Still here!

OK, apparently he lives

So Mithadan lives after all.  Maybe he just needed a swift kick in the pants.  More likely I succumbed to the siren call of the BarrowDowns.  That there was a spot of trouble certainly rushed my return, but I think I always knew that I'd unretire.  I simply missed the place to much.

Long live Mith!

IS MITHADAN DEAD?

By this time, I figure there might be about 3 people who subscribed to this Blog that might still be interested in this post, but I think I'm rather past due and owe this to anyone who might be left or interested.

Several of my earlier posts to this Blog discuss who Mithadan is and what Mithadan did at the BarrowDowns.  In every sense, Mithadan, not me but my persona, was defined by the BarrowDowns and his posts and RPGs there.  So, what happens to Mithadan if I don't post on the Downs?  Because, you see, I don't think I've made a substantive post there in the past couple of years and I haven't posted to even an RPG in many, many months.  Thus the title of this entry; "Is Mithadan dead?"  What do you all think?

A bit more about Mith (again) and some secrets about the inner workings of the BarrowDowns from the past.  From my earlier posts, you know about my role in running the RPG forums a few years back.  You know, and some of you may actually even recall, the chaos that was the freestyle RPG forum and how I cracked down on it.  I began by warning RPers if they were too far off topic and trying to get them to focus on our Tolkien theme.  I "suggested" to those running purposeless, rambling and endless games that they find a theme or plot and finish them up (the idea being that new games should be planned and started rather than an aimless ramble).  When my suggestions and warnings were pretty much ignored, I began shutting down games and ultimately we came up with our multi-forum system.

Here's a bit more that you may not know.  When the movies came out, there was chaos in the Books forum and every other one as well.  We admins were truly shocked and troubled.  It was becoming a horrific mess. There was chatspeak everywhere and the quality of threads and discussion had declined drastically.  So we came up with the idea of encouraging promising "serious" posters with PMs and posts, and starting up new substantive threads ourselves to steer the focus back to where it was supposed to be, intelligent discussion and speculation about the books and the author.  I took a lead role (not the only one) in this.  For a period of time, I was starting several new threads a week and encouraged discussion in those and any other intelligent threads that were running.  I even re-read LoTR, the Silmarillion and HoME with a notepad so that I could take notes on new topics and ideas.  This went on for months.

At the same time, I was involved in my RPGs and the job of forum management.  I don't know how many threads I closed or moved.  I also cleaned up the archive, deleting junk and moving threads to other forums.  Sometimes I would even revive old threads like Heren Istarion did (does?).  Then the movie craze settled down and my RPGs ran down and guess what?  I was tired.  I was bored and burnt out.  I almost adopted the "there's nothing new under the sun" mindset.  I had nothing new or creative to say and had little interest in participating. An RPG I was in collapsed, which I think was partially my fault (I still feel bad about that) and my last RPG finally finished.  I was done.  Or maybe I should say Mithadan was done.

I did something I never dreamed of doing.  I stayed away from the Downs.  I intended my absence to be short, but it stretched out.  I went months without even peeking in and almost never posted.  Eventually, I began to miss the people I had posted with and began to be tempted to come back.  But I was also busy with other things.  I even considered starting a new account and posting under a new nickname, though I'm not actually sure why.  Then it occured to me.  Maybe my old friend Mithadan was dead! 

So I pose this to you all (assuming anyone even peeks in or responds).  What do you think?  Is Mithadan dead?  Is there anything, any purpose left for Mithadan?  Should he go gracefully into the night and be forgotten? Or not?

TO BE CONTINUED (Maybe)....................

Nag, nag, nag!  All right already.  By popular demand, I hereby proclaim I am not dead.

Having dropped this blog for nearly 18 months, there is, understandably, a lot to catch up on.  Let's see....  Right!  The Red Sox won the World Series last year.  I'll admit the top off my head nearly blew off.  Even in game four in the ninth inning I was only moderately confident.  Of course, the best part was coming back from a three game deficit to beat the Yankees.

And no, I did not expect them to repeat this year, at least after Wade Miller wasn't able to return to form and Schilling didn't storm back from his injury like a conquering hero.  I'm honestly surprised they did as well as they did.  "Wait 'til next year..."

In the category of what haven't I done, I haven't read any Tolkien for over a year, which likely, at least in part, explains my inactivity in the BarrowDowns.  I have caught up on some old favorites (The Earthsea Trilogy and The Vampire Chronicles) as well as working on some new stuff (Teamates by Halberstam, His Dark Materials, the new Harry Potter and others).

Let's see, I spent some time in Boston and stayed in a lovely inn in Concord, visited my brother in LA, spent some time in the Keys, and went back to the Cataloochee Ranch in NC (twice).  Otherwise I've been here in sunny (and windy) Miami.

The Reunification of the Entish Bow is sadly almost done.  I will miss that rpg.  I'm actually toying with the idea of pulling it all together, cleaning it up and submitting it for publication.  I haven't spoken with Esty or any of the others about this yet, and wouldn't do it without their consent.

Six months without an entry!  I should say something about how guilty I feel, or something like that, but this Blog has given way to other demands on my time.  Nonetheless, for the sake of all three people who, from time to time, glance at my ramblings, I may update a bit more often...or not.

There is a new thread on the Barrow-Downs asking whether posters' on-line personae are the same or similar to these posters in real life.  I think that I answered that several months ago on this Blog.  However, I will outline some of the differences between Mithadan and myself here.

I am a lawyer, Mithadan is an administrator of an on-line messageboard and a fictional RPG character.

I was born in Boston and live in Miami.  Mithadan resides in the ether.

I am 42, Mithadan is 4.

I, among many other things, am a baseball and football fan (Red Sox, Patriots), Mithadan is exclusively a Tolkien information junkie.

I collect books, baseball cards, sports programs, Mithadan collects posts and reputation stats.

I like hiking, tennis, being outdoors, Mithadan...'nuff said.

I don't care for bossing other people around, Mithadan is a control freak.

I am not Mithadan.

We are alike in some ways however.  We both like Tolkien.  We both like to write (he's better at it than I am).  We both have some good friends at the Barrow-Downs, though many do not know where he ends and I begin.  We both like receiving praise and accolades as well as giving them.

Oh, and George, I'm still not going to tell you where the nickname came from...