Low tech for lent... 40 days without a laptop.

Well... you may be asking... "Now Ryotgrrl, did WoW eat you? Are you indeed a zombie? Where have you gone?"  Fear not faithful readers!  True to the Ryotgrrl spirit I was trying something new and the same stuff all at the same time!  Easter Sunday has passed and many of the christian faith have been released from the restrictions they put on themselves for Lent.  Like them I got to return to what I had given up, my laptop. You may raise an eyebrow, and without back-story I would too. Hear me out and you'll see where this got skewed up.

http://www.webcomichell.com

"In the beginning, she had an idea: and  she thought it great.  And that was good.
I shall go low tech for Lent! I shall report! I shall... be pious?
And she tried, and that was a different story."
-the book of ryot


So up late I get the idea to dump my high tech gadgets over Lent.  It's just 40 days... and what the hell do I do in a day? It will make a good story! Getting outside is good for you, er me! This can only lead to good things; well I don't know if I was drinking when I came to this conclusion but let's take a look at how this played out.
Usually Mardi Gras is looked forward to and decadently observed in my little world, this year I had already started making excuses for my commitment to lessen long before Ash Wednesday.  Um, I need my... phone still, it is how I talk to my mom and what if there is an emergency? ..... yea. So there I have social networks, all sorts of media and the ability to get more.  And I can't take away the TV, I'm not the only one in the house; or wait! I can watch TV when they do and just not play video games. Wait, did I say not play video games, that's stupid.  So in the zero hour it became I won't use my laptop for Lent. That will still get me out of the house, using my free time more wisely and save monies... somehow.  Again, I forget it's bitter cold here in the middle of nowhere and there is little to nothing to do in this one horse town; oh yea, and I'm incurably lazy with no attention span.
So I started off ok, walking to the store in time I might have been WoWing, cleaning when I could have been blogging and talking to the better half, myself, and my higher power in my quieter moments; this lasted a week, maybe 10 days. Then I was sorta bored, and the house was pretty clean and the cats were looking at me sideways cause I had started making costumes and creating tiny puzzles for them to solve.
I started coming up with excuses for the better half to use my computer, check things, listen to Pandora  pull up movies (you see where this is headed); suddenly the retrospective moments vanished.  I spent more time using internet programs I usually did on the computer on my phone and game console. I got better at cheating. Gave up a PC mmo and started a console one. Then I read somewhere that Sundays didn't count in Lent and out the window went any sort of resolve. Like a doomed New Year's resolution I then lamented my failure instead of just trying again at piety, meditation, alms-giving, repentance and self-reflection I sulkingly plodded on doing the same.  It just built and built until it was pointless in my eyes so I sorta just sat stagnant. This was supposed to be a time for me, regardless of religion, to focus on faith, bettering of my body and soul; and I made it 40 days of excuses, corner cutting and cheating. I gave up WoW for Lent but picked DCUO back up.
I realize and winder how many other people may be turning a good thing around and in that making it the exact opposite of what they wanted.

Why couldn't I give up driving?  I don't even have a damned car.

NOTE: No, I am not making light of sacrifice, meditation, prayer, penance or repentance.  I am also not making statements to anyone's belief or experience over Lent but my own. Lastly I make no clams to the validity of ANY religion. (What the hell would I know?)

The New Year & What It Brought Me...

Wow.. After a holiday break here we are back at the daily grind of bringing the injustices and insights of the world to light.
If you are looking for some emotional crap about how I vow to change or do this or do that click elsewhere. I can't even bring myself to say that stupid shit to myself in the mirror let alone spoon feed it to you good people.  So you wonder... What good Ryotgrrl, what is it that you have gotten for the new year? WELL let me tell you, I got a big box of Blizzard. The WoW all the way up to the new expansion. If you are rolling your eyes and thinking how crappy WoW is again, click away now.
I have wanted to be many things over the years, but when I saw the opportunity to be a panda,  how could I resist?  In the past I have played EverQuest, and recently checked out the EQII (NOT a fan, but that is a blog for another day), I've gone the DCUO route as well some others; this is not my first time at the rodeo.  I have always wanted to play WoW so this is my first foray into it since I tried a free trial download years ago.

I was extra interested in starting my blog about this after re-reading PLAYBOY's article 'Life and Death Online- They're Not Just Games (March 2003)' I was musing about the evolution of gaming online and the wide range of gamers that have come to fill the evolving roll of players in them.  I know many people see players of said online games as kids in a dark basement with bad skin, asthma, too many caffeinated beverages about and nothing better to do.  Shows like The Guild, Big Bang Theory, Pure Pwnage, Numbers, have shown us that geeks, gamers and the tech savvy can come in all shapes and sizes, all walks of life.  Hell, is there a crime drama out there now without the quirky geek, the boy genius or tech wizard?  So, yea, my point... gamers aren't the social pariahs they used to be, they are becoming more of a norm.

After 2 weeks of starting and deleting toons, I have 2 lvl 20+ characters and a 2 others that have barely broke level 10 on different servers.  I've joined one guild logged many hours and still retain most of my sanity and a fair hold on reality.   My housework gets done, I talk to people and my boyfriend still talks to me; so far, I don't seem to be addicted but I AM enjoying myself.  I'm also VERY curious about the community on different servers and factions, players races and I would love comments from other players!  Hit me up people!