So… A New Year :)

So, it’s been well over a month since I’ve posted and all I can say is that I’m ready for a fresh start… in a couple ways.  This will recap is short segments what’s been going on for me lately.

First, I’m sorry that I’ve been so absent lately.  I think it’s the fact that my motivation for creating and maintaning this blog were skewed from the beginning and I really needed to take a break and re-evaluate my reasons for doing this.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy it, but now it’s solely for me, it’s not to impress anyone or to use to better my resume in any way.  I’m going to blog because I really enjoy this community and I think that on occasion I have something worthwhile to say that you all might enjoy reading.  With that change in motivation, that could turn out to be 3-5 blog posts a week, or it could be 1-2, but I do know that I will be more dedicated than I have been in the last few months.

Second, I’ve had a pretty shitty year in terms of employment.  I graduated in December of 2007, and since then have had three jobs, two of which I left on my own accord and one of which I did not.  I am currently umemployed and looking for a job, but as you all know, it’s not exactly the greatest time for that.  It’s a new year, however, and I’m trying to be as optimistic as possible. 

Now, I’m going to crawl out of hiding to announce that I, like so many others, crawled back into WoW’s lap.  I know I railed on Blizzard and WoW pretty hard, but the truth is, they make a wicked game.  I’ve really enjoyed my time so far since coming back.  In some respects, I thought my journey from 70 to 80 with my druid was far too fast, and in some respects, it seemed fairly slow (8-12 hours per level) but it was a blast.  I ran my fair share of instances on the way up and a hell of a lot of heroics and now he’s pretty geared up, already with 3 pieces of Naxx gear.  I’ve gone into Naxx (10 man) three times now and have killed all the bosses in the spider wing, Noth, Patchwerk, and Heigan, with attempts on Loatheb, Grobbulus, and Instructor Razuvious.  So far the fights have been pretty fun, some have been too easy (Noth is a complete joke.)  The instances were a blast the first few times, but lose there appeal after the first 5-6 runs. 

With all that good stuff said about WoW, I can’t help but notice that lingering feeling in the back of my mind that says I won’t be happy in the next few months.  In fact, my time spent in WoW is pretty much limited to raiding at this point, and I’m not sure if that will change.  I have no desire to level my warlock currently (even though I just switched to demo, and it’s a lot of fun!)  and even raiding doesn’t seem to hold the same appeal for me that it once did.  Should I quit in the next month or two, I will still be very pleased with the recent time spent in Northrend, and it was well worth the price of the expansion and sub.

I tried Wizard 101, and while I liked it, I went back to WoW and found it to be much more satisfying for the time spent.  I might give Wizard 101 another try sometime down the road when I feel like I don’t have anything to play.

I played WAR for two months.  I greatly enjoyed the PvP, but felt that my character (marauder) wasn’t really all that interesting to me, and I didn’t feel like leveling up another toon.  Public Quests weren’t public, questing seemed entirely too forced and drawn out, and PvP didn’t offer the leveling curve that I feel it should have.  I think I got to 32 or 33 before I finally decided to drop my sub (for a while anyway.)

I’ve gotten a new computer!  It was pretty strong before I got a new graphics card for Christmas that my bro spent way too much on for me (THANKS!)  Here are the specs:
Intel Core 2 Quad 8200 3.2 GHz
6 GB RAM
ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB
24″ 1080p monitor

Needless to say, I went back and updated my dxdiag file for a few beta’s I’ve signed up for 😛  Fallout 3 on extreme quality is freakin’ sweet.  Too bad I don’t really feel the desire to play AoC, EQ2, or Vanguard right now.  LotRO, I’ll get to later.

Been reading a lot lately.  Currently reading A Game of Thrones (George R. R. Martin,) The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Junot Diaz,) The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Michael Chabon,) and Good Omens (Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.)  All are excellent reads, but I can’t seem to stick with one all the way through for some reason.  I’m also looking for inspiration to begin fiction writing again.  I feel like all I need is a strong idea before I can really get to work towards beginning a novel, something that terrifies, yet excites me greatly.  I’ve also been helping the wife get her idea off the ground, which I think is brilliant, and am excited to be a part of in some way.

Getting towards the end of Stargate SG:1.  I just watched the fifth and sixth episodes of season 10.  I must say that I’m enjoying them much more than I did season 9.  Perhaps it’s because I wasn’t giving season 9 my full attention when I was watching them.  I’ll have to go back and give them another shot soon.  In the vein of television shows, I also watched the second season of Dexter, which I highly recommend if the premise of the show at all interests you.  Pretty much anything on Showtime is great as well.  I’ve also been enjoying Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Sanctuary, and Legend of the Seeker (the last two I’ve been watching through Hulu, a great website for shows and clips.)

Games that I’m thinking about playing include LotRO, World of Goo, Braid, and Chronicles of Spellborn.  I really enjoyed the story and the atmosphere of LotRO when I last played it, but got stuck (I can’t even remember what level exactly, but I’d just ventured into the Trollshaws) and had a hard time pushing through it.  I particularly want to try it with the new gaming rig, but I’m not sure I want to shell out $40+15 to get it back up and running again. I’m not really interested in starting a new class right now, so are there any benefits to getting the expansion that I would see as a mid-level character?  If not, then it might be worth 15 to give it another shot.  I really, really would like to like EQ2, but I’ve tried too many times, and I just don’t think it’s going to happen.  As for World of Goo, this game really appeals to me.  It looks incredibly addictive and a blast, but I’m not sure if it’s worth $20 or not.  Braid looks like it has an interesting story with some fun puzzles, but again, not sure I’d enjoy it as much as I feel I should for the price tag.  The last game I bought because of it’s critical acclaim was Portal, which I found to be fiun and novel, but didn’t really have the draw I was hoping for.  As for Chronicles of Spellborn, this is kind of interesting.  I was in the beta for quite a long time, and I’ll say that I was very unhappy with it.  I won’t get into it other than to say that I felt like they tried to convince themselves it was ready far sooner than they should have.  The more recent beta patches greatly improved the game, but by then I was frustrated and never gave them a fair chance.  I know Tipa and Beau are playing on an international server, if either of them could let me know a) how to do this and b) whether it’s worth it, please let me know.  If anyone has any helpful advice, suggestions, or opinions about any of this, I’d love to know what you think.

Currently playing:  WoW: WotLK, Fallout 3 (though the wife plays more than I 🙂 ,) Unreal Tournament 3, Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’09.

That’s about it for now.  Be back soon!

~Kanthalos

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