Potato Flowers

Totally not WoW related, but totally awesome. Tonight one of our chefs left our restaurant for a new job. He carves the most amazing tiny flowers out of vegetables to put on plates. I'm a little obsessed with them! We had a little joke that before he left he had to cut me one as big as my hand or I'd cry. This was mainly done by mime, as he speaks little English and my Chinese is, ummmm, 'special'. And I did not expect to get one. Instead I got two! Which made me a happy lil gnomie. They're getting dyed tonight so I have some pretty red roses tomorrow! Though what I'm going to do with them after, I have no idea. Don't care though, because they're sooo pwetty! The last one looks kinda like a cabbage. Which makes it double cute in my opinion :). Work gifts are the best!

 

Gnome Wars!

Last night the first round of gnome wars began with a fellow guild member. He is trying to steal my throne as the guild's most awesomely cute gnomie! So we decided to settle this, Highlander style. We had our first battle outside Mogushan Palace. The battle was long and tense and unfortunately I came ill prepared. His fighting was better and his outfit was amazing. Victory was his on this occasion. But next time, I'll be fighting fit and ready to beat him into submission! There can be only one!

The gnome jokes in guild have been veeery funny. My poor ribs have taken a battering from the banter. There's nothing that cheers me up more than a good laugh. Even if it's at the expense of gnomes. We're built for comedy anyway. There's no way you can be serious when you have a gnome. It's impossible! But the dwarf making these jokes claims he does it because he hates gnomes (it's in his guild notes. Or it was, at least...) but I know differently. Secretly he loves, loves, loves gnomes. I know, I've seen it. When he thinks no one is paying attention he hugs them. A lot. More than is right, really. Pats them, blows kisses. I think he wishes he was a gnome. He's a bit of a smelly dwarf and I think the smell of candyfloss and sweet things that gnomes smell of give his poor nostrils a break from his own ripe stench. Sometimes I even hear him shout 'For Gnomeregan' when he charges, by mistake. And don't even get me started on how much he loves Darkmoon Tigers. He just can't wait to pop one out a have a ride. He's a bit silly (being a dwarf and all) and he seems to think they're a mount. He hasn't realised yet that it only rocks backwards and forwards. It kinda puzzles him when he's still in the same spot when he gets off. And that's when we can pry him off it. The dwarf just wants to stay on them all day! I have screenies for anyone that wants to see...

Finally, this is a call out to my competitor. This week I will be farming dungeons for a ridiculously large sword and the best fighting outfit a gnome could have. I'll meet you next week. Same place, same time. All guild members are welcome to come and see me beat this gnome into submission. Put him in his place once and for all! Bring popcorn to watch the gnome explosion!

Did I Say No Drama??

I kinda feel like I'm starting to become the Bad News Bear but I need to vent some of my rage. Really hard. That Shit Storm Scale went up to a full 10 today. All RL. I am a librarian by trade and I'm sure some of my UK readers (are there any? If yes, *wave*) will know all about the austerity measures our government has brought in. And well, to cut a long story short, services are getting cut left, right and center. We in libraries have been under threat of closure for 18 months now. Today, I got an impromptu visit from one of our managers and taken to a private area for a 'chat'. In a nutshell, my job is gone in 2 weeks. 2 weeks!!! And before Christmas?? I have to say, my response was not polite and I got so angry that mid rant I burst into tears. In fact I would hazard a guess that I won't be working from tomorrow. My employers have behaved badly throughout to all front line members of staff. And I have been told I cannot tell anyone! Not even the person I work with. When exactly did I start to work for MI6?? Absolutely ridiculous! Really though, it's just been the last straw in an epic run of bad luck. My health had taken a bit of a fall over the last few weeks, which I'm kinda sad about. But I managed the condition once, I can do it again! And I have my pinkie finger strapped up. I think I did something bad to it at my other job today, so it's currently strapped to it's buddy. So glad it wasn't the middle one. I'd really not be able to get through the day without flipping someone the middle finger at least once.

And I think I got my lock kicked from his guild. After finally getting into one raid with them, with the assurance that he would be able to stay he left the raid mid boss after being faced with his teary, panda faced gnomie upon my return from work. Bless him for supplying me with hugs, chocolate and not being bothered that they'll probably not let him raid with them again.

So tonight I will mainly be trying to regain the weight I misplaced last week with mega, super huge chinese takeaway (my favourite and I can eat more of it than most grown men I know), chocolate and a few beers. From approximately 11pm server time I shall be merry and pew pewing in BG's. Watch out taurens. I don't want to win the games, I just want to kill. Just you and maybe orcs. I'll feel better then. Maybe hungover tomorrow but better.

Music to PvP By

I need inspiration, people. Through the day I like to pop my headphones in and blast music while I get my ass kicked in BG's. I also sing loudly, in the most horrific, tone deaf voice you ever heard. Musical, I ain't. But I'm pretty sure my neighbours are sick of hearing the same songs over and over. So I need your help to populate my Spotify playlists.

To give you a clue about the type of music I like, I can tell you this. I am unashamedly, a pop lover. If it's cheesy, naff or you could dance to it in a club, then that'll do. Or 70's Glam rock, or show tunes, or anything except screaming death metal. Classical will chill me out too much and I need to be alert for PvP.

My current favourite for terrible karaoke is 'Little Talks' by Of Monsters and Men. Or 'Shake It Out' by Florence and the Machine, or anything by P!nk. Not all pop, I know by totally singable. If I'm not on vent, I'm singing away to myself.

So please feel free to add some favourites to my list. I promise I will sing each one loud as thanks. And if it helps, imagine how pissed my neighbours and family will be...

SW Invasion

SW invasion at ridiculous o'clock in the morning happened. And it was hilarious. 5 Horde managed to stay holed up in the AH, seemingly indestructible. I would have liked to have killed them but sadly, it only happened once (and took a lot of us) and then they mass rezzed on the AH roof. So, I just went to play. Alter Time on the steps, blink in, Frost Orb, silence a healer, throw out mini mages, then back to where I started from Alter Time. Rinse and repeat, just to stave off my own boredom. Only RP'ers seemed to be in SW at that time, so it was kinda pointless even trying to stop them.

Well played, horde. Well played.

/Sigh

Well, if I were to measure tonight on the Shitstorm scale of 1-10, it would probably be a strong 7. Why, I hear you ask? Well some of it is gnomie secrets and if I told you I'd have to kill you immediately. And the rest involves the horde football championship using me as their ball in Gilneas. My mojo is soooo far off you would not believe. I silenced a f**king elemental instead of it's master... I left my final battle and took the Deserter debuff (which I neeeever do) because I was that tired of getting my ass kicked and having no focus whatsoever.


On the rage scale, I'm well over a 10. Tonight, I managed to keep it in. Barely. For the sake of not offending a friend and because all my words were sweary, nonsensical ones. And my gnomie is far too cute for that shit.


Needless to say, I can't raid much (and I'm pretty crap at it) or do Sha of Anger again because Blizzard sometimes suck (not all the time, but sometimes), and now I won't be doing arena. Which I was really looking forward to. I could find another arena partner but I don't really want to. I enjoyed our pvp'ing a lot, so I'd rather just go BG alone from now. Daily's are dull. So I guess I'm really becoming your bog standard garden gnome. Sat with my fishing rod, catching fishies. There should be achievement for gnomes who do that. With a toadstool to sit on being the prize. I'm being serious! Do it Blizzard, you owe me! I fought Elegon to the end once and threw myself to my death another time, with no loot other than some measly gold, so give now.


Just like in RL, there's always something that will come along to piss on your parade. So, ummm, thanks for that. But just as in RL, I'm going to give myself 10 more minutes of being grumpy and sweary, then I'm going to give my head a shake and leave the problem here. It's not big in the grand scheme of things, just somewhat annoying. Tomorrow is another day... and one where I intend to Ice Lance the first Tauren I see right in the balls (I'd to the face but I'm, you know, at a lower height level so it would mean me having to sit on a tall buddy's shoulders). No more /drama for me please, just hugs and puppies for all, ok? So I can stay at that happy medium where I don't implode from pent up rage.


Omg, just realised I forgot to plant my crops too.../facepalm. No dinner for us tomorrow!

Temple of Kotmogu

Temple of Kotmogu is my current favourite place to be. I have enormous amount of pent up aggression at the moment and this place is just fabulous for unleashing the raaaaaaaaaage! I love to stand right in the middle and just pew pew everything in sight. Awesome AOE win! Blizzard did a wonderful thing by introducing this bg.

It's a bg where I don't struggle. Especially with healers nearby. My favourite thing to do is to just run into the middle (orbs where available) when horde gather there, pop Alter Time, then just place a sneaky Frostbomb on the centre target, Pet Freeze to keep them all together for maximum damage, run straight at them and Frost Orb, Nova, Ice Lance to my heart's content. Then just before they smash me into the floor, I return to my start place to go all over again! So funny when a group of them are on me and *poof* I'm gone back the other side! Now, I'm not saying this happens all the time. But when it does, it really makes me very happy. More than it probably should. The best one so far was a pretty even match up healer wise. I basically just ended up stood in the middle, repeating this cycle. Killed a few orb carriers, silenced a ton of healers and unleashed a total of 13m damage for the bg. The next below me on our team, damage wise, put out 7m total. I know it's not the sole aim of the bg but it was a pretty good feeling to get that much damage out. It was a long and intense battle, but a shit ton of fun!

Sometimes it doesn't go so well. But when those times happen I tend to go a little 'This is Sparta!!' (to the point where my lock wants a picture of me doing it, with that caption. He finds it veeery amusing). I lose all focus and just run in, arms flailing, popping every CD, trying to take out more than I am actually able to do. But, if you're going to lose, you might as well go down fighting! Also tons of fun and a better end to a losing bg than, say, being ganked at WSG graveyard...

As a final note, to the shithead Orc DK who jumped me in the Golden Pagoda as I came out of the bg and took half my health before I even knew what was happening. It must have really stung to get your arse kicked good and proper by a Gnome Mage at half health. Learn to time your Death Grip better. It could save your life.

Little Pictures

I love my new staff so much! Especially as it looks like a hobby horse for my gnomie! I wish I could use it as a mount. But that's because mentally, I'm 5.

Charrrrrge!!!!

Flying Mushan?? I tried to screenshot it for underneath but that must have really pissed it off because it landed right on my head...

Arena Win!

Last night I went arena properly for the first time. And, by God, was it fun! I was utterly convinced that I would do a terrible job and really let the team down. But you know what? I didn't. At all. At least I don't think! And I didn't cry or faceplant my keyboard. Which is always a bonus when in vent!

The Shadow Priest/Frost Mage combination works extremely well. Between us we can put out enough CC and Instab00m that we didn't struggle too badly. We didn't win them all. We ran at about 50/50. But the wins were pretty fast and the losses were acceptable. On those, it was easy to see our mistakes and learn fast from them. Our kit was often not near as good as the other team but we still managed to beat them. The best match of the night was a loss but it was such a long and intense battle and soooo close that we had a lot of fun. The least fun match for me was Rogue/Rogue. I should have had those little b*****ds pinned down but I really struggled. Maybe not next time though...

Vent was a great help, though we did have a massive delay, so sometimes I didn't shout fast enough for heals, or I didn't get to my Priest fast enough to peel off melee but we still did okay. And it's always a relief when no one minds my cursing! The only things you will hear in vent when I play PvP are constant curses at no one in particular or spam clicks (yes, I am a clicker). No CD's exist in my world. Don't judge me.

I am still very much looking forward to 3v3. Joining an already established team of Shadow Priest/BM Hunter sounds like a great idea, full of win! And maybe one day, I'll manage to persuade my favourite Lock (still not as good as Mage!) to join us with another player for 5v5 too. But for now, it's time to get that rating up and get geared up for my arena fun!

Gone Fishin'

Though probably a guide already exists for this, I'm compiling a little list of my favourite places to fish in Pandaria.  Eveeeryone is cooking now and these spots will provide the fish you need to level your cooking, to create those super duper banquets, to cash in for Ironpaw Tokens/AH or if you're nice, to make food for your Halfhill friends!

Emperor Salmon and Krasarang Paddlefish

• Guilded Fan - Lots of Salmon pools in the lake here. Heavily fished though.
• New Cifera, Pools of Purity - My favourite spot for a fast few stacks.
• Yan Zhe River - Lots of spots here and handy for picking up turtle meat or wildfowl breast from the little beasts around the shores.
• Krasarang Wilds - The big lake here has tons of spots.

Reef Octopus and Giant Mantis Shrimp

• Cradle Of Chi Ji - Lots of unfished Reef Octopus spots all around here. A few Giant Mantis Shrimp but great for the Octopus. Always quiet and easy to get a good few stacks.
• Nayeli Lagoon: Same as above.

These two locations should provide you with more than enough of these fish, without having to travel too far!

Jewel Danio and Redbelly Mandarin

• Mistvale Village - Follow the stream from Whitepetal lake down to Mistvale Village for these. Mainly Jewel Danio in my experience but still quite a few Redbelly Mandarin pools.
• Mogushan Palace - In the ponds around here there are quite a few pools of Redbelly Mandarin.

Sometimes you will also find Emperor Salmon here.

Tiger Gourami

• The Ancient Passage - The only place I've been where I can successfully fish a few stack. There's never anyone here and the mobs scattered around are nice for Windwool Cloth etc.

Not to forget Darkmoon!

Always remember to fish the crates here. I have had lots of motes from these crates, so it's a nice way to get them without fighting.

I'll update more spots as I go but if anyone can think of anymore, please put them in the comments and I'll add them to it!

*hic*

I usually do not drink much, due to work etc. But tonight I thought, s**t to it, I work hard (tomorrow, double shift. Eeeek!!). So, I have consumed copious amounts of alcohol. I decided not to vent, lest I forever regret drunken chats. I PvP'ed and got my ass squarely kicked. Although, the tail of horde following me was fairly amusing. I penguined a few early on and threw in a quick pat for good measure. It's a sign of affection! Aaaand I'm pretty sure I spammed gchat a little more than I would normally. Being naturally gnome sized, I would hope my guildies will understand my tolerance for alcohol is weak and forget, instantly, all my tmi chat!

But I must have bored my little elemental, because he decided to play shop! So, presumably he wasn't the only one ;)

No, I want Embersilk! Not Ice Cubes! Bad Elemental!