(This is a thread from Mizahar's fantasy role play forum. Why don't you register today? This message is not shown when you are logged in. Come roleplay with us, it's fun!)
The player scrapbooks forum is literally a place for writers to warm-up, brainstorm, keep little scraps of notes, or just post things to encourage themselves and each other. Each player can feel free to create their own thread - one per account - and use them accordingly.
Beehive Workshop Gillar and I spent the day building beehives! Check it out!
Some of you were here for NaNo. It's a month of writing in November where everyone tries to hit 50K and boost their PC skills up. Well one of the skills I opted to enhance with Kavala was Beekeeping. Being a healer, I wanted her to have an endless or near endless supply of honey for healing because after all honey is an amazing substance. It can treat infection, burn, and any assorted number of things. Plus with the wax and propolis (bee glue) you can make any number of things in herbalism. As I wrote about beekeeping and learned about it - because frankly I knew nothing - I grew obsessed and fascinated with it. I really started dreaming about keeping bees myself. One day out of the blue after finishing another 5k on Kav's NaNo, I turned to my husband and asked him what he thought of beekeeping. It shocked me. He grinned, said he loved bugs, and that would be a great deal of fun.
I had no idea how to get started. Seriously, none at all. So I started digging, looking, reading everything in sight I could find, and devouring information. I'm like that. Once I get an idea, I obsess about it until I know everything I can possibly know and make a decision.
Becoming beekeepers in our area was amazingly easy. Why? In 2009, a group of really cool people got together and started learning beekeeping. They found a need for an association, started it, and were off and running. Now my county has a huge club, with a mentoring program, and the local state university started offering a cooperative extension apprenticeship program. I contacted the club and a member - an amazing member - stepped forward immediately and offered to be our mentor. She came over to our house, did a whole presentation on beekeeping, and before I knew it we had friends over joining in and a whole gathering.
It was so much fun. My mentor is a college professor who teaches writing and just laughed and laughed when we mentioned NaNo and how we got interested. She talks the talk and walks the walk. She's on her way to being a Master Beekeeper and so taking mentors helps her with her WSU Mastership - something I want to get some day. But I want the apprentice status first!
Anyhow, to keep bees you need equipment. People can buy it pre-made but its hellishly expensive and not usually the best quality. So the club offers a workshop in the late winter on building your own, and we went. You get woodenware... precut pieces, and assemble them yourselves, make the frames, place wax inserts in them... its a lot of work but a lot of fun. The 'woodenware' is far more affordable. Let's put it into perspective. Some hives premade and prepainted are around 399.99 to 599.99 not counting shipping. You can get really really crappy ones on ebay for cheaper, but still around $300. Woodenware for a two deep two honey super hive with top and bottom and excluders etc are around $100. IF you can and will build them yourself.
We met about thirty new people today and we were all like old friends within minutes of showing up. There was food, drink, and so much laughter it warmed my soul. We were at Bob's House in his barn, and Bob is a character all his own. He's the past president of the Bee Club here, a sheriff of the county, and a pastor. I parked next to his cruiser and it made me giggle. His barn is a dream workshop with air nailers, all sorts of woodworking equipment (he builds furniture) and he was a patient teacher for a bunch of us girls who have never worked with wood or air nailers or anything before. He made us do it all ourselves, and so we walked away super proud of what we did and what we accomplished.
Gillar already knew what he was doing, but he got to help Bob do some teaching and got to meet everyone that showed up and be social. Gillar is not the most social of folks, but he warmed up to this nerdy intellectual crowd almost immediately and was fitting in right away.
Anyhow, the cool thing about bees is there's so much diversity to choose from. There's two ways of really getting started - no three - but I'll talk about two first off. The first way is to have one of these empty hives and add a box of bees to it. A box of bees is about 3 lbs of bees or 20,000 little worker girls and a queen. You upend them into the hive, hanging the queen in a tiny cage that has an escape exit blocked by a marshmallow.. the tiny kind you put in hot chocolate. The other bees and the queen will eat the marshmallow and she'll get out, but not before all the bees have gotten used to her scent and fallen hopelessly in love with her. Then, when shes free - it takes three or four days - the others will start laying comb building wax and she's all ready to start making babies when she comes out. They come already mated - the Queens - and once they've had a mating flight, they are good for being fertile for up to three or four years. So she starts making babies and that's that. You have to wait for the colony to make comb, gather pollen, etc and see how they do.
Another way is to order a 'Nuc' which is short for a nucleus. It is four frames of already forming baby bees, pollen, nectar, water, and honey. Its like a mini hive already up and running. Cool huh? Then when you get them they come in a little nuc box and you transfer the frames into your own hive, and the bees go nuts with more room. The queen comes with them already familiar, and everyone's happy. A lot of people think Nucs are better because it gives the bees a jumpstart, but a lot of people love boxes because they get to see the whole process from day one onward.
Nucs this year were costing about $150 while packaged bees are costing about $100-120 depending on the type and where you get them. By going through our club and getting a mass order, we got the Nuc for $90 and the packaged bees for $69. I'm starting with a Nuc. Gillar is starting with a package of bees. We're both raising Italians so we can have the potential to replace a queen if something happens and one of us looses one. If a queen dies, the hive will fail. We can't have that happen.
There is a third way to start into bees, and I'll talk about that now. We capture swarms and install them into hive boxes. You can also do hive removals. Our club has a Bee Team - ran by Norm - who's going to be our class teacher. They volunteer to go remove bees from all over, and establish them in hives in beeyards. Gillar has signed up for the Bee Team and I want to go learn with him. He's thrilled with the prospect of going crazy places and removing hives, and not to mention getting free bees. The Bee Team doesn't charge for swarm removals, but instead take the bees which you can imagine are incredibly valuable.
Boxes of bees have 20,000. Swarms can have double or triple that. And installing them in a hive once they are captured are fairly simple - a lot like installing boxes but on a grander scale. With the swarm, the bees are looking for a new home and have split from the old hive. They are ready and willing for a new hive box and would be happy as clams moving in. The removals go smoothly if you take brood, food, and things the bees are familiar with. They will stay with their combs and their queens and be happy after just a short time of adjustment. Below is a video of our instructor talking about bee swarms. It's worth watching. He's an awesome person and this is the Team both Gillar and I will hopefully get trained soon to be on. He's eating honeycomb, in case your wondering, and spitting out bees periodically.
Anyhow, no one can ever say Mizahar can't spark new hobbies or a diversity of interests. And no one can certainly say Mizahar isn't educational. In writing for this site, you can have the potential to learn sooo much. And what you learn doesn't have to be fantasy. It can be a reality.
Things That Bother Goss Mike told me a long time ago to never post this but I'm kinda fed up!
Okay, lets just face it. I hate it when people ask me if they can ask me a question. Isn't that a question in and of itself? Anyone can ask a question. What they really want to know is if I have time and will be bothered by them asking me something. The answer is no I'm not bothered and yes I usually have time. However, when you give me the extra step of 'Yes you can ask me a question. You just did." You do two things. You open yourself up to be picked on by a smartass response or to be seemingly belittled (in your mind not mine) by my response of 'You just did." Generally that's all you'll get from me because really folks, your wasting my time asking me if you can ask me a question. Just ask me the question and lets go from there! The worst thing I can do is ignore it, and I have a history of never ignoring anyone's inquiries even when I should.
The second thing I really really hate is when people mutilate the word Hello. I don't mind Hi. But seriously... WTF is up with all the other variations? Do you really want to look like a prepubescent teen trying to be cool?
Here's what a popular online slang dictionary kicks off for the word hello and or phrase hi!
aloh - hai- hallo - halo - about it – a-yo – bitch – cracker – greets – holla – how do? – how goes it? – how (one) living – how's it hanging? – how ya goin – howzit – killer – sup – 'sup – 'sup, b? – what ho – what is the scene – what it be? – what it do? – what it is? – what's clicking – what's cooking? – what's crackin'? – What's in the bag? – what's poppin? – what's shakin', bacon – what's shaking – what's the dilly? – what's the haps? – what's the rumpus? – what's up – what up? – whore – wussup – yello – yo
Do you know how uneducated and well juvenile all this makes you appear when you post it? Seriously? What's wrong with just starting with hello. It's friendly. It sends the right message. It doesn't make you look dumb, like a punk, or immediately makes us think 'oh great another problem player..." etc. We don't even mind words that mean hello in another language. But, that's only cool if you are in fact from said country that speaks said language.
Do you know how much more respectful it is? How much nicer you seem when you start with a Hello, Hiya, or Hi, I'm _____? It's just a nice thing. We appreciate it. I feel way more helpful and cordial to someone who's actually SPEAKING CORRECT ENGLISH on this website - which is the Writer's RPG - than I do to someone who's butchering it just to stand out. That makes me think of people who give their PC's deformities not because its interesting to rp them or they want to explore the world of being handicapped... but because they think it gives them originality etc.
Making Demands No I won't always give you what you want.
Lets face it, there are quite a few players that hit the ground running and want it all. I dislike dealing with this kind of person because the sense of entitlement gets a little high. What is better, in your opinion, someone who is handed everything or someone that starts with nothing and builds up a fantastic PC? There is nothing more ridiculous than seeing an ' assassin' pc with no stealth, no survival and a low weapons skill. If you play an older PC, you aren't going to get more XP to start with because 'it makes sense to you'. If you want to play a caste that puts you at a mental or physical disadvantage, you should be playing a mental or physical disadvantage. The Dek are a great example of this.
If your loner PC rarely comes to town, its not my responsibility to award them more wilderness survival than a person can normally start with (30 is the max) due to some clause you wrote into your background. YOU invented the background. I didn't. Nor did the staff. It was your choice, and thus it isn't up to us as admins to make your choices make sense by playing fast and loose with numbers. Don't ask.
Nor is it cool that you just don't mind the fact that you are say a top level teacher at an educational facility and your teaching and skills suck because you sought the position straight out of the starting gate rather than worked your way up through the student body, gained fantastic XP, and then got awarded a position. Stop asking me for ranks and positions! If you want a Kuvan status in Riverfall, you need to earn your weapons skill - whichever you want - and take the test. If you want Phoenix to award you Endal Status in Wind Reach, you need to write the thread and bond with a bird. There are no short cuts. And if you are given a short cut by a moderator, shame on you and worst yet shame on them.
There's no fun in a game that you don't have to jump through some hoops to get what you want. Because after you have it, where does it get you? Working towards your goals is always a lot more fun in writing - at least to me - than being a cardboard cutout badass the moment you hit 'accept' on our Terms of Use when you register. There are games out there that will let you play a god if you so desire. Go find them and sign up. If you want to play a God here you're going to spend years figuring out how to ascend and even then you might not even make it.
I'm very downtrodden at the sheer amount of people RPng more smarts than they have, more skills than they have, more weapons savvy than they posses. I'm tired of fragile little girls with no self defense skills at all or wilderness survival riding off on adventures that cross entire regions and not having any issues. I'm tired of no one ever taking a fall, stumbling in battle, overgiving, or going mental from magic. And people wonder why I seem so grouchy sometimes. Stop RPing beyond your means. RP towards your goals instead. If you want that featured character tag, that recognition by your peers as to being awesome, and anything but being heckled at both two your face and behind your back - BUILD YOURSELF UP REALISTICALLY. How hard is this to do? If your a teacher, build your Teaching XP until you can call yourself decent at it. If your a Leader, work on your leadership XP like crazy.
This also goes for XP padding. I've heard recently that people are pointing fingers at others for 'adding' ghost points to their XP tallies that don't exist. Really? Whats the point? You honestly think cheating at Mizahar is going to get you anywhere? If you don't have enough points in a skill, write a few more threads. How hard is that actually going to be? Isn't that the fair thing to do? What in the world drives people to get off on padding their numbers? If you want to be a badass at something, just write about it. The XP will roll in once you talk about it enough.
So... I'm annoyed. Extremely annoyed. It gets old fast. It really does. So all you assassins, master mages with no magical skill, and even you leadership-less leaders and teaching poor teachers out there be warned. The game doesn't miss much. Nor does the community as a whole.
And to those who are above all that bullshit, I have to say I'm proud... really proud... of you for jumping through hoops and doing things right. To everyone who has absolutely earned everything they have awarded to them, the game shows you respect. You play within your means. No one hands anything to you. They don't get status out of the gate, they earn it. They don't get jobs they aren't qualified for or ranks they have no skill for and there are certainly no titles to be had. To those PCs that earn their way and build up their PCs properly, I send my thanks. It's this fantastic group that keeps me coming back and inspired us to build build build.
Wait, there are seriously people out there padding their XP? Do I need to start watching out for that now?
I agree wholeheartedly with everything you said, though. Sira might be an endal, but I wrote the thread to how she became one. She might have an awesome aerie, probably better than most endal, but I earned that by bonding with Aidara, and moving in with Sai, and being pregnant for nine months, thus earning a larger aerie. But yeah, anyway..
I am really easy to work with. I will work with you in Ravok to get anything you want, but the key word is work. The only time people get "freebies" is when I randomly decide to toss a free quest at them. I've only given out two magic items, I think, the entire time I've been an ST, because nobody has earned them. I have yet to see anyone successfully become a full soldier or Black Sun in Ravok, because nobody wants to go through the work. And Sevris, I apologize for taking so long with your thread, but you are being patient, and when you get that gnosis and promotion you will have earned it, so great job!
Anyway, thanks for this scrap, because I agree with all of it.
According to the rumor mill, it is a problem now and we need to watch out for it. I personally saw a dedicated player comb through one questionable advanced CS today looking for mistakes. I've been grumbling for a few days that this was going to happen though, so I wasn't surprised to see changes in the CS - XP lowered - prior to this player volunteering to do the math.
Yes folks, founders can see edits and deleted posts.
It's funny how that works out. You really really need to be absolutely clear on your CS and have it be able to be tracked by ANYONE if you want to claim you have X amount of XP. I'm not suspicious, and we are generally trusting as staffers here. But when we keep getting complaints in PMs, The HD, and in chat, there might be a rash of problems. So I'd keep an eye on it. The whole idea about mentioning it in my scrap is that maybe people will think twice.
It's just a game people. Seriously. We don't have any secret cheat codes, fancy overpowered weapons for preordering Mizahar, or anything else you might equate to RPing. We're on the honor system, but its a system anyone can check up on you with. They just need to be convinced its needed and have the time to do so. And people will.... they absolutely will.
More Thoughts From Goss Which team do you bat for?
There are two main schools of thought out there. Well to be fair there's probably hundreds, but I'm speaking in general terms. I'm decidedly a member of one of them and not the other. One school of thought seems to indicate that all problems be kept behind closed doors and quietly covered up or not talked about. The problem with that school - again in my opinion - is that it gets talked about anyhow and instead of the whole general community hearing about it, only 'favored' or 'in the know' individuals get to hear because they are friends with someone on the inside etc. The other school of thought is the school of transparency. I decidedly belong to that school. I want the dirty laundry out in the open so that people can see it and make decisions for themselves. I want absolutely everyone to be in the know because if they are then there's decidedly no cliche of 'informed' verses 'ignorant'. And if an entire community knows about a situation, then ideas can be generated and careful plotted out solutions can be found.
This falls under community policing too. None of the admins or storytellers here want to be busting people for stuff. We'd much rather the community as a whole police their own. That is why EVERYONE can read their own CS's. Thats why everyone can read each other's CS's. And that's why you can't even know your own storyteller's secrets because us Storytellers like to be fair and not tell you everything we know about your PC. It's far more fun that way.
So if you feel that reading my scrap is too negative or revealing etc, then just keep out of it. No one forces you to click on a link. Instead, I hope in reading this scrap - if anyone really does - they will feel more informed on whats going on in the game and what some of the newest trends are. I hope they get a good idea of whats annoying and whats not annoying - at least to me personally - and get a good sense of the feel of the character of the person writing this scrap.
No one says you have to like me. But you are here, and in being here you have to deal with me. It's kinda one of those things in life. And because you are here, even if I don't agree with your attitude or think you are a punk or way way way too preachy without walking the walk and talking the talk the fact is I still have to deal with you. Life is full of things we like and things we dislike. This is just another slice of the pie.
I'm fine with this, though it may offend the hell out of you. As you might have seen recently, I'm rather not worried about offending anyone. If words - especially an opinion column like Scraps tend to be - on a page on the internet gets your dander up then you probably shouldn't be on the net to begin with... or watching tv... or reading books.
We are all here - I hope - to write. In order to do that on this site, you need to stay within the confines of the rules and play fair. You should expect to be treated fairly by the staff and other players. You will be. And you should not expect special privileges... and if you get them and accept them... shame on you.
That's it.. in a nutshell. I'm pro-transparency. I'll never keep dirty laundry in a hamper. I clean it by washing it out in plain view of everyone and airing it out on the line to dry. Even those dreaded granny panties with the holes in the ass. Yup, they are there for everyone to see... and enjoy.
For the record, I prefer your stark honesty. Sometimes it can feel a little harsh, but it's when people hold back what they really think that I don't realize my own mistakes.
Keep on keeping on.
And I REALLY need to learn some coding to make my own scrapbook posts prettier.
This PC has the Blight gnosis. As such, you as a player need to be aware of what that consists of. Wrenmae has an invisible aura that amplifies sickness and disease. Wounds may become infected, small sneezes may become coughing, and a slight fever may become more serious. A nuit's body will also break down faster in the presence of the Blight. These effects may not be immediate, but within the few days following your encounter, the symptoms will manifest. Some sooner than others. I cannot control your character, so creativity will be left up to you. Best wishes and stay healthy!
Oh, and in response to the "hello" post. I don't say hello.. well, sometimes I do. But I say Greetings! But there is a story behind it.
A long time ago, in a land far far way.. an hour and a half away, to be precise, I had a friend. And he used to say greetings when he would call, or see me, or whatever. And so I would say greetings back. And then it just kind of became a thing.. and so now I say greetings instead of hello.
...okay, that was a boring story. But that's why I say it, because he always did, and then it just became my thing. Don't know why he said it, but at least I have my excuse.
by Wrenmae on February 25th, 2013, 8:49 pm 
