Ayshela

edited version: Alone Hold tightly, small one, your hands to your side. Or wrap around tightly, your warm heart to hide. Run swiftly - be careful! Don't stumble, don't fall. Don't ever confirm you're alone, after all.

Ayshela sliiides through and KICKS the rest of the week away with vehement glee! It's FRIDAY!!!! yays!!!!!

yays! birthdays on a friday, can't get much better than that! Happy Happy Birthday to you both!

YAYS!!! *slips on brand new steel toed boots and sets about kicking things to break them in for tomorrow* =) you've NO idea how much i need these right now!

*POUNCES* Xaious and *huggles* him ferociously And a nice way to catch up on all the birthdays i've unfortunately missed recently as well.. :-\ A very merry unbirthday to us all, indeed!

"doesn't that list make posting take ages?" actually, no, not really. i haven't found it takes very long at all to mentally walk around the post and look it over from several different perspectives. OTOH, it can take AGES to undo the damage done by neglecting to do so, and in some cases it's impossible. sad. How to "roleplay" yourself.. that's actually an intriguing question, and not one i'd have the faintest shred of a notion how to answer despite the fact that i do it on a daily basis. *blinkblink* hmmmmmmm.. If the suggested security meets with approval, and will be in place, go ahead and sign me up, hon.

Security concerns: it occurs to me that a good portion of my hesitance to participate involves the necessarily public nature of this exchange. Even in a members only area, the event will be viewable by a fairly large number of people who will be able to gather personal information while giving none of their own. There may be a way to alleviate some of the concern over that issue.. i see that the original posting includes a group listing of "Rendelle's Guest". That in itself may be the key to properly securing the event to make it feasible. My suggestion actually comes in three parts: 1. Make the event thread accessible only to the group. 2. In the post opening the event, begin with a "roll call" listing of the commonly known members' names who are a part of the group. (Listing yourself as Katzaniel, not as Rendelle, for instance). That would give those "present" for the event the opportunity to choose how much of what type of information they are comfortable sharing with full knowledge of who will have access to that information. 3. Leave open the option to, within ten days or so of the event closing, kill the thread. i say ten days so that those who can't be here frequently but who still wish to participate will have a reasonable chance to come back, catch up, and wrap up their participation in the event. That will also alleviate any concern over a permanent record being left, if any of the group members are uncomfortable with that. With that added security i, personally, would be FAR more willing to participate. Would that adequately address the concerns of others?

*giggles* just did my fifteen year old's in burgundy.. personally, if i were to dye my hair any colour other than its normal shade, i'd lighten it a bit to ash blonde and do red tips.

*laughs* *hugs Katz* huge surge of interest? prolly not.. huge surge of understanding of what you were actually meaning in what you said? far more likely. hon.. i'm *not* angry with you, i seriously doubt *anyone* hates you and i know for certain that *i* don't.. and if it would make you feel better to be forgiven you may certainly have that though i really don't see where it's necessary. You have just run headlong into the major drawback to communicating here: being a text-only medium we lose *all* the other channels of information gathering.. voice tone, facial expression, posture, gestures, eye movements, variable tension levels.. all the means by which we gather what someone means by what they're saying. Without those other channels of information to fill out the verbal gaps, it takes a LOT more words to convey the same information. The character limit on messages here is very generous, so you need not worry about running out of room. When you're concerned about overrunning the attention span limits, it would probably be a good idea to do one post for the general concept and one for the nuts and bolts of how it would work. i maintain that this is an intriguing concept, and properly handled could be a lot of fun.. kind of a "meeting at the coffee shop" thing.. what it would take to make it work is a bunch of people being willing to share what they would need to feel safe and comfortable being there. For me, you've filled in quite a bit of that in your further explanation. If that doesn't hold true for others, i do hope they'll speak up - privately or publicly. If it's *not* going to work i personally would like it to be because of a solid reason rather than unspoken fears. *hugs* hon.. breathe.. that's a very important thing to remember to do, and easy to forget when upset. i promise, i only bite if you ask really really nicely, k? =)

*nods* i just wasn't sure what the "schedule" should be, if there was one.

i have avoided posting to this thread again, simply because i've been living in a whirlwind lately with anxiety, anger, and frustration levels off the scale. This has the unfortunate side-effect of greatly reducing my ability to properly construct coherent, civil response. i had actually posted to this thread yesterday, thinking it was about time i did, and then thought better of it and came back and deleted it because while i had said what i had to say, i could have said it better. My apologies to those who were here in the intervening time and did see that. To get to the points needing response: Frankly, i'm not the slightest bit interested in a rebuttal as i had, and have, no intention of arguing with you. You requested information, i provided it, transaction completed. i posted it publicly for two reasons:1. no one else seemed willing to. 2. those with similar concerns may have found some consolation in seeing someone *else* say what they were, for their own reasons, unwilling to publicly state. i could well have carried on assuming that someone else would contact you with their concerns, but that has a nasty tendency to leave people ill-informed. It occurred to me that *i* would be unable to alter my plans in a way which others would find workable if i were unaware of their concerns, and that the same may well hold true for you. Perhaps you're omniscient where i am not, but given that you asked i thought it better to take you at your word and give the feedback you seemed to want. Argument was, and is, no part of my plans. Assuming that i have my mind made up *was* erroneous, to say the least. Especially considering that i had closed my post by stating that "Personally, i think it's an intriguing idea, and i've been hesitantly trying to talk myself into PMing you about it..." It is not wise to slam the door in the face of someone trying to help you, and painting such a person as unreasonable and closed-minded is not only unlikely to further your cause, but less than properly appreciated. Clearly humour does not translate well to text - those who do know me know there is a string of running jokes about and around my given name and that while i'm not especially fond of it for reasons of my own, i accept it and the humour value of it and am as likely to run the gag myself. Totally setting aside your rude assumptions of any issues i may or may not have, the valid point remains that giving out your legal/given name is a breach of security that should not be taken lightly, and there was no indication that real names would not be required for those wanting to fully participate as you stated The only exception you gave for that was that if you did not want to give your name you would not be put on the guest list - which is the requirement for eligibility for the planned games. You said *nothing* about giving an "alternate" name as opposed to your given/legal name - which is the basis of the objection. i do appreciate this clarification, and think you might have avoided a great deal of concern if some of this had been specified from the start. Getting into issues of appearance is questionable, though hobbies and such are generally fair game. Quite the contrary, though, one *can* get specific enough with words to make recognition probable, and with the skill of the writers here that would be fairly likely. That, actually, was the entire reason i posted in the first place - because i had specific issues with the way this was being presented/managed and without willingness to make some adjustments to tighten security on it the whole plan was likely to fall through. i *will* tell you, i *have* told you, what those issues are. i *will not* argue them with you. Though i will suggest that you take a bit more care in handling those who *do* tell you what their concerns are, as even giving that much information can be a breach of security for some. Being treated as unreasonable for having security concerns when it was a security issue to even present them does nothing to further your cause, and only ensures that those concerns will never be presented.

Hey! i know you're deep in the throes of midterms here, but i'd really hate to see this lose *all* momentum. Until you have a few brain cells to spare for this again, would this be a good time for your "helper" writers to put some results together?

or small children with life or death crises, or teenagers, or.. life. =) it's all a part of the deal. earned my first grey hair at age 30, actually..

ROFL!! Have a few of those, each with a kid's name on it!

*laughs* i remember this one! danged near asphyxiated myself laughing!

*is glomped* *murfle* *murfle* *laughs* what, that my "i am" age range has a wide variance?

oh.. day by day by day it doesn't.. it kind of sneaks up when you realize other people's *kids* are doing things you clearly remember doing and don't *feel* all that much beyond yourself.. LOL Like, there is NO WAY i'm old enough to have a kid going to Prom.. and yet, there it is anyway. i never did get the point of that whole "do you feel older" question, though, and tended to answer it very simply - "yes, one day older than i was yesterday." *g*

=) you're most welcome! and, just think, it just stretches out the festivities that much longer, right? =)

what scares me.. is the nasty thought.. that a world of "normal" people is what we've *got*.. *shidder*

Insanity is hereditary - you get it from your children? *giggle* considering a goodly amount of what passes for "normal", however, i'd as soon be anything but!

Alright, small turnout this time but here they are! This Might Pen Madlib brought to you courtesy of Zadown - the selection from Sleuth originally reads thus: The Dreamer looked around. It was grey winter afternoon, sun a barely seen presence hovering just above the horizon somewhere behind all the clouds and wind-blown ash. The molten surroundings were still too warm for snow and looked abstract, dreamlike, like sandcastles after a few waves but in a wrong scale. There were no sharp shapes, no bright colors. A dead desert .. to the naked eye. The Pen Member versions are: Tanuchan’s version: Degenero Angelus slept around. It was blue winter night, sun a slowly seen presence read just above the horizon somewhere behind all the glasses and wind-blown doors. The soft surroundings were still too warm for snow and looked bright, noisy, like pants after a few waves but in a wrong scale. There traveled no sharp shapes, no bright colors. A dead desert .. to the naked cheek. Gwaihir’s version: Katzaniel puked around. It was technicolor winter, the moment just before the dawn, sun a voraciously seen presence sliding just above the horizon somewhere behind all the hospitals and wind-blown Orlan’s peanuts. The hungry surroundings were still too warm for snow and looked ostrich-like, peanut-colored, like kittens after a few waves but in a wrong scale. There scampered no sharp shapes, no bright colors. A dead desert .. to the naked pinkie toe. Wyvern’s version: The Archive violently exploded around. It was the pale white of Brute’s bald head winter, the five minute interval between horseback riding time and water polo time, sun an inadequately seen presence greased just above the horizon somewhere behind all the breakdancing midgets and wind-blown Belchfire’s second cousins. The accordian-sporting surroundings were still too warm for snow and looked grotesquely mutilated, Pepsi-Cola endorsed, like tonedeaf American Idol participants after a few waves but in a wrong scale. There mooned no sharp shapes, no bright colors. A dead desert .. to the naked middle finger. Alaeha’s version: Tralla galumphed around. It was hot pink winter Happy Hour, sun an already seen presence lipwalking just above the horizon somewhere behind all the dirty old men and wind-blown fire hydrants. The salty surroundings were still too warm for snow and looked dark, imperfect, like multi-vitamins after a few waves but in a wrong scale. There swallowed no sharp shapes, no bright colors. A dead desert .. to the naked left ear lobe. Xaious’ version: Ayshela slept around. It was cat puke green winter, noon 43, sun a wonderfully seen presence pleasantly just above the horizon somewhere behind all the people and wind-blown ferrets. The broken surroundings were still too warm for snow and looked loaded, adjoining, like crowds after a few waves but in a wrong scale. There meowed no sharp shapes, no bright colors. A dead desert .. to the naked kidney. i hope you've enjoyed this round. i'll try to do this again in a couple weeks.

(gasp, a Rune sighting! *happydances*) I'd love one as well!

happy birthday!

Ayshela struggles briefly with the birthday room door, trying to get it opened without dropping either of the cakes she's holding. As the door swings open she sighs in relief and steps carefully into the warm sunny day. Making her way across the lawn to the cluster of tables and chairs, she sets the cake with 22 candles at the table with gifts and cards for Lone Shadow, and the cake with 18 candles at the next table, with gifts and cards for Andrea Hawk. Turning to get the rest of the party paraphernalia, she whispers "Happy Birthday to you both, may your day be lovely and the new year wonderful." As she bustles on her way, her good wishes linger in the air awaiting the arrival of the birthday celebrants.

whippersnapper.. };>