When did *popcorn* become a legitimate emote?

::wanders off to ponder::

Thanks to my favorite butt of a bear, a fantastic event happened this weekend - Raid for the Cure, in honor of a WoW player named Julie who recently discovered the has Breast Cancer. All the details can be found at BBB, but I wanted to share some of my own screenshots of pinkness for you folks!

I was running late (literally - it's a long haul from Ironforge to Darnassus!) so I met up with the group in Auberdine... and this is what came off of the boat to greet me!


We made our way slowly, but surely, with guards from Sidhe Devils to protect us, through Darkshore.



After safely transversing Darkshore, we paraded through the Barrens to meet up with our Horde companions in Crossroads.

(PS nothing hotter than an Orc in pink!)



Combined Alliance and Horde forces continued on to Ratchet to jump on a boat.



One quick overseas voyage, and we arrived at our final destination: Booty Bay!


And there, we assembled on the bank roof and danced, yelled, shrieked, lawled, and generally emoted our attempts to raise awareness about cancer. As if all the pink shirts weren't enough.


And then Fulguralis, Fuubaar, and myself decided to have a peaceful game of hearts... before I got disconnected ;)


Thanks for everyone who joined in, and thanks to BBB and Sidhe Devils for organizing such a great event.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
During the run, lots of people were telling, in various channels, the stories of those they know who have suffered from all forms of cancer - not just Breast Cancer. Here, I'll share mine.

A few years ago my father informed me he had been diagnosed with Lymphoma, and that it was most likely due to his time in Vietnam and Agent Orange. He is, thankfully, in remission. I know Veteran's Day has now passed for us Americans, but please think of the Vietnam Vets that you know, and call them and remind them to go to their doctors and be on the alert for signs of Lymphoma. I thank God every day that my dad chose to fight the disease, and is still around to show that he won. Not everyone is so lucky.

If you are a smoker, consider switching to vaping in an effort to quit. My fiance and some of the guys from Save or Die Radio have started recording a podcast all about vaping - all of my friends and I have switched from smoking to vaping, and I strongly encourage you to do so as well. If the health benefits don't convince you, then maybe the cost benefits will. No one here will judge you for being a smoker - but seriously, vaping is so much better for you, and a helluva lot more fun!

Cancer is one of those diseases I can't abolish, and dying from it is one death I can't rez. So stay out of the damn Cancer-fire!

A little bird told me that it was mentioned on The Instance podcast that the pets available for purchase from the Blizz pet store do NOT count towards the pet achievements.

Can anyone confirm this for me? How sad is it that I find that strangely comforting?

In other news, Llyra over at Healing Way suggested that Resto Shammies receive some buffs to their damage mitigation abilities. I think this is a very interesting idea - of all the healing classes, it feels that Resto Shammies are in greatest need of some tweaking to give them more specialness. What do you think?

P.S. My fun little MSPaint chart I made yesterday was intended to be a little tongue in cheek... no, I certainly don't think that Rotation and Reflex can be graphed as simply as all that... but it was hella fun to try ;)

I'll be healing on my cleric, Helja Huffinuff with a bit of D&D tonight, so I'm pretty pumped! Yay Fridays...

This is what happens when Geographers who play WoW get reeeeally bored at work.

I dedicate this to you, Jasmine.



Now, to verify topology...

All DPSers are beginning to run scared from my blog, as they fear all the pent up passive-aggression we healers have harbored against them. We may heal you during the raid, but we're secretly cursing your entire existence? No, no, truly, it's not that bad. No really, we love you. Just, like, gtfootf. <3

I mean Ful never even stops by anymore, though I can always depend on his much holier wife. I think he's convinced that the healers have formed a mob and he'll be stormed out should he step foot into Miss Medicina's house. He suggested to me this weekend that the healers in the blogosphere have really become a powerful force, and much more vocal. I think he just never read healing blogs before he got me into blogging and now here I am, forcing it upon him ;)

Seriously though, I just want to step in and say that despite my teasing, I don't think all DPS is easy. Obviously. If I felt that way, maybe when I DPSed on my Pally I would no longer be that chick in the corner on the other side of the room trying to figure out why I can't use Crusader Strike. True story, I'm that bad. Melee iz hrd.

In other news, anyone know of a place where I can find a complete listing of all the different healing spells? I'm getting exceedingly frustrated by my inability to do some serious comparisons between healing classes because I lack the knowledge. This is the sort of thing that resulted in my trying to triple major and double minor in college... I hate not having all the information. I'm even debating putting my raiding on the back burner just so I can finish leveling my druid and shammy so I'm not constantly having to ask Kelly or Zigi to tell me what spell I'm trying to think of.

Oh also. Seriously, the Shaman T10 set? So worth the wait, amirite?

Couple of random tidbits floating around in my head.

So many bloggers getting involved in NaNo! You are much more courageous than I. I'll try to hold down the fort so you can write your novels this month, and therefore I'll probably be posting a bit more frequently. My usual schedule is about once a day, but I'll probably be making shorter posts a couple of times a day for a few weeks.

Tier 10 preview is out. Rogues continue to leave me gasping for breath as I guffaw rudely. I think Blizz is trying to make Druids happy that their armor can't be seen while they are in form so that they will stop whining. Do you *really* want people to see your gear, Antler Head? Pallies in skirts just make my day. What about the Priest t10? Yawn. Completely and utterly booooooring.

Mongrr made a fabulous post at Save the Lightwell yesterday with all kinds of information refuting common complaints about the love-it-or-hate-it Holy Priest spell Lightwell. I added a link to it on my page discussing the merits of speccing into Lightwell, but the StL post is far superior to my own.

I had a very delightful surprise last night when a healer of the non-squishy variety (!) sent me a tell last night from a level 1 character, offering to help out with the Healer Survey data entry. I might actually take him up on this... I'm going to see how far I can get this weekend, and if progress is still painfully slow, then I may take him up on his offer. If anyone else is interested in helping out with this project, please leave me a comment - I haven't decided if I'm ready to relinquish control of mah baby yet, but I also do want to get it all taken care of.

The Christmas spirit is upon us! Between BBB's Raid for the Cure (which is an awesome event because BBB is not telling everyone they should donate to one organization - you are eligible for the drawing even if you choose a different organization to handle your donation), or blame Syrana for Twitter being so annoyingly popular. Or even better, split your donation to Make a Wish Foundation by giving half of it to Blizzard, and you get a free pet! Wait... did I say that backwards? Ah, well, Freud is a bitch.

More later on endangered talents. The title of this post is a reference to a statement Gordin made regarding the recently ousted mayor of Fifth-Third, Ohi... oops, sorry, Dayton, Ohio. Damn, there's that Freud again.

I'm in the sort of field where I spend a lot of time doing data entry. You know, that mind numbingly boring repetitive stuff that everyone hates doing? The reason why I'm actually quite good at it is that I *don't* find it mind numbingly boring.

Larisa over at the Pink Pigtail Inn has made it very clear multiple times that she hates grinding... whether it be reputation grinds, or daily grinds, and I can completely understand why so many people hate that. The thing is... I don't... and sometimes I'm actually somewhat embarrassed by it. After all, Larisa calls herself a moron for it... what does that say about ME? Eeek!

So why don't I get bored and hate it? Having always been the kind of person who enjoyed entertaining myself with whatever I happened to have in front of me, I turn those boring tasks into challenges.

I'm the speediest woman on a ten-key I've ever met due to all that boring data entry I've done in my life. I type faster than a speeding bullet. And I can clear 20 dailies in under an hour - 2 if I'm distracted.

I know most folks love to test out their dps numbers on a dummy, and I do realize that gives a much better indicator of boss dps... but to me, dpsing on a dummy seems like something of a waste of time (but then again, this is also because I'm always healing in raids). I would rather do it while doing my dailies. Why grind for cloth for tailoring when I can get it while doing dailies? Why buy eternals on the AH, when I can get them while working on dailies? Why buy things to DE if I get so many silly green items while running dailies? Herb farming? Dailies, again.

I challenge myself over and over. Just how quickly can I get these dailies done? How many mobs can I take and AoE grind at the same time? Can I do all my dailies without emptying my bags once until I'm done?

Why would I ever be embarrassed about this? It comes from that one adjective - mind-numbing. The fact that I enjoy doing dailies tends to suggest that I enjoy mind-numbing tasks that don't require me to think - or rather, that I do not enjoy doing things that DO require me to think.

Of course, I've already explained why that is not the case for me, but I'm sure there are others who are like me... right? It's certainly not that I'm not a creative person. Hell, I'm a writer, a sometimes-musician, a cartographer, and someone who enjoys painting and drawing more than most. I enjoy puzzles and challenges - I'm not brain dead!

I like to multi-task, and I can do that while running dailies. I can chat with others, or watch TV... or even play Civilization on another monitor. To be quite honest, most of the time I much prefer running dailies to grinding instances, unless there is something specific I want from the instance - which is rare. I don't need anymore Emblems of Conquest, I have the Culling of Stratholme mount, most people don't seem interested in doing the achievements... I'm just plain overgeared for them, and there are still plenty of things I want to buy with gold and Champion's Seals!

So stop judging me just because I like doing dailies, and I'll stop judging you simply because you don't want to make the effort to get exalted with Sons of Hodir!!! :P

Where have I been? Why so few posts?

I've been in a bit of a WoW funk for various personal reasons. I've been catching up on a lot of reading that I always enjoy, and I've been a bit down due to some bad news about our dog, a giant purebred black lab of the sweetest and friendliest disposition. Unfortunately, after dozens of vet visits, trying to find out why he's been so tired, non-hungry, and less animated over the past 8 months, we finally went to a different vet. Last week he was officially diagnosed with advanced Lymphoma.

It definitely hit me like a ton of bricks because even though I was convinced he was sick with something serious, he's not even 5 years old - so cancer didn't even seem like an issue to me. Lymphoma is already a tender topic with me because my father was diagnosed with it a couple of years ago, which led to a lot of changes in my personal life. Luckily, my dad is in remission, but it doesn't look like that will be the case with Chopper, the big black lab of love.

So in the meantime I've been putting forth a lot of effort in researching different recipes of things I can cook him at home, and trying to spend some time with him for his last few weeks with us. It's hard for me to get the inspiration or motivation to research WoW stuff, or find my muse to write about it, or even raid or play much more than a few dailies here and there when I've got a brain full of a drooling, bouncy black lab that may no longer be around in a few weeks.

In spite of all this, I will try to get some content out about the recent crappy priest Q&A, and some reflections on how the 3.2 priest changes have affected my own personal gameplay.

What? You want real content?

...

Do you have ANY IDEA WHAT DAY IT IS?


Snape Commission by *makani on deviantART

In honor of my favorite Harry Potter book being released as a movie today (oh yes, my geekiness extends to multiple factions, dear friends – there is no end to my fangirl idiocy), I wanted to go completely and unapologetically off topic and share my love for Severus Snape. However, I can’t even express my ardor in words… so pictures will have to suffice.

...Can you tell I'm a fan of Makani?


hermione has issues by *makani on deviantART

If you are trying to find ways to keep yourself entertained with HBP content while you eagerly wait your chance to sit in a movie theatre... HERE YOU ARE

Tomorrow... back to the WoWniverse... but seriously, what did you expect for today?

I can't speak. I'm mourning the death of both Michael Jackson AND Billy Mays.

TV will never be the same.

I do actually have a "real" post coming soon regarding 3.2 and pallies, but before I leave for work, I just need to rant.

I'm just plain exhausted.

Why are most of my posts appearing at 2 or 3 am? Why am I up so late anyway? The reality is that I'm NOT up late... I'm up early. I have a commute that is appoximately 1.5 hrs on a good day, and anywhere between 2 and 4 on a bad one. I have a certain number of hours I am required to fulfill at my internship per quarter (or semester for you normal uni students) - and I slacked off this past quarter, and left all my hours to the end. That means that I am literally scrambling to get in 9-12 hour days so that I can fulfill my hour requirement and not get booted from the program or lose my grad funding. 9 hour days = 45 hour workweeks, which wouldnt be that bad... except you have to add on the 3-4 hours i spend each day commuting. That totals to, oh 60 hour workweeks.

I have to have enough sleep or I risk falling asleep while driving. I cannot risk waking up late and not getting my hours in. That means that when I get home from work, around 6 or 7, I immediately go to bed. When my fiance gets home, sometime between 8 and 10, he pops into the bedroom to make sure I'm alive, and to wake me up just long enough so that I can see him, say hi, then go back to bed. When he comes to bed, around 2 or 3 in the morning, that's when I wake up. I haven't been able to talk to him much at all during the week. That's probably why I'm just as clueless as any of the other officers as to where he's been, what he's up to, why he may or may not respond on our fora. Kinda embarassing really... I live with the guy after all.

I hop on my laptop around 2am, scramble to get some much needed dailies in on both of my level 80s, as well as read up on what's happening in the wow world, and put together a halfway decent blog post. Then I take a super fast shower and speed on down the freeway to work.

Obviously, I haven't been able to do any weekday raids. That means my raiders have been short a healer - and we're already short on healers, so the raids have been struggling left and right. The officers in my alliance have been trying to put together an officer meeting, and the only way I can do it is if my fiance comes up, wakes me up for the meeting, and then I go straight back to bed afterwards. Not ideal, but a meeting is overdue, and I *have* to be there, for my own sanity.

All this is coupled with the fact that I need a refill on my medication, as my stores are dwindling - but, I need a doctor's appointment, and I have neither time nor money at the present moment for that. That means I'm trying to stretch it out - something I should be taking every day religiously is now being taken every 3 or 4 days. Which means it's a good thing I'm sleeping when others are awake, because I might crack at any second. I'm dizzy and faint like you wouldn't believe. I stumble when I walk. At least I have no problems driving!

The good thing is that my internship finally ends tomorrow, so my sleeping schedule can go back on track. Unfortunately for my raiding addiction, my fiance and I are heading out of town for one of our twice yearly visits with my family for a week. I can't exactly postpone it... my gigantic crazy cajun family wants to drink a lot of moonshine in celebration of our recent engagement.

So I will just have to continue powering through it for the next couple of weeks, and hope that everyone in my alliance doesn't forget me. At least I can still access our website and fora from work, so I've been making a distinct effort to make my presence known there. >sigh<

I have mentioned that I am a professional student - but that particular occupation also entails me doing real work, though I have joked otherwise. I do most of my work in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), which, for the non-Geographers out there (ha), is essentially computer assisted mapping with an associated database.

Anyway, I have an awesome list of all the personal projects I would love to do, and on that list is a an Azeroth GIS. Basically, it would be an interactive map of the World of Warcraft. My idea is that instead of looking up a zone on wowhead and finding a list there of all the available quests in the zone, you could use a map. Click on the zone in question, and search by level. There, on the map, you would see all the quests available for your level, and where exactly the questgiver is. Perhaps it could even show linkages of quest chains - where they would take you. Since a GIS incorporates a database, you could essentially provide all kinds of information and search functions - it need not be solely limited to quests.

I am still considering doing this project, because I love to share my Type A spreadsheetiness mentality with everyone, but it would be highly complicated by the software. Creating a GIS like this would mean either A) only people who have the 3,000 dollar software could use it, or B) I would have to spend a fortune to get the extension that would allow me to publish it so that people would need only download some free software to view it. It's a lot like Adobe Acrobat Reader - except that it's even more difficult (read: expensive) to actually create the "PDFs".

I love thinking up completely unnecessary and complicated tasks for myself that in all likelihood I will never get around to doing. I do wonder though, if I were to enlist the help of others, if it would be much easier. I could do the mapping fairly easily if someone else could help put together the database. Or perhaps I am just trying to justify spending a bunch of money I don't have for a software extension I don't need...

My mother always told me, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

I'm cheating. I'm back-posting for Monday. Mwahaha.

Because Sunday I never went to bed, and Monday I had a presentation for my seminar class that I was up all night putting together. After finishing my awesome intended to be 20 minute power point presentation, I had to go down to campus for a five hour seminar class in which we all presented our papers. My 20 minute presentation actually ended up being an hour. Oops.

And after that was over? I drove home, and crashed. I just woke up, and I'm still exhausted. And I have to leave for work in 3 hours, and try to fit in a 12 hour day if possible. Blah. I haven't been able to raid with my fellow alliance members on a regular basis for several weeks now (with the notable exception of Maly this weekend). Since my university is on a quarter system, and not a semester system, it may be summer for everyone else, but "summer" for me is defined by "no school" - and therefore, it's not summer yet!

I'm exhausted.