Diary of a Newbie

When it comes to blogs, few stylistic crimes are more appalling than those of the pernicious self-referencer. An entry that begins: "In my last post, I think I told you of my love of castles" for example, is about the naked egoism of the writer and not about castles, at a ratio of  4:1. 

But to heck with that, here's a post about Thirza, a newbie Thirza, number 33 or 34; the tally is complicated by the fact that some grids (and their relative Embers) are dead and gone. 

Safari: Art and Craft

[12:23]  -:  How to please the public – that’s the test,

[12:23]  -:  But nowadays I find I’m in a fix;

[12:23]  -:  I know they’re not accustomed to the best,

[12:23]  -:  But they’ve all read so much they know the tricks.

[12:23]  -:  How can we give then something fresh and new

[12:23]  -:  That’s serious, but entertaining too?

Goethe, Faust, Part I: Prelude On The Stage; 

first performed 1808 translation by John R. Williams (1999)

          Wait a minute, that's the beginning. Let's start where we ended. Two of us on a tower, in a bijou grid called Bearly, home of Marcus Llewellyn.

           It was this week's final, poetic stop.
           Poetic because a) that wasn't the plan and b) there were just two of us, Wizard Gynoid and me, exactly like week one.  Next week, there will be a piano concert on

Safari Regulars

It's official. Sitting down does reduce lag.even if you sit on a geometric shape and find yourself upside down. Also, lowering your graphics really does improve your chances of jumping.

Mass grid-jumping is the triumph of hope over experience, the before and after photos prove it.
Examine the evidence.

Safari Collection

Stephen.Xootfly: yeah, sounds like a good strategy.
Stephen.Xootfly: which I think is also what Custer said as well.

The instinct to collect and share, that's what this week's Safari was all about. Accumulation, classification, and determination. But we're always all about being determined. We are also about not minding if our faces suddenly disappear.

If you classify writers, you end up with a sort of fractal mental image. Not in the Dewey Decimal sense; something more philosophical. Good writers and bad, there's your first division, followed by famous/unknown, ancient and modern, fact and fiction, drunk/sober, read and unread, short-works/long-works, prolific and writers-blocked, reclusive and sociable. It forms a sort of lopsided flowing tree of all the people who, whether they ought to or not, put pen to paper, fingertip to key.

The Maybes of TPs

          Never, ever, ever, ever say these words:  "Oh this week there's nothing to worry about. All three destinations are confirmed and guaranteed."
           Just don't. The God of Small Things (and let's face it, hypergridding is a very small thing if you look at what else is going on in the world) will make you pay for your hubris.
What does the God of Small Things look like? It'd be nice if he was something like Thor from Marvel's The Avengers, but he's probably more like your balding brother in law, the one who says he'll help you take that old couch to the dump on Saturday, to make room for the new one, and then never shows up. Why not? Well, his story changes every time you ask him what went wrong.
          He probably has visible butt cleavage too.

Janufari

            Pathfinder.Lester: hear circus music and feel a sudden crushing weight? that's just the Hypergrid Safari. we come in peace.

      Rome wasn't built in a day. It took Joe Builder about a month, if you add up all the time he spent on the magnificent region on Lost World Grid. The Coliseum, a Theater of monumental proportions, an exquisite bathhouse, and a shipyard.As always, the Safari took just the briefest look around. Another place to return to!

Auld Lang Safari

Safari closed out the year the way we began. Confusion, last minute changes, hilarity, friendship and a good dose of excellent luck.

It's a virtual world tradition that most people go offline for New Year's, but about a dozen Safaristas showed up for our final tour. Fuschia may have been disappointed when she discovered the promised pub crawl didn't materialize owing to all the pubs being closed, but she didn't complain *what a trouper* and we were delighted to welcome some complete and relative newcomers to the insanity.

 There was some hair outage, but most of it was transitory. First stop was a bit o' dancing on Strannik Zipper's grid, Pirate's Atoll.