With Apologies, A Personal Message to the Forums

[taalismn]

Dear Fellow Palladiumites,

This may not be the place for this, and I apologize in advance if I presume too much, and impose upon your attentions. If so, move on elsewhere, readers, to something more to your liking. I understand. And if the moderators ask me to remove this, I will.

I’ve been on these forums for over a decade, and I’ve enjoyed every moment of the association. I’ve made friends, made enemies, created worlds, and generally found both a welcoming community, a forum for my imaginings, and a refuge from the slings and arrows of reality.

However, reality has of late made an unignorable claim on my attention, one I cannot take refuge from in fantastical speculations, and I will soon find myself shouldering terrible responsibilities, many of which I have been avoiding for much of my adult life. This will consume a great amount of my time and attention. I must find strengths, courage and wisdom I do not feel, but must for the sake of others.

I’m not going away, and I have so much I wish to finish here, but a great many things for this time seem trivial in comparison to what faces me. Reaching 40,000 posts suddenly seems a childish ambition of a simpler time and person. I hope to occasionally, in some moment at my work when things are slow, post some witticism, some helpful piece of information or constructive criticism, an adventure seed, or a shiny new toy of the imagination. But, for the time being, I must set aside Paladin Steel, the Reformed Shemarrian Nation, the Good Splugorth, and so many other things that I’ve done and seen here, and any projects associated with them. I hope that I will be able to pick them up again some time in the future, but when, I cannot say. And perhaps the person I become in the days to come may regard them, but without malice or regret, as childish playthings to be shelved away in the archives of memory. Again, I cannot say.

I would like to say so much more, so much very more, but such would not be related to what we do here. And I fear if I were to start I would ramble for days on end like a madman, wanting to capture a life in words, convey a presence in mere sentences, familiarize and illuminate you all to a person who travelled through time, day by day, for the better part of a century, experienced, saw, and did things I cannot match and hardly feel worthy of.

Salvador Dali said that when a person dies, a universe dies with them...and here, where we speak of alternate universes and vast cosmoses as our playthings of the moment, we may forget that all around us are universes, terrible and beautiful, all exerting their influence on us, and when one is gone, whether it fades gradually and disappears, or vanishes suddenly, our own cosmos changes profoundly. We are all astronomers, whether we know it or not, gazing into personal universes on a daily basis, and only seeing a fraction of what is there. And we shall never know all there is to know about them. Yet we should and must make the effort while we can. On the vaster scale of things, personal universes pass all too quickly.

Whatever happens, I thank you all for the time spent here, and this moment, and for whatever moments yet to come.

Taalismn

[eliakon]

You will be missed. I wish you the best in what ever you have coming up.

[Blue_Lion]

Take care and hope you find enjoyment in what ever lies ahead.
You will be missed but life should always come first.

[Svartalf]

Goodbye, you'll be back home if you come back.

[Nekira Sudacne]

Bye Taasmin. I wish you could share more of what is to come, and remember: you don't need to come back full time. Just dropping in for a post or two per month will be welcome

[SRoss]

Good luck in your future endeavors, I won't say goodbye, but instead, until we meet again.

[Alrik Vas]

You don't need to be dedicated to an RPG to be part of this community, Taal. You only need to look on hobby favorably, whether you're practicing or not.

Good luck out there. See you when you get back. Real life should always come first.

[Killer Cyborg]

Good luck!
I hope you still check in from time to time.

[say652]

I loved Paladin Steel and the comic threads. You'll be sorely missed.

[glitterboy2098]

the robotech forum will be completely dead without you. but i understand. i hope things will get better for you.

[89er]

Take care and safe travels. You will always have a seat at this table.

Side note: How will Paladin Steel and Eshemar topics be treated, locked down by you or leave it open to the community?

[Alpha 11]

Man, that's a bummer. Hope things turn for the better for you and soon!

[taalismn]

Take care and safe travels. You will always have a seat at this table.

Side note: How will Paladin Steel and Eshemar topics be treated, locked down by you or leave it open to the community?

Hi, and thank you all. As to PS and the EShemar.....It's still all open for fans to use...I'm not going AWAY, period, and I hope to contribute when I can, but I'm afraid such posts for the foreseeable future will be far and few between. I won't be deleting or locking down anything, but it will be all open to the community as it always has been. If anybody has any questions regarding it, I'll still be available through these forums.

[DhAkael]

Take care and safe travels. You will always have a seat at this table.

Side note: How will Paladin Steel and Eshemar topics be treated, locked down by you or leave it open to the community?

Hi, and thank you all. As to PS and the EShemar.....It's still all open for fans to use...I'm not going AWAY, period, and I hope to contribute when I can, but I'm afraid such posts for the foreseeable future will be far and few between. I won't be deleting or locking down anything, but it will be all open to the community as it always has been. If anybody has any questions regarding it, I'll still be available through these forums.

Is okay; as you've seen, I've barely added anything to the ES-Shaemarr in a dogs age & half.
I fully understand "LIFE" hitting like a tonne of bricks. Do what you have to and hope to see you around off & on.
From the looks of it, the communities are in good hands (and hopefully new posters won't be intimidated by the sheer volume you ended up placing in the various threads )

[Vrykolas2k]

"If we do meet again, why, we shall smile; if not, then, this parting was well made."
W. Shakespeare, Julias Caesar.

[Zer0 Kay]

Thank you for the most valuable contribution anyone could make to any community. Your time is appreciated, even treasured your future limitations make what you give later even more valuable. Your frequent contributions will be missed and your new rare contributions treasured.

[The Oh So Amazing Nate]

I don't understand exactly what is happening here, but I'm left feeling confused, scared, and unsure. Taal, if you face these new IRL challenges with the same passion and enthusiasm that you've shown to the forums; you will have them overcome in no time. I believe in your ability to weather whatever lies ahead. My appreciation, support, and friendship go with you.

Nathan

[RockJock]

Taal,

Best of luck in all things. I hope life treats you well. I'm not a super regular on the boards anymore, but people here helped me get through some rather bad times that came after a near death car wreck almost a decade ago. If you need to talk, or be distracted, or just BS there are good people around for that.

[batlchip]

May your journey through the rest of your life be littered with happiness for you and yours my friend.

[CyCo]

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

Real life is that annoying thing that gets in the way of gaming, working on the car, going fishing, building models, building rc cars/planes/helicopters/drone & using them, playing computer games, etc. Unfortunately, it gets in the way for a reason. Sometimes those reasons are good, sometimes they are bad. But we need real life, both the good stuff and bad, so we can live.

So go forth and suchansuch. Etc & etc.

My only question is, why oh why did you leave me here with Zer0 Kay? 8p

[slade the sniper]

I am proud to have conversed with you, and appreciate your many contributions to my enjoyment of these forums. Safe travels and you will be welcomed upon your return.

-STS

[taalismn]

I am proud to have conversed with you, and appreciate your many contributions to my enjoyment of these forums. Safe travels and you will be welcomed upon your return.

-STS

Well, thank you all for your thoughts...it seems rather strange now because I'm slowly returning to posting more often now...I can't say that my personal situation is returning to normal, because it is most definitely not, and will never be as it was before. But my family is acquiring a new equilibrium, reaching a new balance, and coping as best we can. I'm taking on more and new responsibilities, with new knowledge and awareness that I did not wish or seek to acquire, but for which I am grateful for it giving me a handle on events. And I think it will make me a better person for it, especially with people who are also experiencing a similar situation in their lives. I won't pretend that there aren't difficult times in the future, and that the raw emotion which prompted my original post won't up and resurface at some time, but I have some peace of mind now to help me face those challenges.

But I say all of this to all of you, on the eve of Thanksgiving, whether you are American or not; enjoy every day and everything you have, appreciate those around you, especially family, and savor what you experience.

[Rathorc Lemenger]

Take all the time you need, good sir. Your desk chair at the Forums (and at Lemenger Biologics Unlimited) will be kept warm, clean and dust free for your return.

Signed,
Rathorc Lemenger.

[kronos]

I can't believe I didn't see this thread before..
Talisman, it is a pleasure working with you on the EShemarrians. Hell, you with your PS and the EShemarrians are what got me playing more and especially creating more stuff. So I thank you for giving my creativity a direction, and distraction from what my own life is throwing at me.
If need to talk, just PM me or email (pretty sure you have my email).
It's a blast working with you, and will gladly keep doing so on more fan projects.

[taalismn]

I can't believe I didn't see this thread before..
Talisman, it is a pleasure working with you on the EShemarrians. Hell, you with your PS and the EShemarrians are what got me playing more and especially creating more stuff. So I thank you for giving my creativity a direction, and distraction from what my own life is throwing at me.
If need to talk, just PM me or email (pretty sure you have my email).
It's a blast working with you, and will gladly keep doing so on more fan projects.

It's also a bit dated...the last month or so has been rather trying for me and my family, pretty raw, and educational in some of the ways people don't like to be educated.
But we've reached the far side of this particular personal storm, and, while our skies haven't cleared entirely, there's hints of better weather. We'll never have what we had before, but we'll be grateful for what we do still have.
A tendency to, as you readers may have noticed, over-wrought bad prose remains, however.
As well as a certain degree of self-consciousness.

[Carl Gleba]

taalismn, best of luck to you and your family for any challenges that are ahead. Do right by your family and visit when you can.