She finally succumbed.

It was 4 years ago about this time that Freelance Keep was started by a group of crazies hanging out in the Sluggy boards goofing around who were politely asked to "take it somewhere else". We did and many fun and some painful hijinks occured. We'd lose members, gain members, break each other's hearts and cheer each other on with a variety of group stories that became, for lack of a better word, epic.

As of December, this forum will be shut down. I can't say I'm completely sorry, the Keep had been stagnating and dragging along for months now and really needed to quietly curl up and rest. It has served its purpose, a good one, of bringing 10 souls together and making them friends, for the most part. ^_^ Some of us grew up, some of us found love, some of us blossomed creatively. All three happened to me (although the love was outside the boards) and I would not trade the experience for anything.

Sildar, Sniper, Kyther, Flesh, Light, Jhereg, Cidin, Kale, Pikey, Vic, III, Dublex, MK2, Aphie, Andrew, Caesar, I will miss you. Anyone I have forgotten, I apologize. My play has been so intermittent I didn't get a chance to play with the newer people.

This story is finally over. Close the book.

*bows*

When it's time to close the book, do you look over the story with sadness, regret, pleasure? Is it a relief that you finished it or is it bittersweet?

I think it's time to stamp "THE END" on Freelance Keep.

The only stories showing any kind of serious activity are the ones LD is in charge of. I won't play there and I noticed few others are. Everything else is stagnant or chugging along at sub-snail speeds. There's no spice, no excitement. We've all grown up and moved on, to one degree or another.

While I am saddened by this, it's not a surprise. I've been out of work for almost a month now and I could have been spending all kinds of time in the Keep. Instead I was posting once every two or three days and sometimes forgetting it completely. When I've become this apathetic to something, it's time to end it. Kris going offline for good is part of this, I know that. I do have her email and have corresponded with her on occasion. I love her and I miss her, but this is something she must do. You go, Kris! (JIC she reads this. *wink*)

Now for me to do something I need to do.

Wolf thinks it was a really bad case of indigestion, he could feel bubbling while touching my abdomen. Entirely possible, I was diagnosed with IBS just after high school, which is a doctor's way of saying "Your digestive tract gets wonky when you're under stress. We don't know why, take some heavy duty antacids and you'll be fine." Guess we'll be picking up some Tagament on our major shopping run this weekend. Gotta stock up.

I'm fighting a losing battle with myself. There's SO much SM fan-fic out there, I know sooner or later today I'm going to go looking for some.

But it's research!

It's a way to kill time.

But it's also research!

*sigh* There are other ways...

You can't afford them! Besides, Wolf will not watch Sailor Moon with you.

*looks out at audience* See what I mean?

Now to go figure out how my Keep Queen is going to react when she finds out what happened to her Consort.

Then again, some posts took several minutes to write inbetween phone calls. Ah well.

*checks Keep*

*breaks out the popcorn*

*munch munch munch*

Y'know, I must be REALLY BAD at reading character descriptions and such. I didn't see the uber-power people are complaining about. What I did object to was corrected, so I was of the opinion it was cool. Nope. Now the person in question is very upset and throwing accusations around, which, of course, is NOT the way to win friends and influence people, especially on the Keep.

Then again, by the time I had a chance to read the power descriptions, there was a five post thread going and the arguing had already started. Yeesh. You spend an evening offline. Oh well.

We'll see if this makes or breaks the character. I don't think anyone's being unreasonable in their requests, it's how they're saying it. Same problem I had with LG, more or less. Maybe another live chat hash-out is in order.

I'm really tempted to post a smart-ass observing comment.

Thanks, Sil!

( Current Meme )

Which brings me to my current view on the Keep. The whining needs to stop. We know what we're doing, why we're doing it, and how it would work out best. It's amazing how seriously this game gets taken sometimes. I'm just as guilty, I'll admit it. I've had to forcibly take several steps back and regain my perspective.

This time, I'm in a state of really not caring. I have patience, I can wait on the thread that's affecting my characters drastically and I'm not particularly interested in joining anything else until it is. Yes, it can be boring. So? This isn't the only thing we all do. If it is, I'm sorry. Find something else. You will be happier.

Yes, I'm playing inherently selfish characters. Yes, that sometimes spills over into the discussions. If it's how I feel, then that's how it comes out. I make no apologies. We're all human, more or less. (hush, Sil. We know you're an elf. *grin*) We don't always have to get along. Hee! I find it amusing how many people say "Can't we all just..." No! Sometimes conflict is useful. Sometimes it's necessary. And sometimes it's just plain fun.

So, yeah. I'll drift along in my blissful apathy and enjoy myself. It's not often I can do this. *grin*

I am so bored! I hate this, I really do. Last time my workload dropped this bad, I was severed in less than two months. Here I'm just a temp! I know they need two people to man the phones, but there's nothing to do when the lines are quiet. Asking for work doesn't do any good either. We're not trained the same way on the new database system, so we can't assist with first reports. We just sit here.

*munches on waffle fries*

Does anyone have any comic suggestions? Ones with more than a year of archives still available on the net? I'd go read Sluggy, but last I heard Pete took all the archives down so he could sell the books instead. Good business move, bad for bored workers. *grin* I haven't read Sluggy in over a year, so I'm pretty sure I won't be able to catch up.

Keep in mind I'm behind a corporate firewall, so any comics with high levels of sex and/or violence I won't be able to get into. The filters scan for those keywords.

*blinks* Ok...something just did...something. I got a weird, sharp pain rush from my stomach up to my breasts and down to my hips. Now it's settling in my abdomen. Damned cysts. Bet one of them burst again. Boy, that was weird. It was like a tiny firework going off inside me.

Ok, ignore the weird female's body problems and send the comic links please! Please? With sugar on top? *manga eyes*

I don't often do this, but sometimes something is found that must be shared.

http://www.aliendice.com/

Intriguing. Dramatic. Romantic. Enchanting. Well written, well drawn, very well done. Anyone interested in dice gaming or M:TG might appreciate this. Die hard romantics might as well. It's beautiful. And addictive. I spent WAY too much time at work reading the archives. *blush* Not often you find a comic that includes text as part of the story.

( Keep Rant )
*walks off humming Cure*

This is Mist O'pholes, bringing you an update on the Punning Pundit situation.

Mr. Pundit has posted a character description link. It describes a human librarian/absent-minded professor type. No mention of magickal or physical abilities, weapons or defenses. It would appear Mr. Pundit is playing an ordinary man.

Excuse me.

*is handed a piece of paper*


Thank you. I have just received word from Bloodsong. She is begging all other Keep players to help her with answering Mr. Pundit's question on the timeline. She also says she's sure he's more than what he seems, as that is how AC is known to play, and doesn't feel the description is complete. She does not want to answer his most recent post and hopes someone else will have the courage to do so.

This is a fascinating development. However, I will refrain from speculating, because unlike other news sources, I have better things to do. As always, I will keep you informed of further developments.

Mist O'pholes, signing off.

Didn't try to kill anything on Doc's PS2, mainly because I hate console controls. Gimme a mouse and a keyboard and I'm perfectly happy to go kill stuff. A console control, forget it. Too many buttons. I was ok with the old Nintendo controls, even if I could only play Tetris with any reasonable success. So, Wolf played OniMushya (sp?) for a while, I ranted to Doc, and we all watched a disc of Outlaw Star.

Wolf and I are still in holding for the move. The guy didn't call us all weekend to ask about signing papers or his earnest money. Which was fine with us, we didn't have it! This weekend, we'll see. I'm starting to not like that guy more and more. Something as big as setting up a rent-to-own on your house, yet he seems to only want to deal with Wolf. I think there's some latent hatred of women in him, probably because of his ex-wife. Funny how that goes.

As for the Keep, *eville chuckle*. I've said all I'm going to say. Anyone else wants to fuss about it, they can come find me. We'll see who has the guts. I know LG will be told. I've thought about telling him myself. Even played out a few possible conversations in my head during the night. No matter what, I'm going to look like the bad guy here. *shrug* It's not the first time. I've been blamed for a lot of shit that wasn't all my fault. This, eh. I don't think I did anything wrong. My life would be easier, that's for sure. Selfish? Yeah, probably. Impractical? Depends on how you look at it. Rude? Again, POV. Dismissed out of hand? Yes. No surprise there. Will I be asked to leave? Possibly. I can walk away if I'm "voted off the island", but I would insist on that vote. *eville grin* Frankly, I don't think anyone on the Keep wants to take such a step, for any player. Which is kind of sad. We can't always expect people to throw up their hands and leave when things get out of hand. Some will need a push, a shove or a good swift kick in the pants.

The problem here is no one's really "in charge". Kyther runs the site, so he has senority as the system admin. In terms of length of play, it's me, LG, Aphie, Jhereg, Pikey and Doc. Doc lurks, so I don't know who else counts him in the "Founders". Without a set leader, these disputes go on and on until some form of resolution comes about or one of the parties gives up and deals. As we know, this doesn't prevent further debate on a similar situation. All we ususally get are hurt feelings and a patch that may or may not be torn apart later. Lots of hard heads in this group, yes. Yes there are.

It's sad, because I know we're all better than this, yet it keeps happening. If we can't play nice, then what's the point? The group shouldn't suffer the hard headedness of a few players (yes, I count myself in this). I work with LG to the best of my abilities. I don't see rules as inflexible when it comes to something new, so that's where we butt heads. Gaming systems are constantly being tweaked, ours is no different. The current debacle is simply the continuation of the same problem, POV arguing against POV. This is not going to work unless both sides see the value in the other's argument and ACKNOWLEDGES said value. I see others caving to LG far more often than LG saying "Ok, we can try that." That, I feel, is the core issue. Others disagree, I know, and that's their perogative. It's not going to change my POV and I don't expect to be able to change anyone else's. I'd be happy with "You have a point. I'll consider it".

And here I thought I wasn't going to bitch about this. *chuckle* Yeah, this is bothering me, a lot. I'm waiting for the fallout and I hate waiting for bad stuff. I'd rather just get it over with, know where everyone stands, and then deal. I'm not sure I'm going to be allowed such a courtesy and that's frustrating in itself.

*sigh* I need a drink.

Oooooo. LG's getting stomped on in the Keep discussion board. And by surprise people too.

Now, y'all know LG and I have butted heads time and again. He's still grudging about what happened to a thread of his that I ended up doing a side story for. Couldn't believe he bitched so much about what I had done AFTER the fact, instead of asking me about it right away. Nor could he accept "I'm being true to character." as an explanation. What flipping gives?

Right now he's picking on his girlfriend, who, btw, has about 15 YEARS gaming experience on him. So far the vote's all in the girlfriend's favor and some have been extremely vocal about their disapproval of him and his tactics. Accusations of powergaming are being levied against LG, which really sent my eyebrows flying. That's an issue that isn't totally resolved, because at least three players are using very powerful characters. We all try to moderate ourselves, but sometimes stuff slips. LG's usually the one that calls those instances and a discussion/debate/fight ensues until it's resolved. *chuckle* I can almost hear the steam coming out of LG's ears. He's not going to take this lying down, he never does. But when it's players that stay out of disputes now voicing their displeasure....well. We'll see what happens.

I'm definitely going to enjoy watching this. Yes, I am pleasantly sadistic when it comes to people I don't like. The guy's had it coming for years. I've pointed his antics out time and again and got out-yelled. Well, let's see how he handles being completely out-numbered. *eville chuckle*

In other news...

Had my chiropractor exam today. Diagnosis: Bloody's got a seriously messed up spine. Scoliosis has not only dragged my right hip up and put a small hump in my left shoulder blade, it's also shortened my right leg, weakened the muscles on the lower right side and given me severe knots in my neck. Everywhere else on my back is either tight and strained or underdeveloped. I'm a vertebrae mess. It's going to take 3-6 weeks of serious adjustments (lightly done because I'm small), after x-rays of course, and then monthly or bimonthly maintenance. The doc also wants me to get a bone density exam to make sure I'm not developing osteoporosis prematurely.

We're gonna have to wait until insurance is available. We really can't afford $35/treatment plus $50/xrays right now. On the plus side, it's less expensive then I thought it was going to be. In the meantime, I'll continue doing yoga in an attempt to strengthen my back muscles. I think I'm gonna petition Wolf for nightly neck massages as well. *grin* This must be fixed or it's going to get much worse. I could be shuffling around like Igor at age 50. "Yes, Master. Yes, Master." Ew!

Wolf's still job-hunting. Only things coming available are compressed 12 hour shifts. That is not going to help my situation any, because if I go back to the early shift to make sure daycare is covered, my cube mate's walking. Poor supervisor. I warned her this could happen and she threw up her hands and said "730-630 must be covered." *chuckle* I feel bad about this, but it's either that or I stop working and they have to find someone else. I don't want to do that, I hate leaving before the contract is finished. But if I have to...something to consider.

Man, today's boring. Guess I'll go find some comics to read. Or play Free Cell. One of the two.