My spouse enjoys scrapbooking and planning? Plannering? She likes keeping an organized planner. I mean, this thing is laden not only with the day's schedules weeks(or more) in advance, but there are stickers here and there that are relevant to what's written, notes, this and that. Everything under the sun. Harry Potter stickers, kid with a doctor stickers, grapefruit stickers, this sticker, that sticker, a sticker for every occasion!

A few short months ago she came to me and told me that she had something she was really excited about, something she was interested in doing. Cool!

Faceless: "Well, what is it?"
Mrs. Faceless: "You can't laugh..."

That's pretty much the way to make certain that I'm going to laugh.

F: "Okay."
M: "So I put in an application to do PR for an online retail shop and I'd advertise for them and stuff through Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media."
F: "Okay. And how much do they intend to compensate you for your time?"
M: "Well..."
F: "Well?"
M: "They would pay me in stickers."

Aaaaand there's where I lost it. I haven't laughed that hard, that long, or with that much vigor in years. Nor have I since. I couldn't breathe. At one point I sincerely thought I was going to lose consciousness. My laughter wasn't because of her choices or her interests. It was because my wife, in pursuit of something she enjoys, was willing to essentially be compensated with peanuts. To each their own. In her defense, one month she spent something like $75 on stickers. Stickers.

Flash forward to this evening. My wife comes to me at my desk while I'm trying to RP. I pause my music, I take off my headphones, I provide her with my undivided attention.

M: "So I want to show you something, but you can't laugh."
F: "...oh god, not this again...I can't do this again", as I'm beginning to crack up even thinking about the last time.
M: "No, really. It's something that I ordered for myself, for my birthday."
F: "Your birthday was quite a few months ago."
M: "I was on a waiting list."
F: "Okay. You can not get mad at me if I laugh."
M: "Okay!"

She shows me her phone. It's a picture of her. No, an artwork of her. She had commissioned someone to take a picture that she had, of herself, and turn it into an artwork. I just stared at it for a moment, studying it, noting how much it looked like her. How great it looked. How I wanted two more just like it.

M: "You aren't laughing... do you like it?"
F: "Why would I laugh? It's beautiful! I want a copy, for my desk, in a frame."
M: "Really?"
F: "Yes!"

She couldn't believe I loved it. She thought I'd think it was silly.
I couldn't believe she'd even question it. She's the strongest, smartest, most wonderful person that I know.
She gave me my son. I know I talk about my family a lot, with folks in private or even casual mentions here. It's because I'm proud of what I have.

Took the time to create an item; naming, describing, coloring(oh man, I spent some time getting the colors just right) for the item. It was intended as a birthday gift for another PC.

The thing that I love is just how genuinely appreciative not only the character, but also the player, seemed to feel about it and the time I invested in it. All in all it only took me maybe an hour to get it to my liking, but their reaction felt like I'd spent considerably more time on it or given them a real world gift or something. It was really great of them and it's reactions like that which cause me to keep making things for other characters.

George Winston is the lone survivor. He is Mrs. Faceless's remaining companion as George's sister moved on a couple years ago. He's become an old man and is beginning to let himself go. He's dropping weight and he's just not as spry as he once was. He's still a dapper gentleman of leisure, however. He's also exceptionally gentle with my very hands-on toddler. Two years and a couple months without a single incident! Go George!

When he moves on, then I will finally have a dog once more. I've refrained from taking on a dog because I know that Mrs. Faceless's cats wouldn't handle it well and I'm all about the harmony of my household, so no pooch for me. @Darinelle has been telling me the breed to get and I think @Kanye-Qwest's images of Braum that I've shown to Mrs. Faceless, may have sealed the deal.

@Arkandel said in MU Things I Love:

And they had the nerve to ask me if they could try it! Motherfuckers, once you brought it up I wouldn't have it any other way.

I salute you. It's always great to reward players who...use their head.

Update.

Mrs. Faceless's former employer had their Christmas party on Friday night.

One employee spent quite a bit of their time walking around with their phone doing that new-fangled FaceTime thingymabob with Mrs. Faceless, so everyone could see her.

At one point there was a slide show. One of those: This Year In the Company! sort of things.

Mrs. Faceless was the focus of 20% of the slides. 4/20 slides. Dedicated to her.

She was informed that it was done intentionally because the group who arranged the slides knew that people missed her and that it would make certain people uncomfortable.

Mrs. Faceless laughed long and hard. I think this was a little bit of closure that she was in need of, which is good.

I felt the need to share these two short stories because these little acts of passive aggressiveness by her former colleagues are pretty damn great.

Received a ton of In Character information that had been largely withheld from my character, whether intentionally or accidentally is irrelevant. A series of clues scattered within the game world. Virtual dots cast into the wind and left to be found. Though as I began piecing those dots together, the puzzle started to make more sense. A lot more sense.

The MU Thing I Love? When you find yourself going to bed later and later because your mind dwells on those clues for so long. Then when you go to bed, you find yourself laying there filling the silence with thinking about your imaginary fun-times and those clues. Connecting dots to dots to dots with the little information that you already had available to yourself and you find it gives you a little wiggle of goddamn fun-terror at some of your theories.

I haven't felt this immersed in a game for a long time and it feels good. Gotta make sure I give the player who brought me into the fold a vote and another thank you. Are internet reach-around's an acceptable form of MU payment?

My 2 y/o has discovered a pair of my wife's thigh high socks. He's pulled each one on and is now proudly strutting around the house in these pink and grey striped things, while enthusiastically talking on his toy phone.

He's made this tired morning much better.

When you're in a scene, things start to get tense, and some pretty heavy violence is on the horizon.

First, the players involved stick to IC communication. There's no OOC "OMG wut r u dueing?!?!', people kept it In Character and dealt with the mounting issue and tension through in character means. Gold star.

Second, those that did have things to say out of character kept it confined to pages with myself and generally kept the atmosphere light and fun. Through pages myself and a fraction of the people present, seemed to understand that the IC tensions were not in any form an out of character tension. Jokes were exchanged and chuckles were had. "Sorry! Sorry! Kill me quickly!"

Third, it didn't result in everyone immediately trying to jump to combat as the first response. Even if someone seems on the edge of going HAM, there's always that potential of talking sense into them! It resulted in dialogue and an apparent misunderstanding overcome. I always appreciate people who can deescalate a tense IC situation, through IC means. I salute you half dozen or so people.

Fourth, even after the scene concluded the in character matters weren't really discussed. Everyone kept the mood light and there was unspoken understanding(at least I think) that the IC actions were just that and should remain there. So kudos to everyone for being Big Kids.

I've kept quiet about it because I'm not often one to throw my real world issues off on the shoulders of others. This is by no means any sort of 'call for help' or the like. I help myself. We help ourselves. This is just my venting so that I don't end up following through with a wish to pay a visit to someone's home.

My wife, as many have likely gathered, is the cheddar-maker in our household. I'm the stay-at-home parent. Quite a few have likely also heard me talk about how much she loves her job, because she really, really does.

She was fired about a week and a half ago. Long story short: her boss, who had filled her head with all this talk of her becoming the Director(which essentially functions as the Vice President of that respective department)(i.e., her boss's current position) realized that the timetable that she presented for the promotions to be passed around, was flawed. She realized, in short, that she'd probably not be promoted for a long, long time. Largely because she just wasn't very good at her job. In fact Mrs. Faceless was more likely to leap frog or outright replace her.

Since Bad Boss began her job about two years ago, there has been two controversial firings within her department, that were her doing. At one point she informed my wife that "this is what she does; she treats someone she doesn't like shit until they quit or they give her a good reason to fire them". This also had the side effect of her doing it so that she could get people from her previous employer to come over and join her team at her current employer(i.e., my wife's place of employment).

So about a month ago there was some mistakes in processes that were made. My wife was given the blame. Was it her fault? No. It was one of the people under her that screwed up, but as is expected the fire burnt up the rope. When my wife was asked why what happened, happened, she was honest: I was told to do it by my immediate management. This prompted Bad Boss to initiate termination protocols. She made my wife's life hell for a couple weeks, up to and including pulling her into a private meeting to inform her sweetly that she was "pretentious" and "walk around here like you're Mrs. Faceless Fucking McFacelessface". It became a situation where Mrs. Faceless was sent into walking on egg shells because Bad Boss had become overly critical of everything. She stayed over 15 minutes one night to ensure every last shred of her duties were completed, so that she could get a fresh start on a new project the next day. Something which she's done periodically for nearly 3 years. Bad Boss took exception to this Go-Getter attitude suddenly and made it a point to chastise her diligence.

So she ended up getting fired for "insubordination". In what way or how? I've no damn idea, mostly because I know it didn't happen. I do know that I had a couple ideas that involved limb breaking, until I was reminded that my pictures had been all over her desk. An oversight. Chick needs to keep me off her grid, duh.

NOW...

She had two interviews and one job offer within an hour of losing her job. When I say my wife is the hardest working person that I personally know? It's not an embellishment or some weird flattery that she'll never see. I have zero doubts that she'll find another place to work, even if she has to take a bit of a pay hit. What angers me is the fact she lost her job or career that I know she loved, because her immediate supervisor felt threatened in their own position because they recognized that they're bad at their job. When she was confronted with the allegations, she denied them of course.

She's had a number of interviews since the separation from her previous employer. Today? Today I'm the most hopeful. I like money. It makes my junk wiggle. The position she's interviewing for today would ultimately result in a $20k increase over what she was making previously. I kind of want her to get and take this, because if so? It'll make all the headache and frustration she's felt since being fired from a place that she loved, seem worth it. For her sake, I hope she gets it because I think it'll make her appreciate the opportunity for something new.

Alternatively, she was just offered another job that while it would actually involve a slight pay cut over her previous employment; it would be with a company that has apparently won some award for being the best employer in the city the past six years or something and have a lot more bonus opportunities over what she had available previously so it would likely even out or put her slightly above her past earnings.

This is only a matter of concern to me because I know she'll ask my advice when or if she gets offered both positions. One seems a safer bet and would likely result in her having a happier experience. The other one... more money, but an uncertain environment. So I'm sort of adrift on which direction to advise her, when she comes asking.

So, in short, fuck you Bad Boss. You literally got rid of someone who was doing the duties of four people. Your department was so under budget because she was doing the work of four people in total, at the pay of one and a half. She's heard from literally a couple dozen of her former coworkers or subordinates how much chaos, confusion, and general lack of progress there's been since her firing. People now placed in jobs that they weren't prepared for, unable to answer questions or just get the job done in general. You tried to "knock her down a peg", but it didn't work. Chick's Obi-Wan, yo. She'll just come back stronger than you could possibly imagine. You've played yourself. It's my genuine hope that someone breaks your goddamn legs, you lying fuck.

/venting

I don't do much television, but I'm about to give Ozark a whirl. Fingers crossed that it doesn't end up a poor use of my time.

So it's been a good long while since I've wandered into these parts, but I'm looking for every option that I can to help others in a time of need. I was going to put this in the RL Sads thread, but I felt it may not be appropriate since I don't know everyone's circumstances in that thread and the idea of seeking financial help for someone, from people who could very well be having their own financial troubles and thus their sadness, wouldn't be right. I figured a new thread, clearly marked as a GoFundMe would be best so that people can choose to read further or skip it. Today I planned to quietly disconnect from the virtual world for awhile to grieve, spend time with family, and those sort of things when I noticed a GoFundMe was created. I have one more thing to do and here I am doing it.

On November 4 my cousin was murdered. From everything I've been told and read, his neighbor fit the criteria for that classic trope of the Neighbor From Hell; consistent threats of violence, pets killed, etc, etc. A dispute over property lines with his neighbor resulted in my cousin suffering multiple gunshot wounds, though I'll spare going into the more graphic details that have been conveyed and reported. Every attempt was made to save him, but it was too much. The man who killed him peacefully surrendered to the police and has been charged.

My cousin left behind relatives and friends, but most importantly a long-time girlfriend and her two children. He was supporting his family and with his loss that's going to become an overwhelming financial burden. A friend of their family has set up a GoFundMe in order to provide some help to his family. I want to make a big donation to them, but it's something that won't be in the cards for me until December, perhaps even January. Since right now I can only give a little as this was obviously unexpected, I'm just trying to do what I can to spread the word for them.

Anything can help, anything will be appreciated. If you can't or are unable to lend a hand? No pressure and I appreciate at least taking the time to read this. If you can help them? Then thank you and you have my gratitude.

If you are able to help with a donation and are on Arx, drop me a mail or page on there so I can give you my personal thanks when I'm able. If you aren't on Arx, please shoot me a message on here so that I can hopefully express my appreciation when I return from rl and before I drift away from the Soapbox again. Don't be bashful about feeling that it's in poor taste or something else; I want to give that thanks. It's a small thing, but it's what I can offer right now. If you still don't feel comfortable doing so? No pressure at all. Thank you.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/kc-simpson-expense-fund

TL;DR cousin murdered, seeking donations to help his girlfriend and her two kids get by.

Longest? About five or six years.
Shortest? Hopefully the one I'll get to play some day when I make my married-couple Sin-Eater concept.

@aria said in Pineapple on Pizza:

"Cream & Crimson - Alfredo sauce and cheese are blanketed with a layer of oven-roasted red potato seasoned with fresh garlic and dill. Topped off with bacon, cheddar and creamy gorgonzola cheese."

http://averspizza.com/

If you are ever in the Bloomington, IN area? I highly recommend ordering from them. Highly. I haven't lived there in almost 13 years and I still miss their food.

Word up. Thanks for the tip.

I encountered someone once with a hyphenated surname that I'm not certain how to spell, but was pronounced: Shampoo-Dick.