Leave it to B(RK)eaver

Monday was just one of those days. Sit down at the computer, take a gander at my google reader.

And BRK has put the feelers out that he's looking for someone (and not the Someone of blogging fame), but rather, he's looking for a player that meets 15 specific requirements. What for? We don't know, other than some cryptic references to a research project.

There's oodles and oodles of comments posted with links to armory profiles, with most people fulfilling many but not all of the requirements.

Strange emotional reaction for me.

Without getting too deep in the personal muck, let me provide you with a drop of background to the insanity that is my thought process. I have a hugely out of balance internal sense of urgency. Just about anything I'm doing, I have this insane sense of needing to do it faster faster faster. It goes in cycles, but at its worst, any obstacle in my path becomes the focus of all my wrath and must be conquered. NOW!!! It really is strange how I can rationally sit there and observe it happening, but have no control of the burning drive that is pushing me to accomplish whatever it is I'm trying to do.

When its focused towards a project at work or school or helping friends with something, this can be a very constructive behavior. When its focused at making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch or driving somewhere that's only 2 minutes from my house and there's not even any traffic, it makes me feel a bit insane. The problem is that when its at the bad part of the cycle, that overwhelming sense of urgency can become crippling and I can't choose what to focus it towards. It just sort of comes at anything I'm trying to accomplish.

The solution for me (probably should be medication, but I prefer insanity for the time being) is to create milestones. Accomplishing milestones gives me a sense of satisfaction that I'm progressing towards whatever end goal I'm headed for (perhaps a software engineering project at work, or perhaps a sandwich for lunch). I can then try to focus my sense of urgency at an attainable milestone, unleash my full wrath at any obstacles in the way of that milestone, and get there with good success and provide the voodoo god that's in my head with a sacrifice to keep her satisfied for a little while.

Scared yet? I am, but then again, I have to live inside this head. You just have to read my blathering, and even that you can choose to unsubscribe from.

Developing my WoW character is a perfect example of this. I have some long-term goals for Amava. If you look at the end result, its pretty overwhelming in terms of the breadth and depth of activities necessary to get there. When that feels overwhelming, I create very small goals and go after them. The tangible ones, such as things that have progress bars (xp, rep, profession skills) are perfect because you get immediate concrete feedback.

Then you have gear. Some gear is tied to quests, some tied to professions, some tied to gold/AH, some tied to faction rep, and some tied to random boss drops.

Based on excellent wealth of information on the topic of pre-Kara hunter gear, I've got some nice goals on gear improvements and character development. There's a ton of things to do, but small milestones that I progress a bit each day have kept this feeling of urgency in check. When it gets out of balance, its a bit rough, but in general, I've got a nice comfy feeling about where I want to get Amava, how to get there, and my progress so far.

THEN BRK POSTS HIS 15 REQUIREMENTS!!!!!!!

As of when I read the post, I met 10 of the requirements exactly, have immediate access (sufficient rep and mats/gold already in hand) to meet an additional one. Of the remaining 4 requirements, one will require me to grind Honor Hold through 10K rep points to hit revered -OR- get a totally random drop from Murmur. Another will require me to grind Cenarion Expedition through about 5K rep points to hit revered. And the last two are enchants that, despite some excellent advice in comments on this blog, I still cannot find enchanters who (A) have the enchant available, and (B) are willing to do the enchant, even when offered large quantites of gold. For the boots, I can get a +7agi, and for the 2H weapon I have access to +25agi, both of which are close but no cigar.

Yesterday was one of those moments where you feel like someone you respect and have learned a great deal from just walked up to you, put on a golf shoe, and kicked you in the 'nads.

BRK, and a handfull of others, put out some great "Gearing up for Kara" guides. As a still-wet-behind-the-ears lvl 70 hunter, I've based my gear goals around these guides. I've been making steady progress in some areas, and much slower progress on others (damn boots dexterity enchant). In general though, happy to see my progress towards meeting the minimum Kara entry standards.

Then the end-all-be-all of BM hunter sites goes and tells you you're not going fast enough.

Maybe I do need medication after all.


Edit: I went and checked, and BRK posted a reply to the post with his comments about the people he's got on the list. I'm actually pretty close, but it might be too late. He has 2 people who already fit exactly, so I'm probably s-t out of luck, but he quoted 4 requirements I dont meet. 3 of them are pretty close to attainable. If +25agi on the 2H wep, and +7agi on the boots is OK, then tuesday night, I'll be missing only 1 of the requirements, the helmet glyph. So I guess I'll be running Coilfang Reservoir dungeons as much as I can.

Edit, part 2: BRK put up another posting, saying he's really looking for strict adherance to the guidelines, so I doubt the downgraded +25agi 2H weapon, and downgraded +7agi boots enchants will fly. Plus, although he didn't mention it in the first critique of my profile, I'm betting Terokk's Quil is a no-go. Poop.