Tag Archives: MMO

02/22/12

{365.53} I Really Care About Popcorn

You better believe I went to Target today to claim the popcorn that was rightfully mine! AND I got a Coke to go with it, even though I don’t normally drink soda except on weekends. Why? Because I deserved it. And because I like to have a little joy in my life once in a while. But I didn’t go to our regular Target, I went about 5 minutes farther away to the one on North 5th because I’m still mad that I was callously ignored last night.

A believer in small victories? Yes. Vindictive? Guilty as charged. Let’s move on.

Found a ton of toss pillows on clearance and bought a pair for our future new couch for just $12 each. Considering they were regularly priced at $25, I feel like this was a great deal. Also snagged two really cute little storage bins for $1 each, and a set of thank you cards for 0.98 cents. Both Targets I’ve been to the past few days seem to be clearing out their stock of stationery to bring in new ones, so if you need notecards, thank you cards, invitations (even the wedding invites and thank-yous are on sale), now is a great time to go. I admit that I’m a fiend for stationery and office supplies and will purchase these things when they go on clearance even if I don’t actually need them. I just… I really like them, okay!! And I never have to go looking for a thank-you card when I need one, because I have plenty. (You should feel safe buying me a gift at any time, because I will be guaranteed to send a thank you card for it. Ha!) I also buy blank cards because they’re great for lots of things. Even with e-mail and text messaging and Twitter and whatnot, there just really isn’t anything quite like getting  a letter or a card in the mail.

I was planning on heading over to the Bath & Body Works around the corner from our apartment after finishing at Target, but the popcorn distracted me and I ended up going home to munch on it while reading Little House on the Prairie. I’ll save that shopping excursion for another day, I suppose. My mom sent a $25 gift card for our anniversary, along with the IHOP card we already used, so I wanted to go poke around the store and see if maybe, by some odd chance, they had any of my favorite lotion left. Don’t ask me why I’m still giving Bath & Body Works a second chance after they DISCONTINUED my favorite lotion. If I had known that this would be the only bottle of Charmed Life I’d ever get to have, I would’ve stockpiled it like I do with stationery.

Anyway, the rest of this entry is me squeaking and making Disney Princess sparkly noises about Guild Wars 2, so I am drawing a line at this spot and you can choose what side of it to stand on. See? Sometimes it’s a democracy around here. (But mostly not.)

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02/11/12

{365.42} I Issue a Geek Advisory Warning For This Entry

Such a nice day today! The weather’s been warm and sunny this whole week, hopefully it lasts until next week too. When we went to walk the dog this morning, I noticed that some of the trees had started to bloom. Of course, this also meant they were covered in bees, so this shot was taken while simultaneously backing away… hahaha.

I have to say, I have definitely not been a paragon of productivity today. I’ve done pretty much nothing except lounge around playing video games. Oh, well we did go to Target for a few things. Is anyone else as in love with Target popcorn as I am??? Because… I am OBSESSED with Target popcorn. Every time we go there, I leave David at the check out lane and swipe my debit card for a bag of popcorn and a coke. I can’t resist — popcorn is one of my favorite foods. Sure, I have regular old microwaveable popcorn at home, but nothing beats popcorn from Target or the movies. I will even eat stale popcorn, this is how advanced my addiction has become. If we go to Target and we’re about to eat dinner or something, meaning I can’t have any popcorn, I whine all the way home. Oh, and if I have any leftover popcorn from the movies, you better believe I take that back with me. IT IS A SUPER-FOOD. I enjoy it even more than I enjoy keeping up with the life and times of the British Royal family. (I confess that I follow them on Twitter. And become highly enthused about the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee this year. And I silently cheer anytime I see Kate formerly-Middleton in the news. And that I also like to keep track of Pippa Middleton’s amazing clothes.)

This entry is not actually going to be about popcorn, guys. I know it seems like it, but I’m switching gears now to talk about my FFXIV experiences for the day: *cue (even more) geekiness after the jump*

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02/10/12

{365.41} I Believe in the Magic of Pancakes

Oops, guess who got distracted playing FFXIV and forgot to blog on time? Guilty as charged T-T In my defense, I was caught up with learning how to use all the controls and all the other things you adjust to when you start playing a new game. David’s been playing on his own, but convinced me that I needed to try it again. When the game first released, it was really boring and also a hot mess, so I made a character and then promptly moved on to something else. This time I’m going to try and stick it out. They aren’t charging any subscription fees right now since apparently there will be a massive overhaul of the game being released in October. We paid $10 (we had a $10 off coupon from Amazon, hurray) for the game download so I could have a serial number, and I gave it another go. So far, I’m having more fun than the first time.

First (second?) impressions so far: Lots of very pretty scenery, I definitely like that you can level any/all of the classes on the same character and sort of mix and match your abilities, and I like that you can do most of your traveling through teleports. This is because I am extremely lazy in both the real world and the virtual world, and I remain unrepentant about it. (Why run when you can mystically appear there between one loading screen and the next? Exactly. I contend that this isn’t really laziness, it’s being intelligent and evolved.) I’m looking forward to the updates and huge, drastic changes that are in store. I especially loathe their convoluted auction house system. Horrible! Just use a regular AH like everyone else T-T No one will blame you for it, I swear. One can’t be unique about everything just for the sake of being unique.

Anyway, before we decided to just get the game online, we were going to try and find a collector’s edition of it somewhere, so we tried a few different GameStops but of course they weren’t carrying it. We checked online to see which locations even had them, but the list was highly inaccurate, to say the least. LOL. After this fruitless search, we went to go use the IHOP gift card that my mom sent us for our anniversary. Yes, it was delicious. Pancakes are a magical food that can be consumed at any time of the day.

I can’t believe it’s already the 11th of February tomorrow. David leaves next month for New Mexico and won’t be back until summer. I’m really not looking forward to it. I feel like he just barely got home. Ugh. At least he isn’t heading overseas or anything, not that I will be able to visit him very much since it’s too far to drive. I plan to stay as busy as possible so I won’t have time to mope about him being gone. Perhaps by then I will be gainfully employed… lol.

Blah, sorry for this boring entry today, it was one of those I-forgot-all-about-blogging days when I had nothing planned for a blog post.

01/18/12

Confessions of an Antisocial MMO Player

***This post is in response to Jinny’s recent entry on gaming communities! Be sure to visit her blog! ***

In lieu of leaving a novel-length comment on Jinny’s blog post, I’m going to write a response because I agree (and commiserate) with her about the issues with gaming communities practically everywhere, in almost every MMO. But I don’t know that many of my friends offline have any idea that I play MMOs in the first place, so let’s make that my first confession. I do enjoy video games, and I always have. In the past, my husband and I played WoW for several years (up until we got tired of leveling to 80 on Wrath of the Lich King… I mean there was soooo much snow and it got sooooo boring….), as well as a random handful of other games, including Guild Wars, AION, Granado Espada, et al etc. We’re waiting with bated breath for Guild Wars 2, actually. While we’re waiting, we’re currently playing Lord of the Rings Online. Wait, let me briefly list the reasons why I play LOTRO so that you can get over the initial nerd-attack of that announcement:

  • I am a major nerdy Tolkien enthusiast, and have been since I first read The Hobbit as a 5th grader.
  • I mean, come on, he is the ultimate world-builder. And I’m also a writer, so I admire that intensely.
  • Only in Middle Earth would I be an outdoorsy, well-coordinated person. (See image above.)
  • The game’s cosmetic outfit system caters to my deep love for buying clothes…

Okay, anyway, I enjoy this type of game, as well as RPGs on other consoles, largely because they allow you to escape to another world and be a different person for a while. A person who has adventures much more epic than, say, getting lost in search of the grocery store because you just moved to Nevada and your phone GPS is made of lies. In this aspect, playing a video game is very much like reading a book, although it’s a lot more interactive. I like that interactive aspect, but I do NOT like actually interacting with other people while I play. This is very reflective of my personality in real life, wherein I can be very sociable but only if I have to be. In my natural state, I prefer to stay at home, wear pajamas, and maintain my relationships with people I consider to be true and loyal friends. I’ve never really met anyone on an MMO (who wasn’t also my friend in real life) that became more than just A) a temporary annoyance until the group quest can be turned in, B) the source of a trade, C) the object of my intense irritation as they post idiotic things in the chat log. This is the #1 reason why I’m so antisocial when playing an MMO. I just don’t want to deal with it. I often mute my chat log, instantly block people who annoy me, and disable my duel/guild invite requests because people abuse these social features of MMOs in ways that totally disgust me.

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