Chronicles of a Spoony Pink Tank

So, it’s been a little while since I have updated.

I’ve been busy in real life, so my playtime has been a bit limited. Even so, I’ve managed to accomplish a few cool things lately.

Beastmaster is now level 65, and slowly but surely climbing. I am still loving the job, but haven’t found a stellar exp spot for my current level. I’ll get there eventually.

My paladin is shinier than ever! Got a koenig cuirass about a month back from lovely, generous Odin. Kings are so overrated these days.

So Koenigful! Also, why is that creepy elf staring at me?

I’ve also finally got around to working on Dancer as a subjob for my paladin. It’s at level 29 currently, and hopefully won’t take much longer to finish. My only complaint about Dancer is that the entire time I’m leveling, I keep thinking about how much fun it would be if I were playing paladin with the finished subjob instead.

Fought a Sandworm today, got KA and the trash drop. It can’t all be 100% awesome, but I was just happy that I was able to tank– it always makes my day!

I have a sewing machine now, despite having no idea how to sew.

Here’s the question– should I try to make a costume to run around in at PAX next year? My friend Olya went to PAX dressed as Sephiroth, and it was beyond awesome. Of course, she is also talented in making things, whereas my attempts at costume design generally end up unwearable or I cause bodily harm to myself while attempting to use the things necessary to construct them.

I keep thinking I could totally try to make an Altair from Assassin’s Creed costume– it’s just a white tunic and a hood, right? And I’m in love with Altair, just so that everyone is perfectly clear as to why I would want to parade around a gaming conference in that get-up. More video games should have protagonists like Altair. He’s sexy, not completely emo, and is a male character who actually looks masculine. How crazy is that?

I signed up for the FFXIV Beta. I kind of doubt I’ll be selected due my general lack of luck in anything SE-related, but I decided it would be worth a try.

The rest of the tell was “RMT site is always with you^-^ “.

…

I don’t feel that commentary is even necessary, lol.

12/17/09, and I’m still loving Beastmaster.

Guess where I level? ANYWHERE I WANT.

And then, I do a groovy little BST dance, like this…

Yes, the bubbles add so much...

Honestly, I have not had this much fun in FFXI for several years. It is wonderful to be free to explore and kill what I want when I want without being bound to partying. A few friends from DRF are leveling their BSTs at the same time, so we have made a few wonderful parties, but the soloing is great too. And I’m a Paragon of Beastmaster Excellence as of the day before yesterday! Go me.

In other game news, I’ve been playing Dragon Age: Origins. It’s good. I always appreciate an RPG where I don’t feel bound to a walkthrough, and Dragon Age has an advantage in that regard since it does a nice job of informing the player of feasible options to pursue at any given point in the plot. I’m also flirting with a Templar. What is it about men in shining armor?

And it only took five years...

It took five years. Literally. But I finally have my Duelist’s Chapeau, and DRF has my undying love. Thank you all SO much! And thank you to my friends from the previous linkshells who tried so hard to get my hat too and were repeatedly thwarted by horrible drop rates. I’ve never been this happy over something in a video game before!

Also, Beastmaster is still awesome. I hit level 51 today, which gives me access to my elemental staves. I’ve been exping in Crawler’s Nest for the last couple levels, and again I am experiencing the thrill that comes with experiencing a zone that I’ve been in hundreds of times from a completely different perspective and taking on monsters that would usually be considered “bad” to exp on in a normal party set up. Beastmaster has done a whole lot to renew the fun exploration and experimentation portion of the game for me.

My xbox 360 has finally returned to me from the void. It died several months back, unexpectedly losing the ability to show any pictures, during a prolonged Fable 2 marathon session. It took us a while to get around to sending it out for repair. $100 and several weeks later, I have a brand spanking new one, and a LOT of games to catch up on.

Yesterday I sat down and started playing Shadow Complex, which is an awesome little “2D” platformer. I place the 2D in quotes because it doesn’t LOOK 2D– the graphics are really pretty, and everything has an appearance of great depth even though you are operating along only two dimensions. I am loving this game! It reminds me of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. That is absolutely one of the highest compliments that I can pay a game– I adore games that allow me to explore and work out the logistics of how to get from one spot to the next without horribly dire consequences thrown at me for deviating from where the plot is suggesting that I go next. Plus, it is made by a little independent game studio. In short, everybody should go download this thing off of Arcade. Support little guys in the creation of awesome games!

I still haven’t finished the first two mini-expansions, but I picked up Shantotto’s expansion anyway. With my work schedule such that it is, it is pretty much impossible for me to accomplish anything that isn’t solo-able, so I’m stuck on the final battle in ACP and I’m about half the way through the moogle expansion. I figured I’d give the third mini-expansion a shot anyway. I’m pleased so far, to be honest; I had fun soloing the avatar fights last night (soloed the big ones after fighting the expansion mobs just for fun.)

I know I won’t be able to finish this one either, but at least it gave me a night of entertainment.

I’ve been dissatisfied at work lately, and have been seriously considering trying to take the LSAT and apply to law school. I’m bored out of my mind by what I’m doing with my life right now, and I don’t know how much longer I will be able to stand it. I keep wondering if I’m being stupid; this doesn’t seem like a good time to be thinking about walking away from a job where I have essentially been told that I have my position as long as I want it because I am good at it. It just isn’t challenging, and the lack of challenge is bothering me.

Comcast is a pox on corporate America.

They raised my monthly bill by $50 two months back. My Internet connection goes down, and stays down for hours at a time. Whenever I call them to ask what they’re doing to repair my connection, I get on the line with an obnoxious nineteen year old who presumably flunked out of courtesy training at the DMV, and who treats me like I’m an idiot. Yes, I cycled the modem. Yes, I rebooted. Yes, the thing is plugged in. No, unfortunately, I don’t have a gun to off myself rather than listen to you. Then it just comes down to sitting there, staring at the modem lights and hoping they’ll come back on through some act of God or voodoo ritual since the Comcast technician refuses to acknowledge that anything is wrong.

Like everywhere else in the country, there is no alternative cable company. I don’t understand how they can get away with this garbage when other corporations that are far more innovative and responsive to customer needs are threatened by the government with anti-trust litigation.

Apologies for the absence! I had a good reason.

Vadek and I got married in Hawaii on September 27th, and were gone on honeymoon to New Zealand, where we climbed glaciers and saw a lot of sheep and penguins. No one wore a pimp hat at the wedding; it would have been awesome, but I think our parents may have had some objections to it.

Hopefully we’ll one day have some cute little baby Red Mages running around.