For those of you who know I've been sort of on semi-hiatus for the past few months, I was fully planning on being back to full availability by February 12. Schedule wise, this is still perfectly plausible, as my schedule becomes hugely more available and free right after that date.

Of course, Murphy's Law being what it is, I had a complete emergency today.

I'm currently borrowing yet someone else's laptop to type this email because the laptop I've been using completely died.

In August 2010, my own laptop a Dell Inspiron 1501 with Windows XP, died. Several of you wrote to me when I had a conniption over this and I followed your suggestions. I tried practically everything before many of you told me I needed to reinstall the operating system which I was too lazy to do until last Sunday. It didn't really work and I don't know what I did wrong. After I deleted all the partitions and created a new one with maximum space in MB, I went to install Windows XP in NTFS format on the new partition but it restarted and went right back to the setup screen to either reinstall windows, repair install, or exit. It won't let me exit because it says I haven't completely reinstalled Windows. So I don't know what to do about that.

So since August, I've been using someone else's laptop, an eePC also with Windows XP. It bluescreened on me this morning with error

Stop: 0x00000024 (0x001902FE, 0XA8397B74, 0XA8397870, 0XF72FD8D6)
Stop: Ntfs.sys - Address F72FD8D6 base at F72EC000, Datestamp 48025be5

I ran out the door because I had to go somewhere. When I came home around an hour ago, I turned the computer back on. It wouldn't boot properly. It flashed between a black screen, the same blue screen error, and the gray startup screen that normally appears at the start of startup. I could hit F2 and enter setup but that's all I could do. I couldn't enter the BIOS. It wouldn't boot further and allow me to enter safe mode or safe mode with diagnostics or anything. There's no place to insert a CD to boot from disk.

I'm currently borrowing (yet) someone's laptop for a very short amount of time to get this message out. I don't know how much access I will have to the net and RPG until I can either get one or both of the other laptops fixed or replaced. I will log on as much as possible from work, but... well... it's work. I will try to post in all my roleplays this week from work -- profuse, profuse apologies to everyone in any of my roleplays or in a roleplay where I need to post. I will try my absolute darndest to fix or replace the dead laptops.

Again, I am beyond sorry. Real life killed me for the past few months with schedule, and now this. If I can, I will maintain regular posting starting this week from work at least for roleplay. I am sorry!!! (And help if anyone can; I know some folks around here know a lot more about computers than I do.)

Take your time from this end. Priority wise, don't stress over Orsa - take care of your other RP's first if you have them. You're only in the one scene, with you and Cryovizard (who actually is in three scenes, and soon to be a fourth scene, so I don't think he will mind if one is a bit slow).

Also, if I recall, you two already have the scene planned to end in capture. So any lengthy downtime you have to take, we can easily assume that Ayasha spent captured by Krycis and then fill in once you're back with some Ayasha/Krycis RP time. So just breath and try to relax :)

Unfortunately, I also require the use of my own laptop for work and personal related tasks other than RolePlayGateway related activities. Hence the complete conniption I had yesterday. At the moment, not sure what I'm going to do moving forward this week. For now it looks like I'll be borrowing internet time from work and from other people's laptops. It's just very frustrating to me to have continual awfulness with computers. I feel like a computer murderer. Every laptop I use extensively dies... a horrible, fiery death. It's terrible. I'm going to go and finish some tasks now. I've been writing roleplay posts in a notebook to be typed and posted from work this week. (This is a bad idea, for anyone who has seen my handwriting.)

Well, with things well underway, I'm going to request some feedback from everyone. I can't promise I will act on it, but I will take it into consideration, as I want things to be enjoyable for everyone involved. So if there's things you would like to see done differently, or things you're not happy with, let me know. Likewise though, if you are happy with the current way things are moving and being done, let me know as well.

If I don't know what players are and aren't enjoying, I can't know in which direction to keep things heading in the future.

I would like to request a modest sum of compensatory money for doing everything at once all the time ever.

kthx.

But srsly, I'm having great fun. :D It's just good I don't have any coursework, or, you know.. much of a life. :P

Brand new laptop and lots of joy! I shall post in When the Lion Wakes, The Unseen, and The Trial this week. Home for the Holidays and As the Curtain Falls will try for this week but may not be til next week.

RIP Taima :'(


Also, sad times ^
New addition to the ranks of the Pseudo-Patronus.

...

That will not be fun. *clings to Tiko and comforts* It was a fantastic death; credit where it's bloody due.

[Nothing to see here.]

Ok, awesome work people. Things are moving along nicely, with the exception of a few threads. We're not quite over this massive hurdle of an event yet, but should be soon.

On that note, the main focus of the story for a while is going to be on Sylvire's group. But they're going to be gone for several months IC time, and so we need to fill in a bit as far as how the story is progressing for those that didn't make it to the library. I would like if the players had some actual influence in this, rather than it being just backstory.

So with that in mind, we're looking for some volunteers that would be interested in playing staff members and/or senior students (adults) at either Academia Everia or Academia Celestia (the two mages academies, run by Parabola and Arrow). These will be mostly expendable characters, but have the potential to develop into lasting characters if you want to keep them on. If you want to do something other than an academy staff member, talk to me first, because we'll need to work something out ahead of time as far as how/why the characters is involved and/or trusted enough by the Patronus to be involved.

People without characters outside of Sylvire's group will be given first dibs.

Hey, I would totally be down to play as an Academy staff member. :) I like the sounds of both of the different Academies, though if I got my own choice I'd probably prefer an Academia Everia Instructor. ^^ I'll put some work into character creation when I know for sure which one you guys would prefer me in, haha. :) Can't wait!

You know Winifred would love to spend some quality time with Brietta, so count me in there. I obviously can't commit to a great deal more than I'm already giving out, but I'll do what I can. Let me know what's happening! =)

You know, I've wanted to make a magic-user that isn't evil. Sign me up, even if I'll be at the very, very, very bottom of the list. A staff member would be nice, at the Everia institute if it can be managed.

I have Amira Qahtani signed on for plot related items because Ayasha is outside Sylvire's group and will likely be on Langara, the Aschen homeworld, indefinitely. Other than that, I cannot commit to another character because of time limitations, unless something changes.

Just a few little somethings to look forward to to make the people in Sylvire's group feel good about getting out of the so-called 'devastating and overwhelming' fights they're in now ... ^____^

This is just wonderful, Parabola. You're going to scare all the little kiddies! I am really missing not being part of Sylvire's group now.

Wah! I don wanna fight he scawwy skeleton face! Make it go 'way Ylanne, make it go 'way!

Ylanne wrote:This is just wonderful, Parabola. You're going to scare all the little kiddies!

Yeah no kidding. I'm the GM and I'm scared ;___; Parabola already killed off one of my characters.

Ylanne wrote: I am really missing not being part of Sylvire's group now.

Don't worry, we have a lot planned for those that stayed behind as well. Everything that goes on in the wing city vicinity will have a lasting impact on the eventual outcome of the story once Sylvire's group returns. Think of it as Sylvire's group is searching for the solution to defeat the Sealed One, and the ones that stayed behind are setting the groundwork to implement it once they return. Both groups are equally important :) Should one group fail, they both likely will.

So it's been about four months since beginning the Christmas Day fight sequence, and I'm guessing things are starting to wind down a bit. Can someone explain the differences between the two Academies to me? (I'm still supposed to have written a profile for the Aschen's new Magical Eradication Bureau, at Barney's mandate, but clearly haven't done that yet [or, for that matter, updated the TLF page], but I'm trying to determine exactly where I will fit into the Orsa plot come the conclusion of these fights.

(I disappeared for about twenty minutes, found this tab again, and realized that I never finished this post. Wow. Distracted much?)

I need to coordinate with the other Wing City areas people because they are the ones with whom Amira will attempt to make contact. For the uninformed, Amira Qahtani is a former MEA agent and later bureaucrat, now assigned to the Aschen MEB. She is friends with Ayasha Ziedins, whose plotline was sort of twisted into oblivion and then twisted even more in the weeks following Cryovizard's withdrawal from the Orsa plot. (AKA Ayasha is disappearing for a while.)

Ylanne, I believe Celestia is more of a school of magical learning whereas, as far as I know, Everia is geared much more towards combat orientated magic, forming an effective fighting force. Celestia is learning, Everia is combat.

As for getting Amira involved, I know there's an Academy task force being formed, there's Kaitlynn to associate with, the students of Celestia who will be getting into mischief, Aliana and a few others that my brain cannot recall. So, there's a lot of options but a lot of people didn't know Ayasha and therefore, would likely be reluctant to trust Amira?