Where have you been?!

[Scarlet Knight]

Hi, everybody. My name is Scarlet Knight and I am a recovering miniature painting addict.

I knew it was bad. I collected for years until I had so many lead figurines my house qualified as a Superfund site. But I was in remission.

Then the Forum went down and every day I'd check my PC. Then my eyes fell on a diorama I had made. It was a six room tavern and I thought: "You know, the bar could use another patron." So I painted a woman ordering a drink. It felt so good; oh, my hands shake now and my eyes are bad but the rush was there. So I thought: "Just one more, for the dance floor." So I painted another one, and it looked great!

Soon I find myself searching and searching for the perfect figure to add to the story. Each room needed more!

I finally knew it went too far when I found myself staring at 28 mm BDSM figures on a site with a currency I did not even recognize!

*SOB* Tell me I'm not alone....

[SquirrellyOtter]

I lurked around here for a few months using some forum posts as resources. The day I actually came to register to join and post in the forums, I discovered they had been taken down. That was a pretty big L to take.

[Razgriez]

Well, I've ever been one of the lurkers of the forum, more often reading than posting. Still, good to see the forums are back.

So what have I been up to? Well, after being laid off from my previous job due to financial woes, I started a new job.... where in the first month I discovered the incredible amount of incompetence that exists and has me already looking for a new job less than 90-days in. Was given lots of wrong information in my first month, payroll nearly sent my pay withheld for taxes to the wrong state and refused to fix it until family members own employers did my employer's jobs for them by giving me blank tax forms to scan in for them.

Within 3 weeks of starting, a major ethical breech caused by another employee left my self and other employees working extremely long hours (12+ hour shifts) to fix the mess the now ex-employee left us when we discovered he had been hiding months worth of work away and unfinished, while our manager worked his eight then went home. We found out also that the ex-employee had failed to submit required reports for two months, and that this never raised a red flag to anyone in management positions, until a co-worker discovered the missing work.

Did we get properly thanked for our efforts? Nope. Instead we get told we "might not be fired" now about twice a week. We discover the manager also has no standard operating procedure written up, and been lenient with our contract with our customer that its now at-cost to us and makes us liable for things we shouldn't be liable for. A month and a half latter, we're still dealing with the after effects, and I'm frankly ready to quit and pursue a better job.

Games wise:
-Still backlogged on Warhammer 40,000 Model assembly and painting.
-My gaming backlog has gotten longer. not helped by now the constant insistence of certain games Weekly/daily missions/quest and limited-time events.

Other things: Well, since I began riding motorcycles two years ago and bought my first motorcycle, I decided it was time to get some upgrades for it, namely in the form of saddlebags. So, got that done this winter and can now more easily and securely carry essentials (Rain gear, Fix-a-flat, small tools), but also be able to do things like pick up a few groceries from the local farm markets in my area on the ride back home.

[Imbalance]

One of the games I was in had just moved to Mythweavers before the forums died, so I still had a game and didn't go in full withdrawal symptoms. I did check up daily to see if this was back up or not.

Most of, if not all of my games are over Discord, so I didn't experience any particular changes.

Y'all lucked out. The pbp I'm in managed to bounce to Discord but for one player, who I'm sad to say decided to bow out when we finally got back in touch after a month.

Tell me about it. I was thinking I'd crash my own funeral. Unfortunately I couldn't, because y'know... dead.

Mortality is so unfair.

Hi, everybody. My name is Scarlet Knight and I am a recovering miniature painting addict.

I knew it was bad. I collected for years until I had so many lead figurines my house qualified as a Superfund site. But I was in remission.

Then the Forum went down and every day I'd check my PC. Then my eyes fell on a diorama I had made. It was a six room tavern and I thought: "You know, the bar could use another patron." So I painted a woman ordering a drink. It felt so good; oh, my hands shake now and my eyes are bad but the rush was there. So I thought: "Just one more, for the dance floor." So I painted another one, and it looked great!

Soon I find myself searching and searching for the perfect figure to add to the story. Each room needed more!

I finally knew it went too far when I found myself staring at 28 mm BDSM figures on a site with a currency I did not even recognize!

*SOB* Tell me I'm not alone....

I ain't gonna lie, you had me in the first half. I actually attending a minis painting class this past weekend. Um...the only masochism I was aware of was the amount of Pepsi I consumed.

I lurked around here for a few months using some forum posts as resources. The day I actually came to register to join and post in the forums, I discovered they had been taken down. That was a pretty big L to take.

<gasp!> So it was YOU! The account that broke the server's back. Oh well, welcome aboard!

Well, I've ever been one of the lurkers of the forum, more often reading than posting. Still, good to see the forums are back.

So what have I been up to? Well, after being laid off from my previous job due to financial woes, I started a new job.... where in the first month I discovered the incredible amount of incompetence that exists and has me already looking for a new job less than 90-days in. Was given lots of wrong information in my first month, payroll nearly sent my pay withheld for taxes to the wrong state and refused to fix it until family members own employers did my employer's jobs for them by giving me blank tax forms to scan in for them.

Within 3 weeks of starting, a major ethical breech caused by another employee left my self and other employees working extremely long hours (12+ hour shifts) to fix the mess the now ex-employee left us when we discovered he had been hiding months worth of work away and unfinished, while our manager worked his eight then went home. We found out also that the ex-employee had failed to submit required reports for two months, and that this never raised a red flag to anyone in management positions, until a co-worker discovered the missing work.

Did we get properly thanked for our efforts? Nope. Instead we get told we "might not be fired" now about twice a week. We discover the manager also has no standard operating procedure written up, and been lenient with our contract with our customer that its now at-cost to us and makes us liable for things we shouldn't be liable for. A month and a half latter, we're still dealing with the after effects, and I'm frankly ready to quit and pursue a better job.

Games wise:
-Still backlogged on Warhammer 40,000 Model assembly and painting.
-My gaming backlog has gotten longer. not helped by now the constant insistence of certain games Weekly/daily missions/quest and limited-time events.

Other things: Well, since I began riding motorcycles two years ago and bought my first motorcycle, I decided it was time to get some upgrades for it, namely in the form of saddlebags. So, got that done this winter and can now more easily and securely carry essentials (Rain gear, Fix-a-flat, small tools), but also be able to do things like pick up a few groceries from the local farm markets in my area on the ride back home.

Dang, I hope something better comes your way. Get your motor running, get out on the highway, and look for some adventure.

[Scarlet Knight]

I ain't gonna lie, you had me in the first half. I actually attending a minis painting class this past weekend. Um...the only masochism I was aware of was the amount of Pepsi I consumed.

Oooo, where was the class & how did it go?

As for the BSDM figures, it's the usual rabbit-hole situation. You start looking at civilians, which leads to captives, which leads to slaves. The figures were on a Russian site, which made me suspicious (duh).

It seems the company is legit and, to be honest, really good, but I realized just in time that they were resin.

[Rynjin]

I actually took a fair hit to my productivity, which was unexpected.

I work from home and spend what I had thought was too much time browsing the forums in between writing stuff for work.

Yeah, turns out those 15 minute breaks to argue about wizards or lurk posts or whatever I take every hour or so really kickstart my ability to get actual work done. Who knew?

[bundlesandflows]

Not commenting with respect to my presence on these forums, since I've only stopped lurking and joined very recently, and I'm barely present and known anyways, but I've disappeared from virtually all online forums since I started my PhD. PhDs are hard, it turns out.

I think this story isn't unusual for this website's demographic.

[darkrose50]

[1] The company I work for is growing crazy fast. Apparently we are going to start a work-from-home pilot. We are also going away from a "call-center" mindset to a "professional" mindset. Basically for a while there our lunches and breaks were scheduled and they moved daily, and apparently we are going back to picking our lunches and breaks. Also we have some sort of attendance point-system that we are getting rid of where you were supposed to get fired at 30-points, but the other day I saw that a co-worker had 120-points.

[2] The contract my department works on is not being renewed (apparently by my company). This is good because the client is super incompetent. I not even slightly joking, the folks we interact with do not know what they are doing in the least. For example today will be day #9 for me without access to the programs that I need in order to do my job. This is because some manager at the client did not log into a program and extend my access on time. We work over the phone and once had 1/2 day training on body language. We literally cannot do our job without filling out applications (insurance agents), and don't get training on filling out applications. I wanted to show my new managers the manual we were given, but EVERYONE threw it out . . . it was so very pitifully useless that no one kept it.

[Imbalance]

Oooo, where was the class & how did it go?

As for the BSDM figures, it's the usual rabbit-hole situation. You start looking at civilians, which leads to captives, which leads to slaves. The figures were on a Russian site, which made me suspicious (duh).

It seems the company is legit and, to be honest, really good, but I realized just in time that they were resin.

This class was local, went rather well. The lady who ran it had decades of painting experience, provided all the paints and materials, figures, brushes, etc., and was very helpful to the range of skill levels among six students.

I actually took a fair hit to my productivity, which was unexpected.

I work from home and spend what I had thought was too much time browsing the forums in between writing stuff for work.

Yeah, turns out those 15 minute breaks to argue about wizards or lurk posts or whatever I take every hour or so really kickstart my ability to get actual work done. Who knew?

Work from home was difficult the times I've done it. I mostly ended up failing to get get anything done during normal work hours only to turn around and be ultra-productive during relaxation time and into the night.

Not commenting with respect to my presence on these forums, since I've only stopped lurking and joined very recently, and I'm barely present and known anyways, but I've disappeared from virtually all online forums since I started my PhD. PhDs are hard, it turns out.

I think this story isn't unusual for this website's demographic.

So I've heard. We welcome you, though don't let us distract you from your goal.

[1] The company I work for is growing crazy fast. Apparently we are going to start a work-from-home pilot. We are also going away from a "call-center" mindset to a "professional" mindset. Basically for a while there our lunches and breaks were scheduled and they moved daily, and apparently we are going back to picking our lunches and breaks. Also we have some sort of attendance point-system that we are getting rid of where you were supposed to get fired at 30-points, but the other day I saw that a co-worker had 120-points.

[2] The contract my department works on is not being renewed (apparently by my company). This is good because the client is super incompetent. I not even slightly joking, the folks we interact with do not know what they are doing in the least. For example today will be day #9 for me without access to the programs that I need in order to do my job. This is because some manager at the client did not log into a program and extend my access on time. We work over the phone and once had 1/2 day training on body language. We literally cannot do our job without filling out applications (insurance agents), and don't get training on filling out applications. I wanted to show my new managers the manual we were given, but EVERYONE threw it out . . . it was so very pitifully useless that no one kept it.

Apt timing for [1], it appears. I envy your company's gumption with [2], as there is a particular group of architects like that that my company is reluctant to cut ties with despite their belligerence toward us over mistakes that they make.

[JNAProductions]

I hung out with friends from here, on Skype and Discord and such. Missed it a lot, though, and glad it's back!

Speaking of which, what should we call the period of time the forums went down? It needs a cool name. :P

[DataNinja]

Speaking of which, what should we call the period of time the forums went down?

Boring.

[Willie the Duck]

Speaking of which, what should we call the period of time the forums went down?

'The Inconvenience'
'The Downtime'
'The Outage'
'The Doldrum'

[Random Sanity]

'The Inconvenience'
'The Downtime'
'The Outage'
'The Doldrum'

"Kerplunk".

[Kid Jake]

To be honest, I've been so focused on getting my comic up and going lately that until I popped in to check one of my old Campaign Journals, to reference something coming up in the comic, I didn't even realize the forums were down!

[Cikomyr2]

What's for sure, is that the forums came back at just the moment we needed it

[Scarlet Knight]

...Speaking of which, what should we call the period of time the forums went down? It needs a cool name. :P

'The Memory Mishap of 2020"

[mobilityseeker]

Most of, if not all of my games are over Discord, so I didn't experience any particular changes.

me too....