I spoke: "I don't feel anything towards anyone."

[in_the_blue]

"The greatest respect that a writer can give their readers is to not write anything that they expect." That's what Goethe said. He also said this: "Whether it's a human work or a natural work, what we have to pay special attention to is its original intent." That guy says some good things... Who would have thought that I would quit being a cop and become a bounty hunter? All my old friends are surprised, saying, "you totally betrayed my expectations." But that's fine. I want to do something that nobody else would think of. Seeing things you've never seen... hearing stories you've never heard... my comrades enjoy that quite a bit.

I love it when life imitates Bebop.

I've been sitting here trying to gather my thoughts and see what I feel like saying about everything that's been going on the past few days. Since this is mostly related to dogstar_academy, I'm putting it under the cut to spare all y'all who don't give a rat's ass.

One of the biggest frustrations for me as a moderator of a long-standing roleplay board is knowing that it's time to sever ties but having the kind of conscience that reminds me consistently that just because I made the place, it's not just about me and what I want. It's about the other people there and what they want too, and there's only so much I can do. I've always said I wanted our board to get to the place where I didn't have to be an everyday player there, where I could sit back and enjoy what's going on.

But I'm not enjoying what's going on. It's out of control and I need to reel it back in. There are pockets of brilliance and some characters and players who I just adore. But there's an equal amount of nonsense and it has nothing to do with JK Rowling's world and that... makes me sad. It feels like character/setting abuse. So we (the mods) are working on resetting some expectations and revising some rules and we'll give everyone a chance to look at the new rules and opt out if they don't like them before we impose them.

It's a risk. It could spell the end of things. I hate threatening shutting the thing down if I'm not willing to go through with that, though. I used to play on a board where the moderator threatened to shut it down about every other week. I also played on a board where the moderator shut it down one day completely out of the blue without warning, without explanation. I would never, ever do that.

So, we'll work it out, but it's an interesting frustration. I just wonder why it's worked so well for 3 and a half years, and suddenly now it's going to Helena Handbasket. I'll figure it out. But not tonight, because I'm just too tired. And also because I have a date with my family to do stuff not online.

Cat Update
I know you've all be waiting with bated breath for this: Tabasco and Tawny were spayed yesterday ("spaded," my Russian grandma used to call it in her thick accent), and I brought them home today. They're doing great. We got back all of Tribble's bloodwork: she's doing great. Will had his feline leukemia booster: he's doing great. All the cats are... doing great. It's nice. I take the chiquitas in for stitch removal on our anniversary (the 25th! yay! 15 years!) and then we should be done with the vet bills for a while. Mitch and I happen to both think it's extremely funny that, for our anniversary, we're doing cat stuff. In case you didn't know, we got each other cats for our wedding present. Jasmine is still hanging in there, but Fudge passed on in May. In the meantime we've had about a million other cats come and go and my honest-to-God secret is that I'm really a dog person. I keep waiting for fewer or no cats so I can get a dog again. Seeing as how we just adopted the family of four, I don't see this in my near future! There's no room at the inn! I told the vet that the next cats showing up at my doorstep are his.

Meme Update
I want to do that fictional character meme. I've been avoiding it for days but I can't avoid it any more. I've stolen it from too many people to list. Here goes:

Tell me the fictional character I remind you of, and tell me why you think that. A new and fun way to see how people view you!

And so as to not color your ideas, I'll later tell you what fictional character I identify with most. :D You'll be surprised.

When I reread that, I can't promise the very last line to be true. I can't promise it at all.

♥ Milliways Update ♥
I want to thank the members of the academy... heh, last night I had so much fun there in 2 brains and many threads. Cheers, hugs, salutations, and thanks to wizard_howell's partners in crime: agonistes for Kaylee (Howl has a lot of explaining to do, doesn't he?), bookelfe for the perfect Sophie Hatter (I couldn't have hoped for better), genarti for River Tam (please don't kick me again), and ms_ntropy for the Oompa Loompas (even though she doesn't read this). And for bothbutneither's partners in crime: lostinapapercup for Faye (who never fails to intrigue, baffle, and mystify Gren), and two-more-who-don't-read-this in gao for Yuna (who breaks Gren's heart) and Kurosaki Ichigo's player, whose LJ I don't know, for being everywhere all the time.

♥ 12 Update ♥
Heh! Playing 2 different versions of Spike: an exercise in extreme creativity, or the most stupid thing I've ever attempted? Well, fuck if I'm not having the biggest blast ever with this endeavor! Plus, *sigh*, it's finally giving me the chance to RP another character for whom I've been trying to find the right place for... what, two years? Three? to the tune of I don't know if I can do him justice! That tale remains to be told, but I'm giving it a hell of a run for its money.

And now, a WISH I WAS SPECIAL, SO FUCKING SPECIAL hug to hfleming8 because she sure deserves it.

One more thing: The Stiff Records Box Set is... one of the best things ever.