Another WoW story

I put up another story about Melisande on the AD Forum boards. Parts 1 and 2 are done, 3 is yet to be written (I'll see how busy work is this week).

Melisande goes Home

I was really pleased to have such positive feedback! Everyone loves a villain it seems. Writing from that perspective is interesting even though the character itself should be ultimately doomed.. Which thinking about it, is pretty much where she is with Phedre at the moment. Maybe they can fix it, or maybe its the end for those two.

We shall see!

Edit: Final part is up if anyone is interested.

Cyprus - Part 2

Troodos mountains, finally a place that looked how I imagined Cyprus. Fun little 4x4 expedition with 6 other people. Two women who sat in the back of the jeep with us had a similar view of Cyprus, they also had builders next door and 5 dogs living nearby who were 'vocal' at all hours. We had Mount Olympus pointed out to us but couldnt go up there as its a military radar site. Quite appropriate I suppose, after all the gods were supposed to watch their people from the mountain, now the army does. I also had another military site pointed out to me. RAF Akrotiri, where this blogger was born. Brought a tear to my eye I can tell you.

We also went to the Kikkos monastary. Here the monks spend their days making alcohol! I had to purchase a bottle of their mandarin liqueur because I found the idea of drunk monks amusing...
The tour ended in a small village with oodles of craft shops overflowing with lace, leather, knick knacks and all manner of trashy souvenirs.





Note.. Cyprus has REALLY big hornets! First one was spotted in Paphos while we were in a resturant. Thankfully it was the end of our meal as it totally freaked the GF. The other one I took here at the Tomb of the kings. Around 2.5 inches of stripey goodness. Thank the gods for the decent zoom on my camera as I wasnt going anywhere near that monster!

















Limassol, or Lemasos. A much bigger town which was something of a shock to the system after sleepy Paphos and tiny Coral Bay. It was a bit more difficult to negotiate 'Judy' our little Hyundai hire car through here but eventually we found parking near the beach. Went to the castle there and it was a fascinating place. Artifacts and ancient rescued tombstones from the crusades showing knights, clerics and ladies of the 13-15th century.
The most interesting find for me was the almost complete tombstone of what looked like a female knight. The hair was long (all the others had short hair) and the figure seemed rather curvaceous. But 'she' was in full plate in the tradtional hands over chest holding a 2 handed sword with a shield in front of her with several crosses on it. The name Heyde de Vis was no clue either. I doubt this was a woman, but I was still rather excited by the prospect of female knights in the Crusades!
Although... templarhistory.com Hmmm more research required. I did take a sneaky photo (wasn't supposed to really) which I'll put up later from home.

So to sum up. I did enjoy my Cyprus holiday, but was a little disapointed that the beauty of the island was rather overshadowed by a million villa's and the ancient sites seemed rather unloved... Ofcourse there were some exceptions. Kourion is a massive site with many interesting ruins, and the floor mosaics in Phaphos were beautifully preserved. I give it a 6/10.

Cyprus - Part 1

Some random musings from my travel journal..

A Meze is a Cyprus speciality. It starts with a greek salad and then has lots of little dishes with various things on it including a boiled potato dripping in butter and olive oil, Stifado (Beef cooked in red wine), Baked cheese in pitta bread, kebab, moussaka, meatballs and spicy sausages.
The perfect end was a shot of coffee liqueur, especially as it was on the house! Finding a bottle or three of said liqueur became the mission of the holiday.
***
Cyprus may be warm and friendly, just as long as you aren't in a wheelchair (the paths are narrow and uneven), don't mind passive smoking wherever you go and have a love of English Beach resorts. Add bingo and slot machines to the Paphos sea front and you could have been in Great Yarmouth... Only warmer.
***
My GF and I can attest to the hardworking nature of Cypriot builders. They were building yet more holiday homes on either side of our villa from 0700, with their diggers and drills bringing a little early morning cheer to the day. Often accompanied by the neighbourhood dogs.
***
Cyprus is disapointing. Thousands of years of history and mythology swallowed up by developers and an uncaring tourist industry. Almost every inch of the coast is lined with peaches and cream holiday homes and while Jo Public will buy them, they keep on building. Soon the whole circumference of the island below the green line will be "Luxury Beachfront Villa's".
***
Managed to find a small part of the coast that didnt yet have villa's strewn all over it. The coastline was rockier here, but the views were lovely.
***
Today we went to Aphrodite's baths. A small but picturesque pool. Sadly any remaining history of the area is rather spoiled by the park benches either side and people sitting there smoking. One could visualise them flicking the butts into what once might have been a mystical significant site people made a pilgrimage to bathe in and pray by. A great shame.

Back from holiday

To the joyous news that the Oxford NHS trust has to save 33 million and is cutting 600 jobs. Apparently this will mostly be in Finance, Human Remains, and Information Technology (that would be my area). Of course this is what they have released to the public as no one gives a toss about HR and Finance. If they mentioned the word "Nurses" then there would be more of an uproar. View from the inside is :- all departments and people are at risk.

Oh well, been made redundant twice already and dodged two more. Normality restored then.

And about Cyprus, well I will bore you with snippets from my travel journal tomorrow when its quieter here. They may even be pictures! (but not of me thank the gods).

Coffee lovers rejoice

This was mentioned on the radio during this mornings commute.. So I googled it and found this... Coffee is good for you

Cheer!

Now someone find me an article that tells me the more chocolate I eat the healthier I will be.

Gamers are weird

Well Mmorpg gamers are anyway. There are definite 'types' of people who are attracted to multiplayer on-line games. Especially the roleplaying servers. I have been playing WoW since beta (about 15 months) and have met a fair few people. I'm in an average sized guild and part of a raiding community. I talk to alot of people there and have also chatted to 'strangers' a bit after some random spontaneous arr-pee.

Now I'm happy to talk about Real Life(tm) up to a point. What I do for a living, what books I like, music and so on, but so many of those I have talked with think this is then a licence for them to tell me their life history. Which is fine, and can sometimes be interesting to get a peek into another persons existance... but WHY Are they always depressed, lonely and suicidal??? Do I attract this sort of person? Is it the demographic of those who play these games... ie 17-24 year olds. I mean I had my fair share of teenage angst but it seems like a whole different ballgame these days.

Here's a list of some of the people I have talked to...

1. Attempted suicide
2. Has been in / is going into an institution.
3. Desperately lonely
4. Parents violent
5. Parents drunk
6. Prozac (insert random antidepressant here, I've heard them all)
7. Goth (ok she was cool *grins*)
8. Think the game is 'real'. (and they weren't even American)

And so on... Throw in the usual teenage "I can't talk to girls" crap and you have the full set, and its not just one person of this type I have interacted with, but several of each. I am of course making the assumption that what people have told me is true and not just some twisted form of attention seeking.

I can honestly say of all the people I have spoken to in anything more than just RP and general chatter I can name about 6 that are 'ordinary'. Well, no roleplayer is ordinary of course, but at least they play the game just to have fun with their friends, get some epix, and pass an evening without resorting to watching Eastenders (now that will make you want to slit your wrists).

The thing is... My paranoid self starts to wonder why I am playing the game... Is my escape from the alternative drudgery of Tee-Vee just a wholesome evenings entertainment or am I running and hiding from something much darker?

Warcraft Scribblings

I wrote a couple of things about 2 characters of mine. Actually I've written a shed load of things about various characters but these were two that are for public consumption.

The first is called The Initiation. Its about my horde character called Malificent and her journey into becoming a Vodou Priestess... In game terms thats a shadow priest.

Initiation

The second is my original character Melisande, a Night Elf rogue. This short story is an incident from her past before she found God(dess) with her priestess.

Just Another Job

Holiday

Cyprus in less than a week and I still haven't packed! This is most unlike me as I am obsessively organised when it comes to holidays. I've got everything now though.. I think.

Tickets... Money... Passport. What else does one need?

Oh factor 30 suncream, a couple of books, my Ipod of course, Camera and a zillion batteries (it eats them). Hmmm... Oh yes, clothes! (maybe not - private pool, clothing optional *grin*)

Since I am paler than a white sheet that has been soaked in bleach for a week, I thought I would try some fake tan moisturiser. So now I'm going on holiday slightly orange and with stripey legs. So much for that idea.

Mmmmm lemon merangue pie today in the canteen.... Diet? what diet? Well since it had a bit of orange garnish that counts as one of my 5 daily fruit portions right?

Ipod

Yup, this aging old fart has bought an Ipod Video. Does owning the latest 'gadget' make me cool again? No? Well stuff you.

Anyway, the pod's pretty neat. 30gigs of goodness, which is apparently about 7000 songs. But the really fun stuff is podcasts. Either audio only or video that I can listen to/watch on the 2.5 inch screen. They are free too.

The ipod itself is a tiny slim piece of kit, but its about as rugged as a 90 year old pensioner. When I can find a case that isn't neon pink then I'll get one... This is of course how they get you. What attracted me to it in the first place is the amount of accessories. Ipod for the car, speakers for home, remote controls, leads for the TV and so on, BUT! The bloody thing comes with nothing to start with. The headphones are shite and no plug so you can charge it away from the PC. So a further fortune has to be spent in order to make the thing usable.

Still, its great for work on days my minion isnt around. Shut the door to my office, plug in and I am in my own little world.

She's gone

And it wasnt too bad. I am of course referring to my weekend with mother. 6 hours of shopping on Saturday was about par for the course. I am now officially broke as I kept 'finding' things for my holiday in Cyprus (In just over a week, can't bloody wait). This is why I should never go shopping. It is very bad for me to even step outside the house at all at the weekend.

I can window shop far easier on the internet and manage to stop myself buying things but if I see them in the flesh then I have no resistance at all. Still, once mother was sat in front of the telly in the evenings I got let off for good behaviour and managed some World of Warcraft time, including sliding onto Friday's Molten Core raid. No epix for me though.

Also downloaded a shed load of music in anticipation of my Ipod arriving today or tomorrow. I already have little speakers I use on my laptop so my GF and I can have a little stereo for the week in Cyprus. Our own villa, with a private pool.. *sighs in happiness*.

I was born in Cyprus, not far from Aphrodite's rock. I left at age 1 and have never been back. Mums gave me the address of the house I was raised in. Its still there apparently so I shall make the pilgramage to Limassol next week. I wonder if it will spark any memories...

Mother

Is coming to visit today. Why things like 'family' have to invade my otherwise ordered life I dont know. Isn't the phone enough? Now I lose an entire weekend while I get dragged endlessly around clothes and shoe shops. (I am obviously the only woman in the world who hates shoe shopping). Be forced to watch East Enders, and have all my things rearranged because they are not in the same order my mother has them...

"No dear its not knives , forks and then spoons.. Forks should be first."

*Screams*

I would rather be raiding in Molten Core. At least then I'm with people I actually want to spend time with and may end up with Epic loot! Rather than the A-line skirt my mother will try to tempt me with.

Worst of all, I dont see my GF this weekend... My mother does not approve.

Ah well... We suffer for the misfortune of being born and then being eternally ungrateful for our mum spending 9 months getting fat and puking up for us. Something they are very good at reminding us about whenever the mood strikes them.

Beginning

Haven't a clue what I'm doing here...

My friend John just emailed me to say he has a Blog.

Apparently *everyone* has them, and I am ever the one to jump on a bandwagon.This is just another way to avoid doing any 'real' work of course. My job is ok, a little quiet at times, although you wouldnt think it should be with the state of the NHS at the moment. No doubt they will keep idiots like me (I work in IT, playing with databases) and get rid of useful people like nurses and such.

Mind you, if they stopped one of our consultants jetting off every 5 minutes to some foreign climes they could save their 33 million right there. Better not let him see this then... I need my job.