I decided to get Wildstar.

Stormtalon is the new Stormrage! Hopefully, the queue times will die down after the first couple of weeks. Feel free to find me on the Exiled faction hopping around with my little Avia bunny ears. Yes, I chose Aurin, essentially the Wildstar equivalent of blood elves, the stereotypical pick of female WoW players, but it wasn't my first choice. I was all set to play a human like I always do until I heard the full-on American deep South accent that is characteristic of the humans of the Exile. No offense to anyone with Southern accents; it just isn't me. I'm not quite sure this is either. However, what is decidedly me and strange of this new game to already know is that I picked the Path that seemed the most interesting and it happened to be the one that has the ability to summon people.

Forever a(lock).

-Avia.

I have many skills, none of them profitable IRL.

My guild is taking a little mini-vacation from main raiding, which means that for the week of the 27th, I am available for rent.

Need help downing some new heroics? For the right price, you can have a 581 ilvl warlock making berserk timers and mechanics less relevant for your raid! Can't solo a mount boss? Voidwalkers can solo everything! Hopefully, the hunters in my raid aren't selling themselves this week as well. Are you a PvPer instead? I'll carry you in 2s and shoot you up to 2200 500 rating no problem! Or did your usual roleplaying partner go M.I.A. and you need someone to cyber with in the Deeprun Tram? ... We'll negotiate.

Now taking offers!

-Avia.

Avia's Birthcon 2014!

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TODAY!!!

Yes, it's that time of year when I celebrate my special day by spending an entire week excited about growing older, wiser, and slightly less taut only to be brought crashing back down by some concerned comment from my family about how I'm "already" almost thirty and still gaming.

They must have not gotten the memo, but 50 is the new 40, 40 is the new 25, and your thirties are just your twenties with money, so I'm not sure why the "already" was necessary. They probably didn't get the other memo that everyone is a gamer now, and there's no reason for them to put such a stigmatizing stereotype on it that implies that anyone who plays a video game automatically has nothing else going on in his/her life. No one assumes that people who play golf do nothing but play golf, but a hobby like video gaming instantly evokes the image of a shut-in with no job.

Of course, one can attribute this to the fact that many people who game, or at least the most visible ones to the mainstream, are 20-something noobs at life with no jobs. Yet, when I was fresh out of my first attempt at college, I was a 20-something noob at life who was at parties twice a week, drinking and dancing until the lights came on at 4am, and there was no judgement for that kind of lifestyle; it was deemed normal for someone my age regardless of how unproductive it seemed when looked at in a shallow way. Sure, some gamers end up top-grossing streamers and subculture celebrities, but most don't. And sure, some people in underground EDM end up DJs and promoters, but for all the people who don't, who gives a shit if they spent a few years of their lives enjoying a hobby while they worked on other things?

Anyway, I'm still having a super fucking birthday, not just today but all. damn. week.

-Avia.

Meet me at Blizzcon 2014!

Guess who got her Blizzcon tickets?!

Anaheim better get ready, because the preparations have officially begun for my guild's 2014 invasion. Fill the bang bus with lube, dental dams, and that annoying glitter that you can't get off of your clothes without burning them, because it's going to be a PARTAY!!!

Not exactly the three-way I expected.

Still pending is an important decision: to cosplay or not to cosplay? I've been to plenty of anime conventions, and it's never fun personally unless I'm dressed up with everyone else. However, as a new member of a reasonably competitive guild, perhaps guild decorum is more important than running around the convention roleplaying as a slutty version of my favorite Old God. After all, we're serious raiders socializing with our peers at a national community event. One must behave in a professional manner.

I'll think about it.

-Avia.

The tier is officially over.

I finally got my H Garrosh mount this week. :D Now I can go out into the World of Warcraft and flaunt my heroic achievements by chopping down trees and drilling tunnels to the Maelstrom.

Er... that doesn't sound very glorious. How about aerating soil for a vegetable garden? Or opening a very large can?

Iron Juggernaut made this seem a lot more intimidating.

-Avia.