Sooner than expected.

Once again I've found a mail from my favourite online game store in my inbox, and today they're telling me that I'll be getting the expansion in the mail on Wednesday, i.e. tomorrow! I'm a grown up (no, really!), so I wasn't too bummed that I wouldn't be able to go through the whole "World Server down"-craze that is most certainly going to start a few moments past midnight, and go on well into the afternoon on Thursday (everyone and their mother is going to be online, so it's bound to happen), but now I'm actually a bit stoked about being able to at least try to get to Northrend early!

About the WotLK-preparation: I just spent about 400 gold on friggin' mithril bars and solid stone, to level blacksmithing on my level 39 pally, so I might have to try and make some more gold :D I believe tonight and tomorrow evening will be filled with as many dailies as I can stand, and since the druid has access to basically all of them (Ogri'la, Skyguard, Netherwing, Isle of Quel'danas and cooking&fishing), and has epic flying, she's going to be doing a lot of the dirty work. I'll probably get the rogue out too, for a bit. Epic flying really speeds things up.

Also, still have to try and find the original CD for the graphics card. The basement is not too tempting, though...

RL: I've found an actual idea for my big, final paper-thingie! At least I hope so, will have to do a bit of research, but it doesn't look too bad.

Monday, Monday.

Meh. I haven't been down in the basement to look for that CD - yet - so my WoW-graphics are still slightly fucked. But it doesn't have any real impact on my gameplay, other than the fact that I'll be endlessly delighted the day I actually get it to work, or get a new computer, and get to see all the fancy colours I know are there.

In a few minutes I plan to go out for something to eat. I had a fancy McDonald's lunch earlier, and I'm still a bit full, so I'll probably just get something small. Fruit, maybe? While waiting for the rain to stop (it won't, though, so I'll have to go out anyway) I'm camping a vendor in Aerie Peak, so I can get these blacksmithing plans for my paladin. She's at 225, and those plans are supposedly the cheapest way to get to 235. They're apparently "limited supply", so I have to camp for them /yawn. Anyway, I think I'll check a couple more times, and then I'll head out.

Thursday will come, I'm sure of it.

I just checked my inbox, and found a "we'll be sending you the stuff you ordered"-mail. More specifically, a mail stating that I'll be recieving two Wrath of the Lich King - Collector's Edition on Thursday! That's right, two boxes, one for each account - Frosty galore!

Hopefully my darling computer will survive - I think I'll have to try and find the original installation CD:s for my graphics card, though - there has been a few too many glitches while playing lately... Arakkoas, epic elekks and Cenarion Hippogryphs have certain parts blackened out, and I believe that happened after a panic reinstallation of the card, using some drivers I found online. So, I 'm keeping my fingers crossed that the original CD is still in the basement, and that it will be some kind of magical solution to my problem. Honestly, this baby has been shivering and shaking so much in the last year, I would've bought a new computer if I could afford it. Maybe sometime next year, when I've found a job, and gotten settled in a new place.

Of Tauren and Boots.

Just remembered: This morning I briefly logged on to one of my few horde alts, a tauren druid who goes by the name Moonberry. I got her to level 13, and then I had to go start my "work day", but I do really hope I'll get her levelled up properly one day - female tauren druids look amazing!

This afternoon I bought a new pair of winter boots. Not WoW-related at all, but if they were a piece of equipment, they'd definitely be epic. They're bound to keep my feet warm and fabulous for a few winters - at least two, hopefully more than three! :)

En attendant WotLK

Over the last few days I've been laying low, WoW-wise. Not a very big surprise, considering Hallow's End left me exhausted, and without a new title (poo!). Also, my studies actually seem to be moving forward, which has required quite a bit of focus. I spent yesterday evening getting my human priestess up to level 50, and now she only has the (in my opinion) really fun areas left:

• Felwood - OK, I guess some of those demon guys (if not all of them) are a bit too resilient to shadow damage, but it looks sooo cool.
• Un'goro Crater - A lot of quests to do, all in one go (maybe two), as you move in a circle around the place.
• Western Plaguelands - A lot of quests, of course, really close to eachother, and quite a bit of runecloth - yay for tailoring!
• Winterspring - Let's grind some funky reps! OK, so I may not feel like grinding all the way to exalted with Timbermaw Hold, but I love the quests in Winterspring, and the blindingly white environment.
• Silithus - On a second thought, no. I don't like Silithus. Only good reason to go there is to pick up this cooking recipe from a quest, to get cooking to 300 without too much fuss.
• Eastern Plaguelands - This is where I usually do that last grind to 58, killing Scourge and gathering even more runecloth, while enjoying the (yes, once again) effing amazing environment. I like the spookiness of the place, how it feels abandoned, and how one can almost flinch in surprise if actually running into another player in somewhere like Plaguewood. It's just got a really nice atmosphere.

Still, I don't know if I'll feel like doing the final grind all the way to Outland before the expansion comes, which is next week! I'd really like to try and grind some cash (lately, it seems, I've spent it as soon as I've had it), so I can upgrade skills and stuff like that without giving it another thought, and not having to focus on gold for the first few levels in Northrend. On the other hand, I don't really plan on spending a whole lot before getting to 80, except on riding skills, since I honestly don't find it necessary to be fully enchanted when you're running around in quested greens.

Anyway, I'm probably going to try and get enough cash to pay for slow flying for a mage and a shaman, and hopefully about 1000 gold for each of the 70 chars. Should be enough.

Now, I'm going to spend some time trying not to fall asleep, while waiting for my flatmate to get back from work. I made dinner yesterday, and the day before, so I'm expecting food, dammit!

Also: Yay Obama!

Now, let this be a lesson!

I stayed up rather late last night, hoping and wishing that my druid would open a treat bag or a crudely wrapped whatever, and find a Hallowed Helm inside. This, of course, did not happen. Instead, my level 48 priest got a helm, so, I now have 6 characters with the Sinister Calling achievement completed, and only one of them is level 70 - my nelf hunter. What do we learn from this? A classic, obviously: Random loot is random. Le QQ.

Anyway, I'm pretty much over it - considering I only pugged the Headless Horseman three times, getting about fifteen kills, and only trick-or-treated and did the fire-daily, I did pretty well: Next year I'll just have one thing to complete on the druid to get the title, quite a few of my alts got a boost in the form of one or two levels, and ten(!) of my characters got a Squashling! Also, all the switching-like-a-crazy-person between alts made me realise which one to delete in favour of my future Death Knight. (A poor, forgotten human mage, abandoned at level 23. Unfortunately her name is boring, so I'll have to come up with a new one.)

Some time last night I noticed a rather common conversation in trade chat:

Person A: "Why do people talk so much crap in trade chat? It's called "Trade chat", and should be for just trading..."
Person B, C, D...: "Who cares, yada yada. L2P, u r stoopid!"
Person P: "Why do people have to point that out - don't they know it just makes things worse?"

And this is where I just had to jump in:

Me: "The first rule of trade chat is "You do not talk about trade chat"."
(If you ask me, this is a well known pop culture reference - not for my parents' generation, but certainly should be for the WoW community. For the uninformed: I made a cheap parody on some famous lines from the movie Fight Club.)

After this I get a whisper:
"but thats just what u r doin", to which I reply:
"I think you missed a highly relevant pop culture reference."
Now, the answer I get back, I don't really know what to do with:
"NK u should get a relative life".
What? I make a joke, including a reference to something outside WoW, and I'm told (I assume) to get a life? There's really no way to please the average idiot, is there?

Of course, I can't take for granted that everyone will understand and appreciate my sense of humour, but what's up with sending rude whispers to random people in trade? I guess I should also point out that I very rarely say anything in trade, so I'm not exactly a "public" person. I mean, the Dirge-spammers are begging for it.

So, rant over. I'm off to buy sushi.

Sigh.

This day is starting to make me exhausted... My druid only needs one more item to get her "...the Hallowed"-title - the Hallowed Helm - and I've spent all day trying to get it. I've trick-or-treated at least seven times, and I've pugged the Horseman twice, unfortunately with only four summons each time, since the healer in the first group disconnected (and I had to take over), and in the second group I was the one with no summon left. The helm dropped with the second group, but someone else got it. :´(

On the bright side, though: While it was cake healing the well geared warrior tank in the first group, I managed to heal a pally tank, who had 9.5k hp and 390 defense rating >.< , and his buddies, a rogue and two warriors (one 65), all of whom loved to steal aggro, and stand in the whirlwind... Now, with most groups, it's easy to solve the problem by going "hey, try not to take so much damage, step out of the whirlwind", but since this happened to be a group where everyone but me preferred communicating in italian, this didn't really make any difference. The tank only died once, though, and the boss went down a millisecond later, so it still worked ok.

Anyway, since Hallow's End ends tomorrow morning, at 4AM, I'm planning to trick or treat every hour until then, which gives me... 10 more chances to get the helm. Not bad, but considering I haven't gotten it earlier on the druid, I can't say it feels very good either. I'd rather have the event continue for another week...

There's always next year, but the perfectionist in me really wants to see that achievement completed, and the title above my main character's head, and not later, but as soon as possible! So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed - since I don't really have the energy to try and get a spot in a pug without being able to summon, it seems to be all there's left to do...