1:15am UPDATE: The pictures are uploaded now. I should warn you, I am not exactly an expert photographer, and getting pictures all nice and accurate is rough when your jammed into a giant mob of people who push everytime someone comes by.  I tried my best though, lol.

Also note that the pictures are a resolution of 3264×2448. In other words, PRETTY FRICKEN HUGE, so I added a click effect that resizes the image, so they may look choppy along the edges.

[Show as slideshow]

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I always talk about updating this thing on a regular basis, but I am failing in that regard in a bad way.  At least I haven’t totally forgotten about you, loyal reader.

Server Transfer! Destination: Carbuncle

It was really a decision based on the want and need to do something different. As much as I enjoyed the helping of others and such, I had been away from the endgame side of things for so long, I wanted to have that hunger satiated, and that wasn’t going to happen on Cerberus.

What sweetened the deal was old friends Mogknight and Liseth inquiring about me coming along and being a part of their linkshell, lovingly named “Down Right Fierce”.  Meeeeemoires!  We’ll discuss more about this later.

Butterflies In The Stomache

I really cannot say too much about this, as I am not sure exactly what the thoughts are of the person these butterflies go nuts for.  I will just say, it sure feels funny stumbling over my thoughts and words when speaking to said person ><

Endgame Enjoyment!

So now that things are going back to the ways of endgame activities for me, it’s wonderful seeing how things have progressed since I last did stuff like this. Things like Dynamis, and Bahamut are stuff that I actually missed doing, and I am thrilled to be back in the ballgame, helping others, and one day I’ll have my time to shine, lol.

I’ll leave you know with lots of screenshots!

Ok, let’s get through the things to update about:

Scholar

Now at level 56.  All of my leveling has been done exclusively through campaign battles.  It’s kinda funny when you sit there whacking on a wall for about 10 minutes for 0, 1, or 2 points of damage (with the occasional critical hit for 4 or 6) and noticing about 10 minutes later I “earned” 1300 experience points.

I never claimed to understand exactly how the calculations work to determine how much experience and allied notes you earn in these campaign battles, but it’s funny to see it working in my favor somehow.

And as for why I am going through this only in Campaign battles, well it’s kinda simple. With the introduction of the “Level Sync” system in the last update, it seems whenever I actually do put up my LFG flag, it seems the only people who notice are those in the dunes, roughly levels 10-16.  And the reason I catch their eyes is because of the sub job I mostly use (White Mage), and it lights up in their head that I could possibly be their healer.

Now, I am certainly not a prick in this regard, and I like to help people as much as I can (That is the whole reason I had leveled White Mage in the first place).  But seeing everything that I had worked so hard to enjoy sitting there shaded in gray because I’m level 12 and not 56, is kinda depressing.  I mean, if it was a group of friends, I would probably do it and not think too much of it.  But for a random group of people, who have no tank or clues as to how to do their respective jobs, to be demanding of me to have stuff cast upon them because they think I can due to what my original level was? No thank you.

Whew. That felt good to get out.  Here, have some screenshots:

Work

While things in FFXI have seemed rather progressive, this situation at work seems to have become regressive.

It almost feels like I am in the middle of a mass exodus, but in reality, it just seems at though children are being children, and cannot seem to understand that in order to earn a day’s pay, you have to do some work.  Kids nowadays seem to think that they can treat things like it’s social hour, talk for an entire shift, do what is essentially the bare minimum of work (if they even do that), and expect not to receive a scornful look from other people who actually are busting their asses to make the money they need to get by in this god awful economy.  And don’t even get me started about cell phones…

I feel like a grumpy elderly person saying all these things.  But then again, why shouldn’t I be?  I feel as though I am a babysitter of teenagers and young adults, and I myself am only 25, lol.

Vacation…Again??

You know, it is never too early to think about the next time you’re planning a getaway for some relaxin’ time. Here’s the thought process running through the ol’ mind:

We have the recently announced FFXI Fan Festival 2008 on December 5th and 6th in Hollywood, California.  I would love to go to this, as just being surrounded by those who enjoy the game much like I do, seems like a veritable wonderland of sorts.  And Hollywood? I would just love to visit California.  And for the short time I would be there, I wouldn’t have to adapt too much to the terrible air quality in the area.

And then there is the idea/plan to vacation out to the Lonestar State (Texas for the uninformed).  For this, I am aiming to head out at roughly the time time I went to Canada earlier this year (Mid-to-late February).  South Texas heat –SHOULDN’T– be an issue in February, so it should be a comfortable trip, at the very least.

It’s interesting to note all the traveling I have done the past year or two.  I seem to have become a nomad of sorts, lol.

Anyways, I think this will finally wrap up this post.  Needless to say, this is the longest post I have made by a long shot.  Think of it as a way to make up for not posting ANYTHING since the beginning of the month.  I would post more often, but I think it would just be sorrowful repetition of the same things over and over again.  As in, “Did some stuff on FFXI, gained no levels. Still working. Probably traveling. Blah blah.”  I appreciate you reading this (I sincerely do), but I am sure you wouldn’t want to be bored with just reading essentially the same thing over and over, am I right?

Ok, this is really the end.  Please leave comments, or sent me a /tell, POL message, e-mail, whatever you can and let me know what you think.  Thank you for reading!

So let’s see…

Scholar now sits at 44. Lots of work remaining this week, so it will probably stay there.

Here’s a video from my vacation.  An “exciting” one from taking off in Chicago on the way home. More video will come soon…maybe

And there you have it.  Not too much to say, as I have to go get ready for work.  Feel free to comment or say hello in game.  See you!