/Salute

Blogging is something that is not really a big part of my life but more or less an exercise in writing. If it manages to entertain all the better. During the week there is a large list of blogs I check (the one listed on this site is a very compact version) that have sometimes very different subject matter. From books to food, gardening to soccer, comics to WoW and of course authors and writing, there's a couple ready to read for whatever mood I'm in.

Lately, especially with the WoW blogs, it seems like many people, influential bloggers are quiting. BRK, Resto4Life, DwarfPriest, to name a few are either leaving their blogs or making new ones, (personally like the breakdown Phaelia gives about X-Men comics though it is shipper-centric). I have and will mention WoW here, mostly little quips plus the fact that Tab (Fear the Bear!) is the mascot. Now that I have a second 80, damned straight there will be some posts about the "ZOMG! Opps you died!" experiences. Holy Priests are fun to play but I think perhaps I have too many situational heals and forget which ones do what. (I also have 1 I don't even know how to use and looking thorough the priest forums no one else does either.)

So hence my question: does blogging about a specific subject deaden your interest in that subject? If so yikes! Perhaps my wayward rambling is a good thing (aside from the obvious perk of keeping me occupied at work).

That said....

Holy Priest. Me...the kid who never wanted to play a caster in every video game I've ever played. Kind of still boggles me. Lecanu After hitting 80 last Friday night I decided 'what the hey let's just jump right in'. As a hunter I have spent many groups being 'persona non grata'. Everything from being ignored to people being downright rude. (Yes thank you, I run Omen and am well aware of my aggro. I also know when to feign and no I'm not going to pull aggro so get your panties out of that twist and go back to making the big angry thing mad! When I start telling you how to tank is when you get to tell me how to play a hunter.) The sad part is that I have surprised many groups with either CC, MD or even having my pet under control. It doesn't say much for us as a class. But whenever I pug on Kelso we are always short a healer. Never fails the last person who joins is someone who was probably sick of me spamming trade with LF Heals.

So as a healer...no one needs *&^% healers! (Murphy you bastard Irishman...I hate you). So so far my heroics experience has been limited (add in the hectic weekend and its understandable) to UK, UP, Nexus, VH and 1 pull in Gundrak where I realize that group was so undergeared and they were going to kill me. Gear, so far 2 drops that were upgrades but no epics yet. Fun factor? For someone prone to panic attacks it does raise my blood pressure and get that adrenaline pumping, something that sadly has been missing from my hunter for the past 3 months. Goals? Oh yeah tonight once I get my almost finished steampunk story 2nd drafted heroics here I come! Or at least someone will see me spamming trade chat. :)

City Kids get eaten all the time

Now Worcester is not a big city like New York or LA but in the Northeast it is in the top 5. We have mills, smog, gangs and serial killers just like every other city. Growing up I have ridden the bus, the train, walked in sketchy places, visited the Valley (bad idea) and had the misfortune for having spent evenings in Sha-booms (not by choice). Urban education complete. So when my un-urban education is tested and I fail miserably to whom do I complain?

Animals encountered in the past week: 1 shady coyote who was using the road as his own personal highway and found something really interesting in my backyard, 1 angry snake who tried to take a bite out of Jupitor instead of out of crime like everyone knows you should, 1 tick who met a hopefully long and unpleasent end, 2 obstinate turkeys who gobbled at me (I gobbled back...seriously I can't help making animal noises when I see something though rabbits kind of elude me, I end up saying 'bunny' as they run away) and 2 hissy geese who decided that no, they didn't need to move out of the way of a truck (I wasn't going anywhere important but really the truck is bigger, they should have moved).

What's a city kid supposed to do?

/ponder

/puts on impenatrable plastic bubble

I'm good to go!

Humbled

The older I get the harder it is (or at least so it seems) to be surprised by a book. Perhaps if I did not read so much this would not be an issue. Still, like a hopeful dreamer panning for gold I read and search, looking for something that can make me enter that 'wow' space. I remember that space, it's a great place to be. Those moments are surprising but this time the vehicle was even more of a shock.

For over a decade I have been read something in almost every sub-genre of fantasy there is but never once crossed over into science fiction. I had no interest and a good amount of prejudice against it. (Elves are one thing but I am not reading about aliens and space ships.) It is something I will have to work on if Darwinia is any indication.

It started off as a throw back to Jules Verne and H.G. Wells (authors I have been reading since at least 12), the writing excellent and the conflict new. Who in the world decides to erase Europe and put a primevil jumgle in its place? Brilliant! By the time the science fiction rolled around I truely did not care and was under no circumstances putting it down. To say any more would be to give too much away.

Reading is in a way like fishing. Most days you catch nothing or sun fish at best but once in a while you might snag a rainbow trout for the photo album. Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson is now not only my first sci-fi novel it is one of my favorite books and definately something to be revisited. Books like this are, after all, why I keep reading.

Interesting

Lately I have not watched much tv. (By much I mean more than 2 hours in three months.) Last night I was cooking my dinner and decided to watch some tube as I ate instead of my normal read-and-chew. Sadly there is apparently no news at 7 pm on a Saturday. I felt uninformed. However, there was a race on, the Ketucky Derby in fact and by the end I felt far more informed than the big scary news would have ever left me.

Having always been a lover of most sports, tennis aside cause I just don't get it, horse racing has always been left out of my repitoire. Probably because the losers apparently find their way into Alpo cans. I want Jup to get as much nutrition as necessary I just don't want to cheer for it before hand. This was however very interesting and apparently a really big upset.

About an hour of talk, previews, discussion and holding the asses of the horse owners and then comes the main event and it lasts...less than a minute. I have to admit that part was disappointing. It seemed like there just should have been more. But it was really great to watch the jockey talk and hear about this horse who was apparently the bargain basement of horses and he blew away all those million dollar 3 year olds. (He was still 2.)

Over all it was interesting and considering the limited amount of channels I can watch I'll probably catch the next race in two weeks if the weather is bad but I'd still rather ride the horses than watch them sprint around in a circle.