(no subject)

Lately, lots of ideas for substantive, hopefully interesting posts are hitting my brain -- but when I get to a place I can write them down, they've deserted me.

So instead, I give you the 10 reasons I tend to avoid MMORPGs*:

1. Stupid teenagers who have nothing better to do than type "OMFG you suXXorz you fag!!!11!!!1!" whenever I 1) Beat them at something, 2) Say "hi"

2. I paid $30 or more for this game, and you want me to pay $10 a month more to play it?

3. There is no roleplaying in most MMORPGs. Apparently the fact you level up from time to time and gain new skills is enough to garner the RPG label. This conveniently ignores the fact that the R stands for ROLE. To be sure, there ARE CRPGs in which you do tend to play the role through in-game dialogue -- the plots for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Baldur's Gate I & II, and a few others can be substantially altered by your in-character actions and dialogue -- but in most MMORPGs, this is not the case.

4. My PC won't run the newest, coolest ones, even if I wanted to.

5. You want me to pay how much?

6. For humiliation value, nothing beats being killed by a foot-high mushroom/prairie dog/gopher/crab/pygmy shrew because your first-level character can't fight his way out of wet toilet paper. Except maybe paying $10 a month for the privilege of getting killed by aforementioned pygmy shrew.

7. Hours and hours of endless drudgery killing tiny creatures who attack you for no real reason so that you can level up to the point where you might not get killed by a pygmy shrew looking at you. BORING!

8. Time. There's just not enough time in my life to waste it on Everquest. I won't even buy Star Wars Galaxies.

9. I have a life.

10. Did I mention the high costs?

A moment of Beauty

Where is the horse and the rider?
Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk,
and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harpstring,
and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest
and the tall corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the mountains.
Like wind in the meadow.
The days have gone down in the west.
Behind the hills, into shadow.
Who shall gather the smoke
of the dead wood burning,
Or behold the flowing years
from the Sea returning?
- JRR Tolkien, The Two Towers

(no subject)

My little sister -- the one closest to my heart, Blair -- is now 13. And she's growing up, becoming much more the young woman and less the little girl. She once more greets me warmly when I arrive, she compliments me on my weight loss, and talks seriously with me about literature and teaching.

And gets seriously excited about going to see Return of the King with me.

(no subject)

Daddy, how are Legos made?

(no subject)

If a Eurythmics song is going to go demonlooping through my head, could it NOT be one of the few songs I loathe?

(no subject)

I'm listening to the BTVS: Once More, With Feeling soundtrack. The Tara/Gyles duet comes on, and I damned-near belted out Gyles' opening line (Believe me, I don't wanna go!) along with him (like I usually do in the car).

Fortunately for my self-respect, I managed to stop myself. Not that I'm that bad, but because it's not what you do at work. Oi!