- Jun 12, 2019
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Holy sh**. It's 2020, guys. I never thought that was a real year.
Let's jump right into it. No need for my typical verbosity right at the start. There's already plenty to say.
WHAT WAS
Last month was a good one for Umbra. We reached the 300 user milestone, had some seriously eventful events, and added a new site feature that should make sure you're as comfortable as can be even when drama happens in your bubble.
DONATIONS
As ever, these are the people who managed to almost make me cry (I'm getting used to seeing people support my dream!)
- Candi Cosmo
- Ruby
- Tarieles
- Yume
Sometimes you can butt heads with people. While we encourage y'all to speak up if there's a problem (to me or Nev or Candi or with the report button you can find on every post on the site), it can be nice to just avoid seeing that one person. While the Ignore feature worked for that, Block buffs it up a bit. Check out our recent Respect vs. Drama post for more info on that.
DEC. EVENTS & POLL
Last months events were pretty sick. We saw a theme lottery (hopefully the winner is working with Nev as we speak to get that sucker polished and pretty to their specifications), a Roulette game, a Scavenger hunt, and a Secret Santa exchange. While all of these enjoyed participation the one that really surprised me was the Roulette. So many people participated that I even went ahead and made two more medals on top of the four I'd already designed for the month.
Thank you to everyone who participated and completed their events this month!
Ayame Tatsuo - Candi Cosmo - Daemon - Dao Ma - Genak - Junnabee - Lore - lyriclyrandom - MajinKirbuu - Merra - Pinkiedash - ReireitheSmileFaerie - Somniac - Teneo Lupum
On top of that, we made a poll asking you guys what you wanted to see from us in future events. The results are mostly in line with what we thought.
Art challenges - 1 vote. That makes sense. While it doesn't mean we won't do art challenges in the future, it does mean they won't be as common.
Individual Games/Writing Challenges/Interactive games - 9 votes each. Again, makes total sense. We'll be sure to include word-finds, crosswords, and other writing and word-related stuff in our future events (almost definitely more roulettes). But, guys, we gotta talk.
Site-wide RPs - 11 votes. In October we hosted a site-wide RP event. There were only four participants. With the majority vote in this poll, though, it seems like it could be a popular option. So tell us: what sort of site RP would you like to see? Do you want it to last more than a month? Should it be a narrative based on the site itself? What sort of theme do you want it to follow? Do you want it to be looser in structure or more like a DnD game? Help us help you.
WHAT IS
New month, new year, new decade. Let's start it off right. First of all, new events!
NEW MEDALS
Along with the event set, last month someone requested a gay pride medal. I opted to take it a step farther and made multiple pride medals. Take a look at our collection, and if you want one to represent you and your lifestyle but it isn't in there do not hesitate to ask.
For the time being, we only have one reward medal up, made by our own fantastic Candi Cosmo. There's a few more in our Just For Fun section, but in terms of further Event Medals let me know what you want. I love making them, and I can even get Candi to help sometimes now. Maybe. We'll see. I hate to speak for her.
JANUARY EVENTS
This month we've got a melange of events. The organizational period is still playing out but expect to see them up this weekend. This time it's a lot more of a team effort, thus needs a little more time to 'bake'. Which is a 'fancy' way of saying I'm 'disorganized' and need to 'get my sh** together'. Actually, regarding the January events, and events in general...
A Message from Candi
It has been decided that we will have a monthly crossword! Woohoo. Guess who's in charge of that? Give ya three guesses. Okay, okay, it's me… Anyways, I'll be popping these out each month, and for each person who turns in the solved puzzle to me, you'll get a unique medal for that month. That means you can get all 12 for a year, and maybe I'll make an ultimate medal if you get all of them. Who knows. Leggo.
Happy Solving.
WHAT WILL BE
Moving into 2020, we find ourselves with more users than ever (yay!) and that means that we need some hands on the top deck. What that colorful metaphor translates to is this: a position for site helper is now open. Duties include greeting new folks and making them feel at home, as well as potentially acting as relays for any sort of drama that might get reported to you. The position doesn't come with any extra privileges or an excess of duty, but we do expect you to be on a minimum of once a week to greet the newbies.
If you're interested, fill out the application and DM it to myself or Nevermind.
- Note that while right now we're specifically looking for another greeter, we accept helper and mod applications at any time. Helpers are encouraged to come to us with a specific task or job in mind. Do you want to design medals for the site? Assist with events? Help write guides for the uninitiated? If you want to help the site, submit an application. We tend to hold on to any we get when we aren't looking, so that we have something to draw on when we are.
Beyond that, though--let's hear from you guys. What do you want to see on Umbra? Are there any features or fonts or themes we're absolutely missing out on? Are there any sort of subforums or topics you'd like to see addressed? It's a new decade, y'all, let us know.
NEVERMIND NEEDS A NAP
This is true, like, 96.7% of the time.
I'm typically not one for New Year's resolutions. I find the idea that we'll somehow change everything up in our lives due to an arbitrary calendar switch to be optimistically delusional, at best. Change doesn't just happen because it's a new year, or even a new decade. Change is something that must be worked at slowly and methodically. It happens because we want it to happen, and we're willing to keep chipping away at that CHANGE because we know, deep down, it's the best way to improve our lives, no matter how hard it may be along the way.
If there is something you wish to change about yourself or your life, don't wait for a new year to get started. Get started now (though it is only three days into the new year, so, that is convenient). Take those first terrifying baby steps. It can be scary, and you won't feel motivated and successful every single day. Some days will be harder than others, because change is work, and if you keep trudging along, the work will be worth it.
The world is in a constant state of flux and so are we. It is an intimidating, fascinating, incomprehensible fact of life. Whatever you're working on changing, know that you're not alone on this chaos rock we live on, and you have our support. Nyco and I are big proponents of introspection and personal growth. Whatever you're doing now to improve yourself, we are fucking into it. Good job. Keep going. YOU. ARE. GLORIOUS. HONEY.
And with that, I'm going back to bed (nah, I'm getting my chest tattoo touched up and I'm gonna go cry so much).
[fa]heart[/fa] Nev
CONCLUSION
I still can't quite believe I made it to another full-on decade. I clearly recall thinking all the way back in 2001 that, much like Wyoming isn't an actual place, 2020 isn't an actual time. I have since been proven wrong on both accounts but I have my doubts about this 'North Dakota' thing. Time will tell, I suppose.
Happy New Year, Umbra. Happy new decade. Let's make it a better one. Stay excellent to each other.
- Nyctibius, The Potoo Parent
