Long Term Hiatus for StarFyre and DNS

Post by **StarFyre** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 6:21 pm

Over the past weeks its come to my attention that it'd probably be best just to make this official. Neither DNS nor I have the time, resources, or energy to dedicate to full on dragoning anymore, and while I know it's a bit odd for one person to announce official hiatus for another, I think you'll understand why when I go into each of our reasons.

Beginning with DNS:
As you know from her other post in the Absences forum, DNS has recently moved. In fact, she moved about three hours north of me, and I've been spending some time with her in real life, which is why I know what's going on first hand.

The major issue is that she has to settle in to her new home, get herself registered for college, get a job so she can get a car so that she can get to college (because to save herself money she's going to what's effectively a community college for a few years, so she has to commute instead of living in dorms), and when college rolls around, she's going to be commuting every day on top of holding down a job and going to college.

The minor issue, and why she's not posting her own hiatus message, is that her old computer didn't exactly survive the trip in tip-top shape. I know she's made posts on the forum about how sometimes she's lucky to get one short message posted before her computer freezes... well, I've seen the poor old thing, and messed with it some, and she's going to be lucky to manage to pull files off of it with how bad its gotten. And while there are other computers in the house she's at now, between the other kids that live there and the folks needing to get work done, her access to them is very limited. And, because of needing to pay for college and a car, she doesn't have the money to buy even a used computer – I'm working on getting that fixed, but it'll take some time.

Now for StarFyre:
I'm a college student. Everyone on here knows that – but what I don't think you all know is that, last semester during that debacle with my grandfather dying, I let my grades slip too much for comfort. I failed one class (Physics, solid F.. can't get much more solid than a nice, round 35%) and almost failed one other (World Geography, barely passed with a C), and then barely scraped by with two B's and one A. Most of my grants and scholarships, which are giving me practically a free ride (thank the gods), are based on GPA, and I currently have a 3.06 out of 4... 0.06 of a point away from losing about $10,000 worth of scholarships/grants.

So, I'm actually going to have to crack down and get nothing but A's and a couple B's for the next couple of semesters to get that back up to a comfortable zone.

But that doesn't take effect until about mid-August – my reason for not being able to do anything right now is this:

For a couple weeks I was working for Yellow Book, delivering their blasted books for less than what a beggar would garner by sitting on the street corner and singing. Seriously. After quitting that, dad offered to let me work for his company, so I accepted. Now, I'm in the process of building websites that have been commissioned by businesses which, while it's not trudging around in the hot afternoon sun dropping heavy books at doorsteps, is mentally draining (as anyone who hard codes websites from scratch would know). On top of which, I'm helping him troubleshoot issues going on at his new consulting job up in Chicago, and working on things while he deals with A: the press; B: the board; C: random members of the community sending anonymous hate mail badmouthing my dad because he's a "country hick." (It's a real moneyed community, seriously.)

On top of that, I'm spending every other weekend in Rockford with my boyfriend and his family (a nice 4 hour round trip), and spending time with DNS (a nice 6 hour round trip, plus a toll each direction, fun!), and working on writing a book, and designing a video game, and learning new skills in programming, art, coloring, writing, and other random fields that I find interesting.

So, in short, real life has come down like a anvil on both of us, and refuses to budge. I'll still be on and off visiting here (mostly on weekends when I can in good conscious take a break from scripting) and finishing the stuff I need to, but I won't be on here as much as I used to. As for DNS... well, I'm not sure when she'll manage to get her hands on a new computer. I'm trying to get my dad to attempt to save her old machine, but he's beat when he comes home from Chicago and has a headache the size of Texas from dealing with his "old buddy" Dr. T who's the one who got him into this mess.

I'll post updates if they become relevant, or DNS will if she manages to get online long enough. Until then, have fun, y'all! Me'n DNS will work slowly to get everything necessary posted online and (eventually) switched to a stable server, but, as said, it'll be a slow process, especially in her case.

If there's any messages for DNS, post them here and I'll make sure she gets them – thanks much!

Shard · Post by **Shard** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 7:35 pm

Awww

I feel really bad for the both of you - reality is pretty harsh. I hope that everything works out for everyone, you guys are a valuable part of the community here and I'd hate to lose you for long . ** hugs**

Kendarath · Post by **Kendarath** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 10:12 pm

*hugpets for both of you*

Hope things look up for you guys soon.

Next time you see DNS, can you let her know that my offer from before she moved still stands for me?

Fuzzy · Post by **Fuzzy** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 11:16 pm

2007's a tough year for all of it. I'm jealous she got to move out of the house- even though she's gotta worry about transportation, she did it! [claps]

Smack her PC into bein' good for me, give 'er a BIG hug, since I miss her like nobody's business. *gives you both a HUGE plate of cookies and snugs all around*

Best of luck you guys.

[/u]

aireona93 · Post by **aireona93** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 11:18 pm

Yes! Good luck to the both of you!
**hugs**

Post by **StarFyre** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 7:39 pm

Long story short -- I'm in college. As soon as I get my scanner, I'll show you exactly what $700 or so of my money is going toward's educating me about. I feel like dropping this stupid class faster than a hot iron, except I can't, because it's a bloody requirement.

On the other hand, Language in the USA is a fascinating class. I'll suffer through Introduction to Linear Algebra and Introduction to Anthropology. Physics B is going to be another brilliant F on my part I'm starting to feel (because I don't know vector math, and no one can seem to explain this whole fisking concept to me in any method that makes sense.) And my second random CS class (we meet once a week. I feel special.) is just plain wierd (we have no class structure -- it's a general class wherein we discuss things pertaining to the programming profession and go from there - like how to do interviews, resumes, what we can expect out there in the real world, etc).

Yeah, so.. lack of Starry. Lack of Starry being in the mood to do anything, especially anything civil. (Especially at the moment.) Yet again I'm stuck with a fisking roommate that I want to kill, yet again I'm debating why I bothered with the dorms. Oh, right, the food (which is terrible and has incredibly inconvenient hours) and the convenient bill (which is about $300 per month more than renting a fisking apartment by yourself).

Sorry guys, dragoning takes a backseat, especially when I have to erase every other line to remove the swear words/badly worded phrases/etc.

Shard · Post by **Shard** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 7:41 pm

o.o don't hold back, tell us how you really feel!

*hugs* Stick with it, we'll be here.

Post by **StarFyre** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 8:28 pm

How I really feel isn't fit for human ears, no matter how old people are *arches an eyebrow* it's also crude, rude, and involves multiple improbable - if not impossible - suggestions.

Is there a rule somewhere that says rap music has to be blasted at full volume? Because from where I'm sitting, it doesn't improve the music in the slightest.

Post by **Dray** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 9:28 pm

D'you have folks in your dorms that take care of business -- RA's, CA's, etc? Front desk? Anything you can phone and ask to take care of the noise complaint? XD You can even go knock on the door and ask them to turn their music down, yourself... you'd be surprised with how often that works!

As for the rest of it... eek! D: I hope classes get better, and the dorms settle down! XP

Post by **StarFyre** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 9:57 pm

Well, to be honest, I can't file a complaint for noise violation -- it can't be heard two doors down. It's my roommate, you see -.-;; and asking rarely helps, when you're dealing with certain types of people. Of which it has been my absolute pleasure to room with both fisking years I've been in the dorms.

See, next year, one of my friends has said that he's going to get a house here, and it's going to be me, him, my boyfriend (possibly), and another of our friends living in a house together. Three guys and a girl, how scandalous... hah. It's a room to my fisking self and the company of people I already know I can tolerate for long periods of time.

Post by **StarFyre** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 10:35 pm

Oh, before I forget -- if anyone needs anything of me, you're more likely to find me on AIM or by email than on here. My new email address I can promise is checked every day, because it's being pulled through Outlook Express the same as my campus email account (which I have to check every day, because one of my CS classes is done more by email than by the one hour a week we have together.) As for AIM - it's a good measure, now that I'm back in school -- if AIM says I'm online, I'm online -- I carry my laptop around with me all the time, because I spend a lot of time in the student center and in my bf's apartment -- anything to stay away from the dorms.

My email: StarFyre @ silveredmagic . com
My AIM: StarFyreDragons

In using either method, please announce who you are? ^^;; I've had strangers msg me for no reason (and in very questionable circumstances), before, so I'm wary about unknown names on AIM.