Subject: It's more that I can't go to London easily.
Author:
Posted on: 2015-06-24 20:37:00 UTC
Because I was and remain broke af. =]
Canterbury'd be my pick, because there are interesting things and I know all the really good pubs, but I'm not going to drag everyone down to my neck of the woods because it's difficult (and kind of expensive) to get to. Also, if you're coming by train, you'd have to use SouthEastern, and life really is too short. =]
I'm not sure when I last posted here, I think it's been several months at least. It feels way past due for me to start hanging around here again, at any rate.
For those of you that don't know me, or have just forgotten, I read mostly fantasy and sci-fi, watch a lot of anime, and I've dabbled with writing original fiction (none of which I've ever actually finished). My writing projects in recent years, aside from the few PPC bits I've done, have mostly been for homebrew RPGs - both the setting/background and the actual game system. These have been... interesting little exercises in frustration.
I know that when I was last here I was involved in some co-write projects with some of you guys, which you won't have heard anything from me on for a looooong time, so I apologise for that. I'll try and e-mail you guys about them - despite appearances, I would be interested in finishing them.
How are you all doing?
Sorry about the super belated welcome back. I have been very busy replacing my roof.
Anyway, what have I been up to? Not much really. Not sure if you have seen it, but if the January date is correct I am going to guess not. Me and Iximaz finished our crossover mission! After, like, a year. I'm currently on mobile, so I can't link, but I'm sure you can look it up yourself.
Anyway, how have things been for you? Well, I hope.
No, I haven't read your mission yet, but I am starting to work my way through all the stuff I've missed, so I'm sure I'll get to it soon.
Yeah, things have been pretty good for me. A little dull maybe, but I'm out of my slump now.
You don't know who I am, because apparently I got here, when you had already disappeared (That means around January).
So anyway, welcome back, and have this replica of The One Ring, that does nothing, except when you put it in boiling water. Then it makes peach-flavored tea.
Nice to meet you. Allow me to offer you an even more belated welcome to the Board.
Hmm, I still have some of these Karaoke Knights around - if you've always wanted a small toy knight that can only sing off key versions of popular songs, then this will be the perfect gift for you!
You need a returnbie starter and a good item, so here we go! =]
Your New Game Plus starter:
Iiiiiiiiit's Tyranitar!
And your starting item is:
Brilliant Behemoth from Risk Of Rain!
Now, the synergies here are pretty obvious if you play Doubles, because Brilliant Behemoth increases the power of moves that hit multiple Pokémon by 20%. This ALSO removes the penalty from those moves if they DO hit multiple opponents. While it actually works really well with anyone who has Parabolic Charge, it's still nice on people with STAB Earthquake, though Mega Tyranitar's still probably a better bet. =]
That was the sound of pretty much everything you just said going right over my head. I recognised the word 'Pokémon', at least.
Still, thank you for the gifts. Now I'm going to go and poke them with a stick until I find out what they do. Don't worry, I'll be very scientific about it - I'll take notes and everything.
Risk of Rain is a 2D shooty-platformy thing that has, along with Darkest Dungeon, The Binding of Isaac, Ascendant, Runers, and various others of the burgeoning "roguelite" genre, been taking over my life and making me its bitch like a big burly leather daddy no I'm not fantasising you can't prove it. Roguelites tend to have a lot of interesting items in them, and RoR is no exception. =]
In RoR, Brilliant Behemoth is a Tier 3 "rare" item that makes your hits explode, dealing additional splash damage. In Pokémon doubles matches, moves that hit multiple opponents do less damage. It seemed natural to make it boost the power of multi-target moves... though probably not with Tyranitar, since that means giving up on using Mega Tyranitar and no, God no, why would you even do that. =]
Have one of my own shed feathers and a complimentary kit of Spikes!
I'm sure I'll be able to find a use for those Spikes.
Your gift did conjure up a rather odd mental image - I read the first part as 'shed feathers', as in, the feathers from a garden shed. I picture this creature as a sort of cousin to the Dread Gazebo. It must have been quite a battle to get them :)
Have an animate origami frog.
What a curious little animal. I wonder if it eats bookworms?
You don't know me; I joined a month or two ago, but it's cool to see a returnbie! Welcome back!
In that case, allow me to offer you an extremely belated welcome to the Board.
*hunts for a gift*
Here, take this Karaoke Knight. This 1 ft high figurine of a medieval knight in armour is capable of singing (badly) any song you care to name.
Well, I'll be! Welcome back to the Board! Glad to see you're making a comeback.
I don't think we ever finished our little project together, right? I think it's about time we fixed that...
Yeah, I think our co-write might be the project that I've been neglecting for the longest - a somewhat dubious honour.
I agree, we should definitely get that finished.
I'm doing great; just finished my screenwriting class last week, and since we're not meeting during finals week, I have a chance to write/relax before my second summer class starts.
PPC-wise, I'm starting to wrap up my second mission and write my third. Both should be interesting.
Cool. I'm slightly jealous of anyone that sounds like they have lots of free time.
I really should finish my second mission. I think it got it to about 90% done, and then just never got around to giving it that final 10%. Out of interest, what continua are your missions in?
They're standard(ish) Suefics. My second mission covers a fic where the protag couldn't pick one supernatural heritage and so chose three of them. (Not kidding.)
You'll be in for a treat once my third mission comes out; the target for that one has FUBAR English, a breathtakingly stupid Sue (as they usually are), and one of the most jarring format shifts I've ever seen. And just to rub salt in the wound, it takes place in Chris' home region, Johto.
Here, have this stuffed Leprechaun... He may or may not spill out Lucky Charms if you slice him open.
Okay, enough with the stereotypes :D... for now.
But seriously, though, welcome! Now I have someone to Beta my Irish agent :D
I don't think we've met before, have we? I don't recognise your name. Apologies if that's just my poor memory.
Thanks for your gift.
I should warn you, there has been some doubt about my exact level of Irishness before, much as there has been doubt about my exact level of Samuraishness (which is totally a real word, even if the spellchecker doesn't recognise it). Still, I'm normally up for betaing stuff.
Here, have this cup of confused Lapsang Souchong tea as a welcome-back gift — it's not quite sure whether it smells like a campfire or not, so treat it gently, aright?
Ooh, thank you. Hmmm, from here it smells like a campfire... but if I go over here it doesn't. Dunno if that knowledge is useful to you or not, but thank you for the gift. Tea is always good.
Congrats on getting your Permission Giver hat.
Apparently I know a thing or two.
*Adjusts straw Hat*
What have you been up to lately?
Off hand, I can't really think of anything notable that I've done during my absence. Which... isn't really a good thing.
Part of what triggered my returning here was the realisation a few weeks ago that my free time had basically devolved to just playing Star Wars: The Old Republic. Now, it's a fun game, and I enjoy it a lot - but I probably didn't need to be spending every waking moment playing it.
With that realisation came the thought that I used to do a lot of other fun stuff, such as hanging out here and writing, and that I should probably try for a bit more variety with my free time.
I did come up with some ideas for an original sci-fi universe. Not the first time I've thought about that - thinking about sci-fi tech is one of my favourite hobbies. But this time I've decided to learn from my past mistakes and write a series of short stories set in the universe. That way, I might actually finish something.
*throws cakefetti*
Haven't seen you on in forever! Take this fresh plate of welcome-back SPaGhetti!
How's life been treating you?
Mmm, SPaGhetti, sounds good.
Yeah, it's been a while since I was here. Looks like today might be my first time posting this year - I knew I had been away for a long time, but I didn't think it was quite that long!
Life's been good, if a little dull due a lack of writing and reading of silly Sues getting their comeuppance. Still, I should be able to remedy that now :)
Congrats on getting your Permission Giver hat, by the way.
And wow, I can't imagine leaving this place for any length of time; I love it here! *pulls everyone in for a group hug* :D
And oh, man, I know what you mean. Writing is love, writing is life! ...or something like that? Oh, yes, "Being sick of writing is like being sick of breathing!" You can probably tell I have no life outside of writing missions. ^^;
And thank you! *shoves her Firefly hat over her ears* I was pretty surprised to get it!
My name is JacksepticyeI remember you! You wrote the mission that introduced mini-Moggets to the world! YAY KITTIES
You're still running their adoption center, right?
Unfortunately I have no idea who/what Jacksepticye is, but thank you for the welcome back anyway.
Yup, that was me. I plan on writing some more interludes for the adoption agency, because kitties are awesome.
TAKE THIS COOKIES! TAKE THIS CAKE! AND REMEMBER - NOTHING STOPS... THE SQUATCH!!!
Sorry, JackSepticEye can only by quoted in caps.
Or should we call you Samurai? tIS? The Swordsman of Hibernia? Oh, whatever. Hi! Welcome back again.
(I think you had a cowritten chapter of The Ispace Wars ongoing with me, but... honestly I can't remember. I've kind of dropped the ball on that myself, though I intend to pick it back up again At Some Point.)
(Eesh, at this rate I'm going to have to suggest another UK Gathering...)
hS
Well, I normally shorten it to 'Irish' myself, but I have been thinking of re-branding myself as the Dark Lord 'He Who Shall Not Be Present' - that way I can justify my absences as "being in character".
Yeah, Ispace Wars is one of the many projects that I was thinking of. I think I sent my chapter to you, but that we were going to do a co-write bit as a follow up to it or something? It's been a while, I'm not sure anymore.
What's that I hear, hS? 'I 'm going to have to suggest another UK Gathering'? Sounds good to me :P
-the Dark Irish Swordsman Who Is Not To Be Present in Hibernia (and is also a Lord)
(Putting it in the subject to grab attention. ^_^)
Looking over the recent World of PPC thread, I think we've only got one new Briton (Baroom). Most of the rest of us are still occasionally around - Storme, Cassie, me and Kaitlyn, and Scapegrace-who-was-Wobbles.
We also have at least - wow - six Europeans: Matt Cipher (Poland), Sergio Turbo (Italy), EileenAlphabet (Denmark), Hieronymus Graubart (Germany), QuintusFabiusPictor (Netherlands), domirossi (Corsica)... and I suppose by some counts Desdendelle (Israel), though I think the Middle East is usually filed under Asia? So yeah, it's possible some of them might pop over - Ekwy and Milano did back in the day.
Or maybe some Americans will wander our way. You never know. They did last time.
hS
So I might make the next Gathering!
Dare I ask why?
hS
Transfer at work - London is (more of less) the head office, so a chance to go learn from some guru type people. Having work pay for an international move is also a good thing.
No date for the move yet, but Jan/Feb next year is most likely.
I would certainly be up for a Gathering.
Didn't we cancel the 2014 one for the same reason...?
hS
However, unless you were lying to us with this post (and I've a fairly compelling reason to believe that you weren't) then there actually was a UK Gathering in 2014.
You're thinking of 2013 - apparently odd numbered years are no good for gatherings.
I'm able to get just about anywhere, but even speculative Gatherings are pointless if no-one else can get to them.
hS
I should be able to get there fairly easily. I'd be up for that.
The weekends in July are filling up rapidly for me, but I currently have nothing booked for August.
Either July or August is fine, but I'd have to clear time off work first by talking to my manager. Which is fairly easy, as that's, er... me. =]
At the moment it's looking like Kaitlyn might not be able to come (she's loath to take a day off), unless I guess we ran the whole thing in the evening; that would probably be from about... 3 or later, though, so probably not.
I should probably be able to work out something in either July (though not the last... two weekends) or late August. I guess that means shoot for late August, since July is right here. Any date preferences?
Actually we should probably make a new thread, to catch anyone else who might come. Storme or Cassie may be around.
hS
*does some mental math* Oh, good, I'll be able to make it to the 2018 one as long as it's held in the early half of the year. :D
... when there's people to throw them at. ^_~ I tend to default to summer, because in my head I'm still at school. That isn't really necessary (though a winter Gathering might be a bit on the, well, chilly+short side!).
hS
But couldn't, for whatever reason. I mean, by way of an example, it'd be difficult for me to haul my broke carcass out of my tiny decaying seaside town whose only monetary income is derived from the patronage and patronisation of beardy DFL hipsters, and we have nothing to offer except a pleasure park that does not, in fact, have anything pleasurable in it. And I work there. I doubt I'm the only one in that kind of situation, which is a pity, because I'd really like to meet up with y'all one of these days. =]
Do... are there barricades or something? Because you've got both Canterbury and Dover down there that would be brilliant for Gatherings (actually I'm not positive about Dover, but doesn't it have a castle? Castles are good). Heck, for my part I'd be happy to go completely unorthodox and have a fossil-hunting Gathering somewhere like Folkstone, but I might be outnumbered on that one. ;)
hS
Because I was and remain broke af. =]
Canterbury'd be my pick, because there are interesting things and I know all the really good pubs, but I'm not going to drag everyone down to my neck of the woods because it's difficult (and kind of expensive) to get to. Also, if you're coming by train, you'd have to use SouthEastern, and life really is too short. =]
Oxford, London, Bath, York, Leeds - we've moved around quite a bit. (Though I will point out that to my knowledge, only two of those have ended up in pubs...)
It occurs to me that my list of Interesting Cantwareburhian Things runs 'cathedral, fudge shop twenty years ago', so... what else is there?
hS
My class visited Canterbury back in 2009, and I definitely got a tube of some kind of weird chewy candy and then pawned a bunch of it off on my classmates so I could be done with it. The cathedral is pretty awesome. There were repairs or something going on at the time, though, and it would be nice to see it without all the scaffolding and whatnot. And, y'know, explore more of the city than just the little bit that was on our agenda. We also stopped at the Pilgrim's Hospital and Greyfriars Guest House, though. The latter has a beautiful garden.
(Out of curiosity, are you counting the 2009 Bath Gathering as ending up in a pub? Because technically I think we did, even though it wasn't to go drinking.)
I'd go back to York in a heartbeat, too, and I've never been to Oxford, which is just not fair.
~Neshomeh
I mean, there are some lovely places that really fit in with all that "dreaming spires" bumph, but there's also a lot of Sixties slab-sided architecture that squats on the landscape like a misshapen grey toad colony. Went with my mother for a conference on medieval history, so maybe I just wasn't feeling charitable, but yeah. =]
As for Things To Do In CANTERS BLUD Canterbury, there are many pubs, the aforementioned cathedral, some decent sweet shops, interesting food places, the Rupert Bear museum stop judging me I love Rupert Bear, a branch of Waterstones with Roman ruins in the basement that you can have a look around which I think is basically Boarder crack, and So Much More! (tm).
Personal favourites on the pub front include The Foundry (great food, brew their own beer on site), The New Inn (has a library AND an accordion), and The Bottleshop (which I accept is dubious but it's in a lovely indoor farmer's market and I get a discount). In the latter you might find KURACS. They are my people. Try to ignore President Ryan's enormous Willy Wonka hat.
It's about Tolkien being buried there. We managed to entertain ourselves back in '04, anyway (though I see my report's pictures have vanished... sigh. I'll fix that later.)
Have to say - you've sold me on Canterbury with the Waterstones. ^^ I went to South Wales for work and wasted an afternoon at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IscaAugusta">Isca, this is me, right here.
hS
Not to mention still dependent on their parents.
One of these days, I swear!
I heavily suggest keeping your schedule open for Summer 2016. I'm hoping to make a trip to the Isles sometime then.
August 2016 will be Phobos' and my fifth anniversary, and we've said before that we hope to go back to England for it. Mark your calendars, people. {= )
~Neshomeh
We'll have three batches of foreigners arriving at three different times.
Not that this will stop me from throwing three separate Gatherings, but it might wear out some of our potential attendees. ^_~
hS
I've already narrowed it down to August. Our actual anniversary is the 6th, which luckily happens to fall on a Saturday in 2016, so we can shoot for that weekend, and we won't even have to debate about it because no one can possibly have plans already. {= )
The only thing that can throw a wrench into the works for us (short of a disaster/emergency) is not being able to afford the trip when the time comes, but that's just another good reason to plan this far in advance. There's also a chance that one of Phobos' cousins will be getting married next summer, but that may or may not actually conflict other than adding to the aforementioned affordability issue. But hey, we managed it for our honeymoon on top of the wedding itself, and that was four raises ago for Phobos.
Incidentally, speaking from experience, July is awesome at trip-planning. If she's in on it, I pretty much guarantee it'll come together in some form.
~Neshomeh
I don't technically have plans. What I do have is kids, and default-childcare-parents who go on holiday for the first half of August. So while we can probably do that weekend - we'll have to bring a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old along with us.
hS
... says they'll be 'making a trip' to my country... ^_~
Ahem. In good old traditional PPC style, we're always willing to throw a Gathering for visiting furriners (to show them how a proper country does things, you know. Hint: it involves tea and crumpets; also monacles and top hats). I think we once pulled it off on a week's notice, so a year is plenty of time!
... good grief, Space Year 2016 is next year. Futureshock, can'tcope.
hS OF THE FUTURE
Did hS make a spelling mistake?
The forecast for tomorrow is rains of blood, with a chance of impending armageddon.
As things are shaping up, I might/might not be able to travel in summer 2016; I assume it depends on how well my studies go and what sort of job I'll get.
Man the barricades! Prepare the cauldrons of hot tea! Draw your swordcanes and don your armor-plated bowler hats!
(The armor-plated bowler hat is the height of British military technology, almost as much so as the exquisitely-understated Lovely Weather We're Having Cannon.)
hS might be silly
Your bowler hat isn't British at all - it's foreign!
No true British Gentleman would ever take to the field of battle without his authentic armour-plated bowler hat.
*dons hat*
The siege kettle divisions stand brewed and ready to advance on your orders, sir.
the Irish Samurai might also be silly
Ahem:
Oh, darn.
It appears that Gougle Chroume is out to get me.
hS
Gah, in two years, just you wait.
*wanders off, grumbling to herself*
Glad to see you again. I was afraid you might be gone for good. Welcome back!
... And oh god, I never did get around to that Gathering report. Between one thing and another it kinda fell through the cracks. I should, uh, maybe fish it out of there. >.>
In the last several months, my old job ended, I found a new one that isn't as good but at least gives decent hours, and I recently came out with a new interlude and mission, and Phobos added a short story to the Catastrophe Theory collection, which should interest you, IIRC. {= )
In other news, Iximaz, Desdendelle, and Poor Cynic are our newest Permission Givers, and Iximaz PPC'd the whole Rose Potter series. That was a thing.
You were looking for lots of reading material, right? That's what drew you back? ^_~
How are you? Work been keeping you busy?
~Neshomeh
And I've just noticed that it was hS who used the phrase 'dropped the ball', while you used 'fell through the cracks', thus making my previous response slightly less coherent than I'd intended.
I know I've been gone a while, but it honestly never occurred to be that I could get out of practice at reading a comment and then replying to it.
Still, it's good to be back :)
Not gone for good, just an extended hiatus - that is not yet gone which can eternal procrastinate... or however that saying goes.
As for the Gathering report, I think I was meant to be writing most of that, so I think I dropped a bigger ball... or dropped it from higher up, or something. I might need to do some fishing too. The Gathering report was certainly one of the unfinished projects that I was thinking of.
I'm glad you were able to find a new job, hopefully the better hours is balancing out the not-as-goodness. Yup, I have your interlude and mission open in other tabs (Happy Birthday by the way, even if I am a couple of weeks late saying it) and have already read Phobos's Catastrophe Theory piece. I'll have a review for him soon.
More reading material certainly doesn't hurt, but mostly what drew me back was remembering how cool the community was (wow, that sounded far less sappy/cheesy in my head - ah well).
I'm good, and yes, work is keeping me busy. But the good kind of busy, rather than manic busy. Manic busy was earlier in the year. Still doing quite a bit of travelling for it too, which is cool. I'm getting a lift in to work with a friend these days, so I think I've actually done more mileage in hire cars in foreign countries than I have done in my own car, which is a little weird. But now that I'm out of the manic busy stuff (fingers crossed that lasts) I should be able to start doing some writing again.
-Irish
