Inquisition ended

So, I finally stopped pissing around in DAI long enough to finish the main story line. I think that Mr. Fluffy may have tried to record me. I was talking a major butt load of crap to the characters.

*Warning!* Some minor spoilers ahead!


Ok so without giving away too much (because you know, it all depends on the narrative you took), I had a few choice words with Miss Morrigan-I-can-match-the-dragon's-power. I was doing my thing, she was doing hers killing a dragon, then BAM! Bitch gets taken down mid fight.

We went into this with a plan woman!

So yeah, I had to fight the dragon and the big baddie boss. I was not a happy person. Mr. Fluffy kept giggling at me while I kept yelling about how these other supposed bad-ass characters couldn't hold up their end of the plan and I was having to pick up their slack.

So finally beat the dragon down and got back to the big baddie fight. Beat him down and paraded my happy little butt around Skyhold and had a very nice final scene *wink wink*

Hell yeah, bow down peasants 

All in all, I liked it alot. Now I am going to continue the craziness and do it again, but this time whole new race, class and going to choose templars over the mages. We will see how well I do a second time :D

I didn't expect the Inquisition

Ah, Dragon Age: Inquisition. You who have completely taken over my weekends and spare time. I do adore you :) .

Mr. Fluffy bought me Inquisition for valentines day. Yep, he hasn't spent alot of time with me since. I did however point out to him his Skyrim addiction and now he has an idea how that was for me lol. He is cool with it however. He even has taken an incriminating picture of one of my 12 hour gaming days. It isn't pretty.....

Anyways, it is great. I haven't been quite this in love with a game in awhile, at least not since Black Ops. I liked the option of choosing how the story goes, right down to who your character romances. I had never actually played any of the Dragon Age games before this and now I am wishing I had. There is so much that goes over my head because it happened in the other games. Anywhoo, I am quite enjoying it and that is what I have been up to alot lately :)

Sorry for the long absence

So yeah I haven't done this in a while now lol. The only excuse I can give is that I have been extra super busy with my local Amtgard chapter for the past 9 months. I took over a position that no one else wanted and have been slaving away since. My last term is up in July so hopefully at that time I will be able to be more active on here.

Other than working my rear off for Amtgard, I have been catching up on my gaming. I forced Mr. Fluffy to finish Borderlands with me so I could play the second one I got for Christmas.  He finished that one and got about 3/4 of the way through the second one before abandoning me. He thinks it's a boring game. Really? This is coming from the man who will play Skyrim and Fallout for days without pause doing the most mundane thing in the game and yet, Borderlands 2 is too boring. Whatever.

The munchkins are getting bigger. Currently gearing up Little Man for middle school. He decided to take band as his elective ( Insert giggly happy mother face, YES BAND NERD!) We have also been dealing with the onset of that most heinous of monsters, puberty. He pretty much sounds like a squeaky toy 24-7 much to his distress and my great amusement. This has unfortunately (or fortunately) led to that most awkward of talks......S-E-X. Oh dear, I wasn't ready for it. Mr. Fluffy on the other hand was all kinds of Mr. Informative to him. I am dealing with it, but my heart cried about losing my son's innocence.

Well that about sums up my time away. Until the next post (whenever that may be)

I'm a glutton for punishment :)

I love horror games. Love, love, love them! BUT.....I can only play them when either someone else is there or during the day because I have a very active imagination and I tend to scare the dickens out of myself. One of my faves is Fatal Frame. I know its an oldie but I still get creeped out playing it. That thrill that goes through you when something unexpected happens and your left with your controller half way across the room and curled in the fetal position alternately crying and laughing is just the best.

So imagine my delight when I heard about Slender, a game where I would not be able to defend myself, just run like a mad person. I watched all the hilarious videos on YouTube, read all the articles I could find and then finally talked myself into downloading it. My overwhelming anticipation was dowsed when I found out my computer hated the game. I could load it and move but it was so choppy that I would never have a chance against Slendy. I tried adjusting it every way I could think and it was still the same. So I was highly disappointed. I am going to try again. Going to delete some games that I never play anymore and see if that works, maybe adjust my actual computer settings. If that doesn't work I will sick Mr. Fluffy on it.

About six months ago I learned that Blue Isle Studios had so much great success with Slender that they were making a new game called Slender: The Arrival. Of course I became obsessed again. I haven't been able to download it yet, though I am getting it soon. I was so excited and I wanted to see it in action, so the other night while Mr. Fluffy was visiting with one our friends I decided that I would look and see if anyone had uploaded game play of it yet. O M Gosh! First off the guy playing it is extremely funny. Here is his YouTube channel . He has some really great ones up, BUT back to the story. I was watching it and I suddenly realized that it was quiet. Mr. Fluffy and our friend had decided to watch it with me (though Mr. Fluffy really had no choice because I was sitting on him. Hey, you steal my computer chair you become the computer chair.). After about two minutes into the second part they had both moved away from me because I was jumping and screaming so much they were fearing bodily harm. It was terrifying but in a good way. I can't wait to buy a copy for myself and play it.

I love horror games :D

Random rubbish I did over the weekend

What to write! Gah! There are so many little things going through my brain right now but the question is, what do I share?

First off, the entire weekend was just great. I needed some much deserved mommy down time and so I shipped the kids off to Grandma's house. It was also good for them, they needed time away from me just as much as I needed time from them and were actually excited to see me when I picked them up.

Friday night after we had pawned the children off with my parental, we pretty much just vegged on the couch. We played CoD, watched some TV, and munched our munchies in our pj's.

Saturday, we spent the morning zoning out and getting ready to go out to the Amtgard field. We had been expecting visitors from another field and it turned out to be a very fun day. I saw some old friends and met some new. Our brothers in arms brought our fledgling group some much needed items and when it was all over no one wanted to say goodbye.

I had made Mr. Fluffy promise to take me on his bike later after everything was done. I told him "I don't care where just ride!" Sounded romantic at the time but the temperature wound up dropping dramatically while we were on said "ride". He decided to take a pit stop at a local "gaming" store that recently opened up and I hadn't seen yet and to show me the awesome flyer that had been made for our amtgard group. Don't get me wrong, I love all kinds of gaming and gamers I just don't do well at roleplaying games like D&D. I enjoy watching people play it but I am just not very good at it myself. This place happens to cater to this type of gamer. Wooo! I love that I really do. So while I was waiting on Mr. Fluffy (he had gone to say hi to some friends) I was at the front counter looking at their wares. A man (who I am going to assume is the owner) came up to me and started a conversation about gaming. He politely asked if I gamed, I told him that yes I did. He then asked what my poison was, I kind of stammered because I mean where do you start? I was shyly trying to name off some games when he was all "Magic? D&D? hmmm?" I told him "Oh, I don't do very well at those, I mainly stick to PC and console games" You would have thought that I had spilled grape juice on white carpet with the look that came over his face. He quickly got himself together and said "Oh a video gamer" as if he was mentioning something filthy. I on the other hand quickly got over my surprise and was trying hard not to guffaw in this fellow's face, because honestly he seemed like a pretty cool guy even if he doesn't like us video gamers. Soon after that we rode over to a very pretty park to scout out an area for a gathering we are going to be hosting in a month. It's very pretty and I am hoping the weather will be nice.

Sunday was pretty relaxed. I worked on making the ugliest bag in history to hold our new treasures. Mr. Fluffy calls it the "Santa Bag", I told him it was more like "The ugly bag of shame." I also posted some pictures of me in "Garb" (term used to signify our medieval dress) so that our new people could see examples.

I was really frakin cold. Thus the smile of "hurry the frack up!"

Yep that is me. Freezin my butt off while Mr. Fluffy took his time using my phone to take the picture.He insisted that we couldn't take the picture in the house "Because they wouldn't be able to see the details" and also he kept having to adjust my hood because at one point I looked like a headless monk from Doctor Who. I think he was just having fun seeing me freeze. There are some other things, but like I said earlier, I am still struggling with if I should or should not share them :)

Having a mini-me isn't always flowers and sunshine

You know what no one tells you when you get pregnant with your first child? How hard it is going to be when you two fight. Let me tell you, Little Man and I fight alot. Don't get me wrong, I adore my son. I love him beyond anything in this world. When he smiles and looks at me with his giant chocolate colored eyes and eyelashes any girl would kill to have makes my heart positively soar. He is the black sheep of our children, but he is the apple of his mother's eye. Someday, some girl is going to have a problem with how much of a mamma's boy he is, but I can deal with that later. The problem now is that he is too much like myself. While I can see all the good things about myself in him, I see all my flaws as well. I want so badly for my son to be a better person than I that it leads to some awful arguments between us.

I see in him the debilitating shyness I always endured. Except, whereas I would shutdown emotionally and hide when I felt "cornered" by other people, he reacts with aggression. I cannot tell you how many times Mr. Fluffy and I have been called to the school because he hit another student. I see the temper that I inherited from my own father in him. Both my father and I are quick to anger, though we don't usually hurt anyone physically. I try very hard to be a good example for him, to show him how to effectively deal with his anger so he doesn't hurt anyone else and even put him in counseling. I see in him the same way that I react to something that seems insurmountable. When I feel overwhelmed I usually break down and rebel against it. He does the same thing.

I want my son to be a better person than me. I see in him the ability to be better and do better than me. This is where many of our arguments start.

This week has been a test of my ability to cope with someone so similar to myself. Last weekend my son decided that he wanted to fight in Amtgard. Mr. Fluffy and I set down two rules. He wanted Little Man to keep up on his chores, I wanted one week without him getting in trouble at school. The first day at school, he gets his phone (it's for emergencies only) taken up at school, because instead of listening to his teacher he decided that his phone was more interesting and took it out of his backpack and had it in his desk. We told him that he would have to earn back his phone since I have to pay them to return it to me. I was willing to let that slide as to the getting in trouble at school rule. What was his reaction when we told him all this? He immediately told us how unfair we were being and then stoutly refused to do any chores at all all week long. I let his father deal with the chore issue because I just wasn't up to arguing about it. Then yesterday, I got a call from his teacher informing me that the rebellion had continued at school. She said that all week long, my son had only completed one assignment of his homework and schoolwork. Feeling like a failure of a mother  for trusting my eleven year old to not lie to me and not hovering over him every minute until he had finished his homework, I resolutely told her to send everything he didn't get done that day home and I would make sure he got every bit of it done. Needless to say he was not very happy with me. I then proceeded to call my mother and inform her that she needed the kids there this weekend or she was going to end up without a daughter.

This morning we both got up and eyeballed each other. Who would be the first to make a move? Who was going to bring up this weekend first (I hadn't informed him at this point he was spending it at grandma's house)? Then the sword to my heart was delivered with these words "I'm really really looking forward to fighting on the field this weekend mom!" How do I deal with that? So I slowly looked at him and said "You are going to Grandma's this weekend with the other two." All hell broke loose. The tears came from both of us and the claims of how unfair it all was tore my heart apart. I knew that if I backed down for one minute I would fall apart and he would never learn the lesson I was trying to teach him. Eventually he stormed off to his room and cried to his brother about their cruel, cruel mother. I patiently waited until I couldn't hear anymore sorrowful pleas of understanding and instead heard them giggling. I called him back downstairs. He slowly walked down and gave me that look that said he was pretty sure I was going to send him to a remote island. I calmly asked him if he understood why he was being denied the privilege of getting to go out his weekend and if he understood that it wasn't anyone's fault but his own. He said he did realize that it was his fault he was in trouble, he shouldn't have played with his phone and he understood how important his schoolwork is. You see, he wants to be a game designer when he grows up (squee!) and he is smart enough to do so. I also believe that with his proclivity to be alone it would be a career that would suit him perfectly. We hugged, we cried a little more and then I sent him on his way to school. I know this won't be our last fight as it certainly wasn't our first. What I do know is that as much as it hurts for us to fight, I can't back down because I am making him a better person than I am and someday all the tears and hurt feelings will pay off. In the meantime, all I can do is stand my ground while making sure he knows I love him.

My Black Ops battle chatter

I don't know how many of you have actually played any of the Call of Duty series, but I love them. My favorite ones so far are the Black Ops games. I seriously have way too much fun on these games. My father and niece say that I'm a bit bloodthirsty and the kids know that is mommy's special time and not to disturb me. 

Mr. Fluffy and I were playing one day and decided to make our own battle chatter based on the game's chatter. Battle chatter, for those of you who haven't played, is something called out by your character while running around and shooting people.  It isn't something you control yourself, it is controlled by the environment and what is happening in the game at the time. A good example would be when one player with a sniper rifle is seen by another player on the opposing team, their guy will yell out "Sniper!" very loudly to alert all the nearby players. The actual player doesn't have to do anything to trigger this other than sight the sniper. Most of the time I ignore the battle chatter. Sometimes though, you can't help but laugh at it. 

Yep just like that

In the first Black Ops, there is a faction called The Vietnam People's Army. Keep in mind this game takes place during World War II. Part of the battle chatter is "Tao thấy nó!", which apparently means "I see him". It does not at all sound like it looks. For the longest time, Mr. Fluffy and I thought they were yelling out "You die now!". So we often yell it out when playing the game. 

Our new favorite happened by boredom. We were playing the new Black Ops 2 and my character just happened to spot an enemy player. I was completely giggle ridden when he yelled out "Enemy with weapon!". Now yes I know they were trying to keep the battle chatter authentic and this is probably something said quite often by real soldiers but I couldn't help but yell out, "Oh my gosh! Enemy with a weapon? What else would he have? A cupcake?" I then proceeded to constantly yell out every time "Enemy with cupcake!" Needless to say, Mr.Fluffy was having a hard time playing because he was laughing too much. 

Now pair my own brand of battle chatter with how I can't help but talk crap to the game and you may get an inkling why Mr. Fluffy wants to secretly record me (and why I am not allowed a headset). 

Our gaming obsession and why I love it

  Mr. Fluffy and I are both "gamers."  We both play numerous games and platforms. We quite enjoy our little mutual hobby. We both got into WoW for many years together, we both like the Call of Duty games and we love to hunt down new games and try them out. For many people, they think this means that one of us must like a game the other enjoys. Not true. I don't really understand his obsession with Fallout and he doesn't really get into Borderlands the way I do. I obsess over all the tiny details in the Fable series, he spends hours running in circles on Skyrim. While he used to fuss over his guns and home in Star Wars Universe, I would get bored and put my character into a perpetual dance and walk away. That is what I really love about us both being gamers. Yes, we do play many, many games together that we both like but it allows us the freedom to find something we like as an individual. I don't begrudge him his time alone on Skyrim (I myself have never even felt the urge to try it), in fact many times I will be next to him on the couch reading a book or talking to him while he plays it. I will ask him questions about what is going on and he loves bragging on his character and what all it can do. He does the same with me. Our conversations usually run like this:

"What is going on now?"

"Oh well, remember I was doing so and so?"

"Yeah"

"Well that escalated to this and now I'm blowing things up for the heck of it and I think I just might have to start over because I blew all my money and I really needed this <random object> by now"

"Ah that sucks"

I'm really glad that out of all the hobbies my husband and I could have it would be gaming. Something so diverse that we do not get bored easily and we can find something we both like together as well as separately.

So called "Gamer Girls"

    I have an issue with "gamer girls."  My issue is that alot of gamer girls feel the need to sexualize the fact that females game. Really? Face it girls, most men who game will find the very fact that you game sexy enough. Yes, I know you feel the need to prove you are not a troglodyte and that in fact you are pretty to these boys. Believe me, you could have three eyes and they would be excited to find out you are female. Mr. Fluffy is constantly getting told by other men how lucky he is that his wife loves to game as much as he does, and they don't even know what I look like because they don't care.

   I stalk alot of Facebook female gamer pages, and it never fails that no matter how much they promise they are real gamers and not just "gamer girls", the inevitable picture of a women posing naked or half naked with a controller will pop up. WTH? I am there to connect with other women who game, not to see your goods! It disappoints me to see honest female gamers fall into this.

I know, I know, wrong game and wrong console but very good description

   So please girls, put your clothes back on, use the controller properly and kick some butt on the game of your choice.

Guilty Gamer

   I have been kinda not gaming lately. It sucks. Big time. I am doing this as a supportive thing for Mr. Fluffy. You see, Mr. Fluffy is a student. Last semester he failed a class, in large part because he had reactivated his World of Warcraft account. He gets just a tad addicted. We both agreed this semester he would concentrate on his classes and less on games. Then, right before this semester started, we both tried out Aion Online. I quite enjoyed it and he did also and we made characters we could level together. While I know that I could make an alt toon and hope on there, my computer is in the living area and so is his.....he would not be able to concentrate on his homework. Plus I feel guilty for logging onto my account in front of him and playing to my heart's content while he slogs away on his homework  So, I have been sitting on my hands and trying not to pine for my PC or the Xbox (since he won't even play Black Ops 2 right now).

   I am going to try to log onto my Aion account tonight while he takes the boys to their scout meeting. I won't feel guilty for playing in front of him and I can get some "me" time since this weekend was spent taking care of sick children. I can at least get an hour for my little addiction, that should be able to hold me over for a few days at least :) 

An apology and a little game talk :)

    Ok so first off, I was so excited yesterday about getting comments (YAY!) and was checking it all out when I accidentally deleted them all.........I'm so fail I can't even deal with myself currently. So I apologize profusely to those who did comment and who got so rudely wiped off. Was not my intention to do that.


     My brain isn't cooperating with me today. I'm still dealing with the bronchitis and the medicine I take at night to quiet the coughs and let me sleep leaves me still feeling groggy in the mornings. So when I get to work in the mornings I am still not all there and we have been so darn busy lately. We give vaccinations at my job. We have been driving for people to come in and get their flu shots. Now that it is becoming an epidemic and all over the news, we have been flooded with people. We have had this shot for 5 months and barely had anyone get it, now they are breaking our doors down and demanding we lengthen our hours so they can all get their shots in.

Not going to happen people.

   We are open for vaccinations 6 of the 8 hours we operate. The first and last hours are set-up and break-down not counting the many other programs we offer. We have families and lives as well. Today has been so hectic. The only good thing is that with me still having a cough, when people come in they try to avoid me thinking I'm contagious........hehehehehehe.

    On another note, Mr. Fluffy and I were talking about MMOs this morning and I found one I am going to try out. It is put out by Aeria Games and is called DK Online. Here is a link to their page http://dkonline.aeriagames.com/. I already play one of their MMOs called Eden Eternal and love it because it appeals to both my gamer side and my anime freak side. Mr. Fluffy on the other hand, while he will play it with me if I beg hard enough, feels very girly playing it. So I thought this one might be a bit more appealing to his manly side. Now before anyone asks, yes I was a huge WoW enthusiast for a very long time (7 years in fact, I was playing before the first expansion). I stopped playing because their was way too much drama and if you weren't part of an elite guild you could forget about any decent gear. I know they have made changes to the system but the fact is that it is still the same drama queens playing and I just don't want to waste my time on them. I found joy in City of Heroes, but they were unable to keep their servers up and shut down. I am going to give this new one a go and hopefully I like it. Do any of you play MMOs? If so, which ones and how do you like them?

Hello my loves :)

      This is my first blog and first blog post. 

      Now that I have that out of the way, I am a first time blogger and this is just something I have thought of doing for some time now. Let me introduce myself. My name is Cassie. I will leave out my last name because I am just a bit paranoid that way. When I get more comfortable with all of this I will eventually share more info. I love to game. I play MMOs, FPS, just about any console game, and I used to roleplay (not the dirty kind people, the nerdy kind).I also do the occasional crafty thing. I have three children, I shall refer to them as Little Miss, Smarty Pants, and Little Man. I have been married for 11 years to my wonderful husband, who I shall refer to as Mr. Fluffy or the hubs. I call him Mr. Fluffy because since we have been together he has turned from a sleek and handsome guy into a sleek and handsome Sasquatch. I still love him though, even if sometimes he makes me contemplate if I could live with maiming him.

     I would welcome and appreciate input into how I am doing and helpful criticisms. I don't want a ton of drama or trolling as this is to be my outlet. A place for me to put out into the wide world all my random thoughts and musings. I will try to keep things lighthearted, but as I do have a condition that makes me emotionally volatile, I might have the occasional rant or depressing post.

    Aaand now we have gotten through with that, HI! Hello to all of you and I look forward to our journey together.