Come on and Get Your Overdose

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/lorettakscott/World%20of%20Warcraft/sceadudoingpenance.jpg

So what do you do when you've been hacked? You go to Elwyn Forest in your shirt and undies, and punch things to death till you have clothes again. The more times you kill Hogger this way, the better.

Have you made sure Real ID is turned off yet?

So, there's a bug in RealID that allows addons access to your email address. So if someone exploits that, and then launches and automated dictionary attack against a large number of gathered email addresses, you might log in one night to find that all of the gear on your main is gone, and all your gold, and all the gear and high level cloth stacks from your guild vault. That night for me was last night. I was up till two in the morning with Jay scanning for a keylogger, but there wasn't any.

Disabling that garbage tonight, oh yes.

This game is beautiful. These are the graphics that run -- seamlessly -- during gameplay. Sure, there are games out there with better graphics, but not supporting the sheer numbers of WoW. And there's a warmth and accessibility to the look of this game that makes me want to look at it. There are images that, I will admit, I find uplifting. And it has colors! It's not brown on beige on tan on gray on brown again.

The Cataclysm is going to drastically change a lot of places. I'm glad this video exists to remind me of what came before.

See, Roger Ebert? Even WoW is art.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ12VD2OUM0&feature=player_embedded

So. The wedding is officially booked. That's all the news I've got.

Dinner tonight: Russian eggs benedict. English muffin, egg over-easy, smoked salmon, sour cream, capers, black caviar. Frigging delicious. Dessert: this giant walnut-raisin-muffin thing I got at work today and have managed not to touch.

I picked up a couple of edibles kits to grow on my balcony: mini strawberries and a salsa garden (cherry tomatos, cilantro, chiles). Planting them tonight, and picking up flowerboxes soon for transplanting.

WoW is running its Midsummer festival, so I'm racking up some achievments and exp on my main.

That's about it.

I had eggs benedict for dinner last night. It was delicious.

Also, I set up an auction on Runetotem that will make a minimum 200 gold for Heriotze...since someone already bid the minimum. Celiyne is pretty much the auction house staff for the time being.

Also, brilligspoons should watch her mail, since Jay is mailing her prezzie for me today. Figure it'll take a couple of days to get up north.

This is the entirety of what I accomplished yesterday. Which means I have much to do today.

I have to sort through all my camping gear and see what we need for this weekend (a cooler, for starters). We're going out to dinner and then to pick up anything else we might need, including patchover food for Mudflap since his fancy pants prescription food, which I bought on SATURDAY and was charged for on MONDAY shipped on WEDNESDAY. It's annoying not living near a vet who carries it, but they're all farm vets out here.

Also, we have to get the apartment tidy since Killian will be coming by this weekend to feed the kitty.

I read part of one of the Gnomes books by Rien Poortvliet and Wil Huygen before I went to sleep last night, which is the mental equivalent of giving yourself a cup of cocoa and a snuggle. I loved those gnomes so much when I was little, and I was really amazed when I looked them up on Amazon and saw how much more material they'd put out that I never knew about.

One of the books I bought used is autographed by Poortvliet. I don't think the seller realized that, or they would have sold it for a LOT more.

All of you who get to work from home when you need to: do you remember what it's like to have to drag your ass into work on 5 hours sleep when you're sick and achy? I kinda hate you guys a little right now.

You don't have to play WoW to get why "Attack of the 50 Foot Stereotype" is a great screencap. If you do play, but you don't know what you're seeing, the blood elf has drunk an Enlarge potion and is in Dalaran.

http://www.wow.com/photos/around-azeroth-2/#3037458

If the photo doesn't cycle to the right spot within a few seconds of clicking that link, it's photo #6 in the set.

A machinima in this sense is a fan-made video. This is apparently a very popular way to fanmix WoW. This particular one is very, very odd. I watched it at work and so have no idea what the sound is like. You have been warned.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_Jn0zI4_ms&feature=player_embedded

Mushroom ravioli with chicken & apple sausage and marinara sauce. Dessert: World of Warcraft. I WILL EAT THE PIXELS.

1) boyfriend. Still with Jay. It's awesome.
2) family. Sometimes their political views confuse me, but they are an awesome family and we have lots of fun and I love them, so it evens out.
3) friends. I've been hermit-ish lately. I need to work on that.
4) kitty. Registering him with the town. His health seems good, although he's down a pound to 11 since we moved. Will be asking the vet for advice when I pick up his special food this Saturday.
5) apartment. The landlord has been having trouble getting the contractors to do the work on the new apartment up to standard, so we haven't moved into it yet. It's supposed to happen at the end of this month now. Frustrating, since I can't unpack my stuff. Also, what is wrong with contractors? This has been since June.
6) job. Working for the SSAT Board - www.ssat.org - as someone who is not a fan at all of the way the current private school system functions, it's a weird job for me. But I get to treat private school parents like they're not special, so that's nice.* A couple of my coworkers have some religious and philosophical views that I find...well, frankly insane, but they're all really nice and we still have plenty of good conversations when we're not busy on the phones.
7) health. I'm doing research on private health insurance. I'm pretty sure that I can afford it while I'm on this temp assignment, but it's what happens after this job ends in February that has me worried. It takes 3-6 weeks on average to find me a new job, and unemployment pays less than half of what I earned. I'll have to see what kind of savings I can build up.
8) money. I have no bad debt, and $1200 left on my student loan. So this insurance thing is possible.
9) politics. On www.politicalcompass.org, I graph as -7.8, -3.5. I'm pro public funding (within reason), pro choice, AND pro death penalty. Hi, I'm weird.
10) WoW (that's World of Warcraft, relatives!). My night elf druid hit level 60, and I made a death knight. I love this game.

*My issue is multi-faceted. Why do private schools that receive tuition from parents also receive any government funding? This takes funding away from public and special-needs schools. Also, and this is one problem that I can't fathom a way out of, private schools existing contributes to the deterioration of public schools. Think about it: if parents counldn't remove their kids from the public system, they'd be more willing to approve tax increases that go to the funding of public schools. There are flaws there, but the argument is basically sound. Problem is, some public schools have gotten so bad from lack of funding that parents would riot if they had to send their kids there now. What do you do?

***Kevin makes a really good point about this in the comments. Read before you reply!***

Good thing I joined the gym. Swimming tomorrow!

Bonnie Blue (Bonnieblue), Level 9 Paladin