Blogspot, you're inconvenient.

While I appreciate the fact that it took me no less than 25 seconds to create a blog, thanks to Blogspot's easy to use templates, I do find it infuriating that I can't go to my blog to start writing. Every time I sit down to type, I do what is -- in my mind -- the first responsible action. I go to my blog. And then I hunt around awhile for the "make new blog" button.

And I fail.

So I spent another minute or two getting distracted by the crappy writing and typo laden cacophony of grammar verbosity on the page, realize with a sense of resigned horror that it's MY writing that is causing the air I breathe to taste like burnt paper, and try to find the sign in button.

There is a sign in button. So I press it and a pop up.... pops...up... (I do so hate psuedo onomatopoeias such as that), and I sign into the popup, and nothing happens. So I X the pop up and resort to repeating steps one and two above. This whole process takes me about 10 minutes on average -- quite impressive considering I can usually type an entire post in under that amount of time. Especially when I cut n paste prior work like yesterday.

I realized, today, that I can't go to my own blog to start typing. I have to go to the blogspot home page, where it thankfully remembers me and asks me if I want to start typing. Yes, Blogspot, you lazy fart, of course I do, and thanks for hiding in the most ridiculous location I can fathom without being intentionally obtuse.

A WoW post

When I am being lazy, I'm going to throw whatever jibberish I wrote over at GWJ in here. It's not that I don't care, it's that I think the quality of my writing is superior to must of the drivel found over there, and I find a sentimental desire to host it separately from a forum post. In this topic, I describe Black Morass, an instance from The Burning Crusade:

I know the gilded lens of time tends to make the older instances seem better than ones we run ad nauseum now, despite almost universal praise for the structures of the Northrend instances. That said, I must follow suit in describing my favorite instance: the Black Morass.

First, I am one of the few who thought the limited timestream stuff Blizzard did in The Burning Crusade was great. I loved the concept of going back to an epic turning point in the time of Azeroth and, finding that what was once thought to be a horriffic disaster (the Horde invasion) actually was the lesser of two evils, as it eventually led to the alliance of Horde and Azerothian forces to expel the scourge and Archimonde from Mount Hyjal. Armed with this knowledge, your band of mortals must travel back, Terminator style, and keep the Infinite Dragonflight from re writing history and plunging the world into a yet darker fate than already exists. You defend that great betrayer, Medivh, and, if successful, watch him bring across the first Horde Shock troops that will spell years of devastation to Azerothian lands. A truly bittersweet victory, indeed.

The structure of the instance was brand new at the time. An outdoor instance, which allowed mounted travel, the entire thing took place in a large, swampy area. You had to clear the indigenous, and hostile, fauna before accepting Medivh's assignment, lest their innocent desire to protect their land come while fending off the devastating blows of Chrono Lord Deja or one of his powerful dragonkin minions. Now, everyone recognizes this structure (Violet Hold imitates it), but back then it was shiny and new.

Finally, it truly showcased the differences in classes. You *had* to have someone who could handle wave upon wave of adds. Do you pick the mage, a devastating AOE opponent but desperately fragile? Do you pick the warrior, who could probably just whirlwind and thunderclap everything to death while still on the target elite? Or do you allow the skills of a good hunter to shine as he expertly juggles trap cooldowns, pet management, volley and multishot to deny everything access to Medivh's delicate shield? A smooth team could protect Medivh with minimal effort; often our priest healer would throw out competitive dps, as well timed stuns and threat management minimized incoming damage. But never forget: one mistake often spelled doom for a group, as the adds kept spawning and Medivh's shield rarely could be saved after a wipe.

And the final boss fight! What fun! Before nerfs, his enrage, time stop, and sand breath could line up in one Global Cooldown, spelling panic for even the most seasoned healers and tanks. Beyond that, Aeonus's genuine outrage at our attempts to keep him from re writing history was magnificent.

A Test

Why do people feel the need to write about their own lives? What is it about the last three generations that causes them to be to arrogant that they could possibly think others care about the personal details of their lives so much that it must be shared in a public spot?

If you google anything in this sentence, I'm guessing that someone else said it before me, and said it better than me. They probably also copyrighted it. So, congratulations, you're reading a boring, accidentally plagiarized blog!

It's interesting to think about the things in your life that affect the decisions you make in life the most. A few years ago, I was a beer snob. A fairly hardcore, brown-bottle or draft only, please, beer snob. I waxed philosophic about the floral bouquet in a delicate IPA, or the hearty coffee flavor in the local stout brewed at the pub downtown. I looked with scorn upon my father and his family, who drank Bud Light.

And now as I write this, I'm enjoying the flavor of a can of Busch Light. I have become my own worst nightmare. I still enjoy sounding like a complete drooling hipster moron when I'm at the local watering hole; I can compare the taste of beer to emotions with the best of them. The question is: what changed me? Why am I now that which I considered the lowest common denominator of beer drinker, the fat bald beer-gutted slob with salsa stains on my shirt and holes in my jeans who drinks Busch Light out of a Can and screams "I DON'T NEED TA WEAR A SHIRT!" at passersby?

It was Consumer Reports.

Those bastards.

They told me that they did a taste comparison test of all the large volume beers to find out which one really was the best value.

And Busch Light in a can won.

Apparently, aluminum cans keep the beer freshest. (this actually makes sense; sunlight is beer's enemy, and glass, especially clear glass, lets sunlight in. That's why Coronas taste like shit and you cover it up with lime juice.) And Busch Light won the blind taste test.

I've no idea if that story was true or not. Even if it was true, it has nothing to do with quality micros or imports.

But the desire to buy 12 beers for 6 dollars apparently only needed the slight impetus from a magazine saying "it's okay, other people drink that beer too!" for me to start purchasing it.

And now I am a Busch light guzzling white trash douchebag with hipster douchebag tendencies -- but more money that that stupid nerd rock glasses hipster, cause I drink cheap beer.

And I don't need ta wear a shirt.