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MS9's "New Life" Diary

MindStar9

MindStar9

Self-Requested Deactivation
Joined
Jun 15, 2005
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8,529
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MindStar9
Much has happened since my introduction to EU by my brother JetBoy in March of 2005. It's been an interesting and often amazing journey that has provided much in the way of entertainment, but more in the way of personal relationships. I have met some truly incredible individuals in this virtual universe, and despite the global diversity and cultural differences, have nurtured many treasured and cherished friendships. It hasn't always been easy, but a journey I wouldn't have changed for anything.

Why make a new Diary? ... because my life has had many twists and turns both ingame and IRL, and right now, I am well entrenched in embracing new horizons both ingame and IRL, and I'm inspired to write about them; especially after reading a special friend's Diary that continue's to chronicle experiences in both worlds so eloquently and lovingly.

So what's new? ... well, I'm continuing to skill on HG, and more recently have engaged in rifle skilling as well due to the new (L) weapons that were introduced like the GeoTrek and Isis which I love. Even though I'm maxed on both, I'm continuing to experience lots of green which makes me happy, not to mention how fun these weapons are, AND ... that they have quite a cool sound to them.

I've also acquired a set of Phantom armor, yet still waiting on the harness to be delivered, but that should be soon. I really love the armor BIG time, and am glad I made the investment. Not sure I'll be selling the Bear after getting the Phantom harness, but will give it some consideration. I just don't understand why Bear is one of those armors where shins have been so incredibly difficult to acquire. Oh well, I'm happy with the Phantom, so after I get the harness it won't matter any more.

My life in EU is splendid, and despite experiencing the same issues that most experience with regard to low loot recently, as well as other minor and annoying things, I'm not complaining. It's an opportunity to enjoy time not only with my super brother when he's available, but also to share time with many wonderful friends that mean so much to me.

My IRL is experiencing leaps and bounds, and despite the loss of a brother in January, new horizons are no longer looming in the distant, but are full-force in my face and polishing up the colors in my rainbow. So what does that mean? ... that someone I met in EU over a year ago has captured my heart IRL. Now, the first thought that most will have is that it's Moonie, but it's not. Moonie is one of the most incredible men I know, and has character, integrity, honesty, a loving soul, and a kick-ass sense of humor, but Moonie and I are loving friends, and adore each other deeply. We are soc mates, continue to enjoy exceptional and crazy-ass fun ingame, have mutual close friends, including my IRL guy, and share a closeness that will never be destroyed by anything. We have promised each other this because our friendship is deep, treasured, and cherished as a "true" and "real" friendship in the way a friendship should be experienced.

The relationship I have with my IRL guy was not built or nurtured ingame, other than an incredible friendship. The possibilities beyond friendship were all explored and developed IRL over a period of time. Now, after months of nurturing these possibilities, we have become housemates, and are having an incredibly fun time with it all. Lot's of cool things are going on, and with time I'll report some of them here, but what the huge bonus is in all of this, is that we support each other's EU activities, even though we rarely interact with each other ingame.

I know, the big question is, who is he! :laugh: Well, for now, we want to keep that our secret, and I won't entertain anyone questioning me either, because I won't give an answer. Eventually we will reveal this mystery person when we feel the time is more comfortable in doing so. The only two people who know are my brother and Moonie, and both have been incredibly supportive ... (one or two others think they know, but truly don't, they've been set off track). :laugh: Jet and the rest of my family met him at our brother's memorial in February, which was an unfortunate way to meet family of course, but many flew in from other parts of the country and despite this being a sad occasion, we took the opportunity, and it turned out to be wonderfully special indeed.

So, my EU and EF friends ... MS9 has other things on her mind these days, and life is just getting better and better. My stepping down from moderating both forums, and not spending as much time ingame has been the result of shifting my focus a little more where the benefits keep on giving, and where I don't see "This creature did not carry any loot" ... also, globals and hofs take on a whole new meaning. ;)

I'll be back to share more of my new adventures as time permits ... in the meantime, I want to thank my brother Jet and Moonie for being the incredible life companions that I know I can always count on no matter what. And Moonie ... you know I love you in a way that will never ever change, no matter what ... and that you can count on it without a doubt.

Ciao for now! :D


The lemonade is sweet!


EDIT:

I had to come back and add that I finally met up with Auktuma ingame and got my Phantom harness. :yay:

I have to say that Auk was lookin' rather scrumptious in his tux ... BIG time Hottie with penetrating light-colored eyes! Thank you Auk for meeting up with me, and for coming through with the harness. It is SO appreciated my dear, and I'm happy that we finally got to FL once and for all. It's been a long time comin' and now it's done.

My plan is to go out and test the Phantom against the Bear on the same mobs in the same conditions and see what kind of stats I can come up with. Although it won't be a true test since I don't have Bear shins ... DAMN that sucks! Oh well, off to have some fun! :D



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Things are coming along nicely IRL ... this was the first weekend in two that we weren't transporting "stuff" from the other apt, and could finally relax a little and do little projects. The computer/music room is lookin' kinda cool now, and we rearranged things today (ok, he did), so that my treadmill will fit in the room very comfortably ... just like it did in my sunroom at the other place. :wtg:

About a year ago, I splurged and got myself a 21 piece set of Wolfgang Puck cookware, but guess who's using it more than me! :rolleyes: Hey, I'm not complaining, and I'm well on my way to being spoiled. :D I've learned to relax around the clutter at the moment, because I hate clutter, but we're actually having fun pulling it all together, and sorting it out. Combining two households is a big project, but the further along we go, the more ideas we come up with, and that's a good thing.

I took a break from mining, because after getting over 50 globals/hofs in a little over two weeks, I think MA gave me a message that I should do something else for a while. So I went back to my first love, hunting. It's been going rather well, and have been experiencing team globals with soc mates and friends, but nothing solo. I decided today to do a little ore mining out at Shinook ... the purple patch that's been so good to me ... and whaddaya know ... I unlocked "extraction" ... :yay: Now I'm told it's a long road to unlocking "mineral sense" ... but I'll get there when I get there, I'm in no hurry. In the meantime, I'll enjoy my time in EU. It's so good to have a housemate who understands! ;)

Let's see what tomorrow brings! :silly2:



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What a great weekend it was ... got some things done around the new place, and we're slowly working toward getting more settled (gonna take time though combining two households), and my live-in chef :laugh: is putting the Wolfgang Puck cookware to good use for sure. One of the things he made not that long ago was porkchops with a garlic jam glaze ... absolutely amazing ... then this past weekend, he whipped up a yummy veggie pasta. Oh ya, and I tried spaghetti squash for the first time too, and don't know why I haven't tried it until now because I LUV IT. He's such a sweetheart ... on his way home from work, he passes roadside farmer's market stands with fresh produce, fruits, etc., and brings home the freshest and most healthy stuff ... now that's a great chef for ya ... how much more luckier can I get, huh? I have to say, that even though we have the deal that when he cooks I clean up afterwards, he's one of the neatest cooks I know ... next to myself of course ... and that is a huge bonus as well. Waiting to see just how much "gooder" this all gets! :wtg:

I always love spending time with my brother, and this past weekend we were able to get together a couple of times for some fun. Every now and then if Moonie or BlackRain aren't available, we'll drag other special friends into our activities like Asti, Sir Odd Bunny, JohnCapital, JackFlask, whoever's online that we can tag for some fun ... especially if we're going on a beacon run, or trying something new.

We dragged Asti away from her mining and into one of our escapades, which turned out to be loads of fun. After an attempt at making a run at the Thorifoid temple with no luck, we headed off to Feff-land West of Fury. It was an opportunity for me to test out the Phantom armor against some good ol' JSA mob-herding. It was a blast, and you can read about it here (w/pics of course) ...


Sunday I attended the Dark Brotherhood 3rd soc anniversary event, and had another great time. I took Casay up on her invite, and also brought along a couple of friends to help celebrate (Asti and Sir Odd Bunny). Little did I know that Ms. Asti had something special up her sleeve for the DB. She built a dance floor at the landmarker, complete with the DB initials to personalize it ... way to go Ms. Asti. The event was fun and I got involved with a few Dak Stalkers which I love, and managed to not end up in last place as a result of looting a 37+ ped weapon, along with a little bit more decent loot, so placing 22 out of about 45 attendees isn't too bad.

Here is the link to the event thread, and where you can view the little pic storyline I did about it. We are now waiting on the new "Asti Exo Wrap BP" to drop so that we can start stocking these things in Freyr's shops. Check out the pics ...


Late last night, Moonie and I got together ingame after he got home from work, and we explored the safe zone where the Robot Attackers are and had a blast. Even got some decent loot, and learned how to stay inSIDE that safe zone. :laugh: Now we need to explore the other safe zones as well. TP'ing in is a guess with the coords that are given, and if you should happen to be outside the safe zone, well ... guess I don't have to tell ya what might happen! :rolleyes:

So far, no one's caught my ass in PvP4 yet, but maybe there'll be a time when I TP into the zone, smack in front of someone fast enough to take me down before I render ... ok, not much chance after rendering either maybe depending on who it is :D ... but hey, that's all part of the game, right ... I have no problem with it ... however, they should know they won't get anything. :silly2:

Well, I'm off to get a few things done before teaching my afternoon class, but will be back to report more of my new adventures.



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Yesterday turned out to be an interesting day indeed ... after receiving a response to an email I sent to my supervisor at the college inquiring about teaching Summer courses, I was initially pissed, because it seems that enrollment is down for the Summer and they aren't offering the same number of courses. As an Adjunct Professor (part-time), it means that full-time staff get the classes first and we get what's leftover, which isn't normally a bad thing because I never have less than 3 classes each term. However, there is one full-time Psychology Professor on staff at this particular campus location, and she'll be teaching all the classes but one, and that's already staffed, which means I have no classes for the Summer Term, BUT ...

I said I was only initially pissed, because an interesting conversation took place with my Honey that just made all the sense in the world. I've been working on developing my private practice for sometime, and wanted to fully launch it in the beginning of the year, but then there was the situation with my brother and his death and then the memorial, and then the move, and then, and then ...

What he suggested turned a negative into a positive, and totally gave a different perspective to what I was faced with. This current Spring Term doesn't end until May 7th, and after a week or two break, the Summer Term starts. Each term is 14 weeks, and he said to take this time to fully focus on the business and connect with the agencies first who will be using my services for their clients, and then expand more into the private area.

OMG, all kinds of lights and bells and whistles and fireworks went off, and my thoughts were off and running at "MachStar-9" again. What an incredible opportunity this will be to finally realize a dream I've had for a long time. I have all that I need, but just didn't have enough time to focus on it. I'm totally pumped and ready to get started now, but have a few weeks before that happens. In the meantime, I have more to do to fine-tune the other programs I developed in 2003 ... I'm expanding them all to 10 weeks instead of 6 or 8, except for the Domestic Violence Intervention one, which will remain a 12 week program merely because of the enormous amount of content.

The other programs ... "Anger Management" ... "Building Successful Relationships" ... and ... "A Journey Through Adolescence" ... were received very well in the community in 2003 at the time I was doing more of the individual and family counseling, and even the county court system sanctioned them as being the programs that parents in the child welfare system were mandated to take ... especially my premiere program "Intense Effective Parenting" ... which is so incredibly needed in every community, and the one I am more passionate about than any other ... except for building successful relationships, because people don't know how to do that any more.

IRL is totally coming together in ways that I couldn't imagine, and as far as my EU life is concerned ... we are now entertaining the idea of an IRL get-together in Florida with soc mates, and will be discussing that in our private soc forum soon. We're thinking Summer so we can do the whole beach and maybe theme parks thing ... but who knows, there's time to plan.

Life is good and getting gooder! :yay:



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IRL News:

Yesterday was an interesting day ... I made contact with a very special friend who also happened to be one of my graduate professors, along with her husband. What wonderful people they are, and crazy as hell, but more fun than you could imagine. We've all been caught up in "stuff" with regard to orgaizing our lives, and she (about a year ago) completed her doctorate in sports psychology, so now both she and her husband are PhD's. She's been busy developing her private practice, and he continues to teach at several colleges.

Anyway ... we haven't gotten together in a while, but the weekend after this we are having them over for dinner so they can meet the new man in my life, and also to just have some fun. Nancy and I work extremely well together with regard to coming up with ideas and strategizing, and it was she who recommended me for the professorship at the college that turned out quite well, but if the business takes off as I'm anticipating it to, then I won't go back in the Fall. I'm just extremely happy to have this opportunity to fully focus on the business and finally launch it.

EU News:

I learned something from my soc mate BlackRain a while back, to not be so apprehensive toward taking on new mobs, or new level mobs. As much of a "Kick-Ass Warrior Huntress" that I am, I tended to stay within a certain maturity for some mobs, and for some unknown reason, not venture into the big boys.

First time at CP with BlackRain and other soc mates, we started off in Dome 1, but the spawn was minimal and wasn't exciting enough ... besides, we didn't have any problems taking them down and there really wasn't an adrenaline rush of sorts. BR said, let's go to Dome 4 ... my initial reaction was, are you nuts ... but then he said, how will you know you can't handle them unless you try. The worst that can happen is you die and revive and then get on with it. After testing the waters and realizing that I can take on Devastators and Ravagers on my own (with a lot of work and fapping of course, providing there are no criticals), I have been more open to wander into territory I haven't experienced before.

I was out mining yesterday and the day before, in the wonderful purple patch at Shinook that has been so good to me, but further South, and it was there that I came upon an Esty Stalker. It was then I realized I was in a small LA, and while my immediate reaction was ... oh boy ... I remembered the CP experience and what BR said and quickly readied myself to take the beast on. Estys always hit harder than Allys, so I had it in my mind that this was going to be a fight to the finish. Well, it was surprising to see that even though they were hitting pretty good, I was able to take them down. At that point, I was pumped and had myself a little party. :D They weren't paying well, but I had me some fun nonetheless.

Last night when Moonie and I took them on, we both got a crit of 162.4 and Moonie got another at 174, so they can pack a wollup now and then. They still weren't paying, but we did a lot of laughing and enjoyed ourselves. I love the guys in our soc because they have such a crazy-ass sense of humor, and at times we just laugh our asses off more than we hunt I think ... especially when we get in our JSA mob-herding mode.

I'm still very pleased with my Phantom armor, and don't plan on changing it or upgrading it for a while. I want to research more into the dynamics of having certain skill levels before entertaining different or higher-end armor. Moonie said that he was told by an uber that your evade should be about 3k before moving into armor like Jaguar (even though Phantom is close enough), for there to be more of an efficiency or economy. Not sure how true this is, but I've posted the question in my armor comparison thread. Maybe someone will respond to it.

Oh ya ... forgot to share, that Moonie, Sir Odd Bunny and I caught an avatar walking around in a square pattern non-stop in the Sakura TC, and when meeting an obstacle, would just start the pattern in a different direction from there. We all followed her around and tried to block her, but she would just inch her way around us and go in a different direction and start the square pattern all over again. We were laughing ourselves silly, and it wasn't until we got her into the corner by the crafting machines that she couldn't go anywhere. We used every emote possible just for fun and couldn't stop laughing. At one point we all showered her with champagne, so when she becomes conscious again, she'll wonder what she did. :laugh:

Here's a pic ... Moonie and I were on our way out for a hunt, but the Bunny had her pinned in another corner of the TC. Wonder how they did after we left :rolleyes: ...

CorneredAva.jpg

I did some filming of this activity, but don't want to make assumptions, so the evidence is on ice at the moment.

Now where was I ... oh ya, put the wash in the dryer.




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IRL News:

Things are coming along nicely, and did I tell you how cool it is to have my own live-in chef. It's not what he does for a living, but he's damn good at it. Last night he whipped up Sloppy Joes from scratch and they were awesome. I almost didn't want to know what the ingredients were, but when he told me, I assure you it was everything but the kitchen sink. I'm not used to food with lots of spices, so we're going to have to take this a step at a time so that I can become accustomed to the changes. One thing is absolutely appreciated though, he's very mindful of being healthy in what we eat and how it's prepared. Quite the accommodating chef indeed.

Now, I'm just going to have to figure out how to get back in there once in a while to have a chance to play with all my kitchen gadgets. I'm known as the "Appliance Queen" ... I just about have them all, and if I don't, I will soon. I love convenience, and anything that will save me time in the kitchen ... as opposed to the Master Chef that does everything practically from scratch, which isn't a bad thing. It means while he's playing Martha Stewart in the kitchen, I can be busy accomplishing other things, so that's definitely a time-saver for me. Even though I do the cleanup after he cooks, I would still have to do it if I cooked. Did I also mention that this is getting gooder and gooder? :wtg:

EU News:

Another interesting day in my virtual universe indeed ... all of the mining ores and enmatter I put at auction the night before sold, but then they always do, so that's cool. I'm not focusing just on mining or hunting at the moment, but mixing them up for variety, especially when loot sucks, but I'm still getting skills and experiencing the green swirlies, so that makes me happy.

I did a little Esty Stalker hunt with my brother, but just as the night before with Moonie, they weren't paying anything AT all, not even giving up any stuff, so that was a bust. All 3 of us planned on getting together later in the evening, so we definitely had to plan something else to stalk.

Moonie and I were ingame before my brother joined us, so Moonie decided to take me on a Kingfisher run on memorial Island. When he mentioned it, my immediate reaction was, "you nuts" ... but there I went again, underestimating my skills and basing my response on a previous experience with those suckers in a different location where I got my purple ass splattered all over the terrain. Moonie said "come one, with your Phantom and 8A plates, no problem." Well, the adventurous soul that I am, and remembering the pep talk BlackRain gave me a while back, I said let's do it. Moonie was right, piece-a-cake, but I just don't like shooting things buzzin' about my head at angles that cause neck pain. :laugh:

That was a bust too, because those boogers must have left their goods tucked neatly away somewhere as they weren't givin' anything up. Moonie suggested that we go to the SW corner of the blue area on the west coast of Eudoria where we can play with bigger Atrox, Bulls, and Neconu. Hey, I was up for that, so we started heading out that way when my brother caught up with us. The 3 of us eventually got to the targeted area and found it difficult from our position to see the mobs in the brush, so we took out what was close and worked our way around to a more open area. We had no problem takin' down the bigger mobs at all, but they weren't paying much either, and we happened to be in an area where there was a server break, and Jet was having major problems with his computer for some reason. We decided a change was in order.

Hogglos continued to pay, so we decided we would head out to TI for a run at them. We faired much better with the Hogs and managed to achieve 2 globals ... one for 61 ped, and one for 253 ped. We can each take on youngs and matures on our own, but when we have 4 on us at one time, it makes it more difficult, and something that occurred a couple of times when people went running through the area, even though one stopped to fap a little, so thanks for that.

All in all it was a decent day, but what made it even cooler was heading over to the Grand Opening of "Block 22" at Omegaton West - Gamma Building - 22A. What an incredible job Usurper did in decorating this new club. The environment gives the feel of a real club, and is total class from floor to ceiling and wall to wall. The atmosphere is inviting, and just an overall comfortable place to be and enjoy friends and good music provided by Jamhot. I highly recommend a night out at "Block 22" ... and bring your friends, because it's truly a unique place to experience.

Here are a few pics:

1a-Usurper.jpg

Block 22's beautiful Hostess

3-SofaSittingArea.jpg

One of the cozy sitting areas

4-LykkeOnBar.jpg

The unique bar setup​

To see the complete pic storyline I wrote, go to this Grand Opening announcement link:


I was so inspired by the decor, that it gave me ideas about creating my own "virtual playpen" of sorts. I was thinking the "Purple Passion Pit" (Triple "P") ... my head is spinning with ideas right now. Perhaps when I get more settled with things, I'll make a go of it. I'll just have to make contact with my ingame connections to get what I need ... coloring is important of course ... oh ya, purple. :D

That's it for this day's adventures ... I'll be back whenever to add more. Not sure what this day holds for me, but one thing I am sure of, my IRL and my virtual life are incredibly special. ;)

Ciao for now!



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IRL News:

Not too much to report on yesterday, except that we were very productive and made great progress in getting more organized. He took the 5-drawer file cabinet out through the screened patio area where I swear you could fit a Cadillac it's such a nice size, and he sanded it down and repainted it black to go with the rest of the decor in the computer/music room. While he did that, I put my books back up on the bookshelves in the livingroom ... love my books. Today he's doing the 2-drawer cabinet that will fit between our matching desks, and where the lamp and his stereo receiver and CD player will sit. We have nice compartmentalized hutches on our desks and we'll put one speaker on the top of my hutch and one on his for separation.

Eventually, we will shop for the patio furniture so that we can enjoy that space as well. Nothing like a leisurely spent Saturday or Sunday morning having breakfast on the patio, or a relaxing special tea moment or two in the cooler evening time.

The treadmill fits perfectly on the opposite wall behind my desk and faces the door, BUT ... more importantly, it faces the side of the 5-drawer cabinet that was just painted and where a TV will be on top on a swivel base so that I can watch it while I walk. It keeps me distracted from what I'm actually doing so that it doesn't seem like such a task. :laugh:

The day ended yummy of course, he roasted a chicken, cooked zucchini and yellow squash to perfection, and blended salad ingredients that are always complementary. I have to laugh though, this morning he was unpacking one of his boxes in the kitchen, and I swear the whole thing was jam-packed with spices. After I said "oh wow" ... he said that spices have health benefits. Well, I went to the internet and did a little googling, and here are a couple of links that you might find interesting ...


One thing I know for sure ... I'm eating better and more healthy, and that's a good thing ... not to mention having a culinary explorer in the kitchen who provides an opportunity to try new things, as well as all the love that goes into preparing and serving the end results ... now how much more delicious can it get, huh? Ok, we aren't going there right now! :nana:

OMG ... he just delivered breakfast into the computer/music room, and I'm sitting here with a huge smile on my face, because he made grits and sunnyside up eggs for me, BUT ... he artistically shaped the eggs in such a way that it looked like a face with 2 yellow eyes, and then formed the grits around the bottom in the shape of a smile. :laugh: These little surprises are so special, and I've really never had anyone do things like this for me.

When I facitiously asked him if I deserved this, his answer was an immediate ... "of course you do" ... then what followed made me smile (and laugh) even more ... he said he had to make up for all the dickheads I've had in the past, while trying not to be a dickhead himself. Now that's dedication and commitment to the phrase on our morning coffee mugs ... "Failure is not an Option" ... and I will continue to say that it gets gooder and gooder. :D

EU News:

We were so busy yesterday, that neither of us got ingame until much later in the evening. After dinner we (ok, me) watched a little TV while he evened off the bottom of the vertical blinds on the sliding glass doors leading to the screened patio. Now they flow better, even though one seems to want to be retarded.

My brother came ingame late too, but instead of our usual team hunt, we met up at Palms Corner and went in different directions mining just to explore a new area. I went North along the lake and in between the LA's toward New Oxford. It looked as though I crossed over into an LA, even though nothing popped up saying so, but I ran into a few Warrior and Scavanger Argos, and Prowler and Stalker Berys which was fun ... not loot fun, but fun.

Jet went off into the SW, and he said ... "oh, there are high maturity Equus here" ... and I said he must have wandered into the LA with them. I've killed hundreds there during an event and never got a global. I have no idea what's up with that, but when something like that happens, I move on. He had fun, and we were able to call out on Skype what deposits we found. He got some interesting stuff, while I basically got Lyst and Crude, along with a little Belkar, and Iron from the Argos, but nothing to get excited about.

We weren't ingame long, because we were all tired. Friday and Saturday nights are the nights we usually stay up late to share time with my brother, and then have a lazy morning waking up, although 5 or 6 hours of sleep seem to be enough for him, so he waits until I wake up, which really isn't that long afterwards. Hopefully later our experiences ingame will be more fruitful ... each day is a different adventure, and a different approach to explore what works and what doesn't work.

Until next time ... Ciao for now!



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IRL News:

I have always believed in, have practiced, and have been an advocate of "the power of positive thinking" ... not to mention the fact that our cognitive process is discussed extensively in the psychology courses I teach at the college. One thing I can say with great certainty is, that we focus far too much on the negativity in our lives, and what we don't want, as opposed to what we do want.

Some seem to be in a constant state of complaining ... and distorting and displacing their frustrations onto others, rather than consciously applying a more positive thought process and making an effort toward discerning just what it is that are the causes of such negative and frustrating disruptions. Cynicism, assumptions, and false judgments run rampant with no basis in fact, but become byproducts of personally-flawed relationships with self and our physical and social environment ... not to mention our vast universe of common and shared energy.

So what am I rambling on about ... I recently had exposure to something that is traveling like wildfire throughout the world ... "The Secret" ... whose principle is simply based in the "law of attraction." For over 2000 years, those who have possessed "the secret" have achieved success in their lives by applying this very simple principle.

According to Bob Proctor (Philosopher, Author, Personal Coach, and one of the principle narrators of the 90 minute video documentary), "We all work with one infinite power. We all guide ourselves by exactly the same laws. The natural laws of the universe are so precise that we don't even have any difficulty building spaceships, we can send people to the moon, and we can time the landing with the precision of a fraction of a second. Wherever you are - India, Austrailia, New Zealand, Stockholm, London, Toronoto, Montreal, or New York - we're all working with one power. One law. It's attraction."

It is said that everything coming into your life you are attracting into your life ... and it's attracted to you by virture of the images you are holding in your mind ... it's what you're thinking ... whatever is going on in your mind you are attracting to you. The greatest teachers who have ever lived have told us that the "law of attraction" is the most powerful law in the universe. We're talking about people like Shakespeare, Beethoven, Leonardo da Vinci, Socrates, Plato, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and the like.

Quite simply, the law responds to your thoughts, no matter what they may be. If your predominant thoughts are negative, there is then a spiral of chain reactions exhibited in your behavior and attitude that reaches out into your personal environment and invites the same. Your behaviors and attitudes affect others and have an influence on their behaviors and attitudes. If you have thoughts of doubt and fear, and question your own ability to be successful in anything that you do, you will in turn invite disappointment and potential failure.

What and how you think has an enormous and profound effect ... and this effect extends to all areas of your life ... ok, your personal universe if you will ... and it has been documented by empirical evidence that on average, we engage in approximately 300 negative thoughts a day. In the "Psychology of Personal Growth" class that I teach, I give my students an exercise in personal awareness, and an opportunity to discover just how many sabotaging thoughts or comments they make that have the potential for building upon their negative thinking.

Your saboteur is the voice of resistance, and will say things like ...

I can't
I shouldn't​

It includes all the negative, limiting talk we do, like ...

I'll look stupid
I'll be embarrassed
I'm not good enough
I'm not smart enough
People will criticize me​

And also includes our self-defeating attitudes, like ...

I can do this later
I already know this
I don't need to do this​

We may not say these things out loud, but they still have the same impact. The principal reason your saboteur has such a strong influence is that you are unaware of its existence - or at least of its pervasiveness. It's successful primarily because most sabotaging thoughts (90% of them) slip by unnoticed. They are in your subconscious, and work well as behind-the-scene negative influences that have profound impact on what you draw or "attract" into your life, and have the ability to hold you hostage and prevent you from achieving all the success that you so rightly deserve.

Forgive the rambling, but obviously I'm passionate about how we think, and how much of an impact it has on our daily lives. I took the time to watch the 90 minute documentary of "The Secret" on my computer last night, and while I am suspect of the motivation for the sudden development of same by the author that has garnered such worldwide attention, I can unequivicably state, that the premise of the "law of attraction" is based in substance not to be dismissed, minimized, or ignored.

No one is in control of our thought process but us, and if that process is consistently cloaked in negativity, then know well that the energy from that negativity will bring it back to you in ways that perpetuate all that is not right in your life. It doesn't matter how they package it up and sell it, the "law of attraction" works, it's just that simple. I don't have to agree with exploited methods of marketing, or anyone's motive for ways in which they share "The Secret" ... I only know that many of the basic principles ... however common sense they may seem ... have profound impact on our lives, and are threaded throughout the material that is taught in my classes.

Ok, I'll confess and say, that I add to the material to expand the learning process, but that too is a byproduct of my years of not only being a counselor, but a professional and personal life coach. The whole personal life coach thing also seems to be catching on now, with so many being guided in their life choices toward healthier thinking and decision making. I use myself as a guinea pig all the time, but I can be stubborn too, so it may take a try or two before accomplishing a new goal, but when I do, I can then implement it in my personal coaching to be of benefit to others.

How the hell did I get this far in this writing ... I can only say that when I'm on a roll, there's no stopping me until I exhaust my thoughts. So let me conclude this IRL News section by saying that if anyone is interested in exploring "The Secret" themselves, here is the official website link that offers you an opportunity to not only view the trailer of the 90 minute documentary free, but also to watch the documentary on your computer in full screen for a minimal fee, or purchase the DVD ...


Here is the Wiki-pedia information about "The Secret" that gives quite a bit of information, including the criticism surrounding the massive marketing efforts ...


The following link also offers you an opportunity to download "The Secret" as an e-book ...


Just as an FYI ... I am in no way associated with any of these websites, or the sale of any of their products, nor do I earn anything as a result of sharing information. I will say however, that after viewing the 90 minute documentary on my computer last night, I became an "Abundant Member" of "The Secret Forum" ... as you might have suspected. Features available as a free and/or abundant member are available for comparison, and what motivated me to go the distance. I'm looking forward to the kind of influence and impact I'll experience as a result of interacting with other members in this highly positive and guiding environment. :D

EU News:

Obviously I became totally engrossed in the above last night, and as a result, other than signing in to check on what I had at auction, I spent no time ingame at all. None of my soc mates were available, and it was an early evening for my Honey as well. I also have classes to teach today, so perhaps later this evening I'll be able to enjoy a little EU time and test out my expanded universe energy on mobs who won't see it coming. :wtg:

Ciao until next time!

Edit:

Well look at that ... I have a bottle of champagne and a flower as gifts ... how damn special is that! Thank You! ... and you know who you are! ;)




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IRL News:

I love when I have experiences that are so timely ... sometimes they couldn't be more perfect. I was on my way to teach my morning psychology class at the college when I was approaching what looked like a pretty cool sports car. We were getting close to a red light, so I knew he would be slowing down and I'd be able to determine just what kind of vehicle it was. At first from a distance I thought it might have been a Corvette, but then squashed that thought when I realized that the car was too low to the ground and looking too chopped to be a Vet.

As I pulled up behind the vehicle at the red light, there was absolutely no mistake as to what this car was ... a shiny new black Lamborghini. So why was this so timely? Well, class discussion today was going to include stereotyping, and at this very moment, there was no question in my mind that I was about to witness some very typical behaviors as a result of this very expensive vehicle sitting at the red light.

I didn't have to wait long ... the guy in the SUV on his right rolled his eyes and shook his head, while the young lady on his left in the turning lane broadly smiled and gave a thumbs-up gesture. Maybe the guy in the SUV was rolling his eyes at her, who knows. :laugh: I had to shake my own head when the car behind her in the turning lane had to honk his horn for her to get her ass in gear and make the turn ... she didn't move before blowing Mr. Lamborghini a kiss though.

When we got the green light, the guy in the SUV on the right sped off seemingly not interested at all, BUT ... the young lady in the vehicle behind him pulled right up even with the Lamborghini and started her own flirtatious gestures, with me still behind Mr. Lamborghini laughing my ass off at all of this until he pulled right into a Krispy Kreme donut shop, and Ms. "Thang" raced in front of me to make a u-turn ... obviously to head back to the Krispy Kreme donut shop. :rolleyes:

I'm sure Mr. Lamborghini enjoyed the attention, and had to know that purchasing such a vehicle would garner such, but in spite of whatever his reasons were for owning such an expensive vehicle, I'm never surprised by the social behaviors. We immediately make assumptions like he must be wealthy, and then our minds wander off into other directions. What has amazed me is how we have progressively gotten more and more caught up in "stuff" ... and how so many individuals define themselves by their "stuff" ... but we are socially conditioned to buy into the ideal that without "stuff" we don't amount to much, so while I'm amazed, it's understandable.

Here's a parallel for ya ... the same type of behaviors and attitudes are exhibited within our virtual universe. Mr. Lamborghini could be considered perhaps an IRL "uber" of sorts, and those within EU who have the pocket change to get all the "stuff" are too in fact "uber" and in turn are putting the "law of attraction" into play, certainly garnering the attention that puts them in a whole different class than the average player, BUT ... that's ok, except for one thing ... so many want to keep up with the "ubers" ... (or IRL, keep up with the Jones's) and in doing so, many go above and beyond their means and often find themselves in challenging positions.

For me, it's the "stuff" from within that determines the masterpiece of the canvas ... not what you park in your garage, or the abundance of toys and material things that are your possessions. Show me substance made of integrity, honesty, genuineness, DEPTH for pete sake, and an honorable attitude toward all you do without the superfluous "stuff" and we have something to talk about.

I know, I can go off on a tangent, but there's generally something to learn from it, even for me when I write, because it's rather cathartic. I'll try to reel it in more and be more concise, but for a writer, that can be rather challenging ... not sure I've done anything that ended up being a Reader's Digest condensed version. :rolleyes:

Everything else IRL is coming along nicely, and while it's still going to take a little time to get the home in the shape we want it, it's becoming a most comfortable environment for sure. I'm absolutely certain that it will be as we want it to be by the time my brother and Moonie come for a visit in July sometime. We are SO looking forward to that. It looks like Moonie is going to fly into Chicago and meet up with Jet and the 2 of them fly to Florida. Jet even said he'd bake cookies for them to eat on the plane. :laugh: Those two are definitely like brothers, and are truly that close, and why we've called Moonie "family" for quite some time now. We luv him that way! :D

EU News:

Early last night, I got ingame for a short time and decided to do a mining run North of Shinook this time. It wasn't anything to write home about, but when I got way North near the LA, I managed to get a 60 ped Atrax Old global, which kinda made up for the sucky mining experience.

Moonie and I have this agreement, that if our schedules permit and we have time to get ingame, we call each other. Yesterday he worked 4 hours, and he was home when he knew I had class so he actually took a nap thinking that he would be up when I got home and we could enjoy some time ingame. Apparently he was more tired than he thought and wasn't awake until later. In the meantime, I was watching "The Apprentice" ... love reality shows ... and was about to watch "24" when I decided to give Moonie a call. It doesn't cost me anything to call Canada with my digital phone service.

Moonie explained to me what had happened with his time, and I told him that I was about to watch "24" and then get ingame. He said "no way, I haven't watched it yet either" ... SO, we decided to watch it together on the phone so that we could comment as we zoomed through the commercials. Oh ya, we both record it for later viewing because the show is too intense to have to wait through the commercials for it to start up again. Besides, when the intensity is high, I want it to stay there until they drop the bomb at the end of the episode. :eek:

After watching "24" together on the phone, which was a first btw ... we got ingame and decided to take a trip back up North of Shinook and see if anything was paying. Unfortunately not, BUT ... I did take a little pot shot at Moonie with my MKII when we got close to the TC and smacked him up for a whopping 35.4 damage. :laugh: He said, "don't make me whip out my Stalker" ... maybe one of these days we'll have a little fun. I remember when Slick and I used to go into Dome 4 at CND (when it was PvP) with no armor and just underwear (I think that was more for his benefit than mine), and shoot each other with the Opalo (no fapping) and see who would fall first ... too much fun.

Ok, I think I've run outta air here, so I'll shut down for now and come back when I have something of interest to share. In the meantime, be good to each other, and "smile" ... it increases your face value. :D

Ciao for now!



***
 
IRL News:

I have an insatiableness for knowledge, especially knowledge that helps me become more evolved and a master of my own happiness if you will. It also allows me to be a more proficient life coach to my students and clients, as well as friends and family members who trust the quality of what I have to offer. I record Oprah every day, and while I don't watch a program unless it has a particular theme that I might be interested in, yesterday's show brought to mind something that I have been guilty of now and then (ok, more now than then). It's called "destination addiction" ...

So what is "destination addiction" ... while it doesn't seem to be in our immediate awareness, it's quite simple actually. It's our personal theory that "once we reach a certain destination in our lives, that we'll be happy" ... or ... "once we have accomplished a certain something, then we'll be happy" ... BUT ... inevitably, once we reach that elusive destination, or accomplish that goal, there always seems to be another lurking on the horizon that we must meet before we can truly be happy. It's a mindset that "until everything is in place" we won't achieve the happiness we seem to be constantly searching for, which is quite faulty thinking, and limits one's ability to tune into the "joy" that we already possess within.

Well, this certainly gave me pause for a little reflection ... it seems that "perhaps" a good majority of us are in relentless pursuit of happiness outside of ourselves, rather than realizing that joy resides within, and not out on the horizon somewhere. If we remain in constant pursuit of happiness "somewhere out there" we won't be able to truly appreciate what we have in our lives right now that gives us such great pleasure and joy.

Oh boy, that was a smack upside the head for me ... while it was late when I watched the program (12:30am) and I was tired, I turned the TV off and sat quietly in my big chair in the livingroom with feet up on the big ottoman and reflected on where I'm at in my life, and just what I have to be grateful for. What is it right now that fills the well of joy for me. These thoughtful moments brought tears to my eyes, because it was in these moments that I realized I had actually reached a destination that had been so elusive, but I had my mind set on yet another destination that would make it even better, and then I could truly be happy.

This "destination addiction" business hit home for me, and while self-realization is a dirty job, it continues to confirm just how much power we have in our own thinking that profoundly affects not only our pursuit of happiness, but our pursuit for success. Hurdles we can get over, but it's that proverbial brick wall we run smack into that we are often reluctant to see until some damage is done. Eventually I think perhaps most of us see the light, but the trick is knowing where the wall switch is. ;)

Happiness is mine "right now" ... because I have much to be grateful for, and more so with the man in my life that enhances that happiness in so many ways. He has intelligence (great discussion partner about everything and anything, although at times we seem to come from opposite corners of the ring, but that's ok, because it keeps us on our toes); a wicked sense of humor (even though it's off the wall now and then, but that's ok, and what makes him unique); he's sensitive to, and aware of my emotions and frustrations and is comforting in a way that is meaningful and not patronizing; he's a hard worker and gives 100% of himself to all he does; he's supportive in ways that continue to surprise and amaze me, and totally dedicated to this relationship in a way that says every day ... "Failure is not an Option" ... not to mention the loving moments we share living in the same environment. This was not a mistake, nor an impulsive move, but a realization that in this space and time, this is right, and why "happiness is mine right now."

If anyone is interested in "The Happiness Project" ... which Dr. Robert Holden expanded on during the Oprah show yesterday, here is a link to his website ...


Dr Robert Holden is the Director/Founder of The Happiness Project. He is a psychologist, author and broadcaster who coaches leaders in business, healthcare, education and sports. His services are retained by some of the world's leading organizations. He gives 50 presentations a year on positive psychology and success intelligence. He is author of ten best-selling books, including Success Intelligence, Shift Happens! and Happiness NOW.

EU News:

This will be short and sweet ... there's no news to report because I didn't get ingame last night. I really didn't feel up to it, especially since the night before was sucky, even though I had lots of fun being with Moonie. Instead, I watched the American Idol elimination show, and the Oprah show, and went to bed after spending almost an hour in deep thought. Perhaps if I get ingame later after teaching my 5:30pm class things will be better ... one can hope.

In the meantime, hope all is well with everyone, and that you take a moment to think about those things that you are grateful for as well.

Ciao till next time!

*Mmmm ... I smell that turkey breast cookin' ... can't wait to get home from class!*




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My Thoughts For Today:

Given the content of the past couple of posts, I thought I would share a couple of things I wrote in the past that were cathartic moments for me, and done in those reflective times that motivated me to think about some very specific things. I derive a great deal of pleasure from writing, and is really the one thing I'm most passionate about. As a result of my current relationship IRL, I now have an opportunity to do the kind of writing I've longed to do for some time.

No more excuses, and no more delays ... when this college term ends on May 7th, I'm off for the Summer and jumping in with both feet. I even have a project EU-related that might be of interest to some, especially when I may engage a few of you in the process ... pics included of course (what else from the Picture Storyteller), and certainly with a blessing from MA before any publication.

Now on to the writings ... I wrote the following in 2002 in one of those reflective moments after interaction with a friend who was having quite a challenging time of it. Despite the fact that she's a wonderful, caring, and giving person, her thinking was all over the map and prevented her from truly enjoying who she was, or from achieving the kind of relationships she so desperately desired ... just like some of us. This is where writing is cathartic for me ... I take someone else's challenges, do some reflective thinking, and then let the thoughts spill over into readable print in a way that inspires growth ... even for me. :D


==============================

Finding Yourself is an Inside Job​

Discovering your own truth is brutal at times, because it means being totally honest, and not making excuses for what seemingly ends up being your blurred vision of self. I'm sure rose-colored glasses have their place, but your personal journey will require an open mind and consistently clear path unobstructed by self-preserving clutter that only veils the truth. So what does that mean? That it takes more than a broom to clean out the cobwebs.

I feel that we are always in a state of soul construction, and that our story just gets updated as we peel off those layers that no longer serve a viable and healthy purpose (much like exfoliating).

The journey within begins with a process I call "open mind surgery," but is never dulled by anything anesthetic because it's a type of surgery that requires conscious effort at every turn. Your thoughts are the cutting edge of the scalpel, dissecting their way into the deepest recesses of dysfunctional thinking, and the first order of business is acceptance of self at every level, because it's not only crucial, it's required. I call it the "barest essential" in our step toward making change. If we are unable to accept ourselves at every point in the discovery process, then we are altering the road to wholeness, and the journey within is tainted.

Every book is a mystery until we open the cover and make our discoveries one delicious page at a time. It's pretty much the same with "open mind surgery," only it's one thought at a time. The destination of each thought can be just as exquisite as the journey itself, but taking that first step requires the willingness to open the cover to your own mystery.

Fear must not be a deterrent in this journey. A published author friend of mine once wrote . . . “fear is False Evidence Appearing Real.” More simply . . . what you think about something is what holds you hostage . . . or not. Remember when I said that "discovering your own truth is brutal at times"? . . . well, truth is not always pretty, and it not only affects you, but will more than likely affect those who are closest to you as well. During your metamorphic journey, your behaviors will change, and your interpersonal relationships will magnify in ways that are more positive and beneficial to you, but hopefully, not in a selfish sense.

Some may not appreciate the new you, most likely because they aren't benefiting as much as before, but guilt on your part should not be an underlying factor. Having the ability to make sound decisions without guilt is part of realizing that your life isn’t the healthiest when it totally revolves around the needs of others.

The moment that you realize how powerful your thought process is, is also the moment that you realize you're on your way to healthier thinking. It’s all about choices, because everything we do is a choice, but your new-found self and healthier thinking should not promote arrogance or self-absorption, but rather a humble understanding of the process that allows you a better level of decision making. Exhibit yourself with confidence and self-assurance, but keep your ego nestled within and not on grandiose display. Nothing turns some people off, or distances them more than arrogance and an over-indulged ego.

One statement that helps to keep me grounded is: "What other people think or say about me is unimportant until 'I' attach meaning to it."

It's amazing how much importance we give to the opinions of others about ourselves. However, there are those who are to be respected and appreciated for their personal and professional assessments. I for one graciously welcome feedback in its most open form, because we never see ourselves or judge our work as others do. That said, I do feel that there's a level of intellect needed in an effort to filter out those who criticize and judge based on hidden agendas, and those who genuinely mirror us in a reflection of truth. The more aware and observant one becomes, the easier it seems to be to detect genuineness. Human behavior is nothing less than complex, and even after my association with it through personal and professional training and experience, I am still amazed at how much I have yet to learn.

Time is never guaranteed, so wasting it isn't an option. I'm not going to say that it's unfortunate that some of us get a late start, because I firmly believe that no matter when we start, it's a blessing that we got there to begin with, and feel that it's our obligation to ourselves to make the journey.

The mind is awesome in its ability to be flexible enough to paint a new canvas, and I for one have multiple colors in my brush stroke just waiting to create the next masterpiece.

==============================​


One day I became quite aware of how excited I get, especially about life and what's important to me, but sometimes also about those things that we just don't spend enough time thinking about. We get so caught up in "stuff" and move so obliviously through life that we miss out on appreciating the simple things. The following is a poem I wrote after a solo walk on the beach in the Gulf of Mexico, which too caused moments of reflection.


==============================​

What is it . . .​

What is it about dawn and dusk that drives us,
lures us into poetic flow like lava rising from the
depths of encumbered darkness to embrace the light;

What is it about rain and kisses that liquify a thought into
a smile that tastes like a warm shower feels;

What is it about breakfast that feeds an aching need
yet to be fully satisfied; and

What is it about life that keeps us at the edge,
only to admire horizons and fall into dreams that
leave with the tide.

I know what it is . . .​

It’s the warmth of the sunrise embracing our face in a hug;

It’s the fusion of colors dancing to silent music at sunset;

It’s the food of life that rain delivers to its waiting takers,
transforming liquid kisses from the outside into smiles on the inside;

It’s the most important meal of the day because delicious thoughts
linger in our memory like a haunting love song; and

It’s the uncertainty and mystery of life that keeps us at the edge,
where peaks and valleys challenge our will to step beyond our
limited thinking, and do more than just admire horizons.

==============================​


However cliche' it sounds ... take the time to smell the roses along the way, and maybe even make a post in Pepper's thread showing who you would like to give a rose to, and why! We just don't appreciate the special people in our lives the way we should.

To Lykke: I read your Diary too my dear, and I'm joyful for you and Peter that you have such a wonderful relationship, and that you found each other at a time most important. I know how that feels, and I'm practicing what I preach, because happiness is right "now" ... and not somewhere "out there" when I reach the next destination. Love to you both and your continued journey together ...
"Happy 18 Months!" :hug:


EU News:

OMFG ... my brother (Jetboy) and I spent most of our time ingame late last night laughing our asses off SO much we were in tears and could hardly catch our breaths. We were on Skype together, and I was trying so hard not to wake up my Sweetie. To find out what kept us in stitches during our team hunt, go to the following link ...


Ciao till next time!



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IRL News:

Here it is Saturday morning, even though there's 15 minutes of it left at this writing, and the chef is in the kitchen cookin' up Hogglo butt, Bery eggs, and Angel Flakes ... so what does that translate into ... what else ... bacon, eggs, and oatmeal. Too much time in EU? How about telling him +rep this morning for hanging in there late last night after getting up at 3:30am for work. Too much forum? Nah ... wouldn't have it any other way, and it's a big bonus that we both enjoy EU the way we do, but me EF more than him. He's not here that often, but definitely makes a point of reading my stuff.

There's nothing like a leisurely spent Saturday or Sunday morning ... and of course, all the special stuff that comes with it (not going there) ... like lots of pulp OJ (he likes his clear), and Dunkin' Donut coffee (I hate Starbucks ... too strong, and it puts my ass on the ceiling) ... and oh ya, whatever the chef whips up in the kitchen ... I did say kitchen, right? ... work with me here.

As it turns out, our intended guests for dinner on Sunday have to take a rain check due to a time schedule within which to accomplish too many things, including taxes (oh ya, reminder to self to put mine in the mail). Therefore, more time for us to do more organizing, and me to accessorize ... love decorating ... go figure, it transferred to MS9 ingame.

One of the things I learned in my nutritional education, is that there are certain foods that help reverse the aging process to the degree that it generates healthier skin and you look much younger ... even though my Swede jeans (wait, that's genes, right?) have always kept me looking at least 10 years younger, which wasn't so much fun in my teens though when it seems we want to look older.

Anyway, a few of the foods that absolutely have wonderful properties for replenishing a healthier and younger-looking skin are ... salmon (Omega 3 fishoils rock), spinach, oatmeal, and blueberries. I love them all, and actually eat the blueberries frozen (same as green seedless grapes), because they're a refreshing treat, especially in the Summer heat here in Florida where it seems to be Summer 10 months out of the freakin' year, and they don't freeze like hard ice. I have to laugh when we shop because he's always raggin' on me for the 12 grain bread that I get ... what and ever dude, you can have your yukky white bread, I'll get 52 grains if I want. :laugh: Actually, he's SO good when we shop and is very conscious of what's important to me ... is he cool or what!

He's a riot at the supermarket ... I push the grocery cart because he's like a runaway train, all over the place, and when it comes time to head to the checkout counter, he stands there and flags me in like an airport flagger directing a plane into it's docking station. He does keep me chuckling, that's for sure, and he doesn't care who's watching (we're in the supermarket, remember?) ... I said work with me here.

Excuse me for a minute, I need to rev up this awesome computer stereo system my brother gave me a few years ago complete with sub-woofer ... Oooooo I love music ... can't sit still ... I better be careful so I don't pull a Moonfish. :eek:

Oh NO he di'n't ... "that's loud he said" ... oh ya, you who own 5 guitars and a freakin' stadium amp that blows a neighborhood to smithereens complains about my sound level? :laugh: This is the computer/MUSIC room Baby ... here, let me show you what REALLY moves me ... *86's Peabo Bryson and reaches for Iron Butterfly's "In a Gadda Da Vida" ... WhooHoo!!* ... now wrap THAT around your eardrums big boy. ;) 16 minutes and 59 seconds of pure blood pumpin' sound ... especially the drum sequence, which to me is purely orgasmic (oops, did I say that).

I can't complain though, he has his moments of filling a room with sound, mostly rock (I surely don't have a problem with that, just some groups I'm not amenable to), and when he plays "Stairway to Heaven" on one of his guitars at the whimsical and facitious request of my brother over Skype, now that's something. He's primarily a bass player, but can hammer something out pretty readily on one of his "regular" guitars ... and did I say that he's a Fender fanatic? ... nuff said. We both love music, and a lot of the same stuff, so that's a bonus too. Like I keep saying ... it gets gooder and gooder!

EU News:

When I got ingame late yesterday afternoon, my brother and Moonie had just started a bot run N of Twin, and I missed Moonie's first global of 3 ... he definitely had the loot skills yesterday. I repaired, ammo'd up and joined them, but I wasn't having as much luck as Moonie was, except for one 30+ ped worth, so I got aggravated, and the next Trooper was in for it ...

Trooper.jpg

When Moonie continued to global, I decided that I was going to have a surprise waiting for him at the Sakura TP when he met me there ...

MoonieSakuraTP.jpg

I had to step off the TP platform (which is still a mess), but I made my point ... Moonie's such a great guy though, and he just laughed. One of these days he'll catch me unsuspectingly and pull a fast one, I know his sense of humor, but love it nonetheless. I love that we're all so close, it's a perfect fit ... hey, you're not WORKIN' with me here! o_O

Who knows what today's adventures will be, BUT ... I did mention to my Honey that I'd like to go do an OJ TP run. I was inspired while we were listening to the many sounds of EU on my computer stereo that brought back memories. I love helping the OJ's collect TP's, and why I'm happy to see BlackRain jump in there and do it now and then. Not sure I'll global like he did, but hey, anything is possible. I'm off and running ... if I do this, it could be the next pic storyline.

Ciao till next time!



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IRL News:

Sunday morning and I'm in the middle of experiencing a lot of O's at the moment ... (I knew you'd go there) :rolleyes: ... CHEERI 'O' S you perverts ... wasn't in the mood for a fancy breakfast today, gave the chef a break. Besides, he's whippin' up my favorite tonight ... fresh salmon, spinach and mushroom salad, baked potato ... ok, I'm done with these Cheerios. He roasted me a big fresh turkey breast and sliced it up nice so that I can have sandwiches throughout the week on my 99 grain bread. :laugh: It must be love I tell ya ... I'm so damn spoiled.

Ok, I really tried to be a good sport, BUT ... I just can't bring myself to watch a bunch of men on ice skates chasing a puck around with sticks trying to get it past some goalie into a net to score ... booooring!! This is where we differ ... he likes hockey, I like basketball ... but we both enjoy football, so we have that in common. However, his first love (sports that is) would be racing ... stock car racing. I can get into car racing more than I can hockey, that's for sure ... sorry Baby, but it just doesn't do anything for me.

OMFG ... he just pulled out his NASCAR racing simulator, complete with foot pedals, steering wheel, gear shift ... this is not happening! "Gentlemen, start your engines!" ... oh geez, a damn crew chief and 42 other cars on the race track ... holy sh*t ... just like you're in the car driving ... nice visuals on the LCD monitor. Oh wow ... after a run you can even do an instant replay and see how you did ... pretty funny, especially after running it off course. :laugh:

Said he needs to readjust all his chassis settings, but that's because of the major ram upgrade ... OMG, he's all over the place ... ya right, listen to your crew chief who's telling you there's damage on the left front ... ANSWER him when he asks if you're alright! OMG, he just rolled it, and he's laughing his ass off over here ... oops, instant reply ... this is just too hysterical ... off to the pit ...
HURRY UP you're laggin' behind! OMG, I did not just say that. :laugh: Oh geez, back on the track and he blew first gear ... "Honey? I think you're spinnin' there!" ... are you suppose to be hittin' the wall like that? One thing is for sure ... you will NOT be driving my Nissan. :rolleyes: *Yes, I know you have already, but that was before I knew about your talent for gear blowing and wall kissing! o_O*

Never a dull moment ... WTF, the crew chief just said he qualified as a wreckless driver. This is NOT good. Ok, he's fixin' whatever needs fixin' so hopefully less damage this time. Baby? Can we get me a flight simulator? No, not a DC-9, I want a freakin' B2-Bomber, a Stealth, something that allows me to fly below the radar please. I want to practice for when space opens up ... you can stay grounded on your race track, I want to soar and master the open universe. :wtg:

So I'm off to have a little fun ingame, and I'll leave my Sweetie to his calibrations and track running. It's too funny when you hear the crew chief ask what the hell you're doing ... he's crashing into the damn pace car, that's what he's doing. I have to say that he's doing some of these things on purpose just for my entertainment so I can see how all this works ... boys and their toys, but this is pretty damn realistic and quite sophisticated if I say so myself ... quite impressive. He really does know what he's doing, he's just having fun.

EU News:

Had some time with Moonie ingame yesterday, but the couple of hours we spent mob-chasing didn't pay off, so today I'm going to try my hand at a little mining. Maybe it's time to change it up again, who knows. My brother had to work this weekend, and now Moonie works the next 6 days, so I'll catch him when I can and test out the mining in the meantime.

However, I have to be close to unlocking "coolness" so I keep pushing the hunting. I wish there was a charted course for when these different skills are unlocked, and a little inkling as to what level skill you need. I think someone said there was something somewhere with some kind of information regarding all this, but don't recall where. I guess it doesn't really matter, and always a surprise when something new pops up, so I'll be patient.

Ciao till next time!



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Thoughts for Today:

I'm a little late with today's entry, but it was a full day, including a communication from someone which was so totally surprising, but in a very delightful way.

Post-Moderating ... ever since I stepped down from moderating this forum on Valentine's Day, I've been in quite the reflective state, especially when I'm in the activity of responding to a particular thread, or even starting my own. I actually like being my civilian self, and not having to hold back if I want to be expressive ... following the rules of course ... but at the same time hoping that the members of the forum realize that it's me, and not some remnant of my modding days.

Moderating a forum was new to me ... the learning process was often quite unkind, but I had good guidance. However, in retrospect, I know there were times when I could have backed off a bit, or not been so passionately involved. Hindsight is always 20/20, right? ... and employing that process, I truly wish the moderating staff would have been handled differently. We should have been anonymous individuals (IMO), because I feel it's difficult (or was in my case anyway) to separate the Mod from the person, and therefore, it all gets tied in together.

For me at times, it was the worst thing that could have happened, but hey ... I got my feet wet, lost the green behind my ears, and managed to be supported quite decently by the community, which I am incredibly grateful for, so thank you. My rep points are fast approaching that 9k mark, and then into the home stretch for the golden sparkly, so I must have done something right along the way ... and yes, the reps do mean something to me (whether +rep or -rep) because they help me to understand the needs of the community better, as well as what they appreciate, and don't appreciate.

During a discussion in class on relationships the other morning, someone brought up astrology and star signs ... they wanted to know what my take was on it, and if I thought there was any substance to the compatibility factor related to such. I said that I wasn't a particular follower of astrology, or horoscopes, but found certain characteristics of star signs of people I know to be pretty accurate. One of my students then said that he had a book that I might be interested in seeing ... it's called "The Secret Language of Birthdays" by Gary Goldschneider and Joost Elffers. He brought the book to the next class and I took it home to review it.

Quite a few people have long suspected that the day we were born affects our personality. Even though no one knows exactly how or why, birthdays do tend to be uncannily accurate predictions of psychological tendencies. The book contains 366 personality profiles based on a combination of astrology, numerology, the tarot, and Gary Goldschneider's many years of observation of more than 14,000 people, including contemporary and historical figures. His theory of "personology" proposes that all of life is cyclical ... meaning, that people born on the same day occupy the same point in the year's cycle and thus share certain characteristics.

In light of all this reflecting, I thought I would explore my own birth date and share it here. In reading the content, which is a full 2 pages, I had a few "ah ha moments" that caused me to pause and reflect even more. Remember the piece I wrote in a post above about "Finding Yourself Is An Inside Job" ... well, taking off the rose-colored glasses and cleaning out the cob webs is a hard job, but who better than self ... it has more impact that way (if we're honest with ourselves), and the lesson learned is truly learned. So here we go ... this was a bit of an eye-opener for me, and proud to say that I have accepted the good, and the not so good, equally ... oh ya, and learned from it too ... that's the most important part.

The Day of Difficult Demand

Those born on September 9th, repeatedly face all kinds of demanding situations, usually more the product of our own complicated nature than of fate. It's actually called "The Day of Difficult Demand" ... and states that if we could learn to more often take the path of least resistance, and not invariably the most difficult way, we would lead much more peaceful but perhaps less eventful lives.

There is no doubt however, that September 9th people are drawn to challenges, are easily bored, and therefore ... are either consciously or unconsciously on the lookout for complex people, places, and things with which to become involved. It is said that this may be due to an internal longing for something that is perceived missing, no matter how successful or fortunate we may be.

September 9th people are independent and willful ... once a decision is made to do something, it's very difficult to talk us out of it. We're very introspective, and will realize when we've made a mistake, or chosen a wrong path, even if it takes time. We're very private, but our occupations bring us in contact with society. However, we are said to be adept at sensing and defining what the public taste is, and how it may be satisfied. We're quite capable of making a lot of money, and our fears can actually drive us to be successful, and why challenges can have a powerful effect. Unfortunately, we often have to put ourselves in danger in order to experience satisfaction of overcoming fears.

I liked this one ... we need to keep a handle on our wild side, because it could lead to self-destructive behavior, which is not easily understood or condoned by others. Hmmm ... perhaps a little more reflection?

Numbers and Planets

No surprise here ... I'm ruled by the number 9 (duh, born the 9th day of the 9th month ... go figure), and by the planet Mars. The number 9 is powerful in its influence on other numbers ... any number added to 9 yields that number (e.g. 5+9 = 14, 4+1 = 5) and any number multiplied by 9 yields a 9 (e.g., 9x5 = 45, 4+5 = 9), and September 9th people are similarly able to influence those around them. The planet Mars is forceful and aggressive, embodying male energy, but for the September 9th Virgo, ruled by Mercury, the combination of these two planets can result in an overly argumentative and critical personality. :laugh: ... ok, then I'm not totally at fault, right? There are forces driving me ... like the Devil made me do it, right? ... RIGHT? :silly2:

The Tarot

The 9th card of the Major Arcana is The Hermit, who is usually depicted walking with a lantern and a stick (Mod Wand) :eek: ... and represents meditation, isolation, and quietude. The card also signifies crystallized wisdom and practiced discipline. The Hermit is a taskmaster who motivates conscience and guides others on their path. The positive aspects of this card are stick-to-it-iveness, purpose, profundity (having intellectual depth with a state or quality of being deep and profound), and concentration. Negative qualities include ... dogmatism, intolerance, mistrust and discouragement. We should also avoid the Hermit's extreme way of withdrawing from the world, but perhaps emulate positive self-examination. Wow ... major lessons here for sure.

Health

We are prone to digestive tract problems ... (had my gallbladder removed in 2000) ... we are sensitive and easily upset, have a low stress threshold, and when disturbed, can take it out on the stomach. With regard to eating habits ... we will deny food when we are emotionally upset, binge eat when depressed, and must learn to balance diet while cultivating new tastes (oh Cheffy-Poo). We are to force ourselves to engage in regular exercise, but not of the competitive nature, unless of course we are serious athletes. In order to sleep well, we need to expend thought, resources, and energy on making our bed, bedroom, and sleeping conditions extremely desirable and comfortable. I feel a makeover coming on.

Advice

Building self-confidence is a big deal, and we are encouraged to allow for reflection, and find real abilities and act decisively. Also, worry and fear can eat us up if we let them ... we alone hold ourselves back, and we should stay joyful and never despair.

Meditation

Irritation is something you do to yourself!

Notables born on this Day

Leo Tolstoy ... Russian Count, Novelist (War & Peace, Anna Karenina)
Harland "Colonel" Sanders ... good ol' KFC
Michael Keaton ... American actor ... played Batman among other roles

Lots to reflect on, huh? ... but I find it interesting that so much of it is so "right on" ... ok, almost all of it. Perhaps there is something to this, and there's something in the stars after all. Even my IRL guy raised an eyebrow when he read both mine and his birthday information. A good many of you know me from this forum, and a select few have had the opportunity to know me beyond this forum ... so I'm sure that you would have your own opinions after reading this ... especially those who don't care that much for me, which is fine ... they just don't know me yet. :silly2:

All I will say is ... I'm splendidly IM-perfect with lots of room to grow, and that's exactly what I'm in the process of doing. This metamorphosis isn't over by a long shot, and I'm having a sh*tload of fun enjoying the journey, because it can be just as exquisite as the destination ... which I am no longer addicted to!

Now, how about something cool ... I took my pic that I posted in the "Show Us Ya Face" thread and cozy'd it up with a pic I have of my IRL guy, and I'm going to post it here. We will eventually reveal who he is ingame, BUT ... if anyone recognizes him, please be respectful and keep the information to yourself. There's a way we want to do this "coming out" party if you will, and would like the opportunity to follow through with it without someone spoiling it. It would be greatly appreciated.


So here we are ...

MS9-MM.jpg

We will eventually get pics taken together, so stay tuned. Hey Lykke ... we have something else in common! :D


EU News:

I haven't been in EU all day, and about to jump in to see what's up. I'm pretty close to unlocking "Coolness" according to what Usurper shared in an ingame PM about levels, so I may go shoot off a few rounds and get those green sparklies rollin' up in here. I'll be back tomorrow to report more. In the meantime, sorry for the length ... I tried, but I'm handicapped as a writer ... I have an ongoing love affair with words, that's all there is to it.

Ciao till next time!



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IRL News:

Been kinda busy, we're winding down on this term, and I have all 3 classes taking exams at the same time, so it requires more of my attention. However, just a couple more weeks and my focus will be where I'm so looking forward to it being ... on my business and my writing.

I had a nice chat with Mom yesterday ... I usually give her a call on the way to a class (love the Bluetooth), and she had me crackin' up all the way to the college campus. She's going to be 82 on the 26th of this month, and it was time to renew her drivers license. Yes, she still drives, and does a damn good job of it too ... has had "safe driver" status for 35 years now. She doesn't lolly-gag around, goes from point A to point B, and doesn't play what's my lane. Gotta love it.

Anyway ... she said she went in to renew her drivers license on Tuesday because both my sister and brother-in-law were off work and it made it more convenient. She lives with them in their big house outside of Chicago and uses their vehicles if she needs to. She said that she didn't have to take the written test, but just the eye test and do a road test, HOWEVER ... and this is the funny part ... she said that the lady they assigned to take her out on the road test must have been at least 70 years old, and was a BITCH. :laugh:

After I pulled myself together, I got the whole story and still continued to laugh my ass off. Mom is a hoot ... sharp as a tack, very smart and witty, and let's no grass grow under her feet. She said that this woman "was just damn ugly and nasty" ... and ... "she must have been jealous or something because I looked better at almost 82 than she did at her whatever old age" ... holy sh*t, I almost had to pull off the road I was laughing so hard.

Mom is always so animated and entertaining, she's been the pillar of this family our whole lives, and the best role model ever. She's also my CNN news connection and weather girl ... I kid you not ... she religiously watches CNN and can fill me in on everything going on, even in my own state. She's just that tuned in, and reads the paper from cover to cover every day ... she keeps her mind active. She's just a total joy ... a well of unsparing unconditional love for all, no matter what.

Back to the story ... she said that this "ugly-ass woman failed her because at one point she was too close to the white line on the right side of her lane" ... are you KIDDING me!!! ... and when they got back and were standing at the counter Mom said, "excuse me, I have a question" ... she said the lady said ... "we don't talk" ... OMFG, no wonder Mom was out for blood. She did not want to deal with this woman at that moment, but went back on Thursday with my sister loaded for bear. It's a damn good thing "I" wasn't there, because we would have had a "come to Jesus meeting" up in there with the head honcho for sure.

Needless to say, (and good thing) the "bitch" was nowhere around, and Mom was able to retake the road test. She was assigned a middle-aged man with manners this time, and she said he took her out on the road and had her doing things like you're suppose to do in one of these tests ... like parking on a downhill street, and those kinds of things. She said the guy was downright decent and said she passed with flyin' colors.

And just for the record ... here's the Mom ​

MS9s-Mom.jpg


She's just amazing, and I for one am happy that she's been able to maintain good health with minimal challenges. Our bodies change over time, and some challenges sneak in there now and then. It's now that I wish that we were invincible, because it would be extremely hard to get over not having Mom around since she's been such a positive influence on our lives. Ok, on to something else before I get all sappy here.

The dude I'm living with :laugh: ... ok, my Sweetie ... needs to be medicated, because I'm thinking that this happiness bug he's had since we've been together has unlocked some crazy-ass behavior. Here's what I'm talkin' about ...

He gets home about 2:30pm, and I'm always home because it's in between classes. I've already exposed that he's quite the musician, but can also sing pretty decently, soooooooo ... each day when he walks in the front door, he makes up sweet lyrics to the melody of some song we both know while he's walking toward the computer/music room where he knows I'll most likely be. Today it was "Inna Godda Da Vida" ... you don't wanna know! :eek: I laughed my ass off until I couldn't catch my breath, and he just kept on goin' ... he's a wack job, but I love it.

Then we're in the kitchen makin' lunch, and he was sweet enough to refill the mayo jar from the big bulk container we have, but while he was doing that, it looked like he was going to leave just a fraction in the big jar. I said, it'll all fit in the other jar, and he said ... "trust me, I know about these things" ... and I said ... "so, you the mayonnaise king or something" ... and he said ... in France they call me "U-bear du May-o-naise" ... OMG, I lost it ... THEN he says ... in Canada, they call me ... "the mayonnaise king, eh" ... ok, I just about pissed my pants at that point and could hardly catch my breath. I then said ... and what do they call you in Japan ... he said ... !@# $^&^#*( )(*&^$ ... don't ask!

There's never a dull moment around here for sure ... and the fact we both play in EU makes it even sweeter. How damn cool is that, eh? guess our Canadian soc mate has an influence on us ... thanks Moonie.

EU News:

I'm so close to Coolness I can taste it, so I went and got myself 2 fully conditioned Korss 400's and went out on a mission W of Fury yesterday. I'll pick up on it again in a while, but I had a blast. The "green on the screen" was encouraging, and I even achieved a couple of other new levels for something or other, so nice bonus.

The Feffs were pretty decent to me, AND ... I even had some fun with my romp in the Feff forest. I did a new pic storyline in my mob chat style, so be sure to check it out when you have a chance ... here's the link ...


I learned something interesting today, our soc mate BlackRain had actually been "contracted" to play EU as part of a review project, and also with the potential of being published in an "American publication dedicated strictly to Window's OS based PC games and MMO's" ... wow! Here's the thread where he talks about it ...


I can understand why he kept it to himself, it's like any other naturalistic observation research project ... people know what you're up to, they act differently, and the results tend not to be what they could be to support any pre-intended hypothesis. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, and in retrospect ... how cool was it that he picked our little soc to be a part of, but then he did say that our philosophies about the game matched his, and especially how we give back to the community, so that's a good thing.

However, I do have to say that the soc he left is a cool one as well ... The Chosen Few (TCF) ... and one JSA spends time with when we can get together. As a matter of fact, we're planning a double beacon run, and a Hogglo team hunt afterwards this weekend. Unfortunately, Jet and BlackRain won't be available, so Moonie and I are representin' JSA and bringin' the beacons. We might invite Asti again to fill in for Jet or BR because she likes beacon runs, but her damn hair gets in the way. If she goes with us I'll have to get a pic so you can see what I mean. I plan on doing a pic storyline, so I'm sure it'll be a fun thing.

Well ... all I can say is ... we adore BlackRain and hope that he's going to continue being a part of our soc one way or another, no matter what he has to do with his current avatar. I've been ingame longer than he has, but I've learned valuable things from him, and would miss the closeness we share. DAMN ... I'm hoping this all works out really well, because now he's an Event Guru of sorts and doing an excellent job of it.

As a result of that, I've been busy putting together all the material I can in order to do a bang-up pic storyline on the "Great Six-Legged Race Around Eudoria" because I feel it deserves its rightful recognition. It's a wonderful thing he does for the n00bs, and this isn't the first time. He may be planning another one of these events around Amethera, with more challenges, but greater rewards. I'm going to be right in there with him if he does this, and certainly contributing to the prize pot, as well as covering it for the pic storyline.

He also has a new event starting soon ... "Urban Warfare ... Battle at Zychion" ... a PvP/PK event that sounds like it will be interesting. I'll be covering this event as well. He has a nice ingame ad about it, so be sure to check it out. Here's the link to the official event thread ...


Ok, time to get ingame and back to unlocking Coolness ... not sure I'll be able to accomplish this over the weekend, but I'm sure going to give it my best. I have about 1-1/2 levels to go according to all indications reported by others, so I'm going hard core all the way. I will exhaust both of those Korss 400's in a massive fight to the finish, so the mobs better be on the lookout for my ass up in there, because you never know what I'm going to capture on film and report. :D Oh, and that goes for avatars within my radius as well! ;)

Ciao till next time!



***
 
Thoughts for Today:

Never more so than now, it has become so incredibly apparent to me what seems to be the number one reason why relationships fail ... or at least produces a tremendous amount of tension and stress that has the potential to distance people from each other, thereby making it even harder to work on a successful relationship no matter what kind of relationship it may be.

One word ... communication ... people don't talk with each other, they talk at each other, and there's a definite lack of active listening that allows an individual an opportunity to fully understand what the other person is saying. Some tend to be inside themselves, with their own internal dialogue, preparing a response to what they think they're hearing.

I bring this up because ... I constantly have students, friends, family, and surprisingly quite a few people ingame and at EF solicit advice about their relationships, and why I'm in the state of mind I am at the moment. I hear all kinds of things, but the common denominator is "communication" ... and we don't do it very well ... but why is that? Actually, it's very clear to me, so I'll try to put my thoughts in print that hopefully will make some sense. This might get a little lengthy, but I'll try to be as concise as possible given my writing handicap. :laugh:

We become products of ... our upbringing, our environment, and a plethora of influences that play into our way of thinking, our attitudes, and our behaviors ... not to even mention that we are hardwired differently as males and females which certainly adds into the mix. Our person perception is often quite faulty, and we make quick judgment without taking enough information into consideration. Subjective interpretation leaves room for error, and since we are more "reactive" in our behaviors than thoughtful, it plays further into our inability at times to truly connect with each other in more positive ways.

When someone's first inclination is to be aggressive in their responses, it immediately places the other person in a defensive posture, and a position that does not promote effective communication. We tend to allow our egos to master our interaction with others because we don't like being portrayed as "wrong" ... even if we might be learning something valuable in the process. We'd rather fight to the finish until somebody wins, no matter what price we pay. Our ego defense mechanisms give us plenty of ways to stand our ground and place blame elsewhere for our behaviors ... Freud proposed that it's the ego's way of protecting itself with tactics that reduce or redirect anxiety in various ways, but always by distorting reality. I'm certainly not a Freud follower by any means (more humanist and client-centered), but he did make some valuable contributions throughout the 20th century.

Here are examples of 3 defense mechanisms that affect relationships ...

Projection ... disguises threatening impulses by attributing them to others. Thus, "He doesn't trust me" may be a projection of the actual feeling "I don't trust him," or "I don't trust myself." An El Salvadoran saying captures the idea: "The thief thinks everyone else is a thief."

Rationalization ... occurs when we unconsciously generate self-justifying explanations to hide from ourselves the real reasons for our actions. Thus, habitual drinkers may say they drink with their friends "just to be sociable." Students who fail to study may rationalize, "All work and no play makes Jack (or Jill) a dull person." If someone doesn't agree with our point of view, we often tend to "generalize" our personal experiences or person perception to apply to all people in an effort to rationalize our way of thinking. In other words ... we find the means to justify or rationalize our thoughts because we don't want to be wrong in our thinking.

Displacement ... diverts sexual or aggressive impulses toward an object or person that is psychologically more acceptable than the one that aroused the feelings. Children who fear expressing anger against their parents may displace it by kicking the family pet. Students upset at an exam may snap at a roommate. Partners in a relationship may take it out on each other rather than directing their frustrations where they belong.​

One thing we don't do enough of ... is consider how much our behaviors affect others. Oh, we know when someone is affected in a positive way, and we even revel in it, but we don't give much consideration to how others are affected in a negative way, because we're too busy defending ourselves to be right. We tend to feel "less than" if we're in a position where we can truly learn from someone else as a result of our ineffective behaviors, and even though underneath it all we might know we're wrong in our thinking, we do everything possible to rationalize it. In doing so, we risk the chance of alienating those we care about the most, and creating an even deeper level of sadness because the connection isn't as good as it could be, and then feelings of doubt set in which creates an even greater barrier.

We all learn much in our journey of life, and I'm very much an advocate of sharing that learned wisdom with others, especially if that wisdom is founded in truth. I would much rather smile than frown ... I would much rather a hug than be distanced by ineffective communication ... I would much rather enjoy and take to heart the wisdom of others rather than thinking I know it all, because none of us do ... and I would much rather be alone and enjoy my own solitude than struggle in an often stressful environment. Life isn't always a bowl of cherries, and certainly not perfect, but at least we can make a conscious effort to be kind to each other and accept the fact that we each bring unique value into a relationship that has the potential to make it either what we expect, or more than we expect.

For anyone who solicits input ... I first encourage them to learn how to actively listen, and to not immediately raise the defense shield when someone is sharing feelings of how they're affected by your behavior. Of course how they share those feelings has an impact on us as well, BUT ... we can still address the issue effectively without aggressively reacting, because when we do, no one listens from that point on, because we're too busy defending ourselves. The ego is a touchy thing, and we don't like to be seen as wrong, even if we know we are ... but don't let it get in the way of truly enjoying a close and loving relationship with someone.

There's much more that can be said here, but I"ll spare you, because books and plenty of research fills libraries with this sort of "stuff" ... and you can be your own resource if you're so inclined. I just want to encourage you to be considerate and open in your communication with others, and don't be so quick to dismiss what others have to offer that may be of value to you. Human behavior is complex, but know one thing ... you really don't know it all ... and neither do I.

EU News:

Moonie and I got together last night, and while we tried several things, nothing was as fruitful as it has been at other times, but I guess that's the nature of the EU environment ... dynamic, right?

We started off with Feffs W of Fury, because the past couple of days they treated me rather nicely, but last night they were a bust, except for a little unexpected fun I had along the way. While I stood looking for more mobs, I could hear the distinct sound of a Feff in close proximity, and even though I could see a red dot on the radar, I couldn't see the mob, BUT ... when I turned around, I caught this ...

RockinFeff-2.jpg

I didn't know Feffs played peek-a-boo ... I laughed so hard I could hardly stand up (ok, I was sitting in my chair at home, but standing ingame, alright?) ... and just had to get the shot. Apparently, this little booger (even though a Warrior) was too cowardly to come out from behind his protection in the rock, so he tried his best to do his damage ...

RockinFeff-3_670970.jpg

Too funny ... he was doing 1 damage to me, but I was unable to do damage to him. Interesting that a mob should spawn inside a rock and not be able to walk out ... or could he ... is this part of the new AI? ... hide and seek, come and find me if you can ... not to mention the red dot kinda gives it away. It was too fun, and kinda made the consistent no loot a little less painful ... ok, it didn't! :rolleyes:

We went from Feffs to the Gakis, Bulls, Cows, and Atrox S of Fury, but that didn't bring any better news in rewards, so we moved on to the Atrox S of Ithaca, and while the loot wasn't any better there, Moonie and I took out our first Atrox Old Alpha (AOA) without dying. What a great accomplishment that was, because while I was of the mindset that we wouldn't be able to do it, Moonie kept insisting that we could, and he was RIGHT. WhooHoo, how exciting it was! :yay: He kindly reminded me how I didn't think we could take out the higher maturity Aurlis either, and we did thanks to BlackRain's encouragement and coaching, so I guess Moonie learned that lesson better than I did, so thanks for the little push there Moonie!

Since the Atrox weren't doin' it for us either, we decided to try our hand at the Robot Attackers again. Moonie looted all kinds of stuff the night before on his own, including 3 minor TP chips, of which he "gave" me one since I was looking for one to include with my lesser and medium chips (don't know why I got rid of my minor chip after getting the medium) ... so thank you BIG time Moonie ... and I know our little adopted Bunny is ecstatic with his as well so he can TP right into the safe zone and do the Robot Attackers too. He managed to do well yesterday! :wtg: https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64293

Even though the night was a big bust loot-wise, it's always incredible fun sharing time with Moonie, because we laugh so much while on Skype. He's got the best sense of humor, and is just an all around great guy. Luv ya Moonie, and thanks for the many hours of unadulterated fun. Perhaps next time we'll get something to make our pockets jingle.

Ciao till next time!



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Thoughts for Today:

Now that the kitchen is cleaned up, the 2nd pitcher of fresh-brewed iced tea is done, I can sit with my peanut butter and banana toast sandwich with hot Typhoo tea and get busy here. It's been a while since I've done an entry, but hey ... I wanted to wait to have some interesting things to write about, instead of just rambling on about "stuff" ... and this Diary entry promises to be fun with all kinds of news.

First though, I mentioned in one of my posts in some thread that I had to go off on a student yesterday, which I did, but don't want it to seem like I was a maniac in doing so. One of the things I find so disheartening (in this country anyway), is that we really don't hold students accountable. They are able to get away with multiple absences in a row, even state that they will not be attending class for 3 weeks or more, and still be allowed to come back into class and make up exams without having benefit of in-class material or discussion.

Now, let me clarify that I teach at a junior level college, which is a 2-year college, and students are fresh out of (or close to) just graduating high school. I went to a private 4-year university for both my undergraduate and graduate work, and they were pretty vocal about absences, especially on exam days, but it seems that it's more the norm these days (for some) to miss an inordinate amount of time away from class sessions and still expect to get a decent grade.

That said ... I have this student in my 11am class on M/W who has missed 15 days out of the 26 class sessions we've had so far, and when he does come to class, he's a minimum of 30-40 minutes late for class each time. The interesting thing is, the class is only 1-1/4 hrs long. He had the nerve to show up 45 minutes late for class yesterday, and then after class ask me if his absences were going to affect his final grade. When I asked where his personal accountability was for his education, he gave every excuse in the book (and then some) to justify his absences. The main one being ... he stays up late at night and just can't get himself up in the morning. Are you kidding me ... oh HELL no.

He then goes on to give an award-winning performance, and in the process, portrays a perfect example of the "Actor-Observer Discrepancy" attribute of common social behavior. Ok Professor, splain for those who don't understand that term ... it simply means, that when things go right, we attribute it to our own internal personal doing, and of course take full credit in the process, BUT ... if things go wrong or end up negative, we attribute these oucomes to external situational factors, rather than taking responsibility for our own part in this process. He promptly told me that "others" are late and absent, and "others" do this and that, and I'm sure that the expression on my face while he was letting out all this hot air gave him a very clear message ... I wasn't buying it.

So, bottomline ... I promptly told him back that if he had such a challenge getting himself up in the morning to come to class, then he shouldn't have taken a morning class ... real simple solution. I also told him that this situation wasn't about anyone else in class but himself, and that he was ultimately responsible for his behavior and educational outcome. Oh, and btw ... the answer to his original question is yes.

Enough of this, but as one last comment ... I find it incredibly sad, and such a disservice to our youth to not be more guiding in teaching them that what you do now has a profound effect on your future. It's all tied in you see, and what far too many don't get is that their official grade transcripts that many potential employers want a copy of tells more than just what grades they got in any particular course. It speaks volumes about ability, effort, and dedication ... not to mention how much you may have actually absorbed based on your grade.

Sure, people can change, but unless you have a more official document that says so, it's just your word against your competition's for a position you might be interested in. Believe me, this is a real world occurrence (in the US anyway), and in my field (dealing with human behavior and mental health issues), you really have to know what you're doing, or you have the potential of messing up a person's thinking to be more detrimental than what they presented with in the first place.

Let's get on to the fun stuff please!

EU News:

First off ... can you color me happy right up in here, JSA acquired a brand new member, and someone I never expected. None other than "Sir Odd Bunny" ... how cool is that, we have our own soc Bunny now. He has got to be one of the sweetest and fun people ingame. As mentioned many times in threads, Moonie and I adopted him a long time ago, and made it our mission to sort of look after him, even when he didn't know we were. We love his personality, his sense of humor, his philosophies that so fit with ours, and his overall presence, which won us over right out the gate. We are very proud indeed to have the Bunny as a soc mate, and look forward to lots of cool times ahead. You can read the welcome thread with pics here ...


Now, the Bunny didn't waste any time ... he and I went out on a hunt together and I gave him a choice as to where he would like to go. He said he would like to go do Cows north of Troy, but little did I know that he had a mission in mind ... a training mission, which I didn't realize until we got out in the thick of things.

The Bunny said ... "I guess you should show me mob-herding" ... OMG, those words made me proud, because if there's anything synonymous with JSA, it's mob-herding, because we all do it, and here was the Bunny, ready to jump in with both feet to earn his mob-herding stripes.

So ... I started the mob-herding process in order that the Bunny could learn by example. He picked up on it rather quickly as you can see in this pic ...

OB-MobHerding.jpg

Once we had a few to play with, I said to OB that now you have to kill them, so he got busy ...

OB-MobHerding-2.jpg

Unfortunately, too many wanted OB's attention, and while he fought a good fight, they got the better of him ...

OB-MobHerding-3.jpg

By the time he TP'd back, I had them practically all taken care of (can't resist), but did reserve a Cow to finish off. Oh, forgot to mention that prior to the mob-herding lesson, I showed him how to blow up mobs ... especially if they're hoggish with the loot. This little bombing even gave OB a lift of sorts, and certainly must have made the eavesdropper quite uneasy ...

OB-MobBlowUp.jpg

The Bunny is going to be a fun addition to JSA, but I can see we still need to keep an eye on him though, because he has this need to redecorate public environments in the most unusual way ...

Sweat-n-Poop.jpg

If all this wasn't excitement enough for my purple ass, then the Bunny becoming one of our newest Staff Reporters at EF put it over the top. Back when OB entered the original Staff Reporters contest, he was one of the individuals that ended up close to the top of our list of those we would absolutely consider as a Reporter, along with Tangine, so it is exciting indeed that these two have now joined our Newsroom Staff. Each has a unique writing style, and I'm sure they will be contributing great things to help keep our Front Page more revolving. You can see the announcement here ...


Congratulations to them both, and OB, your presence in both the soc and Newsroom is excellent news indeed, BUT ... just because the "Viper" was sold ... it doesn't mean that I don't have backup ... no partiality shown from this arsenal. :laugh: Besides, I looted something rather special last night in a hunt with Moonie, so be sure to check out the Hall of Fame posts I'm doing when I get back from administering a final exam to my 5:30pm class.

Ciao till next time!



***
 
A Quickie Note:

No, I didn't fall off the planet, but was just majorly busy IRL, as well as working on some EU projects ... oh, and playing ingame of course! :D

I'll be back on Sunday to fill in some more space! However, what I want to write here I can't :laugh: ... so I'm just going to bed to think about it. Sorry, sometimes my thoughts aren't part of an open book! The rare, (L), and exclusive ones are kept in a vault ... but I will be sharing something quite special with the community very soon. :D





***
 
IRL News:

Geez ... where do I begin ... IRL has been progressing slowly but surely without too many glitches. I'm still working on my premiere program (Effective Parenting for Family Success) ... revamping it has been an interesting proposition since I'm designing it as a "build your own reference manual" to take home after attending the workshop. It's also being constructed in a way that will somewhat mirror, or be complemenary to the book being written. This is my most passionate project to date, especially after having so much success with the original program used during my agency-related counseling of families.

The new format incorporates a lot of step-by-step, easy to read guidelines rather than massive run-on text which most books present. I also don't want it to come across as clinical, because that could immediately be a turn-off ... and also why I didn't do counseling in an office setting, but took the services right into homes where family interaction could be observed, and where the family felt more at ease and comfortable in their own surroundings. There's a stigmatism that comes with my profession (no matter what we do in the psychology-based field), which is unfortunate, because it's helpful in understanding the dynamics of our dysfunctional thinking and why it happens.

It's an educational process that's very beneficial, but due to stereotyping and misconceived ideas, some tend to shy away from it because they think all we want to do is mess with their minds ... of course we do :laugh: ... but not in the way that is more often thought than not. My question is always ... why wouldn't someone want to live their lives more effectively. I actually know the answer to that, but I'm not going to hold class today.

The "Chef" is still busy with his Ginsu knife in the kitchen, and also still holding my Wolfgang Puck cookware hostage, but hey ... why the hell would I complain, eh? He whips this up, throws that together, and blends whatever, and the end result is ... I get to enjoy the fruits of his labor served up on a platter of smiles. He truly enjoys himself in the kitchen, and when he started unpacking his culinary stuff ... whoa, I knew he was serious. It's not like the gourmet chefs in the fancy restaurants, although I wouldn't underestimate his abilities there, but rather variations on a theme of what we would normally find on the diningroom table I suppose. At any rate, it's good stuff and we eat healthy, which is important.

Oh ... Chef is quite handy beyond the kitchen as well I might add. If he's not rockin' out with his music and playin' air guitar (when he's not in the mood to take out one of his 5 real guitars), he's building things like this wall system that will hold about 900 or so CD/DVDs for the computer/music room that fit together like a puzzle with interlocking pieces. Makes it quite easy to pull something out ... and of course, he has most of his on the shelves already, AND in alphabetical order from AC/DC to ZZ-Top, with a lot of interesting stuff in between. I'm getting close to finding a home for my stuff as well, because he got the stereo system hooked up between our matching computer stations ... does this just get any better! Color my purple ass freakin' SPOILED ... thanks Chef, your contributions to this household are appreciated.

Moonie and Jet are still planning their trip here (Florida) late August, and we're at the point of locking down some dates. I think Moonie has more time than my brother Jet, but that's fine, he's welcome to stay here longer and get nuts with us. We are really looking forward to it, and I can only imagine how much fun it's going to be ... especially with how crazy we get ingame.

IRL at the moment is an opportunity like no other, and I would like to publicly thank Chef for his immense support and belief in my efforts. Believing in someone so implicitly is an immense gift, and I am immensely grateful.

EU News:

All I can say is ... thank you MA for the launchers. OMG ... those things have provided SO much fun for the soc and friends. Jet got his first and a few of us took it out to PvP2 to test it out. I don't recall laughing this hard in a long time ... oh, except for last night after our beacon run, which Moonie looted earlier when he found a robot ship, but that story in a minute.

The day before yesterday, I was innocently standing at the TT in the Sakura City TC when all of a sudden the center started rocking. I didn't see Jet sign in (because he likes to make an entrance), so I had no clue what that was. Next thing you know (after I exited the TT), I see our soc Bunny (Sir Odd Bunny) asking what's going on, but with an "lol" after his comment. I asked if Jet signed in, because he likes to hide in the doorway of the TC and announce his entrance by blowing up the auctioneer and telling everyone ... "Oops, autioneer is out of commission for the day!" Now what makes that even funnier is, poor Nik standing at the counter saying ... "huh? I just bought something from the auction!" I'm sure he'll learn that Jet needs to be medicated and to just ignore his explosive entrances.

Back on track here ... to my surprise, Odd Bunny pulls out his own launcher and lobs one at the ad screen while saying ... "BAD ad" ... :laugh: ... OMG, I nearly lost it. Now we have two loose cannons in our soc ... well, it would be 3 since BlackReign got his before the Bunny, but I think he's more into blowin' up mobs than auctioneers and ad screens.

ANYway ... after the beacon run last night and all meeting up at the revival at Echidna, Jet and Bunny took pot shots at each other, which was just too funny. Then Jet started lobbing grenades at the voting booth (great aim I might add), and the mobile center. One aim was so timed, that the grenade landed at the doorway of the mobile center when someone was just exiting ... didn't know what hit him, but he laughed. If Jet and Bunny aren't blowin' up auctioneers, ad screens, TPs or the unsuspecting n00bs at PA from outside the walls, they're sneaking up on innocent little snables and exos. HOWEVER ...

Last night we gave it the ultimate test ... Jet, Moonie, the Bunny (OB), Zar (aka rwin at EF), Asti, and I (beacon buddies) went to the Corinth ring. No one was around and we took advantage of that. We all got into the ring and lined up. Jet took his shots first as we were waving whatever it was we had in our hands, from rifle to EnMatter Driller. OMG ... talk about laugh our asses off ... when the last grenade hit that took us out, we flew over the walls of the ring in true acrobatic style, landing in all kinds of positions, but the Bunny had the greatest flip of all ... he ended up hanging over the fenced wall of the ring (on Asti's monitor anyway), and here's the pic ... talk about being impaled ... THIS had to hurt ... but he still hung onto his launcher ...

OB-HangingOnRingFence-2.jpg

After Jet wiped us all out, he then shot the grenades so that he would take hits and kill himself. His flip out of the ring with launcher-in-hand was too damn funny.

After Jet, it was the Bunny's turn. The body-flips are never the same of course, so it just added to the continued fun. In the end, the Bunny as well took himself out, and it was just too hysterical. JSA is not a PK soc by any means, and we really don't engage in that at all, but when MA brought out the launchers, the fun factor within the soc escalated to an ATH. When the Bunny says ... "What Star, you say the auctioneers are ugly?" ... and then proceeds to launch a grenade in the middle of the pit that splatters shrapnel and debris not only on the auctioneers, but the technicians and patrons alike, the humor behind the actions is just too "crack me up" not to laugh. I tell the boys not to be too obnoxious with their antics so that it disturbs our EU citizens, but you know how boys and their toys are. :rolleyes:

I love our soc of sillies ... it makes playing EU that much more fun indeed, and I wouldn't change either one of them. We just added a new member that will be announced real soon, and he fits in just perfectly. We'll be adding another member, who's a good friend of the new member, and has a great sense of humor of his own, so JSA is growing a little at a time. We want to emphasize the fun factor more than anything else, and make sure that we have soc mates that are online enough to interact. We're all in the US, except for Moonie, who's in Canada, but in the same west coast time zone as BlackReign and the next new member coming in. Jet and the Bunny are central time, and the new member and I are east coast. It just freakin' rocks.

Aside from the silly soc antics ... I've split my time between hunting and mining, because both have been good to me again ... and for it to be simultaneous, well ... MA and Lootius must love me at the moment. Oh, and guess what? ... I decided to even craft a little since the looting touch has been rather magic of late. So ... I got me an OreAmp 101 (L) BP and went to town ... not long into the crafting run at all I ended up with a 249 global. Then I said, hey ... why not try EnMatterAmps too ... so I did. Moonie was standing next to me at the crafting machine skillin' on durable dampers when I properly globaled 3 times ... he quit skillin' ... sorry Moonie! :( ... NOT!! :laugh:

My mining hit ratio is great at the moment, even set a personal record of 7 in a row from double bombing. My hunting loot skills are on, and apparently I have a little magic happening with the crafting as well, so hey ... it's all good atm. However, we all know that it's not an every day diet, right? I'll enjoy it while it lasts, but I still say that the magic is in the 5B plates and Phantom harness Auktuma crafted for me, as well as the mining amps and great advice I get. How the hell could I go wrong, eh?

I wish all of you the best possible EU experience, but then we all know that we make choices in that respect, and therefore, we are responsible for the fun factor ... now go have FUN!

Ciao till next time ... sorry for the length, but it's been a while. I'll try to do this stuff more on a daily basis, because there's lots going on. :D





***
 
IRL Musings:

If there's one thing I know for certain, time can get away from you. Regardless of the 24 hours we each get in every day, we can become lost in space ... or at least I can at times. I've realized that I have to reconstruct my time in a way that is more beneficial, because too much of it is getting away from me, and I'm not making as much headway with projects that I otherwise could be.

The challenge might be (warning: self-analysis going on here) ... that this is the first time I'm not actively engaged in employment (no Summer classes to teach as an Adjunct Professor (part-time position) as a result of low enrollment in the college), and at this point in time with other dynamics to consider in my personal life, it may not be the best situation. All is being taken care of ... but being enveloped in this comfort zone, I'm finding myself asking a lot of questions.

So, while I am immensely grateful for the opportunities presented to me, they are not without their challenges ... more from an emotional perspective I suppose than anything else, but nonetheless, challenging. I apologize for being so cryptic, but some things I'm not willing to put into print at this point. Perhaps this is a sounding board for me, and while I know there are many who read this Diary, I also know that many respect the personal space of others and are supportive.

Some may ask, why write in the Diary at all then if you're not willing to tell all. Well, I can respect that sentiment, but guess I write because it's a form of bloodletting if you will, and like others, I am affected by environmental influences (ok, virtual too), and reporting only that which is positive is not balanced. Yes, I know it's still cryptic, but I ask that you just accept (for now) that I'm in a state of flux and calling upon energy I haven't had to use in a while ... not to mention visiting "the inner sanctum" on a more regular basis these days, and that can be a scary place.

I imagine that it will all work itself out ... but in the meantime, my time spent at the EF forum, and especially with the writing, is a blessing. Writing is so my greatest passion, and while I am presented an immense opportunity IRL regarding this as well, I find accepting the generosity of this opportunity encumbered by personal sacrifice that I am uncomfortable contributing to ... meaning, while the generosity is heartfelt, the dynamics of the situation are not optimum, and generates a layer of stress and uncomfortableness that I am now finding myself in the "inner sanctum" analyzing to death in order to come up with a more amenable solution.

It will all come out in the wash, and when I hang the laundry out to dry, it will all become more clear to you. In the meantime, I'll take leave of this line of writing until I can make more sense of it and not take you on a ride to nowhere. However, writing is cathartic for me, because I get thoughts out of my head and it inspires a renewed (different) energy to do something instead of just think. Ok, I feel better now, so let's see what I've been doing in my virtual world.

EU Activities and News:

I'm still having fun, and our soc has grown again. JSA added a new member on our 2 year anniversay June 18th, but didn't make an immediate announcement out of respect for this person's previous society.

It is our greatest pleasure to announce that ... "rwin" (aka 'Zar' ingame) has become the newest JSA soc member. He spent a great deal of time with JSA on hunts, beacons, and crazy antic activities ingame, and quickly became another of our favorite people to be with. He is an asset in many ways, and brings to us the qualities we look for in a soc member. He comes to us from "Entropia Directory" ... not only as a previous member of that soc, but also as a very hard working contributor to the enormous amount of valuable information found through this source. JD is a special friend of mine, and I have always respected the quality and hard work put into what is offered to us from this immensely valuable site.

JSA is indeed very fortunate to have onboard one of ED's finest ... actually, make that 2 of ED's finest since Odd Bunny is also a contributor there, now that I think of it ... so you can imagine how much information is instantly available to us during our ingame activities at times without having to visit the site. rwin has not only added outpost locations, but many interesting places that perhaps many don't know of, or don't take the time to visit, like the Feff Camps, and I believe the battleground fields in PvP2.

If that isn't enough, I also have to say that I have always been impressed with how 'rwin' posts at this forum, and in fact, that's how we initially met. Neither of us are without our moments of being pushed over the edge, but despite how minimal that is, objectively and constructively responding in threads is key, and he does just that. As a fan of anyone's posts, I let them know how much I appreciate and respect their contributions. In doing so with rwin, this led to PMs which took us on a course toward a wonderful friendship, and an invitation to share in JSA's activities whenever he was available. The rest is history as they say, and we are proud to now call him a soc mate in this slowly but surely growing virtual family of ours.

Whenever we add a soc mate to JSA ... we all gather around a soc terminal for the ceremony, and then have a party. At this particular event, Moonie was unfortunately absent due to work demands, but he was there in spirit. Present for this great induction was of course Sir Odd Bunny joining me in a champagne spray, Jetboy (our soc Leader making the official entry in the soc terminal, and shooting off fireworks), and BlackReign stomping dents in the soc terminal with stilettos to hurry it up ... and yours truly of course.

ZarNewMember.jpg

Oh, I forgot to mention one of rwin's other talents ... semi-stealth-mode with partial invisibility ... still working on full cloaking, so we'll let you know when that's available ...

Zar-Invisible.jpg

Oh yes, and rwin plays a female avatar ingame (same as BR now), and it's nice to have other female soc mates, even though it's just the shell of the avatar. Behind 'Zar's' buxom and sweet-looking avatar is all man ... a 22 year veteran of the Navy currently working as a high-level recruiter (meaning ... hard-core professionals from intelligence to neurosurgery) ... is also married with two young boys (3 & 6), and like the rest of us in JSA, loves to have fun ingame. He's a major contributor to the fun-factor, and joins in our crazy antics at every chance. Like our recent escapades with launching bodies out of the Corinth Octagon, or in the PvP2 zone. It's just too much fun ...

CorinthBodyFlight.jpg


PvP2-BodyLaunch.jpg

And speaking of launching ... rwin shows he's quite capable of handling a launcher despite it's heaviness in female avatar hands ...

ZarLauncher.jpg

Not to be outdone of course ... I had to show that yours truly could handle these bad boys as well ...

MS9-Launcher.jpg

Zar (rwin) is also familiar with our infamous JSA mob-herding ... so when we ended up in the big Exo land area, he was prepared to take on anything I was willing to bring his way ... here's an example during a hunt that Moonie, Jet, Odd Bunny, Zar and I were on ...

ExoHerding.jpg

Gotta love the Exo pyramids, eh? ... mob herding is just too much fun for us, and being in the midst of so many Exo Prowlers and Stalkers was not only an adrenaline-producing rush, but just a "laugh your ass off" situation that we love finding ourselves in the middle of as much as possible. Again, for us in JSA, it's all about FUN ... and I have to say that with our current member list, there's never a lack of it ... even when we aren't team hunting.

Welcome Zar (rwin) ... we are extremely pleased to add you to our JSA family, and look forward to the next addition which may not be that far down the road ... but timing is very key.

Ciao till next time!



***
 
Follow-up thoughts ...

Wanted to add an additional entry, because after some well-founded and "take the rose colored glasses off" discussion this afternoon ... there was one comment made that stuck out for me more than any other ... be successful. So how is that impactful? Well, I guess I have self-issue with the generosity of others, because I'm usually the one doing all the giving. The tables are turned in such an enormous way at the moment that I've had challenges with it ... to the point of not allowing my mind enough freedom to focus as deeply as I know my ability can take me.

Therefore, I've been in scramble mode in the "inner sanctum" ... however, there is a renewed understanding, and even 'freeing' if you will, of this self-imposed prison I've kept myself in for a while. I have truly been given an unconditional gift to go after my dream. To reach as far as I can reach with every ounce of energy I can muster up ... and to not stop until I have achieved it. While I am banking on the present, the gift-giver is banking on the future, with so much faith and belief in my ability to produce the end result ... that golden ring that everyone reaches for while riding endlessly in a circle on the carousel. I just have to reach a little longer, and a little harder ... but it is not that far beyond my grasp that I can't see it.

Vision is everything, and without vision and dreams, what are we working for. Who benefits from stagnated energy or effort ... and those who don't move forward experience inertia perhaps, and I don't want to find myself running on a treadmill going nowhere (even though I do that IRL ... except walk, not run) :laugh: ... but would rather be in a position where my movement takes me somewhere.

Ok, body may be stationary, but the mind energy experienced a bit of shock therapy if you will this afternoon, so it's onward. I am engaging the neurons, and they should be firing on all cylinders soon. Even a counselor needs counseling sometimes, or at least a knock upside the head with a verbal 2x4 just for good measure.

I am now off to the Newsroom to see what's up ... Odd Bunny is working on a new avatar profile and we're hoping to get it complete for next week's Wednesday's Who's Who series. Once again, the targeted profile person is being tremendously gracious with time and effort in order to accomplish our goal despite IRL demands. We love our 'victims' ... no, we really DO! :D

Until next time ... learn the lessons that each day presents to you, and leave yourself open to those who don't even know they're teaching you. ;)



***
 
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This is all about EU, and the fact that no matter what we in JSA do, we're always having fun. We come up with some pretty cool ideas at times, and last night I was revved up enough to come up with a pretty decent one.

We've always done our little Opalo snable runs, and now and then Moonie and I even came up with HoFs over 400 ped, but last night Zar (rwin) and I went off on a different kinda trek just for the hell of it.

We equipped ourselves with GeoTrek LP120's, attached BullTak20 amps to them so we didn't add additional ammo burn, and went out into the wilds of Fury in a full-on Feff hunt. Well, we had SO much fun takin' those blue boogers down, not to mention the Faucers and Frogs that got in the way that annoyed us, but nonetheless, it was frugal and fun.

As a matter of fact, it wasn't only frugal and fun, we actually ended up with 3 weapons that we made a nice profit on at auction, and two were in globals. Ok, Zar ended up with them in loot because he did more damage, which was awesome, even though I looted the globals, but JSA in team hunting always auctions and splits anything we're not keeping. Besides the 33 ped Riker UL3 that Zar got in loot, here are the two globals that produced 2 nice Korss 400's ...

Global #1 - 61 ped Korss H400

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

Global #2 - 133 ped Korss H400

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]

We're going to try this as a soc adventure, and with several of us whippin' out the LP120's, we should be able to have a super great time without spending a crapload of ped and ammo, and hopefully even some globals in the mix.

Guess what the sweet part is ... I have a GeoTrek LP120 BP (L) "Unlimited" ... so yours truly will be makin' love with a crafting machine now and then to support our economical team hunts for sure. *Now to find that BullTac20 BP*



***
 
Talk about exciting day ... yesterday, Friday July 6th, ended up being a rather special and adventurous day indeed. You can color my purple ass extremely happy at this moment for one incredible reason (I'll get to the adventure in a moment) ... here's the story ...

Once upon a long time ago ... I took notice of a particular person's posting at this forum, and quickly became a fan. Why? ... because no matter what it was that he was posting, it was always constructive, never rude, and presented critical thinking with substance. These are all qualities that definitely catch my attention, and when they do, I always send a PM to the individual to say thank you for their contributions. Little did I know that the feeling was mutual ... and as they say ... the rest is history, and we became good virtual friends.

This individual was in a soc that I greatly admired ... and whose Leader I also consider a friend. They've given back to the community and are known for being helpful. It wasn't until just recently through PM that I discovered that this individual was no longer a member of this soc. It happened quite innocently through the course of conversation about several other things, and in one of my moments of absolute admiration for this individual's handling of something quite intense, I said ... "if you weren't a member of another soc, JSA would grab you up in a heartbeat" ... well, much to my surprise, I was told that it was just a couple of days earlier that he actually left the soc and became a Freelancer.

OMG ... you can only imagine the speed with which I made a response to that PM with an open invitation to join JSA if he was even considering another society. His reply was that indeed he would be honored to join, but that he wanted to remain a Freelancer just a little longer out of respect for his previous soc. I indicated to him that there was no time limit attached to the invitation to join JSA, but rather was an open invitation for when he was ready to make any decision.

Yesterday (Friday, July 6th) ... I received a PM ingame from this person telling me that there seemed to be a mini-Feff invasion at Fury, and since I had such a great time with the major-Feff invasion some time back, I hopped right to it. When I arrived they were gone, and never spawned again, BUT ... I at least was able to have a chat with my special friend whom I hadn't seen in quite a while, even though we have chatted in PM many times.

As we stood there talking ... all of a sudden he said that he had been giving my offer a great deal of thought lately. Ok, my eyes lit up and were glued to the chat window. He said that if JSA was still interested in his joining our soc that he was ready. OMG ... he couldn't see me IRL of course, but I was jumping up and down like a purple banshie (whatever that is), and totally excited that this moment had arrived. :yay:

As we stood there in a moment of silence ... I finally snapped out of it and said that we could do this right now if he were interested. There was a soc terminal behind us on the other side of the wall and we could make this happen. He was ready and we did it ...

JackFree-NewMember-070607.jpg

It is my greatest pleasure to announce ... that "JackFree" has joined our JetStar Alliance soc family. I know that he was a well-respected member of Terre Verde for a while, and a soc that I have always admired, so I hope they know that with his departure (for whatever the reasons, which are none of my business), he has found yet another soc that will treasure him not only as an incredibly wonderful human being, but respect all that he brings to our virtual world and this forum.

Welcome my friend ... we look forward to a long and adventurous relationship that will certainly enhance our virtual existence even greater. Ok, I know I'm gushing at the moment, but this just couldn't have been a more surprising event ... especially since it just happened so innocently and casually, but hey ... ya just never know when that virtual sun will shine upon you. Besides, he also wears purple, so that had to be a sign as well, eh? ;)

Now for the evening adventure:

When I discovered ... that Odd Bunny and Zar (rwin) had not been to the Thorio Temple yet, you can imagine how I shifted into high gear to get this party started. We had a great time as always, and they were able to play with the wizards while Jet and I kept their attention for the most part so that the guys didn't get their lights punched out, even though they did a really nice job of handling the Thorios.

Once we reached the temple ... Zar immediately jumped up on the sacrificial stone and layed down ... perhaps in an attempt to please the Thorio Gods, who knows, but it didn't help our loot situation any ...

ThorioTemple-ZarSacrificeStone.jpg

Since the loot wasn't so attractive ... Odd Bunny thought that he would just blow up the sacrificial stone and get it over with, but I thought that it might disturb the ancients too much and quickly got out the whip ...

ThorioTemple-OB-BlowinUp.jpg

Well, our soc Bunny is never intimidated by my whip, so he just pulled out HIS and we went at it ...

ThorioTemple-MS9-OB.jpg

Zar snapped us out of it for a group pic ... he wanted Jet and I up on the big hands of the extended arms, and he and OB stood below in between. Zar wanted a pic for something, so not sure where or if this will show up anywhere ... thought I would share my own snapshot in the meantime ...

ThorioTemple-JSA.jpg

This temple resident didn't look too happy, so we didn't overstay our visit, but instead, went off to take out a few of their worshippers. All in all, it was a fun adventure, and Zar and Odd Bunny were able to get the red dot on their map as well. We are never at a lack of fun and adventure in JSA, and now we have yet another awesome soc mate to join in our craziness.

Ciao till next time!



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This will be a quickie because I have things to do, but ... OMG ... I just about had a seizure last night with a crafting run on OreAmp OA-101's. Why? ... because I was on a damn ROLL up in there ... 68 globals (all time stamped and will be posted here later), two HoF's over 800 ped each (4 minutes apart), and one (FINALLY) 'uber" HoF worth 1561 ped. I had emeralds, rubies, garnets, and opals in my inventory. :yay:

I've posted the 'uber' in the uber HoF area, and the "pair of 8's" in the regular HoF area, but I have to come back here and post the 68 globals so that you guys don't think I'm exaggerating ... it blew me away. :eek:

Later! :D



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IRL News:

Well, Jet and Moonie's visit to Florida has been changed to my birthday weekend (BD=9/9), so we get to celebrate my purple ass with candles and other fun stuff. We're really looking forward to it, and have some interesting things planned for our visitors.

The Chef is still hording the Wolfgang Puck, but hey ... I'm the recipient of all the good that comes of it. We're having a late, late Saturday breakfast, and he's in the kitchen right now making omlettes, sage sausage, and 99 grain (ok, 12 grain) toast with strawberry preserves. Oh ya, can't forget the Dunkin Donut coffee (my favorite). However, I'm playin' cook for dinners this weekend, and tonight I'm making my shredded beef over Japanese rice. Tomorrow night, fresh salmon. I might even throw together this Asian salad my sister in Chicago gave me the recipe for ... sounds really yummy. Wait, I'll give it to you here and maybe you can give it a try sometime ...

Asian Salad

Nappa cabbage - (slice into thin strips)
green onions - (bunch)

Toast the following ...
(about 20 minutes or until golden brown) - (put foil on toasting pan)

3 Ramen Noodle pkgs - (use the noodles only and not the seasoning)
1/2 cup of sliced almonds
1/4 cup of white sesame seeds
1/2 cub of sunflower seeds

(crumble up the ramen noodles and mix with everything else before toasting)
(once all is toasted, set aside to cool)

Dressing

1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon plus 1/4 Kikoman soy sauce
3/4 cup of sugar (or a little more depending on desired sweetness)

(put in sauce pan and heat till sugar melts - do not boil - set aside to cool)​

She said that this should make a decent amount, and depending on how many you are serving, it's best to take only what you need from the ingredients and store the toasted stuff and dressing in separate containers. She said not to use too much dressing, but enough to coat everything. She claims it's really excellent, so maybe I'll give it a try this weekend ... I'll let you know.

On another note ... things are coming along fine IRL, and I'm busy with the writing. As passionate as I am about writing, sometimes it becomes overwhelming because I want it done now, and I have to keep my patience in check. Oops, hold on a sec ... oh wow, another yummy presentation by the Chef. Oh no, he doesn't just slap stuff on a plate ... it has to have a bit of style so it looks appetizing. Guess I'll have to step up my game when I head to the kitchen later to whip up dinner, eh?

I just want to say again, just how grateful I am to have the opportunities that I have been given, not to mention how freakin' spoiled I am. The Chef is more than a Chef, and it shows in everything he does. We learn from each other, which makes this relationship incredibly rich. Oh, we have our moments like any other couple, but we have the ability to communicate at a level that far too many don't take the time to learn. It makes a huge difference, but I won't go there right now, I have fun stuff in EU to share.

EU Activities:

What can I say ... this past week, I had a 3 day lucky streak crafting OreAmp OA-101's that brought me 3 ubers, 3 hofs over 800 ped each, and a crapload of gloabls. Of course, I was crafting on full condition which is quite risky, but the gamble paid off for me. I have since regained my sanity and am back to regular crafting, and even got my D-1 BP to 100.0 finally.

I've also looted some interesting BP's ... one of the ones I got just last night is a Rutic Blix (L) ... and also the Willard Heatray ... but I'm finding that some of the BP's I have (like the Rutic Slo as well), require items that aren't that easy to get your hands on, like Basic Target Assessment thingies that aren't craftable, so our resident soc mate who has so much information at his fingertips (Zar) will be posting what mobs to hunt to get what we need. While these BP's are (L), they are the unlimited kind, just like my GeoTrek LP120 BP, and eventually, I'll be poppin' those outta the oven too. I'm at 96.1% in efficiency on those now, so it'll be soon. I have 3 engineering professions at 8 and 7, so perhaps getting close to unlocking BPC too ... one can hope, eh?

In the meantime, I'm still close to unlocking "Coolness" which should be right around the corner as well, but I've said that before ... it's just taking a long damn time to get there. Mining is on the back burner for now, and I'm focusing on crafting for a bit, with hunting in between. I've always said that if one thing isn't working for you right now, then change it up and come back to it later. It works for me, and I have found success with hunting, mining, and now crafting ... however short-lived they may be in between ... and it's all fun.

And speaking of fun ... my soc mates are as nuts as ever, but that's what makes our times together rock. Our soc Bunny pimps my crafting machine with his grenades (kinda shakes the globals and hofs loose), and my brother? ... well, he has a rocket launcher and will blow up just about ANYthing. For example ... after HIS little 16 global mini-run on the OreAmps last night, I had him come to my apt to see my lastest acquisition ... a photo art piece by Slapnuts that I saw at his gallery exhibit on Thursday at Ido's. I was just awe-struck by it because it spoke volumes to me, so I had to have it. The look is reminiscent of a hard life story, with eyes that seem to say ... "you don't wanna know" ... I just couldn't resist ... you must see the exhibit of these brilliant photos taken by Slapnuts in East Africa ... don't miss it ...

SN-BaboonPhoto.jpg

I took my brother over to Ido's gallery to see the exhibit, and after he ooo'd and aaa'd over the brilliant photo art, we took a walk out on the balcony to take in the wonderful view. However, Jet ... mischievous brother that he is, decided that he was going to wake up the neighbors by launching rockets onto their balconies. :rolleyes:

As we walked back into the gallery, I just glanced around in wonder at such brilliant photography, and then all of a sudden, this whirring sound went past my ears, and then an explosion ...

JetBombingGallery-1.jpg

I asked Jet what the HELL he was doing, and he said ... "I don't like that picture" (j/k of course), but I still told him he didn't need to blow it up. He's a bit too wild with that rocket launcher, and I'm afraid he's been a bad influence on our soc Bunny as well. Odd Bunny has become quite aggressive with his grenade launcher, but perhaps it keeps the body makeover professionals in business, eh?

It wasn't enough for Jet to launch rockets from the gallery balcony, oh no, he had to continue his antics once we got outside and headed for the TP. We saw green dots, and it seemed they were on a balcony in the next building. SO ... Jet had some fun ... but in having that fun, I didn't realize how talented he was with his blasts. When a rocket hit the protective covering over the apt building, it burst into a Mickey Mouse head ...

JetBombingBilltonTwrs.jpg

Then he threatened to blow me up in the TP ... little brothers are like that you know ...

JetBeingBrave.jpg

But I figured I'd use reverse psychology in an attempt to get him to polarize and do the opposite, so I said ... ya, sure, go ahead, cool ... but it didn't work ...

JetBlowinUpMS9inBilltonTP.jpg

Once we got to our home at Sakura, I figured that would be the end of it, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ... he made an attempt to wake up the neighbors to come out and play ...

JetWakinUpHmNeighbors.jpg

THEN ... if THAT wasn't enough, I all but ran and hid, because he then tried to wake Lootius up who resides on the 11th floor of the Sachi building ... good thing Jet's aim is a little off at times, because I think he missed the church by a few balconies ...

JetWakinUpLootius.jpg

He must have had too much caffeine, but I think once Lootius didn't come out to play he figured the night was over. He just wanted to thank him for the 16 globals he got earlier, but I guess even Lootius needs his sleep at times.

While Jet, I and the Bunny were crafting for a while, Zar (rwin) was out with a friend mowin' down troxies. Jet, Zar and I were on Skype, so we always end up laughing alot ... especially when my crazy-ass brother is with us. I absolutely love his sense of humor, and it inspires me to be even more out there ... we sure do love to laugh, and there's not one time in EU that we don't have fun one way or another, and it's not always about spending ped either. We can always find something to entertain ourselves, there's just so much available. I think MA unleashed some more fun times with the launchers for sure, so thanks MA.

Ok, enough rambling for this session, I'll be back either later or tomorrow to get more serious in my thoughts ... been thinking about a lot lately with regard to EU and this forum, and thought I'd spill some of those thoughts over into print.

Ciao till next time!


*Moonie ... hurry up and get back from vacation!*



***
 
Before I get into anything else, I would like the community to know that I have resigned from my EF staff position as Newsroom Editor. I'm not putting this in a regular thread because I don't want it discussed. My reasons are private, and would like this to be respected.

As many know, writing is my first passion, and while I won't be writing for the Newsroom or Front Page any more, I shall continue not only writing here, but in my storytelling subforum as well, not to mention regular posting. While the Wednesday's Who's Who profiling was my idea, and gave birth to it with the Auktuma article, I feel certain that it will continue in the vein it started, and eventually get to a point of presenting a profile every Wednesday which was the goal. I appreciate the tremendous feedback regarding this new series, and hope you continue to enjoy it.

Thank you very much!


EU News:

First, a huge thank you to Lykke for popping in on me ingame with an invitation to join CoL on a beacon run. Her timing couldn't have been more perfect. I enjoyed getting together with special friends for this fun experience. Someone even got creative at the launch site ... think it was Ghandi ... and the lettering at the bottom of the pic says "Robot" but is upside down. It was still there when Ghandi, Joe Taxpayer and I were able to get to the bottom levels and returned to the launch site ...

LootiusBeaconRun.jpg

Second, I've spent little time in EU over the past few days, and this may or may not continue depending on some re-evaluating I'm in the process of doing. Much has come into play here for me, and while my enthusiasm has always been off the hook, and I've been tremendously supportive of efforts and offerings, my one concern is why communication has been so devalued (perhaps not intentionally), when it is one of the most crucial things that can successfully tie it all together.

Don't get me wrong ... I love this forum and I love EU, but some things have changed for me and I am in dire need of some chicken soup.

Just remember one thing ... despite our involvement in many things, communication is absolutely key in staying connected and achieving goals. When we become complacent and comfortable with status quo, we miss out on a lot of opportunities. Our timing isn't always everyone else's timing, but that's ok ... it's just when that timing seems endless that it becomes an issue for me.

One EU case in point ... someone posted in the Official Entropia Blog thread that Marco started who had submitted their interest in writing for the official EU Blog site because the person these were submitted to (as directed by Marco) never even acknowledged that the requests were received. Nor was there any type of follow-up here at the forum, until yesterday by Frank (after the thread had already been started) who said that he would look into it. I submitted my own interest on June 14th, well after the others did because I hadn't seen the Blog thread by Marco, and still no answer ... not even a reply to my follow-up PM to Marco.

Granted it's vacation time in MA-land ... but this non-communication stuff is really starting to get to me. I've spent a great deal of time and effort doing my part as a dedicated player both ingame and at this forum (and others), and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a little effort in return.

Disillusioned, yes ... leaving, no ... but you're right, I have options to practice what I preach! As I continue to say loud and clear at the pulpit ... it's all about choices! ;)




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IRL-Related News:

Jet and I have a 7 year old great niece (Kaleigh) who owns her own dragster and races at the dragstrip ... this is no joke, and this past weekend, my brother Jet who lives near our niece and her 3 daughters (our great nieces) went to watch her in action. Here are a couple of pics ...

KaleighDragster2.JPG


KaleighDragster4.JPG

Now how awesome is that, eh? One of these days I'm hoping to get back up to the Chicago area to be able to witness this little speed demon in action, although I am told that the fastest that they go with these little dragsters is (I think) 45 miles per hour, but that's fast enough for a 7 year old for now. I'm sure her interest is a chip off the old block thingy, because her dad works with Mercedes and is an avid racing fan. Kaleigh is the oldest of the 3 daughters, but who knows what Kassidy and Kamryn will get into. I'll have to keep an eye on these gals.

EU-Related News:

After adding a new JSA soc member this past weekend (Buckeye, aka Realityczecho at EF), who shortly thereafter bid on and won the auction for the entire first floor at CND's Beta East Apt Complex, I knew it was going to be a good week, and this is only Wednesday.

After the auction ended, I followed Buckeye up to CND where he met with ND in the Control Room to collect the deeds for the floor of apts he just purchased. It was the first time in a while that I had seen ND, but was nice to say hello. The more beneficial chat took place between us in an ingame PM that brought a greater understanding about communication and how challenging it can be at times, but we're both on the same page again, and feel only good can come from it.

So thank you for the time ND, and I guess the community will see what JSA is primed to do at CND, but more from an independent perspective than anything else. We have a lot of ideas we're tossing around right now at our newly established location outside of the EF forum, which will be shared at a later date, but know that JSA will be rockin' the rock like never before (as well as the planet from time to time), but not necessarily dome or disco events. We want to bring an entirely new set of options for fun to the community, and somehow make it possible for travel to be a little easier. This will include a partnership with specific pilots of course, but there will be a criteria to meet prior to that happening.

I'm also VERY excited about something else ... JSA is in discussion with Lykke and the Priest of CoL (Church of Lootius) toward forming an alliance in presenting some interesting activities at CND for the community. Both socs not only know how to have major fun, but we also now have business interests to expand upon. CoL has a shop, and their own floor (16) at Beta East apt tower, while JSA is still in the "options" stage of determining what direction we're going.

That being said ... for those who have been around a while, both myself and Lykke/Peter (VF) have CND experience when it comes to promoting events and bringing fun to the community. We grew with CND from it's inception on December 19, 2005, and I started moderating the Reality Port Forum and helped build that community prior to CND's launch until I resigned this past Valentine's Day.

With our renewed involvement at CND, the plan is to also reinvest time and effort into reviving the activity at the Reality Port forum. Back in the day, we had great times living and playing at CND, and it all got reported in my CND Picture Storytelling at Reality Port. I plan on continuing this trend, and will be reporting our future adventures not only as a soc, but in alliance with CoL as partners in some of our undertakings. They too are a force to be reckoned with when it comes to creating fun and adventure, so I'm sure that the community will be experiencing a lot of crazy stuff coming up the pipeline as a result of independent activities by both socs, as well as anything we might do together. We're all in the planning stages, so nothing is carved in stone at the moment, but the future has potential for some interesting times indeed.

Getting back on track here ... most of the JSA soc mates are now at CND, except for Zar (rwin at EF) and BlackReign, but Zar will most likely join us this evening (Wednesday). As a result, we ended up in a little soc hunt in Dome 13 (big Berys) a few times, but the first one on Tuesday was with JackFree which we were delighted with, because it's sometimes challenging to coordinate our times with him living in Europe. Also, it was the first time we got to chat with JF on Skype and introduce the voices behind the avatars (nice voice there JF). He seems to have a knack for breaking headsets, and this time was no exception, so while we tried to have a soc hunt, he fumbled with the microphone and headset ... and I think a little duct tape fit in there somewhere too. :laugh:

When I met up with my brother Jet at the TP, I got a surprise. He had completed his Polaris armor set and was showing it off, however, despite the awesome stats, I said he should put his Bear on with the 8A's because it provided better impact protection. However, not before I was able to get a good pic of how it looked all assembled ...

JetboyPolarisArmor.jpg

Prior to JackFree joining us at CND for the hunt ... Jet and Moonie and I were in Dome 16 taking on a Daspletor and laughing our asses off. When we got Jack on Skype and vocally introduced ourselves, we proceeded to entertain him with our crazy antics, and got to hear him laugh for the first time. I think he was having more fun than we were just listening to our crazy selves. We were quite animated, and Jack got a narrated version of our escapade that I'm sure basically told the whole story ... kick Daspletor ass, die, revive - kick Daspletor ass, die, revive - I think you get what I mean, but we were able to take it down eventually, and I think the fun was more valuable than the pitiful loot we got ... oh well.

After we got Jack to CND, we went out on our Dome 13 big Bery hunt and had some more fun. It was the first time Jack was able to join us in a team hunt with more than just me as a teammate. We had a blast, and he held his own quite nicely. We even got a little global to boot as a welcome I guess ... look at the radar, I like the little cluster of chickens I was staring down and ready to pounce on ...

[br]Click to enlarge[/br]​

A global wasn't enough though ... we had to do a little mob herding as well, but took it easy since the mobs were more a bigger maturity than not, and we didn't want to send our recently new soc mate to the revival terminal so quickly after his arrival ... mob herding is part of JSA's fun package, but we're always mindful and focused on taking care of each other in the process as well, so it's all good ... here's what was left over prior to them all being looted after a little run ... Moonie's the banana in the yellow on the left, Jack's in the middle with the purple hat (gotta luv the purple), Jet's on the right in his Bear, and I guess there's no mistakin' where yours truly is ...

JSA-BeryHerding.jpg

We had a fun time indeed, and later on in the evening, Buckeye and Odd Bunny joined us for some fun. OB's my sidekick when we hunt at times, and it's quite fun how synchronized we are ... he's also a faster looter than I am. I think everyone else is a faster looter than I am, but that's ok ... I like to look at my mobs a minute and let them have a gander at who's the boss up in there.

One thing I did notice in the Control Room though ... is how some pilots are just lazy ... but I'm not going to mention any names because I don't want to start yet another pilot war ... (just kidding of course ... these guys are good friends, so I'm spoofin') ...

CND-LazyPilots.jpg

Now, did they work THAT hard that they needed a rest, or are they laying down on the job? It's anybody's guess I suppose, but perhaps we need to keep an eye on these guys, because it looks like they might be up to something other than flying. :eek:

Ciao till next time!


EDIT:

The one thing I forgot to mention is ... after getting back to CND, I was happy to have a little time alone with my brother given his schedule is so crazy, and during a Bery hunt in Dome 13, I not only was properly greeted by a quartet of singing Berys, but managed to ... unlock "Coolness" ... gain an additional HP ... and got a little global to boot. That was some nice welcome back to CND indeed.



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Just a quick note ... that I will be back on Saturday to make a more substantial entry with some cool stuff, BUT ...

Just wanted to give you a little teaser ... JSA is working on a project that I will share with you soon (not tomorrow though), but I can tell you that part of it has something to do with ...

" Entropia's Bistro of Edible Humor "​

You'll just have to stay tuned ... because we're talking about palette pleasers from both real and virtual pantries! There's more to this than you might think, so be prepared to fill your tummy with major laughter, AND ... pull your virtual picnic baskets out of storage, because you'll need them. :wtg:

Ciao till next time! ;)




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*Bumping* the above post ... because I took the contents and moved them to the Off Topic forum and inserted something new. :D
 
OMG ... talk about FUN ... but this time you can blame it on Moonie who "gifted" me with a rocket launcher and projectiles before he went off to work. He had no idea that this would turn me loose in a different way (nevermind about the other ways) :silly2: ... and JackFree and I had SUCH a great time last night, and we laughed our asses off on Skype SO hard that at times we could hardly breathe.

Jack made a video and posted it here ... take a moment to view it, but pay attention to the lyrics of the song used in conjunction with the action, because it's just too priceless. I don't think he could have picked a more perfect track for this JSA adventure.

ENJOY!! :wtg:

Oh, and I'll be back in a while to make an announcement! :D



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