Flying far above the mundane world below, I follow the intriguing man on the sky-tide, surfing the aerie waves lost in my dreams. I can almost feel his thoughts, pulling me in new places, seeing for the first time possibilities unimagined. Suddenly I am startled out of my reverie as my flight ends abruptly. I am stuck like a butterfly caught in a web. Naturally I scream at the top of my lungs. What else could I do?
"Where are we"?? "I am right here, flying above you"! "No! I mean...I can't move!! What has changed"? "Nothing...and everything! My status is precisely as it were before you released your Banshee wail. You on the other hand, appear to have become stuck in a quagmire". "Yes, exactly! Dare I ask why I am stuck and how I can get out? I don't see any webs but I feel trapped". "Some things should be learned for one's self. I see your frustration, so fear not, I will offer you some advice. You have almost answered your own question already. What does one do when one feels trapped? I for one, attempt to determine the cause, then once the cause is know, search for solutions to the problem. I test those solutions until one gets me the results I desire". "Your explanation sounds like something from Ms. Rupert's Science class. According to science I can not fly, so how can I be stuck in the sky next to a flying man by webs I can not see"? "Oh dear one, do they teach nothing to you in mole-land? Science is the art of understanding how things are, not how things seem. Tell me girl, what do you need to understand science in Ms. Rupert's class"? "You need a science book, a notebook to work out problems, maybe a ruler or a scale to measure things, a beaker if we are doing chemistry experiments, a scalpel for biology". "So to understand science, you need a guidebook, a means to work out problems and the proper tools"? "Science is not that simple"! "Science is applied reason mixed in a solution of ideas and poured into form by imagination. Seems to me, that when man went to live on the ground he forgot all about imagination and instead focused on procedure. Procedure alone will only serve to trap one in tedious repetition". "Wait a minute! Did you just give me the answer? All I have to do is use my imagination and I will break free"? ---I'm free!! How? Wait...all I did was think the webs away by imagining they were dissolved in my mind"! "When the mind becomes ensnared in singular possibilities, the narrowed path of thought limits one's perception until flight becomes impossible. Only the stupid believe there is only one path to freedom and happiness. A rock is submerged in a pond. A fish swims up to the rock and circles him in rapid fashion. The rock boasts, "I am secure in my position in life. No matter what happens I will remain thus". The fish pauses from its rapid swim upon hearing the rock's boast and says, "But sir rock, you can not move. If a mudslide were to occur just now I would swim away but you would be buried. What security is there in knowing you can not move if events require you to do so""? "I asked my mom what happiness is. She said work. If imagination is freedom and happiness and the foundation for science, why don't we promote imagination over work, duty, and everything else?" "Why indeed? The answer is fundamental to why I have been up here alone for so long. A person with an unfettered imagination can create whatever he or she wants. Have you heard of a Chimera"? "No, whatever might a Chimera be"? "A Chimera is a mythical beast. Our ancestors believed it was real. It had multiple heads, one dragon, one lion and one goat and it had wings. It has come to symbolize fanciful thoughts. So much has the Chimera faded from our thoughts that most like you have never even heard of one". "I should very much like to see a Chimera". "Dear girl, you can make your own Chimera. We all have the capacity. The power to do so is buried under layers of procedure, repetition and nay-saying. I see that look of disbelief. Oh very well. I shall take you to meet the Chimera. See that large jagged mountain peak in the distance"? "Yes". "Follow me then". "Does the Chimera live on that mountain"? "Oh no. He lives inside the mountain". "How do you propose we get in to see the Chimera then"? "We fly at break-neck speed directly into the side of the mountain of course". "Okay". What else could I do but follow this fascinating, lunatic into the side of the mountain? I simply can not miss the chance to meet a Chimera. Besides, I am only dreaming. Right? I hope I do not get in trouble for sleeping too long today. --Commencing on a Flight of Fancy-- In the Metro group I discussed the idea of posting the actual spreadsheet I use to make my Dean's List available for all to see. You can download the excel file below and have a look for yourself. The newer connections are live-linked to the city, so when you click on the name it will take you to the metro city page listed. Oldest connections are numbered first, and were hand entered so are not-live linked. On some of the older cities I like an old name better and never updated to the newest name for the city. Hopefully there aren't too many that you can not figure out. What happened to connections no longer playing? I deleted them! Sorry, but this spreadsheet can not be used as a permanent archive of all players...for one thing I am not connected to everyone, not even everyone who is a perfect popper! How it works: I hide old months. I don't list the years, only the months and date of review. You can still figure out which years are which by going backward. On the 8th of the month I post the first quarter of the report for the month covering days 1-7. The 15th covers days 8-14. The 22nd covers days 15-21. The 29th covers days 22-27 and 28-31. On the first of the next month I review days 28-31. For the last quarter (marked 29 of the current month) I mark if a city goes below 7/7 and I mark the column with the new number but I do not document whether the drop occurred on day 22-27 or on day 28-31, since the point of my list was not to keep a daily log but a monthly list of who was perfect. It wasn't until much later I realized that people were very concerned to know the exact day they missed. It was never my intention to keep a metro log, which is why I don't include comments or a daily break down. Color: Blue means perfect for the month Red means pops under 50% of the time for the month and has left no reason as to why or the mayor has specifically indicated they are about to retire. Green means I have excused them for whatever reason from being deleted. Reasons for green could be vacation, illness or personal whim. Was the Dean's list always perfect? Hell no! The first few years I was making a mistake in how I calculated out perfection and also I would give leniency on the last few days of the month. Also Metro did not calculate the report properly until a couple of years ago. As many of the old timers know you used to be able to achieve 8/7 and I even saw 13/7 once. When that bad calculation was going on the following week the city might be 7/7 but would be posted for less than that because the previous week was over-calculated. I also will occasionally make clerical errors, although I pride myself on being meticulous about accurately recording what I am seeing on the connection report. If there is a known server problem with Metro I give credit for that day whether you popped or not. Also, if you are not going to make the Dean's List for that month and there are minor differences between your total from the 28th-31st of the month I won't necessarily mark that on my spreadsheet since you were not eligible for the award and the difference would not matter as far as us staying connected. What can go wrong? 1. Your autopop didn't go through. You hit the button, but for whatever reason the autopop process didn't actually run the macro that populates your connections. Always check the Game Information Feed off of your Metro Home Page for your city to make sure your pop went through. 2. You thought you popped every night but forgot. 3. I made an error and somehow listed you as less or more than you deserved. 4. There was a glitch in the Metro server due to daylight savings, an error caused by one of the numerous facebook updates or some other technical glitch beyond our control as players of the game. 5. You did pop, but missed the 12 Midnight sever update by nano-seconds and turned into a pumpkin! The point of the Dean's List? The Dean's list has always been my way of showing my appreciation to you, my connections. Sometimes it seems to have a life of its own and has more importance attached to it than it should. I have had some people so angry at me that I had to have them banned as a facebook contact due to verbal abuse and some have deleted me as a connection over a perceived slight. It has never been my intention for this award to be anything more than my way of showing love to you, gentle metro player. If you feel anything negative about it, I am truly sorry. The most commonly missed days are the 1st and last day of the month. Don't ask me why! I hope you enjoy the spreadsheet. I probably will not provide an updated version very often. Hopefully it will be useful for those of you who are considering making your own list to keep track of connections. Happy Metro-ing! -Dean
Before my teenage years I was not allowed to listen to much in the way of rock, let alone heavy metal. Most of what we listened to was bluegrass or country and western. I loved Johnny Cash, Ray Stevens, Roger Miller and Kenny Rogers. I think I was maybe thirteen when my brother talked my mom into letting him subscribe to one of those record deal clubs where you get twenty or thirty albums for a penny and then you have to order one or two a month for a period of time afterward at full price.
Neither of us had much of a clue when it came to music, but I remember my brother ordered a few records just because the record jacket looked cool. We got Dio Last in Line and Ozzy's Bark at the Moon just that way. A few years later I remember getting my driver's license, hopping in the car and rushing down to the mall. Generally I had saved $30-40 from doing chores and selling pop bottles and I was eager to make two stops, one to the hobby store to see what was new in the world of Dungeons and Dragons, the second to the record store to see what awesome new records were available. You really couldn't sample songs back then, so as we became more and more interested in metal, as a teen you would often be greatly influenced by the album cover. For me, the closer it looked to something from Dungeons and Dragons, or the more demons or half-naked chicks, or a combination of all three greatly influenced my purchase if I knew nothing else about the band. How many bands sold more copy because some nerdy teen like me thought the cover art rocked!? Some of the truly greats like Ozzy Osborne have survived the early 80's and continue to rock out today, but how many bands never survived either because the record art sucked or the band did or both? Want to relive all that? I found this website a few years back that actually categories alphabetically heavy metal record album art and you can download it for free for your own entertainment. How cool is that!? So in my opinion, this website is worth a look! Follow the link to rock on! These are the recipients of the Dean's List Award in Metro for August 2013.
The Gator Swamp Arejaytowne Doodlebug Township Hubertopia Blondeopolis Zoot Gizmos Furry Butt Livingwell Insert Name Here Simplycity IvyVa Hoiho Dare to Dream Face Value Hywelsville Diamond Town Usa Dilidabad Breamington West West Stonia City Of Birds Rosemount The Peak Isle of Sadie Buffington Tycity Clifford Sobel Feelgood Bubblicious Paradise Cove Happy New Nordborg City Of The Troll Esox The Toy Chest Mi Viejo San Juan Pattyland Purrrfect Tweasel Town Silverbell Carthage Glennfield Summer Night City Londonopolis Ewetopia Urquhart Franklington Lapisland Zululogic City Bug Dacious Nana Dacidi Excitement City Tiggs Bums Gone Numb Stanislaus Gwa Yas Dums Village Mollystown Sleep Deprevation La Verneberg Gods Waiting Room Linville Yellowdaisy Town New Spiritville Glacier Bay Isle Humberstone Samsara Bugztown Canada Yeswecanville Its Only A Game Ageless One Orygun Island Marino Pass Nibiru Nova Selendra Land Of Crazybigfoot Mqt Neriahs Kingdom Dogtown Heights Dastopolis Copperton Vahala Rhodacia Hummingbird Crystal Downs Castaway Cove Galactica San Doria Ama Wallovsound Holyshit Tiddleywinkton Xie Skojstad Country Crossing Curry Camp South Bedrock City Hellenhalpha Georgia Castletownbere Naked New Atlantis Mount Heidi Tracypolis Setback Rugrats Town Joshuatown Aldopolis Eske City Jumboville Toon Army Town Phunkier Than Thou Kerfuffle Vacationland New Orleans Drew Millenary Harper Lee I S L A N D Eggplant Duboffville Glacier Springs Vespertine Happy Xanta Derickstad Deco Metro Awan Infinity Plus One Beachberry Siler City Dawdon Stars Bay Gakgak City Bell Bottom Solo Singletown Pinliesalso Partyland Patriville Varnertown Reets Place Porto Lato Baldvania Mauretoville Bree Foofaa Once Upon A Time Othalla Happy Grove Willysville Gold City Kisamot Rag City Hayekburg Earnhardt Nation Gifted Markrans Happy Sunshine Haven San Luisa Nabunturan City Bellasville Massimi Brantford I Dont Know Vazha Lemur The Mines Vinny Asdaaaa Serenity Alsiopolis Xana Hilltop Acres Waltsville Island Heights N J Parishonia Sur La Baie Lowieville Margni Watville Giraffe Citty Atagonia Fen Linville City Scurdy Ness High Living Snir Town Vox Roosterville Bythesea Cleapayor Godzilla Gathering Wolfpack City Kworld My Zelenograd Lullemsuz City Ashkevronia Timland Plentitude Sandcity Asia Vegas New Grandetown Shangra La Feline Central Climax Marconi Win City Jean Town Davidsburgh Cancelada City Rrjp Bawbag Nuevo Paraiso Bluff Point Heyaville Beech Gully Mott Town Carthage Village Amarie Faith Hope Charity Stews Place Redmotropica Pappa City Minby Taichung City Nathypolis Vega Eesti Vidi Churriana West Galt Epicenter Grand Am Danonia Simcity Allanburgh Joeburgh Chirotopia Lake Woe B Gone Great Dales of Fern Thunder Valley Emery Township Vernoville Godric This Old Swamp Pocket Price Mythical City Of Ys Wildlife In My Hair New North Nelsonia Munville Pine Hills Clewer Overcrowded Tonys Wagon Nature Slacktownopilis Neptunius Good Mood Metropolis Tulletown Fenfenville Milicapolis Rocella Bondi Beecheys City Upton Park Gothamcity Johnsonville Du Weldenvarden Diesels Promise Birdville La Florida Adam Ondi Ahman Quake Shake Town Zoric Conjunction Junction Babylonxxx Little Swiss Place Morticiaville Londewarium Andrews Star D R City Gavoucester Strawberry Cupcake Enchanted Phoenix Lannietown Scamville Freshcity Cant Have My Gun New Bluethorn City Geeitsmeville Cakes Nawaii Rhea Lintukoto Terminal Velocity Gothamtown Ingalton Benny Shores Patricia Jokerscity Historical City Skaville La Village Dormir Stevieleadom Florence On The Rose Heaven Gate Wetteren Kente Midland Jestingfool Nikitanipone Cromwellsworld Noodle City Oxford Ballycaldera Lambopolis Mavericks Junction Stargate Dalston Empty Nest Green Zone Chongsville The Great Pretender Mr Limpet Papillonville New Minglewood Island Of Mysteries San Raniero A Mare Poor No More Oscars World Whisperina Tvc Cats And The City Pigs Fly Here Little Blue Penguin New Lima The Squirrel's Nest Shivering Timbers Velodromias Space Zee Calliope Sanz Bajan City Dekran Chihuahua Central My Happiest Place Valebridge Pulau Semakau Mattrules Binawahana Konigsruhe Hells Bridge Ikh City Lola Hannupolis Happy Ice Cream Cats Metromall Anything Infinite Grace Hanko Sun City Sebastopol Guana My Own Place Cois Na H Abainn Earthseed Oscarmeyertown Nuevo Samarkand Happy Grove Street Siikalatvala Armigherville Desert I S L A N D Nevets Holar Mega Land Bukhara New Ikh City Graysonville One Over Rainbow Bridge Silasopolis Texas Twister Amsterdamm Log Town Tarod Noviomagus Regnorum Asdfville Lugolandia Abbieville Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Sharing Is Caring Bunsville West Dobechester Lawn Guy Land Driversville Mahdi City Friendlyville Astonville English Paradise Caerfyrrdin Hanoi Googolplex Ecstasy Imperial Fire Dixon Nation Whatcote Maranatha Slick City Suburbia Amsterdammned Yankred Skyclad In Moonlight Ellsmera Never Never Land Asia Renaissance Utopiapolis Masonville Nowherestan Wild Crazy Thoughts Bringabeeralong Dublin Ii Time Tells Magical Kingdom Peteronia Maclaren The Den Pulastra Wrightopian Nation Sparkyville Six Seasons N Movie |
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