Chicago Clawcon

This past weekend was the second of our summer Clawcons, this time in Chicago. It was a bit of a different Clawcon compared to the west coast one we had in Indianola, WA. The west coast one was in a house we rented together. We spent most of the time at the house just hanging out and cooking our meals together. There was drinking (yay pirate night!) but it wasn't anything too crazy.

This Clawcon was at my condo, so the boys got to see where and how I live, and probably got to know me a bit better that way. When we're raiding or arenaing or whatever, they now have a mental image of me sitting at my desk in my office looking west towards the lake. So it was a bit more personal in this way, at least for me.

I did have the boys do some stuff for me at my place, as Heidi fixed my surround sound, Sam suggested wall colors, and Jess gave me suggestions for overhead light fixtures. They laughed at me and my shortness and what I have to do to get stuff from my tall ass kitchen cabinets. When we arranged to meet up with our friend Thormaine for lunch on Saturday, I told him that we'd be pretty easy to pick out of a crowd, four tall 6'1" to 6'5" guys and a short asian girl.

We went out to eat more at this city Clawcon (mmm Tango Sur... mmm Lou Malnati's), and did some touristy things including going up to the Sears (er ok Willis) Tower and checking out their four plexiglass platforms that hang over the side of the building, 103 floors up. The other difference was that this weekend was just Claw folks, no spouses or kids. Thus, I think there might have been a bit more drinking and staying up late. I also introduced the boys to shots of Korean soju.

Since I had wireless at my place, we did also take the opportunity to play together a bit.

There is the pic of my table. I also ended up pulling out my work laptop and putting it on a little side table so we ended up having all 5 of us at the same table. The 5 of us did two battlegrounds together, Arathi Basin and Eye of the Storm. I'm not sure if it was luck, or the fact that the five of us were sitting at the same table, but we totally pwned both of them!

Makes a pretty damn good case for the importance of communication in a bg, which I think we knew already. I think a couple of folks said that they were instinctively pushing their push to talk button, which was funny as well. We're not on vent kids! We can yell at each other face to face!

It was also very interesting to look over folks shoulders and see how other people play. What? Your screen looks like that? Huh? What is that there? Whoa, what are you doing with that left hand of yours? Why is it moving all over the place? What's all that clicking you got going on there? Oh the Razer Naga mouse? You use the mouse like that? What you use the arrows?

All in all, another great time!

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This tank and healer relationship

It's been a while since I've talked about tank-healer relationships. Let's look at the specific relationship I have with my tank. Despite what some guildies may have wondered at one time, Jess and I did not know each other prior to the game. Our tank-healer relationship, and the now subsequent real life friendship, has been built from the game.

This tank healer relationship started within The Left Claw over 3 years ago when we had about 7 people who ran 5 mans together all the time. I think the first time I healed Jess was back in Scarlet Monastery when we were level 30 something. From then until some of the later 5 mans in BC, I don't think that I ever even healed another tank. When we did start running with other tanks or healers, it was funny because we felt that we were somehow cheating on each other.

But the other day I was pondering about the fact that not every tank or healer I know in game has this sort of tank-healer relationship. So I wonder what it is that brings or cements a random tank and healer together into this sort of relationship? Is it just luck that brings together a tank and a healer who just somehow happen to click?

I know that part of our relationship today has to do with what I went through about 9 months after I started playing this game. Without going into tons of detail, I'll just say that I was an absolute emotional wreck for about 3 months. If I think back to that time now, I don't even recognize myself. Things got better, but I was still pretty bad for the next 9 months.

During this entire year, Jess, I kid you not, ended up being my personal therapist. I honestly believe that I would have gone off the deep end and really needed professional help if I didn't have that outlet. The drama that unfolded over that year was to the extent that it could have been written for a made for TV movie.

Throughout that time, Jess knew pretty much every excruciatingly painful detail of what was going on, way more stuff than my RL family and friends knew. Why? Well, there was stuff that was so dramatic, so shocking, so depressing, that it was easier for me to confide in someone who "didn't really know me". To this day, Jess knows more of what happened and what I thought/felt/struggled with at the time than anyone else.

When I think back to that time, I can't even believe that Jess put up with all of it for that long and that I didn't drive Jess off the deep end. When I mentioned to Jess the other day about how this emotionally wrecked year of mine probably set some sort of foundation for our relationship today, Jess agreed, but did wonder what it was that made me feel comfortable enough to confide all that stuff in the first place. Hmmm. Good question.

It still often surprises me when Jess says something or sends me an email that shows me how incredibly well Jess really knows me. Sometimes in a way even better than I know myself. Seriously, how can this be? Between two people who have yet to even meet each other in real life? When I say that I continue to play this game for the people and the relationships, this is a big reason why.

I'm thinking that this sort of relationship could happen with any two people in this game, whether that is two healers, two dps, or whatever combination of two roles within the game. But I wonder if there anything about playing the role of a tank and healer that somehow adds to building a real life friendship? Do we trust each other more because of the roles we play in game? Hmmm.

Whether it was just plain luck or fate that brought this healer and tank together, I'm grateful for this relationship that has translated over into a real life friendship. I know that one day I'll stop playing this game, but I know that our friendship will continue. And I have to think to myself, isn't it just plain crazy that this game did all of this?

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Clawcon 2010 Thoughts

Our guild is in the process of planning a guild meetup this summer. We had originally planned on doing it last summer, but it didn't quite come together. But this year its really happening! This July we are having Clawcon/Clawfest/Clawlapalooza in Bainbridge Island, Washington.

The latest estimate is that there will be at least 8 of us there, with as many as perhaps 11 folks. I think having 8+ people come is pretty good considering that we are a 10 man raiding guild! We'll even have a couple of crazy canucks drive down from Canada! My plan is to fly out to Seattle from O'Hare, where Sam will meet me so we can begin the craziness on the flight over.

There is going to be a lot of interesting things for us to discover and learn at Clawcon, including:

* Will we call each other by our real names or toon names?
* How much salad can Shmoo really eat?
* What kind of yummies will the boys cook for us? (I have declared that the girls are doing nothing this weekend!)
* What happens when you lock Sam and Nkm together in a room overnight?
* Will we need the medical services of our personal medic Nico?
* What will happen once Shmoo finds out what the M is Nkm really stands for?
* Will Kal flirt with all the ladies in person like he does in game?
* Will K give Jess as much crap in person as she does in game? (Probable)
* What happens when you bring guildies, most of whom have never met before, under one roof with an abundance of alcohol?

Hmmm, important questions to ponder. The whole bit about wondering what happens when you bring guildies under one roof for a weekend sounds like MTV's The Real World, Left Claw style. Will there be drama?

Jess joked that if things get weird or uncomfortable, we can all bring our headsets and put them on to pretend we are just talking to each other on vent. Haha. Though somehow I don't think that will be necessary. Sure, its hard to know if people will click in person, but I have a feeling that folks will get along just fine.

I'm actually very interested to see if we'll call each other by our real names or not. Even though I know the real names of many of these folks, I just don't think I will be able to call them by their real names. Perhaps others will use real names, but for me these familiar and recognizable voices on vent are in my mind tied to their toon names.

But it will be interesting to see how folks may be different in person than they are in game, or as they are perceived by others in game. People have mentioned to me that they are much more shy or outgoing in real life. I personally am much less bitchy and opinionated in real life. Er, maybe. Though in all seriousness, I am not as talkative in real life as I may be in game.

I do think that the online vehicle of the game allows people the anonymity or space to be different than they are in real life. Or perhaps people are even different in game without realizing it themselves! How will all of this play out in our get together? Hmmm. /ponder

Then there's the whole thing of knowing what each other looks like. Jess and I did the facebook thing over a year and a half ago and a lot of other guildies have followed suit. There has recently been a rash of facebooking (Sam calls it a facebook orgy) within the guild, perhaps to prepare us for Clawcon. I have to pause here to publicly call out Nkm for still failing the rest of us on Facebook.

Anyways, I think it's very interesting when you see what someone looks like when you've had no idea for so long, which will be even more interesting when we meet face to face. I mean you've established some level of a relationship with someone over a period of time. Even within strictly platonic relationships, how do physical appearances affect perceptions or the relationship itself? Do they? Hmmm.

The last thoughts I have around Clawcon are how things will be afterwards. Will hanging out for 4 days with each other make us a stronger guild? Yes, I can see the bonds becoming stronger. But will it make it harder if someone leaves the game or the guild? Yeah, I'm sure it will. Will having somewhat of a relationship outside the game make it harder if any issues come up within the game? Perhaps.

Damn, I've been philosophical and deep today. Lots of questions. At the end of the day though, I have no doubts that things will be an absolute riot (perhaps dangerously so) and that we will have a great time. Clawcon 2010 baby!

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Let's go on a positive note and change the world

So unless you've been living under a rock, you already know about the hubbub that hit the blogosphere last week. I caught it late, about a day after it happened. I was very hesitant to immediately post my thoughts on it because I really wanted to think about it before posting rashly about it. Though now I think the incident and its subsequent fallout has been pounded into everyone's heads and that the time has passed to talk about it.

Smarter and more eloquent folks than I have already talked a lot about this. I point you to Tam, Ophelie, Byaghro, and Soph. Tam's post has some incredibly well written and thought out comments on it. If you're interested, take the time to read through them.

In a nutshell, here's my quick take on the unfortunate incident. In my opinion, I honestly don't think that either Anna or Cranky really intended any harm or malice. But its hard to see through intentions. I do think that bloggers, even the biggest bloggers, have every right to post public reactions on their blogs. Though I do think that Anna could have been a little less heavy handed. I'm really sorry to see Cranky go and hope that she will consider coming back to blogging.

I'm just surprised by how big this drama has gotten. So let's look at something positive, eh? Game designer Jane McGonigal thinks that we can use games to change the world. These games would be "serious games", those that intend more than entertainment for its players. She wants to "inspire large groups of people to pool their knowledge and skills to overcome obstacles, and this is precisely what’s needed to tackle global social issues, such as poverty, hunger, disease and climate change".

McGonigal is the Director of game research and development for the Institute for the Future. In this lecture (link here) she talks "about how to work out real world problems in gaming spaces and how gaming can change the world".

She also specifically mentions our little game here, starting at about 4:32 in the video. "Games like World of Warcraft give players the means to save worlds, and incentive to learn the habits of heroes. What if we could harness this gamer power to solve real-world problems?"

Hmmm. So then she asks what exactly is it that we are learning through games that could be applied in terms of changing the world? She mentions:

1. Urgent optimism, the desire to act immediately to solve an obstacle
2. Our ability to weave a tight social fabric with bonds of trust and cooperation
3. Epic meaning, our desire to be tied to awe inspiring missions

One factoid she shared is that the wowwiki is the second largest wiki in the world, second to Wikipedia. Wow. Now in 2007 McGonigal was involved in developing a game called World Without Oil that started with 1700 gamers, asked to look at how they would react in an oil crisis.

Her latest project is Urgent Evoke which launched in early March. It is aimed "toward young people in Africa primarily and more broadly to anyone in the world who wants to help solve problems in the developing areas. It’s a crash course in how to start a venture, a business, that can tackle these problems [of poverty, disease, hunger] at a local level".

Evoke has quests and missions you can complete. It also has ten skills and abilities in which you can build up points such as Sustainability, Vision, Entrepreneurship, and Local Insight. There is still time to play as the season ends on May 12.

I think she has some incredible ideas, plus I really really love that she is a female game developer. :)

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What this game can teach or reconfirm about yourself

I've talked a lot about how this game is much more than a game. I don't think folks quite realize when they first start the extent of the social interaction in this game. I know that I had no clue as to the kind and extent of social network I would be involved in via our guild.

Now whenever you are in a situation where you are interacting with other people, I think there is an opportunity to either learn or reconfirm certain things about yourself... whether they are good or not so good. How do you interact with others? React to certain situations? So some revelations/confirmations for myself around this end with some personal stories.

1. I can be a stubborn hothead who is not afraid to speak her mind

Family and past personal relationships will tell you that I am probably one of the most stubborn people you've ever met. And if someone wrongs or crosses me, or does something I don't feel is right, my instant gut reaction is very unlike what most folks would expect. When you're standing with a friend, waiting to put your name in at a very busy restaurant and someone else tries to go ahead of you, I'm the person who will publicly call them out, getting into somewhat of a verbal sparring match (no, that didn't really happen... er ok, it did).

In game? Well yeah... this definitely carries over. When I come across asshats in pug runs or in battlegrounds, I'm not the kind of person who can let it go. I'm the hothead who has to have her say. And stubborn? Me? In game? No.... er... ok yes... just ask Jess. If I think we should do something a certain way, or go for a certain boss, lets just say I am very very resolute on that opinion. :)

2. I'm fiercely loyal

If I feel my friends are being attacked, whoa watch out. I recall a situation back in college when one of my best girlfriends at the time had this crazy skank of a girl come up to her, started yelling at her, then grabbed her hair. Instinctively, I grabbed this girl's hand, twisted it around and off of my friend, pushed this girl back, and spewed something to the effect of "Are you f'in crazy?!?!". In the process I broke a finger on my left hand.

It became a big joke/conversation starter within our circle of friends for quite a while... and the story of how I broke a finger morphed into me getting in a catfight with a girl to defend my friend. This quality of mine is something that I have also seen in game. If I feel that friends or guildies are getting attacked or accused of things that are not right, I am very quick to defend them and attack back. Its sort of interesting... I play a healer in game, but I am very much a real life tank in personality.

3. I get easily frustrated

I've long known that I tend to get much more frustrated than others. I am probably the worst teacher in real life because I am just not very patient. I think I tried once in RL to teach someone the piano, and it ended pretty badly for both of us.

Unfortunately this aspect of myself has been confirmed in game as well. I definitely get more frustrated than others... and not only that, but I am not very good and hiding my frustration, which is bad. I think this is something that I can perhaps work on to improve about myself in game and in real life. Perhaps I can be inspired by Shmoo, who has to be the most optimistic guy I've ever met.

4. I am not the best communicator

I would probably say that in real life, I am not always the best at communicating what I want or need. I can tend to not express whatever is bothering me, and let it simmer and simmer and simmer until it blows up under completely unrelated pretenses. It's bad, I know.

Surprisingly, I think I am much better at communication in game. Guildies will tell you that I am not shy at all (see #1 above) about telling someone that I need them to move here, or do this, or do that. Our poor tanks probably get it the most from me, as I tell them what minor positioning or timing changes they could make from a healer's perspective. Perhaps this is something I've learned in game that I can translate over into my real life.

Anyways, all in all its amusing to me that I react to most social situations in game in very much the same way I do in real life. In some ways it confirms to me that I am how I am, in others I see things that I could translate over from game to real life, and it also highlights areas where I think I could and should perhaps soften up a bit both in game and real life. :)

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When your toon influences real life

We were joking around on vent the other day about how our choice of toons may influence our real lives. Nikolai talked about how he has in fact strutted around his room just like his male draenei priest does. And you know what? I believe him. Then Jess then joked that while playing Makawee (a resto shammy), four paper mache or construction paper crafted totems surround the desk, thus creating an appropriate power center.

Now are there any things from my tree playing life that have spilled over into my real life? Well, its odd to have two fashion related posts in a row, but yes, there is one thing and it is around jewelry. I'm a bit of a jewelry nut (hahaha tree reference!) and my last couple of purchases have been heavily influenced by playing a tree in this game.

Some stunning examples that you can pick up from Jeunebugs, a seller on Etsy who takes real leaves, dries them, then dips them in silver, gold, or copper.

So there is how I show my tree pride in real life.

Anything spill over from your toons into your real lives?

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Disclaimer: I have received nothing from this Etsy seller for this post. Heck, Jeunebugs doesn't even know who I am. I just think that she has incredibly stunning leaf jewelry (for a reasonable price) and wanted to share.

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If only I could cyclone your ass in RL...

I actually haven't been able to play WOW for a bit. Why? Well I started the process of buying a condo back in July. Long story short, I was supposed to close on this condo in mid to late September, but for a multitude of reasons on the seller and bank's side (including dishonesty, shadyness, and straight-up ineptitude), I still haven't closed. However, I have been kicked out of the place I was renting, thus I've been a wandering vagrant for about a week now. And since my internet connection has been spotty as I crash with friends, I haven't been able to play.

So I am flying back to my hometown, Chapel Hill NC, for the next five days so hopefully I'll be able to play and raid a bit again. Can I just say one thing? The entire real estate world... agents, attorneys, mortgage bankers... um shady? Especially my experience with my mortgage bankers... who are arrogant idiot assholes who weren't smart enough to get a real banking job, a personal sentiment which I have not been shy about sharing with them. Trust me, my feistiness extends its arm long beyond the game. :)

Anyways, hopefully I'll have more game related stuff to blog about again soon.

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Two lessons from K

Two funny stories and related lessons from K

1. Guildies may remember this from a couple weeks ago... but I had an eye exam for the first time in quite a while. I'm pretty bad about this kind of stuff, but I had run out of my contacts and figured I was long due for an exam. My appointment at 6:30 pm, but since it had been so long, I had forgotten exactly what happens during an eye exam. Let's look at what happened:

Doc: Ok, now I'm going to have to dilate your eyes.
K: Oh, ok.
Doc: So your vision may be a bit fuzzy and you are going to be very sensitive to light until probably after 10 pm.
K thinking to herself: (Oh crap! I'm raiding at 9 pm!)

When I got on for the raid that night, I gave proper warning that if anyone dies, it may be because I can't see really well. I was squinting from the brightness of the screen, plus I was wearing my glasses, which I'm not used to. Flame Leviathan + dilated eyes = ouchy.

I also couldn't really read the names of folks in my little grid boxes, but I could see colors of the boxes for our two tanks: the little brown box for Jess and the pink one for Wut. Though we did have another healing pally with us and I had to make sure that I was choosing the right pally box for Wut. :)

My vision didn't really come back to normal until 10:30, which was after a couple bosses... but I don't think anyone died. The lesson here? Coordinate your eye exams with your raid times.

2. The current project I'm on involves tons of meetings at the client site. Tons. It's pretty common that I have days with 5-6 hours of meetings. Its quite crazy, and makes me feel like this:

So there I was the other day sitting through another one of these meetings. I was looking around the table at the 15 or so other folks. I have no idea how this came into my head, but I was looking at this one guy and here's what I thought:

K: OMG, if that guy plays WOW, I would bet money that he is a feral druid tank. He is sooo a bear!

I then proceeded to amuse myself for the rest of the unnecessary meeting by going around the table and thinking what the other folks would be.

K: Oh she'd be a gnome lock I think... oh, he'd be a warrior or maybe a pally tank.

The lesson here? Entertain yourself during really boring and unnecessary meetings by imaging what race/class other folks would be. :)

What I dork I am...

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No time! There's never any time!

There's been a number of changes with work and the project I'm on right now, which will mean I will be super super busy for the next two months. I know I have to feel lucky in this economy that I still have a job (and believe me, I do), but can I just bitch a bit here about how crazy, stressed, and overworked I am/will be?

So WOW-ing has been very minimal this week, and I sort of expect that to continue for a while. I'm just too exhausted when I come home to think about staring at a computer screen for any more time. When my exhaustion affects my snarkiness and desire to make fun of Jess or Chachi or Kalthan, you know its bad. I'll still definitely be playing, raiding, and blogging, but probably a bit less than I have the last couple of months.

Bonus points to anyone who can identify this quote:

"No time! There's never any time! I don't have time to study... I''ll never get into Stanford. I'll let everyone down! I'm so confused. I'm so excited... I'm so excited... I'm so scared... "

Damn, and I really wanted to get into Stanford...

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Technical issues

Ok so Jess put up a post yesterday detailing some of the issues I've had on vent recently. Now yes, I freely admit that I am not the most technical person, as exhibited with this little story of when I got my Macbook. Now I've never used push to talk, but prior to this Macbook, I never had this problem. I do think I might have fixed the problem. However, I keep thinking its fixed, and it keeps coming back. Grrrr

But let me just respond to Jess' post a bit. First of all, its Schlitz not PBR! Get it straight! Hahaha... actually it probably was a Diet Coke with Lime (yum... my vice) because I am not a beer drinker. Its also funny whenever Jess hears sirens and says something like "Its like you live in a city or something". Um yeah... I live in Chicago?

Now Jess says that the raid doesn't mind when they can hear everything going on but here's why it drives me crazy. So I'm a pretty fast typer, which several of our raid members have commented on. Atania says that she can guess my mood during a raid by how fast or furiously I'm typing. If I'm typing even faster than normal and pounding away at the keys, whoa watch out. I don't know, I think I type the same all the time, but who knows.

The other issue is that if folks can hear me pounding away and they don't see something come up on raid chat or come across as a personal whisper to them, they know that I am whispering someone something. I don't know... I guess I would just rather keep my typing and the sound of me unwrapping my chocolate poundcake to myself.

But finally, when did tanks think they could make fun of healers? Um hello... the ribbing goes one way here. Just like healz go one way from healer to tank, the ribbing goes one way from healer to tank. kk?

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Oh the drama!

Ok a number of things I want to comment about that I shall somehow all smush into one post.

First of all, Blizzcon tickets went on sale again on Saturday. I tried to get tickets again, but once again got pwned. Oh well. In a way though, I think I was looking forward more to the idea of finally meeting and hanging out with some of these crazy people I've played with for 2+ years instead of Blizzcon the event itself. I can't deny that Blizzcon still would have been cool, but if Blizz doesn't want us there, well screw you Blizz! You know what we are going to do? We are going to have Clawcon! We're in the beginning stages of planning this guild meetup. Has anyone else put together or attended a guild meetup?

Now when I was talking about Blizzcon and all, Jess and I had a conversation a while back about it and my posts about it:

Jess: So with you talking about going to Blizzcon and all publicly, do you worry whether or not you'll get stalkers?
K: Um, no not really. If I do though, you're my tank... you'll be there to grab the stalker aggro from me.
Jess: Uh, that's not the kind of aggro I grab.
K: Oh, no?
Jess: No, I don't even know what to do with that kind of aggro.

So what I've learned from this is that apparently my tank is selective with aggro. Hmmm.

Now speaking of stalkers (cue segway), I wanted to talk about this whole debacle of Ferraro at Paladin Schmaladin. I never read "her" blog and only heard about "her" with that whole Val'anyr debate "she" had with Averna at Nerf this Druid a while back. I was out of town for a couple of days when the debate first started up, so unfortunately I didn't read it until days later.

However, my impression of "her" through the comments on Averna's blog and on wow.com from the Val'anyr debate was pretty negative. I found "her" to be incredibly elitist and arrogant and did not like her attitude of "I sorta work for Blizzard so I am obviously right" (which has also since been deemed a lie). It seemed like "she" (I keep putting quotes around these pronouns because who the heck knows now, right?) was attacking Averna instead of having a healthy debate, which pissed me off. You attack one tree, you're going to get an entire forest coming after ya, ok bee-yotch? Ok ok, I'll settle down now.

So now it seems that Ferraro has over the years, yes years, stolen pictures and content from Sarah Townsend, a blogger who has nothing to do with WOW. Jagoex seemingly first put the puzzle pieces together, which prompted some ridiculous concoction of a story/response from Ferraro about the blog having been handed off to 7 authors over the years. Wow.com then posted some more information about looking at the IP addresses of Ferraro's comments and how they think its been one person all this time.

I mean wow, just wow. I was never a reader of her blog so I don't feel duped or offended or anything. But I just marvel at the idea that someone would take someone else's pictures (the latest is that they seemingly took private photos only available from Sarah's private Facebook profile) and pass them off as their own, then create some ridiculous story when caught in their web of lies. I mean who does this? It just boggles my mind. But when you get right down to it, its just downright sad. Someone needed to create a false identity for their blog to what, to get some sort of validation from the WOW world? They needed the attention not just from writing what I hear was a good paladin resource in and of itself, but needed attention of the "OMG you are hawt" variety?

I don't really care who you really are in your real life, but if you are going to bring in real life aspects, its just odd to me that someone would lie about it. Anyone who has half a brain and is not completely shallow and idiotic doesn't need validation on simply their physical appearance. And those who don't have half a brain and are completely shallow and idiotic already get validation of their physical appearance in their everyday life.

Now do I think that this whole debacle has affected the credibility of WOW bloggers? Uh, not really because I think that there are always going to be nut jobs in any community or group of people. But this has gotten me thinking about myself and this blog. I have talked about a lot of things from my personal life here, including my job, where I grew up, and even my dating status. I've also never made it a secret that I am female. Why? Well this blog is part WOW blog, but in a small part I think of it sorta as a personal blog as well. This blog has never really been a serius bzness resto druid blog, like Phaelia's was and like Bellwether's or Averna's or Sylly's or Beruthiel's or Keeva's and others are now. So it seems natural for me to throw in little personal tidbits when they are in my mind at the time.

So then why no personal pic on the home page or in the about section? Well, I've thought about it. I don't think it really matters, but I do think its nice to put a face to the name as I've seen on a number of other blogs. Will I do it? I don't know. Maybe not until I can get Jess trained to grab stalker aggro. Hahahaha sigh.

Geez, this is the longest post I've done in a while. I need a nap now.

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Where K gets pwned by Blizz

After a lot of going back and forth about whether I was really going to go to Blizzcon, I finally decided to do so. But then what happens? I totally got pwned by Blizzard! I was not able to get tickets on Saturday. Boo. Apparently when they say tickets go on sale at 10 am Pacific, they mean you can enter the queue earlier than 10 am. Knowing this, I'll have to try again on the 30th.

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When WOW crosses your day job

When I'm not playing a resto druid, I play the role of a healthcare consultant (waiting for the oohs and aahs.... yeah right). Healthcare uses a lot of acronyms, some of which overlap with WOW. So, here is what was going through my mind the other day during one of my many many meetings.

K:Oh gawd, I'm really really tired of all these meetings. We waste too much time and could be actually getting work done. I should be running these meetings the way I lead raids.

Voice in the distance: ...we should be looking at 4 WOWs then?

K: Huh? WOW? What, they're going to be playing WOW in the exam rooms now? Oh, wait they're talking about workstations on wheels WOWs, not our game WOW. So I wonder how long it will take me to fish up the turtle mount and get the new Strand Crawler pet. I'm getting a little annoyed its taking so long...

Voice in the distance: ...but is that nursing station in line of sight of those exam rooms?

K: Line of sight? Has someone gotten out of line of sight for my heals? Oh wait, damn it! Not that kind of line of sight. So hmmm I'm curious to see how a real attempt at Kologarn is going to go...

Voice in the distance: ...how many tanks do we have there again?

K: Well that would depend on what boss we're doing. Wait, what? Number of tanks in the respiratory room? I don't give a crap! Speaking of tanks, I wonder when I last did a post that made fun of Jess...

Voice in the distance: ...will CC be listed on the tracker board?

K: What? Is Vel sheeping things here? Is Ata sapping things again? Oh damn, you mean CC, chief complaint! Sigh, why are these silly meeting people disturbing my daydreams with WOW speak?

Anyone else faced with WOW acronyms during your day job?

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Level 4 of WOW geekdom

Level 1 - You play WOW
Level 2 - You play WOW and you blog about it
Level 3 - You play WOW and you blog about it and you are thinking of going to Blizzcon
Level 4 - You play WOW and you blog about it and you are thinking of going to Blizzcon and you are thinking about blogging about going to Blizzcon

/sigh. I am trying to see if some guildies/friends will meet up with me there. Anyone been to Blizzcon? Anyone else thinking of going? FYI, first tickets for the August 21 and 22 event in Anaheim go online for sale this Saturday, May 16.

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The tree goes to the beach!

I'm spending four days in sunny southern California catching up with some girlfriends, so WOW playing and blogging will be at a minimum for a little bit. Don't have too much fun without me guildies! Before I go though, some cute shirts from cottonfactory.

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In my WOW vs real life

When I got tagged with the Honest Scrap thing the other week and thought about some honest things to share about myself, I realized there are some interesting comparisons between my WOW life and my real life. So a couple more things about me in WOW (W) and real life (R):

1W. I am obsessive compulsive about things like keeping the guild bank tabs straight and orderly. I have been known to get a bit crazy and inquire in guild chat, “Who put this Outland item in the Northrend tab?!?!”
1R. I can be kinda messy... I’m definitely not a neat freak. In relationships, the guy is the one always picking up after me. :)

2W. I am often heard yelling DIATH over vent (damn it all to hell!!!)
2R. I am often heard yelling DIATH and much worse things during my current daily commute because I have no patience for rude people on the roads. If you are the person who decides to drive on the shoulder when everyone else is backed up, I am the person who will NOT let you cut in front of me. Then as I pass your sorry ass I will call you a f’in idiot.

3W. I always bring a ton of fish feast. My message is Omega 3s... eat them. They iz yummy.
3R. I really do like to fish in real life. Also I could probably live off sushi for the rest of my life... but then I'd probably start glowing or develop an eye twitch from the mercury poisoning. That would not be good.

4W. I am always prepared with tons of extra stuff in my bags as well as a crazy huge stock of extra herbs and fish in my bank.
4R. I’ve been nicknamed MacGyver because I have so much random stuff in my work/laptop bag as well as my handbag. Both of these bags aren’t any bigger than what anyone else would have. But with all the random stuff I have in there I could probably jerry rig some sort of device to get me out of a jam or disassemble a bomb, should I ever find the need to do so.

5W. My confidant/tank's name is Jessika.
5R. My best friend's name is Jessica. Its funny because both know about the other and sometimes when I'm talking about some advice I've gotten from one Jess, I'll say, "Well the other Jess said so and so". Though I do have to keep correcting real life Jess on what WOW is called. She keeps calling it "that witchcraft thing you do". I’m not a witch! Well maybes...

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Getting back into the swing of things

I was in Chapel Hill for the last 4 days. It was amazing to be there and be able to go to Franklin Street after our win. Thus, my WOW-ing has been minimal for a while and now I'm having to catch back up on work stuff.

Hopefully I will be back with your regularly scheduled WOW blogging tomorrow. Go Heels!

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Honest Scrap

"1. When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to the said person so everyone knows she/he is real.
2. Choose a minimum of seven (7) blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have seven friends. Show the seven random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog. Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.
3. List at least ten (10) honest things about yourself. Then pass it on!"

Averna tagged me for this meme thingie (why is it called a meme? where did meme come from?). Seriously... brilliant? Haha if brilliant means not so much maybes. My blog must have inspired you to blog in that it showed you that if I can do it and talk about nothing and everything, anyone can blog. Anyways, I'm so glad you started blogging Averna and I definitely feel the serious healing posts that you and some of the other resto bloggers are doing are needed now that Phaelia is gone.

As for tagging some other blogs I read (even if they've been already tagged):
Keeva at Tree Bark Jacket. First, I think the blog is beautiful in design. But Keeva does serius bzness healing posts so that I can just be silly. Thanks Keeva!
Bellwether at 4 Haelz is another beautifully designed blog. I love the green!!! Bell also does serius bzness posts along with interesting posts like 10 vs 25 man loot and gender differences that generate good debate and discussion.
Sylly at Rolling Hots also has a beautiful blog. I love how it looks at the top of the page. Sylly also does serius bzness posts, but I have a feeling that we also have a similar (sylly? hahaha) sense of humor.
Megan at Out of Mana because she rocks. Seriously. I love her sense of humor and she is the queen of all things pvp and arena. After she's posted, I am 100% more likely to get on vent or guild chat that night and yell, "W'assup bitches?!?!".
Dark Legacy Comics cracks me up. The comics are beautifully drawn and incredibly witty. Go check them out.
Last but not least (I guess not surprising?) would be Jess at Pretty in Plate because that's my tank. While it sorta pains me to be nice and call Jess "brilliant", I guess the word would apply because Jess is healed by yours truly. So that makes Jess clearly brilliant simply in choice of healer.

Now ten honest things about me:

1. I have served as my own lawyer in court to stand up for a bogus ticket. The assistant DA tried to get me to plead guilty and pay a fine, which I would have none of. None! I had to question my own witness and cross examine the cop. I tried to use the only lawyer-ly knowledge I had, which came from TV shows. Apparently I did a good enough job that the judge sided with me and let me go, in large part because I think he was amused by my preparation and how into it I was.

2. I personally know a Nobel Prize winner. He is someone my dad has worked closely with for 25 years, and has seen my sister and I grow up. My family was fortunate enough to attend the Nobel week festivities in Stockholm in December 2007.

3. I grew up and went to undergrad in Chapel Hill, NC. I am actually going to be in Chapel Hill for the final four game on Saturday night as well as hopefully the championship game on Monday night. While I grew up in a small town, I have lived in cities for a while now (NYC from 2000-2003 and Chicago since 2003).

4. I was in NYC on 9/11/01 and was about 8 blocks away from WTC. I saw first hand the second plane hit and the first tower fall. I will never forget a lot of the details of my experience that day or the things I saw.

5. I have 3 degrees from 3 schools that all begin with a C. People think I kept going back to school for the edumacation, though I think its because I wanted to put off the real world. However after all that schooling, I often wonder what the heck I know and sometimes think all I got was a hefty student loan balance.

6. I am a terrible terrible procrastinator. I still haven’t done my taxes. Eeeks! I’ve always been like this. I was like this each time in school. It seems that I need the stress, the pressure, the fire under my ass to get me to do stuff.

7. When I lived in NYC I served as a juror on a federal grand jury for one month. I was on a jury that "specialized" in homicides in that any homicide case brought to the courts at the time was brought to us. Luckily as a grand jury we were not voting on guilt or innocence, but whether there was enough evidence for trial, i.e. an indictment. I saw a lot and heard a lot of crazy stuff over the course of a month.

8. I typically fly around a lot for my job as a consultant for hospitals, being on the road Mon-Thurs. At first its kinda fun, then it sucks, but racking up tons of status and points with American Airlines, Hilton, and Avis has its benefits. I have so many miles and upgrades with American that I only generally fly in first class. I have been lucky to be on a local project for the last 4 months, but could still find my way around O’hare blindfolded.

9. I’m generally very frugal and pretty cheap about most things. I prefer more family run restaurants to the fanciest restaurants in town. When things are on sale, I definitely stock up (yes I needed 10 rolls of paper towels because they were on sale). There are also a lot of things my girlfriends typically do from time to time that I really never do such as massages, manicures, and expensive haircuts. But when I splurge, I splurge, whether that is a handbag or a Macbook, or a trip to Barcelona (my dream next vacation)

10. I am a shorty... barely 5'2" and have to compensate by pretty much always wearing 3" or so heels. Speaking of shoes, I have way too many pairs and somewhere around 80% of them are black.

Geez... I shared a lot. I feel nekkid now.

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Bleh

Work has been super crazy the last two weeks and is anticipated to continue for another two weeks or so. Bleh. This has limited my play time as well as blog time and thus subjects to blog about. I've had to sit out on raids to catch up on work or sleep. This has brought up conversations like:

Jess: Your hots were missed.
K: Boo. Just my hots were missed? Not my witty commentary?
Jess: Well yes, of course... as well as your gentle encouragement and emotional support.

Haha. Sarcasm... I loves it.

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Sending healz to Lawson and herb quiz answers

#1. Anyone who knows me knows that basketball is on my brain from mid March to hopefully early April. I actually caused a wipe on KT the other night in Naxx by not running into the middle circle fast enough due to cheering for Texas to beat Dook. Oops! Sorries guildies! Anyways, here's what's on my mind right now.

#2. Answers to the herb quiz from last week. Any surprises? Its funny how some of them look nothing like their icon.

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