Top Ten Signs You're Addicted to the Barrow-Downs

[Sophia the Thunder Mistress]

Haven't been here all that long (as you can see by my dismal pile o' bones...), but already I've spent so much time on here that it's caused problems with my roommate over time spent on the computer [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img] ...

[Hirilaelin]

Well, here at my house, there are always at least four other people wanting to use the computer, so I get a lot of complaints about my obessesion. But hey, they play endless battle games, so I don't see why I should get my share, even if it is an hour longer then theirs, right? [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]

[Eressië Ailin]

You know your'e addicted when:

1. You have a seven page long Word document consisting of BDer's siigs.

2. You don't really even need it because you've memorized everything on it.


Sadly, both of these are true....

[Eressië Ailin]

You're REALLY REALLY REALLY MAD!!!! [img]smilies/mad.gif[/img] [img]smilies/mad.gif[/img] because you just accidently deleted the whole seven page document!!!!!! And that's all you can think about even though you only have 1 paragraph done of the 3-page report due in 10 hours!!!

[Amanaduial the archer]

Oh ouch! Unlucky!

. You have a seven page long Word document consisting of BDer's siigs.

Four actually. Just four...

[GaladrieloftheOlden]

#you look through your desktop calender and write a quote matching the picture in your diary everyday!#

#you lie in bed at night planning scenarios/future posts for RPGs or trying to get the tricky quiz question#

#the day before your mock exams start you sit in front of your computer with a growing realisation that, yes, you really ARE addicted to the BD!#

#you know that the day before your actual exam you will still be checking whats going on, even though you know you need the grades to get to uni. why can't they do lotr studies, thats what i want to know?#

Have you been spying on me or something? [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] I do all of those!

1.Your math notebook consists to one quarter of unfinished problems, the rest is new sigs you want to try, unfinished characters for RPGs, "Barrow-Downs rock" in elvish etc, etc

2. You spent time wondering what would happen if you would recognize a BDer if she/he came to your school as a new kid/teacher

3. You annoy your friends you´re actually InstantMessaning with by saying "Wait a sec, I have to finish an RPGpost" or "Do you know who said _______"

4. You lie on your bed, mortally depressed because you can´t find a picture nice enough to send on the MemberPics page

5. You care more about a good rpg post then a good grade

6. Getting a higher member status is one of your natrual highs

7. One of your new-years resoloutions is "Yet a QQ answer before Beren87 does", and another is "Stop making spam posts"

8. You rename your computer into "Barrow-Wight 2", but go back to "goddamn-crap-thing" because one can´t be mad at the BW

9. You make your friends register here, and then continue pestering them untill they jump in an RPG (right, Sindae?)

10. When people REALLY annoy you, you call them "stupid, chat-language using, Orlando-swooning newbie"!, and collect odd looks

80%!

You've just spent at least fifteen minutes discussing with your friend over instant messaging how like you all this is, copying and pasting each point which is relevant to you. At first they fully agree but when you go back and read the conversation you realise they got bored and you've actually been talking to yourself for the past ten minutes.

Yep.... just it was much more than 15 minutes. [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]

1. Your BD nickname is printed on the back of your favorite sweatshirt.

2. You constantly beg your best friend who likes Tolkien to join the BD.

3. You spend hours searching for the perfect avatar.

4. When you read about a name or place from The Silmarillion, you automatically think of someone from the BD.

5. No one ever calls you anymore because you are constantly online.

6. Your Tolkien books are torn and abused from constant use.

7. You're never completely satisfied until you have been on the BD for at least once each day.

8. You hardly ever go outside anymore. What's the point?

9. You begin to dream about being on the BD in your sleep.

10. Your favorite quotes come from the sigs of other members on the BD.

I swear, I've done every one of those, except print GaladrieloftheOlden on a sweatshirt...how come i've never thought of that?

and I always check BD before homework! I am obsessed...

Certainly! Me too! I actually go on the BDs during homework...*grins guiltily* I have dreams about Tolkien related stuff about every other night, and about one third of them have to do with either someting I read on the BDs or people on the BDs or *shudders* the haunted black screen... [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Being that I don't have a spouse or kids and I'm not Christian, some of them didn't apply to me.

Me too...maybe that's why it's not 1000% yet...hmmm... [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

* You find yourself saying, "That reminds me of when Aragorn_Isildur on the Chat said..." or "You know (fill in Barrow-Downs member)? Well, I saw his pic, and he's really hot..." more than you find yourself making real-world conversation.
* You have actually convinced at least one of your friends that was previously not a huge Tolkien fan to come to the Chat or Forum.

* You begin accidentally answering your friends in what Elvish you know.

* You begin taking notes in the language you came up for your fanfic about some races of Maia not discussed by Tolkien (you make up the races, of course, but you have a way to fit them in).

* You have two languages that you've made up that you do that in.

* You begin carrying your Lord of the Rings characters to fantasies about living other stories.

* You argue that "The Silmarillion" is a history of sorts when you begin trying to explain the entirety of the book in history class.

* You start yelling at anything fantasy-related that you read or see that has anything remotely connected to Lord of the Rings (Harry Potter has a character named Wormtail...coincidence? I think not! Couldn't come up with an original idea, could she? Nooooo...had to steal...).

* Before you speak to your friends, they now say, "We know, we know: In Lord of the Rings..."

* You have spent an entire 55 minutes giving an ad-libbed speech to your friend about how the fact that he hasn't read Lord of the Rings nor seen any of the movies will seriously affect his life.

* Whenever you Improv in Theatre Club, you think of a character from Lord of the Rings and take it from there, creating a modern version of the character.

* You begin to laugh hysterically in the middle of class just remembering some of the threads on the Middle-Earth Mayhem board and some of Lush's threads.

* You compare anything to a thread in here, even if the thread was not really Tolkien-related (The "How Many Barrow-Downers Does It Take to Screw In A Lightbulb?" thread gets brought up a lot, as my friend has a similar thing in her locker that a group of her friends wrote about their camp).

* You've converted at least 9 people (two of which are your mother and father) to Tolkien fans.

* Not only that: you have your mom now bringing up obscure Tolkien references when she hasn't even read anything other than Lord of the Rings because you talk about the other books so much.

* Your dad mentions when you haven't talked about Lord of the Rings for more than 20 minutes.

* You rant about how they ruined Arwen anytime anyone even says the name "Arwen" now.

* You spend time writing ways you know you're addicted to the Barrow-Downs and/or actually fall into all these categories.

* Your aspiration in life is to be as Elf-like as possible, as people always tell you that you would make a perfect Galadriel.

* You see any movie with anyone from the Cast of Lord of the Rings, just to see their acting style in other movies.

* You name anything you have to name with names in Sindarin, Quenya or Westron.

* Friends actually approach you for name recommendations, asking you to translate.

* People seem to assume that, because you are so into Elves, you will actually meet one of the actors that played one of the Elves one day and will really marry them (some of my friends are planning my wedding with Orlando Bloom, others with Craig Parker, and actually some with Sean Bean...although: judging that they are all at least 10 years older than I am...)

* Your teachers all know how much you are addicted to Tolkien and fear you for it.

* You think that they should have Tolkien Language Studies at your school, even though they are, after all, made-up languages.

* You run out of ideas, but keep mentioning anything that you've ever done or keeps happening to you that is related to Tolkien, in the hopes that, if you keep typing, you'll think of something really good...*sigh* oh well, no such luck...

All of them except 3 or 4! Go me! [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

When writing essays for English, you accidently place smilies in your paragraphs.

Yeah. I'm not the only one?...

[Lady Iverin]

Wow! And I thought I was addicted. I mean I can't say as much as the rest of you can because I have a mother who sets stupid time limits on the computer!!! [img]smilies/mad.gif[/img] And, I've only been here for a little over a month. Anyway, trust me, if I could get on first thing in the morning, I would! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] But since I can't, I just have to be satisfied with being addicted offline. *sigh* [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

[Ithaeliel]

Another sign you're addicted:

Whenever you see Shrek and Princess Fiona comes on, you jump up, pointing, shouting "It's Estelyn!"

[Amanaduial the archer]

Tis true, I will never be able to think of Princess Fiona in the same way again...

[Beren87]

You have two languages that you've made up that you do that in.

I'm actually on three now! With a new alphabet for two of them.

[Eressië Ailin]

Whenever you see Shrek and Princess Fiona comes on, you jump up, pointing, shouting "It's Estelyn!"

I did that once! I got some kinda weird looks... and then I sat down... it was really embarassing...

About an hour ago on the Oscars, I saw Cameron Diaz. I pointed and said to my sisters, "Look! There's Estelyn!"

[ March 23, 2003: Message edited by: Eressië Ailin ]

[Maikadilwen]

About an hour ago on the Oscars, I saw Cameron Diaz. I pointed and said to my sisters, "Look! There's Estelyn!"

How can you be so cruel to Estelyn? [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[Eressië Ailin]

As soon as I said it, I took it back. I was like, "Never mind! Forget what I just said! She's way too evil to be Estelyn!"

I'm sorry, Estelyn!!
[img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[ March 24, 2003: Message edited by: Eressië Ailin ]

[Aylwen Dreamsong]

and I always check BD before homework! I am obsessed...

I check BD before and every five minutes while I do my homework (That is, if I even am workin on it!). Honestly, how interesting can the Stardust Space Mission or Gregorian Chants (I hate General Music...) be when you can have the Barrow Downs on your screen?

My General Music class was watching Shrek (For the Music...my teacher loves the end credit songs...I think?), and when I saw Fiona, I whispered to my friend, "Look! It's Esty!" Needless to say she gave me a wierd look and shook her head.

Many of the other ones apply to me too, but laughing out loud during class at random times thinking about something someone on the BD said or one of Lush's threads gets me into trouble a lot. Teachers don't like laughing during the middle of tests.

Aylwen

[ May 06, 2003: Message edited by: Aylwen Dreamsong ]

[Amanaduial the archer]

I missed it! I missed the bleedin Oscars! I missed Adrien Brody! Good god, the world is a cruel place without that face...

[VanimaEdhel]

I don't have 7 pages of signatures, but I have 4 pages of the best Chat quotes. Now remember, this is type in Times New Roman size 7 font, single spaced, with three columns per page and the margins adjusted to .5 inches.

And I can relate to almost all of the new ones...sad...especially the waiting for a PM like a loveletter...*whimpers pathetically*

[Scott]

Uh oh, I've only been registered for a month or so, and can already relate to the PM thing!
I've got it bad!

[Beren87]

PMs are annoying, because I have it set to email me whenever I get one, but now I get 5 or 6 a day which is filling up my inbox!

[Hirilaelin]

Sorry you missed the Oscars Amanaduial! It was so funny when Adrien Brody went for Halle Berry. She was shocked! So was I... [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]

[Gorwingel]

I don't have the PM problem because no one ever sends them to me [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] , I have only got a few during my entire time here (coming up to three months now [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] yeah!) Oh well.

Sorry you missed the Oscars Amanaduial, it was a really great one. But I don't think you were the only one who missed it because it was very low rated (I also know a whole bunch of people who tuned in at the wrong time).

The Barrow-Downs is the best place to be addicted to
I actually spend a lot of time daydreaming during school trying to figure out new topics for the Forum.

[Amanaduial the archer]

Haha! Ive got it! The highlights were on last night! Haha! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Niluial]

I am new on Barrow Downs a couple of days old actually [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]. And I have already felt all ten signs (that’s bad!). Here are some of my signs.

1. You are sitting doing your homework, or studying for a test. But your mind is no where ells but at Barrow Downs thinking, I wonder if someone replied yet, oh I hope there are some of those funny stories on. And the next day you get to school and you get low marks for the test and your mom asks why? You look at your mom with that sweet innocent smile “Well [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]….. ummm I was on the net all night … he he”.
2. You wake up sometimes in the mornings with huge sleeping bags under your eyes. Why? Because you spent all night on Barrow Downs!
3. You sit at break with your friends and all you talk about to them is about what this one person said on Barrow Downs and how interesting it was or how you disagree with that person, while all your friends are rolling their eyes at you!
4. Your mom tells you that the night before you were revising lines from the Lord Of The Rings in your sleep.
5. You start seeing things such as elves run by and it suddenly disappears.

Well those are some of my symptoms! He he [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Niluial]

Wait …. I thought of it. We are all failing exams and tests and not doing the things we need to do because of two people! And do you know who those two people are? JRR Tolkien and Barrow-Wight. If JRR Tolkien never wrote the books we would not be failing exams etc. And if Barrow-Wight never built this site then we would all be sitting in our bedrooms doing our homework, finishing our projects, studying for the exam we should be doing etc. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] lol. But then again think about it if JRR Tolkien didn’t write the wonderful books and Barrow-Wight didn’t build this amazing site we would all be boring people with no fun in life, no dreams, we would be nothing. What would be the reason of living …… [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img].

[VanimaEdhel]

Well, I am getting straight A's in school, so I'm not failing, but I have stayed up nights worrying that I may have misspelled something in one of my posts. Then, next time I'm on, I run in and check my wording.

And: Gorwingel: check your PM's! Think of it as...either an Easter present or a Passover favor of sorts (either way).

[Arvedui III]

:Uncontroled laughter: :Crash: :Thud: All this is really funny, I've got some:

1.In a random conversation you find yourself subconiously quoteing something funny someone on the Barrow-Downs said.

2. When you reilize you just said that funny thing you were thinking of out loud, and your friends either: look at you like the sad mental you are, hail you as being incredibly witty even though it was Lush or Meela who said it, or say "Thank you Captin Obivilious" as is thier wont.

3. You find yourself up in the wee hours of the morning, NOT finishing the grammar homework you were suposted to be doing, oh, 7 hours ago, but recheaking your newest RPG post.

4. When your family knows why the phone line always tied up, and why a strange black and green light keeps coming from your room at all hours.

Unfortunatly all of these apply to me. I'm just one sad little puppy, I guess. Oh well, back to books forum! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[ March 25, 2003: Message edited by: Arvedui III ]

[Carlas]

Heres another way to tell if your addicted:

You have bad dreams about a brother or sister sneaking onto your BD account and getting your posting priviledges taken away.

Hmmm, you just can't trust siblings

[Gorwingel]

You wake up screaming in the middle of the night after you have had a nightmare where the Barrow Wight deletes one of your topics. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Amanaduial the archer]

You have bad dreams about a brother or sister sneaking onto your BD account and getting your posting priviledges taken away.

I must admit, it has more than crossed my mind! She once came on but didnt understand the layout and contented herself with going on a different website, one where I am a mod, and managing to close 3 topics and delete a few posts! And those are only the ones Ive found!

EDIT: (oh joy! My 1500th post! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] )

[ March 26, 2003: Message edited by: Amanaduial the archer ]

[Brinniel]

You wake up screaming in the middle of the night after you have had a nightmare where the Barrow Wight deletes one of your topics.

I had a dream similar to that. Except it was worse. I dreamt that the BW deleted my account. [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] Strange enough, the next day I found out that inactive accounts were being deleted. Luckily, my nightmare did not follow through because my account is way too active to be deleted. [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

[VanimaEdhel]

Here's a sad, sad, oh-so-pathetic one that applies to me:

You have had dreams about marrying a Barrow-Downer that you don't know in real life and down know what they look like.

Then there's:

Your parents know as much about the site as you do, via your discussions at dinner.

You come on here more than...oh...say five times a week (I'm an every-dayer most of the time, myself).

Whenever you go to type in a site, you have to remind yourself not to type the Barrow-Downs site address, as your fingers seem strangely trained to type that in.

You've improved your skill typing just to keep up with the Chat (I can now type almost faster than my father, who designs computer programs for a living).

You have the Barrow-Downer's voices in your head so, when you go on vacation, you keep coming up with Lush-like or red-like comments, and keep cracking yourself up with them.

[vanwalossien]

I recite The Lord's Prayer in Quenya at church.

Yes, that would be a sign of obsession...

You have the Barrow-Downer's voices in your head so, when you go on vacation, you keep coming up with Lush-like or red-like comments, and keep cracking yourself up with them.

I did something of the kind myself.. I went on vacation, and found myself laying on my bed in a hotel room in Paris, wondering what was going on here at home. One should've thought Paris could take my mind off the Downs for a while, right?
Oh, and when you start refering to the Barrowdowns as 'home', I'd say you were addicted...

[VanimaEdhel]

"To err is human, but to foul things up completely requires a computer."

Great signature, by the way.

Back on topic: I think of this as home as well! We argue like any other family, but we are all united in the end by a common love. Boy, I sound like a fortune cookie, don't I?

How about that you've told people on here things that you've never told anyone else? That's happened with me.

[Amanaduial the archer]

I recite The Lord's Prayer in Quenya at church.

Oooh no, well I can say I havent gone that far anyway; we have a german curate already, and one of the apocalytes is french- quite enough languages without a created one as well!

"You have the barrowdowners voices in your head." Sign of obsession: you can pretty much imagine the people you talk to- what they look like and sound like. Ive got quite a few of the downers voices fine tuned, Im afraid, and the RPers tend to come out as one of their characters. Other people sometimes come as a name-thought or as the image of an avatar.

[Ithaeliel]

Yep, I have different voices for the downers I see most commonly, and even those I don't see around a lot. Even the people I know in person have different voices here.

Another sign of obsession: You have developed a sort of split personality disorder: you act completely different on the Barrow-Downs than you do in real life (I know I do!) or even anywhere else on the internet! I definitely apply to this one: I am so much quieter and more reasonable in real life.

Yet one more (and the penultimate) sign of utter obsession: You annoy other barrow-downers by talking about Tolkien/the BD too much in real life!!! How sad is that?

[ March 27, 2003: Message edited by: Ithaeliel ]

[Brinniel]

the RPers tend to come out as one of their characters

*briefly thinks of Raye* Uh oh! [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] Though when I think about it, I can see the similarities... [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img]

You have developed a sort of split personality disorder: you act completely different on the Barrow-Downs than you do in real life (I know I do!) or even anywhere else on the internet! I definitely apply to this one: I am so much quieter and more reasonable in real life.

I think a lot of people can relate to this one. In real life, I'm a VERY shy person. I don't talk too much (though my family can say otherwise). But here, I don't feel shy at all. Perhaps that's because I am much more able to express myself through writing, but I think it might also have do with the fact that the BD feels like my second home.

You annoy other barrow-downers by talking about Tolkien/the BD too much in real life!!!

Oh no! I'm too afraid to ask who you're talking about...

[Eressië Ailin]

You have had dreams about marrying a Barrow-Downer that you don't know in real life and down know what they look like.

I have to admit that was one of my stranger dreams... I'm glad I'm not alone!

3. You find yourself up in the wee hours of the morning, NOT finishing the grammar homework you were suposted to be doing, oh, 7 hours ago, but recheaking your newest RPG post.

That was what happened this morning. Fortunately, I finished in choir, the period before it was due. Ever since I joined the Barrow-Downs, my grades have been falling. Rapidly. I always either do my homework after or while I'm on the Downs. As I'm typing this I'm doing my cheerleading stretches.

How about that you've told people on here things that you've never told anyone else?

Yeah, that applies to me. I generally don't advertise the fact that I'm a cheerleader. [img]smilies/redface.gif[/img]

[Hirilaelin]

Whenever you go to type in a site, you have to remind yourself not to type the Barrow-Downs site address, as your fingers seem strangely trained to type that in.

Sad, but true. Even typing "msn" takes concentration!

You've improved your skill typing just to keep up with the Chat.

Exactly! Glad I'm not the only one... I visited once, then decided that I needed to learn to type with more than one finger and .5 words per second. I'm quite fast now, almost able to keep up with my computer consultant father! And he types
fast.

[Eressië Ailin]

Whenever you go to type in a site, you have to remind yourself not to type the Barrow-Downs site address, as your fingers seem strangely trained to type that in.

I don't have much trouble with that one. I don't have to type in barrowdowns.com a lot because it's my home page. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[VanimaEdhel]

the RPers tend to come out as one of their characters

I think of the RPers tend to put themselves into the characters a lot as well. That's one problem that I tend to have: I don't really act, I just put myself into my writing. I'm trying to stop. But yes, I do come across as some of my characters, as many are a lot like me!

[Amarinth]

been out of commission (as usual) for the longest time, and the first thing that catches my attention is this--- lush, you are irrepressible, i'm falling off my chair laughing...

here's just 5 from me, and well this applies back in the good old days when i had to be literally dragged away from the pc--

(1) you are single, over 30, and instead of spending friday night on a date you'd rather read away the innumerable green letters on your monitor. then when your friends try to pull you out of it, you insist vehemently that you are fine AND normal and they are missing half of their miserable lives(=

(2) your friends at work know you are amarinth just like they know smeagol's alter ego is gollum.

(3) your supervisor has taken to the less bareface habit of checking out if you are doing the "bd thingy" again by staring at your monitor's reflection off the glass pane approximately 10 feet in front of it.

(4) you are more worried about having too long the unchanging status "wight" than "single". the former makes you really blue.

(5) you associate the word "lush" with "mad" and curse the fact that you were born without a tinge of russian blood [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]