"Where Have You Been?"

Hello there. I thought I'd lost access to this account because of computer troubles about a year ago, but fortunately, I managed to remember my password. No luck on any other sites I've been active on, including my old email... Don't forget to make backups, is all I can say. 😬

I felt like giving an update on where I've been these past couple of years, because a lot of people I held interesting discussions with 'back in the day' are still around. To make a long story short: In amongst life and work picking up, I've lost pretty much all interest in chess and chess variants. The passion's just not there anymore.

I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to have discussions at length about the weird and wonderful world of chess variants, and for the reception that my big projects received. But, this also means that the musketeer chess rewrite - the article that would have otherwise been my next big project - hasn't made much progress. If I'm honest, it's not going to happen. I'm very sorry to say such a thing, because it feels like I built up a lot of expectation only for me to seemingly disappear and not deliver, which is very disappointing. Even though the passion's not there, I still take responsibility for my poor punctuality and ethic.

Another reason I feel I should bring up - of course, the rants about the state of the forum. It's nice to see that everyone has moved on, but at the time, I wanted people to get along. Foolish as I was, things didn't pan out that way, and because of the terrible headspace that I was in, I felt like I alienated myself from the forum. 

This will probably be the last post I make. I appreciate the concerns of people who have PM'd me in my absence. I'll always be able to smile at the thought of being the little disembodied head who polished up the rulebook for Chess 2 and who used their gift of the gab to write about the most interesting modern chess project that they've ever seen. Those pieces are a keepsake that I'll always remember fondly.

Thanks for having me along for the ride, but this is where I get off. You shouldn't have to hear it from me, but please stay safe.