I need a life...

Today's quote: Only one kind... Whoever this person is, he has played World of Warcraft nearly ever hour, of every day, for the past year and a half. Gentlemen, we are dealing with someone here who has absolutely no life.

Sigh. I feel that way! Since I'm taking a break from working for now, I thought I would finally get around to leveling my hunter and pally. It's funny because my hunter was once my main, and I even played her to rank 13. Now, I just find the hunter class too boring for words.

I also had a problem leveling my pally. After leveling my feral druid, the pally seems to kill 10 times more slowly. It seemed intolerable.

My solution? I transferred my pally to a separate account and dual-boxed the hunter and pally together. I thought it was kind of neat to level two toons at once. I'm actually curious how other people do it with three or five toons.

Now, I have three 70s, and I just realized what a pain in the ass it's going to be to gear up all three. I think I am giving up on the hunter and will just focus on the pally.

Arena or Kara weapon?

The day has finally arrived. I have enough arena points to buy the Merciless Gladiator's Maul, but I'm not that excited. Why, do you ask? Well, it's because I'm not sure what to do.

Here are my choices: 1) I can choose to spend all my arena points on this one fabulous weapon; or 2) I can spend all my arena points to purchase a season 2 helm and chestpiece, and wait/pray that the Stranglestaff from Karazhan drops.

I've done some calculations and comparisons of what boosts/upgrades I would receive. Basically, if I equip the helm and chest, I'll receive tons of more stam (55 more), intellect, +healing bonuses, and some more resilience. However, I will lose some agility (and therefore a little crit), and attack power. All in all, these boosts are all of a defensive quality--they won't help me kill any better.

Stats wise, the Stranglestaff is slightly inferior to the Merciless Gladiator's Maul. It has about 100 less attack power, less crit, and less stam. However, the Stranglestaff is free if it drops, which would allow me to use my points to buy the arena gear. My guildie thinks that it's an acceptable trade for all the bonus in stats I would gain if I waited for the staff and equipped the arena chest and helm in the meanwhile.

My only beef with this is that our guild is somewhat noobish. In fact, they've only downed Terestian once, and the staff didn't drop. The following week we tried him again, but we were gimped with an undergeared druid...giving us an outcome in which we wiped when Terestian was at 1% health. Needless to say, that was terrible. Therefore, my fears are that we may not down Terestian in the near future; even if we do, there's no guarantee that the staff will drop.

If I equip the arena mace, I'll gain 393 more attack power, about 3% crit, and a smidgen of stam (13). This is pretty much the best feral druid weapon I can obtain outside of Black Temple and what-not. Although the mace won't really help me survive any better, I'm hoping that an extra 400ish attack power will help me kill my opponents faster.

The people I've asked have given varying opinions as to what I should do. Two people have said to pick the mace because my main objective in arena matches and raids is usually to dps quickly. This is especially pertinent in arena matches, because my burst damage when killing someone might be good enough that the enemy dies before receiving a heal. There have been plenty of times when an opponent has escaped my grasp around 1-10% hp, and they would then receive a huge heal. Having more attack power could help me avoid those irritating situations better.

It all comes back to the fact that the Karazhan staff is free...if it drops. What on earth do I do?

Transformers, more than meets the eye

Today's quote: It's a robot. You know, like a super advanced robot. It's probably Japanese.

I didn't do much this July 4th. I just pretty much stayed home and relaxed. The only thing I did do was go see Transformers. I wasn't expecting much, so it was a nice surprise. The graphics of the Transformers looked so cool that the movie is just fine without being "more than meets the eye." A very cool feature is the fact that the voice actor for Optimus Prime is the original from the cartoon.

It was pretty funny, although some of the jokes were a bit corny. Still, Shia LeBeouf was a great main character. I didn't really think much of his female costar, other than the fact that she was obviously very pretty. Keep in mind that this movie is obviously meant for the general population, so it's not going to win any awards for the screenplay etc. Overall, expect the cartoon coming to life with very nice graphics and some humorous dialogue sprinkled throughout.

Totally grossed out

Ok. I've been having a few disputes with my landlords over various minor details. I finally thought everything was settled, until I came home Sunday evening and went to my bathroom. I opened the toilet lid, and found the toilet full of urine and poop. Who the heck uses a toilet without flushing?

The first thing that crossed my mind was whether I could have possibly done such a thing myself. However, there was no toilet paper in the mess, which automatically rules myself out. I'm extremely upset and disturbed.

Mini flash drives!

I just bought this super cute USB flash drive for $22 on sale. Whenever I think back to the days when I had my old 486, I'm totally amazed. Someone once told me that eventually the constraints of size and space would limit how small technology can get, but I'm still waiting to see that ceiling reached.

The last laugh...

Today's quote: You look down, they know you're lying, and up, they know you don't know the truth. Don't use seven words when four will do. Don't shift your weight, look always at your mark but don't stare, be specific but not memorable, be funny but don't make him laugh. He's got to like you then forget you the moment you've left his side. And for God's sake, whatever you do, don't, under any circumstances...

Ok. I have an awful feeling that I may have left my digital camera at that witch's place. You know, the condo I moved out of after three days of living there? I've just moved again, and after unpacking I can't find my 6.0mp digital camera or my library book. I've spent the whole weekend fretting about them, and now I've gone and fretted myself into a big headache.

Sigh, it would have been bad enough if I'd lost the camera. But to have left it behind in the possession of that irresponsible girl! Agh!!!! That would explain why her new ad the day after I left suddenly had pictures, when the first one didn't have any. I bet she was thinking, who's laughing now?

And now I can't find my library book either. I hate when I lose things. It makes me feel like I'm not in control and that I'm too stupid to live. Gah. I don't lose things very often, but everytime I do the item always seems expensive.

Happy pills

Today's quote: Come back and make up a goodbye at least, let's pretend we had one...

I had a conversation with my sister yesterday that left me feeling mildly disturbed.

[10:40] Sis: i would never date ppl with antidepressant or any mood pills
[10:40] Sis: if you can't handle everyday life, get the fuck away from me
[10:40] Me: it's not just everyday life that causes some people to take these things
[10:40] Sis: it's gonna get harder
[10:40] Me: they suffer trauma from deaths and stuff too
[10:41] Sis: i understand that extreme cases for short period of time
[10:41] Sis: yes, but habitually depressed ppl
[10:41] Sis: i'm referring to
[10:41] Me: well
[10:41] Me: if they're habitually depressed they should also be seeing a counselor
[10:42] Sis: yes, that's where they get their "happy" pills
[10:42] Me: it's said that the pills + counseling is the best method to help make a permanent change
[10:42] Me: you don't need counseling to get the happy pills
[10:42] Me: you can just ask for them
[10:42] Sis: i just don't want to do anything with ppl who have to take Pills to be happy

It sort of hit me then that a lot of people think the same as my sister does. In general, it seems that many people believe that depression is a sort of "all in your head" type of thing that doesn't really warrant going to the doctor. I understand that it can be difficult to prove that someone does or does not suffer from a mental or emotional problem. Perhaps that's why so many people write depression off as a "fake" or a not "real" medical condition.

However, people go to the doctor for other physical ailments and get prescribed medicine--why not for depression? The funny thing is, depression is all in the head: chronic depression is often caused by certain chemical imbalances in the brain. A person might tend towards a particular type of mood because of something like this.

In fact, many women deal with pms every month, which is caused by the hormonal changes a woman goes through because of menstruation. It's well known that a woman with pms can be prone to mood swings, crying, and outbursts. When that point in the cycle is over, hormone levels go back to normal and the woman stops pmsing. Other than that, how is pms all that different from something like depression? Yet, society treats a woman suffering from pms as a joke, or something to be tolerated (somewhat uneasily), whereas someone with depression becomes a liability.

Obviously, having a relationship with someone who needs to take medication to remain emotionally stable may not be the best situation one could hope for. No one really wants to take on more problems than what they already have. That's why a lot of people would prefer staying away from "drama queens" and such. There is a difference between a drama queen and someone who suffers from an emotional/mental problem, however. Arguably, a drama queen chooses to create their problems, by blowing things out of proportion from whatever misguided self-perceptions they live under. On the other hand, much of what a person with a mental illness thinks or feels comes from their physical chemical/genetic makeup, which they have no control over.

I realized that many people who should seek help may not do so, for fear of how that would look to their peers. It's a shame that societal pressure would keep someone from making a significantly positive life change. For me, I think that if a person can seek help that would help them function better and carry on their lives and relationships more normally, then why not? If anything, shouldn't we applaud those that are actively trying to help themselves to live a "normal" life?

At the same time, I'm not saying that I advocate popping pills everytime a problem comes up. Medication often solves only a symptom, and not the overall problem. In this case, I believe that medication + therapy/counseling is vital to make a permanent change in thought patterns and behavior. In general, I think this sort of response is better than turning to drinking or drugs, or whatever other destructive coping mechanisms people turn to.

I suppose my point in this rambling passage is that I don't think depression really deserves the social stigma that it currently bears. It's not like the number of people affected by depression is low; some studies even say that at least 1 in 4 women will experience depression at some point in their lifetime. That's hardly a small percentage. As for men, who knows what the real percentage is, since most men can't even admit that they ever cry. I also know that certain settings tend to have a higher proportion of people on antidepressants--take law students, for example.

I guess I know one thing for sure: if I ever end up on happy pills for depression or something, my own sister will probably think I'm too weak and/or mentally unstable to deal with "everyday life."

Grow up

You would think as people grow older that they would outgrow some childish habits, such as throwing a tantrum.

I've been rather busy over the last couple of weeks, with looking for a new place, moving in, moving out 5 days later, etc. Hell, I even spent one weekend in a motel because my apartment complex had been out of water for 5 days. All in all, I've been pretty stressed out.

My so-called best friend called me a couple of times during that period, and I didn't return his calls for about a week. We were used to talking quite regularly, with varying frequency; sometimes we'd talk every day, sometimes once or twice a week. Occasionally we would go for more than a week without talking.

Anyway, during my ultra-stressed-out-ready-to-have-nervous-breakdown period, I didn't take any calls. I didn't want to deal with anyone else at that time. I had enough on my plate trying to cancel my rent check to that bitch of a roommate and do a sneak moveout without her knowledge.

Apparently, J decided that not picking up the phone was to be the end of our 6 year friendship. He left a voicemail which said, "If you don't call me by the end of Tuesday, we're through." The funny thing was, I didn't get the message, but I ended up calling him on Tuesday anyway, after things had settled down a bit. He answered the phone like a bitch.

J: Oh, did I finally get your attention?
Me: What do you mean?
J: I left you a message.
Me: What did it say?
J: If you didn't call me by the end of today, then we were through.
Me: What?!

Am I just weird? Because I thought that friends were supposed to understand that you go through some crazy shit sometimes, and you may not always be there to talk. I also thought that maybe he'd grown up a bit since our college days; once he got mad at me for not wanting to hug him, as if he was entitled to receive hugs from me! Apparently, he hadn't grown beyond his childish ways if he's still capable of issuing stupid ultimatums without regard to what circumstances the other person is in.

I was so mad that I hung up on him. I didn't even see the point of explaining things. If he'd asked reasonably why I hadn't been answering his calls, then sure, I would have explained myself. But what did I do to deserve a stupid ultimatum? We haven't spoken since, and I don't think we ever will again. I'm not being melodramatic, I'm just tired of how he's been over the last couple of years. Here are some examples.

Two years ago,we briefly considered the idea of dating. We'd both just broken up with our significant others; I think that we were just on the rebound. However, I soon realized that I wasn't really attracted to him, so I told him bluntly that I couldn't see us together. He couldn't accept that, and kept pursuing the subject until I got really angry with him. We didn't talk for a couple of weeks, and then he called to apologize, and said that he wouldn't bring it up again.

A year after that, he called one day, and said he wanted to talk about "us." He proceeded to tell me that he and his friend decided that I was jerking him around, and basically keeping him around as a backup. I asked how this was so, when he lived in California and I lived in Washington. I got really angry that he was bringing up the subject of "us" again, when he'd told me repeatedly that it was a closed subject. However, I valued him as a friend, and figured that eventually he would see the truth. I did not make any threats of ending our friendship, because I loved and treasured him as a best friend.

Every now and then, he would hint or threaten that perhaps we weren't meant to be friends. He always implied that he might be better off not knowing me. All I can say is, if he really thought that, then he should have grown some fucking balls and cut me off, once and for all. After a while, the constant drama got to be irritating.

And now I get this--threats of ending our friendship over the silly fact that I was unavailable to talk for a little while? I stuck by him when he was being unreasonable, and even when he was accusing me of certain behavior that I wasn't guilty of. How is that fair? I think I've had enough of his ridiculous PMS and irrational behavior.

Phone clinger

Today's quote: You mean to say that you are a daughter of Eve?

I've seen a variety of things while working at the new job. The one thing that I'm amazed at is how much people talk on their cell phones here. They talk anywhere and everywhere throughout the building, without regard to privacy or propriety.

Today, I went into the restroom. Another woman entered soon after, and proceeded to start peeing while talking on the phone. Am I the only person who thinks that's a little weird? Talking while in the restroom is one thing, but talking while you're actually doing your business... I dunno. It doesn't seem like the best place to me. Plus, I wonder what the person on the other end is thinking when he hears the toilet flush. Eh.

The other thing that gets me is the sheer number of people here who spew their private matters in public. Do they think that just because they are on the phone that you can't hear them? Uh, it's rather hard not to hear them when they're talking rather loudly in heated tones, if not downright yelling. Seriously, no stranger wants to hear all the sordid details of your intimate life.

Stealth move out

Ok. After I emailed my roommate saying that the installation of the blinds had woken me up, she replied saying that she and her bf and finished the whole process well before 10. The fact that she just denied everything made me snap. I'd had enough.

I rushed out from work and went to the bank. She hadn't cashed my rent check yet, so I put a stop payment on it. I called a couple friends for an emergency favor--to help me move out. After I got home from work yesterday I proceeded to move out. I wanted to do this without a nasty confrontation from her or her bf, so my friend and I rushed back and forth taking all my stuff down to our cars.

It took us about 2 hours, but we managed to finish and leave before she even got home. I left her keys inside her condo. I also emailed her a long letter listing all the broken promises as grounds for voiding the lease. All in all, I've been pretty stressed out because of her.

Now all my stuff is jumbled up everywhere. Plus, I left a pair of shoes there. At least I won't have to see the witch or her H3 bf anymore.

Roommates suck

Today's quote: We sell our skills, not our bodies. We create another secret world, a place only of beauty.

Well, I've moved into the condo on the Eastside. I originally found the listing from Craigslist, among 8 others. This Indian girl SG was the only one who got back to me. After meeting with her and surveying the condo, we sat down and chatted for about an hour. I asked her questions about what kind of person she was, etc. I also made a point to ask her about whether I could have a wired internet connection in my room, to which she replied that it would be no problem.

After going home and thinking about it, I decided to try out the roommate situation with her. I figured, the lease is only for three months, so if it turned out badly I could move again. Well, it almost appears that my worst scenario is coming true. Let me list the things so far that have been irritating.

1. The day I came to sign the lease, SG didn't have it ready. What was funny was that she was the one who asked me to come earlier than the time I'd suggested, except that when I arrived she was still sleeping (at 11am!). Then, she didn't have any copies of the lease printed out, so she had to drive to work and come back. All in all, I was kept waiting for about 40 minutes.
2. She didn't allow my cat to come, so I had to leave Tabitha with someone else and buy the Litter Robot so that they wouldn't have to scoop the litter box. Ok, I know that it's her right to say no pets, but I still feel like it wouldn't be that much of a problem if I kept the cat in my room only.
3. The day she knew I was moving in (she even knew what time I was coming) her boyfriend was parked in my spot.
4. Her boyfriend is over all the freaking time. I contracted to live with her, not her boyfriend too. I don't feel comfortable going outside of my room because I know that some guy is out there. If I'd wanted to live with a guy, I would have looked for a male roommate.
5. During our first meeting, I also made a point of telling her that I have trouble sleeping and that a quiet night when it gets late is very important to me. She said she wasn't that loud and that it would not be a problem. So far, one night she has watched tv till past 11pm, and the sound level of the tv makes me think that she's either 1) going deaf, or 2) extremely inconsiderate and unaware of what time it is. Maybe both.
6. Remember when I told her that I had to have a wired connection because I hate how wireless drops frequently? Well, she hasn't taken care of that at all. She hadn't called the cable company to have the port in my room activated for the modem. I tried out her wireless, and it was exactly as I had feared: last night the connection dropped 7 times in one hour. I got so mad that I finally stomped out there and demanded to talk to her. I made sure that she understood how important the internet is to me, so she finally called the cable company. She should have done this BEFORE I moved in!
7. She hasn't made any space for me in the kitchen or the hall closet. When I asked her if I could put a shoe rack out by the closet because it was full of her stuff, she said no. Meanwhile, not only is the closet full, but her shoes are strewn about the hallway despite having the whole closet! It's as if she thinks that I'm only living in my room and using the bathroom, without any rights to the rest of the place.
8. She's dirty. Her kitchen is disgusting. There have been dishes in the sink for 3 days. I opened the microwave and the turntable had a huge brown stain across most of it. It looked as if she had spilled something at one point and then never cleaned it, so that it hardened into this massive stain.

Now it seems like three months can't come fast enough. Of course, if I do move out it will be my 12th move in 8 years. I am so sick of moving. After this, I think that I might have to just suck it up and live alone, despite paying almost $400 more a month.

Men are worse than evil

Tech envy

Ok, I've just seen my friend's new computer. His processor puts mine to shame, along with his monitor! Actually, I don't really care too much about his computer, my drooling is pretty much over his monitor. The dude got a 24" widescreen Ultrasharp lcd. It literally looks almost as if it would be twice the size of my paltry 17" lcd.

Sigh. I refuse to buy anymore computers from Dell, but I guess I wouldn't mind getting one of their lcds. I don't know if I necessarily need something that big, but I wouldn't mind getting a 22" at least. I see those going on sale sometimes, so that would be better justified.

The only way I would upgrade to a new computer so soon is if I see that the new video card replacement I get won't work in my current system.

Blundering worker bee

Today's quote: Hardly, my Lord. It's just an eye. The gods saw fit to grace me with a spare.

Well, I'm off to a blazing start at my new workplace. In my two weeks here I've managed to 1) forget the password to my computer (after just changing it thinking I needed something less predictable) and 2) set off the building alarm.

In my defense, I had emailed for a personal alarm code 2 days earlier, but the person didn't get back to me until I'd already left work the afternoon before I set it off. So that was more a case of bad luck and timing, since the guy who normally shuts off the alarm by 6:45 is on jury duty.

But nothing really excuses my noobness is the computer password matter. I'm not one of those people who uses the same password for everything. I pretty much have a different password for most things. So, I guess the noggin was a little full when I decided to add another one to the list. The third day I got here I drew a blank as to what it was, so I had to ask my boss for my password to be reset. Of course, I felt like an idiot.

I wonder what they'll think of me when I have one of my hiccuping fits.

Girls + video games

Today's quote: The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules.

I've been at the new job for two weeks now. It's really great to be a part of the gainfully employed working force. Hell, it's just nice to have somewhere to go everyday. It was starting to get embarrassing telling people what I did all day when they asked. "Um, I wake up whenever I want, and then start playing WoW. It's how I got my rank 13 title."

I always get mixed reactions when people hear that from me. Some people, like my sister, think that I've been hit with the "loser" bat and don't want to have anything to do with me. Others, mostly guys, think that it's pretty cool. I was at the UPS store a couple of days ago to return a defective video card that I'd purchased for the BC expansion. The box wasn't packaged yet, so the guy saw what I was returning.

UPS Guy: Is that your video card?
Me: Yep.
UPS Guy: Is it for any game in particular?
Me: Yeah, I play WoW. (trying to not blush embarrassedly)
UPS Guy: Wow. You have officially beaten the stereotype.

I do remember one instance of talking to a gaming store employee. We got into a rather heated debate over the virtues of WoW vs. Guild Wars. I've tried both, and I found Guild Wars lacking. Granted, I'll admit that I didn't try it beyond a couple of weeks, but overall it was not as multi-faceted as WoW is.

Anyway, the guy was a total advocate for Guild Wars. We were arguing for about 20 minutes, with my friend as an amused witness. So far, I see that WoW has surpassed 8M subscribers, whereas Guild Wars has posted over 2M games sold. I'm just going to point out the fact that the number of people playing Guild Wars is not likely to be the same as the games sold, since it's not based on a subscription service like WoW is. I know of plenty of people like myself who bought Guild Wars, only to discard it a little later in disgust. Too bad I can't go back to that gaming store and visit the guy.

American Idol, a popularity contest?!

I've been back to watching American Idol again. I'd missed the last season due to some upheavals in my life, but since everything has settled down I get to start this year's season with no qualms.

So far, I've been pretty disappointed with who has been kicked off the show. Antonella has lasted far longer than she should have, and everyone pretty much agrees that she probably got this far mostly on her looks. (She has been offered a contract from the creator of Girls Gone Wild to host the show.) Personally, I really hated to see her get one of the coveted spots over another girl who had been praised on her final audition as "the best we've seen today." Those final auditions are the ones right before they make the last round of cuts before voters start getting a say in who gets to stay.

Now, we are confronted with yet another anomaly who still exists in the remaining contestants. Not just that, but he has made the top ten, which means he will be part of the official American Idol tour. You've guessed it, I'm talking about Sanjaya Malakar.

I'll admit, the kid seems really cute and nice. He does have a nice voice, but he just isn't in the same league as a performer compared to most of the other contestants. Unlike the rest of Washington, I don't feel obligated to root for him just because he's from Federal Way. I have no problems backing Blake, since he's a fairly polished performer. Since he's from Washington as well, I'll be putting my money on him instead of Sanjaya.

Yesterday I was listening to the radio going over the results show, where the hosts were discussing the fact that Stephanie was kicked off. She has proven herself to be a fairly solid performer, definitely possessing a good all-around quality. The radio host said, "This proves it, American Idol is based not on talent, but on popularity."

Well, no freaking duh! The very first season of American Idol has already proved that -- Justin Guarini made it all the way to #2 probably on the merits of his bouncy curls and winsome smile. The guy was nowhere in the same league as Kelly and some of the other singers, but he made it all the way to the runner-up position.

I'm not really sure what it is about Sanjaya that has gotten him this far. Perhaps, it is as someone on the radio said: he's like a cute puppy that you keep encouraging with "you can do it!" Maybe he is also getting some support from Indians, since he's pretty much the only non-white/black to be on the show ever. We don't count Paul Kim, who was the first to get voted off this season. My brother thinks it was due to his bad idea of performing without shoes. Who knows.

I think A has it right, that they should change the voting system from voting for your favorite, to voting for who should get kicked off. This way, the contestants who figure as second or third choices for a lot of voters won't get the boot simply because they didn't get enough voting preference. Of course, they probably wouldn't want to condone that sort of attitude, since that would have a fairly negative association. It's more acceptable for a show like Survivor, where the whole premise is that the people are pitted against each other in a literally cutthroat competition.

What website would you like to see?

Today's quote: Valentine's Day is a holiday invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap.

I'm trying to come up with an idea for a website with some other people, but we're a bit stumped as to what the subject matter should be. So far, some of our tentative suggestions have involved WoW, and celebrity gossip.

Of course, the problem with both of those is that there is already a slew of websites out there devoted to either of those topics, and probably provide more in-depth coverage than we'd be able to offer.

We need to find a niche. Any suggestions?

Britney, Britney

Today's quote: Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.

It's sad to see the smoking ruins of Britney's career. I remember when she was on top of the world, being one of the first to spawn the teen pop queen scene.

Where did it all go? Today, she is saddled with a number of atrocities: a hideously unattractive bald head, two kids, possible bankruptcy, an imminent divorce, and a recent stay in a rehab facility. Actually, what am I saying? The divorce is probably the best thing that has happened to her since breaking up with Justin.

I was listening to the radio, and the show's question of the day was "If you could pick one celebrity to have neutered or spayed, who would it be?" Most of the flood of callers picked our lil miss here. What I find funny is that people don't consider the fact that Kfed himself has any number of children out there by different women. If anyone should be neutered, it should be Kfed, since he obviously doesn't know the meaning of birth control.

Something about this whole chronicle of events reminds me somewhat of Whitney Houston's downfall via her ex-husband. One can only imagine how either of these women would have fared without the evil influence of their men.

The lengths I've gone to...

Today's quote: From the moment we enter this life we are in the flow of it. We measure it and we mock it, but we cannot defy it. We cannot even speed it up or slow it down. Or can we? Have we not each experienced the sensation that a beautiful moment seemed to pass to quickly, and wished that we could make it linger? Or felt time slow on a dull day, and wished that we could speed things up a bit?

You have all noticed the recent spate of garbage posts on here. Sad to say, I succumbed to the advertising devil in hopes of earning a little money to pay off a bill or two a month. I have not held a true job in over a year now, barring instances of working for a couple of weeks here and there on temp assignments. I thought the most inconvenience it would pose would be trying to find enough to fulfill the word requirement. The initial description assured people that they wouldn't find themselves writing something bad, like text advertising porn or something.

It may have not been that bad, but I started to experience doubts when I received an assignment on diet pills. Ok, most people know that you should be extremely careful with them, and that you have to be really strict in order to have a chance at maintaining any results that did come about. I tried not to be overly positive about it. But then I received an assignment for another diet pill that was a clear rip-off from Red Bull (Red Bullet). I decided then that I did not want to be a part of anything endorsing this sort of possible health hazard. I'm probably paranoid, but its nature is too dubious for me to continue.

Well, I finally got a job! Ironically, despite my decision to leave law school, I find myself writing for a company that publishes textbooks on real estate law. I get to help write the text and do all the other fun stuff. So far, the initial work I've been exposed to has reminded me of Property with Kurtz. Who knew I'd have to see "fee simple absolute" again?

Why Me?!!!

Last Friday I decided that I would reformat my hard drive. My friend told me that it would be good to start with a clean slate again, since I was seeing lag during certain instances where I shouldn't have been.

Today, I have reinstalled Windows XP for the fourth time now. I'm ready to bang my head against a wall, from the offchance that it might be less painful. I've had to re-patch Windows four times, update a virus scanner, install WoW with all the awful patches, etc. Each time the process took anywhere from 4-6 hours.

The first time I installed Windows, everything seemed fine. That is, everything was fine until I restarted Windows, and it asked which XP Home Edition I wanted to use. For some reason, it had two on the list. The second one was a ghost that didn't really exist. My friend's suggestion was that I reinstall Windows.

After the second time I installed Windows, everything seemed fine. However, I noticed that WoW was missing some sound effects, but I figured it didn't really matter. Then WoW started freezing up on me for five minutes at a time, and then the computer would finally restart on its own. It got so bad that I couldn't even log in...the game would freeze immediately and then the whole computer would be frozen. My friend's suggestion was that it could be a bad video driver. This led to reformatting my hard drive for the third time.

After the third time, I paid especial attention to my drivers. I made sure that they were all up-to-date and that they were the correct ones for each manufacturer. There were no more problems with WoW, and everything was golden for 3 days. Then came today.

I received an email from Monster.com saying that I needed to download a "job seeker tool" in order to continue receiving their job search results. Since I am still unemployed, this was actually important to me. So I clicked on the little link that seemed so innocuous. It downloaded something to my desktop, which I double-clicked. Nothing happened, so I became suspicious right off the bat and scanned the file for viruses. It registered as clean, so I brushed it off as a badly functioning tool from Monster. Little did I know there was already something sweeping through my computer. A few hours later I turned my computer on to check my bank account balance online. It went to the desktop, but then it restarted. And then it restarted again. And again. You get the picture. It was locked in a loop of restarting. The bad thing? I hit F8 which is the typical command to make Windows enter Safe Mode. However, for some reason I did not see a Safe Mode at all. I was stuck.

I called another friend in a panic, and he suggested that I reformat my hard drive again. This was what I had been so afraid of hearing. I felt the most incredible combination of anger, frustration, despair, and incredulity. It was hard to say which emotion was winning.

All of this is funny, since what prompted me to reformat my hard drive in the first place was the fact that Burning Crusade released January 16, and I wanted to fix any problems I had with WoW before I subjected myself to another involved installation in addition to the 1gb+ patches and the original four-disc installation.

Do I possess the Burning Crusade? Nope. After three attempts to secure myself a copy of the Collector's Edition beginning at 10:20pm on January 15, I was forced to call J in California and beg him to get me a copy. Fortunately, his office is located five minutes away from a Fry's, and he had no problems snagging one for me.

This bloody expansion had better be worth its weight in gold!!