Not quite goodbye

I don't know if many people have noticed, but I haven't exactly been very active around WinCust over the past few months. I certainly haven't submitted any new skins, and I found my participation in the message boards falling off to such a point that I went a few weeks without even clicking on my WinCust shortcut.

Although the intention has been there to create more skins, the motivation seems to have left me. Both of my current 'in-progress' skins, dinks DX and 8-ball, are in a partial state of completion, but I just haven't been that bothered about getting them finished. I know there are some people who were looking forward to both of these skins, and I feel I should apologise for building expectations for their eventual release. I'm sorry to those people, but the truth is these skins will probably never be finished, let alone released.

The fact is that I've lost my skinning mojo. I have these two great looking skins sitting in my head, but the task of building them to the standards I've set for myself previously just seems too big for me to tackle these days. I think my attention span has probably diminished recently, to the point where I'm constantly trying to do too many things at once, and not actually ending up doing any of them.

So I think it's time I stopped kidding myself, and hung up my skinning shoes for the forseeable future.

Thanks to all those people who supported both me and my work over the past couple of years. This community is one of the most rewarding ones I've ever known online, and as a result I doubt I'll ever really stop dropping by to look at the new submissions, or to read the latest madness on these boards.

For those that also use DeviantArt, you'll probably see more of me there. I'm starting to get the photography bug, and let's face it, photography takes a lot less time and effort than creating skins!

Thanks again folks, and I'll see you around.
7,018 views 22 replies
Reply #1 Top
The biggest lost will be in the skins community side.

Take care, take a break and everything will be ok, I know you will come back.

For sure you will be missed.

Respect
Reply #2 Top
I understand and wish you the best. You are one of the best, and I looked forward to seeing if you had anything new. Enjoy life as you have it. May God bless you and yours.

Reply #3 Top
yup okay, sure whatever, see ya next week... hehe
take your break, get bored and hurry back
Reply #4 Top
Going to miss your skins and talent, but I'm glad you will still be around and not gone forever. I wish you the best in every endeavor.

Powered by SkinBrowser!
Reply #5 Top
I was just wondering where you been! We were a couple of people discussing about the best skinners (both in talent and personnality) the other day, and your name came up. Which made us realise we hadn't seen you in a while.
That's a shame, grayhaze. You are missed. But I can surely understand. Inspiration and motivation are things that come and go. Just hop back in here when it comes back.
Reply #6 Top
This is sad news indeed, grayhaze. However, everyone needs a break from time to time to get reinspired. I hope your mojo returns soon.

Powered by SkinBrowser!
Reply #7 Top
nothing wrong with a vacation. hurry back.
Reply #8 Top
Don't worry grayhaze. Take your time. From my experiences it is really good to shift focus from time to time. Ultimately you will be able to poor all your knowledge, gathered from shifting focuses and trying new ways, into one new brilliant design. And when you succeed, it will be an extatic moment in your life.

Powered by SkinBrowser!
Reply #9 Top


You've made the right choice if things aren't clicking. Hope you find your mojo soon.





Powered by SkinBrowser!
Reply #10 Top
No need to feel guilty or apologize for anything, Grayhaze. You don't owe anybody anything. It's we who should be thanking you for sharing your work with us. Do you what you enjoy! I'll miss your skins work, but look forward to your photo work
Reply #11 Top
Don't go away too long or too far....we'll all be here eager for your return...

Cheers,
Paul.
Reply #13 Top
You were one of the first and friendliest names I remember here! Burnout is frustraiting, you just have to kind of ride it through. Will be looking for you sometime.... thanks for the beauty!
Reply #14 Top
come on... he'll be back before you guys stop posting g'byes to him here

/me goes to try to find a skinning mojo for him
Reply #16 Top
grayhaze...if you are still around - a thought...

why don't you post your semi-finished works here and see what they spawn? (leave a note in a txt file allowing others to "rip it, sort of) maybe it'll frustrate you enough that you come back to fix all the hacked skins based off of your incomplete originals? Just a thought that might inspire you to get back soon, like kicking yourself in the butt (which I am VERRRRRRY good at, right along with sticking my foot/feet in my mouth and head up my &%@)

gotta love yoga
Reply #17 Top
Good idea, Kinrik Seriously, though, I've been checking greyhaze's web site faithfully ever since he first mentioned the 8-ball skin. I'd love to see it, regardless of how complete it is.

Powered by SkinBrowser!
Reply #18 Top
hey xym...your app is the best i have seen yet! just grabbed it a half-hour ago. elite work on sysmetrix. it's probably me, but when i click on auto-hide and mouse off, it is visible, when i mouse over, it is not visible, which makes it hard to right-click and change the settings since i have to have the visible there to right-click. i think i screwed some setting up, so i uninstalled and reinstalled and am working through it now...

awesome app and great skins!
Reply #19 Top
HAH! I'm a fool...again... I just rtfm and found out that is what it is SUPPOSED to do...I understand now. Sorry for the confusion.

AWESOME app!!!
Reply #20 Top
Thanks, Kinrik! Actually, that's the way autohide works The idea is that it's not supposed to get in your way, so it will disappear if you mouseover it. If you *want* to interact with it, just hold down the ALT, SHIFT, or CTRL key (any one of them) and then it won't hide on a mouseover. It probably takes some getting used to, but it's kind of neat once you do.

Powered by SkinBrowser!
Reply #21 Top
you know, the autohide YOU implemented is a heck of a lot more feasible than the microsoft interpretation of what autohide should do. i like yours better, especially with transparency. too bad it can't be transparent to whatever you set it to and then become more tangible on mouseover, or vice-versa, kind of like startbarfader: http://www.customize.org/details/14909?box=skinmenu&state=close
Reply #22 Top
heh...i also thought you had to hold all three down to get it to display. i think i am reading too fast and skipping words...what a day. good thing it is friday and i can get away from work for a few days...sheesh...

btw, i work with a bunch of tech writers(although i am not one), and I have to say, your documentation is great! nice work...