Minque, that's horrible. I'm sorry.

Damn. Sorry to hear that, Minque. You're in my thoughts, and if I prayed you'd be in my prayers.

========================

On the good news front, earlier this week I got hired for a biology job in Wyoming, so I'll be moving out there come May. It's a good job, though it is only seasonal.

That is so sad. You are in my thoughts. My father died unexpectedly- I think it might have been better because we didn't see it coming.... Know that you have friends across the world who love you.

Thank you all! You're so kind and I love you all too! Dad is 85 years old and he has had a good life, apart from the last six months...

I'm glad now that my project in Barsebäck(a NPP very near my parent's home) allowed me to see him very often. During those twelve weeks I spent down there I visited my parents several times a week, mostly because my dad appreciated me coming, then he could talk to me about all other things than illness and pain. He was not very healthy but had a good spirit and was always very happy during my visits.

His kidneys have been in a bad shape for the last three years. He's had a pacemaker for about twelve years...so his ticker is pretty bad too.

Honestly I don't expect him to make it, even though he's been tough before when he has been very ill. So when there is life there is hope...

I dare not go to bed, so I'm just sitting here, somehow I imagine if I don't go to bed he'll eventually make it through the night...

My poor daughters were so sad when I told them, the oldest one met her grandparents in january, but the younger hasn't met them for a very long time, and now there's a very great risk they're never gonna see their grandpa again...

Stay strong, Minque. I wish both you and your family inner strenght to get trough this.

If there's a chance try to take your daughters to see your dad?

I'll also ask my youth group to pray for your father, Minque. Best of luck with your family.

Wow, I'm really sorry to hear that Minque. You and your family are in my thoughts.

Oh Minque, I'm so sorry to hear about this. Your Dad is just around the age of my Dad. This must be so hard for you! We will pray for your Dad and for all your family in this needful time. Please do stay strong and gather your family around you in spirit if you can't all be together in person.



It's so hard when we've had a loved one with us all our own lives but we must remember that at 85 they have lived a very full life and are probably so much more at peace and settled in with reaching the end than we can imagine. And know that the Heavens welcome each soul home as we welcome the newborns into our world.

Well,today I noticed a post here on these forums about some sort of fanfic writing contest. Interesting. I read more and realized that ... somehow ... it is already over and I have completely missed it. Whoa: I'm out of it, or something.

Aside from that, I'm still playing too much Guild Wars. It gets on my nerves sometimes (very hard game) but I keep playing. If you are thinking of getting it ... don't. It will suck your life away.

Work progresses on stories, though slowly. In progress: a Lokken sequel, a Lokken prequel, a short non-Rashelle MW fanfic ... and something else.

In other writing-related matters: I've decided to give the Scripting Frenzy a miss. I can't see it attaining anything that I did not achieve already in NaNoWriMo.

Yeah, it really should've been done over two weeks, if you ask me. We'd have gotten more entries, and some of the less satisfying entries we did get could've improved. Personally, I'd have loved to get 1000 more words to play with, at least.

I personally feel the same way, Canis. I however did not make any entries. Not that I did not have notice or was uninspired, but for two personal reasons: One, I hate politics. I really do. Two, The purpose of prose is to contribute, not compete.

Minque. Sorry, I check this thread like once in a blue moon. Sorry for your Dad, and assuming nothing has changed at the time of this post, I hope he makes it. If not, I hope it's peaceful.

I didn't have much motivation to try when there were such limitations. The reasons I didn't take part were pretty much the same as why I didn't participate in NaNo.
Anyway, This week my gameroom TV broke down so every time I turn it on the screen remains blank and it emits this droning sound. One good point is that we're getting a new LCD model to replace it, and we'll be getting it installed later today.

In other news, during Spring Break (last week) I noticed a lot of Europeans and Asians in American theme parks (no doubt due to the sinking value of the US dollar compared to other currency). Monday was also the first time I've seen Terminator 2, which I must say was an awesome film (the first one in a long time that made me cry at the end). That's right, folks, I cried when Arnold had to die, even though I already knew it happened.

And Minque, your family is in my youth group's and my own prayers.

Black Hand:
Word.

Now I see that there is a "pinned" thread about the writing contest. That is dumb. Why? Simply this: the contest if over but for the judging. A sane person would only "pin" a thread that is going to be relevant permanently. Who wants to read a pinned thread a year from now for a contest that is over and done with?

The whole thing was ill-done, starting from the mere weeks notice and then the pinned thread. Bad job, people-who-run-chorrol, bad job!

I even posted a reply about how it ought be un-pinned ... and you know ... my reply was quietly erased! I did not even receive a PM or other form of explanation! That is even more heavy-handed then the way the apes over at the Elder scroll forums moderate!

I begin to wonder why I stay at chorrol. I really do.

Oh boy...

Okay, I'll answer these one at a time. Let's start with this one.



Nobody, that's why the pinned thread will be deleted after the contest. It was pinned purely for the purpose of visibility and so it wouldn't slide down the page. I fail to see why it's such an issue for you though...





Canis's point first - higher word limit and more time. The reason for the time and word constraints was simple. We're running this competition as a trial basically. In a few months time, we'll be running another competition. This will be much broader in scope, and the comments you've made there won't be an issue. I'm not going to say any more yet - Alex will publicise it closer to the time. However... as a forum (ie not including the ill fated TES F'ruum mod competition) we've never run a writing competition before. So, we decided on a small scale one, to let us see what difficulties could arise. This will enable us to be fully prepared for the future one, so they don't happen again. With the aim of small scale - and it was me who suggested both the word count limit and the time limit - we didn't really want too many entries. 6-8 was my original estimation that we'd get. This was so that we could try out different methods of judging - not only a panel of judges, but the public vote and the anonymous comments. We wanted to see if we could involve forum regulars, so their opinions would count. It hasn't worked as we hoped. Any future contests we run (not just including the one we have planned) will have a longer submission period and a higher word limit - trust me on that.

Black Hand. I respect the second reason you gave, and that's your choice. Not sure about the first one though, simply because we did try not to make that an issue. That was one of the main idea's behind the anonymous posting, so that it wouldn't be about the people but the stories themselves. Any competition though, in any area, will always have an element of that involved sadly. If you can think of a way around that, let me know. Seriously. I racked my brains thinking on that.



I don't know about that. It wasn't me that deleted it. I suspect that whoever did, was simply trying to get things back on track, and didn't want to go off topic anymore. Personally I ended up deleting a lot of the comments which I thought were just being as negative as possible.

EDIT: I found your post in the mod section. I'm not sure - maybe I did delete it. If so, I'm sorry I didn't tell you why. Or indeed just answer it there and then. My nerves were a little frayed then. I really can't remember if it was me or not. This was the post.



The simple answer is no, as it isn't finished till Sunday/Monday coming. After that point it will be deleted, not unpinned. Again, I'm not 100% sure if it was me that deleted it or not. If it was me I probably should have just answered it. If it wasn't me, then you'll have to ask them.

As to why you stay at Chorrol, it's because (hopefully) you like it here. Not everything we try here works out perfectly, the way we'd hoped - but at least we do try.

The truth is, we've learned a lot from this competition, and what we've learned will hold us in good stead in the future. We've discovered that anonymous posting doesn't work for one, and we won't use it again. We've learned more about what people want from such contests, and with that knowledge we can implement them better in the future. And so on...

Awful night before day even started. It was beans that caused my stomach to hurt like sharp nine inch nails were going trough it... luckily, I managed to settle it and went to work.

There, we froze our butts for most of the day. There was some work, but scarce if compared to holiday season, really scarce. Tomorrow, though, we're getting 145 PC cases and it will be fun to cramp them up in our [tragically limited] space. We already prepared the staging area so it won't make us too much trouble [I hope].

Stomach still hurts a bit, mind is a bit better.


Wow.
Blockman, you sure you're not overreacting? This, after all, isn't TESF BGSF with tensions and idiocy running rampant, even if recent events in 'Competition' proved me wrong [but only to some extent].

As for competition itself, I will gladly uphold the idea that, once it's done and over, everyone signs their own posts, just to lose the friggin' masks and show real faces. I know I would. [will?]

This post has been edited by milanius: Mar 26 2008, 06:26 PM

I really do think that the anonymity was a big problem, because then people aren't accountable for what they write. I've got some experience with writing workshops (as both a creative writing student and as a composition instructor) and I find that people usually don't have a problem being honest about work, and criticism stays on-point and constructive (and most importantly, civil).

And yes, Burnt, I see the point about this being an experiment... thanks for pointing that out, as it is easy to forget that the forum is new to such competition.

I do think that the contest is worthwhile. I had to try to think outside of the box a bit, for once. (I mean, its so easy to write about Al--he's so well-established that all I have to do is ask, "What Would Always-He-Lingers-in-the-Sun do? [aka: WWA.H.L.i.t.s.D?] and then add some clever wordplay.) That, and it was great to see the nice works from others that might never have came to be.

Wow. Let's all chill.

Blockhead. They are not heavy handed here. Trust me, I have had my run-ins at the Main Site, and this place is a far cry from the Bethstapo.

I dont mean the next sentence, the way it sounds. However, if you truly don't want to be here, noone is keeping you here. Dont get me wrong, I like your writing and you, the site would lose something without you. just pointing out that you have a choice.

BSD-IES. My feelings have nothing to do with you or any of the other moderators. Politics for dummies says "Politics exists wherever there is more than two people." If I had a solution to deal with the shortcomings inherent in any competition, I would share it. I don't have it. I stay out of it. The idiots who are ruining things for you are ample proof, assuming they are trying to swing things in the favor of a certain author.

I am sorry that people aren't being as civil as they usually are on the site. As someone on the guestaccount wrote, 'The safety of anonymity, eh?" And its always frustrating when you simply want to do something fun for others, and then someone or someones in the group have to spoil it.

I do feel that there was short notice, and a heavy limitation, but thats just my opinion. And opinions are like earlobes, everyone has a couple of them. Now that I know this was intended as a trial run, my opinion has altered slightly, assuming that the next one will be reorganized based on lessons learned.

In short: LEAVE THE MODS ALONE!!! They do a bang-up job here as far as I am concerned. And when they decide to give us inch, some fools want to take a mile. How would you feel?

Yes that's horrible, your dad (my grandfather) past away today at noon. Minque was down there when he died. It is a big tradegy.


//Daedroth

This post has been edited by Daedroth: Mar 26 2008, 09:18 PM

Oh man... I'm really sorry mate. Tell your mum we're all thinking of her will you? And that we all hope she's ok. Puts everything else into perspective doesn't it.

I'm really sorry for your loss, both you and Minkey. Take care...

Burnt Sierra

My deepest condolences, Minque and Daedroth.