[Information] About Aethera

[Aethera]

2022 Kickoff Happy New Year 2022!! Working my way back to full function. I hope everyone had a happy and healthy holiday season. I nearly did, right up to December 30th, when a muscle spasm in my neck pinched a nerve and made a right mess of my first few days of 2022. (Funny how Murphy's Law always works like that.) BUT! I am healing, and I am working my way back to being fully active here as moderator and GM. I did pick up two 13th Age New Player Solo Games—none for ages and then two right in a row!—so I know I will be around at least once daily to update those games. Beyond that, it will be up to my crazy work schedule (yup, still ghostwriting and need to catch up there, too) and neck/shoulder issues to determine.

[Aethera]

Spring 2022 Working my way back to full function. Again. Life never goes the way you think it will. Case in point, just as I was starting to work my way back, I caught COVID (literally the same day I posted my last status update I started having symptoms, I kid you not), and it's been a rough few months. Now I'm stuck in post-COVID or "long COVID" where everything is exhaustion and brain fog. I'm not sick, I just tire so easily I might as well be a hundred and three for all my stamina. Can't even work, not with the way my brain regularly refuses to tell a story. BUT! I am healing, and I am working my way back to being fully active here [again]. As moderator, I'm active nearly every day. As a player, I haven't posted yet. As a GM, likewise, though I'm talking about a two-player one-shot game for a couple people which might get me rolling.

[Aethera]

Migraine Nasty migraine. Back soon. This migraine is refusing to go away with medication, which means it will take it's own sweet time going away, and I'm going to hate looking at screens in the meantime. I might get a chance to post, but probably not. Sorry. I hope to return shortly.

[Aethera]

Easter 2022 Active! Just slow... It's a tiny milestone, but it's an important one to me. I just posted my first IC post essentially since the pandemic started. A thousand words of my character recuperating (and moping) after a massive injury. I can actually say I'm gaming again, though I'll be happier when I've kept up for a week or more. I'm still dealing with "long COVID" symptoms along with my usual migraines and fibromyalgia, and the combination has me unable to work [yet]. At this point, 4 months and change after I was sick, I am going to assume this is my normal for the foreseeable future. I'd hoped the COVID symptoms would be gone after about three months. Since they're not, this could last a long time. I don't think there are stats yet on how long it can last, and it's clearly different for different people. I think I'm at the "cross your fingers and hope" stage now, so I can't promise super-active posting, but I am here. I won't be gone for more than a day or two at a time without warning.

[Aethera]

Summer 2022 Active! Just slow... Another tiny milestone... I'm now going to be a player in a couple brand new games, which is stimulating much in the way of evil plans character fuel. I actually feel like I'm gaming again now. I'm still dealing with "long COVID" symptoms along with my usual migraines and fibromyalgia, and the combination has me unable to work [yet]. I did find that blue-light-blocking TheraSpecs help my headaches a bunch, but it's not a miracle cure by any measure. At this point, 6 months after I was sick, I am going to assume this is my normal for the foreseeable future. I'd hoped the COVID symptoms would be gone after about three months. Since they're not, this could last a long time. I don't think there are stats yet on how long it can last, and it's clearly different for different people. I am pleased with how well my desire to write (and game, etc) has improved, but the actual energy and conscious hours during the day have not done so well. I think I'm [still] at the "cross your fingers and hope" stage now, so I can't promise super-active posting, but I am here. I won't be gone for more than a day or two at a time without warning.

[Aethera]

1 July Camp NaNoWriMo starts today! What is NaNoWriMo, you ask? National Novel Writing Month is a challenge to write 50,000 words during the month of November. They've branched out to do two "Camp" versions in April and July, which aren't quite so rigid, and allow you to set your own goal. Since I'm still dealing with all the health issues I've already mentioned, I only want to make myself write daily—to prove to myself I can write again in a novel-writing setting. This month's goal is only 25k, but more importantly, belief in my own capability again. As a quick note, the site is informing me that my PM inbox is 90% full. I've turned on email notification for this thread and all my game IC/OOC threads so I'll see any replies in my email, just in case I suddenly have a full inbox. Worst case scenario, you can get ahold of me here in this thread if you can't by PM or Discord. Probably not important, but figured I'd make it an option. Goal: 25,000 Total So Far: 970 Keep track of my current progress here! Originally Posted by Aethera

[Aethera]

Summer 2022 Taking an extended hiatus from RPGX. This summer has not treated me well, and I have had to cut back things I was doing in a drastic way. I need to spend some time focusing on me and my health, both mental and physical. I've taken up some artwork to try and pacify my raging muse, and I'm going to try and find some peace in painting and sketching before I try to add back anything else, including RPGX. I doubt I will be back before New Year 2023, but I really don't have any idea how long I'll be away.

[Aethera]

Winter 2023 Excavation of general life chaos has brought it down enough I can see over the top now. More to come. I have spent a bunch of time focusing on me and my health, taken up some artwork (mostly in my personal bullet journal) to try and pacify my raging muse, and it has worked, for the most part. I doubt I'll be online daily, but I'm not absent either. I have some backlog to catch up with before I'll be around enough to say I'm active, but that process is now ongoing, which I couldn't claim before this.

[Aethera]

February 2023 I'm baa-ack! Still spending time working on my health, but since that's looking up, I want to get back into gaming before my muse kills me and starts puppeteering my body like some b-rate horror flick. Probably looking for a single game only, haven't decided yet.

[Aethera]

8 March 2023 I'm baa-ack! For real this time! I just introduced Seiri, my storm sorceress, into a 5e Eberron game. This is my first in-character post in seven months, five daysover six months! I am very happy to have been selected for this game, and I have another character in the wings, not quite in play yet. Two is probably my limit (especially given other moderator tasks I should be doing right now), so I think I have to call it quits on new game/character ideas. Still, it's good to be back!

[Aethera]

23 March 2023 Migraine. Awful. You get the point.

[Aethera]

Overwhelmed Playing migraine catch-up... Whenever a migraine takes a solid chunk of time like this past five or six days, I return to life trying to be on top of things with a to-do list that's too long to even write out. There's so much I'd like to do, whether it's something I've agreed to or just something I see that needs doing, but I have to focus down. My immediate priorities: Hall of Fame Rubric for the Judges Panel this year. Luckily not on the hook for a game post (yet). Mod duties mostly focus on HoF, but checking game approvals and usual forums first.

[Aethera]

Some Order to the Chaos, I Think Doing my best. Losing a bunch of time lately. If it's not migraines, it's renovation work on my apartment I have zero control over (not to mention the drilling, drilling, drilling in the rest of my building). I did not realize I was a harbinger of chaos, but recent experiences have enlightened me. My immediate priorities: Hall of Fame Judging... keeping it moving, making sure they have everything they need. Owe a post in MG's game. Mod duties mostly focused on HoF at present, but checking game approvals and usual forums first.

[Aethera]

Weekend Unplug I feel really lousy. Extended family caught COVID, so laying low. Pretty much what it sounds like. My dad let me know he and my stepmom caught covid, so it's out and about nearby me. Today was either the first feeling of getting-sicker or it was a migraine coming on. Either way, I'm none too pleased. I'll try to brainstorm offline while I'm disconnected, but I've no idea what's up quite yet. Should just be a weekend laying low, but no promises.

[Aethera]

RSI/Tendinitis Keeping up, but pushing tendinitis hard. I'm still icing my hand daily to keep the swelling down on my dominant wrist/hand where the tendons start to chafe at one another if I've been writing or typing too much. Seems I did too much of either variety of writing, likely the result of rushing to reach my April Camp NaNoWriMo goals by the 30th, but we'll see how my hand does. So far I'm not behind in anything, just not brainstorming for a future game as much as I'd like.