Posts made by surreality

@wretched https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078915Q1P is it. It makes me want to cry it's so pretty. I am a sucker for copper just... beyond. (They have a few other versions that are pretty, too, but OMFG copper and black leather.)

@goldfish I love you so hard right now, you don't even know. (They make it way easier on me, too, believe it or not. And it all auto-updates as needed with purges/waiting a bit. Lower maintenance is for wiki witches.)

@gingerlily It is. Real conversation from earlier in the day:

Me: Look at the thing I just sent you! SHINY!
Husband: Shiny, yes, but ouch. Also: no. Bad Dee.
Me: I know. I eat keyboards for breakfast. I no can has. But... I...
Husband: If you do it, so help me god, I'm ordering that black vintage bass from Japan.
Me: <lipwobble> I'm still parking it in my amazon cart in case of sudden windfall!

(I really do go through 1-2 keyboards a year, a $220 keyboard is not a smart use of $. But but but... )

...also the wiki isn't done because five days notice is not enough time to build BITNwiki2.0 x 4 complicated spheres with lots of extra and custom foo; the wiki and the game are gonna be moving at different speeds most likely. The previous one could not only not be moved, but was truly broken beyond repair. (I meant it when I described looking through it to see what could be salvaged as 'I stared too long into the abyss... ' re: the levels of glaring errors, broken pages, horrible mishaps, bad data organization, and eye-bleedingly migraine-inspiring unreadability/physically painful contrast issues.)

Something like this sounds like it could be a lot of fun.

I have two suggestions, though each has its own drawback.

1. Modern era setting -- we all know it, people can play with modern tech, etc. Drawback: it's going to be hard to prevent politics from coming up, and potentially starting the kind of OOC arguments and hostilities you probably won't want on your game.

2. Historical setting, even if it's fairly recent history. Example: Cold War 1980s. Tech level isn't so vastly different that people will not be able to understand it or wrap their brains around it, even if they were born in the 90s or later. Plenty of us lived through this, too. Drawback: History means "OOC homework", and some people are so gadget focused in their daily life that they can't live without these things as part of the casual day-to-day (rather than as their special spytech gear they can't always use openly), and these things may lose you some people in the process.

(And no, I promise, this is not just me loving the 80s! It's just the most obvious recent history example that stands out.)

@tyche Yeah, it gets seriously ridiculous. It's like 'OK, so how do I set this up so I don't get all of the penalties and none of the benefits?' after a while.

We actually had the communal talk about replacing the computer -- since, uh, highish-end iMac Pro, not a small expense, I think the one we specced was $11200 before required peripherals? -- and all decided 'we will do that after we figure out what all of our taxes are going to look like and we can double-check with the accountant re: what will be different for the coming year'. (My usual budget for the year is about $7k for materials, show fees, etc. combined, so that's a fair bit over. I'm good on materials at the moment thanks to some well-placed bulk orders the last two years, but still have about $1k in show fees. We were going to do display replacements this year -- super needed -- but we got halfway there last year and the other half can wait until next so we can start addressing the 'year round income/this computer is from 2010 and sounds like it wants to explode' issues first.)

We all go in together so we can go get dinner afterward, and force my husband, who doesn't drink, to drive us home, because it's the one night a year we ever do.

@tnp We keep talking about it, just haven't yet. I mean, I live in fucking Delaware, it'd almost be a joke at this point. (We are like, the corporate HQ of the world... at post office boxes and switchboards, more or less. One of the 'every big corp ever has a dinky office there' office parks is practically across the street from our development. To be fair, some places have actual facilities here, too.)

The one issue with it is that my work is seasonal, so I get paid a big lump around one time of the year with the way things are now, more or less. That is apparently a big complication we're (since the husband is helping figure this shit out at least) hoping to resolve over the next two years. When I was doing online sales year round, it would have been feasible; doing a block of in person shows in a 2 month period... not as feasible, even if we're adding more shows each year. (My mother mismanaged things so much when she was in charge and I was just 'a contractor' for the family business I inherited responsibility for in full a couple years back, she screwed up a lot I'm having to correct for since it got folded into mine.)

@tyche Yeah, I'm on Schedule C. Have been for ages now. (ETA: What we jokingly refer to as 'The misplaced decimal point taxes', since the year the place we go to advertised everything as '$49.99' -- and my poor sainted parents didn't realize that meant just for individuals, not businesses, and my mother and I each got whalloped for $499/each that year. Which is funny in hindsight... )

@tyche I'm listed as/have a sole proprietorship business, and have always filed as such. I don't work for somebody else, haven't for years.

@tyche So small businesses can't have operating expenses now? That seems a bit unsmart.

@taika Everyone has been lovely save for one person, thus far. People were doing their data entry/etc. etc. etc. and pitching in after I had tools ready for people to use to start doing that.

The one person who had not so much as lifted a finger to contribute to this effort apparently began flailing about and whining about how it wasn't all done yet to the extent that it was upsetting others. (And, bonus, when she finally did lift a finger, the dumbass completely ignored the giant boldface directions all over the place and I had to correct almost every single one of her piffling initial round of additions.)

I really, really do not want to be working on this, and if it wasn't for the fact that two of my dearest friends needed help, I wouldn't be.

This chick, whoever she is, is not one of them.

I am very, very glad I don't know who she is on the forum (if she's even here at all). I won't log into the game itself, probably ever, because I genuinely do not trust my ability to not tear holes in her lazy, dim-witted, entitled brat ass with my teeth if she's present like somebody gave me zombie grade rabies.

@lisse24 If it's any consolation, you're not alone.

I freaked out so hard this time last year that I'd been in the hospital for two weeks (and thus not doing anything productive for the jewelry business foo) that, while drugged out of my gourd on painkillers, made enough earrings in a week and a half-ish that I had to be told to stop because we didn't have room for more.

I can only sorta blame the painkillers, and even then... not so much.

(This is why my house is a mess, but I'm freaking out if I haven't met my deadlines... which is doubly dumb because I'm self-employed and really can adjust them if needed, I just never want to do that because then I'm afraid it'd become a habit.)

My #1 Oh God I Need to Hide in My Cave and Never Come Out-ism is what I just refer to as 'The Newt Scream'. Yeah, Newt, Aliens, that noise, which is a noise plenty of kids make all the time for a variety of reasons: extremely shrill and high-pitched and generally a sign of alarm.

As humans we are evolutionarily conditioned to respond to this sound. We can't not hear it. It's in our hard wiring: "One of the younglings is in danger, bigger human, protect the youngling!" I am completely and totally unable, for whatever reason, to tune it out to the 'dull roar, maybe glance up and see if there's a child in peril' that most folks can and do if they even notice it at all.

I hear this noise, and my whole body tenses enough to painfully cramp in an instant. I involuntarily flinch and shudder; I cannot NOT flinch and shudder. I feel an ache in my head pounding away as my blood pressure spikes right through the roof that is painful enough that sometimes my eyes will tear up. Essentially, even from a long distance away or over the din of a chatty crowd, my body responds to this noise the way a normal person would respond to someone firing off an air horn right up against their ear and I can do roughly jack nor shit about it.

No, I don't hate your kid.
No, I don't think your kid did something bad for making a noise that is as involuntary as my response to your kid's noise is.
No, I don't think you're a shitty parent because your kid made a noise kids often make simply because they are kids.

I can't filter background noise and I have exceptionally sensitive hearing (both of which I was in years of therapy with an audiologist for when I was a kid myself) but even with that in mind, nothing ever made so much as a dent in this one.

ETA: tl;dr: My worst fear is probably seeing The Babadook in a theater with a good sound system turned up to high with the doors locked. I would not simply shout "fire" to escape, I would set one and hope I burn to death before the film ends.

That... specifically reminds me of someone. And that description could not have been more apt if it had been written about him specifically. He was a lovely sweetheart of a person, and was a complete stoner -- so he had a way of staring off into space or at something or someone at length without ever realizing he was doing it, because he really was off in his own little world in his head.

He also had the most beautiful eyes any of us that knew him had ever seen. Ever. No models, no actors, nobody tops this guy; it's been 20+ years and I'd swear by this even today.

We also all would have sworn he had a supernatural power of some kind that would stop people dead in their tracks when he was looking at them, even if he was just staring off into space. I watched conversations just trail off and die when he was staring at the back of someone's head and they couldn't even tell he was looking at them over the two years we were in college classes together -- it was just as surreal as could be. It was like the direct opposite of the 'cobra stare' (intimidate and hypnofreeze); it was instant floaty awkweird distracted silence.

So while I'm not in the same boat by default, there are absolutely people I've encountered that can cause it (or something that seems like what that describes), and it is a feeling I can only describe as 'triggers the urge to shift from foot to foot uncomfortably as though doing the pee-pee dance in incredibly slow motion while trying to not ponder what it means that the universe is infinite and just how small we all are in it because... wasn't I supposed to be doing something else right now?'.

@stabby While I'm not big on Changeling (so I'm not there m'self), I really hope Darkwater does well. A single-sphere Changeling game sounds like it could be fun even to me, and one without... well, certain influences is something I am incredibly glad is up and running. (If I was ever going to try to learn it and then play somewhere, that's definitely the place I'd pick.)

@stabby I wish I could recommend something. I'm an EST nightowl by nature, also, just not really checking places out lately. If I stumble across something, I'll definitely pass it along.

Sadly, sometimes 'there's a ton of people on' seems less likely to produce results than 'there are only a handful of people on but they're all also looking for people to do things with' -- and it's damnably impossible to tell which kind of game it is until you're through CG and plant the flag of 'anybody wanna do some stuff?' somewhere visible.

People are often super gung-ho about every new face before they CG, but I notice the enthusiasm seems to drop once that 'potential new buddy' turns out to be a different sphere they wouldn't interact with for whatever reason, not their gender of boinking choice in some cases probably best avoided anyway, etc. etc. etc. in ways that are frustrating in their own right, but the initial wave of 'this could be the answer to my dreams!' going on in some heads that spawns some enthusiastic newbie greetings can sometimes give a false appearance of 'there are opportunities here!' when... welllllllllllllllllllllll, not so much...

If I ever find a thing in these hours when it comes time to beat the bushes for places to play, will pass it along, though.

@thenomain I think in Reno's case it's the mechanipus closing. I really dunno, even if that sounds familiar-ish. (I haven't logged in or joined their group thing, lest I snap and murder the entitled little child-woman that keeps whining that the wiki wasn't done start to finish in under 2 days, because I would talk that creature onto a ledge with no regrets.)

I just go back to wiki-side slavery for them at the asscrack of dawn, so I need to chug through the remainder of this form setup for my own stuff by then. If I hear anything, I'll PM.

This sounds like it would be really fun for tabletop, or for a small-scale game (roll20 or similar).

I am not sure how well it would fare in a 24/7 persistent world while people are left to their own devices.

It could either be brilliant, or become a perpetual argument generator of epic proportions, and I wish I could say which I thought was more likely. (With a small group of mature players who ideally know each other a little, likely fantastic. A larger group of strangers with a lot of mystery wild cards in the mix... not as confident it wouldn't trend toward disaster over time.)

@deadculture I'm seriously trying to think of ways of writing up a poll for the wiki I'm working on that'd -- at least loosely -- work off of these types, and potentially steer people toward features that might best suit the type-based interest profile. I don't know if I can pull that off, but it strikes me as something that might be worth a shot at some point further down the road.

If nothing else, it may be a good thing to point out something even more basic, like 'based on your primary interests, this game might not be a good fit for you for reasons; you are more than welcome here and we'd like to find ways to ensure you have fun, but please be aware that this might not be the kind of game you're looking for'.

@sockmonkey Let's hope the tax cuts won't totally fuck us like that. I know I'm putting off the actual computer replacement until after tax day this year -- and verifying that if I have to replace the computer, well... at least it's the year they finally put out a non-darth-trashbucket pro? (So much sigh, so much "HOW MUCH?!" O.O O.o o.o -.-)

@sockmonkey I am having to look at this lately myself, after kludging along on Photoshop 5.5 for....ever. (My iMac is a 2010, it's a miracle it's still running, let alone running well.)

Am not looking forward to this in even the smallest way.

FWIW: You should be able to deduct it as a business expense if you are using it for work stuff. This isn't a huge help, I know, but our tax lady insisted that this would be legit when I have to do it. (She asked why I hadn't had any software expenses for the first time in years a couple years back, and all I had to say was 'Adobe chang-' and she rattled off the info. Clearly, not the first time this came up that week!)