Blaugust Day 1: Introduction

No idea what Blaugust is? Go read about it first (TL;DR I post every day for the month of August, and I’ve been doing it as part of a community for years now).

I don’t really post a lot of real life things here on my blog, keeping it to my hobbies (art, gaming, fiber arts like knitting and spinning, cross stitch) but every so often something creeps up and I talk about it. There’s no real explicit reason for this secrecy except that I’ve got young kids, and my husband is a first responder, so privacy is something we very much value. I figured for my first Blaugust post, I’d do a little bit of an introduction for anyone following along.

I’m a mid 40’s mom of two young kids, and like I said my partner is a first responder who tends to work very long hours. In between homeschooling and tending to the kids (who have complex needs) I like to play video games, read, knit, and things along those lines. When I was younger (not even much younger, but let’s say pre-children) I was not a very nice person. I have a temper – and I’d like to think that it is since having kids that I’ve morphed into my final form, who I am pretty happy with, overall.

I love animals (sometimes more than people) and I try to make an effort to let others know I’m thinking of them or that they’re important. I tend to retain weird information about people but rarely let others into my private circle. I have lived all over the world. My father was air force, and we were posted to Germany when I was 7. I have lived (and driven) from one end of Canada to the other. While most people I speak to have lived in only a small handful of provinces, some even living in their home province for their entire life – I love that I’ve moved so much. I have a very well rounded idea of what I like as far as a ‘home’ goes, and what I don’t like. That idea has grown and evolved over the years, especially after we had kids.

Because my partner is a first responder I find it difficult to keep tabs on some people. My hours of availability are sporadic, which carries over into my gaming. I’m not a night owl, and tend to game EU hours despite living in Canada. I do try, but I’m not very good at reaching out. The first responder side of things can be stressful. My partner has seen and dealt with situations that no one should ever be exposed to. He has saved more lives and helped more people than most will ever know. He has given so much of himself over to this job. I am incredibly proud of him, despite not saying it nearly as frequently as I should. Again, privacy issues. The stories I have could fill numerous books.

I feel awkward when I’m talking to people. I overexplain situations and give far too much information (like I’m doing here, in this post). I have maybe two close friends I speak to on a daily basis, and everyone else I’d categorize as acquaintances. I think I am probably not worth the time. Did I mention imposter syndrome? Well, stick that up there too.

As far as gaming goes, I prefer the meta game to the actual game. In World of Warcraft (my main game of choice) that means gold making. I have been playing since it released, in some form or another. I take breaks here and there, but I always return. I love collecting things, and old world content – but I also love the QoL changes that have happened over the years, and thus any form of ‘classic’ is just not for me.

I also love RimWorld, and Wurm Online, my two other most played games. Wurm is very niche, but has a dedicated and passionate player base. I’ve been playing that as long as Warcraft. RimWorld is single player, and I love it whether it’s modded or not. That game just speaks to my soul.

I’m a very prolific reader, preferring most evenings to curl up with a book instead of any games at all. I’ve recently started diving into audiobooks in the morning while I post my auction house stuff in WoW. I don’t think it will ever surpass reading for me, but it’s a neat way to explore books.

I think that’s about it for now, this post is already far longer than I intended it to be (yep, I ramble). I hope everyone enjoys their own participation of Blaugust, no matter how many or how few posts you manage to eek out. Let’s have a great one! As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

A Horn of my Very Own

My little raki paladin is the proud owner of her very own unicorn horn. Perfect for stabbing those bad guys right in the face – oh wait, that wasn’t a very paladin-like thought. In any case, Kasul and I hit level 10 on the Isle of Dawn in Vanguard yesterday. The quest chains were a LOT of fun, and although we did die a few times there’s no death penalty until level 11 and that comes in handy. No doubt the temple would be littered with corpses other wise. The quests lead you along fairly steadily, and you get a LOT of nice gear. The end chains give you a cloak and then you have four bits of a charm that combine into some uber charm (that happens to be a diplomacy piece, so you can always wear it) that gives you a slight +5 stat buff to crafting and adventuring. It’s quite nice. So nice in fact that I wish there were some way to give this charm item to characters who did not / could not start on the island. 

Once we’d both hit level 10 I decided it was time to hit 10 in the other two spheres as well. I headed out to start crafting as a blacksmith. The quests lead you along to level 10 just like the adventure and diplomacy quests. Rewarding you with crafting resources and gear as you complete them. Without crafting anything extra aside from doing the quests – I also hit level 10 in that. Once I head to the mainland I can work towards level 11 and becoming an armorer. 

Now that I’ve hit level 10 in two spheres, it’s time to reach it as a diplomat. Then I’ll have my very first 10/10/10. We’ll see how that goes. 

I’ve been contemplating picking up WAR for a month to see what it looks like. I know there are already huge guilds out there but if anyone thinks they may have room for little ‘ol me some place, let me know so it makes my decision about buying it easier hrms? The last ‘new’ game I got was Guild Wars, and before that Vanguard (having decided to opt out of Conan) so maybe it’s time to add something else to the shuffle, just for a bit. I’m still very much undecided about this (and dealing with some RL issues that are making me some what restless) so I guess we’ll just see how it goes. 

I didn’t log into EQ2 yesterday, still waiting for the newest update to go live and I think it’s going to be a great one. I spent a good amount of time yesterday chattering to Ardwulf on Xfire (have I mentioned lately how much I love that little gem of a program? Well I do!) about all sorts of things. It was a lot of fun, not often that I get to just chatter away with a fellow blogger about totally random things and not have someone want to run away from me screaming.  *grins*

Anyhow, that’s enough of a ramble for today.