Scared. I don't think I've been fearful for my safety in quite a while....
A friend sent got in touch with me yesterday. She asked if I could come over and have a cup of coffee and stay the night. Provide her some protection from her boyfriend she's trying to get out of her life.
So I'm waiting in the car as she drops off my bag. She comes back down on her cell phone. She then says a minute and goes upstairs. Her boyfriend pulls up. He walks around for a little bit then calls me out of the car. As he's grilling me, he tells me to leave. I say no, then he threatens me. (he's 5-10 and built. I'm sure he could whip me. I'm ten years removed from a gym and a smoker)
My friend comes back down, and then all hell breaks loose. He 'talks' to her and threatens me as he strips the keys out of the car. She tries to call the cops. He takes the phone, which was mine since she forgot hers upstairs. I demand it back. He takes the power out and tells me to walk while throwing in the occasional threat about tracking me down an hurting me lots if I call the cops. So as he takes off down the street following her, i stop a passing car and call 911 form her cell phone. Why I didn't use a pay phone... in honesty, i hadn't thought of it. Also, there were two people in the car and two cars after that one. I wanted people around and focused on me, nothing gets people focused as much as impeding there travel.
After the 911 dispatcher takes a million questions, well, 5 minutes worth, I get off the phone and the samaritan leaves. So i'm left with friend, and big guy. I approach again to buy time and talk him into giving me the battery and then I'd take off. So after a miinute, he does so and I start walking. Slowly keeping my eyes peeled for the cop with is supposedly on it's way. I finally see and flag it down.
So we have an interesting conversation with the cops. He lies, she doesn't gainsay. I internally shake my head till he says something that pisses her off, and gets her to start crying. Finally, she asked repeatedly to be able to leave, after she gets him to tell the cops he'll find someonewhere else to sleep and to give her back her key. She goes upstairs and gets her phone and some money, the cops keep moron busy and we take off. He's camped out in front of her building when we get back. We sneak in, and I find her lock is busted.... she can't lock her apartment. I say let's get a hotel. She says she's sick of running, she's had to stay away repeatedly over the last couple weeks. He supposedly doesn't have a key to the building, so that's good. We get her locked fixed and he's gone the next morning when I leave for work.
Someone broke into our office Sunday night. No proof. I didn't ask, but from overheard comments and situational evidence, I believe it was him.
I've been asking friends if anyone knows a criminal lawyer so I can talk her into having a chat with the person. I'm sure she doesn't want to go that route. I wouldn't. But geez.
Friend: I need to bring you your Christmas Present.
Me: Okay.
Friend: Did I tell you about it.
Me: Yes. Red Starbucks mug. I was with you when you stole it.
Friend: Oh. *giggle* Right. Well doesn't it mean more to you that I stole it.
Me: No.
Friend: Well think about it. You'll see it has more value.
Me: No. You're warped is all.
Friend: NO. Just think about it.
I've played for a while. And while the game occasionally drags. I get in situations where all the quests I have are a bit too difficult, or mundane(kill, kill, kill), the game is surprisingly great.
I have caught Rez and the others with my main character. A side note, rez has two charcters at around the same level, but oh well. The fun part about being at, or close, to the top is the exploring. It's nice to have others who know what to do, but it's also nice to be the first to explore an area. I can't wait to laugh at others as they encouter the bad lands! It's nice, not having to worry about being underpowered when questing with the others. I can go into the swamp of sorrows, or other places for fun.
I need to work on my night-elf alt. I want to explore that part of the world some more, but Blaide needs level 40. BAD.
I still think Blizzard did a great job with character balance. I just got a another new ability i can't wait to try out. Consecrate!
Most importantly, I want my mount! 4 levels till a horse!
I've tried online games before: shooters, cards, RTS, and RPG. The final word in online gaming belongs to Blizzard.
Seriously.
They've turned in a professional and thoroughly, enjoyable performance.
I've encounterd no bugs, and only heard of a few. Let me say, I haven't explored to the extent others have, but I've logged some time.
I can quip, or gripe about some playbalancing, but.... holy jesus, if the major complaints I've heard, or read, are play-balancing.... on a game that is less than a month old, four if you include the beta's...
But my enjoyment. and the reason I haven't liked like online before is the solo/group problem. Warcraft has done themselves proud with some simple things like the different type of servers and realms and the Pvp toggles inside each game. The instances, which I haven't encountered yet(a couple more levels), sound intriquing. The guild idea was a stroke of genious. I like XAL and Rat, but without the guild, even getting together with Rez, Brian, Cy, and Rachele would be a trial. The instant party making and managing works well. I like starting something solo and running into someone on the same kill ten of these quests and instantly working together. Which brings up the next thing. My friends and I, both online and off, can't arrange time together for crap. And to be able to get a co-op feel without scheduling, on the fly is excellent. I think this is further helped by the reams. If you want to PK, go to a different server. If you want to duel, ask! Simple things go a long way to enjoyment.
I haven't even covered the wide range of quests I've found so far. It is quest oriented, something that, if it didn't exist, the other nice things I've mentioned wouldn't matter as much. While killing Troggs is fun.... there so much more. and I'm still a newbie. I want to see the other stuff. I want to experience it, and even what I've already experienced as other characters. I need to play the Horde at some point. We need a soulriders guild for the horde as well. I mentioned it to Rezzie, maybe if we get a ground swell it can happen.
Oh. And lets not forget the mail. Which makes the guild even better. I would hate to have to use the auction house as my only source of things.
So out of curiousity from a short conversation last week I purchased SIM2....
My weekend was shot. Except for forced removal to eat, sleep, and buy cat-food.
There are some weeknesses, some major weeknesses. I think it's kind of strange having someone's high-school sweetheart turn out to be the high-school sweetheart of their grandfather.... but oh well. Also, not enough low-level housing.
But the abduction by aliens, the hula-girls assisting the grim reaper, the hauting by the deceased, all majorly amusing.
Fuck the South. Fuck 'em. We should have let them go when they wanted to leave. But no, we had to kill half a million people so they'd stay part of our special Union. Fighting for the right to keep slaves - yeah, those are states we want to keep.
And now what do we get? We're the fucking Arrogant Northeast Liberal Elite? How about this for arrogant: the South is the Real America? The Authentic America. Really?
Cause we fucking founded this country, assholes. Those Founding Fathers you keep going on and on about? All that bullshit about what you think they meant by the Second Amendment giving you the right to keep your assault weapons in the glove compartment because you didn't bother to read the first half of the fucking sentence? Who do you think those wig-wearing lacy-shirt sporting revolutionaries were? They were fucking blue-staters, dickhead. Boston? Philadelphia? New York? Hello? Think there might be a reason all the fucking monuments are up here in our backyard?
No, No. Get the fuck out. We're not letting you visit the Liberty Bell and fucking Plymouth Rock anymore until you get over your real American selves and start respecting those other nine amendments. Who do you think those fucking stripes on the flag are for? Nine are for fucking blue states. And it would be 10 if those Vermonters had gotten their fucking Subarus together and broken off from New York a little earlier. Get it? We started this shit, so don't get all uppity about how real you are you Johnny-come-lately "Oooooh I've been a state for almost a hundred years" dickheads. Fuck off.
Arrogant? You wanna talk about us Northeasterners being fucking arrogant? What's more American than arrogance? Hmmm? Maybe horsies? I don't think so. Arrogance is the fucking cornerstone of what it means to be American. And I wouldn't be so fucking arrogant if I wasn't paying for your fucking bridges, bitch.
All those Federal taxes you love to hate? It all comes from us and goes to you, so shut up and enjoy your fucking Tennessee Valley Authority electricity and your fancy highways that we paid for. And the next time Florida gets hit by a hurricane you can come crying to us if you want to, but you're the ones who built on a fucking swamp. "Let the Spanish keep it, it’s a shithole," we said, but you had to have your fucking orange juice.
The next dickwad who says, "It’s your money, not the government's money" is gonna get their ass kicked. Nine of the ten states that get the most federal fucking dollars and pay the least... can you guess? Go on, guess. That’s right, motherfucker, they're red states. And eight of the ten states that receive the least and pay the most? It’s too easy, asshole, they’re blue states. It’s not your money, assholes, it’s fucking our money. What was that Real American Value you were spouting a minute ago? Self reliance? Try this for self reliance: buy your own fucking stop signs, assholes.
Let’s talk about those values for a fucking minute. You and your Southern values can bite my ass because the blue states got the values over you fucking Real Americans every day of the goddamn week. Which state do you think has the lowest divorce rate you marriage-hyping dickwads? Well? Can you guess? It’s fucking Massachusetts, the fucking center of the gay marriage universe. Yes, that’s right, the state you love to tie around the neck of anyone to the left of Strom Thurmond has the lowest divorce rate in the fucking nation. Think that’s just some aberration? How about this: 9 of the 10 lowest divorce rates are fucking blue states, asshole, and most are in the Northeast, where our values suck so bad. And where are the highest divorce rates? Care to fucking guess? 10 of the top 10 are fucking red-ass we're-so-fucking-moral states. And while Nevada is the worst, the Bible Belt is doing its fucking part.
But two guys making out is going to fucking ruin marriage for you? Yeah? Seems like you're ruining it pretty well on your own, you little bastards. Oh, but that's ok because you go to church, right? I mean you do, right? Cause we fucking get to hear about it every goddamn year at election time. Yes, we're fascinated by how you get up every Sunday morning and sing, and then you're fucking towers of moral superiority. Yeah, that's a workable formula. Maybe us fucking Northerners don't talk about religion as much as you because we're not so busy sinning, hmmm? Ever think of that, you self-righteous assholes? No, you're too busy erecting giant stone tablets of the Ten Commandments in buildings paid for by the fucking Northeast Liberal Elite. And who has the highest murder rates in the nation? It ain't us up here in the North, assholes.
Well this gravy train is fucking over. Take your liberal-bashing, federal-tax-leaching, confederate-flag-waving, holier-than-thou, hypocritical bullshit and shove it up your ass.
And no, you can't have your fucking convention in New York next time. Fuck off.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
