I haven't tanked since ICC, but you know what? This bear sleeping bag just might inspire me to do so.
Created by Eiko Ishizawa, I am so amused by this bear sleeping bag!
How to Write Badly Well is an incredibly humorous blog written by Joel Stickley. It started with a series of posts dispensing hilarious advice on how to well, write badly well (descriptive titles FTW) and now he has a book coming out as well.
There are so many awesome posts, that I don't even know where to begin in sharing some posts. But here are some: If you find a phrase you like and Personify every object.
Perhaps if I am at a loss on what to blog about, I could just choose one of his posts and write badly well. However it looks like some of my past posts already show signs of writing badly well. I use way too many ellipses, use parenthesis to explain myself, and allow "modern" language to sneak into my posts.
The funniest part of that last link is the last comment on that post... "This would actually be almost reasonable if the characters were playing an MMO". So maybe I get a pass.
Anyways, one of his posts last month caught my eye. The Amazing Random Blurb Roller can basically provide you with a plot. All you need is some dice! Perhaps some inspiration for folks who write RP type posts? Or given how I've mentioned that our guild has been so drama-free, perhaps I can use it to write some made up stories on drama.
This story is a disturbing tale of ambition and redemption. The protagonist is sarcastic and haunted; as the story unfolds he/she will be forced to compromise a deeply-held moral code. By the end, our hero will have triumphed, but at what cost?
I was pretty pissed this morning. Pretty pissed (though I should have been more saddened) that there are people who have to make low, personal attacks on those who don't agree with them. I guess either to make themselves feel better or because they don't have any substance to actually respond to opinions that don't agree with them (different opinions? on the interwebs?!?! the audacity!!!!) by keeping to the matter at hand.
I then had some conversations with fellow bloggers, had lunch, and things got better (meaning I got less angry). Though I still stand by my assertion that such low handed comments are not only unnecessary, but doing it via Twitter where they may not see such comments is downright cowardly. If you want to be a bitch, have the balls to do it to someone's face. Not everyone follows everyone else on Twitter.
But then I also made some posters that helped me and I think they can help you too.
First:
Happy Monday! Hope y'all (you can take the girl out of North Carolina but you cannot take the North Carolina out of the girl) had a good weekend. As for me I went skiing yesterday, which means I am a big bundle of soreness today. While skiing, a guy ran into me and we collided pretty hard. Fortunately I always ski with a helmet on, and I clearly heard a loud clang as my head hit something hard.
I warned the raid last night that if I was particularly nice to Jess or our holy pally Lorosia last night, that I may be experiencing some side effects from a minor concussion. It probably wouldn't have been being actually nice so much as just being really quiet and agreeable and without opinion that would have signaled some level of illness for me. (Emphasis on without opinion). But fortunately last night's raid proved that while my neck is sore as heck, I am just fine. Just ask the raid. ;)
Last night was also the first raid with our newest guildie Heili. I'm quite excited to have her join us because we have doubled the number of females in our raid to a whopping two, increasing the intelligence and general coolness of our raids exponentially. I also love that she plays melee dps (very well by the way... giving our boys a good run for their money last night).
So I've mentioned recently that we have been without guild drama for a really really long time. It feels kind of odd to not have to worry the guild, whether that is due to new guildies who don't work out, performance issues, or even just recruiting. With people leaving the game and all the turn over in guilds lately, I know we've been really lucky to not have to worry about recruiting. We've been able to add new guildies when needed who are friends of friends.
Now saying there is no guild drama isn't saying that we don't drive each other crazy, because we do. But its very much like being driven crazy by your brother or sister. You get irritated, but then you get over it because you're family. There are 9 of us who have been raiding together for 15 months now... while 6 of the 9 have been raiding together for almost 3 years? Then Jess and I have been playing together for over 5 years now.
Also this past weekend was Isle of Conquest weekend. I did a significant number of Isles on Saturday both on K and my level 81 shadow priest. You know, I'm not sure that there is a BG that generates as many opinions on strategy than Isle. I mean you go into an AB... WSG... EOTS... any of the other BGs, the strat is going to be pretty similar match to match.
But Isle? Well for Horde I guess its easy, they go Workshop, at least on my battlegroup. But for Alliance? Everyone spends the two minutes before the gates go up saying there is only one way to win. Docks! All go Workshop! Split docks and hanger evenly! But you know what? I saw wins and losses with various strats and combos of taken nodes.
But sure enough, there's bound to be that one person each Isle, adamant that strategy X is the only way to win. Myself, I think people underestimate the importance and impact of the Quarry and Refinery. Anyways did you guys do Isle this weekend? Thoughts on Isle strategy?
Oh my goodness, three days, three posts in a row! Gotta catch up from when I was gone. :) Anyways, a number of WoW related news stories.
First, an article in the LA times on research around how playing video games, and specifically WoW, can improve cognitive ability in older adults. Psychology professors at NC State have just published a paper on their findings.
With this National Science Foundation grant funded project, they found that older adults (aged 60-77) who scored low on initial cognitive tests experienced significant improvement in spatial ability and focus after two weeks of playing WoW for about two hours a day. And why did the researchers choose WoW? One of the researchers noted that:
"It met a bunch of criteria we had. Primarily that it is really engaging and cognitively complex, so we chose a game that we thought would have the best chance of exercising older adults' cognitive abilities and thereby improving them."
Looking for some cute WoW items? Check out some of what I've come across lately.
1. Murloc shirt:
I am finally back in Seattle, having caught up on the sleep I didn't get for two weeks. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to do another 2 or 3 weeks worth of meetings again later in March. :( Anyways, some random updates.
1. About a month or so ago the crazy Klepsacovic and I became friends on RealID. He even came on Drenden for a bit with an alt toon in our guild. The best way that I was able to prepare my guildies for him was with "This guy is incredibly brilliant yet insane at the same time".
I think Jess asked whether this meant that they have to pretend that I am as charming as I am on my blog. To which my response was "I'm charming on the blog"? I mean seriously, right? I am many things but charming ain't one of them.
2. While I was in my two week work hell, I ended up missing a raid. I found out later that some stupid mistakes were made and that there was a wipe on trash. Jess apparently noted that he felt a little empty that he didn't get a blistering angry whisper, which would have been from yours truly.
I think several people offered to take my place, including a friend of ours on a nightelf druid alt, but Jess noted it wouldn't be the same. Come on guys, you guys should know by now to not even try to take my place there!
3. Has Lorosia been scheming with Rades offline or something? Because the other day Rades sends me this:
Yes, I'm still alive. Barely though, as work has been kicking my ass the last two weeks. This past week in NC has been so insane that I had to pull an all nighter last Monday night. I haven't done that since undergrad! Anyways, next week is going to be just as crazy so I figured I might as well catch up and do a rare weekend post.
1. The good: Screenshots from weeks ago from our guild Deathwing kill.
