Ehhhh...

So I haven't posted in a while, mainly because nothing exciting has gone on lately except work and stuff. Christmas is drawing near and I'm not even remotely excited about it at all..  I haven't been excited over the holidays since I was a kid. At least not in the traditional sense, I suppose... I get way more enjoyment out of shopping and giving stuff to close friends and family than I do anything else, other than that I feel rather... empty inside. I'm alone for Christmas, as usual, which bums me out, but nothing I can do about it.. Nothing I haven't already tried at least. I have no luck in that department, and the holidays just exacerbates my depression, but I carry on. I know things will pick up for me and I'll find someone to make all this time spent in solitude and all the effort towards finding that person worth it.

As far as XI goes, I've been doing somewhat well lately. Getting all my jobs leveled up, just about finished with the last one. Finally got another AF3+1 piece finished; mavi tayt +1 for my blue mage. It's been slow since I haven't had a linkshell to acquire my seals through, so doing it solo via quests has been nothing short of painstaking. I've found there to be a lot of assholes on this new server as well..  Or maybe I've just been lucky and hit the only few; but it seems that people here are way cockier and more arrogant and pretentious than the inhabitants of Leviathan (my old server name.) I just gotta grin and bear it, I suppose... It's worth it to be back with my good friend, despite the little time we've gotten to spend with each other because of school, work and life. Things will turn around, just need to keep a positive attitude about it all.

I guess I'll wrap this up short, since there hasn't been much to discuss - but hopefully the future will bring about a surprising change and make for something interesting to post about. :3 

A dip into my 8-bit lifestyle.

The old Lee - Aleera and Delphyne

So I haven't posted in a while, though I'm sure I haven't disappointed anyone in doing so, but I'm excited about today - today I share with you a peek into my gamers life.

For the last 6 1/2 years I've been a part of a gaming cult known as MMO's. I'm a fairly avid gamer, and this by far has been the best game for me. Why? Because it's so much more interactive, customary, and expansive compared to normal games. MMO's are huge, interactive worlds where you can create a character to almost recreate yourself into another person. By doing so, it becomes a great way for me to relieve stress and have fun. The game I play in question: Final Fantasy XI.

I guess I'll begin by introducing my character. For the last 6+ years, I have been known on several servers as Aleera, man cat extraordinaire. I know what you're thinking, "You got to re-invent yourself, and you chose a mithra?!" My reasoning behind doing so was not entirely to be a man cat, but because I wanted to recreate my favorite Final Fantasy character, Freya (Final Fantasy 9), and become the strongest of my favorite job classes: Dragoon. The mighty slayer of dragons, wielding lances and spears of incredible power, and joined by my side in battle is a small wyvern (similar to a dragon) and long time companion, Delphyne. Together we have fought through the ages, through difficult battles, and had some great experiences with friends we've met online. But recently, a change has undergone. I transferred to a new server to be with my long time friend, Doodlebug, and, in the process, decided that after 6 long years, I was going to change my name. During the transfer process, I was able to alter my current name into my new name, and in lieu of this new change, I decided to also change the name of my wyvern. We are now known as Shirashi, man cat extraordinaire, and Sasavi, the lovable wyvern sidekick! Here's where our new adventures begin~

The new Lee - Shirashi and Sasavi

Last night was the night of the third part of a very awesome expansion included in a quarterly update, and has included some of the most amazing new features the game has seen. For starters, our level cap (which has long been 75, then in the last two updates raised to 80 and 85 respectively) has been raised to 90, and is on it's way to being raised fully to 99. The limit break quest was actually quite fun. I got to command an old man (Maat) in a fight against his friend, training partner, and rival, in a rock paper scissors type brawl. Once that was complete, I was granted access to leveling my character to 90.

After my limit break was complete, I decided to try my hand at obtaining some new job specific emotes. They are acquired via trials given by Magian Moogles, and required to have you hunt down an item off of a specific monster, and return to the Moogle with it. My first endeavor was for the Ninja job class, because it has struck me as both the most amazing and fun. After completing the quest, I am now able to summon a giant toad beneath me, lifting me up to strike a pose upon this awe inspiring amphibian! It's pretty cool, I must admit, and with my friend Doodlebug, we are embarking on unlocking more emotes. After our emote hunt is finish, I think I'll plan on leveling up my Dragoon to 90, then take up my second favorite job class, Puppetmaster, to 90 afterwards.

But there is much more to the new update than just leveling and job emotes. There has been several long time needed changes added in, new armor to collect (I'm looking at you, Lancer and Cirque Empyrean armor!) and tons more. Most excitingly, is the addition of several new areas to the Abyssea zones, and a final boss created upon defeating each of the zones bosses - The legendary and almighty Shinryu. Did you get tingles? I did. Shinryu has been a beast of legend that's carried on his legacy via many previous Final Fantasy games, and has now made his debut in Final Fantasy XI. I can only imagine how epic the fight against him will be.

Well that is all for now, stay tuned for any more 8-bit updates in the near future, as I'm sure I'll blog about any new experiences I'll have along the way. If you've read this far, I thank you for sticking with me. I know I can sound pretty nerdy at times, but you know what? That's just me. :D Thanks again, and until next time~