forced shit

i remember when i was really young and my mother would tell friends and relatives that i was an avid reader. hearing her say that caused me to grab a book and... act like i was reading. there have always been things that i assumed that i should embrace. but for the better part of my life, i failed to realise that life really is fucking short. and there's just so much shit you can pack in.

so... about five years ago or so, i started to whittle away at things that i felt compelled to do but didn't necessarily WANT to do. that included music to which i listened, books i read, and topics that i investigated. of late, i have become painfully honest with myself about things that i ought to do or should want to do or might find damn curious, but just don't have the time left on my fucking dance card. i've got a few things that i really like, that don't make me feel guilty or make me hate myself. and i am sticking to that minute, finite set of interests. it does me good. and with that attitude, i like being alive a lot better than i did five years ago.

then again, i like butt-fuck michigan a lot better than i ever liked shee-kaw-goh-land.

the top

Most impressive, competent performers whom I have seen live:

David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Rick Wright (RIP)

Lindsey Buckingham (sorry about the flash)

Paul McCartney et al


My first playing of my DSOTM vinyl (probably) since Ron Raygun was prez. Shit! G*d, thank you for making me a fucking careful 16yo boy!

back in MY day...!!

Back in my day, we had BAMF speakers like this. Well, no, not ME! But there were those who did. I had a smaller species of Klipsch speakers: the KG4s. They served me well between the years 1986 (nirvana) and about 2001 (not so much.) As for vinyl, that was even a smaller sweet spot. Roughly 1980 to 1986, the peaks being between 1981 and 1984. As such, most of my vinyl is either Beatles or solo Beatles. But that is about to change. I think since 1986, I have purchased but a single vinyl LP: 'The Kings Are Here.' 

And with that, off I go to wrap my babies in new plastic skins...

tan frustrating como shit

the move has been pretty good so far. i lived with my in-laws a few weeks longer than i expected, but they were about as cool as they could have been under the circumstances. now we are settling in. just a little at first. we have the new microwave. we found our toaster. and i am looking at wow version 5.4. but i am the only one here who is really doing that. and that seems like a big problem.

maybe i need to send this one off to my mother. it seems like it might go a little better in mp3 form.

XY to YYZ

Life differences age 28 to 35. Some people opt not to truly "live" until age 30 or thereafter. Albeit the prep never truly ends for these people, never EVER, it does change a wee bit. Once they have ripened academically, professionally, and internally, they feel ready to proceed. Sure this is a huge generality. For persons such as myself, life became less of a prison between ages 28 and 35. And there are other demographics, numbers and groups whom I am not including.

I often gaze upon the former group and wonder how hard imperfections hit them. They tried to prepare for everything. That cannot prevent their proverbial balls from being shot off in a proverbial war. They thought that they had control over chaos. But what the hell means this for the game? I suppose that it means that these tightly-wired folk no longer have enough Achtung to offer the game.

Maybe that's it. It could be about priority. If something doesn't make the cut and your dance card is full of kid shit, work shit, spouse shit, and house shit, you may well not go out with friends much or play an online game. I'm leaning toward this theory.

Gen Y's own "Git off my lawn!!!!"

It's fascinating, curious, and quite awakening. Members of Generation Y's eldest citizenry are approaching age thirty. It is humourous for me, a member of Gen X, to listen to them slump into their rocking chairs, shout at their wee children, and reminisce. Do I give the first fuck about what it was like when they used to love Eminem or dream of girls who looked like they walked straight out of the latest anime? No, not in the least. What does fascinate me is when these young lads look to the "good old days" and reminisce about how MMORPGs (e.g., WoW) used to be the absolute shee-it. The year was 2004 (or 2005 or 2006) and they had no cares or responsibilities other than homework and being prepared for raids. Then real life bit them on their 'was-there-really-life-before-the-internet?' asses. They got jobs, wives, mortgages, kids, in-laws, etc. I'm confident that taking a shit seemed better in the old, carefree days than it does now. Could this be a large part of why so many Gen Y twenty-somethings pine for yesteryear, when WoW was just better? I am going to say 'yes.'

As an "old" man, I simply sit back, laugh at these young dickheads, and I realise that maybe 1985 (much like 2005) wasn't truly the shit after all. At least now we can all legally drink together... and dream.

Today & Any Other Day

Summer with kids. I am interacting with kids the same way that I interact with almost anyone else: online. And I could really do without the young folk. Desperation for freedom in a field of no responsibility means bursts of fucktard glee. No thanks.

Let's get all Bitter & Salty on your ass...


Week 01 — Your first character? A dwarf paladin that I played to about level 12, then deleted. The next toon that made, I kept: my tauren--> dwarf--> troll hunter.

Week 02 — Your favorite raid? For design, music, and overall ambiance, Karazhan. But it is rather anti-climactic. The chess event blows and the final boss is meh. Better final bosses are in ICC and MC.

Week 03 — A class you’re awful at playing or enjoy the least? I am not very good at playing a fury warrior, demonology warlock, or enhancement shaman. And I am very bad at tanking.

Week 04 — Your favorite zone of all time? Ghostlands & Shadowmoon Valley. They look exactly as they did when they were first created. Revamping zones ALWAYS fucks them up.

Week 05 — Your favorite classic/vanilla dungeon? BRD, Old Scholomance. Allow me to reiterate, revamping BAD.

Week 06 — Your favorite quest line? There were a few in Shadowmoon Valley. One required you to put on special goggles and look for a pack of ghost riders, the other one led you into a secret cavern under a small body of water.

Week 07 — Your favorite piece of lore? That which surrounds the transition of High Elves to Blood Elves, as well as that which resulted in the Plaguelands looking as they do.

Week 08 — PvE/PvP/RP? PvE /drops mic

Week 09 — Horde or Alliance? Horde, via a chain of events much like that described in ZAMM which led Robert Pirsig et al to ride on only backroads.

Week 10 — Your favorite mount? White or red skeletal warhorse, turbo-charged flying machine.

Week 11 — Your favorite gear set? Bastardized version of the Judgment set that is purple (meine Lieblingsfarbe) not gold.

Week 12 — Your proudest moment/achievement? Getting Fiery Warhorse mount, getting exalted with Ravenholdt, getting my Black War Bear

Week 13 — Your favorite Burning Crusade dungeon? Magister's Terrace

Week 14 — Your least favorite/most challenging dungeon/raid/world boss? Razorgore. It's Vanilla and it's STILL that awkward to solo??

Week 15 — Your favorite addon? Healium

Week 16 — Your favorite Wrath dungeon? Appearance and lore: Culling of Stratholme. Actual mechanics: Halls of Lightning OR Forge of Souls

Week 17 — Your favorite profession? Alchemy, followed by JC & enchanting.

Week 18 — Best and worst thing about World of Warcraft? It allows me to do things at my own pace and it's never too hard to catch up. But, there are some things that should never be revamped that get utterly destroyed via change.

Week 19 — Favorite class? Warlocks, monks, priests.

Week 20 — Your favorite or most sought after loot and whether you got it? I wanted (and got) Thunderfury. I also pursued some rare mount drops and got those. I started to work on Tarecgosa's Rest in 5.0, but the guild I was with soon stopped going to Firelands.

Week 21 — Your favorite battleground? Twin Peaks

Week 22 — Your favorite non-combat or Hunter pet? Non-combat pet, my Anubisath Idol

Week 23 — The longest you’ve gone without playing? Probably just over a month. And half of that time was because when I attempted to log on after not playing for a while, I had been hacked. It took Blizz two weeks to rectify the situation so that I could play once more.

Week 24 — Your favorite Cataclysm dungeon? I liked the bastardized Zul'Aman, but I don't think that is a proper Cataclysm dungeon. My favourite original would be Well of Eternity.

Week 25 — Your least favorite profession? Leatherworking. One of the VERY few elements of the game that I could honestly say, if they made it easier I would not mind. It's the one profession that I have not only maxed out only once, I have only one character who ever got past 270-ish.

Week 26 — Your /played value? Che cosa?

Week 27 — A time you made friends with someone in a group? No, never.

Week 28 — Your favorite dungeon/raid/world boss? Illidan or the Opera Event

Week 29 — Your favorite Mists of Pandaria dungeon? Stormstout Brewery. Not really much to choose from. You've got the revamped (read: fucked-over) old school dungeons, the dungeons that were so challenging that Blizz started giving extra VP to complete them, and the ones that you run over and over whilst leveling. For me, SB is the least painful and the most fun.

Week 30 — Your main character and what he/she means to you? Very hard question. I rotate which character I regard as my "main." And I do so quite a lot. I have always liked my mage and warlock, at least to some extent. Ironically, it's my shaman who has gotten the most achievements. And I cannot stomach playing shamans terribly often. However, I have been through rep grinds with my shaman that I would *NEVER* want to repeat, e.g., Hydraxian Waterlords, Ravenholdt, and Ogri'la. This lackluster feeling for the shaman has caused me not to get the Beloved or Insane titles. Yet.

mort du fromage

Randy Deluxe said it. Mick Montgomery said it. Even my mother said it. If you are in a guild laden with cunts and no-goods, you need not stay. But this guild was not exactly chock full of assholes. Only one asshole, in fact. But she was the hnic. She was the one person with a predictably crude manner. In raids, in chat, in whatever. And now it is over. But that was essentially the easy part. 

Now begins the next step. Do I expect to ever again have regular interaction with an extended group of people who are... well, fairly decent to be around? Very hard call. It may not happen. I suppose I am ready for that. But for the removal of the thorn from my side, a bit of uncertainty seems a small price.

Delving Deeper

The gay geek. When I was your age, many of us would not have suspected that such a species existed. So many ejaculatory experiences, staring at risque photos in contraband 'adult magazines.' But the gay geek IS out there. He services your computer, teaches your physics courses, and plays your MMORPGs.

Polly Pissy Pants & the Ass-Nasties

There may be a shortage of inter-party symbiosis AND hope for little third world children, but there are always shit-stacks of guild drama. Ask Mick Montgomery. Despite having sexually molested the voice of William Cosby, Mick wouldn't lie about guild drama.

Take a look at my current alliance guild. Per my 60 hour-a-week surmise, there are a few distinct layers of folk therein. Lettuce have a brief glimpse at the members of the respective strata:

> Passives. The lowest layer of life. They sometimes don't even log in every month. Or two months. Or they stay away long enough to get the requisite boot. They don't disrupt much of anything, but they contribute little. To these dregs I say, "Go suck some HALO."

> Regular worker bees. They show up several times per week. They may even level an alt or run a heroic dungeon. They don't raise hell, largely because it's just a game and it consumes maybe an hour or so out of their day.

> Deddy-Kated. They are on every day. They usually have the ability to tank or heal current content (no, not raids, you fucking smartass!) Some of these people were once more hardcore and dedicated. Then they finished college, fucked someone, and created new human life. There may even be a job and a mortgage in there somewhere, too.

> Hardcore casual. Sure as motherfucking hell *NOT* to be confused with casual hardcore. Hardcore casuals are deeply entrenched in the ways of game that fly to the south of heroic raiding and RBG/arena PvP. HCs dedicate many hours each day to game. They often have four or more max level characters. They can tank or heal or even both. They can readily LFR to beat the band. And they have attitudes, though not all will admit that. It smacks of the George Carlin classic "Your stuff is shit, but my shit is stuff." My ideas and beliefs are more better than yours, and here's why...

Well, not all HCs exude the reek of the aforementioned power philosophy. Not all the time, anyway. But most do, and some WAY more than others.