Zzzzz (RL, FFXI)

Getting up 30 minutes early should not make this big of a difference. I've spent all morning feeling like I was running early for things (which in fact I'm not, I arrived to work exactly the same time as always). At least I don't feel the loss of 30 minutes of sleep.

So as promised to myself, re-started walking this morning. On walking-mornings (M-W-F) I won't have time to do all the extra little fun pre-work fooling around I usually do, but hey. Gotta do what you gotta do. T-Th I won't have to save time to add onto the 30-from-sleep. (Weights take much much less time than walking.)

Thankfully I was able to go the same distance I had been doing before I stopped, it just took twice as long and was twice as hard. But that's not terribly surprising, being away from it for nearly three months.

People are probably going "Walking? Exercise? Ha!", but it's not "normal" walking. Once I'm back up to speed, it'll be the "as fast as you can go without breaking into a jog" walking. I did not do that this morning (see that "took twice as long!" thing), but once I'm back to how I had been before I stopped, that's how it'll be.

---

FFXI: I think I'm getting worse about MGSing in my old age. (Non-players: MGS = sneaking past aggro mobs without aid of sneak/invisible tools or spells. Getting past them totally on your own skills and on a good helping of luck.) Last night I had to go through Phomiuna Aqueducts alone, past a group of 2 taros and a group of 3 stegos, and my hands were shaking so badly! I don't recall shaking when I had to do things like my AF. Hm, but I did while stealthing on G3. Maybe I've gone back to worrying about death too much... (But I was WHM/BLM last night, so a death shouldn't have mattered.)

But whatever the reason, I got it done and wonderful Draque jumped right in and offered to help with the doll NM fight for the last mannequin quest! Yay! The storyline surprised me quite a bit.

( SPOILERS: Third Mannequin Quest. )

I've stayed out of these "what will be the new job S-E introduces in the next update?" ponderings, but the mannequin quest might be proof of the next one. It introduces a new mage type ( (I guess saying what type of mage be a spoiler, so I'll cut it as well) )

. How would that sort of mage work? I'd think it could be something like a BST, but with a twist: ( A third LJ cut! In one post! )

Seems like an interesting idea to me, though it might be too much like BST for some.

Oh, and here's the result of the final mannequin quest: My mannequins in poses. Why yes, I do now have a man on all fours in my house!

HELP! I had a really, really, really pretty screenshot to share, but the darned lighting problem I'm having made it too dark! Is anyone experiencing anything like this? Or have any ideas what I can do about it? When I view the game, everything looks 100% fine. Perfect lighting, nothing wrong. I take a screenshot. Look at it. It looks fine. I can totally close POL, end the pol.exe process, and the screenshot will still look fine. But once I reboot then I see the screenshot as it really is: too dark. But if I start POL and look at the screenshot again? Looks normal/fine/not dark.

That's what's boggling me: FFXI is doing something to my entire computer, and even when there's not a single pol-related process running, that "something" is still in effect. Only rebooting gets rid of that "something". (Even Firefox and my wallpaper and stuff are effected like this. When FFXI/POL is running, they look "washed out" -- too bright. Rebooting makes them look normal again.)

Zzzzz (RL, FFXI)

Getting up 30 minutes early should not make this big of a difference. I've spent all morning feeling like I was running early for things (which in fact I'm not, I arrived to work exactly the same time as always). At least I don't feel the loss of 30 minutes of sleep.

So as promised to myself, re-started walking this morning. On walking-mornings (M-W-F) I won't have time to do all the extra little fun pre-work fooling around I usually do, but hey. Gotta do what you gotta do. T-Th I won't have to save time to add onto the 30-from-sleep. (Weights take much much less time than walking.)

Thankfully I was able to go the same distance I had been doing before I stopped, it just took twice as long and was twice as hard. But that's not terribly surprising, being away from it for nearly three months.

People are probably going "Walking? Exercise? Ha!", but it's not "normal" walking. Once I'm back up to speed, it'll be the "as fast as you can go without breaking into a jog" walking. I did not do that this morning (see that "took twice as long!" thing), but once I'm back to how I had been before I stopped, that's how it'll be.

---

FFXI: I think I'm getting worse about MGSing in my old age. (Non-players: MGS = sneaking past aggro mobs without aid of sneak/invisible tools or spells. Getting past them totally on your own skills and on a good helping of luck.) Last night I had to go through Phomiuna Aqueducts alone, past a group of 2 taros and a group of 3 stegos, and my hands were shaking so badly! I don't recall shaking when I had to do things like my AF. Hm, but I did while stealthing on G3. Maybe I've gone back to worrying about death too much... (But I was WHM/BLM last night, so a death shouldn't have mattered.)

But whatever the reason, I got it done and wonderful Draque jumped right in and offered to help with the doll NM fight for the last mannequin quest! Yay! The storyline surprised me quite a bit.

( SPOILERS: Third Mannequin Quest. )

I've stayed out of these "what will be the new job S-E introduces in the next update?" ponderings, but the mannequin quest might be proof of the next one. It introduces a new mage type ( (I guess saying what type of mage be a spoiler, so I'll cut it as well) )

. How would that sort of mage work? I'd think it could be something like a BST, but with a twist: ( A third LJ cut! In one post! )

Seems like an interesting idea to me, though it might be too much like BST for some.

Oh, and here's the result of the final mannequin quest: My mannequins in poses. Why yes, I do now have a man on all fours in my house!

HELP! I had a really, really, really pretty screenshot to share, but the darned lighting problem I'm having made it too dark! Is anyone experiencing anything like this? Or have any ideas what I can do about it? When I view the game, everything looks 100% fine. Perfect lighting, nothing wrong. I take a screenshot. Look at it. It looks fine. I can totally close POL, end the pol.exe process, and the screenshot will still look fine. But once I reboot then I see the screenshot as it really is: too dark. But if I start POL and look at the screenshot again? Looks normal/fine/not dark.

That's what's boggling me: FFXI is doing something to my entire computer, and even when there's not a single pol-related process running, that "something" is still in effect. Only rebooting gets rid of that "something". (Even Firefox and my wallpaper and stuff are effected like this. When FFXI/POL is running, they look "washed out" -- too bright. Rebooting makes them look normal again.)

I'm a real RNG now! (FFXI)

While home for lunch I spent 50K for +2 racc (feather collar +1). :/ Three things made me feel a little better about wasting money like that:

1) I can sell it back on the AH at the same price. Hopefully.
2) I can't hit the &R*#$@!) side of a barn, so maybe this will help.
3) Spending that much money for something so small is something a real RNG would do~!

I wanted to make the title of this post "*shoots Beanie for tempting him with RNG*", but if I shot at Beanie I'd just miss, then the joke would be on me.

But other than not being able to hit (*rips hair out*), I sort of like the job. And if anyone says "But you're DRK main! You should be used to missing a lot!" I'll switch to DRK and kick your ass. And no, I won't miss. I missed one single WS in ten levels of XPing. Top that.

Soloing is slow and boring through, so I'd really like to get to the Dunes (*gag* Did I say that?). But I'd like to hit 15 before I go there so that I can chocobo. I hate aggro-dodging, and the Dunes are a long, long run from Sandy.

I tested out my new bow at lunchtime. It hits a lot harder, but I swear it misses a lot more (ironic, since it has +2 racc on it). After work I'm going to test the waters in LTP and see if I can solo there yet. EPs are fast to kill, but 15-35 XP a kill is slooooooooow. Heck, maybe I can get a little LTP party going. (Note to self: If you lose your TP once more because you're standing too far away when you WS, I'll beat you.)

Other than to find Toto for a quick ride home, I've really not been using widescan yet. I suspect it'll be handier in parties than soloing (other than to avoid aggro stuff).

In my little dream world I would get either RNG or THF up to 60 or so and sub the other one (THF/RNG must be the best farming combo there is, followed by RNG/THF), but I doubt that'll happen, well, ever.

I'm a real RNG now! (FFXI)

While home for lunch I spent 50K for +2 racc (feather collar +1). :/ Three things made me feel a little better about wasting money like that:

1) I can sell it back on the AH at the same price. Hopefully.
2) I can't hit the &R*#$@!) side of a barn, so maybe this will help.
3) Spending that much money for something so small is something a real RNG would do~!

I wanted to make the title of this post "*shoots Beanie for tempting him with RNG*", but if I shot at Beanie I'd just miss, then the joke would be on me.

But other than not being able to hit (*rips hair out*), I sort of like the job. And if anyone says "But you're DRK main! You should be used to missing a lot!" I'll switch to DRK and kick your ass. And no, I won't miss. I missed one single WS in ten levels of XPing. Top that.

Soloing is slow and boring through, so I'd really like to get to the Dunes (*gag* Did I say that?). But I'd like to hit 15 before I go there so that I can chocobo. I hate aggro-dodging, and the Dunes are a long, long run from Sandy.

I tested out my new bow at lunchtime. It hits a lot harder, but I swear it misses a lot more (ironic, since it has +2 racc on it). After work I'm going to test the waters in LTP and see if I can solo there yet. EPs are fast to kill, but 15-35 XP a kill is slooooooooow. Heck, maybe I can get a little LTP party going. (Note to self: If you lose your TP once more because you're standing too far away when you WS, I'll beat you.)

Other than to find Toto for a quick ride home, I've really not been using widescan yet. I suspect it'll be handier in parties than soloing (other than to avoid aggro stuff).

In my little dream world I would get either RNG or THF up to 60 or so and sub the other one (THF/RNG must be the best farming combo there is, followed by RNG/THF), but I doubt that'll happen, well, ever.