So I have a new friend. She has purple hair, big ears at is about 7' tall. For a while, she carried around something called "the spiked club of the gorilla." My other new friend is an average height human female who runs around the countryside killing critters and beasts and other bad guys.

In case I have you thoroughly confused, I am talking about my new hobby, playing the game World of Warcraft. I currently have two characters, a Night Elf Druid and a Human Mage.

If that's geek to you, don't worry... this isn't going to be a super geeky blog. I promise. I'll keep the Warcraft talk to a minimum (like the running talk) and only to do it when it is interesting to people who weren't up until midnight last night running through Azeroth. (I blame that on my husband. Hoser.)

Since I have yet to figure certain things about the game out, I can't really provide screenshots, but I'll include some pics others have gotten from the game that I found online.

Night Elf Druids look a little like this:

Although mine has purple hair and wears more clothes. Not that's she's a prude, she just has different gear at the moment.

Generally Druids can heal, fight, and turn into kitty cats and bears to fight or run. Fun, right?

(Okay, maybe not, but it keeps me busy... look some people have drugs and gambling, I have WoW and fiber, cut me some slack.)





Here's what a Human Mage looks like.




Mine is currently dressed a bit more lady like, but again, just a matter of gear.

Mages can cast spells. No strategy, just zap, zap, zap.
















So why do I bring this to my blog? Simple. I have found some ways I wish the real world was more like the World of Warcraft:


1.) Mages have a spell called "Sheep" (or Polymorph, but I'm going to say sheep). It works like this: if something is attacking you and you don't want to deal with it right now (i.e. you are being attacked by something else or you know its going to kick your booty and you want to run like heck), you cast this spell at it, and it turns your opponent into (you guessed it) a sheep. Now I love this spell for several reasons, but #1 I love wool, so I have a certain (theoretical) fondness for sheep and #2 what a fantastic thing to do to someone annoying you to tears. You need to shut someone up who keeps talking and won't leave you alone? SHEEP! You can't deal for another moment at a family gathering? SHEEP!


2.) There is a function, if you don't want friends or strangers to talk to you, called /dnd. It flags you as Do Not Disturb, and even, over your head (if the other player is setup this way), shows that you want to be left the heck alone. How great would that be on a bad day... a message to the whole world that says "don't f*** with me."

3.) The ability to run across continents, survive without food, and whisper to people in other dimensions.

4.) When you get injured, cursed or poisoned, it will display how long you have until you are recovered. Got a torn hamstring? 15 seconds. Spider bite? 5 seconds. I have torn meniscus right now, and my life would be easier if I could look it up and know I'd be back to normal in 6 days or 3 weeks or whatever.

5.) The ability to pack up my toys and go home if things aren't going well. While there are protocols for playing in a group, assuming you want to be invited back, much of the time in the game you are playing by yourself. If it starts to be too hard, too late, too unproductive, or too stupid, then you can find a place where your character is resting, log off and do something else for a while. Eventually you persevere and finish the thing (usually), but if you don't wanna you don't haveta. Ever! Wow... if I have a difficult client, I can't just pack up and leave. I have to go on. Sometimes there is something to be said for giving up.

I'll have more of these in the coming days and weeks, but that's a start.

Happy Canada Day! If you aren't a Yarn Harlot Fan, you should be, and her entry today was super! Makes me want to move to Canada even more.