The Diary of A Simple Man

It's funny, but ever since Arisia I just don't feel like playing World of Warcraft much.

Signed up for a random dungeon and was assigned to one already in progress. I came in just in time to be wiped. The party was wiped three more times in the next few minutes; they'd activated about 3 dozen elites who were effectively "camping" the entrance. The tank quit. The healer quit. I got stuck talking to two people who I'd rather not have been talking to; to give you an idea of the level of conversation, one of them thought it was funny to repeatedly sit on other character's faces, and the other kept making jokes about rape.

I stayed on a table (no face-sitting for me!) held my tongue and tried to act like an adult. They told me they'd had eight wipes before I came in to the group. We qeued up for a new dungeon.

After a long, long wait a new tank and healer showed up, and the new dungeon began. Someone started giving orders to everyone. Someone else started defying him. The new tank and healer quit. I bowed out as well; it was too goddamned late.

But not all groups are like that. Yesterday, I was in a great group. It wasn't so much that they were combat-effective; they were decent, but not outstanding in that regard. No, what made it a pleasure to play with them was that they were all relatively mature. When we finished the dungeon, we even took a group photo! Too bad I have no way of arranging to play with any of them ever again.

Today I made what I consider my first real PvP kill in World of Warcraft. I once managed to kill off a lower-level Horde attacker (barely), and I'm credited with a number of kills on battlegrounds, but this time was different. I was collecting some low-level herbs in the Arthrai Highlands for my inscriptionist, when the automated local defense network kept reporting a Horde attack at Refuge Point. I was near there, so I rode over. Before entering, I activated my Bone Shield, and then called up my Army of Ghouls. A level-80 Tauren Shaman was killing some Alliance NPCs. I was nervous, but I attacked. Had to call up a gargoyle, and he managed to knock me down to about 1/3 of my hit points before I killed him. But I did win! It felt so great that I did a little dance over the body. Then I took off, because I didn't want to be a camper.

I don't want that incredibly annoying encounter in WoW tonight to be the end of my day, so:

Teri complained yesterday that the living room AC smelled bad. She didn't think I could do anything about it. So while she was out, I did some research.

Vaccuumed and cleaned with a toothbrush, vinegar & water; it's amazing how much gunk & fur was in there! Then a little Lysol. Now it has no odor and is much colder. Felt good to have accomplished something!

I also recorded some lullabies for Sebatian. I'll spare you having to listen to those, though. ;D

Posted via LjBeetle

I picked up Dragon Age: Origins a few days ago. So far it seems to be the game that Oblivion should have been, but wasn't (Oblivion looked cool, but got really dull fast).

Dragon Age is a bit drab compared to World of Warcraft, and the plots feel a bit railroaded, but it's a good alternative to WoW. It relies quite heavily on cutscenes, though, and requires more tactics than WoW. Unlike WoW, it's a solo game.

Playing it has enhanced my appreciation for the way that Blizzard uses art to enhance WoW. WoW is graphically inferior, but artistically far superior to Dragon Age: Origins - at least, so far.

(Posting with my phone is killing me. I hate this keyboard!)

Posted via LjBeetle

Almost forgot: if there's anyone who wants to add me to their Real ID flist in World of Warcraft, please do! You'll have to friend my email address, which is pmaranci@gmail.com.

Waterpaladin of Wildhammer server (tank) - used Need excessively, including on weapons after he'd already got a better one in the same dungeon. Played recklessly in the Temple of Atal'Hakkar, refusing to pull mobs back in the room of Jammal'an the Prophet despite my repeated request - so I got feared and ran right through a mob and the bosses. He leveled then. He'd been jabbering about how much he wanted to level for the whole dungeon, yelling "SO CLOSE TO DING" over and over and giving us a running XP total every 30 seconds. As soon as he leveled, he quit in mid-combat without a word. The party got wiped, and ended up quitting too. As someone said, "What a tool!".

Okay, I have a problem: as I mentioned earlier, my phone can simultaneously cross-post to Twitter and Facebook. I have a link set up for LJ as well, but it requires me to write and post separately. I'd say there's a crying need for someone to work out a way to add LJ as one of the "social network" options for Droids.

Today I also ran into the Twitter length-limitation problem when cross-posting. Although to tell you the truth, it may have encouraged me to make an improvement. On Facebook, the post looked like this:

An idiot in a white SUV was blocking the other side of the road. A truck came around the corner towards us and crossed the median to avoid crashing. The car ahead of us went into the brush. Scary!

But on Twitter, I had to edit it down to this:

Idiot in white SUV blocks 1\2 of road. Oncoming truck crosses median to avoid crash. Car ahead hits ditch. Disaster averted.

Teri thinks I should have mentioned that the truck was a large tractor-trailer, but there wasn't space enough for that. For a few seconds it was headed straight for us. I blame the young idiot in the white SUV; I don't know what he was doing, but blocking half the road in a dangerous area near a blind curve was a really stupid thing to do. Several people could have died.

What else? I set up Facebook on Teri's phone for her. Also showed her a few tricks, including how to make speed-dial links. I think she's getting more comfortable with the phone.

Doing okay with WoW. My top character is up to level 72 now. I still get killed by the Horde once in a while, but I'm trying not to let it get to me.

I read two more chapters of The Castle of Llyr to Sebastian at bedtime, and then had him turn out the light. I was going to sing to him, but he asked for a story instead. I told him about a time when I was very young, living in Belmont (Massachusetts) on Trapelo Road; how we'd go to the Pepperidge Farm Thrift Store, and then on to the Waverly Oaks park and playground. From there I moved on to the park across the street from Waverly Oaks, which doesn't have much more than a pond and a mill wheel, as I recall. I explained mill-wheels and different ways in which the wheel could be turned; windmills, animal-powered milling, and waterwheels. He was soon sound asleep.

I'd like to find a mill to take him to, so he can see how flour is made. Does anyone know of one in the general area?

Helggah from the Dark Iron server. Tank/Paladin. Started off with a HUGE pull, wiped the party, and then laughed at us all.

So I quit the goddamned dungeon - as anyone would. Blizzard thereupon labeled me a "Dungeon Deserter" and blocked me from signing up for a new one for 30 minutes. Blizzard's really sucking it hard these days...

It's been a while since I updated my Warcraft status here. A lot has happened in the meantime.
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