Well, good things and bad things have sprouted up out of the ground today, though they seem to be part of the same flower.

French was cancelled, so I was able to leave school early to pick up my brother. Which usually would be considered good, especially since it relieved Bubbe Vicki from having to pick him up on the day she's hosting a party. However, the cancellation meant that my professor, Perry, whom I adore, was far too ill to come into class... due to chemotherapy for the cancer his doctors found last week. It was a very bittersweet moment piecing two and two together. I hope things will be okay on Wednesday for him.

Then I got to deal with my own personal illness, whom I shall deem Mr. Mystery Diagnosis (ironically, the initials are MD). Now Mr. MD isn't like the normal respiratory issues I've had in the past (pneumonia and 3-4 cases of bronchitis in the past 4 years); there's no intense amount of phlegm, no sinus issues, no infected colors. In addition, I'm up to date on all my shots, including Whooping Cough. So color me confused as to what exactly is going on.

Apparently, I can also color my doctor confused. He couldn't figure out what was wrong either. He literally listened to my chest, back, and sides for ten minutes. In a nutshell, my breathing sounds like a nasty case of asthma (which I do get when I'm sick if it moves into my chest), not like anything bronchitis or pneumonia related. I could have told him that, though. He suggested that if I missed a booster for Whooping Cough that I might have enough immunity not to become completely sick, but have a constant cough for a while. Like I said earlier though, I'm up to date on all my immunizations, so that doesn't make sense. So Mr. MD's will be sticking around for a while. I guess I'll find out if taking Advair twice a day and getting lots of nutrients and fluids fixes it. If it's not better in two weeks, I get to go back and probably have some tests run.


Now, onto the internet side of life. There was an RPS about someone not being very amazed by WDA's opening. This was another bitter-sweet moment of the day. While I was praised for how I handled the anon (even by the anon him/herself), my co-mod, Gato, and friend, Becca, didn't have my luck. Poor Gato made a mistake of "+1"ing an angry anon who was in favor of WDA (for the record, there was nothing in her comment section). People, including the OP, weren't very thrilled with that, though. They called her a horrible mod, among a slew of other hurtful things.

I just wish they knew what Gato is really like, the way I do. She's one of the sweetest people ever, always complacent and putting others needs before her own, always double, triple, and quadruple checking that she's not stepping on anybody's toes. She's always friendly OOCly and always willing to help those in need. Unfortunately, real life has her a little on edge right now, and she got an emotional response from that secret and responded without thinking it through. I know in my heart she didn't mean any harm or upset everyone. But the worst part? When we IMed later, she was almost in tears. She was terrified that she had ruined the name of the WDA mods, and couldn't stop apologizing to me. Needless to say, I think she's learned a good lesson in dealing with anons. It's a tricky, it really is; I know from my own past experiences just how difficult and daunting it is. I just hope she'll get over it quickly.

Personally, I don't think an easy mistake such as this hinders her ability to mod or to RP. It was a thoughtless but honest trip-up, the kind that everybody makes in LJRP at some point or another. In my eyes, the anons' dislike is the equivalent of saying that she liked a sentence of one of Hitler's early speeches, therefore she shouldn't be involved in student council (not that she does, mind you). Sure, Hitler was an awful human being, but he brought up a few good points about German well-fare in his early days; much in the same way, the anon Gato "+1"ed mentioned something important, though they did it in a terrible manner. In the long run, though, I suppose none of this matters. It will blow over eventually, and be nothing but dust in the wind.

As for Becca, she raised several good points in her response, including one I was tempted to mention myself, but ending up holding my tongue on. People keep turning to Anoncomm and RPS instead of coming to the mods. This is the fourth time this has happened. I specifically list out several ways to contact all of us mods in the mod contact, and we have an anon mod contact for those who feel too shy or insecure to reveal their identities. Clearly, neither has been used. It's just very grating having to perform damage control once a month over issues that could have been solved just as easily without being aired out in a public forum. Granted, perhaps the issue of WDA's opening being small couldn't have been easily changed, even with proper contact. However, it should have been obvious last week that it wasn't going to be some huge spectacular thing. I feel like the anon could have been part of the solution; if they really wanted something amazing, they could have spread the word OOCly about the game (especially since they state they've been waiting for it to open for months), tried to up the hype to achieve the opening they were hoping for. However, I know that would be asking for far too much; it's not their responsibility to do that, nor is it fair for me to say that they should. It's just... sometimes I feel that if people took a step back, calmed down, and spoke to me one-on-one, perhaps spend a half hour trying to help instead of hinder, that things would be much nicer, and there would be a lot less hurt feelings going around.

Like Becca pointed out, it doesn't feel good to me to have to be constantly dealing with upset anons when I've set aside ways and time to get feedback and help. However, I will not needlessly complain; I think I'll be part of the solution and post something in the mod comm or the OOC stressing that players, interested potential appers, and stalkers should come to the mods of they have any concerns, questions, or if are upset about anything.



I think that covers it for today; Mr. MD and his friend Mr. Pressure Headache are pestering me to go to bed. Let's hope tomorrow goes a bit better for everyone!