sm/sad/981.gifahh well post your looking for is #729 of random thought of the day (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showpost.php?p=42679&postcount=729)

Scheherazade

11-15-2006, 06:29 PM

ahh well post your looking for is #729 of random thought of the day (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showpost.php?p=42679&postcount=729)Aaahh, another productive in Night-land, eh?

:D

grace86

11-15-2006, 06:58 PM

That is interesting Night that you remember that.

Well, aside from being a bit of an escapist...I've learned a lot about new authors I want to read - my list has further extended beyond count.

Umm, I've never had friends strictly on the internet as I do now. And my brain has expanded on different philosophies.

Nightshade

11-16-2006, 01:00 PM

Aaahh, another productive in Night-land, eh?

:D

yes its called avoiding RL:nod:

That is interesting Night that you remember that.
.

remebre? I wasnt even here... but no I rembered the search+research I used when I set up the quizzes so it was a snap.

:rolleyes:

ktd222

11-17-2006, 11:09 AM

Definetly more considerate of other's opinions.:nod:

Lacra

02-23-2010, 10:53 AM

Before joining this forum - I was unhappy because I had nobody to share my thoughts as I used to do while I was still living in my country. I was sad to understand that ppl around me don't read anymore.

After registering Litnet - the forum itself with diverses threads and intelligent and open mind people allowed me to feel happy again. I love coming daily and reading and sometimes sharing ideas in my primitive English, hehehhehe.

Helga

02-23-2010, 12:37 PM

older but not wiser

krisgil_aguila

02-23-2010, 12:39 PM

i'm getting love to think!

JoeLopp

02-23-2010, 11:07 PM

I feel I'm rather in stasis ... no clear movement one way or another or any other. Though it's only been little more than a year... :brickwall

applepie

02-24-2010, 04:55 PM

I've changed in more ways to count, but I suppose I can name a few :)

- I take time out to read. If there isn't time I make time to enjoy a book
- I'm nearly at the half way point of my novel. When I started here it was only a little snippet of a short story in my head
- I'm a mom, again ;) Two kids now and I'm beyond finished
- I have my degree and I've been working for two years in field
- I am more patient than I ever thought possible which means I have maybe half the patience that you do
- I have learned so much from everyone here, and I look in wonder when I see the date I joined. Has it really been that long???

Lacra

02-25-2010, 06:44 PM