Tricks and Treats!

(General mood of the weekend - some ups-n-downs, of course)

Friday was pretty quiet. We went to eat then rented "Nim's Island". When this was in theatres I was pleased we passed on it. It looked too typical of "kid friendly family fare" often cranked out these days. Turned out to be pretty decent. Rent-worthy for sure.

Spent a little time in Vana'diel and noticed Deej was once again in Promy. I joked about it and he said it was his new shell's doing. He suggested I talk to Surgical but I wasn't ready. Despite not having stopped in TV in several days...

Saturday was super busy, but a lot of fun. For starters, we had two birthdays to attend. One was for the son of our good friends from the east-side. The little one just turned one and mom threw a big Halloween-themed bash. Mom also cooks and is super crafty. You should see the handmade cards she makes! And the hors d'oevures (if I got that right on the first try...) were very creative, and tasty!

From there it was off to my nephew's birthday slash Florida/Georgia party. That went very well too. I was doing my best to eat and snack lightly at both of these in anticipation of all the candy we were about to get. As sundown approached, we got the kids ready. I broke off and sat outside on the porch, soaking in the ambiance. The moon was high and full and super bright. There were orange lights around the porch, and a large inflatable and some smaller decorations around. The weather was agreeable and I got to enjoy about three minutes of atmosphere and happy before the rest of the gang poured out the door.

Thus shaken from my moment, we all went Halloweening. We saw some good costumes and house setups, but sadly there were a lot of non-participants too. And there were many more "average" costumes than cool ones. Man I really wish I had my cosplay gear already! As soon as I get Altana Viewer running somewhere I'm going to ask our good friend's mom about a commission. Her clothcraft is supposedly really up there - like 80+?

It was during a quiet part of the walk Ape told me something that made my heart ache - she had thought she was pregnant but the tests she just did said otherwise. We aren't specifically trying for more but we both love kids and certainly wouldn't turn one down! She was a little sad over it, saying she wanted to surprise me. I feel for her because it took us months and medical intervention for Clone the Elder to pop. So to speak.

Anyway, by the time we wrapped up the door-to-door and stopped at a relative's house (great creepy snacks!) it was very late getting home. I think I came on close to 11 and there was Deej, off again (!) on a promy. This time, he basically arranged it so I'd meet the leader. And so, I joined The Rogues of Siren.

Funny thing - I've partied with most of these people, and funnier still, Lucylulu (search for the post please) was here. As were her parents, Demire and Naax. Now that is awesome! I've met many couples, dating and married. But I think the three of them are the first time I've met two generations. Goldenkid, Surgical, Tracent (of the recent lame party) and others were here, and familiar to me.

I was invited along on a promy marathon, although I didn't realize we'd be at it for four+ hours. I was supplied with animas and some other goodies and I felt bad when I wasn't allowed to pay. But I tried my best to make it up by doing the best I could, on DNC/NIN. Mea and Dem were cake, actually. Only Holla, evil Holla would prove too much.

Sometime during a private chat with Deej on the shell roster, he gave me a splendid compliment. He said he really liked Naax and Demire as parental types, but that I was his favorite "adult". Not sure why the quotes but I blushed. And said I hoped I never disappointed him in that regard. Later still, he offered some unused antidotes to me prior to logging out. I offered to pay but all he asked for was a hug. Awww~!

Sun - Housework... Lots of housework... Then we had to go shopping for science project stuff and other assorted junk. At Town Center, I broke off a line with the Staples cashier I'll prolly never get to use should I live to 100: On hearing that she's studying nuclear physics (came up because we were talking about science projects) a "brilliant" line popped into my head and I took the shot:

"Sooo... Hoping to find the Higgs boson?" She responded enthusiastically affirmatively and I added that it's be neat if she could go to CERN. Apparently one of her sponsors is involved in the project. Thank you Alpine Kat!

Logged in just in time to join Surgical, Autumn, Oldgrey and Tracent in Besieged, then escorted Redgaer from Holla to Xarcabard. Unable to help Bee and Trailmix (from Rogues and also a longtime friend of Bee's!) in Citadel with gate breach. They got it tho'! This all happened during the Sunday Shows:

Amazing Race was quick, but two teams (Team Zebra and Poker Pals) got hopelessly stuck and it was tough waiting to see who would finally make it. Team Zebra prevailed, with the poker chicks having to be stopped by Phil because everybody else was done and I'm sure the crew was ready to go eat.

Desperate Housewives was really good - asked in shell if anyone else watched, no admissions. It's getting appropriately soapy. And hey - cat fight!

Brothers and Sisters was not bad. Sweet surrogacy thread with Scotty and Kevin. Kitty's cancer thing is getting sadder (my mom had cancer) and the Tommy's back angle was not to my liking. But I did like how Nora and Tommy came to an understanding at the end.

Simple Pleasures

Tuesday:

Basic XPing with Fhox, Bene and Aeru (nee Zero nee Lust). He never did answer where he got his name from... Anyway, the RDB crew was in Batallia and I joined them on NIN. We did well, Aeru getting BLU magic and the rest of us getting XP. Things went bad fast when we switched to FoV before Aeru's upcoming bedtime.

Two-thirds through the page, I went to pull. I linked, and linked again. We got wiped. So, HPs and no FoV bonus. I'm sorry everyone!

Wednesday:

Arrived just in time for Besieged and did pretty well for myself. At first, it looked like we were gonna get mauled by the Undead, as only 260 people were in Al Zahbi. But we pulled it out, and I think the Nemean Lion *may* have bit the dust. Lifespan-wise, I was doing well, surviving a number of close calls (I'm still fond of AoEs), and in one case, I got taken down to 34 HP but survived.

Once the Lion appeared, I started dying A LOT, but I was able to keep RR up, and did my best to raise others. I finished with assorted fractional SUs and 1,800 LP. Saw Raki out there - I need to ask him if the Lion bit the dust.

Thursday:

I guess I'm updating... That bar just doesn't move very fast on ClearWire speed.

In otherworldly news, would the idiots of the world please unite? Form your nation of idiocy somewhere far from me, and leave me the hell alone. If I can make it to old age without being killed on the roadways, I'll be very pleased. I had not one, but two people cut me off in one intersection requiring me to slam on brakes and swerve. I also screwed up - I was in 1st gear and when trying to avoid the first car, I over-revved and spun the rotors to 9,600 RPM. That's not a typo. Ninety-six hundred. There's supposed to be a fuel cut at 9,400 but I don't think it did its job.

Random thoughts for today:

Least favorite voluntary activity: Shopping for a car.

Second least? Using the facilities in a communal bathroom. Like the one we have at work. For the love of pete, some of these people are even on the phone whilst they're on the john. I'm not special or immune from bodily functions. But I sure don't want to be surrounded by other people. And their /smells/.

Abandonment

(This is my current mood and NOT a reflection on any person)

I logged in Friday night, Saturday afternoon, Saturday night, Sunday night and Monday night. I had some very nice chats with my friends. But lately I'm feeling very frustrated...

I had plans for myself in Vana'diel. Plans on being an amazing White Mage. I know I took my sweet time reaching Maat and then beating him. But I really wasn't prepared for the total lack of progress since.

Aside from a couple of lucky-break PUGs for Aht Urghan missions, I have made zero progress on Nation, ZM, CoP or Altana missions. I've been 6-2 for ages and on the prelim missions in Zilart and CoP. I bought both Crystalline Prophecy and Moogle Kupo-d'Etat and have only managed the first missions of each.

Nyzul and relics and advanced weaponskills? Not happening either. AF2? Nope.

Lately, none of the shells I'm in wants to do these things, likely because they did them all long ago. Or because I'm often the only Windurstian...

AU and Jeuno are practically silent these days and if the party I got tonight is all I can get then, I guess I'm done XPing. Last Saturday's morning run was fantastic but the next two parties were letdowns. Tonight, f'rinstance, I was in the group for 2 hours. I got 4k XP. I can get close to that soloing FoV, but I hate doing that.

As many of my old friends are returning, it seems others are pulling back or leaving altogether. Swift return, Dark!

Life in Vana'diel was often *work* for me. But it used to be fulfilling work. I'd kick tail on main-heal, or break out my lowbies and share my time and insights with the Dunes Newbs. But with 14 on the horizon, it seems like people are bailing already. I haven't seen 2k players on a weeknight in some time and more than once over the weekend the total was under 2k as well. Hard to get an invite when there are only 16 seekers on...

Nowadays, I log in, flag up and feel like I'm chained to the chat log. Hoping I'll get the 'vite that never comes. Sometimes I do get to chat with my friends, whom I cherish deeply. But many nights, either no one's on or nobody's talking.

If it weren't for my dear friends and my desire for that wedding dress and rings, I think I'd already be gone. Or at least on hiatus.

Some have told me to use my LFG time on one of the world's hobbies. Well, I would, but I can't see the point raising Fishing or Woodworking up to usable levels just in time for the server wipes. And with more people out, the economy's gonna get fudged up too I'm afraid. Thankfully my main doesn't cost anything except for whatever Echo Drops go for. And that's only for when I'm careless or unlucky. So~o glad my main isn't NIN or RNG!

Any of you still reading my diary here, please know this isn't directed at any one of you. I don't want to even think of leaving the world that has been part of me for almost 3 years now. Aerin is basically me, and in a lot of ways, I'm her too. Past posts have highlighted how my focus on healing has made me feel like a better person in real life. And how it's just my nature to nurture.

I don't *want* to leave. But I'm getting tired of wasting hours every night not getting anywhere. If all I wanted was to chat with my friends, I'd toss FFXI, pocket the money, and just run AIM Express.

Oh wait, I did run AIM Express. "aerinofsiren", surprise surprise. I make no promises how often I'll be on, but I do truly value the friendships I've made these past 3 years and want to leave some line open if anyone wants.

P.S. I'm NOT leaving yet! Just mulling it over. For now, I'll still be on following my normal schedule.

Early Mornings

I went to bed at 11-ish. For those of you who have been keeping up with my weird insomnia-thingy, what time did I wake up? Four. Four AM. Two hours before the alarm. Knowing that fighting it was a waste of time, I got up and stole into the living room with my laptop. I wound up spending all that time on YouTube.

Last night, while in Promy-Holla, I was listening to S-I, again. And "Caramelldansen" came on. So naturally, that's what I looked for on YT. I saw quite a few versions, many of them quite good. I found some that make the "dance" easier to figure out. Guess all that line-dancing is gonna come in handy if I plan to cosplay-dansen someday!

I also watched a number of Evanescence vids. While I /love/ Ev and Amy Lee's divine singing, their videomaking is not quite to my liking. Too many cuts and not enough focus on events. The style is wonderful but it's hard to take it all in when they keep bouncing around.

Also in the playlist was "My Immortal", live, from the Anywhere but Home concert. I've always had a soft spot for this song (and its later twin "Good Enough") because they're vocal and piano only, and the lyrics are powerful. Lately, in the car while driving to work, I lip-sync most of the songs from Fallen and The Open Door. Including this one.

Well, during the live version, Amy called for the audience to sing along. Which many were doing anyway. Several shots showed many many in the crowd singing or mouthing the words. It's clear this music is personal for a great many people.

Also, under the vids were a slew of comments. A number of them echoed my opinions of Amy's artistry. Some called her fat. You have got to be frigging kidding me. /sigh. May I remind those people that I have a link to Dove's Campaign for Real Women over to the right? Use it. Nao.

Oh, also, I read that Pepsi (maker of AMP) has pulled their iPhone app called "AMP up Before You Score". I won't go into it but let's just say it contained crib notes for scoring with two dozen female stereotypes. I have a sense of humor and I can see some lols here. But the app further included a brag wall feature. During whatever meeting this thing was pitched in, was there someone from AMP's corporate parent Pepsi present to say, "Are you out of your mind?!" Guess not...

Other vids I saw included a weird Xenosaga cutscene redone using FFXI models. But someone had fully rendered a few characters in a real studio. The motion and texturing was extremely well done and the actual scene, titled something like "A Dynamis Nobody Wants to Enter" was creepily atmospheric - just in time for my fave holiday, Halloween!

Work went well, with much progress made, so Saturday was mine. I left work on time and met Ape at Clone the Younger's Fall Festival. He was scheduled to go in the dunking booth and Ape and I each had a shift taking tickets. This turned out to be a lot of fun because when throwers failed to dunk someone, either the ball-boy (or girl) would hit the trigger, or the thrower would run up and smack it themselves. We ate some carny food and walked around a bit, then went to Target prior to dropping the kids off at my parents'. I spent some time looking for new glasses. My current pair is literally nearly 20 years old. And not stylish.

After dropping off the boys, Ape wanted to go home. She's been feeling really lousy this week. But her friend called and she wanted to at least eat dinner with her and her hubby. Which was fine by me - we're all good friends and they're fun to hang out with too. We opted for Chili's, which was having their 2 for 20 food orgy. We got an app, two full dinners, plus dessert (Vanilla Lava cake!). I wound up taking nearly all my dinner home as I was pretty full from the carnival fare, and I wanted room for cake ^^

After, we stopped by Books-a-Million for a quick browse. I couldn't find *any* Tanith Lee books and I couldn't remember most of the other titles I was looking for. I really need to finish that booklist so I can go shopping!

At home, I spent a lot of time watching TV with Ape. A lot of Somer news :( but we also watched the second half of The Negotiator. I massaged her back and legs and played with her hair, plus juiced her up with Bio-Freeze to help her fall asleep.

Which she did just after midnight. So I ran out and spent about 90 minutes in Vana'diel selling off last night's memories and my Mercenary Captain's Headgear. I've been dragging this stupid thing around for my melees even after getting my Empress pin, but now I have no use for it. Also, turns out Somber memories are worth 10k! Yaaay!

I chatted with Deej and Kep while moving around to sort my house and complete my sales. Deej didn't get that animal care job, due to an administrative screwup :( Kep's been keeping busy too. I joked about Carmelldansen overload and no sleep and I was told to go to bed ^^ I actually dragged up more vids, but this time I was looking for live-action where I could see how humans dance it. I'm still trying to get the knack of the hip-swing.

One vid I found was from AnthroCon. A fursuited wolf was dansen and doing a very good job of it. There was something sublime about seeing that much quirkiness wrapped up in one vid... And before anyone takes exception to my use of the work quirky to describe a dancing wolf, please remember Aer's not that far from that. I also found a great group performance from AnimeEx 2008. I picked Captain Jack Sparrow as the most interesting participant.

At about 1:30 I packed it in, having obtained my Tactics Pearl reward before shutting down.

The Other Side

Tonight I was on a tighter schedule. And forgetting Survivor was almost on didn't help. This week at work our team was on "forced march" to complete a webservice project needed by another team's project. Due dates are getting close and my manager said if we didn't deliver enough code by tomorrow, we'd be coming in Saturday. Heck no!

Also, tonight's episode was supposed to be a thriller, with Russell almost dying or something. Well, during the reward challenge, he passed out, numerous times. He was dehydrated and over-extended. He couldn't get up and his heart rate was all over the place. Needless to say, he left with the medics. And that basically ended the episode. No reward, no Tribal. What? Booooring.

I arrived in Vana'diel at about 10 after nine. Fhox and Bene were already in Promy-Holla and waiting on me. Kush was waiting for Sky to start so we didn't get to chat much besides greets and occasional status updates on our respective runs.

I rode to Windy and changed to DNC/NIN, my personal fave for promies. Fhox needed heal support anyway so it would be perfect. But on DNC I'd have to find another way to the crag. I was considering OPing to Valkurm and then running but then I searched for tele-capable WHMs in Windy. I found one and offered 3k for the ride and she happened to be on and ready to take me. I finished my prep and met her, and threw in a 1k tip too. I don't require too many teles myself so I like to be generous, hopefully encouraging tele-taxi operators to continue.

On zoning in, I activated the Tactics Pearl quest and that would be a good thing as Sufhi helped out and ultimately scored 2k XP too. We quickly found Fhox and Bene and I took up my role as tanking healer. Aside from amateuring it up on DNC (forgetting steps and drain) nobody died and we didn't have to stop much for rest. I held hate pretty well with cures and alternating Quick Steps and Vokes.

We wrapped up close to 10:30, my announced exit time. But it took us 10 minutes to find the exit lol. Fhox and Bene were stacking the recollections. But I wound up with one Pain, in addition to three varied memories.

Sleepy Favors

(I love helping - I hope you all know that!)

Came on close to 8 expecting to find Fhox rallying RDB in a Promy memory run, for a later assault on the tower. Well, he wasn't on yet and most of my other friends were absent. Raki was on, and in the Tree. I guessed correctly that he was skilling and offered my assistance.

I sorted some personal stuff first then made my there. He was in an alliance, 3 + 3, and Kuse (I think) was dead. I took care of the raise and there was some discussion of unifying the party. Or going after some NM. Ultimately, Moonflowyr and Kuse took off. I think their third did too (sorry, I didn't get your name). So Raki, Balun and I worked on crabs. We were later joined by a THF and we actually made progress on our skills. I got some club, divine, enhance and heal. And shield lol.

Deej saw me on and asked what I was doing. I explained and he said he was wondering because he wanted to work on his SAM's AF1. I told him I'd bow out of the SU at 10 and meet him downstairs, as his quest was in Zi'tah. And it turns out I had the trigger for the NM pop - a sack of fish bait. I was hopeful this would go well and quick as I wanted some sleep.

Wel~l~l, as usual, Vana'diel had other plans. As I was preparing to leave, the other three wanted to relocate. I escorted, and somehow Raki got lost. Tracking him down and getting him safely to the others, caming near the waterfall up top, took close to 15 minutes...

I left as soon as I could and rushed home to get the fish paste. I expected I could use it since we'd be partied up. This would save the time of farming one, having no idea what kind of drop rate we were in for. I met Deej at the OP, but took a quick break to press Ape's back - she's pulled something or other back there and needs adjusting ^^

We made quick work of the trip to the small pond where the pug was waiting. I snuck Deej most of the way to avoid aggro delays. On arriving, I cleared the area with his help and then traded the fish bait. And nothing. I tried and tried, and I guess I can't do it without flagging the quest. And my SAM is far too low to qualify. So we farmed. It only took like 8 gobs and then Deej had his own trigger. Which didn't work. I love ya, you tall Elvaan, but next time check your quest log :3

I opted to continue helping, teleporting us to Yhoat and leading the way to Norg. The flag-up didn't take too long, and he also picked up a replacement Mumeito. From there, we warped to Mea and rode birds back to the sanctuary. Where, according to Deej, his brother was waiting. On zoning in, he told me to invite Sanwa. What? The same Sanwa I PLed along with Deej and Kush? Yep - somehow he neglected to make the complete intro last time lol.

The three of us made a winding walking trip to the pond from the zone, and on arriving, found someone there skilling on the coeurls. Yay - no CC for me! We buffed up, popped the NM and took care of business. I left them there and tele'd myself to Mea, where I rested for the night.

Monsters

(Sadly the monsters are on *this* side of the screen too...)

There are days I would trade my humanity for Mithra life, and I don't mean in the furry sense. Some days I'm ashamed to be the same kind of creature that did what we now expect - abducted and killed Somer Thompson.

I don't normally get into these tragedies, but this one happened not far from our house. We were able to drive out to the first vigil yesterday and saw hundreds of people walking, searching, praying. And this was getting close to 9pm, past dark. These people were here as friends and community, trying to find a lost little girl.

Well, today at work I saw the news we'd all been dreading but half-expecting. A "female child" turned up at the dump used by Somer's neighborhood... It's only a matter of time before confirmation. Or not - and then if it turns out to be someone else's precious child, then we have TWO mysteries... But most likely IMO, it'll be Somer.

Ape's been hard-hit by this too - there's something about personally seeing the pain and wretched hope on people's faces. I came home from work and gave her a big hug.

Reading back, I'm thinking I may have been too hasty about Humanity - I *did* see dozens upon dozens of people doing their best to make a miracle.

But to whoever did this, and I can't believe it was any kind of accident. Whoever did this?

I hate you.

Random Thoughts

I had some stuff bouncing around in my furry brain - for your consideration, please enjoy the following random mini-rants:

"Finished product not tested on animals" - This has got to be one of the worst pieces of marketing sleight-of-hand ever. What difference does it make if a bottle of BBW Warm Vanilla Sugar wasn't drizzled over a bare-skinned rabbit? Unless combining the final ingredients does something unexpected to the chemical properties of the lotion (or any product for that matter), testing each of the constituent parts is enough to determine if Peter Cottontail will break out in a terminal rash or not. So, feel all warm and fuzzy buying that stuff thinking animal testing isn't involved...

Astro Boy - Gonna see it even though it will probably disappoint on some level. No, I never read or watched any of the originals. I just know how the Hollywood Movie Mines often refine older generations' childhood memories. That said, most of the buzz has been neutral to positive and much has meen made of the outstanding *non*-3D visuals.

Brothers & Sisters is really cry-worthy tonight. Cancer sucks enough as it is (God bless you Mom!) but they're really pulling out all the stops! But there's some good "grin and bear with it" humor from Kitty too. I do love the writing on this show.

I wish I could watch more "Castle" - it's a great show, I like crime dramas (could watch CSI Vegas all day) and besides, *squee!*

Bath and Body Works - I've become something of a total slut for BBW lotions. Yes, given what I said before, I still love them. During work I have to stick to Vanilla Noir (but it does smell sooo good). However, at home it's Warm Vanilla or Sensual Amber. And the Moonlight Path shower gel is very nice too. It's all Ape's fault really. It was her idea for me to try the different scents.

Vatican II - This one's an odd one. Relaying a conversation heard elsewhere, a priest told the other party that they do *not* support Vatican II's reforms and want to go back to the old ways, were it up to him. Do I need to find a copy of Martin Luther's history-changing Theses and nail them to the door?

Jackass kids on bikes - Believe it or not, this one's church-related too. Sort of. On the way to our favorite church for their annual Bazaar, five kids on bikes rode past, parallel to us. However, they crossed right in front of a line of cars that expected their green light to mean something. I checked - the crosswalk was firmly red before the kids crossed into it. I honked. The littlest kid, who may have been all of 8, turned, saw me, and flicked me off. Nice. Then he did it again.

And now, the best for last: Ape found this vid on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MatcQT3X1d4. It's called "Chinese explanation for a wedding ring's finger." Try it for yourself! Also, I love the explanations given for each finger's usage. See SIL, the Chinese agree with me! Any ideas why the robot voice?

Reader's Digest

Wed and Thurs: Fhox grabbed me for Bastok's 9-1 fight against a Gigaplasm. Puma and Dex were on hand, as were several others I met. Titta and Mosquitohawk... Hmm, memory failing. Seems like Titta was actually in charge of the runs. Despite tweaking the strategy several times, including NOT having me on /BLM (I suck) we failed hard three times each night. I think I died over 10 times total, taking my buffer down about 3k. Thankies for RR3!

Thursday we tried to do the fight Giga to the split, then sleep one of the two Micros, then beat that micro down all the way, sleeping what we can. And despite Titta's orders to turn off Autotarget, and to use /assist on, it sure seemed like there were multiple live targets. I don't get annoyed a lot, but Thursday kinda frosted me. Partly the XP loss, but mainly the sheer amount of time poured into two nights of work. It was a neat run and plenty exciting too. Just more frustrating than I'd like ^^

Also, Raki's back! I saw him a day or two earlier as he sorted stuff but he joined Thursday's run.

Friday: Date night with RS... Heavy support from 2-ish to SIX-FIFTEEN AM! Tried to help with an Ose run in the Lab. Kushi was there with Wildfoxxx and a Galka whose name I forgot (sorry). I had to split my attention between work and the hunt for Ose and thankfully nobody died. But after ages, we didn't seem any closer. Wild left, and later Kushi recruited Badcmpany (yes, there's an O missing) and MaryJanette.

Just as they walked in the door Ose popped. The three of us beat him down but the desired Assault Jerkin was not among the loot. >< Oh! Late late that morning, at about 5:20am, Titta ran past. I had already heard the good news from Fhox that they had succeeded earlier Friday. I congratulated her, saying something like "Good news on the run yesterday!" She laughed and said it was still today for her. I counted the hours and guessed correctly she lives in Hawaii! /jealous :3

Saturday: couldn't stay on nearly as long. Met Kushi and Malithor, and were joined by Corrupted. We did FoV pages in the Valley of Sorrows, behind Cape Terrigan. Raptors and giant dodos. With Mal on SAM tanking, we could smoke the raptors. But when Mal left sleepy, Corrupted (on PUP) couldn't hold hate as well (and that's to be expected ^^). I actually tanked one pull from start to finish, lol. Hate bounced around but it was OK.

Kushi and I broke out our NPCs, as Corrupted had his out already. Since we were only three in the party, it was possible to fill the three remaining slots with NPCs. Unfortunately, we realized this pretty late and only got them a handful of XP before we bowed out. I did replace my buffer lost on Bastok 9-1. We chatted for a bit before I fell out. The past two nights of really shortened sleep has beaten me down...

Aaaand, in the "Guess who's back today!" game, ALEU! Aleu's back! I haven't had a chance to say Hi yet but Isa said she was on her way back in. More sadly, Deej said something in shell about two months more of play time before his money ran out. What? Kep said something about leaving if Deej did and aside from saying how "saddy" all this sounded, I mentioned maybe setting up an IM client so we could continue chatting with the group outside of Vana'diel.

Scenery Chase

Logged on at about 8pm, and first ran into Fhox who was grabbing Dex and Puma for Bastok 6-2. Went well despite my death when I overdid the curing after the NM fight.

Then went to help Kushi, thinking she was looking for mission or quest help. But I didn't have the time so we opted to go to Saruta. First, I took us to the Ruins to show Kushi where I do my farming. She still can't get the Portal Charm despite being eligible and trying to trade the rolanberry to the Taru in the Tree.

After getting too many tests but not one Gravity(!) we left. We exited in West Saruta but instead of going into the city, Kushi started running southwest. I really needed to go but she dragged me along, and we wound up on a high rocky outcropping overlooking the water. It was quite peaceful and lovely.

She said she often sits here and turns the music up, so she can relax. I can see why, as Saruta's music is nice. But we need to look for a good vista in Zi'tah, since that's been my favorite soundtrack so far.

Weekend Update

(Had a great time in both worlds, but barely got time to just relax!)

Friday:

Dinner at WGV-Caddyshack. Food was good and service was great. 10% off for ExpCon visitors too!

Spent some time at ExpCon's Artist's Alley. Saw a *terrific* Ifrit (I hope it was Ifrit), and a few others. Couldn't get into any of the main rooms but ExpCon is clearly much smaller than AWA.

Saw "Couples Retreat" - fantastically funny and poignant at the same time. Slightly unexpected ending too - 3.5 crystals.

After some lame TV, got online and hung out in Qufim with Kushi, Deej and Sanwa. I PLed while they beat on stuff. Wonder if K took notes ^^ Had a really great time just hanging out. K did break out the "happy" topic.

Saturday:

Up at a decent time to do some house-stuff, then off to the mall. Met Mom, and later, Cari and the boys. I'm getting a little too hooked on BBW lotions :3 I and the boys ate lunch there.

Went to Best buy while the girls ate at Moe's. I got to try DJ hero - meh.

Followed that up with ice cream... The cake batter sample was much better than the whole cup ><

Home again, missing iCarly ONCE AGAIN. Must buy a DVR. Watched Cari's boys while they saw Couples Retreat (they liked it too). Boys didn't leave again until almost midnight.

Spent some of the babysitting time with Dark farming eyes for the O-hat trigger. Wasted over 2 hours 'cos we couldn't get to what we needed in SSG and I goofed in KRT after two *normal* eyes dropped. Ugh.

After some quiet time, went back on and got a bird party on WHM - Party went very well but ended far too soon when leader afk-ed and never came back.

Sunday:

Up early for church and "teacher commemoration" service at Ape's former school/church. Very nicely done, and the contemporary Presbyterian service sat better with me than comtemp Catholic.

Visited friends and their new baby - God do I love holding babies... Such precious little miracles of design and love! Could have stayed all day but their toddler needed a nap. Mom got to stop by too just in time.

From there, Wal-Mart and another of Ape's "just a few things" trips. One trunkful later... Back to home.

Where I did two oil changes and some other stuff, then,

Off to Mom's for Amazing Race and dinner. Spent close to 2 hours on the new desktop setup and relocating the older desktop into Dad's office, disposing of the 14-year old antique Packard-Bell.

Home after 10, and had to help Matt with sci-fair Procedures page. JC lappy didn't want to cooperate with the printer driver install so I wasted about 30 minutes getting it sorted.

In the meantime, jumped online. Found K and D engaged in an auto-trans battle that soon included me as a target. Played it safe tho', lol. Kep joined soon after and we had a great long chat. K was silent because once again, she did the "what do we have here?" dance.

I told her she knows what I can be and cannot be and I told her to make the call. She deferred, passing it back to me: "Do what you think's best."

Still, had a great time with Deej and Kep: Halloween, geekery, drugs, drug songs, tricks and treats, anime cons, cosplay, bunch of stuff.

At the end, I filed a GM call about the wedding app. Harquva answered and we had a really nice chat. All my GM chats have been nice, but to me it seemed he came out of "GM" mode a bit and just had fun chatting. Still to the point and professional but fun, and funny too.

But, despite a call to the helpdesk and the GM call, I have no choice but to wait on getting access to the lottery email. Oh boy - Time is really running out and I don't think I can take a fourth shot at it.

More Powerleveling

I woke up in Yhoator Jungle, where I'd exited after running a tele-passenger here. Nobody but Deej was on, so I popped back into TV. Friendly chatter, especially with Gaika.

While getting into the TV groove, I chatted briefly with Deej, who was partying in Qufim on SAM. I also made my way back to Windy, with a detour in the Ruins for some farming. I need the money for NIN, to get it to 37. And if I can't get the NM for Utsusemi: Ni I'll have to buy that too. Winjas need their shadows!

Eventually, I had a set of test answers, two Gravs and a dagger. On my way back to the city, I passed a BLM02 and buffed a bit. Then I bowed out asking him to {please} {Take care.} I caught the boat to Jeuno by maybe 30 seconds and took a quick break to rub Ape's feet. On returning, I saw a dyna run forming and stood amongst them, my blue pearl in stark contrast to the sea of red. I /smiled for fun then ran off.

After putting my junk up for sale I took the Wildcat warp to Whitegate but there wasn't a lot happening for a WHM75 to get excited about. I knew I wasn't going to party but I was hoping for Besieged or a Nyzul. Heck, I'd have pitched in on a mission. Actually, seeing the non-life in AU I offered my services to TV but nobody took me up on it. So, I grabbed a last-minute fare then made my way to Qufim to PL Deej.

Who took off as soon as I got there! O.o Actually, he was just job-changing, having gotten at least two levels on SAM. They must've been syncing on him because when he came back the fights suddenly got much harder.

In any case, Kuse was self-PLing and it took me a bit to find a rhythm that didn't waste either of our XP. Things went well and there were more dings. No deaths either, and I got to rescue someone when two wights decided to tag-team him. It took some doing with all the running around but I stuck a diaga on them then beat them to crumbly bits.

At 10:45 I bowed out with much appreciation from Deej and others. And of course, Fhox had just logged on 10 minutes prior...

So he and I played catch-up for 20 minutes or so. Poor guy seems to have forgotten where we left off. All of a sudden, I'm glad I have the blog because I could refer to it and replay the last two months of our time together if he needed ^^

In any case, I told him I was saddled with a new, earlier schedule but we might be able to work it out. I'm torn though - I just got going with TV, and if Kushi and Kep ever come back, I want to stay with Milk too. I've never run more than two shells at once and I don't plan to now unless there's a compelling reason...

----

OK, going back a bit... There's this guy I work with. He's on another team but he helps my group out a lot. He's a freakin' genius and I'm trying to copy his brain. He's got this great sarcastic, passive-aggressive, full-on New Yorker thing going. As you all may know, I love characters.

So anyway, personally-wise I don't expect there to be much in common between us other than the geekery things. Well, while working on my machine, he grabs my earphones and listens in. As it happens, Evanescence is on. Whom he claims to love. I thought he was joshing me but nope - he loves them like I do. He also likes Metallica, Rush and a couple others that I can't recall, but good taste.

It was during our "Why there won't be more albums from Ev" argument that I realized with a start that my three fave songs on "The Open Door" were all written solely by Amy. Lithium, Like You and Good Enough.

We even debated the point at which Metallica went off the tracks and when they really "clicked". I voted for Master of Puppets to start and Black to end. He went newer, to "Justice" but agreed with Black. He even saw 8 shows of the multi-year Black tour!

Turns out we're also the same age... Weirrrd.

Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles

(See how long it takes you to get it...)

I took Tuesday off because I was feeling icky. I managed to give myself whiplash driving home when I had to make a panic stop from 80. I wish I had a G-meter in the car just then 'cos little Shiroma stopped VERY hard. My head didn't - *OW*

Also, Ape and I did the Outback Twofer Tuesday thing again then went dancing immediatelty afterwards. Not smart...

Wednesday I jumped on at about 9:30 and nobody was on from my friendlist nor GD or Milk. So, I went home, fished the TotusValidus pearl out of storage and put the GD sack away in its place. Taking a deep breath, I hopped in and introduced myself to about 7 others who were present. Isa and Raven (whom I recognized from earlier conversations) were chatting and TheTick was there but silent.

"Hellos" flowed all around and I tried to introduce myself as modestly as I could: "{White Mage} {Amateur} at your service!" Raven and Isa were getting ready to wrap up Bastok's final mission and I joked that I was ready for Windy 6-2. Oh yeah, AGAIN I'm like the only Windurstian. What on earth do these people have against Windies?

While chatting, I made my way to Jeuno to try once again pawning my remaining Brass gear. Deej was on by now and he and I chatted some. He was planning a big armor purchase in anticipation of a soon-to-ding level. I explained why I wasn't in Milk at the time.

Also, he and I talked about FF14. I registered today on Squenix's site and may try for a beta slot. Yeah, I'll get one of those. Sure...

Anyway, I mentioned I hadn't been sure of leaving FF11 for 14 but lately I wonder if maybe I should prepare myself for the journey. I'm tired of causing others pain and not being able to fix it. Maybe Aer needs a fresh start.

Deej said he hoped he'd see me there as he was definitely going - ^^ Aw, that made me feel better!

By now I was in Whitegate and I saw Draskol shouting for Nyzul 11+ members. I asked if he needed a WHM and I got an invite. We were still missing the sixth so I had a little time to kill. Which i got to spend chatting briefly with Fhox. I'm afraid just as he and I got into it the run started and I wasn't able to focus on him.

Our first run was hard but I think we won. In any case, I got a ton of tokens. Chinzu DCed near the end but came back in time for a second go. Starting on 16, we were trying for a boss fight and a shot at the G-A-D armor. This run was tougher but at least this time I was a little sharper on buffs and -na spelling.

Near the final floor Chinzu DCed again, leaving us one short to face an Adamantoise, something I've never seen before. Not long into the fight I was wishing I hadn't burned Benediction - I really needed it... {I'm sorry.}

I also got wasted by the turtle's earth breath attack. I reraised and went back to work but the rest of the crew began dying. We ran out of time with maybe 5% left on the turtle. I tried casting Holy and got the animation just as we were ejected, but I never saw the damage report.

By now it was just about midnight (!) and I ran to bed. Where Ape's snoring roused me twice... -.- /yawn

P.S. I just noticed this was post #366! I talk too much, don't I?

The Gang's All Here

(Greaser hair and cow-lick not included)

I wasn't able to get on until almost 11, and thus I only had about 45 total minutes. Deej was on and we chatted very amiably. Whatever happened the other night passed I guess. Then Kushi came on, and shortly after she popped, Kepi joined. So for the first time in I don't know how long, all four of us were present.

Kushi didn't have a lot to say besides initial greets. She was focused on getting a pair of River Gaiters, half of the Mithra RSE2 set. She ultimately asked for loans and Deej and I (and some others unidentified) chipped in. K was able to buy at the hoped-for price of 250k and was very elated.

While this was going on, Deej gave up on a full party for his DNC44 and headed to the Dunes. Having about 30 minutes left, I joined on NIN and Kep came on SAM. We started a lizard page when Kushi rode up, resplendent in her new footwear. She offered PL services, but had to go AFK for a bit for dinner.

Somewhere along the way, while K was back on PL duty, Deej pulled a link and I died. This happened while Kushi was admonishing Deej for the pull, oddly enough. I died again when the Gob Deej pulled next one-shotted me in my weakened state. He said I could have just leeched for a bit but that's not my style. And I'm used to PLing WHM-style where the buffs and cures usually lead to the PL holding hate...

Since the second death was at my bedtime, I just HPed and turned in, about 750xp positive on the night. Oh well - better luck next time!

And anyways, it was very nice to see everyone at once for a change!

Food, Films, Fun!

(Reunion Time!)

Friday was a pretty slow day. The big event was my bro-in-law's birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse. This was the first time our two families had assembled since the unpleasantness of a month ago.

As luck would have it, Ape's mom was leaving for New York Saturday afternoon and Ape's sis called to apologize for her atrocious behaviour back then. Cynically, we think it's because without her mom, Sissy has no one else to watch her kids...

In any case, dinner itself was good, and the company pleasant. Major lols of the night came at the end when the waitress brought the check. BIL had gone outside with the restless young'uns a few minutes prior, so when the waitstaff came a'clapping, the birthday boy wasn't there ^^ They offered to do it again if we could wrangle him back in, but he said no.

At home, we just chilled, watching Medium and some other stuff. Later, I took another Ambien, at about 11:15. I logged on 5 minutes later and found only Deej on. She seemed unusually quiet when I found her in Al Zahbi, so I let her be and ran next door to see what I could stir up.

Well, the Ambien kicked in hard and by 11:50 I was barely conscious, so I fell out by midnight.

Aaaand, as per usual, I was up again about 5 and a half hours later >< I decided just to get up and went right back to Vana'diel. I gamely flagged up on WHM, hoping for a merit or two, but with the low numbers online I wasn't hopeful.

Fortunately, not only was I wrong about getting an invite, I seriously underestimated the fun I was about to have. Benscot recruited me almost immediately for another Mire party and as the group was already 5/6 before me, we were able to get down to business very quickly, just after six.

The party rocked until about 9:45. Not one downtime for MP, and not one death. There were only a few cure-panics, one of which was my fault when an errant Dia struck a fly instead of our imp. I got to have fun with Benediction and a DS-juiced Curaga IV. I need to check on that one because it really seemed that I pulled less hate from that than from the Curaga 2's and 3's.

Not only did this party really click, it was the fastest XP I've gotten, I believe. Just over 11k an hour and FOUR merit points!

Two things really seemed to make the difference: We synced to 71 rather than the usual 67-68. And our tank was a NIN. Who could totally hold hate. He even got props for it from the rest of the crew. He rarely lost hate on imps, and with flies there's no faulting him for AoE damage. Which, in many cases our DRK was able to stun anyway.

One thing I learned is that I really hate flies in this camp. I can't easily work my Misery > Esuna magic and their AoE really does hit hard. Much harder than Jnuns do. I can only hope the only reason we used flies for fillers between imps is that we were too far from the jnuns' ponds.

Our Bard did a great job keeping me refreshed (the main reason for no MP downtime) but I had to ask him not to cure me when I got yellow. I'm pretty sure he was Japanese and I think I was able to explain my Medicine Ring latent to him in auto-trans.

One other minor issue we had with each other is -na spell usage. We never did chat on that but I worked it so I -na spelled from the bottom of the roster up and if he didn't start (because he was singing or somesuch) I could just keep going up the list. We still cast over each other a bit...

Three of us were ready to go at nine-ish but stretched time to get our NIN his level. I explained I had to go to the airport and when the NIN dinged (plus one buffer) I had to jet. (PhilKenSebben) Ha-ha! Fuselage!

I didn't log in again at all the rest of the day because we went from the airport to lunch, then to the Toy Story double feature, in THREEEE-DEEE! There was shopping at the mall, and dinner for Ape at Panera's. We weren't able to make iCarly, again. But we watched some other stuff then threw on "Adventureland".

Movie Review time:

* Toy Story and Toy Story 2 - If you don't know about these yet but love good wholesome entertainment that anyone can enjoy, go see them. Nao. One is just plain fun with a great "horror" scene at the end. Two is surprisingly emotional, but just as fun as one. Each gets 4 crystals.

* Adventureland - See, here we go again. AGAIN I tells ya! A deep character-driven DRAMA masquerading as a funny movie. This movie is so unfunny it's sad. Well, it's actually quite sad, as it's an angst-filled young-adult coming-of-age plus romance and heartbreak tale. But it isn't very funny. The core story isn't bad, but the pacing is glacial. If I weren't already at home I'd have walked out I think. 1.5 crystals. Would have gotten at least a half more had it not been misleadingly margeted.

Sunday was brief, with just eough time to spend my merits and say hi to Kushi. Nobody else was on. Time was tight because we had a car to wash, grocery shopping, lunch with my mom and ape's sis, church, dinner, Amazing Race, Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters.

I also squeezed in the first one and a half episodes of "Rumbling Hearts", a show that may have the right blend of drama and romance I'm after. I'm not far enough into it yet for the main story event to have happened (the coma) so I'm not sure of the overall tone yet.

To all my friends, especially Fhox, yes, I still watch DH with Ape. And B&S is another pleasure. Although this season both seem to be getting much more soapy. And the whole Kitty/cancer angle really made me sad. Not what I wanted right before bed!

Super Busy

(The continuing crisis...)

I've been slacking here, largely due to this past weekend. A lot's been going on personally. Someday I'll share, but for now, this has to stay firmly on this side of the screen. I'm sorry ^^

Also, in Flashback Theatre, we have Fhox's return. And Phax's. Any second now Chucho, Kitty, Diosa and more will come flooding back.

I've spent a lot of time chatting with both Fhox and Phax, as well as Kushi and Deej. And a little with Kepi, but I haven't seen her much lately. I partied NIN to 32, then soloed about 3,500 to hit 33 and the ability to wear my complete RSE ensenble. MUUUCH better!

Also did some Besieging and am inching ever-closer to capping Divine and Enfeeb on 75. Had another Besieged with Kushi that got cut a wee bit short. See, I was on call that night and I actually went to bed at about 10pm and woke up at midnight. I wasn't planning on much online because I expected the work deal to last maybe an hour.

K happened to be on and Besieged was just about to start, so I gave it a go, and actually didn't do half-bad. But maybe 3 minutes prior to end, my cohort at work rang me to say things were not going well. I split my time between work and chatting with Kushi, then she had to go. I wish I could have too because I was on the work issue intil 4:15am. And I was still scheduled to work Friday... /yawn!

Screw You, Gateway!

(This is why I hate working on computers...)

Some time ago, my mom's 4-year-old Gateway laptop was snuffed by viruses. My Sis' hubby, AKA the Springfield Connection, tried restoring the system using the included OS recovery CD. After trying a few times, he was left with the same result each time. Some key .DLLs were missing. And he had to return home to Springfield. He left me his USB drive with all the docs he copied prior to using the recovery CD.

I gave it a few tries, and also tried restoring from the just-discovered recovery partition on the HD. It failed too. So I took a copy of WinXP and installed it. And of course, my reg key is locked away in my previous employer files buried who-knows-where in my house. I bought two computers and some other doo-dads from them when they shut down and a lot of it never got unpacked.

Friday after work I tried Gateway support to ask why their stupid recovery CD only recovered fail. The human on the other side of the screen was very polite and appreciated my patience. But the only answer he offered was for me to buy another recovery CD, for 20 bucks. He couldn't guarantee it would work any better than the one I was holding, so I passed.

Then out of frustrated boredom, I fired up the recovery CD one more time. Guess what? It worked. After all that crap from the computer, the Gateway rep, and Mom (teasing of course), the stupid thing was on the way to proper function.

Oh, one more thing. I hate working on laptops because XP doesn't ever seem to recognize any device. I had to follow up the "XP patch parade" with Gateway drivers for sound, video, touchpad and wireless. Plug and play my fuzzy rump.