[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon I

[Gossamer]

Just a quick note wishing all you Americans a Happy Thanksgiving.

Also, I finished the HD catchup. It was only five pages long, so if anyone got missed, please bump their ticket and I'll try and handle it with whats left of today.

I have an old old crappy ass PC that has some issues. And I was trying to move around some subforums, update others, and now the WD forum is absolutely missing. I have no idea what exactly happened, but hopefully if Tarot has time he can untangle the mess or at least point a finger at me and laugh hysterically. Everyone needs a good laugh right?

I'm glad I didn't tackle those tags. So if the WD Forum seems missing, it is, and I did it. We'll see about getting it back ASAP, but for now I'm not touching it until that new laptop Gillar ordered me comes next week. Because I'm tired of this stuff getting screwed up. Then, once that happens, I have nothing else remotely to blame but my own ignorance.

Edit: I think I impressed Tarot with my ability to screw things up on an epic level. Anyhow, he's going to tackle getting it all straightened out this weekend. Praise be our fearless leader. He also thinks no data was lost, so keep your fingers crossed.

[Tarot]

Just wanted to say I'm going to fix the WD as soon as possible. In the meantime, you can access its threads from this link: http://www.mizahar.com/forums/world-development-f80.html ... or from Google (the threads are still there).

[Nal'reim Qyan]

Praise the Tarot! Hallowed is the Tarot!

[Gossamer]

I didn't want to do it and I resisted for a long time, but today after seeing huge box codes with baseball hats and one with even sunglasses and a cell phone, I put up some rules on Box Codes.

Please see Box_Codes for the new Rules. I'll make an announcement once that forum is fixed up.

[Sal Mander]

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The boxcode you requested.

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[Gossamer]

Updates!

Hiya Folks!

I just wanted to give you some updates both on me personally and on Miz in general. First off, some of you know I've been having computer issues. I had a new laptop on order to deal with those issues, but when it arrived it was a dud. And the truth is I'm kinda glad it was because I really didn't like anything about it. I called the site I ordered it from - Tigerdirect.com - and they had me dump it back in the UPS and by the next day I had a different model. Two days later I had a full refund. Yea! Anyhow, I can't recommend them enough when ordering great computers. I'm logging on with a new HP Pavilion that is what Gillar refers to as a totally sweet gaming setup. It's got a big 17" monitor like I'm used too and is light as a feather and screaming fast. I still have to get used to the keyboard, but that's coming. I thought I'd hate Windows 8.1 because everyone and their dog online bitches about it, but truthfully I really like it. It's super easy for me to use. I did find the monitor colors wonkey but then today I found a program built in that calibrates everything and Miz is back to its beautiful darling self.

I even have photoshop reinstalled and unfortunately Sims 3, which will take some of my time because I love the Sims and am not too proud to say it. There's nothing like a big program like the Sims to make an average person like me into a master architech and gardener. I'm tempted to build The Sanctuary in Sims 3, but that might be a bit too much sharing eh?

So anyhow... back in action. Sorry I was so quiet the last few weeks of Nov. Between work and my computer, nothing was working out in regards to spare time. And grats, btw on Keene winning NaNo! I need to get him to make himself a custom medal to throw in so if no one sees one in the next bit, please remind me! He did fantastic.

Okay on to Miz itself.

We had some downtime yesterday but Tarot rebooted the site and it was fine. There was nothing wrong other than we probably hadn't rebooted in months (we don't usually need too!) and that can sometimes happen. It just needed a simple restart as a fix.

I'm feeling like we are kinda coming to a standstill in terms of game development so as part of the fix for that we've got the Scribes program up and running. They are going to have a LOT more developmental control than anyone else has had for Miz for a while. Now is a really really good time to submit an article or see if you can do a rewrite. Over the next few weeks I'm going to be asking folks whom I think are something of experts to rewrite some of the main articles that may not have enough flesh on them to make them really good.

Katie aka Caelum is going to spearhead that by digging into the Eth article.

Feel free to approach me if you want to work on something or feel you could contribute. I might not say yes, but it never hurts to put yourself on the radar when we are ready for such things. I know several things are coming out of the RS realms as well, so expect good things that way too.

If we don't expand the lore to match the ever expanding pbase, then we aren't doing ourselves any favors. I myself am going to write a few articles as well as finish some gnosis' that need doing. Once all the gnosis articles are done, I might rewrite some of the more barebones ones others who have come and gone from the site have produced.

If you have any ideas at all about development and what you'd like to see, let me know. We've learned a lot in the last five going on six years we've been around and its time we put some of that knowledge to the test and ramped it up considerably.

I know Riverfall is going to benefit a heck of a lot from my gung-ho attitude and new PC. I am going to put the big quest in this weekend and start at least one if not two gnosis threads for players there. IF you haven't yet got your letters in, feel free to do so soon. Posts will be forthcoming since my perfect storm of creativity is setting itself up nicely. I have the ability with the new laptop, the will with my refreshed attitude, and the time since work is crashing and my hellish schedule is leveling out.

Lets make the most of this next year and make it a fantastic Miz storytelling one!

Goss

[Timothy Mered]

This all sounds pretty amazing Goss! Aside from having received a faulty laptop of course. You're not the only person to like Windows 8.1 though, I personally like it as well. Took me three full days to get used to and it was rock and roll from there on out. One thing that's really good is the time it takes me to start up. More often than not it's just a five second wait and I am good to go. As long as you come to terms with the fact that your start is now a full-screen thing, anyone and their mother could stop wasting time complaining and use that time to adapt to what is largely a very similar operating system.

But enough rambling! I am excited to hear that there are so many different things in the works. To me, Miz doesn't quite feel as stagnant in terms of development as you describe it, but that may very well be because I am not nearly as knowledgeable about Miz as you are and still have many cities and cultures to explore.

One thing I would like to see is more inter-city plots. For example, Syliras and Ravok are clearly enemies but I don't think there have been any skirmishes between the two cities yet...I know there have been some world-sized and city-sized events, but I don't think that sweet in-between spot (a regional event so to speak) has occurred yet.

It's just a thought though...I don't know enough lore to give a good idea of how things might pan out. Let's just say that there's enough intrigue and build-up between races and cities for exciting events to take place.

You're creative vibe is starting to rub off on me now so I guess I'll spend my newfound energy to write some threads and grade some others.

Have a great winter and don't forget to grant yourself some PC time, eh Goss?

Cheers!

[Drusilla]

If you do successfully build the Sanc on the sims, please post pics! *is a sims addict herself* Although my fave was the sims 2.

[Gossamer]

Absenteeism otherwise known as "Damn work!"

So I made at least one person a promise that I'd post yesterday and didn't fulfill that promise. I do have a really good excuse though. It's also the same excuse I'm going to use as to why the HD is backed up again as well. My job is controlled by Nazis and I think they feel I'm of a subhuman race.

So I went to work wednesday at 3am right? Around 7am, 4 hrs into my normal shift, I was called into the office. No, I wasn't in trouble, but someone had dropped their load and called in with a broken down car being unable to make it to work. They needed me to take it. It was a "critical christmas delivery". Okay. Got it. The problem was it was an 8 hr run straight just driving normally without traffic and without load unload times. THat meant it was going to be at least a 12 hr day for me.... most likely much longer.

It was much longer. Portland Or traffic in the morning is at a dead standstill mostly. It took me an extra hour to get through it to my exit to head out to the coast. Now, I was headed from our Distribution Center to Newport, Oregon. That's 221 miles one way, 442 round trip. Plus, they made me drop a few pallets in Salem, Or on the way home. Then... to top that off, I had to stop at our terminal in portland and drop my empty and get my loaded to return home with an inbound load. So it was over a 500 mile day. I got home at 830pm.... after starting at 3am. I can't tell you how much traffic I hit. Going down it was hellish. And it took me three hours to wade through Portland traffic on the way back mainly because I had to get off the freeway at Marine Drive and Delta Park and get back on... both an hour investment at 5pm. I wanted to shoot myself.

And then I had to be back to work at 3am.

So I'm utterly dead. I didn't post. I didn't reply to threads or PMs or HD tickets. And... I'm working a ten hour shift tomorrow too. Basically you guys aren't going to see me until Sunday. I just wanted to give you a heads up on this. I'm sorry for it... but it is what it is and I need my job.

[Vizayas]

We've all been there. I know how frustrating it is when things go wrong and interrupt your plans while simultaneously causing you to have to walk through hell and back to fix whatever it is that needs fixing, no matter the hour or how tired you are. We have to do this with our farm animals (and horses) quite frequently because most of them are quite old.

I've also been the cause for some of it in my own family lately, making my brother jump through hoops to drive me 1 1/2 to 2 hours each way to and from a major city in California every weekend since I have been reluctant to get a driver's license myself.