Facebook re-invents social information.

Today was f8, Facebook's conference for announcing upcoming developments. Among all of the features talked about, what had me most excited were the "Social Plugins" they've announced. As of today you can now go to a number of websites, including this one to see new ways of sharing information with friends.

One of my favorites of these social plugins is the new "Like" button that can now be added to any website by a developer in which users can click on it and it will not only tell people at www.facebook.com that you liked the page but it will also show you what other friends who were there previously have also liked it. Check it out, go to imdb.com, look up a movie, an actor, a tv show, and you'll see a facebook plugin with the "Like" button. The buttons at IMdB will also add movies and tv shows you like to your favorite movies, so rather than having it show up that you like something in your feed for a few short hours, it edits your profile information to make it more permanent for others to look at.

Other social plugins provided by facebook include a live stream from a facebook page, ability to add comments to a page, a login box, recommended pages to visitors, and more. If you would like like to take a look at or maybe add some of these features to your site like I have, head on over to http://developers.facebook.com/plugins for more information about what these things do.

Read more!

Guide to dating on Craigslist.

People who know me will know I'm probably not the best guy to get dating advice. I've never been very successful about actively finding and getting dates. Theres a couple of reason for it, one being I'm not exactly in a good place where I need to be out dating. If someone finds me and wants to see how things go thats fine, but I'm not going to respond to ads and see about getting something going. The other reason being that I take precautions to protect my computer from potential problems and more importantly myself from getting into a bad situation. I'm not writing this to talk about my own experiences but to educate the folks out there posting/replying to ads to protect themselves.

So lets talk about the risks your taking with online dating. The most important problem with online dating is you don't really know who someone really is until you get a chance to meet them face to face. Then again, some people dont show their real personality until they get what they want out of you. This has been the case with the traditional act of dating and not just online dating so most people are pretty familiar with this anyway. The thing with online dating however is that with the advances in technology it is easier to find out who people are, who they interact with and maybe if they've had some interesting history.

The other risks you may face with online dating is internet spam. There are a number of ways you can encounter this spam; there are people out there who create fake ads that try to trick visit their website. People who dont take precautions to watch out for these fake ads open themselves up to unwanted e-mail spam and possibly computer viruses. These fake ads can also come in the form of replies to ads that you post, so dont think your safe because you dont reply to the ads, they can reply to you too. Dont worry though, I'll teach you how to detect some of these fake ads.

When replying to ads, how might you protect yourself? You might ask yourself a few questions about the person your interested in. Do they have a picture? Where are they from, is it a place that actually exists? How do they want to be contacted? What are they actually looking for in a person? Have they posted a link in their ad? Does the ad sound similar to any other ads you've read recently?

Fortunately craigslist does a great job of clearing out fake advertisements from their listings. In most cases, advertisements have been removed from previous previous days of listings so your chances of getting something you dont want are slim. What to watch out for are those posts that are posted the day or sometimes even 1 day prior. If the post in question has a link in it, your best choice is to ignore it and move on to the next listing. If the post has an email address or tells you to go to a website to sign up and verify you are who you say you are, dont respond, they are phishing for your information to send you email spam or in the worst case, steal your identity. In the case of a picture, what kind of picture did they provide? Does the picture seem to be a little adult oriented, skip it, your only asking for trouble.

As for posting your own ads, this is actually a bit easier to figure out and thats part of the reason I only wait for replies rather than do my own responding. So here are a few questions to ask yourself when looking at responses to your ads. Who did the email come from? Does the email look like a real email address? Do they ask you to visit a particular link in their response? Do they ask questions you've already answered in your craigslist post? Have they answered a question or done what you've asked in your ad to filter the fake ads out? (I'll talk about this last one in a little bit when I go into ad posting tips.)

I absolutely love verifying by email because it nails most of the ads right away. I dont know about your email provider but I use gmail and when someone emails me I get both a first name and a last name for who that email came from. Sometimes its just initials which is fine because people dont like that stuff being shared when they email others. Since in most cases I have a name right away I already have something to use to verify a person is who they say they are.

But how do you know the email itself is bad? Take this email for example that I got today in my email inbox. It came from someone named Rose Hernandez from rosiehernandez979@yahoo.com. So how do I know its fake you might be wondering because the name seems to match the email address. Those numbers tipped me off. People do put numbers in their email address but they are usually things that are easy to figure out, a birthday, age, zip code, year. What is 979? It doesn't really make much sense to me, it could be a month and a year but why take the risk sending a reply to it giving the person that sent it knowledge of my email address which they didn't have because craigslist doesn't give that away.

Another way to make sure your not replying to a fake reply is by seeing if they want you to reply to another email address. I'll typically see a couple of these a day saying "This is my friends/sisters/brothers email, please send reply to this other email address." If they were a real person why aren't they using their own email address? How many of you have used someone else's email to send a reply to something as personal as a dating website or anything for that matter? The emails these come from are usually real but belong to people who didn't protect themselves and someone gained access to it to send out spam so it looks like its real.

The whole verify your age trick is something pretty new and is just as bad as those emails people used to get to verify their bank information. Its just someone trying to scam you for your information to either send you spam or steal your identity. Do not fill out these verification forms. Find other ways to prove you are who you are, like you know, meet them in person.

Now I know some people aren't exactly willing to share something as personal as a picture over the internet. But a lot of fake ads will actually say something to like "I'll send you a picture if you send me one." We'll you've already accomplished half of the battle if you've posted a picture in your original ad. And I mean an actual picture, not something stupid like a sunset or some text with nothing visual of you in it. If your in the picture they should already know what you look like and therefor shouldn't need to ask for a picture. Thats 50% of the fake ads right there if you've provided your own picture first.

At this point you may now be looking at a reply that may be from an actual person who wants to meet you. Don't think that your done yet because theres still another step you can take to protect yourself from individuals you may not want to associate with. As I said before most email services will tell you who the name of the person the email belongs to. Theres a couple things you can do with this information. Social networks such as Facebook and Myspace are your friends in this case because a lot of people use these sites, not all do, but theres a good chance. Theres search bars at these sites where you can copy/paste the email address into and see if the person is registered to these sites. If the email didn't come up with anything, use the name your email service provided you with. Then as a last resort go to the google or any other search engine and try both the email and the full name there. If nothing comes up thats fine, but if something does show up, you now have quite a bit more information than you did previously about that person. If you do find something, make sure its actually the person your looking for. I can google my name and find out someone with the same name has also competed in MMA fighting tournaments, its obviously not me. So keep stuff like that in mind.

Going back to what I was talking about for about filtering out the spam, this is what I do and it works in most cases. Create a filter question in your craigslist ad and ask people to answer it in either the subject line or somewhere in their reply. Doing this will allow you to look for a specific answer that 100% of all fake replies will not answer if you ask the right question. A good question to ask is something that gives a specific answer? Show some personality in your questions and you'll get personality right back. Personally I tend to ask a silly question that not only lets the person know I'm a little creative and fun to talk to and in return the people that do respond reveal some personality in their answers. I've had serious answers come back to silly questions and I've had fun answers come back. Real people respond in different ways, fake people wont respond to it at all. Use filter questions and you'll avoid unwanted spam.

Before I let you go let me offer you some last words of advice for once you've finally started talking to some real people over the internet.
1. If your not comfortable talking to them over the internet, do not meet them in person.
2. Do not give away any personal information until you've had a chance to get to know them.
3. When you do decide to meet, do something in a public place. Your safer where other people can see you.

Good luck out there.

Read more!

Drawing Pad

This last weekend I decided to do some cleaning up in my room and see how much I can get rid of that I dont absolutely need or see myself using again in the future. Among the items I found was my old drawing pad from high school. Some of these are just mimic'd drawings out of comic books I had at the time and never finished. Figured I'd share with the world the talent I used to have...

Read more!

Sony's new PS3 peripheral a girl's best friend?

So my friend Matthew Smith (http://www.dawgeth.com) and I were talking the other night in an IRC channel about some of our favorite gaming consoles. Something came out along the way about how I had heard of a possible price drop for the Wii sometime this year if they were to compete with the other systems this year. Microsoft has Project Natal, a hands-free motion sensing technology that lets you use your body as a controller and thats due out for this years holiday season. And then theres Sony's wand... Matthew sent me an image link of the device which in theory is supposed to be similar to that of the Wii's controller, hence a reason for a price drop on that console. Now I'll give you a few moments to really look at it and see what the first thing is that comes to mind...

... really... take a moment...

Ok now, doesn't that look like a friggin dildo? I really shouldn't know these things... but it looks like its got all the right curves for every girls secret desire. I wonder if this is Sony's idea of appealing to female gamers. "I cant get a dildo for my Xbox 360 so I went with the PS3."

If that wasn't bad enough, Sony uses this technology in their controllers that they call "Dualshock" (its really just a couple of badly balanced motors) which creates a vibration for that extra sensory when playing games. I can only imagine this vibration technology being introduced into these wands.

Anyone remember the Harry Potter brooms that recalled because girls got a little too excited when they discovered their brooms could vibrate? Or how about recently... the full-sized Team Jacob and Edward pillows for girls to sleep with. I'm thinking marketing is getting a little bit too risky these days with kids...

Read more!

Warforged Update!

So last night I submitted my warforged warlock to my dm to get approval and to see if there was any suggestions as to improve or change anything. Turns out that I do need to make a few changes to fit the world and the background but there is nothing major. I'll post an update after I get that done and submitted. Anyways, he went to explain what he pictures this character to be and let me tell you that this guy is a genius! Take a look at what he wrote.

I'm imagining a warforged whose metal is rusted red/brown; wood pieces black and slick, like dead wood in a forest; the slight smell of compost; sprouts of living plants from some joints and intersections of plates; eyest that glow a bright, verdant green; and, this ironwood root structure spiked gauntlet, with four inch unbreakable thorns which seem impossibly sharp...

Now I dont know about you but that like totally opened up all sorts of ideas as to what this character might look like to someone who may have stumbled upon him in the middle of an old forest. So its all I've been able to think about today is what my character may look like. Above is what I've drawn so far and I know that it really doesn't look like theres a whole lot of wear and tare on this guy aside from the cracked brow. What I see is an old vine thats draped over the top of his head... he's maybe got a mushroom or some kind of fungus growing out of his neck. A tree or some kind of plant has taken root near his legs and has formed around him over the last several hundred years to claim the character as a part of the plant. And that spiked gauntlet is in a tangle of vines. My character is a prisoner of the forest and the plants his prison until he is awakened once more...

Read more!

I will be a Warforged Warlock

Previously I posted about how I was prepping to become a dungeon master so I could have an easier time setting up a group since DM's can be hard to find. Turns out I was wrong because after joining a group on meetup.com for local D&D players I've now found a position as a player in a group. Last night we got together for the first time so everyone could meet and we could get a feel for who people are. Among quite a bit of of socializing we got to hear about this world that our DM has created and played in for the last 10 years or so and dang this place is massive! Theres all sorts of history going on and events from previous campaigns that its almost overwhelming with how much there is to keep track of. Even the calendar is different... 9 days in a week, are you kidding me? goblins get free reign of the world on the sabbath? WHAT? I cant wait.

So as we were discussing the world we went around to see what everyone would like to play. Well the night before I had this great idea for a warforged warlock. Turns out that it would work great in this world since there "was" a guy creating warforged dudes in the worlds history and he was killed and no more warforged are being made. My dude will be a lost warforged, abandoned, in fact he wont even know who he is, where he came from, his purpose in life or any of that. All that he will know is that he was found and he has the ability to make things happen with the wave of his hands.

I spent some time this morning working on the character in the character builder from wizards. This is what I've come up with so far, pending review from the DM to see if its acceptable. I appologize for it not looking very pretty but you get what you get for now.

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======

Unknown, level 1

Warforged, Warlock

Eldritch Blast: Eldritch Blast Constitution

Eldritch Pact: Fey Pact

FINAL ABILITY SCORES

Str 10, Con 18, Dex 10, Int 13, Wis 11, Cha 16.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES

Str 8, Con 16, Dex 10, Int 13, Wis 11, Cha 16.

AC: 11 Fort: 14 Reflex: 12 Will: 15

HP: 30 Surges: 10 Surge Value: 7

TRAINED SKILLS

Insight +5, Bluff +8, Intimidate +10, Arcana +6

UNTRAINED SKILLS

Acrobatics, Diplomacy +3, Dungeoneering, Endurance +6, Heal, History +1, Nature, Perception, Religion +1, Stealth, Streetwise +3, Thievery, Athletics

FEATS

Level 1: Reaper's Touch

POWERS

Warlock encounter 1: Witchfire

Warlock daily 1: Flames of Phlegethos

ITEMS

Spiked gauntlet

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======

Read more!

Road to Dungeon Mastering

Reposted from Google Wave (http://wave.google.com)

After gaining some renewed interest in participating in an actual Pen and Paper RPG I'm finding that the only real way to start playing is by becoming a Dungeon Master myself. I only have very brief experience in playing Dungeons & Dragons so I have a long rocky road ahead of me.

Why am I doing this?

Frankly, I'm bored. I need something to entertain myself and open up my creative mind to new experiences. I'm getting tired of playing video games anymore and I am looking to do something that takes a bit more than just a point and click to accomplish.

What am I doing to prepare myself?

So I cheated, I have the entire 4th edition library at my disposal thanks to online resources. I have adventures, books, magazines all in pdf format that I can glance at as needed. I also have Dungeon Mastering for Dummies and Dungeons and Dragons for Dummies, both designed to help new and experienced users get a better grasp of the game. I've also picked up a set of my own dice finally. This is something I've always looked at doing in the past but just haven't felt the need to actually put money down on it.

I think for now the idea is to read as much as I can about dungeon mastering and about being a player so I have a good grasp of the rules. This way when I do start up a campaign things can run more smoothly and I wont have to spend a whole lot of time researching rules I should know off the top of my head. So far I'm starting with the dummies books. I've had lots of success with these in the past for various other topics and I trust them to give me a good understanding. I'll go through the official books afterwards, this way when the books go into detail I can focus less on terminology and more on the real rules, keeping the tips I've already learned fresh in my head.

Who will I be playing with?

I have a few friends that have tried playing before but didn't have much success getting into it due to time issues. Of course theres is always the internet if all else fails. Nothing wrong with a little skype action and I know theres software that can be used. Especially with google wave, it'd make for a great platform to run a good game. I dont know for certain who will be playing but I'm sure if I looked hard enough I can get some people to play.

When will I start?

This depends on a couple of things. When am I comfident enough to run people through an adventure and ready to risk the potential of having it all fall apart? How much do I know the rules? Who all is going to play and where will we meet? Its kind of a process to put this all together and its not something I've always been good at. Dan's house is probably the best place if they decide they want to play. Just because they are the ones with kids and its easier for them if they dont have to find someone to watch the kids to leave the house. Of course they could always bring the kids along for the evening and thats fine too, but then I'd have to find a place other than my place because my dogs and their kids is not a good idea.

What is the future of my P&P RPG experience?

I'm a Star Wars geek much more than I am a fan elves, dragons and magics. I think the next step would be to take my experience as a DnD DM and move towards the Star Wars Roleplaying game since it still uses the same D20 system that DnD does. I cant even imagine how much fun it would be to roleplay a character with his own lightsaber or perhaps even my very own Han Solo-like character. I think thats the direction I'd like to take this ultimately.

Read more!

"Birth to Life"

I went to the hospital yesterday to welcome Dan's son, Liam, to the world. Had a good time visiting Jenn and Liam and hanging out with her sister and her boyfriend. We hung out for about 3 hours talking about random thoughts and helping the boyfriend figure out what parts to buy for a new computer. It wasn't until the 1am drive home last night that it really occurred to me what was said by the nurse giving the discharge information. "Birth to Life" I dont know exactly what she was talking about at the time but she kept referencing the transition from "Birth to Life" when explaining different details of their new baby.

What exactly does this phrase mean and why would this nurse continue to phrase it as a transition in which the baby had no life prior to being born? At what point is it considered that a child is living? Isn't there laws which state that an abortion cannot be done after a certain time because the pregnancy is too far along, meaning life has begun? I dont know why this really hit home as much as it did. I dont agree with abortion of any kind for any reason... Life as far as I'm concerned is the moment of fertilization. I guess its kind of a topic thats been in my head lately. After the events of that woman who killed another and cut the baby out of her and they found that the baby was not considered murdered because it never took a breath...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/07/oregon.pregnancy.murder/index.html?iref=newssearch

I'm sorry but after 8 months that baby is living... Liam was born after 8 months and I dont know... looks pretty alive to me. I dont understand how they cant count the baby as being murdered, that bitch needs to go away for double homicide.

So I come back to this "Birth to Life" thing. I wanna know if this is something that hospitals have started asking their nursing staff to say to protect themselves from such cases. Are we trying to callus ourselves up for a world where abortion is part of an ordinary way of life? I dont like this world we are developing in which we no longer consider when a life matters. Whats next, children in the military? Why not? Other countries do it, lets just use them as cannon fodder so the soldiers with experience can do the real damage.

This world is bullshit!
Read more!

Interactive Gaming Addiction

Written for my WR 121 class, Fall Term 2008

After the release of World of Warcraft in November of 2004, several million players have become increasingly engrossed within the virtual world created by Blizzard Entertainment. When I say several million, it was just a few weeks ago when the folks at Blizzard officially announced they now have over 11 million monthly subscribers to their online game. At $15 a month per subscription, Blizzard has certainly hit the mark when it comes to feeding into an ever-growing problem around the world. Even websites like Olganon (Online Gamers Anonymous) and GamerWidows have been developed as a direct reaction the epidemic of addicted gamers. But what do we do to solve the problem?

In Short, the game takes place in a virtual world where players interact with other players around the world fulfilling various tasks and duties. Each player controls their very own persona in which they pursue careers as a mighty warrior or the weak mage who packs a ferocious fireball. Many players even choose to play multiple personas to vary their role within the game. The almost cartoony art style to the game gives World of Warcraft its distinct look from the other online worlds out on the market today such as Everquest II, Age of Conan, and EVE Online.

Why might a person decide to play an online game? For me it was rather simple, I enjoy games already and I enjoy socializing with people online so playing an online game was a natural fit for me. I have always been kind of anti-social outside any online setting and World of Warcraft allows me to fulfill my desire for some sort of interaction with other people. Others may have joined the game because of a friend or spouse who already play just to gain the attention of the person they know who can’t seem to escape from the virtual reality. I’m sure there are all sorts of reasons people would pick up the game. The problem is figuring out how to put the game back down.

What makes games like World of Warcraft so addictive? The trouble with online games is there is no real end to them, the worlds are persistent. Life within the game continues when you are not even logged in. The first goal for most players is to reach the highest obtainable level to be among the best players in the world. After reaching the highest level, then there are upgrades to armor and weapons to obtain. However, these upgrades aren’t that easy to obtain, more times than not the gear a player is looking for requires a group of other players to get to after several hours of working together. Even then the chance for the item being found is completely random thus making the players repeat the task over and over until his desired item is discovered. For example, an item I needed to upgrade my online persona took almost a year to recover after several attempts every week at 6 hours per encounter. “Online games such as World of Warcraft clearly demand more from their players than your average first-person shooter or sports game. To play all parts of the game calls for skills that takes time and perseverance to develop.” (Levin) There is always the next goal in an online game, and with the recent release of Blizzard’s Wrath of the Lich King there are all sorts of brand new goals for almost every WoW player.

The price a player pays from their online addiction can be any number of things. Loss of job, failure in school, loss of friends and family, eating disorders, physical disorders and even death are all reported issues that have been a result of online gaming addiction. At first glance you wouldn’t think of death being a result of wow addiction but it was reported last year that a Korean couple was charged last year when their 4-month old daughter died while they were playing WoW at a nearby internet café. It isn’t just Warcraft causing the problem either, a man in South Korea died from exhaustion after playing yet another Blizzard title, Starcraft, for 50 straight hours. On a more personal level, I’ve lost jobs after several late night marathons in the virtual world and have struggled with school work as a result.

So how does a player deal with their addiction to an online virtual world? In China, all persons 18+ are limited to the amount of time allowed to play in an online game by the government. Maybe a similar course of action should be required to be enforced on the software companies that develop these games. “… many gamers wind up begging for help in online support groups rather than seeking out mental health professionals.” (Kennedy) There are a number of 12-step programs out there to feed the adopted term of “internet addiction” in which Olganon.org has adopted from the folks of Alcoholics Anonymous. The treatment of WoW addiction isn’t just for the players , but for the people effected in their lives as well, GamerWidows.com is one such website for players to discuss the addictions of the people they know and how to seek help. “The American Psychiatric Association is considering adding video game addiction to the next edition of its diagnosis book for mental health professionals.” (Jackson)

Online addiction to games is an ever-increasing problem and with new online games coming out in the not so distant future, I don’t see the problem going away any time soon. There needs to be some kind of regulation set in place for the people who may have a harder time avoiding this sort of problem to keep from getting it so it doesn’t affect their lives and the lives of the people around them. I have an idea, the next time you hear a co-worker, classmate or friend talking about their online encounters within a game, ask if they’d like to chill sometime and get them away from the game. As we say within the game, “Life > WoW.”
Read more!

Castle On the Hill

Written as a Personal Essay for my WR 121 class, Fall Term 2008.

As far back as I could remember, there had been a house that always remained a consistent place I could call home. The house wasn’t my own home but my grandparents and no matter how far away we lived or financial living situation, the house had always been there to go to as a place of refuge. The house was once a truly magical place that reigned supreme atop a hill. It became a place of dreams where battles were won and horrors have been conquered. It was a place of joy, and laughter, and even tears, but only in my dreams do those feelings remain. No matter how long it has been since I’ve visited the house, it still remains a consistent part of my life. I think it is important for someone to have a place that you can call home, where you interact with a loving family, and where you learn to be yourself.

Driving to my grandparent’s house seemed like an escape from reality on every visit. Nestled in the back hills of Beaverton, OR, their home seemed to remove itself from the hard yet worn city streets; we vanished into a lush heavily populated community of moss-covered cedar and fir trees. The drive to their house flowed more like water cutting across a canyon, banking up to a point and rushing down around a bend, and when every rock in the gravel road shaking the car like rapids against a boat. And just when you think you can’t handle the rapids any longer, you escape the grasp of the outstretched limbs of the overgrowth and are thrust upon the emerald green hill. The smell of the crabapple tree blended with fresh cut grass was the hills friendly greeting as we climbed the drive up towards the house. And there it was sitting at the top like a king upon its throne and even the sunlight reflected jewel for a window resting at its peak.

As an extension of the house itself, the trees became a roof stretching over the south end as if they were the hands of the house sheltering its eyes from the sun. Underneath the branches a shaded section of the deck wrapped around a majority of the house where it had seen numerous events, from family reunions, wedding receptions, and large family barbeques. The summer under the trees was a way of keeping cool in the hot summer months, allowing us to keep cool and protected from the heat of the sun. At least once a day we would gather on the deck to lounge around for any number of activities, from chucking freshly picked corn from the garden to cracking the hard shells of walnuts to even knitting. Always watching over us on the deck was the great protector of a giant Oak tree, littered with holes of woodpeckers who made sure to remind us not to sleep in too early in the morning with there chain gun ratta-tat-tat of a nuisance.

I discovered at an early age my fondness of gardening, or rather, my lack there of but I learned how important it was to develop the skills of a gardener. The garden was across an ocean of field stretching out to the north end where the eyes would focus on the large conifers that stood at the base of the wooden gate like sentry guards protecting the garden surrounded by a living wall. The Jays would fight us over the blueberries, grapes and cherries but we won valiantly with pie covered with a cloud of whipped cream. The harvested corn became a weekly tribute at our BBQ’s and the cucumbers were pickled and savored over the years. The playground that was the garden also protected two large walnut trees at its back end where monkeys use to swing from its limbs. The harvested the nuts from those trees produced some of the most mouth-watering brownies ever known to mankind. There was a magic all on its own when it carried itself throughout the house as if to reawaken the senses from a coma with a sweet buttery aroma of milk chocolate and roasted nuts.

The section of cut grass in front of the house spanned out to the north like a slightly lumpy football field. It was our Olympic stadium of sorts where bikes were learned how to be used and golf clubs were swung. Even when the grass was uncut and up to the elbows, the yard became a battlefield to hide in, playing Cowboys and Indians, or various types of war games. On some summer nights the field became our campground where tents were nothing just a mere reflection of society. On the field in our tent the house no longer existed, it was just us and the stars, and the occasional silent whoosh of a dark object with a large wingspan that was undoubtedly an owl out on the hunt. It was the star-speckled sky that sheltered us from the elements of the world and we were safe. It was only the damp morning dew covering the grass, covering us, that made the experience of camping under the stars regrettable.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been up to the castle on the hill. It became too much for a couple of still young grandparents to handle anymore. Their children had all grown up and have moved off to new places of their own. I have however visited the development that seemed to have chewed up all the woods, the fields and even the guardian oak tree and spewed out houses in their place. Where trees once shaded the house, cars now rush past with no acknowledgment of the historical landmark the house is to the hill. To any other person the house may be nothing more than an old gray house with odd triangular shapes for windows and outer walls in weird places. But for me the castle on the hill still lives on, where monkeys swing from the giant walnut trees, epic battles are won, and the nightmares are conquered, its my late night protector, it will always be my home.
Read more!

Late Night Movies

Late last night I was in the mood to go through my netflix instant queue and knock out a movie on my list. After watching Ben Stein in the documentary titled "Exposed", I didn't feel like I was ready to get to sleep. It came down to a choice between watching "Summer of Same" or "Gameplan". I ended up choosing "Gameplan" because I thought it would be light and fun before going to bed.

Ultimately watching the movie was a terrible mistake. I laid there for atleast an hour, if not an hour point five contemplating my feelings towards the events of the film. Let me tell you a little bit about myself first before I go on. I'm 27 (or is it 28, I dont remember atm) and I haven't had any kind of physical interaction with that of the female-kind in atleast 2 years. No dates, no anything, and I'm effin lonely! I have a friend who's married with 1 kid and 1 on the way. Another friend who's had kids pretty much since I knew him in high school. I'd give anything to have a family of my own right now. So late last night after watching the movie, I laid there in the darkness contemplating the life I wish I had.

The "Game Plan" in brief is about a pro football player who is visited by a daughter he had never met before. Throughout the movie, he goes through a bit of personal growth has he deals with suddenly becoming a father and maintaining his football career. The part that really got to me was the interaction he had with his daughter and his attempts to take part in her interests, such as ballet. I think the part that gets me is that I dream about having that kind of interaction with a child of my own. I want to be someone looks up to and learns from.

This wasn't the first time I've done this. There was another movie that came out about a year ago called "Definately, Maybe" about a girl who asks her dad a series of questions about how he met her mom. Theres a kind of bond there between the father and daughter that feels so powerful and you can see the love they have for eachother.

I know it may sound kind of cheesy but with both films I couldn't help but tear up just a little. I'd give anything to have a family, think about it all the time. I know it'll come in time, but time flies and I'm not getting any younger. I guess the moral of the story is to be careful of what you watch late at night before bed. Stick with the things you dont long for, like drama or horror films (unless thats the kinky thing your into).
Read more!

Looking back on this week...

So I finally picked up a job after taking an extended vacation for several months. I cant exactly say what I do for legal purposes other I do tech support for a well known computer manufacturer. There are a few people that do know but I've sworn them to secrecy, so hopefully they'll hold up on that so I can keep the job. Its been kind of a long week though, we have 3 weeks of training and I just completed that first week. Compared to what I did for Dell in Salt Lake City this is considerably less than what I was expecting to learn. The days so far have consisted of sitting in a U shaped table with computers behind us. We have to be told to even look at our email, cant really browse any pages other than what we are told to at the time. Its kind of strict. The trainer himself has somewhat of a weaselly retired-army look to him. No sense of humor whatsoever and laughs to his own jokes, mainly cause no one else in the class gets them. And he repeats stuff alot, which I could understand if it was something pertaining to the topic but he repeats his experiences and stories over and over. I try to get through class doped up on caffeine just so I can stay awake. I'm just afraid of what I may encounter when I actually start doing the job that I was hired for. Is the training going to be enough when half the time spent is listening to stuff off-topic? I did ask after he went through the syllabus for the class when the actual technical training gets started and he didn't even really answer the question. Just said that after we go through learning the tools it will all come together... I certainly hope so. Anyways, that's been my week in a nutshell with work.

My birthday is coming up... in about 13 minutes from the time of writing the sentence, it may be closer or arrived by the time I actually finish writing. We had a little bit of family over for dinner tonight to celebrate. Pretty much my typical birthday, I don't go out much, or at least I haven't before. I do get to go out tomorrow to see Washington State get the snot kicked out of them by the Ducks in Eugene. Well, that's what we Duck fans hope for as last week wasn't much to be excited about. Maybe we can do something good though. I also hopefully get to meet Alli. (Crosses fingers)

Alli and I have been talking off and on for the last several months but haven't exactly had a chance to meet in person yet. She's a great girl and seems to match what I try to look for perfectly. She's kind, intelligent, social, funny. I'm really looking forward to it. Just hope that the important first meeting isn't screwed up and all that time talking to her means nothing. I'm worried that she wont like the way I look in person or the way I present myself even though I try to be as open about it as I possibly can. I don't feel like I really have anything to hide with other than maybe my exact address, cause who likes stalkers? Anyways, meeting her tomorrow is sure to keep me up the rest of the night worrying.

I think if things continue to be eventful enough in the coming weeks I may try to do one update each week if not more to at least create some kind of journal. Hopefully it gives someone out there something interesting enough to read. If not... go away cause I wouldn't like you anyway.

So until next time, this is Jason, signing out.

Read more!

Jung Test - ISTJ

The Duty Fulfiller

As an ISTJ, your primary mode of living is focused internally, where you take things in via your five senses in a literal, concrete fashion. Your secondary mode is external, where you deal with things rationally and logically.

ISTJs are quiet and reserved individuals who are interested in security and peaceful living. They have a strongly-felt internal sense of duty, which lends them a serious air and the motivation to follow through on tasks. Organized and methodical in their approach, they can generally succeed at any task which they undertake.

ISTJs are very loyal, faithful, and dependable. They place great importance on honesty and integrity. They are "good citizens" who can be depended on to do the right thing for their families and communities. While they generally take things very seriously, they also usually have an offbeat sense of humor and can be a lot of fun - especially at family or work-related gatherings.

ISTJs tend to believe in laws and traditions, and expect the same from others. They're not comfortable with breaking laws or going against the rules. If they are able to see a good reason for stepping outside of the established mode of doing things, the ISTJ will support that effort. However, ISTJs more often tend to believe that things should be done according to procedures and plans. If an ISTJ has not developed their Intuitive side sufficiently, they may become overly obsessed with structure, and insist on doing everything "by the book".

The ISTJ is extremely dependable on following through with things which he or she has promised. For this reason, they sometimes get more and more work piled on them. Because the ISTJ has such a strong sense of duty, they may have a difficult time saying "no" when they are given more work than they can reasonably handle. For this reason, the ISTJ often works long hours, and may be unwittingly taken advantage of.

The ISTJ will work for long periods of time and put tremendous amounts of energy into doing any task which they see as important to fulfilling a goal. However, they will resist putting energy into things which don't make sense to them, or for which they can't see a practical application. They prefer to work alone, but work well in teams when the situation demands it. They like to be accountable for their actions, and enjoy being in positions of authority. The ISTJ has little use for theory or abstract thinking, unless the practical application is clear.

ISTJs have tremendous respect for facts. They hold a tremendous store of facts within themselves, which they have gathered through their Sensing preference. They may have difficulty understanding a theory or idea which is different from their own perspective. However, if they are shown the importance or relevance of the idea to someone who they respect or care about, the idea becomes a fact, which the ISTJ will internalize and support. Once the ISTJ supports a cause or idea, he or she will stop at no lengths to ensure that they are doing their duty of giving support where support is needed.

The ISTJ is not naturally in tune with their own feelings and the feelings of others. They may have difficulty picking up on emotional needs immediately, as they are presented. Being perfectionists themselves, they have a tendency to take other people's efforts for granted, like they take their own efforts for granted. They need to remember to pat people on the back once in a while.

ISTJs are likely to be uncomfortable expressing affection and emotion to others. However, their strong sense of duty and the ability to see what needs to be done in any situation usually allows them to overcome their natural reservations, and they are usually quite supporting and caring individuals with the people that they love. Once the ISTJ realizes the emotional needs of those who are close to them, they put forth effort to meet those needs.

The ISTJ is extremely faithful and loyal. Traditional and family-minded, they will put forth great amounts of effort at making their homes and families running smoothly. They are responsible parents, taking their parenting roles seriously. They are usually good and generous providers to their families. They care deeply about those close to them, although they usually are not comfortable with expressing their love. The ISTJ is likely to express their affection through actions, rather than through words.

ISTJs have an excellent ability to take any task and define it, organize it, plan it, and implement it through to completion. They are very hard workers, who do not allow obstacles to get in the way of performing their duties. They do not usually give themselves enough credit for their achievements, seeing their accomplishments simply as the natural fulfillment of their obligations.

ISTJs usually have a great sense of space and function, and artistic appreciation. Their homes are likely to be tastefully furnished and immaculately maintained. They are acutely aware of their senses, and want to be in surroundings which fit their need for structure, order, and beauty.

Under stress, ISTJs may fall into "catastrophe mode", where they see nothing but all of the possibilities of what could go wrong. They will berate themselves for things which they should have done differently, or duties which they failed to perform. They will lose their ability to see things calmly and reasonably, and will depress themselves with their visions of doom.

Under extreme stress, fatigue or illness, the ISTJ's shadow may appear - a negative form of ENFP. Example characteristics are:

• having a gloomy view of a future
• suggesting impractical ideas
• acting impulsively, and changing things without any thought
• having intense negative feelings towards others (though these might not be expressed)

The shadow is part of the unconscious that is often visible to others, onto whom the shadow is projected. The ISTJ may therefore readily see these faults in others without recognising it in him/her self.

In general, the ISTJ has a tremendous amount of potential. Capable, logical, reasonable, and effective individuals with a deeply driven desire to promote security and peaceful living, the ISTJ has what it takes to be highly effective at achieving their chosen goals - whatever they may be.

Famous ISTJs:

Thomas (Christ's disciple)

U.S. Presidents:

George Washington

Andrew Johnson

Benjamin Harrison

Herbert Hoover

George H. W. Bush

Paul Coverdale (U.S. Senator, R-GA)
Jackie Joyner-Kersee (U.S. Olympic athlete)
Evander Holyfield, heavyweight boxing champion

Fictional ISTJs:

Joe Friday
Mr. Martin (hero of James Thurber's Sitting in the Catbird Seat)
Eeyore (Winnie the Pooh)
Fred Mertz (I Love Lucy)
Puddleglum, the marshwiggle (Chronicles of Narnia)
Cliff (Cheers)
Darth Vader (Star Wars)
Bruce Wayne (Batman Begins)

Read more!

Jason's Photo Journal (May 2003)

The following was written about a road trip I took back in 2003. I've left it in its entirety as I dont feel the need to edit something that was written that long ago. I do not have the original pictures anymore. I had to make do with the pictures used in the word document_ But in any case its here to share with all my friends who would like to read it. Enjoy.

As you may have known, I've gone out of town this last week. I needed to take a vacation from myself and the problems I've had going on here. So my dad and I went out on a road trip throughout Central and Eastern Oregon. The pictures in this Journal are much smaller than the copies I have saved on my computer (had to cut them down because the email size was too big and couldn't be sent), if at all you want the full size picture, let me know and I'll be able to send it to you. After 3 days and 1048 miles later, this is my trip.

Jason's Photo Journal
May 14th – 16th, 2003
The trip began on Wednesday, May 14th on a sunny spring afternoon. With our bags packed up and the Jeep ready to go, we headed out on the road. Where we ended up was determined by where our noses lead us out on the open road. We started west on I-84 which travels along the scenic Columbia River Gorge. Just about the whole trip down the Columbia was stuff we had seen before. That had been our route to Salt Lake City, Utah when we were traveling back and forth the 8 years we lived there. But this time we took a slightly different route. At Mosier, OR we got off of I-84 and took the old scenic Hwy 30. It may have been a lot slower but, we didn't have anywhere we had to be so we took our time. Saw a whole new kind of country we had never seen before, stuff that cant be seen from along I-84. Along our travel along the old windy highway I saw for the first time in my life a coyote. Sure I've seen them on TV and all, but this I was getting the chance to see with my own eyes. The creature ran across the road in front of us without a care in the world. Not even slowing down we continued out along the highway. After several miles we came to this little bridge that crossed this huge canyon. The canyon's entrance at the top allowed for people to enter through it, down inside there was a small neighborhood, protected from the heavy winds of the Columbia Gorge. Realizing that this would be a great time for a picture, we got out of the car and I took it. Here you go.



I believe that this canyon is called Rowena or something like that. If you look at a map, that's where its located because just a little along the way is a viewpoint called Rowena Crest. So I'm going to assume that this is what its called. As we drove on we reconnected shortly with I-84, we wanted to get further west before the end of the day. ? So about 30 minutes later we arrived in The Dalles. Dad always wanted to go into the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center they had there so we drove a little ways back and stopped in to see what they had. There were two museums there, one for the history of Wasco County, the other about the Columbia River Gorge. It was there that kinda got me inspired to be some kind of a photographer, there was a small gallery and gift shop there and I saw pictures that were blown up and framed selling for 150 bucks each. Finding it kind of cool that people would pay that much for some awesome pictures like that, I think I might try that here pretty soon. I'm not a great photographer, but I think I do fairly well. After the discovery center we went back into town, time for lunch or something like that. I think it was around 2 so you call it whatever you want. Mmmm… Wendies. Frosty. Burger. YUM!. Ok anyways, after we were filled up we started up again down I-84. Our trip there along the interstate came to a halt in Biggs where we decided to do something different for once. We went south from there, finally something new and different. Yeah, new and different is right, all the country between there and Bend is mostly the same, flat and barren. Farm land and stuff, but nothing really to look at. So I took over driving for a while, I needed to get some practice done as I'm not all that thrilled about driving. I drove through several small towns until we came to a rest stop north of Madras. After about 100 or so miles, I was getting slightly sore and needed a brake so dad took over. We traveled down highway 97 until we reached a small town called Metolius. There we found a road that leads off to some resort that leads to this really big recreation lake which is part of the Deschutes River. I cant for the life of me remember the name of the place though. Anyways, we didn't stop there long, as pretty as it was, I didn't take any pictures. Wasn't really worth it I don't think. Nothing really to take pictures of even though it is a fairly well known recreation spot. And again, south we go towards Bend. Wow this city has grown up a lot since I was there last. Population is now like 55 thousand people. Last time I was there it was around 5 thousand. We got hungry and thirsty and the night was coming. We stopped and grabbed a few Arby's Sandwiches and at the store got some things to drink and we left town to see about finding a place to stay the night. So we took a look at our map and decided upon trying Palina Lake. There was a campground there that might be a good place to check out. You never would of expected what we found there. SNOW! And not just little sections of it, but lots of snow. Palina Lake had snow all around it, about a foot, and there wasn't really any good spots to stay so we drove on, but not without first getting some pictures.



Well you would of thought I had seen enough snow then. We drove up and a little bit to another lake just east of Palina Lake easily enough called, East Lake. And guess what? More freaking snow! We got up there and there was like 2 feet of snow along the side of the roads and the lake was iced over. I did get a chance to get this really cool picture before the sun went down though. Iced over lake and sunset, great combination I think.



Just to give you a bit of information about the locations, this is called the Newberry Caldera. All around the lakes is ancient lava flow. Probably from volcano's gone long ago. Anyways, you'll get to see some of that cool stuff here later on, I took them the next day. So anyways, we stayed the night here in East Lake. Cold as hell, let me tell ya. And this is near Bend, would you believe it? Well anyways, going to bed…. See you tomorrow at the Lava Cast forest ;).

*
**
***
****
***** SNORE!
******
*******
******** SNORE!
*******
******
***** SNORE!
****
***
**
*

Ok, I'm awake, how are you this fine morning? ? Ok, well time to take off again on this little trip. Its cold this morning. Need coffee. So we went into town and got our morning brew from one of the "8 7'11's on one street!" (inside joke, hehe). Hmm… White Chocolate Cuppacino. Drools…. Ok and here we go. There are a lot of ice caves that were created down from way back then that are nestled down in the lava flow. We decided to head back south and try and see if we can find some of these caves. We took a small road named China Hat Rd which is like right on the edge of town. The road heads east and eventually come back to Hwy 97 totally encompassing the 2 lakes we visited the night before. A few miles off of the HWY and not too far after we discovered unpaved road we came across something really cool. I thought it was a hawk up until last night when I was able to blow up the pictures a bit on my computer and get a closer look. But it's a vulture. We drove past it a little and down in front of it is a dead coyote, looked like it had been there a while. Here is the picture of the vulture and even managed to get it to spread its wings, my guess it was protecting its dinner from us.



I took over driving here shortly after. Woohoo, 55 mph on dirt and gravel road with twists and turns… I learned that was a bad idea pretty quick. We kept looking for all the Ice Caves but every time we found one there was a sign saying it was closed. Apparently back in old times, some guy named Arnold would go to the ice caves, chizzle off some ice and bring it back to town to supply it with ice. He'd get so far down into the ice that he put in stairs and lights just to see his way down to get the ice. When electricity came along they didn't need the ice cave anymore but it came part of an attraction. Now you can go to the cave and the ice formed back up to the top, you can see stairs and lights that go down beyond the ice. I didn't see it this time unfortunately but I had seen it a long time ago before I moved to Utah. We did finally come across an Ice Cave though. But before I do that, you'd think that if you saw the name of a place on a map called China Hat, and they named a road after it, that it would be something cool to look at right? Wrong, even though the map marked it as something to see, the damned thing is just a hill. GAH! Ok, now for the ice cave. Hey look, the one and only picture of me on the trip. Feel lucky, real lucky.



Sign said outside said caution: Many Yellow Jackets near entrance of cave. Ick. Didn't see any though, my lucky day. I didn't wait long enough to find out if they were "out to lunch" or not though. So we took off from there. Finally after lots of road came across the first other sign of civilization since coffee this morning. A semi-truck. Wow, almost 2 hours and we had only seen like one or 2 people. Hope we don't get lost! After finally coming across HWY 97 again we headed back north towards Bend. We saw a sign for the Lava Cast forest and figured we might as well check I out. Aren't you glad we did? If not, you will be here soon. I drove up about 2 miles to a place to park and we got out and stretched our legs a bit. Well… we got out and went for a walk along the mile long trail they have that takes us along the lava flow showing us the lava cast forest. Now what this place is, is kind of cool. When the lava flow came through the forest it came across trees (obviously). Some of the lava got cooled and hardened around the tree. So along the path we found all these little holes where there were once trees. Its amazing thinking about what it might have been like when this happened. Here are a few pictures of our visit to the Lava Cast Forest.




Now on our way back down from this cool place things got a bit more interesting. Dad was driving this time cause I was still a bit tired from before and as I was looking out my window into the forest, trying to spot some deer, I saw some smoke. With a quick glance it looked like no one was there watching it so we stopped the car and got closer to it for a quick inspection. The area around looked like it had recently been burned in the last few days and it looked like this was something that might have been rekindled by the wind. So we called 911 and let the Sunriver Fire Department know that we were at a fire and that we'll stay until its taken care of. Soon after the US Forestry Service was out on patrol and came across us. He stopped to check things out and we told him what was going on. Right after that the Fire Department arrived and went in to put out the fire. They told us it's a good thing atleast we caught it now instead of a month later when things were dryer or when this thing was bigger. So now aren't you glad we checked out the Forest? From here we went back into Bend and grab some lunch. Hey look, more Arbies. And then we drove out of town 130 miles east to Burns. And then traveled north on to John Day. We saw a number of different animals this leg the of trip, 4 antelope, and what almost became dinner, a deer. It wasn't my fault the deer was hanging out in the middle of the road! Pretty much another stretch of road with nothing much to look at besides the occasionally forest and mountain twists and turns. After about 3 hours of driving we were getting hungry again. Stopped in John Day and had the greasiest McDonalds Double Cheeseburger I have ever had. We began a new direction in our trip, and started out sort of in our way home. A little ways outside of John Day we stopped at the Fissil Beds lookcout there along highway 26. Wasn't much to see really, just showed a bunch of moved dirt and showed us a view of the valley. Got a few pictures, nothing that great though. And we continued on down hwy 26 trying to make our way to Prineville. And you'd never guess what we saw yet again…. Sure enough just east of mile post 92 we discovered yet another fire. This time we were out of range to even call someone for help and we drove as fast as we could to the nearest town. Came across Mitchel that had a pay phone but even that barely had any reception. But being the good guys we are, we reported the fire anyway 40 miles away from where it was. It was starting to get dark and we were tired. We slowly made our way into Prineville. It was late, we were tired, We wanted a hotel. And got HBO! Nothing is on HBO anymore, not that late. We watched our shows CSI and ER instead. ? And then we rested. *sigh*

*
**
***
****
***** SNORE!
******
*******
******** SNORE!
*******
******
***** SNORE!
****
***
**
*

Damn, no coffee this morning. Oh well. Prineville isn't big enough to have "8 7'11's on one street" like Bend does. Not to worry, we had Pop Tarts and Gatoraid. The third and final day of our trip was kind of the end of us. We were both tired but we had fun. We wanted to go back along highway 26 towards the town of Mitchel again and see if we could check out 2 of the John Day Fossil Beds we hadn't seen before. The first one we stopped at was the Painted Hills Fossil Beds. I don't even know how to explain what we saw there, the landscape was amazing. From what I can understand the Painted Hills are made of ash of some sort. I don't know all that much more to say about it other than that. Here's a look at what we saw.




And after driving a bit north to the famous town of Fossil, well known for a place to go to dig up fossils behind the football field of the high school. We went west towards Shaniko where we would connect with our old friend HWY 97 and head north back to Biggs where we started our journey south. Along the drive to Shaniko we came to another one of the John Day fossil beds. This place reminded me a lot of the formations you can find down in Southern Utah. What they are Is several layers of mud, rock and layer that have been formed on top of each other after several different eruptions. These layers are called lahars. The lahars I guess are kind of like a slow flowing mud slide and as they moved they'd pick up leaves and sticks and rocks and whetever else was in their way. So naturally, there is lots of fossils in them there mountains. Below is a few pictures looking up at the lahars and following is a picture of a leaf fossil we found in one of the builders below them.





So from here on we traveled to Shaniko and began out trip back to civilization. The leg back was the same trip down so to spare you of repeating stuff we had already seen I'll leave you with a picture of something we didn't see on the trip. Farewell, Jason.



Read more!

Can't quite sleep.

So its my usual Friday night at home alone trying to figure out what to do with myself.  Since leaving WoW I've found myself open to alot of freetime.  I frequently monitor my email hoping for some sign of new messages from people on myspace interested in wanting to get to know me.  Not much there, so it just puts me into a further depression of loneliness.  I get over excited anytime someone new that isn't looking to advertise their free webcam sends me a message wanting to learn more.  And if by chance anyone new reads this probably may make my greatest fear of loneliness even more a reality.  I just want someone to talk to. 

My only friend that I can even get in touch with doesn't even know how to pick up a phone.  When confronted all he can say is it goes both ways... even when thats what I did to confront him.  Makes it my fault for the lack of communication.  I've tried to add him as a friend 3 different times over the past year and he still manages to not add me.  A true friend indeed right?

We even have a group going that started from playing some games together to help communication between members outside of our games.  Whenever I post on their to suggest something or whatever, one way or another my post is turned negative.  First his wife will post saying how stupid of an idea it is and why its not even needed, and then he'll post an even larger amount of reason to back up her post.  I get double teamed no matter what I say.  I've gone through everything she's ever said and all she's ever said was negative unless it was to back him up.  I know your supposed to stand by your spouse but thats rediculous... I now feel like I dont even belong in a group that I helped create for communication and friendship.  Which is only adding even more to my feeling of loneliness.

I'm going absolutely mad.  Constantly looking for these damn emails even now.  Ever watching the icons on the bottom of my screen waiting for them to indicate a new message.  I sleep with my monitor on and my sound up loud enough so the slightest indication of a noise will wake me up out of bed.  Sad I know... but who do I have to talk to but myself in a blog.  And the blog doesn't even write me back!

And even worse.... I hate when I do this, but romance in movies is either making me on the verge of tearing up or piss me off.  I watched Bicentennial Man 2 days ago and at the end where Robin Williams is dying and is holding his wifes hand waiting to hear him declared finally as a human after a lifetime of waiting... I balled for an hour.  Watching transformers and how the kid gets the girl in the end, where had it not been for the experiences that entangled their relationship, they would have no chance together.  I wished I was that kid.  I dont feel like I'm enough for any girl.  Writing this is gonna show alot of confidence and I know all the girls will come flocking but its how I feel, take it or leave it. 

I just wanna have someone to talk to... and tomorrow looks like just another day of sitting at the computer anticipating those wonderful emails saying that I have a new message.  So I could click on it to discover its for a website where I can get a free apple iphone or see some girls fun pics/webcam if i visit her link below.

Joy.

Read more!

Saying Goodbye

... to the World of Warcraft. This will be the 5th time (I think, may be more) I've tried to quit the game and hopefully this time I'll actually succeed. Its true what they say on the news and in the newspaper about its addictiveness compared to heroine. Its hard to leave behind the thrill for adventure, playing a persona where you can be whatever you desire. I could be a complete asshole if I feel like it and no one would know me any different. I'm constantly looking for ways to expand on my character and play with others. But this time I've decided its gotta be the end. I spend more time playing WoW than I do working on what I need to on my own life. I have higher priorities that need to take place where WoW has taken control. So here is to hoping I can stay away, once and for all. Wish me luck.
Read more!