This, that, the other
So I broke down and picked up Lord of the Rings Online when it went free-to-play. Lotro has a very different feel from World of Warcraft: more laidback, slower, almost a tourist-y feel. And why not? You're running around in Middle-Earth. The lack of open PvP certainly contributes to it. Unlike WoW, PvP only exists in certain areas, and you can opt to play as a monster. Literally.
The change to free-two-play isn't all positive. I can't continue to play in one particular area, the Lone-Lands, despite having quests there from when I subscribed. I need to unlock them with Turbine Points (earned five or ten at a time from accomplishing Deeds, or cough up money and buy some from the Lotro Store). If I could afford it, I'd resub up and cut out the middle-(earth) man entirely.
Playing Lotro made me want to read the trilogy again. Tolkien didn't survive the Great Book Purge of '08 when I moved, but my nephew left behind The Hobbit and The Return of the King. The used bookstore down the road had the first two books in the trilogy,and The Silmarillion. Had to buy a bookmark to reach the minimum for a debit card, which was annoying.
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At the end of August Brother Dave and I went to our older brother's retirement party. It was a good day for a drive through the Irish Hills. Being able to look out the window and see two, three miles in the distance was nice. Seeing all the attractions -- Stagecoach Stop, Prehistoric Forest, the Irish Hills Tower -- closed down and slowly falling apart was sad. The Dairy Bar's still there, probably because of the traffic from MIS.
The retirement party was on the small side, which is why my sister-in-law sent us home with twenty pounds of food. No, I'm not kidding. She really cooked that much. (Everything was homemade, except the cake.) An aluminum tray of pulled pork, another of cheesy potatoes, and a Blue Bunny ice cream bucket full of baked beans. My nephew came over the next day and took away two-thirds of it, thankfully.
No desserts came home with us. They were evil. Evil! Lemon squares, cherry squares, pineapple squares and a variation on Rice Krispie treats made with peanut butter and butterscotch chips, and frosted with chocolate. You could feel your blood sugar rocket just looking at them. I had a sliver of the latter and a lemon square. Really evil. (My brother's sister-in-law made them; his wife -- normally the baker for these things -- declared them "passable". )
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I've been having a lot of trouble sleeping the last couple weeks. I can't fall asleep until I'm exhausted, which means I'm going to bed around... 6 or 7 am. And even then I don't get any more than a few hours' sleep. I know it's been stress about this latest doctor's visit (verdict: improvement, but not enough, come back in three months). I'm just hoping I can get back to a normal sleep schedule.
Which is why I'm posting at 5 in the morning. Yeah.
The change to free-two-play isn't all positive. I can't continue to play in one particular area, the Lone-Lands, despite having quests there from when I subscribed. I need to unlock them with Turbine Points (earned five or ten at a time from accomplishing Deeds, or cough up money and buy some from the Lotro Store). If I could afford it, I'd resub up and cut out the middle-(earth) man entirely.
Playing Lotro made me want to read the trilogy again. Tolkien didn't survive the Great Book Purge of '08 when I moved, but my nephew left behind The Hobbit and The Return of the King. The used bookstore down the road had the first two books in the trilogy,and The Silmarillion. Had to buy a bookmark to reach the minimum for a debit card, which was annoying.
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At the end of August Brother Dave and I went to our older brother's retirement party. It was a good day for a drive through the Irish Hills. Being able to look out the window and see two, three miles in the distance was nice. Seeing all the attractions -- Stagecoach Stop, Prehistoric Forest, the Irish Hills Tower -- closed down and slowly falling apart was sad. The Dairy Bar's still there, probably because of the traffic from MIS.
The retirement party was on the small side, which is why my sister-in-law sent us home with twenty pounds of food. No, I'm not kidding. She really cooked that much. (Everything was homemade, except the cake.) An aluminum tray of pulled pork, another of cheesy potatoes, and a Blue Bunny ice cream bucket full of baked beans. My nephew came over the next day and took away two-thirds of it, thankfully.
No desserts came home with us. They were evil. Evil! Lemon squares, cherry squares, pineapple squares and a variation on Rice Krispie treats made with peanut butter and butterscotch chips, and frosted with chocolate. You could feel your blood sugar rocket just looking at them. I had a sliver of the latter and a lemon square. Really evil. (My brother's sister-in-law made them; his wife -- normally the baker for these things -- declared them "passable". )
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I've been having a lot of trouble sleeping the last couple weeks. I can't fall asleep until I'm exhausted, which means I'm going to bed around... 6 or 7 am. And even then I don't get any more than a few hours' sleep. I know it's been stress about this latest doctor's visit (verdict: improvement, but not enough, come back in three months). I'm just hoping I can get back to a normal sleep schedule.
Which is why I'm posting at 5 in the morning. Yeah.