Best posts made by Sockmonkey

A year ago, we took our two year old cat, Hiphop, to the vet for his check up and they detected a heart murmur. They told us to take him to a cardiologist which we did .. at which point we got the really shitty news that he has HCM. My husband and I were crushed -- even though he was acting perfectly fine and some cats can live years before going into heart failure, HCM is a progressive disease and when it's diagnosed in cats as young as Hiphop, it usually progresses pretty quickly. But we wouldn't really know anything until we got him checked again in a year's time, assuming that he didn't become symptomatic before then.

Fast forward to tonight.

We took him back to the cardiologist for another EKG. The best we were hoping for was that there hadn't been any thickening of his heart but we were bracing for bad news (even though he still has been acting like his adorable, snuggly self). I even told my boss that I probably would have to work from home tomorrow because I would likely be too weepy because OMG HIPHOP WHHHY NOOOOOOOOOOOO.

But somehow? The measurement of his left ventricle had gone down from 8mm (last year) to 6.5mm, putting him in the mild category.

The doctor was surprised, a little confused but very pleased. Cats with this condition don't improve so the initial reading was just wrong for some reason -- granted, the measurement is thick enough that he still has the disease but it puts him in a much less dire place than he was before and it's unlikely that there was much change in his heart over the past year.

So we're all cautiously optimistic that Hiphop will be with us for a few (several?) more years. Which I RL love. I mean, just look at this stupid face:

MY HUSBAND WON TONIGHT!

We are going to retire on his $2.15 winnings.

So. SO.

I mentioned in the RL Things I Hate thread (or somewhere, I can't remember) how I get migraines. And I have sumatriptan injections to deal with them. And how they work FANTASTIC ... when I can get the injections to work. But out of the 12 shots I am allotted per month, I usually can only get, like, 3 or 4 of the autoinjectors to actually fire.

Well.

My pharmacy started to carrying a different brand of generic and they are so much better and I am actually going to be able to use all 12 shots that I get every month and not have to cry through migraines that I cannot treat. YES. FUCKING YES.

Oof. I mostly just lurk here so there is likely a collective 'huh? who?' at my post. But maybe an old friend will stumble across this and we can be like HEY! Or an old enemy and we can finally fight to the death. Or perhaps someone I unknowingly wronged and I can make things right.

-= CURRENTLY =-

Spirit Lake: Roo, Birdie

-= PAST =-

Arx: Caith, Maja, Mercedes, Petra
Fate's Harvest: Cressida, Agnes, Mireille, Lala, Elliot
Fallcoast: Lotje, Ruth, Cressida, Simone, Hullabaloo (staff)
The Reach: Cosima
Keep Austin Wyrd: Elinor
Firan: Lucile, Diamia, Tivana, Yasmina, probably a couple others, RoseBuilder/Beatrix (staff)
Aether: Thalia, Erianthe
Paris Fleur du Mal (or something like that): Soleil, a couple others I can't remember

I played on various WoD games: Metro, Crescent City but can't remember what my character names were. Mila, maybe? And some girl who was blind to the living world but could see the dead. I also played on this MU*/MUD hybrid way, way, waaaaay back in the day called Chomestru or something like that.

Good times.

Two years ago, I wrote to the Swedish embassy asking for a declaration of citizenship to find out whether or not I was still a Swedish citizen (surprise! I am).

A year ago, I submitted paperwork to get a coordination number (basically, it's me registering myself with the Swedish population) so I could apply for a Swedish passport. This is something that typical takes 10-12 weeks but .. didn't. I don't know why it took so long for me. It might have been because this is something that parents usually do for their minor children, not something that people do for themselves when they are old AF like me. Anyway. It finally came through.

Now I have an appointment with the Embassy in DC to get my Swedish passport/ID card which I am super excited about -- not just because this is finally happening but also because I will get to visit a friend of mine that I haven't seen in years in the process.

As an artist, I implore you: don't ask artists to devalue their work. I am sympathetic to the fact that you might not have a lot of cash right now but rather than asking for a discount, it would be better to scale back what you are asking for so it fits your budget.

What you are asking for sounds like a fairly big deal from a work standpoint. So many people -- sooooo many -- treat art as something artists just love to do and that they are fine taking on commissions for free/low cost because of that love. But work is work and when people don't pay what art is worth? It just reinforces the notion that art isn't worth much.

Also: giving the artist credit? That should not be a bonus or something to offer in lieu of payment. Giving them credit goes without saying.

I don't doubt that you'll be able to find someone, somewhere, who will be able to give you what you want for the amount you want to pay. Unfortunately, there is always someone out there who is willing to devalue themselves. But come on. Don't be that person. The reason that there is a 'starving artist' stereotype is because people don't pay artists what their art is worth.

Don't make artists starve.

@jinshei said in Social Awkwardness?:

... oh god, the forced social interactions.

FUCK OFFICE SOCIAL EVENTS. I SPEND AT LEAST NINE HOURS A DAY, FIVE DAYS A WEEK WITH YOU MOTHERFUCKERS. I CERTAINLY AM NOT GOING TO GIVE YOU SOME OF MY GODDAMN EVENING HOURS SO WE CAN STAND AROUND IN A CROWDED BAR DRINKING SHITTY BEER AND SCREAMING OVER MUSIC THAT IS TOO LOUD MAKING CONVERSATION THAT I COULDN'T GIVE A RAT'S ASS ABOUT. AND DON'T EVEN COME AT ME WITH AN INVITATION FOR A WEEKEND GO-CARTING EVENT BECAUSE THAT IS NOT FUCKING HAPPENING, BECKY, SO YOU CAN GO BACK TO YOUR GOD DAMN DESK AND LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE. I ALSO DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOU FUCKING COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW I 'NEVER DO ANYTHING WITH THE GROUP' BECAUSE, FOR FUCK'S SAKE, I WAS NOT HIRED TO BE YOUR FRIEND. I WAS HIRED TO BE A MOTHERFUCKING PROFESSIONAL.

Yeah, so. I don't like socializing with my co-workers outside of work.

I miss you.

Well.

***UGH***

@Arkandel No one would ever get mad about that! We're all mature adults here. Right?

Late Saturday night, I signed up for a Tuesday evening Meetup event for beginner-level tennis players. At the time, it seemed like a great idea but when today rolled around, I was like:

Everything about this seemed like a bad idea; I'm an introvert who loves her couch and being toasty-cuddly-warm and --

• It is a physical activity
• It is with a bunch of strangers
• It is going to be cold AF

In the afternoon, I went to cancel my RSVP but someone else had already canceled and if I did so as well, it would have put the entire event in jeopardy because there wouldn't have been enough people. So I decided to go ahead with it but I was freaking out about it for the rest of the day. What if I sucked? What if no one liked me? What if it was awkward? Whhhhhhy did I sign up for this why why why?!

YOU GUYS. I HAD SO MUCH FUN.

I'm going to go back next Tuesday and do this again.

I will want to RP with a person if:

..their poses make me feel something.
Make me laugh. Make me cry. Make me nervous. Make me anxious about what is going to happen next. Make me stare at the screen and whisper 'holy shit' under my breath. Make me scramble to think how to react. Make me excited to RP with you again.

..their RP is generous.
I love it when I find someone whose RP gives me -- and others -- stuff to build off of. If I can leave a scene with a 'next step' in mind, it's been a good scene. And those kind of RPers inspire me to be better too! They prompt me to be reciprocal in that respect.

..they are super chill OOCly.
They are fun to talk to OOCly without being pushy or over-sharing. They express a desire to RP on the regular without giving me the impression that they feel entitled to it. I can go off and do my thing without them and they won't level a guilt-trip on me; but when we do get together and scene: MAGIC. If I have game questions, I can ask them without worrying about bias or IC-OOC crossover.

..they are not afraid to fail ICly.
I have found that the people who aren't fixated on being the MOST HEROIC HERO or the PRETTIEST PRINCESS are the people I have the most fun RPing with. They are less obsessed with winning and more concerned with telling an interesting story and, often, the best stories come out of failure and how one deals with adversity. Give me a fuck up over a hero any day of the week.

I will not want to RP with a person if:

..their poses give me nothing.
My general preference is for wordy poses with a lot of flavor thrown in but quick poses can be just as sharp, entertaining and impactful. What KILLS me is when I will do a pose where I've included several things for the other person to react to, ask some questions, pass the ball to them and get:

Jane doe smiles. "Yes."

Like. What am I supposed to do with that? Not RP with you ever again, that's what.

..they consistently page me the second I log on.
For fuck's sake. Give me a second. There is nothing more annoying than having someone page me immediately. Every. Single. Time. I. Log. On. Please, give me space. Even if I like you and we are friends, just let me breathe.

..they make our romance RP the totality of their character.
I like RPing romance. I do not like making it the entire point of my characters. It's just something in their lives, you know? If they have a romantic partner, they can still exist outside of that other person. We are not one person now. We do not need to be in every scene together. We do not need to run things by each other, have the same interests, need to be in all the same plots, know all the same people, etc.

..they make me their RL therapist.
I prefer to keep a distance between myself and most of the people I RP with. Yes, general pleasantries are fine! Knowing a little bit about our respective lives is cool! But RPing is my time to relax and have fun. I do not log on to hear about internet stranger's life drama and/or insecurities. I do not log on to listen to them dissect what someone said to them and figure out if it was benign or if they were being passive-aggressive and actually hate them. I do not log on to be a shoulder. Sure, there are folks that I have gotten close to and would absolutely help them work through shit but those are close relationships built up over time. This does not apply to the majority of people so please don't put your shit on me. I have enough of my own shit to deal with and this is my funtime to decompress from that shit, not deal with yours.

..they are insecure AF.
Please. If I do not answer your page right away, please don't bombard me with worry. 'Did I do something to upset you? Are you mad at me? Please let me know if I did something to irritate you! Are you OK?' I am probably in a scene and posing. I am probably at work and idle. But constantly having to validate that things are OK is going to quickly get us to a point where things are NOT OK.

Also late to the party: OMG SPIDERVERSE WAS SO AMAZING AAAAAAAAAAAAAH I AM DYING

How do y'all RP with people when there is something specific that you need to RP about without scheduling? I mean, like, for example (and I'll use Arx here since that is the game I am playing on currently):

I get a message from Bob, saying that Sally told him to get in touch with me about a survey trip he is putting together. We need to have a scene to discuss this stuff. Should I just .. put him on watch and hope that the stars align at some point? Because my instinct would be to send an IC message back and then reach out OOCly to figure out when our schedules align.

I'd say my RP is half just hitting the grid/events and winging it, half plot-focused, scheduled RP. When it comes to the latter, I am not sure, with everyone's RL schedules and timezones, how you can move specific plots along without scheduling some scenes in advance.

@Aria said in Good TV:

Please excuse me while I ugly snot-cry at The Good Place finale.

Oh my god, that show was perfect from beginning to end. I can't believe it is over..

I miss you, too.

This thread should be renamed 'Repository of PBs that I will Snick for Future Characters'

Keep them coming, guys.

***All those ladies..***

Princess Caith Thrax, the Best Hugger in Arx*, and Maja Darling, apprentice to Whisper House!

*Definitely a better hugger than Sabella.

Let's see!

I think the only MU* marriages I have had have been on Firan since marriage was such an integral part of that game. Diamia picked Lucas with her marriage prize and HOOBOY, that caused all sorts of drama (both IC and OOC -- the latter is what prompted Caroline to first start fiddling with the praise/diss code that ultimately got her kicked off staff but that is another story). Didn't actually end up marrying Lucas -- got hitched to Rikon instead which was a very solid relationship both in and out of character. I got along with the player really, really well and we are still friends to this day (I just got back from visiting him actually!) Lucile was married to Daranos briefly before he died; then she had a nice romance with Ryzen and was going to marry him before Custodius murdered him.

I like romance being a part of my RP (and omg, if it can be tragic romance, all the better) but not the whole of it. Its success is largely dependent on my RP partner and if there is even a whiff of OOC possessiveness, then the whole thing sours. Don't pull those kind of stunts, man. I am just here to tell a story, not to be some kind of online surrogate.