It's an Honor Just to Be Nominated

I finally got picked! Chestnut from Gamer Girl Confessions and Stubborn from Sheep the Diamond both linked to me for the Liebster meme/chain letter. I am not as curmudgeonly as Jeromai about stuff like this because I like finding out about my fellow bloggers. I rearranged the questions to flow from blog- or game-related to more deeply philosophical, but kept them separated by who asked.

Let's start with
Eleven Random Facts:

• I am a U.S. Army Veteran.
• I have sported a beard for most of my adult life since graduating college, with the biggest gap being during my tour of duty.
• I am the youngest of three boys in my family.
• I was not a "dog person" until about 4 years ago.
• I am very conscious of grammar errors when reading, but have realized it's not worth pointing them out unless I've been asked.
• I use a standing desk at work.
• I wish I had time and space for a woodworking shop.
• I am wicked good at trivia games.
• I have very eclectic music tastes, ranging from classical through classic rock to modern pop.
• My left big toe is bigger than my right one.
• I can't think of another random fact worth sharing.

Chestnut's Questions:
Tabletop, PC, or Console?
PC, though I'd love to get involved in a tabletop game some time.

What is your favorite game?
I can't say I have a favorite game right now, partly because I seem to be bouncing around a lot.

Do you have a favorite zone from a game? What is it? Which game?
Thinking about it, I would have to say the Eversong Woods in World of Warcraft, because of the idyllic autumn atmosphere (see below). A close second would be the Grizzly Hills (again from WoW), because it is so evocative of the Sierra Nevada, which I visited often in my youth.

Do you see yourself still enjoying gaming when you hit 100 years old?
All things being equal, yes. We'll see how my senses and reflexes turn out to be at that age.

What prompted you to first start your blog/site?
I wanted a specific place to post my thoughts and stories about World of Warcraft, and eventually other games I play. As I said in my very first post, "I don't promise to stay on topic. I have no overarching plan for this project. Much like playing with my Legos as a child, I will just put stuff together and see how it looks."

How did you choose your blogging name?

I just sort of fell into Rowanblaze, which was actually my WoW main. When I started raiding regularly during Wrath of the Lich King, they called me Rowan on voice chat, and it stuck. The rather uninspired name of my original WoW blog was "Rowanblaze Saves Azeroth." Ironically, my handle in STO is another WoW character, "Sunsage," because I had not fully settled into my Rowanblaze blogging persona.

Which blogger/podcaster would you like to meet in real life and why?
I have actually met a couple fellow bloggers because my job involves semi-regular business trips. Of those bloggers that I have not met, I most want to hang out with Belghast and Scarybooster. I would also love to have a big meet-up with Xander and the rest of the folks on Holosuite Media.

Name three bands or singers that would be in your dream concert lineup.
Right now, Pentatonix would top the list. Meghan Trainor would be fun, too, I think. Hmm, a third one is actually really hard. Taylor Swift, I guess? My kids are right; I am a 16-year-old girl. Really though, between the huge crowds and the less than ideal acoustics, I don't like big concerts.

What is your favorite season? Why?
Autumn, I love the display of colors and the cool, crisp air—such a relief after the heat of the summer. And because we celebrate my two favorite holidays, Halloween and Thanksgiving, in the fall.

What is your dream career?
I'm almost—but not quite!—to the point in my life where we should be discussing my dream retirement. :P If it paid enough, I would teach high school. I just don't think teachers get enough credit or compensation.

If you could change one thing in your life, would you? What and why?
Scooter and I have a plaque on our wall that says, "If I had my life to live over... I would find you sooner, so I could love you longer." Most of my go-back-and-change-things fantasies involve her.

Stubborn's Questions:
What game has influenced you the most over your gaming years? How so?
I would have to say World of Warcraft. It's the game I played the longest, and only since then have I considered myself any sort of gamer. As I cut my MMO teeth on it, I have compared every game I have played since to WoW, favorably or unfavorably. I haven't really played heavily since Cataclysm launched, so Wrath is my frame of reference. There are plenty of games I like better at this point, but my yardstick will always be WoW.

Which blogger(s) did you find most influential when you started. Have you contacted them recently? Why or why not?
I would have to say MMO Gamer Chick was my biggest initial influence, simply because she encouraged me, and I borrowed a lot of ideas for posts from her. She is still one of my closest blogging friends. I also want to mention Scarybooster, since I thought he was huge stuff back then, organizing the Developer Appreciation Week and all. I love his easy sense of humor; it's a style I can't possibly emulate. We're in regular contact through Twitter and G+.

Do you have pets? What are they? How did you choose them? Or if not, why not?

We currently have six dogs, two of which belonged to Scooter when we met. Two are a brother and sister we took in from a coworker that was moving to a location where he couldn't have a lot of animals. The last two are a stray Scooter rescued from the street and her pup. I can't imagine parting with any of them.

What movie / TV series / book / or music (or all of the above) do you wish more people had been exposed to?
Joss Whedon's Firefly in its initial run, if for nothing else because we would have more of it if more people had watched from the beginning. The exigencies of TV production make hidden treasures more likely, I think. Movies, books, and music tend to get the exposure they deserve, in my opinion.

Do you vote? Why or why not?
I do vote, even though I have little faith in the power of the individual voter in the U.S. system of government. I feel we have to exert what influence we can or we will lose it completely. After all, "What is any ocean, but a multitude of drops?"

Did you like school? Why or why not?
Which year are we talking about? I struggled through my early schooling due to undiagnosed learning disabilities. I liked most of high school and college, though. I am "good at school." Life is harder.

On the same note, did you have a teacher who meant a lot to you? If so, have you contacted them recently? Why or why not? And if not, why do you think you didn’t?
The teacher that influenced me most (that I can remember) is my high school choir director. Choir dominated my high school social life, and helped give me the confidence I had needed to excel academically. Lest you think this was some tiny club like on Glee, during my senior year (about 25 years ago) the choral music department constituted about 10% of the whole student body and was the largest individual organization on campus. A great deal of that can be attributed to the way my choir director ran the program. He is one of my friends on Facebook, so we correspond occasionally.

What’s the most important lesson kids should learn when growing up? Why?
There will always be someone better than you at a given activity, and someone not as good. I think it's important for kids to find their strengths and play to them. I also think our education system is woefully inadequate to help kids do this. (Not individual teachers, mind you; most do their best within the constraints of the system.)

If you feel comfortable talking about it, what’s your biggest vice?
My biggest vice—that I feel comfortable discussing—is my tendency to procrastinate even mildly unpleasant activities. Heck, I'm procrastinating something right now.

To balance that out, what’s your biggest virtue?
I had to ask Scooter for this one. She says "kindness" and "sense of justice." I think these are somewhat related, honestly. For example, I used to not like pets and, for a long time, had only a rabbit left behind by my ex-wife. People thought I loved animals simply because I have always treated them kindly. But not liking to be around animals and abusing them are two very different things. And I get very angry when I see people (or creatures) being treated unfairly or abused.

Describe in detail something that makes you very happy.
Holding my granddaughter always makes me happy. I'm not sure how much detail I need to go into with that.

And now I challenge nominate the following brave souls:

• Endalia (who apparently is accepting all questions right now)
• Ocho (who helped me soak up Philly like a sponge)
• MMOGC (haven't heard from you in a while)
• Scarybooster (this, I can't wait to read)
• Harbinger Zero ( who always has an awesome perspective)
• [EDIT] Oh! I meant to include Ravanel Griffon!

My questions for you:

1. Why did you start blogging?
2. What is the origin of your blogging name?
3. What was your very first MMO character and why did you choose that race/class?
4. Did you stick with that character as your main as long as you were playing that game? Why or why not?
5. What is your favorite zone in any MMO?
6. What gaming innovation are you looking forward to or hoping for most in the next twenty years?
7. What is your favorite pastime besides video gaming or blogging?
8. What house would you be sorted into: Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, or Slytherin?
9. What is your favorite holiday?
10. What is your favorite vacation spot (or dream vacation)?
11. What brings you joy?

Thanks for reading, and thank you ahead of time to my nominees.

~~~

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... Dedicated to Everyone

My post title is an obscure reference to Harbinger Zero and Cher. Hzero has an excellent post up summarizing STO's upcoming Delta Recruitment event. It was enough convince Ysharros to check it out. As for me, it kinda stick makes for some tough decisions. I just stqarted a new character, and would rather not wait until April to play. But I don't think I should yet another character in a month either. I already have a Rowan at 50, two "original" characters in their 20s, and my Romulan in his teens. With my "baby" Andorian, do I really need yet another new Captain? Maybe before I get too worked up, I should see if I am even still playing STO in a month.

~~~

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. If you are reading this post through RSS or Atom feed—especially more than a couple hours after publication—I encourage you to visit the actual page, as I often make refinements after the fact. The mobile version also loses some of the original character of the piece due to simplified formatting.

Star Trek Online: Back in the Black

Lieutenant Vindillissia sh'Thlaspi looked out over the lobby of Starbase 1. She could just barely see the U.S.S. Bennett undergoing repairs on the other side of the enormous facility. Her ship. Not just the one she'd been assigned, but now under her command. Her meeting with Admiral Quinn had not gone as she had expected. The debriefing had turned into a confirmation of her field promotion, and Quinn's offering her the chance to sit in the big chair permanently. Despite her outward confidence, Lissia wasn't sure she was ready for the responsibility. Only days ago, she had been just another cadet at Starfleet Academy, preparing for her graduation training cruise. Now, she was responsible not only for herself, but about 200 other souls. She thought of Captain Taggart, her predecessor. His sacrifice had saved the lives of most of the cadets and, indirectly, those colonists they were able to rescue from Vega. Lissia wondered if she would be have been able to do the same in his place. She was determined to live up to his legacy.

Inspired by some podcasts I have listened to recently, and with the recent passing of both Leonard Nimoy and Harve Bennett, I decided to jump back into STO. I started a new character, because I figured, if the game systems are as different as Earth Spacedock, I need to start over. Rowan and Locke (not to mention my other two characters) are still there, waiting for when I am comfortable making character progression choices. Seems like that was a concern the last time I played.

Lissia is an Andorian Tactical Officer, in the vein of Tarah, Rowan's "Spock." Thlaspi is the genus for a collection of herbs known as penny-cress. Other than working out her name, I don't have much backstory for Lissia yet. I may need to read up a little more on Andorians, or maybe binge on some Enterprise episodes. After discovering I couldn't change my first Bridge Officer, Elisa Flores, I jettisoned her and my science officer in favor of some purple ("very rare") Boffs I had waiting in reserve on Locke. I'll come up with some RP reason later, like Elisa was given her own command or something. The rest of my Bridge crew is in place, though I think I need another Science Boff soon, to be a medic. We're a little Tactical heavy right now.

The U.S.S. Bennett (NCC-93037) was named for Admiral Robert Bennett, Starfleet Chief of Staff in the late 23rd Century. In reality, named for Harve Bennett (1930-2015), producer of Star Trek II-V, and who passed away a few days before I decided to return to STO. She's been through a lot, but is—as they say—"a tough little ship." Bennett's plaque dedication quotes Carl Sagan:

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”

I find it interesting how some of my ships take an article (e.g., the Bennett); while others, like Rowan's Wayfarer and Sojourner, are simply known to their crew (and me) by proper name, sans article. In any event, the Bennett is a Light Cruiser, ShiKahr Class, with a Miranda Strut and Centaur pylons, and a Blue and White Cygnus paint job. I didn't realize until looking at old screenshots how closely the Bennett resembles Rowan's first ship, with only the strut and the paint scheme being different. There's obviously not much choice of designs at the lowest ship level, with everyone getting a light cruiser.

~~~

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. If you are reading this post through RSS or Atom feed—especially more than a couple hours after publication—I encourage you to visit the actual page, as I often make refinements after the fact. The mobile version also loses some of the original character of the piece due to simplified formatting.

Farewell, Oogy

With sadness, I learned today that Oogy, a pit bull (or perhaps dogo) that had been abused and severely injured several years ago, passed away Monday. I had wondered why I was seeing occasional pictures of him yesterday in my Twitter feed. The following passage, from Abused and Abandoned, brought me to tears as I read it just now.

On a recent Saturday afternoon, Oogy was curled up on the couch asleep, his head in my lap, and I was thinking about how his life is now, as opposed to the way his life had been before: daily acts of unspeakable violence for no comprehensible reason until the ultimate, searing horror. Had he sensed he was dying as he lay in the bloody puddle of his life disappearing? Was he conscious when the police put him on a rubber sheet and took him to the hospital? He could not have comprehended the significance of the siren wailing the journey as his head was beaten with hammers. Oogy went to sleep in a world consumed by terror and pain and awoke surrounded by angels in white coats who put out the fire in his head, who were kind to him, who stroked him gently and talked softly to him. Instead of people who tortured him, he was surrounded with love and kindness and healing mercies.

I realized then that Oogy probably did not know that he had not died and gone to heaven. So I told him. I said, “Listen pal. You’re may not believe me, but it only gets better after this.”
~~Laurence M. Levin © 2008

As you may know, Dear Reader,  I am a strong advocate of adopting animals from rescue shelters and especially the city pound whenever possible. These beautiful creatures will fill your home with love at a fraction of the cost of whatever trendy pet from a breeder would be. They'll need extra love from you, of course. The Levins and their vet are heroes for turning the story of Oogy's life from a short, violent tragedy to a long saga of love, peace, and safety. Meanwhile, there is a special hell reserved for those who abuse the animals in their care, along with child molesters and people who talk at the theater.

~~~

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. If you are reading this post through RSS or Atom feed—especially more than a couple hours after publication—I encourage you to visit the actual page, as I often make refinements after the fact. The mobile version also loses some of the original character of the piece due to simplified formatting.

Real Relationships in Virtual Space

Hey, everyone. I guess it's been a while; so much for my wanting to post more consistently. If you're wondering, a combination of too much work and not enough play left me without energy or inspiration, so I've failed to post anything since my anniversary post in January. I just realized that last month was the first calendar month since I started this blog that I did not post at least once. This is also the longest gap I've had between posts. If you're still around, thanks for hanging in there.

I got caught up on Battle Bards (though I just saw Syp has posted another), and realized I had missed Belghast's Bel Folks Stuff with Petter Mårtensson, of Csicon and other endeavors. Bel and Petter, discussed (among other things) "virtual" relationships, and how they can be just as real as what I would call "meatspace" relationships. This is the culmination of several threads and discussions I have had recently on this topic. My daughter and I were talking yesterday about Facebook, and how because of FB's stream algorithms, you might end up seeing a lot more from people you may not have been that close to in high school, and your best buds fall off the feed. I have actually met almost all of my "friends" on FB, but I feel closer to and interact on a daily basis with far more people on Twitter, most of whom I have never met in person at all, and then only because we had already cultivated a friendship online. In many ways, FB represents "somebody that I used to know," while Twitter (and G+) represents my current circle of friends.

Now, as I am sure is the case with you, there is some overlap between my virtual social sphere and my meatspace friendships. I have friends and co-workers that I have played MMOs with and that I occasionally hang out with if we are on trips. Of course, Scooter and I share our life together, both in person and online.

Xander from Beyond the Veil mentioned yesterday that he misses his buddy since I dropped out of the show. I worry about Scarybooster when he deploys to the Middle East. I wonder how MMOGC is doing with her family. These are real friends of mine. I know people who have fallen in love completely online, and their feeling is not diminished by its virtuality. In verifying that February was indeed the only month I had completely missed, I came across a couple errant comments covering the concept of the Monkeysphere, and my view that at a fundamental level, our brains don't comprehend the difference.

Petter and Belghast speculated about a future where we will be able to fully experience virtual reality, talking about direct stimulation of the brain's sensory regions. While I agree that this is a closer possibility than the holodecks of Star Trek: the Next Generation, I initially thought that holodecks would be better for us because of their relative physicality. But Petter and Bel pointed out that "jacking in" could free persons locked into the physical limitations of disabling injuries or illnesses, enabling them to interact once again with loved ones in virtual space.

And that sounds like a beautiful thing.

~~~

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. If you are reading this post through RSS or Atom feed—especially more than a couple hours after publication—I encourage you to visit the actual page, as I often make refinements after the fact. The mobile version also loses some of the original character of the piece due to simplified formatting.