Bodhi of the Future - Aphras

[Larioth]

Seeing as you are the successful founder of Geopolity, what advantages would that experience give you working in Karma? Could it possibly have hinderances that come with it (e.g. hard-coded mindset of how things should be done that are inapplicable with Karma)?

What is your opinion on the trope of the “Dark Lord”, where it is very common to see the main antagonist have some sort of dark magic/powers, while it is nearly impossible to find a “good” protagonist with similar powers?

If you were able to have anything as a loyal and loving pet, what would it be?

[Takura]

What is your most prized possession?
How did you find NS?
Are tacos a sandwich?

[Dixie]

If you died tomorrow, what would you want your tombstone to say?
What's your favorite Creedence song?
Is pulling a sword out of a rock a valid method of determining government?

[Radiant Aphras]

On a scale of 0 to -10, how much do you hate summer, and why is it -10?
What's an action or something that you hate absurdly for no given reason... other than Nova's signature?

What a silly question, of course the answer is -10. Summer is the worst season and I want it to disappear forever. Dry heat is not much better than humid heat, and Florida kinda made me hate summer's existence. 

Seagulls. They are the worst. Not only are seagulls messy, but they are also really aggressive. And to top it all off....there's a Mormon legend regarding seagulls, and there is even a statue of a seagull in Temple Square here in Salt Lake City. I'm not even kidding. It makes me so incomprehensibly angry. As for Nova's signature, it really gives some flair to everything, what can I say? 

Nova's signature is amazing. :(

When there's something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call?
If you could secretly change one thing in your life and everyone would just always think it had been that way, what would you change?
What are your feelings on limes and lime flavored things?

Ghostbusters! Even though I've never seen the movie....along with a lot of other classics. I really need to change that. >.>

One thing that I could secretly change....Oooh, that's a really clever one. My first instinct is to go for something wacky, but something more practical would probably be better. I think the ability to know either all languages or at least all of the more relevant ones. This has always been a kind of dream of mine, and I just think the applications of it would be obviously very useful throughout life. 

Lime and lime flavored things are absolutely incredible and I adore them. I drink limeade on a regular basis, I think that the lime skittle being removed is still an international tragedy, and honestly, lime/lemon/orange flavors in general are amazing in just about any capacity. 

Who is best pony?
What fictional universe would you most like to reside in?
Is cold cereal a form of noodle soup?

I would not honestly be able to say, I know very little about that fandom. If we are talking about real horses though, I would like to point out either Orb (Kentucky Derby winner from 2013) or Potoooooooo (Pot-8-Os). I encourage you to look into horse names more if you haven't already, it's frankly a blast. 

As for favored fictional universe that I would like to live in, probably the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Even if I weren't a bender (I'd want to be a waterbender, but I would totally be a firebender), the world of A:TLA is just amazing. Even with all of the, uh...various issues that it has, I'd take it over our world without a doubt. 

I hate you for asking this. While I can understand the....logic, behind this, I do not think that cereal can be interpreted as a noodle. 

Seeing as you are the successful founder of Geopolity, what advantages would that experience give you working in Karma? Could it possibly have hinderances that come with it (e.g. hard-coded mindset of how things should be done that are inapplicable with Karma)?

What is your opinion on the trope of the “Dark Lord”, where it is very common to see the main antagonist have some sort of dark magic/powers, while it is nearly impossible to find a “good” protagonist with similar powers?

If you were able to have anything as a loyal and loving pet, what would it be?

While I don't expect or imagine that votes in the Sangha would ever be too divisive, I definitely have experience in being able to gather up votes as well as compromise on certain topics. I also think that MAYBE (I'm not entirely sure yet) that I can help to invest in roleplaying here a bit, since that is kind of the specialty of my region. I don't foresee many hindrances to be perfectly honest, because I am definitely receptive to doing things differently. I've been changing things up in my region for several months now, so while there may be some resistance here and there, I believe that it would be nothing of particular note.

The Dark Lord trope is something that I believe is overdone and honestly a bit overhyped, but it absolutely can be done well (notable examples include The Wheel of Time, even though that's a bit different from what we usually think). The big ones that of course come to mind are Harry Potter and Star Wars, but in those cases, usually those Dark Lords are defeated for almost silly reasons, despite being so much more powerful than whoever the protagonist is. Not a hugeeee fan of it, usually. 

Anything? Oh gosh...That's a tough one. Probably foxes, after some thought. They are honestly adorable and I frankly love watching videos from fox sanctuaries online. It would clearly be a bit (lot) of work, but it would be something that I would love to do. 

What is your most prized possession?
How did you find NS?
Are tacos a sandwich?

My most prized possession? That's also a tough one, mostly just because I don't much put a ton of value into my possessions. A definite possibility is my computer, because without it, I would have a lot more difficulty not only communicating with all of my friends across the country, but also managing my region from a computer and not a phone is definitely nice lol. This is actually really tough to consider though, I honestly just place value mostly in my connections and I don't think I have a most prized possession. There are definitely contenders, a few favorite books and games, but I don't think that there is much that I can think of that I truly truly prize above the rest by a considerable amount. 

I joined NS almost 10 years ago at this point. I was recommended to it by a friend of mine from freshman year of high school since I seemed to enjoy politics (as it turns out, I very much did), and well....the rest is history.

You and OT...Come on now. At least on this one though, I can at least agree in theory that a taco is a sandwich, as it is a bread-like wrapping (tortillas) with a sort of filling. In practicality, if someone ever said that they had a sandwich and said that it was a taco, I think I might cry. 

If you died tomorrow, what would you want your tombstone to say?
What's your favorite Creedence song?
Is pulling a sword out of a rock a valid method of determining government?

While saying literally "rip" and nothing else, all lowercase, would be funny since I have a bad habit of just saying that to unfortunate situations, that would be no fun nor would it be too clever. Something else would be like "still have an ongoing list of things to do", but I probably wouldn't want that on my tombstone lol. But honestly, honestly, the best thing would be "Even in our hearts, he is working to abolish summer permanently" and truly what else would be better? 

I had a feeling that this was going to happen. I genuinely do not know, because music and I exist on separate wavelengths for the most part. I can try to give some of their songs a listen later, but I genuinely couldn't even name a song of theirs or even what they generally sound like. 

While most of our current governments are dysfunctional, to uh...say the least, I don't think that that is the solution. For one, the sword industry is not nearly equipped right now to deal with that. Do you realize how many swords that would need? Not only that, but who will be responsible for shoving the sword into the stone, and who is going to clean up the broken ones when they inevitably break a bunch of them?

[Vilverin]

Welcome to your Path to Enlightenment Aphras :)

What's your favourite fictional story, and why?
What's the weirdest thing you have ever seen in real life?
Who or what would you say has had the biggest influence in your life?
Who's the cutest dog you have ever met :3

[Radiant Aphras]

Welcome to your Path to Enlightenment Aphras :)

What's your favourite fictional story, and why?
What's the weirdest thing you have ever seen in real life?
Who or what would you say has had the biggest influence in your life?
Who's the cutest dog you have ever met :3

Thank you! 

Favorite fictional story? Gah, there's so many good answers here. In terms of just a story/tale, the Song of Roland is surprisingly a great tale. I'm not one usually for the noble knight/chivalry stereotype, but it is a wonderful story. Now in terms of books, that's a REALLY tough one. Books that come to mind are Time and Time Again or Half of a Yellow Sun just off the top of my head, I would recommend both of those. 

Weirdest thing I have ever seen? I have encountered several various strains of Florida Man, with varying degrees of strangeness. :P Joking aside though, I kinda wish you had said experienced, because I feel like that I can talk about that more. But no, probably some of the weirder things that I have seen is the aftermath of a hurricane. It's eerie how quiet it is, especially in somewhere like Florida where there is always some sort of noise, rather it's from people or other life. And it really still just floors me every time how just truly different it is from most things I have experienced especially there. I saw this a lot especially so in one year alone, 2004, and it has also allowed me to have a very healthy appreciation for the pure bundle of destruction those things are. 

There's a couple of things that I can think of in that regard. My father will always remain one of the largest, if not the largest, influence on my life as a person. But as for what, there's a lot of things that I can think of. Travelling in general has had an enormous impact on my life, and it has encouraged a passion to see the world for all it has, from its history, people, culture and more. Another thing is kinda cheesy, but Nationstates. I never thought 9 years ago that me joining this website would result in me leading my own region and getting heavily involved with all of these other people. It's something that I could not have guessed, but something I am very thankful for. There's more that I could also probably list, but I don't want to write a thesis on this. :P 

The cutest dog I've ever met? Hmmm...Your profile pic is pretty adorable, yes. But our family dogs back with my parents in Florida are precious and I miss them on a daily basis. Especially Lucky, she is a wonderful dog and I miss her a ton.

[Sage Altino]

I didn't know they removed the lime flavored skittle and now I've never been more sad. How can we protest against citrus discrimination? :/

ALSO: You are Founder of your own region. Based on your experience there versus your experience in Karma, do you have any good advice for us? Things we could be doing better? Things you think we are doing exactly right? Maybe some insight we haven't thought of?

[Takura]

What drew you to Karma?
Eternal day or eternal night?
If you could go to one historic moment in the past, what would it be and why?

[Radiant Aphras]

I didn't know they removed the lime flavored skittle and now I've never been more sad. How can we protest against citrus discrimination? :/

ALSO: You are Founder of your own region. Based on your experience there versus your experience in Karma, do you have any good advice for us? Things we could be doing better? Things you think we are doing exactly right? Maybe some insight we haven't thought of?

It really is the worst. You should protest by going to Skittles HQ and kindly but forcibly demanding that we bring back the lime skittle. We can alternatively just slowly collect as many inferior green apple skittles and send them back to them in bulk as a message.

I admittedly don't have too much that I can offer advice on, especially since it has mostly been the other way around for the most part. >.> I think that most things you do are pretty fantastic, from the overall atmosphere, ease of mobilization for most things (WA in particular), and just your general operation too (I envy a lot of this especially, honestly). The only thing that I can remotely think of is that your region's roleplay involvement is, while decent, seems kinda lacking to me? But that's too surprising considering where I'm coming from in that regard. Overall though, I can't really think of much that you guys could do better (I'm sure you might think different on this, but don't all Founders?).

What drew you to Karma?
Eternal day or eternal night?
If you could go to one historic moment in the past, what would it be and why?

Well, I initially found you guys out from NSL, but I stuck around after joining just because the atmosphere in Karma is wonderful. There's more to that of course, but everything feels so chill, kinda silly (but in a good way), but also still plenty of people and places to discuss more serious matters. I value my own to death, but Karma offers something pretty unique in comparison, and I don't know, it's something I haven't seen too many other places.

That...hm. That's a really tough one. The night owl in me is screaming at me to say night, but eternal night sounds like it would be rough after a while. Daylight is something that anybody can appreciate. But eternal day, that would be truly awful for my sleep, because light of any kind is not great. Either that or I would need some serious blackout curtains. It also depends on where I am and what time of year, because eternal day during Utah summer sounds truly horrendous. I would....probably end up saying eternal night. I've always been productive at night.

Why do you have so many good questions? I'm not okay with this. >.> There's so many things that I can think of. Some really monumental and some not so much. Caesar's death, Muhammad's return to Mecca, the death of Jesus, the deck of the Midway for the surrender of Japan, the shooting of Franz Ferdinand, the fall of Constantinople, the abandonment of Angkor, the fall of Chang'an at the end of the Tang Dynasty...There's so much. I'm probably even forgetting some. :( But you want me to pick from those and maybe even more? Oh gosh. If I had to pick one, I probably would genuinely pick the fall of Chang'an. It was the capital of the China at the time and that was during the period where it was generally regarded as China's strongest up until present day. Chang'an was also a massive city that we very frustratingly don't have TOO much to go off (from that period) because its destruction was so thorough. And it would not be something that I would view with joy or happiness, far from it, but sadness in knowing how much was lost in terms of knowledge and life in that time. I would also hope that it would give more insight to what had happened during that time period. But again, this was tough to pick even from there, and there's other things that I've already thought of .

Stop asking such thought provoking questions. I know that's the point, but stop it.

[FreshStep]

Yes...our RP is lacking. But we're working on it! ;)

So... you wanted more questions, right?

If you could take a single photograph of your life, what would it look like?
What's the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?
What is the best combination of pizza toppings? (I will judge you most for this one)