A Pair of Tiny Dancing Teddies

I had originally made these for my mum as she collects teddy bears, but I don’t think they are good enough! I think I’ll try tagging along with a new party today called Look at Me Fridays at It’s fun to craft.

I probably need to do some serious brushing up on my embroidery skills, their faces are not great, lol! For these teddies I used tiny pieces of recycled ribbon for their bow-ties and some fine yarn with 2.5mm and 2mm hooks. I put my glasses in the shot so you can see just how tiny they are. These are the same size as my first set of tiny teddy bears.

Yes, their arms are meant to be that way so they look like they are dancing, well that’s my story anyway and I’m sticking to it! One arm curls to the front, the other to the back, I think it looks like they are doing the chair dance, not unlike the /chairdance I do when my WoW guild downs a new boss!

/chairdance!

Check out some crafty ideas at this week’s party at It’s fun to craft.

Highlights from this week’s party –

• cushion cover made from a recycled cardigan @ Whimsi Kel
• a pretty and practical home-made skirt for a girl @ The Crafty Cupboard
• a very nice and simple homemade dress with pretty frills at What Allie’s Making Now

Thanks to Fun to Craft for hosting today’s party /smiles!

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Earlier this year, I tried to give up my World of Warcraft guild but found out just how much it really means to me.

I’ve always felt a need to be productive in some way, I need to devote my passion and attention, and to these virtual friends whom I’ve never met irl, what we can achieve together is something meaningful. I know a lot of people scoff at these virtual relationships, but after hanging out there for the last five years I would have to suggest that those who criticise it don’t fully understand what it involves.

After we strip away the facade we are forced to wear in reality, having to play sometimes superficial roles at work or for family, the avatar we choose to play ingame is, in part, a mere fantasy, this is true. But during our work together as a team striving to achieve group goals, and for some this is for years, the ‘true colours’ of a player always appear, sooner or later. Here you are in your pure form. The facade we wear for society is stripped away, and then what is left? Your real personality, your true self is always there, hidden under purple loot and boss kill achievements. So there we find true heroes, with strength of character that you might not see in the ordinary people around you, living ordinary lives.

And so I came to the conclusion that I love my guild, because to me it is meaningful, it gives me purpose. And at the end of the day, its all just a game, but so is the real world, and what all of us are really seeking is something meaningful to devote ourselves to with passion, to make our lives all the more richer.

Images are of the Bloodlust of Nagrand merchandise we recently ordered to celebrate my renewed passion for our guild! They arrived yesterday, and I’ve already ran the mugs through the dishwasher so the quality of these products looks great so far. And yes, you can see in the shot of the mouse pad, I do keep a bottle of port handy by my pc, complete with shot glass, for medicinal purposes only, mind you! Link to the BoN shop is on our guild website http://www.bloodustofnagrand.com

Adventures in Movie Making

One thing I have been up to over the last few weeks is to start fooling around with movie making software  so I can download some little videos to youtube! I feel terribly productive learning a new skill and having something to show for it in such a short time.

Windows Movie Maker was the first software I tried, and I found it very easy. I posted about the first video I made in Yulara and her horse, Whiteowl. It was heaps fun and very simple to make, that 5 minute video took me less than a day to do, including the time it took to work out how to use the software. But the downloading didn’t work until I split it into half and downloaded it as two separate videos.

The second little video I’ve completed and downloaded to our Bloodlust of Nagrand page on youtube is called “One Dozen Wipes” and is only 1 minute long to avoid the troubles of  my first video. I’m not sure if the quality is actually any better, if it is it’s only minimal. The intro has “welcome to Bloodlust of Nagrand” spoken by our co-guild leader, who is some guy we’ve been playing this game with for three years yet we don’t even know his real name, which I think is pretty lame! All I know is he makes a great guild leader, so what if he doesn’t want to tell us his real name? Virtual reality is like that, I suppose.

getsome says

These videos use footage from us playing World of Warcraft, but yesterday my new video camera arrived! Soon I’ll be buying a data card for it and working out how to use it so I can make little movies using RL footage! FTW! lolzzz

Yulara and her horse, Whiteowl

[This is an RP story for the MMO I play, World of Warcraft]

He was not a white horse. Whiteowl was named for his strength, sturdiness and silence, and also wisdom. She would often talk to him, when he ignored her she imagined he replied.

Yulara is a spiritual name which means ‘howling dingo’. A befitting name as she was rarely quiet herself, when in the company of only her horse she would still chatter away.

When Asandrian left, saying “you don’t really know me”, she took up the only thing left she could truly rely on, her trusty steed, and rode aimlessly, along the long, straight road.

The morning after Asandrian had said goodbye, Yulara received word her grandmother had passed away. It was all she could bare, spontaneously bursting into uncharacteristic sobbing, all the while people hushed and looked away. Atop her speedy champion, the wind whooshing past her eyelids and into her ears, his hooves clumping heavily, rhythmically, upon the cobbles, she yelled into the wind “I didn’t really want it anyway!” Her pain fell discarded upon the side of the road, unheard and unnoticed.

So urgent was her desire to be gone, Yulara sped her mount without stopping right past the large rock she used to visit for meditation and prayer. Several months earlier she had already made the pilgrimage to the sacred place and laid her hand upon the red ochre, finding the monolith surprisingly cool in the midday heat.

She had never seen snow and neither had her elderly grandmother, having lived all their lives in a hot and humid climate. Yulara finally found herself in a cold place. Yulara climbed up on a perilous precipice, swallowing her own fears to reach a place as far away as she could possibly get. When she reached the summit, she lay her hand on the snow, remembering her grandmother and her lost love. ‘Maybe this place is far enough away …’ she whispered, and she imagined even her horse had nothing to say.

The Journey, part one
http://www.youtube.com/user/MaryofNagrand#p/a/u/1/HHjpKqOePzI

The Journey, part two
http://www.youtube.com/user/MaryofNagrand#p/a/u/0/c_h4DIn0Pvg

Elder Uma Dings 80!

My druid Uma just dinged level 80, so now I have 5 x 80 toons on Nagrand!

For want of something better to do, it’s been my plan to level all classes for a while now. The reason is to improve my understanding of all the classes so I can (hopefully) lead raids better. I don’t think it’s possible to play all classes exceptionally well at the same time, but good raid leaders must have a basic understanding of at least most classes. And of course, I was reminded by one of my kind guildies that ‘didn’t you get free levels?’ referring to the recruit a friend deal David and I did a while back. Isn’t it funny that when you do something that might be impressive, there is always someone there to explain how it possibly could have happened? I mean, it couldn’t be because I can play well, right? There must be some reasonable explanation! The fact is, after a considerable about of planning together, there was only 5 of my characters that could take advantage of the deal, and they could only get to 60. And the R.A.F deal is a legitimate levelling aid, so it’s not like cheating. It means we could plan well together to take full advantage of it, and that’s smart gameplay.

Geminda, Blood Elf Priest, 80 – duo levelled with Hydde to 70 then Nathaniell to 80. (no R.A.F.)
Sigora, Orc Hunter, 80 – R.A.F. from level 1 duo levelled to 60 with Wolffish, solo levelled from 60 to 80.
Yulara, Blood Elf Paladin, 80 – duo levelled to mid 20s with Steelle, R.A.F mid 20s to 60 with ?, solo levelled 60 to 80.
Summonatrix, Blood Elf Warlock, 80 – duo levelled with Avastin to 70 then Nathaniell to 74, solo levelled from 74 to 80 (no R.A.F.)
Uma, Tauren Druid, 80 – solo levelled to mid 20s,  free R.A.F levels from mid 20s to 60, solo levelled to 80

And before I forget, I may as well write down how my other 4 Nagrand toons levelled…
Swiftmyst, Blood Elf Rogue, 70 – R.A.F level 1 to 60 duo levelled with Amberthorn, duo levelled with Hexlord from 60 to 70
Maryrose, Undead Warrior, 76 – solo levelled to 50 …  solo levelled from 60 to 65, JC Dailies with Nathaniell to 70, duo levelled with Wolffish 70 to 76 (no R.A.F.)
Darkmystress, Blood Eld Death Knight, 62 – R.A.F. with Hexlord 55 to 60, then solo levelled
Zye, Troll Shaman – solo levelled to 45 (no R.A.F.)

Elder Uma's "What to Wear" Dilemma

Oh no! What to wear?? That is the Question!!! Here is a gallery of all the Chinese New Year outfits you can get in WoW.  Seeing as Uma had a truckload of coins to spend after getting the title, what else was she to do but to go and get every single one???

Elder Uma celebrates Chinese New Year

One of my most favourite World of Warcraft seasonal festivities is the Lunar Festival, which celebrates Chinese New Year with fireworks, cookies and beautiful costumes.

I’ve always loved the special dresses you can get with the Elder coins, they are the most pretty in the game imho. In my old RP days, I had one of these outfits on each of my Feathermoon characters in a different colour (which was colour-coordinated with their other outfits!). At one point, I was logging them out in their RP gear so they looked nice at the starter screen. Aaaahhh, what you do when you are bored!

I’ve figured I would get one title for each of my ‘main’ toons, rather than trying to get all seasonal titles on one toon for the special mount. My druid Uma just Had to be the Elder, right? This is one of the few dresses that actually suits the tauren females! Also, I figured “Elder Uma” was a funny play on vowels which sounded right, much like how “Sigora the Explorer” suits my hunter. But I couldn’t get the Elder title on Uma last year as she was only level 60 and you need level 77 to get to the Elder in Utgarde Pinnacle. I thought she had to be 80, so was aiming for that, but realised she didn’t need to level all the way, so didn’t. No point in levelling yet another toon if I don’t actually feel like it.

Uma is an interesting character, pretty quiet,  supposedly stately and composed, so her personality seems well suited to the Elder title. But get her around Amberthorn and her impulses to /udderflash can be quite embarrassing! Now she is an “Elder”, perhaps she will conduct herself with more decorum, even while in the company of handsome tauren males!!!

My three year old baby, Bloodlust of Nagrand.

I look over all of the craft projects I could do, things started but not finished, and wonder what I might have achieved if I started this in earnest 5 years ago. But I can’t begrudge the time I invested in a virtual reality known as Azeroth. I’ve learnt so much, about myself, my limitations and strengths, and about people generally. Those who don’t dabble in MMOs of any kind would be surprised and bemused to know I have to say it’s been a life enriching experience!

“To wake in the morning with an energy and passion .. makes any cloud seem surmountable and frivolous.”

Three years ago today, while David was at work, I created my second guild charter on a raven haired rogue named Mary. I had made it the day before on my warlock, Zalise, but decided I wanted the GM to be a toon with an honourable and stately name (years later a young officer would tell me that name was too religious!) I also decided to do it on the 1st of  February which would make it an easy to remember birthday. When he got home I said ‘Darling, I’ve made us a guild! We’re just waiting for your signature’ as I’d easily managed to get 8 other names signed up straight away. It was called Bloodlust simply because with the launch of the Burning Crusade, I had fallen in love with Blood Elves. I had no idea that it was not an original guild name, we would later find there were many, many guilds called Bloodlust, and ironically it was also the name of Nagrand’s battlegroup.

Since then, so much has happened, so many trials and tribulations, so many adventures and misadventures! I started out with such different views on the game and the role of players, as it was my first MMO. But the experience of trying to lead a guild has made me make a complete turn around in attitude. It’s been very, very hard and now I look back and wonder what the hell was driving me so passionately. The only explanation I can find is that it replaced another great passion of mine, something I full heartedly believed in with all my soul, yet irreplaceably lost. To wake in the morning with an energy and passion for the tasks you are about to undertake that day spurs you on and makes any cloud seem surmountable and frivolous. It’s quite an astonishing miracle, that the guild took on this mantle, that I was able to re-devote my attentions so self-assuredly to an abstract concept so that it would survive to this day. I actually gave up on it three months ago and made David’s toon the guild leader, a token gesture as I’m still involved with it, but I did it all the same. The passion has died, I no longer know with complete confidence what is best for the guild, to have that spirit and energy to virtually fight with other personalities that would interfere and take advantage of our work and take it for their own. It is a very abstract concept, and now the fire to fight is hard to find within me. But for the guys that are left, as long as they are happy with the direction it goes now, I’m content we’ve had fun with it and it achieved something great. Now I am a passenger on a ship I built, I give myself up to trust and the gentle rocking of waves not of my own making!

Happy Birthday, Bloodlust of Nagrand, my amazing baby, may you continue to grow without me holding your hand wherever you go!
Much love from Mary, the Rose. xoxxox

Short and Sweet Raid Leading

Explaining how we will tackle a boss needs to be succinct. No one can retain more than a few pieces of new information at a time. Its meaningless for someone who is seeing a boss for the 1st time to prattle off a long list of things for them that they have to remember. Likewise, if we launch into a lenghty dialogue of information we will loose them.

Expect them to have done the research. True, most of us only get so much out of it, but it does set the foundation for learning the fight. As raid leaders, our job is to direct how this particular class-mix of raiders will tackle this fight, not explain the whole thing from scratch.

Consider what is the single most important thing they must remember. Limit extra information. Try to avoid including information that’s only relevant to a few, eg. tanks or healers, while explaining to the whole group. Try typing info for healers/tanks in party chat.

If seeing a boss for the first time, expect a couple of wipes. For the 1st time they see the boss, tell them the single most important thing, and go right in so they get their head around that. If possible, give short info on the fly eg. ‘get out of that fire’ as it happens. Our raiders are experienced, getting out of fire isn’t hard, and telling them as it happens will make the intro shorter.

Also, if you stand around too long at the start, the best moment can pass. Pregnant pauses need to be avoided when you have everyone captured, standing around ready to go. It’s like having athletes poised on those starter blocks ready for a running race, they are just waiting for the starter gun. If you make them wait too long it can wear thin on the athletes nerves and the best moment to strike can be lost, or erroded.

It is about finding the balance between just rushing in with no thought and standing around contemplating the upcoming fight for too long. Our raiding should be measured, but also swift and sure.

* the above is an excerpt from a post I wrote for our officer forum, Bloodlust of Nagrand
http://www.bloodlustofnagrand.com/index.php?topic=352.0

Accidental Achievements

Like I lot of WoW players, I’m really enjoying the relatively new achievement system implemened about 12 months ago. I particularly like how you can earn achievements through the normal course of the game, incidently bringing up achievement spam just because you are on an old toon  who has been many places and done many things. That would be particularly more special if you only had one main, but I have several alts, so my game time is spread across several toons.

The guy in our guild who has the most achievement points just has the one toon, and because of a new baby can’t come on our raids as he often has to go afk, so spends his time clocking up achievements. I wonder how many points I have across all my toons and if it would measure up ….

While doing a random 5man this morning on my hunter, who is my current main toon as she out geared my priest a month or two ago, she got the Northrend Dungeonmaster and Northrend Dungeon Hero achievements without actually planning to. Just by doing a random 5man nearly everyday, she eventually did all of them. I did plan to get that achievement on my priest, but not my hunter, as she has the ‘of the Nightfall‘ title and doesnt need the Champion of the Frozen Wastes title, imho! My priest needed it though, as we tried to raise the standard in our raiders at the start of Lich King and had to set the example. Our guild has come a hell of a long way since Karazhan ….

Last night, while our guild was in Icecrown Citadel, our retadin got the Master of Arms. When I moused over it to see what it was, I saw that my hunter actually already had it and I didn’t even know it!  Just like getting the Epic and the Superior achievements, or the Needy or Greedy ones. Some people ask if we can need or greed stuff so they can get it, but I think that misses the point of accidental achievements.

Only one of my toons has the World Explorer achievement, but I did plan to get that one and methodically went about to get it. Very straight forward to do, of course, but a bit time consuming. And it just had to be Sigora, don’t you agree? Sigora the Explorer has a nice ring to it, and its a poke of the tongue at those who scoffed at the achievement system when it first came out, with their jibs about people wanting things like the “Dora the Explorer” title. Siggie just collected herbs while she was out and about getting it, so I really don’t think it was a waste of time at all.

For my other toons, if it occurs to me and I see on their maps a few pieces missing of a zone, if its convenient I’ll just make a little detour, but that’s it. I don’t think my other level 80s with need to go back to the low levels zones so much that they will happen to explore it all, but you never know!