Progress report – Week 2 of the experiment

Since the last time I put pen to paper, figuratively, I’ve been able to practice three times – two guitar sessions and one bass session. The bass session always feels a bit new to me, even though I’m running through the basics again, as the strings feel different, fighting buzzing (from the bass itself, not the amplified sounds – which means that I’m still hitting the notes mostly ok) is still something that’s a conscious effort, and using my fingers rather than a pick and not in a “first-beat-is-always-on-the-index-finger” way that I used to play (it’s not really a proper way to pluck the bass) all have an alien feel, given my focus on the guitar. Not thinking about chords and playing single notes, while also a skill for the guitar, definitely is something to get used to again, especially since most teachers, not books, focus on guitar chords, rather than single notes.

For the guitar, the focus on “Hello, Shooting Star” is starting to pay off – it’s starting to sound a bit more natural, though I’m still working on that Bm transition. Also, I’ve started working on the chorus, where the Gadd9 chord comes in, but that’s still not quite as smooth. Right now, I’m focused on just forming the Gadd9 chord itself and moving up and down the fretboard to get to and from it, and it’s still a work in progress. Hopefully, when my next lesson comes around on the 18th, it’ll be a little smoother than it is now.

In other news, the Sacramento Kings are still frustrating me this season. We’ve won a couple now, but both of those games were pretty lousy – in each game we practically only played well during one quarter, but that was enough to keep us in the games through the more mediocre parts of the game. Ones we lost were harder fought, like the last one in Miami, where we lost by 3 to a 3-pt well defended shot by Tyler Herro, was probably the best effort we’ve given so far this season. (While Herro’s shot was the one that won the game, we lost primarily on the two Miami plays prior to that shot, where they scored on buckets made after multiple offensive rebounds, and by us being out of timeouts after Herro’s shot, leading us to try to do something on the fly with 1.2 seconds left.) The officiating’s been tough, and while our challenges have been mostly won, they’re not coming on the hyper-critical plays of the game, and leave a lot to be desired when we get a bad call that actually changes the game with no challenge available – and this seems to be happening a lot. Still, it’s early in the season, but we’re 2-5 and that means getting our win percentage to end at .500 is starting to get harder (right now we’re at 55% of remaining games need to be won to hit .500).

So, what’s on the plan for this upcoming week? Guitar practice at least three times – “Hello, Shooting Star”, Justinguitar stuff, and strumming (including trying to figure out how to get my foot – especially my left foot – to maintain rhythm while playing). Might not get a bass session in – depends on if I get one in early in the week. Travelling up to Sactown for the end of the week – family business – while the Kings come down here to SoCal. Bad timing, anyone? At least I’ll get to watch the game live on TV.

I did put in a couple hours building models this week, though. Still can’t settle, working on two different kits right now – one HG Gundam Builders kit, and an RG 00 Raiser (damn those parts are small on the RGs). Also played two sessions of racquetball – frustrating, but I got some exercise in. In that way, I’m staying somewhat healthy – my latest medical labs confirmed that this week.

So here’s to starting out November somewhat on the right foot. Daylight savings approaches, and it’s getting colder out, but gotta keep on movin’.

昨日までの僕らは死んだ。
そう思えば前だけ向いていられるぜ…だろ？

[The ‘us’ that we were through yesterday are dead. If we think like that, we can just look on ahead… right?] – “JUST ONE LIFE” (SPYAIR)

My 2 yen,

Akiosama

After the weekend – Halloween without the costumes

Here we are – Halloween. No costumes this year, unless you consider cycling kit to be a costume – I don’t, but I’ve done that at work in the past, though not this year. Just going to ride in the hills north of Glendale after work in the twilight.

This weekend was a busy one – didn’t get my ass in the chair, but did get it into the saddle for a little extracurricular riding. The weekly Sunday ride went off without a hitch, and the group did well – somewhat faster than usual for those that came out, even with all the climbing. It’s getting chillier in the mornings, so time to break out the sleeves.

I’ve realized that the weekends are going to be the days for breaks from practicing, if I need them. Working at the shop puts decent strain on my wrists, given that I’m working with my hands all shift, from typing, to tightening bolts, to putting tires on rims with brute force. I’m certainly not as young as I used to be, and I need to be able to actually use my hands, both for work and play, so I’m keeping a closer eye on them. So weekends might be the days I don’t practice as regularly. Doesn’t help that practicing after a couple Modelos isn’t quite as easy, and that’s a regular part of work at the shop.

At least the Kings got their first win of the 2022 season, albeit a bit of a mediocre one. Up 22 in the second, up 1 by the end of the third, and scrapping all of the fourth to squeak out a win. Tough calls, too. But gotta start somewhere. And damn, if the 1-5 Lakers are still considered slightly better than us going into this third week of the season, 27th of 30 vs us at 28th. I’m not totally sure I agree, but this year’s team is supposed to be defense oriented, and we’re 25th in the league in Defensive Rating. Not good.

Getting back on track, Friday was lesson day, and it went pretty well. “Hello, Shooting Star” is the focus, as it’s mostly chords I know, and the tempo and strumming pattern is definitely feasible. Did passably playing alongside the track, at 75% speed, even with the Bm chords, though those are still a bit on the weak side. Now, it’s time to work in the Gadd9 chord – one a little bit more difficult, as it’s higher on the fretboard than the open chords – and try to work the section with it. Second, going to focus on learning the lyrics and singing along while playing – both to make chord changes a bit more automatic, and to keep place within the song better.

Interestingly enough, I was told to hold off on “Houkiboshi”, at least using the open chords, as it’s too similar to “Hello, Shooting Star” in the chords it uses. My instructor says that it causes confusion and can set back work on both songs, so until I’ve got “Hello, Shooting Star” down pat, I’m not to work on any song with similar chords and chord progressions. On the bright side, I’ve got a power chord exercise for “Houkiboshi” that sounds pretty good, so I’ll keep working on that.

Next, it’s time to advance further on in the Justinguitar lessons, adding in the next chords – I think they’re E, Em, and Am. I’m still not as good when playing to a song, even when it’s just A-D changes, but that’ll come with time. Still working on it.

And last, I’m going to bring “Louder” by Roselia back into my practice rotation, though not as the primary focus. I don’t want to let the Roselia stuff get too backburnered, as Roselia’s music is the primary reason I picked up music again in the first place.

Well, to be honest, it was their music and my fixation on the ESP Lisa Imai model bass, but that part is way down the road. I’m going to pick up my bass again and get back to practicing on that, too – so at least one day a week will be bass practice. I’ll need to experiment, though, to see if I should do a bit shorter guitar practice and do guitar and bass practice in a single session, and see if it helps or hurts progress on both sides.

And damn, I still need to finish getting my drum pad set up so I can work with that on rhythm. So, my current schedule – three days guitar, one day bass, and one day drums (or another guitar day, depending on how the week’s going).

And still going to ride and play racquetball. Keeping myself busy like this seems to be good for the soul, if not the body.

“What’s the good of living if you don’t try a few things?” – Charlie Brown (Peanuts)

My 2 yen,

Akiosama

Day One – It’s a Start.

Here we go… 1, 2, 3, 4…

So for the first day in this new project, I’ve been successful. I got my ass in the chair and put in a half hour of practice. And I’m seeing some improvement – barre chords are a right bitch, especially when trying to change to them in an actual chord progression, rather than just practicing the chord itself.

So, the chord progression goes G – D – Bm – A, with a small change to G – D – Bm – A – D during the chorus. The song is “Hello, Shooting Star” by moumoon, which you might know if you’ve watched Ansatsu Kyoushitsu (Assassination Classroom). It’s a slow piece with a steady quarter-beat strum pattern, alternating from a full-bar per chord during the verse 1 sections, and changing to a half-bar per chord during the verse 2 sections and chorus. Pretty easy strumming, so I can concentrate on the chords.

My fingers are still a bit sloppy. I miss the B string sometimes on my D chord, which you’d think I’d have down pat by now, as it’s the first chord I learned. The barre on the Bm is getting better, but I find my non-barre fingers coming down in the right places, though next to the strings, rather than on the strings. And when I think too hard about getting the chords played right, I sometimes forget which chord is next.

A work in progress. Still, I’m actually getting the Bm almost correct and almost within the right timing for the tempo I’m playing. I need to work up to playing along with the track, though. I have a bit of a mental issue with that, even though I’m playing this all through headphones on my own. I catch myself saying “Sorry” to nobody, when I make mistakes, and still kinda get performance anxiety. Even playing exercises or sample chord progressions change for me, between technical exercises where I’m working solely on the chord or progression itself, and when I’m actually strumming a pattern at the same time, trying to make it sound like music. Gotta work on that. Performance, of some sort, is the goal of this whole endeavor, isn’t it?

But I did get a half-hour in. That’s a good start. One day, one practice session. That’s ass in the chair, isn’t it? A hint of Ass Power?

In addition, I’m making my way through a couple books on learning. Jonathan Harnum, PhD. seems to have a lot of good advice on this – both as a musician and in general. We’ll see how well it helps. Most of it seems like common sense but it’s good to see in print – lends some weight to it for me. Sometimes I hate that I’m like that – I tend to feel the need to back up the validity of things that I can logic out through words from other outside sources. But hey, if it helps me shape my learning processes going forward and keep me on the path, then it’s a small price to pay.

So, for today, on the agenda – more practice on the chord progression. Going to add varying the chord progression by playing the chord progression from “Houkiboshi” by Younha, from Bleach, which uses the same chords, but in a different order and tempo. And last, pushing through and putting in honest practice of earlier lessons from my online guitar lesson site Justinguitar.com, to reinforce the basics and work up properly to the more complex stuff I’d been looking over recently.

And who knows? Maybe I’ll be rewarded with a fun practice session (likely) and at the same time, maybe the Sacramento Kings will win their first game of the 2022 season (kinda likely?).

“Life’s a bore if you don’t challenge yourself.” – Nishinoya Yuu (Haikyuu!!)

My 2 yen,

Akiosama

What Should I Say?

Today is October 26, 2022.

I’m going to call this a welcome back post – I haven’t touched this blog in a very long while.  Very long.

A lot has changed since I last wrote here.  I don’t really MMO anymore – a big change from when I was raiding multiple times a week and playing multiple games.  If there’s any MMO I’m touching right now, it’s Final Fantasy XIV and that’s because it’s an MMO game that you can pretty much play solo these days, which has a Square Enix story with Square Enix graphics.

I still play video games, but not nearly as much as previously, either.  I’m trying to get back into building models (Gundam stuff mostly), and painting miniatures (my thanks to Angel Giraldez and Jon Bius for great online resources for both hobbies).  But all these hobbies, I did before.

What are the biggest changes since I last wrote here?

First and foremost, I’m now a cyclist.  Not a racer, but I am an avid road rider.  About 6-1/2 years ago, I bought my first road bike (a Fuji Sportif, equipped with Sora 9-speed components), and now I ride a Trek Emonda, carbon, with second-gen Dura Ace components (the stuff the pros rode with at the time), a power meter, and over 15,000 miles ridden since starting.  I also work at a bike shop as a weekend mechanic, too, and lead group rides for the shop (much less stressful than raid leading on WoW).  So, yeah, it’s a major change to my life – and the 25-30 lbs. difference in my physique, my health numbers getting better, and my athletic ability going up are all boons gained from this.  I highly recommend it to everyone looking for a relatively easy-to-get-into athletic activity.  (Just understand it’s not an inexpensive activity – there’s a reason I work at a bike shop now.)

Second, that athletic ability increase is going into a second sport – indoor racquetball – which is netting me more athletic improvement, faster reflexes, tender joints (from time to time) and some bruising from errant racquetballs.  It’s a fun and sometimes cathartic activity, though it has highlighted some slightly darker parts of my personality which I now acknowledge, and try hard to work to control.  (My little brother would love to hear me say that – he grew up as the “one with the temper”.)

Next on the list – Amazon has come a long way since posting here last, and because of it, testing and taxing my Japanese language skills has gotten somewhat easier and cheaper than it used to be.  The “light novel” has become a very prolific publication in mainstream Japanese pop culture, and the shelves of purchases that I’ve made can attest to it.  They’re not easy reading, but it’s helped my language skills develop greatly as, unlike manga, my previous main source of study material, there is much more non-verbal text to work with – which reads very differently.  Also the average series is over 10 books long, and I own at least two series that are over 30 books long, so I won’t run out of stuff anytime soon.  Time is a different story, but I digress.

And now we get to the main reason I’m dusting off this old blog.  Given the name and theme of this blog – progression – I felt it’s the best tool for making myself accountable for trying to stick to working on a hobby.  Where initially progression was getting through a particular raid zone, now it’s about actually making progress in a ‘real-world’ (? – I mean, raiding wasn’t exactly fake progression based on how much time and effort it took, but this seems more tangible…) activity.  Music.

This isn’t my first foray into music.  Not counting the kids’ choir stuff I did in grade school, which frankly, didn’t really feel like learning music to me, I have some experience, having been taught a few years of violin.  I didn’t really do it justice though, through lack of practicing and taking some of the opportunities to play in group settings for granted.  (I’m sorry!)  But fast forward about 8 years, and the bug has bitten me again, but not so much for violin.  (Not that I wouldn’t mind going back and getting better on it, but it’s not my focus right now.)  This time it’s band music – like pop/rock band music.

I can blame anime for most of it.. With shows like K-On!, BanG Dream, Fuuka, and other shows telling stories of characters being bitten by the same band bug, and working up to playing in actual bands on stage, it’s hard not to see it as possible.  Further, seeing the people bringing those characters to life actually performing (such as Roselia, Poppin’ Party, Morfonica, and Raise A Suilen from BanG Dream), I find it even more inspiring, as most of the performers are not musicians first.  And with the variety of instruments in the bands  – guitars, basses, keyboards, drums, and even violin (thanks to Morfonica) – there are a lot of options to learn.  And in traditional ME fashion, I want to learn them all.

But I know myself.  Practice is something that I can’t always get myself to do.  So I’m going to use this for what I started out using this for – a progression record – only not for raiding.  This is where I’m going to talk about my progress on things I’m actively working on.  Most of what this will be will likely be music, but with all the hobbies listed above, I’ve got a lot of things to work on.

Japanese?  I graduated with a minor in it from university, and I can’t really even read a pop novel.  That’s going to change.

Cycling?  The whole COVID thing coupled with bad winter weather made me lazy, and over a year later I’m still trying to get my conditioning back.

Racquetball?  My game is ok at best, and meh on most days.  Also, my attitude can really suck.  Stuff to work on.

Models and minis?  I think my actual productivity is less than one model/miniature a year, for all the years that I’ve collected them, which is impressive given my collection.  Perfectionism sucks and it’s got to go.

Guitar and Bass?  I’m not sure what there is that I don’t need to work on, but I’m getting closer to being able to fumble through my first full song, and it’s only taken a year and change.

And drums and keyboard aren’t anywhere really on my close-range radar, and I want them to be.

So I have a lot to work on.  And this is me telling myself to get out there and do it.  Quincy Jones called it “Ass Power”.  It’s the ability to get your ass in the chair and do what you need to do to improve.  And he said that it was what Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, had that most of the other people Jones produced in his career didn’t.

Ass power.

I can’t think of a better way to put it.  So consider this my declaration to get my ass in the chair and do, rather than say “I will”.

いつかも今日も同じ
やるかやらないか…

[Someday and today are the same, it’s just whether you do it or not…] – “Itsuka Dekiru kara Kyou Dekiru” (Nogizaka46)

My 2 yen,

Akiosama

I Have No Idea Why I Feel Like Saying This…

…but vote. It’s a right and a privilege and it shouldn’t be wasted. Democrat or Republican, Libertarian or Green… Vote.

Don’t take it for granted.

My 2 yen,

Akiosama

Yes, Raiding is Fun! (I’ve Missed It)

For once, raiding is back to providing what it’s supposed to.  Fun.

Friday and Saturday were set up for our motley group of MOX newbies (We’re actually going to become MOX Emerald, as Sapphire is their 16-man superior group – yes, I should have guessed that Moxboss (the guild leader) also knows that Sapphires are the best Mox) to run Hardmode Explosive Conflict (EC/Denova), and those nights were pretty rough.  Due to changes in who showed up for raid again, we didn’t make the goals I had hoped to reach – One night, three bosses in a reasonable time.  We did manage two bosses on Friday, and cleaned up the rest on Saturday, defeating Hardmode EC for the first time.  I’d say that it was something to be excited about, but the fights just aren’t all that interesting in EC, and are brutal for coordination between tanks and healers.  For DPS, a lot of it is pew-pew, but there are a few “stand in the circle and you die” moments, but for the most part, it’s just stand and shoot.  I did a decent job in there, and I know I have to go back to gear up for now, but if the loot drops were the same between them, I’d take Eternity Vault over EC any day.  We did have a decent raid leader, and our tanks and heals did a fine job in there.  It just took a few times on the final boss to get everyone to execute and follow through to defeat Kephess – and they did.  Grats to MOX Emerald.

But it wasn’t a fun run, overall.  The trash in EC is plentiful and can be pretty time-consuming.  Crowd Control on the trash is necessary, which adds to the amount of time it takes, and while it means that we don’t just blow through from boss to boss, after the third or fourth time doing it all, it does get a bit stale.

Sunday, however, was a different story.

Sunday was a group of MOX raiders, mostly random people who I’ve raided with only once or twice, deciding it was worth it to run a Story Mode Terror From Beyond (TFB) raid.  It was later in the evening, and people were already feeling a bit loose and chatty, and in the end it turned out to be a great run, even though we didn’t finish the entire raid.

Pulls, pulls, pulls!  We couldn’t get our heads straight on trash pulls.  Where EC was run very rigidly in dealing with trash mobs, we really screwed the pooch on a few pulls in TFB, especially the first ones.   It wasn’t just one pull – it was a chain of pulls where we’d struggle to down a set of mobs and OOPS!  the next set added to the first ones.  Utter chaos, using every skill we could to try to stay alive and kill as many as we could, and then the next set and then the next… I think we ended up with four or five pulls happening, where there should have only been one…

And we survived!  One tank and both healers survived, and even the healers were DPS-ing the mobs down at the end.  People were cheering and laughing at the sheer insanity of it, and having a great time, tossing light-hearted blame around, shaking their heads in utter amazement as another group of mobs added to the pile, and it was absolutely fantastic.  Nobody was upset.  Everyone was laughing.  It was what raiding should be.

I haven’t had that in a very long time from raiding.  The very last time I can think of where everyone was that excited at a raid and win was back in Wrath of the Lich King on World of Warcraft, when our group after months of beating our heads against the encounter finally defeated Arthas to finish the endboss of the expansion.  Hooting and hollering, everyone just enjoying the cutscene, not worried at all about the loot, wanting to show off their Kingslayer titles.  It was a terrific feeling.

And it’s a feeling I hope to have again.  For now, Sunday night, MOX Random, TFB trash…  That’ll do.

We also managed to get some gear for some people, mats for the guild, and downed two bosses, both of which are very fun fights.  That we didn’t end up finishing the entire raid – who cares?  It was more fun than I’ve had on raids where we did finish TFB.

Thanks to everyone who was there to make it a fun run – we need to seriously “OOPS!” it up again like that sometime.

My 2 yen,

Akiosama

The Trouble with Raiding…

Sometimes I just curse my luck.

Last Friday, my new guild, Memories of Xendor (or MOX), put together a 8-man Hardmode Denova run for those of us who were on and not part of their regular teams.  They’re a World-class guild, having gotten the World 3rd completion of Hardmode Terror from Beyond, and their progression teams are sharp and dedicated.  I believe our team is going to be a regular raiding team at some point, and while we’re probably not going to be a progression team – I don’t think that most of us who are regular on this new team (which I’m hoping will be MOX Sapphire – since any Magic player who’s been studying the game seriously knows that the Sapphire is the best Mox) will be able to dedicate serious progression time to the game the way it would need to be done – we are shooting for having a reliable, regular raid team.

Given that MOX Sapphire is in its infancy, we’re a pretty motley crew of participants, most of whom still need to finish getting our top-tier gear.  Still, while we have some great players in there, we’re struggling – Hardmode Denova has not yet been completed, and we’ve only run very limited Story Mode (normal) Terror from Beyond.  And there are some things about resuming regular raiding, especially since I’m not raid leading at this time, that are frustrating.

I believe some of this stuff will work itself out soon, but it’s been a while since I was just a raider and not a leader and what has been given up by not taking up the torch for this new group is becoming evident.  Further, just raiding regularly has shown me some frustrations that I hadn’t thought about in some time.

Back to Friday – we ran Denova with a pretty ragtag group, including one person who had nearly no experience with group content.  We get in and things seem to look like we’re going to have a smooth start, but one tank-swap mishap late in the fight and we wipe, with Toth and Zorn nearly dead.  And that was the best attempt we had, up until we had to swap out one of the healers when one of our starting healers had to leave, and then we managed to complete the fight.  I think it took us about two hours to finish that first boss.

And the fun didn’t stop there, we proceeded to have a comedy of errors on the next boss encounter – Firebrand and Stormcaller – and we did not get them down.  Tanking errors, mechanical errors, equipment errors (lag/disconnects), and such filled our attempts.  Not once did we actually meet the enrage timers, so whether DPS was an issue or not wasn’t even apparent.  Our healers were the sharpest aspect of this fight, and other than trouble getting under the shields during the Defensive phase, I don’t think they made any serious errors.  Wipe after wipe, we continued at this for two more hours, until we called the raid due to time, with nothing to show but repair bills for the fight.

Saturday ended up being Story Mode Terror from Beyond, since we had a completely different set of people on, and I actually was asked to heal it, given the lack of guild healers on at the time we started.  I think I healed it ok, though I had a couple of sticky spots, which my partner, Cronoan, was able to cover.  The majority of our wipes were not healing related and I think that gave me some relief, though I seriously need to work on my healing.  In any case, no Hardmode Denova on Saturday.

Sunday came around, and the group decided to resume Denova, except they decide on a time when I can’t be there.  Not a huge issue – I felt a bit miffed that I couldn’t be there, but that’s just how it was.  I don’t think I would have thought much about it, if it weren’t for the results.

They downed the damn second boss despite some serious errors, in two attempts.

It turns out they had to swap out a couple players for that run.  One of those new players apparently had made some pretty bad mistakes, but our healer, Cronoan, managed to pull him out of the fire through excellent healing and timely reactions (Extrication), and they defeated Firebrand and Stormcaller in two attempts.

Two attempts, with a DPS botching up somewhat badly.

It’s just bad luck, I know – I did my part on Friday for two hours, but the encounter went undefeated until the next attempts that I wasn’t part of.  But it’s the fact that despite the botches, that the aforementioned DPS player was rewarded for two attempts’ worth of effort that I didn’t get for two hours of effort that is frustrating.  I felt I did my role well on Friday for that fight, and the person who didn’t on Sunday walked away with the rewards.

It’s one of those frustrating things about being a raider, rather than a leader, that you can be left out of attempts because you’re not automatically at every raid.  Further, it’s about collective success – the group did better as a whole on Sunday than they did on Friday – and that can be frustrating, if you’re only there for the night when the group is a bit more off.  On Friday, our group brought their “B” game, even if there were some “A” games mixed in, but on Sunday they brought their “A” game, despite a “C” player in the group.

It sucks, and yeah, I’m a little frustrated about it.  It’s part and parcel, though, of being three time zones away from the majority of players.

Hopefully, this week’s raiding will be better.  Our raid leader is going to seriously gearcheck people before we run, which should help.  The majority of our group was there for Sunday, so they know they can get through at least the first three fights.  And people in our group did get some gear from Sunday’s successes, which should help this week’s run.

I hope everyone brings their “A” game this week.  I know I try to every week, and I know others do too, and I would like to see us getting the results that reward the “A” game.  We definitely should be making progress every week, not getting stuck on the boss we downed the week before.

So, the goal for this week?  Three bosses for Friday’s raid.  Toth and Zorn (in an hour tops), Firebrand and Stormcaller (in two attempts?) and the Minesweeper boss (which I have yet to do on Hardmode).  We should be able to get those down in one session with as much experience as we have on the first two encounters.

I won’t be satisfied with less.

Should I be?

My 2 yen,

Akiosama

What to do, what to do… Looking for inspiration

There isn’t enough time in a day.

Really, there just isn’t.

Too many things I want to do – Star Wars, World of Warcraft (and yes, I think what I’ve seen of Mists of Pandaria is pretty nice), Magic: The Gathering and other Trading Card Games, miniature stuff (painting, gaming, etc.), music (violin and cello), other games (CoD, Dishonored, Borderlands 2, etc.), movie watching, writing, learning new things, and more.

Geez – and that doesn’t even get into the stuff that I need to do like eat, sleep, chores and work.

But hey, life’s about choices and sacrifice, isn’t it?  And with choices comes analysis…

I’m part of a world-class Star Wars guild now.  This means that I should be logging in every day and doing at least some of the activities that help me gear out for end-game raiding.  Maybe I should work on getting a utility set for my Mercenary (Taoren), and get a tank up.  It’s part of what being in a top-tier guild is about, even if I’m a casual player in the top-tier guild.  I need to learn the fights (I don’t know why Denova seems so complex to me – the stuff I was doing at the beginning of Cataclysm seemed like it was more complex and I have more problems now).  I need to keep it fun to keep me playing, while doing what I need to show that I deserve to be in Memories of Xendor.  So that should be my ‘MMO priority’.

World of Warcraft has unleashed its siren call yet again, in the form of Mists of Pandaria.  Ah, good ol’ WoW.  I didn’t think I’d go back to it – it feels weird now after being gone from it for over a year, with half of Cataclysm being completely foreign to me, and while I desire to talk to some of my old friends there, I’m wanting to avoid resuming any guild connections as of yet – my stint as a Guild Officer/Raid Leader still has me feeling burnt.  And I’m also trying to bring in some of my Star Wars friends to the game, so I’m trying not to look too hard at the endgame.  I want to play this game again, even though the Burning Crusade content really makes me go “ugh” for needing to go through it yet again…  But the new Specialization system, while not as thought provoking or choice filled as the previous systems were, actually makes me smile.  If I want to look at a tree, I can play Star Wars or Rift.  The interactions between abilities have always been something I’ve enjoyed (go Shammy healing), and it looks like there’s more of this in this release, so I’m pretty excited.  That, and having the ability to use external add-ons to manage things is such a breath of fresh air compared to Star Wars.  I know my new guildies are part of the reason Star Wars has a Combat parser at all, but I do wish MOXParser was more like Recount.

I have a feeling that these are going to be two priorities going forward.  Still, the desire to do some of those other things hasn’t passed, and is probably going to get worse shortly – Assassin’s Creed III and CoD: Black Ops II, and Rift:  Storm Legion all come out soon.  Guild Wars 2 is tempting, especially with its good reviews and that it’s lack of subscription fee, but really, Star Wars and WoW look like fantastic games too, right now.  It’s refreshing to have too many choices, in some ways.

I do miss WoW raiding, though.   I enjoy Star Wars raiding, but it feels different.  Could be because I’m DPS… but I dunno.  It’s just different.

/sigh

I’m looking forward to it all, though.  In one way, shape, or form it’ll be fun.  I just want another Arthas, though.  I don’t see anything out there that even comes close to the anticipation of downing Arthas.

I hope there comes something that will.

My 2 yen,

Akiosama

Goal achieved! One down.

That’s one thing I can mark off my list as complete.  Last night was the Lady Antebellum 2012 Own the Night Tour concert in Los Angeles at the Staples Center, and it was awesome.

I can’t think of any other words to describe it.

The seat I had in the first level was great – in front of the stage, no obstructions, and it was an aisle seat, with room to spare. The people in the section were energetic, adding their own fuel to the concert – dancing, laughing, and in general having a great time.  It was a packed house, loud and heartpounding, and I’m sure I used up my voice cheering and singing along.

It was a great night of music to be had by three artists (well, there were six artists, in three ‘groups’) – Thompson Square, Darius Rucker, and Lady Antebellum.

The show started with Thompson Square, who as relative newcomers to the country scene, performed a shorter set of 4 songs that were pretty well received.  In true LA fashion, though, the crowd was muddling on in – the arena seemed like it was only about half full for the duo, yet there was still a good energy through the arena.

Darius Rucker was the second act of the show.  His performance was fantastic – over ten songs, with a couple of Hootie and the Blowfish classics, and Prince’s “Purple Rain” as the closer.  His voice is impressive – powerful and resonant, just as it sounds on the radio.  Being most familiar with his songs, I taxed my voice, singing along in the crowd, our section standing, singing, dancing and yelling to the entire set.  It was an amazing presentation, and by the end of it, I wasn’t sure if it could be topped – Darius performed like he was the main act, and not the second act of three.  I think he must have been up on stage for nearly an hour – and it was about 8:30pm when his set finished – an hour and a half after the concert started.

To my surprise, Lady Antebellum came out and topped Darius’ performance – home-run over the fence style.  16 songs, including a section of classics where the other performers came back out and sang in a large group, and a guest performance by Ryan Tedder of One Republic.  They played all their major songs, had the now-packed Staples Center’s audience totally immersed in the show, dancing and singing along with the group on stage.  From the start of the set with “Own the Night” to the ‘encore’ performance of “Need You Now”, it was a non-stop energy packed festival of light, music, and song.  It was a completely awesome show, from start to finish, and the time flew.

From start to finish, the concert ran nearly four hours, and yet it didn’t feel long at all.  I left happy, with that buzz in my ears that comes from three hours of live music, and barely a squeak of a voice.

And credit has to be given to Shauna and Chelsea from the OC who were the self-appointed rallying point that maintained the energy in our section.  It only added to the experience.

Thompson Square was great.  Darius Rucker was off the scale.  Lady Antebellum owned the night.

What more could a country music fan want?

One down, many, many more to go.

My 2 yen,

Akiosama

Glass half full? Glass half empty? I dunno…

It’s been a while since I’ve been inspired enough to write something here – I’m surprised that there are still hits coming in.  For those who are still looking around here, thanks.

I’ve been trying to keep busy here – been working on some models for Warmachine, playing lots of Star Wars – The Old Republic, reading (finally finished Eldest), and catching up on television programs that I like (such as Game of Thrones).  Some days, though, it feels like I’m just getting through the day, other days it actually feels like I’m doing something (semi-?) productive.

One thing, though, that I’ve been told, recently, is that I can be a pretty negative person, especially when it comes to myself.  Me?  Negative?  I never used to think so – I always felt that I was a ‘look on the brighter side’ kind of person.  But I do think that my friend is right in a lot of ways – I’m pretty positive… when it comes to other people.  When it comes to myself, I tend to be a doomsayer, I think.

“I’m not crazy, I’m just a little unwell…” – Matchbox Twenty, “Unwell”

Yeah, I think I’m a little crazy.  Well, actually, I know I’m crazy in some ways, but that’s not what I’m talking about here – I mean insane by Einstein’s definition.

“Insanity:  doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein

Every day, I feel like I do the same things.  Same motions at work.   Same hobbies.  Same interactions with others.  And I wonder why things don’t change.  I see myself doing the same things in similar situations and while it feels like maybe things will be different this time, eventually things feel like they’re heading back in the same, rather disappointing directions.  Although, I am pushing myself this year to do things differently, there’s a great deal of inertia to overcome – the inertia of my past habits – and it’s been an uphill climb.

And further, that positivism that I can offer up to others?  Very different from the attitudes I carry about myself.  I need to believe I can succeed, in order to succeed.

This all came up over a night of Star Wars talking about PvP, and the capabilities of classes.  I was running Arsenal on my Mercenary at the time, a great PvE build, but I was getting murdered in PvP, because its main weapon – Tracer Missile – is a stationary shot with a 1.4 second cast time.  I’d get hit while shooting, and not really have anything else I could do once set upon, since the bulk of my abilities have cast times – making them useless when trying to run – and those I could use while running just didn’t hit hard enough.  I have a couple of unreliable interrupts, and very little crowd control.  Blah, blah, blah…

This topic is not a new one for me, and my friend had pretty much become tired of hearing me complain about my class, my performance, and how I just wasn’t any good at PvP.  She told me so, in plain, clear language that she’d heard enough, didn’t want to hear anymore about it, and that if I didn’t like it that I needed to own up and do something about it.

It went a bit further downhill after that, and she pointed out to me, rightfully so, that I – a) am not nearly as poor a player as I portray and think I am, b) that my performance in that Arsenal spec was not as bad as I made it out to be as I had been playing it, c) that I could hold my own against the people we regularly play with, and d) that I wasn’t really playing it as well as I could be, because I wasn’t playing it as what it is – a ranged DPS spec – that I was running in and trying to play the front lines and getting killed for it.

And it’s all pretty much true – I definitely wasn’t adapting in PvP and was just complaining about the poor(-ish?) results I felt I was getting doing it the same way almost every time.

Talking to a couple other people, reading up on it a bit, and actually thinking about it, I realized I needed to change my playstyle in order to change the outcome.

It worked that night – I started trying to survive, and snipe, instead of running into the firefight every time, and lo and behold, my performance stats went up.  I earned badges faster.  I was able to get more PvP gear.  My performance went up as my gear got better…  See a trend?

So, with all that in mind, I started looking around online, and I found something that would boost my performance way up in PvP – a new build.  A mobile build.  One I could go toe-to-toe effectively with people at a distance and up close.  Pyrotech build  (3/7/31).

It’s an amazing build.  It ratcheted my damage up by nearly 200% and my survivability like crazy.

And for the first time in a long time, I felt like I was able to keep up in those WarZones.  I wasn’t just going out to die.  I was enjoying the fights and doing well.

Now, I’m still not all the way there – I have to learn a bit more on tactics and awareness, but I’m better than I was before I made the switch.  And the best part is, after the first time I used it, I felt like I could do this.  And that’s the important thing.

And it’s important I remember that, so that I can transfer it to my work and other hobbies.  I’m actually painting again, a little bit here and there, and right now, the Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator I’m working on is looking decent.

Learning to persevere and to have some confidence in myself is going to be important for a lot of the goals I have my eye on this year – job, personal, and hobby-related.  And this all is a first step – I’m a slow learner sometimes, but it’s really far past time to get over the fact that while I’m probably not going to be the very best at anything I do, that it doesn’t mean I’m not good at what I do, and that I need to determine a realistic level of performance to aim for and to be happy when I reach it.

Old dog.  New trick?  I think so.

The glass is always full – 1/2 drink, 1/2 air.

My 2 yen,

Akiosama

“Yeah you may think that I’m a zero
But hey, everyone you wanna be
Probably started off like me…

Just go ahead and hate on me and run your mouth
So everyone can hear
Hit me with the worst you got and knock me down
Baby I don’t care
Keep it up and soon enough you’ll figure out
You wanna be, you wanna be
A loser like me
A loser like me…”

-New Directions, Glee, “Loser Like Me”