I've seen things! I've seen them with my eyes-- no, wait.

Ow, my poor, poor eyes. They've been bothering me for a couple days now: They don't want to focus, eye strain/tired before the day is half over, and they're really really dry. I don't know if it's allergies, time for a stronger prescription (hope not!), if it's my contacts (unlikely, since I use daily disposable ones), or too much time on the computer. Or all of the above!

I had a bad (bad even for me) food day yesterday, which didn't help my mood or head or eyes: I had an apple for breakfast, then needed to go to Target at lunchtime so got popcorn there for lunch. While I like popcorn a lot, it isn't a good meal when breakfast was lacking. By dinnertime, I was starving and grumpy as heck. I couldn't decide where to go, so I hit a new place: Carrows. (They seem to be a chain or something, I've seen them around but never went into one.) It was a very, very odd place. Apparently it's a place for old (really really old, like hardly able to walk) people. The hostess was... interesting. She just turned 70 and talked my ear off. She told me exactly how much she makes ($100 per day for a 12 hour shift, five days a week. She takes home $500 a week, so apparently they don't take taxes out for some reason...), how she threw up while having her heart attack (she said that was a sign of them, but I never heard that before), and the life stories of all the cooks there. And there I sat, grumpy and annoyed and ready to bite someone's head off, and this overly friendly woman just wouldn't be quiet! But she was being nice (kept trying to give me free soda), so I just smiled and nodded and tried to keep up with the conversation. Between her and the food not being very good, I won't be going back there.

We partied last night in FFXI, which was fun even though I was dealing with issues on my end. (It's hard seeing a little bar of the party's HP when your eyes won't focus on the screen!) I hit 27, which is just wow! I really hadn't planned on ever getting that far, so it's especially nice. And once I hit 30, all sorts of new job options will open to me!

Non-players: You can start out being any (or all) of the basic jobs: Warrior, monk, thief, black/white/red mage. Once you hit level 30, you can start opening up your "advanced jobs". Each one requires a quest to unlock it. They include things like ninja, beastmaster, dragoon, dark knight, and a whole bunch of other ones. The game is set up really nicely job-wise: You're never locked into one! If you start the game as a warrior and hate it, you can switch to something else. You can play a different thing every night!

I know I've said this before, but it's just amazing how busy the game keeps you. I sit here at work, thinking of all the things I need to do when I get online. Quests, leveling various jobs, gardening, etc.

I've made a decision on crafting... or rather I keep making the same decision. Apparently I'm not very satisfied with the decision, since I keep revisiting the issue again and again. Anyway, here it is: It would be really, really stupid to go into some new crafting area. I put the time and the money (major money) into getting leathercraft up to 20. It would be crazy to start something new now. The only way I could reasonably go into goldsmithing is if I bought in-game money off-game with RL money. Game money doesn't cost overly much, and buying some wouldn't hurt my budget at all, but I have personal issues with the idea of it. I don't know why it bothers me (is it so different than paying for extra characters so you have more storage space?), but it does. (I think it's against the TOS as well, but that's less of an issue for me.)

I've seen things! I've seen them with my eyes-- no, wait.

Ow, my poor, poor eyes. They've been bothering me for a couple days now: They don't want to focus, eye strain/tired before the day is half over, and they're really really dry. I don't know if it's allergies, time for a stronger prescription (hope not!), if it's my contacts (unlikely, since I use daily disposable ones), or too much time on the computer. Or all of the above!

I had a bad (bad even for me) food day yesterday, which didn't help my mood or head or eyes: I had an apple for breakfast, then needed to go to Target at lunchtime so got popcorn there for lunch. While I like popcorn a lot, it isn't a good meal when breakfast was lacking. By dinnertime, I was starving and grumpy as heck. I couldn't decide where to go, so I hit a new place: Carrows. (They seem to be a chain or something, I've seen them around but never went into one.) It was a very, very odd place. Apparently it's a place for old (really really old, like hardly able to walk) people. The hostess was... interesting. She just turned 70 and talked my ear off. She told me exactly how much she makes ($100 per day for a 12 hour shift, five days a week. She takes home $500 a week, so apparently they don't take taxes out for some reason...), how she threw up while having her heart attack (she said that was a sign of them, but I never heard that before), and the life stories of all the cooks there. And there I sat, grumpy and annoyed and ready to bite someone's head off, and this overly friendly woman just wouldn't be quiet! But she was being nice (kept trying to give me free soda), so I just smiled and nodded and tried to keep up with the conversation. Between her and the food not being very good, I won't be going back there.

We partied last night in FFXI, which was fun even though I was dealing with issues on my end. (It's hard seeing a little bar of the party's HP when your eyes won't focus on the screen!) I hit 27, which is just wow! I really hadn't planned on ever getting that far, so it's especially nice. And once I hit 30, all sorts of new job options will open to me!

Non-players: You can start out being any (or all) of the basic jobs: Warrior, monk, thief, black/white/red mage. Once you hit level 30, you can start opening up your "advanced jobs". Each one requires a quest to unlock it. They include things like ninja, beastmaster, dragoon, dark knight, and a whole bunch of other ones. The game is set up really nicely job-wise: You're never locked into one! If you start the game as a warrior and hate it, you can switch to something else. You can play a different thing every night!

I know I've said this before, but it's just amazing how busy the game keeps you. I sit here at work, thinking of all the things I need to do when I get online. Quests, leveling various jobs, gardening, etc.

I've made a decision on crafting... or rather I keep making the same decision. Apparently I'm not very satisfied with the decision, since I keep revisiting the issue again and again. Anyway, here it is: It would be really, really stupid to go into some new crafting area. I put the time and the money (major money) into getting leathercraft up to 20. It would be crazy to start something new now. The only way I could reasonably go into goldsmithing is if I bought in-game money off-game with RL money. Game money doesn't cost overly much, and buying some wouldn't hurt my budget at all, but I have personal issues with the idea of it. I don't know why it bothers me (is it so different than paying for extra characters so you have more storage space?), but it does. (I think it's against the TOS as well, but that's less of an issue for me.)

To you...

My dear,

Your dad finally noticed the
exotic travel pamphlet I
"accidentally" left on the
table. Looks like it's time
for a little vacation! He's
convinced it was his idea.
Sun and surf! Woo!

♥ Thistle

To you...

My dear,

Your dad finally noticed the
exotic travel pamphlet I
"accidentally" left on the
table. Looks like it's time
for a little vacation! He's
convinced it was his idea.
Sun and surf! Woo!

♥ Thistle

Bzzt! No more! I give up!

After an awful, awful day, I came home to a really bad night on FFXI. I've been struggling to level black mage up: For three nights I've put in five hours a night, attempting to get one level. Tonight I finally got that level! ...then within seconds got aggroed by an orc! And killed! And guess what! I lost THREE HOURS' worth of leveling!

Bah.

To make myself feel better, I spent all the money I had on armor and weapon upgrades (for white mage, since that's my main job and the one I go into the most dangerous places with), as well as two spells I had been missing. It didn't make me feel better, but it'll come in handy at a later date.

One good (and odd) thing happened: A high level character was doing the usual shout. "Need teleport to (blah)? 500 gil!" Since I needed it, I took him up on the offer... but then he wouldn't take my money. He told me it was free. Why? Very strange. It's not like I shouted "need a teleport!" without offering to pay, I was responding to his offer with a price... Odd, but nice.

Screenshots! Collected from the past couple weeks.

View from the ferry - One of the reasons I like riding the ferry so much is the beautiful surroundings. Sea, nighttime sky, clouds, stars. (Full sized image.)

Orc Camp! This is where I spent much of the night tonight, in the local orc camp. While it's a god awful place to attempt to level (five people standing around waiting for one thing to appear and be killed), there were some beautiful views like this one. I love the coloring and how the moon sort of matches the shapes of the structures. (Full sized image.)

The early bird gets the worm? While in Windy, I spent much time killing these cool looking creatures. I can't remember how to spell their names, but I love fighting them so I can watch how they move. Very, very cool. (Reduced size.)

Mad fox! Mad fox! How's this for a screenshot? While it doesn't look much like a fox, it sure as heck looks mad! (Reduced size.)

Wedding bells - Japanese players have always been able to have weddings for their characters (it's just starting to be made available to US players). One of the things you can buy with the wedding is a dress. While it's not good as actual armor, it's really unique and somewhat pretty. (This feline should have picked out better shoes!) Despite her English-sounding name, Meow is actually Japanese (I had to ask her to turn from the AH so I could take a screenshot). (Smallish image.)

I can't even imagine the reason behind this name... (Smallish image.)

Party waits... In the shadow of dragon bones, with a nearly full moon above, my usual party waits for a few more members to arrive. (One day I'll get one shot of us all!) (Medium sized image.)

Sunrise over the grasslands -- Sometimes I wonder if people get tired of sunrise/sunset shots, but they're so jaw-droppingly beautiful in the game I take tons of screenshots of them, so some end up here! Unfortunately screenshots can't match what you actually see in the game, but at least they can give you an idea. (Medium sized image.)

Bzzt! No more! I give up!

After an awful, awful day, I came home to a really bad night on FFXI. I've been struggling to level black mage up: For three nights I've put in five hours a night, attempting to get one level. Tonight I finally got that level! ...then within seconds got aggroed by an orc! And killed! And guess what! I lost THREE HOURS' worth of leveling!

Bah.

To make myself feel better, I spent all the money I had on armor and weapon upgrades (for white mage, since that's my main job and the one I go into the most dangerous places with), as well as two spells I had been missing. It didn't make me feel better, but it'll come in handy at a later date.

One good (and odd) thing happened: A high level character was doing the usual shout. "Need teleport to (blah)? 500 gil!" Since I needed it, I took him up on the offer... but then he wouldn't take my money. He told me it was free. Why? Very strange. It's not like I shouted "need a teleport!" without offering to pay, I was responding to his offer with a price... Odd, but nice.

Screenshots! Collected from the past couple weeks.

View from the ferry - One of the reasons I like riding the ferry so much is the beautiful surroundings. Sea, nighttime sky, clouds, stars. (Full sized image.)

Orc Camp! This is where I spent much of the night tonight, in the local orc camp. While it's a god awful place to attempt to level (five people standing around waiting for one thing to appear and be killed), there were some beautiful views like this one. I love the coloring and how the moon sort of matches the shapes of the structures. (Full sized image.)

The early bird gets the worm? While in Windy, I spent much time killing these cool looking creatures. I can't remember how to spell their names, but I love fighting them so I can watch how they move. Very, very cool. (Reduced size.)

Mad fox! Mad fox! How's this for a screenshot? While it doesn't look much like a fox, it sure as heck looks mad! (Reduced size.)

Wedding bells - Japanese players have always been able to have weddings for their characters (it's just starting to be made available to US players). One of the things you can buy with the wedding is a dress. While it's not good as actual armor, it's really unique and somewhat pretty. (This feline should have picked out better shoes!) Despite her English-sounding name, Meow is actually Japanese (I had to ask her to turn from the AH so I could take a screenshot). (Smallish image.)

I can't even imagine the reason behind this name... (Smallish image.)

Party waits... In the shadow of dragon bones, with a nearly full moon above, my usual party waits for a few more members to arrive. (One day I'll get one shot of us all!) (Medium sized image.)

Sunrise over the grasslands -- Sometimes I wonder if people get tired of sunrise/sunset shots, but they're so jaw-droppingly beautiful in the game I take tons of screenshots of them, so some end up here! Unfortunately screenshots can't match what you actually see in the game, but at least they can give you an idea. (Medium sized image.)