Ok so I read most of the intro in my profile and had to giggle. What a long strange trip it has been!. I didn't check the date when I wrote that but cut to now, or two months ago. I was a WoW addict. I had seven 70's before the last expansion came out and had just gotten my 4th level 80 toon (the current max till the next expansion) and knocking myself to get achievements. I burned myself out trying for the achievement that would have given me the title of "the Insane". You arent insane for doing it but it makes you insane trying to do it. Also I was trying for a rare mount that you get as a reward for getting 100 mounts.... I got to 82 mounts and with a few more kills would have had my 83rd. And with a few more weeks doing daily quests I would have had another 6. And if I did a little more PvP that would have been another 4. And by doing those dailies and a few other things I could get 75 pets at the same time I'm doing all of that, and with 75 I would get a fawn which is really really cute! ......Yeah, I had it bad.

Sigh.

So all of my plans within plans were stopped. Life hands us a lot of

stuff and I am still not dealing with everything the way I should but I

have stopped WoW cold turkey about 6 weeks ago. I had been off and on

playing for a few months before that, off because my partner was in the

hospital for a month and a half and then I got sick with all of the

stress I was putting myself through because we were going to try and

revive our guild which was stalled from the get go because of her illness

and then when I tried to do it alone my brain exploded. I left my

friends there, no explainations, just left and I feel like a total jerk

for it and a little embarassed at the way I left, but for sanity sake it

was my best (and most ****c) move.

I was so green when I wrote my intro. I probably didn't even know what a

noob was. I laugh at old screen shots as well, no sophistication, just

stuff like... "Wow, that sheep died ON the fence" SCREENSHOT! Yeah...

so new it hurts.

So what have I been doing since? Well I had my buddy Dan help me pick

out a bunch of games last Christmas. Games with beginings and more

importantly, endings. I played each one for a short while, but WoW kept

calling me back. Cut to my melt down and I got totally into Sims 2

(Double Delux) and sort of replaced one habit for another. Why Sims 2

when Dan introduced me to Bioshock, Company of Heros, Left 4 Dead and The

Orange Box? The only thing I can think of is that I didn't have control

over things and so I got totally engrossed in a game where I was in TOTAL

control. Basic Psychology 101: When you lack control in your life you

looks for ways to have control over some portion of it. I am soooo

garden varity ;-)

Anyway, the Sims obsession is now burnt out (except for my facination

with finding new ways for them to die... I must have had grandma open

that Murphy bed 200 times before it finally crushed her!) and I am

dabbling. Getting more sophisticated as I go. Facebook games and

standard issue Windows games and now I am finally itching for something

more sophisticated again. So out comes Bioshock and out comes my brain.

I've tried to free myself before. When you have numberous physical issues it gets really attractive and easy to hide and push everything away. Sunlight is ouchies. At least I am the one asking for it.

I played Everquest (the first one) for maybe 10 minutes once. I didn't care for it much because I had no idea what I was supposed to do so I got bored and let my friend have her game back.

Fast forward a year and a little bit. I have a few console games under my belt as well as a few PC games that I activily play and the same friend introduces me to World of Warcraft. What a differance!

I thought I wouldn't like playing others in a MMORPG. I was worried that people would be jerks and I would be stumbling around trying to find my way through the game. I was wrong.

WoW is a great game and I really enjoy playing it. My fear that people would be jerks was completely wrong. Since I had never played a MMORPG I thought people would hassle me or look down on me because so many people playing WoW had come from games like EQII.  Instead I have found people of every level to be kind and helpful as well as generous with their time and resources. Sure I have met a few jerks along the way, but the good far outweighs the bad.

Since my highest level character is still only level 30 I can't always do as much for others as has been done for me. Aside from a few embarrassing newbie moments I have tried to be the same kind of player I would hope to run into o my "journey". For example, said character is a Warlock, so I give other players help for free when they need to port somewhere. Not a lot maybe but it can help people and that is what I like to do best. I also have other chars who can offer buffs and I find myself casting buffs at anyone in range if I am out and about... just 'cause.

I could go into gameplay and all of that but I'll save that for another post. I just wanted to say how glad I am to have found a community that I can tap into where I can feed my gaming blood-lust, er...uh... relieve my stress and just relax. I like that WoW is a game that is both fun and challenging (to me at least) and requires me to stretch not just myself and what I know about gaming but also what I believe about people.

Kudos to my girlfriend who introduced me to the game and spent so much time answering my questions and teaching me the ins and outs of MMORPG's.

I am packing things away to move which if things go well will be the end of August. I am having some major withdraws right now. I have packed away all of my books, cd's, movies and games. I even put the xbox away so there is no renting games either. If it wern't for my friend loaning me a couple of books and Command and Conquer on my computer I would go absolutely stark raving mad.

Speaking of packing, I have lots more to do. I have like 40+ boxes and I feel like I haven't even really begun. Off I go.

I didn't buy a new system after all. I waited patiently and got the Xbox version of San Andreas. It's really cool, everything I would have hoped for, but I don't have time to play right now because I am in the process of moving to a new home (yea me!) So I won't be playing any games for about a month and a half.

Also had some other changes recently, broke up an 8 month relationship. You'd think I'd be more upset by it than I am but it was a long and slow process to the end, so it was something I was well prepared for. It was great when it started (like it always is) but when the shine wore off she wasn't who I expected, as I'm sure she felt the same about me. She did keep telling me that she might want to get back together after she worked some stuff out but she is probably trying to make the situation less final than it really feels to her and I think she believes that I am emotionally fragile and doesn't want me crying about it. Not sure I would want to get back into that relationship anyway, Iwhen I look at it now, I can see she wasn't there for me emotionally at all the past few months.

She told me I was too emotional, and I can be emotional when I care about someone or something strongly but I've not really been upset by the decision to end the relationship at all. Actually it took me a week or two to work up the nerve to end it myself, I thought she would have done it by then but we were so unconnected at the end I just couldn't wait to be done with it and move on. Like I said though, it was a long process of winding down but I have no regrets about either the relationship or ending it, both were the right decisions at the right time. And Krys was right, each relationship is a way of narrowing down your list of things you'll tollerate. It's funny because it's true.

Any way, I am making a new start in all areas of my life so this these are all good things. I'll really miss being close to my Mom and Dad and my friends, but I'm on the way to Las Vegas so I suspect I may have a few visitors from time to time. I just hope that the dogs and I can adapt to desert living.

I am loking forward to the solitude in a way. It'll give me a chance to do more writing and the privacy will encourage me to get out and do more like wash my car and yard stuff (not that there's much of a yard there yet). Where I live now my landlord is right over the fence most of the time and he always manages to come up with some rude and/or weird remark so I hide indoors as much as I can.

Funny , I was just going to write about gaming here but I guess I needed to sort my thoughts because I got way more personal than I had intended. :o) Oh well.

Oh one last thing, the house comes with a piano. The seller didn't want to move it so it's mine now. It 's an upright made in Paris in 1885 or so. How cool is that?!?!

I'm a fairly new gamer, I got interested in gaming again in 2003 when a friend of mine turned me on to Knights of the Old Republic. I beat it as good and evil and have been addicted to gaming ever since.

Beating the first Halo game was a milestone for me, when I was a teenager I couldn't beat these types of games and now I love to play them. Granted I'm still not the best player ever, but I have fun.

I had another friend turn me on to RTS games. I started with Command and Conquer Generals and am currently toying with Empire Earth though I haven't gotten very far with it since I have a new girlfriend that holds my attention much better than any game would. ;o)

So I am on the verge of buying a new gaming system (PS2) just so I can play San Andreas. I am hopelessly addicted to Vice City and even though I am stuck on a few spots in the game it's still some of the most fun I've ever had. I know it's crazy to buy a system for one game but this is GTA and according to some, the best game in the series. Oh well, I will just dream of a day when I am flush with cash and can buy any game or system I want.