Speed Bump

(Trying to be patient!)

I logged in after we finally finished off "Knowing". Can I have the last two hours of my life back? Pretty cool disaster scenes, but a totally crap story... C'mon, really? Adam & Eve by way of Aliens? Fail.

I flagged on WHM and gave up after awhile. I switched to THF. Again, no takers, but I was able to do pages for the XP I needed to hit 15. Aaaand, once AGAIN,I failed to pay attention to details. The Republic Axe I'd brought doesn't work with THF... But at least 15 means TH1!

Can't remember much else, other than the usual shell chat. Oh, Derf was getting some manthra static from Sbrightblade. What is wrong with people?

Please correct me if I missed anything else.

Oh, one more thing - got to read a lot of the Fallout 3 strat guide during the Saturday Shopathon. And I opened the lunchbox and checked the manual. I definitely want to play this game!

Could Have Known Better

After a long day with the fam (dinner, checking on Meme, trying to watch "Knowing", and transferring the data from my old phone to the new), I didn't get in until about 1:30. I wanted to make a good run at 74 so after fiddling with gear in my house, I flagged up. I made sure to add "meripo:O" to my comment.

Crap... I've been so busy lately (in Vana'diel and out) that I haven't been keeping up like I should. This party got me deep into 73, about 24k in. I don't recall any issues in the party.

And in sadder news, I read Vagu's farewell blog entry. Girl, I'm gonna miss you. I took too long to get my WHM sorted and never got to party with you or take a shot at a slot in RD. You definitely sold it very well! Please take care in your future endeavours and maybe we'll see each other in 14!

Knack Is Coming Back!

(I *am* very flexible, after all!)

After no Vana-time for 3 days, our new digs let me in. And after some chat with Rhelic (WHM gear advice - Medicine Ring = underwhelming) and Kushiel (the usual friendly chat about recent events, I decided to flag up on WHM for the first serious attempt at a party in a week. I got two invites within two minutes. One was from someone in Unyay's party trying to find a rep. Ladywinter came in second.

Sometimes I wonder if others ask about the 'vites before choosing one. I think I've always just accepted whoever got me first. There have definitely been times I've rued an invite, and others where I should have really thought about bailing, but that's just not me ^^

Tonight's adventure was in the Mire as well. The crew was waiting near the gate and it didn't take long to come together. For some reason, we synced quite high - 68, then 71. I had a little Anni Ring charge left and then I used my band.

Basically, this party was a dream setup for me - fast DD plus a Dancer and Bard. So I always had MP and plenty of backup cure and status help when I was slow or silenced.

This time, I did much much better dealing with the mobs. Yes, we were higher, but there was no PL. There was also no dying. Or MP breaking. Or too much trouble with status issues. I settled on this routine: Back-line for Imps, using Auspice in between when possible (note - add barfira). On Jnuns, I switched stances to Misery and after a couple of their lovely gas or puke attacks (what are these? Babies?) I'd cast Esuna.

[I have no idea what happened here. Posting for completeness. 2010/02/01]

Vaycay Crazy Days

(When it rains it pours...)

This is gonna be a rough week for this Mithra. Thursday, while prepping for our big 6-day two-city Independence Weekend tour 2009, Ape's van decided to overheat. It's not terminal (yet) but we're looking at about 300 bucks and a few hours to resuscitate a 10-year old van packing 168k miles. It's prolly not worth it. And we decided to go car-shopping.

We can't truly afford it without a lot of sacrifice, and I detest car-shopping more than any other voluntary activity. We're figuring out what she really wants and what we can likely "afford" but we had to make the trip down south in Shiroma. 4 people packed for 6 days. The only thing I couldn't get stuffed into the trunk was a set of boogie boards for the beach. We may just buy some and ditch them or see if we can find another way to get them home.

Friday was actually more car shopping, WITH a packed car. We wanted to leave town at about 1 but didn't leave the last lot until close to 4. But the hotel thing worked out - we got two rooms using credit card points and these are actually quite nice. My only complaint so far? Their wi-fi seems to block ports needed for FFXI. I can get onto the PSN and play GTA or shop the Store. But FFXI refuses to start.

Saturday was supposed to be my game-day while everyone else was at one of the theme parks, but their plans got messed up and I spent a lot of time trying to coordinate alternate tickets. And with no FFXI... /pout

We aren't leaving here until Sunday, so I may not make it back online until then...

P.S. The world's stupid level seems to be increasing. I need to start complaining to fast food store owners where those color drive-through screens show ads instead of my order... And complain about managers who just plain suck at customer service - "I have nothing to do with [your problem]." Ooookay...

Quickies

I woke up in my Mog House Wednesday with hope in my heart. Could I get a party on another lowbie job and hit maybe 15 or 16? I settled on Dragoon since it's the most-neglected of my jobs. I geared up, flagged up, and set out to get a better polearm. I never did get an invite so I wound up soloing to 14. 14 needs to be the goal, not 13. A lot of stuff opens up equipment-wise at 14.

Also, Vet started talking about some high-level SMNs that were going to help him with Titan, the last avatar whisper he needed before going for Fenrir. These two were to meet me in Port Bastok near the drawbridge, where the Titan flagger is. They did, but then they declined my tele. Turns out they had access to mini-tuning forks and could warp directly! Gotta grab those while I'm working on Fenny.

Anyways, we eventually made it to the protocrystal. I buffed us, we entered and before I ever got to Titan, there were avatars all over. I ran straight up and started beating. Vet told me to move back then lol-ed. I think he realized I wasn't gonna pull any kind of hate off three powerful avatars. My Hexas did nice damage but ultimately they did all the work bringing the big guy down.

I now have Titan and Ramuh's whispers for Fenrir and Vet's all done and headed for the glowing wolf's fight.