Sumimasen

A big part of playing a multi person game, anything from ice hockey to soccer, is learning to accept there are very different people in the world. Maybe because I have always been in some type of team atmosphere I have very little problem getting along with people, even those who are difficult. This makes work easier, WoW easier and teaches me patience at the same time. (Patience is good and I have major stock options.)

In The Knights Who Say Ni I lately have tried to take a more active role as an officer. For the past few months I was either not logging on at all except on raid nights (ie Friday) or I would be on for 5 minutes and then log off. It is normal to go through a period of burnout when you do something so often that it is a part of your daily routine. In that time I still responded to e-mails but really with just little asides, usually agreeing with the general consensus and letting things move on their own. I had my own projects, both writing wise and personally, I started working out and I have started planning home improvements that, more and more, need funding, and I am again considering a second job.

That said, the past week I have been more interested in the game. No, that's a lie, I couldn't honestly care less about end game right now. My interest? A level 45 druid wannabe tank and ubber pawning dps who is cruising right along both level wise and skillwise (jewelcrafting to be exact.) I log on, quest for an hour, farm ore for a half an hour or so and then go and do some chores while I fly to the next zone/city/whatever. It's good times and most people know my new alt project so I can take care of guild stuff/issues at the same time if any crop up. We have a new crop of guildies invited by multiple people who I long thought were kids and was proven to be right (over vent.) While we are mainly an adult guild so long as kids act fairly decent we've never had a problem.

One asks if his friend can join the guild too, I switch to Lecanu, send the invite, give out welcomes and general info on behavior, policy on the Guild Bank and send him on his way. That night we had an open slot in a gearing Naxx run and I gave it to him seeing as how there was a decided lack on interest in going and we were going to have to pug anyways. Then it starts.

Two hours before Naxx he starts worrying no one was on but the usual dinner crowd. I tell him to be cool and relax. This goes on for about an hour.

One hour before Naxx a guildie asks for heals for a daily heroic run, I need 5 more badges before getting my next Tier 9 piece so I go and immediately guild chat is over run with spam, questioning why we are in an instance (one that takes all of 15 minutes), is the run canceled, does this happen often, where are all the officers, the list goes on. Also I am getting private messages about how this is and that is wrong and we won't make it to the raid if we do the daily, so forth an so on.

I am, at this point reminding myself to be adult and not send him a tell amounting to "WTF go away and let me play this game that I am paying for you little weasel!"

This continues until the Naxx start time and a whole bunch of other crap goes on (2nd tank doesn't log on, the kid who was crying foul that he was not geared and who we originally set this raid up for did not log on, the pug pally healer decided he didn't have to heal our only tank and instead decided he wanted to raid heal without telling anyone this leaving to 3 wipes on Spider wing trash before I put up Recount and notice what he was doing.) Logging onto vent someone who's voice is still cracking is spouting off bizare lore info and swearing that he raided back in Classic (but didn't remember Naxx is a floating necropolis), has vent keyed to sound so we got to listen to him apparently breaking rocks over his desk every few minutes, all the while asking who is healing and then complaining that Naxx can't be run with just 2 healers, 1 geared out in Ulduar/ToC drops.

The current GM Myrrandar and I were going back and forth in private/officer chat all night. I apologized, he laughed. I sweared I would demote myself later from the Guild Council to Patsy, he laughed some more and then I looked at the Officer's note under Annoying Kid's name.

"Kelso assumes complete responsibilty for this"

/headdesk

We got 2 wings cleared with 9 people, the new guys got some good gear, some BoE drops were put in the GB along with some enchanting mats from the DE's and after 3 hours of this I felt like I had just spent a whole day babysitting the kid. Even mild always even tempered Myrr was annoyed and snapped at the A.K. a few times, calling the raid when Loatheb was down. (Our original guild member who is A.K.'s friend was fine, spening most of the night chatting with a guild friend who is also a teen over Vent chat. No idea what Duplicity thought of that night other than the fact he had the A.K. muted after about a minute.)

I am tolerant, patient and even tempered most days but I want to phantom guild kick this kid so bad it is crazy. In reality it is doubtful he'll last long in guild since he'll piss off one of the other officers, I'm sure of it. This is my de-stress activity, my winter hobby, and a place where I can chill with friends. I want to help the guild stay running smoothly and run some raids, heals some peoples, out dps the over geared, and slaughter everything in sight under the guise of a cute tattooed bear. I am sure my goals are the same as my fellow Council Members and the rest of our guildies.

I AM SO SORRY. I WILL NEVER INVITE ANYONE AGAIN.

Thankfully I do have a shadow alt in the guild only 1 person knows about.

Enter The Pink Nugget of Doom!

I have a feeling I will not hear the end of this for a while.

A step by step guide to getting through the winter

Hallooooooo! And welcome to December. Be prepared to be assaulted by badly sung Christmas music in any store you go. The weather will mock you, not giving you snow when you think there should be pretty whiteness and then dumping a foot on you at the earliest inconvience. For those in the population who get kind of down at the change of the seasons (personally I always feel better when the leaves are on the trees) the winter can be very long. Driving through Virginia long...shudder. So find 5 things that make your next hour, next day, or even the next week go by like a breeze! (I should so do my own infomercials.)

5. Home Improvements: This can get expensive but a little at a time is all it takes. My newest project is the upstairs (the Empty World that is no longer filled with stuff) redoing both the guest room and turning the smaller room into a writing room/study. Now all of this is just cosmetic, paints, new shades, some new cheapy furniture, pictures on the walls (and my fav LOTR poster from college my little brother found for me at his house and saved it! Oh yeah some days he rocks.) I really really really want to get the upstairs carpeted but that is a bit too much right now so I'm think more along the lines of bound carpet sections and maybe some nice sticky tiles for those places the carpet won't cover.

4. TBR aka the To Be Read pile: I have a big one...a very big one...the entire shelf of a book case kind of TBR. And I love the stupid thing to death. Now for people who dont' like reading there is always the TBW (To Be Watched), the loveliness of Netflicks and Cast TV for shows, or even the insanity of Youtube. Viral videos are great time killers, no lie.

3. Time Sinks: This is anything that takes 0 brain power but consumes half of your day. Winter is great for these, especially if you are unfortunate to fall alseep at 5am (when it is still dark out) and wake up around 5 pm (when it is again dark out). Video games are great T/S. Games like Caesar and Pharaoh, Balder's Gate (PS2 version) and Kingdom Hearts (so sue me I'm a chick) really don't require thought so much as pressing random buttons in near random order. *This is opposed to Battle for Middle Earth which routinely proves to me why I am not a general of an army. Sauron should really just fire me and get it over with. Do you think he gives out pink slips or just fireballs you death? Hmm food for thought.)

2. Hobbies. It could be porno watching, cheering for your favorite sports club or World of Warcraft. Do something to get that adrenaline going. (It's healthy...except too much porn, I'm pretty sure if you pull a Quagmire it is not healthy.) Hockey, football, basketball, Ninja Warrior, there is something out there for everybody. You could even be daring and dual screen it with two games on, a raid and a game on (...not that I would ever not give my full attention to keeping my friends alive. Nope not me...), bring friends over to the game or go visit your friendly neighborhood bartender. Keep up those hobbies because they are the bread and butter of getting through a New Englad winter.

1. Peoples: Friends, family, random people you meet on the street. Historically the winter was the time when people are most likely to be alone (and if you read that article in Time about how loneliness is now experiementally being called a social illness as opposed to a singular persons mental state this kind of ties it I guess) locked away in their homes and villages trapped by mountains of snow. (For some reason writing that sentence made me think of David the Gnome. I miss that show.) Being sociable when you are digging your car out of a snow monster is hard but good for your soul. :) Trust me.

So that concludes my rant from the Gate of North.


Lies.

To Be Continued

Gobble gobble *dead

Happy early Thanksgiving!

It has come

Halloween!

/rejoices in all that is spooky and kooky

/reads "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" aloud to one sleeping dog and two very content cats

Word of advice, cats like being read to. Both the cats I grew up with and my Minions tend to snuggle down when they hear something being read, half close their eyes and pur like a freight train. Though growing up I read Cutsie and Black Jack poetry, you know like Byrant and other Transcendental stuff. But I do all the voices, can't wait to hit the Lovecraft tonight!

Halloween is fun and exciting, one of the creepiest times of the year and the continuation of an ancient custom so really what is not to love?

Like Halloween Nanowrimo has also come. And this is my 4th year participating. After last years win I seriously am pumped to jump back into the frenzy. This year, however, will be a rather new experience as I am also writing, for the first time, knowing who my main characters are and what the general outline of the world is. I am...prepared...and that's just wrong. I have to admit that not only the research but also the questions (heaps and heaps of them) were a blast to go through. For days all I have been able to think about was my novel. I have had to stop myself from just starting it early. I just want to write it so badly I could scream!

Well tonight I can. Seeing as how I have to stay up for the early trick or treaters anyways (seriously went overboard on the candy) I may as well start at that magic hour of 0001. {Side note, I better not get any trick or treaters that late or they will experience the Mary Wrath!}

Will I update the blog? Probably. Will I write about Nano? Again, probably.

Oh, almost forgot to mention: The Knights who Say Ni are now 2/5 in ToC!!!!! *happy dance!

After failing on Hodir for 2 hours (and there were some pretty epic fails) we decided to just get the Beasts of Northrend down. After the AZ guys recruited Koldhart and Domminus we got to work (well there were a whole bunch of jokes about worm fighting) we got started and finally got our first three badges. The second boss has always been our stopping point as it is a hectic as hell fight but low and behold it only took I think 4 or 5 tries before the Demon Lord went splat! BTW I now find healing DK's (well 1 DK, I don't group with them otherwise if I can help it) spikey damage to be normal. I am Koldhart's assigned healer, healing anything else seems boring now cause it's all predicatable damage. (Jaded...) The 3rd fight is pvp based against 6 npcs. Yeah i went squish hard and fast on those last attempts. PvP and me = repair bills for me. I'm pretty good as a hunter but holy priest? Nope.

One thing is certain, and one thing only, those stupid Reese's Cups are taunting me from the candy bucket in my kitchen. To all WoW raiders: rock on! To all WoW PvPers: go die in a fire (if you are a rogue go sit on a nuclear warhead). To all Nanowrimos: the wait is almost over and good luck! To all trick or treaters: do not smash my jack-o-lantern and be safe tonight. To all who love the creepiness that is Halloween: enjoy!

:)

/boo

Epic Freakin Win

This made me laugh, not giggle but cackle out of my chair (that is dangerous, I am short and the chair is not so short). I am still laughing! When ever I think of the mention of a "conga-line of death") I start all over again.

Sure I have no idea who the heck this person is but yeah I'm shouting out to his blog. You Sir win the intenets for a day.

Awesomeness is here, click the button!!!

The time has come...well

Close enough anyways. Good Morning and welcome to another edition of I'm bored at Northgate. Today we will have features on...blah!

In serious news I have in fact discovered that I am part bear. (Now if only I had a better grrr face.) Seriously the weekend equated to me sleeping, listening to the coyotes maul a dog the next street over (wtb a less freakish alarm clock, fyi the dog is ok, I heard him barking yesterday), reading manga and then going back to sleep. I slept so much between Sat afternoon and Monday when I absolutely had to get up that I should not have close my eyes again for a week.

Rawr. Ima bear! :)

Well due to stress and a near unbreakable addiction to One Manga I have not really been willing or able to log onto WoW. Friday I logged because I was asked to for the newbie Ulduar raid but other than that I have been...not there. Last night I thought meh, what the heck, I'll go try to solo some level 70 heroics and ended up running a few level 80 heroics on Kelsomar. Was it fun? Yeah, once I remembered my shot priority and what the heck my buttons did (note to self, stop changing and renaming buttons on Warcraft, though I do like one that is now a picture of a pumpkin pie slice), did it make me want to play tonight? No. I did talk to another officer about the wow/healer burnout and I think he will give a little bit of leeway and maybe let me run on Kelso once in a while. This however depends entirely if I log on or not. Right now I'm leaning towards the not so much.

So if one was going to attempt to write another novel (or at least 50,000 words of one) in a month obviously a week before is the perfect time to start reading an 800 page Victorian horror epic.
-------------------->major epic fail in timing
Not that Drood isn't interesting, it is but damn its a work out carrying the blasted thing around.

WTB audio book of Drood read by Alan Rickman (seriously he does all the voices, it doesn't get any better than that!)

So I may finish my latest short story today, maybe edit my steampunk short story since I am using not only the characters but the world for my novel, I have another scene for Kept from the Light in my head that will be the rush to the epicenter of good bye world, read some Drood and Fruits Basket and be a Nanowrimo forum whore. Then go to the library to switch out more research material and get a book on basic Japanese cooking. Then again it is only 734 and I am ADD so that plan might change.

/rememebers the nice warm and cozy bed waiting at home, complete with two snuggly cats and a nap happy puppy

Yeah maybe, maybe not.

Errr

/remembers all the lawn furniture still outside and the leaves that have attempted to take over the Pepper yard

Errrr....welcome me home my warm, comfy and blanket laden bed!!!

Rawr and pigs rain down from the Heavens!

Happy Tuesday all!

(*pardon any typos in advance, blogging in gloves = stupid finger disease)

Bleh, I'm sick. But not sick enough to not go to work. Shh, don't tell my boss, sick people are supposed to stay home and not get paid. Yeah, I have boatloads of mullah coming out my ears and can afford that. *end rant*

Well the count down to Wrimo is in full swing and in less than two weeks!!! Last year was the first time I won and as this is my 4th year I have high hopes of the self control needed to write 50,000 words in a month. (Remember I am the master of self control! Control heed my wrath!) But as I have been writing, tinkering and exploring last years novel I have run into a wall, the kind that dwarfs that one in China...not exactly knowing how to get from point D to point G without messing up point B along the way. Plus there is just a whole bunch of crap in the beginning that I apparently forgot mid way. To combat this (I am not masochistic enough to want to deal with two novels in need of editing with plot holes the size of Mount Saint Helens) I have started what I am dubbing "Oro Notes*". Lists and lists of questions, any that I think up concerning the world, the history, technology, politics, events, possible plot points and devices, and my characters. I don't have to or even want to answer most of them right now but sadly the novel I am going to write is a bit more under control than the one I've basically already gotten down on paper.

------>cue brilliant idea------->Oro notes for Wrimo '08....drat I renamed it months ago to Kept from the Light...must remember to use its actual name.

Aside from that I have been preparing for winter cause it seems like it just wants to happen now and can't wait until after Halloween. Go Go 2 pairs of gloves for $1.50 at Target! I have one diesel pumpkin just waiting to turn into the winged jack-o-lantern of doom (and yes I want to put wings on it, everything of doom deserves to have wings) and trick or treat candy to be given to my co-workers and little brother. I know I don't get and kids trick or treating but seriously the first year I don't have candy there will be swarms of them. Murphy's laws rule the universe for good or ill.

Well back to perusing the Nano forums with all the other crazy obsessed peoples. BTW if you weren't up this morning you missed one hell of a sunrise. Seriously, just spectacular.

*Oro - meaning what/huh/wtf - stolen from the manga Ruroni Kenshin (cause Kenshin's awesome like that)