The day finally came when I hated Farmville.

Is it Wednesday? I think I'm still away from computers and internet. Are you worried about me yet? Are you enjoying my mean-time posts? Have I lost all my readers? I promise some really exciting stuff when I get back, really! Will this post about me disliking Farmville make up for it?


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August 10th, 2010

The infatuation has ended and now it's just stupid.

8:46 AM  MIRANDA EUBANKS  3 COMMENTS

I think I may be finished with facebook games. I still accept and "return the favor" with regards to Farmville gifts, but I haven't tended to my farm in well over a month. I was enthusiastically playing Frontierville for about two months and now I just feel irritated every time I check on my land. Is it really necessary for five new trees to sprout in a two hour period? Is that really fair? Oh right, they don't want their players to have an semblance of a life.

Every time I check on my frontier lately I heave a deep sigh and think "what's the point? I'm not actually making any sort of progress". Unless I am on that game every hour (which I can't do, nor do I want to do it) then I am literally chopping down the same tree every single day. It's like the Greek king that has to roll the boulder up the hill for eternity. Just depressing.

I read an interesting article on cracked.com the other day about how and why Farmville (and other facebook games like it) is so successful. Reading the secrets unraveled the whole experience for me, which is a good thing. It gave me that extra push to realize I don't even enjoy playing those "games".

They were certainly addictive and fun at first, especially Farmville. You leveled up so easily, it was exciting. Saving money to expand your farm and finally getting that last nail to complete your barn. Now your horses have a place to life! Great. Well, I have reached the cap. My farm is just bursting with livestock and tilled land. It became mundane internet labor to harvest crops and animals. I'd log in after tending to my real life for a few days and I'd see all those freaking pink icons and feel stressed about how long it would take me to click on each horse, chicken, pig, etc. No thank you.

In a way I'm very proud of myself. I have a tendency to create some very serious emotional attachments to inanimate objects, virtual ones included. Those sheep can stay there, ready to be shaved, I don't even care anymore.

So now what do I do with my free internet time? I could be enriching myself, researching and learning. I was doing that a bit the other day, cruising through wikipedia and learning some new things on a basic level. My issue seems to be I don't know what to search for! A wealth of knowledge at my fingertips and I can't even type a word into the search box. Somebody help me! Any topics that are particularly good to read about when you're feeling bored? Or just looking for some mental enrichment?

I have also taken to listening to music on youtube. Had never even thought of this as a viable option before, but turns out it's a good one. I like to read though. Suggestions are welcome.

-MJ

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It's always exciting to play Dungeons and Dragons.

There's a chance that I still don't have computer or internet access. If that's the case then I'm really sorry, but more importantly I really miss all of you! How's it going? Has anything exciting been happening in my absence? We should be talking again soon. To pass the time, here's a favorite entry of mine about playing Dungeons and Dragons!


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June 26th, 2010

It finally happened!

12:19 PM  MIRANDA EUBANKS  1 COMMENT

The stars have finally aligned because Dungeons and Dragons is back in my life! I have wanted to play for over four years, ever since my original campaign was dissolved. My friends have never been interested in playing and even if they were I don't know how to DM. My friend Andrew is in town from California and he plays DnD, he knows that I'd like to get a campaign going. Too bad he lives in LA or else the two of us would be able to get something going. He suggested that while he's here we play as many times as we can, and I am all for that.

On Thursday night we started up a game with his brother and some of his brother's friends. It was fantastic fun! I played my human barbarian, a character that I rolled four years ago after my original character, an elf rouge, was murdered by a giant. I don't play a rouge well at all but I think I'm doing alright with my barbarian so far. We played for a good four and a half hours and I am anxious to play again!

Last night Andrew and I, with our powers combined, convinced Jake to join us for DnD adventures! We didn't play but we did make characters. I rolled one for our friend James just in case he can pop in and play with us. We spent a good two hours just making some characters and I had a pretty good time. Jake has never made it past the character making phase so I'm really excited to actually get to the campaign.

On Thursday night I found myself in a party of adventurers setting toward the forest. A blight had settled onto the forest via the magical water source, causing all flora to wither and all fauna to become deranged and violent.

We trekked toward the center of the forest, aiming for the main tree of life and the magical water's source. As we moved along we encountered an Owlbear, a black bear, a Tree Ent, and an unnamed evil vine being. Our evening wrapped up as we finally approached the main tree and we laid eyes upon the source: goblins!

Dun dun dunnnnn.

Most likely this campaign will not be continued, which is sad, but I'm hopeful that a new one will begin this very evening!

I have more that I want to say but my mind is incredibly scattered right now.

-MJ

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I've talked about this 'geek' thing before, apparently.

So long as I haven't been bitten by a snake, stabbed by a scorpion, or run into the cold desert night and gotten lost after encountering a tarantula during a late night pee session, then I'm still camping in Joshua Tree! Please pray for my safe return, and in the meantime enjoy this entry that I wrote a few years ago about the whole 'fake geek' thing. You can read my most current thoughts on the subject over here.


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June 5th, 2010

What's in a name? (That was lame)

2:14 PM  MIRANDA EUBANKS  11 COMMENTS

I realize that this blog is called "a bit of geek" and therefore what I'm about to write may seem hypocritical or counter-intuitive. This is a rant, a pet peeve irritation of mine. I do have a few specific people in mind but my "thoughts" have been applied to many situations so I'm being extremely general here. I think it's also worth noting that sometimes I myself do what irritates me in other places/people/things. Hopefully this is a sufficient enough disclaimer.

I cannot stand it when someone decidedly non-geeky declares themselves to be a geek, nerd, dork or what have you, especially when what they're "doing" that apparently calls for just such a label isn't even that fitting. I like what I do, this was covered in a previous post. If someone wants to call me a geek/nerd/dork because of my hobbies and lifestyle then whatever, fine. To my knowledge though, I don't run around declaring that everything I do is "so geeky" or, "I am just such a dork" or, "this is a nerdy thing to do". In general terms I try to just say what it is that I like or what I'm doing.

Right now I'm listening to the Ocarina of Time soundtrack.

I still haven't gotten dressed for the day because I want to keep reading the Penny Arcade archives.

Even though I'm finished with classes and I'll be graduating in just about a week, I still have final evaluations to write. I'd really rather play WoW and I've been wrestling all morning over whether or not I should do the right thing or the fun thing.

Yesterday I talked with a friend and classmate about how exciting it was to learn website coding.

This is my second or third post today on my dedicated "geeky" stuff blog. This is one of those situations where I can be called a hypocrite because I used the word geek in reference to myself. I accept that geek, along with dork/nerd, are viable words in many situations. In this case it acts as a very adequate catch-all for my delicious hobbies.

I don't want to qualify any of these statements by prefacing them with a phrase such as, "I know this is really dorky but..." and I don't want to end them with, "I'm such a nerd I know".

I will happily call my friends dorks and nerds and geeks when the situation warrants it. I have a great friend who is the president (and creator) of the Star Trek club at her University. What a dork, but man I love her and I think she's awesome. She does not go around screaming to the damn rooftops that she's a dork or whatever. She is who she is and she's awesome. It should also be noted that her boyfriend is president and creator of the Pokemon club at the same University. :D

My best friend does many nerdy things on a regular basis and I love when she tells me about it. She's in bed with her boyfriend and they're both playing Pokemon? She went to a convention dressed as Chun Li? They have more comic books than I can even count and she frequently goes "huurrr hurrrr"? I LOVE HER. I love telling her how much of a dork she is when these things occur.

These two great friends of mine are fine with who they are and they love their hobbies. Neither of them run around proclaiming their nerdiness.

It makes me happy to be able to crown these words on my beloved friends. I personally take pride when someone christens me as such. Again, I love my hobbies; it just feels wrong to self title.

When I was in junior high I was talking to a friend of mine, I forget the context of the conversation, and I said that I was a nice person. He looked at me for a second and then told me I couldn't really make that assertion, that it had to come from someone else. I could think I was nice, but until other people believed or agreed that I was a nice person, it didn't really mean anything. I remember thinking that this was extremely strange because I really did believe that I was a nice person. I still think I'm a nice person, even though I certainly have my not-so-nice moments. I'm pretty sure I see his angle though: Do self-proclaimed people have the same genuinity (that's not a word) as people that have been dubbed something by other people? This all is dependent on how that specific person feels about these labels though. I'm perfectly OK with someone saying that I have a lot of geeky hobbies or that I'm a total nerd about some things. That's fine, I would agree with that statement, in fact it makes me happy to think about someone saying it.

I am aware, though, that there are many many people who far surpass me in the geeky realm.

Did you ever know that random guy in junior high or high school who always talked about how "crazy" he was? No one ever told him he was crazy or wacky, but he sure liked to tell others that he was. He would do stupid shit and be like, "I'm so crazy I know". Everytime I see those shirts that have a computer wearing glasses with the words "Talk nerdy to me" I just want to scream.

Am I being elitist here? I'm not trying to be and now I find of feel bad. These thoughts are infecting me though, they need to be purged.

Mainly I get all riled up when I meet one person who has no hobbies related to this except for maybe they play Pokemon. Then they proceed to talk about how they're such a dork because they play Pokemon. Not that dorky, really. Or perhaps they really enjoy watching Youtube videos so suddenly they're a total computer nerd. No, no you really aren't.

Am I worried about posers? Geek posers? Yikes.

Maybe I can liken it to music enthusiasts. They're very particular about their bands and their scenes. They don't take very well to over rambunctious newcomers who claim their "title" right off the bat.

I think that's how I feel here. I think I feel a little better too. I could really use some feedback, if anyone would like to provide.

EDIT***

If someone just is a huge fucking dork, it doesn't bother me if they call themselves a dork. It's legitimate and it's true. It's not like people need my permission anyway, this is a rant afterall.

EDIT2**

I keep thinking of more things. I WANT to be a huge nerd, I just want to earn it. Does that make sense?

-MJ

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Throwback to World of Warcraft.

This week I'm out camping in Joshua Tree. It occurred to me belatedly that there's probably not going to be internet there, but even if there were, I don't know if I'd want to take my computer with me while camping. The point of camping is to be in the wilderness. To enjoy nature! To stay up all night terrified of scorpions, tarantulas and other horrible desert beasts. You know what? Maybe I won't go camping. But just in case I do, here's a backlog entry that I quite enjoy, so I'm sharing it again!


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June 4th, 2010.

Things did not end well for Yvanik.

12:06 AM  MIRANDA EUBANKS  4 COMMENTS

I'm a little irritated right now.

Currently, copious amounts of effort are being spent on getting my character to level 20. It would be really great to finally have a mount, what with all the walking that's required in WoW.

A lot of my adventuring tonight had me exploring new territories and attempting to find more flight paths to cut down traveling time. My mage is level 19, so so close to 20, and I've been feeling pretty good about her. I ventured down the coast west of The Crossroads to tackle a low level quest. I found myself at a fortress with all level 14 guards. I picked them off one by one with no issue. I guess what happened next was my fault, I was getting cocky.

Seeing as it was getting late, and time was drawing near for me to upload my 365 image, I thought it wise to find an Inn nearby and rest for the night; I could finish the quest tomorrow night.

What happened next? Well I will tell you.

Imagine young Yvanik the mage, wandering about the craggy ocean coast, exhausted from slaying so many guards, her core hound pup scurrying along behind her. She spots a lot of stranglekelp in the water, but it is heavily guarded by vicious giant blue beings, including one loch ness monster look-alike. "I must find an Inn", all other thoughts, including those of precious herbs, are pushed to the side.

Before too long she breaks new ground, discovers a new area. Rain begins to fall. The map shows that a new region has been entered. "There must be a town nearby". And then, I am being viciously murdered by a spider so huge that I didn't immediately register that it was a spider. Would you like to respawn? FINE.

Usually when I get my ass kicked the graveyard isn't very far away from my pathetic corpse. I was not so lucky this evening. For the first time since starting WoW about two weeks ago I chose to resurrect and take health and equipment damage. "It won't be that bad".

She finds herself in a swamp, the swampiest of swamps. She is far away from where she started, it is completely new territory. "There must be a town nearby".

Yvanik sets off down the path and not five steps in, a startlingly large crocodile... thing crawls out of the water to the left. "I'm on the path," the confident thought arose, "I'm safe over here".

This was yet another learning experience for me. That.. thing, which was so strong I couldn't even see its level, tore me to pieces in barely two attacks. I resurrected again and then used my stone to go back to The Crossroads.

My adventures in Azeroth were not particularly productive this evening. But boy did I learn a lot.

P.S. yesterday I made a new friend.

-MJ

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A Bit of Geek Episode 5!!

This is a preview for your preview. Enjoy!

It's here and it's time to watch!!

-MJ

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The Bloggess book tour - This *totally* happened.

Last night I participated in what I'm calling my first ever LA "thing" (even though the event took place in Beverly Hills, but I don't think that's relevant).

Jenny Lawson, aka The Bloggess, aka hilarious woman, aka bringer of Wil Wheaton collating paper set out on a book tour this week for her newly released title "Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir".

To my delight, and slight trepidation, she had an LA spot scheduled, and so I decided that I had to attend. I'm not a long time reader, but I am a huge fan, and it's not really my fault that I'm not a long time reader because she started her blog ten years ago, and I can't help it that her content is wildly inappropriate for teenagers even if I had discovered her corner of the internet when I was sixteen.

See what I mean? Not about the depression thing. The sex thing.

It's generally inappropriate for teenagers to read sex columns. Right?

So, armed with my audio book and the address to the Writers Bloc LA location, I set out in rush hour traffic snorting and screaming with laughter to Lawson's hilariously narrated memoir. As I inched along 110 North, my exit for 10 West slowly coming into sight, it occurred to me for the first time that I was in the car. alone. attending an event. alone. This is when I started to feel a little panicky and extremely aware of the fact that I hadn't been in downtown LA alone before (I don't care if I ended up in Beverly Hills, that's not the point!).

I was determined to remain calm and upbeat, because if The Bloggess could kick away her crippling social anxiety and intense fear of public speaking, then I could keep my fear of going place alone and feeling like a loser in check.

After circling the block once and running a red light at an unprotected left, I parked under my destination and walked confidently to the elevators while feeling so proud of myself for arriving early in spite of traffic. Once in the lobby I inquired as to where the Writers Bloc speakers would be that night and I was met with some... confusion and silence from the guy at the front desk. He asked me a few probing questions that I was unable to answer, and then he called for some advice from someone else.

It's times like these I'm sure front desk workers wish they didn't have to deal with the public. When you're on the phone it's so much easier to put someone on hold and then transfer them without their knowledge.

It turns out that my phone directions had taken me to the Writers Guild of America, West, and I wanted a different building that was about fifteen minutes away in Beverly Hills. I nodded and thanked the man, legitimately holding back tears while feeling incredibly stupid and more worried that I was going to arrive late and not be allowed into the book reading and Q&A with The Bloggess.

Juanita the Weasel, appropriately acting out my desperation.

Fortunately for me, and my bladder, I made it to the correct location in record time. Except then I got lost in the parking structure.

It was kind of poorly signed. There were indicators for stairs, elevators, and exits, but nothing telling me where to go to get into the building. (I realize that I listed 'exits', but those were vehicle exits, not pedestrian exists. Totally different.) I ducked into a stairwell and went up three flights, ending up on the roof of the parking structure. Completely baffled, I ran to the elevators that were on the opposite side of the parking building and rode them down to the first floor, where I was greeted with the worker who had given me my parking stub upon entry.

I stared at him confused for a moment, unsure of how to best phrase the fact that I was lost in a vertical building with no where to even go in order to get lost, when he kindly directed me to walk straight ahead and then turn right. I thanked him.

After a quick trip to the restroom and a cursory glance around the theatre, I took a seat in the front row, stage right, and hoped that Lawson would be seated in the chair on stage left (she wasn't). After some mild fidgeting and ultimately relaxation, The Bloggess herself appeared along with Soleil Moon Frye, the moderator for the evening, and a woman who was the head of the theatre. Brief introductions were had, everyone's clapping for Lawson drowned out the introduction for Frye (for which I felt bad), and then the evening was kicked off with Lawson doing a reading from her memoir.

They're not looking at me, but that's them I swear. Jenny Lawson

is the one sitting closest to the front of the image.

I've been listening to her narrate for the past few days, which has been entertaining enough, but to hear her read her own stories out loud and in person was a new level of hysterical that I didn't think was possible.

She paused to great comedic effect in all the right places, and I really could have sat and listened to her read all night. Everyone in the theatre laughed loud, and hard. I felt so comfortable with the audience, so many other people with full, booming and appreciative laughter.

Frye asked Lawson a few questions about her inspirations, her reasons for starting the book, and further information about certain stories within the memoir. Suddenly it was time for an audience Q&A, and my heart started pounding. Only two people stood up to ask a question and I felt stricken with fear that The Bloggess would feel down trodden about no one having questions for her. My mind raced, placing myself in her shoes and imagining how horrible it would feel to be up on stage, nervous and ready to bolt but drugged into submission, and watching as no one wanted to ask me anything.

(Update: It's worth noting that out of everyone who did eventually get up and ask questions, probably half of them expressed extreme nerves and social anxiety. There wasn't a lack of questions because of a lack of interest: more like, everyone in the room wanted to talk and ask questions, but we were all simply too paralyzed with fear. We were unified in so many ways)

I couldn't think of a single. damn. question. I mean, she's so candid and open that what could I even ask that she hadn't already shared? All I had were 'Thank You's for her, and so with sweaty palms and shaky legs and a pounding heart I walked up to the microphone and waited my turn.

This man shared a video of The Bloggess, which gave me the strength to even obtain 

this signed photo. It then, in turn, gave me the strength to go to the microphone.

It's kind of surreal to have the important people that are up on stage turn and look you right in the face and give you their attention.

I started out by thanking her for her coverage and candidness regarding mental illness, and went into a story about how she has inadvertently given amazing relationship advice to polar-opposite couples. If you're familiar with The Bloggess, then you'll know that she responds to her husband in the most baffling, and astoundingly hilarious, ways. It truly seems like a great method for keeping things light hearted and happy.

The audience liked my comment, and I received laughter. After sitting back down the woman in charge of the theatre (who happened to be sitting next to me) told me that she liked what I said.

Once the questions were finished everyone was rounded into the lobby to await the book signing. The line was incredibly long, so I stood off to the side and read The Hobbit. In the middle of the mix I almost banged faces with Frye, who told me that she, too, liked what I had said, and then asked me where Jenny went. I pointed to my right and smiled, then immediately remembered to say (more like shout), "I really liked you in your episode of Friends!" and she smiled and said thank you.

!!!

Almost a full hour later I was at the very end of the line and sneaking ever closer to the signing table. The kind people around me had invited me into their jovial conversation, and we were accidentally joined by Lawson's sister and niece. A pleasant bonus, to be sure.

When it was finally my turn, Lawson signed my audio book case and I immediately blurted out my story about telling Wil Wheaton about loving The Bloggess. Then I told her that at PAX this year hopefully I could tell Wil Wheaton about telling The Bloggess about meeting Wil Wheaton and telling him how much I loved The Bloggess.

...

She seemed to like my story well enough.

Whee!

I turned and walked toward the door holding my signed audio book in front of me like it was something about to explode. And by that I mean excessively carefully. It was only once I was back in my car that I realized two things:

a. I didn't say good-bye to the nice people that I was with in line.

b. I should have used the bathroom.

"The night's adventures aren't over yet!" I thought to myself, and then left the parking garage.

It was at this point that my phone decided it didn't want to locate me via GPS, so I just... drove down South Doheny until my phone decided to cooperate. I could have easily panicked about being alone downtown LA (Beverly Hills, whatever), having to pee, hungry, and with no idea how to get back home. But, I was on a Bloggess high, so I decided to ride out the wave of potential crazy and see where it carried me.

As luck would have it, I ended up going West and was dropped nicely onto the 405.

Probably one of my best nights ever.

-MJ

*Please note that the images that aren't taken with my cellphone were all borrowed with love from thebloggess.com

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Destination: nerdy locales. What's yours?

Original image via UKresistance.

How many of you out there have been introduced to a new part of the world via video game, movie, book, comic book, etc., and then realized that you just had to visit it for yourself? I may have some eccentric thoughts, but I can't possibly be the only one who has felt this. Now, it would be easy to answer this with a simple, "But Pallet Town isn't real!" and yes, you would be correct, but I'm talking about real places in the real world, not amazing not-yet-real places in the potential world that are incredibly awesome that we all want to visit and if anyone tells you differently then they are liars for sure. Animal Crossing, anyone? Talking animals and breaking new ground in the archeological world every day? Please.

But back to my original thought.

Places that do exist that we are capable of visiting. What's yours? Mine is Scotland, and this is based entirely off of the incredible book series Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Currently there are seven novels in the series, with an eighth in the works and a prequel planned. Gabaldon's scope, attention to detail, and narrative style are staggering. If you are a fan of time traveling historical fiction action adventure romance intensely detailed lots of pages tiny print, then this is the book series for you. Full disclaimer: the books contain sex. Apparently I didn't explain this adequately enough on previous occasions where I recommended the series.

I think at this point I have covered all the bases. Original image found here.

Moving right along! The majority of the series is set in 18th century Scotland, primarily the Highlands. Gabaldon describes locations with such detail and accuracy that citizens of Scotland would write to her asking when she had been in the area. At the time of her first book she had never actually been to Scotland, she was just excellent at researching. That may have something to do with her Science Ph.D. I hear that sort of thing requires a great amount of research and research skills. Now she travels to Scotland all the time.

The point is, she has made me desperate to visit Scotland. I was going to go after being in Ireland summer of 2010, but then some things happened and I didn't. It is very difficult to not dwell on this, so when I start to feel upset I just drink more whisky and pretend I'm in the Highlands with some kilted men.

(sadly) Not pictured: bearded men in kilts. Image via Whisky-Pages.com

I created a route that had me visiting Inverness, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. Inverness and Edinburgh play huge roles in the Outlander universe, but off the top of my head I can't recall if Glasgow is in there. Either way, I have big plans to visit a whisky factory, go to the castle in Edinburgh, find that wily Loch Ness monster, go on night time dungeon tours, see the site of the battle at Culloden, wander the cobblestone streets and pretend that I'm a lady of high class, and drink so much whisky that the locals think I belong with them.

Edinburgh Castle in Scotland. Image via Beautifulplacestovisit.com

I want to frolic in the heather of the Highlands! I want to see those craggy, jutting rocks. I want to crest the peaks of rolling hills and reach the bottom of valleys. Within me there is an insane passion to see a new part of the world that wouldn't have existed with such heat and intensity if it weren't for Gabaldon's amazing literature.

Yes? Yes. Yes yes yes. Beautiful image found here.

Where do you want to go?

-MJ

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