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. :)

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.

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

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*

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.