[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon I

by **Gossamer** on October 19th, 2010, 4:18 pm

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Work is Rough
Really - Minor Rant Here

If you don't have a full time job or are a full time student (I was in college for years - I remember how it was) just simply at school and not working on the side, then its hard for someone - near impossible - to understand the types of shifts I'm working. I have to be to work at 330pm and I am scheduled to get off at Midnight. Mostly, I get off at 100am or later, sometimes upwards of three hours later. If I have to go to the grocery store after work (yes we have 24 hr ones here), then that means I get home even later. I might take a dip in the hottub to relax my muscles (though I'm developing a wicked cold so I'm not doing that for the next two days until I either get over it or it manifests) or I read up on Mizahar posts. Then I go to bed, usually by four, and then I'm up when I'm up. Today the contractors did show up and started pounding on things about 8am so basically I got four hours of solid sleep, laid in bed for a bit, then now I'm out blogging at 9am. Its crazy. Five hours of sleep. I'm going to be a terrible horrible absolute cunt at work today because I'm crabby when I don't get enough sleep. Women can say that word, stop being shocked... its just you boys that aren't allowed to use it.

It's our busy season at work. I'm unloading halloween candy, christmas wreaths, yard ornaments, and pushing out about a hundred loads a day. It won't last forever, but its hot and heavy while its here.

And I'm working 6 days a week solid so long as I don't get more than 10-15 hrs overtime during the week - the government won't let me work over a certain amount of time in seven days so it has to be regulated heavily... and my company will be fined. I work Sun-Fri this week. Next week, its the same schedule. I have Halloween weekend off - its my traditional time to have fun and do witchy things - but honestly I'll probably veg all saturday, meet with the coven on Sunday for Samhain, and that's pretty much that.

And when I have to go in even earlier (Safety meeting at 2pm today), then that means I get less time to hang around. Giving myself meal time... about an hour to cook and consume something both for lunch and for my 'lunchtime' at work.... that means I have about three hours of free time the rest of the day. I have housework, chores, horses, and tons of other things to do too. And on top of that, there's a chronic exhaustion that has been building.

Plus, we're still remodeling. If you read my blog regularly, you know how that is going.... thought maybe its finally back on track since I can hear cutting and pounding and building outside today.

So... what does that mean? It is really simple. LAY THE HELL OFF ME FOR POSTS. There's one or two people that only have threads with me. They get priority and I will hit their threads daily, but if I see your threading like crazy all over the place and have a lot too do without waiting for me... please understand this situation with me isn't going to change anytime soon. And don't get mad at the people that I am posting too. I'm telling you (well just did) now why thats a reason. I'm going to _TRY_ to update my mod posts...and get caught up by Friday. I think I can do it. But every day posting is going to be impossible. I_M_P_O_S_S_I_B_L_E. That is, until we get really slow after the first week in December. We'll have a small surge just before Christmas for some last minute five hour sales, but that should be a week here or a week there, not three months of bullshit.

And as for Gillar? He just got mandatoried through his weekend, so hes in essence working 6 straight days of 12 hrs as well (he works two on, two off, two on, one off, two on etc). He might even have to work through Saturday, and do it all over again without a break. I swear, I don't know where all this 'bad economy' is, but it isn't in my area or at my work place. There are people that actually quit where I work to get a few days off... then reapply and get rehired a few days later.

So, if I sound bitchy - yes I am. But I thought I'd vent about it and give you a little heads up.

by **Laeraix Cerys** on October 19th, 2010, 5:08 pm

I'm sorry you've been so busy, and I hope things calm down soon and you can relax.

by **Gossamer** on October 24th, 2010, 8:06 pm

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Stooging.

So I posted this as a heads up in the Staff Lounge so storytellers could discuss this amongst themselves. However, I'm also going to post it in my blog here so people are aware of what is considered 'not so great to do' and what is considered flat out abusive of the system. I'm not posting this to insult anyone, but if you do take offense I suggest you take a step back and look at yourself a bit closer and try to understand our perspective. We are here to keep things fair. Money is a scarce resource on Mizahar. If you have it, you should get it from EARNING it. This is the proper way. Not from recruiting newbies that happen to get to start with a lot of it. This is the improper way. There's good reasons for this heads up. And trust me, you aren't the first on the block to think of this type of scheme. I just want to make sure you are the last.

Anyhow, here it is. If you see it, recognize it for what it is and understand it is VERY BAD. If you see it going unchecked, please report it. Odds are we aren't aware of it yet. We'll keep your name and your report anon.

Gossamer wrote:Hey Guys -

I wanted you to have a heads up. There's a really unethical practice I might have seen shaping up (or not... or inadvertently... I'm not laying blame) that I want you to be aware of as Moderators. This practice is a definite NO NO because I've seen it heavily abused elsewhere and do not want it to get out of hand here.

Namely, that is recruiting new players or asking old players to create alts and then pool their starting resources namely funds... to fund a large overarching project. Then, as time progresses, the new players or newbies drop out, yet their contributions remain in the setting and equate to a player or small group of players that remain starting out and benefiting from far more fundage than other players had access too. This is pure and simple abuse of the system.

So.. if you see any groups forming in game that are doing this... make sure a couple of things happen - especially if you are asked to moderate for their group.

1. All funds and gear are accounted for financially with a clear record of who contributed what, when, and why. This is a requirement.
2. If a contributor drops out in a relatively short amount of time, their contribution also drops out - have the group be robbed, have a fire which destroys gear, or strike down animals with disease - be creative!
3. All expenses are tracked - travel, etc. Make sure if its a business it is ran like a business. This reminds me... I have my own pc's business to post up . I have an accurate accounting of every foal born, where it went for why, and all the expenses needed to run the facility... I just haven't posted it. I will to set an example.

I don't want to see these sorts of abuses get started here on Mizahar. Let me show you an example. Player X decides to talk player A-J (ten players) into creating newbies and then collects their starting money. Player X then uses the starting money to buy a fancy keep in the woods complete with dungeon and moat. Players A, C, D, F, G, I and J drop out immediately - within a few weeks. So... Player X got to play with 6,000 freebie mizas (600 starting mizas X 10 players)... six players drop out... that's 6000 gold mizas suddenly divided by 5 for a grand total of 1,200 mizas or roughly twice the amount of starting gold as is immediately possible per player. The more that starts and drops, the higher the sum and the more the 'core' group benefits... eventually player X will be left with just one or two sidekicks running the show, and a ton of cash for free at his disposal... and has a fancy keep, with moat, and no debt to show for it and no real hard work. So, as the six drop out.. have a storm hit he keep, have a flood destroy most of its structure.... or all of its fancy contents (say D's contribution)... rather than make them homeless. You can do a lot there. But make sure the players understand.

Not fair. Not fair in the least. This practice is called 'stooging' and its an abuse as old as forum roleplay starting packages are.

So.. as these groups form, make sure people realize they must account for where things go, and if someone drops out then their contribution drops out with them via some in game happening (accident, fire, etc). We can't tell people they can't pool their resources, but as storytellers it is our job to keep the abuse out of the game and make sure starting and maintenance costs are fair for everyone.

by **Gossamer** on October 25th, 2010, 4:16 pm

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Rudeness
Yea, I won't be tolerating this anymore.

I ran into a situation yesterday that I haven't seen before in chat. Someone spontaneously erupted at me for actually doing my job and asking them questions about what they were doing. I was treated with extreme rudeness, I felt, and after giving it a great deal of thought today I decided one thing and one thing only.

I won't tolerate this anymore.

If a Founder asks you about your RP, your organization, or anything game related; it is our business. Most specifically it is my business. We don't ask personal information and butt into your life that is unrelated to the game. But please remember, this is OUR game. We created it to have a place to write. If you can't handle that, you are obviously on the wrong game. And if you continue to be rude, you will be uninvited. I don't care what your natural personality is or if this is just a gruff exterior covering a heart of gold. We are all people here and we deserve to be treated with civility and politeness.

So really, next time someone blows up at me - like a child - they will be treated like a child and given a time out. If it keeps happening, that time out will become permanent. I don't care who they are friends with, who they are married too, or who they think they are. Here, they are a player just like everyone else, sharing an experience with us that we provide for them out of the goodness of our heart - not out of an obligation. You don't pay for Mizahar. You don't have to be here. We tolerate you being here. And we have certain expectations of making nice and being considerate. If you can't do that, you've been officially warned.

by **Gossamer** on October 27th, 2010, 5:17 pm

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Artistic Urges

Mizahar can be very distracting. It's true. But I have to say that one of the greatest pleasures of gaming for me is seeing something thats visually stunning and then reading about it. I remember a gray day back in May when we were trying on skins and looking at a dark deep gray scheme for the game. Looking at it now, I'm thoroughly glad Tarot went with the warm brown because its striking, easy to look at, and incredible to dress up. Its easy on the eyes and the deep richness of the color blends with anything you put on it.

See.. that's the thing. I'm in love with looking at this game. We have so much code now we can customize almost anything... frames - making them pictures, transparent, overlapping... boxes, charts, graphs - all in custom color. Everyone's posts are so beautiful. I never expected this when we started. I hoped for interesting customization, but Tarot has completely outdone almost everything I've ever seen with his customization here on Mizahar. Its been fantastic to watch the three newest DS's create what I consider masterpieces of beauty in their regions. Cheshire has done wonders with ice. Hyacinth makes a stars and moon motif look like childs play. I even witnessed a casual exchange between player and player in chat today where in about five minutes flat a photo was photo-shopped to remove some tattoos off an arm implanted in an image. I forget sometimes we need to hand out more artist medals for people.. .so please nominate them!

People are very deserving.

by **Gossamer** on October 27th, 2010, 5:20 pm

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Fascinating Thing

Check this out. The US Military has a ship called The Flip that studies acoustics in the ocean. I thought this was about the coolest thing I've seen in a long long time. So I thought to share it with you... a lot of you are ship crazy and love sailing.

by **Gossamer** on October 27th, 2010, 6:55 pm

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Construction!

Okay, some of you know I've been having contractors out and lots of extreme home makeover done. Well, our first project was new siding and some rot replacement on our rim joists in our home. We also had the facia and varge boards replaced and new gutters. A roof comes next year! Anyhow, along with that, we have a plan to create a cool outdoor area to hang out in. I posted the plan a few blogs ago. But I'll repost it here. So far we've got the siding done, cover done, the hottub installed, and now they are working on the deck. It's fascinating to watch people build! Now, remember this is utter construction chaos.. so everything's really messy. But this will give you some idea of how its going.

The Plan :

This is the cover, hottub, and the end of the deck.

This is the end view.

Here's just a shot of the understructor. They just really sank the posts yesterday and put all this up today. I cannot imagine what its going to look like towards friday.

And the whole thing from the end of the deck is going to be fenced in with high private fences to make a grotto. I can't wait to go all Better Homes and Gardens on its ass. Think affordable posh! I'm really handy with a hammer and have plans in my gardening scrapbook for things I want to do.

by **Gossamer** on November 3rd, 2010, 10:24 am

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Funny Email

I received this in an email today. I thought it was absolutely charming.
I laughed for ten minutes.
I'm sure someone will post that its a hoax, but that's not the point.
The point is it made me laugh.

A first grade girl handed in the drawing below for her homework assignment.

The teacher graded it and the child brought it home.

She returned to school the next day with the following note:

Dear Ms. Davis,

I want to be perfectly clear on my child's homework illustration.
It is NOT of me on a dance pole, on a stage in a strip joint surrounded by

male customers with money.

I work at Home Depot and had commented to my daughter how much money we made in the recent snowstorm.

This drawing is of me selling a shovel.

Sincerely, Mrs. Harrington

by **Panna Cotta** on November 3rd, 2010, 11:55 am

I would just like to drop this here. You've been posting more about Miz related-stuff in your scrapbook recently, which means you're swinging back into our harassing arms (yeah!), and it's so nice to read and get samplings from the mind of a founder, especially when it comes to running the game. Also, I love the pictures of the house. Yours look really really good with the baby blue (my eyes say the walls are baby blue, and the deck is so adorable, I can't wait to see what it looks like after all the work and decorations are all done!

The pole dance mom made my day, too.

by **Gossamer** on November 14th, 2010, 5:27 pm

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Things On My Mind

Where to start? I've always had a hard time deciding where to start a blog especially when you have a lot of things on your mind. Some are good things, and some indeed are bad. I'm a bit irritated at the moment because people, namely storytellers, keep trying to give out gnosis marks in thread to players when the gnosis isn't even written up or posted in the wiki. I'm going to put a stop to that immediately.

(paused)

Okay I sent a pm telling them not to do it. Sure, I'm guilty of it. I did it once. And guess what? I haven't got that gnosis written up YET despite the best intentions. So yes, its hypocritical, but I've learned that even if you tell yourself "I'll get it up tomorrow" it can still take the better part of a season or two in order to get around too it. That's just the way it is sometimes in life. I've been busy. I'm working six days a week. I don't have time to tell you how much stuff I have to get done in real life on my one day off either. It's ridiculous. So I try to fit a lot in and I try to keep active on Mizahar. I can't always do that. Which leads me to another thing.

You are a jerk if you send me a PM 'reminding me' to post for you. If you send me multiple ones, your fast approaching the douchbag realm and I'm likely to be even slower in responding. I'm a big girl and I know that I have your post waiting. Seriously. When I took your thread, odds are I told you I'd be slow but it'd be a good story. I meant that. I still do. Odds are you got a chance to say yes or to say no and you still picked yes. So stop sending me PMs. It will just irritate me and I'll post for the 'understanding' and quiet folks first. The only thing I want and need reminders for aren't big quest threads. They are for shop threads in Wind Reach or things that need attention but don't take a whole lot of time. I tend to let those slip because I'm busy wading through PMs or dealing with problems or trying to support player initiatives. So if you keep reminding me... you're either not working, don't have a social life, or really just want to piss me off. I'll post. I will. But I'll do it when I have time. I understand you probably don't understand how much time Mizahar takes for me or what working six days a week in my life does to a person... and its probably not your fault. But sit down, close your eyes for a moment, and try to imagine sixty to seventy hour work weeks and how tired and cranky you'd be.

Then try be nicer to me by not bugging me with nudges...

This weekend was about that. I really like it when players take the imitative and get going on their own projects. The Circus folks are kinda my heroes at the moment because they haven't asked for a single thing and yet everything we've done for them has been greeted with enthusiasms and a scary word hardly anyone ever uses on here.... "Thanks!". Its a nice thing to have a thanks once in a while rather than a 'OMG POST FASTER!' constantly being thrown at you. I want to do more for groups like that. I want to help. I want to make sure they have an absolutely fabulous time.

I also might be cranky because my wonderful chow puppy mojo somehow got ahold of my eyeglasses yesterday and chewed on them. Now there are puppy teeth marks in the lenses that make me feel like wiping them ever ten seconds. I can't though. I can't get the crap off them. Luckily I have new glasses coming in within two weeks because I just went to the eyedoctor... but until then I have to wear these around and they are hideous since I can't find my spares. (Remodel of the studio anyone? WTF did I put the spares?!?!). I love him. I really love Mojo. He's great. But hes eating everything! Its like he can't help it.

Must feed... MUST.. FEED.... he even ate part of the couch. Okay, moving on.

On to the pink and green banner. It's staying. I love it. I know it clashes horribly, but that's the point. At least I didn't add this one... which I thought was funny and would be a WTF popping up here and there just for kicks and grins. I've done about twenty of them so far, so I think I'll calm down about them now and let others do some. I got my ruins banners in, tons of desert motifs, lots of jungle, and much sunset/water scenarios so that's all that counts thus far.

So... without further ado.. the best banner you won't see up at the top. It also clashes. So what? I love pink and green and pink and teal together.

mmmmm :

Okay so now that your thinking about summer and cold watermelon, I have more good news. My deck is all but done. I went to order the deck post toppers and almost had a heart attack. The tiffany stained glass solar pyramids that look like grapevines - the ones I REALLY want are 32 bucks apiece. They light up with solar power and batteries... and I need 17 of them. That's like OMG unholy hell expensive. So I think I'll just get the ones for the stairways and corners of the deck taking the number down to 11 and getting the non-lighting fake ones in exchange. The fake ones are only 13 apiece, verses the plan wooden ones that are 10. Why is building stuff soooo expensive? Seriously.

I'll post pictures of the deck after the camera battery charges today. IT's pretty awesome. Even without my stained glass toppers. I love being in my thirties, a home owner and remodeling. I just don't like stretching it out from August to almost December which should have NEVER happened. We still have to build the fence around the grotto. We will soon.

And at my mom's urging, I'm doing a baby book for Mojo. I love scrapbooking and do all kinds of scrapbooks - especially garden idea books - so one for the MOJOster should be fun.

And on to today. I have to go to work. I could skip it and not go, because I don't think its going to be busy, but if I go today and even put in a few hours, then I will be guaranteed not to have to drive next Saturday since it will be my seventh day in a row. Someone else is scheduled to hostle next sunday, so if I drag my sorry rear in to work today, I'll definitely get next weekend completely off. Or... so thats the master plan. Oh, and another thing about six says a week... you're tired, cranky, and never really FEEL like posting. Why? Because spending time with your family, your friends, and your animals are really way more important.

Okay... well thats enough ranting for now. Oh, no... one more thing.

I like it when people voice their thoughts on something being silly or unfair. I like it when folks step forward and say 'this isn't right' or 'Houston we have a problem.' If someone thinks something like that, generally its because there's a good reason for it and that problem needs to be considered. I admire those folks. I don't admire the people that do things according to the buddy system. Keep stepping forward. Keep having courage. You know who you are.