Level 5 by Summer's End

The uber gf and I both walk around daily, more or less conflicted inside. We both crave peace and quiet and serenity, and yet we're both drama queens who cram in as much activity into our days as possible, and have more thing we want to do than is humanly possible. To help bring these forces into balance, it takes some conscious effort. Usually we do this by trying to plan out ideas and see how to fit them in, while including lots of nice calm moments in between.

Sitting here at the beginning of a summer, we were walking along this beautiful waterfront pier, brainstorming what we want to do this summer.

We start the exercise with the standard brainstorming approach of "there's no bad ideas", which means that about 3 minutes in, the vast quantity of activities becomes so overwhelming as to paralyze you into not doing just about anything.

Once that feeling subsides, then we refine the list. Simplify things that are overly complicated. Reduce ideas to their component parts and see where we can overlap and satisfy two ideas with one activity. Look for things where we have very specific thoughts in mind, and also look for things where you have a general idea that can be satisfied in a variety of ways.

All in all, it ends up like a project planning effort, trying to maximize the productivity of our summer and not let life just fly by. We both get off on this kind of stuff, and it works really well for us. By the end of a session like this, we normally have a nice feel for the high level things eachother is interested in, we have some concrete action items to take care of in the next few days (reservations, online research, etc), and we're both full of excitement for the months ahead.

The key to all of these things is that we try to set the goals very attainable. If we start out thinking, "we'd like to try out 8 new restaurants this summer" and "we'd like to visit 3 different cities this summer", normally during the refinement stages, that might get narrowed down to "try out 2 new restaurants, one of which should be in a different city".

Keep it attainable so we can remain focused, and spend the summer smelling the roses without feeling like life is a race. And if we exceed our plan, well then all's the better.

So we've been thinking more and more about the gf trying out some WoW. She's not a gamer at heart, but the social aspect and the joy of working as a team has her intrigued. Which is great because the cooperative team aspect is one of my favorite parts of the game.

The other day, I'm playing my lvl 27 Druid in Ashenvale, killing 800 Satyrs to collect 8 horns.

She swings on by.

Whaccha doin?

Levelling moody

What're those?

Bad guys

How many you gotta kill?

'bout a million

Kai doit?

For real?

Yep, gittcho ass out the way

Yes Maam!!!

Now, mind you, this is a kinda rough patch of Ashenvale to be sitting in when you're 27 and very undergeared (I refuse to pay the unreal prices they're charging for AH greenies). You've got mobs that are lvl 27-29, all aggressive. Many packs of 2 pulls. Lots of stealthed rogues around. And they run away when near dead.

And a Druid at 27 is a somewhat complex beast with several shape shifting options, a variety of attacks and spells in each form, buffs, poison and curse dispelling, stealth, combo points, energy, mana.

So all in all, not the ideal place to be first dabbling with WoW.

Sitting there together, going over basics like camera control, toon movement, the basic attacks available, wtf combo points and energy are all about, stealthing and timing the approach for when a mob's back is turned.

We had a blast and she finished off the 800 satyres and collected those 8 horns like a champ.

Most fun I've had in WoW in ages.

So, back to our summer planning.

We set a goal of starting off a pair of toons together, and reaching the very attainable level of 5 by the summer's end. If its fun, the sky's the limit. If its just meh, level 5 isn't too much of a committment as to ruin life.

I can't wait!!!