THE FANDOM HIGHTIMES: Volume 4, Twenty-Second Edition!

[the_merriest]

RIKKU SPEAKS:

I had only been in Fandom a month when the Club Fair happened. And I bounced around all of the tables, chattering at people, and a girl named Rory convinced me that I should totally join the paper. I was kinda nervous, because I'm not really the writing type, but she told me it'd be fun. She was right. Boy, was she ever.

That first semester, I co-wrote Horoscopes with Alanna -- which was hard when she was a statue for a couple of weeks, because I'm not really good at Horoscopes? -- and wrote my own little articles about the Al Bhed language. They're silly, but they're kinda fun, and really, I think I liked being somewhere that I could say I was Al Bhed without people being upset about it.

Then Rory graduated, and Peter took over. Jamie was my new partner for horoscopes (Alanna graduated, too!) and I still wrote pieces with Al Bhed vocabulary. I also kicked in a Jumble for the All-Jumble issue. If you weren't here for last year, you should seriously go look those up, cause they were awesome.

At the end of the year, when Peter graduated, he handed the paper over to me. I hope I've taken good care of it. I've had an amazing staff. The hardest part has been finding something to say here each week!

I'm graduating soon, so this is my last issue. The Hightimes has been part of me since I was a part of Fandom. If there are a few tear-stains on the ink, can we all just pretend they aren't there?

Thank you to Rory, for pulling me in and making me believe I was an important member of the staff. Thank you to Peter, who let me invent a holiday (no, really) and trusted me with running the ship after he left. Thank you to Lady Ghanima, for being our trusty advisor all year. Thank you so much to Lee, Toby, Warren, and Cal, who have been amazing all semester, and also to Turtle, Gwen, and Liz, who were part of the crew last fall. And thank you to everyone out there reading this, week in and week out. It's been a blast.







Goodbye
by Lee Adama

Well, like all good things, this must come to an end. After almost a year of writing for the paper, this is my last frakking article. And frankly, that's really frakking terrifying. I've been here for two years. I've spent two years of my life here. I don't want to go. I don't want to graduate and leave this place. Life's different out there. Life isn't as...alive. I don't even know how to describe it. When you leave this place, you know you're going to be missing some of the weirdest most amazing things and you hate that. You want to be there for when you randomly turn into a girl or a guy or for when you're pet comes to life. And now, soon, a lot of us won't be here.

A lot of us came from some unpleasant environments and built ourselves up here. We made ourselves into better people and now we have to leave. And it sucks. We have to leave friends, loved ones, things unfinished and it's always a question of if we'll ever get to pick up those unfinished threads. We want to but who says we can?

Real life sucks, man. Aging sucks. Responsibility sucks. I want to stay here and sleep in and be a lazy ass for awhile longer. I want to go to classes about modeling and watch my roommate set his hands on fire. I'm not going to find these things out there. It's just not going to happen. I'm not going to find awesome friends, awesome teachers and insanity out there. This place gave me the girl I loved, my best friend and some relationships that I don't want to go away. This place gave me a lot more than I could have asked for and I'm sort of wanting to cling to it. Is that possible? I know some people would tell me to buck up and live life but allow me my moments of sentimentality. I like it here.

All good things must come to an end though. This is an ending. There'll be another beginning but I don't know if I'm ready to call this an ending.

Can we call it a to be continued?



by Cal Stephanides

This Week: Emerging From the Depths of Inspiration Swallowing Shadows

What you hold in your hands at this very moment is the last edition of the Fandom High Times for the Spring 2009 semester, a publication of great merit that I have not written for since February. I figured, however, to compliment the great efforts of my fellow writing staff...Lee with his arms. Toby with his hair. Warren with his pessimism that could put even mine to the test. Our incredibly insane but fantastic editor Rikku who only adds to my culminating proof that all blondes are insane merely for putting up with us (except maybe Lee; he's a pushover)...I figured I would emerge from the crippling grasp of my persistent writer's block to compose something.


SOMETHING.


There.

Have a good summer. I know I will. Building a church. In Turkey.

Oh, you think I'm joking.



by Warren Peace

So, this is it, folks. Another semester down the drain, and another summer term on the way. I'll still be here, some of you won't be, life goes on, right?

Well, I certainly hope so.

I guess there are things I'm going to miss about this semester. The cruise, for one, wasn't bad. I went on a vacation and I actually enjoyed it, and so it deserves mention. The zombies, I'm going to miss far less. You know you have a good boss when they tie you up so that you won't eat people. The harpies weren't bad. They made decent target practise, after all. Kids invading, being a kid myself, and so much more. Fandom itself tossed one busy semester at us once again, maybe to let us know that it is, in fact, still Fandom.

Something to remember us by, Seniors.

I think the one thing I'll miss about this semester the most, though, is having a roomie who didn't suck. Take care of yourself, Lee. Or I'll have to hunt you down and light your a** on fire.

I probably can't write that in the paper, huh? Oh well. It's the last issue of the semester, so suck it up. What are they going to do? Fire me?

And for now and the rest of the summer, I'll just shut my flaming trap.




by Rikku

Last time I get to do this. How could I resist?

My staff is awesome, and they will get a pizza party on Thursday.
So cdyvv ec yfacusa, yht drao femm kad y bewwy byndo uh Drinctyo.

If my staff does not realize there will be hugs, they do not know me very well.
Ev so cdyvv tuac hud naymewa drana femm pa rikc, drao tu hud ghuf sa jano famm.

I feel like I should include some strange words here, such as 'squid,' 'explosives,' 'orange,' 'hyperactive,' and 'calculus.'
E vaam mega E cruimt ehlmita cusa cdnyhka funtc rana, cilr yc 'cxiet,' 'aqbmucejac,' 'unyhka,' 'robanyldeja,' yht 'lymlimic.'

Goodbye, Fandom. And thanks.
Kuutpoa, Fandom. Yht dryhgc.




Aries
March 21 - April 20
If your recent dreams have been unclear, don't worry, it's just the tears of sorrow clouding your eyes.

Taurus
April 21 - May 21
There will be a strong connection between you and someone totally awesome. Make it last, man. Make it last.

Gemini
May 22 - June 22
You are feeling more than thinking today, which is so awesome. Let's have a group hug.

Cancer
June 23 - July 23
You must deal with a past failure today, but you can fix what needs to be fixed. Not you, Worfy.

Leo
July 24 - August 23
Now that you've made a tough decision, your day will go on, much like my heart.

Virgo
August 24 - September 23
It's a good time to hang with friends. Cry together. Say what you need to say!

Libra
September 24 - October 23
Remember, everybody wants to rule the world. Be a follower and your tears won't go unseen.

Scorpio
October 24 - November 22
Get a friend to join you tonight. No one should drink alone, OMM.

Saggitarius
November 23 - December 21
I'm all out of love, Saggitarious! I'm so lost without you! I know you were right believing for so long!

Capricorn
December 22 - January 20
Check out how things are going with your buds today. It looks like a lot of people could use some pre-grad snuggling.

Aquarius
January 21 - February 19
It's going to be an easy breezy day for you -- all the hard choices are behind you because you HAVE NO SOUL.

Pisces
February 20 - March 20
You fish swim upstream. The water is gonna be hot this week and ripe with fresh worms or whatever the hell fish eat.



Coffee Pin-Up







credits:

editor: Rikku
words: Lee Adama, Toby Moraitis, Warren Peace, Rikku, Cal Stephanides
pictures: The fabulous Chloe Sullivan, the amazing Rory Gilmore, the marvelous Peter Parker, and the humble Rikku
adviser: Ghanima Atreides

Questions? Concerns? Got a hot tip? It's a little late for that, isn't it???