screen saver  showed a  wonderful sunswet on the  Ocean with a  small castle/tower  on a   prominent point.

  the  title  was " Dunnottar Castle ,UK"

And our Halloween season is wrapped up, as of tonight.  Tomorrow I go in and take in the final load of dry-cleaning, and start dismantling the lighting rigs at our stages.  I can't believe that I've been doing this for twenty-six years, now...and I'm still a little maudlin about saying goodbye to the various casts and crews that I've worked with this year.

I get frustrated about my job on a regular basis...but there are so many things about it that I truly, deeply love.

that's Good!.. My job  sucked, but   i had alot of people who liked  me..so it made it easier.

 Always need something, besides the paycheck.

And that didn't take long...

A friend of mind has been working with one of the more affluent communities in the area, doing community event planning for them...and they decided that they wanted to have ice skaters working a whale puppet that would be 'swimming' around the whole event.  And as they were talking about the idea, my friend said, "I might know a guy..."

I mean, I made a 'parade dragon' a little over a decade ago, built in basically the same way that they're wanting to do this whale.  So, I'm sure I can do it...

But my friend contacted me about it last night...and I ended up on a group teleconference with them today to talk about it, and when they asked me about it, I started throwing out a few numbers for supplies and the event coordinator just flat out said, "Will $1500 be enough to cover the supplies and your time for it?"

I was feeling hesitant about asking $500.  I nodded and confidently answered, "Yeah, I can get it done for that."

Sometimes, it's nice to have a reputation.  Now, I just have to live up to it. Again.

3 triumphs for me past 2 days.....
1) I managed to actually peel a whole orange.  best orange EVER!  first time since having this stroke.
2) I managed to put on a pair of gloves by myself.  It was not a balled up fist with nothing in the fingers.  was not my therapy gloves, just normal winter gloves.  felt so good having warm hands.
3) At therapy had to do an evaluation of my hand strength.  left hand went from in mid 40's psi squeeze to over 50.  On my right it's still lagging but it was 5-7 psi, today was over 10.  tells all of us my hand has not plateaued and is getting stronger.

finally feel like I have a glimpse of light.

Excellent news. So glad to hear of your progress. I remember the feeling of triumph when I first managed to snap my fingers again... some 3 months after the stroke. That hand is still weak, cannot hold a glass with liquid in it. I keep it going with a set of worry beads (especially in cold weather), and picking locks! Seriously. I have a few old padlocks and a set of lockpicks. Good exercise for dodgy hands.

Roy.. that's  very neat , You'll have  to put up a pic    here  and on the FB site.

Nikki..you go  girl! every step forward is a great step!

happy last  day of  Samhain!

Glad to hear the progress, Nikki!  Even small steps are progress!!!

it really helped me.  I thought 2 moths ago what was would be my norm.  thank God it wasn't.

Sorry for being radio silent, life has been very busy and I've been taking time to mourn over the loss of a close friend, I will get posts up tomorrow moving on back to the Hermes.

hang in there Zob,  we're herewhen you are ready, Sam  can drag ytou along   until you find  time.

So sorry to hear of your loss, Zob.

  We are Into November now. Ony a  couple months off the Game's next  B-day. if you look at   the List in "those who have  come before us" you will see, well over 100  names..and? there is a chance i missed  some, It tool me  3 weeks  of  scrollign through every thread  to see  every PC that  mentioned. and the List  does not include  those who are still active .

 Through  all these years, we have seen  folks   come and go... some have  been  cut,  Some   ghosted, and a few even Rage  quit.

 We have seen, everyone of us  suffer personal hardships  of many kinds, and I am Proud of   our  community as we rally each other. In the Coild  world of Cyber Space, we some how  manage to lend a shoulder, and  an 'ear'.

This is, perhaps, the best part of our game....so? never  be afraid to vent, complain or ask..whether in OOC or PMs.We are very much the  Crew of The Hermes., and Shipmates  will be there.

In reply to Admiral Hack (msg # 965):

Hum...

 Yeah \o/ very well said Don. Yeah you guys the plyers and Don is why I decided to stay and take over Lizzy and the others. This is a wonderful game with amazing players and we are a family \o/

I have enjoyed myself a lot with this game.  true, had a few times, I had to disappear (and if I can give a heads up I try to) and I apologize.  but I really like how you handle the NPCs, they are not all perfect and always needed.  been in some games that NPCs were end all, be all.  did not make me as a player want to keep at it.  NPC 1, keeps walking off the cliff you get board of rescuing after 5th time.  you have us rescue once (maybe twice but never the same NPC) then use that as learning and do something else.  keeps us on our toes, I like that.

Families care about each other even when they have a difference of opinion about something. It's the careing that is important.

I Tell people  in the forums , some don't like to hear it,  and  since 2005 ( 18 years in Oct) i have been on this  site.I was working yet, and  had to care  for my wife. I  wandered the 'wastes' of the internet, looking for places to play.

 My wife  used to roll her eyes when I joined a team, or got a new  Job, saying " AND DON'T end up in charge of  something!"

but? I always Did,   ended up coaching  football and   T-ball. The  AYSO  board talked to me for two hours on the phone to get me to coach soccer... I  was a Player-coach  for the  last 4 years of my 8 years in the adult  football league...and ..since  1967...i was the guy who is 'in charge' of the Sunday morning football we  play.

 At work, I became a Manager, in Produce  and toward the end of that career when i stood up against a Supervisor. i became frozen food Manger...at  the Factory  I became head of  one of the two shipping Depatments, and   later In charge of assembly  of Corrosion resister  Springs.In the post office  i became shop steward,, and   the  PMs  didn't like it.Because i took my position seriously.

Gaming? saw sites  die, games  die..saw  GMs ghost, or  get distracted  by a squirrel and forget up those who wanted to play. I was  determined  not to GM here..I just wanted to show up and play. as you all know., that changed  when Roy and I were in the  starship troopers -like game. I was set up well, but it  was freeform. The GM  even had  us  'invent  Bugs'... Shadow was a Sniper in that game.. But Roy, Hannah, Stoly and   a couple others  were damn good players..we  just ...never..had  direction.  the last  posting was  us escaping to get  evac from the top of a building..then it died... No answerfrom the GM,  no."hey i'm done"..

so , I started the games i run  now. I took a different  tack..I used  my own  system, with the  thing being   to run the games how i would want them run.... The whole thing is   a story/game..each PC has their  part  with  NPCs  helping drive  the story   and/or  popping up options. When PCs  do something that  is impactful, whether  really dumb,or really smart.. it can..and has, change the plot  lies... Plot  lines die..some are born, some never get uncovered.

After saying all this..I point out in the forums.  The rules of  a system  can't be the  'end all" even D&D's famous, 'these are just Guidelines" says that. Rules lawyers  are an infestation for games. here, that is pretty much eliminated.

BUT..I point out that the Most important thing are the Players... I can GM all i want, if the players  don't want to  play, there is not game. Players have  to not  be 'put on hold". sure? players have times  in RL that screws them over. But you handle that as a  GM... The GM has to keep the  game moving.

 then? whether its here or elsewhere. a Player  says " hey?  I like this game!:..and the  play, and they stay.. There  Game mates form a   union of sorts, and it   makes the game grow.

 In the past, there have been  players  who were , overly determined to  do..mindless things, that didn't effect the game, or   the  value of their  PC..Mind reader guy would have  had a decent  run,except for his determination to try to out play omne of the oldest Races in The Black ( Skyth)..Powersuit  guy.. and the AI  thing that tried to take over the Hermes...

This game isn't for everyonme ..no game out there is   for 'everyone"... You come here to play, interact, and hopefully add to the game  and your character Grows....indeed? there will be  some people who don't get along with each other ( or me!) ..we have seen  some players get outright  angry and leave..or leave when they thing their  'focus' was taken away ( Nic..Ranata, most recently..there have been others in the long line on the list of 'those who have come before us" )

 so..as always...Like the platers you play with. I have been on teams where there  where Guys  who hated me.. and  bunches of guys  i hated. But..the team was the thing,  and I would Block for them as they would block for me. I threw  passes  or caught passes  from Guys  who wouldn't  say two words to me through week's practices.

 If you like it here... you stay and Play, help the game and your PC grow. If you don't like it here and are frustrated. ...just tell me..." i don't like this"..or "this game isn't for me"..or even "this   game sucks, fuuck you"...i don't care. Ghosting  is the  most sincere form of cowardice  in PBP gaming....not only do you leave a GM   hanging on what to do with the PC, but the people who were interacting are left wondering what to do.

 sorry for the long  post, But its  close to that time of year, where  people come and go.

I missed yesterday...had thought I would go home from work, take care of a bunch of errands to get ready for my trip, and have a nice, casual day today (maybe go play golf, or go see a movie...)

Came home from work with a migraine...a very determined one.  Ended up just staying home all night, bumping all my errands to today (I still feel like I'm missing a step of preparations for this trip, but I can't think of what it is and I'm at the point where I'm just gonna say, "Well...forgot that, just gonna have to tough it out without for the time being, I guess..."

Flying to Vegas tomorrow afternoon, going to see three shows in four nights (a friend hooked me up with a ticket to Cirque du Soleil's Ka tomorrow night, going to see the Seance Show at Lost Spirits Distillery, part of the Meow Wolf complex at Area 15, on Monday night, and going to see Rouge at the Strat (I think?) on Wednesday night), Tuesday night will be having some fun, I'll be hanging out with friends the whole time (including, hopefully, the female friend who lives in Vegas that I always wish I had more time around, for multiple reasons).

Taking my laptop with me, I'll have time to catch up on what's happening in the game, as far as following along, but no idea how much time I'll have to post, so just kind of NPC Roy along for a few days...

Sorry to hear about your loss, Zob.  It's been a year since I lost someone close to my inner circle of friends, but there've been a lot of "circle-adjacent" losses in that year, as well.  You do you...the grief process isn't a one-size-fits-all thing, everyone goes through at their own pace and sometimes getting back to normal is a good thing, while other times it's a painful burden.  We're here if you need us, and we'll be here when you're ready to get back into the game.

 I missed your Post Zob, take your time, I am so sorry for your loss. hugs \o/

Have  fun Roy. maybe  you should send  a text to the chick," I'm loki forward to  seeing you again"..let her know?

Oh, we've been messaging back and forth about it for a while, now.  The group of friends that I go to Vegas with every year peripherally involved her when she still lived in Salt Lake, so I've kind of been the one reaching out to her every year when we start planning stuff to see if she's going to be around and if she wants to go with us.  This is the first year where she's basically adjusted her work schedule (she's a flight attendant) to be with us for pretty much the entire adventure.

But, like, we're kind of going in 'themed' attire to a couple of the shows, and she's been VERY excited to show me the stuff she got for it (and making me a little nervous about not looking drab or clownish standing next to her!)  But we've both talked about it online at length, at least three or four times.

Last year was nice because I flew down a day earlier than the rest of the group and she and I spent the evening with just the two of us out on the town...and since she's a local, she takes me to places that tourists don't normally make it to.

Right now, we're just really good friends. I would not mind, at all, if something more came out of it, but I suspect that we'll remain somewhere in that 'friends' category, because we have some very different priorities in life and both of us are old enough to be pretty set in our ways about it.  But I'm not in any rush to make it anything more...I think one of the reasons she likes spending time around me is I'm one of the few guys that's spent a few evenings with her without ever trying to take her to bed and have my way with her.  But I'm also one of those apparently very rare guys who's okay with being good friends with a woman without having to define our relationship in terms of "Are we gonna have sex?" (To hear her tell the tale, I may be one of maybe four or five guys she knows well who hasn't made a pass at her).  We do flirt a lot, so there may be room for things to go further that direction...

But my having fun around her isn't dependent on that.  We have a lot of the same kinds of humor, she pushes me to be more outspoken while I push her to be more patient, and we both enjoy each others' insights on the world and life.  So, I'm going to have fun, even if it's just all of us hanging out (although, based on last year's trip down there, the friend who coordinates this excursion every year seems to keep pushing the two of us to get some time away from the rest of the group, or together with each other while together with people that the planner-friend knows but who aren't familiar with the rest of the group...so I feel like Jen (the planner) is kinda pushing for things to work out that way...)

No matter what, it's going to be a fun trip.  I'd be going even if Sonia (my friend down there) was working flights and couldn't be part of the excursion.  I'm curious to see if the Seance show is in any way similar to the Seance show that I've been working at the park (if it is, our producer intends to send a cease-and-desist letter, and may do it anyway for the name's sake of the show, since he's been producing a Seance show of some sort for twenty-five-plus years, now...tell them they have to change the name, they can still use "Seance" in the title, but that can't be THE title of their show, especially since he started doing another one in Vegas this year...)  And Rouge is kind of like a traditional Vegas showgirl show, updated for the modern era, so it will be unlike anything I've ever seen before.  And anything that Cirque du Soleil puts together is going to be breathtaking...some of it will be better than others, but even if the show makes no sense (and they often don't), the individual acts are going to be spectacular.  And we're apparently doing a lot of karaoke this trip...I'm out of practice, but I enjoy it when I get a chance to do it.

So, it's going to be a fun trip.  At this point, it's down to a question of how much fun and what kind...

Have a great time, Roy.

Cirque is always fun... They've been going nearly 40 years. I'm not sure how it came about but at one time they were trying to entice me to become a kind of documenter of everything that they did. Not practical, but it would have been fun.

Jason is havign problems, he sent me an Email... the Mods  are lookign iton thigs. It appeares  he can read  stuff, but he  cannot post?

so I brought him aboard , do to his request.