Our avatars are posting on a forum thread.

[1]

Uh, what language is that, Stefan?

Polish, one of my two native languages

That's a nice language to have knowledge of.

Questo mi ricorda, I need to catch up on my Italian!

Puzzle time!
Say that you have a 5*5 chessboard, where every tile is occupied by a knight. How many ways are there to move each knight in one turn so that no two knights end up on the same tile afterwards? Note that I'll accept an explanation of why there might not be a solution as an answer, as usual.

So what are some things I should know about the 21st century? If it helps I died in 1536.

Homework assignments are a lot more difficult due to advancements in technology, mathematics physics and other fields. This computer science homework is just too complex for anyone to solve in time. Who the heck enjoys this stuff? I have to wait several hours to train the data model, and then I find out that I have to repeat this process 5 times (for different parameters)!

Hey, please calm down. It's okay. These assignments can be tedious, I have had to deal with them too.

How do you know we were dealing with the same kind of problems? I bet you didn't have to finish this near the due date. And just to let you guys know, I did not procrastinate and start this assignment late. In fact, I actually started it as soon as it was assigned!

Please, Mina, chill out. I'll try to help you later when I have time today. Sorry for Mina being angry today, she's usually not like this. Anyway, the 21st century has a lot of new advancements in sciences and technologies like Mina said, and some of that includes the internet, which is used to communicate with others and transfer massive amounts of information across these devices called computers for people to access. Though this has resulted in a lot of downsides as well as upsides.

I kinda don't blame Mina for being frustrated with homework especially when it's complicated though I wouldn't get that angered about it.

It's already annoying to gain the motivation to do it at home when you're in a room with loads of more entertaining things. That's why we usually do it outside somewhere else.

Homework has been kind of annoying for me too, due to preventing me from being able to compose music and do other hobbies. I just try to avoid showing my annoyance, and try to focus on positive things in the situation so I can feel better. It can be difficult sometimes, but it will work out in the end.

Yeah, sometimes I just wish the assignments weren't so difficult and that the instructions for them were made more clear so they would be easier not to get stuck on.

Ambiguity is just the worst, especially since lack of understanding can lead to essential hours being wasted trying to figure the thing out.

[1] For starters - no social position is fixed anymore, so in theory, you could take on any role you want. Practically, you may need money and/or public approval.
So, if this isn't too personal, what's your current living situation? And what do you think you're good at?

Hey Icarus, got a challenge for you. Think you can make a crochet machine?

What's crochet?

Technique of fabric production that allows for lots of variety and creative freedom - according to a video I found just now, it's kinda hard to make.

Huh. Lemme check the archives

Okay, it might be tough, but don't I technically count already? I could board an explorer, pick up a piece of string and a crocheting needle and start working.

That could work... but it's kinda boring, isn't it? How about industrial scaling? Think you can make a machine crochet one hexagonal tiling tablecloth per hour? One square meter minimum.

You're confident about this, eh? Challenge accepted.

Edited by StepexNo2 on Mar 6th 2023 at 12:57:21 PM

I mean...my dad made me an ambassador when I was only sixteen. And I was good at it, too. I speak five languages, if that helps at all. I'm pretty good at embroidery, I think. And I can sew.

As for my living situation, I'm currently sharing a house with five other women-

OMG Catherine! Who are you talking to?

Anne, I really don't have time for your shenanigans right now...

Edited by Spottedleaf on Mar 6th 2023 at 6:58:11 AM

Oh, crocheting can be pretty fun once you get the hang of it you can make a lot of wonderful models out of it!

I've seen plenty of toony characters like us out of that stuff.

Windblume has been great! Tighnari came over to Mondstadt with Collei and Cyno, another friend of his (and also the General Mahamatra, but he’s off-duty, so he insists we ignore that title). It’s nice to finally meet him in person.

I've done crocheting before. It was difficult for me when I first started but I've gotten better at it.

Me, Mei and Momo did something similar when designing Halloween costumes. The process was pretty neat.

Sometimes it can get tedious after a while though. I tried it a couple of times, kind of gave up after that.

Well, practice always makes perfect. Pacifica and I try to practice something nowadays if we aren't good at it at first.

Edited by clemont107 on Mar 6th 2023 at 7:49:13 AM

Like now I gotta learn more about that activity, they would make such fabuloso fashionable items!

True, they also make good decorations! Crochet has so much possibilities for good use!

So I've been listening to Marnie talking about composing digital music, and I decided I want to get into that same sort of stuff as well, though I want to compose hybrid orchestral trailer music in particular. What do I need to get started?

What?! You actually like orchestral stuff more than sound-design stuff?!

Yeah. To be honest, I always found orchestral music to be more beautiful and pleasant to listen to than sound-design music (it kind of sounds grating to me when I actually hear it). Sorry for upsetting you, it's just that everyone has different musical tastes.

I can understand that, Roberta. Sound-design music isn't really for everyone, even though I don't mind it at all.

(*Sigh*) Alright, what you will need is a digital audio workstation to actually structure your audio and composition. Then you will need some virtual instruments for the orchestra, including brass, strings and choirs, as well as synthesizers, braams, percussion and other sound effects. For orchestral tracks, more mixing is involved because there are more elements that you need to balance out in comparison to sound-design tracks.

Never really minded orchestral stuff. I always find it good to balance it out with synths though.

Adding tribal instruments into the mix can be fun as well.

[1] Sewing and embroidering have partially been automated, so you might have a hard time making a living off of it. In generally, you'll have tough luck if you're trying to work with textiles - at least in my world, there are big companies which produce tons of clothes per day, to the point where some customers prefer buying new clothes over repairing their old ones. Yes, it's wasteful and stupid, and there's nothing that justifies that mentality.
What languages do you speak?

[2] Dang, did I miss out on that? Sorry that I keep having to leave the lab so early, inter-universal jetlag sucks.

   During the winter of last year, I was able sew some cute booties for lil Milktchi though I did find it difficult to do which is why I had some help with a sewing machine.   

   I'm still fankfuh you made dose, dey go well wiff my baby wompah, hee hee! To show my gwatitude, I got you a old fashioned champagne bottle with a nightgown in wetuhn!   

I tried to get into designing some new clothes, but I'm still not very good at it. Everyone is trying to help me the best they can, but the skill is more easily learnable to some people than to others.

Yeah, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses.

Uhh, woke up with a bad headache. What did I miss?

   Not much from what I can tell, I was strangely quite tired yesterday.   

   There was an early full moon last night, I seen it before it got dark.   

   It was so warm yesterday but now it's getting cold again and it's pretty cloudy here too. aroo   

Gotta finish the last part of this assignment, it's due tonight and I don't want to worry about it anymore.

Good luck. It's a race to the finish line. You're almost there.

Good luck. By the way, it's kind of cold where I live as well, and it has been snowing quite a bit. 12 inches, I think.

Yikes. At least in the rainforest there's no snow, as far as I can tell.

Yeah, sometimes snow can be too cold, but sometimes it can also be fun.

Aww, that sucks. I've always been really good at both of those things. And if it matters, I speak Spanish, French, Greek, Latin, and English.

If you speek Greek and Latin well, maybe you could become a scholar in those fields? Not many people (should) know these languages nowadays, and you could definitely impress people with that

[1] That's a lot of languages, Latin in particular isn't too common to hear about these days.

[2] I could have sworn Greek gotten some attention in terms of it's alphabet letters since words like "alpha, beta, gamma, delta and so on" has that cool factor.

Aww man, I liked when it was cloudy. Oh whatever, at least it's getting a tad warmer so my hands don't get stuck hibernating in my pockets.

Edited by MkayRose on Mar 7th 2023 at 10:11:55 AM

Oh! And if it matters, I led a country while my husband was away.

Apologies for the prolonged absence. Apparently we've been gone for— Hold on, let me check —Four days? Yeesh!
A lot of problems all came to us at once without warning. We had to deal with the North Sea Monsters, then the Helvetian Comital Crisis, then a massive attack near the Carpathians, et cetera. But they're all fixed now.

(OOC: That book summary took way longer than it reasonably should have, what the shit?)

By the way: Stefan, do you still care about that PDF of scandal stories? The one I mentioned last week? Or is that out of sight, out of mind for you?

Edited by m-95 on Mar 7th 2023 at 10:04:03 AM