IT'S XMAS!!!

:D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :P 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D :P :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :P 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D :P :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :P 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :P 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :P 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :P 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D :P :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D :P :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8) :D 8)

I tell ya if i'm not working to bring in much needed cash my time is consumed with looking for xmas gifts for all the people i know and trying to get all the food and alcohol we'll need for the days coming up to and after the big day let alone the day itself!

Anna's decided that it would be a good idea for us to have a party on boxing day rather than just sit about the house unconsious as we usially do, which has piled a lot more stress and work on top of me.

The only releaf i get really is the knowledge that my mates, my male mates, will all be happy with some form of alcohol for their xmas gift, either wrapped or in pint form down the pub, so i can pretty much pick up their's whenever and for little cost.

Roll on xmas eve so i don't need to worry about any of this anymore... wiether that's because i have actually been able to pull it all off or i've not managed to do anything and it's too late to do anything about it so "what the hell!" ;)

Well it's finally up.

After asking me for 6 days straight to put it up Anna finally got off her ass and did it herself! :P

Seriously tho i wanted to do it i've just had a lot on recently and if she had woken me up before doing it herself i would have loved to have helped her. She did a much better job than i could have done as well.

Now that xmas task is out of the way i must return to the far more worrying problems of xmas shopping and earning enough money for xmas shopping. I've also been pondering if i eat all the chocolates in my Advent calandar in one go, would that be bad luck or something? ;)


BTW: GS if you're wondering what you can get me for Xmas, uncensoring my surname would be brilliant thanks. :D

Hi, haven't blogged in awhile since i've not had much to say really... i was gonna blog about i8 and the wings in CoH but i yet to qualify and i kinda want to wait till i can decorate such a blog with my winged visage.

Anyway i'm still here and still reading your blogs even if i haven't been posting anywhere, not had that much time, you know how it goes.

I find it funny how i get this when i'm supposed to be on the UK site and our "turkey day" is also xmas day. :?

Anyway happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate it, i'm off to work now.

You are the reason, when sleep is so sweet, that i awake everyday.

You make every moment beautiful to behold, and even in the bleakest of times You give me hope and joy.

You are the life of the party, never dull, You strive to make the world smile.

You are compassion, your love covers me like the snuggest blanket, making me warm, making me content.

You understand me, ignore my flaws, forgive me my mistakes, You make me happy to be.

You are my goddess, my only desire, my one and only precious flower.

You are Anna, You are my wife.

I love you with all my heart, and will do so till I die.

Woohoo! :D8):)

Thanks to you all! ;)

This blog is dedicated to those of you who have decided (thanks to my previous post ;)) to join those of us who play games online (actually you're quite fortunate that you know someone like me who has played an awful lot of MMOs since there's a lot of choice out there! :P)


Ultima Online: UO is pretty much the one that started it all. Personally i don't recommend it since it's old, it's aged pretty badly since the graphics weren't even great in it's day, and it's pretty complex, even after a pretty lengthy tutorial you don't really have much idea what to do next and some people have discribed feeling like being dropped in an ocean especially with the community basicly run by Hardcore UOers. But still we all gotta bow down to it since without it i doubt we'll have most, if any, of the MMOs we have today. 6/10

Runescape: Runescape is a web browser run MMO which you can either play for free or pay to unlock all the options. It's simple, fun and the community is pretty helpful. Character creation is very limited however due to the simplicity of the game. 7/10

The Saga of Ryzom: This is a very beautiful game (for the graphics of it's time) but it doesn't really contain anything that makes it stand out from the rest of the MMOs. Also you have to spend a lot of time on the tutorial island to lvl up at least 30 lvls before you'll be anywhere close to being able to deal with the outside challanges so it can become a bit boring a bit to soon. 6/10

Anarchy Online: When i first played this game i got a year's subscription for free (which you still can i believe) but i only played two weeks because for me this game is warped! The graphics are a bit shabby and once you're out of the tutorial zone it can be a bit confusing but what did this game in for me was the fact that male toons can wear female clothing (the first proper armor i got was a bra and thong) and "his" arse wiggles in a very worrying way (I was not able to play a male toon for over a year after playing this game without being reminded of the whole disturbing episode!). [1/10]

Star Wars Galaxies: I give this game 2 points for being playible but nothing at all special and 2 points for being Star Wars but i also take away 1 point because the fact that it's Star Wars is the only reason to play this game! This game is also infamous for the developers pushing patches and updates onto the community that completely change the gameplay, and usally for the worse. 3/10

Everquest 2: I've only played the Trial of the Island, which is the trial game, but i doubt a larger community would change my opinion of the game any. It's really nothing special, the graphics seem pretty bland, especially when concerning spells, and while it has hours and hours of voice spoken dialog i doubt anyone will actually sit thru much of it. This could be fun to play but there are much better MMOs out there. 5/10

City of Heroes & City of Villians: These are my current MMOs of choice. Despite a lot of the missions being very similar this is one of the finest MMOs i've played. It starts with what has to be the best Character Generator in any game which has enabled every toon in the game to be unique in someway or another. The combat is simple and fun which enables you to happily blast or kick baddie or goodie arse for hours without getting bored or feeling too much of the grind. There are plenty of rewards for your hard work at lvling your toon from Capes and Auras, given to you at lvl 20 and 30, to the unlocking of 2 new character types once you've got one of your toons to lvl 50. Every few months cyptic releases a new "Issue" that updates the game in many different way as well as adding new things like new power sets, new character types, new zones and up and coming the Veteran Rewards that will bless toons with unlockible costumes or powers for sticking with the game for a given length of time (top one of these on everyone's list is the 15 month Wings Reward!). If you own both CoH and CoV you'll still only pay the same monthly subscription as having just one, there's no additional cost, and now with the Good vs Evil Edition you pretty much get the two for the price of one. I'm knocking off a point purely because CoV is pretty much exactly the same to CoH only with more lag. 9/10

EVE Online: Another truely great MMO that many people are scared off of due to it's complexity but after a few weeks of play you'll know your way around (tho the community does claim that no matter how long you play you'll never learn everything about the game). It's a very beautiful game and there's nothing else quite like it out on the market at the moment. You can download this game for free and get right into it straight away only paying the monthly subscription and every few months CCP releases a massive expansion entirely for free that adds a truely huge ammount of new content. 9/10

World of Warcraft: A great game that could be almost perfect if only it had a better teaming system. It's graphics are still pretty tho a bit aged, gameplay is fun and a lot of the game can be soloed which is pretty much the reason for my main problem with it. Because players can solo most of the game they do which means finding people to team with, which is already a hassle since there is no find team/member window and the only team channel is restricted to zone, is incredibly hard making the game very lonely especially if you're not in a good guild. There is much to see and do in this game and it is a lot of fun but if you, like me, play online to play with others then this might not be the game for you. 8/10

Guild Wars: Good looking, fun and no monthly subscription, there's very little reason not to get this game. Without the expansion packs the lvl cap is only 20 which can be disappointing especially when you can reach lvl 15 with only a week or so's work under your belt and on top of that you only get 5 free character slots, if you want more you will have to pay for them. Not much else to say about the game aside from the fact that it puts a lot of focus on PvP with it's skill system set up spercificly so you have to slot yourself in whatever way you think will bring yourself out on top. 7/10


I hope those of you that are thinking of joining us in the MMO community have found this helpful as well as those of you who might be thinking of switching or getting an additional MMO.

BTW: I have played more MMOs than this but i can't remember at the moment what the others were, if you have any questions about any MMOs mentioned here please ask and if you're wondering something about one not mentioned here, well it won't hurt to ask anyway. ;)

Sounds like the opening to a rant but i'm gonna go the other way. 8)

As we go thru life it is more than apparent that how we appear effects how we are treated and what we recieve more often than not. These are harsh times where the differences between us are feared or loathed and people are treated so very poorly over how they look or what they believe in.

Online it is a different story.

Online we are who we are not who we appear to be and everyone knows that what we tell each other could be complete and utter bull but we still accept and trust each other. The Online community does not care if you are a Black/White/Arab/Asian who's a Muslim/Hindu/Christain/Buddist/Athiest and has only lived for 10/20/30/40/50+ years in whatever country, we don't see any of that all we see is the personality you present to us online and i believe that in most cases that is a very true representation of who we are (even if everything we present about our real lives may be lies).

Everyone is equal online, we are all the same (as far as visual representation goes), we're all here for the same reason, to talk, to play, to escape from our everyday lives even if just for awhile. This is why i play online, because everywhere else i go in life i am judged for one reason or another based on nothings but at least online either no one cares to judge me or if i am judged it is me they're judging and not my cover.



I also play online coz it's fun! :P