OOC: RPing from an iDevice

This is my first OOC post, so bear with me. I've been RPing Bail Organa for about five months now, and it's been a whole lot of fun. I'd wager a bet to say that RP is the most fun you can have with your pants on for next to free.

I RP frequently from my iPhone, and with the holiday season upon us, I figure there will be lots of folks with new iPhones and iPod Touches in the RP, so I'm going to write up a little guide about the things I've learned by RPing on an iPhone. I will refer to iPhones and iPod Touches together by lumping them in as iPhones - but know the only real difference is the iPod Touch users can only RP where there is wifi.

First, the iPhone is an amazingly productive device to RP on. You always have it with you, so you can stay in touch and fire off messages quickly and easily. There are some great Twitter applications available for the iPhone as well, and that greatly helps with RP.

Here's how I use the iPhone for RP. I'm a fan of the native Twitter app (simply called Twitter for iPhone), and it works VERY well and it's free. It supports multiple accounts for those of you with a ton of alts. However, I don't use it for one reason: it seems to refresh DMs on a fixed schedule, and not on demand. This makes coordinating privately on SLs very difficult.

My twitter client of choice is currently Osfoora. I've tried most others, and keep coming back to it. It's got great multiple account support, has a very handy address book to pick names from in the event you can't remember someone's Twitter ID, and it lets you refresh all aspects of your timeline, including DMs, on command. It costs $2.99 but if you're going to do any heavy RP on your iPhone it's $2.99 that's well spent.



The next application that's critical for Twitter RP is called Boxcar. What Boxcar does is provide near-instant notification of tweets in your timeline via the Apple Push Notification system.

You can setup Boxcar to monitor multiple Twitter accounts... and you can have it sound a different beep when tweets land in different accounts. This is essential if you want to remain on top of things in your timeline. I've become dependent on Boxcar to beep at me even when I'm using my computer - because it simply is that good at what it does.

Boxcar can be configured to pop up a push notification message over the top of whatever you are doing if you choose, so you can see @ tweets or DMs if you choose. This is highly configurable as well, so you can have it display the contents of the tweet, or simply say "you have a tweet", or not display a message at all.



Boxcar can also be a fully fledged Twitter client if you choose to use it as such. It's not as nice as Twitter for iPhone or Osfoora, but it's got that functionality.



Boxcar's price has floated between $2.99 and free. At the moment of this writing it's free, but that may change. It's well worth the $2.99 if you see it at that price - don't wait for a sale for it to be free. It's a great app.

So, for between $3 and $6, you can setup your iPhone or iPod Touch to be a very effective Twitter RP system. For the price of a print magazine, you can tweet from anywhere in near-real time.

A letter to Miya

My Dear Taozi:


You wrote me the most heartfelt letter not long ago, one that showed me your heart in a way that spoken words simply can't. Thank you for that. It's time I returned the favor.

I still remember that first comm from you. "I am cuddly and non-Empire-affiliated. Will I do?" I smile every time I think of it, because your whole personality is summed up in that sentence. Cuddly is an understatement with you. I adore that about you -- your convey your thoughts, feelings, and what's going through your head and heart with a single touch. Your "non-Empire-affiliated" comment sums up your playful sense of humor in three short words. As to the last... Well, I don't know if I ever answered your question of "Will I do?" but I will now. You did, and you do, every day, and in every way. You definitely "do", peaches, in so many ways that even an old statesman like me fumbles for words.

So many things changed because of that one comm. So many things... I can't even begin to write them down. Instead of listing everything out, I'm going to concentrate on one thing: Me.

You came into my life at the perfect moment, Miya. I didn't realize how much I needed you, until you landed square in my lap... wriggling. I've told you that you make me feel alive. That's so very true. The other night, you mentioned that I've said that repeatedly, and I didn't realize I'd not told you the story behind that. I'm writing you this letter as way of explanation, as words... fail me here. Ironic, that I've spoken in front of kings and queens, princes and presidents, yet talking about this... is nearly unbearable for me. It's all I can do to write it down, peaches.

I haven't told you what happened... after Alderaan was destroyed. It's only through a chance event that I even survived the explosion. I was slated to be on the planet, but I snuck out of a meeting early as Captain Antilles had just completed new engine modifications to the _Sundered Heart_, and he wanted me to see how fast he'd made her. We'd just taken the 'Heart for a quick run with a skeleton crew and were headed back to Alderaan when the Death Star came out of hyperspace.

We saw the beam lance out from the Death Star and hit the planet. For a split second, it looked like nothing was going to happen -- then the planet... it disintegrated, Miya. Even as far out as we were, the shockwave and explosion knocked out many systems on the 'Heart. After we got them going... we wandered the debris field, looking for any signs of survivors. People may have been working on ships, stuck in airlocks, or the like... and we looked for that. Hours turned into days, days into weeks, weeks into months. We searched, Miya, and searched. Chunks of buildings, floating by... playground equipment, vehicles, homes... and the bodies. Maker, the bodies...

Something broke in me that day, Miya. If I wasn't standing on the bridge of the 'Heart, endlessly searching, I was in the galley, drinking. Lost myself inside a bottle for a long while, Miya. We only left the Graveyard - the debris field - when we were nearly out of provisions. We made our way to the Outer Rim, and took a false ID, and tried to forget. I should say, I tried to forget. I refused to follow the news of the Rebellion - the very thing I helped form and fought so hard for. I also refused to think of Leia, my daughter. I figured she was aboard that battlestation, and it was easier to presume her dead than imagine the horrors she'd be enduring aboard that monstrosity at the hands of her biological father.

Maker... even writing this now, Miya, fills me with grief and regret. It was only after the Emperor's death that I got word that Leia had survived, and that the dark times had ended. Even so, it was a long road back, and one that pains me to remember today. I finally contacted Leia, and was just beginning to piece a semblance of my old life back together when you commed. Up until that point, I was going through the motions in life, but... your timing... like so much about you, taozi, was perfect. I was open and ready to feel again, and I'm so glad you were there to pull me back to being truly alive.

You call me your chaoren, your superman. I smile when you call me that, Miya, but I'm just a man. A man who loves you more than his words can express, and one who'd come riding to your rescue anytime you needed him, but in the end... flawed, somewhat broken, but healing. Wo ai ni, Miya. I love you, my taozi. Thank you for the gift of you, for the gift of your love. I'll treasure it and you, forever and always.

With all my love,

Bail