Writing Hiatus Update (mostly affects Persona EG + details about WHY I was on hiatus) · 2:13am Jun 10th, 2016
Hey everyone.
I have good news and less good news tonight.
The good news is, for every story EXCEPT Persona EG, I'm provisionally off hiatus. Updates will not be as frequent as you might be accustomed to from me, but they will be coming. I'm easing back into things a little at a time, and I really do hope to have the next chapter of Cheer Princess out before next week. And hopefully by this time next week I'll be ready to slap a Complete tag on Equestria Club.
The less good news: The hiatus for Persona EG has been extended to the end of June. The main reasons for this:
1. I need to write low-impact, lighter-toned stuff for a while before I'm ready to dive back into that madness.
2. I'm planning to devote a significant chunk of the remainder of the month to console gaming, and Persona EG eats up a LOT of time.
Below the cut are details on why I went on this long hiatus, why I'm still sort of on psuedo-hiatus, and more information on the extended hiatus for Persona EG.
For a little over a month, I've had a bad string of one stupid, bad, bullshit, irritating thing happening right after another, which managed to time itself to a prolonged stretch of regularly stormy weather in my area.
In 2001, I hit a low point in my life right at about the same time Tropical Storm Alison decided to hang around for a couple of weeks and dump massive amounts of flooding rain on the area. The recent heavy rains here, coupled with the tension, frustration, and constant aggravation of all this shit happening in sequence triggered something in me, and I sort of sank into a state of depression for a bit. Not true, full depression...just an echo of the depression from 15 years ago.
Bad enough to wreck me for a little while there, at least.
Things came to a head when, a couple of weeks ago, I got a stupid traffic citation because the cops were out in force for Memorial Day weekend and just happened to be right at the intersection where we were, and I had neglected my seatbelt (I was in the back seat of my uncle's car, we'd just done some heavy shopping, and I was exhausted...I didn't even think about the damn seat belt because I'm not used to buckling up in the back seat.)
That ticket started out as an annoying embarrassment and inflated into a major life disruption when the fine turned out to be a lot more than I could put on my credit card. I couldn't get the city's online system to take my checking account info and with my aunt and uncle out of town on vacation, I was kind of screwed for transportation--not that I could have left the house if I wanted to, because of the OTHER thing that was going on at this time:
I was puppysitting my aunt and uncle's dog, who's...really, really high maintenance. Leaving him alone for long enough to try to catch a bus and figure out what the hell to do about this damn ticket wasn't really an option, especially since I'm not sure how my dog would take being left alone with this other dog for that long. And Ringo (my aunt's dog) cries and SCREAMS when he's alone, upset, or not getting enough attention--like I said, incredibly high maintenance. The last thing I needed was the neighbors complaining on me for that.
In the end, a friend ended up taking care of the ticket thing for me so I could at least have some peace from that. Good thing, too, because my aunt and uncle just got back from vacation today. I had their dog from May 31-June 9, during a good half of which time we were experiencing heavy rains and storms here.
Puppysitting a high-maintenance dog while dealing with paying your bills, paying your rent (which meant a long walk to the management office in pouring rain and stiff winds), and stressing out over a bullshit traffic ticket, on top of everything that drove me to the writing hiatus in the first place...
Let's just say I need a vacation from their vacation. And from life in general, really. I'm very tired, I've had entirely too much stress in my life for the past month or so, and I just need to unwind for a while without anything bad or stressful happening to me.
Which isn't generally how my life wants to go, but I'm at least going to try.
So anyway, that's the whole story of why I went on writing hiatus, why I've been such a blah lately, etc. etc. and why Persona EG is on hiatus until the end of the month. I just can't deal with it yet. Not after all this shit.
Depending on how the next couple of weeks go, I might take EG off hiatus a little sooner (originally I was only extending the hiatus until June 20), but for now, my stress levels need a steady diet of anime, video games, and low-impact slice-of-life stories.
Have some ice cream.
Well that was.. wow. I hope your luck turns around.
Here have a cute bat pony gif
derpicdn.net/img/2013/1/13/211754/full.gif
Damn...
Take the time you need. Rest up.
Yowza. Take all the time you need to feel up to snuff for PEG. Sounds like you need it.
I know what you mean when you have to take care of pets. You deserve the break. Relax and enjoy yourself.
If problems were quesadillas then life is Abuela saying you're too skinny, loading your plate down, and dressing it with lard. Served with shit salad and a side of fuck-you fries.
At least the horror of puppysitting is over. Maybe you'll be able to get back into a nice groove without constantly needing to check on a needy crapsack. I'm sure Ringo's cute
at firstbut I dogsat for my aunt and uncle's three labs once: the oldest one was fine, but the middle one was exactly the kind of high maintenance you'd described (and the youngest followed his example to a T).I actually think it's very insightful of you (to recognize you need a break and where to find one) and generous (to inform us in such detail when you probably just wanna take your mind off it). So, whatever it takes, you keep doin' you 'cause you're pretty awesome.
I swear to god that P:EG is possessed by a yokai.
That and attention-needing dogs can be particularly annoying to look after, speaking from experience.
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4012514 Thank you all.
4012457 Yikes. Well, in Ringo's case, the problem is that he's very...particular about a few things.
See, we're a chihuahua family. It's been forever since anyone in this family last had a dog that wasn't a chihuahua. Last non-chihuahua in the family was the Yorkie my aunt had about 25 years ago. With chihuahuas, you see a wide range of behaviors--they're very silly and very contrary dogs.
Ringo has some very particular neuroses and complexes, even for a chihuahua.
We paper-train all our dogs. Our dogs don't get walked. My dog, Tater, has his toilet area in the back corner of my bedroom, I change the paper once a day, and it's a system that's worked for thirteen years. (And by "paper" I actually mean very expensive bed pads, the kind you find on the incontinence aisle that you mostly associate with old people. Works great for indoor dogs. But they're $6 for a pack of 18, hence the 'only change it once a day' part.)
Ringo, on the other hand...
He'll pee on the paper, but he won't shit on the paper. Better still, he will only use a paper once. Once he's peed on it once, he won't use it again--so if you're not constantly on top of it and making sure a clean one is down, he WILL pee the floor. During his stay with me, I had to soak up a lake of piss out of the bedroom because either I didn't check the paper often enough, he did it while I was asleep, or he just got upset and did it there for no reason.
Then there's the crying and screaming. If he doesn't think he's getting the right amount of attention (ie, 100% when he isn't asleep in his own bed or eating), he whines and cries. At worst, he screams. He's also used to a routine: my uncle goes to bed around 10 and always takes Ringo to bed with him, so Ringo expects to be taken to bed at around 10.
I usually go to bed at 1. This became a problem.
Then there are his other peculiarities (prefers to eat dog food that's been left out in the open for three days, barks at you while you're eating, won't stand still to be picked up even though he wants to be picked up)...he's a strange little dog.
Good luck with everything! I wish you the best! I look forward to the return of P:EG. I'm a little surprised that Equestria Club might be completed soon but I look forward to when that happens.
4012548 well fuck. ...seriously I'm trying to imagine what you would've had to do to accommodate a second dog and each new thought is more exhausting than the last
4012548 As a member of a chihuahua family myself, I feel for you. We've got three ourselves.
WIth three people in my household, if one person isn't there, then the eldest dog won't stop bitching.
The littlest one will only ever pee one a spot the middle one has peed.
And they all go ballistic at the slightest disturbance outside.
And they're really weird with visitors, If you're standing up, your the antichrist, but if you're sitting down, you're their best friend.
Aren't chihuahuas just the best?
Sorry things are rough, MM. Hope life improves.