Midweek Madness

Tuesday

Finished Alanna: The First Adventure (Tamora Pierce). This is another YA that came from my reading list. Not bad but not nearly as textured as other works I've digested lately. It has hints of "fantasy of manners" being set in a typical kingdom with the heroine undergoing trials to become a knight. But compared to something like Phedre's trilogy, this is far too lean. Yes, I *know* it's YA. But still... At least Ghost managed to flesh out the characters a bit. Here, everything seems so cut-out and plain. I'll continue some, but I'm much more interested in Twilight and Sevenwaters. I may drag out my namesake's book (Hero and the Crown) and see how it holds up to my standards now, after 23 years.

Duoed with Deej in Sauromugue and got 38 on SCH. Ran into Tumo and Ladikaka and we hung out for a bit. Got a rescue request from Zannon and Kiora in Caedarva. Seems they tried AU13 and Zannon bit the dust and Kiora was fighting a skeleton to the bitter end. Zannon had maybe 45 minutes on the clock so I wrapped up with the twins and made my way to WG. I tried portaling through Nyzul but because I had active assault orders I couldn't get past the gate. So I had to backtrack and then get on the boat. Zannon's time expired while I was maybe 5 minutes from him... >< I was very upset.

In the meantime, Kiora succumbed to the skele and I was able to raise her. Unfortunately, the skeleton I pulled to allow her to pop cast an AoE that leveled her in her weakened state... Eventually Zannon made his way back and we trioed the NM for the mission. It was a close thing too - I wound up using everything I had and so did Zannon. But ultimately we survived and they got their key items. After some appreciation of our mutual efforts, I took off for the night.

Wed: Early night with Ape, good Law & Order. Later chat with several people including Kaosu and Kiora.

Thurs: Flagged up on SCH then Soho and I chatted some - his wife will apparently be returning for a bit this weekend. He's planning a neurobio anatomy quiz for his students. Soho dislikes Twilight; will be starting Snow Crash now. He finished BA2 and it sounds like it was so-so. "Read it if you liked the first..."

Got an invite from Aryianna to rep her. Found out the party was the one Erolynne had just announced in Shell! Got to camp at about 8:30 and we didn't stop rocking until 11. 3 full levels. Accession is freakin' awesome!

Only two deaths to interrupt the chain-pulling frenzy: Mine, when I curaga-ed with DS at the wrong time - they had just switched birds and I wound up with ALL the hate. But I popped RR quickly and they actually pulled a few more before the tank asked for a rest on my behalf - because he wanted to make sure I could heal him :3.

Second was the tank when he got hit with back to back wallops: 350 and 180. Shadows had fallen and I cured then got a regen started. But the critical damage came too quickly for me to get out of it and get another cure off. Two death-rests aside, we didn't stop once for MP, and only stopped for bathroom or snacks.

Even as we went from 38 to 40, XP was decent. It was a little below max, but the kills got faster and we weren't competing for birds so pulls were chaining in the 5s and 6s regularly. Many kudos went to the THF puller Bezgod.

Minor chuckles - Ero commended me in Shell, and then I let the tank die ^^ Groveled a bit...

At 11-ish we split up and I hastened to log out. Last-minute shell chat about Spongebob and iCarly.

There was an earlier discussion that I couldn't pay full attention to about Surg revitalizing the shell. This, as I tried to get Aryi a pearl. Apparently some of the sacks have bolted and he wants to refill our numbers and get back to a focused plan of progression.

He asked the shell what we wanted and I mentioned fun, friendship and the occasional group event and cooperation. He replied he was in it mainly for the friends ^^

Saw Tumo briefly but had to decline his AIM invite as it was too late. Ditto Kush.

Started Twilight in earnest a couple days ago and am now just over 40% into it. It's pretty amazing how closely the movie matches it, but at the same time, the smoldering romance between Ed and Bella is much more /palpable/ in the book. Ed's tortured resignation to his feelings and Bella's heedless plunge into hers comes out more strongly in print.