fishy

Ngl I have no clue what you're trying to say. Nothing about how one party feels about the opposing party's candidate is apathetic or resigned. Literally the opposite lol.

yes! the meursault investigation is a book from the perspective of the brother (?) of the unnamed Arab man from the stranger 

For someone who can't read a table I'm surprised you lasted so long haha 😂😂😂

hi all, i'm trying to clear out my bookshelf and am throwing an offer out here to y'all. if you want any of these books, i'll be happy to send them to you. preference would be to split shipping cost, but i don't need anything for the books themselves. feel free to send me a dm if you're interested. i have most of them because i read them in college, but despite being assigned reading, most of them are actually good reads. they'll otherwise be donated to a thrift store or put into one of the little libraries we have around town
 
edit: these have been donated already!

A bit of unnecessary dramatics as I started off using the sheet from last year but we got there in the end! So here are your winners for the annual Donation Drive Raffle:
 
Tier 1 - 5 Winners: 5 uncapped TPE
@AJW @JetsGoalie101 @leafsman @STZ @PhoebeIsQueen
 
Tier 2 - 5 Winners: $15 donation equivalent
@Elman Diablo @fishy @Hogan @Nykonax @Vkobe-v
 
Tier 3 - 3 Winners: Video Game of your choice (up to a max of $90 CAD, on any system)
@Dom @GoodLeftUndone @Mongoose87
 
Tier 4 - 1 Winner: Nintendo Switch (OLED) console OR an NHL Jersey of the winner's choice.
@wcats
 
Congrats to all the winners, we will be in touch shortly

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenges/f03af458-218e-4ea6-b588-42b06017047b
 
This was shared in a server I'm in, it's a decolonize your bookshelf challenge. I'm not gonna join but I'll definitely be pulling some of the books from the recommendations

I have read this every season and I finally won something 

As some of you have seen, I’ve been in and out of the hospital the past week, and have a major ear infection, (on Christmas is sucks), so they have me on really strong meds and it makes me extremely tired, I also can’t hear so volume control and etc is hard on me, the new date for the podcast will be New Year’s Eve or day
 
sorry for the inconvenience to all those who donated

$50.00 donation
 
Transaction ID: 1KY911603D347390B

I want the Zoo Tycoon stream (donation was in CAD)

As I normally do this time of year, I have donated to the Anti-Defamation League.

I bought toys for SickKids patients 
 

 
 

$126 donation to the Center for Trauma and Embodiment at the Justice Resource Institute. They offer online sessions of trauma sensitive yoga, which helps restore the connection of mind and body that is often compromised as a result of trauma.
 
 
 

this book took a while for me to get into but ended up enjoying it. it isn't one of my favorites and tbh its better to be read quickly with low expectations. i absolutely would not blame you if you abandoned it

Also, as for my own personal reading history, I'll admit I'm the guy who genuinely likes some of the "school made me read it" books - I'll put a row of asterisks after the ones I first discovered through various classes, if you only want strictly outside of that realm, although as a literature/journalism double major I had some fairly out there classes so they're not all ones where you'd expect that to be the source. (I also most strongly suggest the last book mentioned before the asterisks)

I saw someone early in the thread mention Dostoyevsky's Notes from Underground, and yes. Definitely a fan of that one. As far as other ones specifically from the country who must not be named I liked Tolstoy's Kreutzer Sonata, as well as a few Chekhov plays (even wrote an additional act to Cherry Orchard back when I was in high school - that was like 20 years ago don't ask me to find it). 
 
Other books I enjoyed that I first encountered through various classes: first off at the risk of sounding really strongly like "that guy" I do like some Joyce. Portrait of the Artist? Dubliners? Yes. Finnegans Wake? Noooooo. I appreciate the artistry but no, that thing is a mess, it's more puzzle than book and I quite like not having a headache. Speaking of artistry, basically any Kimiko Hahn poetry collection has to be pretty high up for me, not your traditional "school" type book but it was in one of my poetry electives back at Pitt so I count it. Hahn is my favorite poet by a mile, which is saying a lot since I'm technically one as well (one poem published in an anthology - not nearly enough to have a real accomplishment, but hey it's something).
 
This leads me to my single biggest recommendation of all books, ever: A Universal History of Iniquity by Borges. It's a collection of semi-historical accounts of famous disreputable figures of history, where he weaves some of the truth, some of the lies, and some things occupying the space in the middle, all into cohesive narratives and you never quite know which parts are the true parts. In some of these cases, the figures aren't entirely real themselves, so it's more a combination of "false that has been known as true" and false than strictly true and false, but most of them at least allude in some ways to a real person and a real story.

*****
 
Fantasy novels: I very much enjoyed the Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist, it was one of the series that first got me into the genre (the other I'll mention in a bit). One of my SBA players was even named after a character in this series, Arutha ConDoin. (Or for his full title that I made sure to put in a handful of game threads until the simmer expressed annoyance at it: Arutha conDoin, the Prince of Krondor; Lord-Marshal of the Western Realm and of the King’s Armies of the West, Heir Apparent to the throne of Rillanon.) I loved this series and recommend it highly - Silverthorn is slower but it's necessary to set up Darkness at Sethanon, which has more going on.
 
The other series that got me into the genre was the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, although I'll admit that has a bit of a younger target demographic. The characters very much play out the normal knights and castles stuff but they're also all animals; mice, weasels, foxes, badgers, etc. Still definitely something I enjoyed at the time and might look back in on at some point, even if it might be a bit odd for a 37 year old.
 
Others etc (sports books mostly): Fittingly for VHL in particular, Bill Boyd's Hockey Towns was a good one, about basically the lives of the more minor figures in the sport: guys in juniors who will likely not get drafted and this is kind of their last desperate crack at it, all the way up to former NHLers just getting out there in older players' leagues to keep doing the thing they enjoy.
 
Given my running background, there's quite a few there for me. Obviously I won't rehash too much of Ledge's recommendation of Once a Runner, or the slightly-less-but-still-good sequel Again to Carthage, but another running book I enjoyed (and yes it's a bit cliche among the running community) was Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. It's about the Tarahumara tribe and how they run in their community, and when a few of their members entered Western States (big legendary ultrarunning event) and did better than most of the people who'd specifically been training for that race. Also Eat and Run by Scott Jurek, and a few Dean Karnazes ones (especially Ultramarathon Man) but I don't expect those to have much interest for people who aren't already runners. Surprisingly, I didn't get that far into Haruki Murakami's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, despite it being Murakami, a well known and established author, rather than a runner who happens to have written a book. I might have to give that one another shot sometime.

5

My engagement was exactly 10 years ago

Awesome work, to be honest! My fiancée loves knitted/crochet accessories like these.
 
The one with the flower on the bed looks awesome!!

There has been a lot of talk generated by @Tate's article over the last 24 hours. I am not here to dispute, refute, or agree(fute - damn my need for alliteration), the article. Rather, I would like to shed some light on why I stay in the VHL, if for no other reason than it's a good topic to give me my sweet TPE.
 
No Commitments- @Ricer13doesn't need to shit himself here, but there's nothing stopping me from walking away at any point. I am a recent new dad and will some weeks find it difficult to get all my point tasks in. This is a league for recreation and so the vast majority of people will always understand that irl comes first. In my prime, I did a lot for the league. I enjoyed the platform and wanted to give back to the community. I was rewarded by being inducted into the HoF as a builder - by far the bigger honour the league has bestowed on me. But now, I feel like I can just sit back and relax and enjoy the league how I want to. 
 
The Community - whether there are toxic or inattentive members here, I won't comment on, but this is a very large community and it's got some fantastic people in it. I choose who I interact with to enhance my enjoyability from the league. I've been with this league for well over a decade so I have had relationships with some members for a very long time. That definitely keeps me coming back.
 
The History - 12 (13 now?) years is a long time to be part of something. I have grown up with the league, as the league has with me. I've watched members graduate high school, college, get married, have kids. Even if it's not on a very personal level, I have a deep connection with the league and its members. I try to make the VHL the place I want it to be and see what I want - encouraging, welcoming, compassionate. I try to pay that forward with all my interactions. 

Welcome to the villain arc @fishy

I'll tell Big Al you're coming after him for ya

W fishy

She is the reason Taylor Swift was the #1 played artist on our Spotify.🤣

To clarify on this, I crochet a lot. I have too much yarn. If you donate X amount I will work with you to make a scarf. Nothing too crazy. A good handmade gift! Not sure how I would work out shipping. Probably need to work with blues or someone idk.