Games I Play and Want to Play

Finals are finally over (early compared to my classmates, but that's the mad fortune of being an English major -- useless, but done early), and I'm blearily wondering what I should do with all the free time I've got on my hands right about now. So far I've been charging around in my favourite old videogame, Diablo II, and getting trained up on Starcraft.

I've also started playing a new MMORPG, Allods Online, a free MMO set in a steampunkesque fantasy 'verse. It's set up very similarly to WoW (which I SO can't afford to play, so this is a positive development), and I've built myself two characters already, though I've only got one through the tutorial so far. My League character, Kallyndria is an Elven Mage and my Empire character Syrania is an Arisen Summoner (Arisen are basically undead with mechanical enhancements). I hope to have some fun with them in the coming weeks. So far I'm already really enjoying the graphics and style of the game, but the interface is really different from DDO, so it's taking some getting used to. Jeff's the one who pointed it out to me, so we'll hopefully get the chance to play together while we're in separate cities most of the summer.

There's also a chance I'll be getting a Starcraft II Beta key in the not too distant future, since Jeff might have an extra one coming to him through his pre-order. He's highly enthused about the thought of being able to play his favourite game with his girlfriend - that and teaching me to pwn people ("you can be all like 'oh, I's a newb and a girl' and your opponent will be all 'hah, I don't have to try' and then you can go 'HAH!' and rape them and they'll go 'what the hell? I just got beat by a girl?" I like the way he thinks).

Clearly I've got a good summer of gaming looming ahead of me. Among other things I'm hoping to take a crack at Dragon Age: Origins on my laptop (I've played a bit on the 360 but the controls are a pain in the ass), and Jeff is procrastinating his philosophy papers by making a list of games he wants to throw at me. I'm not going to complain - recommendations are helpful, and if I'm lucky I won't have to spend a ridiculous amount of money to get the games I want to play.

So that's my general post about gaming and such. I'm about to head into act IV of Nightmare in Diablo II and I'm still slogging through the Terran Campaign in Starcraft (I'm not bad at the RTS style, but it's still new to me and I'm taking a while to adjust). I'm also enjoying Pokemon Heartgold on my DS, though rather slowly since I've been doing all manner of other things in the gaming realm.

In non-gaming related news, my other summer projects include getting down to it on the next novel - that and cleaning up the old one. I'm also taking up piano again - It's been a couple years since I stopped playing and I want to get back up to my old standards. So I'm learning a few Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead songs on my crappy old keyboard in my spare time.

And as for TV, starting next week I'm hoping to begin borrowing Star Trek: The Next Generation from Amy to watch. Mmm, delicious Picard-y goodness.

The Silence is Deafening

Good afternoon, Blogosphere! It's been almost a month since I last updated and I've been living under the rock of impending finals and moving to a new apartment. I apologize for my radio silence, and hope to start updating a little more regularly from here on in.

Anyway, what's the last month been like?

Well, school devoured me for a brief period of time. I had multiple presentations to deal with in my reading classes, and lots of latin to translate. Our class has spent the last three weeks translating Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone out of Latin into English. Harder than it sounds, but a whole lot of fun for a nerd like me. I also completed the presentation for my Capstone paper, which is all about authors who defy fantasy cliche's in their writing. This has given me an excuse to read a ridiculous amount of Dresden Files -- seriously, I got through three this weekend alone. I'm hoping to spend the summer catching up with those books, more Goodkind, and maybe interspersing some other random fiction. I don't have any summer classes looming, so it's a good time to get my recreational reading done!

Writing-wise, I gave up on Script Frenzy right about the time I started packing up to move and getting bombarded with school stuff. It's a shame, but hopefully I'll be able to pick up the idea at another time. My plans for the summer include having a finished first draft of Stella Felicis, a second draft of Attunement, and to continue making notes for a new idea that doesn't have a name yet but is kind of sixth-sense, ghostbustersish.

Social life has been about the same - we've missed two weeks of D&D due to moving and Jim being out of town, but hopefully that'll start up again Sunday at the new apartment, which is looking great (I'll post pictures soon as I get everything moved in, I promise). The move went pretty smoothly, and my other task for this week besides school is to clean everything out of my old apartment in preparation for the lease going up on the 30th.

Also on a social note, I picked up a boyfriend at the beginning of April. Jeff's a videogame addict (he's won multiple Starcraft tournaments. I am a geek and consider this a hot commodity in a significant other) and a philosophy major. We hang out and talk about stuff a lot, as well as playing videogames and going out dancing and trying interesting beers.

Here's a picture of us at GuNk's Zombie Prom up in Omaha a couple weeks ago:

We look festive.

So yeah. Book wise I'm starting on Blood Rites, the sixth Dresden Files book. Gaming wise I'm finally back playing Diablo II in my spare time. Still in Act III of Nightmare, but I hope to celebrate the completion of my Gay and Lesbian Lit paper by stomping Mephisto's face before TV Monday (Who's excited for new Chuck tonight? This kid!). I also hope to be getting some new games after Thursday (when I'm finally done with finals). Not that I can afford that right now, but I have very kind friends. I'm also considering running something in the Serenity RPG system this summer. We'll see though.

Time for me to get back to work on the final that's due tomorrow. Adios bloggers, I'll hopefully be posting more as the days go by. :)

Academia

So one of my favourite websites, My Life Is Nerdy, now has a forum. I've been lurking and posting there for the last few days and it's a quite amusing place to be, so I recommend you check it out, fellow nerds.

This week has been a busy one. There's about a month left in the semester, which means the papers and tests are starting to pile on. So tonight I've got to read a book and figure out some sort of response to it before going to karaoke. And after grabbing dinner with my mom -- she misses me.

On Monday afternoon Amy and I signed the lease to our shiny new apartment (yeah, we got the big one - squee), and our move-in date is the 16th, which is about two and a half weeks from now. So I have two and a half weeks to start shifting things into boxes and cleaning things up.

Exciting, no?

I'm also registered for my fall classes, the last classes I will take as an undergraduate EVER.
And I'm going to go insane.

Why? Because this is what my schedule looks like:

Monday / Wednesday / Friday -- no class

Tuesday / Thursday:

9:30-10:45am
Classics 409: Religion in Late Antiquity

11:00am - 12:15pm
History 412: Greek City States

12:30 - 1:45pm
History 436: Saints, Witches and Madwomen

3:30 - 4:45pm
English 452: Fiction Writing

Insane, no? Four 400 level classes, all on the same day, and only one of them (classics) is a requirement.

I'm going to explode in mid-September. Just wait.

So yeah. April is going to be a busy month. I've got papers in three classes, and projects too. I've got research to do, outlines to draw up, work shifts to doze through, books to read... yeah, I'm a busy one.

Least this weekend I will blow off some steam. Friday there's a DJ battle at the Bourbon theater I'm going to go to with some buddies, and Saturday and Sunday are D&D days, which will be lots of fun.

So that's my life update. I'm busy, but things are good all the same. :)

I've Never Been Much For Blogging Daily Anyway

It's been an exceptionally busy week here at Taking Ten. As well as lots of school-related junk, we celebrated the birthday of my friend and future roommate Amy (I got her a tricorn pirate hat, which she loved, and sang her Elton John at karaoke) on Wednesday, which was amusing. I also finished Stone of Tears and have now moved on to Blood of the Fold, which I am enjoying just as much.

I also got my tattoo on Tuesday: it's a small yin-yang in the center of my back between my shoulderblades. It hurt like a bitch since it's on my spine, but it's healing nicely. Itches a bit today, but that just means it's healing. :3 Of course, whenever someone slaps me on the back, it stings. Gotta love friends.

Other life news includes apartment hunting (Amy and I found an amazing place in the middle of town: nice neighborhood, 1100 square feet, less than $600 a month, secured entry, big rooms, balcony... it's perfect) and getting my car tonight. It's a black '06 Honda Civic, 2-door. Her name is Kaylee.

Because yeah, I'm the queen nerd and name my appliances and vehicles. Go me.

Tomorrow is GamerKhan VI, which means my usual plans for sleeping will be thwarted. That's all right though; I'm used to going without sleep, and can probably nap if necessary. I'm all set and ready to cook, organize and hostess it up as well as hanging out with all my favorite nerdy friends. It will, as always, be a blast.

Anyhoo, I'm going to spend the rest of my evening getting a bit more writing done, reading more Sword of Truth, and watching my friends play Civilization IV.

On Writing Longhand and Other Things

So as I mentioned, I'm writing the first draft of my newest novel, Stella Felicis (a working title, I'm not sure I'm a fan of it at the moment) in longhand. I bought a few small college-ruled notebooks (kinda like the Moleskine ones, just cheaper) in Seattle and have been working on the story with pen and paper instead of on my usual medium, which is frantic typing.

It's a very different experience. I backtrack even less than I usually do. I can write anywhere (including class -- there goes my productivity next week), and I feel somewhat more accomplished than I would writing a few pages in MS Word.

There is of course the huge downside, which is my RSI. Today my left wrist, and part of my arm, is in quite a bit of pain and tingling unpleasantness.

So yeah. Tomorrow I'll be scheduling a doctor's appointment. It's the first time I've had to get this checked out in almost three years, but its getting to the point where it's becoming necessary.

Guess that's the price I have to pay for pursuing my dream.

Not the best day I must admit. But I'm dealing with it the way any self-respecting nerd should: Sunday D&D, Mountain Dew, cookies, and eating cream cheese frosting straight from the jar.

Yeah, I'm hardcore.

School tomorrow. Hopefully I won't suffer too horribly. At least now I'm going to take advantage of my work schedule to read. :3

GamerKhan one-shots

Here's the list of the one-shots for Gamerkhan VI, taking place Saturday the 27th of March. Message me with questions, for directions to the location, to sign up, whatever you like.

12:00 – 4:00pm
DM: Tim St Arnold.
The kingdom of Verasin is in chaos. The once shrouded Kurnic Assassins Guild has been forced out of hiding by the genocidal Consortium of the Light. The two forces have picked the City of Renal to be a point of contest between them. With the Four Heroes of Kurnstas away and the remaining assassins subdued, killed or on other missions it has fallen on the rising ranks of the guild to go into the shadows and deliver Kunrstas' blessings to their foes. You have been chosen to engage on a mission of certain death; yet, with your help you may save the guild from destruction before the Heroes can return. As the city holds it breath can you defeat its foes before they are able to launch their religious crusade?

A couple of key notes for the one shot. First this is an assassination campaign, meant to be about stealth and assassinations rather then kick the door in beat everything to a pulp and keep going, please keep that in mind when going forward (not trying to push you away but its not your average one shot). Second, you will be a level 3 NPC, so find something that works for you, also all races are allowed I just need to know what they are to modify them. Which leads me to the next point, there is no magic in this one shot, let me repeat that: NO MAGIC IN THE ONE SHOT. So please do not pick an adept or any other NPC class with magic capabilities I wont let you play it, I will modify races to make them playable but if they will take to much modification I will ask you to change your choice. Other than that all weapons, armor and supplies will be provided for you so no worries.
4 players

Alan Wigness
Hyrule has been ruled by a single royal bloodline for hundreds of years, and for all those years there have been those who stood in the Shadows, defending Hyrule from any who seek to destroy it. They are the Sheikah. Now as the Kingdom of Hyrule is entering an unprecedented age of prosperity, the Sheikah face a foe greater than any they have met. Will history remember this day, or will the Sheikah fall from Shadow into obscurity?
D&D 3.5 Core only
Level 8 standard point buy
Must take 3 levels of Rogue
Six Players
Players: (six slots)

***

4:00 – 8:00pm
Axis and Allies Minis
Run by Tim Auten
Another game of Axis and Allies minis.
Any number of players welcome.

Steven Davis
d20 Modern
Level 7
d20 Modern Basic Classes
Make your own characters (contact Lora for the d20 modern information, or use google)
Any number of players

God has decided to retire so he can spend more time bowling. However, before he left, he sent everyone an email describing his abdication and what would happen next. Most of them were caught by spam filters, but the ones that got through were still circulated:
------------------------------
From: god@god.god
To: The World
Cc: Hell, Heaven
Subject: Retirement
I have retired so that I can spend more time bowling. As I will no longer be ruling the
universe, I am leaving things in the care of my archangel, Michael. Parties who are
interested in taking control are free to search the city of Flameville, USA for my crown, which houses all of my powers as ruler of the universe. Thanks, -God.
------------------------------
Whether through gullibility or brilliance, your character believes this email is true. You have headed to Flameville to search for the crown, but first, you're going to get coffee at a bistro on the outskirts of the town. There are a number of weirdos in this cafe, and some of them may know more than they're willing to admit.

Characters will be Level 7 in one of the basic classes (each one is based on one of the ability scores). For initial stats, roll 4x d5+1 and take the highest 3. Do that 7 times and take the highest 6. Yes, they should be really high. As for background, I will accept any kind of character, but I expect you to at least have a reasonable motive for seeking out control of the universe.

Finally, I expect players to have a sense of humor and a fairly relaxed attitude. If the description so far wasn't enough of a warning, I will be mocking religion, tradition, and many other things as well, so sensitive players should probably stay away.

A Gig in Samaranth
DM: Beta
An adventure of wacky hijinks and adventure, set in the border city of Samaranth. Characters will be premade by the DM, and first preference will be given to players who have NOT been in one of my one-shots. Accepting up to six players. The system is Umzamo, my 3.5 variant. If you know 3.5, you should have no problem picking it up.Oh, and you're all bards, or minstrels, if you prefer.
Players: Tim St. Arnold, Alan Wigness, Alex Rule, Judy Radloff (two slots)

***

8:00-12:00am or later
Kyle Harrison and Alan Wigness’s Boardgame
The game has a maximum of six players.

The game is a cut-throat fantasy adventure. You are a group of evil adventurers working your way through a temple of pure good to reach the ultimate prize: the Elixir of Immortality. The elixir is guarded by a very pissed off angel. You and your evil comrades must work together to gain power and eventually defeat the angel. However, the elixir only appears if a person is alone. So, in the end, you have to kill all of your allies.

The object of the game, of course, is to get the Elixir of Life by conquering the temple, defeating the angel, and killing your buddies. So, throughout the game, you're all working together but still making sure you're more powerful than anyone else.

The game is d20 based; bringing your own dice is recommended. The players control both their own evil race/evil class combination (rolled at random) and the enemies (the good guys). The enemies all have associated decision-making algorithms. Also, the enemies' stats and algorithms are all known to the players so that keeps everything fair and balanced.

My advice to the players is this: if you have a choice between helping an ally who isn't TOTALLY screwed and grabbing some loot...grab the loot.

Amy’s Campaign
4th Edition, characters will be level 30 and premade by the DM. The players will be evil, and attempting to effectively reorganize the ruling order of the gods. So yeah, Deicide is expected.
Five to Seven players permitted

Chris’s Campaign
Pre-determined players and campaign. Something about celestials. I think.
Players: John Fuqua, Alpha Thomas, Evan Phillips (FULL)


***

Remember, four hours is your ballpark time, so don’t panic if you go over (especially the later campaigns). The schedule is flexible and subject to shifting slowly backwards. So don’t freak out kids.

To sign up, PLEASE message me – even if you tell me in person, I want a message so I can keep track of everything, as I won’t always be near my computer to sign you up. Therefore, message me on facebook so if two people sign up for something that there’s only one slot for, I can give priority to the person with the earlier message.

Thanks folks! See you at the KHAN!

Newbie's First PUG: Some Thoughts

So as regular readers (I assume there are some of you out there) are aware, I started playing D&D Online a month or so ago with my roommate's encouragement, and ever since then I've been leveling up a few characters and exploring the virtual world of Eberron. My current main, a human cleric, hit level 5 last night (congrats to Jenaskha and her epic Cleric-fu) with the help of Jim's sorcerer (yay regular quest-buddy) and a few cool guys in a PUG (Pick-Up Group) I joined while I was waiting for Jim to get online.

Now, I admit it, I have never PUGged before out of fear of my newbishness shining through, but last night I decided to suck it up when a Bard by the name of Fuzzed popped up in general chat: 'LFM Kobold Assault Normal and Beyond'.

Now, Kobold Assault is at the same time one of my favorite and least favorite quests in Stormreach. It's a simple objective: slay 200 kobolds. Not something one could really do on their own at low levels, but if you bring a buddy or a hireling, it's easily accomplished.

Because of this, it also is one of the more popular XP farms. That and the loot isn't bad - it's where I picked up my first set of Full Plate when I first ran through it a few weeks ago. Thus, when I contacted Fuzzed and asked him what his group needed and found out all they needed was a healer, I figured, hell, why not? It was that or solo-quest the Waterworks, and that was getting old fast.

So I joined up with a group that feature a Bard, two Rogues, a Wizard and (I think) a Sorceress, and we ran through Kob Assault once on Normal and then once more on Hard, and I got to experience what it means to be the only healer in a group.

It's pretty brutal.

When I wasn't fighting off MOBs I was keeping a watchful eye on my party's health bars, running to find them and give them a CL or CM wounds (Cure Light, Cure Moderate) whenever they dipped to or below half their HP. It was daunting.

All in all though it went well. There was only one death in the entire two runs (the halfling rogue got completely zerged at one point), and the XP got me up to almost level 5, so it was a successful run.

That said, here is what newbie MMO player learned from her first PUG:

1. Being the only healer is HARD and requires a lot of attention
2. No-one can tell you're a newbie, so caution, rather than fear, should be felt
3. When the party splits, go with the smaller group - two against a mob of MOBs is better than one
4. Watching a human bard dance while stealthing = funniest thing ever (tangent: the dances in DDO are the lamest things EVER. True story).
5. As awesome as it was to game with cool new people, I prefer solo or duo-questing. Though that's because Jenaskha and Serenea (Jim's Sorceress) make an awesome team. That and it's a lot easier to focus on one person's healing besides your own as opposed to five other people.

Conclusion: Being the bandaid box in a PUG = hard.

Also, from what my friends have told me, being the only healer in a PUG is much much worse when playing WoW.

...

Note to self: when I finally play WoW, don't play a healer.

At least not for my first character. XD

Adventures in Portland

It's been an excellent vacation thus far; I've been sleeping in, going on adventures, reading a ridiculous amount of good fiction and even getting some gaming in!

So where do I begin?

Well, there's the reading: I finished up Wizard's First Rule and moved right on to Stone of Tears. Goodkind's writing style is excellent, but very intense, so I have been taking frequent breaks with this second one. I doubt that will last long though - I expect the story will grab my attention just like the first book did.
I also picked up the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians book and read it straight through in two hours yesterday, prompting me to pick up the second one this morning when I was at the Lloyd center shopping. I also devoured that one in two hours, and something tells me tomorrow I'll pick up the third. I really should wait until I get back to Nebraska and borrow them from Jim... but they're really good! So we'll see how that goes.

I also went to numerous bookstores, including Powells, my favorite book warehouse in existence, where I picked up many fun items to read and enjoy, including a few cheap gaming books <3. Always a good thing! Other things: Portland has a pirate store. Seriously guys, an honest to gods pirate store. A store full of nothing but cool pirate merchandies and accessories and party favors and costumes. I squee'd. Like a silly girl. And then bought shiny things. :3



So yeah. Epicsauce.

I've also gotten some good DDO in, and I'm hoping tonight will be the night I get through enough quests to hit level five. Hoping Jim will up for some joint questing to boot - our Cleric-Sorc team is utterly doomish. We pwn everything in our paths.

Speaking of which, tonight I joined in on a D&D Encounters group at Guardian Games, an excellent little gaming store in Portland I wish I could live in it is so awesome. The gentlemen I gamed with were lovely individuals, and we had a blast running through an encounter with some muggers. I played a pre-made Half-Elf Cleric. It was fun, and took the edge of my dice-rolling jones.

Everyone say it with me: Lora, you're a huge nerd.

Speaking of more nerdery, I've started a new novel! Even better, I'm writing it in longhand, something I haven't done in years. The novel is going to be a bit more adult-oriented fantasy set in a space age. Mmm, genre-mixing. It's delicious.

So that's my week. I've seen sights, eaten lots of delicious food, stayed up really late, read books, gamed a bit, spent way more money than I should, and had an all-around good time.

Kinda looking forward to heading back to Lincoln though. I miss my friends, for they are awesome.

That's all for now. I have 5th level to reach!

Arrival

Welp, I made it to Oregon safe and sound - my flight yesterday was pretty tolerable, and I managed to all but finish Wizard's First Rule while I was flying - yay! So now I'm here at my aunt's apartment (making use of her high-speed internet connection), and we just spent the day running around Portland buying groceries and books. I'll make a better post about that later tonight after dinner, but for now, just updating everyone that I'm alive in Oregon and having a nice relaxing vacation. :) More later! Expect Pictures!

Games and Fantasy

So sleep has been going horribly this week, mostly due to D&D and karaoke, the usual suspects. But things are developing well in my nerdy little life. Like I finally got Starcraft from my roommate, which I've been inspired to play since Jim got a Starcraft II Beta-Key Monday night (anyone else jealous?) and my laptop has stopped being grouchy. I haven't played an RTS in forever, so it's taking a while to get used to the controls. But it's a lot of fun, and will give me a good game to play when I leave for my vacation tomorrow.

Not that I'll be gaming much. Yesterday I got to choose my own paper topic in my 400 level writing class, so I'm going to be writing my paper on the cliches and stereotypes commonly found in Fantasy literature, with a focus on authors who embrace and defy them. So now I'm reading Wizard's First Rule for a class.

I win. Epically.

So I'll be reading that on the plane, along with x-wing books. The flight back will most likely be taken up with playing Pokemon, as the new game comes out early next week (I am so excited, you have no idea). That and all the other perks of vacation are on the horizon, like sleeping a lot and watching Torchwood DVDs and visiting family.

But that's late tomorrow. Today I still have latin to get through. And then there's karaoke, where James and I will sing a rendition of A Whole New World that will probably be pretty bad, since it's too high for both of us. But the whole point is to have fun really, so it'll be okay. I also have to clean my room so it's fit for habitation, and pack.

Busy Wednesday is busy.

I'm off to read more Goodkind. And also browse the WoW Wiki some more. Because I am a loser.

The gaming, the gaming

So I haven't had the opportunity to update since Thursday, and things have changed considerably since then. Like my D&D campaign not meeting because one of my players had to work later than expected and another needed to get up early Saturday morning. So I spent my Friday in the best way: playing Halo with Jim (which I sucked at, but that's because I've never played Halo before. True story), ate an awesome dinner and then spent the evening playing DDO, which went well except for the part where I kept getting disconnected. I have no idea why, but it happened, and it sucked. But I survived, and got to kill a lot of kobolds, which was excellent.

Saturday also went well; The company of heroes attempting to stop the Red Hand of Doom fought several nasty beasties and managed to survive despite lots of near-death experiences (Both Chris and Jim got pretty close to dead at various points).

And we are currently entering into I think our seventh or eighth hour of Amy's campaign. We have been playing for hours and are currently fighting a crowd of wights and a Beholder. I have class in seven and a half hours. We are nowhere near done with this fight.

I will try to blog more tomorrow, but expect to be completely and utterly incoherent and exhausted, as I have nine thirty class, three hours of work, and then two-thirty class. If exhaustion continues, I might skip latin, because I have to read a book and write a paper tomorrow. And go to a reading. And email my group with my notes.

Yeah. We should have finished this session two hours ago. We're idiots. But DAMN is playing D&D until the wee hours fun. It's absolutely fantastic. I adore this campaign, and the Torchwood / Dark Knight / Lord of the Rings soundtrack in the background is doing WONDERS for the mood.

I'm gonna go plink away at a beholder now. Wish me luck.

Campus wi-fi hates me

So I'm at work again on a Thursday night. I'm using one of the work computers because campus wi-fi keeps bugging up, which is very frustrating when one is trying to play DDO and you get kicked off the server. Its okay though, since I'm not playing with anyone at the moment (Jim has raid in WoW and Chris works until nine) and as much as I wanted to help the Waterworks PUG I knew I'd probably get dropped off the wi fi again. And I was.

Curses.

So now I'm blogging and hoping the wireless will stop being all angry. I'll give it one more shot, and then probably give up on DDO until I get home. I got invited out, but exhaustion and carlessness have caused me to decline. As much fun as dancing and/or drinks at Old Chicago sounds, I need to save money, and it's cheaper to stay home and quest. Not in the least because I'm almost to level four and the internet won't freak out on me at home.

In other news, the first session of my D&D campaign is tomorrow night. I've been working on the encounters and let me tell you, I'm excited. I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with this group, and hopefully they will have a lot of fun with me too. Yay for a weekend filled with D&D :)

Finally, I'm putting together a book list for my trip to Oregon. I plan on doing a little shopping while I'm out there (since I'll be in Portland, home of Powells, my favorite bookstore in all the world), so right now the list involves Wizard's First Rule, Wedge's Gamble and The Kryptos Trap. I hope to pick up some more Sword of Truth books out there for cheap. :3

Oh, and I got my new power cable for Miranda! My big laptop is now capable of being portable once again! This brings me no end of joy and happiness, and it also means I can run videogames on graphics settings that don't suck horribly!

Screw it, if the internet refuses to fix itself, I'm going to play some Diablo II. Now that I have juice in my computer, I can run my Necromancer through Act III of Nightmare without hideous lag! Yay! :D

Drinking Water is Important Kids

It's been a few days since I've updated, and I apologize. School and exhaustion kind of ate me alive. They still are of course - last night at Tuesday Karaoke I decided to go with the theme for the night and entertain the bar with my rendition of The Real Slim Shady (which I can do from memory - anyone wants proof and next time I'll videotape it). It went great, but it left me extremely dehydrated, and I did not drink nearly enough water to counteract the effects. Thus, my day has been spent stumbling from class to class in an exhausted stupor.

The rest of the week has been okay though. Lots of DDO time logged (Jim and I have been farming Stormreach quests for tasty loot, and I've been killing kobold after kobold with glee), and I have decided that oozes are the worst thing ever and I hope they all die horribly forever.

I've also been watching Chuck again, since I had a moment of weakness last night and bought season one at Best Buy, then watched a bunch of it last night (before passing out in a dehydrated blob).

The rest of the week is looking pretty good. The Undergrad Writing competition deadline is Friday, so I have one story to finish and another to tweak before then.

I've also signed up for Script Frenzy again this year (write 100 pages in 30 days starting April 1st), so I'm going to attempt writing a TV show script. More on that closer to the time, I'm still working out the details.

So yeah. Writing projects and school are piling up, gaming and Chuck are filling my free time and Friday is the first session of my D&D campaign! :) Life is good. I'm dizzy and tired, but life is good.

A D&D Filled Weekend

Another weekend been and gone, but this one's been a good one. I created a new character, Jenaskha Derris, and she has been kicking butt and taking names up and down Korthos and Stormreach with awesome cleric powers of doom. Seriously, the bonus XP weekend has been wonderful in that it only took me a day to get her up to level three. Best way to spend a relaxing weekend EVER.

But enough of my babble about MMOs. The rest of my weekend involved social time with regular old pen and paper D&D, and even though both my weekend sessions were shorter than normal due to time constraints, they both went pretty well.

Saturday afternoon was Red Hand of Doom campaign with my friend Alpha (who's given name is Thomas, but the group has two Thomas's so they go by Alpha and Beta). He's running the premade adventure for us, and so far it's going well. The party consists of five characters:

- Victoria, Aasimar Favored Soul, played by Jordan
- Victor, Aasimar Shadowcaster, played by Chris
- Arteme, Aasimar Sorcerer, played by Jim
- Janos (though he goes by multiple names), Tiefling Rogue/Marshal/Chameleon, played by Beta
- Kelda, Snow Elf Barbarian/fighter/ranger, played by me

So yeah. we're an interesting party. We didn't do much on Saturday since we were limited in time, but we managed to convince the townsfolk to run away from the goblin horde about to attack them and fight off a chimaera, not that I managed much damage. My dice were suffering from the suck that day, so I spent combat flailing around ineffectually while everyone else killed the damn thing.

Such is the life of a D&D player. Sometimes you are lucky, and other days you want to fire your dice into the sun.

Amy's campaign was far more successful. We managed to make it to Threst (finally) and even got to kill some wraiths. a successful evening in my book for sure.

So that was my weekend. I also moved a few more steps forward on the new car thing, watched a ton of Big Bang Theory, and ate a lot of frosting straight from the jar with a spoon.

I know. I'm disgusting. I'm comfortable with it.

Another week begins tomorrow. I'll probably face it the way I do most things: with sleep deprivation and daydreams.

Now I'm off to kill doods while I wait for Jim to finish the Misery's Peak quest. That we may kill even more doods. Yay! :D

The Hazards of Repetitive Activities

So the weekend is off to a flying start. I had to get up crazy early for my meeting with my teacher, but that went well. She gave me tea. After that (we got done at about eight twenty in the morning) I camped out in Panera, ate a bagel and watched Big Bang Theory until it was time to meet for class.

Class and work went by pretty fast, and then Chris (the roomie) and I headed out for lunch. We ended up going to HuHot, a.k.a delicious Mongolian barbeque fun, for lunch, and then went back home so Elanthia (my wizard) could help power-level Urusai, Chris's Bard. I also hit level 3 (yay) and we made it through Misery's Peak before going to hang with Adam and Jim, which is where I am now, chilling out and watching Chuck.

We made it through a few good quests in Stormreach as a group though, but we had to stop when Jim got called to a raid and my RSI started acting up.

Yeah I have Repetitive Strain Injury in both my wrists, more severely in my left wrist than my right (I'm left-handed). Got the initial diagnosis back in my Freshman year of college, so when it flares up, usually after too much handwriting, typing or similar activities, I have to wear a wrist-brace, use ice packs and take painkillers.

Puts a bit of a damper on the gaming, which definitely qualifies as an activity that requires excessive use of my hands and wrists, among other things. So I'm done for the day, and hope to pick up the questing tomorrow before and after Red Hand of Doom, my Saturday Pen and Paper D&D game, which meets at 2:30. Before that? Car shopping!

So now I'm gonna play silly online games and catch up with season 3 of Chuck. It's a great way to spend a Friday Night, and DAMN is it good to be a geek.

Losers of Friday Night on their computers, unite! :D *end Twitter inside-joke here*

On Thursdays and the Getting the Hang of them

I've never been able to get the hang of Thursdays, and it's been like that for me even before I heard the same sentiment expressed by Arthur Dent in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, which I read all the way back in ninth grade (I didn't get much further in the series after that. Call me heretical if you like, but I prefer Adams' other, more obscure works, like Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency).

But anyway, Thursdays have always seemed like a tricky day to me: the weekend is on the horizon but just out of reach, though not to the same extent that it is on Mondays, or even Wednesdays. Wednesdays are easier for me than Thursdays though, but I'll attribute that to my schedule.

Thursdays this semester have involved three classes during the day (nine thirty, twelve thirty and two thirty respectively), followed by a six hour shift at the library. So, on this particular Thursday I awoke at eight thirty after going to bed at two thirty in the morning after watching another episode or three of Chuck season two.

So I woke up and then had to wrestle with my printer and Miranda, the larger of my two laptops (Miranda is a Dell Inspiron 1420 I've owned since the fall of 2007. My other laptop is a Dell netbook I've had since last September. His name is Virgil. Yes I name my technology. Don't judge me), who I ordered a new power cable for this afternoon before Gay and Lesbian Lit.

Three classes later, I have a long night at the library ahead of me. I can't play DDO because my backpack is too heavy for me to drag Miranda, my latin textbooks and a short story anthology to campus. Not in the least because it's a twenty minute walk. It's a shame I can't play too, since I've managed to convince both Adam and Jim, my veteran WoW-playing compadres, to give DDO a shot. Adam is definitely addicted (he rolled up a Dwarf Barbarian this morning and didn't stop playing until he went to work at five) and Jim is enthused because he's managed to effectively create Allyndra (his 4E character from Sunday campaign). Thus, my plans for tomorrow night consist of going over to their place to catch up with season three of Chuck (which they have DVR'ed) and questing around Korthos island. A Barbarian, a Wizard and a Paladin. Sounds like the beginning of a truly awful joke. But yeah, I'm excited. Sounds like a great way to spend a Friday night.

You know, because I'm a total geek like that.

Tonight I'll be passing the time at work watching season two of The Big Bang Theory and reading Wizard's First Rule during the wait time for Megavideo (stupid 72-minute viewing limits). Might play some Pokemon too, or even listen to some more episodes of Radio Free Burrito, Wil Wheaton's podcast.

Yeah, that was me last night. I downloaded the three most recent episodes of RFB and listened to them while I killed acolytes and sahuagin on Korthos Island and failed utterly at questing on hard-mode. Sometimes being a mage blows. I want fireball. Bad.

After work I get to attack my printer again and then do a couple little quests before passing out. Which I need to do, since I have a meeting with my creative writing teacher at eight in the morning and need to bring three typed poems for her to critique. It was the only time she could squeeze me in. *Death*

But I'm off work at one. And then the fun of the weekend can begin. DDO, sleeping in, karaoke, D&D campaigns. And on Saturday my Dad and I are going to begin the quest to find me a car.

So it may indeed be Thursday. But all things considered, it could be much worse.

Me and MMOs: A Story

So I've recently started playing D&D online as I posted previously, and while this doesn't seem like a big thing to the average stranger coming across this blog, the readers I have who have known me well for the last five or six years have been well aware of my vehement opposition to MMORPGS on a number of principles. When I posted on facebook that I'd finally started playing an MMO, I got a ridiculous number of responses from friends both new and old alternately congratulating me, giving me crap, or something in-between.

And it's well deserved, as my decision to start playing DDO has got me eating my words.

So where did this dislike for MMORPGs begin? And what changed it?

Well, the story begins shortly after I moved to Nebraska. It was my senior year in high school and, having just moved four thousand miles across the world from London, England, I didn't know anyone. In England I had left behind twelve years of experiences, friends, and a boyfriend, and the two of us decided to try the long-distance thing, and that went well for a while.

And then he picked up WoW. The quintessential MMO. He started playing after I moved, and while I won't be the kind of asshole ex-girlfriend who sits here and soapboxes about how the game (I just lost) ruined our relationship, I will say that it was a contributing factor in the decline of that relationship. There were of course other things that pulled us apart (the distance of course being the main one), but many webcam chat dates were forgotten or skipped over because he was in a raid and didn't remember until he received an angry email the next day.

So yeah. It's a sore subject, as it can be for many female gamers - the feeling of being less important than a videogame, whether that be true or not, is not a pleasant one.

I carried this resentment for several years, to the point where finding out someone played WoW or other similar MMOs colored my perceptions of them. Not actively, but I know I definitely felt the unpleasant twist in my gut every time I heard about the videogame that contributed to the downfall of my relationship with my high school boyfriend.

I look back on it and feel silly. Believe me I do, but at the time, I felt completely justified and comfortable in calling myself a proud Warcraft Widow.

And then I met Jim and his friends.

I already knew several of them through mutual friends at my old high school, but he moved to Nebraska from California almost two years ago so it took a little while for us to meet. And finding out that he was a WoW player made me hesitate and proceed with caution into the friendship.

Then I found out the story behind the WoW. And how it had given him a place to go when he needed to get out (a bad family situation back in California) and his friends in the game gave him Nebraska. So he loaded up all his worldly possessions and drove out to live here. I still think that's a pretty cool story.

It took a bit of getting used to, listening to him and his friends play WoW and talk about it. I knew a lot of the jargon of course, being a denizen of the internet and a HUGE fan of the Guild webseries. Jim was an active member of his guild and spent a great deal of time playing WoW, something I gave him no end of crap for at various points in the year we have been friends. I think the way I put it once was describing MMOs as soul-stealing baby-rapers. I know, melodramatic and silly. But I was going for humor, I promise.

The game has definitely been a factor in my friendship with Jim. We dated for a couple months (we're still friends though), and during that time I admit the game was an issue. It wasn't the downfall of the relationship (that's a completely unrelated and unnecessary story I'll save for a night I've had a little too much mead and a not enough sleep), but issues to do with it were a factor. I blame past bad experiences coloring my judgment for the most part, and while I will forever stand by the fact that human interaction is better than videogames, I know that at the time I did not understand the appeal of MMORPGS at all.

Then I started playing one.

I had already started considering it after multiple nights of watching Jim raid while chilling on the other side of the room with a book or my laptop, listening to him enjoying himself, talking with his friends, and going through the crazy quests and boss killing akin to most fantasy games.

The main thing that stopped me of course (besides my innate prejudice) was the cost. That and the time commitment, but it was mostly the fact that playing WoW cost money, and while I do have a job, I'm still a poor college student.

Thus, when my roommate Chris came across DDO a week or two ago, I expressed some vague interest. And then a few nights ago on a whim, I signed up and downloaded it to give it a shot.

And I'm having a blast. Way more fun than I ever could have anticipated. I'm running my wizard around setting things on fire and collecting loot and XP while also engaging in random chatter in the General channel.

Reflecting on my past attitudes towards MMOs now that I play one make me feel like I was unfair, not just to the games, but to the people who play them. And while I still admit that some issues that arose because of MMOs still hit sore spots in me in friendships and relationships, a lot of those are things I take issue with regardless of a videogame being involved, and should never be blamed on the game itself.

Thus, I remove my hat to all my MMO-playing friends, past and present, especially Jim and that long-distant ex, and apologize for not giving MMOs a chance before passing my judgments on them.

You were right.

It is fun.

So that's my story. I'm delving into all new levels of nerdery, and I couldn't be happier. And proving that before you knock something, you really have to try it

Dungeons and Drama

Another Monday dawns: I've never been a fan of Mondays. If I ever succeed in my plans for world domination, I will forbid the existence of Mondays entirely I think. But until then I will continue in my quest towards another weekend.

Today's definitely a little on the busy side. I have Latin homework to poke with a stick while I'm at work as well as reading Cat on a Hot Tin Roof for my Gay and Lesbian lit class. After Latin I'm running home to dump my books and shower and relax a bit before heading back to campus for dinner and a study party with my friend Cori, who I haven't hung out with in forever.

After that my plan for the evening is to do a few quests in DDO, and then watch Chuck while working on my Latin drills.

Clearly I lead a thrilling life.

Last night was D&D, and while I love Amy's campaign, I think all of us players are getting a wee bit antsy and ready to advance the plot. We're currently sidequesting into the realm of Threst where there's been something of a disturbance involving undead creatures and a halfling rebellion. Isn't a bad thing necessarily, but our main quest is on the other side of the continent, so I know at least I'm wondering when we'll be back on that track. Possibly by the time Amy and I become roommates a month or two from now. That said, I'm having a blast playing Illyria, my character, and I try to do what I can to balance out the party, which tends to bicker when decisions need to be made. Is just the way of things: we've got a gnome illusionist with a legendary alcohol tolerance (James, who often has to leave early due to having morning classes in Omaha), a shifter cleric who can heal a crapton but is hesitant to put forth his opinion for fear of conflict (Adam, my quoting buddy), a halfling rogue who serves the Raven Queen with much enthusiasm (Alex, whose propensity for undead smiting makes things difficult since we have the Chosen of Vecna in our party - a thirteen year old boy who unintentionally reanimates dead things), and a half-elf paladin who tries her damndest to keep us all on track, resulting in her bouncing between being the Patron Saint of Lost Causes (as I dubbed her) and the Only Sane Man (Jim's character. Yes he's playing a chick, and yes he's heard all the jokes, so don't even start).

So yeah. Party strife. We have it.

Hopefully next weekend's session will go better. We might actually make it into Threst, finish the sidequest and be on our way back to find the pesky MacGuffin and be one step closer to attempting to save the world. Huzzah!

And I will say, for all my complaints about sidequests and party drama, I still love this campaign. The fact that I'm willing to play 4th ed for the sake of this story and playstyle is a testament to Amy's storytelling and DMing abilities. So take everything I say with a grain of salt. It is Monday, and we did have a rough ending to the session last night. Give me a couple hours and some caffeine and I'll be right as rain.

Just as soon as I get through my Latin homework that is. *sigh* Now I just need to remember how far we got in the sentences. *grumbles*

MMO's and Vehicles

I'm a big fan of weekends; any day that gives me an opportunity to sleep in past eight thirty in the morning and play videogames and D&D is as good day in my book.

I've started playing DDO: D&D Online, at the recommendation of my roommate Chris. I've never tried playing an MMO before -- I've tended to avoid them because of their two major flaws in my book. 1) They cost money. 2) They take up a lot of time.

However, DDO has managed to eliminate the first of those qualms, in that the Eberron setting is completely free and unlimited. Issue #2 is still there, but all that involves is a little self control.

Not that I have a lot of that, but as long as I remember to get my homework done before I run around killing Sahuagin and becoming a more awesome Wizard.

Speaking of which, homework is definitely pressing on my mind. Paper due in my creative writing class tomorrow morning about a book I've been reading called Leaving Atlanta. It's a good book, but I made the mistake of signing up for a craft device that doesn't really have a specific definition: emotional core. Not hard to explain of course, but its not really something I can do research on. Which might diminish my grade. Unfortunate, but true. Then again, if I mention that research on the topic was difficult, that might help.

Ah, the power of Bullshit.

So until I get on that, I'm gonna watch Chuck and finish reading the book I need to read. I love this show. It's most definitely one of my favorites.

My other thought for the day is about my car. Well, my nonexistent car. Next month I'm finally acquiring my own vehicular transportation. I haven't had a car that even remotely resembled my own property since high school, and even then, my sister and I shared it. Once I went off to the big bad world of college, the car remained in my sister's possession, and then got sold two years later when she headed off to that same big bad world.

So yeah. I can't wait to have a car. I can't wait to be free to drive wherever I want to drive, to have the opportunity to just head to the gaming store whenever I want, to go visit friends on the other side of town without them having to come pick me up.

I've also been thinking about that car, and that it'll need a name. A ridiculously geeky name.

Any recommendations? I'm debating between a Star Wars name (The Milennium Falcon or similar), a fantasy steed (Shadowfax, for example) or something from literature or comic books. Suggestions are welcome, and I'll probably gather and list the finalist names closer to the actual acquisition of the vehicle.

So that's that. Time to crap out a three-page paper, finish reading a book, and watching Chuck. And later, I get to play D&D.

Gotta love Sundays.

On Focus, Gaming and Television

Last night after work I engaged in a fun nerd-fest with my friends Adam and James. We dropped by Brewsky's for Thursday Karaoke (because we're regulars, and that's just what regulars do) and I tried out a new song. I'm a fan of the Beatles thanks to living in England for most of my formative years, so I sang 'Let it Be'. It's a little less vocal intensive than a lot of the songs I sing, so it was nice to do something mellow for a change.

After that we piled in cars (well, Adam's car. I don't have a car as of yet, but that's on the to-do list for March) and went over to Adam's place, where we watched a good five to six episodes of Big Bang Theory. I adore that show. I can safely say that it is one of my absolute favorites. I love the nerd references, the awkwardness and the awesome in-jokes.

That and one of the episodes really struck home with me last night. It's a scene from episode 7 of season 1, 'The Dumpling Paradox', where Leonard, Sheldon, Raj and Howard are engaged in a frantic game of Halo and Penny stops by with her friends. Penny loudly states to the group of gaming boys that she and her friends got bored dancing and came back to have sex with them (joking of course). The males, in common gamer stereotype, are too busy playing Halo to notice her. Penny then laughs and remarks to her friends that she told them this would happen.

Why does this ring true to me? Because I've been on both sides of that spectrum, and if nothing else, that amuses me. I've been the frustrated girl trying to get my boyfriend's attention while he was in the middle of a videogame, be it WoW or Halo or Dragon Age or any number of the various other games my boyfriends of the past have played.

I find this a lot less frustrating now than I used to. Why? Well, besides the fact that I'm currently single and therefore don't have a boyfriend to distract, I've also been the one lost in a game on many an occasion. I regularly sit curled up on my couch, muttering angrily at my DS as I attempt and fail to catch Chanseys in Pokemon Platinum. My roommates will regularly hear me bellow streams of profanity as I attempt to complete a Quest in Diablo II (especially in Act III on Nightmare -- holy SHIT are gloams nasty). And unless someone comes and stands right in front of me, I have trouble dividing my attention.

So yeah, I've been in the stereotypical girl position in that scenario; standing by the side while my boyfriend, or even just my guy friends, are too distracted to notice me trying to talk to them.

But I don't fault them for that. Because I've been there. And sometimes diverting your attention will lose you the game.

... Which I just lost.

Sorry internet.

So those are some of my thoughts on gaming, and TV. I ended up staying awake until four in the morning and passing out on Adam's couch in the middle of episode 12 (The Jerusalem Duality). But I'll probably catch up with that later this weekend in-between D&D sessions, karaoke and writing a critical paper for my Creative Writing class.

Yeah, it's a miracle I'm awake right now. My only saving grace is my bottle of Code Red Mountain Dew. Thus, I will attempt to stay awake by reading old comic archives and chatting with friends online. And working on D&D stuff of course. And cursing the fact that I don't have a teleporter. The snow, it is pesky and I hates it and I hates that I have to walk through it to get home to my nice warm bed and DVDs.

Day in the Life

So today, Thursday, is traditionally my busiest and longest day, and no exceptions were found on this particular occasion. I woke up after staying up late for Karaoke (which is a staple in my minimal social life - I go every Tuesday, Wednesday, and almost every Thursday and Saturday) and dragged my sorry exhausted ass out of my warm, comfortable bed. I survived my first class - Reading for Writers, which I actually enjoy quite a bit as we talk extensively about writing techniques. That and I can get away with not giving my full attention and working on stuff for my D&D campaign. So yeah, managed to get three brand new pages of notes written in longhand. Also did that over lunch and during Gay and Lesbian lit.

No such luck in Latin, but I actually enjoy paying attention in latin. My nerdery extends heavily into the realm of linguistics - I'm taking a dead language for fun, I can understand a substantial amount of elvish, and I have a strong desire to learn Klingon.

Please, keep the heckling to yourself. I am well aware of how sad that is.

I also work six hours today, and am currently in the fifth hour of that shift. I don't mind though, as I work at a library. So I've spent the bulk of my shift catching up with Chuck (one of my favorite shows), chatting online with many friends, and plotting out D&D-related things.

I'm really looking forward to starting up my campaign; I haven't run anything in a really long time, so starting off something new will be a fun challenge. Not in the least because two of the players, my friends Adam and Amy, haven't played 3.5 before and started with 4th, so I and the other two players, my roommates Chris and John, have been slowly educating them. It'll take some time, but we're enthusiastic, so it's no trouble.

My plan for the rest of the evening is most likely going to involve more karaoke, as my friends Adam and James are willing to drive out to Brewsky's to enjoy some singing and alcohol. Though probably not for me, as I'm decidedly poor. Yay poverty!

So yeah. My life may not be exciting, but is definitely nerdy.

Time to watch more Chuck and count down the minutes until I can pack up and head home. I'm looking forward to it.

Greetings

Good evening blogosphere, I'm Lora, and this is my new blog. I've had a few of these before, but in the interest of starting fresh (and out of abject laziness) I've opted to create a shiny new blog for you to enjoy.

In this blog I will ramble about my life, school (which I currently attend full-time) and my nerdy hobbies, including and not limited to D&D, videogames, TV shows, karaoke, writing, reading and surfing the internet. Hopefully some of you will find it at least moderately interesting. I'm not the most opinionated person you'll find on the internet, but I have passions for a lot of things and I have no problem rambling about them. I hope to also chronicle the birth and life-cycle of my upcoming D&D campaign, which starts in a week.

So there you have it. The blogging begins tonight. Any questions? Well, there's that About Me sidebar, that might help. It has a bunch of random things about me in it, and if that doesn't answer your questions, well, leave a comment and I'll see what I can do.

Welcome! Enjoy. Live long and prosper and all that jazz. Except I doubt Vulcans are much into jazz, but whatever, it works.