Summer of the Cicadas

[moonmaster]

17 summers ago, the summer I was born, Chicago was swept by a plague of unimaginable proportions, a biblical force of insectile doom.

And now, this summer, they return.

*dramatic music*

Yes, every 17 years here in Chicago, massive numbers of cicadas arise from their underground slumber to mate and generally wreak havoc for a month or so. They're huge, there are millions (if not billions) of them, and each male is as loud as a lawnmower.

And they should be here in a week.

I've heard the horror stories. I'm terrified.

 

[ourchair]

17 summers ago, the summer I was born, Chicago was swept by a plague of unimaginable proportions, a biblical force of insectile doom.

And now, this summer, they return.

*dramatic music*

Yes, every 17 years here in Chicago, massive numbers of cicadas arise from their underground slumber to mate and generally wreak havoc for a month or so. They're huge, there are millions (if not billions) of them, and each male is as loud as a lawnmower.

And they should be here in a week.

I've heard the horror stories. I'm terrified.

I thought this was a movie pitch for a moment.

"This summer... they return!"

 

[Gideon Stargrave]

Hey! We were born 22 days apart! We're like, soul mates or something.

 

[Random]

I remember that was suppose to happen two years ago, I didnt even see one

 

[Joe Kalicki]

I remember them the last time they came by. I'm so old. Anyway, it's pretty frickin' annoying, but not that annoying.

 

[moonmaster]

I thought this was a movie pitch for a moment.

"This summer... they return!"

Yes, that was the intention.

Hey! We were born 22 days apart! We're like, soul mates or something.

YOU WISH!

 

[Gideon Stargrave]

Yes, that was the intention.

Or so you'd have us think.

YOU WISH!

I don't wish. I know.

 

[Planet-man]

You know it happens every year, right? It's just that each set you meet each year is 17 years old.

There are cicadas all over the place every summer.... at least there are where I live.

I remember thinking the same thing last summer, about how I was the same age as those cicadas.

1989ers unite!

 

[moonmaster]

You know it happens every year, right? It's just that each set you meet each year is 17 years old.

There are cicadas all over the place every summer.... at least there are where I live.

I remember thinking the same thing last summer, about how I was the same age as those cicadas.

1989ers unite!

Yeah, but this particular Brood is MASSIVE. One of my teachers was talking about how entire walls of building would just be covered entirely in them. I've heard about streets being covered in them, like a carpet of cicadas.

I've predicted that, much like Mark Twain predicting that he would die when Haley's Comet returned, I shall die one of the summers that the cicadas return. MORBIDNESS FTW!

And 1989ers can go **** themselves, 1990ers are the ROXXXORZ!

 

[Friday]

I remember when they were here last. It was pretty fun. Get yourself a tennis racket and go nuts. I loved the sound they made too. Shame it'll be a good decade before they show up here again.

 

[Joe Kalicki]

In 1989 I was in 4th grade. The Simpsons Christmas Special first aired, Tim Burton's first Batman movie helped get me into comics, my beloved Cubs lost in the play-offs to the Earthquake Series-bound Giants, and I got the top of my pinky finger sliced off in an as-yet-unexplained accident.

 

[Planet-man]

I've predicted that, much like Mark Twain predicting that he would die when Haley's Comet returned, I shall die one of the summers that the cicadas return. MORBIDNESS FTW!

I'm considering starting a Mark Twain tribute thread as a monument to his awesomeness. Should I, people?

 

[Joe Kalicki]

I'm considering starting a Mark Twain tribute thread as a monument to his awesomeness. Should I, people?

I honestly think we should have a general book thread. Superior to what we have now.

 

[Iceshadow]

Yeah, but this particular Brood is MASSIVE. One of my teachers was talking about how entire walls of building would just be covered entirely in them. I've heard about streets being covered in them, like a carpet of cicadas.

I've predicted that, much like Mark Twain predicting that he would die when Haley's Comet returned, I shall die one of the summers that the cicadas return. MORBIDNESS FTW!

And 1989ers can go **** themselves, 1990ers are the ROXXXORZ!

I was born in 1985, you know what happened in 1985? Back to the Future came out in theaters.

 

[Planet-man]

I honestly think we should have a general book thread. Superior to what we have now.

I'm not even talking about him as an author. I'm talking about Mark Twain, the man, the American, friend to Nikola Tesla, enemy to Thomas Edison, lover and defender of animals, lambaster of Jane Austen's books, moustache owner of distinguished proportions and the most quotable person who ever lived.

All hail Twain.

 

[Joe Kalicki]

I'm not even talking about him as an author. I'm talking about Mark Twain, the man, the American, friend to Nikola Tesla, enemy to Thomas Edison, lover and defender of animals, lambaster of Jane Austen's books, moustache owner of distinguished proportions and the most quotable person who ever lived.

All hail Twain.

Okay, go ahead then! I almost bought Connecticut Yankee today, but I went with Voltaire's Candide instead. It was shorter.

 

[thee great one]

I was born in 1985, you know what happened in 1985? Back to the Future came out in theaters.

WOOT!

And thee great one was born.

And TMNT came out.

 

[Friday]

I'm not even talking about him as an author. I'm talking about Mark Twain, the man, the American, friend to Nikola Tesla, enemy to Thomas Edison, lover and defender of animals, lambaster of Jane Austen's books, moustache owner of distinguished proportions and the most quotable person who ever lived.

All hail Twain.

You forgot his crimefighting membership in the Five Fists of Science!

 

[Gideon Stargrave]

Planet-man; lately, you've been bashing Edison a lot. Now, I know next to nothing about the man (Besides his electricity shenanigans). Care to explain why you hate him so much?

 

[DGspider-fan]

I'm not even talking about him as an author. I'm talking about Mark Twain, the man, the American, friend to Nikola Tesla, enemy to Thomas Edison, lover and defender of animals, lambaster of Jane Austen's books, moustache owner of distinguished proportions and the most quotable person who ever lived.

All hail Twain.

I live pretty close a cabin he used to live in.

I don't think I've ever seen a cicada.