Forming Rhok'delar, Longbow of the Ancient Keepers - Part 2

For the beginning of this project, see: Forming Rhok'delar, Longbow of the Ancient Keepers - Part 1

Long has my epic bow sat unfinished, but no more. When I left off in part one, I was waiting for the paper strips to dry. The next step was to cover the bow in CelluClay. The final product was very hard and strong without being too heavy, but even thought the box said it could be sanded, sandable it was not. Either that, or I have the crappiest sandpaper ever made, because when I went to sand the CelluClay, it knocked the sand off my sandpaper. I did have better luck using steel wool to sand the bow, but in the end, what I had to do was cover the entire bow in a layer of spackle, then sand that down to get a smooth finish. I like to use the kind that starts out pink and turns white as it dries, so you know exactly when you can move on to the next step.

After the spackle was smoothed and dusted, it was time to paint. Faux painting is always a trial-and-error process for me, even though I've been doing it for years. I used the 3D model viewer on WoWhead to try to get the colors and textures as close to in-game as possible. After it dried, I coated it in Mod Podge to seal it. Once that was done, all that was left was to wrap the vines I'd made around the bow and glue them on. I didn't take any pictures of the vine-making process, but it was fairly simple. I took some newspaper

 pages and twisted them together into rope in the length that I needed. Then I wrapped up the newspaper rope in some green floral tape. I didn't want it to be all one color, so I dabbed on a contrasting green acrylic paint to add interest. Then, I wrapped around some faux-floral morning glory garland. Morning glories are closest to the type of flower that blooms on Rhok'delar, so that's what I used. Here's the final finished product:

I wasn't overly pleased with how this turned out, to be honest. I felt it looked rather cartoonish. I think my painting skills were taking a holiday. My sister-in-law and her husband both disagreed with me, though. They said it looked fantastic. Perhaps I'm being my own worst critic, but I think I can do better. What do you think?

Halloween as a Troll

At long last, you get to see how our Halloween costumes turned out. This is my daughter and me just before heading down the street for trick or treating.  I'm pretty pleased with how it all turned out. We both got several compliments on our outfits, and a few people even asked to have their photos taken with us. (Not sure what happened during the uploading process that gave this picture a sepia hue, but I assure you it didn't look like this on my camera when we took it.) We forgot to put my little one's crane feet on in this pic, but I'll show one with the feet a little later. I will say that my daughter's costume was probably the simplest, yet most fancy-looking costume I've ever made. The hardest part of putting together her outfit, aside from multiple hot glue burns :(, was sorting through all the feathers I bought to weed out all the ones that were damaged, too small, or not the right shape. After that, it was simply a matter of cutting out the wings, mask, and feet, then attaching feathers, and adding some Velcro to make it wearable. The green leotard was purchased from welovecolors.com/, and the leggings she already had. Going to the bathroom was a little bit of a challenge for her in this costume, but with some careful planning, we were able to avoid any potty-related fiascoes.

 Here's a closeup of the little one's mask. I got the basic idea for the mask from some pictures I found on Photoblog. The beautiful orange biot feathers as well as the dark green feather pads in the photo below were purchased from Kimonos Feathers on Etsy. I highly recommend Kim's shop; the products I got were of great quality, reasonably priced, and they arrived quickly. The wings were inspired by the DIY bird wings on Handmade Charlotte, the only difference was that I used actual feathers on my wings instead of fabric

scallops. For the tail, I basically just cut a teardrop shape out of craft foam and glued on feathers. It's important to note that if you're going to attempt a project like this yourself, you should layer on the feathers starting from the outside and working inward, just slightly overlapping each row of feathers. That way it mimics how a bird's feathers are naturally. Part of the reason I chose to finish off the wings and tail with feather pads was because I felt it made things look even more natural, with the pads acting at the bird's shoulders and rump.

In the picture directly below, you can see a picture of not only my impatient trick-or-treater's sad face at being told to wait, but you can also see the bird feet that I made from craft foam. They had a little strap underneath that slipped through her Velcro shoes to keep the the feet from spinning around on her ankles.

Pretty ingenious, if I do say so myself!

Now, onto my costume. I'll go ahead and apologize for what's probably the worst archery stance in the history of the world. But hey, you can see I finished Rhok'delar! Stay tuned for part two of the tutorial on that, my friends. First of all, you're probably saying, "Hey! That isn't the Amani Mail set you said you were going to make!" You'd be right, it isn't. What it is, is the Brackwater Mail recolor set (although I forgot to wear the bracers and feet, much to my chagrin). I'm still wearing the Pauldrons of the Furious Elements, though, so there! These changes in the costume were made mainly because of the lack of time. If you've been keeping up with my blog, you'll know that I've been busy packing, selling my house, and visiting family all before a big cross-country move. Now, I honestly can't really blame all that, because I started working on this costume in January. The real issue was that all this cropped up after I decided to procrastinate. In the future, I'll be making a post about the lessons I learned while trying to finish this costume last minute. This was my first attempt at a costume project of this magnitude, and while it did turn out nice, it could have been so much better if I'd been working at it all along like I should have been doing. At any rate, hindsight is 20/20, and speaking of vision, let me give you a better look at the individual parts of my costume.

The first picture is one of my bracers (which I'm still kicking myself for forgetting to put on). The details you see here like the metal studs and rings were on each piece of my "armor." At a distance, it looks like studded leather over scale mail. The second picture is of my wig. I'm showing the side view of it, because all the pictures taken of me on Halloween were from the front, and the great styling of this wig went unnoticed because of it. You really couldn't see the braids or the overall shape of the mohawk, which is kind of a shame, 

since Leah's hair is one of my favorite things about her. By the way, if you're wondering how I got the hair to stick up like that, I used Got2B glued spiking gel. It does what it claims to do, and it's not too expensive, so I really can't complain. Word to the wise, it's uber-gross feeling to work with, and I don't think I'd ever put it in my actual hair.



These are my pauldrons, and I am very proud of them. I feel they look just awesome. I can't give a step-by-step tutorial for these since I didn't take pictures throughout the creation process, but I will put up a basic how-to for anyone who's interested in attempting your own cosplay armor. There are some things I'd do differently if I had to do them all over again, but I'll talk about that in a future post.

So there you have it, folks! My transformation into Leah for Halloween was successful. My sis-in-law said we were the talk of the neighborhood, so I guess there's something to be said for that! TTFN! Ta-ta for now!

Darkspear Tabard

Not much to report this week, but I do have a picture to show you. This is my tabard that will go with my Halloween costume. It's modeled off of the Darkspear Tabard. Not 100% the same, but I feel it's a reasonable facsimile nonetheless. It's probably the most in-depth sewing project I've undertaken to date. I'm feeling proud, and I think it'll look great on Halloween night.

My little one's Wandering Greenback costume is nearing completion, and I'll have some pictures of that up soon.

Tomorrow is another painting class, and this month, we're doing a lighthouse. What a great present that will make for my mother this Christmas!

Well, that's all for now. Until next time, see ya!

The Siege of Orgrimmar

Today is the day. Long have we bided our time, and now the final straw has been drawn. Patch 5.4 launches today, and with it, the Siege of Orgrimmar:

\

Of course, there will be other content in 5.4, which Lore tells us all about here:

Down with Garrosh! For the Horde!

I was Completely Insane, but I'm Better Now

Take a look at the Shifting Camouflage Pants that I'm using as the basis for my Halloween costume. You see that grey area that looks like scales? Yeah, I saw it too. When I did, I had the bright idea to make some and sew them all on by hand. I even got a few done:

They look great don't they? Then I began to sew them onto my pants, and I realized just what a mistake I'd made. They looked awesome while laying flat, but they were going to have to cover my contours and be able to move with me. I just don't think they would be able to do that. This is not to mention the scale of the entire project. I was going to have to make hundreds of these buggers and sew them all onto not just my pants, but my gloves and boots as well. Given that I've been procrastinating a lot lately, I didn't think there was any way I'd finish in time, so the scales have been packed away for use on another project.

My next idea for achieving the look of scales wasn't much better. I had an old pair of Halloween fishnet stockings and thought, "Wow, fishnet stockings layered over my pants would look like scales. That should work, and it'll be simple." LOL. While the look was right, no matter how I shifted, pulled, pinned, or tucked, I just couldn't get the pants to stop wrinkling under the tights. Even if I did manage to get everything looking just so, as soon as I took a step, it was all undone. So, that idea got scrapped too. 

Frustrated, I went to bed last night wracking my brain for a way to get the look I need. I seriously considered just forgetting the scales and wearing plain grey pants, but my detail-oriented nature couldn't abide the thought. Finally, I had my light bulb moment. "Why not draw them on?" I thought. And draw them on I did:

Sometimes, the simplest answer is the best answer.

Another WoW Post (Contains Spoilers)

Man, it's been a month since I last posted! Time has just flown by for me lately. I wish I had my stuff together to show you all the neat things I've been making, but I don't, so today you're getting another post about WoW. Last time I blogged, I was excited about patch 5.3 and the continuation of the story of the Horde rebellion. With the Siege of Orgrimmar on the test realms, I had some predictions/hopes for the upcoming coup d'etat. However, after reading Wowhead's latest report on the PTR, it's clear that Blizzard doesn't intend to grant me my silent wishes. (Warning, spoilers lay ahead.)

Let me start by saying that I don't like Garrosh. He's woefully arrogant, brash, and power-hungry. However, that didn't stop Thrall in all his wisdom from naming him Warchief. Why? Surely Thrall saw all that, and he didn't just promote Garrosh because he's the son of Grom and rightful heir of the Warsong Clan? No, I really think Thrall appointed Garrosh as Warchief of the Horde because he saw potential for true greatness and leadership in him.

 WHAAATTT!?

Hear me out; there are several Horde quests where you get to interact with Garrosh and see that he isn't just a mindless warmonger. The first quest I'll mention is The Warchief Cometh, where Garrosh warns Sylvanas, albeit tactlessly, about the dangers of the path she is treading with the Val'kyr. Another quest that comes to mind is To Be Horde in Stonetalon Mountains. When Overlord Krom'gar sends out that bomb, Garrosh tells him that murdering innocents is not honorable, that the end does not justify the means. As a rule, Garrosh is against total war,  as is evidenced by the fact that he forbids Sylvanas to use the plague. He has access to a chemical weapon that would grant complete victory over the Gilneans, yet he does not take advantage of it. Once again, in Breath of Darkest Shadow, he makes the distinction between honorably defeating one's enemies and straight-up slaughter when he tells Ishi, "Control your hatred, Ishi. There is killing, and then there is murder."

Okay, so Garrosh isn't all bad. That doesn't make up for the atrocities he's committed so far this expansion, so what's the point? My point in showing you all this is to set you up for how I believe the Siege of Orgrimmar should end. Garrosh is the son of Grom Hellscream, who as you know, was the first orc to partake of the demon blood that corrupted the original Horde. Along the way, he realized his mistakes, and gave his life to free the orcs from the blood curse by defeating the demon Mannoroth. I think it would be fitting if, near the end of the Garrosh encounter, Garrosh overcomes the hold the Sha has on him, and sacrifices himself to help the raid party defeat the Heart of Y'shaarj. That way Garrosh, like his father before him, could be redeemed and remembered as a hero instead of dying as a villain. It would have some pretty awesome symmetry, I think. However, that's just not going to happen, at least if the audio files from the PTR are to be believed. With his dying breath, Garrosh still claims that ruling the world is his destiny. The audio files seem to reveal that he has no remorse for what he's done. I guess at least I can hold out hope that he's going to drop a legendary Sha-touched Gorehowl or something. That would be spectacular, and it would help make up for the injustice of having Gorehowl drop as a lowly purple in Kara.

Another disappointment that I have about the upcoming raid is that we have to fight General Nazgrim. He turned a blind eye to the secret missives that Vol'jin was sending me during the Dominance Offensive campaign. While he never really gave his consent, he certainly did nothing to stop me from aiding Vol'jin in setting up a rebellion. I'd really hoped that he'd be fighting along side us to overthrow Garrosh, but instead, he stands between us and the Warchief. I've gotten pretty attached to Nazgrim, as attached as I can be to a fictional character, anyway; I've fought beside him for three expansions now. I watched him get promoted from Sergeant to Legionnaire to General, so it makes me sad that he has to die. I'll be honest, I nearly cried when I heard the soundbite from his death, where he tells us that we fought an honorable fight, and that he was glad that he died by our hands. If I ever participate in the Siege, I will surely do a /mourn for Nazgrim.

But anyway, enough with the WoW talk for now, I have stuff to do! TTFN, ta-ta for now!

Escalation

Leah wearing her Darkspear Pride.

Brothas and sistas of the Darkspear: today is the day we come together in rebellion! Let us rise up against Garrosh Hellscream; let it be known that the Horde will not succumb to the will of a power-hungry tyrant! Take up your weapons now, for Vol'jin! For the Darkspear! For the Horde!

Can you tell I'm a little excited? Patch 5.3 launches today, and I'm chomping at the bit to play the next part of the story that is unfolding. I can't wait to see the outcome of the campaign against Garrosh. I can only hope that the culmination is every bit as satisfying as I envision it will be.

Also on the WoW front, my little one has informed me that she wants to be my bird. Leah's current pet is Ichabod, a Wandering Greenback Crane from the Jade Forest, and that's what my little one wants to be. I'm thinking of putting together a crane costume inspired by Uma Thurman from Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, but of course with my own little twist. As long as she doesn't change her mind, I'll finally get that mother/daughter costume opportunity I've always wanted. Oh happy day!

In other news, I've got some lovely pictures to share with you just as soon as I upload them to my computer. My nephew recently had his fifth birthday party with a How to Train Your Dragon theme, and all the dragon training games were a smashing success with our little Vikings. My mom-in-law's crafty brain is responsible for all of the festivities, but I'm proud to say that I did have a hand in drawing the Hideous Zippleback for the bean-bag toss. Check back later for the full report.

Forming Rhok'delar, Longbow of the Ancient Keepers - Part 1

Today, we talk about how I'm making my bow. I'm not finished with it yet, but I thought I'd share the early steps now because yesterday was Earth Day, and this is really a green project.

Originally, I was going to make the Ancient Amani Longbow. Leah doesn't actually have that weapon or its lookalike, the Restrung Voodoo Bow, but it looks nice and "trollish," and I thought it would match my outfit nicely. The more I thought about it, however, the more I was  convinced that I should make my bow Rhok'delar, Longbow of the Ancient Keepers. Leah has this weapon in the game, and it holds great sentimental value for me because it is the only pre-Burning Crusade epic she has. I took the time and completed the quest chain to get all the materials needed to create the bow. That was back when all of my real-life friends also played WoW, and I would have never raided Molten Core or Onyxia without them. And I'm so glad I did, because the quest chain isn't available anymore, so I got it while the getting was good. Plus, it really is a gorgeous looking bow. Seriously, follow the link above and then click the "view in 3D" button. You can't really find a weapon like that anymore in the game. Armor and weapons in game now are missing something. Some of the new stuff does look completely bad-ass, but there's something to be said about the elegance of the early epics.

Anyway, with a picture of my bow handy, I took a piece of cardboard and cut out the outlines:

I used a paper towel roll for the handle. Then I began to crumple up old newspapers and attach them with with masking tape to give the bow its basic shape. For added stability, I glued a wooden inside the paper towel roll and attached the other pieces of the bow to it.

This is the basic shape of the bow once all that was finished:

After that was done, I strung the bow to get the curve the way I wanted it. Then I made a glue/water mixture, dunked in newspaper strips, and began layering them on. Once they dry, they'll give the bow a nice rigid structure.

 And that's where I am now, waiting on things to get good and dry. So far, the only materials used have been those I already had lying around the house. So there you are, my green and soon-to-be awesome bow. Stay tuned for Forming Rhok'delar - Part 2!

Update - Forming Rhok'delar - Part 2 now finished!

Quiver

The quest to make my Halloween costume continues. I finished my hands and feet (which I'll talk about a little later), I found fabric for a tabard, and I'm on the hunt for the right color face makeup. At any rate, a little while ago, I showed you how I made my arrows. This week, I'll show you how I made my quiver. Hunters no longer use quivers or even arrows anymore in World of Warcraft; they just kind of fire magical ammo, I guess. However, I opted to make a quiver for a couple of reasons. One, sometimes I get nostalgic for the earlier days of WoW. Two, I felt it would add a little to my costume to make it more complete. The third and most important reason, I needed somewhere to put my keys and phone and whatnot while we're out and about trick-or-treating. So, without further adieu, I bring you "how to make a quiver."




I began with sheets of brown craft foam. Craft foam is inexpensive and pretty easy to work with, but it's limited in size and looks like, well, craft foam. Fortunately, Pinterest came to the rescue, and I found this craft foam armor tutorial which in turn led me to this video tutorial on making craft foam look like leather. The size issue I overcame with my clever quiver design, which required the pieces of foam to over lap and be laced together. I started by hammering out the lacing holes in the foam with my M'bellish hammer and hole punch. Then I proceeded with making the craft foam look like leather as per the instructions in the link above. In hindsight, I should have done the leather treatment then punched the holes, because heating the craft foam can cause it to shrink, and I ended up having to re-punch some of the holes because they no longer lined up. In the end it all worked out. When I was ready to put together my quiver, I used a natural-colored lace and a plastic craft needle. While masking tape held everything together, I laced a whip stitch around the top, and then crisscrossed down the sides like you would do with shoe laces.

Now I needed my quiver to have a sturdy bottom since I'm planning on using it to carry stuff, so I recycled an old oatmeal container that, conveniently enough, fit inside the quiver famously. I simply placed the oatmeal container on a piece of craft foam and traced around it. Then, I drew and cut out another circle about an inch larger around the outside of the original circle I made. After that, I cut from the edge of the foam to the inner circle at several spots to help me form the foam around the bottom of the oatmeal container. Just so no white would accidentally show through, I painted the bottom edges of the container brown. While the paint dried, I gave the foam the leather treatment. Then, I hot-glued the foam to the bottom of the container. Finally, I inserted the container into the bottom of the quiver and secured it with glue (although it fit tight enough that I doubt it would come out). I'm pretty pleased with how it looks, and I'm confident that it will hold my stuff just fine come trick-or-treating time.

The final thing I needed was a strap to make the quiver wearable. I measured how long I needed it to be, then I cut out the right amount of craft foam and gave it the leather treatment. This required two pieces, so I had to devise a clever way to disguise the seam. I thought that it would look cool and be appropriate to display fangs as hunting trophies on my strap, so that's what I did. The fangs are handmade from Sculpey and painted with acrylic paint. I hot-glued then hand stitched them onto the strap, so they look great and aren't going anywhere. I added two D-links to the quiver for attaching the strap, one on the bottom and one on the top. Using the hot glue and hand stitching method, I attached the top of the strap to the top D-link on the quiver. I then added a leash clip to the bottom end of the strap so I could put the quiver on and take it off without lifting it over my head and shoulders.(You can see in the picture to the left how I stitched both the trophy strip and the strap to the D-link.) And that's that. 

So what do you think? Here's a photo of the quiver holding the arrows. I feel it will complement my costume nicely. Well, guys, until next week, see you later!

They're Here!

So here's the view from my front door today:

It's all ice and dreariness as far as the eye can see. Yesterday, I was so excited to see flaky white stuff falling in my yard, but my happiness was not long lasting. Shortly after the snowfall, it began to rain, and then sleet. Combine that with temperatures in the 20's and you have a mess. I needed to get something out of my car last night, but it was frozen shut. Today it's a tad warmer, so the icicles are melting, and by the middle of next week, we're supposed to be experiencing 70-degree weather. What?! I do not understand what's going on at all right now.

However, the crazy weather cannot bother me. Wednesday, I got my first package of costume accessories in the mail! I am now the owner of pointy-ear prosthetics and a wild pink wig. The wig has a little more black in it than I anticipated (Leah's hair is all pink), but I know I can make it work. The ears are just awesome. They're made in USA (bonus!) and are exactly what I wanted. A little makeup and they'll be ready to go. I might just wear these around the house sometimes!

I think the elven look suits me.

Step one to awesome troll hair.

It's Been Decided

I have to start working on Halloween early. It's only January, yes, but this year I want to be Leah,  my troll hunter from World of Warcraft, so I have to get busy making stuff. It's my hope that I can make all her gear myself, but holy crap, that's going to take some work. Her transmog set, which will be what I'm constructing, you can see here.

I've already begun cutting out templates for the shoulder pieces and gauntlets. To keep the gear lightweight an inexpensive, I've opted to make my pieces out of papier mache and craft foam. Keep your fingers crossed that my faux painting skills are good enough to make it convincing!

This costume has a few challenging aspects that I'll need to overcome. Leah has a hot pink mohawk and braids, pointed ears, tusks, only two toes on each foot, and only three fingers on each hand. The ears and tusks I plan to take care of by using prosthetics, and the hair I plan to take care of with a wig. For the fingers and toes I'll have to get creative, and I'll show you my solution for this when the time comes. Oh, and did I mention she's green-skinned? I guess a little cream face paint will take care of that.

I'm photographing the whole process, and I plan to do step by step coverage of my journey to becoming Leah, so you guys will get to see the whole thing unfold throughout the coming months. My enthusiasm has been contagious, it seems, as my husband is now thinking that he wants to resurrect his old troll warrior Boaris to dress up with me. Frankly, nothing would make me happier, but we'll see if he goes through with it or not. I'm hoping to make the whole process look so fun that my little one will want to be our little troll baby. If she doesn't, that's okay, but I can't pretend that I won't be a little bummed. I've always wanted to do a themed family costume set, and a troll family would be awesome.

Not Feeling it Today...

These last few days I've just been going through the motions. I haven't been able to sleep at night, but having a little one means I can't sleep during the day either. Caffeine doesn't help, so I've been shuffling around like a zombie. An irritable zombie. I try not to be crabby around my little one, but she's so bouncy and happy and chatty, and I'm so...well, not. Seeing happy people when I'm in this mood doesn't make it better. However, with any luck, I'll be in bed (and asleep, that's the key) at a reasonable hour tonight so I can be my usual self tomorrow.

At any rate, there were two highlights of this past week for me. One, my husband built us a lovely fire pit and outdoor shed, so our new rental is becoming more and more homey all the time. I love bonfires, and my love finished our fire pit just in time to enjoy some of the first cool nights of fall. We had a lovely visit from some friends and roasted marshmallows while the kiddos played with flashlights in the dark. The second highlight was the release of World of Warcraft's fourth expansion, Mists of Pandaria.

The above picture is my main, Leahsidhe, riding a kite across the isle of Pandaria. The graphics for this expansion are amazing, so I've been taking screenshots like nobody's business. (That is a link to my facebook WoW album, which is supposed to be public, so I hope you guys can see it.) But seriously though, Blizzard needs to give their art and graphics departments a big raise, because it's almost like playing in a painting. That's not all that's good about it, though. I'm having fun meeting the Pandaren and learning about their culture and history. There are several fun quest chains, particularly the quests with Riko and Kiryn on the Horde side, and the quest to smash hozen with the giant yeti in Kun'Lai Summit. There's also lots of extra funny stuff, like the interactive cauldrons on the Isle of Reckoning, or when you pass by Pandaren locals and they comment on how strange or skinny you look. As a hunter, I'm digging all the new tameable creatures out there. So yeah, I'm not quite 90 yet, but I'm enjoying the journey. Also, I'm going to confess about being wrong. In my last post, I said that MoP would be a lighthearted break from the drama of Azeroth, but it seems that tensions between Horde and Alliance are at an all time high, and the reappearance of the Sha is all our fault. Sha are big, bad, and feed on negativity. They stayed buried in Pandaria for centuries, then we show up with our faction war, and well GUESS WHAT:

Source.

Anyway, that's all for me today. Next week I should have a lovely blog about all the crafty stuff I've been doing. We'll see!

Here Come the Pandas

It's almost here! At 3 AM, Blizzard will be releasing its latest World of Warcraft expansion - Mists of Pandaria.

Source

I've heard a lot of naysayers complain that this expansion will be lame. They compare it to Kung-Fu Panda, and I admit, at first, I had my doubts. However, I find myself eagerly anticipating this expansion as a fun, lighthearted break from the usual drama in Azeroth. The first expansion brought us a demon invasion, the second had us battling undead hordes under the control of the Lich King, and Deathwing nearly ripped the world in two in Cataclysm. Mists of Pandaria promises rich lore, beautiful graphics, and the brew-loving Pandarens. Now, I'm sure there will be a fair amount of strife, since our pre-expansion event was Garrosh destroying Theramore Isle, a move that didn't sit well with the other Horde leaders or the Horde's long-time human sympathizer, Jaina Proudmoore, but it wouldn't be World of Warcraft without out some Horde-Alliance conflict. Anyway, enough out of me. I'm going to share the MoP cinematic trailer with you, which even if you aren't a WoW fan, I believe you can still appreciate (be sure to watch in full screen):

And with that, I'm out of here. See you when the Mists lift!

Fall Anticipation and Other Randomness

Well, today's post is going to be short. I have a few craft projects on the table right now, but nothing is ready for me to do a blog about. So, I'm just going to talk about a few things going on with me.

Even though it's still HOT, HOT, HOT outside, I can feel fall coming. There's something about the sky now that says autumn is on its way*, and believe it or not, some of the leaves around here are starting to turn. I can't wait for cooler weather, fairs, bonfires, apple cider, beautiful foliage, mums, asters, and HALLOWEEN. It makes me so giddy I want to squeal!

What also makes me giddy is our new house. We signed the lease two weeks ago, and since we've been moving our stuff over one truckload at a time. I like our new place more and more each time I go over, so I think we're going to be really happy there. I sure am looking forward to enjoying a cup of coffee on our new porch!

I just found out recently that the Mists of Pandaria expansion for World of Warcraft is coming out at the end of September. I'm excited and a little surprised that it's coming out then; it's sooner than I expected. This means I have some work to do, like finish leveling some toons I wanted to have ready for the new content. Guess I'll be spending some time in Azeroth!

*For you science buffs, I did a little research because I wanted to know if I was just crazy or if there really is something to my feeling that the sky is indicating the coming autumn. I can't actually explain what I pick up on that makes me recognize the change of the season, but here's what I discovered: because of Earth's tilt, the sun appears higher in the sky during the summer than it does in the winter. This causes a change in the appearance of the sky's color, due to a phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering (what makes the sky blue). The change would be pretty subtle and would vary based on latitudes, but the lowest estimate I've seen about human color perception is that we can see approximately 2 million different colors, and I've also seen estimates as high as 10 million colors. Color variations are subjective, but it probably is possible for a person to pick up on a change in the sky's hue. Read about it all here:

http://www.morehead.unc.edu/Shows/EMS/seasons.htm
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/1998-10/909280669.Ph.r.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayleigh_scattering
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color

Too hot to do anything

I had a revelation a few days ago. I'm not very good at this whole blogging thing. My inspiration for blogs comes in fits and starts, so regularity doesn't really fit into the equation. Even when I say to myself, "I need to blog today, " oftentimes, life gets in the way, and I end up doing something else. I want to post more regularly, and I think the only way to do that is to actually schedule my blogging time. If I constantly gather my blogging inspiration and sit it aside, then I should have enough material to sit down and crank out a blog for you all once or twice a week. It's a nice plan.

That being said, it's too hot to do much of anything right now. I don't have to tell you about the heat wave because it's pretty much been all the news has talked about lately. Well, I might have to tell you, if you live underground, since temperatures remain fairly constant and comfortable there. But then again, if you live underground, you probably don't read my blog, so... Anyway, our poor little AC unit is having a hard time keeping up with this triple-digit heat. Our house is so poorly insulated that we can't keep it any cooler than the mid 80's. Which causes me to think. Why is it that I find a low humidity, mid 80-degree day outside to be beautiful, but when it's in the 80's in a climate controlled house, I feel like I'm going to melt away? I digress. Back on track. It's been pretty warm; so warm that I haven't even been playing WoW, which would be my usual indoor pastime, because my computer will kick out too much heat. All I've wanted to do is sleep, since the heat makes me sleepy.

I have managed to get a few things done in between sleepy times. Last night I sewed new curtains for my bedroom. The day before I got the shape ready for a paper mache project I'm working on. The day before that I painted a new sign for my living room. I want to get pictures up for you guys, but my laziness always stops me just short of doing so. Anyway, I can't fight it anymore; I'm taking a nap. Catch you guys later!

Dead or 85

So, you haven't heard much from me because I've been busy:

Had to include the picture Az and Lucy worked so hard on. It looks great!

My guild leaders issued a challenge to all Outliers to help the guild achieve the Stay Classy Achievement, which awards an eighth bank slot to our guild bank. I offered to help by rolling an orc rogue, Teyerahshank (unfortunately, TyraShanks was taken). She is currently level 83, and I'm hoping to achieve max level by the end of next week. For the Horde! For Outliers of Draenor!

Works in Progress

I have several projects on the table today. I've recently gotten into the bad habit of starting a new project before I finish an old one, and that has led to quite a few unfinished things cluttering up my space. Today, I am going to be working on a mail sorter that I started several months ago. If nothing else, I want this to get done today. If I have time, I'd like to work some more on my Icon of Shadows-inspired necklace. I do intend to do a little more blogging later, but for now I need to get up and get these things done. Pictures will follow!

Cataclysm!

Oh, Blizzard, you have done it again! Just when I was starting to think I could live without World of Warcraft, you introduce Cataclym, and my passion is rekindled. Since December 7th, I've been playing during pretty much every spare moment. Both new races are fun to play and follow interesting story lines, I like the newly incorporated cinematics in the game, and I especially enjoy the music. The new zone Vashj'ir is graphically stunning. You get a sense of vastness there that wasn't in previous zones. Actually, all the new areas seem more broad, like they really are part of a larger world, as opposed to being their own closed off little zone. Vash'jir especially feels like this to me, because it seems you can literally see for miles down there under the sea.

Think I can solo this bad boy?

And now, I have something very serious I want to talk to you about. I may not have ever discussed it here, but I am a die-hard Horde player. I love the warrior-clan culture - the emphasis on blood, glory, and honor. It moves me on a primal level in a way that the more "sophisticated" Alliance culture could never do. Now the Shattering has occurred, Thrall, our beloved warchief, has left to help the Earthen Ring mend the world. This fills me with great sadness and great pride simultaneously, but what I really want to talk to you about is this: I've always known Thrall was epic, but after seeing him in his new role in Cataclysm, I think we should vote for him as our next president. If you need evidence, here it is:

Thrall holding the frickin' planet together!

There. Thrall is using his shamanistic might to keep Azeroth from ripping in half! We need someone like this leading the country. In the wake of recent disappointments, there has been a lapse of confidence in our leaders' abilities to get things done. Were Thrall our commander-in-chief, I know our country would recover. The economy would pick up, healthcare would be affordable, and no terrorist would ever think of attacking us again. A vote for Thrall is a vote for America!

The Worldbreaker comes!

We now interrupt this site's maintenance to bring you THE SHATTERING! That's right, Blizzard has released the big, pre-Cataclysm patch for World of Warcraft, so that's where I'm going to be. I'll be making little changes to the blog here and there, but the completed product will probably take me longer than I originally anticipated.