Hey everyone. It looks like things are going going to remain complicated for me for the next little while. I'm not closing this game down, and I want to continue it. But I'll be out of commission, creatively, for while.

So I'm declaring a hiatus.

When I've got a bit of bandwidth, I'll check back in and we'll pick it back up with anyone who's still around.

My apologies. I hate doing this. But it's better than stuttering along a post or two   a month until we're all too frustrated to continue.

Take your time, and just communicate with us!  I definitely appreciate that you aren't just shutting this down.  Hope things start to go smoothly with you.

Take care! We'll be here!

Thanks, everyone. I really appreciate the support. Right now it looks like things will start to even out the second/third week of August.

I'll try to keep everyone informed as best I can.

I will be here when you get back! Just feel free to let us know how you are doing from time to time!

:)

Nothing's bad or miserable or on fire, I just have a perfect storm of three bandwidth-stealing things happening all at once.

First, it's audit season at work with two full-scale, multi-day regulatory audits happening in the next two months (with all the associated pre and post mini-audits and debriefs). Which is fine, it's my job and I'm good at my job and my co-regulatory wrangler is both my wife and an epic-level super-genius, so we got this. But there's a lot to do, most of it composed of brain-draining reading of very fiddly clauses and sub-clauses of complex regulatory documents and documenting, documenting, documenting.

Second, about a week ago I was formally diagnosed with Adult ADHD (after a lot of effort put into securing and taking the testing). Which is good, it's a long time coming and I'm excited about the possibilities it represents. But it means that I'm now in the process of experimenting with nervous system stimulants and dismantling all my decades' old coping mechanisms in order to replace them with better ones. Next year I'll be a super-powered version of who I am now, but today, right now, it's taking a lot of brain to navigate.

Third, for unrelated reasons, I've made the decision to leave what has been my primary hobby for the past number of years: the keeping and raising of tarantula spiders. I have an extensive collection, so I have over 100 spiders of various size and species and complexity of husbandry and housing to find new owners for in a way that serves the animals' best interests and mine.

So, none of it bad. Some of it quite good. But all in all, lately each day just vanishes in a puff of smoke in a way I haven't experienced since my children were small.

And I found I was stressing every day about my posting rate. Which made me feel bad. And that made me avoid checking in to avoid saying 'sorry guys' one more time. And being avoidant isn't good for anyone.

So. tl;dr I need to take a full mental break for a bit. Just put down the responsibility completely. Sell some spiders, get my medication and my therapy/coaching and my regulatory affairs all in order.

Come back stronger on the far end.

Thanks for listening.

Hey, works well for me.  Our summer shows will be wrapping up after the third week of August, and things will be a little crazy for me for another week or two, getting ready for Halloween...but by mid-September, I will no longer be in a working-every-day situation and will have more time to focus on fun stuff and not just work.

Hey, I'll be here when you're ready to jump back in. I'm invested I'm my own character and in the other characters as well, so I'll be glad to go when it's time. Until then... :)

Is everyone in this game doing quite well? :)

Still here!

How are you?

We're all fine here, now...

How are you?

(I couldn't resist...)

In reply to Vincent Nero (msg # 77):

Who is this? What's your operating number?

In reply to Twiddleskimershim (msg # 78):

I'm doing pretty well on my end, personally. :)

Hey everyone. I regret to inform that I'm having a hard time at the moment. Things were looking up toward the end of August but now are less so. I'm still hoping that the clouds might part a little before too much longer.

But I don't have a re-start date in mind at the moment.

Please, take your time getting ready, I'm just checking in.

I hope things turn up for you soon.

In reply to System (msg # 80):

Dont sweat it. Real life comes 1st.

What they said...*grin*

Hello, everyone.

My unfortunate update is that my mental health situation continues to be both tenuous and energy-consuming. I cannot foresee a situation where I will be able to resume this activity on a regular basis.

Thank you for your hard work and effort. I was really enjoying this game and had high hopes for the group and the story. I am sad to have to let it go, even now, months into an extended pause.

I will be deleting this game at some point in the next week or two. If you wish to harvest anything from it, please feel free to do so.

Than you again.

Best of luck in your future endeavours.

Sorry to hear things are going rough.  I understand...a little sad to have never moved the character beyond the conceptual phase, but I play for fun and your current situation doesn't allow much for that, so I can't fault you at all.

I hope things improve!  If/when they do, if you want to start another game, hit me up.

In reply to Vincent Nero (msg # 85):

Same here. Let me know if you do another game.

:)

Thanks for running the game, GM. Like Twiddleskimershim, do let us know if you make another game in the future.

I wish you peace and good health! Things will improve... at some point. I like to go by this: "Things will be ok in the end. If it's not ok, it's not the end."

Take care of you everyone! I really enjoyed the time we spent on this >:D<

Mental health comes before most anything else.  Do what you have to to get better!  Thanks for running this as long as you did, and especially for trying to get to a situation where you could run it again.  I'll be around if you find your way back here.

Seconding all this--even if I'm sad to know the game won't continue, I'm glad you're choosing to prioritize yourself.

Thank you for the kind words, everyone. They are appreciated.