A Place for when you have an IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT for another Cultie

I don't know if pretending to admit that I'm silly enough to think Nutella doesn't have a lot of sugar in it is worth $20... I mean... self respect or something...

Hahaha... just kidding... but going through the work of filing a claim...

wow, that is craaazy! (or should i say nuts? bahaha)
thank you for thinking of me, pepper

Haha, yeah, you were the first place my brain went when I read that.

Funny, how even when I haven't been around here much, certain little off the wall things will make me think of one of you.

Hey Irina. Those strawberry booties you got for Sarah were really cute. How can I get some for my future niece or something similar?

HEY FRANK I WAS ON A PORN SITE THE OTHER DAY AND SAW A PICTURE OF A GUY WHO LOOKED ALMOST EXACTLY LIKE YOU JERKING OFF ON HIS COUCH

AND NO I DIDN'T MASTURBATE TO IT IF THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE THINKING YOU CONCEITED BASTARD

YOU'RE NOT THAT ATTRACTIVE

Awesome, they finally accepted my submiss... I mean, interesting.

Kit, I didn't get to send that postcard out yet but I will soon. I also got two new postcards today. Who will the lucky culties be?

I approve of all of these impotent messages.

I mean *important*. Which is what I meant to write at first but I wrote impotent instead and decided to leave it.

Yes. http://www.etsy.com/shop/MiaPiccina This is the shop.

Not me.

or me.

Yeah, this is why I'm reminding you not to send me anything. I will send out a batch of cards soon though. I just need to find the perfect things.

Irina! Lucy has been wearing her pink strawberry booties and people just love them.

I'm so glad! I bet she looks adorable.

Calling all cult artists (Kit, Jaz, Amber and so on):

Got these on Saturday. Was looking for these but the Derwent look even better.

Anyone ever had a go with something similar?

That is awesome.

I want to go get those for my daughter now.

coool... my mum got me some Derwent pencils for my birthday back in feb .. graphitint or something they're called, I haven't even tried them yet

I'm not a fan of colored pencils. Is there something wrong with me?

That is funny because I fretted over whether to send you colored pencils or regular graphite ones and finally settled on the graphite.

Mike!

Saw your post earlier in the movie thread and thought I'd share it.

Nope. I find using colouing pencils and pastels well really hard, but I thought I should give them a go. (I usually only use pens).

Hah! That would make up for her not wanting kids. Except she's not an Avenger. Only the characters who had movies are Avengers. Not even Nick Fury is an Avenger. She's a member of SHIELD.

But Fury is gonna have his own movie. Also, are black widow and bow and arrow guy not really avengers?

I love coloured pencils, but I love graphite pencils also. basically i just love all kinds of pencils!
But if you don't like coloured pencils, I kinda get it. They can be hard to work with.

I guess when it comes to blending colors paints are easier to work with than colored pencils for me. I'm really bad at pencil shading that's why I stick to graphite so I can master grayscale before trying colored pencil drawings.

And thanks again Amber I really do love those pencils. I was in need of a new set of good drawing pencils.

Frank, I was at the horse track over the weekend and I bet on a horse named "Sinatra's Loverboy" since it reminded me of you and sinatra. Sadly, he lost. Badly. I am disappointed in both of us.

Hattie! Melody! Alecia!

http://storyboard.tumblr.com/post/25155724981/pusheen-the-cat-tells-all-...

An interview with Pusheen!

Awwwwww!

I love that cat!

Okay, first, clearly these sources could likely lack reputability and be full of utter nonsense, saying that to get it out of the way.

That is done.

I started thinking about Irina and her Bear fear thingly, and her saying how they have so damn many in Romania, so I looked some things up, first just wanting some perspective for myself because I still don't quite get it (probably because I adore bears)

I ended up finding some things that might help put it in perspective for you (Irina)

According to the official estimation presented by the Romanian Bear Management Plan in 2006, there are about 6000 bears.

http://milvus.ro/Mammal_Conservation/large-carnivores/faq-about-wolves-a...

Romania is 92,043 Sq Miles......

Oregon 98,381 square miles

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080522083005AAWBbsK

As of a 1996 estimate, there are 339,000-465,000 [black bears, not counting any other types here] in the US

[and in Oregon]Oregon 25,000-30,000

http://askville.amazon.com/black-bears-United-States-regions-common/Answ...

30,000/6000 = 5.

For every bear that could get Irina there are five that could get me here, assuming bears never cross state lines and only Oregonian bears would want to eat me.

Romania is the ninth largest country of the European Union by area, and has the seventh largest population of the European Union with over 19 million people

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romania

[2011 census for Oregon]3,871,859

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_popu...

[Rounding up to four million for Oregon population]

19,000,000/4,000,000 = 4.75

So my crappy math skills might show here when I say I think that makes a ten times greater risk for me? Five times the bears here (only counting black bears) plus five times less the people available for them to eat.

This began as an attempt to help with reason, but after writing all that out I am now frightened.

I also learned that google seems incapable of finding the proper term for bear-phobia. The internet never lies, therefore there must not be one.

We should make one up.

_edit. I am really bored.

In other words.

I Made research for you Irina!

thank you for giving me something to do for the past half hour.

Yeah, you're probably right. On the other hand, the fact that there have been bear attacks in the village next to the one where my grandparents live increases the odds dramatically. My parents also want me to go visit some time in the near future, and pick blackberries (which I love). But there's no way I'm going back on that hill, not when I saw bear shit with my own eyes the last time I was there (8-9 years ago).

As for the maths, you also need to consider that bears only live in the woods, and that's about 2/3 of the country's surface - we have a very proportional country, 31% mountains, 33% hills, 36% plains. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Romania)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/safariandwildlifeholidays/3477989/Bear...

We saw 14 bears in all, in an exhilarating and moving evening. It's rare enough to see bears at all, but to encounter them on their own turf was a joy.

The bears are so numerous that some have even been spotted foraging in dustbins in the nearby town of Brasov. For a while this was something of a local tourist attraction, until two drunken tourists picked a fight with one. "What happened?" I asked Adrian Hagatis. "The bear won," he said with a smile.

Our small group was stilled by the appearance of a mother and two small cubs on the hillside 30 yards away; the mother sniffing the air suspiciously, looking in our direction. A hundred yards behind us lay the van; 200 yards ahead, the forest hide. A pause. "Clap," said Adrian, the guide. We clapped. "And walk." We walked. Fast. Through the forest, across the stream and up the wooden steps into the cabin, trying not to run, not looking back until we were safely inside. Hearts pounding, we gazed around in disbelief. But it had been a good lesson: bear-watching in the Piatra Craiului National Park in Romania is not, as Adrian put it, "a trip to the circus".

I was mostly teasing you because I am bored and it was something to do (to aviod other more productive and tedious tasks in this heat, it is still 78 and it is almost 11:00 at night).

You could retaliate by making research on how often Zombies and evil spirits and and et cetera burst out of cemetery graves and eat people alive. If you were so inclined.

There are no zombies! But I'm aware that's one of the things people love imagining about Romania - the vampires, ghosts and all sorts of other things. Hell, even our villagers have a wide variety of such stories.

I prefer those with plant fairies, to be honest. The kind that supposedly only children can see. I used to believe in that and then when I was 13 or so I remember I was so pissed because I wouldn't be able to see them anymore, no matter how hard I tried.

Well, I guarantee you there are all kinds of creepy things out to get me in every cemetery around here.

If you are saying there are none in Romania, then this means my coimetrophobia is perfectly logical and reasonable.

Okay, I probably wouldn't like walking around a cemetery at night either.

I often don't care for them in the daylight.

Night time? uhuh.

I hear everyone in Russia is a bear on a unicycle.

Romania sounds gorgeous, bears and fairies or no bears and fairies. I'd love to visit there some day and learn more about it's history.

I'm glad. It is indeed a beautiful country. Here are some pictures, and some have descriptions in English. The title is "273 things to see in Romania".

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.142700509104102.19029.14269910...

Wowza, amazing pictures. I'm coming to visit!

Be my guest! Well, not technically, because my house is packed, but it would be great if you visited one day.

Is English your first language or Romanian?

She has a long list.

First
Second
Third
Fourth
Fifth
Sixth
seventh
Eighth
I think it may go on...

Irina is a smartypants

English is my third. Romanian's the first. Amber, there's no eighth on the list yet.