Catching Up

Sorry I haven't been around much. I sold my soul to Blizzard and have been playing lots & lots of World of Warcraft, thanks to a surprise gift card from an unexpected source. I have in the past had difficulty treating myself or deciding what I want. Not this time. I opened the envelope, saw the card and couldn't get it activated fast enough. We immediately started downloading all the patches and the Cataclysm expansion. It had been over a year since we played, so it took several hours to get all the files downloaded. (Luckily, I learned this last time and had zero expectations of playing that first night. We set up the downloads and watched a couple of movies.)

We decided to start new characters and try to level them together. As of last evening, I now have a level 32 Goblin priest (shadow, naturally) named Sereknity (dorky, I know, but I wanted something knitting-related). I love everything about playing a goblin except the transportation (motorized trikes, which are cute, but loud). I'm getting close to the point where I can get a wolf mount from Orgrimmar and then I'll be happy. (John is playing a warlock, and they automatically get a horse, so he's already set.)

Other geeky fun
After watching the crazy prices for years, we found a pretty good deal on season 1 of Star Trek and I'm really enjoying it. I watched it in the 70s, mostly under duress because we had one TV and it seemed like the males in the family dictated the TV-viewing a lot of the time. I didn't become a geek until I was in my mid-twenties. Watching it on my terms is fantastic.

Before the holidays, I also got a great deal (better than shown now, although these prices aren't bad) on the first 6 Trek movies and the Star Wars trilogy with the original theatrical versions, which is the only way I'd consider owning them. (Han shot first, dammit. Stop messing with my childhood memories!) Firefly will always be my favorite, by a narrow margin, but I love the other two. (Pic found online - if anyone knows the source, I'd love to credit it. Update: friend Kristin IDed the source - a meme called either "Nerd Rage" or "Troll Quotes," a collection of which can currently be seen @ know your meme.) We've stalled on watching the Trek movies at #5, which is our least favorite. But we'll get through it eventually.

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May the Force be with Katie (& with you, too)

If you're a self-proclaimed (loud & proud) girl geek, you may already be familiar with Katie's story. If not, in a nutshell: at the tail end of Anti-Bullying week, Katie's mom, Carrie, wrote about her daughter's recent experience of being teased at school for - gasp! - carrying a Star Wars water bottle. (Doncha know? Star Wars is for boys?!)

Carrie asked her female readers to chime in if they were Star Wars fans, too, so Katie could see that the boys at school were misinformed. It kind of snowballed. I read about it after someone posted a link to the epbot blog (which I read, but was behind on) entry Geek Girls, ACTIVATE!! Since Carrie's blog was tough to comment on (I tried & tried), Epbot's Jen (also of Cake Wrecks fame) invited people to comment on her blog instead.

As of this date, the Epbot entry received over 3,000 comments. Carrie had to create another entry in her blog to handle all the comments (over 2,000 in the combined posts). Katie's story even has it's own Twitter hashtag (#maytheforcebewithkatie - still active).

Katie hass read many of the blog comments, or maybe all by  now (that's a lot to keep up with) and they'll all eventually be put into book form. She's worn a Star Wars t-shirt to school and is, of course, back to carrying her water bottle. (More updates on Katie - An Ordinary Story with an Extraordinary Response. -- check it out for info. on the Dec. 10th event "Wear Star Wars - Share Star Wars.")

So, what's with the pic? Well, I immediately wanted to comment on the original post, but was unable to get my login to work. I had a picture I wanted to share with Katie anyway (one of my niece ("K") dressed as Leia for Halloween a few years ago), so I tracked down Carrie's email and sent a little note along with it. On a whim, I offered to knit a hat for Katie, too. They accepted my offer, and I got to work. My niece even got into the act after she heard about Katie and helped me knit a bit of the hat on Thanksgiving. I mailed it off on Monday of this week, and Katie got it yesterday. Word is, she wore it to school today, with Storm Trooper tattoos on her arms. (Pic by Carrie Goldman, used with permission.)

Follow-up on Carrie's blog: Adopted by the Geeks and Nerds.

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The Cake is a Lie (Or, I'm a total geek)

Current song obsession:

I didn't play Portal -- the first-person stuff makes me dizzy & nauseated -- but John did. I watched him for awhile (before I got woozy), then he showed me the closing credits. It's only recently that I've decided I just love this song. It's on my iPod, to add to the already-eclectic mix. (If you play Rock Star, it's available as a selection -- probably have to download it? (I don't have the coordination for any game like that so I don't know the specifics.))

I will probably always love any media that talks about "doing science." (Obscure Lost Skeleton of Cadavra reference, perhaps? That's why I like it. ) For the record, I understand that the cake is Black Forest, which is probably my all-time favorite (if it's done right).

For my own gaming action, I'm deep into Viva Piñata 2. Just my speed. (WoW is on hold because of the monthly cost for 2 accounts, plus time.)

In addition, I think I'm developing a little girl crush on Felicia Day, because it was this video that reminded me of the Portal theme. I didn't even finish watching it before I asked John to share his MP3 version of it with me. Then John sent me a link to The Guild, and I sat up late and watched every one of the ten episodes (and will get it on DVD, along with Dr. Horrible (which she is also in)). She has a blog, too. (In my defense, John found the video at the top of this paragraph on the blog and sent me the link. I'm NOT stalking her. Promise.)

Oh! My acorn keyring is already here! Look:
So well done. I can't do my split keychain (where I detach the car key so I can warm up my car and have it locked) with it, because it makes the whole thing too long. But... don't care right now. Really.

Source: Iron Oak Forge via the Just Acorns group on Flickr.

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