I can share some of your feelings there - since 1984, I've gotten to be a Traveller player in one campaign. I've GM'd many... sigh. And for every hour I've spent playing, there's 50 here in the list, conversing over a place that I rarely get to be. Insofar as the relationship between "There" and "Real Life", oddly enough, Traveller is a useful source of support in these trying times. Now and then, I'll get drawn into a particular discussion about politics that I didn't really want to be in, and it's a nice out to let people know that my primary loyalty is to the Iridium Throne. Leads to a nice change of topic, and laughter and camaraderie where there had been strife. Or I'll get drawn into a racial discussion, and state my position: Yes, I know I'm prejudiced against Solomani, but given my Vilani heritage, who can really blame me? A useful way to derail the normal discussion that, all too often, devolves into people yelling at each other. And the escapism helps. I did take a break of about six months from the TML - my wife has been dealing with a brain tumor and spinal injury issue. It's using up a lot of time and energy, and often by the time I get done with work, I just didn't have the energy to read or type. Things are finally starting to improve here... but I'll share my TML frustration: It often feels like I'll send an email and either it doesn't post, or the whole of the population has decided I'm persona non grata. I don't even get a "Jeff, you're a moron" reply. Sigh. My suggestion would be to take a break, relax, do something completely different... but remember there's a bunch of people out there who'd welcome you back. On Sun, Jul 5, 2020 at 8:10 PM Kelly St. Clair <xxxxxx@efn.org> wrote: > > I find myself reading/having/making the same dumb arguments about the > same dumb stuff as twenty, thirty years ago, and nothing changes except > I'm turning into even more of a curmudgeon. > > (also, I keep hitting 'send' too soon. :p ) > > -- > --------------- > Kelly St. Clair > xxxxxx@efn.org > > ----- > The Traveller Mailing List > Archives at http://archives.simplelists.com/tml > Report problems to xxxxxx@simplelists.com > To unsubscribe from this list please go to > http://www.simplelists.com/confirm.php?u=vSy3NFQJMSbZKrzPfC3XucFBsUCMtKrI