Haw ---> "Hello Tai Fung"

When I saw that Humming Crystal portal out in the wild, I announced it, against my better judgment, in General chat. So I got this in response:

[General] Doomherald says, "Hello Tai Fung"

D'oh. I heart anonymity. Attention to me is like sunlight to dracula (and yes, I realize that this blog makes no sense, but trust me, I'm just a glutton for punishment).

So, I try to think of something to say back to Doom. I figure I'll just do this emoticon: =P

Instead (I actually think I was flustered!), I managed to (ever the gimp!) hit the key to the LEFT of the "P," so I typed out this: ={

WTF is that? Snidely Whiplash?

(blank stares)

Ahem -- THIS guy:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Villianc.jpg

Anyway, I managed to type out this: ={

So that absolutely BAFFLES Doom, who said something about not accepting sad emotes. Well, good point, although that wasn't what it was.

So, naturally, as I always do, I deflected. And discussed brackets. At length.

(No log of this, so this is from memory)
You tell Doomherald, "Sorry hit the bracket key instead."
You tell Doomherald, "What's the difference between the squiggly bracket and the other one?"
You tell Doomherald, "Aren't they both brackets?"
You tell Doomherald, "I MUST KNOW THESE THINGS, THEY WILL GRIP ME ALL NIGHT"

Yeah. So Doom moved on (probably back to torturing Ixus, who is still proclaiming victories after getting his ass kicked over and over, just like the Democratic party in Presidential elections).

I bet NO ONE gets the Snidely Fucking Whiplash reference, even WITH the link.

Sigh.

Ah, the good ol' humming crystal portal.

One of these days, I'll just do that quest for the heck of it. But for now, I have to get my melee D up to three points from max and then wait my time out for "Hard Harbinger."

Huh huh huh. "Hard." Huh huh huh.

Edit/update: It's two points. And, once again, I suck. I stopped hunting entirely to go run to the Untrain Giant Head, and then to run to the Specialized Giant Head, because I'd gotten myself 2 points from max, and worried that I'd blown some free XP.

Instead, I blew XP after all by quitting hunting to go run all over creation. =/

Although, the good news is that I got "proxy-griefed" by teh Foxy. <3 :D

Um, is that you Kitra?

If I am actually going to go hunting with a partner, it's typically going to be my mage hunting partner, Kitra Zan. She wears a full Ancient Armored suit I bought her from Tarn or somebody a year ago (no time for BM quests Dr. Jones!). Anyway, now that *I* have one, it is great.

But it flips me out to log in. I freaking look like HER. Hell, it looks like it's HER wielding a bow(!). THAT is disconcerting.

I need some AA dye. But, I went to the MP, and there was one guy selling "Ultramarine" pigment (or maybe Aquamarine). I pulled up that look on Maggie's, and my girlfriend told me she thought it looked pretty gay and flamboyant. So, of course, I dug it. =) =P

Now then, I'd settle for Black, and be thrilled, since it's the color of my covenant armor that gets so many compliments.

But one problem -- the dude in the MP wanted 70(!!!!!!?????) MMDs for it.

Ack. =(

Die ripper die!

The difference in armor performance was palpable. I could have stayed in the EO for quite a while. But "Southern Yankee" announced on LFG that he needed help with a body recovery (3 corpses) in the PoTB, so I excused myself from the uber XP and went to help. It was just as well. The EO has a strong "Tusker Holding" flavor to it, with assigned locations, people monitoring XP flow, etc. That doesn't do me too well. At least PoTB is so empty now that people are just happy if you're IN there, slagging it out in the pit.

It's official . . .

. . . I heart my Renegade Healing kits! Those work GREAT!

I better go eat the ice cream now!

Chunky Monkey, a fellow alliance member, just outright GAVE me some Ancient Armored Leggings(!). Now I have a full suit!!! Woot!

Now I have a decision to make:

Do I wear the AA suit, and get Chunglee II (my patron, and clan buffbot) to just hit me with 2 hour level 7 buffs? Including full banes, getting me up to 1330 armor level for everything?

or . . .

Do I keep wearing my Covenant armor suit, tinkered up nicely (but not that high), and with majors? The life protections I used came mainly from my clothing, rings, and bracelet, so it's not possible to do both.

Let's see here:

In the AA suit:

Level 7 creature and life buffs
1330 Armor level on everything, against everything.
Coord 330
Bow 451 (I forgot -- my whispering blade ring gives me +10 bow, so revised from 441)
Health 356
Magic D 334
Melee D 479
Missle D 370


In the Covenant suit:
Mostly level 6 buffs, the odd level 7 from Dark Sapphire and Dark Ruby rings (from that Singularity Caul recall quest).
Armor in the 880 to 1200 range (closer to the 1000s on average)
Coord 337
Bow 455
Health 361
Magic D 345
Melee D 482
Missle D 334

So, I've got some thinking to do, but I'm surprised that the melee D isn't that far off. There's a difference of 7 points in Coord, and 14(!) in bow. I only lose 5 points in health, and actually gain(!) in missle D, not that it matters.

Anyway -- thank you Chunky!!! =)

What a cool clubhouse!

I finally went to the Whispering Blade Chapterhouse, and it was effing great. I had no idea there was that life crystal there (click it, and it hits you with a full array of life 7 buffs!).

I'll have to decide -- between that thing, and the buffbots casting 2 hour skill buffs, I wonder if it won't be easier to simply (gasp!) drop my full covenant major suit in favor of some Ancient Armor (I have all but leggings). I could bane the bejeezus out of the AA, get free life 7 buffs, skill buffs, and with my template, I might actually be pretty hard pressed to die.

Although I'm sure I'll find a way. =(

AH-HAH-HAH-HA!

Get 'im, boys! ;-)

And leave it to the Clueless Wonder, pkhere, to just figure that it's all "trolls" making stuff up.

Yeah, all those e-mail bombs to my inbox from good ol' Davy were just figments. Good thing I kept em. =)

Rejuv 7? Woot!

Sweet . . . Jade Dragon, the alliance tinkerbot, just landed an imbue of Hematite on a bracelet with Rejuv 7 on it. This will replace the one I had with Rejuv 6.

Oh, and it has Major Thrown Weapons on it, too. =/

Oops. Sorry El.

I saw "El-Minister II" (or something like that) asking for melees in the PoTB, so I thought I'd make a run there before I had to go to work this morning. When I got there, I saw why: It was just El and some level 146ish crossbower

We were really cutting through the baddies, when we got just above the pit. Now then, as I'd learned with El previously, she's quite good at "Squishifying" them, so I was just waiting around.

But -- I decided to go to the edge and look over the side (thank you "5" key!). It was at that point that I realized that the 3rd of our fellow (whose name I honestly can't recall after spending 7 hours at work today) . . . . jumped down into the pit.

Oops.

Chaos ensues, and in the middle of it, I see that "El" has left the fellow. Not long after that (of course), I'm stuck in the corner like Jodie Foster in "The Accused," so I (naturally) pop an AL recall gem.

And land right next to the 3rd wheel. Hrm.

She apologized, and explained that she thought I was jumping down when I approached the ledge. Totally understandable. I wonder how El's taking it? I didn't have to wait long for an answer:

(Whatever the 3rd wheel's name was) says, "I'm trying to contact El to tell her I'm sorry, but she's not online"

Oops. That's going to be a hell of a re-log in. =/

The spell Infected Caress on Noble Helm of Balance has expired.

There are times I marvel that I'm EVER able to buff the right item.

In da Club(house)

I did that "Whispering Blade Chapterhouse" dungeon (just AFTER) the event where we were supposed to pick sides -- I'm nothing if not timely.

But first, let me point out -- it's not a "Chapterhouse." It's a flipping CLUBHOUSE! Like the He-Man-Woman-Haters Club, only with swords and portals. And instead of those adorable "our gang" kids (well, not THAT adorable), you have people who are all toons, and pass through each other in a creepy way.

But I digress. So I decide I want to be "In da club," and I get sent off to complete my Silyun quests.

I love those, just to tweak those self-important Viamontians.

Boom -- Friend of Silyun!
Bang -- Hero of Silyun!
Um, Boom Bang -- Champion of Silyun!

So I go back, and I get flagged for this "Clubhouse" quest, in Ayan.

Fighting Viamontians? What could be easier?! I have a kickass lightning bow, a full covenant major suit (kinda), and tons of arrowheads! Woot!

Off I go to Ayan to do my quest.

====
Harkwull the Discreet tells you, "Ah, excellent... I have been looking for a person of your obvious skill who is loyal to Queen Elysa and the good folk of Silyun... as well as another organization. I seek someone of skill and daring to infiltrate the Summoning Chamber of Count Dardante, King Varicci's chief thaumaturgical counselor."
====

Heh. "Infiltrate." I guess that is a another way of saying, "Beam in and kill the shit out of everything you see." Did you enjoy June 4, the anniversary of the day the Allies "infitrated" the beaches of Normandy?

Anyway.

So I''m blowing through the place fairly easily, and almost downright easy. I mean, these guys are wearing METAL! And look! I've got, well, um, electric arrows. Woot?

So I'm a-zappin' away, when I get to what I figured was the end room. I mean it had to be right -- look who's in there

"Summoning Chamber Adepts"

Um, wtf?

That's another word for "Altar Boy!" Easy!

I charge in.

This time, there's a ZAPZAPZAP, but it's the sound of them lighting me up like Chevy Chase on the roof of that house in "Christmas Vacation."

Humph. Nice. They even debuffed me first. Sheesh. No holy wafers for THEM!

So I recall (no need to rebuff with my template) and run back in. Grrr. Freakin' altarboys.

I zap my way back, and draw those little bastards out this time. Oh, look! Each drops a cool ring. That's gotta be what the guy wants, right?

So, I pick it up, and run in the portal.

You must complete a quest to interact with that portal.
You must complete a quest to interact with that portal.
You must complete a quest to interact with that portal.
You must complete a quest to interact with that portal.

Um, wtf? So I try and pick up another ring of another dead Altar Boy.

You may complete this quest again in (whatever it was).

@e is confused (as usual, I actually typed that out, to no one in particular)

So, I just kind of stand there. And of course . . .

1. Altar Boy respawns (they respawn FAST)
2. Altar Boy begins debuffing me to lightning.
3. I realize (as is my habit), I am out of arrows.
4. I open my arrowhead/arrowshaft pack.
5. Hmm. Where's all my arrowshafts? (Look above -- I checked arrowHEADS, but not for arrowSHAFTS).
6. Altar Boy lights me up like a Texas Death Row inmate.

Yay.

Finally, I figured out I was supposed to WEAR the damn ring to get in the portal.

I suck.

More happy returns!

Avy's back!

Lev is coming back!

I saw a "Kaos something Rose" bot in the MP!

Hell, even Doom came back, and cracked me up in spite of myself saying that his only drug was AC ("Say no to Meth, yes to Teth" was I think the exact quote).

Now I just gotta convince Lokkie and I can finally have a reason to log in as "invisible." ;-) :-P

Jezza's an anti-semite?

Sheesh. What is it about liberals hating Jews?

Linky one: http://vnboards.ign.com/thistledown/b5157/97930215/p1/?35

Linky two: http://www.zombietime.com/hall_of_shame/
(first pic, although others too)

Linky three: http://www.zombietime.com/israeli_consulate_protest_july_13_2006/


But, to the credit of some, this next guy raised points about Israel without going all bigoted like Jezza did:

http://vnboards.ign.com/Message.aspx?topic=97929844


Textbook example of classy vs. that of a shoplifter from Goodwill. One person can engage in debate, the other just hates Jews.

Look who's back!

None other than my former stalker -- Gibbon Raver, better known as Berek Heartthew.

This guy is not only a worthless, fat, balding piece of trash, he also DNS attacked, on more than one occaison, Kaos's clan homepage. Uncle Davy's got issues. And REALLY ugly tats, lol.

HOW many permabans has this guy had? HOW many evade accounts?

Let's see:


This one:

http://club.ign.com/b/about?username=berek_heartthew&which=boards

This one:

http://club.ign.com/b/about?username=BerekHeartthew&which=boards


And most recently this one:

http://club.ign.com/b/about?username=BerekHeartthew_&which=boards


He had THIS next one as an evader, where he finally figured out not to have his character name. This is how I first encountered him, and where I started getting the e-mails, etc. I wasn't the only one, although other folks have since left TD.

http://club.ign.com/b/about?username=Gibbon_raver&which=boards


Judging by his posts, he seems to have only been given a year ban, but he is, by absolute definition, an evader. He is permabanned three times over, and is back again, using an account that many people didn't notice until it was pointed it out by some posters (I wonder how they were tipped off?). ;-)

On another note, I wonder how long it takes until he has another implosion?

May it please the court . . .

. . . "Tai Fung for the United States, your honor."

So here's the deal -- I still play TONS of AC, but I often don't have time to write about my (frequent) misfortunes (they've continued).

I think it's about to get worse, in the continual quest of finding more time for AC.

In the past two weeks, I took a new job within my, um, "type of work." My other work was pretty heavy duty, and involved some kinda neat stuff. Weighty even. But, I just, um, moved up again. As in, travelling the country, going into certain, um, "known venues," and arguing cases.

I might be a gimp in-game, but my Win/Loss record before was literally record-setting during my tenure. No telling what this new position will end up doing to my batting average, but it's definitely a step up.

I'm using this blog more as a journal of my lameness in Dereth. Please know that I still play, I still get killed (by everything, it seems), and I still NEED THAT FUCKING GEM OF +12 INVULN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!oneoneoneone.

Sigh. At least I can pwn out of game. ;-)

170!

@e does the happy dance!

And I levelled off of snow lillies. ;-)

I'm so hot for that florist (no pkhere jokes, please!).

Lorna's back!

WOOOT! My most excellent former patron! I hope she stays in Chung's clan (or Capt. Justice's, actually. Who can tell?!).

Anyway. Woot. =)

Chung's cool enough that I don't think he'll mind if I re-swear to Lorna, although I suspect the clan buffbot likes having that guy fueled by my continuous vitae reduction (it's been seriously bad lately -- two 35% days, and about four 15% spirals where there were Tai bodies laid out in an almost perfect line, all more progessively naked. Kinda like a party at Lookies. ;-)

AAAAAUGGGH!

WTF?! Eastham is fucking NUTS!

This post, I swear, is true.

I beamed into town to see what the fuss was about, promptly got gangbanged by 57 shadows, ran (surprise), and jumped into the Arcanum Agent's house. I slammed the door, did the *mock* emote at the door, knowing that the shadows were all outside, debuffing the crap outta me.

A shadow-girl-type OPENED the fucking door. And ran in.

And killed me deader than fried chicken.

It's not fair if mobs know how to open DOORS, dammit!

Time to set my house to "closed!"

Sigh.

I miss the PoTB. But I suck WAY too badly to survive in there alone. Everyone's in EO nowadays. PoTB was cool, though, because you had to have mages working with archers and melees to vuln, heal, and otherwise keep the team firing away.

Ok, so Eff this

Can't stay connected even long enough to reset my loyalty. I'd like those Silyun titles, dammit! ;-) :-P

ROFL

Jezza Belle, who last saw a salad bar the last time she saw her feet, wants to explain nutrition to Gwyd. Holy fucking shit, will wonders never cease.

Why is it fat people always claim to know the most about nutrition? I remember a few years ago, a total parade float stopped me in a cafeteria, and was like, "You've got a heart attack on a plate there!" Meanwhile, I had (and still have) a low cholesterol count, had run too many distances races to count, been practicing martial arts for about 3 years at that point, and could easily bench press my weight and more. But this fatass wants to lecture me about health?

Double ewe.
Tee.
Eff.

Woot!

Just maxxed bow!

That's Coord and Bow now!

168!!

Woot!!

So on a whim, I managed to get home Sunday night in time to go on my first EoL quest. It was for the "hard" Harbinger.

Bearing in mind how well the "easy" Harbinger went for me:

[url]http://gimpyarcher.blogspot.com/2005/12/harbinger-lemme-at-im.html[/url]

. . . I was a touch worried.

Anyway, Kitra showed up as well, and knew that she would have connection problems. So I mostly kept an eye out for her, as well as on my own health bar. Regardless -- the quest went smoothly(!). Of course, "smoothly" means that I --maybe-- got a couple of hits in on baddies before they dissolved the like bad guys at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

So, as always, I just emoted. But -- I was stunned that on this quest, in THIS alliance . . . I'm not the only emoter(!).

(Quest leader) says, "DON'T RUN AHEAD"
Chunglee runs ahead.

WTF? That's MY line! ;-)

So I did the obligatory "Tai Fung wets his armor" every time I have to do the evil jumps, but these guys are going to make me WORK, dammit! =P We finally got to the Harby, and after much killing of his friends (it turns out he has all these shadows, wisps, and even shadow children who beam in as he dies).

And with that, two skill credits, and two levels. Twice the fun. =D

Hrm. Pretty fun, actually. And with that, my level hit the title of this entry. Note the two exclaimation points. Two skill credits = two punctuation marks.

Aren't I the wry one. =/

OFF WITH HIS HEAD!

Tai Fung
Allegiance Monarch: 4 followers.

Screw the "followers" part -- I was KING!

So I decided not to reflexively just quit being a part of any alliance in AC -- I really enjoy the portal devices, and it certainly can't hurt to know folks when you need to do certain quests requiring a lever operator. Plus, Chung's alliance was right up there with Kaos' when I was trying to make a final decision.

I PM'd Kaos to tell him that if he wasn't playing that much, Chung had a mage who was active, and needed some XP pushing for the clan buffbot. Kaos was gracious, and said that he only plays infrequently as of late. I guess I feel that the best contribution I can do right now is to help out the clan's buffbot.

But for a little while there -- I was F'ing KING!

It immediately went to my head -- "BOW BEFORE ME, THOU KNAVE!"

Gawd, I wanted to behead somebody. Alas, Chung was standing in front o' me.

Chunglee II has accepted your oath of allegiance!

Wow. There have only been like 2 people I've ever sworn to in game, and now it's 3. I'm such a patron 'ho.

Holy switch!

I'm not in Kaos' clan anymore. I logged in to an EoL alliance message. =(

Hell, I don't even have access to storage.

Kaos is shutting down the website domain (I can't blame him for that, there's a cost involved).

Sigh.

What to do, what to do.

Where've I been?

Not in-game. =(

I got to play for a bit --just a bit-- last Saturday. I still love AC, and won't start up another game until this one shuts down, but I just got a hugely big deal job (move within my current, um, "company"), and it's a very jealous mistress.

When I get home at night, I'm just plain beat. Plus, the two things I want to do both involve people (getting that gem of +12 invuln, and flagged for Vissidal), so I know if I log on, it won't happen.

Bah. I'll sleep later. Got to find a way in-game.

Wooooot!

Just got registered for the Marine Corps Marathon!

Heh, did it a day early too -- there was some kinda "festival" set up at Pentagon City, with registration available to 1,000 entrants.

This is bound to cut into AC time on the weekends as I train for it, but on the other hand, I know that the Cherry Blossom 10 miler I ran wasn't that hard, based just on the sporadic running I was already doing.

@e beams.

So . . .

. . . am I getting no credit for coming up with the idea of the Wiki-board invasion? =(

http://vnboards.ign.com/Message.aspx?topic=96667691

Oh, good!

More political fights on AC:TD.

@e gets back to work.

Woot!

Getting to 164 took forever, but damn . . . I go up so effing fast in PoTB compared to the Eggs.

165, just like that!

*dance*

Now where did I put that yellow gem?

Woo-hoo!

Es_Ruthless offered to get me flagged for the new island -- excellent! I just will likely have to find a time where Kit is also online (um, and Puffy, too, lol), and we'll glom onto Es_R's good nature!

Now if I can just manage not to ACTIVATE my gem, instead of turning it in. =/

Ribbit!

So I went on Capt Justice's KQ today (he does 3 today, and 3 tomorrow).

The good:

CJ always runs a nice quest, and with 40+ people there for all 3 Kings, the quest itself was cake. Of course, if I got 3-5 frog kills over all 3 quests, I'd be impressed, but that's only because everyone's so uber. Wyntress was very nice about keeping me in her fellow for all 3 Kings, and couldn't have been more skilled at keeping up with her folks.

Honestly, other than being part of a nice quest, I can't say there was much good. Pleasant, yes. But the good was spoiled by the "ugly."

On to The bad:

With a group this big, it's VERY hard to move folks along. I totally sympathize with CJ on this, as folks lagged, needed help with the riddles, and otherwise needed to be herded (think "meow"). He does a fantastic job of keeping everyone together, and making sure everyone gets their reward. But -- there was tremendous "down time," where we sat. And sat. And sat.

The Ugly:

With a group this big, CJ wants the quest run a specific way. I guess people are protective of him, but it was a little classless in how some of them behave. It's one thing to want the quest to be successful, but it can get a little bellicose with ANY "deviation from the norm." Here's how --

So King #2 gets whacked, and I was eaten --easily-- three, possibly four, separate times. The last time, it was when the King was in low health and I CS'd my way out JUST in time to see Mage Michellemm(something) get the kill. Woot! I grabbed a hide, and then thought I'd help out. How?

I summoned a hub portal.

Honestly, you woulda think I imp'd the King, or even recruited people into a fellowship. People went effing NUTS.

CJ "screams" out my name, then "sighs" in open chat. He then told me that he was summoning a Cragstone portal. Hrm. Ok, fine. I'm sure it's stressful to lead a large group. But that wasn't enough.

Someone named (phonetic here) "Akira Dai" offered up a very helpful, "Do you not know how to follow instructions?"

W. T. F.

Seriously. I didn't imp, or recruit. All I did was summon the hub, which, in case anyone forgets, HAS Cragstone in it.

Hell, if I'd summoned frigging KARA or something, sure, be pissed. But the effing HUB?

So for King #3, I shut my mouth, and didn't say crapola. I stayed quiet, did my thing, got my hide, and portal recalled. I sent CJ a tell thanking him for his time on the quest, and logged.

When I'm on again tomorrow (and even tonight), I'll make sure I "appear offline," and I'll pass on Kings 4, 5, & 6.

Woot!

Capt. Justice is running KQs this weekend -- and aside from working out, this weekend's pretty free!

Yee - ha!

Holy crap.

It HAS been a while, hasn't it? Ack.

I got back into the game just as things went ape again at work. Sigh. So much for that wonderous return. Something's gotta give, unfortunately it was AC. What sucks is I still really love playing, and since I suck so badly at it, lots of things are still a challenge for me. I'm still dying to do the Soul Stone quest, because I want that +12 invuln gem for my noble helm.

However, in the past week, I've gone and gotten pincers, jaws, tusks, Ishaq's key, and even made a "library book" run (naked FTW! Librarians love naked guys). Now I just have to find some more snow lillies and I'll be back on track with periodic quests.

YAY!

I just saw -- we can "reset" our alliances, so I can go (re)get my titles for Silyun (and even Sanamar, if I wanted).

Woot!

Title collection is actually kinda fun, fwiw.

Where the heck is Kaos?

Kinda miss the old rube. Although I'm wavering now -- if Kaos does disband earlier than the year he was originally thinking, I might go hook up with Capt. Justice. That's a stand-up guy, and they do seem to quest every so often (meaning I'd have even more people to avoid talking to in @a chat). =P

OMG I WILL PEEKAY j00!

Am I really missing anything by turning off general chat? =/

I'm back!

That was a long hiatus. =(

Holding fast at 162. =/

I have just GOT to get flagged for the new island, and soon!

Socialism.

Suppose you worked a job.
Or, suppose you were a student.

Either way, assume you work your ass off. If you don't, you have no reason to complain.

Anyway.

You're paid well, or you receive good grades because of your work. (If you're not paid well for working hard and doing a good job, find a new job. If you work hard and don't get good grades, talk to your prof., get tutored, or take different classes.).

Anyway.

At the conclusion of one year, you have your work evaluation, or you get your final grade for the course. The moment is here! Woot! You're all set to receive your fat reward! Yay!

But your boss/Prof. walks in and says, "Well, look. I've decided to just give everyone a grade of "C" (or rate everyone's performance as "adequate"), instead of having differing standards. Thanks, buh-byeeeeee.

How would you feel, especially if you worked your ass off (see above)?

How do you think the slackers/goof-offs/fuckups at your job/in your class feel?

THAT is what Socialism is all about. Everyone gets a "5" result, no matter if you gave a "10" effort, or a "1" effort.

And (here's the kicker) . . . if you know you're getting a "5" result, no matter what you do . . . how hard are you going to work?

Best. Run. Ev-ar.

Unlike some of the shorter distance runs I've done, I deliberately didn't run this for speed, but to simply complete this distance (since, technically, every step I took after the 6.2 10K mark was farthest I've ever run in my life. I appear to be a natural X/mile runner, and where I can push it harder, or ease up as well, X minutes per mile is where I tend to gravitate right now. Not so today! I seriously took my time, and just felt fan-freakin-tastic the whole 10 miles, coming in around X + 2 minutes and change per mile . It was a little fun!

Would that running IRL were this easy!

I've got a 10 mile run coming up in a couple of Sundays, and have missed a fair amount of AC time while I train for it.

Wish I could just go up to the starting line and press "Q". =P

http://www.cherryblossom.org/

What's funny is that I kinda HAVE to do this race, and other races like the Army 10 miler, in order to keep myself motivated to run the Marine Corps Marathon in late October.

Which doesn't bode well for extra AC time. =(

Sigh.

I miss being in-game. =(

DO YOU LIKE ME? OMG CHECK YES OR NO PLZ

I didn't see this on Maggie's but by Karlun's fort, right where you pretty much start the quest is this guy who is some sort of Viamontian armorer. Anyway, he hands you this note, and asks you go to to (I think) Eastham, to the Shadow Armorer guy who's there. THAT guy gives you a note for the Karlun guy.

So, I did that.

The Viamontian/Karlun guy gave me ANOTHER note, this time for the Shadow Armorer guy in Kara. And one other one for the Gharu Shadow Armorer guy in another city.

The purpose? To find out if they could all be friends. =/

This is all very high school.

But, I ran the quest anyway. Got a few million XP for my trouble.

It looks like next month that you'll be able to make Viamontian Shadow Armor! That, or the four guys will be pretzeled up together a la "Brokeback Mountain."

Gaah!

I'm so bummed. I took Kaos' idea and ran with it, and am now trying to amass as many titles as possible. But -- I can't get either of the Hero/Champion of Silyun tokens, as these are apparently one-time quests. That sucks! >=(

Dapper suit death #202

Wearing my dapper suit yet again, I did a portal recall, thinking the last portal I hopped was to Sanamar.

Tukora Sentinel tells you, "Ooooh, nice suit!"
The force of Tukora Sentinel's assault flattens Tai Fung!

Sigh. But I so heart wearing it. =/

Hell just froze over.

1. I just did Aerlinthe, having NEVER done it before (although I got as far as the lower foundry a few times, only to keep missing the jump, see lots of earlier entries).

2. I got the kill.

3. I did the whole quest solo.

I mean, SURE the thing took HOURS to do alone and as a noob, but at least doing it alone I could ensure I'd get the
kill. ;-) :-P

Care for an ice-pop, Satan?

Haw. Right again.

That UNC killer driver guy wanted to kill students to avenge Muslims.

Pardon me while I snicker a little bit at the irony, not the injuries. Here's the deal: UNC is a very liberal campus. You just know (and you can verify this by looking at older letters to the editor of the student newspaper) that they have just taken a total pacifist attitude on dealing with Muslim killers, to wit, the old, "If we ignore their attacks, they'll eventually get tired of bombing us," and the "anything bad that happens is our fault" (otherwise known as the Bennish Special).

Hey! Lookie at that UNCers! Muslims will even kill the liberals, too!

I wrote this a long time ago: "And they won't spare the pacifists."

I also wrote this: "They want you dead, no matter how much you wring your hands and blame America for all the world's problems. You'll still be considered a target to them."

And now UNC students know this too. Even the liberal ones.

Wow. Lotsa H8 for USA on VN.

Lots of people I wouldn't expect to harbor utter hate for America are all jumping to this teacher's defense on some VN thread. Even -I- defend the teacher's right to say what he said. But, if you think you can have free speech without consequences, you're either stupid, or clueless.

What's disheartening about the VN thread is that NONE of them are attacking what he had to say (seems Second Chance, and even Puffy, agree with it. I knew DM would). Guess VN is a LOT more left wing than I thought.

Here's something Stip wrote: "anyone who compares anyone else to Hitler or Nazi's is immediately disregarded as being completely out of their mind."

Stip's been gone too long. Read what scum like Plasma (who seriously thinks it's totally ok to kill civilians, as long as they're American, and white) have to say.

Anyway, the point is that those on the loony left DO think Bush is the same as Hitler, Capitalism is the root of all evil, we should all become socialists immediately, and that anything bad that happens to the United States is the fault of the United States. Purely evil acts are only done by white men; any ethnic or religious "minority" that does a bad thing only did it because of the United States.

People like Jay Bennish have been around for years. They started getting more shrill post 9/11, when Ramsey Clark formed ANSWER to stop any military response to the Taliban, and they've said the things Jay Bennish have said (almost verbatim) at pro-peace rallies since (you know those rallies, the ones where they torch stuff while chanting about peace). Because, however, those folks weren't getting mainstream airplay (they weren't teachers, but just well-fed college students, and Starbucks employees on breaks), people didn't really hear a lot of what they had to say.

What is the mindset of those folks? Just listen to (or read) what the teacher said, which was, in essence:

==========
-America is the most violent nation on Earth.
(Which is why we have had to be bombed into going to wars, allow governments to constantly crap on us without retribution, and still haven't thrown the U.N. off our shores).

-Capitalism is bad.
(Yeah, it would be great if I exerted a level 10 effort every day, and got level 5 results, while looking at some bum exert level 1 effort and get level 5 results too).

-Hugo Chavez am good.
(I like the part where you get thrown in jail for criticizing Chavez. But Cindy Sheehan digs him, so I guess that's ok)

-Israel is a terrorist nation.
(Those darn Jews! I mean, those 6 million in WW2 probably were asking to be killed, maimed, and experimented on! And those Arab countries that kept on attacking it and losing land should just get that land back! After all, Israel won all those wars against it on, um, a technicality or something. Anyway, when you win a war after being attacked, and take the land of the attackers, well, that's um, not right. Or something).

-Hamas am good people.
(Suicide bombers just need a hug!).

-9/11 was our fault. The towers were valid to hit, so was the Pentagon.
(Anything bad that happens to the United States, in fact, is our fault. Attacking civilians or military personnel while dressing like a civilian isn't a war crime or anything. It's cultural.)
==========

Now, seriously -- that kind of thing can be heard at literally every major peace rally (I'm not kidding). Check Brain-Terminal's videos section.

I hope Jay Bennish is on a hijacked plane someday. I hope he's on a plane hijacked by Muslims, who tell him that they're going to fly the plane into some U.S. building. I hope they explain to Jay how, if you really think about it, all buildings in the U.S. are connected in some way to the U.S. military, but just to be sure, the building they're targeting has military personnel in there. Jay needs to plop down in his seat, and say, "Oh well, it's a military target, I'm just a casualty of war! Too bad for me! Gee, I sure wish these guys had worn military uniforms, acted under some sort of flag, or even identified themselves instead of acting like civilians up until the last minute! D'oh! Too bad for me! But I shouldn't complain, because if I do, then someone will think I'm racially, ethnically, and religiously insensitive! Boo-hoo!"

And if the hijackers decide to behead him, he needs to kneel down nicely for them, and offer his neck. That's just how they do their killing, and if he doesn't abide by their methods, then he might be perceived as insensitive. Hopefully, they'll have sharpened their box cutters to make it painless, but probably not. Jay shouldn't scream, though, as that would offend the hijackers as well, who would think he was objecting to their lawful resistance to American aggression in a "valid" military operation.

That teacher is learning a lesson -- feel free to say what you want, but expecting that you can say what you want without real life consequences is a fantasy.

School's out.

The ups and downs of AC

I was a little tired, and had just turned in some snow lillies for another 20 millon XP. But Avy was in a PoTB, and I thought I'd stop in (she was with some folks she's known for a while, and there didn't seem like a problem with joining the fellow for a while). So I chose PoTB center, and ran to the pit. No one there -- died. So I ran back to recover that body -- died.

Lather. Rise. Die.

3 bodies. 20% vitae.

And with that, I had to decide -- what the hell was I doing? I mean, it's not like I was EXPECTING help, but I did wish I could have gotten some. But even Avy knew she couldn't do anything, and people are just busy PKLing. There were people from my alliance on, but I couldn't get any help.

And then, Avy makes it happen. From Big T's alliance. Sharif (something, I was too frantic to get his name), Rabi, and BT had moved to the main of PoTB, and were keeping the pit clear. They were only too happy to keep stuff off of me while I got everything back (all DIs, but that many is very expensive to someone like me).

Sharif pointed out that AC is all about helping people. Rabi was her usual cheerful self, and BT was gracious.

Crap. If people keep being this nice to me, it just plays total hell with my bad mood.

And now I owe Avy, big time.