You didn't _really_ expect me to be silent, did you?
Greetings and salutations, everyone! Ahhh, how I miss the orange and black. It's good to be back... even if it isn't truly yet, but boy, the stories I have. How many of you all remember the few days of downtime HLP had around the time the source code was released? And how many of you remember the withdrawal symptoms you had from not having the Forums to frequent? Any of you who'd
ever seen me would know that it was ten times worse for me than it was for everyone else. Well... this was ten million
billion trillion GOOGOLPLEX times worse. Yeah, pretty bad.
How long has it been now? A number of months? I take a quick look around and I see things are moving along nicely. The first 25 threads in Hard Light have all been started by people whose names I have seen hundreds of times before, bar four (Whitelight, RandomTiger, saturn114, Stargazer_2098... Welcome to HLP). That's a good sign... I think.
I know what you're going to ask; how's RL been treating you? Well, what can I say. I could write volumes - no, literally - on the events of the past days, weeks, months - and you lot would be my favourite audience. But for the sake of your pricey internet connection, and my typing hands, I'll keep it brief and fill you in on the main things that have happened in my life since... since my pause with HLP.
First in order is: my Mum. With all the new blood, I'm not sure how many of you remember, but she was and remains ill. Some things are showing signs of improvement; others are not. In summary, things are as you would expect for someone who is gravely, but not terminally, sick. She's not what she used to be, that's for sure. But she is something strong. So are all of us. They say resistance is character forming (Iain M. Banks) - like a purifying fire. What's left behind is the gold. I think that's what's happening here.
In school, I just finished (today, in fact) my second-last year of school (year 11). I'm a Prefect now - think of it as the closest a student can get to running the school, and it's pretty close - I have twelve months of hard study left in front of me. Until that's over, I have a few breaks when I can come back here.
And, three months ago, I bought a digital camera. It's a Sony Cyber-shot, a P31. Budget model. 7000 photos in 90 days - you do the math.
I won't tell you much about it - it really isn't that exciting - except that it's like rendering that doesn't require any work. And it makes character rendering
really easy.
Now, that's all out of the way! Up until now, I've been writing this post... almost like a report. I don't know why, but the recall of the past always seems to make me speak like that. But I'm just going to talk to you now. You'll all know the single reason, the catalyst, for me being here. I received your CD - it's wonderful.
I couldn't have asked for anything more - I should could have asked for a lot less - when icespeed told me there was something wrong with "a part of my present" and that "it would be here soon", I thought maybe Shrike and Styxx had finally gotten The Plan™ into action but they missed the plane because they were surfing the Forums at the webcafe in the airport... or something equally expected of an original HLPer. But this, this really is something special. And there are so many renders on there! (Surprisingly, nothing from Carl, Venom, Thunder, Shrike, Styxx. Thanks guys.
) From the bottom of my heart, thank you, everyone.
Right now, I'm heading off to dinner - I'll be back in a few hours time. But before I leave the house, I want to make sure you get this message: please, be encouraged! I will return soon. And when I do, I want this place to be good - active, helpful, friendly, busy - just like it was when I left. But better. And I know you can do it - time is on your side. In everything, think of what I would do. Follow your admins' advice - especially Sandwich's. More than anyone else, he represents me here. Try and figure it out anyway you want - but if you trust me, listen to Sandwich. Trust him like you trust me.
The One & Only,
Setekh
