Miss B.B.

We moved in our new house on a Friday, the following Tuesday at around lunchtime me and a friend were standing around on the path near my house when a chicken came strolling around the corner. She was mangy looking, small and skinny. My friend was sure it was a pigeon.

She foraged near us and she was nice to watch, she seems to not mind people so I assumed she was a pet. Me and my friend went on inside after a while and the chicken followed, hanging just outside my front door on my porch.

We put out some water and my friend gave her some breadcrumbs, she was really cute how excited she'd get over a bit of food, doing these chicken-squeals.

I didn't mind her hanging out on the porch thinking after a while she'd get bored and go home. I like how she was nice and safe while she was here, our porch is fenced in and gated. As the day wore on she seemed to like us, she could hear our voices inside and every-time me or my friend came outside she'd follow behind us up and down the path and forage not far from us.

She became bonded quite quickly, she was silent when we met her but was soon clucking as if having a conversation with us.

As the hours wore on and it grew dark, the chicken became agitated and anxious, I was nervous for it's safety too. So I picked her up in a blanket and discovered she adored cuddles, my friend helped me place her in a box to get her past my dog Astro.
We decided to put her in the garage, the garage has a lot of space, empty shelves and is a completely closed in shelter. The garage was an idea to serve temporary night shelter for the chicken to keep her safe and to feel secure.

J took me to chat to our nearest neighbours as we wanted the chicken to return to her owner. We learned the truth, the neighbour had seen her walking the streets a few times over the span of ten weeks so by his assumption the chicken had been wild for at least that long, she was well known by residents of the neighbourhood as many saw her on their property and fed her a little but no one owned her. There were no chickens owned nearby, no one knew where she got loose.

I was told all this yet the next day I got up early and rang around the local grain suppliers, the council, a few local farms... but I either got no help at all or not idea of her owner.

J checked the local noticeboard of lost animals but there was no mention of a chicken, I didn't mind giving this sweet chicken a temporary safehouse. As time passed I discovered more of her character and her lovely personality. So, I feel responsible for her, responsible for her safety, responsible for finding her the right home.

I really care for her. She has such loyalty, she has made me her "flock leader" so she obeys me, follows me and many amused visitors have seen her special "I'm coming" clucks she reserves as response to me calling to her or encouraging her to my side.

I can pet her, I accompany her on foraging and she plays with me. I feed her chicken pellets, leftover salad and breadcrusts as a treat. She is mad for breadcrusts!

All this time I've been sad I cannot keep her as my pet but as a good person, I feel it is the right thing to properly care for an animal regardless if it is your pet or not.
I wanted to rehome her at a nearby farm but she has been refused. A few lovely chicken owners have offered her a place in their flock but she has trust issues and has just began to improve in health.

Since she has stayed with us the little comb on her head has perked up, her chest has become fatter and her feather quality has improved. She looks much less sad, mangy and skinny now.

My friend who meet the chicken that first day saw her again two days later and was impressed at her improvement. He loved watching her be a bit more outgoing in personality too.

We named the chicken, Miss B.B. and according to a helpful chicken identifier she seems to be a Dutch Bantam.
As it stands at the moment, I am longing to keep her as my own pet. But I have to wait on permission on that. I don't know if I ought to keep her though, I am all for building a coop, buying some chicken sisters. But is it fair? I have a dog, I have a young daughter...

So it is all under consideration.

  

Thoughts on WoW - After Free Trial

My husbie, J bought me the WoW battlechest for Christmas. I'm the kind of person who likes to try new things and I was looking for something to fill those dead zones in the day where Elouise is napping or I want to work off some energy before bed.

World of Warcraft was once the thing to play but now the hype has lessened I felt less intimidated to have a go. J went off to the nearest game-store as I had read online that you could now play as a panda on WoW. It was quickly explained to him that it was expansion so buying all the previous releases would be required. I had suspected that but had hoped that there was a set with all of them available but there wasn't so we settled for the basic playable set.

He brought it home and it felt like it took forever to install and it did rather, a fair few hours wait on our dodgy wireless connection. Poo.

I created a character, a Tauren warrior named Retromama and me and J took turns learning gameplay and how to control the character. It was really nice to share the exciting new experience with my husbie, he is a casual game console player - slower learner than myself - I'm a bit of an all-round nerd, knowledgeable about a wide range of things and quick to pick up things sometimes.
We soon got a bit frustrated with each other, both wanting our turn to play and J felt like I was being bossy... wanting to be helpful, explaining things whereas he wanted to learn from experience and was repeatedly killing my character.

The next day, J created his own character Verdesword, a Night Elf warrior. After he got his own character I reset Retromama as I was unhappy with how he had experienced things on my character I hadn't and I was at the time stuck in a loop of dying and returning to the area my character was left in only to die again. It really took the fun out of it so I restarted.

Since we got WoW it has been a learning experience, learning to share computer time and finding a good middle-ground where Elouise gets our time too, with each of us. I also found it to be like a little experiment, showing how we both differ in how we play given the same game.
J plays Verdesword much differently than I would, he wields a one-handed weapon as J likes his high-armour shield so much he refuses to fight without it. J plays more haphazard, charging enemies and J mashing the action keys until it dies. He likes to pick and choose h, is quests, choosing ones he thinks will benefit his character the best and spends most of his time travelling the map, discovering new towns and doing dungeons. He does that sort of blindly, often dropping himself in high-level areas and dying a fair few times in the allocated time.

I am a daily player preferring quietly soloing quests and collecting materials, I travel rarely concentrating instead on the one area. I love clearing out areas of enemies and could spend quite a while just killing and looting, I also wait for my favourite rare mobs and love grabbing good items. I hate dungeoning as I'm chicken and only do an instance if I have a high-level escort to help me out.
While I was new I filled my time with quest-chains. I'd solo from one to the other, barely seeing other players and after a while it felt a little lonely. I was request spammed by a guild so I joined them. I went up 10 levels without either seeing a member online or chatting or even posting achievements.

A bit irritated, not seeing the point of even being in a guild I was guild-less for a while before I read an article on the benefits of being in a guild... I then set myself the goal of finding a guild I was truly happy with.

I did my research of active guilds and actually thought about exactly what I wanted to become a member of. I found a guild I liked the look of... I made a note to myself and thought a bit about it overnight and then sent in a request.

As soon as I was accepted, all my doubts were gone. I was welcomed, chatted to and given great helpful answers to my newb questions... when you solo-play you can't ask anyone even the dumbest of questions.

So now with my free trial up, I made my choice to keep playing influenced by how much the guild improved my gaming experience. The chat rolls on, gaming advice and just general banter and it sort of feels as if we are all sitting around a table at Starbucks, gaming and talking crap.

Even if I don't type in guild-chat myself, it's always fun to read as I quest about. It is nice, I went from feeling lonely wanting to game, gaming and feeling lonely to feeling like a welcome part of the guild. I've spoken to other players and many have highlighted that some guilds are full of high-levellers who know each other in real-life and only help their own. This guild is a nice mix, not elitist... there are newbies, high-levellers and players of any level just working on bringing up their different characters.

J wants to continue to play too, he hasn't found a guild he likes yet so he mostly uses dungeon finder to fill his time. He wants to become a more casual-casual player, choosing to do two hours before bed. I plan to play less during the day, coming online quickly to do buybacks but having the night to play the most....in between checking emails, business talks and proofreading jobs.

All in all, WoW was much better than I expected and much better than I experienced at first. I didn't get to be a panda but that isn't a big issue as I think I just wanted that mostly for vanity purposes not considering gaming elements at all.

What I did during the free trial:
- I achieved my personal goal of reaching 100 gold
- I achieved my personal goal of reaching level 40
- I found a guild that is active, helpful and chatty
- I discovered I enjoy Herbalism but find Fishing the most boring profession
- I enjoyed earning reputation
- I like my character and didn't feel the need to run alts or toons like I thought I would
- I loved finding rare mobs
- I attended a Darkmoon Faire
- I learnt to pick my enemies, choose the best action-chains for swift kills

and I discovered that swimming is as dull as can be.

The best things a newbie needs to know:
Being told these tips, improved my gameplay experience, bettered my character...
- Always go back to your body if you die if you are able to [I didn't early on]
- Learn what gear is good for your class, don't just equip anything high-stat [another player taught me this when I thought anything was good]
- Always check the map before entering an area just to see what level it is [J still doesn't do this, he must love to die]

and if the game isn't fun because of a dragging quest, irritating player or dull farming, log off and play later or go do something else in the game. At the end of the day no one is forcing you to play.

Playing WoW has been fun, I look forward to levelling up more, discovering more rare mobs, earning reputation and maybe overcoming my fear of dungeons.

Playing WoW has inspired my real life too, it has filled me with the focus and confidence to work towards starting up my own business.

I'm working hard to get my offline goals as much as my in-game ones... saving for the move to a bigger, nicer house with a yard, collecting business contacts to work with, collecting stock and achieving a successful, workable business.

To Play or To Game

The heat has me lazy as a bag of hammers. I'm sort of the reclusive type anyway but it is sort of irritating to want to go out and can't because the heat has me hiding.

I got WoW for Christmas and I did some major level grinding and then I just wanted to cruise around collecting herbs and achievements along the way. I guess I'm the type to go mad passionate over something then simmer down back into regular mode.

So, my days have me sort of busy, cleaning about...making phonecalls..... business mode. So night-time is full of relaxation, catching up on taped shows, forum posts, crafting, making lists, drinking tea and watching anime.

I'm enjoying Kimi to Boku at the moment, it's not like me to stick to a show that hasn't got some kind of animated fan-service...and no boobs! Total not my viewing choice usually. But I like it, a lot, I'm behind in releases but I'm sticking this one at the top of the list for now.

But I fill in time between episodes running my latest VN and doing some ((hopefully)) paying  proofreading work. To be honest, the current client is totally dreaming.... I'm not employed to actually read or enjoy their novel but it's pretty hard to edit a work without getting an idea of how it should look on the page and how it should read.... but the client is going to send this undrafted, unworkshopped, previously unread piece to several publishing houses in the belief that a seasoned editor will think they poop gold.

It is so unrefined storywise, so shockingly amateur that I hope when they receive their refusals the blame doesn't fall on me. I've worked hard to make it at least sound in structure...and all the punctuation, paragraphing and spelling is impressive and I've made hints on improving readability but that is all they wanted. They didn't want constructive notes on how it should be drafted before send-out.

Crazy.

Anyway, I am in love with Rewrite, the VN I'm currently flagging and posting maps on. It's an all ages game and I look forward to doing the Harvest festa installment next. Dang, Key girls are adooooorable!!

So playing onlines, galge and I'm back to the TCGs again.
Anyone who know-knows me, knows that I'm a not so secret trading card gamer.
Learning to play Magic was the best thing to come out of an extremely unspeakably awful relationship, I lived with my then-boyfriend and he taught me to play and deck-build and we played rounds with friends of his often.
I am thankful to this person for showing me that a true friendship survives all with the hardest push through the toughest of times and for introducing me to Magic: The Gathering.

So years later when I tried to train someone the play of the game I found it had progressed too much past what I had known and was comfortable with... that happens if you neglect releases of any game for too long so in 2007 I packed up my decks. I still buy cards at TCG stores every now and again but my deck is no longer really playable until a seasoned player teaches me the added gamepoints.

In Ireland there were little to none card-playing community so I got into Battle Revolution and later, Lycee. Both Japanese only popular TCGs, I credit my webcam matches with teaching me conversational Japanese. I don't really play anymore but I will buckle when I spot a delicious release. Anime themed cards are too tempting. So now I collect sets more than deck-build sets.

In the latter-half of living in Ireland I got into the Pokemon TCG and that's been the sticky wicket that I know and play often. I go through phases where I won't play, discuss or deck-build but I keep in the loop... consistently collecting the releases and seeing what is playable and restructuring.

Before I even played the WoW online game, I was already researching the CCG/TCG to get a handle on gameplay. Each TCG you encounter will differ in how it is formed/set up, played and structured.
I have a booster box sitting right here that I can't wait to break into and see what cards I pull.

I think that's what I crave, the card-pull rush. The learning of new gaming skills. The sense of community you get from other players.

It's like talking about anime to others who like anime, nothing like using jargon with those who actually know what you are speaking about.

So it's been a long time since I sorted my card-lots but I think soon, when I get a spare minute, I'll break out all my albumed sets, decks and floating extras and do a proper good look, shift and sort.

After that's all set I think I'll bag up my goods and sign up for playing at my local card shops.

Did I mention I plan on getting into Yugioh too....and that will be it. I promised myself. I've studied so many articles on gameplay, YGO is quite a bit more complex then most of the other TCGs because it's not really "straight out of the deck" playable. There isn't an ease of use like you get with Pokemon for example, you really have to read up and see it in action.

So I'm a TCG junkie, I've made orders of boosters and booster-boxes, singles, limited and special release tins and sets. And all the supplies: deck sleeves, deck boxes, albums, album sleeves...

I watched Toddlers and Tiaras the other day and was struck with the realisation that all the fake-tan, flippers, outfits, hair-pieces, travel costs, coaches and whatever heck-flip else they put into preparing these kids to become little beauty queens far-outweighs the top prize money and crown.

And then I realised, I'm the same. All the gaming gunk before play never adds up to what you get when you win.

It's like drugs in that way I guess....