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Forum URL: http://www.eyrie-productions.com/Forum/dcboard.cgi
Forum Name: Symphony of the Sword/The Order of the Rose
Topic ID: 295
#0, “Where were you when the Symphony started?”
Posted by pjmoyer on Jun-03-11 at 10:30 PM
LAST EDITED ON Jun-04-11 AT 08:35 PM (EDT)
 
Ten years ago, a new phase of Undocumented Features began. A part of the not-yet-solidified "Future Imperfect" era, it was intended to chronicle the trials and triumphs of an unlikely heroine – up until the point where her co-star hit the scene and the planning stages like an atom bomb, and threw the whole thing out of whack. But, she persevered, content and sure in her own abilities, and as the light of her friend's star grew ever brighter, it only increased the brightness in her own life, propelling her to heights she couldn't have imagined that one late august day (or in another sense, one early june evening) when the Rose Prince entered her life.

(Of course, the Prince in question hadn't imagined that such things would happen as a consequence of her presence – but such an occurrence was something that happened with frightful regularity in her life, so she really should have been expecting it.)

Ever since then, there's been laughter, there’s been tears; soaring heights, impossible lows; family lost and love found; worlds revolutionized dramatically and quietly; accompanied by a rocking soundtrack capable of making wild hearts soar and grown men weep. The kind of journey where the act of getting there is worth more than the actual arrival at the destination – though the arrival at the end is nothing to sneeze at, either! And thought it all, it's been an honor to watch, and participate, in that journey.

Happy 10th Anniversary, Kaitlyn Yuriko Hutchins. Take the day off, have a cake and some nice wine with Juri. Congratulations, you’ve earned it. ^_^

Here’s looking forward to the next decade of SoS!
--- Philip Jeremy Moyer (6/3/2011)





Philip J. Moyer
Contributing Writer, Editor and Artist (and Moderator) -- Eyrie Productions, Unlimited
CEO of MTS, High Poobah Of Artwork, and High Priest Of the Church Of Aerianne -- Magnetic Terrapin Studios
"Insert Pithy Comment Here"


#1, RE: “Where were you when the Symphony started?”
Posted by The Traitor on Jun-04-11 at 07:12 AM
In response to message #0
In 2001, I was in space having a conversation with an evil, mental computer system and occasionally looking at big black slabs of rock.

/obviousjoke

I now have an image of us all being at the birthday party of a tiny ten-year-old Kaitlyn, possibly with her sat in front of an enormous tiger-striped cake. And this is adorable, and I would draw it were I actually able to draw. But I'm not.

---
"Yeah, I'm definitely going to hell/But I'll have all the best stories to tell" -- Frank Turner, The Ballad of Me and My Friends


#2, RE: “Where were you when the Symphony started?”
Posted by Star Ranger4 on Jun-04-11 at 12:54 PM
In response to message #0
You know, I dont recall... but I'm willing to bet that it was up in N. California, where I spent the last 10-12 years or so. if not, then was in final preps for the move up there.

Since then while the location might have changed (once, about a year ago now) most of the rest hasnt except for what my major time waster during the day is... all of which involve computers, usually games of one type or another. just which game and what type of game has changed.


#3, RE: “Where were you when the Symphony started?”
Posted by BobSchroeck on Jun-04-11 at 04:41 PM
In response to message #0
Mm. I remember opening up the first Symphony installment, but... I can't remember any context. All I can say is that my wife and I had been living in our own house for almost exactly a year at that point -- and little else comes to mind, dammit.

-- Bob
-------------------
My race is pacifist and does not believe in war. We kill only out of personal spite.


#4, RE: “Where were you when the Symphony started?”
Posted by CGWolfgang on Jun-04-11 at 06:08 PM
In response to message #0
I was in college at a friends house getting ready for a shadowrun game. We had to threaten one of the guys with bodily harm if he didn't get off his computer because he was reading something. I bet everyone can guess what that was :).

I can remember it so well because it was my introduction to UF.


#5, RE: “Where were you when the Symphony started?”
Posted by trigger on Jun-04-11 at 06:21 PM
In response to message #0
LAST EDITED ON Jun-05-11 AT 12:21 PM (EDT)
 
(edit: because I don't have the ability to time travel...yet! Thanks CP!)

Probably planning my wedding. It was my last summer in Chicago and I was living with the grandmother and trying to convince the boss to let telecomute (the first of my telecomuting gigs, actually). I know I was on the Forum (or at least stalking around) since I found a post from 6/13/01. But at the time I had no idea that a decade long obsession had just been launched...

t.
can't believe how time has flown.

Trigger Argee
trigger_argee@hotmail.com
Manon, Maccadon, Orado, etc.
Denton, never leave home without it.

"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." - HST


#7, RE: “Where were you when the Symphony started?”
Posted by cyberpagan on Jun-05-11 at 10:34 AM
In response to message #5
> I know I was
>on the Forum (or at least stalking around) since I found a post from
>6/13/11.


I will assume you meant 6/13/01, since 6/13/11 is in the future. Of course, you could know the Doctor.....

******************************
Remember, two wrongs do not make a right, but three lefts do.

I'm really here, but I'm not here, really.
******************************
RCW#665 the other neighbor of the beast


#6, RE: “Where were you when the Symphony started?”
Posted by drakensis on Jun-05-11 at 06:36 AM
In response to message #0
I'd finished university, gone through two jobs in a year and then started with my current employer. I'd only been following Undocumented Features and it was very good news to discover that the pace of writing had hit a very fast pace.

#8, RE: “Where were you when the Symphony started?”
Posted by Bushido on Jun-05-11 at 12:46 PM
In response to message #0
I wasn't around for the start of the Symphony. I was introduced to fanfiction in the fall of 2001, my sophomore year of high school. I think it was a year or two after that when the same friend who got me hooked on fanfics told me about UF. I remember loading the stories with a 56K modem and saving them to the hard drive, then disconnecting so I wouldn't tie up the phone line.

#9, RE: “Where were you when the Symphony started?”
Posted by CdrMike on Jun-05-11 at 03:41 PM
In response to message #8
>I wasn't around for the start of the Symphony. I was introduced to
>fanfiction in the fall of 2001, my sophomore year of high school. I
>think it was a year or two after that when the same friend who got me
>hooked on fanfics told me about UF. I remember loading the stories
>with a 56K modem and saving them to the hard drive, then disconnecting
>so I wouldn't tie up the phone line.

That was me during summer vacation of '02. Had gone to my grandmother's apartment, in the internet boonies, with a laptop and AOL account in hand. Spent the summer chewing through the entirety of UF, from beginning to what was then the end.


#12, RE: �Where were you when the Symphony started?�
Posted by Droken on Jun-09-11 at 05:02 PM
In response to message #8
My start took a bit longer: Fall of '03 as a Junior in HS. A good friend of mine was laughing about something while looking at his TI-92 graphing calculator. I asked him what was so funny, and he handed me the UF core and symphony 1.

#10, RE: “Where were you when the Symphony started?”
Posted by Sofaspud on Jun-09-11 at 02:50 PM
In response to message #0
I was working a mind-numbing, soul-crushing consulting gig (to clarify: I was the consultant being hired out to various companies by my overseers) and during the off-peak times turned to the internet for amusement.

June 2001 was a pretty boring month as far as work went. My old calendar file from back then is mostly booked with "P.D. time" which was our code for "hanging around the office waiting for the sales guys to drum up more business". There's a couple other entries with project codes, the only one I recognize offhand is the dentist who liked living on the bleeding edge and was one of the few fun customers we had. (Seriously, he had the niftiest tech, and would drop insane cash on the newest shiny every chance he got.)

Also: holy crap, why do I even *have* old calendar files from back then cluttering up my HD? I'm such a packrat.

--sofaspud
--


#11, RE: “Where were you when the Symphony started?”
Posted by Gryphon on Jun-09-11 at 03:02 PM
In response to message #10
>the only one I recognize offhand is the dentist who
>liked living on the bleeding edge and was one of the few fun customers
>we had. (Seriously, he had the niftiest tech, and would drop insane
>cash on the newest shiny every chance he got.)

Ooh, I bet he was one of those dentists who have a laser. I've been wanting to try one of those.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#13, RE: “Where were you when the Symphony started?”
Posted by The Traitor on Jun-10-11 at 05:41 AM
In response to message #11
>Ooh, I bet he was one of those dentists who have a laser. I've
>been wanting to try one of those.

Yeah, um, forgive me for saying this, but the only adequate response to seeing a dentist with a laser is AAAAAARGH!

---
"Yeah, I'm definitely going to hell/But I'll have all the best stories to tell" -- Frank Turner, The Ballad of Me and My Friends


#15, RE: “Where were you when the Symphony started?”
Posted by StClair on Jun-10-11 at 08:49 PM
In response to message #13
"Is it safe?"

#18, RE: “Where were you when the Symphony started?”
Posted by SpottedKitty on Jun-11-11 at 12:44 PM
In response to message #15
>"Is it safe?"

I remember saying this the one time (so far) I've had a dental X-ray. The dentist, of course, was at the other end of the room standing behind a shielding panel...

--
Unable to save the day: File is read-only.


#16, RE: “Where were you when the Symphony started?”
Posted by Mephron on Jun-10-11 at 09:53 PM
In response to message #13
>>Ooh, I bet he was one of those dentists who have a laser. I've
>>been wanting to try one of those.
>
>Yeah, um, forgive me for saying this, but the only adequate response
>to seeing a dentist with a laser is AAAAAARGH!

A dentist I saw had one for her older patients who still had their own teeth and whose gums weren't up to the scraper on it, and said it worked rather well and no one complained except to say it made their mouth a little warm.

My response was, predicably, "Wrrrrgl."

(...I didn't get the laser.)

--
Geoff Depew - Darth Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Dark Lord of Sith Tech Support.
"And Remember! Google is your Friend!!"


#17, RE: “Where were you when the Symphony started?”
Posted by Gryphon on Jun-10-11 at 09:54 PM
In response to message #16
>>>Ooh, I bet he was one of those dentists who have a laser. I've
>>>been wanting to try one of those.
>>
>>Yeah, um, forgive me for saying this, but the only adequate response
>>to seeing a dentist with a laser is AAAAAARGH!
>
>A dentist I saw had one for her older patients who still had their own
>teeth and whose gums weren't up to the scraper on it, and said it
>worked rather well and no one complained except to say it made their
>mouth a little warm.
>
>My response was, predicably, "Wrrrrgl."
>
>(...I didn't get the laser.)

"This next test involves deadly lasers, and how dental patients react to being locked in a room with deadly lasers."

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#14, RE: “Where were you when the Symphony started?”
Posted by JeanneHedge on Jun-10-11 at 08:02 AM
In response to message #0
Geez, that was 10 years, 3 jobs, 2 moves, and a multi-year term of unemployment ago. I don't think my brain can remember that far back...

I do remember where I first came across EPU stories though - the Core (and a few other EPU stories) were on the compilation CD set for the old Venice FTP site.


Jeanne


Jeanne Hedge
http://www.jhedge.com
"Believe me, if I have to go the rest of my life without companionship, knowing myself won't be a problem."
-- Gabrielle of Potadeia



#19, RE: “Where were you when the Symphony started?”
Posted by Offsides on Jun-16-11 at 02:18 PM
In response to message #14
>Geez, that was 10 years, 3 jobs, 2 moves, and a multi-year term of
>unemployment ago. I don't think my brain can remember that far back...
>
Only two moves in ten years? Bah! I moved 5 times in 4 years during that span, went from a full-time job to unemployed to self-employed and back to a full time job, got married, bought a house and had a kid. If I can remember it, you can too :P

SOS 1 came out just before I quit my job from a combination of burn-out and management suffering from rectal-cranial inversion (I later found out the boss had surgery to remove a brain tumor, and he's feeling much better now...), and the quasi-steady stream of new Symphony pieces kept me sane while I looked for a job, found one, had it vaporize and then spend 2 years commuting between Philadelphia and Boston(!) before something saner materialized. The fact that it took the writing quality of UF to a whole new level didn't hurt one bit either...

Offsides

P.S. The next time I move it's gonna be in a box. Not my stuff, me.

[...] in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.
-- David Ben Gurion
EPU RCW #π
#include <stdsig.h>


#20, RE: “Where were you when the Symphony started?”
Posted by A Vile Gangster on Aug-02-11 at 09:16 PM
In response to message #0
...I was back in the deep south after my first(of very many) unsuccessful escape attempts. Eyrie wasn't new to me; I'd been current on the material since '97(or was it '98?). It was an awesome killer-of-time once it started and it introduced some of my favorite characters and settings in the UF continuum(I'm lookin' at you *ctrl+v* T'skaia Vorokoshiga'ar Ixtixtaaqitl't'chl'Vraihelt Ishkarat.)

I won't say it was the worst place I've been in in my life, but-Chief? I don't know if I've thanked you recently for doing what you do. Your little pocket universes often have had a coherency the one I'm living in has not. So, thanks.

----
Now Playing:
Switchblade Symphony -- Bad Trash (Serpentine Gallery, 1995)

...

< THIS SPACE FOR RENT >


#21, RE: “Where were you when the Symphony started?”
Posted by Prince Charon on Aug-04-11 at 10:33 PM
In response to message #0
I was where I am, in the same room of the same house, at the same desk by the same window (ghods that's depressing). I'm very sure that the computer has been changed several times, though, and the phone, and probably the chair, as well (though not nearly as often as the computer).

“They planned their campaigns just as you might make a splendid piece of harness. It looks very well; and answers very well; until it gets broken; and then you are done for. Now I made my campaigns of ropes. If anything went wrong, I tied a knot; and went on.”
-- Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington