Message received.

Curse you Oceanic time zones, always being a day ahead and garnering the sun's love before the rest of the world. Even though the Dutch and a hefty chunk of Captain James Cook are responsible, I blame Queen Victoria, with her sun-never-setting-on-the-British Empire form of manifest destiny. It is because of her that I am suffering from sleep deprivation this morning. In other words, English is spoken in many other time zones than England. Which means, when I put out the call to English-speaking friends around the world, it may not be on my padded, wimpy schedule. And if Greenwich Mean Time wasn't enough to spring a cog in my clock, to make matters worse, it is a rainy, sleepy morning here in the great northwest: the sun doesn't show much love to us here regardless of time zones. Azeroth does not recognize circadian rhythms as scientific fact. However--when I put the call to adventure out there, I won't grouse when it is answered on someone else's punchcard. Especially when considering the advice and guidance I received are invaluable.

(I am a blathering idiot in any language this morning, and my coffee is getting cold...)

My friend: I did take notes. Everything you shared makes a lot of sense. I will practice. I will stand strong. Be confident. Your lessons will aid me whether or not we will meet again soon.

Luperci practices her listening skills...

Like any role we play or job we take on, there are two layers: the physical and psychological. The physical, or the actual mental and kinetic skills are one area: this takes practice, training, and education. The psychological: guess that just depends on our mood, or who we are at our core.

Ironically, during a training dungeon run, encountered a shaman, an enhancement shaman no less, named Diiva, who was less than ladylike (but was very diva-like, so Dickensian named). Scoping her out on the armory, I see since a few hours ago she has even gone up a few levels, and she was already a few levels above Luperci. She had a few things to say. But what she didn't know is that Luperci has turtle wax on her shoulders, so a lot of trash is going to roll right off. It has to as a tank. Diiva, and others like this character, should be proud of their ability to have amazing DPS, but not proud of it when it comes at the expense of the group, its safety, and success. If you're pulling aggro and killing un-targeted mobs to get your Recount score higher, okay. Fine. But you can't put that on a resume.

However, DPS ducklings: I swear, if you make it tough on my healer, ever--we're going to have a one-sided chat. I'll be right, and you'll be wrong. I can be pretty damn concrete when I need to be. (I'll leave the abstract-random nonsense to Matty.) But warriors, death knights, and shamans: understand this: My kindness is my strength. My compassion is my armor. And at my core, I can be a great defender. Queen Victoria and I have a bit in common perhaps.

Theme song: Two Against One/Danger Mouse