Absences

Hi!
First off, I'm physically fine. I'm genuinely sorry for just disappearing. I continue to recover from double knee surgery way back in November, and I've been back to work for a while now. Between dealing with work, physical therapy, an already depressed mental state, and a disintegrating personal life, I was overwhelmed with anxiety. The thought of doing anything more than working, sleeping, and mindlessly killing things online filled me with dread, and I just retreated from all but the most vital activities. It's taken literal months to get back to a more positive mental state. Yay, modern medicine!
I want to apologize to the DMs and fellow players whose games I ghosted, and I especially want to apologize to my own players. I hate it when players and DMs vanish into the aether. I'm taking a few more weeks to finish work commitments, then I'll be on a month's vacation in mid-November. I'm hoping to slowly get back into posting on the Plane if my fellow players and DMs will have me back. If anyone's hesitant, I completely understand. Trust is earned, but I'd like to get back to something that brought me some joy.

annex, firstly, I am so glad to hear from you and to see that you are physically alright. My first and immediate thought when you were gone was to be worried that you were alright. While it sounds like not everything has been sunshine and rainbows, it is GOOD to hear from you.

Take your time and get right, come back when you're ready.

I'll hold Barrow and Axon in reserve for when you return, and will be happy to have you back when you're ready to game. Let me know!

Same here. What C1NDER said. Glad to know that you are still among us and you are welcome to rejoin the rest of the crew in my game whenever you're ready.

I am back to my normal work schedule, so I will hopefully be back soon to my normal posting schedule as well...

BUT.

We are suddenly moving. The house we were in ended up needing extensive repairs due to the foundation settling and there was no way they could do them with us living in the house - or rather, there was no way we could live in the house with them trying to repair it. Either way, I'll be doing a LOT of work in that are for the next week or so too, so while I may be posting, it may be slow.

@Rabbits @The_Librarian @dominion451 @FlyingSucculent @Merivel @Naatkinson @saevikas @Chalrytharendir @bowlofspinach @hafizzle @kalajel @Gnellson @Khulod @MaJunior @TrustyJustin @SavageBob @TheHumbug @ctme2000 @therecusant @BedzoneII @Phil_Ozzy_Fer @RoAries @TheGenerator @saevikas @rpgventurer @Furmyr

@Falconloft Wow. Best of luck to you and your family during the process.

Yikes, FL. Take your time. Thanks for letting us know.

Not exactly a new situation over all, and I mentioned it in some of my games a while ago. But having really just discovered this thread and a new wrench is thrown into my mix, I figured I'd put it here.

I will still be posting, but some days I might not have it in me. The last three years have been ROUGH, but I thought I was actually getting to the end of that. We figured we'd entered the 'clean up' phase and left the 'here is more new stuff' phase. We were wrong. Ignoring the health issues of the humans in my family - they've been around a while and, while still stressful, are time manageable - the animals in our family are sick too.

One dog died a few months ago from cancer, one dog (Nessie) is about 4 months out of chemo for her cancer and is getting check monthly, and now our other dog (Bear) has - you guessed it - cancer. All different types, all different treatment avenues. But the recent diagnosis will need more tests (CT scan is next) in order to figure out a plan long-term. It may be removable surgically, which would be the best outcome.

On top of human responsibilities, caring for very sick animals is taxing. I expect once we get a general game plan and idea of what is going on with Bear and a more stable situation with less appointments the chances of me just ignoring the world/not being able to think for a day will decrease. So if I don't post, I apologize in advance, but I should still be decently regular. Mind you, I wouldn't trade it for the alternative at all, and we are just so happy we chose to get them both insurance as puppies (and picked the right company for it). If we hadn't, I wouldn't have as many of my dogs still around. We'll take what we can get, but somedays I just fall into bed.

If you have pets and are thinking about pet insurance, I recommend Trupanion. If you have it where you live, it is really good and I have never before had an insurance company fight with a vet to pay for my bill. Or a human one either, really. 'Mixed breed' is the way to go with insurances, as Nessie is mixed and much cheaper than Bear who isn't. Bear is still affordable though (the dogs belong to both me and my mom, so we split the payments).

A long, and probably too in depth explanation of why I may miss some days. It shouldn't be too big of a deal rp wise, but better to explain now than as it goes. I'm also on the discord, and if I turn on my laptop I sign in, so you might be able to grab me there if you need me sooner than I've posted. I'm so happy I found this website though, it is a fantastic escape from reality.

I'm sorry to hear this, Sadie! I'm sending you and your dogs positive thoughts. And don't worry about missing a few days whenever it happens. Real life obviously comes first (and pets especially)

Thanks. We will take all the positive thoughts you are willing to give. Positive energy is always handy, even if it just helps emotionally. We are a family that will probably never be without a pet. It wouldn't feel right. But my mom and I are thinking of staying away from giant breeds in the future. We adore them (anyone know Clifford the big red dog? I wanted him as a kid), but they just don't live long enough and we don't think we can keep doing it emotionally. Six years old should not be a senior. Heck, our two girls still act like puppies but doesn't mean they are. Will never go super small (tiny breeds aren't real dogs, they are strange cats) but we will probably go medium breed size.

Warm thoughts to all the humans and better-than-humans in your family, Sadie.

Sorry to hear this. We recently lost a dog too. He was a rescue and we took him to the vet to see what was wrong with him and left without him. They found a mass on his spleen that was bleeding into his stomach. He was a large dog and was 8 years old. Our small dog lived to be 16. We thought we could last a year without a pet and lasted only a month so I hear you when you say you probably won't ever be without a pet. I don't think we will ever be either.

Sending good thoughts your way. 🐶🐕

Have a business trip and then a gaming convention this coming week and weekend folks -- don't expect much from me on GP! Should be back in the saddle by the evening of Oct 23rd...

Will be going on a trip on Thursday to Tuesday. I will bring my laptop but we also have a busy schedule so don't know how much time I will have to post.

So this isn't so much of an absence as a semi-retirement. After 3.5 years and 9k posts, I think I need a break from PbP for awhile. I will be retiring most of my games soon and hopefully most that I'm playing in will wrap up naturally within the next week or two. I will continue my Halloween game until it finishes and will carry on playing in just 1-2 games that may take longer to finish. I will still be around on Discord and perhaps continue making custom character sheets as I really enjoy that. Thanks for reading.

Enjoy your break!

It's a shame to see you go, but I hope to at least see you around on the Discord still!

Sad to hear it Nezz, games with you have been delightful!
Hope to see you picking it back up again :)

Awwwww, man. Sorry to see you go, Nezzeraj.

I'm very sorry to see you go. We've been in so many games together and it's been a blast. Hope to see you back real soon.

On a more joyous note than those of late, I am headed to Walt Disney World for two weeks, from November 4 to November 17. Obviously, I will not be thinking of online gaming during this time and will be away until the 18th.