tl;dr, or Lost in Farmville
It's been over a year since my last post here. Not sure if anyone's even still reading this, but, just in case . . .
I sort of gave up on things here, after having it presented to me on more than a few occasions that my writing here tends to be a poster child for tl;dr ("Too Long; Didn't Read," for those unfamiliar with what that means). So, after much convincing that most of my friends were now on Facebook, and it wasn't entirely a haven for pedophiles and their prey, I went ahead, caved to peer pressure, and signed up over there. Heck, most of you reading this are already aware of this, being there and having "friended" me there already.
For those who aren't already there, but are curious: http://www.facebook.com/whyaylooh
After blocking a few dozen games, and setting up lists so that the stuff that goes out from the two games I do occasionally play (Zoo World and Hero World) goes only to friends who actually play those games, I found that it had the potential to be a pretty effective communication tool. So, most of my updates for the last year have been made over there. Admittedly, I also got to the point of where that's where I'd look for updates from others, only occasionally checking a few specific journals here. Time and energy have been an incredibly precious and scarce commodity here.
Let me tell you, being restricted to 420 characters definitely has made some updates challenging. A few, I just couldn't break down, and had to turn into long, drawn-out notes. For the most part, though, often after much whittling, I managed to get my posts in under the limit. Woot! Maybe folks will actually read this drivel, now that it's delivered in bite-sized chunks, right?
Yeah, no.
Unfortunately, while I had my communications all pared down and efficient, I soon found that -- once again -- quite a few of my friends had other priorities in what communications they wanted to read. Gone was the worry about my missives turning into novels. Now? "So, what's the latest on x, anyway? Oh, you posted a Facebook update on that a month ago? Sorry, I must have missed it between my Farmville/Frontierville/Mafia Wars messages. I have a few hundred friends who play, you know!" Not just from one or two people, either.
Hrm. Yeah. I think people just plain don't want to read this crap I write. It's sure hard not to come away thinking that, anyway. After all, I'm no one of any great importance. But, still . . . Ouch!
Anyway, I may start cross-posting over to here. I know a few folks who update here, and have it set to put a note on their Facebook page linking to LiveJournal. I'm thinking of going the other way around, though. That way, it'll help keep things short.
As for what's gone on in the past year or so . . . LOTS:
- Minnie, the gal that seemed promising in my last post, I've now been dating for a while, and we're doing pretty well. She's a total sweetie, and very patient with my need to kind of take things slow, not to mention my quirky personality.
- The car croaked as the electrical system decided to start doing funky things. I got a new one, and this one has been something of a lemon, though serviceable, functional, and very comfy. Finances have a mess as a result, but I've been dealing with it. 27 more payments to go.
- Did another Further Confusion Furry Marketplace, and plan on doing the one in 2011 as well. Beyond that is up for debate.
- Turned 40, and had a great time just hanging out with Minnie (my sweetie), Kacey and Noriko. Also spent Kacey and Noriko's birthdays each with the four of us, and similarly had good times. Minnie's was spent with her family, and I surprised her by dropping in when she tried to hide her birthday from me, but her mother let me in on it. (*cackle*)
- My health went to Hell in a handbasket again last month, though, in the course of determining why my stomach decided it didn't want to work any more -- thankfully, it has since given up on its self-imposed hunger strike after I kept throwing food at it, anyway -- I found that I'm actually in pretty good health overall, though I'm at risk for diabetes and strokes, which I already knew. The illness definitely left me feeling very mortal, though.
- I was promoted again at work, but that's turned into a fiasco, with now two positions I've vacated now AND two other positions I'm supposed to manage being either left unfilled due to budget issues, or filled by people who are unable to actually step in and perform the duties because of "other higher priority projects", meaning I'm now performing not only my new job functions, but those as well. This will likely continue at least to the end of the year.
- My remaining rats have passed away, sadly -- both from cancer, Maddie back around Christmas and Tia back in April -- and I now have an excessively affectionate cat that I've adopted after much heart-wrenching. I still miss Memphis terribly. Max was too sweet to let languish in that shelter, though. Still going through some boundary issues with him, but we're dealing.
- Still playing City of Heroes once or twice a week. Generally enjoying the stuff introduced with the recent Going Rogue update. No other games, aside from the very occasional foray onto Second Life to hang with Minnie there.
I think those are the highlights of the important stuff.
Rock on.