
John Napier 698 |
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Has anyone heard this? I think I found a replacement for Queen.

Wei Ji the Learner |
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*will accept some of both of those tonight, thank you.*
One of the newer players had been using an excessive amount of 'screen time' and another of the players mentioned they were leaving the campaign over frustrations around it.
I tried to mediate and get the party back together.
We had some in-depth and rather brutal emails back and forth, with the revelation from the GM that it was becoming more of a chore and less of a joy for him to run, and he felt that he had to keep increasing the level of difficulty to match our party effectiveness, which meant it was starting to go recursive (defeat bigger enemies, get bigger loot, able to beat bigger enemies, etc).
After the initial batch of emails, the most recent addition to the campaign dropped a letter on the campaign and the GM, basically blasting everyone BUT me and telling me that I shouldn't be trying to shoulder the burden of getting the game 'back on track', that the GM should be handling it and it was... well... at any rate, the GM said 'enough is enough' and cancelled the campaign.
Not hiatus.
Not indefinite suspension, just.. we're done at about the mid-point (around L10 or so).
He's said we can write up epilogues if we want, but it still leaves me a bit... numb and hollow but I can't fault the GM for their decision nor the player that was withdrawing or two of the others who felt like they had to 'rush' to the end of the campaign.
It just feels rotten and it's the worst time of year for it to happen, but better the bandage be torn off now and the rot cleaned away, than festering for another two or three months, I think?
Anyways, if you read this, thank you very much for your patience.

Wei Ji the Learner |
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Thank you, John.
I'm... going to be soaking in some more virtual non-physical hugs today.
No direct physical contact, please.
I pretty much identify as cis-straight. Sometimes I bounce around ideas of fluidity and alternate gender ideals. I'm reasonably open to the idea of other folks having their own identities, and I'm not one to judge someone on their preferences in terms of desired partners.
Today, out of the blue, a local football coach I know and (up until this incident) had respect/courtesy for as a loyal customer completely and blatantly invaded my personal space, grabbing me in an exceptionally inappropriate fashion.
They were trying to use the 'cover' of 'telling me something important they didn't want to shout through the store' but I immediately jumped and put my arms up to spread the distance between myself and the customer.
Trying to defuse the situation I said something asinine, something about 'that might be okay in the locker room, but we weren't in the locker room'.
Individual's response was to give a hard hurt look and then say 'Settle down.'
I'm *still* trying to parse this in some sort of context. It's never appropriate to do something like that in public with a virtual stranger.
I just... does anyone have any ideas how to handle this?
I don't want to hose the customer or start an issue if the customer didn't realize it was a personal space concern, but at the same time this person is a football coach that works at the high school level and I'm worried if he did that to me, as a complete stranger, what sort of treatment his charges might be getting?
Any advice or insight privately or in spoilers would be welcome. Thank you in advance.

CrystalSeas |
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I'd say you've been grabbed by the overly-physical football coach who hits his players on the butt, grabs them by the shoulders and pulls/pushes them forward and back, puts his arm around their shoulders. He thinks he's showing support and friendship. He's trying to show that he's your 'buddy'.
Chalk it up to a power move, with nothing sexual implied. My bet is, if he had any sense you were not cishet, he would have nothing to do with touching you.
Not going into the "hypermasculinity to avoid worrying about his own sexual orientation". I don't think it's that deep. It's an older, locally famous person bestowing his approval on you. He can't imagine someone not wanting that.

Cindy Robertson |
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So my life got flipped, turned upside down. I have to move because I have no way to pay rent. The good news is that I managed to get enough donations and support from community resources to complete my lease so I will not have an eviction on my record.
I have to move into a spare bedroom so most of my stuff will be leaving. I won't be able to store it anywhere. I'm not sure what I'm going to keep, but much of my identity may have to be packed up because I won't have the room to store all parts of me.
I was invited to Thanksgiving as Cindy. It would be the first time I would be with people for a holiday. I know that it's a safe place. I also know that there will be several trans people and non-binary people there. I have met almost everyone who will be there. Some have already met both parts of me and have been 100% supportive and accepting.
I don't know what I'm going to do though because it's the day before I have to move out and my stress levels are getting higher and higher.
Also, even though it's obvious, I did not harm myself even though I had seriously considered it. I am not out of danger yet, but I'm feeling more hopeful. I am not actively trying to harm myself at this time.
I am sorry if I scared anyone. I never wanted to do that to you. I have been lurking because you are all my friends and I needed to see what was going on in your lives.
Stay strong my friends.

John Napier 698 |
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Cindy, first of all, I'm sorry that you have to move. When packing, make three piles: the absolute essentials, things that are nice to have, and the rest. This is the lesson I had to learn when I had to move in a hurry in June of '16.
Second, make sure you enjoy yourself at the Thanksgiving Dinner.
Lastly, I'm glad that you're not trying to harm yourself. For this reason, I get panicky when people begin posting comments about self-harm. I was so frantic, that I was nearly in tears, not knowing who to reach out to.
So, Cindy, stay strong yourself. Okay?

Judy Bauer Managing Editor |
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So glad to hear from you, Cindy! That's rough news, though—my thoughts are with you. :-(
Unrelatedly, for everyone: Please check your phone and see if it has an option to set an emergency contact (ICE) on your lock screen. If so, set one! That way if something happens (or even if you just drop your phone while running for the bus or whatever), EMTs or a helpful bystander can alert your loved ones. (Spoiler: All involved are now safe and sound, but I was sure glad to get that call.)

John Napier 698 |
I just now thought of an interesting computer game. A Tetris-like game that uses mahjongg tiles. Unlike Tetris, where you have to clear rows, in this game (let's call it "falling tiles," for simplicity) you have to get matching tiles adjacent to each other. Then all affected tiles vanish, adding a set number of points to the score. Like Tetris, when a column of tiles reaches a certain height, the game ends. Thoughts?

Klorox |
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*channels good feelings toward Wei ji and Cindy*
Will take what hugs and good feelings I can get, today I turn 50 and my morale is low enough to qualify as clinical depression... not gonna tell my shrink though, he's not prescribing me any drugs at the current time, and I like it that way, not that the drugs prevent much depression or shield me efficiently from it.

Wei Ji the Learner |
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Cindy,
Welcome back, we were worried about you!
Klorox,
They wanted me to get screened at one point and it was a huge scam to get a whole bunch of experimental drugs out there that have since been proven to be exceptionally bad for one's health.
Glad to have dodged that bullet!
*gets grabbed into a bear hug and ducks out because still need a bit of personal space right now, but accepts the spirit of the hug in the intent it was granted*
Have a great safe morning.
May wisdom and patience guide folks to greater harmony with the All.