[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon I

[Gossamer]

. [color=#000000]. .[/color] Vital Statistics Age: 30 something Sex: Female Status: Married Nationality: American - Bannock Shoshone and Manx Location: Washington State Likes: well-developed characters, dark fantasy, pushing limits, draft & sport horses, skillful writing, arts, crafts, fishing, rednecks, epic plotlines, chickens, western riders Dislikes: Arrogant people, lazy writers (Bad grammar, spelling, etc), bleeding heart liberals, english riders, people who ask 'does Mizahar have guns?', and terms like Mary Sue! Territoriality : Rules Post At Will - I don't mind hearing your thoughts No Flames - You don't have to read this if you don't want too! No Spam - Commenting is not spam but tagging and saying 'first!' is. Images - Great pictures are appreciated. Posts - If they are artistically posted, they won't be added to the comment/picture posts but left on their own. .

[Gossamer]

. So I've been a vegetable all week. Literally. Long hours, tight work schedule, very little sleep, and physical exhaustion. I really love my job, but when its hot and heavy, it gets pretty intense. This last two weeks has been a much needed push up towards what is known as our 'dead season'. It's that giant retail lull between major holidays coming out of winter. Our next big event is outdoor furniture and bbqs and all the stuff summer brings. But that still isn't as major as say Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas will be again. We just finished Easter, which was the last two weeks, and now there's really nothing until the fourth of july, which will hit lightly and two months before the actual holiday. I should have time to relax. Most importantly, I should have time to write now. It's like discovering you can finally take a deep breath after not being able to breathe for a long long time. In my world, two weeks is an eternity. That makes me really happy. I'm grumpy when I don't get to write. I'm grumpy when I don't get to plot and plan and be in the thick of things. And worst of all I start to doubt myself when I have periods when I don't see much activity, especially with my pcs. Are they good enough? Am I loosing time when I could be gaining valuable skills? Am I missing out? What about my rp buddies? Are they loosing interest in hanging with me? Luckily they are great people and wouldn't ever bail but I still have those thoughts. I know people even get tired of waiting on quests, which are fun fun fun for me to run. The problem is I can't really concentrate on doing a good job if all I'm doing is working or sleeping or going through the motions. Your mind gets numb. In any regard, I'm well rested now. I took the day to laze about, relax, and I slept in and didn't do anything more strenuous than help clean stalls and do a little cooking. I'm ready to perk up and post, so other than a movie day with the husband tomorrow, I'm going to be working on a great many things - namely posts. Tonight, I'm going to take a few minutes for my PCs and play catchup. .

[Gossamer]

. I found a love of writing when I found this poem. Seriously. I remember the day like it was yesterday. It was a highschool AP poetry class. I loved my teacher who was a classicly trained opera singer. This was the first poem she handed out to the class. I read it once, twice, and decided I wasn't going to drop the class due to its lameness. I took it because it was AP and it was the only thing remotely challenging to me in that free time period. I had five other AP classes that year but those were mainly art courses. I had no idea I would decide I loved poetry. But I did. I can openly admit it like a crack addict. I love poetry. I especially enjoy dynamic poetry. This is one of my all time favorite poems. It has all the elements I desire in a great piece of work. It has a mystery, it inspires discussion, and it makes you think about all the odd things in life that we can't always explain. What was the promise all about? What were the circumstances? Why didn't he catch them at home? I love poems like this. The Listeners by Walter De La Mare 'Is there anybody there?' said the Traveller, Knocking on the moonlit door; And his horse in the silence champed the grasses Of the forest's ferny floor: And a bird flew up out of the turret, Above the Traveller's head And he smote upon the door again a second time; 'Is there anybody there?' he said. But no one descended to the Traveller; No head from the leaf-fringed sill Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes, Where he stood perplexed and still. But only a host of phantom listeners That dwelt in the lone house then Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight To that voice from the world of men: Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair, That goes down to the empty hall, Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken By the lonely Traveller's call. And he felt in his heart their strangeness, Their stillness answering his cry, While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf, 'Neath the starred and leafy sky; For he suddenly smote on the door, even Louder, and lifted his head:- 'Tell them I came, and no one answered, That I kept my word,' he said. Never the least stir made the listeners, Though every word he spake Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house From the one man left awake: Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup, And the sound of iron on stone, And how the silence surged softly backward, When the plunging hoofs were gone. . .

[Gossamer]

. . Stitch : (Feb 13th, 2010) Ali : (Feb 13th, 2010) "Breakin the law, breakin the law" Eva : (Feb 23, 2010) Last night I found myself reading through much of Nya's history here on Mizahar. I love her character, and how far she has grown. Naturally, as my pen hovered over the paper today in preparation for my daily drawing, I couldn't drag my mind away from the image of a beautiful forest cat. So, it is safe to say that today's is Nya-inspired. .

[Gossamer]

. . Aniera : (Feb 13th, 2010) "That is such a gorgeous photo! And for the record, I mean the one that you chose, Gossamer... even though the puppy and the paper bag head guy are cute. " Liminal : (Feb 15th, 2010) "I own the complete poems of de la Mare, and I have that one memorized. So...good taste ^_~" Malia : (Feb 23rd, 2010) "If you post, make sure that you write posts you're satisfied with. There's no sense in writing something just because you're that far behind and it turns out to be crap - no insult, just a quick reminder. Of course, in my opinion even the crappiest post of you is beautiful to read for people like me. <3 And I love the banners! I tend to favor Wind Reach and Avanthal as well, but all of them are truly beautiful. I hope it won't be too much if I give you a picture and ask you to do that for Mura in the near future ... they don't seem to take very long. I really don't want to steal your precious time with that." .

[Gossamer]

. FLASHBACKS I have to say today I'm preoccupied with flashbacks. No one seems to understand how to use them properly. According to the Wiki Page that has Terms and Definitions on them - Flashbacks are a thread that takes place in the past - usually writing about someone's memory of a childhood event or pre-rp experience. Flashbacks do not require Storyteller permission, however if a character gains something (or even learns a skill, etc.) that item or ability cannot be used until the flashback thread is completed. Flashbacks can only be done in timestamps PRIOR to the beginning of a character's actual roleplay start date (timestamp wise). Meaning, if a PC starts in Summer of 509 AV, (August 2009) then Flashback threads can only be ran prior to that timestamp. A lot of people have said stuff about flashing back to previous seasons after season change. That can't be done. That's why we do 'placeholder' threads and post beginning posts in a long thread (you can keep posting after the season change, it just becomes grandfathered) just before the season change so you can get to your training whenever you'd like... in your own time. That's why season changes are really important. If people keep flashbacking to prior seasons, it will never move the game and thus the character's story forward. Flashbacks are only designed to flesh out your characters background .

[Gillar]

Allow me to share something from one of my favorite authors of old, Shakespeare. This one's for you, Jen. I love thee I love but thee With a love that shall not die Till the sun grows cold And the stars grow old. Now if I can just write poetry as well as prose then I would be set.

[Colombina]

This has long been one of my personal favorites. Yeats is near and dear to me and I always found this poem soft, sweet and sad. It was one of the first I ever read by him and when feeling most content I think of me having "the quiet of love at my feet". Enjoy.

"Cap and Bells" A Queen was beloved by a jester, And once when the owls grew still He made his soul go upward And stand on her window sill. In a long and straight blue garment, It talked before morn was white, And it had grown wise by thinking Of a footfall hushed and light. But the young queen would not listen; She rose in her pale nightgown, She drew in the brightening casement And pushed the brass bolt down. He bade his heart go to her, When the bats cried out no more, In a red and quivering garment It sang to her through the door. The tongue of it sweet with dreaming Of a flutter of flower-like hair, But she took up her fan from the table And waved it off on the air. 'I've cap and bells,' he pondered, 'I will send them to her and die.' And as soon as the morn had whitened He left them where she went by. She laid them upon her bosom, Under a cloud of her hair, And her red lips sang them a love song. The stars grew out of the air. She opened her door and her window, And the heart and the soul came through, To her right hand came the red one, To her left hand came the blue. They set up a noise like crickets, A chattering wise and sweet, And her hair was a folded flower, And the quiet of love her feet. -- Yeats

[Gossamer]

. I've been out of it this last week... well truthfully for two weeks. It might actually be another week before I get some really great posting going. I guess sometimes we have unexpected things in life that come up that we can't do anything about. And while its still early, I'm going to try and get some posting in tonight and tomorrow morning now that I really feel better. I can't tell you how exhausted you can be when you work huge chunks of the work week and do so repeatedly with only a single day off. Sometimes your too mentally wiped on that one day off to really be creative and post... even though they are sorely needed. I love storytelling. I miss it tremendously. I'm going to try and do at least one adventure post a day until I hit them all weekly now that I've found my feet at work and am a little less stressed out about going to new places and doing new things. Hopefully this won't last forever though. So anyhow, I needed to be productive today. I wanted to do something creative and for Mizahar, but I didn't have a lot of creative juice to actually post. So I went on a massive banner making spree for the forums. If anyone does like these let me know because I can make others. Altogether they look sorta unappealing, but on their own, they are slightly striking - at least some of them. Avanthal and Wind Reach (the first two I did) are my favorites. . .

[Gossamer]

. PET PEEVES We all have them. I once was going to post an entire blog listing my top 100. Luckily, Mike stopped me pointing out that if the whole game knew about all the things that annoyed me, this might not be a good thing. I still laugh at that comment, whether he realizes it or not, and sometimes I hear his computer typing voice say that very thing to me when I'm about ready to kick and scream about something. Today has been one of those days though and I'm going to grumble about two of mine... the first is perfect people, the second is people that won't do their own dirty work. I get frustrated at overly sensitive people. Maybe its because I'm one of those people that if I make a mistake, I look at it closely, figure out what the heck I did wrong, what I was even thinking, and make a mental note not to do it again. It seems like an easy task to me. Sometimes, I beat myself up about something I do wrong, but thats rare and only when its something I should have KNOWN BETTER than to do. I'm well aware of my faults... and they could fill volumes. So I never know if people are not wanting to hear critique because they don't have an ability to deal well with it, or if its just really really painful to them. I don't want to hurt anyone, but as a Founder I really do feel compelled to point out when someone is doing something I think its wrong. I always hope they are going to understand and not take it the wrong way, but I am realistic to know it makes me the bad guy about 70% of the time. You wouldn't believe how many pms I send asking CS's to be corrected, pointing out how to develop things while politely asking them not to make up things that aren't yet in the game world, etc. Sometimes, I even send WTF pms. I've sent about four today... and its exhausting. But it needs to be done, especially for those new folks or players that don't hang in chat. I find it amusing if people hang in chat, they are quickly corrected when they make mistakes on their CS without a Founder getting involved. Thank you Chat... you make our lives a lot easier. But I digress. Today, I've been confronted by two of my biggest pet peeves. Perfect people annoy me. I'm just disgusted by them. Some of you call them Mary Sue's or Stews, but I'm sure you know what I mean. I'm sick of those that can't do any wrong, who are flawless, and project their internet personas (and thus characters) that way - be they those they play or the faces of the 'player' they project to the game. I guess that's why I am so fond of those characters that have obvious flaws. Are we as storytellers supposed to have biases? No, of course not, but we do. Trust me. You know you do too. There are always those PCs you love and those you just can't stand. Why? Because we are human. It's how we are designed. We actually can't help it. If you are sitting here reading this and say to yourself "Not me!" then you are a damn liar and probably fit into that Sue/Stew category and your the ones I'm annoyed over. Anyhow, I just thought I should mention they are bugging me today. I'm especially bugged when these types log into chat, interrupt the conversation with a brand new one while breaking the current conversation, or flash a link. Ugh. Stop it. It's annoying. And I'm not the only one that feels that way. Chat is busy... very busy at times... and while I'm sure we are all glad to hear about your situation or see your link, please wait until the current conversation finishes or there is a lull. I work with a guy at work that none of the other guys like. I kinda like him, but its because hes new and nice in a way that a stray dog is. I couldn't figure out why the other guys don't like him but I could totally tell they just DESPISED him... so me being the bold chick I am... I flat out asked them. Then I laughed. The response I got was 'He's okay... but man hes annoying. He will walk up to a conversation that is going on and join in without a pause, posing as an expert and taking it over. We're glad to talk with him and include him, but man he could take a breath and stop interrupting and find an opening to add his comments in. That is why we scatter when he comes around." Ahhh. I started laughing and nodding, knowing the EXACT same feeling. The problem is... and the thing they didn't add was that it was always in a way that almost sought attention or pity. Yea... you know what I mean. You aren't the things that you own, but you are the light that shines inside of you. Some of the poorest people in the world have some of the strongest character. It might not be good character, but its strong. My other pet peeve is when people come to a founder and ask for them to intervene in a situation before they actually try to deal with the situation themselves. I don't care what it is... there is a term called 'Maning Up'. It means, try and solve a problem yourself. If you try and fail, then we're in a whole different ballgame and a founder probably needs to be talked too. On the same note, if someone asks you to get involved in some problem to help solve it BEFORE they've tried to solve it themselves and you do it, shame on you. What are you thinking? Seriously. Get the party who's crying to go talk to the party that's supposedly done wrong, and then if there's no resolution, then get involved to help out if you are in a position to do so. Trust me. Almost all of us here are adults and reasonable at that. If I give you 2XP for a thread you thought you deserved 4XP for, then tell me I screwed up, make your case, and you know what? I'll probably change it.... or tell you why I haven't given you as much as you thought you deserved. And guess what? If its over a little thing (like you didn't fail enough or you didn't struggle enough or you were too genius in the thread) I'll give you time to fix the thread to earn what you think you deserved. It's as simple as that. And you know what? If I did really screw up and you can make your case all over the place and prove it, I'll apologize profusely! We all have good and bad days. We all have threads that are sitting there waiting for XP and maybe don't get what they deserve because one DS will award one way and another will award another way. Stuff happens. We all have bad days or differing opinions. Luckily, when this situation came up today, and I of course naturally blew up.... (at a person involving someone else without trying to fix the problem themselves) the person involved maned up immediately and took care of things... I was really proud of them. We work through it together and the important thing isn't the XP... its the fun you had writing. I get a lot out of Mizahar - the development, the people, and most importantly the stories. I'll never grumble about an XP award I think was too low. Why? Cause it just means I can write more. Writing is why I'm here. It's why Mizahar was built. Its not a place for perfect people to prance or pose for their fandom, nor is it a place for people not to step on toes but to ask others to do so for them. Write. Writing is beautiful. .