Weird - I must be absolutely crazy to think this

[Reverend]

Have you ever looked at either your life or the plave you are living at and thought "This seems like a it's ripped out of a manga/comic book?" I swear that Carnegie Mellon University seems like that at times.

First, you have the CMU campus and complex, built on a hill and overlooking the city of Pittsburgh itself. Now in order to save space, most of the campus buildings end up extending underground for quite a ways; I'm talking something akin to about 5-6 stories. All these buildings are practically connected to each other as well, so it feels like one giant complex rather than a campus at times. Within these buildings too are a plethora of computers, each connected to the CMU network as well, and in a number that makes me think that every single member of the PO board could be sitting at one and still have many left over.

Next, you have the greek life. With only 25% of the student body involved, they still comprise about 85% of the positions of power within student government and campus groups. Meaning, if you want something done you will have to go through the greeks. And in terms of campus groups, there is incredibly healthy competition over students and choice meeting places; not to mention the competion to outdo other groups when it comes to campus activities. Intramurals, carnival, buggy racing (soap box derby that got into the hands of engineers), and robot soccer all contribute to an air of competition.

As for the populace, a large mix of techocrats, hip hoppers, partiers, jocks, theatre recluses, and goths punctuate the CMU culture. I swear to god it feels like my school was copied out of mangas like Clamp Detectives andReal Bout High School, or comics like Ninja High School & Everything Jake.

Help me by either proving or disproving me. That way I at least know where I stand

[BWS-1]

Dude, everytime I walk home from work in the morning, the places I walk by look soooo like mangaish backgrounds and scences, like, same appartment buildings in an area at the east side of the street, and a huge feild that once were an dump, almost a century ago with the railroad track fare fare away. Nice colorfull flowers in trees during Spring, and a wonderfull cloudy sky with leafs dancing in the wind in Fall. In summer, there are kids here and there, and there a place where a huge 50 year old abandon religious carecenter is as long as the street and always looks spooky. It's much more cool inside, hehe, but it's pitched black even in the middle of the day on the second floor O_o;;, freaky indeed not to mention the unbeleivable amount of broken glass on the floor, I've been stupid enough to fall once ... god did I bleed my way outa there or what X_x (left some nice marks on the walls to scare any other adventurers, teeheheeh, so evil I am)

[Sperrit]

I think I've already posted at some other places how versions of myself and my friends have popped up in various fictional worlds. I really should put up a picture of myself so that you could see how much the Flop Jocks character Bryan and I look a like. That and there do seem to be amazing similarities between this world and the fictional worlds, sometimes amazingly eerie similarities. I have two theories as to how this is possible: 1. Life imitates art: Often, when reading or experiencing some fictional world we draw from the characters and actions contained within a sort of inspiration that will color our own personalities and actions from that moment on. In effect we become our own stereotypes through seeing those stereotypes portrayed in so many places. 2. Art imitates life: This is the exact opposite of the first one, but still achieves the same effect. Artists and writers see things, people and events in the real world and then they portray these events in a stylized, exagerated way that none-the-less resonates with us as being true experiences because of their root in the real world. In this way real people and events are the models of fictional ones and we recognize the real sources in the fictional worlds. Both of these are equally possible as far as I can tell, but whichever one is the truth it still achieves the same thing: Our world, and the world of our imaginations are inoxerably linked together in ways that we don't always see right away, but have deep resonances in our own experiences.

Join the Fun

[Reverend]