The Footrace Across Azeroth

In one of my more daring moves, I sporadically decided to sign up for the WoW esport variety show, which included a footrace across Azeroth as one of their last events. Somehow, I managed to get in, and that’s how I found myself at midnight (my time) waiting along with a few others to start sprinting away on a level 10 vulpera monk.

It was the first time they had run this event, and there were some hiccups, but I do have to mention that the community was top notch. Everyone was helpful, friendly, and eager to partake. No one was upset at the late start, no one ranted and raved about it not being the smoothest ordeal. We all had enormous fun, and the discord channel was filled with voices of people who are *incredibly* passionate about this game. It made me smile. Of course it could have also been that I was a bit loopy from the almost 3h wait I had subjected myself to, but hey, it was all in the name of fun.

I streamed it over on my twitch channel, and my viewers took it upon themselves to keep me entertained and awake. While I did not come in first place (or second, or third..) I also didn’t come last! I had a pretty good time, and it was just lovely to see everyone come out and discuss what mount they were going to use, how they made their class selection, and a variety of other subjects that I didn’t even know would be relevant. I hope to see more events like this in the future, and I truly hope everyone had a great time. Sleep? Who needs sleep!

That was Terrifying

At around 3am me and my husband heard the most awful screech coming from the backyard. I figured it was an animal, but I had no idea what sort of animal it was.

Turns out it was a barred owl – a baby one. They scream, and they’re terrifying. I knew we had owls around but when you ask me what sort of sounds I expect one to make, it’s more of a ‘hoo-hoo’ type sound, NOT a blood curdling scream.

At least now we know what it was. We have a rodent or something living nearby (found some holes in the yard dug up) so I imagine the parents must be out teaching it how to fend for itself. I hope to see more of them in the future, at least now I recognize the cries!

Why I Blaugust

I’ve been participating in Blaugust for a number of years now – but I always do so on the outskirts. As much as I crave being social, I have a mixture of imposter syndrome, anxiety, and other issues that prevent me from ever REALLY feeling like I’m a part of the group. I lurk, I follow from a distance – and I write. I attempt to write every day, and those days where I don’t write, I backdate it and write extra. I love the feeling of accomplishment Blaugust gives me, and I love being even remotely connected to a group of people who don’t necessarily feel like blogging is on the out. I have three fairly active blogs. This one, my world of warcraft dedicated one (mostly about making gold), and a book blog. Writing my thoughts out lets me speak without interruption. It usually lets me vent without fear of being counseled in my area of expertise (especially when it comes to making gold). It lets me share some creative spark with the world in a process that only takes a few minutes. Sometimes I plan out a concept or idea that I want to talk about but that’s pretty rare.

Why do I Blaugust? Lots of reasons, but the main one is simply to be held accountable (even if it’s false accountability) to write. Making it become habit again in a year of posts that might have been quite sporadic. I thrive on that sort of motivation, and it’s wonderful. It may not be everyone else’ cup of tea, it may put undue pressure on you – which is absolutely not what I’d ever aim for, but for me it works. I’m so thankful to Belghast and others for continuing on with the tradition each year.

Working on my ‘Battlestation’

There is an entire reddit (of course there is) dedicated to people showing off their ‘battlestations’ – their video game set ups. There’s another one dedicated to showing off work stations/computers. Both of these places are almost magical, there are some incredibly creative people out there. I love my little gaming area, but we’re still pretty new to the house, so I haven’t done a lot with it yet. One thing I wanted to do sooner rather than later was to dust off my Huion Pro 16 and have it actively set up on my desk. I do a lot of my drawing on the ipad, but my computer is (understandably) more powerful. I know Clip Studio is going through a shit storm right now with their newly announced PC subscriptions, but there are other alternatives (like Krita) and my usual ‘let’s just pull it out when I want to draw’ was not working. Out of sight, out of mind. I want to make use of the tablet (I just ordered some felt nibs for the pen) but I also hate a cluttered work area.

For now I’ve settled with the picture above. Things are neat and pretty tidy, the drawing tablet is out reminding me to use it, and my stream stuff works pretty well in the configuration I’ve decided on. I do want to mount the sound bar to the wall, and I’d love to get an arm for the monitors, or even wall mount those, but that’s a project for another time.

Now it’s time to learn Krita and see what it can do for me.

Who to Play in Dragonflight?!

I’m torn between playing my druid and my paladin in the next expansion coming out. I love both classes for different reasons, and one of the main reasons I lean away from the druid is a silly one – I’m tired of leather gear. I’ve been playing a monk for many years now, so leather gear is something I’m very familiar with. The look and the collectability of plate is really appealing. That being said, I do NOT enjoy healing on the paladin, and I love healing on the druid. I have also not tanked on either yet, but with envokers coming out I have a feeling that there will be a need for tanks since they are a healer / DPS combination. Right now I end up playing both classes, I farm on both, do my weeklies, and raid (well, LFR only). I’m very slowly leaning towards the paladin as a main and then the druid as my ‘backup’ but I just wish that the paladin felt more comfortable to heal on. Thoughts?

Nomadic Gamer