Neri Approved, and so did you!

Guarf was not an early riser, unlike the majority of his brethren. He much preferred the night owls and more interesting creatures who lurk and prowl between the witching hour and intrusion of dawn. But this morning, he knew Matty would need some cheering up, and gave her the good news:

She had successfully represented her pride in her adopted clan–and won the Neri Approve’s Faction Pride for August!

She is happily sharing the podium with Voros, Neri’s choice for this month, who is a formidable Death Knight indeed.

Low man on the totem pole…

Oh, man was today a long day, and I’m not sure if it was made longer or not by trying to do Dragonsoul again tonight. We ended up getting three of the nicest players I’ve met in a long time to fill in missing guildmates, and the clear was fast, but…what was not so slick was how wombly I felt the entire time. I can only describe it as going from driving with the steering wheel on the left to the right – everything seemed the same, but I kept running off into the ditch. Between my work schedule hitting the same time as the patch, there was no time for me to really look at what happened to me– and I am not ashamed to admit when young leet druid looked over my shoulder and said “Twenty K?” I felt those hot tears of frustration starting to roll. It was on Ultraxion, one where I have shone like a little superstar, but tonight, it was a implosion. The night was not a total loss, though – I did chuck myself under my chin and tell myself to put my big-girl panties on and chill. Our RL has given us a full week, and I am going to use that time to get it back together, pick up the broken pieces of my totems, and move on.

Remember when I asked what would I be taking with me? I can’t find the screen shot now, but it was a totem relic I made when I first started. It has a little tiny bird icon on it, in oranges and yellows, and if remember correctly is part of the questing chains in order to become a shaman, but maybe my memory is muddled.  But it’s greyed out now, and worthless. But it’s in my bank, and there is shall stay, until the pixel dust fades and the stars burn out.

Oh, and someone reserved the name “Mrswhitworth.”

That is so uncool.

Taking my sad-panda self to bed.

Maybe things will clear up in the morning.

http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/25/totem-talk-what-to-expect-when-youre-enhancing-in-5-0-4/

Conspiracy theory…

As Cymre put it, “living under a rock,” I will say, yes, yes I was, and it was a lovely rock, with cool moss, and some grubs and worms, and all was happy. But someone stuck a big shovel under my rock and upturned the whole patch of dirt that I called home. The upheaval was epic. I spent the evening talking a few friends down from the ledge over lost spells, and including myself over totem changes – I’m not unhappy, it’s just different, and is going to take some getting used to. But this isn’t about grubs or soil – no, there is something far more sinister afoot in Azeroth!

But–did anyone else notice this? No one else seemed to–everyone, NPCS and players alike went about their business of changing key bindings and whatnot, but Luperci noticed it, and tried to alarm her fellow citizens (being the paladin that she is): The rats of Stormwind banded together and purchased shapeshifting spells and disguised themselves as CATS!

OH, the humanity! Oh, the felinity! Oh, the murinity! (No, that’s not a word, and neither is ‘felinity’ Creative license priviliges, yo.) What the hell is going on here?!? 

With apologies to Navi, I had to kill it to uncover its disguise….

I have a sneaking suspicion somehow Mrs. Whitworth is involved in this, and Señor, I think Cat, is too.

They have also had a hand, er, paw in the missing #47 entrant photo – it was judged along with the other contestants, but the files have been misplaced…or so they claim.

(revised) En Garde! A Compendium of Fencing and…RESULTS!

Of course—you know I can’t just post results, I have to make it all historical and sh*t. Sorry. I fear, also, this will not as amusing commentary either, but swordplay is no laughing matter. It is serious business. When JD asked for hostesses for the events, I considered none other than this one. I think because of my short time as a ballerina in high school, and martial artist, fencing is one sport that looks so deadly elegant, I am drawn to its charms.

Found this ancient book on a shelf in the kitchens of a fiesty gnome: A History of Fencing What he was doing with it next to the Treatise on Cupcakes and the Theramore Tourist Guide, I have no idea.

I confess, I did not watch the summer Olympics. I watched the building of the Olympic pool, and I watched the lousy swim reporter, but that was about it. However, my Rogue told me of the horrible events for the poor South Korean fencer, Shin A-Lam, all because of a broken clock and rules that do not fit with modern technology. I still cry “bullsh*t” on this whole mess. This broke my heart.

Did you also know that ballet and fencing are instrinsically linked? I learned this when I took ballet in high school, and thought “how cool is that?”

But of course,there is the master of swords, Inigo Montayo:

Last I heard he was opening up a School for Pirates somewhere in southern Spain.

Oh, winners? What? You’re tired of taking notes? Okay, fine. A+ for you all, and here you go:

Gold Medalist from Lower City!

Silver Covenant for the Silver!

Bronze awarded to Silvermoon City!

Here are all the contestants in their amazing outfits, er, gear!

August 30: With abiding and deep apologies, here is the missing entrant: – absolutely, positively stunning:

Survivor…

Stupid Rag.

I have no idea what’s going on, in this image, or tomorrow.

Moving on…

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/7045643/504_Survival_Guide-8_24_2012

Things to do…

…when I get home:

1. Finish the laundry from my trip
2. Call my mom
3. Dinner
4. Kill Rag (oh, you’re going DOWN you fiery piece of….[beep])
5. Try to play with new talent trees and get some things figured out!

Check it out: http://treehealsgowoosh.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/talent-tree-revolution/

That new lightning spell is here somewhere…

Stick it, stick it good…

Trying different titles for this post:
“If you like it then you’d better throw a stick at it.”
“Stick it to da-man.”
“Skills to kill the…dinner?”

Javelin Results are in!

This is one sport that has obvious practical purposes. If you can throw a spear fast and sure at your next meal, you will eat, and your tribe will eat, and everyone will be happy, fall in love, have babies, and the next thing you know places like Ohio or Nebraska happen. (Didn’t follow my anthropological logic? Sorry. It’s early.)

The beautiful Night Elf from Paraguay…

Summer’s end…

My sabbatical is over, and back to routine tomorrow. I’m sitting here thinking of two comments by fellow friends/players, that they were not totally sympathetic to my situation. I don’t blame them. If I were in their shoes, I’d feel that same way. And without going into details, part of me would like to say, “Are you jealous of my having to go through _____?” (Navi knows, and Guarf knows.) “Do you envy me this………?” (My bank account knows.) Or, do you wish you had this? (Fill in the blank of some misguided bureaucrat sucker-punching your hopes and dreams.) Well – all that does occur at my job. But what they really should be jealous of is not the fact I got to derp around in Azeroth for two months, relatively unencumbered, and write a few stories, but what I get to go back to tomorrow. People who love me, people to whom I matter, and people who need me. Wish me well, my sweet guildmates–you should be jealous indeed.

Theme song: Girl/Beck

Clans of the Panda Bears

“You are going to be very, very busy over the next year.”

Okay, okay, so I put my Beta on the back burner, to come to a slow simmer, and now it’s time to take those cookies out of the oven, baby! (Wait, was I baking cookies on the stove top? No wonder…Hooray for confusing metaphors! You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!)

Well, it’s time to eat those cookies. (Did you know that fortune cookies, like most “Chinese” foods, were created in America? Fact.)

Anyway – in the guild forum were some wisely-timed thoughts on the upcoming changes, and steering myself toward a “new and improved concrete Matty,” I thought it was time to take a look at the new faction repuations. It seems that obtaining and keeping a stellar reputation is going to be one of the few avenues to gear and glory. (Man, hope those Pandarians don’t see what those goblins wrote on the bathroom wall about me!)

I was wondering, and if any of you who have done your homework would let me cheat off your notes, is one faction ‘better’ for another class than another? For example, if I take my priest Zep up through the ranks of the Celestials, should she have been a Lotus all along?

http://www.wowjuju.com/

So you may want to visit the Quartermasters to see what they have for your personal cast of characters, and do some list making, etc.:
http://www.wowjuju.com/_/wowarticles/mop-factions-quick-preview-and-quartemasters-l-r209

Current “Mains” (never leave a good Draenei behind)

Mataoka, enhancement and restoration shaman

Luperci: protection and holy paladin

Ceniza: fire mage –that’s it–fire, fire!

Zeptepi: holy and shadow priest

Momokawa: restoration druid–not much else at the moment

Haanta: lost hunter

Kellda: up-and-comer warlock, currently demonology and afflication

Heartichoke (who may be going through a big transformation here soon) – Death Knight tank-wannabe

Golden Lotus: At first glance, this seems to be the one my “mains” will all need to go through in order for recipes and especially mail gear for Mataoka and Haanta.

Shado Pan: This looks to be more focused on gear for Zeptepi, Ceniza, and Luperci.

August Celestials: Momokawa and Luperci need to wander over to their neck of the woods, and this group also has everyone’s back. But of course, they have some new recipes for Zep, so she’ll have to do some kissing-up, too.

The Klaxxii: These good folks look like Luperci’s kind of artisans. Many of her blacksmithing recipes are here, and plate wear.

Other factions of note:
The Anglers seem like my kind of folk!
Brewmasters: Obviously.


Did I just color-code this post? Damn right I did. 

Touching clouds…

These are two screenshots I may turn into large motivational posters when I get home. Each suits me, or  sides of me, depending on the situation. I think they speak for many of us–sometimes we need to go Dwarf and just punch something in the snoot, and sometimes we need to think the situation through.

Sometimes that dragon needs a good punch. I am saddened today by the loss of Neil Armstrong, who took giant steps indeed. His passing reminded me of an incident where a, shall we say, “disbeliever” in the moon walks told Buzz Aldrin to fess up, and Buzz punched in right in the face. Buzz took the Dwarf approach.

I think Neil Armstrong was squarely in the “shrinking world” approach. And in my reflective moments, I am too. I have shrunk the world by every book I’ve read, every letter I’ve written, and every friend I’ve made. If the clouds are our metaphorical dreams, where dragons lurk and wishes come true, if we use our smarts and our hearts, we can truly walk in the footsteps of giants.

Thank you Neil Armstrong. We need to keep reaching, and not diminish our human spirits further.