Thank you all for the opportunity to be Herald, albeit for a short stint. I have GREATLY enjoyed working with a highly functional DC. I quickly became used to my HRLD role and I really liked it. I did a lot of stuff in a short time and it was a lot of fun - but after coming back from an almost-two-year hiatus, I promptly realized that what I really enjoyed was not having a position in the DJB. As much as I like creating things, I like to do it in spurts when the mood hits me.

As with anyone's life in the DJB, mine is a complex one where I juggle work, RL friends, wife time, and spending time with my 2 kids. A year and a half ago I switched jobs and finally had one that allowed me to go home at a reasonable hour and play with my children. I liked it. I missed the DJB, though, and when Muz asked if I wanted to apply for HRLD, I thought for a day and said yes.

It made me super happy to be back. I love Star Wars and I love this club (though, I hate mangoes). The work was steady, I had an excellent crew of folks willing to help, I could do some programming, and I had fun. I didn't feel inundated or burned out. BUT with a DC position, there's some responsibility that other folks in this club juggle with their RL than me. That's one of my shortcomings. I promptly discovered that when I was playing with my children or hanging out with my wife, I was feeling the weight of the HRLD position and my desire to fill my role (it is important to note that I wasn't pressured by the DC).

I gave my notice with the DC a month ago and then sane minds convinced me to try and find the happy DJB/RL balance that Sarin and other parents manage. I rescinded my resignation and kept my position, letting Socks rule the roost while I decided what to do. That accomplished two things:

1. It gave me time to make sure my resignation wasn't a rash decision - it is what I wanted to do.
2. Socks showed that she can do the job and I wasn't a necessity in the position. She and I opened the gates and some very talented people stepped forward to help.

I am 100% confident in Socks' abilities to lead the HRLD office.

TL;DR: It wasn't actually work that made me leave the HRLD office, it was a long thought-out decision that I made. I feel the DJB would be better served by someone that can give it more attention than what I can.

Here's some questions that some folks may have (and my answers):

What are you going to do next, Baxir?

I will stay on as M:HRLD and go back to making the DJB comics (I promise to have one out soon!). I'll probably tweak the CSS of the DJB site from time to time.

Were you fired?

Surprisingly, no. I asked him to release me into the wild.

Why did you desert us? Do you not love us anymore?

As I mentioned above, I love this club and all of you jerks. I just can't justify holding a position that I'm not willing to give at least an 80% effort consistently. I'll still do art for the club when I can - but it'll be driven by my RL schedule and my desires to doodle.

Will you ever come back on IRC?

Yeah, I really should. The reason that I haven't been on IRC in the past month is primarily work related. I launched a new product with my company (Gigaom) and I couldn't have any distractions during the day while idling on IRC. At night I'm pretty boring: play with my kids, make dinner, do dishes, fall asleep in my recliner while watching TV.

But. but. but. Art?

I actually picked up my drawing tablet the other day. I may or may not have been working on a drawing that Socks needed.