Blog BurlyGirly!

Will needs to post something new on his blog bacause everytime I check blogs, I get this link: http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/ultimate+showdown/ and get the song stuck in my head.  I'm serious Will.  Blog something!  It's not like you've had nothing to blog about - if you want I'll write a blog for you :-P  And you know that can't be good for you.

 

You have 10 days :-P

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Phil

Our House: Part 2

Woot - I finished the painting!  Not as good as I wanted it to be but I've learnt a lot.  The original blog entry about the picture can be found here:

 

http://mercyonmysoul.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!8E4A7499E999D913!251.entry

 

And the finished thing looks something like this...

 

 

 All in all... I'm happy enough with them, hence, they are on the wall.

 

I have a killer headache - woke up with it and still it is with me at 10pm :( Here's hoping it's gone by tomorrow.  Madriva isn't being very nice to work with - I'm going to try a more minimal install and add packages to it at a later date, see if that's any better.  *Sighs*  Never a dull moment eh?

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Phil

New Pets

Recently, in the World of Warcraft, I have refined my selection of beast companions, who help me quest and fight.

 

Firstly, Snowswift was set free.  I'm afraid Snowswift and I never really hit it off - I don't even have any pictures for you, but he was a Great White Owl from the mountains of Winterspring.

 

This left me with only one pet, Rupert, who has been a loyal companion for some time.  He too is native to the snowy peaks of Winterspring, and is a Polar Bear.

Here's a pic of me and Rupert visiting the King of Storwind.  Don't ask why the Kings Protector has his fists raised to me... it's a long story and the other Elves would prefer me not to speak of it again :-P

 

And here we are on the game load screen, in which Rupert appears a little smaller than in game, but you get a better look at him...

Actually Rupert was a good deal younger when that picture was taken too... but fro the first pic you can see that these days he's a pretty large and menacing bear - he serves well as an intimidating damage tank while I can stand at range and use my marksmen talents.

It is all the happy memories that made my second decision difficult.  Rupert is to be made redundant, and will be set wild again once his replacement is up to scratch.  His replacement?  BurlyTurle.

You might be thinking a giant Turle is no match for a fierce Bear!  And if the purpose of the pet was to deal damage to those I hunt, you'd be right - but this is not the case.  The job of the pet, is mostly a decoy.  It is to keep the attention of the mob while I pick off the targets one by one.  The biggest concern is therefore, staying alive, and poor Rupert has taken a lot of bruises in his time with me.  Burly is slightly better tuned to be a 'tank'.  So much so - he's attracted some attention in raid groups. Raids are serious things - they take organisation, planning, and usually between 20-40 players to gather toegther and combine their skills to complete a dungeon.
It is the general opinion that only dedicated players designed for tanking, can tank the baddies that lie in raid dungeons.  Paladins, Druids, Hunters, and pets - just don't cut it.  Only Warrirors possess the stamina and agrovation skills great enough to match these monsters.  In a raid on AQ20 (some old ruins) the other night with around 19 of my fellow adventurers, Burly seemed to be doing the job of a seperate party member, bring much comment from my guildmates along the lines of, "That f**king Turle's tanking everything!"  Indeed Burly often tanked not one but two of the dungeon mobs, and even held the aggro off a boss for a few seconds while the warrirors had been stunned and the priests and magi were vulnerable. 

In no way of course, can Burly be a main tank, but pets aren't usually seen as much more than low level damage bonus.  Burly can show people that as an off-tank (a unit who assists, steps in to replace, or catches those mobs when the main tank fails to keep them), he can be awsome.  I'm not really 100% sure if the fellow raiders thought Burly tanking was a good or bad thing... in a sense, he was taking agro away from the dedicated warriors or at least, being an unexpected factor in the carefully planned battle.  But it was the source of much ammusement at least and I know for a fact he saved a preist on more than one occasion *just* before a monsters fist squashed them into the sand.

And then, onto Zul Gurub we travelled.  Passing through Stormwind to get there, I placed Burly in stables along with Rupert, and met the other raid members at the Troll Fortress we were to attack.  For many in the party, loot was their goal.  Others wanted reputation and gold.  Me?  I'd come here to tame one of the infamous Zul Gurub Bats.  They're big, they're bad, and they're frikking fast.  Bats can not take a lot of hits, they are poor tanks and poor decoys.  They do however, put out a considerable ammount of damage, and they can fly pretty fast - so when I order an attack on a fleeing mob, they can catch it and bring it down before it gets too far.  In raid groups where we have say, 6 dedicated warrirors, Burly is something of a surpless to requirements, as awsome as he can be when we're short.  In these situations, Burly is nothing more than a very low damaging nusence to the bad things we fight, and adds little to the group.  If I'm going to use a pet in those situations, it may aswell be a damage dealing pet, so to make a decent contribution.

And this is the beasty...

And it's size in comparison to me...

The only trouble with the bat is... it scares the hell out of my team mates - they keep thinking it's a monster coming to attack them, especially if they turn round and it happens to be flying up behind them.  I'm sure they'll get used to it though.  Speaking of 'it', I'm trying to think of a name for the bat.  All suggestions welcome. :)
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Phil

All the small things...

Prepare yourself, for the most confussing blog ever!

Cos I was thinking about the time...

We went up to the lake the night before our exam and laughed away the stress
We played on the N64 all weekend and I kicked your butt at everything :P
When we jived in the kitchen at Gilly-Sues party
We stayed over at Gemma's on her birthday
We played CCG at Soul Survivor
I graduated
Suzy.
We sat, in Andy's front room, week after glorious week :)
We spent 4 hours in ikea and bought 4 trollies of funrinture!
We watched Polar Express at the iMax
Matt explained Object Oriented Programming using his boots, a fag, and a lighter... and I translated into java and english
We had a candle lit dinner by webcam :-D
We had our first kiss in my front room on the chair by the window :)
The finalé... of Deep Space Nine
You told me you were pregnant
You told me she was pregnant
We commuted everyday, and it was like coming into a whole new station
You were dying of that viral thingy but we didn't know you much and thought you were just a lazy sod so we kept poking you with stuff.
We drove round Manchester totally lost taking pictures of random churches
You were in love with Becca
I was ill, and you came, and looked after me
We served on the Athena
We served on the Lexy
We played UT in Lab B
You barked in Chapman 2
We all went bowling, and we left the others for dust - I bowled a strike and was winning in the last round - you bowled a turkey. Git.
You and Alun agreed an alliance that lasted about 2 turns of the invasion before you fired on each other and I mopped up :P
You sat on the couch and the 'cusion' moved. Freaked and scared you ran out of the room and alerted me, 'Phil! You have a polar bear on your couch!'
MOO2
We played the baratones.
I made our own CCG cards! :D
Regant Park Theatre
We went to New York, New York!
I took the projector home for 'Routine Maintenance' and we tested it with films, Civ2, and all those good things.
You woke me up every morning.
We woke up together every morning.
You... you like lived at my.. well... desk, for like 4 months without sleeping, eating or leaving the house.
You had long hair and a beard
You cut your hair, shaved you beard, and I walked past you on the first day of term thiking, 'How does that guy know my name' X-D
I wouldn't let you shave your head or dye your hair.
You dyed your hair when you were a safe distance away from me.
Your parents made you shave your head to get rid of the dye.
You deleted all your mp3's
We worked in the board room
We danced in the board room
You smoked in the board room, and Mike turned the fan on the wrong way
You brought a calculator the size of australlia to the exam
Phil & Kill
You asked me to marry you
I asked you to marry me
We went to Uxbridge
GTA2
The International Coffee Lounge
I became a soilder
You became a soilder
You told me you're going to be a soilder
The Darth Maul Mask
RISK!

Please, add some :-)
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Phil

A Tale of Two Weekends

I never did blog about the weekend before last.  This was mostly due to having written the blog, then losing it, and then getting carried away by frappe angst instead.

But it was an important weekend, and must be blogged about...

 

I went to Manchester, traveling with Dan on the Thursday to my parents house, where we both stayed, before heading into the city, refreshed and suited up for a wedding.  Yes, the middle of a heat wave, and my friends Dave and Jo are getting married.  Boy am I glad I wasn't an usher - those guys had to wear good quality woolen suits with wastecoats and everything all day.  Everyman in the congregation had sweat patches under his arms and down their backs - but the magesty of the occasion was not dulled by the smelly guests at all - it was a heartfelt service with beaming smiles all round.

The reception was great - good food, fine company, merriment and celebration.  We even had, and yes, I realise how big a geek this makes each of us, but we even had amongst all the normal wedding photos, a WoW Guildies Photo of Dave, Caleb, Will, Dan, and myself.  And... and now don't get all judgemental here - I realise how embarrasing this is but it was his special day and Dave wanted it - I'm just such a good friend I'm willing to forgo dignity to make the day special - we did a second WoW photo with assorted character poses.  Plus it was a total breeder fest so there was no potentional pull material to keep dignity for.

Was great to see everyone form uni there, espeically the WoW group and Sarah, Matt, Alex, and Dave P.

 

Seriously though - Dave's an awsome guy and though I don't know Jo as well as I know Dave, I know her well enough to know that she to, is awsome, and wish them a long and happy life together.

We're holding a memorial for Dave's characters on WoW next week, as men find it strangely difficult to ever see the sunsets, oceans and Mountains of fair Azeroth post-marraige. <jk> :-P

 

I crashed at Calebs, and this was good.  Then we made a party happen, and this was good too.  Then we partied, and this was... good.  I even did the BBQ for a bit.  Someone was asking me how I was brave enough to do it, and how they were always uber paranoid when given BBQ responsibility incase they poison everyone.  I shrugged and told him I live in London and very few people here know who I am - I'm also not eating from the BBQ cos we had food before the party, so what do I care if it's undercooked?  He weighed his odds carefully and looked me in the eye for a hint I might be joking, then decided to take his chances and eat a burger.

MJ got very drunk.  He asked me, as the 'classy person', what you mix port with.  I told him 'cheese', then hit him round the back of the head and told him classy people wouldn't even suggest port should be mixed.  He went with Sprite and Port in the end.  *shrugs*

I had a good time hanging out with Will - I always feel my relationship with Will in underdeveloped, but that we're both ok with that, and can happily hang out for prolongued periods without needing to deepen it.  Having said that... I feel I got a deeper insight into Will than I'd ever had, or wanted before, but it's always good to have ample blackmail material right?

Crashed at Caleb again, and hung out with him some more the next day.  This was great.  I really miss Caleb and it was so good to just chill out and talk, watch 4400, and talk, and drink tea, and talk with him.  Why are there no Calebs in London?  Why?!  Pah.

Didn't see Mattius :(  He rang on the Sunday but like MJ, had beocme quite intoxicated on Saturday night and wa s alittle too hung over to make good of the day.  I'll definately catch him next time I'm up though.  And... that leads us to Monday, which I spent having elevensies with Grandma and Mum, and heading of to the station. 

 

Hurah.

 

This weekend just gone... I spent almost entirely on WoW.  Yes, on WoW.  Most of it.  Like, 18 hours worth.  And I'm like, a grown man so I get to do that if I want to :-P

As I hadn't WoW'ed for about a month, this was long overdue, and it allowed me to spend some more time with Caleb and Will, as well as toher guildies who I don't know in RL.  Will and I WoW'ed till 4am on Saturday/Sunday till my eyes bled!  Awsome.

 

I could tell you lots about that - but I wont :P  Other than to say I got Beaststalker helmet for Anny - Woot!  and BurlyTurtle (my pet) and I main tanked BRD cos the warrior was *crap*.  Though this was tough on the healer, it was fun all the same.

 

Picture of a dwarf in Beastalker Armour set (beard not included):

 

All in all, I'm getting a bit of a hankering for home.  I miss my friends more and more and WoW aint cutting it as a dose replacement.  Though, this is possibly due to the lack of WoW time over the last however long (until this w/e), but with all my friends talking about house arragements for the next year as September draws close... I feel a bit issolated.

 

That's all folks,

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Phil

Bed, Bikes, and Backpacking

So this weekend, I slept in Tim's bed.  No, Tim wasn't in it - he was away, but he said I should try out his mattress on this kind of weekend to help me in my bed purchasing decisions.  My goodness it was comfortable.  It has renewed my passion to get a bed, or at least, a new matress, and so I will.

But let me check the old bank statements first, as this weekend I spent a rather large sum of money on a bike.  It's a real good bike - and I'm using it to comute to work so it's saving me money.  It's large enough for me and designed for low-hastle street riding.  Though it's really hard for me to spend that kind of money, I am pleased with the bike.

 

 

As for backpacking, well, ok, it wasn't really backpacking - I just needed another 'B' word for holiday.  I was tempted by brochure but as the holiday did involve hiking, I thought backpacking was ok to use.  Anyway - I'm not going.  Thought it'd be cool to go to Switzerland for 10 days and have some quality rest time, but given the bike and the need for a matress (and indeed a few annual bills that just swung by), the budget doesn't excuse such lavish expenditures as a group budget holiday.  Perhaps just as well, the trip would make the 30 or so of us all captive to each other, and there would be a spectrum of Christian 'Young Adults' there - and I'm a bad person... I don't think I could get through 10 days without causing severe phycological distress to 1 or 2 of them.  Still... would have been nice to have seen Switzerland. 

Ho-hum - another time perhaps.

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Phil

Our House

I live in London in a beautiful 3 bedroom flat that's all stylish and modern like.  It's spacious and tidy, but possibly a little on the bland side.

In fact there's a chance we'll be leaving it soon, I don't fancy the idea of finding a new place but you gotta do what you gotta do.  Even so, I'd quite like to make another improvement to the household in the form of art.

Living with a graphic designer and a musician, you may wonder why I, am man born wihtout a sense of astethics, would decide to take on the decor of the front room.  The answer?  Meh.

 

So here's the offending bland wall...

 

 

And here's my thoughts on the sort of thing that should go on it:

 

 Something like that anyway.  I'm into the split canvas thing atm.

 

Either something modern arty like that, or some still life painting along these lines...

 

 

What?!  It's art!  Heh - Just kidding :-P

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Phil