There's an app for that...

Okay--some of us take WoW breaks, and some of us take WoW Breaks AND blog breaks! I came across this writing prompt from one of my favorite sites:

What apps would your characters put on their 'i-fantasius' -- the Smartphones for Azeroth? Well, obviously RaidMap, PetTeam, AggroKeeper, things like that? What would you put on there? Consider this a shared topic for Blog Azeroth.

Freedom...

Power, not speed: steady, loyal, and true

For this week’s Blog Azeroth shared topic Dragonray asks:

What are your top 5 mounts – or just the ones you go to all the time because you like the way they ride? What are the ones you really dislike and can never bring yourself to use – does it rub against your collecting nature (if you have one) to buy all the mounts even though you know you will never use them?

Horses at Midnight Without a Moon
by Jack Gilbert
Our heart wanders lost in the dark woods. Our dream wrestles in the castle of doubt. But there's music in us. Hope is pushed down but the angel flies up again taking us with her. The summer mornings begin inch by inch while we sleep, and walk with us later as long-legged beauty through the dirty streets. It is no surprise that danger and suffering surround us. What astonishes is the singing. We know the horses are there in the dark meadow because we can smell them, can hear them breathing. Our spirit persists like a man struggling through the frozen valley who suddenly smells flowers and realizes the snow is melting out of sight on top of the mountain, knows that spring has begun.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/22888#sthash.fzM722Co.dpuf

A felsteed stays loyal to the end...

A tiny gnome grows large and proud...

A Night Elf returns to the light of Winterspring...

A timid priest and her familiar find a faithful friend...

The price of blood comes with loyalty...

And true love flees while truer love stays...
White War Talbuk

Oathmaker.

A Song of Fire and Ice:
"Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Night's Watch, for this night and all the nights to come."

My dear friend Señor once told me a man is nothing without his word: granted, these are not original sentiments, but originality is superfluous for vows to remain timeless. Inifinity is more fragile than we perhaps believe, or maybe our small human minds wilt under the heat of eternity. Meh. I don't know. If you Google the terms "oath WoW" you will see a number of links to the word oath in Azeroth, but I didn't find any specific pledges, vows, or oaths to be spoken.

From WoW Insider

As we all know, Velen does not pledge his allegiance: sometimes not taking an oath takes greater courage than accepting all alliances at face value. Promises and pledges should not be taken lightly, yet, they are mutable and plastic due to the very nature of the oath-sayer: we change, mutate, and fixed, rigid promises are only as good as the integrity of the barter, of the trade they are built upon. Every married couple on their wedding day intends those vows, and yet the divorce rate is alarmingly high. It is not the vows at fault, nor is it the breaking of them: perhaps they cannot be sustained in the era they are given.  But I digress, and this is not a personal reflection, merely a thesis on the nature of vows and oaths in general. What does the Night Watchman receive for his oath? The fealty of brotherhood, the security of position, or is it the basic, but overwhelming desire for purpose in life? Like many vows, I've come to discover, we are asked to take the vows long before we understand what it means, or how the promises impact our lives. "In sickness and in health" sounds charming when we've coddled a boyfriend through the sniffles, but altogether something very different when other maladies emerge, or even more crticial concerns and loss. But that's too serious to consider, allow me to steer it back: I've often joked that all babies should be second babies--motherhood is much more relaxed and confident enterprise with that second one. But no one can tell anyone that, just like you can't tell anyone who has not experienced the same things you have to have anything but sympathy: empathy is not an option.

In Azeroth, and my time spent there, I wonder what my own goals are, and wheres satisfaction lies. I have never seemed to fit anywhere--always a dilettante in any endeavor. This is not a "poor me" statement, or a "Blizzard must change something," no, on the contrary. It has allowed me to make my own vows, create my own promises, and be true to myself in a trajectory that has few equals. Try on a variety of roles, voices, playstyles, and plasticity that has been open and sweet.

I am so looking forward to see how the story unfolds: remember my friends, often in Azeroth I am not me, the scrubby human behind the screen.My character is Mataoka, a shaman, complicated and conflicted.

And she has pledged her vows:

I shall live worthy
To see Draenor reborn, to live by the Light
To mend the Broken, and share the Gift
I shall live worthy 
To hear the sounds of children, in freedom
To heal the sick, and give to those less fortunate
I shall live worthy
I pledge myself to others, so fortune favors us all
Wherever the path shall lead
I shall live worthy 
And we all shall be strong



Blog Azeroth: What vows would your character say, intend, or break, and to what allegiance? Would it be to class/race/specialization, deity, or ruler? This is quite a challenging Blog Azeroth topic, however, I know you are all up to it because you are amazing writers. 


Mantra

My Precious….

My next suggestion for Blog Azeroth are those things that spawn our personal kryptonite in Azeroth, things that may or may not be obvious. They are the events, the items, the game style, whatever, that causes even the strongest resolutions to dissolve. I have so many it's hard to choose, but one of them that I really need to examine is my love of changing guild names.

Poor Señor (I swear, I should change my friend's pseudonym not to just Señor, but Poor Señor). I have changed our little cottage guild name about six times. I was watching Lord of the Rings over this holiday, the director's cut, HD, etc., and let me first tell you it's worth it. Watching Peter Jackson's vision is worth every minute. It's become somewhat of a holiday tradition for me, I suppose. Anway, so at the end, where Saruman is on top of his tower after the Ents, Merry and Pippin vanquish him, and King Théoden tells him to shuddup and the line, 'gibbets and crows' is bandied about. A gibbet is a hangman's pole, a special kind, (see Darkmoon Faire outskirts), and a crow, well a crow is a bird. (I'm funny, huh?) So succumbing to my romantic Renaissance-y way I spoke out loud, "What a great name for a guild!" To the Internet!

So Gibbets and Crows it is for now, to remind me of that for all our glory, for all our work, there are some things that simply bring us to our knees. I'll try to keep this guild name for a while, unless of course Señor insist that it change: which is why he's one of the best guildmates ever - he just goes with the flow.

Solstice Advent Challenge: December 2

eredar father
temporal gift, at great cost
cannot be outshone

Solstice Advent Challenge

Gift of the Naaru

Solstice Advent Blog Challenge

Okay, so you know how I mentioned the fall/winter funk…here is the idea: 
Twenty-One Days, starting today, December 1, of things in Azeroth of Light Screenshots, from now until December 21. This works for both sides of the equator, seeing how we're getting darker days in the North, the South is getting lighter. The only hitch I will add is you have to add a caption or haiku to your screenshot.

The topic/theme is light, and all its incarnations.

The most mundane of surroundings are improved with light...

Link back your thread here and/or Blog Azeroth.


OH, and this too! Go to Akabeko's site, Red Cow Rise:

RTMT: Mixed Nuts

Subtitle: Things I Just Don't Get - Blog Azeroth Topic

Right next in line to the Golden Rule.

Mental running shoes on? Check. Hot, black coffee by right hand? Check? Cute new shirt and my comfy Yellowstone bear and moose socks? Check and check. (Yes, I wish they were moose and squirrel socks, and props to you if you get that reference.) Today's Random Tuesday Morning Thought is brought to you by the letter "B" and the letter "K," noting the occasional inherent goodness of folks who give a damn about karma.

First, in some ways I want to apologize for my periodic rant about meanies in LFR. I have sufficiently scared Tome away, which is unintended, and, worse, I am becoming boring. (See what a jerk I am Tome? I put 'being boring' over scaring my friends away from LFR...) Popular Science magazine summed up the asshats and trolls quite succinctly: "shrill, boorish specimens of the lower Internet phyla" . Could not have said it better myself. Yes, there are poo-poo heads in Azeroth. But something happened far worse than an anonymous asshat, and that is a 'player friend/acquaintance' who, for whatever reason or reasons, well - let's just say something went wrong. A misunderstanding that got out of hand fast. And to answer Amber's question about things I just don't get, I just don't get how we humans will ever figure out how to communicate effectively and with our hearts in person or virtually. But damn, we had better figure it out fast. Communication is clumsy on its good days, and destructive on its wrong-side-of-bed days. My boss was teasing me the other day because in every meeting where we are developing "norms" I always want to add "assume good intentions." We all have so much to do, so much on our minds, that if we can't just start at a good place, we will end up in the ditch faster than the bald tires on my old truck. (Things I think about at 3:30 AM: how to get new tires.)

And I need to address this: I am many things. There are character flaws and redeeming qualities about me, like every human. Not quite Walter White level of complexity, but a mixed bag nonetheless. But one thing I am not is a bitch. My definition of a bitch is someone, male or female, who aggressively seeks drama, attention, and conflagration to stir up shit. Being that I hate confrontation, and any confrontation stays with me like spilled sour milk. It calcifies and smells. 

So again I say, if I have ever pissed you off, hurt your feelings, stepped on toes, poked you in the eye, returned the car with an empty gas tank, left the toilet seat up (!) forgot to unplug the curling iron, left the dishes in the sink, didn't write back fast enough, or simply shut the real or virtual door in your face, if there is a perceived insult or sour grapes:

I. Am. Sorry.

So when I ranted about anonymous jokers being trolls, I should have peered around the corner because things can get much, much worse.

Now: here is my wish again. For the 2,893th time. I wish we had an 'invisible' mode. Just a mode that was an answering machine to folks saying, "Matty's not in right now. Leave a message after the beep." Yes, we have DBM that tells our buddies we're fighting, etc. Maybe that is, or should be enough. Perhaps this is why my buddy Señor and I get along so well: we know things about each other, and are dear friends, but it stays in character and in game. We respect each other. Good people, genuinely good people, live by the creed above: they assume that everyone has their own story to tell, their own issues, and treat others with kindness. I will say to all my friends in Azeroth, if I have ever bothered you while you're trying to focus or fight a tricky maneuver, I am sorry. I try to respect your time --and for the most part, all of you are amazing. Thank you. 

I am going to try out the proving grounds as soon as I can - that'll be cool. I feel very rusty on all of my characters, and every one needs a new reforge/update. 

Back to karma: Last night I thought see what would happen to go in another LFR between after work and dinner. I didn't finish, but I did get a pretty new belt (I won't mention that on the roll I got the same exact belt, which happens all the time, but whatever). But the belt is not the highlight - there were incredibly nice players there:

I LOVE the Haunted Forest Set. I want this in real life: spiders and butterflies living on my shoulders!

I hated to leave, but CD Rogue had dinner waiting, and that was that. But I have proof there are nice players out there: patient, relaxed, and enjoying the beautiful fun world as it's meant to be enjoyed. 

Do I have more to say? You bet I do. But my time is up, and I must go. 

PS In game, I don't get anything (she types smiling).

Karma Police/Radiohead

My girl...

When I am thinking about favorites, of course I love my shaman. I do. But like a first-born child or the first burnt pancake of breakfast, she's been a learning experience. (Yes, I just equated children with fried batter.) But the question I proposed was, 1) which of your characters do you always look forward to "seeing?" But the real question is why? ; and when I just feel most at ease, I must admit it's with Zeptepi.

Something Erinys wrote about this topic struck me, that some of the characters we love we feel are everything we're not. Mataoka is stormy, emotional, impulsive, and hardworking: we share these traits. My mage is, in the role playing/fanfiction world now, mourning a deep loss of Theramore and identity. I adore my warlock, Kellda, cause Kellda just doesn't give a damn -- she's my "Scarlet O'Hara" of the bunch. But Zeptepi - she is complicated where I am simple. She is classy and sweet, and doesn't apologize for her dark side: but most importantly, she is patient. This is something I have never been. Zeptepi is the soul of grace: she shines in light, speaks in shadows, and is fluent in both. She can wait for gear, she can quietly pace reputations, she keeps the tiny cottage guild in order, and does it with joy and no complaint. When I play Zep, I never feel panicky or worried. Funny, she's been kicked from a dungeon or two, kind of derped through Black Temple the other day, and doesn't always know her holy nova from her sanctuary, but she evokes patience in me I rarely feel otherwise.

Maybe intentionally, I haven't really paid much attention to her lately, but will soon. I do glance at Matticus' advice, and went over to Ask Mr Robot today and he was horrified over my lack of not capping and reforging, etc., (which will have to be completed after company leaves). But with her, somehow I know it's going to be all right. She will eventually collect her sigils so she can place the sha-touched gem in her new Jin'ya, Orb of the Waterspeaker she luckily received today (Mataoka got this yesterday, so the healing world will never be the same. If you don't feel better soon, they'll just hit you over the head with it!)

There may be another factor, too: this character has never been 'front and center' in any large guild. Yes, I know it's "me" who's behind Mataoka, but I think me as the shaman has perhaps burned some bridges (I didn't mean to! I popped my searing totem by mistake and burned the place down! Sorry!) When playing the shaman, I learn who is still feeling kind and friendly towards me, and who is less than keen on me. When I am on Zeptepi, I get to just be me, just play--no expectations, no disappointment, no lost friendships.

Maybe Mrs. Whitworth is truly looking out for her.

Theme song: My Girl/The Temptations

Blog Azeroth Idea: No Favorites.

A few weeks ago, I noticed logging onto some characters seemed to be more irksome than others, it dawned on me that there were a few who never, ever seemed to be a chore to play. My question is, (and yes, you need to have more than one character over level 1) which of your characters do you always look forward to "seeing?" But the real question is why? Perhaps think of this from a role playing perspective, that this character has a personality, play style and demeanor that inevitably just works. I'd love to meet them!

Blog Azeroth: Effy's Question

Hey, I have a few suggestions for some new pets, too! Me! Me! 

These are just off the top of my noggin

(Can you tell what zone I was in when I thought of these?)

Mini Garms!

Pocket-Sized Mastadons! Makes your opponents EXTINCT!

Any kind of fun-sized revenant would be awesome...

More ideas to follow!

Promises, promises...(and no, do not click links at work)

I did not mean to leave my "Kyle's Mom Is a Big Fat B*tch" post up for so long. Apologies. I have been one busy little shaman - errands and lists, lists of errands and errands on my listessesss--yesterday was helping young leet druid get a hair cut, sitting in the salon lobby, and a beautiful young woman asks me if I would like a free five minute chair massage. Now, I love massages, spas, pampering, getting manicures, pedicures, facials, hair cuts, etc., but I have not had a massage in years. I have a horrible mattress, a really bad gaming chair, (it's not even a desk chair, but an old, hard dining room chair), and in my job I am on my feet most of the day, and have been waking up far too early of late; subsequently, the knots she tried to untie were deep and painful. I promptly said I would pay for a longer one, and then made a follow up appointment for later in the month. (Oh, payday...how I long for you, how I wait for you!) Now before you nasty people start making the obvious jokes about happy endings, what occurred to me is how quickly busy shamans put themselves last on the list. Every knot, every deep tissue bruise the masseuse encountered was another reminder of that I have not been taking care of myself. There have been some serious health stuff in the Matty-shack in recent months, nothing that can't be resolved, but some serious stuff nonetheless, along with the usual work issues that are bigger than I can handle on my own sometimes. Even yesterday a best friend/colleague of mine started to tear up because of current conditions of stress, and we are both experiencing minor hostile work environment issues. Basically, we are experiencing what happens when one doesn't get the oxygen and life support needed once in a while, things get very dicey. After a long talk in the parking lot, she and I listened to each other, and tried to come up with some viable solutions for some very real problems. She has fought cancer, has high blood pressure, and is a single mom. To top is off, she's also a wonderful person, a great swing dancer, and incredibly kind and intelligent. I hoped I helped her, because I know she helped me. And what's funny, both of us had already come up with these solutions on our own, we just needed a sounding board.

So, between saving the world, trying to find time for myself, and feeding baby dragons, haven't had much of a chance to write, and I do have some ideas brewing.

I have:
 Taste's Like Battle Chicken's October challenge

and look! Akabeko responded to one of my BlogAzeroth's shared topics!

Personal Codes

Which to mine I might add: Unless you are handing me a martini or margarita, or perhaps a golden lotus, don't tell me to relax. Why don't you ask me how things are going instead? Friggin' trolls....

and Bear's post on his perfect raid team: Looking for a few good peeps His guildmates got the spots filled independent of his post, but his ideas are solid.

And stories, drabbles, and screenshots, oh my! JD - next LBR?

Wish me luck: maybe this year, The Horseman will grant me my wish. And no, it's not a happy ending.

RTMT:The Rules of Me

My Random Tuesday Morning Thought for this long patch day* is about Rules. I was thinking the other day about the meeting where colleagues let it be known publicly about my foibles and not-so-endearing quirks, and I realized each of us have "rules" that we try to play by, or expect others to know our unwritten ones. There was a horrible book written many years ago called The Rules written by Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider, the gist essentially that women should play coy, and this struck me: How to be a Creature Unlike Any Other (CUAO). Are they talking about a fancy-dressed goblin mage? A Druid with an unlisted number and a full dance card? Wow, who knows? If one is spending that much time making oneself into a CUAO, then how do they know when their one true love is sending signals? 

Okay, so I'm not talking about those kinds of rules, but our personal codes, our personal rules, that if others would try to respect, and we theirs, it would be cool. These are not hard and fast rules, by any stretch--take them as suggestions.

1. Don't say "I'm showing my age." Just because I've heard of Yoko Ono does not mean I'm old. Well, I am old, but not too old to play, think, have thoughts, or opinions. Many things I know and say are because of two simple things, that when working together create knowledge: experience and reading. And remember, as my Dad always says,  I am older than you, and can still spit on your head." (It's a metaphor people, my dad never spit on my head.)
2. Understand my Monty Python references, and have some of your own. I will love you forever.
3. Don't be afraid to tease me. I got a new nickname last night, "Loo-Woo." It's perfect.
4. Know that I am never out to hurt you, and I hope the same is true for you to me.
5. Don't take this too seriously.
6. Send me a surprise once in awhile. Again, I will love you forever.
7. Be kind to small animals, gnomes, and children, at least in my presence.
8. Talking about your colonoscopy in guildchat: not cool. 
9. Try not to be too judgemental: see #1.
10. If drakes drop, it should be free rolls. Period.

What are your rules? I put this as a Shared Topic on Blog Azeroth - would love to see what you all cook up, you CUAOs!


Theme song: Tighten Up/The Black Keys

Random Awesome website: http://www.kuriositas.com/

*Not like I could play anyway, long RL day ahead.

Freedom of Information: Headcanon

Oh, dang, I hope I have time to write all I wanted to write this morning.

First - I have to jot down this dream I had before I woke up. I was friends with a girl named Emily who moved to London to work in an office where her dad was CEO and she became engaged to a guy back in the states who was a farmer and he looked like Kip from Napolean Dynamite and he liked to date African-American women, but Emily was Caucasian and she was really getting to enjoy her life in London and I went there to see if I could talk her out of marrying Kip only because her life was becoming so amazing and life on the farm with Kip would be very limiting not to mention that he might end up having affairs because he didn't really love Emily and I had to use the restroom and there was only a tiny paper folded blind for the door that latch on the bottom with a brass eye-hook and it was right by the secretrary's desk so I got shy and just waited until I got to my own place and there were bars all around London and I couldn't find Emily but after I tried to use the restroom but couldn't I started a conversation with the secretary and she was looking at the wedding invitations for Emily and they were kind of large and ugly but we both made pleasant conversation until we were both honest and said how we both thought Emily was making a huge mistake and then I met up with Emily in the courtyard on a small berm where she was playing with her blue-eyed white kitten and then the secretary trotted by with a square-metric size of chocolate toffee bar and then the rugby team interupted us and then I woke up to the blaring alarm.

Emily: Don't Marry Kip

Did you see Navi's post the other day that is a blow-by-blow account of her day? It was awesome. The point of bringing it up is I would bet most of our days are like that too. If I am at work, however, I cannot do a single thing that has to do with WoW, or it turns out, read anything about WoW. In fact, I can't do much of any research on anything. I saw this post by Tzufit on a Blog Azeroth topic, which I missed, and then when I went to do more research on it at work, "headcannon," every single site was blocked. Everything: from Tumblr, to Reddit, to Yahoo Answers; anything that had a forum feed of any shape, pixel or size was/is blocked by my work environment. The most I could see was that 'headcannon' appears to be a new-ish term in the jargon of writing fiction. Is it, Tzufit? I would say "newish" because it seems to be specifically tied in with 20th and 21st centuries media. For those who know me, my bread-and-butter is information, and access to it, in all forms that are appropriate, so you are probably thinking to yourself, "Damn, I bet that pisses Matty right off," and you'd be right.

But okay, I'm at home now, about to go to work in a few, and I love this idea of headcannon. In fact, without knowing the term, I wrote this post back in July that I think answers most of the character's headcannon questions: Quirky Girls.

There are of course things I would add to their narratives, but first I must go save Emily from making a terrible mistake.

PS Urban Dictionary spells it "headcanon" with one n. Must do more research.