Pretty Good Weekend-

This was one of my four day weekends. Though I am weary of my job, I do appreciate the abundant time off it affords. In the past I sold a lot of that time as overtime. I do miss the money, but I prefer the time off.

I had some nice times with the grandkids. Just sitting in the back yard as they play is a pleasure for me. I try to do so every week. They also like to hang out with me when I play video games. They only watch for a little while, but they always seem excited to see me playing. None are quite ready for multi player games, as yet. Soon, but not yet.

World of Warcraft continues to satisfy, even though I have not been able to play as much as I like. We are still doing renovations, and that has taken priority over the gaming. Mostly.

I started a Death Knight this week. Frengie, the female Gnome Death Knight. A plague of cuteness! She really is a contradiction, and funny as well as fun to play. I have not grown weary of playing Nehai, my primary character. However, I thought a Death Knight would be fun, and following that sense of fun I finally got one started.

Linda and I went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince this weekend, as well. I enjoyed the movie, and really look forward to the completion of the set of films. Then I can watch them in series in a great marathon! What an experience that will be!

Continuing the renovations Linda and I went to Ikea on Saturday. Boo loaned her the money to get the needed shelves, since Ikea had them at half price for one day. We were going to have to wait a bit, due to lack of funds, so this loan was a great thing. We got it done and at half the cost.

Linda put up my books while I was setting up camp here at work. They take up a lot of space. I really need to thin them out. I am not really using many of them, and they take up space that could be better used. Plus, others could get some use out of my books. I don't know, maybe I could even sell some.

While setting up camp one of my tent poles broke. I have become rather good at repairing them, and had it fixed up in twenty minutes. I keep a collection of parts to aid in repairs, as they can't be expected to last forever. I also replaced my air bed, yet again. This is the fourth Northwest Territories air bed, all replaced under warranty. Not a great product, but I get six weeks to two months out of each on my $20 investment. Not so bad, I suppose.

Now I am back at work, and looking at my weekend I have to say it was pretty good.

Wintergrasp-

This week I decided to go to Wintergrasp. In Azroth the realm of Wintergrasp is found in Northrend. Azroth is the imaginary world that is the home to the Role Playing Game called the World of Warcraft. Northrend is one of the three known continents in that imaginary world.

I spend a bit of time in Azroth every week. I love the game.

Wintergrasp is a zone in perpetual war even greater than the general state of war that exists in Azroth. Periodically the Horde or the Alliance will attempt to take the main keep in Wintergrasp, and gain dominance over the zone for two and a half hours.

I fight on the side of the Alliance.

Most players are better at player-versus-player combat than I am. I have largely played a game of exploration and cautious warfare against characters that exist in the game. So, why Wintergrasp?

Largely because I had not tried it, and have completed exploring the world of Azroth. So, I went there. I found within the keep a number of turret weapons mounted on the walls. This was something I could do! So, I waited for the next battle, and tried my hand at defending the walls.

It was a lot of fun. Watching for the enemy coming toward the walls. Lobbing rounds at their war machines and warriors. Seeking a point of advantage that had an available weapon, and trying to stop the advance of the Horde.

I am still not particularly good at player-versus-player warfare. However, I can lob explosive rounds with great delight. So far I have done pretty well.

Who knows? I might get good enough to go out into the field and do something other than dying repeatedly.

That sounds like some real fun!

Sometimes things work out-

Blizzard Entertainment released Wrath of the Liche King, the World of Warcraft expansion, on the 13th. I did not have the $40 at the time. I expected to be waiting awhile, since money is tight these days.

My wife sold a piece of furniture on Craig's List. One stipulation was that we had to deliver. In exchange for delivery the purchasers added fifty dollars to the price. My son and I were to be the deliverers, and so split the fifty. Nice, but not enough for Wrath.

Delivery day came. Fortunately, my son Matthew had done some work that day using his company lift-bed, and had it with him for the delivery. With some effort we got it on board, and after a nice drive got it to the place of delivery. The people receiveing the large entertainment center had two big fellows on hand to help.

It went really well. One of the best furniture moves I have done, and I don't really like moving furniture. Just before we left their place the lady who bought the piece slipped me another fifty. So, Matthew and I each got fifty bucks for the work.

I bought Wrath of the Liche King. Actually, I just stopped by the store to see when the next shipment was coming in. I knew that missing the release date usually meant waiting weeks to get a copy of a new release. The young lady pulled one off of the shelf and I bought it. I was delighted.

The installation, downloads and initialization all went smoothly. I only had a few hours to play, but I jumped in, did a few quests, got myself killed, did another quest, and had a great time.

Now I am at work. I would love to be playing, but just knowing I will be able to when I get home on Wednesday is pretty nice. Plus, my main character Nehai will be well rested by the time I can play again. Being well rested provides some bonuses in the game, and is a good thing.

I was planning to bump my memory up a gig before getting the expansion, but it is running fine on the system just as it is. I still want the memory, but am glad I got into the next level of the game only two days after the release. It feels great.

Did God answer an unspoken prayer regarding the money? I believe so, even though I still have trouble believing God really cares about something as trivial as a computer game.

Then again, perhaps it is me he cares about. That is a great feeling, as well.

Trivial or not, I am thankful. This is going to be fun!

Indulgence-

This last weekend was one of considerable self-indulgence. Keep in mind I work on a schedule of twelve hour days. That means I work three days one week, four days the next, for a two-week pay period. That also means my short weekend is three days long. This was a four day weekend.

I rarely get all of that time off. I work quite a bit of overtime. Recently there has not been much overtime, so I got my whole weekend off. Four days.

While I was on vacation I did not have access to World of Warcraft. I got home and had one day to play a little, and then I was back at work for the week. A three day week. I camp at my place of work, since driving home just to sleep and turn around and drive back makes little sense and is dangerous. I work all night, and driving home sleepy is not safe. So, I camp.

I had been away from World of Warcraft too long. Also, within the game world they were having the in-game equivalent of a Halloween party. Lots of special events and interesting things to do. I got sucked in and played way more hours than usual.

Oh, I got some things done. We did a barbecue, and I spent some time with my granddaughter. I made a trip to San Jose to pick up a new computer chair for my wife Linda. Actually, a new to us chair, but much better than her old one. We carved pumpkins.

On the whole, however, I played a lot of World of Warcraft. I was willing to work some overtime, but the call just did not come. So, I continued to play a lot of World of Warcraft.

Blizzard, the company that produces World of Warcraft, had added a lot of new content to the game. This is in anticipation of the release of the next expansion pack for the game. A bigger world to explore. More World of Warcraft.

So, I indulged myself. I played until I was exhausted. I rested, and then jumped right back in. I know that many players do this all of the time. For me it is a rare indulgence.

It was fun. Perhaps I shall retire early, and split my time between travel in the real world and playing World of Warcraft.

I am sure my wife won't mind.

Night life-

Well, I have been on the night shift for around two months. I seem to be stuck living at night, even at home. Up until now I have been experiencing some personal conflict over this. I guess I feel a desire to return to the regular schedule while at home with the family.

My body does not seem to want to do this. Perhaps I will just have to go with what is happening and not fight it. I will remain nocturnal both at work and at home.

I have been gaming rather intensely the last two weeks. I am trying to accomplish some things in World of Warcraft before the expansion. I have a couple of months. Since this game is a big part of my life, I am excited about the expansion. I am hoping that the added solo content proves satisfying.

Though the game is massively multi-player, I often just play on my own and don't go with groups or join raids. That is a big aspect of the game, but I really enjoy exploring and advancing some select elements of the game that suit my own style. Raids and groups require commitment, and I want to be free to enter the game and leave the game whenever it suits me.

Now that I will have a huge block of time in the night, I need to assess some writing goals. I just read How to Get a Literary Agent, and will next seek a good reference for Publish on Demand. I am not yet at the point where I have something ready to submit, so this is a good research time.

My next major event is a trip to Oregon to visit my family. I will provide some details in the near future. I am making this trip a bit more of an adventure. I think it will be fun.

I think I may be ready to sleep, now. I am going to try.

World of Warcraft-

My primary character is Nehai. He is a level 70 fire mage. A gnome fire mage. He is at the peak of the point scale. Level 70 is as high as a character can level. Until later this year.

Nehai lives in the Outlands, a strange place that came into being with the first major expansion to World of Warcraft. He is essentially biding time, waiting for the next expansion. Just a few months away, and the level cap raises to 80. Nehai can stop doing daily quests to raise funds for future adventures, and go forth to level again.

This week was not Nehai's week. This week my secondary character got to level. Youlse, a dwarf hunter, made level 58. He visited the Outlands for the first time. After finishing some pending quests, he has moved there.

Actually, this week of play was very good. Youlse not only leveled, he was able to aquire some valuable patterns for leathercraft. Finding and aquiring these patterns required much time and careful play. It was quite interesting.

Outlands will be fun. The zones there are made for hunters. There will be challenges, and a bit of role-playing. I do not think Youlse will make 70 before the expansion, but he should advance quickly. His faithful pet Bob (a white wolf) will see to that.

I have played this game for over two years. I have found it satisfying. Though there have come several other games of a similar nature I have stayed with this one.

Though I seldom join groups when I play, I love seeing other people in the game doing things. It adds to my fun, even if I don't often join battlefield teams or instance groups. I like the in-game economy and the option for interaction. Stand-alone games don't offer that, no matter how deep or rich they are.

This expansion will be the first where I am poised to enter it with a fully-developed character. I will not be playing catch-up to the other players who were more advanced than I, as was the case for the original game and the first expansion. Even so, I will not advance as quickly as the players that have the time and the body of friends necessary to enter into the full game experience.

World of Warcraft has a deep story line, and a player can play through most of that story if they have the resources of time and an established group. Only a few players have been that fortunate. Even fewer have continued to this day, and will go forth into the next expansion.

The expansion will be rewarding enough for me. I like exploring the new areas. I like doing the quests I can do on my own. I like the occasional group activity. There are hints and rumors that the new expansion will have rewards for solo players that are greater than those found in either the original game or the first expansion. That will add to the fun.

I still find it thrilling just to be able to enter a persistent, dynamic virtual world with many other people. How long will World of Warcraft be my game? I don't know. For now it fills a niche in my life, and is welcome there. A time may come to move on, and I will.

World of Warcraft is just a game. A great game, but a game nonetheless. There will be other games, and I will cherish them in their own time.

For now, I look forward to new places to explore, and new quests to fulfill.