The Grinning Geek
A day in the life of the Grinning Geek.
THE WORLD of warcraft…
Nov 30th
First, I should note that I’ve had this:
stuck in my head all night.
But back to the point of this post. As I mentioned, I’ll be using this blog for my World of Warcraft thoughts as well. Understandably, not everyone gives a rats arse about WoW so you know, that’s cool. But for those that do care, I am currently playing Tyrolos, a level 80 Blood Elf Paladin on the Doomhammer-US server. How I got to that character requires a bit of explaining to do.
I started WoW in 2005 as a human paladin. This was cool and all, but this was vanilla WoW. Playing a Paladin, especially in the early levels, was a test of willpower. A test, I failed. By my mid-20’s I had rerolled a gnome mage and was -tearing it up-. I played Hightower (the mage) for a few years, up til the end of Vanilla WoW, where we joined a raiding guild, through BC. The guild I was in, towards the end of BC, completely fell apart due to internal stride and some drama llama’s and other crap I didn’t really understand (nor did I really care to.) Up til BC, in order to see the end game you really needed to be in a “big” raiding guild with lots of people, but of course in BC there were 10-man raids. The small group of friends I played with discussed it, and we decided what the hell, we can just make our own guild and play in 10-man raids.
This was all good and well, I switched from a mage to a shaman, then to a boomkin. We enjoyed 10-man raiding in Wrath, got through Naxx, got through some of Ulduar and then we all kind of got distracted and I decided to level a Horde.
I decided to level a Horde, 2 months before they announced Faction Transfers.
Some members of my guild decided to roll with me and we all leveled up, faction transfers kicked in, and those who did not want to level switched to Horde. So now we’re Horde, we’re raiding again, but we’re all in different positions. Our old main tank is now a hunter, our off tank is a elemental shaman, one of our healers is the off tank, I’m main tanking, etc. I am -loving- main tanking. I have always enjoyed my paladin, and have intentionally focused on just him – banging out Loremaster, the Argent reps, the Cenarian reps, the Ambassador title, the Diplomat title, the Crusader title, etc. We’re almost through Ulduar completely, and it feels really good to be just back in the WoW swing of things again and it feels good to be raiding.
The holidays are always a slow period for us as friends go visit family, work, etc so we’re going to be largely on a raiding hiatus for December, but with 3.3 dropping any week I am sure I’ll have plenty of h0t 5 man action I need to get through, so it’s all good.
Okay, so that’s how I got to be Tyrolos. Maybe later I’ll post something of actual substance on WoW. For now, latah.
-J
The Holidays
Nov 30th
As I pondered really getting in to a blog, I sort of mocked up some entries in my head. Now that I’ve got it all set up, I want to get them out so I’m going to rapid fire a few entries here and we’ll see where we go.
This time of year is always wonderful. The holidays have always held such strong emotions and images for me in my head. Am I the only one who -loves- to watch old VCR recordings of TV shows during the holidays? Like that 15 year old copy of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer? And the best part of them, is the commercials. Oh GOD the commercials. You’d get those old school McDonalds commercials when they had Birdie, and Grimace, and all the characters? Or the Burger King commercials when they’d do the commemorative holiday glasses? The old 80’s commercials for Oreos when they’d leave cookies for Santa? And the kid would try and stay up but he’d fall asleep before Santa came?
Maybe it’s because my generation has given in to commercialism stronger than any before us, but these commercials are tied to some of the most wonderful memories I have as a kid. School was slowing down – we had 4 days off for Thanksgiving, and we were on the verge of -2 full weeks- off for Christmas. Everything changed. People in my neighborhood had put up Christmas lights. The malls had all decorated for Christmas. Santa was sitting in front of a tiny little house between the Dillards and the JC Penny. (As I am older, I wonder if he kept a mini-fridge back there with a 12 pack. I know I’d have needed a few after dealing with the screaming hordes.) Our world was small as a kid. We didn’t think about much past Uncle Sam’s Famous Cheese Steaks on Shea, we didn’t think about what was on the other side of the Squaw Peak mountain preserve. It didn’t matter. Everyone we knew, in our world, was on the same page. It was Christmas time, ladies and gentlemen. That feeling of magic, of a cause of happiness that everyone seemed to unite around, it was one of the most amazing parts of being a kid.
So now here I am all these years later. First, I look at the toys they are trying to sell for Christmas and I pity this generation. Their toys are all flash and no substance. Their best toys are merely trying to stand on the shoulders of my toys. You think that’s a star wars figure son? Let me show you how it’s -done-. This here is a Tauntaun. You see it’s belly? It’s rubber flaps, because Han Solo had to gut him, so Luke would stay warm while he built a shelter. See, you can stick Luke halfway in the Tauntaun like this…
Sorry, I got lost there for a minute. But as I was saying, here I am all these years later and the holidays still have this sort of lure. The faces have changed. My two grandfathers are gone. One of my grandmothers is gone. But the purpose remains: I know, my whole family is going to get together, and we’re all going to just be happy to be with one another. We’re going to carry on traditions we’ve always carried on, because the events we share are so important. My dad and I will lobby to put the star on top of the tree, but my mom and sister will win and get their light up angel. We’ll have Christmas dinner just the way we always do. My dad will try and change things, spice it up, and my brother and I will rise up in revolt. Those smells, those flavors, those are holiday. Those are family. Those are memories of times long past, with people who aren’t here anymore, but when I smell the smells, I taste the tastes, I hear the 80’s commercials, I see the tree with the angel, I bicker over the star, well… they’re all back and they are all in my parents house, and we’re all just glad it’s the holidays.
-J
Oh boy, another blog.
Nov 30th
So I have decided to start a blog. The only reason this is significant for me, is I’ve thought about starting a blog off and on for years. I used to write often on the internet through mediums like Livejournal, posts about the life and times of whatever I was going through. A strange thing happened though, around 2004 or 2005 – I got really happy. My posts before then had often been political rants, relationship rants, whining about this, or bitching about that. Then I got happy, and I found I didn’t have anything to say. As my father would say, “I was just happy to be a part of it all.”
I’m still happy, so don’t worry this blog won’t be angst, animosity, and whining. I just feel like I am at a point in my life where it might be wise to write some stuff down. Take notes about my existence as it were. So let me give you a run down of what you might see in this blog.
First, as some know, my wife and I are trying to have a child. My last swing at a blog was going to be a blog about being an expectant father. Unfortunately, we lost that baby and my desire to post about babies and the like really just went away. But I’ve got some distance on that event, my wife and I are trying again, so I am sure as we ride that roller coaster there will be posts here.
Second, you have the internet – specifically online gaming. I am an avid player of games, specifically MMO’s like World of Warcraft. You should expect to see posts about my experiences in World of Warcraft, specifically those relating to Tyrolos my Blood Elf Paladin and my friends who play with me. I understand if you read this and don’t really understand the WoW stuff, just try to remain conscious and I’ll post about something else eventually I am sure.
I would expect to see day to day revelations about politics and news. I am not one of those people who can just sort of ignore politics and news, and not let it effect them. Worse, I’m also not one of those people who can watch Fox News, listen to them tell me what to think, and then just go about my merry way trying not to make eye contact with them damn socialists. I’m liberal, I’m vocal, and you can expect to hear from me on that.
Finally, my family. I love them, and they are characters. Expect to hear about them too, I am sure!
Anyways, you get the idea. I can’t categorize myself in to a single blog type, because then I feel like I can’t talk about everything I want to talk about. So welcome to the jungle dear reader, we’ve got fun and games.
-J