Things that Make Me Go Zoom

    Finally!!! At long last I have finally completed the last of the achievements regarding all of the things transport wise [Time to Go]. As of last night I am the proud owner of a little orange vehicle which I have started to call Ember. I am very happy with all of this and am finally breathing a sigh of relief as this opens up a whole new level of achievements for me. I feel like I am finally balancing everything and moving forward.

    That being said, it has been a rough couple of weeks. Being a shining star at the Tower caused the powers that be to decide to nit pick now that there was a change over in the higher ups of the agents we deal with. I have been dealing with huge amounts of scrutiny and meetings almost every day with one of my higher ups to fix what was wrong. As of this morning I have just about made it back to where I should be and should only have a singular meeting left before I can leave all of that behind me.

    I also had a brief issue with my little Ember when I went to have it inspected so it is legal to drive. That too was fixed as of Wednesday. Hopefully all will be well with my little Ember car from now on.

    Needless to say, it was starting to cause my levels of stress to achieve legendary levels. Which we all know can lead to my shoulder acting up. It tried, but I have mostly defeated it by letting myself have time to relax and breath when I'm not dealing with the problems directly. Basically I cast a shield person on myself and just sat there when I wasn't in the fray of my daily battle.

    Despite all of this, I have known that it would all work out. Despite the upset, despite the frustration and of course all of the mire that life was trying to pull me back into. It is definitely a better state then I would have been in even a few months ago. Yay for learning!

    Now I leave you, yes I know it's a short posting today, but I'll have more to tell you all soon I think, here is a picture of my new little Ember car! Because hurray for little orange cars!!

                                                                         

I Just Need One More Bar....

    So close to another big achievement, I am at the point of finishing the tiny little quests where each turn in gets me just a small amount of XP closer to the flash of a banner lighting up in front of me. I am a jumble of emotions on this one. Excited, nervous, hopeful, grateful for everyone who's been helping me get here. All I can do is wait and hope and let the process be started and wait for it to finally click over into actually happening.
 
    I assure you all, that I will post again once this achievement has been unlocked. I am very excited about this. As it means it opens up a whole new quest / achievement line in this RPG called life. For example, it means I can open up the quest line, [Where the Heart Is] and [Freedom of Movement]. So many good things from it. Both my questing partner and myself are pretty excited about things coming down the line with this current achievement I'm nearing.

    It seems like things at the Tower may be expanding again as well, I am waiting for them to expand enough so that perhaps I can move a little higher in level here. Because I would definitely enjoy such things. While, I wouldn't keep seeing my paychecks go up and up and up, however, I would not have to deal with down time, under time or worrying when I'm not having the greatest of weeks on my numbers as I would be getting a regular amount of gold per hour. It does seem like it is coming down the line very soon.

    Still dealing with the weirdness from whatever global event has been cast on us lately. There's so many things that just seem to be going awry in general. I have been seeing how much this weirdness is effecting everything around us. Very strange indeed. I keep wishing I had a mass counterspell to help with all of it. As it really needs to stop.

    This week I do believe I am keeping this short and sweet. As there is work to be done here at the tower and while I'm on a break, I'd rather get back to it and get this day done with than just sit here staring at things. So until next time my dear fellow adventurers!

All of the Aggro....Do Not Want!

    I have been trying so hard not to cause bad aggro lately. For some reason I've had a lot of days where all I desire to do is throw fire balls at the folks around me. Which is highly unusual for me. Normally this little Oracle is relatively happy, calm and all about seeing the best in people. I keep wondering what is going on.

   I mean things at The Wizard's Tower have been pretty relaxed and non-stressful. I have been mostly keeping to myself there, except for a couple select people seeing I know how much aggro I can accrue if I don't. There was a bit of aggro stupid a couple of months ago that caused me to be much more careful at work and with who I talk to about pretty much anything there.

    Things are still going very well with my questing partner. We are learning how to let our spells and quests work together more and more each day. I am still super happy to have him, feel super lucky that I found him and all in all, just am so glad that we came together and decided to share our quests as we move forward on our dailies. I can no longer see myself without him in my questing and this game called life and it's an amazing path that I've been going down.

    Outside of work, my crew is still the best! They are still amazing. We still have a ton of fun when we join forces for dungeons or raids, lots of good crazy times. Let's just say the support, fun, and love that comes from all of us is a great and wonderful thing. As a kid I really never had that true, "best friend" but now I have a whole crew filled with people who I would absolutely call my best friends and my chosen family. Yes, I am lucky there. I am very excited as we have some actual outdoor adventures this coming weekend. Out in the woods with streams and ponds (No, not Amy and Rory) and probably much fire and fun. I'm hoping that helps with the letting go of the grr.

    So with so much good, it's really been hard to figure out why I've had such frustration at things in my dailies. I find myself so annoyed with stupidity, cattiness and drama now. I also have been finding myself becoming more judgmental of those who revel in those things. I get more and more annoyed at those people with each passing day. Not really sure where all this grump is coming from, but I suppose I will figure it out eventually. Maybe I just need to cast a Calm Person on myself every day, because I really don't know what else to do. I just have to figure out what I can do to release the frustration, perhaps it will even be as simple as starting to raise my Strength, Dexterity and Constitution scores by becoming more active and such. But we shall see. This too shall pass.

    So now I leave you to your own dailies and paths, hopefully I will be a little more regular in my posting and such. It's just been a hard few months to keep up with everything. But I will get back to it, I know it! As I go, I just have one thing to say in honor of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie that has been breaking the box offices with wildfire for a little while now....

He is Groot!!!

                                                                         

The Shiny, The Creepy and The Normal

    Creepy crawly creatures are everywhere around today. It came to a point where I was taking my trek to acquire my daily energy potion and this creature was going the opposite direction, saw me, did a double take and proceeded to follow me, even when I sped up my movement until I went into my destination and down an aisle not seen from the entry way. I was getting ready to turn if he continued and attempt to use my verbal components to make him go away.

    The lurking that I actually have started noticing again is a little weird. It's been mostly older creatures who have been trying desperately to be lecherous in their leers. It has been making me progressively more and more defensive. I swear one of these days a fireball really will fly from my hands when that happens. It's quite disconcerting that it has been happening like this.

    In other paths of my life, the Tower is still going well. I have officially become the only person working on 2 of the 5 Acquisition Guilds we work with. So I've been super busy and super tired. It has taken it's tole on me in the gaming aspect of my life. I return to the domicile at night and have a hard time thinking much less making more cognitive decisions about a game.

    My questing partner has started a new path in his life, moving from one tavern to another. It seems as though once this new place picks up it will more then likely be a much better place. They will treat him better at least in the long run. The new tavern just opened so it's all still new and slow. But soon all will progress in the direction it is supposed to. Yay for new daily quests for him. It makes me exceptionally happy and proud that he took this step!

    As the summer progresses and moves into fall, I find I am creeping up on yet another one of my big achievements. I am getting quite excited. I have been working towards this one for quite some time so once it happens believe me I will absolutely announce it loud and clear. Just can't yet, because I haven't gotten it yet. :)

    Lately it has been interesting to watch, I am not used to having so many other dungeon crawlers in my life that are female! I have been finding quite a few who have been entering my questing and raiding. It's been so great to finally have other ladies that I relate to, share things with and have fun adventures with. I have counted myself blessed by their presence! Having been in a state where frequently it has been me and the guys, which I also love but it has been nice to have other ladies around. I THINK it may has even caused some moments of giggly girly-ness more recently. Which rarely happens for me. But either way, ladies who have come into my game I call life recently, I am so grateful and happy you are about and around! <3

Welcome to a Quarter of a Century...+10

    So here we go, tomorrow is the anniversary of me starting my game called Real Life. I don't have a lot to say. Mostly I'm just plugging away like any other day working on my achievements and daily quests, lots has happened over the last year, but a lot of it was just minor little mini-achievements. The bigger ones I have had lots of excitement over and have shared most of them with you all.

    So this week's installment is not very long, just a small note to you all. In the game of Real life it's always good to try to work through all your achievements and move forward. Sometimes it takes some real work to get there but you will.

This is the Dawn of the New, Expansion for the Game of Real Life.

     Something I've been finding lately is that I have gotten to a new expansion to my game of real life. Some of the things which had been SO IMPORTANT to the last expansion pack are not even useful or important any longer. I'm finding my quest path's are completely different from where they were a little while back. So many things have grown, so many new quests to do and new achievements to unlock. Even some of the people who were extremely important parts of my adventuring party have changed dramatically. They are still there for side quests and major raids but not really part of the usually main party any longer. I am still always glad to see them, and am happy to have them there when they're there / miss them when they're not. But our path's have just separated more then they had ever done so before.

    This new expansion ultimately has many more trials and new experiences. It has brought many new and wonderful things into my life as well. I'm still working on some of my old achievements, however, they are getting closer then ever. Plus it's given me the chance to renew and feel like I can continue forward in daily questing and story line questing. Also it has finally helped me clear my head and be able to get back to being the Story Teller for a new adventure in my writing. I am excited for it. No spoilers, but I think I'll finally be able to succeed in the finishing of something I've been working on for a very long time.

    Also another big achievement in my new expansion that has popped up is recently my questing partner and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary! I am so very lucky and happy to have him in my life! The growth together and forward that we've both had has been amazing and wonderful, I'm not going to say that we haven't had to deal with flaws, as we've both been completely honest and open about showing them, but despite especially my own flaws, we are both sticking in it for the long haul and I am glad to have him in my life.

    There's a lot of change coming in this new expansion that has been released into my game of real life. A lot of it is going to be scary, but a lot of it is going to be exciting as well. I'm just looking forward to getting through all the new quests, achievements and finding new / strengthening old party and raid members along the way. Welcome to the dawn of things to come.

I Will Bring it on Back, Bring it on Back Today...

    This game we're all in called Real Life has a whole lot of things which cause cut scenes or things that make us think of things we have taken into our memories as screen captures. It could be a particular song that you just can't help but stop and listen to, as it causes a replay of a certain cut scene. A scent that makes us smile and think of someone we keep in our hearts. An item that was special to you because of who or what you used to gush over them with. Some thing in nature which is a particular color which you know someone you care about loves. Or even a belonging which reminds you of someone you miss. There are so many of these things each day in each of our lives.

    It always amazes me to be suddenly hit with a cut scene like this. Thinking about that moment that still means so much to me. How it helped change me and push me to where I am today. Guiding me on my quest path towards where ever it is I will end up. Just tonight I had a song stop me while I went for a short walk (for those that don't know I am once again being afflicted by my shoulder deciding not to work and be in lots of pain, so I had to cut my walk down by about a quarter because of said pain) a song started to play and I was floored with emotions and cut scenes of the person that it brought to mind. They're all in the past and memories at this point. But it was a point in my life which I grew so much and completed so many achievements and main story line quests that it just made me remember it all. Playing back the cut scene in my head.

    So much has passed and happened since then, and there have been a couple resets of the character that is me. But all of these past things are who I have been, who I am, and who I will be. I am so looking forward to all my future cut scenes, screen captures and memories that I will have from her on in.

    Other then that, as you can see I have found myself a new way of reaching you on a weekly or bi-weekly basis again. Which has been great! I have been pretty happy with the new little deck that I have procured. I am coming up on a full year of officially joining as a team with my life questing partner! Shiny! I'm nearly to the finishing point of one of the last achievements of the whole debacle with my chariot / means to operate said chariot and the Tower is, well the Tower. Still giving me the gold I need to complete my daily quests and try to reach my achievements. This game called Real Life is going in a forward direction. So here's to being back!

I Will Rebuild Here, I Will Have the Technology...We Will be Better, Stronger, Faster.

    There is some sad news for this little Oracle, sadly my wonderful rig, which I've had for a bit over two years has decided to become a heavy paperweight of electronic bits. So until I am able to find myself something else that I can use to post more regularly (looking at something I can do basic netrunning on currently) I may be on a hiatus for a bit. It is making me sad to think about as I have worked pretty hard to keep up to date with all of the quests or dailies which have presented themselves to me. I apologize deeply to all of you my wonderful readers, but fear not I will return! Faster, better, and stronger then ever!

Casting Illuminate and Calm Person...

    This last week I had a scare. My elderly grandmother, whom I haven't always gotten along with in my life fell last Wednesday. She's been falling much more often. It seems that life's GM decided that she needed to have a spell of irregular heartbeat cast upon her. The clerics at the healer's guild in the area could not figure out what was wrong. So each day was caused her to have less clarity and seemed more like she may not be sticking to her mortal coil very much longer.

    The clerics to this point, still do not know what is wrong. However they have put a device which makes her heart stay above a specific beat to help prevent some of the fainting / falling. So far it has helped her a lot. She also has been moved to a home for those who cannot take care of themselves at least until she is done with her rehabilitation. It is still up in the air if she will stay there or not. In many ways it would make life a bit easier if she were able to stay there. As it would mean that she would have someone there to help her at all hours of the day and night.

    Needless to say it caused me to cast aggravate person  and restless sleep on myself, of course without knowing it, so I am grateful for those who put up with my crazy brain for a few days. It was a long week filled with lots of worry and it has ended alright. Still a bit of worry but I seem to have at least been able to cast a dispel magic on myself to get rid of the spells I had unknowingly cast upon myself, so I have slept more then an hour here and there the last two night.s

    Last night I was able to release a LOT of that stress as I left the Tower early and headed out to the city with some fantastic people to see the singular musical group that has touched and helped me through SO many things in my life. I was able to just let go, dance a little, and hear some of the songs that have meant so much to me over the years. It still amazes me the amount that certain music can affect someone. These particular bards are extremely powerful. They call to your very soul, pull out the emotions that you may not even know you've been hiding to everyone including yourself and allow you to feel them and let them out / go. Needless to say I have seen them a LOT and each time they have helped me let go of something, helped me feel happier about where life is / is going, or just feel again when I've shut down. Last night I was pulled to that as well. However it was the shared experience with those who were with me and the encores that made this particular show. I feel so honored to have been able to open up to the point we were able to all open up and let go as much as we did.

    With all of the events of the last couple of weeks I have been reminded yet again of the wonderful people I have had in my life to adventure with over the years. The amount of amazing adventurers I have had and do have in my life really floors me sometimes. I am eternally grateful to those who choose to stay in my life and adventure with me.

Soaking Silly Sneak Attack Rolls...

    Sometimes you just don't know who is going to end up sneak attacking you. For me it's been, come into the Tower, when I don't have communications with field agents I would listen to my music, calmly minding my own business deciphering codes and finding items for people who have lost everything. Not even paying attention unless I get a missive from my fellow magic users here, which usually is something amusing and fun. I really would never have known about the dodge I had to make happen if not for the childishness of one such fellow code breaker upsetting another by not talking to me directly, but instead talking to everyone else. The one who was more upset by it, took me aside and let me know what was going on. So I was prepared for what happened next.

    There was an issue, and I wouldn't have been upset by it at all, except how it was handled. Occasionally I will hum quietly to myself when I have my music playing. Now my closest neighbors here in the Tower, like to play, Guess what she's humming. However someone who diagonally sits across the dividers from me apparently had an issue. Rather then coming to me and telling me it was bothering him, which due to my nature would have caused me to do my best to stop and apologize, he went to other code breakers and to my direct higher ups. Threatening to go to our wonderful Human Resources department.

    Because of this, I was pulled aside by one of my direct higher ups and a missive was sent out, detailing what personal habits we should not do, by the other one. The first thing on that list was humming. I was embarrassed, I felt betrayed (as silly as that sounds), and wondered why the fellow code breaker, who is supposed to be a friend, and I talk with him often didn't just come to me. But instead used a sneak attack and complained about me to everyone but me.

    It really made me wonder if I had in fact re-entered the years of schooling and all of the back stabbing, passive aggressive, immature silliness that happens there. Last I checked, I haven't been there for many years. I don't really understand why people can't move forward sometimes and realize that they are no longer children and we are in an adult environment. Not to mention, if you are truly a person's friend, you really should just talk to them if you have an issue. Instead of sneak attacking and hiding behind passive aggressiveness.

    Since that happened I have been keeping my music enjoyment to myself as much as possible. However the person in question still has not apologized for his immature actions. I haven't been returning the behavior by being mean to him, in fact I've shown him that I am bigger then all of that. Well except for the occasionally joke with some of my other code breakers here about no humming and dancing. But it still is a bit flustering. Perhaps someday he will grow up to the point that he will be able to apologize. 

    

Epic Quests are Coming...Time to Rock this World!

    Endings, they're something that always happens. Path's end, they have to in order to give way for a new path to begin. Life is filled with many such endings.You watch things have beginnings, middles and ends all the time. It's always weird when you get to the end of something. Reaching that end game content and realize that it's somewhat sad. So honestly, a lot of us, pick up a new thing / character / book / etc. and start something new.

    This week is an ending. The weekly local, "alternative styles" dance night is ending at their current venue. Is it a somewhat sad thing, yes I think so. A lot of us have worked at helping it grow and turn into the place it is now. However, I don't believe it's beaten. We are attempting to get as many people out tonight as possible. Making a big end cut scene for this night. So that perhaps somewhere else will see that we can bring out the numbers and decide they want to give it a try. I am certain it's going to be a blast. Many people will be out and there will be much dancing and fun to be sure. So I am looking forward to it just as much as I am somewhat sad by the change of our night.

    On the other coin, there's many big beginnings coming up soon as well. There has been new development here at the Tower in regards to our desire to expand our horizons and the different types of field agents we work with. There's been a big push as of late to train some of the best and brightest to know the new paths that we are taking. I have been dealing with a lot of those things the last couple of weeks and really it's been exciting to watch things expand and change in ways that will only be good for the company and those of us who they are happy to keep giving work to. The code breaking that I have been working on today is very large and I'm already flying through it. Which makes for a good day here!

    Life indeed takes many twists and turns. It's all about how we react to them. The way I see it I could mope about the change. Or I can adjust the direction of my path and meet it head on. I think I like the second choice better at this point. Because yay more daily quests and more leveling for me! Wee almost time to start on my new epic quests and find a new epic weapon and adjust my epic gear!

Hmm...Suddenly Feeling the Need to...Start Wearing Purples, Wearing Purples...

    Change is in the air here at the Wizards Tower. As of the start of this week we officially have a new group we are working with. I am one of 5 people in my entire department who have been put through the training for this group. As usual at this job I have found myself having an easy time with it and have quickly gotten nearly back to where I am in my code breaking and transcribing numbers. It has been fun to learn something new and to add a new skill to my gold making work path. Hopefully I won't get confused between the two and change the way I do the original. But I don't see too much worry of that to be fair. It feels like they are gearing up to gain a couple more accounts and they have put me on a track to eventually be able to train people in these arts. So I'm getting ready for the implode, which this time will actually be good.

    In many ways it feels as though they are trying to turn me into their very own Elite mini boss. It keeps making me think I should get a little silver dragon edging to put around my name plate. Every time we start something new I am one of the first people trained and handed a bunch of it to get me started on that skill tree. I think I might be okay with this plan. Seeing it means all the more security on my position here at the Tower. Yay for actual good changes in the place that I make my gold! I will not complain about that, especially seeing I continue to make more gold every paycheck. As my pay is all based on the work that I do, and as I only seem to be ramping up my power levels on that every day. I don't see that changing any time soon.

    The way things are going at the Tower these last couple of weeks have started to make me feel like this:

   

Which is really a very good thing. As anyone who's adventured with me for any length of time can tell you with jobs, this is a rarity. I have had many jobs of horribleness and underapreciation of the work that I have done. So when I say it's really nice to breath and know that I'm doing well here, despite all the crazy days I have had, it's a good thing.

    Other things in my dailies are going as well as they have been. So I really can't complain too much about my life. So now I leave you all in peace for your day. Tune in next time for more of the silly adventures of one little Oracle who suddenly seems to be winning the game of life!

Life, the Biggest Frontier, this is the Voyage of Each of Us and the Paths we Follow.

    Our continuing mission to gain levels, gold and find our way to and through the boss fights. As the world around us ebb's and flows in it's path forward. Through days, weeks, months, seasons and years. It's really all about how we use the class skills we've been given to get from and through it all. Sometimes it takes all of us, time to figure out what each new skill does and means. But once we get there, we hopefully will use them to the best of each of our abilities. Sometimes we end up with skills, cut scenes, quest groups / adventuring partners, we never would have seen but they just are the right thing for us. I truly believe this when I quote the fantastic movie from several years ago now, Hook, "Life is the greatest adventure of them all."

    As this week marks the beginning of spring according to the calendar year, though there is still wonder why the Winter Court hasn't moved over just yet, I think about life's movement a lot. I think about the way we follow our paths and where they have lead us. I really have to say, that my re-roll path has been amazing and thoroughly fulfilling in many ways. I know that I'm not finished with my "Talent tree" and still have a ways to go. But honestly, I think that where I am is a good place to keep moving forward.

    For the first time in my life, I'm finally starting to be able to save gold and put it away for needed things. I have learned to deal with a lot of my daily challenges in a calmer way, for the most part. I have allowed myself to let someone completely in behind the armor as scary as that can be and I am so grateful to him every day. The farther down our path together we go, the more I realize how much more he means to me every day.

    Am I am still crazy? Yes, but that is in the sense that everyone is crazy in some way or another, I do fully admit to my craziness, perhaps sometimes I even revel in it. I have completely lucked out in finding other adventurers who's crazy works well with mine, lots of world bosses have been defeated together with my crew. So basically there is much world rocking involved.

    In the scheme of life, I feel like I've finally found some grounding and some peace. Like I have finally leveled to a point where there good things in my adventure story definitely outshines the bad. It's take a long journey to get here. I assure you many people who have kept adventuring with me despite my past craziness could definitely inform those who don't know.

    Have I gotten myself off the ground with my novel writing? Well no, but through writing here and all of you my wonderful adventure story readers out there, I feel that I am still allowing my creativity to flow and allow it to guide some parts of my life. A thing which I've always been fighting against and too stubborn to do or too scared of the failure that could come from it in the past to allow.

    It has been a wonderous, crazy, journey, filled with many ups and downs. Many of which were my own doing, but honestly, when things go wrong I still have to quote Rafiki, "You either learn from it or run from it."  I'm just glad most things in the more recent past, has been the former and not the later. Hurray for finally starting to fulfill my own continuing mission!

Shhh...There was a Forget Spell Cast Over Here...Making it Better!

    So...I realized something came and went about two weeks ago. I completely forgot that it had been that long and would have mentioned / made a bigger deal of this happening had I remembered. There have been so many adventures each day that I have had a scatter brain. So here it is...

 

    I am so very grateful to all of you who keep reading weekly or bi weekly now. You guys make me feel like I've rolled natural 20's on all of my writing! So thank you! This is as much a very awesome thing for you guys as it is for me. I never would have suspected I'd have so many people each week that would continue to keep my anecdotes alive a year later!

    I look back over the posts of the last year and am in awe over where I was then, where I am now and how much has happened / how much better my life is now. I have been having some pretty bad weeks lately, but even my worst week recently is worlds better then a lot of my daily adventuring a year or two ago. It's been a grand adventure and it continues to improve as time moves forward.

    Now that that has been said, onto the adventures for this week. I have been spending a lot of my time here at the Tower the last several weeks mostly speaking with adventurers who are out in the field at people's domiciles to go through their losses and relay them to me to transcribe which I then search, code them and determine how much gold these people are getting for their items. It has made for some very long days as the conversations last for hours. I do enjoy the speaking with people portion as I am a very social little Oracle. I would say my natural diplomacy / Charisma scores help with that, but I just like people. Often times I will have to have days of absolute attempting not to fall asleep while talking with the field agents, due to long periods of searching and digging through the refuse and ash that once was a person's belongings. So it's always an adventure in itself.

    It has come to my attention that I am the favored person here at the Tower with several of our field agents, as they will specifically request me every time. I enjoy this happening, as I get to build a friendship with these people and know how they work and what to write in my transcriptions for them. Even better when I am the person who gets to search and value things, as I will know what they're talking about when I go to do so. It is a bit fun at times and I enjoy helping our field agents as much as I can. Some of my most frequent agents actually have bonded with me about various things. Such as Star Wars, gaming, and general geekery. So it makes my day even better. Lots of laughter and fun.

    I know lately I have had a lot of complaints about the Tower and the things going on here. So I figured that I would finally post something positive about it. The correspondences with our field agents not only is a fun change of pace, albeit sometimes long and tiring, but rewarding both in getting to know other people and in all actuality my ability to make gold here. So it is a good thing indeed. I wanted to reassure, those who have been reading right along, this is not turning into anything like the Dungeon, where I was earring my gold last year at this time. Just there are trying days and good days. So here's to the future of them! Huzzah!

So...That Talent Tree Thing...Or Maybe A Prestige Class Is Needed...

     All is not calming down at the Tower with other things however. They are playing the lets change the rules on our adventurers game again. They have taken my job which was sometimes challenging, fun and used a lot of different skills and made it so that a person with an intelligence score of 8 could do it. It was flustering to have to go against everything I had been taught and to essentially have to stop using my brain in order to now to work here at the Tower. It made me a bit sad. It has truly made me wonder how long I actually want to keep cracking codes and finding items for people. It has definitely been making me anxious to leave each day and basically effected my whole desire to be here each day.

    I has not changed the work ethic which was taught to me between years of watching my father at work and just my general desire to help when I'm good at something. However it has made me start to really think about what I want to be doing to earn my gold in the future. Ultimately I know what I want to do, but when a lot of the life around you is preventing the creativity and inspiration needed for that particular path, it's not a path you can follow at that point.

    Don't get me wrong, I do see the good things in my life. I have never made as much gold as I am making now before, I am finally getting to the point of fixing the badness of things in my past and being able to live again. I have the most amazing questing partner I could ever have wanted and didn't know I needed. Which he is probably one of the best "surprise this is happening now" situations that has ever happened in my life, now that it's almost a year later. I have some of the most wonderful people in my life that constantly make me happy just to know them. I have a roof over my head, food to keep me from being hungry, and really I'm not as sickly as I could be. Sometimes it is just hard to keep up with all the banality and mundanity that fills this world on a daily basis and it brings even the most optimistic little Oracle down.

    I swear I will survive and conquer this stupidness that is here. It just might be a bit more ugh and fighting noises before the victory song.

All Your Mood is Belong to Them....

    My battle that I have been fighting the past few days is one that many of us fight on a daily basis and often. I have been fighting with my own thoughts, and views of me. My whole life I have had skirmishes with self doubt, lower self worth and low confidence. The past couple of days that particular monster seems to be raising it's ugly head again. It's a monster that I have put down, fought back and attempted to get away from time and time again. I know that it's a fight I'm not alone in. Many people fight with this monster daily, much less the every now and again that I have come to fighting it. I wish I could say that I didn't, but sadly the past couple of days have proven otherwise.

    I attempt very much to keep reminding myself that I have people who care for me, people who tell me all the time I am a good person, or I'm attractive or that I'm amazing. I think this may be a battle that I will constantly need help with. Need to ask for help to beat this recurring villain in my life. Seeing this little Oracle doesn't seem to be able to kill it completely by herself. I do have to say that it is a huge thing asking for help with this, as I am very known for doing it myself and fixing me on my own. I am not using this as a traditional "call for help" and I'm REALLY not in a, I'm going do something stupid mode. I'm just a little less happy and a little more down, both in life itself and about myself the past few days.

    I am sure it has something to do with the banality and monotony that some parts of my week have become. Plus the dark and snowy days we've had recently haven't helped I'm sure. But again I find myself fighting this fight the past couple days. I want to say fear not, I will beat it back yet again. The light has started returning, the weather is warmer today and despite having rain coming our way, it's going to be a bit warmer. I am hoping to beat some of it back with fun coming up in the next few days. With going out dancing tonight at Riot, seeing my question partner, and lots of geeky gamingness this weekend with a crazy LAN party with my friends. There will also be cheering up of some of my Crew this weekend due to sad things happening this past week.

    I have been looking forward to this coming weekend's activities for a while. It will be great to spend an entire weekend just relaxing with the Crew and beating each other up or working together in made up worlds of fantasy, sci fi and the like. Should be a good time and I get to share it with my questing partner and a whole bunch of my amazing Crew. Now I just have to wait out until it is time to go have the fun so I can stop the downness.

The Time has Come, To Talk of Many Things....Of Shoes and Ships and FIREBALLS!!!!!

    I do believe this is my first day of EVER being truly angry at being at the Tower. Today through tomorrow we are getting yet another snowmagedon and I seriously don't want to be here at all. It isn't too bad yet out there, but it is progressively getting worse. I am hoping that the Wizard's Tower will close early and we can all go home and be safe in our own individual domiciles. Warm and cozy and hiding from the horrible weather. I am seriously not in a good mood and not wanting to be here at all. Though one of my two supervisors did get very happy when I came in. It seems despite all the sickness spells that the DM that is life keeps throwing at me has not taken away my status of being the "Golden Oracle" here at work. They are still glad to have me here, even when I'm not pleased to be here.

    I do apologize dear readers, it is not usually like me to be so vehemently upset about things in my day. I generally am the person to spread my joy spells, optimism and happiness, but today has just been filled with little things setting me off from the start. I am attempting to cast calm person on myself right now as I'm not in a rational state of mind currently. Just wanting to be curled up with my questing partner hiding from the mess outside and from the outside world today. I am seriously hoping again that the Tower closes early, or at least lets some of us leave early and I can do that very thing. Just waiting to see if I'll have to ask or if they'll do it of their own volition. So we shall see about today and getting an early start on this weekend.

    EDIT: The Tower is indeed letting me out early. Though out of necessity as  I would not be able to get home otherwise. Due to using the public carriages and such it seems like it will take me about 3 and 1/2 hours to get home. Wee! At least no one will be endangering themselves to come and collect me. Yay for keeping those I care about safe and secure. Tonight I believe there will be much curling up and hiding from the snow / cold. I am thinking that I am probably staying away from the evilness of Snowmagedon tomorrow as well so I will be at home curled up, hiding. Wee!

I'm Not Quite Dead Yet....Wait...Am I Getting Better? *SMACK* Nope...

    Lets just say that this past week has been a doozy. This little Oracle is wiped. There have been wheel troubles with my questing partner, long days at the Tower and an illness that kept me away from my missions at the Tower for 3 days. I am very glad that I can put most of it in the past at this point. Because I like having less stress and not being horrifically ill.

   The issues with the wheel, well, lets just say it was stressy and all caused because of huge holes in the road going from home to a new dinning establishment which has many old school arcade games. A place my partner and I have been looking forward to going together for a long time. As it has just opened and looks like a super fun place. Also have to congratulate them on opening and getting everything done now. If you are in the area you should definitely check it out so that we can make sure to keep it in business! Because this is something which is very cool and fun! Congratulations to The Quarters on finally opening and making a place that we've all been longing to go.

    Well the road decided to flatten the tire, so we put on the spare and went home. Quite in a sad mood. This tire issue proceeded for the weekend. As we dealt with the antics of trying to get it to a tire place in town, which was not opened, they should seriously update their web site, especially when people are attempting to get tires in the snow. Sunday was fun as we got up early to get it to the one place that was opened, to find the spare's rim had cracked. We waited for quite some time for a tow truck and finally got to the place, only to learn they didn't have the tires that were needed. It was a hassle and we were extremely happy to have it all fixed and taken care of finally, on Tuesday.

    Meanwhile, I woke up on Monday feeling a sickness start to creep into my lungs, throat, nose and body with feverish intent. I was attacked by the plague demon which had previous attacked my sister, my father, the Tower and it seemed my partner (for a day, he had a cough and a sniffle, he doesn't get sick, I keep wondering if he has a cure wand he's hidden somewhere that I should find). I sent out all the missives to the appropriate people at the Tower. Which they were glad I was staying away so that I did not by mistake spread the plague to others. The sickness proceeded to wrack my personage with fevers, delusional actions, coughing and not being able to breath for three days. My first day back to the Tower this week was today, and even now, I'm still coughing and having trouble breathing / thinking.

    It did make me feel good coming back to The Wizards Tower today, within my first 2 hours of work they did ask me to stay an hour late today and possibly stay later tomorrow as well. They have a lot of work to be done and they do like me. Everyone was concerned that I was out for 3 days and was asking how I was today. So it was truly a nice feeling that they do actually want me here, especially after the last couple of weeks dealing with the Powers on High wanting ALL OF THE GOLD and who cares about anything or anyone else!

    I know for a fact that my sickness has effected me emotionally. Now normally when it comes to someone who is new at one of the hobbies which I have been known to partake in for years I am good at helping them learn, relaxing and teaching them and in general trying to do everything in my power to make sure that person enjoys that hobby. Well today when I offered to help with something like that, I was greeted with an attitude and a reaction from said newer person of, well I think it's supposed to be done this way and you are wrong. My immediate reaction was one of defensiveness and wanting to fire back with a verbal spell that would make this other person feel the sting they had just pushed onto me with their own words / make them shut up and listen. Now normally I do not get quite so defensive nor reactive towards other people. Especially when they're new at something, don't know me well and were trying to push something they don't know about as I have been in charge of it at this particular hobby for a while now. It made me stop and realize what I was about to do and think about why. It also made me think of how much our physical health can effect us emotionally. Man do I not want to think who I may have "attacked" if I hadn't realized what I was doing and why. So glad I stopped myself. This person definitely didn't deserve to have a spell like that hitting them.

    So as you can see it's been a whirlwind of a week. I'm hoping for some calm downtime in the upcoming weekend. Also some time of getting completely better. Especially seeing I get to go watch some guys on ice hitting a little rubber thing with some sticks on Saturday with some great friends I don't get to see often enough. Rest, friends, and fun. Sounds exactly what the Oracle ordered....

   

I Cast Fowl Play..."I feel like chicken tonight!"

    Thank you stress and frustration from the last couple of weeks. This little Oracle is finding herself fighting yet another battle. Like many adventurers when bombarded with things after a while I get worn down as well. Which sometimes can turn into me fighting off some serious depression / Charisma stealing monsters. Monsters that replace confidence and happiness with doubt, fear and general downness. I am working very hard to not let them get me, as I do know I have a lot going for me in this adventure I call my life. I think it's time to be pulling out some "Fowl Play" and turn them into 1/1 chickens.

    The powers on high here at The Tower have not gotten any easier to work for or with. My direct supervisory people have been doing everything they can to soften the blows we've been receiving. As they still care about their little Wizards, Sorcerers, and Oracles. It seems like every day something new has been popping up to create a better gold intake for this place and in many ways lessens the feel of a busy humming family. But I suppose that is business, and I am happy to have a job and still like the people I directly work with, including my direct higher ups, as my supervisors are both very amazing and great.

    There has been stress outside of work too, lots of stress in the downtime. Lots of little things going wrong to tumble into big things. Nothing to do with the people I've surrounded myself with. Just stupid menial things which add up to help in the wearing me out. Things along the lines of my familiar Willow acting out, my computer deciding it is time to start dying, having my communication devise start to get older, having cold type symptoms for almost a month, having slightly off or bad dreams. Things along those lines which are adding up.

    I have been feeling very spoiled spending so much time lately with my adventuring partner and with some of my crew. My life would just not be as full without them. The love and support I get from my adventuring partner amazes me every day. I know I would survive without him, I spent a good long while making sure of that, but it would not be nearly as happy or complete. Starting this adventure with him has truly been one of the best things that has ever happened to me. As I know he reads this, thank you for being in my adventure story! You have made my life better and happier just being in it. You're amazing and wonderful! :)

    The time with my crew has also been fantastic.  There has been many fun times, small side adventures and much trouble making. Which when you've had whole weeks filled with stress it's great to have some time to unwind with people you enjoy / care about. It's been nice to laugh and just let myself be well...the little anecdotal, Oracle that you have all come to know from this blathering.

    As you can see, I have been trying very hard to keep my thoughts on the things that make me happy rather then the things that are bringing me to fight these monsters again. It's just been wearing on the senses and mind. So I have been having to fight so often I don't feel like I am getting too much rest. I do have great hope for the rest of the year. I just have to get through the funk of the start. Lots gold making changes at the Tower and trying to beat down the minor monsters that are wearing me out. I just hope that I don't run into a boss fight before I am fully healed and my spells are restored. Because then, I MIGHT have an issue.

   

Real Life Explosive Runes...The Burning!

    After all the snow and time off from lack of work here at the Wizard's Tower last week. This week has come back with a vengeance. I think one of the hierarchy here at the Tower decided to prepare and cast explosive runes this week. There's been a few things biting and somewhat burning from on high. It has seemed to be at LEAST one thing per day so far. So needless to say it's been a bit of a tough week. Plus it is the first full week I've had at work since before the holidays so it's been long, tough and left me wanting to just be done.I am anxiously awaiting this weekend and the rest / fun it will bring. Because the week itself...I'm pretty much over it.

    Despite the stress of things here at the Tower this week, I can honestly say I still enjoy the job, I still like my fellow Sorcerer's, Wizards, Scribes and Oracles that I work with. I also know that I am one of the people they actually want to keep here, so if I actually were to become unhappy here at the Tower and told someone I was, they would do what they could to fix it. Just having a week of not being to pleased with the people who run the show. Just means that I'm going to keep my head down, and attempt to not let it get to me despite the week trying to explode at me all at once. It is proving to me as much as I like my work, am getting a decent amount of gold for what I'm doing and am actually good at this job it really is time to start buckling down and putting my stories onto the written word again. As I do know that's what I really want to be and should be doing.

    I must say again, I am overwhelmingly happy to have my questing partner in my life. He is so supportive and is always willing to listen to my venting if I need it. My biggest hope is that he knows that I would and will do the same for him whenever he needs it. I am so glad that we do indeed match and balance in many ways. His entrance into my life has truly been one of the best things that has ever happened to me. So being able to share my life with him in my daily adventures truly does help me calm down even in a week filled with explosive runes and the attempts at casting Crushing Despair (yes I know I'm being dramatic, but part of all of this is the fact I'm a gamer and it's the only spell that really came close to what I was trying to say, so deal!). 

    Also looking very forward to spending time this weekend with my Questing Partner's family as well as some of my Crew / chosen family. I am sure it will make up for this week with much relaxing and fun. Plus it means being able to spend time with some of the people I care about most. Shiny! So all in all, still trying to keep my head up, still keeping positive and hopeful. Just having a week filled with Will saves and Fort saves to not get hit in the blasts.

Where's my At-at?!

    So the new year decided to start off with a wild ride. By tomorrow morning it sounds as though we will be transported to Hoth. With crazy amounts of snow everywhere. I expect to see a whole lot of At-at's wandering around. Because seriously, how else are we to get around with all that snow? I mostly mention this as I know that this snow has hit elsewhere in the US before it came here to trounce on us in the North East. I am looking forward to a night of being snowed in with my questing partner and not coming back to the Wizard's Tower until Monday. Which I had enough time so I'm not loosing gold by being out tomorrow, so that works out for me.

    So now that the holidays are mostly done it is time for me to start putting away all my gold so that I can move forward to my next achievement. I am looking forward to what this year has in store as I know that in many ways it is already starting off better then last year did. I have leveled and therefor have better spells to face any trials coming up. It's like Old Rafiki from the Lion King says, "Oh yes, the past can hurt. But from the way I see it, you can either run from it, or... learn from it." There are many things that help us level up on our way through. I don't have fond memories of the things that have hurt from the past few years of leveling, but yeah, I definitely learned to duck from the swinging pole arms coming at me.

    I know this week's is a short post, but really, not a lot has come up and really, I think we're all still recovering from the crazy of the holidays so I don't want to help with the over tired and the headaches by making you all read more. I promise there will be more antics and adventures next week when I myself have recovered from the crazy that is the holidays and the transportation to Hoth. So tune in next week for more fun dear readers. Happy New Year, may 2014 be filled with many good things and perhaps less of the painful learning!