Best posts made by Auspice

So uh, followup to the above: I got the job!

I got the job and they said they were very impressed by me on Monday and had no hesitation in wanting to extend the offer.

'Thank you so much for considering Gehenna & Hinnom for your story, "Tempest." We would love to have this fascinating tale in our anthology! I am attaching the release form for the story.'

It took me about 15 minutes to actually open the email; I was so terrified it was gonna be a rejection.

Literally crying right now. Needed some good news today so bad.

Holy shit, guys. They're gonna pay me for my story. I don't gotta put 'aspiring' before 'author' anymore.

I got the job.

But.

I got the 2nd slot and (due to budget) cannot start until January.

So it's a good news / bad news. Yay I got a job I really wanted! Boo I have to strugglebus another 2 months.

But I can do it. Knowing there's a light at the end of the tunnel makes it much easier.

Good news!

He got back to me. Last year was really rough on him and he shut down pretty much across the board. Said he was glad I reached out. We've been catching up.

I wish he hadn't shut me out or maybe that I'd been more insistent on trying to get in touch. But what's past is past and things moving forward will be better.

Finally - finally - got the official offer for the job.
This is real. It's happening.
I still have to make it through December, but come Jan 4th I'll be employed again. Doing the sort of work I love. Working from home (possibly permanently as opposed to just during covid; during the interview they said it was going well enough for the team they were looking at making it a permanent transition). Making more than I did at my last job.

I just got asked if I'd be willing to be a 'lead' for the project and here at the office. On the project it'd just make me a go-to for assisting people and certain escalations... basically things I'm already doing.
In the office, it'd mean I'd be able to open/close the office (alarm codes).

But above all: it comes with a goddamn raise.

Got a call back on interview I had yesterday.

'Just wanted to give you feedback and it was all positive....'

I started to tune out because I was just going into my mode of yup. Prepare yourself for the '....but we are moving ahead with other candidates who fit better...'

Apparently no. They want to bring me in for another interview next week.

This wouldn't be a full-time job. Just a contract that would be like...6-9 months. But. It'd be writing. It'd pay well. And those two things are really all I need. Esp as I'm working on something right now that should have me set not too far down the road. I just need something to carry me through until I get there.

I flee my two days in San Antonio to return to my routine of hiding in my apartment when not at work with my two catfaces today.

Ike:

AJ (Action Jackson):

That is the record for quickest turnaround from interview to job offer.

Video interview at 11:30am.
Assessment test completed by about 1pm.
Job offer at 2:30pm.

Start date will be March 2nd. So I still have a few weeks of super tight finances to navigate, but I'm still breathing a little easier nonetheless!

I'm putting this in Mildly Constructive vs. Tastes Less Gamey because it can be used to better one's roleplay.

The purpose of this thread is to share links relating to writing that you think people might enjoy or that you've found personally helpful in the pursuit of such.

Here's a few to start. These are all ones I've personally saved for reference.

• 50 of the Best Screenplays to Read and Download in Every Genre
• John August's site (useful for writing in general, but especially screenwriting)
• How to Develop + Test a Story Idea
• Nuts and Bolts: “Thought” Verbs
• When to Make a New Paragraph
• Punctuation in Dialogue
• Using Semicolons
• Screenwriting Format Mistakes
• Writing the Shots
• The 10 Types of Writers' Block (and How to Overcome Them)
• 13 Famous Writers on Overcoming Writer’s Block
• Writing With Color (they have an entire post on skintones that's fantastic for bio data / desc writing)
• Writing With Color: Stereotypes & Tropes

Part of why I include (and recommend!) screenwriting tips is because MU*ing is a very 'visual' format as well. We try to eschew metaposing and especially thoughtposing. Some of us use it to comedic effect or to help expand on what would be knowable, but certainly not to the extent one would find in a novel. You almost have to approach posing as you approach screenwriting: by focusing on what can be seen.

I'll happily expand here as I find (and find merit in) more.

I adopted a cat today:

@bored said in Diversity Representation in MU*ing:

unless its disruptive, I really don't care if they enjoy it. If it's disruptive, I'd prefer they kindly moved to Shang.

to those of us who are LGBT?
It's upsetting. And I 100% wish they'd move to Shang. I wish EVERYONE whose singular goal was just to TS would go to Shang. I got nothing against TS, but when it's your only reason to RP? Just go to Shang.

It's upsetting to see ourselves portrayed as a trope. For example, as someone bi, I hate when a bi character -- my own or another -- is assumed to be a slut, a whore, or 'always into threesomes.' I hate the portrayal (as a chick into chicks) of lesbians just being oversexed bimbos.

I was driven off a game as a 'homophobe' once because I was playing a straight dude and a handful of the tropey over-the-top gay characters came up to me demanding I 'make' my character gay and when I said no, he's straight- they sent out @mails to everyone in my RP circle saying that because I wasn't interested in gay sex, I was homophobic. I can't speak for the gay men around here, but I'm pretty sure they'd be opposed (just from the POV as someone in the LGBT umbrella) to the idea of 'gay as a choice.'

After six months, I have a really good solid lead on a job. I applied last Wednesday, got an interview request the same day (had the interview the following day). Today, they called to confirm rates with me.

I don't think they'd do that if I wasn't being held in high consideration for a position. I'm tentatively hopeful. It'd be work from home (even after covid) and the pay is really good with good benefits.

I'm not going to put up with 'I'll behave until someone is mean to me again!' style threats while continuing to bait the rest of the forum.

The rules are there for a reason. He'd been given a couple warnings over the past handful of weeks.

I've said before the reasons why, but people think I'm just some evil horrible wrong person who is wrong.

It's not the format. It's largely how we play. If you look at a lot of those places, their play style is vastly different from ours. They don't roleplay like we do, at all. I've tried a few of those. Hell, I had to moderate one of the forums, for my job, for a handful of years. I was neck-deep in it 5 days a week. I know those kids. Very well. Back on Livejournal days someone tried to drag me into that realm... It's a completely different mentality.

It's not a matter of 'ditch telnet and you get dozens if not hundreds of new players!' ... it's ditch sheets, ditch +roll, ditch our entire culture for theirs because it's a whole other world. The 'app' style, the pose style, the resolution style. Most of those forums, tumblrs, and so on? Are full of power posing and that's just the way they play. They pose what they do to you and your reaction and you just go with it. It's like the twinked out kids on 90s games all over again except... these kids like it that way. What's cringe-worthy to us is their fun.

But it's not us. We are 'old school.' If we really want them... we're gonna have to shed a lot of what we do, culturally.

A friend just shared her experience in an Uber. It was driven by a friar.

The quote, as passed along: "We're the FUN Catholics. We have brunch...and we drive Uber to raise money for the friary. It's a heck of a lot more fun than begging!"

I think that's adorable and kind of awesome.

@Seraphim73 said in If you work hard, son, maybe someday you'll RP:

there's very little more annoying than someone coming on RP Requests to say "Hey, anyone want to RP" and then when you say "Sure, what did you have in mind," they say "Oh, I don't know. You want to go to a bar?"

Yes, I honestly hate this v much.

Person: 'Anyone wanna RP?'
Me: 'Sure! What did you have in mind!'
Person: 'I dunno. What do you wanna do?'

...Please don't put the onus on me, Person! You tossed out the idea to RP. Gimme a hook. An idea, a place, something. This is the entire reason why I'm hesitant, sometimes, to respond to such vague queries, because these days it's become more common than not that if I reply...... I'm suddenly the one who has to come up with everything. The location. The idea. The scene set. I feel like I'm their sole source of entertainment rather than a collaborator.

So the down payment on my car hadn't gone through yet. Money's been sitting in my account. This is concerning!

I called the dealership this morning and left a message (their finance guy was busy today).

He just called back, gushing over how I made his day. Just all this: no one ever does that, how surprising it was, etc.

They'd lost the paperwork with my bank info!

So we got it sorted. Gave my card info. Squared away.

He called back a minute later and was like: you know what? Look, in 16 years, I almost never see this happen. Next time you need your car detailed? Bring it in. It's on us.