Silva

2,000 is only 27 posts away. I'm not a big round milestone number person, but 2,000 is 2,000 and, well, that's a large number.

Ideas of what to do for it, anyone?

(Most likely it'll end up like my 1,000th anyways - in someone's introduction thread )

People aren't terrible beings.

People aren't evil at heart.

People deserve a better rep. 

People are great. 

People are wonderful. 

There is good in the world. 

- A spontaneous dose of optimistic thinking by Silva's brain 

Arial again?

Why, Chaos? Why?

Seriously, though, it would probably be a permanent change from Calibri to Arial (Arial letters are so sharp and blocky...Calibri is so much nicer and smaller and smoother...) that would get me to leave the Shard. 

Another year, another Shardiversary. Hard to consider--two years of my life with the Shard as a part of it.

There have been ups and downs, good times and less nice ones, happy moments and more stressful instances, well-constructed sentences and not as well-constructed replies posted. You've helped carry me through some of the lowest points of my life, been there for me, and never failed to share a smile and/or hug when one was needed.

It's been a great two years. 

Looking forward--I'm hoping for the best.

I've set myself up for a very busy year, come fall, and while I'm looking forward to most of it, quick math estimates four hours of work a night. That might sound extreme, and maybe it is, but I'd rather mention this now and have things be nicer, than underestimate and end up worse off. So, this coming year, I'm not going to be around much. Maybe once a week or so and on breaks, just definitely not on a daily, or every other day, basis. Which is sad. I love you guys and I'll miss you and I'll be working extra-hard to squeeze in Sharding when possible. Life, however, has this unfortunate habit of making things difficult. 

חנוכה שמח! @Nathrangking @Blessed peace

I don't know--this year it kind of didn't hit to me that חנוכה was soon until we were lighting candles tonight...time's both flown and dragged through these past few months.

Happy night 1 of Chanukah @Ookla the ingenious, @Ooktapus The Fierce, @Nathrangking, and all the other Jews of Shard I don't know about!

Rain is so weird (when not considering the science behind it). It's water, falling from the sky. You can't say that's not strange. It's great, but strange.

Hello, people who actually read these.

I'm going to not be on for about a week for a couple of reasons:

1. My copy of Starsight came and, yes, that takes priority.

2. I want to finish writing my first draft of a book. I'm extremely close to being done and want to just do a big push be done with that world already, for now. Then I go back to drafting, which will actually give more time for the Shard, temporarily. See? An investment that'll, probably, pay off! 

3. I've been overwhelmed with stuff lately and need some time to reinforce the seams of my life before they dismantle.

4. It'll be Chanukah. This isn't really a real reason. Three reasons just looked sad.

That's about it. 

I do apologize to you specifically, Ark (and Truthless, Grey, Chas, and co.), since it'll pause ANF, but I don't think a week will kill anyone. Hopefully. And if it does, I'll show them to afterlife computers and do my best to resurrect them. 

Warning: I'm about to go deep, so only read the contents of the spoiler if you think you can handle it. I needed to let out some steam, and this was as good a way as I could find. (It relates to what happened in Germany yesterday, if that influences your decision one way or the other.)

On a more positive note, cookies for all. Nothing makes things better than cookies. Except maybe plain chocolate. It's pretty close. 

Today is Kaf-Zayin Nissan. Yom Hashoah. יום השואה.

Or, the Jewish Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Normally I try to balance out negativity with positive, but to put a filter on the Holocaust is disrespectful.

So I won’t.

Someone once said that “one person’s death is a tragedy, six million is just a statistic.”

What happened was horrible. Words can’t even describe completely.

People try though, in their own ways. Because that’s what we do. We try to understand. Some attempts are more successful than others, but when all is said and done, that’s all they are, attempts.

But what’s hardest for me personally is accepting this: If it weren’t for the Holocaust I wouldn’t exist. I wouldn’t be typing this. I wouldn’t be here.

If it weren’t for the Holocaust, half my ancestors would never have left Europe. They wouldn’t have come to America. Wouldn’t have me.

How many others are like me in this?

Probably a lot.

It’s impossible to condone something that almost destroyed a people. It would be wrong to.

Because of that I take my existence as a sign of something else. Bad things will always happen. They’re inevitable. Some are worse than others even though all are horrible. Just know, at the end of the day, at the end of the era, good will return.

Even if it’s not obvious.

So, please, as the day comes to an end, take a minute. Really appreciate what you have.

A home.

A family.

An identity.

In the memory of those who had even that taken away from them.

It’s been a year. An entire storming year. A year of wonderful people, too many puns, and laughter. A year of cookies, Voidapples, ellipsis, and Butt Venture. A year of writing, RPing, and MAYBE one too many Acutes. It’s been...a year of all that and more.

It's my Shardiversary and I officially feel old 

Hey, all. I don't know how stating-the-obvious this will be due to the state of my activity lately, but I'm kind of swamped at the moment. Stuff keeps piling up, one on top of the other. Today, for instance, I had an assessment in every class but one. And that's just the least of it. The next few weeks are going to add in more late nights and stress (unless the coronavirus forces my school to close for two weeks in which case I might end up with a little more time for however long that is--always a possibility, but most definitely not a great one or one to hope for) and even less Sharding than normal. If I'm taking longer than usual to respond to things, this is why.

The good news is, it should clear up by April. Yay. 

But till then, I'm not intentionally spiting anyone by not replying when recently online. It just means that I haven't enough time to formulate response that didn't make zero sense or address what it was intended to. 

Unrelated note: I found a pair of metal size one knitting needles in my basement. Their resemblance to Hemalurgic spikes is uncanny...

In the likely case that I don't have a chance tomorrow: פורים שמח! 

Though, this does mean that cleaning for פסח is going to start soon. Yay. 

We'll see how cremmy the formatting of this ends up being...Shard isn't a big fan of mixed together language posts normally...

Happy birthday! 

...totally did not forget it was my Shardiversary till just now...*yawns*...

Um...

So...

It's been another year.

I've been here three years. Th-three years. I remember times early on when I saw even being here a year as crazily far away. Well, now I've done 3 * (crazily far away).

That sums up this year fairly well. I...haven't been around here nearly as much. Crazily far away most of the time. Took on a lot irl and then some. It's been insane, stressful, and overall wonderful. I can't promise to be around any more next year--if anything I will have new joys to add to the mix.

But, that said, you guys deserve to know that when I do stop by, my bad days turn good, slogging thoughts become quicker, negative mindsets gain a spark, droughts of creativity become flooded.

Thank you for that.

Thank you for these three years and, preemptively, thank you for the future. Thank you all for existing. For creating the warmest corner of the internet. For being here and being yourselves.

I'll leave it at that. Thank you and goodnight. 

Happy birthday, Rebecca! Have some birthday wafflles. 

Hm..right. So, I leave Tuesday morning and tomorrow I need to stop procrastinating and be productive with my time, meaning there isn't any other for sure time I'll be on the Shard for a while.

Before that, though, I do need to get some things said for Alleyverse characters.

Eiran and Freedom are taken care of. Eiran's doing some unspecified stuff to help and Freedom we're just going to say is wherever the most living citizens of Alleycity are. After most things are cleared up, Eiran is going to Newcago for a bit and Freedom is going to vanish. I'll figure out more explanation for both afterwards.

Eve, however, is not at a vanishing point. Sorana, if you and Itiah could just treat her as an NPC, that would be great. Maybe she can even fall asleep. Whatever works best. I'm really sorry to leave her like this...there just wasn't any way that made sense with her character to have her leave.

That should be it. I'll probably appear sometime tomorrow, but it's not a guarantee. 

If I don't, then, see you all in a month and I'll miss you!

I'm back.

The Shard hasn't imploded yet. What a pleasant surprise. 

Only reason 3 isn't fully dealt with, but that's a very long term project. 

Thanks for the moral support, all. 

Drawing with touchpads is starting to become less horrible.

Sylphrena here might not look great and could probably use some cleaning up around the edges, but she resembles something beyond blobs. That's successful art by my definition. 

Twenty days from now, I Ieave to the realm of the middle of nowhere. I get back a month later, but then school starts up almost immediately. Meaning, a major drop in activity for a while.

Closer to I hope to create a plan for all my RP characters to account for that. I’d do it now if it weren’t for that a lot can change in three weeks.

This is just an advance warning. Twenty days is a while, but time does fly sometimes and it typically doesn't hurt to attempt to be responsible on rare occasion.

Happy birthday! 

@Nathrangking @Blessed peace חג שמח! Hope you haven't had too much wind or rain.

Let's see how messed up the Hebrew formatting gets this time...

Happy birthday, Ink. We miss you. 

My rank finally calls me Scadrian and a waffle cook. What more could a person want out of life?

It's back! It's back! It's so storming wonderful to see it back to normal!

Never before has anyone been so pleased by a font change. 

No one say Arial was better. Please. We all know Calibri is the best.