Return to Stormwind

Last week I finally caved in and bought myself a month of game time for World of Warcraft. I'd been seeing so many tweets about the pre-expansion patch that I just had to go and have a look for myself.

I logged each alt to see what they look like with the new character model and I'm ok with my Draenai's. My main definitely needed a new face though so I took her straight to the barber shop. Not sure the screenshot above is her best angle, I think she's half asleep but believe me, it's much better than the new version of her old face!

Two of my three gnome alts are lowbies so I've already deleted one and once I move everything over to another alt, my little banker gnome will be deleted too. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my level 86 Gnome Rogue though. I don't play my Rogue very often so I may leave her for now and decide later.

After scrabbling through all their banks and rearranging some stuff, I took my main over to the Blasted lands to have a look at the Dark Portal event. She's a Paladin and I've been struggling with her for quite a while but out of all my alts, her toolbar was the least empty so I did a quick shuffle to fill the gaps and headed out.

I'm pretty sure my DPS was rubbish but she felt more comfortable to play & I wasn't struggling to kill the mobs. I get the feeling that the mobs are fairly straightforward for everyone though so that's not really a good indicator!

I got a few gear upgrades too so her item level is around 500 now - I really hadn't done much gear chasing in the whole of Mists so it's nice to see it creeping up.

I've barely even looked at the Auction House either - I decided to make myself actually play the game rather than just one small part of it. I only have 30 days and I don't want to spend all of them in the Auction House! I am a returning addict though so this will be a good test to see if I can get back to enjoying questing, dungeons and maybe even some PvP.

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L is for Live Life!

Live Life!

Being true to my Welsh roots, today's post is a double L. Live Life is something I still need to learn to do well - I have good days when I live to the full but for quite a while now, I've just been a passenger, staring out at the world as it passes me by in a bit of a blur. I've been living for my trips to St Louis for a while now and the rest is just the necessary evil bits in between. I have to change that though, it's not good for me or my love.

I was off work for 4 years until last year and I rarely left the house. My life was lived on this box and screen we call a computer with people from all over the world. Oh, I loved a lot of it and it helped me come alive again but it still doesn't really count towards Living Life - at least, not in my head. The people are real, the voices in my headset are real but it's all a bit arm's length kind of stuff.

When I started this A to Z Challenge, it was just a way to make myself sit down and write but even over just 10 or 11 posts, I'm already feeling better. I thought I would stick to mainly gaming articles with a bit of life thrown in but actually, the topics I've been drawn to so far have been much more personal - stuff that is or has happened to me. Things I've found and want to talk about as well as explore further.

It seems so long ago that I wrote about Depression but that was only 7 posts ago but since then, I've written about Hope and Happiness, Ideas & Inspiration and now today, Live Life! I have so much more positive energy already that it's beginning to become a habit - and one I hope I can maintain!

Smell the Roses

Take time to smell the flowers, watch the birds or the clouds on a sunny day. Hold out a helping hand to a Mum strugggling with a pushchair or hold a door open for an old lady. Give a few pennies to a homeless person or a charity collector in the shopping area.

All these little things add up and if you let yourself soak them up and feel good about doing something positive, your next action will be more positive. It accumulates over time and you will feel better in yourself, you'll find yourself smiling at strangers as you pass or not having to force a smile at work when someone asks if you're ok - you will be!

I found the 100 Happy Days site via a Facebook friend the other day and although I know I won't manage 100 days, it's a great idea for anyone to try, especially if they feel a bit down after the long winter. I also picked up a book at the airport on one of my prior trips, called The Happiness Project which I finished reading before I landed at Heathrow. I've just lent it to a friend and colleague but as soon as she returns it, I'll be reading it again.

As Gretchen the author says - 'even the smallest changes can make a big difference'.

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Real Life Catch Up

I can't believe it's been almost 3 weeks already since my last post! But to give you an idea of how things are going - it's 8am on a Saturday morning & I've already caught up on my Twitter feed from overnight (about an hour), have made a to-do list for the weekend & I'm about to start sipping my 3rd cup of coffee! Yup - my body clock has readjusted to working hours & didn't believe me when I told it to go back to sleep, it's the weekend. Grrrrr.

I can't say work has been interesting, it's just a data entry type job but having been off for 4 years, I've got to start at the bottom again. The people are nice & as it's a charity working for & with disabled people, it's actually quite an interesting place to work. Many of the desks are taller than normal to accommodate wheelchair users, the spaces between the desk areas are much wider too for the same reason & the bathrooms are huge with all sorts of special equipment. We also have quite a few volunteers working a day here & there - it gives them a little experience in an office/work environment & for some, it can lead to a proper job to give them some independence.

I do find it a bit difficult sometimes - I've never had much interaction with any kind of disability before & I'm meeting all kinds now - I'm kind of nervous of putting my foot in it by saying the wrong thing or being over helpful. I don't want to be 'that person' who raises their voice when speaking to a blind person or overly solicitous just because a guy walks a bit wonky, you know? It's also really hard not to stare sometimes - I'm not being rude to them (not intentionally at least), I'm just in awe of their ability to keep going even though just getting to the office is a monumental task and to be honest, I'm curious.

At least Spring has arrived!

I've only got a few more weeks there by the sounds of things. They are interviewing for the position I'm covering but I haven't applied as I know it is too junior for me & I won't last. Yes, I know a job is a job but you have to be realistic too - I know myself pretty well & I know that within a month or two, I'll be bored to literal tears & will probably leave anyway. I just can't handle it.

But on the upside, I'm planning a trip to USA when this position finishes so woo hooo! It's only been 4 months since I saw my friend & I'm really in need of some cuddles! That's probably the hardest thing about running solo these days - almost no physical interaction - it's surprising how much of a difference a hug can make but as much as I love my Mum, her hugs don't quite cut it! She's of a generation or an upbringing where hugs just aren't the done thing so she always feels awkward. I still hug her though - she's alone too so I'm guessing she misses hugs as much as I do.

As for WoW, well, I've not been very active at all in game - I'm just about managing to log in & relist my auctions most evenings, hence the lack of posts on my main blog, AH Addict. My guild is dying but as the only original member & currently the GM, I don't want to let it just die & fade away or let it go to someone else - crazy I know! I'm planning on finally getting my Shado-Pan reputation to exalted this weekend - just a few more dailies & farm work orders should do it.

With the just announced drop in XP required for leveling 85-90, I don't feel the urge to continue leveling my priest either so I guess this weekend will be a few scenarios on my Paladin - I still don't have the Scenaturdist achievement & it's almost Children's Week too which is the last Holiday achievement I need for the Violet Drake meta-achievement. Damn that PvP element though!

So there we go, that's where I am right now. I have no real direction so I'm just poodling along. I hope I can knuckle down & find something productive or fun (or both!) to do soon. I have no idea where this blog is going but in the meantime, it's great just to write it all out. I just hope you're nosy enough to enjoy my blatherings and bear with me whilst I get back on track!

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Yet More Changes at Casa Nev!

Last week I mentioned that I had a job for the next 10-12 weeks & here we are on a Sunday afternoon & I'm just waking up from a much needed afternoon nap! My body clock time keeping has changed drastically over the last few years to the point that actually getting to sleep before 2am is near impossible which hasn't been a problem whilst I've not been working!

Now though, I'm awake at 7am & by 4pm, I have no idea how I'm staying awake for that last hour of work, let alone driving home! I have been able to sleep by 1am though so I'm guessing another week or two & I'll be back to a 'normal' sleep pattern.

So what's the next lot of change coming to Casa Nev, I hear you ask? Well, I started this blog originally to talk about WoW stuff that wasn't gold related. It turns out I don't have as much non-goldmaking stuff to talk about as I thought but I do have lots of other stuff going on in my life so I think I'm going to change the direction of my posts here.

I have an Etsy shop & a couple of Zazzle shops for my photography & fractals, I write pages at Squidoo on all sorts of stuff, I have WoW stuffs, I'm learning new cooking styles & of course, I have my new single life stuff. So I thought rather than start yet another blog, I'd just re-purpose this one! Luckily 'She Rides Dragons' isn't an obviously WoW name so I don't even have to worry about changing that :)

The only WoW stuff I've done in the evenings this week is to relist my auctions & do the Tailoring & Leatherworking cooldowns to get the new PvP patterns.

I did get my priest moving over Easter weekend - she's almost 86 now :P Yeah, I may have forgotten how slow leveling a priest is even with almost all ilevel 415 blue crafted gear! It's almost as if I've lost the ability to quest for hours or even do anything productive in game. Again, I'm sure I'll settle down again eventually so I'm not going to stress it for now.

I'll still be doing some WoW posts here - especially the to-do list ones as I find they help me stay focused in game but with everything else going on, sometimes I just need to get my other thoughts out there too. I'm not totally sure quite what will end up here but I hope you'll tag along out of curiosity if nothing else!

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