Sideshow & Syrana

I know I can’t be the only one that has dreams that incorporate gaming elements or dreams about games.  The game I find sneaking into my subconscious the most is World of Warcraft.  I suppose it doesn’t help that I often listen to the soundtracks while falling asleep.  (The Eversong Woods music with the cellos and haunting voices is super relaxing.)

I previously shared a very whacked out dream that involved Samodean, Chris Metzen, and a live action zombie demo.  I had a LOT of details to share since I wrote it all down as soon as I could after waking up.

More commonly I remember snippets, if that.  What I’ve noticed more lately is that waking up is part of a quest chain.

I’ve had dreams where hitting the snooze button is a repeatable quest.

I’ve also had dreams that the “A” button was the snooze button.

Dreams are weird.  And yes, that’s a scientific term.

Ya know, I think this is why I love to slow time down when my Sims are sleeping.  Usually the game will auto-speed up time when the entire household is asleep.  I mean, they are sleeping, you don’t have anything to manage after all.  But, I like to slow it down just to watch the dream bubbles.

Hmm.

I never realized just how creepy that was before.

You know, there are a lot of songs that use some variation of this post’s title in either lyrics or title.  I can think of at least 3 right now.

This is the kind of post I don’t like to write and most “how to blog” guides will warn you to never write.

Well, screw it.

I’ma do it anyway.

I apologize for my hiatus, it lasted MUCH longer than I expected.  I only anticipated being absent from the blog and Twitter for a few days while I played through Heavy Rain.  (I even had to miss an episode of Polygamerous!)

Unfortunately, a mix of work craziness (it is seriously kicking my ass right now, but I’ve complained enough through minimal tweets over the past week, me thinks) and not feeling well meant almost zero time getting intimate with my home PC.

*pats monitor* I know, baby, you were getting lonely.

Thankfully, Sideshow had my back and cranked out a few posts to keep this place from looking like a completely barren wasteland.

I’m still going to have some ups and downs until work calms back down.  I was just going to start this week off with a post and act like I hadn’t been MIA for nearly two weeks, but I love y’all more than that.

1. No matter how independent I may be (or try to be) there may be things I still depend on others for
2. Sleep is a precious commodity
3. If you have something yummy to eat, I want to try some too
4. We can be friends even if we don’t totally understand each other’s language
5. I can get your attention by being friendly
6. Sometimes we just need to whine and cuddle
7. I’d rather hold it than use a filthy bathroom
8. I’m always excited to see someone I care about
9. Curiosity and caution are actually good traits
10. Alone time is needed, as is play time with others

Formspring.me is still relatively new and I thought I’d share why I think it can be valuable to use.  I know several people aren’t interested in it or don’t really know what it is.  Even if you don’t end up using if for yourself, maybe this post will at least help reveal some of its appeal.

Ease Of Use

Formspring.me is not particularly amazing in terms of it’s look or innovation.  However, it is easy to use.  Signing up is pretty straight forward.  After you sign up, you can choose to connect it to other social media networks (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr).  Once you do this, you are able to let your followers and friends know about your link.

You can also choose which networks (if any) you want to send out per question. There are check boxes allowing you to be selective.  Contrary to popular (negative) belief, using formspring.me does not equal auto spam of every question.  While I still stand by my rant the other day, I personally choose to only tweet a few questions and answers sporadically (but even that can annoy some people). (continue reading…)

Last week I let you all know that I’m open to answering questions.  I’ve gotten some through formspring and a few people left great questions in the comments.  Unfortunately, the questions left in the comments were so awesome that the answers needed to marinate in my brain for a bit and fully deserving of their very own post!

So without further adieu… I shall present a wall o’ text to you!  (continue reading…)

Honestly, think about it.

There’s achievement spam, formspring spam, location spam, picture spam, link spam, ponder spam, I’m playing X, Y, Z spam, incessant whining spam… I could go on.

It’s all there. At any given moment you can (and probably will) tweet something that one of your followers doesn’t like.

And that’s ok – if you (or they) aren’t a jerk about it. You can NOT reasonably expect that everyone you follow is going to tweet the very things only YOU want to read all the time.

If you have an issue with the “spam” and cannot accept the fact that you can just scroll past it, then you do need to re-evaluate why you are following that person.

If you really don’t find them that interesting ever… then unfollow them. You find out they don’t share a lot of beliefs that are important to you… unfollow them.

But it’s the WAY you do it.

I cannot possibly follow everyone back, I would never be able to keep up with any semblance of a timeline. But, do I ever get annoyed by what I see in my timeline? Sure!

But I don’t usually say anything and I don’t call out an individual for it. Partially because I (like ALL of us) have been guilty of creating tweet spam at one time or another. And, partially because I just don’t let that kind of stuff bother me. (Oh hai scroll button!)

So, if you insist on unfollowing – just do it. No reason to make a big deal out of it by telling someone you are going to unfollow because they said “this” or did “that.” And the threats to unfollow if people tweet X, Y, Z? Get over yourself.

No one should have to feel they can’t tweet something just because they don’t want to lose YOU. I mean, did they sign up JUST to be followed by you?

—

This post brought to you by the late night rambles of a Syrana that should be sleeping but is annoyed at the unfollow threat spam she sees people receiving.

A few years ago, Sideshow and I bought a treadmill.  At the time, we were trying to go to the gym on a regular basis to work out.  Like lots of great plans, it worked for awhile, but then trailed off.  Mostly due to the extra time it took to get there and back.  Solution: buy a treadmill for home.  I don’t have anything against treadmills and used it almost every trip to the gym… so why not have one at home to use to fill in the gaps between our trips there?

We bought it and used it for a bit.

Now it sits in the basement, unused.  Why? Well, the environment is not conducive.

I get the treadmill effect with some games.  At this point, I’d say Aion was my treadmill MMO.  Once my workout buddy stopped playing, it was hard to keep my interest.  Then there’s the grind.  Sure, I’ve said time and time again that putting seemingly mundane and repetitious tasks into game form and I love ‘em.

But the environment wasn’t quite right.

So Aion, much like my treadmill, sat unused for a lengthy period of time.  All the while I kept telling myself I should get back in there.

But I didn’t.  My account expired a few weeks ago.

I didn’t quit because I disliked it or because of World of Warcraft (which I haven’t logged into for a few weeks either).

Much like my treadmill – I enjoyed it when the environment was conducive.

I could start using either one again at anytime.

…an answer, more than likely.

I’ve heard that bloggers are narcissistic.  At least, that’s what I heard at a work training (seriously, what the hell?)  a couple months ago.

I suppose there’s a certain level of truth to this.  I mean, I do like to babble on and have people read/listen to me babble and comment on my babble.

So, I finally thought I’d set up this formspring question thing-a-ma-jig.  Consider it like your own private interview with moi.. ‘cept everyone can see the question and answer.  Hey, at least you can anonymously ask something.

Now, I’d love to say “Oh I’ll absolutely answer anything” but there is no way I can promise and guarantee such a thing.  But, it’d have to be a really awful question for me to ignore it.

If you are so inclined…. ask away!

Buff                         FPS                    Newbie                 Lore                     KOS

Main                     Progression                 WTB                   Lowbie                Guild

WTT                Raid                      Server                    Elitist                              PvP

Crafting                     Own                     Casual                  Alt               kk

Cap                 Levels                WTF                    Hardcore                    WTS

Professions                     PvE         EPIC            Gathering                           DIAF

Spec                    Race                        MMO              RP                          Faction

Talents                     Griefer                   FTL                       Noob                   Skills

Nerf                           Min/max                           FTW                          LFM

Class                  Realm                     RPG                  Role                 Spells

Pwn                  LFG             Endgame              PST

I will have today’s RP post up later this evening.  I had about half written prior to the start of Polygamerous last night and was planning to finish it up after the show since we were starting earlier… but we had SO much to talk about, a guest, and just an all around awesome show.  However, I needed to go to bed afterwards.

So… stay tuned!