Thursday, March 26, 2009

Pink Pigtail Awards and some honesty incoming

My cheeks turned as pink as my pigtails the other day when I found out that I had been appointed for a Blog Award by HP at I am a paladin.

I’m supposed to brag a bit about it, following the rules set up for this meme. Consider it done. If you want to read her motivation you can check out this link.

The rules
The whole set of rules for the appointed bloggers are as follow:

1. When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to the said person so everyone knows she/he is real.

2. Choose a minimum of seven (7) blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have seven friends. Show the seven random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog. Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.

3. List at least ten (10) honest things about yourself. Then pass it on!

Awards
So after checking #1, I’ll move on to the next one and hand out Pink Pigtail Inn Blog Awards to a few bloggers that I think deserve some more attention and encouragement, mostly blogs that I haven't given so much of linklove before (with two exceptions). If you're not in the list, don't feel excluded and unseen. It just wasn't your turn this time. If you're on the list - don’t feel like this is a tag and that you’re more ore less forced to bring it on. I am, as I’ve said before, totally opposed to chain letters. So just look upon it as a sign of appreciation from my side.

1. Spinks at Welcome to Spinksville. It’s so intelligent, interesting, in depth and well written that it’s only a matter of time before she gains a bigger audience and a spot on most blogrolls

2. Elleiras at Fel Fire. She’s sort of a companion to Spinksville, it’s the same genre. Writes about guild management, raiding, motivation and other topics that I love to read about. Amazing.

3. Typhoonandrew. He’s got a special voice of his own, a full of humour and intelligence. He’s not one of the most talked-about-bloggers. But he definitely deserves more attention.

4. Krizzlybear at Frost is the New Black. He clearly needs a little inspiration in his blogging right now. But I don’t award him out if pity, but because he’s an excellent writer – and brave. No topic is too hard for him to try. He can write anything from highly emotional rants to pieces of humour, theorycrafting or fan fiction. Gifted.

5. Dechion at Dechions place. He lets people in under his skin and manages the balance of being personal without falling into just being private. It’s honest, straightforward and very much enjoyable. Just as his simplistic design.

6. Fulguralis at Klilling’em Slowly. He has a mission – to bring hope to the world, stories of inspiration. Only this ambition is worth a mentioning, and he also has a way of ranting that Larísa likes. New blog that deserves attention.

7. Gnomeaggedon. I know I’m a little bit predictable here and that I’ve linked him a ton of times, but I also have to follow my heart in making those appointments. He's got a special place there. He makes me laugh. As long as there’s a Gnomeaggedon around, I feel that there’s hope for the world, even though he claims it’s close to its end.

… and a special mentioning to Kromus at Stories from the Nether. He’s a guildie of mine and recently started a blog of his own. He hasn’t written so many posts yet, so I guess I can’t give him an award. But I’ve got an instinct for spotting talents and I know Kromus has it. I just hope he’ll get hooked. /waving to Kromus.

Honesty

Now it’s time for some honesty. HP was honest about RL stuff, but I think I’ll stick to WoW. I tend to do those confessions all the time on my blog, so some of it is probably well known already. Anyway: here are some truths about Larísa:

  • I’m not an experienced kiter. There has never been any need for it. I remember kiting the bird in Magisters Terrace. But that was the exception. The other day I was suddenly asked to kite slime in Naxx. “OK” I said. It wasn’t the right moment to be honest about my lack of experience. So I threw some spells and ran off. Nuked again and ran off. It worked. I don’t know if it was because I kited correctly or if the raid just was OP though. I really should go training it for a while. It’s basic skill for a mage.
  • I’ve never won a duel to another player at the same level as me. On the other hand, the occasions I’ve been duelling can probably be counted on my fingers.
  • I haven’t run Auctioneer for ages. I just can’t bare myself to deal with it, it’s so utterly boring. I’m rather poor than spending loads of time on that.
  • I don’t follow the development of the patchnotes of 3.1. I bide my time and wait for the think tank at EJ to make up their minds. Then I look for the sticky summery posts and just read the conclusions right before the patch is about to arrive.
  • I consider human females ugly. I’d rather play a troll than one of those. The human males aren’t too handsome either. I’ve got a phobia for humans.
  • I used to think that gnome males were ugly too, but I’ve changed my mind for some reason. Brain wash, mind control or pure gnomish hormones?
  • I keep getting lost, not only in huge dungeons as BRD, but also in the tiny non-instanced caves where you sometimes go while questing. They come in a few standard models, but I haven’t yet been able to memorize a single one. The only cave I don’t get lost in is the kind that’s just a single whole in the wall.
  • I’ve people on my friends list that I seriously don’t know who they are. For some reason I can't make myself delete them.
  • In spite of my experience as a leader in real life, I’m quite shy in game. I normally don’t take the initiative to make a party because I’m afraid to be turned down. At the age of 41 I’m sometimes turned into an insecure teenager. Strangely enough.
  • I’ve blogged for over a year and written almost 300 blogposts. And I’ve still not come around to tell my family about it.

Now bring it on if you feel like it!

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess that means I can't put you on my list then... it's not a boomerang is it...

OK... I am going to have to start making up some truths about myself now...

Klepsacovic said...

I found the last truth to be a rather strange one. These blogs we write, we put them up and 'everyone' can see them. But talk about them? It feels weird, as if it is too self-promoting, bragging even. The presentation is strange too. Even if I try for a conversational style, I think I usually fail (partially due to intention, my conversations make very little sense). I don't talk to friends like I write on my blog. It's just a different medium. Well I suppose that's something I still do online: go off-topic thinking about myself.

Congratulations. Now let's see who these other brilliant people are, since it's from links from other blogs that I find new ones to read.

Anonymous said...

You deserve a prize! Of the many, many blogs on my reader, yours is one of the blogs I am happy to see a new post. Keep it up!

Anonymous said...

Nice post! I like the "honesty" list.

I disagree with the human females, but I think the human males are pretty ugly, and the same goes for most other males in the game. I'm a guy myself, but I always play female characters because I don't like the "beefy" look of the males.

If you're sick of Auctioneer, you should try a different mod. I just started using AuctionLite, and it's *great*. It does almost everything Auctioneer does without giving you a headache in the process. The scans only take a few seconds!

Anonymous said...

I'm *gulp* a human female...but I'm a SPriest so always a shadow, so that's alright aint it? please?

All I'm saying is that if gnomes could be priests, I'd be an all-gnome account :)

Anonymous said...

"I normally don’t take the initiative to make a party because I’m afraid to be turned down. At the age of 41 I’m sometimes turned into an insecure teenager. Strangely enough."

Which is precisely why I have yet to do all of the Northrend heroics. I'm practically paralyzed when it comes to asking to join a pug or even asking my own guildmates to run somewhere with me.

And I'm 36.

Anonymous said...

Now I'm embarrassed. BUT looking forwards to writing an answering post tomorrow where I can say more about why I love this blog in particular, and some of the others that are also really inspiring to me.

And here's one RL fact, we're the same age as of yesterday :)

Anonymous said...

Hardest thing I ever had to kite was Coilfang Striders in Vashj's Lair.

To start off, you needed to get aggro on them as quickly as possible, as soon as they appeared, or they would be likely to one-shot anyone in their path (usually a Healer).

Once you had the initial aggro, you had to keep it; not easy when this thing moved way faster than you did, would aoe fear anyone that was near it, and would one-shot you if it got in range.
You had to maintain aggro whilst running away, and also whilst your team mates were trying to kill it.

Ok, so you had the aggro, and you were kiting it; that meant you had to run round in a circle, avoiding getting too close to anyone else (see Fear effect mentioned earlier), but at the same time making sure you didn't get too far in front of the Strider, otherwise it would start to cut across the centre of the circle, and that was a bad thing.
Oh yes, and you and your team mates had 1 minute to get this thing down, because then another one would come.
2 Striders on at the same time generally meant that things were going to go pear-shaped fast.

Re: Honesty Incoming - Makes me love your blog even more.

Anonymous said...

@Gnomeaggedon: nope, no boomerangs allowed, even though my prejudices tells me you like those where you live. I suggest you hit some less-known-bloggers. Let's spread our love a bit further.

@Klepsacovic: Actually I think I rant a bit like I blog out of blogging sometimes. I used to plague my guildies with long rants at our forum before finding the blog medium as an outlet.

But I agree that I don't talk much about it to anyone, at least not to non wow-players. I lack understanding from people around me for this bug I've got, how on earth could I explain why I even have to blog about it? But it's a pity at the same time that I hide it. It's important to me and I feel a bit dishonest denying it.

@Rosin: oh, thanks!

@Cast: a light form of Auctioneer, that sounds great! I should check it out.
Don't take it too hard about the humans. I really don't want to insult anyone. It's just that... I'm short by nature and can't identify with those handsome women.

@BlueTiger: oh, yes, I've said it many times and I say it again, give us a gnomish healer! It's odd that gnomes with their superior intellect can't manage to get a medical exam.

@Kimberly: oh I know the feeling. If I pug I'll join the pug channel, but I won't start to spam the chat trying to form a group. I'll patiently wait until someone spots me.

@Spinksville: grats! Looking forward to read your take on this one.

@Vlad: I did that encounter, but only after the last nerf patch in TBC hit, so you can't say it was for real. And I didn't have to kite. But I can imagine it was a strain on you. Hm... I think we had some warlock doing it if I don't remember it wrong.

Actually I came to think of another "kiting" I've been doing. Nothing heroic at all though! I kited those sea lions looiking for love in the daily quest in HF. You don't have to catch all that fish to get them over. You can use your lowest rank of frostbolt (so they won't take too much damage) and kite them over. I had to turn off molten armor as well not to hurt them too badly if they got too close. It was good practice actually. I think I should do more of those things.

And thanks for the love!

Anonymous said...

I also have the most hideous sense of direction in caves. I ususally manage to keep my head until I find whatever I went in for in the first place, but an embarrassing portion of the time I get out by alternately blinking and frost nova-ing and running around like a chicken with its head cut off until I manage to find the exit.

Whew, that's embarrassing!

M said...

/bow

TY kind innkeeper.

Fish said...

SHAME ON YOU!!! lol jk I left a comment on gnomeageddon's blog about getting lost all the time. I've never rolled a female character, but blood elves and humans are the only ones I find "appealing". Honestly, every time I see a gnome female, I think of you, even DK's, true story.

I will also be the first to admit what you do in real life, has NOTHING to do with in game. I use auctioneer purely to see if I'm getting a deal on something, I'd rather earn gold the old fashioned way: by killing stuff!

HP said...

I can understand your last point because I have been pretty prolific in my blog posts. Even more so when compared to the old personal blog I used to keep. At the moment, my boyfriend is the only one that has read my blog but I think I would be so embarrassed if my guildies or whoever found it for whatever reason. I guess because my bf finds my blog to be very "cute" for some reason =X

So I expect to be the same as you and keep the existence of my blog very quiet in my circle of friends (I have a couple of other WoW friends I would rather not have them know..)

Anonymous said...

*hugs Larísa* :)

Anonymous said...

Big gartz!

Anonymous said...

"I kited those sea lions looking for love in the daily quest in HF. You can use your lowest rank of frostbolt (so they won't take too much damage) and kite them over."

Well that's something I didn't know. Usually when I throw the first fish, my Voidwalker gets aggro and charges towards the sea lion, but then gives up when the sea lion 'alt' pops.

Use a wand rather than a frost bolt, perhaps? I will have to give this a try.

Drillpress said...

One of the caves in the NE starting zone, one where you have to run around and collect all these tiny chests . . . it honestly almost made me quit WoW. I ended up in the same room 4 different times by 4 different paths. It also taught me that you should disconnect your mouse before you attempt to throw it.

Kromus said...

Hey, thankyou for the speical mention, Larisa :). Im glad you think i have talent- i haven't seen these "awards" until now, so been intresting to read about how they work and the honesty part of the award is really intresting.

Just the reconition is an award to me, thankyou :)

Great post, intresting honesty points :O

Larísa said...

@Rhii: it's a great thing you at least find the thing you're supposed to kill. A little while ago I tried to help my daughter with the awful find-four-things-in-a-cave-quest in the NE area. She all but smashed the PC to pieces. And I was of little help, I just tried to convince her to HS away. She insisted on finishing it and finally completed it actually.

@Fish: Humans and Bloodelfs? Nah... Now that you're starting to notice gnome ladies, the convertion process has started. Before you know it you'll realize that your true identity is a gnomish girl with colourful pigtails. She's just waiting to get alive. A DK perhaps?

@HP: I don't mind telling my guildies - blogging is less complicated if you let them know about it. But my non-playing friends and family? Thant's another story.

@Lily: /wave! Good to see you in game again!

@Theawakening: thanks!

@Vlad: I don't know if it's more efficient to do it this way. But it's more fun!

@Drillpress: aww... the very same quest I was talking about above. I agree!

@Kromus: now just keep the posts coming!

Typhoonandrew said...

Sorry for missing this for so long Larisa. I promise to be a better blogger in the future. /shameful smile