It’s what I get for being glad that the state inspector is sick and not coming to observe our school this week, right?  Now my daughter is, as well, and I’m scrambling to find people to watch her while I work…

Ahhh well.  It’s been a long weekend, between that and a massive building project that I decided I was just going to get done no matter what.  I did, and you’re likely to see rumors ICly (both in game and on the forums) of what’s going on, so keep your eyes and ears open, hmm?  It would be fantastic to see some of you really get involved with it.

I’m going to be fairly busy with work this week, so chances are good I’ll not be able to do more than token work on crafting, but over the holidays I ought to be able to devote that much more time to it.

Thanks for the comments, suggestions, and assistance!  You guys are terrific. 

Enjoy.

Woohoo!

I’ve been sitting on something for awhile that I’ve had this incredible urge to mention here, but I’ve managed to hold off until the time was right.  And… It’s finally time to share this big secret!  

For the duration of the time I’ve been working on gemcrafting and leatherworking, I’ve been lucky enough to have the volunteer assistance of one of you.  He’s offered a lot of descriptions, come up with some really creative ideas, and generally just proven himself quite helpful invaluable.  You’ll meet him soon, if you haven’t already, as he was officially added to our Staff last night. 

Thanks, Minion!

If you’re a leatherworker, you may have seen some pretty big changes to your craft list in the last two days.  There’s still a lot of work to do with it, so if things seem a bit odd to you, understand that it may change.  Also, if you note any oddities with a recipe (for example a buckled skirt that doesn’t acutally require a buckle), please let me know either by petition or in-game email.  You can also submit a ticket, here.

After a discussion with Siamsa, I’d also like to point out to you that some of the craft lists are in a bit of an odd order, as far as assemblies go.  (Farming and gemcrafting are the two big ones for this, though there are places in other lists as well).  The reason behind the oddity?  Craft lists are arranged by the skill it takes to make something.  Some of the steps are easier than others to complete and so may show up earlier in your lists.  The gist of this is that someone of a lower skill (apprentices, etc) ought to be able to help the master craftsman with the simpler parts of a project. 

More information on the craft trees and all these odd little details will be available on the wiki, once it’s in place, but as always, feel free to contact me with any of your questions regarding anything to do with crafting.

Work.

That in and of itself ought to be enough – teaching 6th graders isn’t easy.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the little hoodlums.  I do.

But starting fresh with a new group every year, entirely new subjects to teach, new age groups… it’s rough.

Add to that, this year is the year that the State of Arizona has decided to do a full inspection of the school.  Oh we aren’t in any trouble or anything of the sort, but they’ll be here all next week, inspecting lesson plans, watching teachers teach, interviewing us to make sure we know what we  need to know. 

The week before Christmas break. 

So yeah, I’m busy.  I’m frantic.  I’m not even going to try and buy Lilly’s Christmas gifts until after school lets out for the break.

Though after doing some research for DI, I’m seriously considering making homemade soap as gifts.   It could be great fun, and the monkey could help.

Due to RL conflicts (Work, right? Sheesh) I’ve found myself falling behind in my goals for the MUD’s crafting.  However, listed below is what I’m hoping to accomplish in the near future:

• Leatherworking: Some decent crafts exist, but the options just aren’t there that I would like to see.  Over the next few weeks leatherworkers ought to find a far more extensive list.  Clothing, equipment, accessories.  If you play a leatherworker and have some ideas of things you’d like to see able to be crafted, feel free to email me at Tigerlily@dark-isles.com and I’ll look over it. 

 If you do, please include:  short and long descriptions and a look description, just like you would for a custom item.

• Carpentry:  Again, a lot of good things already exist for carpenters, but I’d like to add a little more variety to the list.  Furniture, knick-knacks, etc.  I’ll post more about this when I get to it.
• Farming:  More updates to come.
• Cooking:  More updates to come.
• New crafts:  Chandlery, cobblery, glassmaking, pottery… there’s crafts out there for everyone!  Some will be pretty easy to master, others will require serious dedication to the craft.    Still, pretty exciting, hmm?

And here we are again – a new blog format, and hopefully one I’ll find myself keeping up with better.  I’m already in love with the background, I think it fits me so very well.

I’m scattered, at the moment, frankly.  It doesn’t mean that I’m not available, it just may be a bit harder to get ahold of me for the next week or so.  It’s crunch time at work in several ways… and I’m working on three or four different projects within Dark Isles at the moment.  Things ought to calm down within two weeks (I hope) but until then, if you can’t get ahold of me for what you need, please feel free to use the ingame messaging system message Tigerlily <content> or email Tigerlily <content>.

I’m going to try to follow Luna’s example and keep track of what I’m working on, so you players know what to expect in the near future.  My biggest projects deal with crafting.  I’m very excited seeing players taking advantage of all the new opportunities crafting offers, and I can only promise that there’ll be more and more to come.  I’d love to see the economy of DI be entirely player supported.  (Yes, it is possible!)  Feel free to contact me with comments, ideas, suggestions, etc.
Have fun!