Best posts made by Monogram

People merging into your blindspot when you're about to merge lanes.

I almost died today because someone decided to be an asshole.

Damn, I'm behind. I've only ever played 1st edition.

I have this strange fascination with taking apart something and refinishing it. It began with an old table in my basement that I really liked, but it was horribly beaten up. Then my dad's wooden bench that had been sitting outside, refinished that.

So it's become an accidental hobby of sorts. I have a project for a small table I'm currently working on in the garage when it's not cold as balls outside.

And like so many others, I cook, but I wouldn't say I cook good, more like 'alright'. This mostly because I wanted to find a way to do something nice for the SO since she's an amazing cook. What I have found is that I enjoy cooking more when I'm doing it for my friends, especially my DnD group, who most of them stare blankly at a kitchen.

@surreality Holy damn I think I remember Miracles.

There's two incidents that I've either witnessed or seen the results of. For the life of me, I cannot, to this day, explain either of them. Nothing that science can explain. Whatever I say here, I'm going to understand if people are dubious of. Had I not been witness myself, I likely would be too. So feel free to believe or disbelieve at your leisure.

The first incident happened in the early 2000s. 2004, I want to say. It was winter in Wisconsin, and I had been homeless for the greater portion of it, living in a 92 Chevy Cavalier convertible with a broken heater core. I had found a job working second shift in a factory(a job which I hated, I might add, but I was desperate for work).

I was getting near the point where I had saved up enough for an apartment of my home, though I had no desire to really live in the city which I worked. For those in the know or at least know the area, I worked in Beloit, WI, and was 'living' in Janesville, WI. It was about a 15 minute drive between the two cities, and the road I traveled on was this county highway. At this time, it was empty, save for maybe the occasional car or semi. I'm driving home, at around 1am. It's winter, as I said, just recently had a snowstorm. In between these two cities is a lot of farmland, so a lot of open space. As I'm letting my mind just kinda 'drift', I pick something out of on the passenger side window. At first I thought it was a medevac chopper, which wasn't uncommon. But I took notice of the fact that it looked like there was a spotlight shining on the ground. Which, didn't really make sense to me, because what the hell would a medevac chopper be doing looking at farmland?

As I kept driving, I saw it coming closer, like it was going fly over the highway in which I was driving. Because of all the snow, it made for a pretty bright night, when it's not as dark as it could be. Helped that the moon was out and it was clear. Which also meant it was really cold(and without heat in your car, you really notice that kind of shit). I kept staring at it, and I realized it's sillouete wasn't of a helicopter. Looked more like a triangular wedge. Big. Not like...a 100 yards across or anything that huge, but it was big enough to pick out it's shape.

I had no idea what I was really looking at, it didn't make sense to me. But I was 21 and stupid, so curiosity got the better of me. I pulled my car over to the side of the road and got out to try and make sense of what the hell it was. Funnily enough, I wasn't the only one, someone going the opposite direction did the same thing. I remember most of the conversation:

Me: Hey, you see that shit?

Him: Yeah, you ever see anything like that?

Me: No. Can't figure out what it is.

Him: Yeah, why I stopped.

So, both stood there, staring at this thing, coming at a vague angle towards the road. It made no sound. Didn't hear anything, which is what made it so strange. But I do remember the sensation of tasting burnt ozone in my mouth. And at that time, I remember, somewhere in the back of my skull, something is telling me to get in my car and drive. Get the hell out of there. But I just kept staring, my desire for curiosity was just too strong.

See...and this is the part where I lose people, if I hadn't already. Because this is where the tinfoil hats come in. From the opposite direction, I heard the distinct 'whoop whoop' sound of helicopters. Two of them, infact. And not like your standard police or medical ones. Military ones. Apache types. Or something that'd qualify as a gunboat. And they were going right for whatever that 'thing' was. Apparently, it too had an idea of what was coming, and it just took off at an angle that I didn't expect into the air. Like doing so with such an amount of acceleration, that many Gs would've turned someone into paste. And it was just gone.

My newfound friend and I also realized that it was probably the best time to get the hell out, so we both got back into our cars and tore out. I remember going back to my friend's apartment, and she thought I looked like I had saw someone die, I apparently appeared that white. I told her what I saw, and while I could tell she was more than dubious, she simply shoved a joint in my face and told me to light up.

So that's one of my stories. I'll tell that other one if anyone wants to hear it, but like I said, I completely understand if anyone thinks I'm blowing smoke up their ass. On the other hand, I know what I saw. And it was from that point on that I knew there were things within and beyond the confines of our world that are beyond explanation. So yeah. Believe or don't. I know I do.

Admit I wouldn't mind seeing a L&L theme done in modern or even future settings. Not enough of that.

Ah well, maybe it'll happen one day.

And Jose Fernandez. Same with Arnie. Man, depressing.

Young kid, had a really good career ahead of him.

I ran an original theme game for a bit. One of the factions was ruled by a corporate oligarchy. Members of that particular company, owner, chairman, CEO, EO were all family held and that family, like the ones that founded said company, were what I considered to be 'nobility'.

That was how I worked in a futuristic setting anyways. I have to admit, I always thought that bit of theme was really well done in comparison to the other factions.

@tek Just give me reason that if something happened to me, I'd tell someone to please shut my profile off, or just outright delete. Because that shit's creepy as hell.

@Sunny said in Coming Soon: Arx, After the Reckoning:

I find it frustrating to have it be implied that to be successful, you have to be online a lot, not have a life, etc. I am not successful because I have a time advantage (being on and being engaged are very different).

I delegate.

While I may be taking a short break from Arx, this is something I have felt very strongly in the time that I have been away from it. The game moves fast, almost too fast for my liking and at times it feels like there is almost a suggestion that if you don't dedicate the majority of your life to it, you're going to fall behind. And to note, I was completely one of those people who wanted 'all the clues ever' as unrealistic as that is.

Now, I know this probably isn't true at all, but the point is that it feels like it is. I'm hoping at some point the game decides to slow itself down to allow some to catch their breath, or at least feel like you're not missing out on a lot of things. It might be at the speed in which metaplot unravels, or the fact that the game moves at 3:1 time or a combination of both.

Either way, I know exactly what you're talking about. But again, even if I feel that, I don't think it's the case.

What mods am I using? Holy shit, that's gonna be a long list. But let's go. Note: I don't use all of these at once. I can, but there are some I'm probably going to get rid of.

Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch(a must have)
Live Another Life - Alternate Start(really useful if you hate the long vanilla start)
Cutting Room Floor
Rich Merchants of Skyrim
Wildcat - Combat of Skyrim Overhaul(highly recommend)
Apocalypse - Magic of Skyrim Overhaul(highly recommend)
Ordinator - Perks of Skyrim Overhaul(highly recommend)
Compatability Patch for Ordinator/Apocalypse
Rebalanced Loot Level Lists
Relationship Dialouge Overhaul for Followers
Essential Followers(recommend so you don't accidently kill your follower)
Black Mage Armor SE
Unlimited Rings and Amulets
YOU DON'T KNOW ME - No NPC Greetings(which I love)
Triss and Yennefer Armor
Geralt Armor
Campfire
Frostfall
Wet and Cold
Vivid Weather
Ars Metallica(highly recommend)
Reflection - Level Up Messages
Marco's Integrated Level Lists
Convenient Crossbows
Merchant Death Prevention
Longer Magelight and Candlelight
Lanterns of Skyrim
Conan - Age of Hyborian(really really good)
Realistic Conversations
KS Hairdos Lite
Cheat Room
Sheogorath's Cheat Spell
Sofia - Fan-Voiced Follower
Corvo Armor and Weapon from Dishonored
Increased Follower Limit
College of Winterhold Overhaul
Valiant Nord Bow
Immersion Indigestion(everyone farts in combat and it's funny as hell)

Okay, I think that's all of them. Or well, the one's worth mentioning. Most of my mods tends to be more focused on immersion stuff. I was doing Wildcat + More Populated Forts/Dungeons, but man, I kept getting my ass kicked(read: swarmed) because Wildcat is not kind with the way it sets up it's AI(it's a lot smarter in fighting).

EDIT 1: A lot of my other mods revolve around making followers better and merchant stuff. There's nothing truly game bereaking beyond the Cheat Room, which I mostly use as a portable smithy/enchanting spot. I mean, yes, I COULD improve everything to 100, give myself so many perks/dragon shouts/whatever item I wanted, but I feel like that makes the game boring. SO I kinda would rather earn it.

Right now I'm playing a Nord who just became Arch-Mage, because I liked the irony in a Nord of all races becoming Arch-Mage. Though for some reason, all these experienced teachers decided that 'yeah, let's make the guy with 35 Destruction magic who knows like, four spells to be Arch-Mage. Not like we have high standards or anything'.

EDIT 2: So, I can't stress this enough. Ordinator: Perks of Skyrim feels like you're playing a completely different game. I love it, it allows you do so much more than the vanilla game ever could. I feel like this is how the skill trees should have been. You get so many options to mold and modify your playstyle to whatever what you want. Wildcat, Apocalypse, and Ordinator are must-haves now for any modded playthrough for me.

I like FS3. I think new version is leagues better than the current one, but that one is only being used on one game currently

I plan on using the new version of FS3 when it becomes open to use. Much more flexible and optimizable then the original one.

Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch - because it fixes a lot of shit the devs couldn't be bothered to fix.

Apocalypse: Magic of Skyrim - Adds a lot(155 I think)new spells that're real handy if you're don't the mage type

Ordinator: Perks of Skyrim - fuckton of new perks that allow you a myriad of different play styles

Rich Merchants of Skyrim - Because merchants only having a couple hundred gold is annoying. Every merchant now has 10,000 gold to sell stuff

Essential Followers - Self explainatory. Followers don't die.

Rebalanced Loot Level Lists - Because killing dragons is now worth something beyond a Dragon Soul

Unlimited Rings and Amulets - Because why limit yourself to wearing just one ring when you can wear TEN OF THEM

Ars Metallica - Retools the Smithing system so you can break down weapons/armor you don't care about into metal. Also gives you XP for doing smelting, leatherworking, etc. It's really handy and makes the smithing system what it should've been.

Wet and Cold/Vivid Weather is purely for immersons sake. Actually you gives you better weather effects. And realistic night lighting.

Conan Age of Hyboria is really really fun. Got it's own quest and everything, but it'snot for the feint of heart. It's hard and it will kick your ass unless you're a high level. But the stuff you get out of it is totally worth it.

Most of the stuff on my list is pretty fun, I'd suggest any of them to a player. The ones I list here are just the ones I couldn't play the game without because they're some of my favorites that just make the game better.

I dunno. Yeah, tel-net clients might be ancient in terms of stuff, but it's not like there's anything inherently wrong with them. Or maybe that's just a thought of 'if it's not broke don't fix it' kind of thing.

I like my MU clients and playing something from an inherently a browser window just seems a little strange to me. That could also be me sitting on my porch and shaking my cane at things.

I'm not saying it would be a /horrible/ change, but at the same time, I dunno if it's something that I would use. Already use my browser for enough stuff as it is.

So much for that second season.

...too soon?

@Cupcake Holy hell this is very relevant. And this is only something I'm personally becoming aware of in the last few months. Many times, we don't see how we're coming off to other people, and even less do we stop to consider the ramifications or perceptions of the things we do on MU. And sometimes, we don't want to see it. I know I didn't. Not for a very long time.

I think for starts, for right now, I may start writing a blog. If only to put my thoughts down onto.

I've been told that CBT and medication will work well for me. I don't know much about it yet, my girlfriend said it was called 'cognitive behavioral therapy'. Apparently it works well. It's like, how was it described to me, relearning how to process and think things through.

Also, thank to everyone for the advice. I'm not going to assume too much, but it's nice to have a support structure. I appreciate it all.

If nothing else you rolled a crit success on your Con score after failing a savings throw.

That's how I read that.

I've mentioned building a desk in other threads. This is the finished product. It's not brand new, it belonged to the girlfriend's dad until he didn't want it anymore for a computer he didn't even use I suspect this is somewhere in the early to mid 2000s. Damn thing came in about forty different pieces. Either way, it'll be more than enough room for the computer, which we bought all the parts for yesterday. Eventually, I'd like to get a dual monitor setup.

Floof Wizard for scale.