Can I be a gamer and an adult?

It's been an interesting weekend, and one surprisingly filled with self-reflection. However, sometimes self-reflection can breed discomfort. After having to face some interesting truths about procrastination, my own dissertation and getting stuck in "emotional immaturity" I found another interesting mirror in which to gain some self-reflection. Someone directed me to the web-series "The Guild" to see the latest music video. That song is still in my head too... But after watching some episodes, I wondered, "wow, am I one of those people". The answer, yeah pretty much. More troubling is wondering am I really ok with that? Am I continuing to escape real life maturation in favor of easy, entertaining gratification? Somewhat.... I have several successful degrees, a decent job, my own independance, and a rewarding relationship. But come the weekend, yes I am in front of a computer 90% of the time when not sleeping, yep I wear a headset most of that time, and my most substatial socialization outside of work happens online. So can I be a gamer and an adult? Yes, but I feel it takes a constant balance and honest self reflection to be both. And on that note...I am still a work in progress.

Troll Subjugator!!!

After einherjar we took down the Troll king tonight, putting me at 2/3 titles I need to finish The Imperial Heist. Fun fight, more challenging then medusa because the main alliance ended up with some hate from adds so we juggled them and the big guy. I must say i like Medusa's private room better then this guys spot.

It begins...

So as my personal undertaking I have decided to see how far  an get with the mythic quest. Undoubtedly I will hit a wall with that 30k Alexandrite at some point, but hey at least I have something to strive for atm. So I will be posting regular updates on my progress and any notable pics^^

I finally reached floor 100 on Nyzle Isle!!! Next up was getting my latent weaponskill. So I borrowed a K club and whacked the hell outta some crabs in Kuftal. Here is a pic of Mystic Boon. I then went to turn in my Werebuster for safekeeping with Abquhbah. The Imperial Heist has begun!

Dalmatica!!!!

I may be a tad bit more excited then I should be regarding my new "green rug" piece as my linkshell likes to call it. But here is how I see it, I have played this game a long time, of which 90% of my playtime has belonged to an endgame linkshell since I hit my first 75. I have claimed and killed many Kings in my days, but my jobs never really benefited from the traditional abjurations.... So I have never had the excitement of getting an abjuration transformed and wearing one of the most obvious/traditional fruits of my labors. So my BRD will be sportin this at various events and I will wear it proudly as it signifies to me the time and effort I have spent in this game.
Odin finally stopped dropping total crap and gave us an m. body, an a. body, some blm legs, and some other random abj's. So here I am rocking my green rug, and quite happy about it. Also thanks to my linkshell for footing the bigger part of the bill and Caudle for not blowing it up and making me sad;;

Beastman Kings 1/3

Another title to add to my collection^^. This was a fun fight, I have always been a fan of Greek Mythology. I told myself I was going to get some great action shots, but Medusa's liar is actually not that big, and I was squished into the side of the room with some other SMN's. We pretty much took this down with 1 alliance and was a smooth fight overall. Titan works surprisingly well on this fight.

Here I am on the usurped Gorgon Queen's throne.

Captain!!!!

This past week I finally reached the rank of Captain, aided by my fellow ls mates, Caudle, Gaidon and Franchise. This was a very big pain in the ass and took many months due to the fact that we started at the bottom so Sonix and Sicklestroke could rank up as well and have free portals. But finally we finished thanks in the end to some help from Daydreamer and Battosai on the last tier. Now on to finishing the Nyzul climb to start the mythic quest!

Out to Sea^^

We recently ventured back to sea as an ls, to attempt to start farming up some love pops again for earrings and such and other torques. Sea has been an odd conundrum for me, because it was such a pain in the ass to get but my combo of jobs always had little or no benefit from the gear obtained here. However there is one exception.... the BRD/SMN cape! I had wanted this piece for a few years now, but Ix'DRG  had always been a bit of a pain and the interest was low to get help killing it. However since we started fresh at the bottom, we had been killing it for deed for a few weeks when it finally dropped this gem for me^^:

Weird Graphic Glitches

It has come to my attention lately, that this game is flawed. Yeah, I am not referring to the annoying HNM windows, the games seeming randomness with drops, the annoyance that dynamis is limited to one area per group or that increasingly the updates seem to be lacking in well...updates. No, I am referring to some odd graphical glitches I have been noticing lately, one in which disturbed me greatly.

What was I thinking?

So for some reason (nothing logical of course), and after deciding I would never level another job....I decided to level another job. Don't know if I will finish it to 75 or care to bother to gear it yet, but hey its something to do. I settled on Blue Mage because it didn't demand a ton of melee gear (which I have none of) and it was still a mage job...sort of.

I had such a fun time duoing the job to 28 with gaidon when it first came out that I decided to duo it again. Not sure yet how this idea is gonna pan out because my BLU partner seems less then enthusiastic about leveling it. Anyway, true to my usual self I have been on top of all my spells having most ready before I hit the level. Gear is bothering me somewhat, because some of the pieces are hard to get, so I am trying to deal with this slowly. So here I am in a 5 hour hell of trying to get my partner Wild Carrot.....wtf am I thinking.

Mog House Madness!!!!

I have a problem...I am a mog house addict. There I admitted it, and that is the first step. Almost an entire year has rolled around since I began my quest to pimp my moghouse and make it a place I would enjoy being afk in. I have almost succeeded and have decided to share my progress :) Here my overall moghouse, if you want to see the rest you can hit the link below.

Salvage Part 1: Satisfaction

Salvage is one of the many things in this type of game that can significantly contribute to one's satisfaction with the game or significantly decrease one's satisfaction. Salvage imposes a test of will and teamwork on a group of players, and will crush those interested in immediate gratification. It is indeed a marathon and not a sprint towards one's goals. However, the determined and dedicated will win in the end.

A Post Update...update.

It's that time again....well the update yes, but its time for some more personal gratification from new content. Some people say this update failed, but personally I came out way way ahead.
First off, I got all kinds of new spells and tricks to play with for my White Mage!! I will post my current observations and experiences on these later. Second, my Summoner got some nice tweeks which made me very happy! No more losing your BP timer due to some idiot moving the mob away. Plus I have all new merits to explore/consider since Tier 2 merits are useful now. The last reason is I found my new favorite activity to do!! ANNMS!

Jobs Part 1: White Mage

I figured if I am gonna be a true narcissist, I really need to make an effort to highlight myself more. Thus I bring you jobs Part 1. Ahhhh White Mage...my first 75 job in FFXI. It is probably still my most played job and hands down the one I am best geared for. I am getting excited with the upcoming update for the WHM job, and hopefully it makes it a little less painful to ALWAYS be on :P

So without further ado, lets discuss my WHM, the progress I have made and what their is still left to do.

This is my basic setup that I run around on most of the time. Cure clogs get macro'd in for all cures, then its back to Rostrum pumps. When I have to run around to heal a tank that is kiting, I have a macro for Herald's Gaiters. I am big on -enmity and haste, thus my many blessed pieces, walahara turban and errant cape. I could have a morgannas choker on my neck, but I don't feel like more -hp. I think the one thing I would change on this setup would be macroing in a Novia earring for big Curaga bombs, and maybe a Vivian/Serket ring (gotta finish those last 2 hp merits). Conserve mp +30, "Cure" Potency +22, enmity -23, haste +13% and fast cast.

Wedding Day!!!!

At first I felt in game weddings were cheesy. I am never gonna be one of THOSE people I thought. But then something happened, and it all started with a piece of furniture I thought I could get (marriage certificate) for my moghouse. Then it was a determination to get a date! Blast these ffxi wedding lotteries! Then it was an excuse to have a party, and finally it seemed like a nice way to round out the gaming experience and all the time Gaidon and I have spent in the game together. What started as an intimate celebration ended up being a linkshell event and celebration extravaganza! But hey, it was fun and I love to plan a party! So enough with the chat, lets see some pics from the Big Day :P

Tails of a mithra

In an effort to move forward into future journal posts, I felt it was important to give some space to previous memories and events that helped to shape my character today. What I am describing are basically schemas, or the mental representations we make and form of our surroundings to guide how we act and function. I am a big fan of schemas as ways to make sense of surroundings, and as a mental shortcut to deciding behaviors in any given situation. However it is equally important to have flexibility and be open to assimilating new information into a schema at any given time. This can be particularly true in the life of a videogame, where the schema's of a character and their experience can be changing rapidly.

Every story has a beginning, middle, and end. The story of my alter ego is no exception. Sigmund Freud described three distinct theoretical models of the psyche; the id, the ego, and the superego. The id in particular was thought to be the primal instinctual urges, the pleasure urges and instant gratification needs. What better way to express the less socially accepted side of your personality then a MMORPG. In fact everyone who enjoys functional addiction of roleplay games is stroking the id portion of their ego.

My ffxi character Sheeba was born in December of 2004. Of course I chose mithra, because what better expression of your frisky, playful side of you then a cat? Sheeba also exudes my narcissistic side of my personality, the side that is vanity, that seeks perfection, and has little patience for anything else. Sheeba also has the fantastic priveledge of saying whatever is on her mind with little thought to consequences or others feelings (however I do admit my actual superego steps in for some regulation on occasion). Sheeba also expresses my most primal competitive need and perfection drive.