Alas, something rather wicked this way doth come...

[Ununhexium]

Greetings, the best of tidings, and, of course, hello, FOG. Yes, I employ punctuation to a rather overzealous degree. I feel it contributes a bit of unique character, as well as a subtly dramatic tone that my inner speaker finds strangely amusing and generally enjoyable. My heartfelt apologies if the habit comes to annoy you. That aside, I am deeply pleasured and altogether quite humbled for having, at long last, stumbled upon a haven of art and intellect so fine as this one. Indeed, I feel an almost deferential urge to wax briefly on the ways in which Footsteps—in mere minutes of my being here—has smitten me with no apparent intention of releasing.

The moment I saw the directory listing, the simple beauty of the name captured me (as my brain practically works out acronyms and calculations of its own accord, I'd put together FOG—and computed its alphanumeric value to be twenty-eight, a number I don't particularly like or dislike)—a few moments before clicking. Oh, how the lust grew but stronger from there: the simple delight I derived from discovering that the header was a transparent PNG, the pushing for quality and proper composition in every post (far too rare a sight in this millennia), and the general pedestal it seems to put the gift of writing so highly upon. Lucy, I reckon I'm home.

Now, then, onto me: I'm male, bisexual, twenty as of late March, and spend the majority of my time reading, writing, and programming for a living. A good four hours of my day is usually afforded to basketball and other general exercise; I find physical exertion to be one of the most efficient methods of keeping the mind clear, in addition to helping with organizing thoughts and figuring out questions that went unanswered the previous day. I hardly ever sleep, averaging twenty-odd hours of slumber a week, so the Internet has gradually become akin to a second bloodstream for me. Nearly always filling the background is loud music of some sort, though I tend to get into a Coheed and Cambria kick every other week ("Delirium Trigger" is the best song written).

Hmm, I do suppose that's me in a nutshell. If you've stayed around this long, my sincerest congratulations: I'm at the tail-end of some two-and-a-half days without sleep and most of this feels as though it's formed entirely of drivel. Oh! Role-play preferences. In all honesty, my role-play interests run the gamut from one end of the spectrum to the next; though I prefer realistic, modern, human scenarios, I am more than willing to diverge down any number of alternate paths if it seems it'll be even remotely enjoyable. So, questionnaire complete, I shall now eagerly await verdict regarding perceptions of me.

[Sighlent]

OMG. You're my new best friend! Coheed and Cambria is my ALL-TIME favorite band! I'm basically stuck in a C&C kick every day lol. Welcome to FOG though and I'll be looking forward to seeing you out and about within the various threads! My name is Sighlent, but everyone calls me Sigh. Apparently I'm crazy but as too how crazy I am, well that's still open for debate. You can typically find me on the FOG Chat or lurking about in excruciating boredom all over during the day. So if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask as there will always be someone here to answer you!

[Ununhexium]

I... am loving every single thing about you, Jen: Coheed as best band is worth at least a million cool points; Sighlent is a damned clever username (consequently, the abbreviations of our nicknames—I go by SyQo elsewhere—are homophones); insanity is an utterly winsome boat we're both probably seated firmly in; day-long boredom of an excruciating caliber means you're constantly available to pester and annoy relentlessly discuss the Universe with; you're apparently secularist, which is almost as awesome as the Coheed similarity; and, of course, you're kind and capable of a delightfully warm welcome. (Also, you're positively gorgeous, even with troll hair—yes, I'm a creeper.) I daresay you're one of the most intrigue-piquing specimens I've ever met. In hoping to cease my overt e-stalking, I shall end the praise here, choosing instead to be decent and normal in thanking you for your open-armed induction. I, too, look quite forward to having our paths cross elsewhere.

[Guest]

Hello, good sir and welcome to FOG! Just have to tell you, I really enjoy reading your prose and as much as you already seem to be falling in love with this place, I know you'll find yourself right at home here.

[Sighlent]

LMAO. Wow, that totally made my day! I'm glad to know that I'm intrigue-piquing though! Take that all of you a-holes who constantly berated me in High School for being weird, it only makes me INTRIGUING! Haha. Oh and one more thing:


Yeah. Tallie-ho! XD

[Ununhexium]

Just have to tell you, I really enjoy reading your prose

My utmost gratitude for your kind words, TotE; calling it "prose" was complimentary enough, but the fact that you somehow enjoy such pomp is a maraschino cherry on top. : )

Wow, really?! It's damned hard to make somebody's Saturday, so I'm just gonna, uh—*autobackpat*—yeah, that's good. Fuck beraters! Opera's spell-checker, too, for thinking that beraters isn't a word. *adds to dictionary* In all my existence, even in extreme youth, I'm not sure I ever considered "weird" to be an insult; unorthodox methodologies and obtuse contrast are some of my favorite things. But, yes, let us call it intrigue, this sudden warmth I feel in my nether region. Oh, goodies! It's one of my life goals to end up on at least nine tabulations that classify me as some form of enjoyable criminal; my addition to yours makes three now, I think, but let us not darken my introduction thread's doorstep with the mention of such bleak history. *throws rubber ducky into toaster as diversion*

Tallie-ho, indeed.

[quakernuts]

*Saves the rubber ducky*

Well, since I just woke up, and you're already trying to kill my life-long friend, I don't know how to approach this one.

Kidding! Anyways, usuage of big words like 'the' were confusing me up there. So, I'm just going to get to it, and say welcome to Fog. I'm not that big a fan of Coheed and Cambria, but I enjoy some of their works. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to make a hasty departure before Sigh gets back in here and promptly backhands me!

Yours Truly
Quakernuts

[Sighlent]

-Glares with the epic image of erupting volcanoes and thunder storms appearing behind her-

Yeah that's right. You'd better run boy!

[xraineyesx]

Hi and welcome to FOG!

If you haven't found out already, we're a bunch of nutters. =D But we're friendly and we only nibble a little. (Souls taste ever so good.)

I don't sleep much ever either so I totally understand the not sleeping thing and how it makes a person a little... not all there in the head. Eh, I don't how to phrase it exactly. Point is I'm an insomniac as well.

I hope you are finding FOG to your liking! And I hope to see you around!

[Guest]

Welcome to the swirling mists!

You're prose stuns me. It was a little like travelling back in time, and that can be cool, but right now I'd rather make a forward jump in time. Do you happen to know anyone with a time machine? No? I'll just have to find it somewhere else then.

Reading? Check (just finished a book a couple of hours ago). Writing? Check. It seems we might have a few of the same interests.

Gah! My writing seems so clumsy beside yours, but alas, that is the curse of the second language speaker, or writer in this case. You'll just have to live with my second-rate, but still excellent if I do say so myself.

Once again, welcome!

[Ununhexium]

Welcome to the swirling mists!

Ha, FOG, I geddit. : P

You're prose stuns me. It was a little like travelling back in time

This is actually one of my primary goals in choosing to speak as I do; much thanks for noticing. : )

...just finished a book a couple of hours ago

Oh, come now, don't tease! Which book?

Regarding your writing, I wouldn't quite call it clumsy, rather a bit less stylized and spruced up, but you very clearly get your message across, and that's surely most important of all. I wonder, which is your first language, dear Dagger? All that taken care of, my utmost gratitude for your reaching out to welcome me.

[Guest]

The Shining Ones by David and Leigh Eddings. Superb book, the second in the series. I love Sparhawk and the gang.

My first language would be Swedish. Different in sounds, different in grammar, made English a challenge to learn. Although most say that Swedish is hard to learn, so I guess I had practice at learning hard languages, wouldn't you say?
Over all languages are interesting, and I don't know enough of them. I'm starting a Japanese course on Monday and I'm very excited.

I'm glad I can communicate clearly. I hope I'm always improving.

[Ununhexium]

Hmm, I hadn't previously heard of the series, but a bit of research discovered me a pretty interesting factoid: David Eddings flip-flopped between crediting and not crediting his wife's contributions to his earlier work; that's extremely strange—either they were at odds and he initially did it to spite her, or she didn't actually partake in their writing and he figured he'd be nice in making her co-author. Either way, very strange.

Swedish, huh?! That's rare. But Sweden is an absolutely wonderful nation. Whenever I manage to escape the sad country that is the United States, I'm planning on settling in either Sweden or Switzerland. Swedish is definitely hard, I'm sure, but no language is as mish-mashed and scattered to hell and back as is English. Ghoti is a prime example. Stupid English.

Languages are quite a concept, definitely one of the most interesting anthropological aspects of our species, I reckon. Japanese is cool; really tough to make an English-trained tongue properly form certain strings of sounds, though, but perhaps it's easier for a Swede. I myself am going the really easy route and have recently taken up teaching myself German with Rosetta Stone. It's fun; German's pretty similar to English, and when it's not, I get a laugh out of how silly the word is: adult = Erwachsene; what?!

Clear communication is something you definitely have down; of course, there is no end to how much you can practice in attempts to become better.

[Guest]

Actually when he started writing women authors weren't as popular or many. The raise in women authors the last decade have been huge. But why one would decide by chance...I can't imagine. I guess it's because they'd have to redo all the covers and so. And new print runs and the like. It's expensive work.

Are Swedes so unusual? Swedish have over the years taken up a lot of French, German, English and so on. So we actually have a lot of inconsistencies to when it comes to pronunciation. I do hope you know that Sweden and Switzerland are not very much alike. Sweden have a lot of coast and forest, while Switzerland only have lakes and mountains. Of course, that is generalizations.

Yes, I'm in luck. Japanese sounds are quite close to Swedish, at least the ones that the English have problems with. That's why I think Japanese to some degrees might be easier to learn. If it wasn't for the fact that their grammar is totally different. They have the verb at the end of the sentence. Very strange.

Any tips for how I could practice to become better?

[Silvan Arrow]

Welcome to FOG! You seem like a very interesting person, and I loved reading your eloquent tale of how you came to love FOG. This place is definitely my online home away from home, and I have no doubt you'll thoroughly enjoy your stay here. Yes, we all tend to be a bit crazy, and indeed, souls are quite tasty every now and then... Like Rain and a few other people here, I also experience occasional bouts of insomnia, and those nights of little sleep do strange things to the mind... But anyway! That's enough chit-chat out of me. Keep on enjoying yourself, and don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions!

[Bird of Hermes]

Greetings, Ununhexium! Here’s some advice so that you don’t get lost in the spiral mists.



Welcome to Footsteps of Ghosts!

Check out our rules, etiquette and "What is FOG?" sections.

If you want to discover our newest features or share feedback about the site, stop by the news and announcements area. If you have any trouble using the forum itself, try the FAQ.

If you have any questions, our staff will be more than happy to assist you.

We also have a chat room if you would like to talk to our members now.

Take a moment to browse our forums and perhaps find a role-play to your liking, a place to receive input on your works of literature or simply to converse with people of similar interests.

---

Sorry that I am late to the greeting. Better late than never, I suppose. ^_^ Welcome!

[Kalon Ordona II]

Stupid English.

GAAAAA-aaaaah! Glk!! HRRR!!!
OUTRAGE!!

VILLAIN!! DUNDERPATE!!
English is a veritable JUNGLE of wonder and -- I use this word purposefully -- INTRIGUE!!
GAAAH!! If you want a BORING language with easy phonetics and simpler rules, go speak SPANISH! The idEA!!! I MEAN REALLY!!

*pant* *pant* HRRR!! *wheeze* *inhale*

I'll show you English, my friend!
Can any other language do THIS??

Contesting the superlatively insurmountable glory that is the English language demonstrates an epitome of pure, undefiled, unadulterated, unfathomably irredeemable delusion! No other system of vocal or textual communication possesses the inconceivable diversity of vocabulary necessary to express with utter specificity any and every possible concrete or abstract facet of existence! Behold the synonym and bow before the paragon of proficiency that is the English language!

Ha-HA!! Take that, and THAT!! NOW tell me English is "stupid," you driveling hypocrite!

---

disclaimer: all in good fun; I wouldn't go to all this trouble if I didn't think you were awesome. xD

*ahem*
Welcome to the FOG!

[Silvan Arrow]

Kalon: That last post made me go O.O. And the scary part is that I actually understood all of that... Yay for big vocabularies!

Ununhexium, I hope you realize that we're all a little psychotic here, but that's what makes us so much fun! ^_^

[Kalon Ordona II]

The best thing is I didn't have to look up a single word or synonym. That's all from my own personal vocab stash. Ooyeah!

Yeah, you don't be disrespectin' the English around ME, yo, for certain!

Hope I didn't scare you away, Hex! Few people realize, incidentally, that Ghoti pronounced "phische" would be a violation of English rules. xD They do that in other languages, though, like with Romanian you'll sometimes see an ending -ti pronounced as "sh." I love other languages, too. Anyway, you wield English so well that I'm sure you how awesome English ACTUALLY is. Right? Right?

Hehe. Good times.

[Sponsored content]